...a grand slam of a short stop...

#33 - DICK SCHOFIELD, SS

Richard Craig Schofield was the son of John Richard Schofield. They were both major league shortstops known as Dick Schofield. Dick Sr., known as Ducky, won a World Series with the Pirates over the Yankees in 1960 but was primarily a backup shortstop and occasional utility infielder. His son was something of an iron horse.

Selected in the first round of the 1981 draft with the third pick (Tony Gwynne was taken in the third round, 58th overall), he made his major league debut for a month of September baseball with the Halos two years later at age 20. Perpetually batting eighth or ninth, he delivered 0.8 of defensive WAR in his first full season, 1984. He would play in 715 games for the club from 1984 thru 1988, accruing 6.5 dWAR in that time while picking it up offensively to excellent major league levels for an everyday shortstop with a great glove.

Injuries kept Dick from appearing in over a hundred games for two years in row. he played in 91 games in 1989 and 99 in 1990 but he bounced back for 134 games in 1991, albeit with the weakest offensive numbers of his career. The ANgels traded him after one game of the 1992 season. He revisited the club in 1995 as a backup, following in his dad's footsteps and played in 13 games in 1996 with a Halo before retiring.

In an odd coincidence, Schofield's 1,086 games played as an Angel is tied for seventh all time with Gary DiSarcina. Both players had a reputation for being all glove and no bat and defensively, advanced statistics show that in almost exactly the same amount of playing time DiSarcina was 2 WAR better than Schofield in games as an Angel (Dick played career-average seasons in '92-94 with the Mets and Blue Jays). But Schofield was by far the more well-rounded baseball player. He had a stolen base percentage of 75% (76.7%, fifth best ever by an Angel), and almost double the number of SB as DiSar (99 for Dick, 47 for Gary). While DiSarcina's Offensive Wins Above Replacement is not even in the club's all time top 50, Schofield had 12.8 Offensive WAR, 21st best all time for an Angel. Schofield ends up 5.0 WAR better on the all time Angels list than DiSarcina. Dick is in the Top 20 at #19 with his 16.3 Wins Above Replacement.

And of course, no discussion of Schofield is complete without mentioning his August, 1986 Walk Off Grand Slam in the greatest uphill comeback victory in team history, one which coalesced the fan base into believing that it was indeed the Angels year. Not only was this game the biggest comeback in club history, with eight runs scored in the bottom of the ninth inning to win by one run, but of over 100 walk off home runs in Angels history, this is the only game where the walk off home run - a grand slam - came with the team down by three runs. And if that is not enough - it came with two outs.

This game defined the 1986 Angels at the time, indelibly so, we all thought, until a month and a half later a huge playoff defeat stained what was otherwise one of the greatest seasons in Angels baseball. And yet decades later, for those who were there and for those who saw it on television and for those who listened to it on the radio, this was a stunning, magic moment like no other. Compare it to the Scott Spiezio World Series home run... it was about that awesome for the previous generation.

And the fact that it came off the bat of the workmanlike Schofield, not a star, not a power threat, a good glove with a functional bat, made it a little more awesome ...and it made me rank him #32 All Time among Angels players.

Best known in New York for his time with the Yankees, Farnsworth has fifteen years of major league experience.

Best known in New York for the two-and-a-half seasons he spent with the Yankees from 2006 through 2008, Kyle Farnsworth has been a major league relief pitcher since 1999. Those three years in the Bronx certainly didn't go well for him, as he posted a 4.54 ERA and 4.73 FIP, though those numbers weren't quite as bad in the high-scoring context of those seasons as they would be today.

Entering his age-38 season, Farnsworth has had a decent career, hovering around league average in most years but occasionally putting together a very good or very bad campaign. He didn't fare well in 2013 as he made 39 appearances for the Rays and another 9 for the Pirates with a 4.70 ERA and 4.14 FIP in total. He wasn't much better in 2012 for the Rays, but he had one of his better seasons in the big leagues in 2011.

Three years removed from that season, Farnsworth would not make for an exciting signing, though his value figures to be pretty low. While he doesn't look quite as good as LaTroy Hawkins did last winter, perhaps he'd make for a similar type of signing for the Mets, who are still looking to bring in a relief pitcher, per Sandy Alderson's comments to Adam Rubin.

Like Hawkins, Farnsworth now throws a couple of miles per hour slower than he did in the past, though he still averaged 92.6 miles per hour on his fastball in 2013. If Farnsworth would be willing to sign a minor league deal, the Mets wouldn't stand to lose much by bringing him on board. According to Zach Links of MLB Trade Rumors, several teams are interested in Farnsworth.

More from Amazin' Avenue

Follow @AmazinAvenueFollow @SBNationMLB

• The Amazin' Avenue Audio Podcast: Episode 48
• Mets Free Agency: The value add of bargain shopping for Stephen Drew
• The case against Josh Satin as half of a Mets' first-base platoon
• Tom Glavine: "Can't be totally surprised Piazza didn't get in"
• Community Projection Review: John Buck

Robinson Cano, the Yankees' best homegrown player in the past decade, is no longer with the organization. He has signed his 10-year mega contract with the Mariners and now the Yankees need to find a way to make up for him. They signed Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, and Brian McCann to replace their best hitter in the lineup, but what about replacing his production at second base?

They have brought Kelly Johnson, Brian Roberts, and Dean Anna in, but it's likely that the Yankees are still open to other options. The organization suffers from a lack of impact prospects, especially at the top levels, and especially when it comes to infielders. Perhaps one of their top in-house candidates is nothing but a fringe prospect at best and someone who might never end up reaching the majors. Can Jose Pirela be the replacement the Yankees are looking for?

Who he is

Pirela is a 24-year-old right-handed hitting second baseman who was signed out of Venezuela for $300,000 before the 2008 season and, though he's been playing pro ball since he was 17, he still has only 24 plate appearances at Triple-A, a level he finally reached this past year after six years, and three full seasons in Double-A.

He made an underwhelming debut in rookie ball with a 5.8% walk rate, a sub-.300 OBP and a wRC+ of 66, but he showed potential the following year, hitting .295/.354/.381, while upping his walk rate to 8.3% and putting up a promising 114 wRC+ for Staten Island. Pirela took a slight step back in 2010 with the Charleston RiverDogs, but he still showed promise. He hit .252/.329/.364 with a 102 wRC+, raised his walk rate again to 9.9%, managed to swipe 30 bases on the season, and hit 13 triples

In 2011, he moved up to Double-A and that's when the bottom fell out. He hit a disappointing .239/.292/.353, his walk rate bottomed out at 4.8% and his strikeout rate lifted to a career-high rate of 16.9%. His 76 wRC+ proved that it wasn't his worst year, but it was definitely a bubble-bursting season. He got another shot in 2012 and had possibly his best offensive season to date, hitting .293/.356/.448 with a 123 wRC+. He recovered some of his plate discipline, but didn't see more than 82 games of action.

This year Pirela played his third season at the Double-A level, and still remained solid with a .272/.359/.418 batting line and a 118 wRC+. He had the highest walk rate (10.6%) and lowest strikeout rate (11.5%) of his career, stole 18 bases, and hit a career-high 10 home runs. He finally got the chance to play for Scranton over five games in July, where he collected seven hits in 24 at-bats before getting sent back down to Trenton.

To add to his resume, Pirela has routinely demolished winter ball, hitting .306/.372/.441 in the Venezuelan winter league over the last four years. The 2013-2014 season has brought the most success as he has hit .332/.415/.514 with six home runs and seven triples.

