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Gammons On Millwood, Catchers, Posada

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MLB Network's Peter Gammons appeared on WEEI's Mut & Merloni show today, and Jerry Spar has the transcript.  A few highlights:

  • The Red Sox called on Kevin Millwood to see if he will go to Triple-A Pawtucket and pitch, according to Gammons (on Twitter). With John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka on the DL, the Red Sox are short on starting pitching.
  • Gammons does not consider Pedro Martinez a likely option.  In a May interview, Pedro seemed to be leaning toward retirement.  There's not much else on the free agent market – Jeremy Bonderman and Jarrod Washburn are unsigned, but it's not clear if they're looking to get back into the game or would consider the East Coast.
  • "Raise your son to be a catcher," advises Gammons, as many teams around baseball in addition to the Red Sox are getting no production at the position.  The average American League catcher is hitting .224/.294/.361 this year, a similar line to the one Ivan Rodriguez had in 2010.
  • If Jorge Posada doesn't start hitting, Gammons can see the Yankees releasing him and calling up Jesus Montero, who is hitting .331/.363/.433 at Triple-A.  In that case Gammons believes Posada would remain in the AL East, signing with the Orioles.  Buck Showalter's final season managing the Yankees coincided with Posada's rookie year. 
  • Speaking of the Orioles, Mark Teixeira spoke to the Baltimore Sun's Luke Broadwater about the team's interest back in '08: "Of the five offers I received, the Orioles were by far the lowest offer and I don't know if they were ever that serious about signing me. We had one meeting and that was it. I'm not sure if they were ever very interested."  Digging through the MLBTR archives, I think the Orioles topped out at seven years, $140MM.  Teixeira added that he expects to finish his career as a Yankee.

Jorge Posada’s Future With The Yankees

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The Yankees currently plan to keep Jorge Posada on the roster and have had "zero discussion" about releasing the switch-hitter, according to Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com. However, the Yankees are “extremely mad” at Posada for removing himself from the lineup over the weekend and will consider taking action if Posada’s numbers don’t improve by the All-Star break.

Posada, who is hitless in 24 at bats against right-handed pitching this year, is out of the lineup tonight. It’s the third consecutive time manager Joe Girardi has held him out of the lineup against southpaws and a strong indication that Posada has become a part-time DH.

According to Marchand, the Yankees want Posada on the team when Derek Jeter reaches 3,000 hits, a milestone the shortstop is 34 hits away from. Earlier today, Peter Gammons of MLB Network said he can see the Yankees releasing Posada, eating his $13MM salary and calling up top prospect Jesus Montero.

2012 Contract Issues: New York Yankees

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The Yankees are next in our 2012 Contract Issues series.  Here's what the team faces after the 2011 season:

Eligible For Free Agency (6)

  • In one of the year's biggest surprises, Bartolo Colon's name is all over the leaderboard for free agent starters.  An offseason stem cell treatment was a factor, a procedure that was unknown to GM Brian Cashman at the time of the signing and is being investigated by MLB.  If Colon is not linked to HGH and his stellar pitching continues for the remaining three quarters of the season, he has to be looking at at least a nice one-year deal north of $5MM.
  • Jorge Posada has been a source of drama but not offensive production this season.  I'm guessing the Yankees move on from Posada, who has hit 267 home runs for them to date.
  • Former stars Andruw Jones and Eric Chavez are bench players on one-year deals; Chavez was hitting well when he hit the DL for a foot injury.
  • Freddy Garcia has a 3.22 ERA on the season, hanging in there in most of his six starts.  Will he do enough to warrant a big league deal after the season?
  • Luis Ayala will also be eligible for free agency.    

