After 95 regular season wins and two postseason series, the Yankees' year has ended. The Tigers swept the ALCS in four games, which means it's now time for the Bronx Bombers to look ahead to the 2012-13 offseason. Here's the latest…
- Yankees management wants to step away from the disappointment of the 2012 ALCS before finalizing offseason plans, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports. The Yankees will continue relying on power hitters, even after a team-wide slump against the Tigers. “I’m not going to turn myself into the Bronx Bunters because all of a sudden we didn’t hit for this week in October,” GM Brian Cashman said.
- Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte hopes to decide within a few weeks whether he'll return for another season of baseball in 2013, Jeff Bradley and Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger report. “I still have the desire to compete, but there are family things. I just have to try and figure that out,” Pettitte said.
- Nick Swisher would "absolutely" like to re-sign with the Yankees and described his tenure in New York as "awesome," Bradley and McCullough report.
- Ichiro Suzuki said he hopes to be needed and wanted but declined to get into specifics, Bradley and McCullough report.
- Bradley also outlines an offseason to-do list for the Yankees. The possibility of a trade sending Alex Rodriguez to Miami might be tempting for the New York front office.
- Curtis Granderson said he expects to return in 2013, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports. Unless the Yankees trade the center fielder he'll still be wearing pinstripes when the season opens.
- Cashman said he isn't worried about the age of his team, Hoch reports. "I don't care if it's old; I care if it's good," Cashman said.
Only way I see the Yankees keeping Swisher is if they offer him more of a Beltran type deal. He will not got Jayson Werth money.
Also, maybe it would be good for the Yankees if they can re-sign Ichiro and re-sign Swisher, to pick up Granderson’s option and trade him?
You’d be getting like 35 HRs at best out of your entire starting OF if you did that…aka less than Granderson. Guys that hit 40+ HRs don’t grow on trees. The front office f’ed up and didn’t rest Granderson once Gardner went down and the guy got exhausted playing literally every single inning in CF for most of the year. Same thing happened with Jeter when they sent Nunez down and they didn’t trust Nix at SS yet. They were completely leading the team and then fell off a cliff. It takes a lot out of guys to play every inning of SS or CF in the summer. I have full confidence in Granderson to return to the .250/.360/.500+ 40+ HR guy he was. He should be moved to LF for Gardner though.
Yanks didn’t feel Swisher was worth Beltran money, that’s why they picked up his $10MM option last year instead of signing Beltran. I debated a number of Yankees fans here last year about the merits of Beltran over Swisher and got killed over it.
Swisher wasn’t worth that contract then and certainly proved it with his current performance, that he doesn’t deserve it now.
Trust me, he won’t be missed.
Beltran had a .353 wOBA this year. Swisher had a .363 wOBA. Their defense was pretty much a push in the outfield with UZR likeing Swisher more and dWAR slightly favoring Beltra. Swisher was paid 10 MM. Beltran made 13. I don’t get what the argument was.
If you want to run Swisher out of town, you’re really not worthy of being a Yankees fan. He’s been a very productive part of this team. Re-signing him probably isn’t an option because he’s going to get huge money in FA.
Not to mention Beltran has been the more injury prone player.
Swisher has proven to be more durable, true. Otherwise, Beltran would really run rings around Swisher.
What a useless usage of the word if Beltran durability and history of injuries is as relevant as his other features.
What’s even more ‘useless’ is relegating to semantics and cherry picking when you can’t defend a position you’ve taken.
I already defended it, Swisher has been better for the past 4 years. The idea that someones injuries dont matter is pretty silly.
Obviously, Swisher is going to get a qualifying offer. What he gets should be a barometer as to how he’s viewed. Don’t see the AAV being much more than Beltran’s numbers.
@ Terencemann
There is no argument, what there is, is a unbiased and common sense look at matters as they are.
Beltran is and has been a superior player for years. You trot out this year’s figures and say Swisher is better? Look back at their history. Better yet, look back at their past four post season appearances and then run those numbers. Only a blind Yankees fan would claim Swisher is better.
Since you’ve taken the liberty to question my ‘Yankees Worthiness’, I’m going to make the assumption that you’re a younger Yankees fan who’s grown up during the late 90’s and has known only winning and has the sense of entitlement that goes with it. Being a Yankees fan is not a privilege, believe it or not!