Platoons

As a right-handed batter, he also adds some value for the Yankees at the plate. The 2013 team hardly managed an 85 wRC+ against southpaws, which was only better than the White Sox and Marlins. This year's lineup still lacks right-handed options to bat against left-handed pitchers. In six seasons, Pirela has a .278/.335/.372 batting line against them, though his line against righties isn't too far off at .257/.324/.370. He gets on base more frequently against lefties, but he has significantly more power against righties, hitting 27 of his 33 career home runs against them. Pirela likely won't be an incredible asset against one handed pitcher over another, but he's not necessarily a platoon player either.

Still, there could be an argument made that he would benefit from playing in Yankee Stadium over PNC Field or Arm and Hammer Stadium. In 2013, the park factors for right-handed home runs at the Stadium was 122, while it was a below-average 95 in Scranton and a power-engulfing 76 in Trenton. While park factors for right-handed doubles and triples were a bit lower in Yankee Stadium, with a 94, it's easy to see how much of a benefit Pirela could get hitting there instead of Trenton, where they reached an 85 in 2013. Even though playing in New York heavily favors left-handed hitters for its short right field porch, batting in hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium, regardless of their handedness, is much better than the environments Yankee prospects consistently hit in the minors.

Fielding

Jose Pirela began his career has a shortstop, committing 107 errors in five seasons (that's like 21 errors a year!) before permanently being moved to second base, where he has made 31 errors over seven seasons (that's only like 4.5 errors a year!). He played second all season for the first time in 2013 and made 16 errors, which would have nearly led the position in MLB.

Baseball America reported one scout saying at the time of the signing "he's got all the raw tools to stay in the middle of the diamond. The range is exceptional, the hands are soft, the arm strength is slightly above average." There was some belief that his arm strength needed to improve to stick at short, but given his trouble with his glove work, along with his bulky physique, it seemed that the transition to second had to happen.

Projections

Thrusting Pirela into the majors might be risky, but it's not unheard of. Looking at his projections next to his competition might help show what the Yankees would be in for in 2014. I averaged their projections between Steamers and Oliver to get the average, where applicable.

Obviously, none of the options are going to do better than Cano last year or this year. Compared to Anna, Johnson, and Roberts, Pirela will lead in batting average and have the lowest strikeout rate. He beats Roberts in every category, other than walk rate, and his strikeout rate will be much more manageable than Johnson's, but the competition between he and Anna might be the most evenly matched, as both project to be about in line with what all second basemen hit in 2013.

So the potential is there, but he might not project to be much more than a league-average player in a reserve role. Removing Cano from the equation and looking at Oliver-specific stats, Pirela might look a little better.

He leads his competition by WAR and stolen bases, while playing second fiddle in home runs. His defense could be a problem, but it might not be as bad as Johnson's who is going to be counted on regularly in the field.

It had been believed that Pirela never had a place with the major league team because of the presence of Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano, but the best second baseman in the game is gone and the position is still kind of wide open. Pirela could squeeze himself into the equation, if the Yankees choose to believe in him. But should they? There's definitely an argument to be made that he belongs on the major league team, especially if Brian Roberts is getting a job, but he's not replacing Cano anytime soon.

More from Pinstripe Alley

Follow @pinstripealleyFollow @SBNationMLB

• Yankees GIFs: The longest dingers at old Yankee Stadium
• Baseball Hall of Fame 2014: Greg Maddux, like all the rest, won't be a unanimous selection
• Which Yankee prospects could break camp with the team?
• Yankees Prospects: High-A Tampa affiliate won't be moving to Ocala
• Yankees Top Moments Tournament: #1 Aaron Boone's Game 7 home run vs. (#3) Jim Leyritz's game-tying home run

The new system between MLB and NPB for Japanese players that wish to use the posting system to play in the United States before their contract with their Japanese team is up requires a $20 million release fee from the team that is able to come to an agreement with the player in question. Instead of paying the entire fee up front once the two sides reach a deal, the money will be paid to the Japanese team over the course of two years, with the first payment being $13 million and the remaining $7 million coming in Year Two.

Idea behind split payment is allow more teams the realistic opportunity to bid for a Tanaka - or any other Japanese player who is posted.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 8, 2014

Instead of a posting fee bidding war that would allow negotiating rights to only one MLB team, the $20 million agreement was supposed to level the playing field a bit. It seems like splitting up the payment of the release fee into two parts is also meant to allow more teams into the mix. However, if a team is unable to pay the $20 million upfront, it seems unlikely that they could compete with richer teams in a bidding war on the open market. Maybe a team with a sizable chunk of money coming off the books the following season could find it appealing to be able to delay $7 million for another year.

The Yankees aren't likely to be impacted very much by this because they seemed willing to pay whatever the posting fee under the previous system might be anyway. If they come up with the most money for Masahiro Tanaka and can save themselves $7 million until 2015, it is likely neither here nor there for them. It certainly doesn't hurt, though.

Which MLB teams do you think could be helped the most by the release fee for Tanaka and subsequent Japanese players being split into two parts? Does doing it this way really allow more teams to be involved in the negotiation process?

More from Pinstripe Alley

Follow @pinstripealleyFollow @SBNationMLB

• Yankees GIFs: The longest dingers at old Yankee Stadium
• Baseball Hall of Fame 2014: Greg Maddux, like all the rest, won't be a unanimous selection
• Which Yankee prospects could break camp with the team?
• Yankees Prospects: High-A Tampa affiliate won't be moving to Ocala
• Yankees Top Moments Tournament: #1 Aaron Boone's Game 7 home run vs. (#3) Jim Leyritz's game-tying home run

The BBWAA will induct three players to the Hall of Fame this year with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas all gaining entrance. Craig Biggio comes up painfully close with 74.8% of the vote, falling two votes short of induction. Jack Morris failed to get enough of the vote in his final year on the ballot, and will now have his Hall of Fame fate left up to the Veterans Committee.

Maddux received 97.2%, Glavine 91.9%, and Thomas 83.7% to fall above the 75% threshold. Former Yankee Mike Mussina recieved 20.3% of the vote. Don Mattingly stays on the ballot for 2015 after receiving 8.2% of the vote. Rafael Palmeiro, despite having 3000 hits and 500 home runs to his name, did not receive the mandatory 5% of the vote in order to stay on the ballot. Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Morris each lost ground over last year's numbers in a crowded class of potential inductees. That problem won't get any better for them next year when Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, and Gary Sheffield all appear on the ballot for the first time. Edgar Martinez, Curt Schilling, and Lee Smith all experienced significant drops in vote totals from last year.

Sixteen voters, including Ken Gurnick, failed to cast a vote for Maddux. Their reasonings will likely vary, but it seems like there probably won't be one among the bunch that justifies leaving him off. Hopefully Mussina will have a better showing next year, if not the next year, once the ballot thins out a little more. He's deserving and should eventually gain that recognition.

Who do you think fell short this year but should have gotten in? Are you disappointed with only three names getting in off a crowded ballot, or do you think three is fine considering that no one was inducted last year?

More from Pinstripe Alley

Follow @pinstripealleyFollow @SBNationMLB

• Masahiro Tanaka news: $20 million release fee will be paid out in two installments
• Is Jose Pirela a legitimate option for the Yankees at second base?
• Yankees GIFs: The longest dingers at old Yankee Stadium
• Baseball Hall of Fame 2014: Greg Maddux, like all the rest, won't be a unanimous selection
• Which Yankee prospects could break camp with the team?