Contract Options (5)

  • Robinson Cano: $14MM club option with a $2MM buyout.  This should be an easy decision to exercise for the Yankees.
  • Nick Swisher: $10.25MM club option with a $1MM buyout.  Swisher's option seemed like an easy choice to exercise, but his bat has yet to come alive in 160 plate appearances this year.  He's got time to bounce back, but the option is not a lock.    
  • Damaso Marte: $4MM club option with a $250K buyout.  Marte is likely out for the season with October labrum surgery, in which case the Yankees will have gotten 31 innings for their $12MM.
  • C.C. Sabathia: Can opt out of remaining four years, $92MM.  Most expect Sabathia to opt out, though he certainly could re-sign with the Yankees.  GM Brian Cashman told ESPN's Buster Olney he'll stick with his policy of avoiding in-season negotiations, but "we fully expect him to be here."  Sabathia's overall numbers look solid, though he's scuffled in May.  If Sabathia does reach the open market, he'll probably be the best available free agent starter, as he was in the 2008-09 offseason when he received the biggest contract ever for a pitcher.
  • Rafael Soriano: Can opt out of remaining two years, $25MM.  Even without knowledge of Soriano's current elbow concerns, I wrote two months ago that Soriano is unlikely to opt out of his contract after the season.  This offseason when he does choose to stick with the contract, don't blame the opt-out clause.  Without it, all the money still would have been guaranteed to him.      

Arbitration Eligible (8)

From the Yankees' standpoint, none of these cases should be daunting.  This is only Gardner's second full season, and he doesn't have power, so his arbitration reward will probably be $3MM or less.  Hughes' issues will limit his raise to perhaps a million dollars at most.  Raises for relievers Robertson, Chamberlain, and Logan won't be crazy either.  Martin's hot hitting has tailed off this month.  He could still get a bump to $6MM+, depending on how the rest of his season goes.  I'll use a rough estimate of $17MM to retain the team's arbitration eligibles.

2012 Payroll Obligation

The Yankees' 2012 payroll obligation, according to Cot's, is $140.875MM if options for Swisher and Marte are declined, Cano's option is exercised, Sabathia opts out, and Soriano does not.  That goes up to around $158MM with the arbitration eligibles, about $49MM short of this year's payroll before accounting for minimum salary players.  If Sabathia is re-signed at a $25MM salary for 2012, that still leaves $24MM in '12 salaries to work with before raising payroll.  That'd be enough for Swisher or a replacement, as well as some kind of starting pitching signing to go with Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Ivan Nova.  Cashman could find $6MM more with a bump to the 2010 payroll of $213MM. 

The Yankees should be able to address their issues without taking payroll much higher.  If Sabathia leaves, it could be another situation where they struggle to find a good way to spend the excess cash.

Yankees Sign Randy Flores

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The Yankees signed lefty reliever Randy Flores to a minor league deal, reports Danny Knobler of CBS Sports.  The deal includes an opt-out, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that the opt-out is before the All-Star break.

Flores, 35, opted out of his minor league deal with the Padres on Sunday.  Four teams expressed interest in the CAA client, tweets Sherman.  Flores faced lefties about 61% of the time, posting a 9.5 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9 against them.

Mike Axisa profiled Flores at River Ave. Blues yesterday, noting that Yankees lefties Pedro Feliciano, Damaso Marte, and Kei Igawa are unusable currently, leaving Boone Logan as the team's only lefty reliever.  Flores was drafted by the Yankees in the ninth round in 1997 and later traded to the Rangers in the Randy Velarde deal of '01.

AL East Notes: Posada, Jeter, Lawrie, Bautista

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The Rays lost most of their bullpen and several regulars during the offseason, but they currently sit atop the AL East with a 23-17 record.  It's a tight race, though, as the fifth-place Orioles are only 3.5 games out.  A few links from around the division:

  • Over the weekend Jorge Posada told GM Brian Cashman that he wanted out of the Yankees, not just out of the lineup, according to Bill Madden of the New York Daily News. However, a source close to Posada says his comments were simply said out of anger and frustration.
  • Yankees management was "surprised and frustrated" that Derek Jeter told reporters Posada did nothing wrong and did not owe his teammates an apology, reports ESPN's Buster Olney.  Posada pulled himself from the lineup Saturday, partially because he'd been dropped to ninth and also because of "a long-running antagonism between him and manager Joe Girardi," in the words of Joel Sherman of the New York Post.  Sherman says the team was ready to move on after Posada's apology, but then executives including Hal Steinbrenner were miffed at Jeter's comments.  At any rate, Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News tweets that the Yankees spoke with Jeter, and "all is fine between them."
  • Brett Lawrie's continued stay at Triple-A "doesn't seem to be a case of Super 2 concerns overriding baseball considerations," writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports in regard to the Blue Jays' top prospect.  Club officials tell Rosenthal Lawrie is playing well at third base, so you have to think his promotion is near.
  • MLBTR's Steve Adams wrote yesterday that it would have been conceivable for Jose Bautista to try to top Carl Crawford's seven-year, $142MM deal in free agency.  FanGraphs' Dave Cameron is thinking $158MM over seven years would have been possible, adding that Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos "created something like $150 million in surplus value for his club this winter" given the dumping of Vernon Wells' contract as well.  In another post, Cameron demonstrates just how amazing Bautista's season has been so far.

