Here are the moves that I would like to see the Yanks make this off season.
1. They have to sign Sabathia. They are in desperate need of an ace and haven't had one in a while. There are no aces on the market this year. If they can’t get him they will have break the bank to get Brandon Webb next year.
2. They have to sign a second starting pitcher. My first choice would be Burnett. I know that he has a history of arm problems, but he is worth a shot in my opinion. If the Yanks can’t get Burnett I would take Lowe, Peavy, or Dempster.
3. Get a third starting pitcher, an end of the rotation type of guy. I would even take Pettitte back, although he is on the back nine for sure.
If they do get these starters, their rotation will be supplemented by Wang and Hughes. Not too shabby. They will have Aceves, Coke or Giese for spot starts if they need them.
I am sure that you notice that Joba isn’t in the rotation in this scenario. He only threw about 100 innings this year and they won’t let him jump past 130-140 innings for this year. If he throws 30 starts that wouldn’t even be an average of 5 innings per start. Plus, he makes that bullpen even stronger, and will be groomed to take over for Mo as the closer when he retires. With Joba setting up Mo, that leaves Bruney, Veras, and Ramirez as righties and Marte and Coke as lefties in the pen. Robertson, Giese and Sanchez could see some innings as well.
On the other side of the ball I like the flexibility that they have right now. Where is Posada going to play? If he can't catch because of his arm, he will have to do some DHing and play some 1B. The Yanks traded for Nick Swisher yesterday. I like the move for its flexibility. If Posada isn’t catching Molina is a strong #2 catcher, and Swisher can relinquish some of the at bats at 1B to Posada. Swisher can also play some corner OF, he is a switch hitter, and they got him pretty cheaply due to a down year last year.
If the Yanks need to go the trade route to get one of those starting pitchers I would use Cano as the trade bait, and then go get Hudson to play 2B. Cano hasn’t endeared himself to me with his lack of hustle. Even though Cano had a bad year, he still has some trade value and an inexpensive salary.
The left side of the infield is locked up with Jeter and ARod. In LF the platoon of Damon and Matsui works for me. The one not playing LF will probably see a lot of DH time depending on how Posada works out behind the plate. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either of the LF solutions being traded, but they aren’t going to get much for either one.
Nady is a great solution in RF, but could also see some time at 1B if they wanted. He played there early in his NL career. That leaves CF. I know that there are lots of people that want to see the Yanks go get a big name CF, but I would rather see what Gardner can do, with Melky getting some time out there as well. If they both fail Damon or Swisher could do the job while they look at the trade market.
I like Cody Ransom as the utility infielder. He has some pop in his bat and can play the corner infield positions quite well. They will need to find someone to back up on the middle infield, and maybe do some pinch running.
If I were in Cashman’s role this is what my plan would be. I can’t wait to see what actually happens. I love the hot stove league!!
Friday, November 14, 2008
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4 comments:
How about a projected lineup now that we know the moves that have occurred?
Thanks for the prompt Patrick. I would like to reiterate from a prior posting that I would love to see Joba go to the pen. It doesn't sound like this is going to be the case, but why the heck not? Joba in that pen makes it one of the best bullpens in baseball. With Sabathia, Wang, Burnett, and Pettitte we could live with Hughes, Coke or Aceves as the #5 starter. But back to the lineup. Here is what I think it will look like:
Damon- LF
Jeter- SS
Teixiera- 1B
ARoid- 3B
Matsui- DH
Posada- C
Cano- 2B
Nady- RF
Gardner- CF
I think that this lineup makes a lot of sense with regard to righty/lefty matchups. There are no two batters that a lefty or righty out of the pen would have a matchup advantage with.
The problem is that there are a lot of question marks with the lineup health-wise. Posada is probably the biggest question. If he can't catch 140 games, and has to DH that leaves the Yanks with some tough decisions. If he can't catch there is no way they would be able to unload him nor his big contract, so they will end up having to try to get rid of Matsui and have Posada DH more often. Damon is another health question, he would benefit from games at the DH spot. Who leads off when Damon is out of the lineup? My guess is that they will try to use Jeter to lead off in that case. I think that Swisher will get some substantial time in the OF as well.
I am still eager to see where some of the big names remaining in free agency will land. Manny seems like he will be in LA, Griffey will probably go back to Atlanta, Hudson might end up going to a lesser team on a one year contract and then wind up getting traded a contender near the deadline. For instance, he might sign with the Nationals and then get traded to the Mets once Castillo crashes and burns again. There are still some other big names, Edmonds, Orlando Cabrera, Crede, Pedro, out there. These next couple of weeks should be very interesting.
I can see that as a projected lineup. I really don't know how well Gardner is going to fare, but given the way Melky slid last year I think you have to give Gardner a shot for at least the first month. I think Nady will hit higher in the lineup, I could see him maybe 6 and Posada 8 (to stay with the lefty-righty pattern you have going for most of the lineup). I just think he drives in too many drives to throw him in the 8 hole.
The Nick Swisher situation is going to be interesting. If he was a little bit quicker, he'd be a great solution to CF. I'd just love to see a guy like that at the end of the lineup and let him hit .230-.240 with 30 HRs. Dah well!
Given the SP moves they've made, I have the agree that Joba is the setup guy now. CC - Wang - AJB - Pettitte - Hughes, Coke/Aceves/Bruney/Albaladejo/Edwar/Marte middle relief, Joba 8th, Mo 9th. It will be interesting to also see how that all pans out, since like you mentioned our wish of Joba in the 8th doesn't look like it will come true at least for the start of the season (and I've always been a fan of him as a SP, but not with the way things have worked out this past offseason, and plus your argument about the limiting to 140 IP).
I agree about Jorge, although I don't think there is any possible way we get 140 games out of him. I was thinking more along the lines of 100-120. Let Molina catch 40-60. Rest Jorge half of the games off, and the other half rest Matsui against a lefty.
Can we agree it might be plausible to package Melky and Ian Kennedy in a deal for one of the Rangers' three catchers (Max Ramirez, Taylor Teagarden, Jarred Salty). They might want more, especially for Ramirez or Teagarden, but its at least a start of an idea.
I would love to see them get a young catcher to start grooming. I am not a big fan of Saltalamaccia defensively, but he is probably the best hitter of the bunch. I would definitely give up Kennedy and Melky for Teagarden. It is going to take another arm or two to get that deal done. I like Molina in the role of catching 40-50 games, but he isn't an every day player, so this could potentially be an issue.
I think that Girardi is a little too attached to Posada to bat him 8th though, even if he should.
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