A lot of runs stand to be saved with the Yankees' current outfield personnel.

Like any optimistic fan, I like to spend my offseason thoughts about the Yankees focusing on what parts of the team look to be in good shape. As such, I've tried to think about the infield as little as possible. The outfield, however, has shaped into what could be a very interesting and talented unit. That said, there's the looming possibility that several of those outfielders could be moved via trade and this group looks very different come Opening Day. But that sort of thinking is no fun, so I got to wondering about just how good this current group could turn out to be defensively.

Starting with a glance at the players' UZR over the last five seasons, it looks like the unit should be quite good.

(min 1000 innings)

That's four players that are significantly positive contributors when it comes to the metric...and Carlos Beltran. It will be interesting to see if, assuming they retain him, the Yankees employ Ichiro as a late-game defensive replacement for whichever veteran is manning right field that day. Otherwise his usefulness as a defender could easily be matched by his faded bat. Those caveats aside, there is no other team in the league that has outfielders with this sort of track record for being positive contributors on defenses. And from a strictly observational standpoint, there are four players here with speed ranging from above-average to elite to help run down flyballs in 2014. I would expect a lot of assumed outs to find their way into gloves this season.

The Ellsbury-Gardner combo won't wow anyone with their arms, but their speed and quick first-steps should do wonders for covering the spacious gaps at Yankee Stadium. It remains to be seen what how drastic the shifts manager Joe Girardi will employ to maximize the two defensive stalwarts, but it might be wise to try to use the two to compensate for whomever is out in right field. I assume it will be Carlos Beltran, due to both his fancy new contract and reputation, however his range just is nothing like what it used to be. It may have initially seemed redundant, but after the acquisition of Beltran having two players with the range of center fielders seems like a pretty smart hedge.

Even with the jettisoning of Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain, there's still quite a few flyball pitchers on this staff. So it will be most helpful to them that the Yankees project to have a very good defensive outfield next year. This certainly all changes if the Yankees end up dealing Gardner or (to a much lesser extent) Ichiro. It would hurt to possibly turn what is currently a strength into a question mark, but those are the things that happen when a roster has a lot of holes. I'll continue to assume (hope) it won't come to that and look forward to a lot of exciting defensive plays in the outfield that will make Lyle Overbay playing out there in 2013 seem like a fever dream.

• Open Thread: If you could change one pitch in Yankees history, what would it be?
• Which current Yankees are future Hall of Famers?
• Yankees rumors: Is Homer Bailey finally on the trading block?
• Yankees Rumors: New York had interest in Chris Dickerson
• Baseball Hall of Fame 2014: The Pinstripe Alley Ballot

The system for voting players into the Baseball Hall of Fame is broken, and this year's results are just more proof of that

The inductees for the 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame class were announced today.  Congrats to Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas.

Way, way down at the bottom of the results is former Arizona Wildcat J.T. Snow, who picked up two votes.

Alright, so what's the big deal?  Two votes?  Snow will not be on the ballot next year, since he was on less than 5% of the ballots.  This is the same fate that another Arizona great suffered last year, when Kenny Lofton was on just 3.2% of the ballots.

But Snow receiving two votes speaks to a larger issue with the Baseball HOF.

Voters are allowed to name ten players on their ballots, and if players are on more than 75% of the ballots, they get in.  This year, Craig Biggio fell just two votes short of the required 75%.

So let's just hope that Snow wasn't the guy who replaced Biggio on the two ballots that he showed up on.

But when you look at the players that were eligible, how can anyone in their right mind think that J.T. Snow is one of the ten best players on the ballot?

Snow was a career .268 hitter with the Yankees, Angels, Giants and Red Sox in his 16 year career.  Yes he did win six straight gold gloves at first base, but those were six years when all first basemen did was hit home runs.

He hit over .300 just once in his career, when he hit .327 while playing in just 107 games for the San Francisco Giants in 2004.  He had over 100 Ks in a season three separate times.  Just would like to point out that Barry Bonds did it once: his rookie year in 1986.

Biggio did strike out over 100 times in seven seasons, but for his career, drove in nearly 300 more runs that Snow, stole 400 more bases, and hit over .300 four times.

Just look at some of the players that were eligible besides Maddux, Glavine, Thomas and Biggio.  Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, Curt Schilling, Jeff Kent, Mike Mussina, Fred McGriff, Larry Walker, Edgar Martinez, Jack Morris, Tim Raines.  Snow doesn't even come close to touching those guys.  There's no way you can call him a top-ten player on this list.

Deadspin Reveals which BBWAA writer sold their ballot

At least the Deadspin ballot turned out decent

When you just look at Bonds and Kent, Snow was the third best player in the middle of the order on his own team for nearly an entire decade.  That shows up in his zero All-Star Game appearances.

Zero All-Star Games.

That ain't Hall of Fame material.  Sorry.

At least Lofton had six All-Star appearances.

Arizona fans can look forward to 2016 when Trevor Hoffman is up for induction for the first time.  He should be the first former Wildcat to make the Baseball HOF.

More from Arizona Desert Swarm

Follow @azdesertswarmFollow @SBNationCFB

• Arizona basketball news: Wildcats' defense shines, Nick Johnson under-appreciated
• B.J. Denker picks Auburn in hilarious tweet
• Arizona football: Nate Phillips named FWAA Freshman All-American
• Rich Rodriguez to Louisville rumor silenced by Greg Byrne
• Pac-12 Basketball: Oregon falls, UCLA rolls, Washington State stinks

Tanya, Greg, Andrew, and Jason are joined by Kiwi friend Matthew Floratos as they discuss the Hall of Fame, Randy Levine & A-Rod's e-mail exchange, and lawyer/AS Roma entrepreneur Joe Tacopina.

hope u like this podcast LOL :)
xoxo- R4|\|D'/ |_.

[0:00] The truth about New Zealand seals
[2:25] The mysteries of A-Rod
[4:46] The Hall of Fame and the character clause
[8:12] Greg Maddux is not a unanimous Hall of Famer because...?
[13:52] On the whole "back in my day..." shenanigans
[21:03] Randy Levine: The President
[27:07] Very important discussion on Joe Tacopina
[32:52] Derby interlude

I'm so happy to finally announce that Derby became a dad on December 15. Here are his twins a boy & girl. pic.twitter.com/HbGFlAMlKh

— Eric Lipsman (@E_Lipsman) January 7, 2014

[36:07] Very important tweetbag question from Matt Ferenchick
[38:30] Baseball has been quite exciting over the holidays. So we talk more Tacopina and reminisce about the Montero-Pineda trade because why not?
[51:05] Hopes about Pineda and ManBan
[56:11] The young Yankees GIFer
[57:50] Yankee/Mitre of THE YEAR 2014

Podcast link (Length: 1:07:10)

iTunes link

RSS feed

More from Pinstripe Alley

Follow @pinstripealleyFollow @SBNationMLB

• How good could the Yankees' outfield be defensively?
• Baseball Hall of Fame 2014: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas to be inducted
• Masahiro Tanaka news: $20 million release fee will be paid out in two installments
• Is Jose Pirela a legitimate option for the Yankees at second base?
• Yankees GIFs: The longest dingers at old Yankee Stadium

The Yankees have signed right-handed relievers Bruce Billings and Yoshinori Tateyama to minor league contracts, reports Matt Eddy of Baseball America.

Billings, 28, appeared in 28 games (26 in relief) at Triple-A in the Oakland Athletics' system, pitching to a 4.31 ERA and 3.96 FIP. Billings has also seen time at the Major League level, pitching to a 10.29 ERA and 5.45 FIP in only four relief appearances and seven innings, all in 2011.

