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Anticipating Questions About The Yankee Budget

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 7:00 pm 5 Responses »
Feb 222010

When the Yankees signed Chan-Ho Park this morning, those that were cynical about the Yankees budget took the opportunity to declare the budget a sham. As Joel Sherman explains, this is simply not the case:

Essentially, the Yankees had $2 million remaining in their budget when Randy Winn was signed for a $1.1 million. But as Park’s price kept falling, Yankees GM Brian Cashman continued to lobby ownership to expand the payroll because the organization viewed Park as one of the top relievers on the market.

And when the price fell further over the course of the week, from $1.5 million to $1.2 million, Yankees ownership finally approved the signing…..

This signing likely puts even more pressure on Cashman, however, to trade either Chad Gaudin ($2.95 million) or Sergio Mitre ($850,000) to bring down the payroll more to ownership’s liking.

Basically, Sherman explains that the Park signing took place in the context of a budget, such that Cashman needed to appeal to ownership to exceed it by $300,000 (the amount the Park signing exceeded the money left over after Winn). If Marcus Thames makes the club over Jamie Hoffmann, that will put the Yankees another 500K over budget. As such, Sherman notes that Cashman may be forced to trade Sergio Mitre or Chad Gaudin to bring the budget back into line, with Mitre’s $850,000 being enough to bring the Yankees back in line with their stated goal. It is quite clear from this situation that the Yankee budget is in fact real, as the GM was required to get approval to exceed the budget by less than 1 million dollars, and may be pushed by ownership to lose a contract so as to keep salaries in line.

Furthermore, just to nip this issue in the bud, I have seen some people questioning the budget by stating that the Yankees will show the budget to be a farce if they need to acquire an expensive player in mid-season. This ignores the fact that the Opening Day budget is almost certainly different than the overall season budget. Most clubs leave themselves a cushion so that they can operate to improve their team in-season if the opportunity and necessity arose, and the Yankees are likely no different. The Yankees have left themselves some leeway to add to the club during the season. The only question is, how much room have they left themselves, and how important must a player be for them to consider moving past the lines they have drawn? No matter what the answers to those questions are, one thing is becoming exceedingly clear: the Yankees have a budget, and they plan to be fairly strict about it.

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Posada and Burnett to reunite this season

Posted by Chris H. at 5:00 pm 1 Response »
Feb 222010

Not sure if this was reported as a standalone item anywhere, but Erik Boland of Newsday informs us that manager, Joe Girardi, has announced that Jorge Posada will catch A.J. Burnett this season. A serious amount of ink was devoted to the Burnett-Posada duo a season ago, after the two seemed to have “problems” working with one another, which led Girardi to install Jose Molina as Burnett’s everyday catcher (and which Posada did not like very much).

Result-wise, while there may be some substance to the notion that the two did not gel well as a unit – over 16 games with Posada behind the plate, Burnett held hitters to a .270/.353/.421 line and posted a rather poor K/BB of 1.72 (79/46), and with Molina, Burnett held hitters to .221/.307/.352 line over 11 games while posting a much improved 2.66 K/BB (77/29) – in reality, as stated by a number of articles, much of Burnett’s struggles last season were not actually Posada-related, rather, they were brought on by mechanical problems with the now 33-year old’s delivery. Unfortunately for Posada, he became a newspaper causality of these struggles, as it is much more interesting to discuss a pitcher and a catcher’s seemingly ineffectual relationship instead of mechanical flaws in one’s motion.

Anyway, to Burnett’s credit, he is excited to begin working with Posada this season and wants to disprove last season’s media-driven controversy regarding the two as batterymates. “I was looking forward to it from the first day of camp to be able to put that behind us and start working together,” Burnett said today when asked about throwing to Posada this season. “A lot of stuff was blown out of proportion last year and we’ve talked a handful of times already and we’re just real excited to put that behind us and move on, get better and learn from each other.” He also took fault for last year’s woes, saying that he was not right in the head, at times, and was often questioning himself, not Posada.

Photo by Reuters

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McAllister waits for an opportunity

Posted by Chris H. at 3:00 pm 7 Responses »
Feb 222010

Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record has a nice piece out on Zach McAllister, one of the Yankees best-rated pitching prospects. McAllister, 22, is in camp this spring to show off his stuff after tossing 121 innings of 2.23 ERA ball for Trenton in 2009. Though he isn’t known for his strikeout totals – 96 last season – McAllister’s command and sinking fastball have him at the top of the Yankees’ list if the need arises for a farm system callup, at some point, in 2010. The 6’6″ right-hander will do his best during Spring Training to keep his name in mind before heading off to Scranton. “I know that they’ve been calling the younger guys up the last couple of years,” McAllister said regarding the prospect of a big-league appearance this season. “It’s one of those things where, if I go out and do my job and something happens at the big-league level, hopefully I’ll get my shot up there.” Last October, McAllister, a native of Illinois, was named the Yankees third best prospect by our very own, EJ Fagan.

