Managing the Yankees

The Yankees still has a hole in left field and their options is getting thinner as the days passes by. Free agent slugger Jason Bay is off to the Mets, while utility man Mark DeRosa signed with the Giants. The Yankees are still playing cat and mouse with free agent Johnny Damon and they are not sure if Damon will give in to their offer.
So until now the Yankees still have an open slot in left field. Who will be that man?

Is Reed Johnson the answer in left? Could be. Johnson is not as good as Bay, Holliday or even Damon but he still can contribute. GM Brian Cashman declared that they have only few million dollars left to sign a left fielder ($ 4 million to be exact) and Johnson fits in that salary range.
Last year Johnson has a salary of $ 3 million with the Cubs.
Reed Johnson has no history of any serious injury during his 7 year career in the big leagues and is still on his prime (just turned 33).
Johnson is the right guy for the Yankees budget season in 2010. The plan is to sign Johnson for one year worth $ 2-3 million and let him go next year. Then they can go after Type-A free agent outfielders like steal base king Carl Crawford.

If the Yankees signed him, Johnson can platoon with speedy Gardner in left field and can start against lefties. Hitting against lefties is his specialty. He makes consistent contact and hits well with runners in scoring position. Johnson is an average .282 hitter with some pop.
With a lot of weapons in the Yankees line-up, Johnson just need to hit consistently.... not homers but singles will do to keep the ball rolling. He can be inserted in the 9th hole and give the top of the order guys like Jeter to score an RBI if he is on base.

Defensively, Johnson can play all outfield positions. But he is more suited playing in left and right field. He has range and speed to cover his designated field.

What the Yankees like about Reed Johnson is the way he hustles. His tenacity is exactly what the Yankees need to compliment their stars. Both Johnson and Gardner are hustle type of guys which will bring a new dimension in the Yankees left field position.
Last year the Yankees have Damon in left and his weak arm is a liability in their defense. This year things will be different.

The Yankees have a deep roster and they just need utility guys and 9 hole guys that are able to give "just enough" support to be competitive. Reed Johnson is the type of guy that the Yankees should look on to.

I know it sounds ridiculous for the Yankees to sign high prize free agent Jason Bay. The Yankees already said that they have "only $ 4 million" left to sign an outfielder and they are looking for Type-B free agents.
So far it's only the New York Mets that are really serious in getting Bay. The rumored offer stands at $ 15 million for 5 years.
I don't see the Red Sox to be involved in the Bay sweepstakes since they already signed Mike Cameron for 2 years/$ 15.5 million.

Will it be practical and reasonable for the Yankees to sign Bay. The answer is obvious, it's a no. But what are the pros and cons of bringing Bay to the Yankees. Let's make a study shall we:

THE NEGATIVES:

GOODBYE TO MAUER AND 2011 FREE AGENT CLASS:

If the Yankees sign Bay they won't have any room to sign quality players like Joe Mauer, Jose Reyes, Carl Crawford, Jason Werth, Bronson Arroyo, Josh Beckett, Cliff Lee, Brandon Webb, and Huston Street.
Plus the Yankees have to bring back Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera who will be free agents as well.
The Yankees will have holes in the rotation and catching position in 2011. Left field spot is the least of their priority.

EXCEED THE $ 200 MILLION BUDGET:

The Steinbrenners said to GM Brian Cashman to stick with the $ 200 million payroll budget for the coming 2010 season. If they get Bay ($ 15-16 million annually) they will exceed their budget and will destroy their plan on cutting their expenses. That means the Yankees will go back to their old spending days which might turn their club to a over-prized and aging team.
They don't want to go back to that situation.

THE POSITIVES:

A POWERHOUSE LINE-UP:

Just imagine this line-up in 2010 (batting order 1-9): Derek Jeter will lead-off, followed by Curtis Granderson. Then you fill the heart of the line-up with sluggers Mark Teixeira at 3rd, A-Rod in the clean-up spot, and Jason Bay in the 5th. Complete the rest of the line-up with Jorge Posada batting 6th, Robinson Cano in 7th, Nick Johnson at 8th, and Nick Swisher batting last.
There are no holes and weak spot in that line-up. Everybody can hit and capable of hitting home runs. Opposing pitchers will definitely have a nightmare facing the Yankees.

