Santana could draw significant interest as a reclamation project.
Johan Santana expects to throw off a mound soon. As a result, he could choose to sign with a club and continue his rehab throughout camp this spring, or wait until he's closer to being game ready to showcase himself, as Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports.
Santana, who will be 35 on Opening Day, did not pitch in the majors last year. He was forced to undergo surgery on his pitching shoulder, missing an entire season for the second time in his career. The list of pitchers that have had the same surgery is short, so the results Santana produces could be indicative of future recovery times for pitchers that sustain the injury.
The Twins have expressed interest in a reunion with Santana this offseason. From 2002 to 2007, he dominated hitters with Minnesota, going 90-41 with 2.92 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. The team has already added Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes to their rotation this winter, but they remain active in their efforts to improve on a disappointing 2013 rotation. Santana's shoulder has limited him to just 117 innings since 2010, but if he can show that his health has improved, the two-time Cy Young winner's market could pick up.
Johan has made the grueling journey back to the bigs before. In 2012, he pushed his way back to the highest level of competition and tossed the only no hitter in New York Mets' history.
The 27-year-old Dean Anna tore up triple-A last year, but has never played as much as an inning in the big leagues. Can he help the Yankees' infield in 2014?
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has made it clear that he will not be pursuing Stephen Drew this offseason, which comes as a surprise given the team's uninspiring infield depth chart -- which only looks worse if you take Alex Rodriguez out of the mix. In replacing Robinson Cano, the Yankees have seemingly prioritized quantity over quality, having brought in bargain-bin free agents Brendan Ryan, Kelly Johnson, and Brian Roberts. And then there's Dean Anna -- a 27-year-old career minor leaguer who was plucked from the Padres back in November without much fanfare. If there's one infielder on the Yankees' 40-man roster you've never heard of, I'd be willing to bet it's Anna. But despite his lack of fame and experience, he has some things going for him and could make an impact as soon as opening day.
Anna was originally drafted by San Diego in the 26th round of the MLB Draft back in 2008 and has hit well during his time in the minors, holding a .286/.386/.428 slash line in over 2,000 plate appearances. He performed particularly well in 2013, having hit .331/.410/.482 in his first crack at Triple-A. Granted, that was in the Pacific Coast League -- which is known for inflating offensive numbers -- and by no means do strong minor league numbers guarantee big league success; but it's hard to ignore a .400 wOBA from a middle infielder. The various projection systems are somewhat buying Anna's 2013. ZiPS, Oliver, and Steamer all project him for something along the lines of a 90 wRC+, good for around 2 WAR over a full season.
In the field, Anna's not supposed to be anything special, but seems capable of holding his own at shortstop, which already makes him one of the better defensive players in the majors -- the Yankees' best defensive infielder not named Brendan Ryan. Anna played at least 60 games at both second base and shortstop last year and has experience at the infield corners and in the outfield. That type of versatility could make him useful as a role-player.
Another one of Anna's perks is that he bats left handed, which is somewhat rare for a non-1B infielder. Although the Yankees offense projects to be a little lefty heavy, most of their infielders bat right handed, with the exception being Kelly Johnson who has performed well against lefties in the past. Given the Yankees' roster, Anna would have no shortage of possible platoon partners. For what it's worth, Anna punished right-handed pitching to the tune of .345/.422/.508 in 2013.
If all goes according to plan, Anna will probably start the season in Triple-A in favor of some of the team's more experienced infielders, but Anna will get a look at some point in 2014. Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter, and Brian Roberts have had more than their share of injury problems in recent years; and frankly, even a half season out of either is far from guaranteed. If and when an infielder hits the DL -- or the Yankees finally give up on Eduardo Nunez -- Dean Anna will be just a phone call away, and it will be interesting to see if he can build on his minor-league success and become a useful piece for the Yankees.
Santana, 34, is coming off of two major shoulder operations that limited him to just 21 starts over his final three seasons with the Mets. The left-hander missed all of 2011 recovering from a tear of his anterior capsule, returned long enough in 2012 to throw the franchise's first no-hitter, then re-tore the capsule and went back under the knife in early 2013.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner began working on a throwing program at the start of October, but has still yet to get back on a mound; he started throwing from a distance of 90 feet towards the end of November. McCullough speculates that Santana could audition for clubs near his home in Fort Myers, Florida before spring camps open in February, but he doesn't give a hard timeline for if/when that might actually happen.
The Yankees have had considerable luck the last few years taking flyers on aging starters whose best years were thought to be behind them -- e.g. Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia -- so it wouldn't seem to be a stretch for the club to go after Santana. However, the club's primary focus for the time being remains on Masahiro Tanaka, who is currently in Los Angeles to meet with teams for the final two weeks of his negotiating window. (The Yankees may have already had their meeting with Tanaka and agent Casey Close, per McCullough.)
If the Bombers lose out in the Tanaka sweepstakes, they could go after the other big names still available -- Matt Garza, Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez -- but their interest in those arms is said to be "limited." That could leave the door open for someone like Santana, who is unlikely to net more than a minor-league deal given his major health concerns.
The Twins, Mets, Rays, Orioles, Royals, Pirates and Brewers have also shown interest in Santana's recovery this winter, reports Andrew Marchand of ESPN. There is a rumor that Santana already has a number of minor-league offers on the table, but it seems unlikely he'll make a decision without at least attempting to get back on a mound first.
