Tag: Orlando Hernandez

New York Yankees’ 5 Best Offseason Signings of the Last Decade

Over the last 20 years, the New York Yankees have claimed five World Series championships, seven American League Pennants and five AL East titles. The success of the Yankees has come in large part from the homegrown talents of the “Core Four.”

Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte were certainly the faces of the Yankees dynasty—and arguably the most eccentric part of the success the Yankees had. However, the shrewd moves in free agency are what helped build this team into the force it has become.

Over the past two decades, there have certainly been some great free-agent signings by Brian Cashman, as well as some bad ones. Guys like Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia have certainly contributed to recent success for the team, but what about the guys in the 1990s? What about the guys who helped the Yankees win four championships in five years? What about guys like Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez and David Wells?

This article will break down the Yankees five best free-agent signings of the past two decades, and it somehow manage to rank them. I will do that by looking not only at the statistics, because gaudy numbers do not necessarily lead to positive results.

Ahem…A-Rod.

Stats are helpful, but this article will go beyond the statistics and rank the Yankees top five free-agent signings of the past decade according to value to the team and contributions to overall team success.

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MLB Free Agency: Ranking the 10 Best Signings for the Yankees in Recent History

We’re getting closer and closer to the 2011 season ending and the free agency period for baseball to begin.

In my last article, I did a history of the top 10 worst free agency signings for the Yankees.

The ones I reviewed were of recent history.

This will be the complete opposite of that.

This one will be the top 10 best free agency signings in recent history for the Yankees.

Since 1995, the Yankees have missed the playoffs only one time, won the American League East division title 11 times, appeared in seven World Series and won five championships.

A lot of that has to do with the Yankees making the right moves to land free agents.

This list was a lot harder to put together because of who was an actual free agent and who got traded.

For example, Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius, Paul O’Neill, David Cone, John Wetteland and Cecil Fielder were all results of the Yankees making trades and won’t be on this list.

Nope, this is strictly free agency moves.

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Breaking News: New York Mets Sign Right-Handed Reliever D.J. Carrasco

The New York Mets and free-agent reliever D.J. Carrasco have agreed to a two-year deal worth $2.5 million according to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com and Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com.

The deal is pending a physical, but it will more than likely transpire.

Carrasco was non-tendered by the Diamondbacks last week and was rumored to have six to eight teams looking to acquire his services, but it was the Mets who prevailed and signed the right-handed reliever.

With the loss of Pedro Feliciano and Hisanori Takahashi, the Mets bullpen is in serious shambles. Carrasco’s presence will certainly help bridge the gap from starter to Francisco Rodriguez, but more help will be needed.

Carrasco posted a 3.68 ERA, 7.5 K/9 innings and a 47.5 percent ground ball rate split between the Pirates and D-Backs, all stats looking to translate well into spacious Citi Field. 

From what has been made public, he is an interesting pitcher to watch that reminds fans of former Met, Orlando ‘El Duque’ Hernandez. He switches up his delivery for different pitches and is creative at finding ways to change his motion and life on his pitches.

Carrasco is also said to have a rubber arm and he has no problem pitching many innings or deep into games—something the Mets will look to use.

Overall, with the pick up of Carrasco and Ronny Paulino as Josh Thole’s back up during the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Mets GM Sandy Alderson seems to be making a “splash”in his own old school way. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


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