Hot Offseason Action: Yankees
This is one in a series of posts that will call out all 30 teams for their wily offseason moves and tragic offseason blunders.
The Yankees haven’t done much this offseason. It’s been more addition by subtraction.They traded Garry Sheffield to the Tigers for prospects. They traded Randy Johnson to the Diamondbacks for a middle reliever and prospects. And they are about to let Bernie Williams walk.
About the only big thing the Yankees did add was SP Andy Petitte.
So how do the Bombers look heading into 2007? Better than ever.
Say what you will about small-ball being a more dependable postseason strategy. Or that the Yankees have too many big swingers to handle amped up playoff pitchers. But over 162 games, no team will score as many runs as the Yankees.
It’s telling that the Yankees have added only two significant regulars this offseason (Petitte and Kei Igawa — we’re not counting Doug Mientkiewicz) and yet their GM is being lauded for his savvy. That’s how stacked the team already was.
The team still has some pitching questions, both in the bullpen and in the rotation, but they’re not big questions. And the bullpen is improved by the addition of Luis Vizcaino, who held left-handed hitters to a paltry .163 AVG last season in Arizona.
Moreover, with an offense like this, the pitchers really won’t have to do much.
Offseason Grade: A-
Acquisitions
Kei Igawa, Andy Petitte, Doug Mientkiewicz, Luis Vizcaino
Losses
Gary Sheffield, Randy Johnson, Bernie Williams, Craig Wilson, Jaret Wright, Tanyon Sturtze, Octavio Dotel
Projected Lineup, Rotation and Closer
CF Johnny Damon - .285/.359/.482, 80 HR
SS Derek Jeter - .343/.417/.483, 34 SB
RF Bobby Abreu - .330/.419/.507, 42 RBI
3B Alex Rodriguez .290/.392/.523, 35 HR
DH Jason Giambi - .283/.359/.411, 43 RBI
LF Hideki Matsui - .302/.393/.494, 8 HR
C Jorge Posada - .277/.374/.492, 23 HR
2B Robinson Cano - .285/.359/.482, 78 RBI
1B Doug Mientkiewicz - .283/.359/.411, 43 RBI
SP Mike Musina - 15-7, 3.51
SP Andy Petitte - 14-13, 4.20
SP Chien Ming-Wang - 19-6, 3.63
SP Kei Igawa - none
SP Carl Pavano - none
CL Mariano Rivera - 34 S, 1.80
January 18th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
They still have time to add Clemens. Plus, they made out like bandits by getting good prospects for oldies. But does anyone ever expect the Yanks to get dicked on a trade? No. That’s why they’re the Yankees.
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January 18th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Clearly, there can never be too many pictures of Kei Igawa looking doofusy. The man is truly photo-hilarious!
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January 19th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Your credibility is taking some serious shots. You forgot to include ARod in the Yankee’s lineup. Add to this the fact that you completely disregard the potential for breakout seasons and development by young players in your offseason recaps (especially in the instance of the braves, id say they did a pretty good job considering that they are set at the closer and setup positions for the next 5 years and that they had to do all this while slashing payroll. ) and you need to look back at your analysis and maybe actually provide some analysis instead of stating the obvious. That being said, I like a lot of your stuff.
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January 19th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Todd, you’re right: I forgot to put A-Rod in the Yankees’ lineup. My bad. Thanks for pointing it out.
On the other hand, I don’t see the potential for any young Braves to break out this year, except Jeff Francouer and maybe, MAYBE Ryan Langerhans. And I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Also, saying that the Braves bullpen is set for the next five years is naive, at best. Relievers are notoriously hard to predict from one year to the next. Plus Wickman is ooooold.
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January 19th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Haha, I didn’t even notice that ARod was missing when I added Jason Giambi to Coley’s projected lineup and changed the centerfielder’s name from “Matt Damon.” But I guess that’s because ARod actually WAS missing from the Yankees lineup for most of last season. At least mentally.
But in any case, Coley is totally right about the Braves. If anything, he wasn’t harsh enough. That LaRoche trade was brutal for a team that was already offensively challenged. It’s not like Mike Gonzalez is going to be the second coming of Mariano Rivera or anything.
The Braves are going to be brutally bad this year, unless Andruw goes apeshit in his contract year and hits 85 bombs or something.
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January 20th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
A-Rod’s “not a real Yankee” status attains new heights!
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January 20th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
hehe, at this point, even Bobby Abreu (2 months) feels like more of a “True Yankee” than ARod (3 years).
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January 21st, 2007 at 8:17 pm
[...] January 17 - Dodgers, C January 18 - Braves, C- January 18 - Yankees, A- January 19 - A’s, B January 20 - Padres, B January 20 - White Sox, D- Share us:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
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January 21st, 2007 at 8:18 pm
[...] January 17 - Dodgers, C January 18 - Braves, C- January 18 - Yankees, A- January 19 - A’s, B January 20 - Padres, B January 20 - White Sox, D- Share us:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
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February 15th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
You obviuosly must be a Yankee fan to grade the Yankess offseason an “A-” and the Red Sox a “B+”. Of the three Yankee acquisitions mentioned by you, which one, not to mention their three-way average, is an A-? Igawa? The new first baseman? The other new infielder? Mystery to me, that’s for sure.Get some objectivity, please.
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February 15th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Art, Sarah wrote the Red Sox review. I wrote the Yankees review. She is a Red Sox fan. I am not a Yankees fan (go Phillies!). However, I think you can argue that the Yankees did more by staying pat than the Sox did by agressively signing free agents at insane prices. The Yankees actually managed to lower their payroll, while strengthening their defense and pitching. The Red Sox bolstered their starting staff, but their bullpen lost its stud closer, their infield defense got worse (Lugo for Gonzo) and their payroll went through the roof. So which team had a more efficient offseason?
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February 16th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Sarah and I discussed the relative grades of the Yankees and the Red Sox. The Yankees had a brilliant offseason not because of Igawa or Mientkiewicz, but because of the way they managed to load up on hot prospects in exchange for Sheffield and RJ, something Coley could have highlighted a bit more maybe.
Basically, the Yankees got rid of two guys they didn’t even want and somehow convinced teams to give them all sorts of live young arms and bats.
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