It just got a lot more complicated to declare a "winner" in the Justin Upton/Martin Prado mega-trade between the Diamondbacks and Atlanta before the 2013 season. Maybe there will not be one.
In a lot of ways, Christmas came early this year for J.J. Putz, who was finally able to officially join the D-backs' front office as special assistant to president/CEO Derrick Hall.
Voting for baseball's Hall of Fame has moved into a new era — a logjam of historical proportions. With candidates from the so-called Steroids Era failing to move along the pipeline, there are easily 15 or more candidates on this year's ballot who deserve serious consideration. The rub: voters from the Baseball Writers' Association of America are only allowed to choose 10.
This is the last Football Sunday before the new year. May all your teams perform well and may the odds ever be in your favor in Fantasy. Pitchers and catchers report in 53 days.
It doesn't look like the Yankees are going to make any more big offseason moves in 2014. I guess now would be the time to sit around and evaluate all they've done this offseason. Or we could watch Football.
Comments of the Day
No really. I'm still shocked, and now kind of disappointed, that this post did not include a classic "If The Boss Were Here..." quote.
It would be really great if we could hear some good Man Ban news next year. Here's hoping.
Jason taught us something new...or already known... about Giancarlo Stanton.
GIF of the Day
Nothing more to say but "HOORAY!"
Honorable Mod Mention
No one really stepped up and grabbed the HMM award yesterday. Let us hope today yields more honorable results. By tomorrow or Tuesday, either Tanya or Caitlin shall win.
Fun Questions
Going out to eat: Do you stick with what you know or do you like to experiment and try new things?
What are your plans for New Years Eve? (Asking again since no one but Andrew answered yesterday)
Hiroki Kuroda is gone. I hope more Yankee fans come to appreciate what he did for us during his pinstriped tenure. Meanwhile, there's football on today. Please feel free to use this as your open thread for the day. Talk amongst yourself.
The Yankees have a young rotation, but can they remain healthy?
The Yankees began the youth movement on the pitching side of the team last season. It began with filling the voids left by Andy Pettitte and the decimation of the starting rotation by multiple season-ending injuries. Last offseason, the Yankees added the much hyped and coveted, Japanese pitching sensation Masahiro Tanaka on a seven-year and a $155 million contract to be the ace of the rotation. In his first season in pinstripes, the 25-year-old right-hander was dominant, going 12-4 before being diagnosed with the dreaded UCL tear in his right elbow that cost him more than two months of the season. For the first time since being traded to New York, Michael Pineda joined the rotation and showed fans the dominance that everyone has been waiting for, even though he missed June, July and August. The staff received two other crushing blows when Ivan Nova succumbed to the league-wide epidemic of UCL tears requiring surgery, while CC Sabathia’s knee caused him to be shut down for the season after 46 ineffective innings pitched. Those injuries caused the team to dig into the farm system pressing Shane Greene into action on July 7th, where helped stabilize things with 14 starts, logging a 3.64 FIP and a solid 9.19 K/9 the rest of the season. Chase Whitley also was able to contribute seven decent starts before he came crashing back to earth in Toronto.
While no one will ever replace Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of all time, David Robertson stepped up and pitched admirably in the closer role in 2014. He proved more than capable of making the transition as he racked up 39 saves in 44 opportunities. After years of showing patience and waiting for the talent to develop, Dellin Betances rewarded the team by establishing himself as one of the best set up men in the game. His numbers were eye-popping no matter how you look at them; a 1.40 ERA and a franchise record 135 strikeouts in 90 innings of work. The numbers don’t do Betances justice, so here’s some video of his dominant appearance against the Mets.
Rotation
At this point the rotation has some intriguing young talent and carries some significant injury risk with it as well. Masahiro Tanaka returns as the ace, as everyone will hold their collective breath hoping that his elbow doesn’t come apart. After waiting two years to get a return on the Michael Pineda trade, he delivered in 2014, showing pinpoint control and length going six or more innings in 10 out of his 13 starts. Once again the Yankees hope that his right shoulder can handle the workload over a full season, as of now he slotted to be their number two pitcher. After pitching at least 180 innings in every season since 2001, CC Sabathia finally broke down with a degenerative knee injury in 2014. After sitting out most of the season, there’s hope that he can claim the third spot in the rotation, albeit with reduced velocity. Brian Cashman surprised everyone when he dealt for young fireballer Nathan Eovaldi earlier this month. Eovaldi is no sure thing, but at 24 years of age they hope that he can be molded into a mainstay of the rotation for years to come. Eno Sarris of Fangraphs wrote an excellent story comparing Eovaldi to Garrett Richards, and if that were what Eovaldi becomes, this deal was a steal for the Yankees. Rounding out the rotation it looks as if Chris Capuano or Bryan Mitchell will hold the last spot, until the recovering Ivan Nova is able to return.
#
2015 Rotation
Age
#
2016 Projected Rotation
Age
1
Masahiro Tanaka
26
1
Masahiro Tanaka
27
2
Michael Pineda
26
2
Michael Pineda
27
3
CC Sabathia
34
3
Ivan Nova
29
4
Nathan Eovaldi
25
4
Nathan Eovaldi
26
5
Chris Capuano
36
5
Luis Severino
22
As you can see by looking at the charts above, the rotation has become a lot younger with Tanaka, Pineda and Eovaldi in the fold. Bryan Mitchell, Manny Banuelos and Adam Warren are all in the picture heading into 2015, with Mitchell having the chance to be this year’s Shane Greene with more dominant stuff. After working his way back into shape last season, Manny Banuelos could very quickly enter the picture and become the power lefty that the team sorely needs, with CC Sabathia on the decline. It’s also very possible that top prospect Luis Severino could force the front office’s hand if he continues to dominate at the upper levels of the minor leagues and enter the big league picture late in 2015. Although injuries and underperformance do occur, it’s very possible that the Yankees could sport a rotation of all under-30 year olds as soon as 2016.
Bullpen
No matter which way Joe Girardi decides to use his bullpen in 2015, for the first time since 2008, he won’t be won’t be able to call for David Robertson. Instead it appears that newly signed Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances or a combination of both will take over closing duties this season to form a lethal 1-2 late inning duo. Joining them will be newly acquired Justin Wilson, Shawn Kelley, Adam Warren, and Esmil Rogers, along with plenty of internal candidates to fill the last spot such as Jose Ramirez, Chase Whitley, Jacob Lindgren, Dan Burawa, Nick Rumbelow, and Tyler Webb. To have a bullpen that's young, deep and under team control is something that the Yankees will reap the benefits of for the next few years.
POS
2015 Projected Bullpen
Age
POS
2016 Projected Bullpen
Age
CL
Dellin Betances
27
CL
Dellin Betances
28
SU
Andrew Miller
29
SU
Andrew Miller
30
RP
Shawn Kelley
30
RP
Adam Warren
28
RP
Adam Warren
27
RP
Dan Burawa
27
RP
Dan Burawa
26
RP
Jacob Lindgren
23
LOOGY
Justin Wilson
27
LOOGY
Justin Wilson
28
Long
Esmil Rogers
29
Long
Esmil Rogers
30
****
Although the past couple of seasons haven’t been easy, things on the pitching prospect side of things should begin to payoff this season. With Bryan Mitchell and Manny Banuelos on the cusp of the big leagues and Luis Severino getting closer, the team has three prospects that could man rotation spots as soon as 2015. On the bullpen side, the Yankees are blessed with a deep pool of prospects including impact reliever Jacob Lindgren that should begin to make their presence felt in spring training. For all the doom and gloom being written about the farm system over the past few years, people began to see a positive change in direction last season. As always prospects are suspects, but 2015 could be a huge year and the continuation of building a very young pitching staff.
What should the Yankees' resolutions be for the new season?
The beginning of the year is coming, and with it comes New Year's resolutions. I like the premise of starting the season fresh with a new set of goals. So, what should the Yankees' resolutions be? Rather than assign each player their own resolution, I figured I would just assign some to the team as a whole.
Stay healthy
For some reason, the Yankees have been hit especially hard by the injury bug over the past two years. The injuries have probably been some bad combination of bad luck, regular wear and tear and old age. This is purely speculation, but poor conditioning could also be to blame in the sense that some players might not be showing up to spring training in shape or working to maintain that during the regular season (Joe Girardi indicated that this was true in his leaked clubhouse speech back in September). With the addition of younger players like Didi Gregorius, the team may be able to stay healthier in 2015 just because they aren't going to be putting so many old veterans on the field each day. The number of injured players on the disabled list should also go down now that Francisco Cervelli is off of the team, since that man was just a magnet to the DL. Some players, such as Mark Teixeira have already stated that they started working out early in the offseason to try and stay healthier during the season. While it's unrealistic to hope that the entire team stays healthy all season, just think of how good last year's original rotation could have been if that had been the case. Maybe the team needs to stretch more before games, condition differently, rest the older players more, rest everyone more. Whatever they do, the team's success next season is very dependent on the health of the players and they need to figure out something to do differently to prevent this season from being a repeat of 2014.
