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Damon: "Things will work out somewhere"

Posted by Chris H. at 7:02 pm 5 Responses »
Jan 192010

Here’s an interesting Johnny Damon item on the evening.

From Tyler Kepner of the New York Times:

Johnny Damon, via text msg: “I’m sure things will work out somewhere.” Has he ruled out NYY? “I never say never anymore.”

Kepner subsequently added the following:

That said, from what I can tell, Hal Steinbrenner and Cashman are serious about not wanting to exceed $200M, and Yanks believe in Gardner.

At this point, it is difficult to read Damon’s market. No team, in particular, seems to have a genuine interest in him for their outfield, but, as a result, his price has fallen to the point where he could be a major bargain. Perhaps a club will be compelled to sign him on that alone. In any event, I would expect the Yankees to receive a final phone call from Scott Boras if Damon were about to sign with another organization, just in case they are willing to match a low figure.

Photo by Getty Images

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Gardner: "I've got to get more aggressive"

Posted by Chris H. at 5:00 pm 1 Response »
Jan 192010

Here’s what I wrote earlier this month regarding Brett Gardner’s plate patience:

I bring these statistics up because, in 2010, if Brett Gardner is, indeed, the team’s everyday left fielder, it seems as though being a bit more aggressive with pitches when they are inside of the strike zone could be offensively beneficial. Basically, if the pitches are not balls, he has the ability to make contact and should try and put the pitch in play. As a regular, proud pitchers will be inclined to challenge Gardner given his specific offensive skill set — he’s a slap hitter with very little home run power — and, therefore, perhaps a slightly more aggressive approach within the strike zone would help the club in 2010…

Thus, this season, I would anticipate Gardner to be more aggressive in the box, but not in a general way. He will continue to avoid off-the-plate offerings, as his keen eye simply won’t allow him to chase bad pitches. Beyond that, though, expect a significant increase in Gardner’s swing percentage with pitches that are actually over the plate.

Over the weekend, in a Chad Jennings (LoHud) article, Gardner said the following:

“I think you have to sit down and figure out exactly what works for me and what didn’t work for me,” Gardner said. “To be honest, I say it every year, it’s one of those things that I’ve got to get over the hump. I’ve got to get more aggressive. I can’t fall behind. Mentally, as far as my approach at the plate, I just need to be more aggressive and put some balls in play.”

Whether he starts or comes off the bench, expect Gardner to swing a lot more this year than he did in 2009.

Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

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Cards still interested in Chien-Ming Wang

Posted by Chris H. at 3:00 pm 1 Response »
Jan 192010

According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals are in the process of “reviewing the medical information on Chien-Ming Wang,” a potential rotation option pitching coach Dave Duncan described as “intriguing” in mid-December. If the interest is real, St. Louis would be a nice landing spot for the rehabilitating right-hander, as Mitchell Boggs, a less than impressive name in comparison, is currently penciled in as the team’s 5th starter. In addition, Kyle Lohse and Brad Penny are not exactly locks for a full season’s worth of work, therefore, having a relatively inexpensive, high-upside arm like Wang’s could help the Cardinals construct ample rotation depth for 2010.

Wang has garnered a lot of interest but is not expected to throw off a mound until mid-February at the earliest.

Photo by Getty Images

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Finding a Middle Ground, Part Three

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 1:00 pm 1 Response »
Jan 192010

Jorge Posada

Both Joe P. of River Ave Blues and our own Steve S. have wondered aloud if Jorge Posada is headed for a decline in 2010. There’s no doubt that, having read those articles or not, the same question has crossed all of our minds. After all, Jorge’s a catcher, which makes the aging process at the plate much more accelerated.

Due to Jorge missing a lot of time in ’08 (51 games played) and ’09 (111 games played), the projection systems–including the fans–don’t see Jorge reaching 500 PAs, something he hasn’t done since 2007. Anyway, on to the numbers.

Despite the worrying–which is still warranted–Jorge’s average projected line actually looks pretty good. It comes in at .274/.367/.469 with 18 HR and 69 batted in across 460 PAs. As I said, though, some of the worrying is warranted. The average projection still has Jorge striking out above 20% with a walk rate of about 11.5%. While those aren’t bad numbers, they’re still worse than his career averages. On the positive side, it is nice to see Jorge projecting to have a .469 SLG and a .195 IsoP. Getting consistent power from the catcher’s spot–like the Yankees have been lucky enough to get for the past 15 years–is always important and it looks like Jorge can still do that. It’s worth noting that Jorge was definitely helped by Yankee Stadium last year, as he slugged over .600 at home in ’09, while slugging “only” .432 in away games; I say “only” because Jorge still had a solid IsoP of .187 while playing in away games.