I’ve been a Yankees fan more than likely before you were born and know that you can’t win every year and can be impartial when it comes to passing judgement on my team and it’s players.
The only yr in the last 4 that beltran was better was last yr otherwise he was mostly injured and of course this yr where he was worse.
Cashman has made some pretty tone deaf remarks about seeing no need to alter the “big hairy monster” makeup of the team. So I suspect Yankee fans wanting a leaner, meaner lineup in 2013 may well be disappointed.
They lead baseball in most offensive catergories and came in second in runs despite all their injuries im not sure what you mean…
The biggest step is making it to the postseason. This approach allowed them to win the WS just 4 years ago.
I kind of like Ichiro as a one or two year stop gap outfielder for Boston. Not sure it would happen, but it wouldn’t be that bad a short term commitment.
Ichiro left Seattle because he was tired of playing on 90+ loss teams. Why would he go to the Red Sox? Much more likely he re-signs in Seattle.
Highly doubt they’re going to lose 90 again. And didn’t he okay the trade so he could aid the teams rebuilding process?
He okay’d the trade because he wanted to make a run in the playoffs most likely.
If Ichiro doesn’t resign with the Yankees, I think the Giants are a likely landing spot. Good team, on the west coast (closer to Japan) in need of an outfielder.
Which makes me wonder, as I wrote below, if the Yankees would trade Granderson to the Giants (below average offensive team with not a lot of power, who obviously is also a contending team). Maybe their OF would be Pagan in LF, Granderson in CF, Pence in RF? Assuming Pagan and Pence are still under contract that is.
“I don’t care if it’s old; I care if it’s good,” Cashman said.
Good luck with that ancient SS/3B combo
You mean that SS who has only 1 year left on his contract (player option for 2nd year though) and led all of MLB in hits this year?
Only thing I’m conerend about with Jeter would be his ankle, but he should be ready by next year. I’m certainly not concerned with his production with the bat.
I think he meant the shortstop that’s a sieve defensively, with no range and now is coming off a broken ankle. I notice you didn’t say anything about your thirdbaseman.
Jeter has been bad defensively and had very little range for quite some time. Not a concern in the least since his solid bad makes up for it. Just like Miggy at 3B (who obviously has more than just a solid bat)
And there is no one available to replace A-Rod who is as good as him. I’m in favor of keeping A-Rod at least another year.
I certainly didn’t care that Jeter was 38 when he hit over .300
Is there any discussion about Jeter moving to RF making Nunez the everyday SS. Swish is gone, he wants too much money. Moving the Captain, keeps his bat in the lineup but lowers the payroll.
I understand what Cashman is saying: This team was pretty darn good last year and the team is still one of the most all-around teams in baseball. But. his job is to try and make the team better and I believe there are a variety of ways in which this team could improve both short-term and long.
I don’t see why you wouldn’t attempt to trade Arod IF he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause as for Granderson he should be gone and could also net a quality bundle of prospects. There will be so many options for Cashman that I don’t see how he can mess based on the resources he has at his disposal and the relative proximity to a title that the team is at. Go get ’em Cash!!!
I don’t see why you wouldn’t attempt to trade Arod
Because your replacement for A-Rod would probably be significantly worse, and most of A-Rod’s salary is a sunk cost that the Yankees are paying anyway regardless of whether they trade him or not.
Not necessarily worse, the Yankees could go out there and trade for someone or perhaps look into Scutaro, Youk, or Polanco
Right, and I’d rather have ARod for 114m, rather than having any of those while paying their salary PLUS 100m for ARod.
If you were the one paying those 114 million then you should worry but your not.
That makes no sense. I, and you, should worry because if 100m is owed to ARod, and 10m owed to someone else, that means we are getting worse production from 3B, and still not getting any money back to reinvest into the team, be it in rotation or OF or catcher or any other position. You have just downgraded the team, for no reason.
Otherwise, what’s the point of trading Rodriguez? If it’s financial freedom, then get financial freedom to acquire more pieces. If it’s to get a better player, then get a better player… not Youk or Scutaro. Or is it to get a younger player? Any way you slice it, it makes no sense to pay 100m for ARod and get a less of a player back, (or even a marginally better player back) while paying for both.