Could the Yankees turn the former Cy Young winner into a competent pitcher once more with some Freddy Garcia & Bartolo Colon fairy dust?
Despite missing the entire 2013 season while recovering from a second surgery on his anterior capsule, Johan Santana is drawing interest from teams including the Yankees while he rehabs and tries to return to baseball in 2014. The 35-year-old pitcher has yet to actually throw from a mound in his recovery process, and the Yankees remain very much all in on Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka, but New York's need for pitching options means that the Yankees can afford to see if Santana can return to even a fraction of his former Cy Young winner abilities.
General Manager Brian Cashman told Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger that he wasn't sure what to make of Santana at this point, having not yet reviewed his medical records. Santana was previously able to come back from anterior capsule surgery with the Mets before pitching a no-hitter for them in 2012. Unfortunately, Santana's body was unable to hold up to the strain and he struggled down the stretch, pitching to an 8.27 ERA over his final 10 starts before the club shut him down.
Should a team like the Yankees feel like Santana is worth taking a chance on, it's possible that he could accept a minor league deal with the chance to prove himself worthy of a spot in the majors over time. If the Yankees are able to bring in Tanaka off the open market, adding Santana to the battle for the fifth starter spot along side Michael Pineda, David Phelps, Adam Warren, Vidal Nuno, and possibly others brought in for depth, likely couldn't hurt on a no-risk deal. It seems unlikely that Santana could return to his superstar form, but the remaining options on the market like Matt Garza, Ervin Santana, and Ubaldo Jimenez have received a lukewarm reception from the Yankees, at best, and would each require a multi-year deal. Should Cashman want to try and capture lightning in a bottle again the way he did with Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon once upon a time, Santana is probably a good candidate that comes without a lot of the downside of a contract that other free agent pitching options will demand.
Would you be willing to take a chance on Santana on a minor league deal, or should the Yankees run far, far away?
With a new posting system in place, Masahiro Tanaka is able to negotiate with any team he wants. Now Japanese players are essentially free agents and will just cost an additional tax of up to $20 million on top of whatever final contract they agree on. It was previously reported that the release fee would be broken down into two installments to allow more teams the ability to afford Japanese players. It turns out that it's even friendlier than that.
According to Kiley McDaniel of Scout.com, the release fee will actually be broken down into four separate payments when the total is over $10 million. So, since Tanaka will cost $20 million, the payments will go as follows:
Payment One: 50% of the posting fee is due within 14 days of submission of the contact. For Tanaka, that would be $10 million due by February 7th, 2014.
Payment Two: 17% of the posting fee is due within 6 months of submission of the contract. For Tanaka, that would be $3.4 million due by July 24th, 2014.
Payment Three: 17% of the posting fee is due within 12 months of submission of the contract. For Tanaka, that would be $3.4 million due by January 24th, 2015.
Payment Four: 16% of the posting fee is due within 18 months of submission of the contract. For Tanaka, that would be $3.2 million due by July 24th, 2015.
This would cut the posting fee down to less than 75% of the actual total, or $13.5 million, in the first year of his contract. Then the signing team would only owe 33%, or 6.5 million in the second year of the deal.
A plan like this might not be very impactful to a team with revenue streams, but it could mean the difference for teams like the Astros and Twins if they can budget their dues against two separate seasons of revenues. This won't help the Yankees much, since the concern isn't total dollars, but rather taxable dollars. The $20 million release fee is not taxable, so they wouldn't have much of an issue paying it all in one lump sum if they had to. It might actually bring in more competition.
Okay yeah he's gone. This was the most likely result of the logjam, as Wells was the worst performer out of all the options and cutting him did not cost the Yankees anything in 2014 since the Angels were paying his salary already. Although they owe him $2.4 million, they take no luxury tax hit for Wells. Wells is a shadow of the All-Star who graced the Blue Jays' outfield years ago and his bat was worse than ever in 2013; he hit a mere .233/.282/.349 with 11 homers, a 72 OPS+, and -0.2 rWAR for the Yankees after they dealt for him in a desperation trade at the end of Spring Training. He got off to a hot start by hitting .300/.366/.544 in April with six homers, but he quickly faded and hit just .216/.258/.296 with five homers the rest of the way. He homered just once after May 15th, and that was a Yankee Stadium special.
As nice a guy as he seems, Wells just isn't a helpful player at all anymore and the Yankees needed 40-man roster space. (With this release, the Yankees will reportedly make the Matt Thornton deal official.) Wells might be at the end of his career at this point, but who knows? Maybe some team will pick him up and he'll have another brief resurgence. Regardless, he's not the Yankees' problem anymore.
Wells, 35, hit .233/.282/.349 in 458 plate appearances for the Yankees last year. The Angels traded Wells to New York last March after a rash of injuries thinned New York's outfield. To ease the pain of his $21 million salary, the Angels sent $9.5 million along with Wells for the 2013 season. For 2014, the Angels will pay $18.6 million of Wells salary -- this was originally done in order to help with New York's plan to stay under the $189 million luxury tax -- but now that the Yankees have designated him for assignment, it's unclear if anyone else would be willing to pay the rest: the Yankees might be on the hook for $2.4 million if for no other reason than to open up a roster spot. With Plan $189 million behind them, though, that's pocket change for the Steinbrenners.
