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As we head into 2009, the Yankees have done the heavy lifting of their offseason, but they have some remaining concerns to address.  Here are the reamining items on my "To Do" list. 

1- Settle on a fifth starter.  The key ingredient to me is innings, a guy who can pitch 180 innings would be perfect for this role.  Is that Phil Hughes?  Based on his history, absolutely not.  Maybe it's Randy Wolf, but he probably costs more than Pettitte.   It could simply be a combination of Hughes, Aceves and Kennedy, that would be ok with me too.  But, let's pretend A.J. Burnett gets hurt (hard to do, I know) and Hughes is in the rotation already. Do you have enough depth when you consider that Hughes/Joba may need some rest along the way?  

2- Find a real backup catcher.  We can continually sing Jose Molina's praises for defense, but he is an absolute zero with the bat.  Let me rephrase that, in 2008 AL catchers hit .258/.322/.393 so Molina's line of .216/.263/.313 is actually less than zero and the Yankees suffered through 268 AB's of it.  The Yankees can say that Posada's shoulder is better all they want, but do they really know for sure until he plays in games?  If you want to know why the Yankees were so bad on offense last year consider that 20% of their AB's went to Molina, Melky, Moeller, I-Rod, Gardner, Ensberg and Duncan.  Of those seven, Melky had the highest slugging % at .341 while Moeller took the OBP crown with a .311 mark.  Which leads me to my last point...

3- Upgrade the bench.  The Yankees have spent too many years neglecting the guys riding the pine.  That has to stop now.  Ideally, the Yankees will use the same lineup every day, but I would peg the chances of that happening at about 0%.  Players are going to get hurt.  Posada, as I mentioned above, is my chief worry, but Jeter is older.  Matsui is coming off of an injury and most of the guys in the lineup are on the wrong side of 30.  Other than Teixeira, Cano and whoever gets the nod in center, how many guys can the Yankees expect to play 155 games in the field?  Not many at all and that is one of the reasons I would not quickly trade Swisher or Nady just yet.  Having those guys on the team provides depth, now the Yankees need to find someone who can step in and play the middle infield.  (And no, I just don't but Cody Ransom as that guy)

4- Work on translating pitching depth in the minors into a more balanced approach.  The Yankees have a lot of valuable arms at the top of their minor leagues, but apart from Austin Jackson, very few bats.  Trading pitchers for hitters is usually a winning move, the Yankees should look into it.  

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Those are the odds against the Yankees signing Andy Pettitte according to a story in today's Daliy News. 

I go back and forth on this one.  On one hand, I look at the Yankees rotation and other than Sabathia and Wang who else do you think will pitch 200 innings?  (Sorry, I just don't think you can be positive Burnett will.)  Pettitte provides that at a decent ERA.  But, you also have to look at his second half (13 starts 5.35 ERA) and wonder if he has that ability in him.  And, for $10 million, couldn't you find a cheaper alternative?

Ultimately, I think this decision rests on Phil Hughes.  The Yankees need to see what they can get out of Hughes and signing Pettitte puts him back in AAA.  Now, I would not go into 2009 without some sort of veteran backup, but I would do so by going the minor league contract route and signing a cheap veteran.  You can then take some of that $10 million and use it towards a real bench which the Yankees need to address next. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)

Nice piece by Joel Sherman where he talks about how the Yankees learned from passing on signing Carlos Beltran in 2004-05 offseason.  That was the year they added RJ, Pavano and Wright to the rotation, but decided against Beltran because Bernie Williams was making a huge salary. (Wow, can you imagine if Cashman could have a mulligan for that offseason?) 

If you look at the free agent class after 2009, there simply aren't any impact bats out there.  (Sorry, Matt Holiday's splits away from Coors dq him)  If the Yankees had passed on Teixeira, they would have had to trade for a bat and that isn't always easy.  Plus, Damon, Matsui and Nady are free agents after this upcoming season as well and the Yankees probably won't want to sign any of them. 

So, the Yankees grabbed an impact bat while they could and that is a smart thing.   

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 07:49 PM | Permalink

What's that under the tree?  Is it a firstbaseman?  It sure sounds like it and the Yankees just improved their team by leaps and bounds.

By signing Teixeira, the Yankees now have a firstbaseman who can hit AND play defense, a stark departure from the Giambi years.  Yes, the contract is long (8 years) but Teixeira will be 36 when it is done, by no means an old player.  In short, this is a fantastic move for the Yankees.

Kudos to Brian Cashman who is truly "the silent assassin" for the way he jumps in and makes moves, this was a masterful one.  Now, it will be interesting to see what the Yankees do next.

First, do they keep their offer to Pettitte?  I wouldn't at this point, let's leave that spot open to Huges, Kennedy and Aceves.