Scutaro, Youk, and Polanco would be worse than A-Rod.
Also the Yanks aren’t getting a better 3B than A-Rod in a trade without emptying out their farm system, if there even is one available in trade.
How do you know? Scutaro’s WAR was higher than that of A-Rod and he brings much less risk than A-Rod. Also you ignored the fact that I mentioned they could trade for someone as well.
In one season he had a higher WAR, but over the past 3 years arod’s war is much higher. Arod still at this point is a much better hitter, and it doesn’t exactly help when scutaro is only 3 months younger.
I would stay away from polanco at all costs. It has been about 5 years where he hasn’t been a liability with the bat. His hitting is like an extremely defensive minded shortstop, only there is one problem, he isn’t a shortstop anymore. Yankees fans would absolutely tear apart his .257/.302/.327 line.
Youkilis, I don’t see how that improves the team while saving money. You eating 80% of arod’s contract and then signing youk probably costs $5M MORE per year, and you are looking at similiar players at this point.
Exactly. I don’t understand why you’d try to find a third baseman who’s not as good as A-Rod to play third for you if you’re the Yankees. Even only playing 90 games at third is better than most of what they can find elsewhere.
It makes no sense to trade Arod and probably pay more than halkf of his contract, when there aren’t many good 3B available.
buy here, pay here plan of pay half now and the rest later? I still don’t see how they convince anyone to take 115m bare minimum for a to be 38YO in 2013. There just isn’t that bad of a contract swap out there to take back in exchange and it cuts out the NL Teams, already have explained that there is really no way he is playing even an Emillio Bonifacio class 3b in another couple of years and for those not familiar.. That is one of the worst ever saw…
It makes sense in that they would be cutting one of their last remaining major contracts of the payroll and help stay below the Luxury Tax to. As far as 3B there is always an option maybe that replacement won’t be as good at A-Rod but can fill the hole admirably.
Yea but any money you ship to that team counts towards luxury tax. How does it help the team if they pay his salary to play somewhere else. End of the day he is their best internal option because he can still get up to .350 obp/20-25 hr.
Are you sure? I was under the impression that he would not count towards the Yankees payroll.
Wrong way to start. Yankees are build to win in the regular season. HR don’t win games in the postseason. Just look at the Cardinals, it was all hit and doubles yesterday, that is how you win. No one is asking for them to become the “Bronx Bunters”, but they need hitters who can hit and put the ball in play, not lazy fly balls all the time.
Also, they need a new hitting coach, bring in someone like Tony Gwyn and they need to trade Granderson, what good is his speed if he can get on base. 40+ HR great, playoff pitchers don’t allow many.
HR don’t win games in the postseason. Hr hitting teams have done better in the post season for the last 20… “who can hit and put the ball in play” They all ready have that look at the teams contact rates these arent the A’s.
Texas is a HR hitting team, thay lost to the Giants Far from power hitters and to the Cardinals.
The Yankees have gone deep into the postseason 3 of the past 4 years and they have been classified as a “Home-run dependent team”.
And the Cardinals only won 88 games in an extremely easy division. Put them in the AL and they don’t even make it to the postseason this year, then what does that accomplish?
Seems cards lost in the CS just like the Yankees. Time to find a new model organization.
Here’s what I think they should do
1- Try to re-sign Ichiro, Martin, Pettitte and Kuroda to 1 year deals. Not sure if Martin would only settle for a 1 year deal though.
2- Attempt to sign Swisher to a small deal (2-3 years and maybe about $35 million at most)
3- Keep A-Rod
4- Regardless if Swisher goes or stays, trade Granderson. Many low scoring/not much power offensive teams would use him despite his decline in CF. And if you trade him to a contending team, you’d certainly get something even more in return than a non contending team, also due to his 1 year before free agency
5- Re-sign Mariano. And if Soriano opts out, LET HIM GO. He had a great year, but I think if Mo comes back, he’s going to be sub par again. It’s all mental with him.
Also, I would start working on Cano’s deal right away. I know Cashman always like to wait, but I think he should do it immediately.