Stay focused
The past two seasons have heavily featured the Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter goodbye tours, which may or may not have been a distraction to the team. Jeter's certainly impacted how much playing time he got, as Girardi acknowledged that it was difficult to give him many nights off, and it's obvious that Jeter's presence wasn't helping the lineup. Every away team that the Yankees played had to do some sort of pre-game ceremony which may have been a distraction from pre-game preparations. Then there's the ever-present drama surrounding Alex Rodriguez, the Biogenesis scandal and the long suspension that he earned. Now that the retirement tours are over, and A-Rod is returning, hopefully the team can renew their focus on winning baseball games. A-Rod could continue to be a distraction, but at least they've relegated him to the role of DH well before the season starts, and maybe the drama and fascination surrounding him will die down by the end of spring training.
P.S. Mark Teixeira, if you aren't going to be a very good baseball player anymore (or try to beat the shift, or stay healthy), the least you could do is give us more Foul Territory episodes.
What do you think the Yankees' resolutions should be? Feel free to assign them to individual players as well.
Last week, New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was in attendance for the San Francisco 49ers loss to the San Diego Chargers. He had a pre-game field pass, and it was hard to figure out what exactly was going on. We now have an answer.
Rodriguez was in attendance again, and word has it that he was a guest of fellow Miami man Frank Gore. The video above shows Rodriguez outside the locker room following the 49ers win over the Arizona Cardinals. Gore appears to introduce him to Harbaugh, who had just won his final game as head coach. They have a quick chat, and that's that.
I don't know why, but the randomness of this is just kind of amusing. This is not Rodriguez's first football game this year. He has had a wee bit of free time during his suspension, and it appears he enjoyed a whole lot of football. After last week's loss, I was concerned about the stink of Rodriguez. I don't really know what to make of it at this point!
Ray continues his AL East Sleeper series, profiling Rays young starter Jake Odorizzi. He increased his K/9 in 2014, can the ERA follow in 2015?
Today, I continue the series where I profile some fantasy baseball sleepers that could help you win your leagues in 2015. Every year, fantasy owners are looking for that late round hitter/pitcher who could help them deal with underperformance from an early round pick, or with an unexpected injury. Some will be busts, some will help you along the way.
I like to define a sleeper as a player who is one of the lower ranked players in standard leagues who could come out of nowhere to outperform their preseason ranking/value. Last season, we saw plenty of players come out of nowhere to help fantasy teams including Charlie Blackmon, Dee Gordon, Steve Pearce, Carlos Carrasco, among many others.
I will begin with the American League East division teams, in order of the 2014 standings, and proceed with the AL Central, AL West and so on.
Some of us might forget that Jake Odorizzi was involved in the James Shields for Wil Myers trade, but he was. You have to wonder how Andrew Friedman was able to get both Myers and Odorizzi in the deal for Shields, Wade Davis and a couple minor leaguers. Looking back, the Royals did well in the deal since they made the World Series with Shields and Davis last season, and it appears the Rays grew sour on Myers ever becoming a great player after dealing him to the Padres a few weeks ago.
In his first full season in the big leagues last season, Odorizzi made 31 starts, going 11-13 with a 4.13 ERA, 3.75 FIP, 3.90 xFIP, a 1.28 WHIP, and a 9.32 K/9 in 168 innings of work. He walked more than three batters per nine innings last season, but there is room for improvement there. The issue I have with Odorizzi is he isn't a ground ball pitcher, and gives up a ton of fly balls. In fact, if it wasn't for Chris Young, Odorizzi would have led all qualified starters in fly ball % allowed last season.
Odorizzi relied on his fast ball quite a bit last season, and it was his most effective pitch according to FanGraphs pitch values, which is a bit surprising since his fastball averaged just 90.3 mph last season. If he can improve the effectiveness of his secondary offerings, we could see an increase in his ground ball rate and a drop in his HR/FB rate and a corresponding drop in his ERA.
Heading into 2015, Steamer projects Odorizzi to win 11 games with a 3.93 ERA and a slightly lower strikeouts per nine. I think Odorizzi can take another step up in 2015, and could see him winning 12-13 games with an ERA around 3.50. He also has a chance to reach 200 strikeouts, or approach 200 strikeouts, so he has a little more value in 5 x 5 leagues, due to the whiff potential.
Fantasy Rundown
If you are looking for more fantasy baseball rankings, make sure you check out Fantasy Rundown, your one stop on the internet for all things fantasy.
If the Nationals are interested in trading Zimmermann, the Yankees should go after him.
We all know about the Nathan Eovaldi trade and the re-signing of Chris Capuano. We all probably know those moves should put an end to the Yankees' offseason.
After making them, the Yankees have five respectable starters they can use to put up a decent fight in 2015. Again, they're respectable, not necessarily above-average.
Basically, the Yankees' rotation is mediocre right now. Considering their weak offense, the Yankees will likely only be able to win next season with pitching, so why aren't they still looking for arms? They've shown no interest in doing so up to this point, but that can change. The Nationals have expressed interest recently in trading Jordan Zimmermann to make room for Max Scherzer, so the Yankees can always go after him. They have to in my opinion, and here's why:
1. Zimmermann is Reliable:
I personally believe that Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda will do fine next year, but that doesn't mean everyone else will as well. CC Sabathia is losing velocity, Eovaldi's a mystery, Capuano's not really supposed to dominate, and Ivan Nova is coming off Tommy John surgery. Zimmermann would bring reliability to the Yankees if acquired, giving them a nice trio to cancel out the others' inevitable struggles.
2. Zimmermann's a Cheap Ace:
It may be too good for Brian Cashman to believe, but Zimmermann's actually affordable. He only has one year left on his contract, but in it he's set to make just under $12 million. That's not bad, especially when the Yankees have already proved more than willing to give Capuano just under half that. Not to mention, Zimmermann's also an ace, so if Tanaka or Pineda go down, the Yankees need not worry.
3. The Yankees Can't Pass Up the Opportunity:
If next season's second base battle's going to be between Rob Refsnyder and Jose Pirela, then why don't the Yankees just pick their favorite and send the other to DC? I don't want to do that, but trading's all about sacrificing. It would surely take a number of prospects like Refsnyder put together to get it done, but a nice prospect package is worth nothing compared to Zimmermann.
To put it simply, we've all been wishing, secretly or openly, the Yankees make a run at the aforementioned Scherzer, and we all know New York's current group isn't championship-caliber. Unfortunately, signing Scherzer doesn't seem like it will happen, but that doesn't mean the Yankees can't still improve. Zimmermann's better than James Shields, cheaper than Scherzer, and healthier than Tanaka. Why the Yankees wouldn't at least try to get him, frankly, beats me.
The Yankees have avoided spending a lot of money this Winter and instead have opted to make trades in order to upgrade the team and manage the payroll. They have acquired Didi Gregorius for Shane Greene and Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Jones for David Phelps and Martin Prado, and while their biggest additions are cheap and cost controlled, other trades for more expensive players can't be overlooked. The Phillies might be ready to start selling off their veteran roster after dealing Jimmy Rollins to the Dodgers. If Phillie is indeed ready for a fire sale, Brian Cashman needs to at least look into Cole Hamels, who recently declared he would accept a trade to the Yankees.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Hamels, 31, said he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to the Yankees or Rangers in the AL and seven other teams from the NL, including his hometown San Diego Padres. While most of the teams remain unknown, it's not easy to guess that they're all teams that are in better shape than the Phillies are currently. With their flurry of moves this offseason, the Padres might be in a better place to acquire the lefty, though the Yankees might be up there compared to a team like the Rangers.
Hamels won't exactly come cheap with a guaranteed $94 million coming to him over the next four years and a vesting option for an additional $20 million for his age-35 season. It's a lot of money, a contract the 2015 Yankees are unlikely to take on, but at the very least, the deal doesn't extend into his late 30s. If we use the $1 million the Phillies threw in for the $11 million Rollins is owed in 2015 as a guideline, Philadelphia might only be willing to offer up 10% of their ace's contract. That would end up being around $9-10 million, leaving the Yankees holding the remaining $84 million bill. That's all just conjecture obviously, but keep in mind that if the Ruben Amaro is looking for a big return, the more money he takes on, the better package of prospects he will get.
Someone like Cole Hamels, who pitched to a 2.46 ERA and 3.07 FIP in 2014 while completing his fifth consecutive season of 200+ innings, would instantly become the surest thing in the Yankees rotation. He could be installed as the No. 1 or No. 2, putting less pressure on Masahiro Tanaka, lowering expectations for Michael Pineda and Nathan Eovaldi, and pushing CC Sabathia to fifth starter and Chris Capuano to the bullpen.
Despite the amount of prospects he would surely require, Hamels would end up being cheaper than Max Scherzer on a purely monetary basis. This year the Yankees don't seem to be against making trades and if they have no intention of adding any longterm contracts, Hamels could be their answer to improving the team and saving face. I would personally be willing to give up anyone to get Cole Hamels to the Yankees. You obviously want to try to avoid giving up Luis Severino or Aaron Judge, but in my mind, Gary Sanchez is very tradable. Hamels would be a big get for a team trying to revitalize their roster. How do you feel?
From the gutter to the advanced baseball metrics analysis facility
I was driving yesterday and pulled up behind a guy with a Yankees license plate frame. In Vancouver, BC. But that's not the worst part. The worst part was the vanity plate which read, simply: "JETER." I pulled over to the side of the road to vomit, then gathered myself together so I could get back home and put together these news & notes.
