Odds and Ends: Iguchi, Varitek, Bonds

Hindsight is 20/20 on drafts, outside of some downright moronic picks, which Reynolds isn't one. Greg Reynolds looks promising, and warranted that pick. And, Rox need pitching.

Mark Ellis would be a nice fit with the Sox IMO. The Sox have the offense and Ellis' streaky offensive tendencies wouldn't hurt the team too much if he went cold. His defense is phenomenal.

I think the Yankees should trade Hughes for Gerald Laird. As much as I hate the Yankees, I see no better idea.

Then trade Kennedy to Florida for Mike Jacobs in some sort of deal.

No team has to pay much more or less money, and 3 teams get one desire each fulfilled.

Varitek is defenitely staying in Boston. I know he can't swing a bat anymore, but people overlook how he calls a game and manages the staff. That is extremely invaluable. He will sign a 2 year deal, maybe with an option, and slowly give away playing time(catching 3 pitchers instead of the 4 now) and mentoring a younger catcher to take his place.

Then he'll become part of the Red Sox coaching staff in some capacity. I bet he's the heir apparent to Francona down the road. Boston LOVES Varitek.

Would the Yankees be interested in Bengie Molina? What type of price would you pay?

Andrew- Do you not feel Bengie could provide more than average production? I'm not saying it would require much, but I'm trying to gauge what his worth is to other teams.

"They probably wouldn't even trade Kennedy for Laird"

You are not serious are you?

nothing like the continual re-hashing of the same Yankee rumors again and again.

"Yup nothing better then putting your faith in a 37 year old catcher coming off shoulder surgery."

What else can they do? It's not like you can sit him on the bench if he's healthy.

I could be really wrong but I think bg90027 is incorrect on his interpretation of the rule.

If Pudge accepts arbitration for 09 he has a valid contract for the season. Cutting him at any time would still leave the Yanks on the hook for the entire contract amount.

I could easily see I-Rod and Marte accepting arbitration. Abreu is a possibility (he can surely get more than 1 year but if he loves NY he might stay for one more run). I also believe that Moose will accept arbitration but then try to work out a better deal (maybe less money for more years).

Even if that is NOT what the Yankees want these acceptances could really help them. I'll bet anything that Posada won't be able to come back and catch 140 games. Having I-Rod would be very good insurance. Marte should bounce back and be a solid contributor. Having Abrue in right would allow the Yanks to move Matsui or Damon. Along a similar vein, if Posada is healthy you can always use I-Rod as trade bait. Some team is going to need a starting catcher in 09.

That's not my interpretation. Its a direct quote from Cashman:

"They would be on non-guaranteed contracts - but since it is a major league contract, they would get either 30 or 45 days termination pay in spring training if they are released…if they make team it becomes guaranteed.”

I don't know much at all about arbitration or the CBA and had always thought they'd be on the hook for the full season if they offered arbitration and it was accepted. I trust that Cashman knows what he's talking about though.

I agree that the Yanks shouldn't even think about Man-NY until we handle the priorities first (pitching and 1B0, BUT I really dig the idea of Manny batting 4th or 5th directly behind Arod thus taking some of the load/stress off of him.

But let's think about what the issues are surrounding Manny.

Question A) His Boston exit.

It was obvious that Manny wanted the Sox to guarantee his option early on in the season or to declare they were going to pass. If they had declared early on that they would NOT pick up his option then Manny would have played with the same intensity that he did with the Dodgers. Why? Because he’s playing for Man-NY and a new contract. If the option HAD been picked up chances are he would have continued to play well. Remember he was still hitting at a high level B4 the trade:

.299/,398/.529 w/ 20 hrs and 68 rbis in 109 games

A) Possible NY solution:

If Man-NY is given a good deal , let’s say, 4 years and 100 million. Then chances are he would have no reason to sulk, at least for another 3 years.

Question B) His lack of hustle in the field and poor defensive play and age.

We all know Man-NY is average at best as an outfielder and with his age we can expect it to continue to decline. Defensively he has been criticized for lack of hustle or excercising poor judgment on fly balls.

B) If Man-NY were brought to NY he would absolutely be a DH who MIGHT see 4 or 5 games in LF to rest someone. If he’s DH’ing then his defensive liabilities are null and void. His lack of hustle is limited to his offense and running the base. While many may have a problem staring and admiring his hrs I could certainly live with that. If there’s one thing Man-NY has NEVER been accused of his loafing when it comes to his offense. He’s a proud hitter and I’m sure would give 100% when it comes to putting up numbers. He’s not being brought in to bunt or simply move runners over. He’s being brought in to solidify the middle of the batting order, protect Arod and drive in runs. That is one area where we don’t have to concern ourselves over.

Question C) Can Man-NY avoid off the field distractions, temper tantrums and other personality issues? Man-NY is a fun loving and easy going latin ball player. He has a “don’t worry be happy” demeanor about him. I would never question his desire to win, evident by how he mashes and turns things to another level when the playoff time comes. Man-NY NEVER had any of those personality problems when he was in Cleveland. He was beloved and still is (I live in Cleveland, OH and they’ve already begun the “Bring Back Manny” campaign. Man-NY going to Boston was a pure cash grab. Boston has never been a city that warmed to Latino or African American ball players. Not accusing them of being a racist town or anything but there’s a very small non-white population in the New England area compared to Cleveland or for our purposes, New York. Man-NY also spoke about how he felt uncomfortable in Boston’s “fish bowl”.