ANOTHER WORLD SERIES TITLE:

The time is now! Win now while the Yankee icons like Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, and Posada are still on their prime. The club should grab this opportunity of winning another championship while guys like A-Rod, Teixeira, and Sabathia are still on board. This don't come around very often. If they have Bay, they definitely get a chance of getting World Series title no. 28.


MY RESOLUTION:

Who said winning is cheap. If the Yankees want a serious run to another championship they should sign Bay. If things didn't work out they can trade Bay in the middle of the season or at the end of the 2010 season so that they can be active in the 2011 free agent pool.
Like I said, it's more reasonable for the Yankees to be economical and cost-effective. They still have a chance of winning even without Bay.
But the Yankees will have a bigger chance if they have the Canadian around.
If I am the Yankees, I will sign Bay see what happens then trade him if he is not successful. It's worth a shot. It wouldn't hurt to add another power slugger like Jason Bay.

Everybody came to love the "Melk Man" Melky Cabrera. His tenacious defense and strong throwing arm made him a regular outfielder for the Yankees. With Johnny Damon's weak arm and Hideki Matsui's incapability on playing the outfield due to his knees, the Yankees turned to Melky as their regular center fielder.
It's a good thing that Melky fitted well with the Yankees. His defense was there but his offense is just enough to place him at the bottom of the order. He usually plays in the 8th or 9th hole and he provided spark to the ball club. Melky doesn't need to hit home runs and have a high batting average and RBI production since the Yankees are loaded with sluggers that can produce some runs. That is why Melky is a perfect fit with the Yankees.

In 2009, Melky even added another weapon to his resume and that is being "clutch". Melky had 3 walk-off hits in 2009. On April 22, 2009, Cabrera hit the first walk-off hit in the New Yankee Stadium, a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 14th inning, to help the Yankees win 9–7.
On May 15, He hit a walk off single to win the game 5-4. And on May 23, Melky had another walk-off hit, this time a single driving Robinson Cano after Alex Rodriguez hit a two run home run to tie it.
Because of his amazing stellar play Melky won the Major League Baseball Clutch Performer of the Month of May.

Melky continued playing Mr. Clutch all the way to the post-season. In the ALCS against the LA Angels, he hit an average of .391 as he was one the Yankee who was responsible in putting away the Angels for good.

What will I miss about Melky is his "fun antics" out in the baseball field where he usually jumps for joy with a "jumping high five" whenever the Yankees make a stellar play or if they win the game. He and Robinson Cano started that "thing" which rub out to all the players in the roster. Melky brings a fun and relax chemistry to the Yankees. He will be missed.

But baseball is a business and the Yankees know for sure that they need to improve every year to remain competitive and hopefully win another World Series title. With the Curtis Granderson acquisition from a trade, the Yankees have an outfield logjam that has Nick Swisher, Brett Gardner, Melky Cabrera and Jamie Hoffmann. The Yankees are thinking that they have flexibility to trade one outfielder (Gardner or Melky) for a starting pitcher.
So they did exactly that by trading Melky plus others to the Braves for Javier Vazquez and a reliever. It's a good trade for the Yanks as they strengthened their rotation to 4 reliable starters.

So why did the Yankees choose Gardner over Melky? For one Gardner is cheaper than Melky. Gardner has a better hitting average, also plays good defense in the outfield, and is also still young. But the one thing that made Gardner more valuable to the Yankees was Gardner's extreme speed. Gardner is so fast that he can wreak havoc in running the base paths. He is capable of stealing 30-40 steals in a season if he plays regularly.
It's a tough choice but the Yankees need to release one outfielder to get a stud like Vazquez.

It's been a good run for Melky. In some way he has help the Yankees in winning their 27th World Series title. Thanks for the memories Melky and good luck on your future career.

The Yankees earlier said that they are going to get somebody to boost their starting rotation. That somebody turned out to be former Yankee Javier Vazquez. The Yankees traded Melky Cabrera, left-handed pitching prospect Michael Dunn, and another prospect Arodys Vizcaino to Atlanta for starter Javier Vazquez and reliever Boone Logan.

Last year, the Yankees were walking in a tight rope by only using 3 starters (Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte) in the post-season. They got lucky as they won the World Series championship. This coming season the Yankees don't want to rely on pure luck. That's why they got Vazquez even at the expense of some good Yankee players.

