Mark Teixeira Rumors: Friday

One of the teams in on Swisher was the Braves. Bowman mentioned it in his last mailbag.

i really hope that the yankees trade swisher just so they can get teixeir
lineup
Derek Jeter
Robinson Cano
Mark Teixeira
Alex Rodriguez
Milton Bradley
Xavier nady
Jorge Posada
Johnny Damon

WOW..if the Red Sox get Tex and move Youkilis to 3rd, thatd be a pretty outstanding line up.

Drew
Elsbury
Bay
Ortiz
Teixeira (potentially)
Pedroia
Lowrie
Youkilis
Varitek (potentially)

wow... thats just SCARY

I wish I could interview with Erin Andrews

THANK YOU THANK YOU these dumb people dnt know anything about the mlb

"philsWSchamps - Yeah, you're right...who would want a guy like Damon who hit .303 .371 17 71 with 29 sb, playoff experience and a one-year deal. Also hit .333 RISP! He's only one of the best leadoff hitter in MLB. Gee...he's terrible.

Matsui has one-year left as well and is good for .290 25 100 every year of his career. You're right there...who needs a guy like that for a year? "

Matsui isn't getting moved unless a lot of that contract is picked up, and Damon probably wouldn't net a lot in return unless a lot of his is picked up as well. Don't mean that as an insult, it's just reality.

I still think Damon is a pretty solid hitter, but he's basically confined to 1B/LF right now and I'm not sure a lot of teams are desparate to pay that $$ for a guy to play a corner or first without bigtime power.

"and who exactly would want Matsui or Damon? Anybody out there shopping for overpriced over the hill veterans? That market can't be too good. Nady, yes. The others, no."

Please don't think I'm chastising you for sticking with the anti-Yankee talking points because I really do like reading them, but ...

Damon had a really solid year last year. His line compares to guys like Conor Jackson, Dejesus and Abreu. Abreu is likely to get a multi-year deal for atleast $10MM per and Damon put up nearly identical stats(.303/.375/.461 versus .296/.371/.471). He's not going to bring in a top prospect, but to imply that there would be no market for him is pretty wrongheaded.

Matsui is a different story; I personally wouldn't want my team interested in him but, again, he'd be on a short deal and likely come cheap. There's been talk about Seattle and San Fran for a while now. Who knows on this one; I'm sure the Yankees wouldn't mind just getting out from under his salary.

CUUBYFAN - You could be more incorrect. Both players have ONE year left. Why would the Yankees have to pick up any money? Hmmm...one year x 13 mill for Damon or Matsui or say 4/60 for Burrell? 3/30 Ibanez? Anyone will take the short deal...especially if a team has a kid in the minors one year away.

As far as Garnder.... during his second call-up he hit near .300 and is one of the fastest guys in the league. If he somehow does get to start in CF (and I don't see that happening) and hits .270 with 40-50 SB...that doesn't stink at the #9 spot and sets the table for the 1-3 hitters.

As far as the actual news up top...Cash and Towers are friends, Peavy has friends on the Yankees and said of the AL teams, he would play for the Yankees. The Pads need outfielders. Could that be the reference? I think Peavy coming to the Bronx is a lot more of a possibility than some people are lead to believe.

I'm done here. Too many nit wits.

Yep it's funny how people think that Damon is a bad player, when he had a good 2008 season. But you know its a lose lose situation when it comes to the Yanks with some in here. Everytime something is said about the Yanks, they have something bad to say.

alright admittedly when i looked at my comment about Damon I should pull out the "over the hill" part, but he is overpriced. And Matsui i'm not changing one bit. He's overpriced and over the hill.

hahah, yeah the padres are tripping over themselves to get two 35 yr olds making 13 million a yr, neither of whom has any business wearing a glove especially in the largest OF in baseball. Matsui is not good for .300 25, 100 actually last 3 years he's much more likely to put up .290, 8, 40. Yanks would have to pick up all his salary and then maybe get a fringy AA middle reliver in return, Damon they could prob get something for w/o picking up any money but again his negative value in the field and inability to play CF negates alot of his positives. And in other news Xavier Nady is pretty bad too, what he did on the yanks is wht you should expect .270/.320/.474 in 228 ABs....Yanks NEEEED TEIX or that is one mediorce lineup with a ton of question marks

Damon plays a very solid LF. Every defensive metric bears this out.

Damon plays a very solid LF. Every defensive metric bears this out.

that's nice but it doesn't change the fact that he's 35 and no one would want him unless the yanks pick up, say 50+% of the salary.

Oh and he's not Conor Jackson. Yankee fans clearly forget a "stat" that almost no others don't. Damon made $13 million last year and Conor Jackson made $400+k. Damon is 35 and Jackson is 26. Sorry I'd rather have Jackson. Yes Damon gets a plus for his playoff experience, but its not enough, to me at least, to make up the differences.