Tateyama, on the other hand, is a re-signing by New York. Tateyama is 38 years old and started 2013 with the Texas Rangers where he pitched to a 4.24 ERA and 3.58 FIP in 23 relief appearances at Triple-A. He was then traded to the Yankees for a bag of peanuts where he then pitched to a 1.70 ERA and 2.11 FIP in 21 games (20 in relief) at Triple-A Scranton. Tateyama has some experience at the Major League level, where he has pitched to a 5.75 ERA and 4.54 FIP in 53 career relief outings with the Rangers from 2011-2012.

Since the Yankees have done very little to bolster the Major League bullpen thus far this off-season, it's nice to see them add arms at the Minor League level in Billings and Tateyama.

More from Pinstripe Alley

Follow @pinstripealleyFollow @SBNationMLB

• Masahiro Tanaka news: $20 million release fee will be paid out in two installments
• Is Jose Pirela a legitimate option for the Yankees at second base?
• Yankees GIFs: The longest dingers at old Yankee Stadium
• Baseball Hall of Fame 2014: Greg Maddux, like all the rest, won't be a unanimous selection
• Which Yankee prospects could break camp with the team?

Last Time on Pinstripe Alley

• Yankees sign right-handers Bruce Billings and Yoshinori Tateyama
• Pinstripe Alley Podcast Episode 32: Sexually frustrated seals
• How good could the Yankees' outfield be defensively?
• Baseball Hall of Fame 2014: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas to be inducted
• Masahiro Tanaka news: $20 million release fee will be paid out in two installments
• Is Jose Pirela a legitimate option for the Yankees at second base?

Yankees News

• It's About the Money | Brad Vietrogoski: The Yankees might be overvaluing their internal bullpen options outside of David Robertson.
• It's About the Money | Mike Eder: The Yankees should try to sign players that carry draft pick compensation, like Ubaldo Jimenez or Nelson Cruz.
• An A-Blog For A-Rod | Brad Vietrogoski: The Yankees' contingency plan for Alex Rodriguez consists of Eduardo Nunez and that's not good.
• MLB.com | Bryan Hoch:Mike Mussina talks about his career after the Hall of Fame announcement.
• Baseball America | Ben Badler: How does Masahiro Tanaka compare to Yu Darvish?
• ESPN New York | Ian O'Connor: Hal Steinbrenner needs to get Masahiro Tanaka to prove that he cares about winning.

It's come down to one final question. Which was the greatest moment in Yankees history: Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest Man" speech or Aaron Boone's unforgettable pennant-winner?

The results are in for the semifinals of Pinstripe Alley's Yankees Top Moments Tournament:

(Founding-1959) Gehrig's "Luckiest Man" speech: 59%
(1960-79) Bucky Dent's playoff homer: 41%

(2000-present) Aaron bleepin' Boone: 73%
(1980-99) Jim Leyritz's game-tying World Series homer: 27%

***

It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that it came down to these two moments, given the tournament setup and the incredible memories they created. So without further ado, here is the final matchup of the Top Moments Tournament:

Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest Man" Speech

On July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig stepped to the microphone at Yankee Stadium on Lou Gehrig Day after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease that would later be known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The disease put an early end to the Iron Horse's career, also forcing an end to Gehrig's consecutive game streak at 2,130 games from June 1, 1925 to May 2, 1939 because of his deteriorating health.

After announcing his retirement on June 21, Gehrig made his famous speech in front of more than 60,000 fans between games of a double header against the Senators on Independence Day. In the emotional farewell, Gehrig thanked the fans for their kindness and encouragement following his grim diagnosis, and claimed himself "the luckiest man on the face of the Earth", which would become one of the most iconic sports moments in history. Gehrig closed his speech with the similarly famous line, "So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for", before being joined at the microphone by his Murderer's Row partner, Babe Ruth.

By the time Gehrig made his famous speech, his condition had already worsened considerably. His number 4 was retired by the Yankees, earning him the honor as the first baseball player to have their number retired in baseball. In December of 1939, Gehrig was elected to the Hall of Fame in a special vote by the Baseball Writers Association as the second-youngest player ever to be voted in. Gehrig passed away in 1941, exactly 16 years after he famously took over for Wally Pipp in the Yankees' lineup to begin his great consecutive game streak.

The Luckiest Man speech is much more than just an iconic player's farewell to the game of baseball, instead representing a dying man showing grace and humility in the face of a tragic illness that ended his career and life all too soon. Gehrig walked away because his condition made him feel like he was hurting his team, but as his manager told him on the day of his famous speech, he was never that.

Entry written by Tanya Bondurant on November 19, 2013.

Aaron Boone's Game 7 home run

Game 7. Yankees-Red Sox. If you're a fan of the greatest rivalry in sports, then 2003 was as good as you can hope for. The Yankees had won 101 games under Joe Torre behind one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball. The starting rotation led by Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, and David Wells led the major leagues in innings pitched, FIP, and fWAR while their closer, some guy named Mariano Rivera, had a pretty decent season too with 40 saves and a minuscule 1.66 ERA.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, had hired a new General Manager in Theo Epstein, and signed little-known free agent backup DH David Ortiz a few weeks before the start of spring training. Ortiz went from starting the season as a part-time player to hitting 31 home runs and finishing fifth in the MVP voting, much to the delight of Red Sox fans.

The Yankees and Red Sox were neck-and-neck throughout much the 2003 season before the Yankees pulled away with the division title in the final two months. The ALCS was about as heated as this rivalry has been in a long time, from both the fans and the players. This was highlighted during Game 3 in Boston, where tempers flared and the benches cleared. Going into Game 7, the Yankees and Red Sox were dead even in head-to-head matchups throughout the season.

The game itself did not start off well for Yankee fans. Pedro Martinez was lights out early on while Yankees starter Roger Clemens struggled to get into rhythm. The Yankees were already down 4-0 when Mussina relieved Clemens with two on and nobody out in the top of the fourth to get out of the jam. Jason Giambi was able to get to Pedro with a pair of solo home runs in the fifth and seventh innings to cut it to 4-2, but Ortiz responded with a home run in the eighth to extend the lead back to three. After Nick Johnson popped out to lead off the bottom of the eighth, the Red Sox were five outs away from the World Series. That's when the magic began.

Derek Jeter doubled to right and scored on a single by Bernie Williams to cut it to 5-3, prompting Boston manager Grady Little to go out to the mound, presumably to bring in a lefty to face Hideki Matsui. Instead, he left Pedro in the game, and two doubles later from Matsui and Jorge Posada, the game was tied at five. Little's decision to leave Pedro in the game was a big talking point for Red Sox fans in a classic second-guess situation.

The game went into extras, as Rivera came on in relief as the game remained tied through the ninth and tenth innings. The Yankees were running out of time after Rivera pitched his third inning of relief. Nobody knew if Rivera could pitch any more, and Jose Contreras was going to be the next guy out of the bullpen. Thankfully, we never had to see that happen, as with Tim Wakefield on the mound, Aaron Boone came to the plate to lead off the bottom of the 11th.

Boone didn't even start the game for the Yankees. He was sat down for Game 7 in favor of Enrique Wilson, who had a history of success against Pedro. Boone entered earlier as a pinch-runner before taking over at third base, and was getting his first at bat of the game. He connected on Wakefield's first pitch of the inning, homering over the left field wall and sending the Yankees to the World Series, breaking the hearts of plenty of Red Sox fans in the process. In a special moment, his brother Bret Boone was in the booth with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver as he hit one of the biggest home runs in Yankees history.

