The Yankees may not go after any of these guys, but there are still some fairly notable free agents out there, considering it's late January. No guys you expect to star for a team this year, but established players. Do any of the following catch your fancy? And, yes, I am aware that a few of these guys bring off-field concerns with them wherever they land.
Barry Bonds -- no explanation necessary
Sammy Sosa -- worked out pretty well for Rangers, but wants more money now
Sean Casey -- Yankees don't need another first baseman, but someone can surely use him
Bartolo Colon -- Awfully big injury risk, but he was awfully good a couple years ago
Freddy Garcia -- Won't be healthy for a good chunk of the season, but could be a good risk
Livan Hernandez -- Has been an NL guy, but could be a good risk for someone
Ryan Klesko -- A little more pop than Casey, but likely more expensive as well
Kenny Lofton -- Fared well for Indians last season, seemingly ageless
Doug Mientkiewicz -- This 2007 Yankee remains on the market, stellar glove and all
Mike Piazza -- Looking for a new club with the A's in rebuilding mode
Comments (41)
The stock market is collapsing - its a good time to buy bonds.
How many HR's will he hit in Yankee Stadium?
A used car salesman would have a tough time with most of these FA's. I'd pass on the bunch even Doug M.
How about a free (almost) test drive - a contract laden with incentives but light on commitments?
Did I miss something?
Wasn't Doug basically hitting above his career numbers while fielding 1st base like a "Dyson"- (British guy selling a $700.oo Vacuum) "It nevah loses suction"...
So he was basically performing well above our expectations until Mike Lowell put him out of commission with that collision that left him concussed and broken wrist-ed?
I understand that we need another 1st baseman like we need another Carl "American Idle" Pavano but wouldn't it make sense just to keep him around if for nothing else but his ability to play a late inning defensive role?
Like many of us, I too am looking forward to seeing Shelly and Wilson Btmt, even possibly Giambi-(not holding breath)-battle it out for the job but wouldn't it make sense to let Doug also compete?
I really liked Doug!!
PS. It would be pretty funny if we signed Bonds!! I'm not saying I'm for it and it has Bite you in the a$$ all over it but he would definitely add one hell of a strange dynamic to put it mildy...
Can you imagine!!
"So down to their last out with the bases loaded it looks like Girardi is going to pinch hit for Duncan here in the bottom of the ninth..." - Michael Kay
"Now Batting number 25 the home run king Barry Bonds..." - Announcer
That would be a HOOT!!! LOL
Trevor Miller should be considered for the bullpen. We need a lefty in the pen!!!
Phucker,
I like Doug M. too, he was a pretty nice pickup last year, but I see the point that the Yanks are making when they say they have a logjam at 1B and it needs to be freed up somehow.
Cashman & Girardi are thinking Giambi is going to sieze most of the playing time at 1B so there's no point in signing Mientkiewicz. Either that or Duncan will be there with Giambi at DH because one way or the other, Giambi will be somewhere. If they thought there was a place for him, they would sign Mientkiewicz. Betemit is utility so don't count him in that mix. He will be fighting Nick Green for the last non-pitcher/catcher spot on the roster depending on how many pitchers they carry. Because of the pitching youth and desire to limit their innings, keeping both of them and thus alowing Green to be utility, will likely not be possible. Of course Matsui has a say in this as I would expect him to be the regular DH if his knee allows. It is what it is. Get used to it. Giambi will play a lot in the field at 1B. I know a lot of people are going to get bent out of shape about this but it's no big deal. Giambi catches the ball and throws well enough. He's not going to make great plays. If you have to suffer with this, 1B is the place to do it. If he plays there everyday and settles in, his hitting will more than make up for it.
Bonds wouldn't be pinch-hitting - he'd be the everyday DH!
Why would any RATIONAL person even consider Bonds??????????????
Peter,
Giambi can catches the ball and throws well enough???
Have you ever seen him play? He is probably the worst first baseman I have ever seen at making a throw. No range, hardly the softest hands and also importantly no instincts. Only Giambi can make the prospect of Duncan at first sound good.