Next, is Gardner the starter in center?  I would assume so and with Tex in the fold, I say why not?

And, you now have Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady to play right, which one do you trade?  (I say Nady)

For now think about this:

Damon-LF

Jeter-SS

Teixeira- 1B

A-Rod- 3B

Cano- 2B

Posada- C

Swisher/Nady- RF 

Matsui-DH

Gardner-CF

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Multiple sources are reporting the Angels have withdrawn their offer to Teixeira.  That leaves Boston (they never withdrew their offer), Washington and Baltimore as the known bidders and it seems like Boston has the high bid. 

The Yankees haven't bid yet and very well may not.  Boras called Cashman on Friday (multiple sources again) to discuss Tex and told them it would take $22-$23 million a year over eight years.  Will the Yankees bite?  Time appears to be running out.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Bob Klapisch makes a very solid point in his column today, Manny Ramirez and Joe Girardi would be a marriage made in Hell. 

The thing is, even if the Yankees don't sign Manny (and I hope they don't) Girardi has to find a way to change heading into 2009.  He needs to loosen up a bit and he needs to stop lying about injuries because he just looks silly when he does.  The problem of course is that the pressure on Girardi is being upped this year and it is unclear how he will handle that.

That was the beauty of Joe Torre, no matter how much pressure he felt, he managed to deflect it off the players.  Girardi is the opposite and I don't think that is a good thing.  You can argue that the Yankees became too comfortable under Torre and I wouldn't disagree.  But, they went to the other end of the spectrum in 2008 and they need to move back to the middle now.  Adding Manny won't help them in that department one bit.   

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 04:24 PM | Permalink

We have heard that the Yankees' goal is to have a lower payroll than last season.  Well according to the AP, their payroll is currently $159 million and that is for fourteen players.  They still have to go through arbitration with players like Wang, Nady and Bruney and settle on deals with the non-arbitration players like Joba, Hughes, etc.  Figure the arbitration cases get at least $12 million of salary.  And throw in another $5 million to round out the roster and the payroll is around $176 million.  If the Yankees are serious about lowering the payroll from last season's Opening Day figure of $209, that would leave $30 million. 

You could go out and get Cameron and Pettitte and that would be about it.  Or, you could spend almost all of it on a lump sum deal like Teixeira.  What you can't do is both.  So, which would you rather see, Teixeira with Hughes in the rotation and Gardner in center?  Or, Pettitte and Cameron in those spots with Swisher at first? 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Peter Gammons had an interesting blog piece this weekend about baseball and the economy.  He suggests that as the economy worsens more and more teams will need to cut payroll.  (He also takes some shots at Kyle Farnsworth)

Based on that, it is probably worthwhile for the Yankees to take a pause in spending here and see what happens.  Sure, they could sign more players, make more trades, but if the market is going to be flooded with additional talent and teams trying to slash payroll, what is the harm in waiting?  They have signed two starters, they have two starters and if they pencil in Phil Hughes for spot #5, the rotation is done.  They have Swisher for first and Gardner for center so the lineup is done.  

It is so against their usual way of operating, but why not show some patience?  It may benefit them in the long term.   

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 07:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

(Sorry, F. Scott Fitzgerald) The Yankees have non-tendered Chris Britton and Justin Christain, lowering their 40-man roster to 38 players. 

Britton is certainly not a shock.  The Yankees simply didn't like the guy and he would have been cut to make way for Sabathia anyway.  

Christain is a bit more of a surprise to me just because he was a good spare outfielder and could have contributed next year.  But, with Melky and Gardner ahead of him on the depth chart, it makes sense to clear space for Burnett with this move.  

Assuming they sign one more pitcher, even if it is Pettitte, the Yankees will need to remove one more player from the 40-man.  I assume that is going to be Duncan, but we will see. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's all over the internet that the Yankees have signed Burnett to a five-year/$82.5 million deal.  Obivously, this deal boils down to Burnett's health.  If he is healthy, the Yankees have made a pretty good deal, if he isn't, well let's just say we just lived through four years of Pavano.  One thing is for sure.  If they are healthy and the Yankees make the playoffs, they have a great rotation.

The real question is where do the Yankees go next?  Personally, I would be happy to go into 2009 with a rotation of Sabathia, Wang, Burnett, Joba and Hughes, but I don't think the Yankees are of that mindset.  I imagine it will be Pettitte or Sheets for the last spot with Hughes sitting in the minors for when injuries occur.  What you have to hope is that Brian Cashman isn't done addressing the offense.  Cabrera for Cameron isn't a terrible idea, but it also isn't that much of an improvement.  Teixeira would go a long way to fixing some offensive problems and the Yankees would be wise to think about him again. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)