I think I’ve seen enough of Swisher in the post season. I think that they should trade Nova for a young OF and trade Grandy for some young pieces. Seattle needs power hitters and no one want to sign with then, so the only way for them, would be via trade.
Granderson will be a free agent after next year (assuming the option is picked up). Trading him to a non-contending team won’t get you much in return. I don’t know Angel Pagan’s contract, but maybe a team like the Giants could use Granderson. But even if Pagan is still under contract, Melky’s is done. And Pagan does have experience in LF.
These are just suggestions, I know it won’t happen lol.
But if you re-sign Swisher, then you have to bench Gardner/Suzuki. I think they can both be everyday players. Let Swish walk, keep the OF Gardner, Granderson, Suzuki from left to right.
Edit: Actually, put Gardner in CF. His injury was not legs related.
Which is why I said to trade Granderson possibly after they take his option and make the OF Ichiro/Gardner/Swisher. Don’t need to bench anybody.
I just feel Swisher is more valuable than Granderson (if we ignore the playoffs)
Oh my bad. I wouldn’t offer either a contract long term though.
No worries, I should have put it up in that list as well.
Cashman’s tenure as GM has seen 4 world series titles, 12 division championships, and 14 playoff berths in 15 seasons. Not to mention we won 95 games this year. I have faith in Cashman and his process/method, and am certain we’ll be in the post season next year as well. To all the Yankees fans that think the sky is falling: Relax.
Also… Bronx Bunters haha
I don’t want to dismiss the 95 wins, but this is the second year they are eliminated by the same team cuz of not hitting. In the end 95 wins didn’t mean much, same as Granderson’s 40+ HR. My point is, build a team to win the playoff, cuz if you can win in the playoff, you can win in the season, just ask the Cardinals, who has guys named J. Jay and Carpenter hitting hits and doubles like crazy.
hitting hits?
Oh, Sorry you don’t understand what I mean, batting, getting, hits
do you mean singles? because singles, doubles, triples, and homeruns are all hits.
hitters gonna hit, haters gonna hate
hahaha
J. Jay has one double this series and has been awful overall.
A team that wins 95 games in the regular season is certainly good enough go all the way. They had one of the best offenses in baseball and a great 1-2-3 in the rotation with a strong bullpen. The playoffs are based on the most miniscule of sample sizes and even an average team can go all the way if they get hot.
So, judge them by their regular season stats, relative to their MLB counterparts.
How good were the NYY with men on base? Erm.. they were average.
With RISP? Below average
Producing runs withouth homeruns? The worst
Running the bases? The 3rd worst.
How good were they to get on base (OBP)? Average
Oooh they hit a ton of homeruns? Sure, but most of the time in the AL the HR leader doesn’t go to the playoffs, while the AVG leader is often in the playoffs because he contributes more.
By your logic, we should sign Hideki Matsui, because he hit hits and doubles like crazy in the offseason.
Seriously, I have no idea what you mean. You build a team to win. Period. Any and all games. Not one that can only win in October. That doesn’t exist.
Cardinals and Tigers could hardly win during the season and were in 7th place in record in their leagues… and yet both could be facing in the WS because while their team couldn’t win a lot in the regular season, they can win in the playoffs.
You keep bringing up the Cards, but throw them in the AL East and they would only be in 4th place. Your primary objective is to build a team that can make it to the postseason in your division, because if you focus on Postseason hitting first then you sit home every october in the AL East.
@East Coast Bias
Exactly!
My take is this: re-sign Pettitte, Kuroda, Martin and Ichiro to 1yr deals at modest money. Pick up Granderson’s option, there is no OF FA that will cost less and give more production out there at the moment. Hopefully he can cut down the K’s, but they’re going have to live with it otherwise. Let Swisher walk and find his $100MM on another team. Jones is gone, bring back Ibanez as the DH and P/T OFer.
As for A-Rod, he’s not going anywhere unless he wants to. If anyone saw his interview and answer when that question was posed, you’ll know that he is adamant about returning to NY. Miami is a NL team with no DH, even he knows that at age 42, playing 3B everyday isn’t likely. He’s taken enough abuse and grief in his time with the Yanks, that this current blow-up is nothing he can’t handle.