Mixed emotions and reactions was experienced as the trade was announced. Some say that Vazquez can't handle the pressures in New York. Some say that Vazquez doesn't belong in the American league and he is much better off in the National league. Some say that Vazquez won't recover the disappointing loss to the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS where he gave up 2 homers to Johnny Damon including a grand slam in the pivotal game 7. Blah, blah and blah......

For me, this is a good trade for the Yankees. Here's why:

1.) SOLIDIFY THE ROTATION:

With Vazquez at the fold, the Yankees have a formidable starting rotation for 2010. The Yankees is right there with the Red Sox. The Red Sox will have a rotation of Beckett, Lester, Lackey, Dice-K, Buchholz, and/or Wakefield. While the Yankees counters with Sabathia, Burnett, Pettite, Vazquez, Joba, and/or Phil Hughes.

2.) A PRETTY DECENT PITCHER:

Vazquez might have a terrible season with the Yankees in 2004 but that is just one season. Remember that he suffered an arm injury in the 2nd half of that season.
But aside from that, Vazquez is a consistent pitcher. He has double digit wins for the past 10 seasons and has a decent career ERA of 4.19. Vazquez has ace tools, he has a nice repertoire of dominant fastball, good curve and an outstanding change-up. He can dominate as a strikeout guy, doesn't give up many walks, and is very durable.
Vazquez is a proven innings-eater, throwing 198 innings or more in each of the past 10 seasons, topping 200 in nine of those years. Vazquez has also struck out 200 batters five times in his career, including each of the past three seasons.

This image came from The Yankee Universe.

Okay the question is do the Yankee administration trust GM Brian Cashman? The answer is an astounding "Yes".
Why? Well since Cashman was promoted as the Yankees General manager the Yankees have won 6 American League pennants and 4 World Series championships. An incredible feat coming from an organization and city that expects nothing less than success and greatness. The pressure of managing a team like the Yankees is tremendous, knowing for a fact that your team has the biggest payroll and you have to prove to the fans and to the world that the high payroll is worth it.

Cashman started as an intern with the Yankees in 1986. In 1994, he was named as an assistant general manager. In 1998, Cashman replaced Bob Watson and was named Senior Vice-President and General Manager. Through the years he worked his way up and prove to the Yankees organization that he belongs.

Brian Cashman has made tough decisions in making the Yankees a championship caliber team. He traded promising Alfonso Soriano to the Rangers for Alex Rodriguez. Many critics did not agree with the transaction and Cashman should have stick with Soriano and said Rodriguez is just purely hype and cannot withstand the pressures of playing in New York. That seems to be case as A-Rod performance dissolves in the post-season every year. But Cashman stick with A-Rod knowing that he will deliver someday. That day happened in 2009 as A-Rod was one of the main clogs for giving the Yankees their 27th World Series title.

But it is not a smooth sailing career for Brian Cashman. There was also up and downs. There was once an instance where owner George Steinbrenner and Cashman had conflicts regarding the teams plans and directions. Some people wonder why did the Yankees signed Gary Sheffield over Vladimir Guerrero. And why did they signed Jason Giambi to a long and huge contract. We don't know who makes the call but I have the feeling that George Steinbrenner was making the shots at that time.
Because of the disputes, Cashman almost went overboard by talking to the Washington Nationals (a city where he attended high school). But instead, Cashman agreed to a new contract with the Yankees following the conclusion of the 2005 season which gave him more "authority" in personnel decisions and paid him an average of $1.3 million more over the following three years.

^{Today Cashman is receiving $ 6 million annually and is not yet due until the end of 2011.} Cashman was also named to Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 list for 1999.

One of the biggest achievement of Cashman was the immense signing of free agents in 2009 where he signed big names like CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. He even took Mark Teixeira away from rival the Boston Red Sox. This big signings have indicated that the Yankees are going to make another mistake by spending an enormous amount of money.
Cashman and the Yankees proved to the critics and throughout the rest of the league that they made the right choice of "investing" and not "spending" on those Type-A players. The 3 new Yankee acquisitions (Sabathia, Burnett, Teixeira) contributed extremely and help the team in winning the World Series championship. Cashman used the Yankees available funds in investing the right players.