Bauer goes high-tech with offseason regimen | Indians.com - Trevor Bauer is an obsessive student of baseball, just in case you didn't know. This offseason, he's taken it to another level, spending hours at the Driveline Basbeball facility analyzing slo-mo video of Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar, and other MLB starters. Klubot is a great joke-y nickname, but Bauer may legitimately think in 1's and 0's.
Will Prog upgrades curtail home opener? | Cleveland.com - Hoynsie steps up his game, including a slideshow of the construction and providing some actual, interesting information about how the renovations may affect the wind patterns. He also shuts down an idiot whining about the Indians not making enough moves. A solid effot from ol' Paul.
Centralized spending | Burning River Baseball - The past several year have been a free agent arms race between the AL West and AL East while the AL Central, except for the Tigers, sat on the sidelines. This offseason, though, has seen the rest of the ALC get in on the fun.
Tidbits from around MLB
Sports On Earth talks to Nolan Ryan about his Hall of Fame induction and what it meant to him at the time
The new year is only a few days away. Will you miss 2014? Pitchers and catchers report in 52 days.
The year 2014 will soon be over and done with. I'm sure a lot of people out there are saying "good riddance" and are looking forward to 2015. Of course, I'm sure that some of us can also find a lot of positive things to come out of this year. Whether it's the signing of Masahiro Tanaka to this awesome coupon book you happened upon, now is the time for reflection.
Comments of the Day
It's amazing how fast one's fantasy season can come to an end. For our site leader, the fantasy season came crashing down within 16 minutes of her posts. Such is the Fantasy life.
Caitlin brings up a great point. If Mark Teixeira isn't going to be the player we originally hoped to get when we signed him, he needs to give us more Foul Territory. Although honestly, even if he is going to go back to the player we hoped he would be when we signed him, he still needs to give us more Foul Territory.
GIF of the Day
The Giants, the New York Football Giants, made it where fans needed this GIF. You know, much like we needed this GIF during the Yankees' darker days this year.
Honorable Mod Mention
Caitlin wins the HMM award for her victory in the PSA Fantasy Football. Congrats to her team, Out of Bounds with Mark Teixeira.
Fun Questions
What are some of the best things to come out of 2014 for you? (This does not have to be Yankee related)
In the quiet times of late December, a tweet that the Blue Jays are still talking to free agent second basemen unfortunately qualifies as news. Apparently three American League East teams in the Rays, Yankees, and Blue Jays, as well as the Royals are all still in on Asdrubal Cabrera. The 29-year-old has seen his market slim down and will be lucky to get more than a one-year deal at this point, which would allow the Venezuelan to boost his value and make another run at a larger contract next offseason. Jon Morosi had the rather unexciting tweet:
Yankees, Royals, Rays, and Blue Jays all have kept in touch with Asdrubal Cabrera's camp.
The switch-hitting middle infielder is an average hitter who isn't a liability at the plate although he hasn't aged very well. Unfortunately he's not the greatest defender in the world and seems to be only getting worse with age. During his time in Cleveland he played mainly shortstop and was pretty bad regularly finishing the season with a UZR/150 in the negative double digits. After his midseason trade to the Nationals, Cabrera played second base and was slightly better although he certainly didn't challenge for a Gold Glove. He's a pretty consistent player for what he is and that wouldn't be the worst outcome for a Blue Jays second base role that hasn't been adequately filled for quite some time.
The contract Cabrera eventually receives is anybody's guess, but the risk of a one-year deal is obviously quite low and would provide a sturdy bridge to the perceived future second baseman in Devon Travis. It's not the move that will win the Blue Jays a division title, but it could plug one of the few remaining holes on the team for a fairly low cost.
Edit
To add to the rather unexciting tweets today, Jon Heyman reports that the Blue Jays are still looking for a closer. More importantly, he tags his location as Iowa which begs the question of what Jon Heyman is doing in Iowa. He notes that the team is still in on Francisco Rodriguez, although they would rather trade for a closer which is what Alex Anthopoulos has been saying for weeks.
k-rod is on jays radar, though toronto trying to trade for a closer first
I'm not sure the team is willing to overpay for saves and the solution to the bullpen will probably be something that no one even sees coming. The hot stove has gone so very cold.
The bullpen's getting another shakeup as the strikeout artist Kelley is headed west.
The San Diego Padres have certainly had a busy first off-season under new GM A.J. Preller, and they have just added another piece to their team, courtesy of the Yankees. The Bronx Bombers have reportedly agreed to trade righty reliever Shawn Kelley to San Diego in exchange for relief prospect Johnny Barbato. This news comes from newcomer Robert Murray, who first gained attention this off-season with his news of the Billy Butler signing, so I'm inclined to believe it. YES Network analyst Jack Curry tweeted out the news while citing Murray, so that adds more credence. Here's the scoop:
There is some buzz that the #Yankees just acquired RHP Johnny Barbato from the #Padres.
It's definitely an interesting trade, and a huge signal that the Yankees are either planning something else for their bullpen or have a lot of faith in young relief arms like Jacob Lindgren, Tyler Webb, Nick Rumbelow, and company. Kelley wasn't a bad reliever by any stretch of the imagination, but he was hardly irreplaceable. In his two seasons with the Yankees, he was a strikeout machine with 138 whiffs in 105 innings, a superb 11.8 K/9. However, his control wasn't the greatest at 3.7 BB/9 and he had a shaky 4.46 ERA (89 ERA+) despite a good FIP. He was also due a raise in arbitration this year. I don't blame the Yankees for seeing what they could get for him, and it doesn't seem like Barbato is a bad pickup. Plus he's a mobster who is known as "Johnny Sausage!" [citation needed]
The 22-year-old righty was a sixth round pick in the 2010 draft, and last year in Double-A San Antoni, he recorded a 2.87 ERA, 3.31 FIP, and a 1.149 WHIP in 27 games (31 1/3 innings). He struck out 9.5 batters per nine innings while notching 2.9 BB/9, a fine strikeout-to-walk ratio. Curry said that he might need Tommy John surgery, but even if that's the case, it's not like surrendering Kelley will doom the team. Baseball America Vince Lara-Cinisomo had some positive things to say about him as well:
LT Barbato, a righthander, saved 16 games at Double-A. Sits 94 while dialing up to 97 with explosive life.
Looks like the Yankees made a nice addition to their likely Triple-A Scranton bullpen, someone who could also play a role in the big league 'pen as soon as this season. The Yankees are putting a great deal of faith in their youngsters, but I didn't have much faith in Kelley anyway. Welcome to New York/Scranton, Barbato!
The Yankees really should have held onto the gift receipts for these players.
Have you ever had a present that you couldn't wait to use once you opened it? I know I do. Back in the day, I really wanted "Hey You, Pikachu" for the N64 because I was ridiculously into Pokemon and the exact kind of sucker Nintendo hoped to find with this game. Almost as soon as I played it and realized how worthless it was aside from yelling obscenities or "PlayStation" at Pikachu, I instantly regretted putting it near the top of my Christmas list. Sorry, mom.
Useless personal anecdotes about my weird childhood aside, the Yankees have sure had their share of buyer's remorse over the years with some of their free agent signings. While some free agents became gems like the top 10 free agent signings I counted down last week, the Yankees have had more than their share of stinker signings. This fact is hardly a revelation; it's the nature of the Yankees' business. Free agency is naturally an inefficient process, as most often, teams (not just the Yankees) will pay premiums for players' decline years. The investments rest on the hope that the earlier years of the contract will yield team success and the opportunity to profit off such triumphs for decades to come.
Unfortunately, that just wasn't the case with the players listed below. It didn't take long for the honeymoons to end, and the Yankees paid the price. As with the previous list, I will not be counting any re-signings, so Alex Rodriguez's 10-year contract following the 2007 campaign and CC Sabathia's post-opt-out extension from 2011 are out. (Also, Hideki Irabu was acquired via trade, not signed, so he's not here, either.) These are just players who were new to the team, like shiny toys under a tree, who turned out to be big disappointments.
Honorable Mentions
Before getting into the list, here are a few players who didn't quite make the cut, but deserve some heavy sighs:
Don Gullett, 6/$2M, 11/18/1976: Just the second free agent the Yankees signed, Gullett was terrific with the Reds while they repeated as champions in '75 and '76, then was solid in the regular season for the Yankees' 1977 champions. He wasn't as good in the playoffs though, and after just eight starts in '78, his career was suddenly at its end due to shoulder injuries. The Yanks were still paying him in 1982. Whoops.
Rawly Eastwick, 5/$1.1M, 12/9/1977: This one is a favorite of mine. The righty Eastwick was a relief ace for the Reds prior to ending up on the Yankees. However, manager Billy Martin simply didn't like him and it was hard for him to find work. Eastwick amazingly made it into just eight games before the Yankees dealt him to the Phillies on June 14th, two months into his five-year deal. It's not as though Eastwick was bad; this is just amusing in retrospect.
Mel Hall, 3/$3.3M, 11/30/1989: Hall wasn't that bad on the field as a Yankee. Just screw that guy. Now and forever. Zero.