Quick Hits: Vazquez, Mets, Brewers, Rays, O’s

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Here are some items of note for Sunday. On this day in 1941, 70 years ago, Joe DiMaggio began his Major League-record 56-game hitting streak, a mark that still stands today and has been largely unchallenged, as Jayson Stark of ESPN.com writes.

  • It doesn't sound like the Marlins are ready to give up on Javier Vazquez, writes Joe Capozzi of The Palm Beach Post. The Fish are paying Vazquez $7MM this year, but he allowed six runs in four innings today to raise his season ERA to 7.55.
  • The New York Post's Brad Hamilton reminds us that on July 1, the Mets will begin paying Bobby Bonilla $1.2MM each year for the next 25 years. New York struck that deal in 1999 to avoid paying the $5.9MM remaining on his contract when they released him.
  • MLB.com's Adam McCalvy writes that despite the offensive woes of Carlos Gomez and Yuniesky Betancourt, the Brewers are sticking with them for the time being.
  • Operating on a tight budget has its advantages for teams like the Rays, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Without extra cash to commit to pricey free agents, clubs like Tampa are rarely encumbered by poorly producing, highly compensated veterans, Sherman explains.
  • Meanwhile, the Orioles would like to emulate the Rays' formula for success, writes Steve Melewski of MASNSports.com.
  • Should the Yankees come to part ways with Jorge Posada in the wake of Saturday's incident, they could use the DH spot to rest veterans like Alex Rodriguez, or they could pursue a new DH like Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran, writes Buster Olney of ESPN.com (subcription needed). Beltran is off to a great start with the Mets this season and could draw interest on the trade market, although Matt Klaassen of FanGraphs recently speculated that Beltran wouldn't yield much more than salary relief for the Mets.
  • Pete Rose is still seeking a second chance to manage, and he thinks it's hypocritical that players and coaches who have used PEDs, abused alcohol and been involved in domestic-violence incidents remain in the game, according to an Associated Press report (via ESPN.com).

Jorge Posada Links: Sunday

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The news of Jorge Posada's apparent rift with the Yankees continues to be a hot topic today following Saturday's incident, which may have rendered the veteran catcher/DH in breach of contract. It remains to be seen whether Posada will be back in the lineup today or whether the Yanks will take action against him, but in the meanwhile, here's the latest info and reactions.

  • The Yankees announced that they have accepted Posada's apology and consider the matter closed. He will not be disciplined.
  • Posada has apologized to Girardi and said he "had a bad day," tweets MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. In a separate tweet, Hoch reports that Posada will also speak to Cashman, and quotes the catcher as saying he "learned from this."
  • Joel Sherman spoke to union officials who dispute any statute or precedent that the Yankees can dock Posada two days of pay, and are "vehement" that there's no basis for placing him on the restricted list or voiding his contract even if Posada asks for another day off (Twitter links).
  • As of now, the only thing that's clear about what caused the stir is Posada asked out of Saturday's lineup when he discovered he was batting ninth, write Joel Sherman, George A. King III and Brian Costello of the New York Post.
  • The Yanks have no intention of retaining Posada beyond this season, and that has been their plan since Spring Training, according to Sherman (via Twitter).
  • The Yankees considered suspending Posada, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com.
  • Posada's and the Yankees' pride have made the situation unnecessarily messy, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com. Also in that piece, you can watch the clip from FOX's broadcast on Saturday night in which Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Rosenthal that Posada asked out of the lineup.
  • The only thing saving Posada's job is his longstanding relationship with the Yankees, writes Olney (Insider subscription needed). Were he any other player, he'd probably be gone.
  • It's long been known that Posada and Yankees manager Joe Girardi have a strained relationship, but it's now apparent that Cashman and Posada don't get along, either, writes Sherman.
  • The Posada situation speaks to a larger dilemma for the Yankees, who are having to deal with stars during their decline phases, according to Sherman.
  • Posada acted uncharacteristically unprofessional, and the only way he can rectify the situation is if he admits he made a mistake, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
  • Girardi failed at one of his goals: minimizing distractions and negativity, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.com.
  • Posada's explanation that he received treatment for an ailing back doesn't add up for Heyman (via Twitter).
  • Peter Gammons relays a bit of wisdom from a former GM about the risky nature of rostering declining stars (via Twitter).
  • Posada should ask for forgiveness for one mistake in what has been an otherwise exemplary career, tweets Sherman.
  • The only resolution for the situation is if Posada begins hitting immediately, tweets Olney.