The team's 40-man roster is now down to 39, but they have yet to officially add free agent signings Matt Thornton and Brian Roberts. New York remains focused on making a serious push for Masahiro Tanaka, who would command another spot on the roster -- this won't be the last move they make to clear space.
An upheld A-Rod suspension could aid the Yankees in their efforts to whittle down, but if he files for another appeal, he could end up in the team's Opening Day lineup, so Wells might soon be joined by other secondary players in the unemployment line soon.
Tremendous pull power is something we all marvel at, but who's been the best at pulling tough pitches out of the yard since 2008?
Pull power is one of the most awe inspiring things to watch in our game. Homers, for the longest time, have been considered the main act that brings people to the park. Everyone wants to see how far a human can hit something. It's the same in golf and tennis. Our penchant for the long ball is the reason the home run race of '98 captivated a nation. It's the reason - among many others - that we remain in awe of players like Ruth, Aaron, and Bonds. We're still obsessed with the long ball; and rightfully so.
After watching a Jose Bautista home run earlier this year where he pulled a pitch that was nearly out of the zone - nearly missing low and away - I began to wonder how it was even possible to pull a ball to the complete opposite side of the of field to which the ball was pitched with that much authority. I continued marinating on it and eventually began to ask myself, who in the majors has the most pull power; at least in the sense of the guidelines laid out below.
The research, made possible by the wonderful site Baseball Savant, is simple. How many home runs did a player pull on pitches that are classified as "low and away." In order to classify which pitches are "low and away" I used the chart below, also provided by Baseball Savant. For right handed batters, the pitch had to be located in either the 9 or 14 quandrant and clear the fence in left or left-center. The opposite is true for left handed batters.
The results - at least somewhat - were as expected. Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista were among the top 2 in homers for right handed batters. The other name, right at the top with 9 home runs, was Ryan Ludwick. Kind of shocking, but not extremely surprising.
Player
# of HR
% of Pitches in Zone(s)
Edwin Encarnacion
10
8.2%
Jose Bautista
10
7.7%
Ryan Ludwick
9
8.1%
Alfonso Soriano
8
6.4%
Adam Jones
7
5.2%
I wasn't fully aware of just how rare it is for someone to pull a low and away pitch for a home run. Since 2008, the major league lead - at least for RHB - is ten. That's means the best right handed hitter at hits just a little over 1.5 per year.
In order to get a better idea of just how impressive these feats are, I want to focus on right handed slugger Jose Bautista and where exactly the pitches were that he hit out of the yard.
Aside from the dot that is exactly in the corner - the pitch that caused this piece - check out just how far off of the plate those 3 homers are. They're a whole foot off of the plate. If you want to see what I mean in gif form, you're in luck.
That little homer, courtesy of Joey Bats, is that tiny dot in corner of the box. The pitch was a change-up, which Bautista was a little out in front of, but the power is still massive.
If we switch to the other side of the plate, Brian McCann is king. I'll admit that despite being a Braves' fan and a resident of the metro Atlanta area, it shocked me.
Player
# of HR
% of Pitches in Zone(s)
Brian McCann
21
17.0%
Curtis Granderson
16
10.6%
Chase Utley
14
10.3%
Jay Bruce
14
10.5%
Colby Rasmus
12
11.6%
I knew that McCann had plenty of pull power, but I never really considered him to have more pull power than say, Curtis Granderson or Jay Bruce. McCann's total can be somewhat explained by the fact that he saw more pitches in the two zones that we outlined. While he had more chances than the other players in the top 5 - based on qualified pitches - don't let that take away from the power he's shown.
McCann's ability to homer off pitches in the stated quadrants is as impressive, if not a little more so, than noted masher Jose Bautista.
Obviously, McCann's power is no joke either. His ability to pull the pitch above - which was low and away - over the wall to right-center is extremely impressive and a thing of beauty. It's my belief that people overstate how much a new park will help a player's stat line, but there's no doubt McCann's pull power should play very well in his new New York home.
When I began looking into the data for this piece I wasn't sure what to expect. The main takeaway I received from the research - aside from being in awe of the power major leaguers possess - is how many more pitches down and away left handed batters see than right handed batters. Granted, it's a small sample size, but no batter on the right handed chart saw more than ~8% of pitches in the "low and away" quadrants. Compare that with that the fact that no one on the left handed list saw less than ~10% of pitches in the stated zones. Most power hitting lefties are known to be "dead pull hitters," so maybe I shouldn't have been that shocked that pitchers wanted to pitch away from them. On the other side, I was also unaware how few low and outside pitches are actually pulled for home runs. Ten pulled homers from one of the games best right handed power bats, seems like a small number, but it lends credence to how hard it actually is to pull outside pitches at times.
The next time you see someone pull a pitch that is extremely low and away and an announcer chalks it up to "getting the barrel out there," don't forget just how impressive it is.
Landon Jones is a contributor to Beyond The Box Score. He also writes for The Fantasy Fix. You can follow and interact with him on Twitter @JonesLandon.