Jaret Wright, 3/$21M, 12/28/2004: Both Rogers and Wright are kind of in the same category, though Rogers came to the Yankees with more of a recent track record with the Rangers. (Wright's '04 season with the Braves was his first healthy campaign as a starter in five years.) Both were inked to multi-year contracts for a nice chunk of change, and both performed mediocre at best, miserable at worst. Rogers had a 5.11 ERA (93 ERA+) over two years before getting dealt to the A's for a player to be named later (thanks for Scott Brosius, Billy Beane!), and Wright pitched to a 4.99 ERA (89 ERA+) over two seasons, then likewise got traded. Count these as missteps from Bob Watson and Brian Cashman, respectively.
Reliever Lightning Round!: In the first decade of the 2000s, Cashman and company were desperate to find relievers who could bridge the gap to Mariano Rivera the way Mike Stanton, Jeff Nelson, and Ramiro Mendoza did during the dynasty years. Tom Gordon panned out, but all of Steve Karsay, Paul Quantrill, Mike Myers, Kyle Farnsworth, and Pedro Feliciano were new signings whose performances ranged from "good then hurt thanks to the Joe Torre bullpen experience" (Karsay and Quantrill) or just always hurt (Feliciano). Just for good measure, the two re-signings of mid-season lefty acquisitions Felix Heredia and Damaso Marte were pretty awful as well, though at least Marte had a good postseason in '09. This series of failures prompted the Yankees to work on developing homegrown relievers more effectively. Took long enough.
This contract is the only one-year deal that will be on this list. As a rule, I generally don't care about one-year deals. If they work out, awesome. If not, whatever, the player will either be gone by the end of the year or midseason at best. They don't hamstring the payroll. I will make an exception for Youk though because hell if this wasn't arguably the worst one-year contract in big league history.
Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
I don't blame the Yankees for giving Youkilis a shot. I even advocated it because their third base situation was already going to be a disaster at the start of 2013 before all the Biogenesis crap came down because Alex Rodriguez needed hip surgery anyway. There weren't many third basemen available on the market. Thus, Youk became a Yank, and it turned into the worst-case scenario that numerous Yankees fans feared. He was healthy for a little more than two weeks before he began to suffer tightness in his back. The Yankees chose not to DL him because they thought he might recover before the DL stint would have been up, and that strategy backfired, limiting their roster flexibility and becoming pointless when he hit the DL on April 28th anyway. He briefly returned for 11 games of horrid production at the beginning of June, then had his season end due to back surgery.
For their $12 million investment, the Yankees received 28 games of .219/.305/.343 production, a mere 80 OPS+. Youk moved on to Japan in 2014, where he only played 21 games before another injury ruined his season (surprise, surprise). That was the end of his professional career. We got to experience his MLB finale! It was just another element of joy to add to the miserable 2013 season.
Like the Jason Giambi signing on the previous list, some would say that Burnett should not be on this list at all and others would say he deserves to be much higher. I tend to lean more to the crowd that doesn't think he needs to be here, but something must be said for giving a guy over $80 million to be an awful pitcher in two of three seasons, then paying to get him out of town. Flags fly forever, and I will always have a soft spot for Burnett's brilliant Game 2 performance in the 2009 World Series that tied the Fall Classic at one apiece. Had he come up small there, the Yankees would have been looking at an 0-2 deficit before even going on the road. Thankfully, he didn't, and the Yankees won that World Series.
Credit: Andrew Fielding-USA TODAY Sports
Now due to various forms of profit and royalties from that title, the Yankees will surely recoup all of the sunk cost from the rest of Burnett's contract, but boy, it was not a fun experience. (Mark Teixeira didn't make this list because in addition to the championship, he at least put together a number of decent seasons, not just one.) Although Burnett had a similarly productive season in '09 to his healthy years in Toronto and Florida, his next two years were dreadful. He pitched to a 5.26 ERA and 1.511 WHIP while also losing his only playoff start in a below-replacement level 2010, then followed it up with another 5.15 ERA season-long slog in 2011, a year that saw him surrender 31 homers. He stayed healthy, but it was hardly worth it, especially at $16.5 million per year. Burnett at least won his final start in a must-win ALDS Game 4 thanks to some awesome defense by Curtis Granderson.
After adding Hiroki Kuroda and Michael Pineda, the Yankees had too many cooks starters in their scheduled 2012 rotation, so they finally decided to send Burnett away. Just before pitchers and catchers reported, the Yankees traded Burnett to the Pirates for two non-prospects (despite 80 grade names), and they even threw in $20 million over two years just so that he wasn't on their team. It was a move that didn't look as good when Burnett became the ace of a Bucs renaissance, but one that felt necessary. It's hard to believe that Burnett could actually replicate that form while pitching half his games at homer-happy Yankee Stadium. Ultimately, it was a bad contract, but hey, we'll always have '09 Game 2, A.J.
8. Pascual Pérez, 3/$5.7M, 11/21/1989
There have been few characters in big league history quite like Pérez, a zany guy who had an incredibly up-and-down career in the '80s. This is the same person who was nicknamed "Perimeter" for orbiting the Braves' stadium on I-285 several times in a desperate attempt to get there after obtaining his driver's license. Pérez was an All-Star caliber pitcher when he was at his best, but he also struggled with personal demons and serious substance abuse problems. Despite these red flags, new GM Harding "Pete" Peterson and owner George Steinbrenner felt comfortable with giving Pérez a three-year deal that would pay him as much as Nolan Ryan in 1990.
Credit: AP Photo/Mark D. Phillips
Perhaps not surprisingly, the deal was a disaster. Pérez made just three starts in '90 before he hit the DL with shoulder soreness, an injury that eventually led to rotator cuff surgery that kept him out of the game until May of '91. After four more starts, he missed two and a half months with inflammation in the same shoulder, then closed out the year with 10 starts of 3.70 ERA ball. Those were the last appearances Pérez would make in his MLB career. He tested positive for cocaine and was suspended for the entire '92 season, ending his three-year deal with only 17 starts in pinstripes. Likely due in part to Pérez's immediate injuries as well as an eventual last place finish, Peterson was fired before even reaching 12 months on the job. At least that led to Steinbrenner hiring scouting genius Gene "Stick" Michael as his GM.
Sadly, Pascual's life odyssey turned tragic in 2012 when he was killed in a robbery attempt in his native Dominican Republic He was 55 at the time, a charismatic man taken too soon.
7. Dave LaPoint, 3/$2.5M and Andy Hawkins, 3/$3.6M, 12/1988
It's cheating a little bit to put two players in one spot, but LaPoint and Hawkins are so alike that it would have been even more arbitrary than this list already is to list them separately. As with Pérez, both pitchers were signed with the hope of boosting the Yankees' rotation from the '80s, the part of the team that always seemed to doom them in the end despite a capable offense. The lefty LaPoint and the righty Hawkins were signed to three-year deals within days of each other by then-GM Bob Quinn during the 1988-89 off-season. LaPoint had pitched capably to a 3.35 ERA and 122 ERA+ in 52 games over his previous two seasons, and Hawkins was coming off one of the finest years of his career, one which also saw him notch a 3.35 ERA, though this one came in 33 starts and 217 2/3 innings.
Credit: 1989 Donruss Baseball's Best
Both pitchers were not even 30, and these deals weren't terribly long. Yet nothing went right for either of them. LaPoint was just awful immediately, getting knocked around to the tune of a 5.26 ERA and 1.680 WHIP over 20 starts in '89. Hawkins wasn't quite that bad, but he wasn't much better, as his 4.80 ERA and 1.507 WHIP in 34 starts could attest. A league-high 111 earned runs allowed didn't help matters for Hawkins, who followed that poor year with an even worse one in 1990. The one infamous start where he threw eight no-hit innings and lost thanks to atrocious Yankee defense was the lone highlight, if it can even be considered one; he ended the year with a 5.37 ERA and a 5.12 FIP. Although LaPoint improved from terrible to just mediocre with a 96 ERA+, it wasn't a joy to watch, either.
The Yankees lost 87 games in '89 and a league-worst 95 in '90, and neither LaPoint or Hawkins were around by the end of their contracts. LaPoint was released at the start of spring training '91 and made it into just two more MLB games before his career ended. Hawkins survived just a couple more poor months before getting released himself. Oakland picked him up, and he wasn't much better in 14 starts before once again finding himself out of work. This time, he did not make it back to a big league mound. All told, Hawkins and LaPoint gave the Yankees about -2.0 WAR for their combined $6.1 million investment. That's uh.. a minus.
Ah, the days of Jose Contreras excitement. After their great success with former Cuban star Orlando Hernandez ("El Duque"), the Yankees tried to strike gold twice with this big righty, a 31-year-old starter whose name had been on major league executives' minds for years. Contreras was an international pitching sensation, and he had even dominated a potent Orioles lineup during a 1999 exhibition series with the Cuban national team. In a hotly-contested bidding war with the Red Sox, the Yankees won out and signed Conteras prior to the '03 campaign. The competition, likely helped by the fact that Steinbrenner essentially told his Yankees representative that he would be fired if Contreras wasn't signed, led to the Yankees getting their "Evil Empire" nickname from Red Sox president Larry Lucchino.
Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
But for all the hype, Contreras never truly found himself in New York. Maybe part of that was the result of a confusing first season, where he spent two and a half months on the DL due to shoulder inflammation and only appeared in 18 games and nine starts since there wasn't much room in the crowded rotation. The results were good (a 134 ERA+ and 9.1 K/9), but it was in just 71 innings. Thrust into a very difficult situation when he was forced to relieve the injured David Wells in the second inning of Game 5 of the World Series having pitched two scoreless innings the day before, Contreras did not win much favor with the fans, as the Marlins scored four runs off him in three innings and took the series lead. The next year, he was finally guaranteed a rotation spot, but again, he just didn't pitch well. In 18 starts, he yielded a 5.64 ERA and a 5.83 FIP, hardly demonstrating that he was worth his high-priced contract.
Contreras's Yankees tenure came to an end when the White Sox accepted an offer of Contreras and $3 million for two-time All-Star Esteban Loaiza. It made some sense at the time, as Contreras was still struggling and though his second All-Star season in '04 had not been nearly as impressive as his '03 All-Star berth in which he led the AL with 207 strikeouts, Loaiza was still considered a capable rotation piece. An 8.50 ERA in 10 games (six starts) said "so much for that," and Contreras went on to at last put it all together in Chicago, where he played a crucial role on the 2005 team that ended an 88-year championship drought on the South Side. Naturally.
5. Dave Collins, 3/$2.47M, 12/23/1981
Unless you really dislike Danny Tartabull, Jason Giambi, or Mark Teixeira, free agent position players haven't been nearly as bad for the Yankees, though Carlos Beltran could end up on this list before long. Rondell White and Tony Womack were another few poor short-term investments, but their deals were easy to overcome. There have been a couple exceptions though; after the Yankees lost the 1981 World Series to the Dodgers, George Steinbrenner decided that the team's offense was focused on power a bit much and instead needed to develop their small ball game. Yes fans, it was the accursed #TooManyDamnHomers trend before Twitter co-founder Evan Williams was even 10 years old. Reggie Jackson's time with the Yankees came to an end, and in came, among others, former Reds speedster Dave Collins. Following a few seasons of promise with the Angels and Mariners, the 29-year-old outfielder made a name for himself in 1980, when he stole 79 bases for Cincinnati.
Credit: South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame
Even though he slipped to 26 steals in 95 games for the Reds in '81 and the Yankees didn't really have a definite position for him, Steinbrenner made sure that GM Bill Bergesch added Collins to his '82 "Bronx Burners" squad. It was bizarre from the get-go, with the Big Stein reorganizing spring training drills to focus on speed and just generally causing all sorts of idiocy. Turns out, the big plan was a failure! (But please, go on about the "if the Boss was alive" nonsense.) The Yankees' powerful pennant-winning offense from '81 slipped to mediocre in '82, and they ended the year under .500. Collins only hit .253/.315/.330 with an 80 OPS+ and -0.7 WAR in 111 games, which were confusingly split among four positions, and he stole just 13 bases in 21 attempts.
Realizing his mistake, Steinbrenner had Collins shipped out after the season, but even that trade ended brutally for the Yankees. It was a deal with the Blue Jays, and the Yankees were able to get two pitchers they wanted in return: Dale Murray and Tom Dodd. Although neither ended up doing much of anything for the Yankees, the two prospects the Yankees sent to Toronto in addition to Collins sure as hell succeeded. One was 22-year veteran pitcher Mike Morgan, and far more damaging was the loss of a man who went on to hit nearly 500 homers, a 19-year-old first baseman named Fred McGriff. Ouch. To his credit, Collins has always spoken highly of the Yankees organization, but woof, was this a bad signing.
4. Spike Owen, 3/$7M, 12/4/1992
It cannot be said enough how difficult it is going to be for some Yankees fans to deal with life at shortstop after Derek Jeter. Throughout the major leagues, shortstop is a position of instability, and prior to Jeter, it was no different for the Yankees. Prior to the Captain, the Yanks had gone through five Opening Day shortstops in five years. One of these men was Spike Owen, a 10-year veteran who was supposed to finally bring some stability to the position. The 32-year-old Owen was coming off a career year with the Expos in 1992, when he hit .269/.348/.381 with 26 extra-base hits and a 107 OPS+ in 122 games. Even his three seasons before that in Montreal had been decent for a shortstop: .240/.335/.346 with a 93 OPS+ and solid defense.
Credit: 1993 Fleer Ultra
GM Stick Michael made several wise investments during the 1992-93 off-season, like signing Jimmy Key and Wade Boggs while also adding Paul O'Neill's bat via trade. He was probably due for a clunker, and boy, did he get one in Owen. During his one season in pinstripes, Owen hit a paltry .234/.294/.311 with an ugly 66 OPS+ and just 0.7 WAR. It became evident quite quickly that Owen was not going to cut it at shortstop, and with the Yankees trying to keep pace with defending champion Blue Jays in the tight AL East, Owen began to lose starts to the hotter-hitting Mike Gallego and Randy Velarde. From August onward, Owen made only 34 plate appearances and nine starts.
It was time to cut bait, and Michael dealt Owen and about $2 million to the Angels during the 1993-94 off-season. After a rebound in '94, Owen fell back to his '93 numbers when the players' strike ended in April of '95, and that was it for Owen's career. Neither Gallego or Velarde became the Yankees' long-term solution at shortstop, but man, they were better than Owen.
Oof. This guy. If Hideki Matsui was just about the ideal Japanese player signing, Kei Igawa would have to be the worst-case scenario. Hideki Irabu was a bust, but at least he had his good stretches here and there, garnering a couple AL Pitcher of the Month awards. There was nothing that worked out for Igawa, unless you consider first place on the Triple-A Scranton team's all-time win list an accomplishment. The lefty was a steady performer for the Hanshin Tigers and even pulled off the equivalent of 2011 Justin Verlander by winning the equivalent of both his league's Cy Young and MVP awards in 2003. Igawa's game slipped a little over the next two years, but he rebounded to notch a 2.97 ERA and league-high 194 strikeouts in 2006.
The Yankees paid about $26 million to Hanshin just to negotiate with Igawa, and they got their man on a five-year, $20 million deal. If one thought the Yankees were looking past possible red flags to counter Boston's move in signing top Japanese starter Daisuke Matsuzaka, it would have been hard to disagree. The tone for Igawa's Yankees tenure was set on his first day with the team, which was recounted in Joe Torre's Yankee Years. The story's just so perfect that I'll leave it as is:
Great. Just outstanding. Sure enough, when Igawa began the season in the rotation, he was pounded to the tune of an eye-popping 7.84 ERA and five homers in four starts. After one brief brilliant outing in relief of the injured Jeff Karstens on April 28th against the Red Sox, he made one more start and was wrecked again. The Yankees sent him down to the minors to work on his mechanics, to no avail. When he returned in late June, he posted a 5.97 ERA and gave up 18 walks and seven homers in six starts. The Padres made a waiver claim on him, but ownership did not want Cashman to make a trade just yet. (Brilliant.) Off he went to the minors again; he made just two more appearances in a Yankee uniform that year, ended the '07 campaign with an abysmal 6.25 ERA, 6.37 FIP, and a 1.670 WHIP.
Credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images
After such an awful start to his career, the Yankees had no intentions of trusting him with a spot in the '08 rotation. He reported to Triple-A Scranton, where he remained until the Yankees needed a spot start from him on May 9th against the Tigers. The result? Three innings, 11 hits, and six runs. No walks or homers though, so improvement maybe! Once again, he was banished to Scranton until another emergency, a June 27th doubleheader against the Mets. Igawa threw one scoreless inning of relief. Then, he went back to Scranton and was never heard from in New York ever again. Cashman did not mince words in his assessment of the deal, one that he initially supported: "It was a disaster. We failed." Sixteen games and a fitting 6.66 ERA? You bet.
For the duration of his five-year contract, Igawa and the Yankees maintained an increasingly awkward stalemate, as the Yankees tried to arrange a trade to Japanese teams on multiple occasions, only to have Igawa, who continued to commute from Manhattan to Scranton and Double-A Trenton, turn them down. The nice thing about the Yankees' high payroll was that they could afford to bury Igawa's $4 million salary in Triple-A and profit anyway; they won a World Series this way, so I don't consider this the worst deal in their history. Following the 2011 season, the ugly marriage finally ended, and Igawa was free. No major league team pursued him, and he return to Japan with the Orix Buffaloes. He's battled injuries, but he's certainly had better luck back there. In the Bronx though, it just wasn't meant to be.
Like Contreras, let it not be said that the Yankees were alone in their free agent pursuit of the most infamous free agent of this generation. Believe it or not, multiple teams wanted to sign the former Marlins pitcher who would one day be mocked as "American Idle." The free agent tour was called "Pavanopalooza," and while multiple teams like the Red Sox and Tigers made him offers, the Yankees were the ones who signed Carl Pavano to that four-year contract.
