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The Yankees are apparently ready to start censoring their players in the future.  The money quote is this from an "unamed official": "Up to now, we have always operated our employer-employee relationships on a basis of trust.  But we never expected what we got from Joe. We may have to get a little tougher on this issue."

It is silly to get tougher on this issue and it is silly to react at all.  Torre is the one who comes off the worst in this and it is easy to question Verducci's motives in this book. (Verducci used to work for the YES Network, but was fired after writing this. I think the Yankees would have been best served by just ignoring this and letting Torre try and explain why he felt the need to do this in the first place. 

But, they didn't do that and now I wonder when the Yankees take the more obvious step.  When do they take #6 and put it on the back of someone else?  We always assumed that Torre would return to New York someday and have his number retired, but I think that is a distant dream now.  The Yankees are pissed, Torre is hurt and I don't see how either side moves past this. 

Maybe with time the two sides will reconcile, but I have a feeling that #6 will have been given away long before that.   

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So Pettitte is back for a base of $5.5 million and a possible $6.5 million in bonuses.  I looked all over, but the best I could do was find that $4.5 million of that is based on innings and $2 million on days on the active roster. 

The deal evokes a couple of reactions from me.  First, bringing Andy back really helps the rotation.  Now the Yankees have the depth needed to survive an 162-game season and we won't have to suffer through a bunch of scrubs making spot starts like last year. 

One concern I have is that this signing will restart the Joba to the bullpen chants.  I hope the Yankees don't fall for that line of thinking.

Another concern I have is how this will impact Phil Hughes. Will the Yankees use him out of the bullpen or is he destined for AAA?  I would prefer he sticks in AAA and continues to develop as a starter.  

Who gets dropped from the 40-man as a result of this move?  Maybe Giese or Chase Wright?  I have no idea.

Lastly, if Pettitte stinks and the Yankees bench him thereby preventing him from achieving his incentives, will he be able to handle that?

Enough with the negative, a rotation of Sabathia, Wang, Burnett, Pettitte and Joba has to be one of the best in the league.  Now, a real backup catcher and I will be absolutely content. (At least for a few minutes)

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 09:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Several sources are reporting that the Yankees and Andy Pettitte are closing in on a deal.

Per Buster Olney - 1 year deal for $6mm base and up to $6mm in incentives.

Per Jon Heyman - 1 year deal for less than the $10mm guaranteed they offered earlier but otherwise no details.

Per Ken Rosenthal - 1 year deal for $6mm base and up to $10mm in incentives.

Reports are suggesting a deal could be announced this afternoon.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Let's start with a happy note, Robinson Cano is in shape and ready to play the season.  As Kat O'Brien notes in this piece, Cano was not in shape at the start of the season last year.  Getting a good year from Robbie is vital to the Yankees' chances in 2009. 

Now on to the bad news and it is pretty bad.  Joe Torre's tell-all book is coming out and it sounds like it is going to spill a lot of dirt.  It is hard to judge the book until it is actually released, but hearing that A-Rod was referred to as "A-Fraud" by his teammates is not going to help the 2009 Yankees.  A-Rod is obiviously delicate and I would imagine a million questions about his relationship with his teammates and former manager will put him on a bad path at the start of the season.  Hopefully, Torre focuses most of his ire against management, but the A-Rod stuff is damaging enough. 

What I wonder is why Joe felt the need to do this?  By leaving the way he did and refusing to take shots at George, he proved he was the bigger man.  Now, it sounds like he is going to stoop to George's level and that's a shame.  I can't blame him for wanting to lash out, I just wish he hadn't. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Barring a change of heart from both Andy Pettitte and the Yankees, this is the staff the 2009 Yankees will use:

SP's Sabathia, Burnett, Wang, Joba and Hughes (could be Aceves or Kennedy too)

RP's Rivera, Marte, Bruney, are the definities and then a mix of Coke, Aceves, Geise, Veras, Robertson and Ramirez.

It's obviously a huge improvement over 2008, but is it enough? It starts at the top with Sabathia.  The guy is the complete package and one of the best pitchers in the game.  A healthy Chien-Ming Wang means the Yankees should have over 400 innings and 66 starts from their top 2 starters. After that things get a little murky.

Burnett is a fabulous pitcher when he is healthy, but that's the problem.  Can you count on the guy to pitch 200 innings?  I'm not sure and I would assume he makes around 28 starts (his average over the life of his Blue Jays deal) 

Joba is clearly a great talent, but he will be on an innings limit this year.  He only got to 100 innings last year which means he probably won't be allowed much more than 135-140 this year.  I would assume he makes somewhere around 22 starts

You could write a similar thing about Hughes, but you would need to add injury risk to the profile. Hughes also finished right around 100 innings last season and I would assume they cap him around the same level as Joba.

Add it all up and you probably can expect around 140 starts from this group, so where do the remaining 22 starts come from?  The Yankees could mix and match using Aceves and Kennedy to fill in as needed, or they could sign a pitcher. (And yes, I think Coke is a bullpen guy and not a starter)

Based on the stories involving Freddy Garcia, it sounds like they are trying to sign a pitcher and I am ok with that.  Remember 140 starts is probably the best case scenario, an injury to one of the five (a decent bet with Burnett and Hughes) and you need more starts. So, do the Yankees go back to Pettitte?  What about Sidney Ponson? (I'm kidding)

While I would like to see another starter added to the mix, I think the bullpen is all set.  Mariano is in the front and the Yankees have plenty of arms behind him.  You will most likely have two lefties in the pen and there are a number hard-throwing righties that the Yankees can call on.  Look at the 40-man roster and guys like Humberto Sanchez and Mark Melancon are waiting in the wings as well.  Add in the fact that the one are Joe Girardi really did well in was bullpen management and the pen should be very good in 2009. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Today we can reasonably project the Yankees offense heading into 2009.  The biggest question isn't really who makes the club, rather it is how many bats will they carry?  You can assume 13 and hope for 14 (since that would mean they only carry 11 pitchers)  Let's assume 13 for now.  That would probably look like this:

Catchers (2): Posada and Molina

Iniflelders (5) Teixeira, Cano, Jeter, A-Rod, Ransom

Outfielders (5): Damon, Gardner, Nady, Swisher, Cabrera

DH (1): Matsui

Swisher can of course play first as well and Matsui could play left, but I think the Yankees don't want to try that considering his knee.  