Alex Rodriguez is weird. Last week there was a picture circling the internet showing , A-Rod Manny Machado, and Yonder Alonso all hanging out and having a good time at a Jay Z concert. Because apparently Jay Z and baseball go together beautifully.
Is it weird that A-Rod is hanging out with a 21-year-old and 26-year-old at 38? Machado was only a year old when Rodriguez was first drafted. I don't know, that sounds weird to me. Was it weird for them? I imagine A-Rod to be that guy in your group of friends who shows up in social situations and is loud and obnoxious and awkward. You just want him to go home, but you're too nice to say anything, and he's not really a bad guy. This, to me, is Alex Rodriguez, the person. Maybe Manny thinks so too:
Buck asked Manny about posing with A-Rod at Jay-Z concert. Said Manny was shocked that he knew who Jay-Z was. Not that Buck could name songs
So they weren't hanging out. A-Rod walked over, wanted to be one of the guys, said hello and, possibly, made it look like they were all good friends. Hmmm..
Alex Rodriguez might be a baseball god and he makes an amazing millionaire, but he might be one of the most awkward human beings ever.
As Masahiro Tanaka begins his tour around the United States to meet with teams that he could be pitching for next season, three cities have emerged as early favorites. John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that New York, Los Angeles, and Boston are the top preferred destinations on Tanaka's list going into his meetings. Technically, that would include five teams: Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Angels, and Red Sox. The Mets haven't seemed to be at the front of the Tanaka sweepstakes, and the Red Sox have said before that it is unlikely they'll add a pitcher before the season begins.
If Shae is correct, two of the main players for Tanaka, the Dodgers and Yankees, will likely have to fight to the finish for the Japanese right-handers services for 2014 and beyond. The Dodgers have shown a willingness to spare no expense that hasn't quite been the Yankees' M.O. lately, but the Yankees don't have the concern of needing to keep Clayton Kershaw around before he hits free agency, either.
The Yankees front office has not been shy about their desire to put Tanaka in pinstripes and their need for a pitcher with top of the rotation stuff is obvious. A change to the posting system might have tempered their desires a little, with more of the money coming in the form of a large contract for the player instead of a tax-free lump sum to the player's Japanese team. With the inability to turn a pitching prospect into major league gold becoming more and more of a concern and teams not allowing their stars to reach free agency the way they did in the past, the Yankees may need to just bite the bullet and do what is necessary to land Tanaka, unless the bidding gets completely out of control.
For all the promise that Tanaka holds, he is an unknown commodity in Major League Baseball. If the Yankees believe they can out-bid other teams at a price they can live with, they can't worry about things like luxury tax penalties. Tanaka sees the city of New York as a favorite early on, according to Shae, which is more of an advantage than all but two other cities have. The Steinbrenners have said they are all-in, but at some point, they're going to have to prove it.
The Mets have not been connected to the bidding for the Japanese pitcher, so the Yankees, Dodgers, Angels and Red Sox appear to be Tanaka's desired destinations.
Many teams have contacted the 25-year-old Tanaka in hopes of signing him this winter, and he hasn't ruled anyone out of the bidding. However, the Japanese right-hander apparently has his eye on pitching in a big market, and the feeling is mutual in some cases. The Dodgershave shown interest and may or may not go all-out in their pursuit, and the Yankees and Angels are also expected to meet with him. On the other hand, the Red Sox are unlikely to add another piece to their rotation and the Mets have not been connected with the bidding.
However, the big-market teams aren't the only ones who plan to make a run at Tanaka, as evidenced by recent stories connecting the Athletics (link) and Diamondbacks (link) to the pitcher. The Cleveland Indians have also been in contact with his agent and could join the fray as they search for a front-line starter, according to Paul Hoynes of the Northeasy Ohio Media Group. The Indians lost Scott Kazmir and Ubaldo Jimenez from last year's squad, although Jimenez remains unsigned, and they could use another big arm to slot next to Justin Masterson at the top of their rotation. Cleveland currently has Danny Salazar, Corey Kluber and Zach McAllister in line behind Masterson, with several candidates expected to fight for the role of fifth starter.
Regardless of where Tanaka ends up, the rest of the starting pitching market is waiting for him to sign. Quality arms including Jimenez, Matt Garza, Ervin Santana and Bronson Arroyo are still available as free agents, but all of the teams who are expected to go after those pitchers are currently occupied by their pursuits of Tanaka. No team is willing to give up their shot at the big prize, and none of those hurlers are willing to sign early and forego the chance to create a bidding war for their services. Likewise, the trade market won't heat up until Tanaka has landed; Cincinnati's Homer Bailey will likely be available as a consolation prize, Chicago's Jeff Samardzija has been the subject of rumors all winter and Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal writes that the Red Sox could deal one of their excess starters when Tanaka's dust has settled.
One of the things that I couldn't have predicted when I was watching the 2004 Yankees was how comfortable I'd become a decade later with the fungibility of relievers.
Here's the bullpen ten years ago:
Mariano Rivera (Closer, might he retire after the season? We should start looking for an heir) Tom Gordon (Having proved himself healthy with the White Sox), Paul Quantrill (Coming off leading the league in three consecutive seasons with the Dodgers), Tanyon Sturtze (transitioned from starter to reliever with the Blue Jays) Felix Heredia (lefty)
This is born, in part, from the way Joe Torre burned through his bullpen in the 2003 World Series, allowing Jeff Weaver to pitch meaningful innings in the Fall Classic.
