Kuzul

Via Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated:

Andruw Jones in on the Yankees list of righty hitting OFs to consider.

I wanted to bring this one up to kind of debunk it a little. I’m not saying that the Yankees aren’t considering Jones, it’s very possible that they are, but Jones just happens to be a Scott Boras client and Heyman has a reputation of passing along anything Boras says.

In this case, Boras would want Heyman to pass this along because it could cause other teams who might be interested in Jones to up their offer if they think the Yankees are involved.

If the Yankees are considering Jones, that would be a very good thing, though.

Jones can play all three outfield positions adequately, shows patience at the plate and still has some pop in his bat. He’s also a right handed bat who would compliment the lefties in their lineup.

So it does make sense that the Yankees would be interested.

Related Stories

• January 3, 2011 — Heyman: Yankees Might Consider Andruw Jones or Johnny Damon

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The Yankees have been scouring the market for a starting pitcher, but so far that search has turned up a lot of bad pitchers. Apparently they are looking into another—Jeremy Bonderman, according to Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports.

Bonderman, 28, has spent his entire career with the Detroit Tigers. His career ERA-plus is just 90. His career strikeout rate of 7.1 isn’t bad, but he hasn’t come close to that number in years, putting up just a 5.9 K/9 in 2010 and a 4.4 K/9 in 2009.

This is a guy the Yankees should avoid like the plague. While he may technically be low risk, there is almost no reward. He’s only had two seasons with an ERA-plus above 100 and out of those two season only 2006 where he had a 112 ERA-plus (14-8, 4.08 ERA) was he even remotely impressive.

Since 2006, he hasn’t been at all impressive. He has dealt with elbow problems and hasn’t thrown 200 innings since putting up a 5.19 ERA since that time.

It’s really hard to imagine that he would be better than any of the minor leaguers that they could call up. If he would consider a minor league deal and would be willing to pitch in Triple-A Scranton to see if his strikeout numbers could come close to his career mark of 7.1 K/9, then maybe the Yankees should give him a shot.

If he could then maybe he could be 2011′s Dustin Moseley. That seems like a best case scenario. Otherwise they should just pass.

What do you think? Should the Yankees bank on Bonderman recapturing his 2006 form? Or would he just be meat for the Red Sox to feast on?

Most Commented Posts

• December 14, 2010 — 10 Starters Yankees Could Trade For After Missing Lee
• November 11, 2010 — Yankees Talks with Rivera are Not Active
• November 24, 2009 — Yankees 2010 Lineup Projections
• September 2, 2010 — Cliff Lee’s Back Is Bothering Him

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Via Ken Davidoff of Newsday:

“While the Yankees’ primary focus remains pitching, they have been communicating with free agent Johnny Damon about a possible return to the Yankees for 2011, Newsday has learned.

“Four sources said that Damon and the Yankees were talking about a role in which Damon, 37, would get occasional at-bats as a designated hitter and fill in at leftfield, allowing starting leftfielder Brett Gardner to either rest or shift to fill in for centerfielder Curtis Granderson or rightfielder Nick Swisher.

Damon would prefer a job with more guaranteed playing time, two of the sources said, so a deal is not close and far from guaranteed. But there have been multiple conversations between the two sides.”

The Yankees have been looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder this offseason, but it looks like they may turn to Damon, a lefty, instead. Damon had a .756 OPS last season with a .740 OPS against lefties so he isn’t a terrible option.

Damon probably wouldn’t be getting a ton of playing time though. Jorge Posada isn’t likely to do much catching at all so he should get a good amount of starts as the DH and their outfielders are all in their prime. So really Damon would only be playing the occasional day off for one of their outfielders or against a tough lefty. That realistically doesn’t sound like more than 50 to 60 starts.

There is the possibility that this could mean that the Yankees could be looking to deal one of their outfielders for a pitcher and would replace him with Damon. That seems unlikely, but it certainly remains a possibility.