Regardless of where he’s doing his hitting, though, Jorge can more than hold his own at the plate. Hopefully, he can give another solid year there before seeing some more time at DH as Jesus Montero begins knocking on the door to the Bronx and as Austin Romine continues to climb the ladder.

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Discussion: Building A Bullpen

Posted by EJ Fagan at 11:00 am 12 Responses »
Jan 192010

Spring training will no doubt show us a battle between relievers looking for their spot in the bullpen. Barring a Ben Sheets surprise, we already know what players will make up most of the bullpen. They are:

Certains: Mariano Rivera, Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain, Damaso Marte, David Robertson, Alfredo Aceves

Strong Candidates: Sergio Mitre, Chad Gaudin, Boone Logan

Weaker Candidates: Mark Melancon, Edwar Ramirez, Jon Albaladejo, Wilkins De La Rosa, Zach Kroenke*

*Has to be returned from the Rule V draft

The Yankees will likely carry 7 relief pitchers on their roster. That means that two candidates will make the team. I don’t know about you, but the prospects of two of Mitre, Gaudin, and Logan don’t make me feel very confident. Logan and Mitre have career ERAs in the 5s, and really only make sense in a super-specialized role (Mitre as mop-up guy and Logan as an extreme LOOGY). Gaudin at least has a major league track record of consistently keeping opponents to a slight below average ERA. He’s pretty clearly the best of the lot.

Boone Logan has an option, so he can go down. But will the Yankees send the very affordable Sergio Mitre to waivers? I don’t think they will. I think that its much more likely that they trade Gaudin’s 3 million dollar salary and use Sergio Mitre as their long man and spot starter, which will almost certainly cost them wins. The other possibility is that they carry both Gaudin and Mitre, which seems incredibly redundent with one of Hughes or Chamberlain and Alfredo Aceves also on the roster.

I would much rather see Mitre jetisoned and one of the weak candidates be given the spot in spring training. Mark Melancon’s time is coming eventually. We’ll have to see when that will be. I think that Melancon disappointed a lot of Yankee fans this season, but only because expectations were incredibly high. Melancon had an admirable minor league season, but showed jitters in his brief major league time. With certainty and stability to his routine out of spring training, I think that Melancon could really show us what he’s got. God knows he doesn’t have anything more to learn in Triple-A (2.84 ERA, 9.4 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 1.65 IP/G) that would justify sending him back down.

I really believe that keeping Mitre is one of those “easy” decisions that the Yankees need to avoid making. Interia is the only thing that justifies his roster spot. At the very least, Alfredo Aceves can do Mitre’s job 10x better. I’m open to trading Gaudin if freeing up the salary space helps bring back Johnny Damon or bring in Reed Johnson or someone else in left field, but even then Mitre should go.

But that’s enough of me. My vote is for Gaudin and Melancon. What do you guys think? How would you construct the 2010 bullpen?

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Remaining Free Agents

Posted by Steve S. at 6:56 am 7 Responses »
Jan 192010

Old friend Peter Abraham of Boston.com compiled a list of the remaining players still available on the current free agent market. Here it is:

1B: Russell Branyan, Carlos Delgado
2B: Orlando Hudson, Felipe Lopez
SS: Orlando Cabrera, Miguel Tejada
3B: Joe Crede, Melvin Mora
DH: Jim Thome, Jason Giambi
OF: Rick Ankiel, Reed Johnson
OF: Johnny Damon, Xavier Nady
OF: Jermaine Dye, Gary Sheffield
C: Bengie Molina, Jose Molina
SP: Joel Piniero, Vicente Padilla
SP: Jon Garland, Pedro Martinez
SP: Ben Sheets, Braden Looper
SP: Chien-Ming Wang, Mark Mulder
SP: Erik Bedard, Jarrod Washburn
RP: Kiko Calero, Chan Ho Park,
RP: Ron Villone, Kevin Gregg
RP: David Weathers, Jamey Wright

It’s amazing how much quality talent is still available at just about every position. It also goes a long way toward explaining why, despite recent signings, there has been little movement from the Yanks or Brian Cashman. If he’s even in the market for a Left Fielder (which is an open question)  there are still plenty of good players available.

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