C) Would Man-NY feel more comfortable coming home to the Bronx where he grew up and still has plenty of family and friends still living here? Would Man-NY be LESS inclined of acting up because he would be embarrassing himself in front of his own people. Would the large Dominican population in the Bronx and New York in general provide a better support system? The Yanks have plenty more Latin ballplayers on the team compared to Boston (Arod, Cabrera, Cano, Rivera, Ramirez, Veras, Posada vs Lugo and Ortiz). Would he have a better support system in the Yanks club house than he did in Boston? We all know that Man-NY can handle the national media exposure that he’s received over the years so the NY media shouldn’t be difficult for him to handle.

Finally, his legacy:

Man-NY is well aware of his place in history. In Boston he was for the most part the most accomplished player on the team. Ortiz was the star but Man-NY has the HOF career. By going to the Yanks he’s joining Arod, Jeter and Rivera, sure fire HOF’s, and he will be in the twilight of his career and looking to claim his place in history. Will the allure of playing for one of the greatest, most respected franchises in sports history be enough to keep him motivated and inspired? Will helping to bring a WS to the new stadium get his juices flowing. If he can have a superior 3-4 year run with the Yanks and collect his 3,000th hit (he needs 600), his 600th hr (he needs 73) and his 2,000th RBI (he needs 275) in Yankee pin-stripes be enough to keep him motivated, focused and behaved? If he can do those things and erase the negative “Manny Being Manny” moments then he WILL go down as one of the greatest hitters of all time and achieve the clout and esteem that being a Yankee will afford him, instead of being just another great HOF hitter.

I think Man-NY is about Man-NY and he will sign the highest deal on the table but I also think that if the numbers/lengths are similar he would LOVE to be a Yankee for all the aesthetics that it brings. I also think that we would see more of the Dodger Blue Man-NY than we will the Boston Red-sucks version 8.0.

I would be more than happy to dump Matsui for some minor league mediocre prospects, let Abreu walk, move Nady to RF and back the Brinks truck up to Scott Boras’s office and dump $100 million on Man-NY for 4 years. And please I don’t want to hear how much money that will “tie up”. We’re the NY Yanks…we print money.

After reading that yanksfansince78, you are absolutely correct. the Yankees deserve Ramirez. Just print up the money (as you yourself suggested) and get it done.

He will help you with the non defense in the outfield that is already a logjam already and no moving the to 1B.. That rotation is pretty much jammed up with Posada, Matsui et,al already.

The Yankees (along with any other team) could have had all that you posted above for a 50K waiver fee in 2003 when the red sox placed him on waivers for FREE to any taker to take the salary off their hands

Michael M wrote:

"I think the Yankees should trade Hughes for Gerald Laird. As much as I hate the Yankees, I see no better idea.

Then trade Kennedy to Florida for Mike Jacobs in some sort of deal.

No team has to pay much more or less money, and 3 teams get one desire each fulfilled".

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Why would the Yanks, who are trying to get younger and improve their rotation trade tow of their best pitching prospects for an avg catcher at best (Laird) and a 1B when they have two viable C's in Posada who's under contract or Irod who they could resign or Tex who can be picked up as a FA? The Marlins aren't interested in picking up vet players so that means Kennedy would have to be packaged w/ other prospects. We have to operate from our strengths ($$$$$$) and use it to pick up the things we need if they are available. Catching and 1B can be solved in-house or thru the FA market. Young pitching can't.

I know it's an old post but I think Irod, if offered arbitration, would decline because he may feel that he would be a back up insurance policy for the Yanks. Meanwhile, as a whole, Irod had a good year, despit the bad month or so he was with the Yanks. In total he hit .276/7/35. Those numbers weren't stellar but are comparable to most catchers. His defense was still very solid as he ranked 6th overall in the AL for Caught Stealing (25/77) and 10th overall.

Ironically, Jose Molina ranked 3rd in the majors catching 33 out of 77 base stealers despite only logging 737 innings which ranked 26th in the majors. That's amazing if you think about it. He threw out more runners than the 23 of the 25 other catchers that caught more inning than him.

Yanksfansince1978,

The personality issues can interwind with the performance issues *if* the market this season does not bring Ramirez what he believes he is entitled to, which is a 4,5, even a 6 year contract. What if, say no one is willing to go beyond 3 guaranteed and more than 20 million a year? Do you think he will give A-Rod the protection (and vice-versa) that that he is capable of?

6 months ago, who would have thought that he would have sunk to the low he did, nor tried so desperately with LA to "undo" in GM's minds everything regarding it, but did he? I really, really enjoyed seeing him bat, then came 3 called strikes with his bat on his shoulder vs Rivera, then the MRI's, the taking down of a clubhouse attendant. Do the Yankees really want to take a chance on this, when Tex is out there?

Like you said, they can pay 1/2 of Matsui's salary and unload him to SF, maybe even Minnesota and get something. Look at CF market and then get something for Cabrera and keep Gardner as a 4th outfielder until they know he is ready even, unless they are willing to take a gamble with him.

I just hate seeing the Yanks knock themselves out of the next season before it even starts, though am not a Yanks fan, it's no fun without both Boston and the yanks racing for the "spot" come late September and them getting manny just to me, is another aging veteran, not a young fielder to help later on that can help and not a pitcher, just a kind of patch.