If the Yankees are looking to deal one of their outfielders and replacing him with Damon it doesn’t sound like the best idea though. Damon, 37, had a pretty big decline last year. He went from a .854 OPS with the Yankees in 2009 to a .756 OPS with the Tigers last year. That’s about a 100-point drop. Now he’s a year older and it is possible that his numbers could drop even further.

If his OPS drops to around .700 or lower he could be a big strain on the team considering how bad his defense has gotten. He was barely even an outfielder for the Tigers last year playing 97 games as their DH and only 36 games in the outfield.

It it’s strictly a part-time role where he only plays 50 to 75 games including a decent amount as the DH it might not be such a terrible deal. Hopefully the Yankees will be smart and only offer him about $2 million or less though. Because if he’s making $4 million or so they’ll be reluctant to cut him if he’s OPS’ing around .650 by June.

What do you think? Should the Yankees re-sign Damon? Or were they smart letting him go a year ago?

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Via two tweets from Buster Olney of ESPN:

“Something to keep in mind re Andy Pettitte: Normally, he would already be deep into his preparation for the upcoming season, but he is not currently preparing to pitch. If his final decision drags out too much longer, he will be behind schedule to prep for 2011.”

There hasn’t been much news at all on the Pettitte front worth reporting. There has been a lot of speculation, though none of it really positive, and while I can’t report on every little tidbit that people come up with, this seemed worth reporting.

Pettitte has a pretty strict workout regimen that he prides himself on. At this point, it is not nearly too late for him to fire it back up again, but every day that passes without a decision makes it less likely that he isn’t coming back at all.

So hopefully this decision comes soon.

It should be noted that the Yankees are moving forward this offseason as if Pettitte is not coming back at all. That doesn’t mean they are going to sign somebody who would block his return, though.

At this point, anybody they sign would be a Jeff Francis-type, meaning that it wouldn’t keep them from being interested in bringing Pettitte back.

Related Stories

• December 20, 2010 — Yankees May Reluctantly Stand Pat with Current Rotation
• December 15, 2010 — Yankees Expect Pettitte Decision Soon
• December 14, 2010 — What Losing Lee Means to Yankees: Doom, Gloom, and a Trip to the Playoffs
• December 11, 2010 — Cliff Lee’s pending decision affects Yankees in several ways.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Via Jerry Crasnick of ESPN:

LHP Jeff Francis has gotten calls from several clubs. Mets, Nationals, Pirates, Rangers and Yankees have varying degrees of interest.

About a week ago we heard that the Yankees were open to signing some injury risk pitchers and one of the pitchers named as a possibility was Francis. Now we are hearing that the Yankees are indeed interested in signing him.

Francis, 30 in less than a month, actually makes sense more than the other injury risk pitchers. Unlike Brandon Webb or Chien-Ming Wang (who has already signed with the Nationals) Francis has actually pitched in 2010. His numbers weren’t impressive, 5.00 ERA in 104.1 innings, but just coming off an injury, it may take him a while to get back to 100 percent.

Another thing the Yankees would like about him is that he’s a lefty. This gives him an advantage in both Yankee Stadium and against the Red Sox who are lefty heavy.

Those are two pretty big reasons to be interested in him and, with Andy Pettitte looking more and more likely to retire any day now, it’s not impossible to see the Yankees getting aggressive in talks. So far that’s a bit premature, but definitely possible.

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• December 15, 2010 — Rumors: Yankees Considering Injury Risk Starters

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Update: While I was writing this Bill Hall signed with the Astros. This potentially makes Keppinger even more available as the ‘Stros have less of a need for him. I suppose right now if the Yankees are looking for a super utility type then it is between Keppinger and Jerry Hairston Jr.

Original post: Via Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports:

The Yankees, searching for bench help, have spoken with the Astros about infielder Jeff Keppinger, according to major-league sources.

A trade does not appear close, but the teams have engaged in recent discussions, one source said.

Keppinger hit .288 last season with a .744 OPS. He plays all of the infield position and while he has some experience in the outfield, he’s not really an option out there with only five games experience throughout his entire career.