The outfield depth looks very good, it just comes down to can Gardner handle the centerfield job?  We won't know that for awhile, but I think the Yankees are smart to let him try.  

My concern lies with the infield and catching depth.  Start with Posada and his rehab from injury.  The Yankees say he will be ready for Opening Day, but can they be sure?  And, if he isn't, the alternative is Jose Molina.  Molina provided 268 AB's last year with a line of .216/.263/.313.  If the Yankees go into 2009 with Molina as the only viable backup to Posada, they are making a huge mistake.  We have heard that Romine and Montero are the catchers of the future, but they haven't gotten out of A ball yet.  The Yankees have to trade for a catcher with a little more oomph to carry them over the next few years.

Infield depth also worries me, not at firstbase, but at the other positions.  Jeter is going to be 35 this year.  (Isn't that amazing?) while A-Rod will turn 34, neither of them can be considered a lock to play 150+ games.  Cody Ransom had the best Yankees' debut since Shane Spencer, but he is 32 and there is a reason he only has 183 AB's in the bigs.  If one of the infielders gets hurt, the Yankees could be in trouble.  (And please, don't try and convince me that Angel Berroa is the answer either)

Will Cashman address either of these issues before the team leaves camp?  I would say no, for whatever reason the bench has never been an area of concern for him.  I hope I am wrong, but we will see.   

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

The Yankees settled two arbitration cases today.  I will get to the Nady one in a second, I am just stunned by the Melky news.  Melky submitted a request of $1.7 and the Yankees countered with $1.2, they met near the middle at $1.4.

This for a guy who put up an OPS .642 last year while making $461,200.  How in the world does he get a raise of over 200%?  Sure, the money is chump change to the Yankees, but isn't this an indication that the system is broken when terrible seasons are rewarded with big raises?  

Anyway, Xavier Nady agreed to a $6.55 million deal which means he got less of a raise on a percentage basis than Melky, but still is relatively cheap for his performance.  Now that the Yankees have signed him, I would expect their trade talks to intensify with other teams.   

Bruney asked for $1.55 million and the Yankees offered $1.1. I would guess they will probably settle that one too.   

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 07:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It was good to hear Bernie Williams on the radio today, promoting a charity appearance he is about to do.  In his appearance, Bernie announced that he will play for Puerto Rico in the upcoming WBC and that he might try and return to the game if the WBC experience goes well. 

I love Bernie, he was my favorite player of the recent dynasty, but he is fooling himself if he thinks he will be able to jump back into the game at 40.  But, a large part of me hopes he rips the cover off the ball in the WBC, just so I can see him fly around the bases again.   

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 05:33 PM | Permalink

Want some good news if you are freeing like me on a somewhat snowy day?  We are less than a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting.  Thanks to the WBC, the first reporting date is February 14th, something that may warm you on the inside.  I am afraid I can't help your outside. 

And while we are at it, isn't it amazing how many free agents are still out there?  Obviously, Manny Ramirez is the biggest fish left, but there are tons of guys available including Andy Pettitte.  I have a hunch that may not be for long.  If you read this news item on the Dodgers, you will notice that they specifically mention that the payroll felxibility of the Andruw Jones move allows "for the acquisition of a veteran starting pitcher to join an otherwise young rotation."

If you think about it Pettitte would be a nice fit out there and obivously the manager loves him.  The only question is, would Andy want to relocate his family to LA?  He might not have a choice as the Astros seem maxed out payroll-wise and the latest reports on his talks with the Yankees weren't good. 

There is also speculation that the Mets could get involved with Pettite and it makes sense from a location standpoint.  But, there have also been plenty of rumors that the Wilpons were heavily involved in the Bernie Madoff affair and lost millions, which may explain why the Mets never seriously engaged Derek Lowe.  (Note, the Wilpons keep denying this rumor, but it is a fairly persistent one.) 

Stay warm, baseball is on it's way back.   

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 01:38 PM | Permalink

The Yankees announced that they have invited 20 players to Sprng Training today.  There are a number of interesting names beyond players like Kei Igawa.

Mark Melancon was invited and you have to like his chances to help this team at some point in 2009.  All the scouts say he is the next closer in the system, so we will see what happens.

Austin Romine and Jesus Montero, the two big catching prospects in the system were invited.  They won't last long in camp, but I hope to see a little of both of them before they get sent down.

Shelley Duncan was invited, which means he cleared waivers.  Frankly, I am surprised by that because I thought he would get picked up by someone else (Cardinals).  I still think he could help the team against LHP, but that time has probably passed.  

Austin Jackson got an invite.  What happens if he has a stellar camp?  Would the Yankees give him the centerfield job right off the bat?

Ramiro Pena and Kevin Russo, two infield prospects will also be there.

Don't forget, the WBC is this year and depending on which Yankees play in it, that will open some playing time for some other guys.  I imagine it will only be Jeter, A-Rod and Damon, but you never know.   

UPDATE- Kind of a weird addition to the Shelley Duncan invite via Chad Jennings

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 06:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)