Here are some links to read before the Home Run Derby begins, starting with last year's derby winner…
- The Yankees have had internal discussions about a long-term contract for Robinson Cano, Jack Curry of the YES Network writes. GM Brian Cashman acknowledges that the team has considered trying to lock the second baseman up to an extension. "Oh, yeah. But we haven't done it yet," Cashman said.
- Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com suggests the Orioles should seek upgrades aggressively without parting with elite prospects Dylan Bundy and Manny Machado. Executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette is working to add starting pitching between now and the end of July and names like Zack Greinke and Wandy Rodriguez have emerged as possibilities.
- Commissioner Bud Selig told reporters he's "very satisfied" with baseball’s new collective bargaining agreement so far, Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Journal tweets.
Cano 8 years 160mill?
Will $20MM per get it done?
The Yanks will end up paying Teixeira, what, $150MM for his 30 to 36-year-old seasons? That’s about $21.5MM per.
It’ll be hard for them to convince Cano that he’s not worth as much as Tex…
Plus NYY wants to lower their payroll.
They want to be at $189MM by 2014 right? And they’re at $209MM right now.
I can’t see how they can do that unless some of the pitching prospects step up to take over expensive spots in the rotation. I guess they could go young and cheap in the outfield too and let both Granderson and Swisher walk, but that seems a bit too risky.
We’ll see. I’ve never been a big Cashman fan, but if he can get the team under that luxury tax threshold AND keep the team competitive in the twilight of Jeter’s and A-Rod’s careers, I’ll have to give at least a little bit of credit to the man and not the wallet.
Actually they’re at $197 million
That figure (from USA Today, right?) doesn’t account for the $11.5MM they’re paying for A.J. Burnett to pitch for the Pirates.
Of course, the Burnett money will be off the books by 2014 anyway, so that’s a guarantee that they’ll be $11.5MM closer to their goal.
They will have Mariano and Soriano off the books by 2014. Jeter, if he’s still playing, will be at $8M. Kuroda will be gone (another $10M.) Martin may be gone. Some of their younger players will get raises in arbitration. And then it’s going to be Cano (probably a must) Granderson and Swisher. I don’t see Swisher staying. He’s not going to be worth a long term contract at that age to the Yankees. He might be worth it to another team.
It all depends what swish demands, whether or not he stays. He is a ok hitter, I don’t think he will be a yankee if he demands big money.
As a basis for comparison, not the end-all, be-all.
Tex up to age 29 season had 29.8 WAR
Cano up to now (age 29 season) has 30.8 WAR
that’s essentially a wash.
Cano plays 2B, which is more valuable, but he may be willing to give a hometown discount. 8/$160 MM is what Kemp got, and he’s a more complete player than Cano. The Dodgers also could not survive with out him, where the Yankees can survive without Cano on their team.
Also – I would LOVE to see Cano test Free Agency waters, and I would LOVE to see the Dodgers snatch him up.
I may cry if Cano leaves the Yankees before age 35.
You can start a support group with fans of Tino Martinez, Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina, David Wells, CC Sabbathia, Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, Curtis Granderson, Gary Shefield, Randy Johnson, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Texera…..etc.
Does any fan from any team actually miss Shef?
say what you will about him, but he was a very feared hitter, any team would love to have player of his caliber
He deserve more for the numbers he is putting up. He also plays second base. Not a very taxing position so he will be staying healthy for a while. (I know Chase Utley… weird happenings)
For such a highly covered team, it always surprises me stuff like this almost never gets out in public.
That said, I’m glad it’s being discussed. Cano is the most important player in the organization at this point given everyone’s career stage.
Eight years – 144 million would make me ectatic, but I’m thinking it’s going to be closer to 155-170 range, especially if he hits 40 as a 2b this year.
He will be a free agent when he is 31, at that point the yankees will need to ask themselves if they envision cano there till he is 40. I’d like to keep him, but I would hate for the Yankees to handcuff themselves like they did with arod, jeter, and teix.
Arod’s contract is awful, they were nuts to be paying his this much till he is 42. Teix is still a decent player, and is 5 years younger than arod.