The idea behind trading for Keppinger seems to be that he would be a cheaper alternative to Bill Hall. Hall is likely to get a multi-year option worth at least a few million a year. Keppinger will cost only a mid-level prospect and even though he is expected to get a raise on the $1.15 million he earned last season it would still be cheaper annually than what Hall will command.

It would be nice if the Yankees got both players. One to man the outfield and the other to take care of the infield duties. That way if either struggled there would be no regret that they made the wrong choice. If they do go with one player Hall seems to be the better choice if the financial side is ignored. He has more versatility and way more power potential in his bat.

What do you think? Should the Yankees save some money for a potential big move later on by trading for Keppinger? Or should they go after Hall because of the impact his power could make off the bench?

Most Commented Posts

• December 14, 2010 — 10 Starters Yankees Could Trade For After Missing Lee
• November 11, 2010 — Yankees Talks with Rivera are Not Active
• November 24, 2009 — Yankees 2010 Lineup Projections
• September 2, 2010 — Cliff Lee’s Back Is Bothering Him

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

There seems to be this idea going around that the New York Yankees are interested in the Chicago Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano, but according to both Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated and Buster Olney of ESPN it is not true.

That’s not to say that if the Yankees get desperate they couldn’t change their minds and turn their attention to him, but as of right now they have walked right past that sign in the window.

It makes sense that the Yankees are ignoring Zambrano for now. Sure the Cubs would trade him, but they would probably be willing to listen to an offer any day of the week that the Yankees, or anybody else for that matter, would call. The reason is, nobody wants him, probably not even the Cubs. He’s still an above average pitcher, but he’s extremely overpaid and crazy.

Sure, from 2003 until 2006 Zambrano was one of the better young pitchers in baseball. He had a run where he went 59-32 with a 3.14 ERA, a 142 ERA+, a 8.0 K/9 rate and a 3.9 BB/9 rate.

But things have changed.

In 2007, a year he went 18-13 no less, Zambrano took a turn for the worse. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he was being paid an eight-digit figure for the first time ($12.4 million), but whatever it is his numbers started declining.

He has always maintained a winning record, but his ERA went up from an impressive 3.14 to a wonder if he could make it in the AL 3.78. His K/9 rate dropped to 7.4 and his walk rate went up as well to a BB/9 of 4.1. Nothing drastic, but a player who dominated so much from age 22-25 should be getting even better from age 26-29.

He’ll be 30 by June of next year and at this point there isn’t much hope that his numbers will go back to where they were when he was a 22-year-old. For one thing his velocity has taken a big dip. Once sitting 95-96 mph Zambrano was lucky to hit 90 at some points last season and routinely sits at 87-91 nowadays.

He’s also paid a ton of money. Zambrano is in the fourth year of a $91.5 million contract. He currently has just two years and $35.875 million left on his deal. That makes him the fifth highest paid pitcher behind Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, CC Sabathia, and Johan Santana.

The Cubs and the Yankees both know all of this information. Which is why the Cubs would be willing to trade him at any time and why, for now, the Yankees have resisted the temptation.

Hopefully they will continue to risk that temptation for anything less than a one-for-one deal for A.J. Burnett. Even that deal would be a lateral move for the Yankees that would not be improving the team much at all while adding a volatile figure into the club house.

Let’s hear from you. Are the Yankees smart for staying away from Zambrano? Or should they be buying while his value is low?

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• December 21, 2009—Yankees, Cubs Talking Carlos Zambrano?

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The Yankees reportedly reached an agreement with free agent catcher Russell Martin, and with so many possible backstops already in their system, this raises some questions.

They have plenty of experienced and some not so experienced catchers available in Martin, Jorge Posada, Francisco Cervelli, Jesus Montero and even Austin Romine. So who starts?

Well, Posada is out. Early this offseason Yankees general manager Brian Cashman made that clear by announcing that Montero would be given a shot and that Posada was their full-time DH. Signing Martin only cements this idea.

