Great article, here, by Jon Heyman of CNN/SI on the 30 best moves in baseball this season. It’s a great list for debate and sparks my question: what are the most important moves by the Yankees this year? Maybe everyone could chime in with their top 5 and we’ll see if there’s general agreement with Heyman’s list and with the fanbase, in general. Heyman lists 4 Yankee moves among his top 30, putting them as one of the top teams, along with the Rockies and the Mariners.
Here are Jon’s picks:
4. Yankees sign Mark Teixeira for $180 million over eight years.
10. Yankees sign CC Sabathia for $161 million.
17. Yankees sign Andy Pettitte for $5.5 million plus incentives.
30. Yankees pick up Chad Gaudin off the waiver wire.
To make it more interesting, I’d like to open up the discussion to not only trades and player acquisition, but organizational decisions and decisions regarding player roles, like:
- Yankees move Phil Hughes to the bullpen, solidifying the 8th inning role.
- Yankees decide to rest A-Rod once per week in order to keep save wear and tear on his recovering hip.
- Yankees don’t DFA Melky Cabrera in the off-season as some thought they should.
- Yankees bring up Francisco Cervelli instead of acquiring a veteran stopgap catcher to fill in for the injured Posada and Molina.
- Yankees bring up David Robertson.
- Yankee trades for Eric Hinske and Jerry Hairston to solidify their bench.
- Yankees trade for Nick Swisher, a decision which particularly panned out in light of Nady’s immediate injury.
- Yankees sign AJ Burnett who, while inconsistent, provided innings, some big games, and a surprisingly effective clubhouse presence.
- Yankees count on bounceback years from key players rather than look for alternative players. The bounceback kids include: Matsui, Cano, Cabrera, Posada, Pettitte, Jeter (to some extent).
- Yankees go with youth in the pen over trades and free agents (Robertson, Coke, Aceves, Hughes, and Melancon all contributed).
I would list my top 5 moves as:
- Sabathia (ace who saved the pen)
- Teixeira (solidified a perennial weak spot and put forth MVP type numbers)
- Hughes
- Pettitte
- Burnett (controversial, I know, but he gave us innings (so important) and loosened up a tight clubhouse).
What is your top 5 list? What moves would you add that I missed? Which do you think will wind up being the biggest moves if the Yanks are to win it all?
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12 Responses to Best Moves of the Year?
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TIQ IQ
He also listed Swisher: 18. Yankees acquire Nick Swisher for Wilson Betemit, Jhonny Nunez and Jeff Marquez and a pitching prospect. It seemed like an extravagance once the Yankees acquired Teixeira, as Swisher appeared destined to become an expensive and dissatisfied bench player. But when Xavier Nady went down with elbow trouble, Swisher moved to right field where he became a power threat and fan favorite.
woops – read that too quickly – thanks Greg
Swisher was definitely useful, but were you a little disappointed with his production? He had a representative year (actually his best ops of his career (.871) but I wonder if, in the back of Cash’s head, he was hoping he’d get the breakthrough year that was expected of Swish when he posted an .864 ops at only age 25. Most pundits predicted he’d be a pretty consistent .900 OPS but it certainly seems like, at age 28, .871 is going to be just about as good as it’s going to get.
No love for the Swisher trade? If we’re counting the FA signings, the winter trades count too.
I would rank my top 5 as:
1. CC – its been awhile since we’ve had an ace of his caliber on our staff and the pen is a beneficiary of his ability to log innings.
2. Tex – really helped solidify the middle of our lineup while playing gold-glove caliber defense…can’t ask for much more
3. Swisher – we basically gave up spare parts (Betemit and Marquez) for a guy that hit .250/.371/.500 this year and clubbed 29 homers
4. Pettite – he’s been great this season and is a valuable vetern presence in both the rotation and the clubhouse
5. AJ – has his bad streaks and we probably overpaid for him, but when he’s on AJ is filthy and is about a dominant a #2 as you’re going to find
see above – my error on Swishy. I definitely like the guy and his versatility. Part of me hoped that he’d post a breakthrough .900 OPS and near .400 woba b/c this deep lineup should have enhanced his stats but that’s probably not fair to hope for, given his track record. I just remember the hype on him as a prospect and young major leaguer.
I agree that in his career overall, Swish hasn’t really lived up to the expectations that surrounded him, but even if he can maintain his current level of production, he’s the perfect type of bat for this lineup. Remember, Swish is really our #6-7 hitter. Can’t ask for much more production from down there (well, unless you’re asking Robbie Cano).
very true and he’s a good clubhouse guy
To me, a good move is one that not only provides good results, but also one that was not necessarily obvious at the time. CC may be my choice for team MVP, but every monkey in a Yankee cap was asking for this 2 years ago.
My choices:
1. Swooping down on Tex.
2. Resigning Pettite after a disappointing season.
3. Hughes to pen.
4. Hinske, at the Pirate’s expense!
5. NOT trading for Washburn.
Definitely agree on the decision to pass on Washburn. Seattle was asking for Ajax, which is ridiculous. Besides, he’s been pretty bad since the trade.
agree – that was a great under-the-radar non-move
How does the absolute THEFT of Nick Swisher not even make the list ? A guy hits 30 HR, and drives in 80 runs, and is obtained for a bucket of BP balls is easily the best move of the year.
UPDATE: Well I see it did make the list at 18 (at least on the Yankee list). I still think it has to rank #1. I mean really, how hard is it to write a giant check ? Burnett, CC, and Tex were all great pickups, but the only ones baffled by the FA process appear to be the Red Sox.
It was a little more than writing a check with CC I truly think he had to be convinced this wasn’t a mistake and Brian Cashman in their final conversation did just that, in and of it’s self that deserves a lot of credit, and it took some balls to sign a guy to a long term deal in this economy who had been so abused the year before.
I agree though Swisher is a top 5 move of the season for sure, but I also think a lot of people over value Swisher’s bat and defense as spectacular when at the end of the day he is still an average player with good power numbers and good enough D to stay on the field, would you really lose that much if you had Jermaine Dye over Swisher?