Credit: Al Bello/Getty Images
What followed were four seasons of nigh-endless frustration. It started off so well with a 3.10 ERA during Pavano's first month as a Yankee in '05 and even a five-hit shutout in one start the next month. Then, things quickly went south. Rotator cuff tendinitis and right shoulder inflammation ended his season in late June. He did not appear on a big league mound again until Opening Day 2007. In between, his teammates questioned his desire to return to the field, he suffered a "bruised buttocks," he hid a rib cage injury sustained in a car accident until just before he would have returned in late '06, and he turned into a pariah among the fans. His long-awaited return to the mound in '07 lasted two games until a dreaded UCL tear led to Tommy John surgery because of course that had to happen, too. When he returned from that surgery in August of '08, fans were already too checked out from a season of disappointment to really care too much that he was starting. He was predictably terrible with a 5.77 ERA and 5.37 FIP in seven starts.
For just about $40 million, the Yankees received 26 starts, 0.4 WAR, a 5.00 ERA, and a ceaseless headache. When he reached the playoffs with the Twins the next two years, it was annoying that he decided to be decent again, but boy was the schadenfreude in full force as the Yankees poundedhim in the ALDS both times. In the end, Pavano was just another example that bad contracts can happen to anyone. Had the Yankees not pursued him, he very well could been this disaster for the Red Sox, the Tigers... you name the team. Free agency can be a bitch.
1. Ed Whitson, 5/$4.5M, 12/27/1984
Pavano has topped similar Yankees "worst free agents" lists in recent years, but to me, one man is still the king. Just days after the 30-year anniversary of his signing, Ed Whitson remains atop the list of worst free agent signings in Yankees history. The 6'3" righty initially turned down Steinbrenner's offer before the Boss came back with a sixth year option and other perks. Instead, the eight-year veteran inked the deal with the Yankees and probably the most arduous 19 months of Whitson's career began.
Credit: Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images
Whitson had been a fine pitcher for most of his career, highlighted by a 1980 All-Star appearance with the Giants and a 3.24 ERA and 3.49 FIP in 31 starts for the NL champion Padres in '84. Although the Tigers lit him up in his only Fall Classic appearance, his eight innings of one-run ball in NLCS Game 3 against the Cubs with his team in a win-or-go-home scenario were imperative to them getting that far in the first place. No such good times came for Whitson during his first couple months on the job however; opposing batters hit .357/.398/.559 during those 11 starts, ballooning his ERA to 6.23. The boos were raining down already and Whitson seemingly had no answers. He had a nice turnaround for a month, tossing two shutouts and recording a 1.14 ERA in 47 1/3 innings over six starts, but it was all downhill after the All-Star Break.
"I will never mention that man's name again, ever." -Ed Whitson on Billy Martin
For the remainder of the season, batters found their earlier form against Whitson, again crushing him to a .341/.380/.529 triple slash in 13 starts, which yielded a 6.64 ERA. Rather than easing the pressure, manager Billy Martin only made things worse with his criticism and mistreatment of Whitson. Things came to a head in an ugly scene in Baltimore when Martin and Whitson brawled at a hotel, a fight that ended with a broken arm for Martin. It feels almost ludicrous that such calamity could actually happen, but well, there it was. Martin was fired after the season and was replaced by Lou Piniella, who tried to pitch Whitson as little as possible at home (not by request), where the fan treatment was absolutely miserable.
With a 7.54 ERA in 14 games, the Ed Whitson Era mercifully ended when he was dealt back to the Padres on July 9th. He recovered to pitch decently over five and a half more years there, but outside of San Diego, his career will always be defined by that awful year and a half in New York. To this day, he refuses to talk about Martin, saying "I will never mention that man's name again, ever." I don't blame him. Whitson continued to receive death threats on the occasions when he pitched at Shea Stadium. Stay classy, Yankees fans. Nonetheless, the entire recipe of bad pitching, well-publicized fights with the manager, and likely costing the Yanks the AL East in '85 stacks up to Whitson being the worst Yankees free agent signing of all time.
With 2014 drawing to a close, I figured that now would be a good time to look back at the biggest news stories of the season as told by the ever-helpful Google Analytics. Having a story reach as many eyes as possible is a bit of a science, and some things that you think aren't overly important will blow up the traffic numbers in favor of a post you think will do amazingly well falling flat. That's the life of blogging. That being said, here are a few of the things that brought the most people to Pinstripe Alley in 2014.
There was much rejoicing when Eduardo Scissorhands Nunez was passed over in favor of the career minor leaguer who set the world on fire in spring training. The Yankees waited until the last minute to make a decision, even telling Solarte and Nunez to prepare to miss the team's flight from Tampa to Houston if necessary. Good prevailed over strange obsession in the end. Even though Solarte's stay in pinstripes was fairly short, we'll always have the magic of April and that day that he sent Nunez packing.
January of 2014 began with a big rumor that half a dozen teams were interested in acquiring Brett Gardner from the Yankees. The team had recently signed Jacoby Ellsbury to man center field in the Bronx for the next several years which caused some to think that the impending free agent Gardner might have lost his spot on the team. Thankfully, the Yankees did not feel like starting the season with Ichiro Suzuki locked into a starting spot, and even went on to reward Gardner with a nice contract extension before the season began. People are still trying to come up with reasons why the Yankees should trade Gardner as we speak, but it seems like the speedy outfielder will be hanging around for a while.
We were all dealing with the fact that our sweet-swinging, bubble-blowing, All-Star second baseman decided to take his talents to rainy Seattle around this time last year. The options the team brought in to replace Robinson Cano were, uh, bad, so Jason looked to minor leaguer Jose Pirela for help. The team ended up going with Brian Roberts and then Stephen Drew over the unproven rookie, but Pirela did get to see some big league time at the end of the season. Heading into 2015, it looks as though Pirela and Rob Refsnyder will battle it out in spring training to see which is more deserving of the spot formerly occupied by the great Roberts himself. Tough shoes to fill, kids.
Tanaka fever swept through the Yankee world last offseason, heating up quite a bit when rumors began to fly that his team may not post him at all after being unsatisfied with the way the new posting system was designed. Despite all that, yours truly scrambled to write a post announcing that Tanaka would be posted just prior to sitting down for Christmas Eve dinner, kicking off weeks of anticipation on whether or not the Yankees would land the latest Japanese phenom. Late January brought us news that Tanaka had reportedly narrowed his decision down to two teams: the Yankees and the Cubs. Ultimately, Tanaka chose The Big Apple over The Windy City and now he and that incredibly impressive splitter of his are ours. Here's to your UCL, Tanak.
Hey Yankees, this should still be a thing. Andrew advocates for signing Scherzer to make the Yankees' rotation for next season less terrifying and he's absolutely right to do so. This team needs pitching and signing Scherzer would allow them to 1. keep valuable prospects like Aaron Judge and Luis Severino, and 2. put Chris Capuano in the bullpen or the unemployment line. Whichever is easier works for me. Get it done, Cash. Get it done.
I asked the editors which posts stood out to them as the best ones this year. Here's what we came up with after digging through the archives:
This questionnaire from Opening Day kicked off the season with sharing random facts about each other and calling the lurkers out of hiding. We spend quite a bit of time here together over a 162-game season and beyond, so it's nice to be able to put some facts with usernames. You never know who you'll find something in common with that you can bond over around here. Community building and stuff! Some of the fun facts shared here were pretty incredible.
This rain delay was RIDICULOUS, you guys. The grumpy guy on the tractor, Brett Gardner recreating the Taken monologue/ordering a pizza, telestrator smiles, tarp guy paying the ultimate price by getting eaten... it was all so perfect. Andrew also managed to capture it perfectly in this GIF post. Thankfully the memory of it will get to live on forever.
Thomson has basically one job and he's really, really bad at it. So bad at it, in fact, that Jason was forced to write an entire post dedicated to the fact that Rob Thomson is really bad at his job. This guy wasn't fired! Coaches were fired and Thomson gets to just keep on keeping on as the third base coach for next season. Unreal. I just don't know sometimes.
We closed out the 2014 season by giving out grades to the various Yankees and Yankee prospects. This was a pretty long and tedious process for the staff but we made it! Caitlin thought it was cool and we hope you did too.
Honorable mentions:
This is the saddest recap of 2014 (and maybe ever) but NoMahbles brought the perfect picture to the party with the first comment. Well done, sir. There are also a ton of nice GIFs that helped us cope with the pain of Tanaka being hurt on top of a really terrible game.
Derek Jetercaused us to all feel some emotions when he hit a walk-off single in his last at-bat in Yankee Stadium. It was pretty dusty in my living room that night and it seems like many people were feeling the same. Thanks for another great memory to add to all the great memories that came before it, Cap.
Like I said before, I really enjoy posts that allow us all to get to know each other better and Andrew's post asking about everyone's fan origin stories did just that. Whether you've been on the Yankees wagon since birth or are a very wise recent convert, we're glad that you decide to hang out with us.
What were your most memorable Pinstripe Alley threads of 2014? Share them with us in the comments below. Here's to another great year!
Please make it your New Year's resolution to remember that.
The Red Sox aren't going to sign Max Scherzer, no matter how many columns list them as a landing spot for the high-priced ace. It just doesn't make any sense given what we know of this offseason, and it makes even less sense when you consider every offseason this ownership has been at the helm for. The Red Sox just don't spend Max Scherzer money on pitchers, so tossing them into a list of Scherzer landing spots is wishcasting, nothing more.