6 years 100 million i agree overspending on players has really cost them since arod is making 275 million dollars based upon the contract they gave him so 6 years a 100 may be enough if not then the possibility of something like 150 160 for 7 years if they want to spend that much
I really like Dan Duquette’s stance this deadline. The Orioles just extended Adam Jones in May, have brought in a future Hall of Famer in Jim Thome, and are still willing to upgrade in various spots without giving up on their plans to rebuild for the future. At 46-40 the Orioles are right in the thick of things. Ultimately I think Grienke will be too expensive for their taste and it’s better to pursue the guys who can be an upgrade but cost less in terms of prospects. Names like Wandy Rodriguez, Edinson Volquez, and Ryan Dempster should appeal to them on the pitching side of things. Offensively, they are in need of an outfielder or a utility infielder who can provide stability on defense. Guys like Ty Wiggington or Placido Polanco from the Phillies would fit a need. In the Outfield, I could see them swinging a deal with the Cubs for a David Dejesus type. His OBP would really help them at the top of their lineup where their current OBP is a few points below .300. The Orioles are playing it smart. They are being buyers but will not mortgage the future. It will be interesting to see who they come away with, but Duquette has made it known they will remain buyers & that gets Orioles fans excited.
Duquette has made it known they will remain buyers & that gets Orioles fans excited…. Hahahaha, he hasn’t done anything yet. Although, Thome was a nice surprise. I was happy.
Now I would take Polanco as an alternative to Ty Wigginton.
No to Dempster and Wandy. Volquez will not be traded or at the very least not to the Orioles if he is.
Dejesus??? No, what would we do with him? I would take Crisp over him.
It’s Colon and Liriano or nothing as far as I am concerned.
Coco Crisp is signed for 2 years and 14 Million.
David Dejesus is signed for 2 years and 10 Million.
Not only is Dejesus cheaper but….
Coco Crisp does not even constitute as an upgrade for the Orioles because his OBP is .299 and that is essentially what they have been getting from guys like Avery and Flaherty anyway. Dejesus at .360 OBP has scored nearly 20 more runs than Crisp and is on pace to have a projected 40 more runs scored by seasons end. Those type of numbers would really help the O’s score runs (which they have struggled to do) and it helps that he’s on the Cubs who are willing to sell.
Liriano is not a reliable starter anymore and is not an upgrade over Gonzalez, Tillman, Eveland, etc.
Colon broke down in the 2nd half last season, it is foolish to rely on him during the dogs days of summer. If they are pursuing Dempster (who shut out the Red Sox and is having a nice year outside of one DL stint) and/or Wandy then they are doing the right things to give them a shot. Your negative attitude toward the Orioles isn’t justified because these Os are second place in the AL East and have a legitimate shot here.
I honestly dont think they have the pieces to make any sort of run, but that said I think that for the O’s this is perfect for them, because the team has lost so many games in the past few years, that it will help their fanbase, and give them the illusion they are a playoff team.
I don’t see a realistic way the Yankees keep Swisher this off-season as well as keeping both Granderson & Cano and staying under the $189M limit.
Soriano is also coming off the payroll after next season. Mo too, Jeter will earn way less in 2014 (but I don’t know how that counts on the payroll because it’s a player option, so 4 year AAV or 1 year deal!?) and nobody knows if Pettitte will pitch in 2014 (probably not). The Yanks absolutely can afford Granderson AND Cano but at least 2 of Nova/Pineda/Banuelos have to be in the rotation in 2014 to keep both Granderson and Cano imo.
btw: I don’t think the Yankees will offer much more than 5/110 or 6/125. Believe it or not, the Yankees have a budget right now. A real budget. They can’t afford to pay Cano whatever he wants. I think Cano will give the Yanks some kind of discount, we’ll see how much of a discount he gives them. He’ll be a Yankee, I’m pretty sure about that. The Yanks don’t want to lose Cano and Cano doesn’t want to leave the Bronx.
Cano is Boras client. The word- Discount is not in his vocabulary.
Cano is the next big Yankees star. They will not lose him to any other team.
Cano has learned from Jeter and CC that NY is the place to play and get paid.
Him and Boras will drive a hard bargain, but will not make outrageous demands that would cause him to leave.
You can never trust that anymore considering players always leave and go off to other teams so I don’t what’s going to happen with this.
A-Rod: salary will be 4 mil less in 2014.
Jeter: 8 million less (player option) 4 million buy out.
