Odds & Ends: Rangers, Hawpe, Griffey, Matsui

Trying first base? I know he isn't left handed but there is another NL East team looking for some power...

Even if Matsui can play the outfield, he would be a disaster in LF at Citi. Moving him to 1B is in an interesting option though...

SS-Reyes
2B-Hudson
CF-Beltran
3B-Wright
1B/LF-Nady
C-Molina
RF-Francoeur
1B/LF-Murphy

SP-Santana
SP-Lackey
SP-Pelfrey
SP-Maine
SP-Perez

CP-Krod

I would love to have Hideki in the line up. The guy can obviously still hit and I think he would be a nice replacement of Carlos Delgado as a lefty power bat. He absolutely murders left handed pitching, which is rarely seen in lefty power bats. He's a professional hitter. The problem is where to play him. I'm confident that he can learn to play 1B pretty easily, it's all about footwork the position isn't terribly difficult to learn. I think Hideki definitely has higher upside than Daniel Murphy and the option should certainly be explored. It's becoming more clear that the Mets will be in a bidding with the Cards and Yanks for Matt Holliday, a war they might lose. Matsui is a pretty good back up option to have to provide some power from the left side.

First off, no thanks to Damon or Matsui. Both are having very good years, but north of 35 and the last thing we can do is drop 25-40 million dollars on either of these guys. Break the bank for Holliday and be done with it.

And souvenir I am sorry man but that lineup is awful.

Hudson is way overrated and his yearly trend of declining defense is a worry. Castillo won't have as good a season next year but he can be counted on for a 360-370 OBP. Then at the bottom of the lineup you have 3 auto-outs.

Nady and his career 335 OBP
Frenchie no explanation needed... hes awful and has at times been the worst everyday player in baseball
Molina with a sub 300 OBP this year. No, lets spend our 40 million we have on Holliday at 5/90 and hopefully chapman at 4/50. If we can pry Fielder away for F! Holt and someone else (I hate to say Niese but it looks like its gotta be him) then do it.

JPG -- I gotta feeling he will be in seattle also. Should jackson be ready by next year anyway? or is he projected for 2011?

Ajax could probably use another year in the minors, and I don't think he is gunna be anywhere near as good as most yanks fans make him out to be. He was decent in aaa this year but nothing really special, played 132 games and 504 ab, he hit .300, 4 hr, 65 rbi, 24 sb, .354 obp

I don't get the knocks on Ajacks 2009 year? Yes, he does need to cut down on his ko's. 100+ in AAA will translate into unacceptable numbers in the majors and is completely unjusitifable given the lack of pure power. However.....a 22 year old who hit well above .300 for most of the year (finished @ .300/.354) and seemed to hit the wall in July/August but had a decent September (.400/.400) and good playoff showing is nothing to sneeze at. I don't have access to more comprehensive minor league stats like BAIP but his struggles in July/August (.255/.310) were not because he was seemingly overmatched. His strike out totals over those two months weren't any different from the previous months when he was hitting .350/.400 (est). W/o the more sophisticated stats, it leads me to think that either he was very lucky in the beginning of the season or very unlucky towards the end of the year. Either way, he's probably more of a .280/.350 hitter than he is a .300 +/.400 + guy. His elite defense in CF and speed (24/28 SB) is also a plus for him. I think the thing working against him the most is that he was too hyped to begin with. I never thought he would be an "elite" mlb player. However, I think he will be a very good mlb CF'er ala Denard Span, Franklin Guiterrez or David DeJesus with upside potential to grow into the next Tori Hunter. If you look at Tori Hunter's minor league career and his first couple of seasons in the majors he wasn't much of a power hitter. In his minor league career (628 gms/2,273 at bats) he only hit .270/.334 w/ 62 hrs. Thru Ajax brief minor league career (564 gms, 2,200) he's hit .287/.355 w/ 30 hrs total. Hunter didn't start driving the ball until he reached his mid 20's. As Ajax matures and puts on another 15 lbs I think the power will come. For now, the Yanks would do well to accept him for what he is....an elite defensive CF with good speed and gap power. Only knock I see against him now is his propencity to strikeout and the possible inability to live up to the medias lofty expectations. If all he ever becomes in the next Devon White then he still would be a very good ballplayer.