Remember Yankees fans:

"Everyone else has a budget"

And you're forgetting a basic rule that "guys who put up Conor Jackson's numbers for less than half a million don't exist in very many places". Therefore, usually you have to pay a lot for that sort of production, hence massive prices in free agency. The Abreu comp stands and we both know what sort of commitment he'll command in the open market. You were wrong on your assessment of Damon. Its ok. Not a big deal.

"I think NJM's interpretation of the Silverman quote is fair."

so most likely wouldnt Nady be on the move and Swisher would be the RF?

While I have no doubt that the Yankees could put together a good package to get Peavy, and probably a better package than the Cubs could, if there haven't been inter-club discussions to that end, then it's meaningless. After all, if that's how we're judging the viability of a trade, the Rays are the clear frontrunners to acquire everyone this off-season.

That said, given what the Yankees would have to give up, I'm not sure I really want to get Peavy. He's a quality pitcher, for sure, but so are Lowe and CC. Those guys will cost us money and draft picks, which may or may not translate into top prospects (the odds of a prospect becoming a major leaguer are about 30% for positions players and 20% for pitchers, i believe). We have no idea who will be available in those draft spots, so it's really not worth worrying about unless we fail to offer arbitration for our draft-pick free agents. Peavy, on the other hand, will cost known quantities of prospects as well as likely demanding a contract extension that will put his price close to that of CC and Lowe. When you compare them that way, it's pretty clear that CC is the better deal, and the difference in quality bet/n Lowe and Peavy, while substantial, is not enough IMO to justify losing the quantity and type of prospects we would certainly have to surrender.

-JM

"(the odds of a prospect becoming a major leaguer are about 30% for positions players and 20% for pitchers, i believe)"

That seems incredibly high, though I have nothing to substantiate or refute it.

"People dont hate losers"

Then why do they hate the Yankees?"

Hence the stupidity!

@Kenan and Kel

did a bunch of posts just disappear?

"I also may have reversed those numbers."

I'd be even more surprised if 30% of pitchers made the show.

Again I cannot possibly refute this since I don't know but to me if you divided those numbers in half it seems reasonable.

Either way your point is right, paying in cash > paying in prospects.

Nope, just Yankeegirl having a fit.

I have that affect on women.

that explains things, my post was in response to a long Peavy discussion which has been pretty much totally erased.

-JM

General Manager said the Yankees have a much better shot at landing Peavy than the Cubs. I don't know if he brought up anything Peavy said personally but of course he did make assumptions that were easily refuted with 30 seconds of browsing the internet.

"Seems he is taking th I control the site thing a little to far."

Agreed.

IF he erased our posts he should at the very least mention it, it's possible typekey just took a **** though.

I hope its just a mess up with the site.
We may have been arguing, but thats what fans do. No one got offensive and no one got personal or threatening.
Who wants to go to a board where everyone agrees on everything? That would get pretty boring.

"Who wants to go to a board where everyone agrees on everything? That would get pretty boring."

agreed

SJ..I agree about Peavy and the Yanks/AL. With that said, it depends on the cost. Im not saying don't go after the guy at all, but don't give up a whole bunch of top prospects and the extra money it would take to have him approve the trade for a guy who may or may not be the same guy he was in SD.

"It's really easy to get Yankees fans riled-up. Just the mere implication that their over-priced, over-rated team of over-the-hill yesteryear players aren't the greatest in the history of baseball is enough to throw them into a tizzy."

Ding ding ding

I'm not a Yankee hater, just an opportunist.

Re: sjdurfey

But that's the real sticking point for me. Kenan and Kel pointed out that Peavy would almost certainly request a contract restructuring to move to NY, which would probably entail additional money and no-trade protection. That money takes away the incentive of having Peavy at a low cost.

That's my point with the prospects. If Peavy isn't to be had cheaply, then you're in a Johan Santana situation, where you're giving up top prospects AND taking on a huge contract. I'm not sure giving up on Johan was a good idea, but I can understand the logic, and I think that logic still applies to Peavy.

-JM

thats certainly something to consider. but with a lot of money coming off the books next year (assuming matsui and damon are let go not to mention the gobs of money that came off this year), affording peavy certainly cant be a thought in the front offices' mind, can it? adding Peavy would be a great addition for them. And who knows maybe adding him will force them to introduce the youngsters in their farm system. Spend, spend, spend isnt the best way to win consistently, its only a part of it.

sjdurfey

I was more thinking of it from a cost-benefit side. I agree that building the farm system is critical to long-term success. However, with the depth of the free-agent pitching market, I think we have the option of filling the rotation holes with either trades or free agency. With that in mind, the fact that Peavy will not come very cheaply means that the primary considerations when you weigh whether to go the free agent route or the trade route are:

Peavy:
Gaining: Ace-quality 27-year-old pitcher
Losing: 1-2 top prospects, 2-3 middle prospects (I'm assuming based on what I've heard of deals offered by other clubs, no assumptions on who those Yankee prospects would be)

Lowe/Burnett/Perez/Garland/etc. (Free Agent besides CC)
Gaining: solid #3 starter in his 30s
Losing: 1-2 Draft picks

So, Peavy is a high-risk, high-reward type thing. You're giving up more to get more. The question is, would the Yankees be getting ENOUGH more to make up the difference in what they're losing. I'm not convinced they would be.