Photo via Mike Ashmore

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Reviewing this Offseason, Part One

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 1:00 pm 3 Responses »
Feb 222010

On the 17th, Tim of MLB Trade Rumors posted the off season in review for the Yankees. There, he obviously lists all the moves that Brian Cashman has made since the Yankees won their 27th championship in November. Since the roster is more or less set, and we’ve got little to do until the Spring Training opener, I thought it’d be nice for us to do a little review of some of the different moves. Today, we’ll talk about pitching

The Yankees made two moves in the rotation this year: they re-signed Andy Pettitte to a one year, $11.75MM deal and acquired Javier Vazquez from the Braves–along with reliever Boone Logan–for Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn, and Arodys Vizcaino. Both of these moves are good moves, and I think we all know why.

Pettitte may not be very flashy anymore, but he’s almost a lock to provide 180-200 innings of at least league average pitching. He’s had that type of season (at least 180 IP/100 or greater ERA+) in 11 of his 15 Major League seasons. Consistent performance like that is incredibly valuable, especially when it’s coming from the team’s third starter.

Consistency is also something they’ll get from Javy Vazquez, who’s pitched under 200 innings just three times in his career (172.1 in ’98, 154.2 in ’99, and 198 in ’04). Considering he’ll be lined up as the de-facto fourth starter, the Yankees are likely to get great value from Vazquez. The trade that brought him (back) to the Bronx was also a great deal.

While Melky Cabrera was useful, his being traded seems to signal that the Yankees don’t think he’s going to grow much more than he already has. While that’s one long term ramification of the deal–there is another one–in the short term, it’s a solid deal. I’d be willing to bet something of good value that Javier Vazquez will be more valuable in 2010 than Melky Cabrera will. The other piece the Yankees sent along, Arodys Vizcaino, definitely has high upside but he’s still untested in a full season league, so it’s more than doubtful that he’ll provide any value to Atlanta’s big club team in 2010.

Losing Vizcaino meant that the Yankees’ system took a big hit. However, like it’s been said, despite his undeniable talent, he’s very far away from being a big leaguer. It’s conceivable that, if they offer him arbitration and let Vazquez leave after this season, the Yankees could get a suitable replacement for Vizcaino in the 2011 draft.

Boone Logan was also brought in, and he’ll compete in Spring Training for a bullpen spot. If he makes it, it’ll be as the second lefty. Logan has a .702 OPS against lefties (.333/.398), so he could be a good second option. Is he a necessity? No. Could it hurt to give him an audition at some point in the season? Sure. Basically, Logan replaces Mike Dunn, who would’ve been the second lefty out of the bullpen after Phil Coke was traded to the Tigers.

Of course, the Yankees also lost some pitching in the offseason, though none if it is incredibly major. Aside from Vizcaino, the Yankees parted ways with Phil Coke, Ian Kennedy, Brian Bruney, Mike Dunn, Chien-Ming Wang and Josh Towers. Let’s break this down pitcher by pitcher:

Coke: The biggest loss of the pitchers, going solely by impact on the ’09 team, he was likely to be the second lefty after (a hopefully healthy) Damaso Marte. Coke was traded to the Tigers along with outfielder Austin Jackson for Curtis Granderson. Apparently, the Tigers may try him in the rotation, though manager Jim Leyland sees–and rightly so–as a bullpen guy.

Kennedy: He went in the same deal as Coke, but he headed to Arizona. I’m sad to see Kennedy go. I feel like he never got a fair shake in NY and it would’ve been nice to see him compete for a bullpen spot (an Al Aceves type role) for 2010. Instead, he’ll likely end up in the Diamondbacks’ rotation, where he could do alright, as long as he’s not as timid as he was in his 2008 rotation stint. Attack the zone, Ian! Anyway, losing Kennedy made the Yankees’ depth take a hit, but that was somewhat fixed by Vazquez’s addition. And, like the other players in the two major trades of this offseason, the players brought in will definitely be more valuable than the players that left.

