East Notes: Yankees, Rays, Loria
The impending retirements of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte mark the end of an era for which Yankees fans should be grateful, Joel Sherman of the New York Post argues. The Yankees have been over .500 for 21 straight seasons, and have gone to the playoffs in 17 of the last 18 seasons. Their success, however, came with "impossible standards," with former owner George Steinbrenner imposing a "championship-or-humiliation doctrine." The Yankees' enormous payrolls competitors help them, Sherman admits, but other franchises (the Phillies, Angels and Blue Jays, for example) have spent lots on payroll and had far less success. And the Yankees' superb homegrown core of Derek Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada has been an enormous part of the Yankees' winning ways, too. Here are more notes from the East divisions.
- The Rays will likely try to address first base, left field, designated hitter and their bench this winter, writes the Tampa Bay Times' Marc Topkin in a preview of the months to come. The Rays' decisions to pick up their 2014 options for middle infielders Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar will be "obvious," leaving the Rays set at those positions.
- Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria isn't listening to president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest as much as he used to, because Beinfest isn't afraid to tell Loria when he doesn't like his player-acquisition ideas, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. As an example, Jackson says that when Beinfest recently recommended that the Marlins promote second baseman Derek Dietrich, Loria refused, because he was angry at Dietrich's accusations of abusive behavior by ex-hitting coach coach Tino Martinez. But then assistant GM Dan Jennings made the same suggestion about promoting Dietrich, and Loria relented.
Cafardo On Girardi, Rockies, Gardenhire, Washington
Agent Scott Boras wants to see the World Series elevated to the same level as the Super Bowl in terms of national buzz and corporate sponsorship and he believes he has a plan to make that happen, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Boras proposes having the first or first two games played at a neutral site to combat the "regionalized" feel of the Fall Classic. “It would be a gathering place for all of baseball,” Boras said. “The team officials would have to show up for the awards and other business. It could be the start of the hot-stove season as it once was. It would bring baseball center stage. It would make the World Series an event, much like the All-Star Game, which is the best in sports. Why not take all of the metrics of that event and apply them to the World Series?” Here's more from today's column..
- One Yankees official thinks it’s “70-30” that Joe Girardi returns next season as manager. Girardi would be intrigued by the Cubs' managerial job and Chicago is said to be contemplating Dale Sveum’s future with the team. Girardi has done a remarkable job this season, but Cafardo wonders if he might want out as the Bombers rebuild.
- There’s increased talk that Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd could be on the hot seat after the Rockies fell short of expectations this season. The Rockies have a two-headed monster at the executive level that might not be working as well as expected and O'Dowd could be the man to go.
- The biggest issue on whether the Twins bring Ron Gardenhire back is whether they believe he’s been on the job too long and has lost touch with his players. While Minnesota has one of the deepest farm systems in baseball, GM Terry Ryan and owner Jim Pohlad have to decide if Gardenhire is the guy to lead the resurgence.
- Internally, people in the Rangers organization have no doubts regarding Ron Washington’s job status. That lines up with comments from GM Jon Daniels last week when he said that the skipper's job isn't in jeopardy.
- Longtime MLB exec Andy MacPhail has taken some time away from the game but he's now ready to get back into baseball. It's not clear exactly what he wants to do, but he probably doesn't want to be a GM. Cafardo suggests that he could return to run an organization and his ties to commissioner Bud Selig could help his candidacy.
AL East Notes: Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays
In case you missed it, yesterday was a big day in the AL East. The Red Sox clinched the division, even if that had already become a foregone conclusion. Meanwhile, the Rays and Orioles churned through a record twenty-one pitchers in an epic, 18-inning contest that left Tampa in the driver's seat of the Wild Card race. Here are some notes on the division:
- The Red Sox' turnaround exceeded even the team's internal expectations, writes Alex Speier of WEEI.com. While the Sox pegged the likeliest outcome as an 86-win campaign, with an outside shot at a low-90's figure, Boston has already notched 94 W's with seven left to go. "I think we're all in a bit of shock," said team chairman Tom Werner.
- Speier provides a detailed explanation of how the team effected its dramatic turnaround, ranging from the return to form of several regulars (especially in the rotation), development of an impressive bench (including the DFA'd Mike Carp), and improved focus and chemistry. As Speier notes, the front office "nailed one bull's-eye after another while turning over roughly a third of its roster."