*This is not a knock on Weaver, who I always rooted for and wanted badly to see succeed, in part because we traded away one of my favorite players (Ted Lilly) to get Weaver; in the three years before the Yankees traded for him, Weaver averaged 198 innings, a 1.3 WHIP, and posted a 100 ERA+ in his age 22-24 seasons; aren't we talking about throwing a bazillion dollars at the second best pitcher to come out of Japan in the last decade in part because of his age? My point is, Weaver had so much potential, and I blame Joe Torre for failing to get more out of Weaver because Joe T. only trusted veterans.
It's going to be a fight between everyone else who isn't a starter. David Phelps, Adam Warren, Dellin Betances, Vidal Nuno and Preston Claiborne and everyone else who doesn't want to start the year in Scranton (though I loved living in Scranton, and would happily go play ball there- Brian, call me).
I watched Paul Quantrill flop, watched Tom Gordon's arm fall off, watched Tanyon Sturtze play whatever blackmail he had on Joe Torre into a three-year stint in the Bronx (followed by surgery and a return attempt with Torre's Dodgers).
When I think about it that way, I'm not surprised that I'm excited for this spring's competition.
Just imagine how crazy it would be if there was suddenly an expansion draft
Imagine, if you will, Major League Baseball had decided to bring in two new teams for the 2014 season. As history has shown us, expansion teams come with expansion drafts, so the 2013-2014 offseason would have been extra newsworthy with teams preparing to have their players snatched from them. On top of the Alex Rodriguez fiasco, the Masahiro Tanaka sweepstakes, and the $189 budget watch, the Yankees would have to figure out which Yankees they would need to protect and which they could let go.
Baseball would now have 32 teams, and if we went by the rules of the 1997 Expansion Draft, both teams would be selecting 35 players across three rounds. With two extra teams since the last draft, each team would be selecting 15 players in round 1, 15 players in round 2, and 5 players in round 3. A team can't lose more than one player per round, though each team will lose two players in the first two rounds. Each team would be able to protect 15 players in their organization, that includes people on their 40-man roster and in their minor league system. After each round, teams can add three names to their protected list. A team's draft picks from the 2013, and 2012 MLB Drafts, and any players who signed at 18 or younger in 2011, would be automatically protected. This also includes any amateur free agents signed within this timeframe as well.
Draft Valuation
So what kind of players could these hypothetical teams be drafting? Take a look at how the players from the 1997 Expansion Draft were broken down:
It's clear that the Diamondbacks and Devil Rays valued cheap players that had some experience, and success, at the major league level in the first round. Once they hit the second round, teams were more willing to take chances on players that had never seen time in the majors, though MLB experience was still valued more. By the third round it was more or less a free for all, with both teams trying to find anyone they could, though it should be noted that this is where the only two players with substantial veteran presence were chosen.
However, today's game has changed. Since the last expansion draft, we have seen free agent contracts boom and bust. We have seen a renewed valuation of young cost-controlled talent. We have seen the rise of the multi-billion dollar TV deal and teams with more revenue than ever before, changing the landscape of free agency. Baseball isn't the same as it was in 1997, and if the new teams have dedicated financial backers and are located in cities with promising revenue streams, it's possible that more players signed to multi-year contracts could be up for the taking. Teams might leave their overpaid players unprotected in hopes that they be taken or as a way of gaming the system and squeezing in an extra protected player. That being said, new teams would still likely go after young players, unless a team was keen on making a statement.
Protected Prospects
Still, the Yankees aren't like most teams. While baseball finds value in the undervalued, the Yankees steamroll right through. Since they don't value prospects as much as others, it has led to a team consisting almost entirely of free agent signings and very little, both in terms of young talent just breaking into the majors, and useful prospects just waiting to get their chance.
When it comes time for the Yankees to protect their players from a draft, they would have very little reason to worry because most of their players that would need protecting are on their 40-man roster or still under the protection of a recent draft. Only a handful of prospects would actually need to be protected, and most of them wouldn't even be chosen, since the goal is to draft a major league caliber team, so only the least desirable major league pieces would really be left in harm's way.
It's highly unlikely that any team would want to take these players, since they're so far away from reaching the majors. Other teams, like the Cardinals with Michael Wacha and the Marlins with Jose Fernandez, might find this more helpful.
The Protected
When deciding who the Yankees would protect, I realized that the last two expansion drafts actually took place in November, which makes perfect sense. By doing the draft early in the offseason, teams don't have to worry about protecting their recently signed free agents. They would also have an easier time protecting all the players they want to protect. With the Yankees focusing their effort on the major league roster, it would suddenly become much easier to retain the most valuable players in the organization.
Having the draft in November would have meant that the Yankees had not signed the following six players yet:
The first round contains all the star players that any team would want to take. The second and third rounds would consist of near-major league talent, which teams might be more obliged to take after the first round.
There would be no reason to protect A-Rod at this point. Not only is his contract undesirable at this stage in his career, but he's now suspended on top of that, making him a waste of a pick for a team trying to gain immediate success and find as many fans as possible. Bringing in Rodriguez could push fans away.