Entry written by Chris Kirby on December 9, 2013.

***

So which moment is the best in Yankees history? Vote in the poll below.

More from Pinstripe Alley

Follow @pinstripealleyFollow @SBNationMLB

• Yankees sign right-handers Bruce Billings and Yoshinori Tateyama
• Pinstripe Alley Podcast Episode 32: Sexually frustrated seals
• How good could the Yankees' outfield be defensively?
• Baseball Hall of Fame 2014: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas to be inducted
• Masahiro Tanaka news: $20 million release fee will be paid out in two installments

...from out of nowhere...

#31 - FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ, P

He came out of nowhere, it seemed. Actually Bill Bavasi signed him as a free agent in Venezuela at age 16 in a bidding war with other clubs. The $900,000 signing bonus was totally uncharacteristic of the Angels (before and mostly since) and almost unheard of for a sixteen-year-old, but it was prescient.

Frankie, as he came to be called in the organization, was converted to a relief pitcher in 2000 as he basically lot interest in the game after pitching a few high-intensity innings as a starter. He was not on the 40-Man roster until late September, 2002 when he pitched five innings just days before the Angels clinched their Wild Card berth.

Going into the 2002 playoffs, the Angels took advantage of having put Steven Green on the disabled list earlier in the season; Green was a 40-Man roster bubble player in AAA. In doing so, Frankie was then eligible for the playoffs because he was on the roster and could take over for the injured Green even though Green had never thrown a pitch for the big league club. Frankie, with less than six innings pitched in the majors took over the role that the mediocre reliever Al Levine couldn't handle - bridging starters to Brendan Donnelly in the eighth inning.

The rest, as they say, is history... Frankie became the story of the postseason as he was virtually unscouted and big league pitchers could not lay off his wicked slider that started in like a meaty fastball and then dropped of the table like blob of Jello wiggling off the spoon. Like lightning in a bottle, the youngest player in baseball had two of the three Angel wins over the Yankees in the ALDS and two of the four victories over the Twins. While these W's are a condition of being in the right place at the right time for perhaps the most notorious comeback team in baseball history, the WHIPS of 0.7, 0.9 and 0.8 in his first three postseason series are a hard testament, especially coupled with the K-Rate of 12, 13 an 14 K per 9 in each of the ALDS, CDS and WS respectively.

Immediately dubbed the closer of the future there were only two things standing in his way. Beloved closer Troy Percival was under contract for two more seasons and his own brash arrogance was shocking even in a culture dominated by arrogant jar-headed meat sticks. The most polite quote to describe it was "Percy tried to take Frankie under his wing but Frankie's head was way too big to fit."

In 2003 and 2004 Rodriguez bade his time, setting up for Percival in a dominating fashion. He threw 170 innings in those two years, striking out 218 batters. The closer's spot became his in 2005 and he did not disappoint, turning in four seasons of fantastic numbers - His ERA low was 1.73 and the high was only 2.81 in that time. His lowest Saves total was 40 in 2007 and he set the major league single season record with 62 in 2008.

But postseason opponents scouted him far more effectively after 2002 and he had little of his rookie glory and was the goat more than a few times for the Angels in October. So after two seasons of WHIPS of 1.2, a slowly ascending Walk Rate, a slowly dissipating K rate and a flat out rejection of a contract extension personally delivered by Arte Moreno, the Angels parted ways at the Free Agency Pass with K-Rod (as the national media referred to him). The great recession was suddenly palpable though and a panicked Frankie took the first offer he got - and annual value of eleven million for three years - far less than Moreno had offered him a year and a half prior.

He never really recaptured that glory and of course the microcosm of New York made his hot temper appear to be boiling blood all of the time. His fading out statistically is best described by his WAR numbers - in six full seasons with the Angels his lowest WAR was 1.8 in 2003. In five full seasons since then, his 1.8 WAR in 2010 with the Mets has been his best season.

In Halo lore, he made his mark on the record books - Four of the top ten single season Saves marks are his and the 208 Saves he got as an Angel are the second most in club history. Working against him from being higher on this list is that he pitched only 451 Innings for the club, about 75% of Troy Percival's total. But still, for most of his career, the sure-thing excitement of Francisco Rodriguez on the mound through 2008 and the miracle of October, 2002 make him inarguably the second-greatest relief pitcher in Angels history.

The method MLB uses to select members of the Hall of Fame has never been very good, and it's gotten worse. How can the process be fixed?

The baseball Hall of Fame announced its 2014 induction class on Wednesday and as usual those doing the voting got things mostly wrong. On the bright side, three deserving candidates, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas, will be enshrined in Cooperstown this summer, which certainly tops last year when nobody was put in. At the same time, though, plenty of deserving candidates were kept out due to PED use - confirmed, alleged, vaguely suspected or otherwise - and several others were denied admission because members of the BBWAA simply don't realize how good they were.

Some of the most egregious cases are almost painful to write about. Since this is a Yankees blog, we'll start with Mike Mussina, who got just 20.3 percent of the vote on his first ballot despite easily besting Glavine (who got 91.9 percent) and several other Hall of Fame pitchers in key career stats like ERA+, WHIP, FIP, strikeout rate, walk rate, fWAR and even winning percentage. That's not to suggest Glavine isn't a deserving Hall of Famer - he is, easily - but Mussina was better and the fact that he's considered borderline by most writers and pundits is absolutely absurd.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens got 198 and 202 votes respectively, good for just 34.7 and 35.4 percent despite their being arguably the best hitter and the best pitcher of the past fifty years. We won't even get into the fact that at least four voters saw fit to vote for Clemens, but not Bonds when the accusations against them are roughly the same. Yes, there's considerable evidence that both men used steroids, but what about Mike Piazza the all-time home runs leader for a catcher and Jeff Bagwell, whose .948 career OPS ranks in the top twenty all-time for players with more than 5,000 plate appearances? Baseball writers have nothing on either besides rumor and innuendo, yet still, both remain on the outside looking in.

The system for electing members of the baseball Hall of Fame isn't working, so it's time to change the system. Here are a few ideas on how:

Change who votes

Voting for the Hall of Fame is currently done by members of the BBWAA (the trade association for professional print baseball writers) who've been in the industry for ten years or more. Unfortunately, being a baseball writer for ten years doesn't necessarily mean you know what you're talking about, or that you're actually voting honestly with any degree of integrity. We know about Murray Chass, the 75-year-old former New York Times reporter who uses his ballot to symbolically shout "slow down, this is a neighborhood!" from his front porch. Chass has publicly stated that he'll never vote for anyone who thinks used PEDs, evidence be damned. Then there's MLB.com's Ken Gurnick who refuses to support anyone who even played in the steroid era, except for Jack Morris, who played in the steroid era. In Gurnickland, anyone who merely shared a ballpark with a PED user should be punished, but the racists, amphetamine poppers and recreational dope heads of the game's past are A-OK.

The ten-year requirement is one rule that could change. The BBWAA's logic makes some sense - since players must wait five years after retiring before being Hall of Fame eligible, only writers with considerable experience would have been working during the meat of their careers. But pro writers don't necessarily watch more baseball than aspiring writers. Beat reporters in AL cities don't see much NL baseball at all - and vice versa. The real result of the rule has been to produce a mostly older voting body, which tends to over-glorify the players of its youth and look down on their modern counterparts. Adding younger minds to the electorate - minds who better understand and are more willing to make use of modern-day numbers - might give the ballot a broader perspective.