Peter,
I think you missed the call there on Giambi at first. I'll give you this much: He'll make the routine plays but nothing spectacular and as Nudge says, his throwing is probably the worst part of his game. Also, can you really count on him being healthy enough to play first?
I'll admit I'm a Giambi fan, I generally root for the uniform, but as I explained on this blog a while back, Giambi taught Cano and Cabrera a lesson on being a good person that I witnessed so I've really rooted hard for the guy to make a comeback ever since, but I do not see him playing first very much at all.
Also, don't think the Yanks will be cutting Wilson Betemit any time soon at all. He is a switch hitter, with power, who can play every infield position except catcher so he's not going anywhere.
First try at posting this....fingers crossed.
Jim A,
Well done...at getting through the first try and the assessment. Betemit will see decent playing time this season as he did the past. They didn't sign him to send him to SWB.
As a DH Giambi could be a difference maker for this team if he can continue to get back to where he was when he arrived. He still hits the long ball be needs to be more consistent. I guess the lack of PED has taken that from him. Not a bad guy to root for though!
I think an incentive-based contract for Freddy Garcia is a good risk- does anyone really kow what to expect from Joba/Hughes/Kennedy. By the All Star Break a veteran may be needed.
I didn't see Andy Phillips on this list. Did anyone sign him?
cs08 - I believe that Andy Phillips signed a ML contract with the Reds
kidding me right? Giambi at 1st? i'm telling you, he will play, at most, 85-95 games this year (and thats being generous). betemit is willing and learnign to play 1st, not a 1st baseman. and duncan is lightning in a bottle.
doug m. makes sense in 3 areas - 1) very solid defensively 2) great clubhouse / team persona guy, especially with a-rod 3) can hit in 9th hole effectively
i dont understand cash and girardi's reasoning on this - defense wins championships, not 120 mill bust (giambi), utility man (betemit) and / or a power hitting trip A guy (duncan)
I’m glad the Yanks aren’t considering any of these guys. That would have been a solid list...in 98, not 08. Getting younger and cheaper should be at the highest priority these next two seasons.
What a different team we should have in two years.
Giambi
Damon
Matsui
Abreu
Pavano
Farny
Moose
Andy
Will all be gone, aside from Andy, no other player is wearing a WS ring with NY on it. Its time to clean house, at that time the only players over 30 will be =
Mo
Jeter
A-rod
Posada
Not a bad vet base for the young guys to lean on. So in two years we will go from the oldest team in the league ( we are this year and have been for the past 4-5 years ), to one of the youngest. That youth movement will give the yanks great flexibility to sign their own young studs to long term deals, while sprinkling in a couple vets to fill in the blanks....hows Mark Teixeria sound for a blank filler at 1B next season???
Like Ive stated before, instead of signing on these bums for 1 year, give the young guys a shot to see what they can do. We wont know for sure until they are thrown into the fire. Sitting Shelly this year because we think his 40-50 HR power cannot translate into the majors, is a mistake. Give him some time and he could be a solid player, maybe we don’t even need to spend 25M per on Mark next season? Who knows? Without starting him there is a 0% chance he becomes a solid regular, when you start him at least there is some chance he turns into a great player. Only one way to find out guys.
From the Pioneer Press, and River Ave Blues ( who takes a big shot at this site...YIKES ) =
===================
The Twins say they’re not panicking while holding out for the best deal for Johan Santana. But word within baseball circles is that offers by the New York Yankees (no more Phil Hughes) and Boston Red Sox are diminishing by the week. Best bet now for a trade of the two-time Cy Young Award winner appears to be with the New York Mets in a deal that would not include fast-rising hitter Fernando Martinez.
===================
Who knows at this point, Im starting to care less and less about the topic and just wish something would get done so we can move on with our lives. Im just glad that Hughes seems to be out of the discussion. If Phil, Joba or Cano are not part of a deal...I would do any other combo of players to get Johan in the Bronx, even taking the defensive hit of trading away Melk.
