James 'Catfish' Hunter Payroll Check from 1985
One issue that will influence all others this off season are the commitments the Yanks have heading into the 2010 season. So I wanted to take a minute to look at who’s coming off the books so we can factor that in going forward. The indispensable Cot’s Baseball Contracts has a spreadsheet detailing the payroll commitments of all 30 MLB teams. Here’s the link:
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2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |||||||||
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1 | NY YANKEES | $206,811,689 | $166.307 | $118.084 | $99.634 | $95.384 | |||||||
As you can see, the Yanks have approximately 40 mil coming off the books this off season. So lets go through each player whose contract is expiring and see who is likely to stay and who goes.
Jose Molina (2 mil)-As good as Molina has been for us defensively, it’s assumed by most Yankee observers that they’ll let him go this off season. Francisco Cervelli showed this year that he’s a fine defensive catcher, possibly even an upgrade over Jose defensively. Offensively, Frankie won’t have to do much with the bat to be an improvement. Even if Cervelli’s bat never develops, he should still be an adequate backup Catcher to hold the fort as Posada ages and until Montero/Romine arrives. Molina’s gone.
Xavier Nady (6.5 mil)-After having his 2nd Tommy John surgery on June 26th of last season, it’s an open question whether or not he’ll be ready to play on Opening Day of next year. Pitchers usually require at least one year before being able to come back. As a position player he might be able to come back a bit sooner, but that could still have him missing significant time early on. I think the Yanks will take the Wang approach with Nady. As I posted yesterday I think they’ll wait and see what Wang looks like when he’s healthy, and a similar tact would make sense for Nady as well. An incentive-laden deal signed around May of 2010 sounds about right to me. But if he insists on regular playing time to prove he’s healthy and earn his next contract (which is perfectly understandable) you let him walk. If I had to guess, I’d say he lands somewhere that offers him regular playing time.
Hideki Matsui (13 mil)-Coming off a World Series MVP and a terrific season, it would seem hard to let Godzilla walk. Not due to sentimentality, but because he’s still a very productive player. But Cashman doesn’t let the small sample size of the playoffs sway him into making deals and Girardi would like more roster flexibility and the DH spot open to rest his aging regulars and still keep their bats in the lineup. Not having an everyday DH means you could carry an extra arm in the bullpen or carry a 3rd catcher for the days you DH Posada, which will be often next year. The reality is that when you look at it in total, the contract Hideki signed in 2006 didn’t work out for the Yanks. They signed a player who had an iron-man streak going who spent most of 07 and 08 on the DL with knee injuries. 09 was great, but even then he couldn’t play the field at all, lest his knees blow up and you lose him for an extended period. Despite not playing the outfield for a single game this year, on Thursday Girardi said (on WFAN) that “They only had to drain Hideki’s knees 3 times this year” meaning that was a big improvement over last year. The contract is one they wouldn’t repeat in hindsight, Matsui’s gone.
Johnny Damon (13 mil)-Looking at the other free agent Left Field options, giving Johnny a 2 year 18 mil deal seems to make the most sense. Holliday and Bay will require expensive long term deals, and there are significant questions how they will play outside of their respective ballparks. I’m not that high on Carl Crawford, and its unlikely the Rays would trade the popular Crawford within the division, anyway. There aren’t any exciting Left Fielders available in next years free agent market either, unless you want to sign Werth to play RF and move Swisher over to LF. But if Johnny requires the 2nd year guaranteed, I give it to him. He’s our Left Fielder until A-Jax is ready to play CF and we can move Melky to LF, or possibly until Jeter moves off SS in a few years. I’ve always seen Jeter’s eventual landing spot as LF (possibly Montero as well) which is why I don’t think the Yanks will sign anyone to play there long term. Johnny’s back.
Chien Ming Wang (5 mil)-As I posted yesterday, I think the smart move is to do nothing until he gets back on a mound again. If another team was to swoop in and sign him before seeing him pitch again, especially after the season he had last year, then they’re batshit crazy. I have to assume other GMs will behave rationally. Like Nady, this one’s on hold and may come down to playing time.
