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Is Steven Jackson a Darkhorse?

Posted by EJ Fagan at 11:37 pm 3 Responses »
Mar 022009

The Yankees picked up Steven Jackson when they traded Randy Johnson back to Arizona. The other pieces of that trade – Alberto Gonzalez, Ross Ohlendorf, and Luis Vizcaino – are all long gone from the organization. Jackson, probably the least heralded player in the trade at the time, remains.

Jackson is a relief pitcher with a hard, biting sinker. He struck out more than 10 batters per 9 innings in 2008, and has modest control. Jackson was an effective minor league starter for Arizona, but had trouble in Double-A after being traded to the Yankees, who converted him to the bullpen by the second half of 2007. He then spent all of 2008 relieving between Double-A and Triple-A. He has been impressive in spring training. Jackson was Rule V eligible this past December, and Brian Cashman responded by adding him to the 40-man roster. While Mark Melancon may be the future of the Yankee bullpen, guys like Steven Jackson and David Robertson are more likely to find themselves as the immediate replacements for injured Yankee relievers due to their spot on the 40-man.

How good could Jackson be? Its hard to tell. I haven’t the pleasure of watching Yankees spring training baseball here in Providence, but Moshe tells me that Jackson is looking pretty good so far. His filthy stuff and poor control makes me think a bit about Juan Cruz, although its highly unlikely that he’ll ever be that good. Jackson has put in some pretty long relief outings for Scranton and Trenton, and could be a mild darkhorse to take the long relief spot away from Alfredo Aceves and Dan Giese. However, it is much more likely that Jackson returns to the minors and waits his turn behind Robertson and the loser of that battle.

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SB Interviews John Coppolella

Posted by EJ Fagan at 4:53 pm 4 Responses »
Mar 022009

Squawking Baseball posted a fantastic interview today with John Coppolella, the former Assistant Director of Pro Scouting for the Yankees who is now with the Atlanta Braves. I recommend reading the whole interview, mostly about the Atlanta Braves and how they approach the arbitration process, but SB also also asked a great question about the Yankees:

Speaking of scouting, you signed Edwar Ramirez for the Yankees and Jorge Campillo for the Braves, two diamonds in the rough. Tell us about what you saw in them.

On Edwar Ramirez, it was a case of a pitcher whose statistics simply jumped off the page.  During a routine check of independent league statistics, an intern named Kiley McDaniel and I came across Ramirez’s numbers with the Edinbug Coyotes in the summer of 2006: 45 strikeouts in 26 innings and a 1.07 ERA.  After talking it over with my superiors I called up the area scout who lived closest to Edinburg, Mark Batchko, and he drove 3+ hours on a moment’s notice to lay eyes on the player.  I remember talking to Batchko on the 4th of July from a pizza stand in a mall in my wife’s hometown of Peekskill, and hearing how much he liked the player.  I called it into the office, called up the independent league, worked out an agreement, and we signed the player the next day.  If not for the work of McDaniel or Batchko, he wouldn’t have been a Yankee.

Can I have Kiley McDaniel’s job please?

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Girardi On The Hot Seat?

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 2:48 pm No Responses »
Mar 022009

Jon Heyman runs through his list of eight managers on the hot seat, and number 2 on his ledger is our very own Joe Girardi:

Girardi’s $200 million Yankees team won 89 games despite injuries and underperformance. Yet, it was the first empty October after 12 straight year of postseason play under his legendary predecessor Joe Torre (and 13 straight playoff appearances overall). And while Girardi has two years to go on his three-year, $6.8-million contract (chump change compared to what Torre turned down, but still pretty good money), he knows he better make the playoffs this year to return for the final year of his deal.

“There’s a mandate every year for the Yankees (to make the playoffs), and I understand that. I understand if you don’t win, you don’t usually stay,” Girardi said. “It’s win or go home. You understand when you accept this job that if you don’t win there’s a good chance you won’t be here. That’s the nature of this job…..”

Girardi is generally thought to be at least Torre’s equal in terms of on-field strategy, and truth be told, he’s probably ahead of Torre on that score. He prepares like crazy and doesn’t miss too many tricks. The place where he still has work to do to catch up to Torre is in the clubhouse. Girardi seems relaxed again this spring (just like last spring), but he must learn to maintain a composed manner once the season starts. While it’s impossible to match Torre’s calm, mature demeanor, Girardi needs to come closer to it. His bosses will site improvement needed in his relationship with the media, but it wouldn’t hurt to establish a better rapport with more players, especially some more of the stars from the dynasty teams, stars that were once his teammates.

While I do think that Joe’s seat is getting warm, I am not so sure that he will get the axe if the Yankees repeat 2008. If Joe Torre’s Dodgers makes the postseason again, I have a hard time seeing the Yankees admitting their error and firing Torre’s replacement. I think that they will let Girardi finish his contract, and then make a decision on him going forward based on his 3 year body of work.

What do you think? Is Joe on the hot seat? Should he be?

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Revisiting the Derek Jeter Problem

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 1:30 pm No Responses »
Mar 022009

Derek Jeter’s soon to be expiring contract is an issue that this blog has tackled multiple times during its brief existence. However, we have provided many questions and few answers as to what the Yankees should do following the 2010 season. There is one number that I think might help the Yankees make this decision: 16.6 million.

Derek Jeter was worth 16.6 million dollars last season (according to Fangraphs), a season widely considered his worst since his rookie year. His improved defense fully compensated for the decline in his hitting ability. I expect him to hit considerably better this season, assuming that he can avoid injuries such as the one he sustained last May. Unless Derek’s performance does a total cliff dive, I would offer him either 3 years/45M or 4 years/54M. While he may not be earning every cent of that money on the field by the end of his contract, his value as the most marketable and respected player in the game is something that makes him more important than his baseball production. The Yankees are not going to let “baseball’s captain” go, and I think the deals that I mentioned would leave the Yankees as the highest bidders. Hopefully the two sides will reach an accord, and Jeter can end in his career in pinstripes.

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Negron: What Torre Did Was Insult

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 11:16 am No Responses »
Mar 022009

Via Ken Davidoff:

Ray Negron may lack the name value of an Alex Rodriguez or a Joe Torre, but he has stories that would sell. For the better part of the last 36 years – the period that George Steinbrenner has owned the Yankees, in other words – Negron has been behind the scenes of the most famous team in U.S. professional sports. Yet, as he makes clear, “I am not for sale.”

Now an adviser to the Yankees, Negron has turned down offers from multiple publishers to share his memoirs and has found a different avenue to express himself. “One Last Time: Good-Bye to Yankee Stadium” is his third children’s book starring Yankees legends, with the proceeds again going to charity.

“Joe Torre was supposed to be an icon in New York,” Negron said this past week in an interview. “To me, what he did with that book ["The Yankee Years"] was just an insult to everything that’s supposed to be so good about the Yankees.

“You don’t take shots, you don’t talk negative, if you’re a manager. You don’t talk negative about your players. These guys were your players. These guys went to war with you. You don’t do that. That was really bothersome, because I expected more from him.”

I would love to read a book by Negron, but he has too much integrity to just spill the beans about the inner workings of the Yankees organization. I think those defending Torre when the book first came out should take a long hard look at Negron’s words. Negron has plenty to gain by revealing the secrets he knows, but would not expose the organization that turned his life around. If only Torre shared those sentiments.

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