Leaving Ichiro unprotected could be one way of clearing space on the 40-man roster. He's not worth protecting anyone else over, so it's worth taking a chance. A team may want Ichiro to add some star power, though he would be expensive for a startup baseball team.
What do you think, Yankees fans, who would you have protected and who would you have let go?
Amidst the Alex Rodrigueznews, the Yankeeshave signed right-handed reliever Robert Coello to a minor league deal. I'm assuming there's also an invite to Spring Training for Coello in the deal as well.
Coello, 29, pitched last season for the Los Angeles Angels and put up a 3.71 ERA and a 2.52 FIP in 16 relief outings and 17 innings pitched. What makes Coello interesting is his strikeout numbers. He posted a 12.2 K/9 and 31.5% K-rate in his limited time last season. In his career in the majors, which also includes stints with the Red Sox in 2010 and the Blue Jays in 2012, Coello has a 5.90 ERA and 3.58 FIP (12.1 K/9, 30% K-rate) in 28 appearances. He issues plenty of walks, too (career 5.3 BB/9, 13% BB-rate), but the strikeouts are interesting nonetheless.
Coello has also seen plenty of action in the minors. In 187 career appearances (156 in relief), he has a 3.39 ERA. Like he has shown at the Major League level, Coello has done a good job of racking up the strikeouts (10.1 K/9), while allowing plenty of walks as well (4.0 BB/9). While pitching for the Angels' Triple-A team last season, Coello pitched to a 4.58 ERA, 14.2 K/9, and 5 BB/9 in 16 appearances and 19.2 innings.
Unlike most minor league signings, Coello may have a fair shot to crack this year's bullpen. It's painfully obvious the team is thin in the bullpen, and he has experience at the Major League level, which is something the Yankees like. New York has had some success with under-the-radar reliever pickups in the past (Luis Ayala and Cory Wade come to mind) and Coello could be the next on that list.
This covers the basics. MLB originally suspended Alex Rodriguez for 211 games, and the results of arbitration essentially kept the status quo, as if Rodriguez had not appealed the suspension, he also would have been out through the 2014 season. However, because he did appeal, he was able to get on the field in the second half of the season, and that may change how both he and the Yankees see his viability as a player in 2015 and beyond.
"I have been clear that I did not use performance enhancing substances as alleged in the notice of discipline, or violate the Basic Agreement or the Joint Drug Agreement in any manner, and in order to prove it I will take this fight to federal court. … No player should have to go through what I have been dealing with, and I am exhausting all options to ensure not only that I get justice, but that players’ contracts and rights are protected through the next round of bargaining, and that the MLB investigation and arbitration process cannot be used against others in the future the way it is currently being used to unjustly punish me."
The reason Rodriguez is fighting the suspension is of course because he stands to lose his 2014 salary and perhaps more if the Yankees try to void the remainder of his contract, but also because a suspension would mean that there's no way he's making the Hall of Fame with the current voting process in place. Of course a lot of voters wouldn't vote for him even if the suspension would be reversed in federal court, but at this point Rodriguez is fighting for his legacy, and any deal would tarnish whatever is left.
There's a couple things that I'd like to emphasize in this whole soap opera:
Rodriguez's suspension (as well as all the other Biogenesis suspensions) were based on "non-analytical" evidence. In other words, there was no failed drug tests that led to the suspension of Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, or any of the others suspended last summer. Most of the information came from the word of Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch, who agreed to talk to MLB only after a lawsuit was filed against him.
The length of Rodriguez's original suspension, which is nowhere in the collectively-bargained agreement between MLB (owners) and MLBPA (the players).
Those two facets of this process should at the very least give you pause. Rodriguez is not a likable player, but that should not mean that "any means necessary" is appropriate to run him out of baseball. Perhaps this is a one-off thing, but perhaps it isn't.
This is nowhere near the end of this story. Tonight on 60 Minutes Anthony Bosch will be interviewed, and from the excerpts I've seen, it looks like he'll be repeating most of what he told MLB. Then there's the federal court action, and in a couple months, the start of Spring Training, which Rodriguez has said he'll attend.
In 2015 the "sin tax" in Cuyahoga county, passed in 1990, expires. The passage of that ballot issue was the first step in the building of Jacobs (now Progressive) Field. About half of the money used to construct Progressive Field came from this tax, with the other half coming from Richard Jacobs, who was the owner at the time. The city of Cleveland owns the whole Gateway facility (which includes Progressive Field, Quicken Loans Arena, and a couple parking garages) and it is managed by the Gateway Economic Development Corporation.
The County Council (Cuyahoga County recently changed their government setup from the typical 3-Comissioner model to an Executive-Council model) will be taking up legislation soon which would place the sin tax extension on the ballot this fall. Most of the money from the extension (about $260M over 20 years according to the article) would be used in capital improvements for the two stadiums, both of which are 20 years old now.
I don't believe that the public should be spending its money on building and maintaining sports facilities for privately-owned teams. The claims that stadiums bring in economic development are rather dubious, especially when you consider that money is being taken out of taxpayers' pockets in the first place. The current sin tax was barely passed, and that was with the very real threat of the Indians moving in the early 90s. Perhaps an extension would be a bit easier to swallow since it is already in place, but I certainly wouldn't expect the voters of Cuyahoga County to pass it by a big margin.