Jorge Posada May Be In Breach Of Contract

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8:17pm: Rosenthal tweets that Posada sat out with back stiffness tonight, which contradicts what Cashman said on the air, that this was not injury related.

7:31pm: Mired in a season-long slump, Jorge Posada pulled himself from tonight's lineup according to Yankees GM Brian Cashman on the FOX Saturday Night broadcast. Posada had been penciled into the ninth spot in the order for the first time in 12 years, and ESPN's Buster Olney says (on Twitter) that he refused to play for that reason. He has given no indication that he's retiring.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and Joel Sherman of The New York Post note that Posada may be in breach of his contract, and that the team could dock him pay (all Twitter links). The Yankees could also attempt to terminate his contract, which has approximately $11MM left on it this season. That will be met with reaction from the union, however.

Posada, 39, is in his first season as a full-time DH. He is hitting .165/.272/.349 with six homers in 125 plate appearances, primarily batting seventh.

Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Astros, Twins, Braves

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Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has a new Full Count Video up, so let's recap…

  • Hunter Pence is getting expensive – he'll earn $6.9MM this year with two more arbitration years ahead of him – but Astros GM Ed Wade said that he wants to build around his young players, namely Pence, Brett Wallace, J.A. Happ, and Bud Norris. As much as they need to rebuild, it's unlikely that new owner Jim Crane will want to blow up the nucleus as his first act.
  • If things don't turn around for the Twins, this could be the year that they become sellers. Jason Kubel, Michael Cuddyer, Jim Thome, Matt Capps, and Joe Nathan are all among the team's upcoming free agents, though some in the organization would like to see them re-sign Capps.
  • The Braves' starting pitching depth could give them an advantage at the trade deadline. They could move a veteran like Derek Lowe or a younger starter because they have more arms on the way. Lowe is the perfect piece to dangle to a contender such as the Yankees, but Atlanta doesn't have an obvious need right now.
  • Starting pitching depth is the Red Sox's one glaring weakness, and Rosenthal says an injury to one of their top five starters would leave the team "seriously unsettled."

Quick Hits: Astros, Lincecum, Yankees, Beltran

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Sad news in baseball today, as the Blue Jays announced the passing of player development senior advisor Mel Queen and Harmon Killebrew announced that his esophageal cancer has developed to the point that doctors don't expect a cure. MLBTR extends its sincere condolences to Queen’s family and Killebrew and his family. Here are today's links…

  • Astros manager Brad Mills was optimistic regarding the overall future of the organization after learning Drayton McLane Jr. had reached an agreement to sell the team to a group led by local businessman Jim Crane, according to Stephen Goff of Examiner.com.
  • Tom Singer of MLB.com takes an entertaining look back at some deals that didn't happen, including a possible trade that would have sent Tim Lincecum to Toronto. 
  • Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that he would like to add a southpaw to his team. “I’m just not going to get one right now,” Cashman said. “And I don’t know if I’ll get one this summer.”
  • Rosenthal says the Yankees shouldn't rush lefty Manny Banuelos to the Majors. "Let Manny become Manny … No sooner than 2012," Rosenthal writes.
  • Matt Klaassen of FanGraphs examines Carlos Beltran's trade value and says "it is hard to imagine the Mets getting more than a couple of C prospects in return for Beltran if they send a few million dollars along."
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