YFS78 -- Devo was freaking awesome for a few years there. If Ajax turns into a devo type you should be extremely happy. I dunno much about him just a quick glance at his numbers. I am not saying bust at all, I agree with you that he was hyped too much after the Tabata trade. He should be a decent MLB player.

I wouldn't mind seeing Hawpe with the Cubs next year, he'd work well in RF, left-handed hitter. His home/road splits aren't bad, he's descent against left-handers. If they can give Bradley away and not get stuck with another overpaid outfielder maybe they could look into acquiring Hawpe. Bradley is a sunk cost, they're going to be paying him anyway, paying his salary shouldn't be taken into account when they look for another outfielder.

Matsui will join Guerrero, Konerko, Thome, Sheffield, Giambi, Dye and a host of other DH's scrambling to be among the first to land a 5M 1 year contract for 2010, the rest will be stuck signing for less as backups/pinchitters and may find themselves without a job period, much like Frank Thomas.

I think 1/$5 mil would be the worst for any of those guys with the exception of Giambi. Dye and Konerko might have more appeal because they can still play the field, although poorly. Matsui and Vlad might have the most offensive potential but clearly their knees have sapped them of their ability to contribute anything with the glove. In fact, a team would do well to prevent them from touching the field on defense and try to keep them as fresh and protected as possible. Both Matsui and Vlad still posses 30 hr/90 rbi potential and can still deliver a solid .280/.370/.500 line. I think a few AL teams could coffer Dye, Abreu, Matsui and Vlad at something around 1/$8 mil.

YFS78,

No doubt Matsui, Dye, Konerko, Vlad all have good bats, it's just how many teams that will need a DH want to/be able to pay one more than 5M in 2010? I agree that Dye and especially, Matsui still have lethal bats, just maybe 2-3 open DH spots on teams that even spend money in the AL and there is not going to be a NL team spend more than 1-2M for any of those guys to be a PH. Tony Clark and all of his value as a SUPER switch hitting power PH bares that out.

Those guys had better not wait, or they will find Abreu money a pipe dream is my thought, Places like KC, Cleveland, Oakland are just not going to give them that much.

I "got love" for Matsui and truly thank him for his production and professional attitud over his time in NY, but I truly think it would be a major mistake for the Mets to sign him and give two seconds thought about him playing 1b. Asking a 35 yr old player with 2 bum knees to play a position he's never played in his career is a major mistake. The Mets just went thru a year filled with injuries to key players and poor defense. As much as they need an offensive infusion they need healthy players who can catch and throw the ball even more. Adam LaRoche should be FA option #1. Even Blalock and Eric Hinske would be better suited to man 1B than Matsui. Mets should not sacrifice defense and durability, especially not in a NL pitcher friendly ballpark.

Posted by: YanksFanSince78 | October 10, 2009 at 06:14 PM

I agree with this statement to a certain extent. The only argument I would use is that 1B is not a particularly difficult position to learn. It's all about footwork and positioning, which obviously he would have plenty of time to learn. Daniel Murphy had never played 1B before this year and he stepped in and did a very nice job defensively I think. Now, granted, Matsui is 35 with bad knees and Murphy is 23, so I understand they are not of the same physical capabilities. However, if Matsui's knees are ok to take the punishment of playing the field, why not take a chance. He has much higher upside than Murphy, and is a much better option than bringing back Delgado, in my opinion. Nick Johnson and Hank Blalock are probably bigger injury risks than Hideki. So if you can get him for 1/5 why not take a chance? The guy can flat out rake and he abuses left handed pitching. I see your point, but I think it's a risk I personally would be willing to take.

Figgins can play just about any position o/n the field except for C. He's played LF 35x in 05/06. Now true, that's not a lot but he's athletic enough to make it happen. Just a thought.

As for pitching it all depends on Pettite. I think CC, AJ, Pettite, Joba (w/o the Joba Rules) and Hughes (w/ well conceived "Hughes Rules) w/ Wang, Gaudin, IPK, McAllister or Nova waiting in the wings could be a strong rotation. The only FA pickups that intrigue me would be Ben Sheets and Brandon Webb. If Sheets is healthy then he would be my #1 target. Maybe 2/15 with tons of incentives that could make it 2/30? A rotation of CC, AJ, Sheets and two of Pettite, Joba or Hughes with Wang waiting in the wings for a possible post-all star debut would be amazing, IMO.