Comments on: Tepid Offseason Action: New York Yankees

By: Hot Offseason Action - New York Yankees | umpbump.com

Hot Offseason Action - New York Yankees | umpbump.com — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:33:18 +0000

[...] a heated debate after last year’s Yankee HOA about just how old the Yankees really were, they were afflicted in ‘08 by a rash of old-man [...]

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By: Sarah Green

Sarah Green — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:44:13 +0000

Sabathia only gets to the free agent market if the Red Sox don’t make a trade for him first. Woot!

But seriously, folks…this rumor was mentioned in the piece from the Globe I used to update our post on Curt Schilling’s shoulder (ie, that if Schilling goes down and Wakefield goes down and the Red Sox end up without enough starters, the Red Sox would be willing to pull the trigger on a trade for CC) and I almost laughed. According Shapiro, the Indians won’t trade Sabathia unless they completely choke in the first half of the season.

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By: Paul Moro

Paul Moro — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:28:00 +0000

I think that the Yankees ultimately made the right move by not trading away Hughes. Next offseason, they can dump Giambi, Pettite, Abreu, Mussina, Pavano (if they don’t buy him out first), and Farnsworth. That’s potentially over $80 million that can get freed up. Knowing the Yanks, not all of them will leave for better or worse, but they obviously are looking at Sabathia. He’s going to get at least $22m per on the free market and the Yankees are going to offer him a massive deal. And they get to plug in Wang, Chamberlain, Hughes, and maybe Kennedy along with him. That’s potentially a decade-long rotation.

Ultimately, the Yankees still have a playoff caliber team in 2008. And once you get into the postseason, pretty much anything can happen. So to me, it looks like that’s the Yankees game plan. Go into 2008 with this bunch, make some mid-season acquisitions to improve their chances of a playoff-berth, and hope to high heaven that Sabathia doesn’t resign with Cleveland AND that Cleveland doesn’t bomb during the season (which would make it highly likely that they’d trade CC before he becomes a free agent). And that’s Cashman’s gamble that I think he presented to Hank Steinbrenner. If this doesn’t happen, Cashman’s gone.

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By: Brian Sadecki

Brian Sadecki — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:49:24 +0000

Something interesting from The Harball Times:

The Yankees were right not to trade Phil Hughes

Despite our forecast for Santana’s dominance, that doesn’t mean that the Yankees will be despairing too much when he pitches across town every fifth day. That’s because they’ll get to have a poor man’s Santana in Hughes, and at a much poorer salary.

We project a 4.12 ERA for Hughes in the much tougher American League, and more importantly, our three-year forecast sees that number dropping to 3.84 by 2010. If we put Santana on the Yankees, his forecast for 2010 would be a 3.76 ERA—pretty much equivalent to Hughes! While Santana is the better pitcher now, he probably won’t be any more valuable over the life of his contract than Hughes, if Hughes can stay healthy (or if Santana cannot, I suppose).

Now that’s a big if, but the Yankees have 137 million reasons to feel pretty good about taking that chance.

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By: melissa

melissa — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:34:16 +0000

Big Z actually came into camp last spring in the best shape he has ever been. He is a big dude but he’s never come into a season out of shape. He certainly has the kind of frame that he could add weight but he is also very athletic for his size. He can field his position and run the bases rather well for a guy as big as he is. CC Sabathia is definitely fatter than Zambrano and it hasn’t stopped him from being an ace. Carlos is only 26 and I don’t think his best days are behind him but we shall see. He could have the potential to eat himself out of the league but hasn’t come close to that yet.

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By: Coley Ward

Coley Ward — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:31:21 +0000

Melissa, I’d agree that Zambrano has been an ace in the past. But I wouldn’t have signed him to that monster contract, as he is trending in the wrong direction. Also, I’d agree that Hamels hasn’t quite acheived ace status yet. But unlike Zambrano, I think Hamels’ best days are to come and the stats seem to back that up. Of course, if you’re the Phils, you have to worry about Hamels’ back. But if you’re the Cubs, you have to worry about Zambrano’s fat ass.

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By: melissa

melissa — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:13:44 +0000

Coley, I thought of Zito right after I made that comment. My only defense would be that Zito had performed like an ace before he got the big money. Let’s also not forget that he is left handed which tends to lead GMs to overpay. Zito certainly isn’t an ace and he is overpaid. I also don’t think you can say that Zambrano isn’t an ace simply because of his strike out to walk ratio which is still better than 2 to 1. In 5 full seasons as a starter his highest ERA was 3.95 which he compiled on his way to 18 wins this past season. He has logged over 200 innings each of those seasons and his other ERA totals are 2.75, 3.11, 3.26,& 3.41. He has totaled over 200 strike outs twice and the least he has struck out in a season is 168. In Carlos’ first full season as a starter he had an ERA of 3.11 in 214 innings pitched and won 13 games with 168 strike outs. This past season in Hamels’ first full season as a starter he had an ERA of 3.39 in 189 IP with 15 wins and 177 strike outs. I would have to say that if you think Hamels is an ace then you would have to concede that Zambrano is as well.

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By: Brian Sadecki

Brian Sadecki — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:56:49 +0000

It’s hard to separate myself as a fan.

But if you take into account these 3 pitchers’ histories and where they pitch and ignore money and whoever you’d have to trade to acquire them, I still take Mo in NY in 2008 by far.

His K/9 was higher than average and his velocity was still there. He’s old but he’s not showing many signs of slowing down.

Neither of these guys is an upgrade for the next 3 years. Cordero’s pretty old and not as good and Valverde is DEFINITELY not as good.

As far as looking at the last three years as a linear regression, that’s ridiculous. I’m not going to punish the guy for being out of his mind lights out three years ago.

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By: Coley Ward

Coley Ward — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:43:54 +0000

Melissa, if we’re compiling a list of aces and we’re including all the guys with $18 million contracts, please don’t forget Mr. Barry Zito.

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By: melissa

melissa — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:49:46 +0000

I don’t think that what Rivera has done 3,4, or 5 years ago is an accurate predictor for what he will be doing at age 38,39, & 40. Obviously Yankees fans love him because he helped them win championships but his better days are behind him. Cordero is 32 and Valverde is 28 and regardless of what they would have cost they are likely to have better numbers going forward. Their numbers this past season reflect the fact that they are in fact better than Rivera right now. Career wise he is an obvious Hall of Famer but this should be about where he is going not where he has been. They are just entering the prime of their careers and Rivera is past his. These guys would not have only replaced
Rivera but most likely would have been an upgrade. The Yankees failed to improve a bullpen that was in fact a weakness.
Coley,
Hamels is a guy I considered but I’m waiting to see him perform at a high level again this season. Carlos may walk people but he is a dominant pitcher and can absolutely shut down the opposition. If he is not an ace how did he just land a contract for $18 million per? Had he tested the open market he would have likely commanded even more. As for Smoltz, I didn’t include him because I think he is on the downward side of his career. I don’t think he necessarily dominates the opposition but there certainly can be an argument made for him.

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