The biggest difference I see bet/n Peavy and Santana is that Johan had pitched his career in the AL, so he wouldn't be facing anyone new, really, and it was quite likely that his success in AL Central would translate fairly well to success in AL East. The difference bet/n AL East and NL West, however, is much bigger. Peavy has no more than 3-4 plate appearances against any of the hitters he would face on a regular basis in NY, so it's more difficult to project his performance, making trading for him a bigger gamble.

My point, in the end, is that I feel the advantage that Peavy gives over a guy like Lowe is not big enough to make up for losing both more players and known-quantity, high-ceiling players vs. losing 2 draft picks. Draft picks can go either way, while once you're dealing with established prospects, eventual ML contribution is a little more likely.

-JM

Hal said there was a deadline, not Hank. Hal is the one who actually matters but I doubt it means much at all. Its probably related to Lowe; it seems like the Yanks have prioritized Sabathia and Burnett with Lowe as the backup plan for both. If Lowe gets close somewhere, it either forces them to jump in when they're not sure or costs them some leverage.

"Getting back to this topic ...

Are the Bo Sox actually considering this? They are willing to pay Tex $32m for this year and next year? That would be $20m + the $12m for Lowell sitting on the bench or being traded.

No other team is paying anything for Lowell at this point. Sure he could get better, or he might not. How can you bet on a 35 YO coming off major hip surgery to be healthy enough to trade? And even if he is, how do you showcase his talent with DH, 1B, 3B all being occupied by better players?

Only way this makes sense to me is if they believe that Ortiz is not going be returning to his former glory. Then you can shuffle Lowell and Ortiz through the DH spot and hope that you can spin one of them off after they prove their healt"

Can we stop listing reasons why other teams shouldn't try to pry Tex away from anaheim? Yesterday it was the Nationals, today it's Boston. We get it, you want him.

" That would be $20m + the $12m for Lowell sitting on the bench or being traded."

No it wouldn't. It would be the 20+ mil for Tex, which is solid solid investment and maybe another 6-8 to eat part of Lowells contract. You don't eat the whole damn thing and IF he proves healthy Boston may not eat any of it. 32 million...that is just ridiculous.

"No other team is paying anything for Lowell at this point. Sure he could get better, or he might not. How can you bet on a 35 YO coming off major hip surgery to be healthy enough to trade? And even if he is, how do you showcase his talent with DH, 1B, 3B all being occupied by better players?"

God you are just grasping for straws. If Boston decides Tex is the way to go, Mike Freaking Lowell is NOT going to stop them from pursuing him. I'd agree he currently has negative value, but he could be swapped for a bad contract or regain that value via a healthy recovery.

Kenan and Kel,

trade Lowell to the Phils. He's always done well in our ballpark and Feliz' contract is only for one more year and we could probably spin him somewhere. Just wonder what the Red Sox need/want for him?

I would like to see Lowell learn to play some 1B and be the Sean Casey of last season if he would do it. Salary is not that huge of a deal with Boston and look at what a HUGE bat and glove he would give at 3B when needed?

as long as Boston ate most of Lowell's and wasnt asking for much in return, Cleveland needs a 3b. However, i would prefer Casey Blake.

not a chance, they would be getting rid of peavy for salary reasons, melky sucks, ipk could be a throw in, matsui makes 13 million plus cannot play the field anymore and swisher is making too much money. You're not getting peavy without either hughes or jackson

No way that Lowell can be shipped when he's in such poor condition. The Red Sox won't have any leverage either. Everyone will know that they have to move Lowell or sit a guy earning $12m/year.

The Mike Lowell I saw in the playoffs was just a shell of himself. I give him major props for going out and playing through pain. Unfortunately, he just had nothing to give.

35 YO's coming off major hip surgery are a huge risk.

"You guys think this package would work for Peavy?

Nick Swisher
Hideki Matsui
Ian Kennedy
Melky Cabrera"

No.

"No way that Lowell can be shipped when he's in such poor condition. The Red Sox won't have any leverage either."

I really have no idea why you keep harping on this one point.

You don't need leverage in a salary dump, which is what trading Lowell would be. The Sox would eat a portion of his contract in exchange for a player of lesser value; a standard salary dump.

If Lowell proves himself healthy he regains some value, but in either case his condition would not determine whether or not Boston pursues Teixeira, because Mike Lowell is movable.