Baseball writers have botched things badly, but would any other group do better? Broadcasters, ex-players and fans all have their biases and agendas. There's no sampling that would hit the nail on the head every time. Still, why not diversify? Include television and radio commentators. Include former players and coaches who aren't on the veterans committee. Bring in scouts. What about SABR? It's become most commonly associated with Bill James-style advanced statistics, but it's actually an organization dedicated to researching the history of baseball. Give them some votes to distribute among their more prominent members. Even a select number of fans who can demonstrate an acute knowledge of the game could be considered.

Stop letting the same people vote every year

One of the most ridiculous aspects of Hall of Fame voting is that the same voters will vote for different players in different years. It's one thing to leave a player off because you used up your ten votes, but often, writers will deny a player in his first few years because he's "not a first ballot guy," then circle his name later on because "he's waited long enough." That's incredibly stupid.

An idea would be to split the electorate into four groups and let each section vote only once every four years. That way, voters would value their ballots more - they wouldn't sell them to Deadspin like Dan Le Batard did this year - and they'd probably be more truthful in deciding who actually belongs in the hall of fame. They'd be less apt to preach or grandstand and less likely to hand out courtesy or tongue-in-cheek nods to guys like Armando Benitez and Jacque Jones. Beyond that, players who miss out one year would go before a completely different subset the next, allowing them a fresh and unique outlook from those who judge them.

Get rid of the ten player maximum

Voters are only allowed to choose up to ten players each year. When I filled out my mock ballot for Pinstripe Alley's election, I would have selected fifteen if I could have. There are probably real voters out there who feel the same, and they should be allowed to do so, if for no other reason than to combat the hard line types who vote for just one or two candidates or for no one at all.

Baseball worries that too many players getting inducted the same year would somehow "cheapen" the honor or "make the ceremony too long" but from what we've seen that probably wouldn't be an issue even if writers were given more votes. It's not as if ten guys a year are getting in now. If eleven or twelve or twenty-five players are all worthy at once, why not put them in? Because current Hall members don't want to sit out in the sun too long?

Get rid of the five percent rule

Players who receive less than five percent of the vote in a given year are eliminated from all future votes until they're eligible for consideration by the veteran's committee. The idea here is to prevent the ballot from becoming overcrowded as more players are added each year. The problem is that sometimes players who deserve more consideration don't get their rightful chance. Last year, Kenny Lofton, a great defensive center fielder who had a .372 career OBP and stole over 600 bases was knocked out on his first go around. So was Bernie Williams who had a career wRC+ of 126 and hit 22 postseason home runs. This year, Rafael Palmeiro, one of four players in MLB history with 500 home runs and 3,000 hits was ousted on his fourth ballot.

None of the players above necessarily belong in the Hall of Fame. Lofton and Williams' numbers come up slightly short and Palmeiro's lackluster production through most of his twenties calls his later-career performance into serious question. Nevertheless, these are guys who belong in the debate. If the ballot gets "too crowded", so what? Can the Hall of Fame not afford the paper and ink needed to print more pages? Do we care if the thing ends up looking like a telephone book? Anyone who can't take the time to sift through it doesn't deserve to vote.

More from Pinstripe Alley

Follow @pinstripealleyFollow @SBNationMLB

• Yankees sign right-handers Bruce Billings and Yoshinori Tateyama
• Pinstripe Alley Podcast Episode 32: Sexually frustrated seals
• How good could the Yankees' outfield be defensively?
• Baseball Hall of Fame 2014: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas to be inducted
• Masahiro Tanaka news: $20 million release fee will be paid out in two installments

While no timetable currently exists on a ruling for the Alex Rodriguez suspension appeal, it is believed that a decision will come soon. Independent arbitrator Frederic Horowitz has long been expected to issue his verdict in the month of January, and with spring training just over a month away, the Yankees need to know what is going on with their highest paid player. According to the New York Daily News, sources have told them that A-Rod is prepared to take the case to federal court if the verdict is not to his liking.

The source believes that A-Rod's lawyers have all the paperwork already drawn up to ask a judge to issue an injunction on the suspension, which would allow the third baseman to take part in spring training and play in the 2014 regular season. In the meantime, his legal team would be working to have any potential suspension overturned in court. "Rodriguez's lawyers will likely claim that the unprecedented suspension violates federal labor law because the arbitration process was unfair and biased against A-Rod."

There has yet to be any clear indication as to which way Horowitz will rule, though both sides seem confident they will win the day. It is believed that if Rodriguez is hit with anything more than a 50-game suspension, his side will protest in court, though a suspension of any kind could spark such a legal battle. If A-Rod gets off completely, which is possible if Horowitz believes a suspension can not be made without an analytical positive test, it's unknown what MLB's reaction would be. Though it should be noted that they fired the last arbitrator that ruled against them when Ryan Braun was under investigation.

Either way, this story is not likely to end any time soon, even if there is a verdict. The Yankees just need to know if they have to pay him or not and if they have to find someone else to play third base. Time is running out for them.

More from Pinstripe Alley

Follow @pinstripealleyFollow @SBNationMLB

• A few ways baseball can improve its Hall of Fame induction system
• Yankees Top Moments Tournament Finals: Gehrig's "Luckiest Man" speech vs. Boone's Game 7 homer
• Yankees sign right-handers Bruce Billings and Yoshinori Tateyama
• Pinstripe Alley Podcast Episode 32: Sexually frustrated seals
• How good could the Yankees' outfield be defensively?

Tanaka has come to America to meet with 12 different teams in two days. Sounds like a great road trip.

Masahiro Tanaka, believed to be the best free agent pitcher on the market now, has until January 24 to sign with an MLB team or he will lose the ability to play in America until next season. Teams have already reached out to his new agent, Casey Close, but now Tanaka has flown to America to begin meeting with teams personally.

Though he was expected to touch down in Chicago, Tanaka is currently in Los Angeles, due to poor weather conditions. Still, he is expected to meet with a dozen teams, including the Yankees, by Friday. The Dodgers, Cubs, and Diamondbacks are expected to be the major players for the 25-year-old superstar, while the Angels, White Sox, Blue Jays, Mariners, Twins, and Rangers have all been reported to have some level of interest, though it is unknown if they have meetings planned. He could be attending five to six meetings per day between Thursday and Friday, so there's plenty of room in the schedule. He will also have a physical that will be given to any interested teams.

The Yankees have gone out of their way to declare Tanaka their number one priority this offseason, though the change in the posting system might have diminished their interests. Instead of being able to out bid every team in a blind bid with tax-free money, everyone will be able to negotiate with him openly. Instead of an under-market contract, competitive bidding could lead to a deal in excess of $100 million.

The Yankees need to decide whether or not spending such a large sum of money on someone who has never played in Major League Baseball is worth the risk. Adding Tanaka would essentially assure that they burst through the $189 million budget, though it has been reported that if they were to go over, they would prefer to go way over. Tanaka could definitely do that.

More from Pinstripe Alley

Follow @pinstripealleyFollow @SBNationMLB

• A few ways baseball can improve its Hall of Fame induction system
• Yankees Top Moments Tournament Finals: Gehrig's "Luckiest Man" speech vs. Boone's Game 7 homer
• Yankees sign right-handers Bruce Billings and Yoshinori Tateyama
• Pinstripe Alley Podcast Episode 32: Sexually frustrated seals
• How good could the Yankees' outfield be defensively?