Rivera: 15 million
Cano: 15 million
Soriano: 11 million
Swish: 10.25 million
Granderson: 10 million
Kuroda – 10 million
Martin: 7.5 million
Feliciano: 4 million
Garcia: 4 million
Hughes: 3.2 million
Gardner: 2.8 million
Pettitte: 2.5 million
Then a slew of spare pieces.
Anyway, there’s 107 million or so to play with by 2014.
I calculate Garcia, Rivera, Feliciano, Kuroda, Pettitte, Soriano and A-rod and Jeter’s pay cuts are all guaranteed, so that’s 60 million or so right off the bat off the payroll.
If the 197 number is correct, that put’s the Yankees around 140 million and Hughes, Nova, CC, Pineda locked in (at various prices after arb). So one starter and figure 5-10 million more in arb/I think Hughes is a FA in 2014. Banuelos/Phelps/Mitchell/Warren can very well fill at least one of those holes at a cheap price. When all is said and done we can say the Yankees commit 10 million to replace Pettitte/Kuroda/Garcia.
We’re at 150 million.
Cashman can usually fill a bullpen pretty well and Feliciano has already been replaced, so really worst case scenario you need an arm in addition to Joba and Robertson to hold down the late innings. Worst case, let’s say Cash pays 10 million for an elite reliever to absorb the blow.
Rotation and bullpen complete at 160 million.
That means 29 million to make up the gap in Cano/Granderson/Swisher’s salary as well as finding a catcher and left fielder.
The Yankees are pretty deep with OF in the system so it’s reasonable to think Swish won’t be here but Granderson will. Even if Granderson’s salary doubles, it’s a wash with Swish.
Then they can resign Gardner who will be in his last year of arb, prob at around 8 million. I’ll say 6-8 million committed to OF in addition to what we have now.
168 million.
Cano will be resigned, at probably twice the salary.
188 million.
Comes down to catcher and the rotation mostly to me. I can see the Yankees using a very affordable bullpen and resigning Grandy and Cano but letting Swish walk.
forget about A-Rods salary. Payroll is about AAV, not anual salary, so it’ll be exactly the same in 2014 as it is now.
AAV is also the reason why I’m not sure if Jeter’s contract in 2014 counts as his 4th year of the contract or if it is separated because it’s a player’s option.
I also don’t know why you take the salaries from different years, that doesn’t make any sense. A-Rods from 2014, Jeter’s and Cano’s from 2013, everybody elses from 2012. And Jeter’s buyout is 3 million, not 4. Like I said, you have to take AAV anyway, baseball payrolls aren’t put together based on anual salaries.
“The Yankees are pretty deep with OF”. Yes and no. Yes, they have plenty of OF in the minors but none of them has the ability to be a regular for the Yankees or any other MLB team. Swisher will highly likely be replaced by a player that isn’t in the org right now.
“Cano will be resigned, at probably twice the salary.” Twice the salary would be around 30, not 20. 30 isn’t likely imo anyway.
All of those salaries are 2012 based, there’s nothing 2013 based and the only adjustments would be salary in 2012 compared to 2014, but point taken on AAV
Cano doesn’t go up to 15 million until next year, so when I said twice the salary I meant around 20 million, not 30 million, but again, if it’s based on average of life of contract, it’s a moot point. Either way, the money it takes to resign Cano can cleanly come from what they pay Swisher.
None of them is stretching it. The issue with the Yankees’ depth is a lot of the OF depth that DOES have starting potential and beyond is in the lower levels. The reason I’m not discounting it is I don’t know how they develop two years from now.
Even if Swish does get replaced from outside Cashman has demonstrated the ability to have effective OF platoons or players on the cheap anyway, plus I gave it a credit fo 8 million anyway, in addition to rounding the starting point up 3-4 million, plus the mistake of a million on Jeter, so really we’re talking about 13 million to Gardner’s raise and an OF. Very doable.
BA put 2 Yankees OF in their midseason top 50 prospects. Although they are both a few years away, that is their biggest strength.
You have a good grasp of it. If you put aside the mega-stars contracts, everyone should see that Cashman has put together a very good supporting cast at very reasonable cost. I don’t doubt that he can get under the cap and still have a viable team.
Chavez, Ibanez, and jones have been decent players filling in the holes. And the Yankees regulary have gotten good usage out of a bullpen of misfits.