Bruney: Bruney was traded to the Nationals for their pick in the Rule V draft, which turned into outfielder Jamie Hoffmann. Brian would’ve been struggling to make a spot and after a few years of inconsistency–and the beginning of a relatively expensive portion of his career–the Yankees were right to cut him loose.

Dunn: Not a big loss, Dunn still needs some seasoning in AAA. If he can harness his control, he could be a decent lefty option going forward for the Braves.

Towers: This means literally nothing but the loss of some AAA fodder.

Wang: We’re all sad to see Wang go, but the move makes sense. There doesn’t seem to be room for Wang going forward. He wouldn’t be a good fit in the rotation–there’s no room there and he wouldn’t be the fifth, or even sixth, best starter on the Yankees–and his pitch-to-contact-style is not desirable for a bullpen pitcher. For the Nationals, this move is a low risk, medium reward signing. I wish CMW luck in our nation’s capital and I appreciate his pitching of ’05-’08, but the Yankees will likely be better off without him.

Check back tomorrow for the hitting version of the offseason review.

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Yankees Annual 2010 On Sale Today!

Posted by EJ Fagan at 11:00 am 2 Responses »
Feb 222010

For the third straight year, I have the pleasure of announcing to you that I have been published by Maple Street Press in their yearly season preview magazine Yankees Annual 2010. It is an absolute pleasure to write for them every year. In the past, I’ve contributed long-form pieces on Joba Chamberlain and the Yankee farming strategy. This year, I actually have two articles in the Annual.

The first article is titled, “Who Says Farming Doesn’t Pay: Yanks Collect Dividends Through Plan B” and is one of my favorite long-form articles that I’ve ever written. I look at what the Yankees did in their World Series run when things didn’t go according to plan – when Alex Rodriguez goes down with surgery, or Jorge Posada and Jose Molina both find themselves on the disabled list at the same time, or Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez explode, or Chien-Ming Wang forgets how to pitch. Its a four-page recap of a lot of stories that probably will be forgotten as the championship season fades into history, but were very important to the team’s eventual success.

The second article is called, “Prime Prospect: Jesus Montero Arrives”, and is what you would expect. I go through Montero’s history, abilities, and scouting report, and I throw in a few charts and graphs to hammer home how special Montero is. And of course, I editorialize quite a bit. Its a three-page summary of what a lot of people here have probably already read, but with some added bonuses to make it worthwhile for the hard core fan.

Pending Pinstripes author Greg Fertel also contributed a must-read piece on the rise and fall of Phil Hughes. He’s planning on writing a post soon on it, so I will be link to it when he does.

The rest of the magazine is packed with some really excellent writing. Our editor Cecilia Tan has some really great scouting reports on every Yankee pitcher and batter, including full spray charts, hit zone charts, and pitch location charts. The Annual sports a robust minor league section, historical looks at Lou Gehrig and Ricky Henderson, and some great accounting of the 2009 season. And best of all – not a single page is devoted to advertisement. I can’t highly recommend it enough.

You can purchase advance copies online here. The magazine will hit newsstands, bookstores, and plenty of other places in the tristate area on March 2nd.

Yanks sign Chan Ho Park

Posted by Steve S. at 7:19 am 12 Responses »
Feb 222010

MLB.com has the story, the Yanks have brought in the Korean native on a 1 year deal:

Right-hander Chan Ho Park, who pitched for the National League champion Phillies in 2009, announced early Monday that he has reached a one-year agreement with the World Series champion Yankees, according to Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

Park, 36, a native of Korea, made the announcement at Park 61, a fitness center he opened in Seoul after last season, when he went 3-3 with a 4.43 ERA in 45 games, including seven starts, for the Phillies.

The press conference occurred after 1 a.m. ET. The Yankees have not made a formal announcement. The contract is reported to be for $1.2 million, with incentives that could net an extra $300,000, provided Park passes a physical.

As a low risk depth move, you can’t complain too much about it. Last time we saw Park he was throwing gas (95-96 MPH) out of the Phillies bullpen with good control. But I’m in the camp that thinks the Yanks will be better served by an extra bat on the bench rather than an extra arm in the bullpen, and it appears that’s out the window. As things stand right now, our bullpen will be

Mo

Joba/Hughes

Damaso Marte

Dave Robertson

Alfredo Aceves

Chad Gaudin

I have to think that Park will make the MLB roster, so that means Melancon, Albaladejo, Gaudin and Boone Logan all get bus tickets to Scranton in a few weeks. Not that it’s any surprise, but I was hoping Melancon would make the team. Given his lack of use when he was called up last year and his subsequent lack of control, they probably feel MM needs to pitch, which I can’t argue with.

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