Tanaka, Jimenez, Garza, and Santana are still available. Once Tanaka agrees to a contract, then the other three should sign rather quickly as the losers in the Tanaka sweepstakes look to get a consolation prize.
Among the Tigers' NRIs are Ezequiel Carrera and Trevor Crowe. Neither is probably going to make the club, but I'm selfishly hoping to see Crowe in Detroit at least for a little bit.
With a little over 2/3 of the vote, Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest Man" speech was voted the top Yankees moment in history by a wide margin over Aaron Boone's famous 2003 ALCS Game 7 homer. I am not surprised by these results at all, as I figured the tournament's pivotal matchup was Gehrig vs. Don Larsen's perfect game. Once the speech beat that, it seemed inevitable that the speech would win the tournament. I would have voted Boone since I think the top Yankees moment took place during a game, but that's just me. Gehrig's speech is certainly a worthy winner.
That being said, I do wonder what the consensus on Pinstripe Alley is of the greatest on-field moment in Yankees history. Boone's homer was technically the runner-up in the tournament, but it'd be interesting to see how people think of it compared to other great moments. Vote in the poll below and let us know!
We have one more offseason series coming up on Monday. It will be the third, following the 2013 Roster Report Cards and the Yankees Top Moments Tournament. This series will be on 25 (unranked) prospects to watch in the Yankees' system for 2014. We'll come out with one of these prospects every weekday, and that will bring us right up until pitchers and catchers reporting on February 14th.
Thanks go out to everyone for your help in making this tournament possible, from the post authors to the community members who voted so much. We wouldn't have results otherwise, so we're definitely appreciative of your efforts.
Add Scott Sizemore to the list of names vying for time at second and third base for the Yankees this spring.
With Alex Rodriguez now suspended for the entire 2014 season, the Yankees are going to have to look for players who can fill in at third base. Unfortunately, the free agent market is pretty barren, so they'll have to resort to bottom of the barrel-type signings. According to Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, the Yankees are close to a minor league deal with former Athletics and Tigers infielder Scott Sizemore.
The 29-year-old has appeared in just two big league games since 2011 after tearing and re-tearing his ACL, but he appears to be healthy now and ready to play this spring. Before getting hurt, Sizemore was a pretty decent player. He achieved a career-high in plate appearances in 2011 with 429, batting .245/.342/.399 with a 109 wRC+ in a season split between Detroit and Oakland. He has experience playing both second and third, the two main positions of need in the Yankee infield, though UZR rates him as slightly below average at both.
At worst, the right-handed hitter presents a viable platoon option thanks to a .272/.357/.422 slash line against left-handed pitchers. He'll join a Yankee second and third base mix that already includes Kelly Johnson, Brian Roberts, Eduardo Nunez and Dean Anna. He could start the season in the minors, playing both positions, since the Yankees don't have any important prospects playing there in Triple-A. Still, an impressive spring could land him a job with the team if he proves that his knee is healthy and the ACL tearing was just a fluke that happened twice.
It looks like the Yankees will roll into Spring Training with unclear answers at both second and third base.
According to Ken Davidoff and Ken Rosenthal, the Yankees have signed former Tigers and Athletics infielder Scott Sizemore to a minor league deal. The 29-year-old had his best season in 2011, when he hit.245/.342/.399 with 22 doubles, 11 homers, a 109 wRC+, and 1.6 fWAR. Unfortunately, Sizemore caught Grady Sizemore Syndrome (no relation) and has missed almost all of the last two seasons with a torn ACL in his left knee (which he re-tore last April), hence his availability. The bright side is that when healthy, he can play both second and third base, two obvious holes in the Yankees' infield. Joel Sherman reported that Sizemore has opt-out clauses Basically, Sizemore joins with Brian Roberts in the Yankees' goal to sign ALL the questionable infielders!
Perhaps more relevant than the Sizemore signing is the news from Rosenthal that the Yankees do not plan on adding any infielders on major league contracts, ruling out signing more legitimate options like Stephen Drew, Michael Young, and Mark Reynolds:
Per source, #Yankees most likely will NOT add another infielder on major-league deal. That would eliminate Michael Young, Stephen Drew, etc.
This new jibes with Mark Feinsand's report that the Yankees have only offered Reynolds a minor league deal, which he is unlikely to accept. Instead, it looks like the Yankees will head into Spring Training with any more minor league signings they might make in addition to Sizemore, Roberts, Kelly Johnson, Dean Anna, Corban Joseph, and Eduardo Nunez. Rosenthal also noted that they signed 26-year-old switch-hitting infielder Yangervis Solarte to a minor league deal to compete with the aforementioned players.
Like Anna, Solarte has never played in the major leagues and was playing in the Pacific Coast League last year, where he hit .276/.323/.403 with an 89 wRC+ for the Texas Rangers' Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock. It's not exactly inspiring that his offense wasn't impressive even in the hitter-friendly PCL, but it's whatever; most likely, Solarte will serve as organizational depth and Anna figures to get more of a look than him. Lone Star Ball's Adam Morris did have this to say about Solarte:
@Jason00Cohen@pinstripealley he generated some buzz in the Rangers camp the last couple of years. Folks liked his bat, for a 2B.