**last post was on the 1st try...if you are reading this, that would be two in a row**
Dru: I agree with you 100%. I would like to see Betemint get a real shot at firstbase especially against RH starters and Duncan playing some first against lefties ,DH and filling in the OF. Give the work to the young.
SI Tom Verducci- Starting point: stability
Schilling's right: The durable rotation has the edge
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tom_verducci/01/22/rotation.stability/index.html?eref=si_mlb
Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling last March correctly predicted, in theory, the winner of the American League East when he said, "The rotation that makes the most starts wins the division. It's that simple." Boston's projected five-man rotation made 140 starts, tops in the division; the Red Sox won the division. The Yankees' season-opening rotation made 105 starts.
In 2006 it was New York that won the battle over Boston for most starts by its top five starters, 125-107 -- and also won the division.
The Schilling Theory got me thinking that its applications go beyond the Boston-New York rivalry. As players are better trained than ever before and as front offices make better use of available information than ever before, the difference between going home or to the playoffs may rest more on rotation stability than any other factor -- which means pennant races might well be decided by the happenstance of injury. In other words, you can pour enormous resources and planning into team building and yet you're left to the mercy of when the alarm clocks that are ulnar collateral nerves or rotator cuffs decide to go off.
In coming weeks I'll get to what this means for the 2008 Red Sox and Yankees -- and the seven most at-risk young starters in baseball -- but let's just say for now that New York would be much better off in the short run, though not as certainly in the long run, to trade for Twins ace Johan Santana before spring training. The Yankees can build years of success around young starting pitchers Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, but just not this year without some risk. The Yankees know they can't push any of those starters to 200 innings this year -- not at their ages and not given the risky leap in workload it would require. And remember, the Yankees' mission is to get to the World Series, which requires a seventh month of starts for three young pitchers who aren't ready for even six full months yet.
Without Santana, New York must plan for rotation instability in 2008. It can be done, but the odds begin to work against a team the more second-tier starters it has to plug in. ("Second tier" is not a blanket evaluation of talent -- sometimes a replacement is better than the original -- but a marker of stability.) Indeed, rotation stability has been one big reason why Boston has been winning the titles that used to belong to New York. This chart (above, right) offers a quick look at the number of starters used by AL East teams from 2004 through '07.
[b]The Yankees have needed 10 more starting pitchers over the past four seasons than Boston and are well outside the range of every other team in the division. That's only part of the story, though. Look at the starts needed from second-tier pitchers -- that is, all starts made by everyone other than the five most-used starters each year:
[/b]
Here the difference in rotation stability is even more apparent. Over the past four seasons the Yankees have handed the ball to second-tier starting pitchers 60 more times than did Boston. The Red Sox have done a better job identifying reliable starting pitchers and, by a combination of luck and design, keeping them healthy.
O.K., so what? How important is that? The Yankees were 23-18 in those 41 second-tier starts last season. And every team needs depth, right? After all, the average team uses 10 starting pitchers per year. But each of the past six world champions have been below that average, while the Yankees have been worse than average every year since their last World Series appearance, in 2003, when they needed only nine. (Since then New York has used 12, 14, 12 and 14 starters. It's the equivalent of a golfer having to scramble often to save par; it can be done, but with a higher degree of difficulty.)
Starting Pitchers Used, 2004-07
Blue Jays 25
Red Sox 26
Devil Rays 26
Orioles 28
Yankees 36
Games Started by Second-Tier Starters
Team 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total
Yankees 36 51 26 41 154
Red Sox 5 19 48 22 94
Hank, wake up & smell the coffee! see Pioneer Press article. If Yanks can acquire Johan giving up a 4th OF (Cabrera), a 6th or 7th starter (Kennedy) and some other assorted "suspects", you MUST do this! To get Johan and keep Hughes is a no-brainer!!
Gene,
I'd like to add to your post by saying "Wake up and smell the bagels, Johan!, use the clout you have with your no-trade to demand to be traded to the Yankees and only the Yankees!.
That would be great....Okay, back from dream sequence.
Offer...