- Under GM Ben Cherington, Boston has transformed its organization and with it the product on the field, writes Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily.com. As with the Speier piece, you'll want to read the entire article, but the most interesting bits relate to the GM's philosophies. Approaching his post with a long-term focus, humble evaluative framework, and open mind, Gammons explains how Cherington has infused solid, hard-working pieces into the organization.
- Rotation stalwart Andy Pettitte's forthcoming retirement is yet another reminder that a Yankee era is ending, writes Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com. The team faces a wide array of roster challenges heading into 2013, says Knobler, with age and injury questions around the diamond, no attractive catching options, and a meager free agent market to play in.
- Of course, given the team's unequaled spending capacity, one is always loath to count out the Bronx Bombers. Indeed, GM Brian Cashman has navigated countless hurdles this season to deliver a contender, though the team is now highly likely to miss out on the postseason for just the second time in the last nineteen years. Looking ahead, the Yanks have relatively meager overall commitments in comparison to their historical $200MM+ payroll levels: $89MM in 2014 (six players, one buy-out); $68.1MM in 2015 (three players); $69.1MM in 2016 (three players); and $26MM in 2017 (one player, one buy-out). And that is before accounting for any dollars saved via the yet-to-be-finalized Alex Rodriguez suspension. Of course, those amounts do not account for a new deal for Robinson Cano, and it is looking increasingly likely that the team's long-term commitments may deliver little in on-field production.
- The Blue Jays have long been the lone AL East team with nothing left to play for in 2013. The team's brass has already begun evaluating and planning for next year, reports Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star. Addressing a reader question, Griffin says that the team has little reason to waste its energy pursuing star second baseman Robinson Cano, but could instead take advantage of salary coming off the books after 2015 to make a back-loaded offer to a free agent pitcher.
- Looking forward, Toronto has a heavily front-loaded set of salary obligations after carrying a franchise-high $119.3MM payroll on opening day this year. The Jays have the league's fourth-highest contract commitments for both 2014 ($110.5MM) and 2015 ($91.2MM), but are locked into a below-average $27.6MM in 2016. To back-load money to a free agent this offseason, however, would mean giving out at least a three- or four-year deal, and there do not appear to be many starters on the market that would warrant that kind of commitment.
Andy Pettitte To Retire After 2013 Season
11:17am: The Yankees have issued a press release officially announce Pettitte's retirement. Pettitte offered the following statement within the release:
“I’m announcing my retirement prior to the conclusion of our season because I want all of our fans to know now — while I’m still wearing this uniform — how grateful I am for their support throughout my career. I want to have the opportunity to tip my cap to them during these remaining days and thank them for making my time here with the Yankees so special. I’ve reached the point where I know that I’ve left everything I have out there on that field. The time is right. I’ve exhausted myself, mentally and physically, and that’s exactly how I want to leave this game. One of the things I struggled with in making this announcement now was doing anything to take away from Mariano’s day on Sunday. It is his day. He means so much to me, and has meant so much to my career that I would just hate to somehow take the attention away from him.”
10:05am: The final two starts of Andy Pettitte's storied career, appropriately, will come at Yankee Stadium in New York (on Mariano Rivera day) and Minute Maid Park in Houston. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the 41-year-old Pettitte will announce his retirement later this afternoon.
Pettitte originally retired following the 2010 season and didn't play in 2011, but the veteran lefty came back for two more years with the Yankees from 2012-13. An broken fibula cost him much of the 2012 season, but it's hard to argue with the overall results he's delivered in his return tour. Over the past two seasons, Pettitte has pitched to a 3.60 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 244 2/3 innings, adding 15 wins and slightly more than four WAR to his career totals. According to Sherman, Pettitte has told friends that the 2013 season has been much tougher on his body than he had anticipated.
Pettitte has earned just shy of $140MM in his baseball career, according to Baseball-Reference.com. He donned just two jerseys in his 18-season Major League career — those of the New York Yankees and his hometown Houston Astros. He's pitched exactly 3,300 innings to date, compiling a 3.86 ERA, 6.6 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 to go along with 255 Major League wins. He is a three-time All-Star and has finished in the Top 5 in Cy Young voting on four occasions. Pettitte helped the Yankees to five World Series championships, and his 19 postseason wins are a Major League record. His Hall of Fame candidacy will likely be negatively impacted by his admitted use of HGH on two instances in the early 2000s.
AL East Notes: Blue Jays, Yankees, Logan, DeRosa
Earlier tonight we rounded up the latest from the NL East and in the interest of equal time, we'll run down tonight's news from the AL East..
- Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet runs down the Blue Jays' in-house and out-of-house rotation options for 2014. BNS expects GM Alex Anthopoulos to go after high-end starters this winter and sees Matt Garza, Ricky Nolasco, Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Tim Lincecum as potential targets. Of course, they won't just be limited to the open market and they could even explore deals for Chicago's top young arms – Jeff Samardzija and Chris Sale.
- Impending free agent Boone Logan makes no secret of his desire to stay with the Yankees beyond this season, writes Daniel Barbarisi of the Wall Street Journal. "Why wouldn't you?" he said. "I look at it like this: When I started pitching good, I was with the Yankees. It's something I'm going to look a lot more into, and give it more thought, but I will say this: Why fix something that isn't broke? That's something I've got to talk to myself about. That time will come. But why wouldn't you want to play for the Yankees, if you can?"
- Blue Jays veteran Mark DeRosa still isn't sure if he wants to return in 2014 or retire, writes MLB.com's Evan Peaslee. Toronto will likely exercise his $750K option for next season, so the decision to come back to the Blue Jays rests in the 38-year-old's hands.
International Notes: Tanaka, Abreu
The latest on some of the top international targets for Major League teams this winter…
- The Angels have been scouting Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka and will consider a run at him this offseason, according to Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. Tanaka represents a way for the team to upgrade its rotation with a controllable, young arm (Tanaka is currently 24) without having to sacrifice players like Mark Trumbo and Howie Kendrick in a trade, DiGiovanna adds.
- In his game recap of Tanaka's most recent start (he threw a 10-hit, one-run complete game), Baseball America's Ben Badler cites Japanese media outlet Sanspo in reporting that the Yankees, Red Sox and Diamondbacks all had scouts in attendance once again. All three were said to have scouts in attendance for another recent Tanaka outing. Badler's subscription-only piece includes a full report on Tanaka's performance.
- The Phillies aren't likely to make a play for Cuban slugger Jose Dariel Abreu, a team source told MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. The presence of Ryan Howard and Abreu's inability to handle an outfield spot leave them without a place to put him despite the need for right-handed power. Zolecki adds that the Phillies have worked out top prospect Maikel Franco at first base as well, so they could have a power-hitting, right-handed first baseman to eventually replace Howard anyway for a fraction of Abreu's price.
AL East Notes: Lind, Rasmus, Ryan, Orioles
In this morning's Insider blog post, ESPN's Buster Olney writes about the friendship that has grown between Red Sox DH David Ortiz and Yankees closer Mariano Rivera over the course of their storied careers in the AL East. Ortiz tells Olney that he respects Rivera in the same way that he respects his father. Ortiz will suit up for the Red Sox again in 2014, but Rivera is in the final stages of his farewell tour as the future Hall of Famer prepares to retire. Here's more from the AL East…
- Adam Lind is hopeful that the Blue Jays will exercise his $7MM option "sooner rather than later" and hopes the conversation will be conducted face-to-face with GM Alex Anthopoulos, Lind tells Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Lind is confident that even if his option is declined and he becomes a free agent, he will be able to find other employment. In that instance, he would hope to join a contending team, though he made it clear to Nicholson-Smith that his preference is to help bring a winning team to Toronto.
- Lind's future with the team looks more certain than it did in July, writes MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm in his latest Blue Jays Inbox. Before the team discovered a tumor on Melky Cabrera's spine, they were planning to move Cabrera to DH in 2014. The tumor explains Cabrera's limited mobility and drastic decline, however, meaning Cabrera can still play in the outfield while Lind serves as the DH. Lind's option contains a $2MM buyout, so the Jays essentially have a $5MM decision on whether or not to retain him.
- Chisholm also discusses Colby Rasmus' case for an extension but notes that Rasmus' 2013 season compares favorably to B.J. Upton's walk year prior to signing a five-year, $75.25MM contract with the Braves. As such, Anthopoulos is likely to make sure that Rasmus can repeat his breakout season before looking seriously at adding him to Toronto's core.
- New Yankees shortstop Brendan Ryan "loves" playing in New York, Olney tweets. Olney speculates that the Yankees will look to keep Ryan around as insurance for Derek Jeter in 2014.
- Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com notes that the Orioles will have to make a 40-man roster move to activate Henry Urrutia from the restricted list and wonders if Dan Johnson will be the corresponding move. Kubatko also looks at the case for Jonathan Schoop to be the team's second baseman in 2014, with Brian Roberts' contract expiring after this season.