Jon Heyman recently put the Sox as themost likely destination for Scherzer. Richard Justice mentioned the Sox as a potential landing spot, but at least threw in the caveat that it wasn't a need for them. Readers of MLB Trade Rumors picked the Red Sox as the fourth most-likely team to land Scherzer. It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Yes, the Sox could use another pitcher, and one who is an ace would be just lovely. They would only go to six years and $135 million for their preferred choice, Jon Lester, however: maybe a little of that preference was the price difference between the two, but the talent gap isn't that wide, if it's there at all. Boston drafted, developed, and experienced almost all of Lester's career firsthand, too. If they would only go to $135 million and six years for Lester, they aren't going anywhere near the $200 million demands of Scherzer. They might not even reach the six-year, $144 million realm that Scherzer already turned down from the Tigers.
Scherzer might not get his $200 million, at least not guaranteed: $180 million over seven years puts him at a $25 million average annual value, with room for an eighth-year option to push it to $200 million a la Justin Verlander. The Sox' six-year offer for Lester might have been something that was exclusively for Lester: they have a history of trying to avoid five-year deals where they can for pitchers, never mind six-year deals, and the only one made while Ben Cherington was around in a high-ranking capacity was a special Japanese circumstance.
James Shields is still out there, as are trade possibilities for a number of options worthy of leading the staff in 2015. The Red Sox have five big-league starters in the rotation already, and while there are question marks for more than one of them, the situation doesn't have to be resolved by Opening Day, either. Scherzer would be a panic move of sorts, and that just hasn't been Cherington's style.
WEEI's Rob Bradford is spot-on when he says this all "makes for good conversation, but not realistic outcomes," and that this is probably coming from somewhere besides Boston in order to get the Yankees ready to pay for Scherzer. In addition to that ploy aimed at the Bronx, fans need something to talk about, writers need something to write about, and the Red Sox could use Scherzer and have the money to get him if they wanted. It's totally understandable that he would be linked to the them for all of the above, but it just isn't going to happen.
The Yankees have traded away Shawn Kelley. It will be interesting to see what the finalized bullpen will look like when the season begins. Pitchers and catchers report in 51 days.
Yesterday the Yankees traded Shawn Kelley to the Padres for prospect Johnny Barbato, in what was potentially the last offseason move of 2014. With the slew of potential bullpen additions in the minors, the Yankees most likely felt that he was expendable. It could also be due to the fact that he was Shawn Kelley. Perhaps that was a bit harsh. Or was it? Joking aside, best of luck on the Padres.
Comments of the Day
Cole Hamels said he is willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to the Yankees. Let the ideas come forth!
The ideas, they are coming forth.
I wonder if they'd also accept giant Steinbrenner face as payment as well. Might be worth it to ask.
And in the end, not even the tense throws of Fantasy sports could separate the iron clad bond of twindom between Tanya and Caitlin.
Soon we'll have to call this man Professor Mahbles. Because SCIENCE!
You know what, screw science. Get this man to Hollywood.
Uh huh.
Sometimes you have to take the good history with the bad "Kei Igawa-ish" history.
GIF of the Day
I believe these are all for Andrew for that history lesson.
Honorable Mod Mention
No really, Andrew had to write about all that awful. He definitely gets the HMM award.
Fun Questions
Favorite TV commercial of 2014
What is your personal favorite PSA moment of 2014?
Song of the Day
The Current by Blue Man Group (ft. Gavin Rossdale)
I love any song that uses anvils as musical instruments. As always, please link us your Song of the Day.
It will be interesting to see what the bullpen looks like when the season begins. I am looking forward to it. Miss you, baseball.
A National League scout told CBS Sports' Jon Heyman Eovaldi is a solid addition to the Yankees' staff even though he has difficulty finding the strike zone at times.
If Nathan Eovaldi had a solid 2014 campaign, he likely would still be on the Marlins' roster. But his inability to find the strike zone consistently led to Miami trading him to the Yankees in exchange for Martin Prado, and according to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, the Marlins' frustration with Eovaldi's development made the deal realistic.
fish were frustrated trying to harness obvious eovaldi talent. w/blessing of rothschild/stick, yanks may have gotten good 1
Miami acquired Eovaldi in the Hanley Ramirez trade with the Dodgers, and was confident he would be able to evolve as a front of the rotation arm. In 2014, he posted a 4.37 ERA and 3.37 FIP in 199.2 innings pitched. He has proven to be durable throughout the course of his career, and made 33 starts last season for the Marlins.
Although his velocity is notable, Eovaldi had difficulty throwing strikes in key situations. His 1.94 BB/9 in 2014 may suggest otherwise, but more often than not, his offspeed pitches were around the middle of the plate. Pitching Coach Chuck Hernandez was looking to help him utilize his slider and curveball effectively, but 62.9 percent of his pitches a season ago were fastballs.
Many scouts believe that Eovaldi would thrive in the back of the bullpen, but the Marlins did not want to experiment. Steve Cishek has been consistent, and Carter Capps, Mike Dunn, and A.J. Ramos should all prove to be plus setup options. Eovaldi's delivery, which gets lengthy at times, could be part of the problem.
The Marlins, especially under Dan Jennings and Michael Hill, have been rightfully patient with regard to the development of their younger players. They were in no hurry to promote top pitching prospect Andrew Heaney, and did not have an issue sending him back to Triple-A New Orleans to make some adjustments. Another year of Eovaldi, considering his youth, may have been beneficial, but the Marlins are in "win now" mode and will likely thrive with Mat Latos and David Phelps in the rotation (assuming Dan Haren does not head to South Florida).
For a squad that is seeking youth, such as the Yankees, Eovaldi is a solid fit. He is a controllable right-handed arm that still might be able to be a successful middle of the rotation starter. Eovaldi was not in the Miami's long term plans, which may benefit the Marlins moving forward. The veteran additions should be able to make losing Eovaldi manageable.
It likely came down to the Yankees choosing between Chase Headley and Martin Prado
The Yankees were having a slow offseason when they finally brought back Chase Headley at $13 million per year over the next four years. With Headley, Didi Gregorius, Martin Prado, and Mark Teixeira, it appeared that the Yankees finally built the strongest infield they've had since possibly 2009. Then they surprised us all when they decided to deal Prado in the Nathan Eovaldi trade, and though they got the pitching they had wanted, they also sent everything up in smoke. The idea of having both Headley and Prado seemed too good to be true for New York, but it was never part of the plan.
The Yankees were clearly working on a trade that would send Prado to Miami for Eovaldi for awhile and would only be willing to pull the trigger if they first re-signed Headley. Going into the offseason, it looked like the Yankees were willing to spend big, but instead it's come down to saving money. That extra $13 million for Headley was decreased to a mere extra $5 million when the $8 million the Yankees will still be on the hook for with Prado gets deducted. Just like when they decided to go with Andrew Miller over David Robertson at $3 million less, they also chose one or the other between Prado and Headley.
If that's what it came down to, the Yankees might have been better off going with Prado instead. While Headley gives them a primary third base option over a longer period of time, Prado provided more versatility and less injury risk. They could have also tried to extend him if years were a deciding factor. By going with Headley, it means he's basically locked in at third base, Rob Refsnyder will most likely be the second baseman, and they'll be going in with no fallback option in case he struggles. At least Prado would have given them a plan B at multiple positions. The only thing they did definitively establish was that Alex Rodriguez will not be the starting third baseman, though now he's still likely to be the backup when before he was merely the third stringer.
In the end it all comes down to money. They save on Chase Headley, offload Martin Prado, and got a cheap rotation option in Nathan Eovaldi. They passed on Jon Lester, Brandon McCarthy, and other starters that would only have cost money because they're shying away from big free agent contracts. Eovaldi, and Didi Gregorius for that matter, were cheaper than any other option out there and that's what was most important. While many have been advocating for the Yankees to get younger, there can be no doubt that they would have put together a stronger team in 2015 by spending big and keeping both Chase Headley and Martin Prado. Maybe they're saving money for Max Scherzer, but it's more likely that they're just going cheap in 2015.
When your nickname's "The Tabasco Kid," you are definitely worth remembering. (And hey, this series is back!)
Editor's Note: Well, it's been quite some time since I worked on this series--over ten and a half months to be exact. That whole 2014 season thing happened. But I'm going to dust this off and see how many I can work through before Yankees news starts to get crazy again. Thank you very much to those who have e-mailed asking about the series, both for your interest and for your extreme patience.
Like Al Orth, the previous player on the Pinstripe Alley Top 100 Yankees list, this Yankee played so long ago and in such an unmemorable era that is quite forgotten over a century later. Kid Elberfeld was the very first trade acquisition in franchise history, and the then-Highlanders were lucky enough to get a rowdy but popular and productive player from the deal.
Tenth kid is best kid
Born to German immigrants Philip and Katherine Elberfeld (née Eiselstein) in Pomeroy, Ohio along the Ohio River border with West Virginia, Norman Elberfeld was the true kid of his family. He was the tenth child of eleven, and since the last one died before he turned four, Elberfeld was basically always the youngest. Thus, the name "Kid" was born, even as he grew up. His family moved to Cincinnati when he was three, but his shoe merchant father couldn't afford to put him through school for very long. Elberfeld played both hockey and baseball in his youth despite an early departure from education.