IPK
Horne
Melk
Austin Jackson
Would you guys be OK with that offer? That trumps any Mets or Sox offer. Based on Baseball America's top 10 for the 08 season. We would be giving up our
#2 ( Jackson )
#4 ( IPK )
#5 ( Horne )
+ a MLB ready player with 2 years experience that wont turn 23 until August in Melk. Cabrera instantly starts CF for the Twins and could be there for many years.
I think that's the highest package the Yanks can offer up without including ( Joba #1, Tabata #3, Phil or Cano ).
Lets also say that Johan demands an extension that was greater than Zito's contract ( 7/128M ). Based on Johan being a MUCH better SP than Zito and the same age that Barry signed his contract, maybe Johan looks for 7 years at 140-150.
Would you guys be behind that deal???
Dru,
I would do that, but I'm not sure the Twins would. They might if you left Marquez or another pitcher in the deal, hell I'd give them Igawa and pay his salary if that's what they wanted! (If my name was Hank that is).
I included Jackson for a couple reasons. One, the Twins wanted him in the beginning of this soap opera. Two, he is our highest ranked prospect not named Joba.
I would rather do a deal that had Marquez instead of Jackson.
IPK - #4
Horne - #5
Marquez - #7
Melk
That is a wealth of young, high ceiling, SP's that the Twins would be getting. Again, I still think that offer trumps the Sox ones. IPK is younger and has better stats than Lester. Marquez is better than Masterson. Melk is better than Coco. Horne is a higher ranked prospect than Lowrie. I wont even go into the pill of dung the Mets are offering up.
Even though we would be giving up a hell of a lot of young pitching, I would do the above deal. I would really have to think about the 1st one I posted since I think Jackson could be something very special. I have dreams about Tabata and Jackson coming up together and manning the corners beyond 2020. Ok Jim, now Ill end my dream sequence...lol
**if you are reading this, Im 4/4 today, couple singles, a double and a triple..going for the cycle!!!!**
Promise the Twins Igawa, paying his salary and a lifetime supply of sushi, flown in directly from the fishermen in Japan.!
(along with IPK, Melky and Horne).
Did you guys read the news about Mattingly not being the Dodgers hitting coach anymore, due to a family matter? Anyone know what is going on?
If you are reading this, then I am 5 for 5!
Off topic...but some actor named Heath Ledger died...it's big news I guess even though I don't know who he is.
I'm just looking for an excuse to tempt fate and try to go 6 for 6!
Funny story on a not so funny topic. A friend of mine at work just told me about Heath Ledger. I know the name but couldnt put a face with the name. I asked what movie he's been in. His reply, Brokeback Mountain. We all had a little fun with him after he said that.
I guess no: Brokeback Mountain II "just chaps"
; )
"DRU steps to the plate, bottom of the 7th in a shootout. Beckett delivers and ITS A HIGH DRIVE TO DEEP LEFT CENTER, BACK GOES MANNY AND COCO...AND...ITS OFF THE TOP OF THE WALL and into monument park for a ground rule double. DRU just missed the cycle on that one but is still 5-5 with 6 RBI's"
Is Johan in play? Should he be in play?
Any and all politics aside ...
Look at the market ...
4th biggest drop in history ... the crash is happening faster than I had even imagined. I thought the transnational and American elite (if there is such a group, and there probably is) would wait till the next election ... but they won't get past the first day of spring before a total systemic meltdown happens.
This is NOT a part of the business cycle. This is about liquidity, 600 trillion in shakey global derivatives. The Fed, Bushie-Bushie Jr ... they will be overwhelmed ... this is just a really bad sign ... they are in a panic because they keep printing money in the US and around the EU and it keeps vanishing. There is no new technology, no new investment vehicle and no savings rate. Just credit and debt and lies.
I know from the moronic you'll hear "No one cares." Well, you'll be caring right soon, bro. What's happened is 1 % of what's gonna happen in 2008 and 2009.
As for what it means for the Yankees ...
Again ...
No Johan.
We should not have resigned Abreu for that option.
I don't know how the Yanks can see through this payroll and the new stadium considering what's coming for all of us.