Yankees Outright Jim Miller
Here are today's minor moves from around the league…
- The Yankees have outrighted reliever Jim Miller to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre, according to the International League transactions page. Miller, 31, was designated for assignment last week in order to clear a roster spot for Brendan Ryan, whom the team acquired from the Mariners. Miller pitched in just one game for the Yankees in 2013 but racked up 48 2/3 impressive innings of 2.59 ERA ball for the A's in 2012.
- With Miller's outright, Cody Ransom of the Cubs is the lone player in DFA limbo, as shown in MLBTR's DFA Tracker.
Quick Hits: Balentien, Marlins, Abreu, Yankees
Wladimir Balentien's journey to becoming Japan's single-season home run record holder took a number of twists and turns through the Mariners and Reds organizations, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick writes. Balentien, now with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, has 57 homers this year, topping Tuffy Rhodes, Alex Cabrera and Sadaharu Oh. Before that, though, he made his way through the Mariners' system, then went to the Reds in a minor trade after former Seattle GM Bill Bavasi took a job there. He played part of two years in the Reds organization and failed to find a lasting spot on their big-league roster. "For me, he was just one of those guys who ran out of time," says Bavasi. "It's not like there were two clubs that passed on him and he went over there and played great. There were 30 clubs that passed on him, and he went over there and found his niche. It's kind of remarkable what he's done." Here are more notes from around baseball.
- The Marlins have been scouting Cuban first baseman Jose Abreu, reports Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. Frisaro also notes that the Marlins are scouting "a couple" of young Cuban pitchers at an MLB showcase in the Dominican Republic. Abreu is expected to command an enormous contract, so it would be surprising if the Marlins ended up being serious contenders for his services. Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets that, while the Marlins are interested in Abreu, they probably won't be able to or willing to spend the money necessary to sign him.
- The Yankees' outlook for 2014 is bleak, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. Robinson Cano, Hiroki Kuroda, Mariano Rivera, Curtis Granderson and Andy Pettitte will all be free agents. While some of them might be back, many Yankees who are already under control for 2014 are signed to ugly contracts. Sherman points out that the Yankees have also seen few positive developments from their young players this season, and that 2013 hasn't seen the debut of a single blue-chip prospect.
Cafardo On Cano, Angels, Rangers, Cruz
In today's column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes that there is growing resentment towards the one-game playoff. “I would like to see it changed to two of three,” said the Red Sox’ Jonny Gomes. “At least then you feel as if you lose, you had three games. I like the fact the two wild cards play, that part is fine, and I understand the drama of the one game, but it’s not fair. You see what’s happening now. These teams are fighting and clawing to get one of those two spots, then let the teams who make it have a fair chance to advance.” Here's more from Cafardo..
- Most industry sources believe the Dodgers won’t be interested in Robinson Cano, but Cafardo says that the Angels and Tigers are worth keeping an eye on. Cafardo also heard someone theorize that the Mets could pull a fast one and get in the mix for Cano. There's no evidence of that happening, but it would keep the star second baseman in his desired long-term location.
- There are still no signs that the Rangers will trade Elvis Andrus or Jurickson Profar this offseason, but dealing Ian Kinsler could be a legitimate option, with Andrus or Profar playing second base in 2014. However, the 31-year-old's contract is an issue as he has four years remaining at $57MM with an option for 2018. He's not having his sharpest season either, hitting .273/.340/.403 versus a line of .272/.350/.460 heading into 2013.
- Speaking of Texas, it wouldn't be shocking to see the Rangers re-sign Nelson Cruz despite the 50-game PED suspension. Cruz has been the missing cog in the Rangers’ recent slump and also happens to be popular in the clubhouse. Even with Alex Rios, Texas will still be in the market for a DH/outfielder this this winter and it could be as simple as re-signing Cruz.
- Alfredo Aceves is now home in Mexico after leaving Fort Myers, Florida and is unlikely to ever don a Red Sox uniform again. One American League GM blasted the pitcher for his behavior but said that he'll likely get another chance somewhere because of his talent.
- If Carlos Beltran does not re-sign with the Cardinals, Cafardo posits that he would be the ideal DH/occasional outfielder for the Orioles.
- Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta is “likely going to be someone’s third baseman” next season, one Detroit teammate said.
- Cafardo wonders if Cal Ripken could emerge as a candidate to replace Davey Johnson as manager of the Nationals. Of course, Ripken is tied to the local competition, but he has made it clear that he wants to be a skipper. Meanwhile, Buck Showalter is on solid footing with the Orioles and it would allow Ripken to stay in the area.
- Not a huge surprise, but Cafardo doesn't believe the Red Sox will exercise Matt Thornton's $6MM option for next season.