Elberfeld became well-regarded for his captaincy of baseball teams around Cincinnati and when he was turned 20, he signed up with an independent minor league team in Clarksville, Tenneessee. It was the beginning of a three-year trek in the minors that lasted until a big league team finally noticed him: the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1898, after an embarrassing spring training bathtub injury (if I had a nickel for every time I heard that), he made his MLB debut for the Phillies in a May 30th doubleheader against the Louisville Colonels. It was an exciting game, to say the least, as Elberfeld flashed his potential with a pair of doubles but also made a pair of errors at third base. In hindsight, his .420 on-base percentage in 14 games was nice, but back then, his .237 batting average wasn't winning any favors. So the Phillies sold him to a team called the Detroit Tigers in a relatively new minor league, the Western League.
The next year, Elberfeld got his second shot at the majors after hitting .308 with 23 steals for the Tigers. Detroit sold him to the NL's Cincinnati Reds. The results were okay but nothing overwhelming--a .261/.378/.319 triple slash with a 100 wRC+ in 41 games. Again, he returned to the Tigers the next year, and the Western League president Ban Johnson changed its name to the American League. Another season later, Johnson declared that his new league was a major league, and the AL was officially born. Of the eight teams in the 1900 minor league AL, only half remained in the new major league, and by 1902, the only survivors from the minor league were the Tigers, White Sox, and Indians.
So after fighting tooth and nail to reach the majors, Elberfeld's own minor league team had done the job for him. He seized the opportunity this team and hit .308/.397/.428 in 1901 with 11 triples and a 127 wRC+. Elberfeld's performance slipped somewhat in '02, but New York Giants manager John McGraw still admired him. He found a kindred spirit in Elberfeld, who like McGraw, was a short fellow who had a very contentious relationship with umpires and a hard-nosed playing style that stood out even in a generation of players like that. (Elberfeld even had a knack for finding ways to get hit by a pitch like McGraw often did as a player for the 1890s Orioles.) Late in his first season managing the Giants, McGraw agreed to terms with Elberfeld to jump his team and go to the Polo Grounds.
However, an agreement between the leagues to cut down on the jumping led to that idea getting nixed. Tragedy also struck when Elberfeld's teammate, pitcher Win Mercer, who was set to become Tigers manager in 1903, committed suicide at age 28 during an off-season barnstorming tour. The team was thrown into disarray, and Elberfeld clashed with the man who replaced Mercer, future Yankees GM Ed Barrow. With trade rumors swirling around him and a suspension handed down by Barrow due to "loaferish conduct," as despite a .341/.412/.424 triple slash, he seemed to be openly angling for a spot on the St. Louis Browns during a series against them. Barrow had enough, and on June 10th, Elberfeld was dealt to the AL's newest team, the Highlanders ,for infielders Ernie Courtney and Herman Long. Neither infielder would do much for Barrow, but Elberfeld certainly found his niche in New York.
New York's newest star
At the time of the trade, the rookie Highlanders club had been trudging along near the bottom of the standings, as many teams do in their inaugural campaigns. They had an 18-23 record under pitcher/manager Clark Griffith and while there were some intriguing players like future Hall of Famers Willie Keeler and Jack Chesbro, they just weren't that talented a ballclub. Bringing Elberfeld aboard was a shot in the arm to the Highlanders club. Although Elberfeld didn't hit quite as hotly as he did in Detroit, his .287/.346/.367 batting line in 90 games offered more than what they had been getting out of the Long/Courtney tandem at shortstop. The Highlanders caught fire and played 54-39 ball the rest of the way, second-best in the AL behind only the champion Boston Americans. Sportswriter Sam Crane called Elberfeld the "Tabasco Kid" for the way he played in a fiery manner and ignited the team.
The following season, a showdown was set as New York and Boston marked the first chapter in what would be a historic rivalry. The Americans, who had won the inaugural World Series over the Pirates after winning the pennant, sought to repeat as champions and took first place immediately. The Highlanders hung tight with them thanks in great part to the spitballing Chesbro's phenomenal AL record 41-win (and 10.2 WAR) season, and though it took several months, they finally passed Boston on August 19th. From that point on, the two teams wrestled back and forth for control of the AL, neither staying in front for more than a week at a time. While Griffith and Chesbro were the leaders of the team, well-known journalist Joe Vila noted that Elberfeld's batting, baserunning, and fielding were "the talk of the town." Although the HIghlanders fell just a game short of the pennant, Elberfeld maintained his high caliber of play with a 105 wRC+ and a 5.4 WAR campaign.
Despite the excitement generated by New York's newest ballclub that year, the team at Hilltop Park were unable to continue contending for most of their first two decades. The 1905 campaign was a disappointment, as the team fell back under .500 and the season came to a close in an ugly collision between Elberfeld and center fielder Dave Fultz. Both men were out cold, and while Elberfeld recovered to depart with just an ugly gash over his eye that needed stitches, Fultz didn't return to consciousness until he was at Washington Heights Hospital. Fultz regained his health, but the Columbia Law School graduate decided that his playing career was over. The injury was symbolic of just a miserable season for the Highlanders.
The next season brought the last moments of excitement that Highlanders fans would see from their team for the next dozen years. Still under Griffith's command, the ballclub rallied to regain their '04 form, and while injuries limited Elberfeld to 99 games, he had his most productive year with the bat: .306/.378/.384 with 19 steals and a 130 wRC+. (A late-season brawl with umpire Silk O'Laughlin also forced him to miss a week of time.) With Boston completely out of the picture and in the middle of a horrendous 105-loss season, the Highlanders this time competed against the White Sox, a very talented team with tremendous pitching despite being nicknamed the "Hitless Wonders" for their inferior offense.
One ugly stretch saw the Highlanders fall seven games out of the race on August 23rd, a sign that would have been the death knell for most teams. However, they rallied and won an incredible 15 games in a row from August 29th through September 8th, sweeping a remarkable five doubleheaders in the process, The streak was snapped by lowly Boston of all teams, but by the end, they were a game and a half in front of the White Sox. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. A bizarre 23-game stretch on the road by the schedule-makers didn't help matters; neither did a late sweep in Detroit at the hands of Elberfeld's old Tigers club, now led by another talented and fiery youngster: Ty Cobb. After that winning streak, they merely played .500 ball the rest of the way, and the White Sox passed them.
That was the end of the Highlanders' only stretch of productive ball. They sagged to 78 losses in '07 and even worse, 103 losses in '08, a franchise record that still stands today. Elberfeld's bat was productive in '07, but injuries robbed him of almost the entire '08 campaign, a big reason for the Highlanders' demise. Owners Bill Devery and Frank Farrell let their inaugural manager Griffith go with the team a dismal 24-32, and they decided to give the club to Elberfeld to run while he was hurt and unable to play anyway. If it was an audition of sorts for Elberfeld to be the future player-manager, he badly failed, as the team only had three more wins under him than Griffith despite playing in 42 more games.
Closing out a career
Elberfeld played one more season in New York, and it would unsurprisingly be not as a manager. (Future "Miracle Braves" manager George Stallings took over in that capacity.) The 34-year-old still maintained a leadership role though, as he mentored a pair of younger players: third baseman Jimmy Austin and shortstop John Knight. Although Elberfeld's time was now split between short and third, he treated these players quite well, and when author Lawrence Ritter interviewed Austin for his book Glory of Their Times, Austin raved about Elberfeld's assistance in helping him mature as a player.
The two sides mutually agreed to part ways after the 1909 campaign, as the Highlanders wanted to get younger at Elberfeld's positions and the veteran still wanted to start somewhere. So in the off-season, they sold him to the Washington Senators for $5,000, and Elberfeld went on to notch two more productive seasons while also becoming a popular youth baseball coach around the nation's capital. He hit .261/.363/.314 with a 104 OPS+ and 5.5 WAR for the Senators, though like in New York, the team around him wasn't very talented, losing at least 85 games both years. Afterward, Elberfeld spent a couple years in the minors, including a stint as player-manager for the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association in 1913. He was productive enough to get one more shot as a player, a 30-game stint spent mostly on the bench for the 1914 Brooklyn Robins.
The rest of Elberfeld's life continued to be identified by baseball. He returned to Chattanooga for a few more seasons as a player-manager in the late 1910s, then bounced to the rival Little Rock Travelers, with whom he spent seven seasons, finishing out the majority of his professional playing career. He was much more successful than he was in his brief stint as major league manager, helping to churn out talented players like one who would become a famous Yankee manager himself, Casey Stengel. Elberfeld even appeared in one more minor league game at the age of 61, pinch-hitting for the D-League team he was managing, the Fulton Eagles. After his retirement from managing, Elberfeld continued to run youth camps, for both boys and girls who developed athletic skills under his tutelage.
Elberfeld passed away at age 68 in 1944, a man who became more associated with his extensive time and effort raising another generation of athletes than he was with the excitable playing career beforehand. Still, he should be remembered as one of the Yankees' first stars, a shortstop who set the stage for a tradition of excellence to come.
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