If A-Rod doesn't like the ruling on his suspension, he could file an injunction and force his way onto the field to begin the season.

A decision on Alex Rodriguez's appeal of his 211-game suspension is expected to be announced "any day now," but if Rodriguez doesn't like the outcome, he could file an injunction that would result in further legal action, according to a report by CBS Sports' Mike Axisa.

If the legal battle continues, A-Rod could end up in the Yankees' lineup on Opening Day and continue to play until a final decision is made.

"The papers are all ready ... They are just waiting for the announcement."

Rodriguez's team of lawyers could claim that the arbitration of his appeal hearing was biased against him, and that the unprecedented suspension was a result of "the arbiter exceed[ing] the duties within his purview."

In other words, they intend to draw the process out as long as possible, even if the end result remains the same. While his lawyers contend that their client doesn't deserve to serve "one inning," there is some speculation that the Yankees' third baseman would accept a suspension of 65 games or less.

The legal fees to combat a 65-game ban would likely cost Rodriguez, who is scheduled to earn $25 million in 2014, more than he would lose in salary.

A compromise of that nature is likely. A 65-game suspension would equate to the punishment Ryan Braun was given for "using a lozenge and a cream for a limited time," while A-Rod is said to have taken part in "serious drug use over several years, involving multiple substances and code words for drugs used in voluminous text messages, even injections."

As if things hadn't gotten ugly enough -- Rodriguez and his lawyers have already sued commissioner Bud Selig and portrayed Tony Bosch as a cocaine addict, not to mention the league's own shadowy dealings with Bosch -- now, the process could very well end up stretching into the 2014 season.

The initial ruling is expected soon, but the matter will be far from resolved. In the meantime, A-Rod could see regular playing time with Yankees, since he's likely to be their best option at third when they open their season in Houston on April 1.

More from SB Nation MLB:

• Pedro, Big Unit, Nomar and Smoltz headline 2015 Hall of Fame ballot

• Maddux, Glavine and Big Hurt named HOF class of 2014 | Biggio 2 votes short

• Normandin: Why the Hall of Fame doesn't matter anymore

• Goldman: Time for BBWAA voters to stop faking it

• Death of a Ballplayer: Wrongly convicted prospect spends 27 years in prison

The Yankees are still waiting around to see what will happen with Alex Rodriguez, which is understandable. He's owed a lot of money in 2014, and if the Yankees are dedicated to this whole budget thing, they'll want to wait and see what's going on with their third baseman before they go around spending more money on players they may or may not need. Once they know what's happening with A-Rod then they can decide if they need someone like Mark Reynolds, Jeff Baker, or Michael Young (ugh).

However, according to Wallace Matthews of ESPN, the Yankees have no plan to sign anyone else. A source believes that they will look internally to fill in at third base, whether A-Rod is suspended or not, including the likes of Kelly Johnson and Eduardo Nunez. Yes. Eduardo-freaking-Nunez. That Nunez. The New York Yankees, after spending over $300 million this offseason, might not find replacing their starting third baseman that important. They've already let their second baseman leave without properly replacing him, so they could be looking to double down by going into the season with platoons at two positions.

But Eduardo Nunez? Just imagine what he would be like as the starting third baseman in 2014. Can you? Thankfully we don't have to leave much to the imagination. By comparing his projections to the production of all 2013 third basemen, we can see how bad Nunez will be. I averaged his Steamers and Oliver projections to find his average projection and then just straight up compared it to what third basemen did last year. Obviously, Nunez fell way short:

Sure, he might strike out less, and his batting average might not be too far off, but his overall production is terrible by comparison. He won't be walking much, or getting on base at all. He won't even be very productive. Taking the average of the top 30 third baseman in 2013 will show just how useless he will be. I compared Nunez's Oliver projections, which are based on a full season of play.

He has shown the ability to be somewhat of an asset on the base paths, but he's going to have to get on base in the first place if he wants to use that to his advantage. His power pales in comparison to the position he's going to be forced into and his defensive inabilities will be on full display if he's the regular third baseman. The Yankees would essentially be willfully allowing a replacement-level player to be in their starting lineup on a regular basis.

Why is he the backup plan? What have the Yankees seen in Eduardo Nunez to make them believe he will be worth a roster spot, let alone be a fixture on the team in 2014? If they're planning to rely on a Nunez/Johnson platoon at third, does this mean Brian Roberts is the regular second baseman? What happens when he inevitably gets injured? Suddenly Kelly Johnson and Eduardo Nunez are regulars, then take Derek Jeter into account. If he ends up injured and Brendan Ryan becomes the regular third baseman, what kind of infield is this.

The only reason to rely on Nunez is if the Yankees have decided to completely stop spending money and the likes of Mark Reynolds is deemed too expensive. If Eduardo Nunez ends up as a regular cog in the Yankees' lineup this year, the offseason has been a failure, I don't care who they sign. Alex Rodriguez better get off completely so he can spare them from their own stupidity.

More from Pinstripe Alley

Follow @pinstripealleyFollow @SBNationMLB

• Yankees sign right-handers Bruce Billings and Yoshinori Tateyama
• Pinstripe Alley Podcast Episode 32: Sexually frustrated seals
• How good could the Yankees' outfield be defensively?
• Baseball Hall of Fame 2014: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas to be inducted
• Masahiro Tanaka news: $20 million release fee will be paid out in two installments

What characteristics define an ace? And is Tanaka worth an ace's salary?

The market for Tanaka is still a bit of a mystery and so is his eventual contract, and those twin mysteries are probably the biggest story for the rest of the offseason. Keep or trade Gardner, sign more infield help, who are the prospect favorites for big league jobs- all of it depends on Tanaka. If the Yankees and Dodgers are willing to get into a bidding war to keep their playoff windows open, then the sky's the limit. Might Tanaka leave money on the table to play for the best team in 2014 or in a particular market?

And the most important mystery of all: could he possibly live up to his contract?

One of the things that the continuing Tanaka debate (his value to a team, his potential value to this Yankees team, his earning power, and his potential 2014 performance) has crystalized for me is the variations from observer to observer of "what is an ace?"

The question is conflated in my mind with questions of salary, because salary sets much of a fan's expectations. As a fan, I am (irrationally) happier with high performing players I've watched since they were young (read: inexpensive), while the same performance from my high salary import is unacceptable. As Yankee fans, we've seen this dynamic at play with the debate between Gardner and Ellsbury, the evaluations of Tex and Sabathia, and more.

We use the terminology all the time. Is Tanaka a #1 or a #2? Can Sabathia return to his ace form? Is Ivan Nova a potential #1 or is he really a #2 or #3 who will show you flashes of brilliance? If Kuroda pitches like an ace for 5 months then turns into a BP pitcher in September, is he a tired #1 or an overachieving #2?

If the Yankees need a solid #3 type pitcher to round out their rotation, what does such a pitcher really look like?

So, I'm using 4 assumptions:

1) There should be twice as many of each class of pitcher in each step down. So if there are 10 #1s in all of MLB, there must be 20 #2s, 40 #3s, 80 #4s, and 160 #5s. This logic is transitive, so if I tell you how many pitchers started at least 3 games in 2013 (296), the number of aces is calculable (9). The exact number of pitchers in the lower orders is more fluid, primarily because it interests me less. Why these divisions? Because I believe a #3, a true #3 starter, is not just a serviceable pitcher, but one who has real value to a contending team, though he might never earn an All-Star selection or garner an Cy Young vote (though he could, depending on how his career arcs). I also believe that an "ace" is not enough to win a championship without enough pitching around him (see Verlander, Justin or Kershaw, Clayton).