Teams like Tampa Bay with almost as much talent as the Yanks for only US$ 34 million will do okay in spite of it all. I went past the Tampa Bay Bucs stadium yesterday, and Al Lang Field, went to the MLK parade, and then past Tropicana Field ... how many fields do you need and how many can you afford when the State of Florida is on the verge of an economic Tsunami as well?
I just don't get it ... people can afford such luxuries?
No new stadium for the Rays. Why should they get a new stadium? No one goes to this stadium.
No Johan for the Yanks
Why have Igawa for a US$ 46 million posting fee for one win when you could have Ted Lilly for US$ 45 million for 4 years and about 15 wins per year. The Yanks won't have all this money to waste on Pavano and Igawa and Giambi and Clemens in due course. I guess it is a real reality check. No?
Time to weather the coming storm.
Rob Neyer's - Prediction: Posada to decline in '08
[quote]
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=neyer_rob
Beyond the Box Score has started an interesting project, "looking at each position on a league wide basis." Yesterday it was catchers, and I was reminded again just how amazing Jorge Posada was in 2007 ...
http://beyondtheboxscore.com/story/2008/1/21/22620/0869
[b]
Examining Posada's season a bit more in depth it's pretty amazing that at 35 Posada posted what amounts to a career season; I've heard of late bloomers but hitting .338/.426/.543 is pretty amazing. Of course part of that amazing happening -- pardon my lifting of the NBA motto -- would be his .389 BABIP which was roughly .040 points above his expected BABIP. It's pretty obvious to say Posada isn't going to repeat his performance, and the Yankees are more than likely going to regret giving him 13.1 million annually until 2011 ends, but if a team can afford to overvalue a player it would be the Yankees -- after all they've been following this method of overvaluing since 2000, particularly with their own[/b].
As fans, we tend to assume that everything that went well last season will go well again next season, and that everything that went poorly will go better. As analysts, we know that sports doesn't work that way. Posada entered last season with a .270 batting average and batted .338. Today I'll offer one truly easy prediction: Posada won't reach even .300 this season.
Which doesn't mean the Yankees won't do just fine with him hitting .268 or .278 (or even .258). But when you're making a list of things that have to happen if the Yankees are going to win 95 games, chief among them should be making up somewhere else for Posada's significant decline.[/quote]
We need Santana in the microeconomic sense to fill the seats with these outrageous ticket prices.
But we can't afford him in the macroeconomic and long term sense.
What do you do?
Does getting Johan mean we win the WS in 2008? No, we have way too many holes, Farns, Igawa, Mussina, too many injury prone players, Giambi, Godzilla, Damon, too many soft or undisciplined players in Cano, (nice talent though) Melky and Abreu (good person and pretty good talent but not the hard nosed guy you need to win.)
So if we say we won't win it all in 08 or don't have a remote chance to win it all, then no to Johan.
If you CAN win it all with him and you give up Igawa, Ian, Melky and Melacon or whomever for Johan, then do it.
There is so so so much other work to be done in spring training.
Right now we don't take pitches and work the count, don't foul off tough pitches, don't hit with 2 out and man on 3b or 2 out and RISP, can't bunt, can't hit and run, we have four or five languages, a new manager (capable), and no esprit de corps.
Martha Stewart could put together a better team. She has the jail connections. (Leyritz, traveling sec, Mel Hall, McNamee listen up.)
I don't see us making the playoffs this year. If so, another first round and out. But 09 could be a great year if the kids develop.
I say keep the kids, forget Johan, weather the storm, tighten the belts and see what happens economically over the next 12 months or so ...
And teach the players how to have heart and play the game right.
Look at the NFL Giants vs. Green Bay on January 20th as your training film.
Somebody please rescue us from this nut job.
Are you always this retarded?
If the Giants get clobbered in the Super Bowl by the Patriots, are they still the gold standard for "playing the game right"?
Please.