Especially when he knows, just like other incidents before, he’s brought it upon himself.
Add Mariano to the 1 year list. Also, I don’t know if Martin will accept a 1 year deal. I don’t mind him coming back for 2/3 years – despite his short comings offensively, he does call a good game. But I wouldn’t mind checking the catcher market and see if there was something better available out there via FA or trade. I agree with you on everything else.
Also, do you think we should let Granderson walk after next year? I don’t endorse bringing him back. Use that money elsewhere.
I know our pitching prospects have been busts lately, but I do believe in Mason Williams and Tyler Austin, and hope they can take over CF and RF for Grandy and Ichiro in 2014. If not, sign a stopgap OF for a year looking to establish value until they’re ready in 2015?
Grandy still hits 43 hr for them. He isn’t perfect, but unless they can find a better option out there then they might as well keep him. He currently is a valuable part of their ability to score runs.
43 HRs is not worth a large contract for a few years, imo, especially when there are good options in the minors. Obviously we’d have to wait until next year to see how it plays out, but I’d rather sign someone else for 2014 onwards if one of Mason Williams/Tyler Austin are not ready.
It is all about determining where the prospects are and what kind of price he sets. 100/5 I would let him walk. 50/5 I would resign him. Neither of those is the likely amount, but depends where in that range he falls. I’m not a huge fan of his, but I would wait and see what he demands for salary, what the other free agents available are, and how the prospects are doing.
43 HR, 29 of them solo homeruns.
30% of his RBI are with hits with men on base (not homeruns).
He is actually one of the worst producers when he has men on base and there is a medium and high leverage.
Yankees scored 904 runs on the season. which equals ~89 runs per position. Right off the Bat Granderson is solely responsible for half of them with hr if they were all solo shots. Then as you said 14 of them were multi-run shots. 2 of them were slams, so that is at least 35 runs. Thus to have been his “share” of the 2nd highest run scoring team they are only looking for another 25 from him. HR is his game. He is a 1 dimensional offensive player, but he is important part of their offense as is.
Another year, Another “I don’t know if I will play next year” from Pettitte. Of course he learned this tactic from his ex-pal Clemens. I think it is a lot of BS when these guys hold a franchise hostage while they make up their fragile little minds. Expect his decision to take a lot longer than “a few weeks”!
This is why the Yankees should set a deadline. “You need to let us know by X date or we will have to move on”.
That’s what they did last year. They moved on and signed Kuroda. Then they gave Pettitte a paltry $2M in the spring because he waited too long and he took it. Expect the same next year if he dithers.
and it turned out to be a good deal for them. Especially with all the injuries.
Pineda, Nova, Hughes, Sabathia under contract. Is it really holding them hostage? They will probably try to resign Kuroda and Pettitte regardless if the price is right.
I would not be surprised seeing them go after someone like Peavy or Greinke (if he is willing to pitch in a major market – he did pitch well for the Angels).
Peavy is an option, but I would stay away from length. He has a bad injury history.
What constitutes a bad injury history? The guy has been in the DL just once for something serious, the rest were minor injuries and fatigue in 2011 due to him not being able to exercise after his injury in 2010 and a strained tendon in 2009.
Innings total
2007: 223.1
2008: 173.2
2009: 101.2
2010: 107.0
2011: 111.2
2012: 219.0
Minor or not I don’t see it as a good move to give more than a few years at top salary to a pitcher That made his first full season since 2007. The same pitcher who also had an xFIP of 4.00 this year.
Minor injury or not, he has missed alot of time on the field, and that will reflect at least somewhat on his next contract.
I for one think Pineda is going to be really special for a long time
I heard Pettite is thinking of changing his last name to either Favre or Clemens.
They offered him a contract last winter, when he turned them down they went and got pindeda and kuroda. He decided to come back and they got a great deal. They only ended up payinghim $2.5M which over 80+ innings he pitched is pretty good
“I’m not going to turn MYSELF into the Bronx Bunters…”?
Wow, Cashman’s ego has gotten big. It’s about the team and not the general manager. I wonder if he should be the one to be let go to get a fresh change of leadership at the helm.
Alternately you could be reading entirely too much into one awkward word in a sentence and look at what he was actually trying to communicate.