2) The stratifications are reflections within a slope, and no one measure can encompass the separating factors. xFIP, WHIP and WAR are valuable tools for pitcher evaluation and ranking. This is not meant to be a projection of who will be an ace in 2014, but an evaluation of which pitchers performed like an ace in 2013. Innings Pitched and Games Started are two of the most underrated statistics in baseball, and while we've made unbelievable strides in public access to grades for fastballs and curveballs, the ability to stay on the field (and be trusted with the ball every fifth day) for a 162 game season remains one of sports black boxes.

3) Guts, moxy and will-to-win are overrated at the professional level. Of course, in my beer league, that one guy who really wants to win can bear down and bring us a championship despite my lackadaisical attitude to holding runners on second. But even the lowliest major league baseball player has overcome at least a decade of separation from slops like me. Their will to win, their baseball intelligence, their desire to reach the ultimate pinnacle of their craft must be too similar for me to connect their grit to their performance without a level of intimate knowledge I can't pretend to have gleaned from a tv screen or dataset.

4) The standards of ace-hood shift over time. While a 2012 ace will look much like a 2013 ace, it will be radically different from a 1933 ace or a 1963 ace.

Methodology:

Working from the assumptions above, I started filtering my list, applying standards to drive the numbers towards the first assumption (8 aces, 16 #2s, 32 #3s, 64 #4s, 148 #5s).

My first cull was to remove any pitcher who made fewer than 15 starts, or pitched fewer than 100 innings. This took my pool of starting pitchers from 296 to 139, meaning this identified 157 starts who were obvious #5s. Happy trails, David Phelps, Vidal Nuno, Adam Warren and David Huff. Seems about right.

Having set the line for #4 and above at 100IP, I think it's worth saying now that my line for #1 is 200 IP. I like round numbers, and while not as many players throw 200 innings as twenty years ago, it's a mark that was still reached by 36 different pitchers in 2013- a mark of distinction, but that alone won't help us identify the top pitchers in the league.

So how to intersect IP and quality? I went through several iterations of this step, and my solution is as simple as it is inelegant: I divided IP by xFIP. This gave me a score for the remaining pitchers from 86 (Adam Wainwright) to 21 (Dylan Axelrod). I used this to separate the #4s from the #3s from the #2s. And then I marked the top 9 pitchers to clear 200 IP as #1s.

That group? (in order)

Wainwright, Kershaw, Cliff Lee, Felix Hernandez, Yu Darvish, Chris Sale, Max Scherzer, Hisashi Iwakuma, and Cole Hamels.

The #2s (also in order): Matt Harvey, AJ Burnett, Homer Bailey, Anibal Sanchez, Jeff Samardzija, James Shields, Jordan Zimmermann, Doug Fister, Madison Bumgarner, Patrick Corbin, Justin Verlander, Mat Latos, Stephen Strasburg, Derek Holland, Ervin Santana, David Price, CC Sabathia, Justin Masterson, Mike Minor.

*For the record, Kuroda was the second player below the cutoff for #3, Pettitte was in the middle of the #3s, Hughes and Nova were nearly side by side among the #4s.

Think about the disappointing (by their standards) years that Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia just posted. Would you pay Tanaka $25M for a year like that? Would you pay him $20M?

Personally, I think, given where the Yankees sit on the win curve, Tanaka might mean more to them than any other team. Without Tanaka, the Yanks have a playoff shot, but shouldn't be considered favorites for a Wild Card berth. If Tanaka is a #2 or even a high end #3, with him on board the Yanks should challenge for the division.

MLB's arbitrator Fredric Horowitz could release his decision on Alex Rodriguez's suspension appeal as early as tomorrow, and the thought has long been that anything more than zero games would cause Team A-Rod to head to federal court. Now, that may not be so.

According to Wallace Matthews of ESPN New York, the decision to escalate the matter to the next level will come down to money. If Rodriguez feels like serving the suspension and getting back on the field as soon as the middle or latter part of 2014 would save him more than the estimated minimum of $10 million taking the case to federal court would cost, it is possible that A-Rod would choose to serve the suspension instead. That is, if the suspension is 100 games or less. Matthews' source says anything more than 100 games would involve A-Rod and his team of lawyers seeking a temporary restraining order against Horowitz's ruling.

If Rodriguez decides to take 100 games, assuming that is in the range of what Horowitz decides, he'd lose $15,425,000 in salary from the Yankees. Considering that the estimate of federal court costs with no promise of a positive outcome is expected to be north of $10 million, in addition to the added time it would take to sort out before any suspension could be served, it's possible that sitting out more than half the season is the better deal for Rodriguez.

This is quite a change from the declarations made earlier in the process, when it seemed that Rodriguez was unwilling to serve even one inning of a suspension he didn't feel like he'd earned. It remains possible that Horowitz values his job enough to keep him from going against MLB'd decision of 211 games, lest he end up like the last arbitrator who stood in MLB's way. Should that be the decision, this process will continue for quite sometime. If you're hoping for quick resolution, it looks like something in the 100-game range is where you should place your hopes. It saves the Yankees some money, at least. Though, considering that the Yankees apparently feel like Eduardo Nunez is their backup plan for A-Rod's absence, no one could blame you for hoping for zero games to avoid that being the case.

More from Pinstripe Alley

Follow @pinstripealleyFollow @SBNationMLB

• How Much Are You Willing to Pay for Tanaka?
• Eduardo Nunez is the Yankees' backup plan for Alex Rodriguez
• Masahiro Tanaka comes to America to meet with teams
• Alex Rodriguez could seek injunction on any suspension
• A few ways baseball can improve its Hall of Fame induction system

With a ruling coming in the near future, Alex Rodriguez is starting to think about his options. Taking a reduced ban may be one of them.

As this stage of the Alex Rodriguez saga barrels to a close, ESPNNewYork.com's Wallace Matthews is reporting that A-Rod might be willing to accept a suspension if it covers fewer than 100 games. Rodriguez and MLB are currently waiting on the decision of arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, the arbiter in charge of ruling on the original 211 game suspension, and that decision could come as soon as Friday.

It seems A-Rod is currently making the calculation that any sort of legal challenge to a suspension of 100 or fewer games would likely cost close to the $15 million he would lose if he simply accepted a 100-game suspension. If the money turns out to be a wash, Rodriguez will then have to weigh the impact such a suspension would have on his legacy and the amount of mental anguish it would cause him.

At this point, both a strong legal challenge and an acceptance of a shorter sentence seem like possibilities entering the final stages of Horowitz's deliberation. Rodriguez has often been defiant about the process, so predicting his reaction is difficult.

Much of the offseason coverage of A-Rod's situation as it pertains to the Yankees has been about how much money a suspension would save them, but A-Rod might also still be one of their best options at third base and DH going into the season. In 2013, he hit .244/.348/.413 in 181 plate appearances. Losing A-Rod might help the Yankees' finances, but his bat, even in a diminished form, is likely a valuable asset going into next year.

More from SB Nation MLB:

• BBWAA punishes Le Batard for Deadspin vote

• David Roth: Three things about baseball and sanctimony

• Pedro, Big Unit, Nomar and Smoltz headline 2015 Hall of Fame ballot

• Maddux, Glavine and Big Hurt named HOF class of 2014 | Biggio 2 votes short

• Death of a Ballplayer: Wrongly convicted prospect spends 27 years in prison