Posada is 39 years old this year and really hasn’t been a capable starting catcher in two or three years. The DH role is right for him.

So Posada is out, and Montero was all but handed the role of starting catcher, but Martin does change things. What do the Yankees do with Montero now? They aren’t exactly going to shop him around, but if the right deal comes along, they would be willing to consider it.

If a great deal doesn’t come along, though, and it would have to be a great deal, the Yankees will hold on to Montero.

Going into the season with both Montero and Martin, two things could happen. They could just let them battle it out in spring training and the best one will win, while the other one becomes the backup.

Or more likely, Martin will be handed the role but will essentially share time with Montero, and Montero’s playing time will essentially be dictated by how well he adjusts to the majors. If he hits well, we could see Martin start about 80 to 100 games with Montero handling the rest. But if it takes some time for Montero to adjust, Martin could start more like 100 to 120 games. That would allow the Yankees to break him in slowly.

A lot will depend on how Martin plays as well. From 2006 through 2008 Martin was one of the better all-around catchers in the game, playing great defense and putting up a 109 OPS+. Over the last two years it has been a different story. His OPS+ is down to 86, and a hip injury last year could hinder his defense behind the plate.

Martin could potentially rebound though. He’s played in a ton of games for a catcher over the years and may come back rested after missing half of last season. He could get worse; hip injuries are not exactly great things to happen to players. He will likely remain the same though, and if he can provide good defense, his patience at the plate could mean he’ll easily have a .350 OBP going forward.

Two good things this does for the Yankees though is that it frees them up to trade Cervelli. Cervelli is not a great starting catcher for the Yankees by any stretch, but some teams could view him as one, and he would make a great backup for a lot more teams too. He doesn’t have amazing trade value, but he certainly does have a decent amount.

It also allows the Yankees to not rush Romine. He can play a full season in Triple-A, and even if Montero doesn’t succeed in the bigs right away, they don’t have to call Romine up. Montero and Martin should be able to handle the job, and as long as there aren’t major injuries, if they have to, Posada could catch 10 to 20 games as well. There should be no reason that the Yankees have to call up Romine.

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• November 5, 2010 — Yankees Ready To Make Jesus Montero The Starting Catcher
• November 12, 2010 — Yankees Rumors: Cashman Won’t Close Door On Signing Another Catcher
• November 11, 2010 — Yankees Rumors: No Interest in Catcher John Buck
• November 6, 2010 — Yankees Making Right Choice with Montero

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The Yankees and Rangers have both made their offers and now wait for Cliff Lee to make a decision.

Here are the latest rumblings—

• Neither the Yankees nor the Rangers expect a decision for a few days according to Bob Nightengale of the USA Today.
• CC Sabathia continues to be in contact with Lee during this whole process. He thinks the Yankees are the favorites.

That’s all for now. I’ll update this post if something comes up.

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• December 9, 2010 — Yankees Increase Offer to Cliff Lee
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Via Jack Curry of the YES Network:

“[Brian Cashman] had dinner with [Carl Crawford’s] agents on Tuesday, which was a bluff and was probably designed to get the Red Sox to inflate their offer to the leftfielder. The Yankees never made an offer to Crawford, and Cashman conceded that the Yankees weren’t interested in signing him. The Red Sox made an offer to Mariano Rivera, who the Yankees then signed quickly, and they also made a seven-year offer to Lee. Cashman might have been returning the favor by feigning interest in Crawford.”

The Yankees and Red Sox are definitely back at it after the rivalry cooled off for the past couple of years.

It started with the offer to Rivera.

Then there is aforementioned business with Crawford.

The Yankees taking Daniel Turpen in the Rule 5 draft.

Now they’re fighting over catcher Russell Martin.

The Yankees never wanted Crawford. They have three outfielders – Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, and Nick Swisher – who are under contract for $18 million combined.

At least $2 million less than Crawford will get all by himself.

So the Yankees bluff appears to have worked. Considering the Angels were only bidding about $100 million—$40 million less—yeah, it worked.

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