This off-season, the Yankees want a cut back and wants to lower their payroll below $ 200 million. Cashman made a great choice by trading for Curtis Granderson and bringing back Andy Pettitte. He then signed former Yankee Nick Johnson for $ 5.5 million. Cashman is still not done and said they are still in the hunt for a starting pitcher and a utility player.
Indeed in Cash we trust! The Yankees made the right decision in having Cashman as their GM. Each transaction made by Cashman brings them closer in winning the World Series championship.

The Yankees need one more starting pitcher to bolster their rotation for the 2010 season. The Yankees are looking for a 4th starter through the free agency pool. One of their interest is Justin Duchscherer.
Duchscherer is a 2 time All-Star and had a record of 10-8 with a sharp 2.54 ERA prior to being waylaid by a chronic hip injury.

His recent injury is not much of a concern for the Yankees since he is not a strike-out pitcher. Pitchers that rely heavily on their fastball has a tendency to have more injuries because of their arms wear and tear. Duchscherer relies on other pitches and is a very good control pitcher with a low ERA and very few walks; just 34 last season.

Duchscherer is a Type B free agent and is still on his prime (32 years). The Yankees can afford him. He received a reported $ 3.9 million with the A's in 2009 despite missing the rest of the season. Look for the Yankees to offer him an incentive laden deal.

Why consider Justin Duchscherer?
For one his injuries is not that bad and the way that he pitches he can prolong his career to 3-5 years.
Duchscherer has proven that he can pitch consistently in the majors. He has a career ERA of 3.14 in the dreadful American League and he has experienced playing in the bullpen.

Duchscherer will fit nicely in the 4th starting position, providing stability and assurance to their rotation. It will be a wise move for the Yankees to get a pitcher like Duchscherer.

The Hot Stove is still burning and look for the Yankees to sign another starter. Justin Duchscherer could be that man.

Here is a sad fact. Damon and his greedy agent Boras wants no less than $ 13 million annually for 3 years. The Yankees made it clear that they will stick with the $ 8-10 million, 2 year contract proposal for Damon. And the way things are going it looks like that Damon will be shopping for a new team.

Personally, I think Damon and Boras are crazy. They will simply go nowhere with their contract demands. Damon's age, weak arm, and diminishing athletic skills is just proof that he can't play productively for 3 years. National League teams don't want Damon because of his liability in the outfield. DH is not in effect in the National league and they have no where to put Damon.
In the American League, teams are backing off because of Damon's pricey demands.

Which is why I am in awe as to why Damon doesn't want to take the 2 year deal with the Yankees. It's pretty clear the Damon and Yankees works hand in hand. Damon has homered more while playing with the Yankees, taking advantage of the Yankees stadium short right field porch. The Yankees on the other hand is comfortable with Damon in the top of the rotation. Both he and Derek Jeter is one the most feared 1-2 punch in the league.

It's really ridiculous to even think about Damon and Boras demands. The price ($13 million) is absurd and the number of year (3 years) is even funny. If I were the Yankees I would offer Damon/Boras a 3 year contract. The 1st year is $ 13 million and the following 2 years is for medicare and health insurance (no more salary). That would be a fair deal.
Normally baseball players slow down when they reach the age of 36 onwards. Injuries will increase, their speed and athletic capability will start to wear down, batting average and home run numbers will decrease. The list goes on and on.

The Yankees is doing the right thing of planning to get younger and be more athletic. Trading for the young center fielder Curtis Granderson was a good move plus they signed the old but reliable Andy Pettitte for "just one year". Hideki Matsui's knees will be a problem that's why they let him go. The proposal to Damon is a fair deal and Damon should take it or else....

As of today the Yankees are in serious discussions and is in near completion with free agent Nick Johnson. Pending a physical, Johnson will agree to a one-year deal with the Yankees worth about $5.5MM. And if this push through this might eliminate the chances of Damon returning. Nick Johnson is no Johnny Damon but he can still produce. Johnson is known for his patience and discipline at the plate, which have led to a high career on-base percentage of .402 through the 2009 season. This is not as flashy as the other Yankee off-season moves but it's a welcome one.

Is this farewell to Johnny Damon? If that is the case, the nickname "Idiot" (leaving the Red Sox and now the Yankees) will be attached forever in Damon's name.