It's kind of disheartening to learn that the Yankees won't pursue any more major infielders, even though the biggest names have serious flaws. (Young is over the hill, Reynolds and Young are butchers at third, and Drew has unnerving home/road splits away from the Green Monster and Fenway Park.) Instead, the Yankees will probably gamble that one of Roberts or Sizemore stays healthy and productive, and that Johnson's lefty swing suits Yankee Stadium well enough to boost his OPS+ over 100 for the first time since 2010 (he's mostly hovered around league average). Joseph's lefty bat also showed some promise in Triple-A from 2012-13 prior to his season-ending shoulder surgery in June last year, so perhaps he can make an impact at the major league level. Maybe Anna's impressive PCL numbers can translate somewhat to the majors more than suspected. Maybe Nunez won't be godawful again.
Regrettably, there are just a ton of question marks around the infield, and that's not even getting into Derek Jeter's ankle and defense, Brendan Ryan's bat, and Mark Teixeira's wrist. It is what it is. I'm not going to write the entire offseason off as a failure because of these holes since they did make serious improvements to the lineup with Brian McCann over Stewvelli and Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran over Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells. Signing Masahiro Tanaka would give a big boost to the starting rotation though, so they better get on that. The pitching staff will just have to make do with mystery men at third and second.
UPDATE:
Scott Sizemore's minor lge deal with #Yankees has May 1 and Aug 1 outs if he is not in majors.
MLB didn't get the 211 game suspension they were going for, and Alex Rodriguez didn't get the suspension thrown out as he had hoped. The arbitrator's ruling means A-Rod got to finish out the 2013 season, MLB gets rid of him for the entirety of 2014, and the Yankees get out of paying the $25M Rodriguez would have been owed this season.
Rodriguez has vowed to continue appealing, though it's unclear to whom he can take his continued inability to take any responsibility for his actions case. The Supreme Court is unlikely to be interested, God is pretty busy smiting and just generally being omnipotent, and even the player's union is saying, "Well we don't agree with it but that's the ruling..."
Let me give a quick editorial on the whole saga, and then discuss how the A's may be affected by this ruling.
The fact that I find Alex Rodriguez unlikable, which I do mostly because he portrays himself as an entitled -- though perhaps it's more that he's both emotionally troubled and wholly delusional -- victim, is pretty much irrelevant. Heck, if I knew the guy personally I might not find him unlikable at all; I might feel really sorry for him because while he is insanely wealthy he is also, as far as I can see, not very happy in general.
But more to the point, the issue of PEDs and suspensions is not a personal one. It's a matter of policy, procedure, and consequence. And here's where I have an issue. I'm not entirely familiar with the drug policy that MLB and the player's union have agreed to follow. All I know is what is shared publicly, which is usually "first offense, 50 games, second offense 100 games, third offense, lifetime ban". Occasionally you hear references to other clauses, such as a player being culpable if linked to a clinic or assisting other players in procuring PEDs, but the rules and possible consequences around this have never been made clear to me.
It may be that there is a specific clause in the drug policy stating that if a player does what Rodriguez has been accused, and apparently found guilty, of doing -- introducing others to a clinic linked to PEDs -- that he can be suspended for 211 games. Or 162 games. Or...I don't know.
If the ruling follows the terms of the policy -- what a player can be punished for doing, and what punishment can be levied -- then I have absolutely no beef with the outcome. On the other hand, if the policy talks only about suspensions in 50 and 100 game increments, or if it is vague in regards to what constitutes wrong-doing even if you don't personally test positive for PEDs, then I do have a problem with it.
Even jerks, even troubled and spoiled and delusional rich guys, even guys who have clearly done something wrong, deserve a fair trial and a fair sentence. If Alex Rodriguez got those things, then go MLB. If he didn't, then go A-Rod.
And either way, go A's. Oakland may well be impacted by this decision because the Yankees may well have been awaiting this ruling before aiming to put together the tattered remains of their infield. With the Rodriguez suspension, their infield looks kind of like this:
3B: um...Eduardo Nuñez?
SS: Derek Jeter, who was playing a terrible SS before he broke his ankle and then couldn't really recover, and Brendan Ryan
That sounds like a team that could really use someone like Alberto Callaspo. Personally, as you know unless your second home is a cave, I would love to see the A's sign Jeff Baker to complete their 25-man roster and deal Callaspo to help bolster the minor league system. An intriguing minor league player I have mentioned as an "A's type of target" is the Yankees' Daniel Camarena, now 21 having completed rookie and A-ball seasons with some intriguing peripherals (check out the BB-rates). However, my track record in guessing trade targets is running somewhere between 0.34% and 0.18%, so let's just leave it at, "The A's and Yankees might be able to connect on a deal that would send Callaspo to the Yankees for minor league talent."
The Yankees weren't going to address 3B directly until the Rodriguez suspension was resolved. Now, expect them to look at "Nuñez-Jeter-Roberts-Teixeira with a Ryan-Johnson chaser" and think "Maybe we need to fortify that..." If the A's did deal Callaspo to New York, what might that trade look like, do you think? And would you like to see the A's pull the trigger? Because it's hard to imagine that a conversation between Billy Beane and Brian Cashman, involving Callsapo, won't at least take place.