If Swisher comes back, Cash must go.
Depends on the years and price of his next contract.
They should trade fo A. Gordon
Yes, I could see that!
Also, I could see the Yankees getting Mike Moustakas & Eric Hosmer.
Royals in return get Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez
Dayton Moore would be fired and Lefty would be villified on MLBTR for sarcasm.
Why? because he had a rough 2 weeks?
A big part of the season is making it to the postseason. Like it or not unless they get Hamilton Swish gives them the best shot of making it to the postseason and winning the ws than most other non-trade options.
They are better off signing Ichiro short term than giving Swisher “Werth” money. I understand they won 95 games, but that’s deceiving as the Yankees tend to beat up bad pitching. They need to be able to win games while being able to play both small and long ball.
Doubt Swisher gets “Werth” money. It just depends on how much lower his salary falls to.
Yanks need to open up their check books. Give me Josh Hamilton and Michael Bourn. Resign Ichiro, Martin. Dump Arod somewhere. Trade Granderson & prospects to San Diego and get me Chase Headley for the hot corner.
2013 Yankee Lineup
RF Michael Bourne
SS Derek Jeter
2B Robinson Cano
DH Josh Hamilton
3B Chase Headley
1B Mark Teixera
LF Ichiro
C Russell Martin
CF Brett Gardner
A lot of Yankee fans (most, not all) seem to have this mentality that just because they want a player, they’ll get it, at the cost of a lesser player and some prospects. Contrary to NY media, Granderson is not a great player. He hits HRs (albeit at Yankee Stadium), but doesn’t do much more than that. His defense is average at most and has a sub-120 OPS+ and sub-.500 SLG (AT YANKEE STADIUM, no less!).
The Yankees don’t have the prospects for a player of Headley’s caliber. He’s practically untouchable to them. He can hit for power in a stadium that is practically the polar opposite of Yankee Stadium.
True, the yankees won’t necessarily get but they want but the yankees wouldn’t necessarily need a ton of prospect they would need some of their better prospects alongside players such as Gardner or Nunez to reinforce a package.
The yankees have at least 3 top 100 prospects he isnt untouchable. It’s not like chase is a proven star anyway this was his first great season.
lol @ hamilton playing dh
It seems hard to believe that the Yankees re-signing Kuroda to a one-year deal would be a walk in the park. Certainly his value has had to go up regardless of the age after proving himself in the AL East, and the way the Yankees along with the New York media treat him like he doesn’t exist – I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he signs elsewhere for less money (or else just head back to Japan to sign with the Hiroshima Carp and conclude his career)
If Swisher’s price is reasonable (might be after his horrible postseason), I would not be adverse to keeping him and resigning Ichiro. Ichiro in left, Granderson in center, and Swisher in right.
I don’t see an outfield with both Gardner and Ichiro as ideal nor do I see Gardner as anything more than a 4th outfielder. Speed and defense off the bench but he hasn’t shown durable enough to be counted on.
As for the rotation, Phelps has not earned a spot in the rotation. Hughes and Nova as #4 & #5…counting on anything more out of them is asking for trouble. Phelps should come out of the pen as a longman. A Hughes/Nova/Phelps back-end is weak and would tax the bullpen into the ground.
Get a few prospects from the Marlins and send A-Rod there (and swallow the loss), send the prospects and, like, Betances or Banuelos to Tampa Bay and get Price. And send Joba to the Padres for Chase Headley. And we’re done! Except for finding a catcher.
Why would Tampa trade Price for 1 of Betances (injury prone) or Banuelos (having tommy john surgery and missing all of 2013)? Why would the Padres trade Headly for Joba? You have to trade somthing of value to get something of value.
Oh, and Granderson for Justin Upton.
Team is old and we understand that but actually try to affect that. Pettitte is old and is very oft-injured, Ibanez had some postseason magic but did’nt do much in the regular season besdes hitting I think 19 home runs and Kuroda had a very good year BUT he could be terrible one year and at 37 odds are not good. I read somebody else’s comment and he said A-Rod for Mark Reynolds I think that deal is very interesting in both good and bad ways for both teams.
Old is bad Cashman, take the Phillies as an example