Sporting News- The scoop on New York Sports fans
[quote]
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/smitty324/131636
Several weeks ago Eli Manning was the worst of the worst, a bum of epic proportion. A bum among bums, what a difference a month makes. Welcome to the world of a New York sports fan. Talk radio, TV, newspapers are of course singing the praises of big blue. Our team, our town, we did it, etc. This will last for the next couple of weeks up until the final whistle of Superbowl XLII. Should the Giants come up on the wrong side of the score New York fans will revert back to their true colors which are never the same from day to day. Here is a tongue n cheek take on NY sports fans from a NY sports fan.
[b]
Yankees fans are very smart, extremely loyal, critical and spoiled, true blue to no end. On the flip side you have your September to October crowd the ones who always seem to show up as the champagne bottles arrive to the stadium.[/b]
Knicks fans- Loyal and extremely frustrated, die hard and somewhat delusional . Then you have the celebrity crowd, the ones who fill the seats courtside to be seen by the paparazzi . The Jay Z’s, Beyounce’s, your basic I’m trying to sell an album or promote a movie crowd.
Jets Fans – Blue Collar to the bone. Jealous of the Giants and Patriots. We are a wishful bunch of folks. Very hopeful and extremely optimistic until December arrives, then panic sets in. The true meaning of an identity crisis, Jets Fans.
[b]Mets Fans – Read above and substitute Giants for Yankees. Mets fans are cocky for no good reason. Every 7 or 8 years they catch lightning in a bottle, but for the most part they are all talk, and no results.
[/b]
Nets Fans – They are really Knicks fans in disguise but they proclaim some sort of oddball allegiance to a franchise that plays to empty audiences on a regular. Nets fans just need a hug.
Rangers Fans – True blue to no end and eternally optimistic even though both the Devils and Islanders have had more success in their history.
Islanders Fans – A happy group of fans living off of its 80’s success. Sort of like Green Bay Packers fans sans the groupie activity.
Devils – Very local, low-key, small community type of fan base. Almost like the local bingo game[/quote].
Anonymous,
They did play Dallas and Green Bay right. Right?
If you don't think so, maybe YOU are the nut job.
Will they get blown out in the Super Bowl? I hope not. I don't think so. The last time they played, about a month ago, it was a pretty close game, yes?
Sad you could not thrill to their victory. Maybe you don't like football and never stepped on the field. That's what I wonder.
Speaking of Nut jobs ...
The following nations announced over the past 48 hours that they have a policy of using a nuclear first strike as de facto preemptive policy
UK
France
Netherlands
USA
NATO
Germany
Russia
Who's next?
Sri Lanka
Togo
What's with all the nuclear war muscle flexing?
How can we enjoy sports, the Super Bowl, baseball if these war crazy people are mouthing off like this?
Unless Anonymous thinks that kind of talk is like, you know, totally ok.
Why care about the future of our nation, or of mankind?
And why not attack the man, when you can't refuse his points.
Maybe because you're a coward who needs to be rude over the Internet, because in person you'd get your ASS KICKED for being so rude for no reason?
Anyway, whatever ...
Jim A,
Speaking of the late Heath Ledger ...
Script from Broke Back Mountain Too
Anonymous: I wish I could quit you George Michael, but Pee Wee Herman and Senator Larry Craig won't let me.
Other Cowboy: I wish you had the guts to say your real name
Anonymous: I'm tough, but not THAT tough!
Ant/Anony;
You guys sure must like each other, you are always at each others****.
Sometimes I get bent, reading what ether one of you post. But it is a free country, no mater what political garbage that you write.
Both of you have very good points most of the times. Just leave politics/religion out of it. It will much better reading, and again, you guys are good. Good going guys! 27/08
Ant/Anony;
You guys sure must like each other, you are always at each others****.
Sometimes I get bent, reading what ether one of you post. But it is a free country, no mater what political garbage that you write.
Both of you have very good points most of the times. Just leave politics/religion out of it. It will much better reading, and again, you guys are good. Good going guys! 27/08
OOPS!
Here's the link to today's LA Times story about Mattingly's stepping down:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers23jan23,1,3804848.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-mlb-dodger
THAT IS WHY PEOPLE WAS SCARED TO HIRE HIM AS MANAGER,