Andy Pettitte (5.5 mil w/incentives)-Andy’s low base pay and incentive laden deal was based on the fact that he was hurt last year. Coming off a healthy 09 season, he should get what he earned for this year guaranteed for next season, which was around 10.5 mil. I know Andy always talks about retiring, but I’ll believe it when I see it. I think it’s just his half-hearted way of negotiating with the Yanks, since everyone knows he doesn’t really want to play anywhere else. 1 year 10.5 mil for Andy next year and he can keep adding to his post season records.
Chad Gaudin (2 mil)-Nice depth move that performed well for us down the stretch. You like the flexibility he gives you in being able to start or be your long man out of the bullpen. Having him around allows you to use Aceves more often as a multiple inning setup man, and Ace picked up 10 wins for us this year doing just that. I’d bring him back, as long as he’s willing to take the same dollar amount as last year. According to Joel Sherman of the NY Post, the Yanks are going to pick up Sergio Mitre’s 1.25 mil option and offer Gaudin a deal, who doesn’t become a free agent until 2011.
Eric Hinske (1.5 mil)-Nice depth player and bat off the bench who did little after hitting a bunch of HRs after he was traded. He seems to be a latter-day Luis Sojo, who was something of a World Series good luck charm. But the fact he wasn’t even put on the post season roster speaks volumes about what the Yanks think of him. Doubt he’ll be back next year.
Jerry Hairston (2 mil)-A steal at 2 mil, his defensive versatility and decent bat allows Girardi to mix and match late in games and always have an acceptable defensive replacement at virtually any position. More valuable on a good team than a bad one, I definitely bring him back.
All totaled, I think the Yanks have a relatively quiet off season where they bring back Damon and Andy and not do much else except fill up their bench. Opening Day payroll starts inching down further (as it did last year from 210 to 205) and likely settles in at 190-195 mil this year, or about 10-15 mil lower than last year. With a new Collective Bargaining Agreement to be negotiated with the Player’s Union coming up in 2011, I suspect the Yanks would like to take some of the steam away from their critics by lowering payroll over the next few years, lest they be hit by higher luxury tax rates and/or lower thresholds. With new MLBPA leadership and the country in a recession, it stands to reason the player’s association will be forced into some givebacks this go-around. If nothing else, inching down payroll now means you won’t be forced into doing anything drastic later. So fans most likely won’t be getting any big free agents under their holiday trees this year, they got #27 instead.
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45 Responses to What's Cookin on the Hot Stove-Yanks 2010 payroll
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I cannot judge what the target payroll should be, having no inside information. The Yankees have generally not worried about the collective bargaining agreement. The bigger concern is the economy and its effect on their revenue stream. But winning a championship generates interest and, with that, revenue.
What you describe, Steve, is a weaker offensive team for next year, with the subtraction of Matsui. The assumption that Austin Jackson will someday be an upgrade over Cabrera/Gardner is a very questionable one, and moving Melky to left when it happens would result in an offensively challenged OF. I suppose we will have to live with that, but it means fewer runs.
My bigger concern lies with the pitching. I see no reason to hope Pettitte gives as much next year as he ages. That would defy the odds. Too much is banking on both Chamberlain and Hughes to succeed as starters. So I expect the team to look for starting pitching, though whether that is at the top of the rotation (Lackey or, less likely, a trade) or the middle/bottom (Harden, etc.) remains to be seen.
I based the payroll stuff on comments made by Michael Kay, who I assume does have some inside info. Though it could all very well be a smokescreen, the Yanks go into every off season saying they want to lower payroll and rarely do. But a smokescreen for who?
Lackey? His stuff has declined and signing pitchers on the wrong side of 30 to 5 year deals is risky at best. Don’t see them as bidders, and there are no indications they will be.
Matt Holliday? Too much money, too many years for a guy who’s a butcher in the OF and we all know the Home/Road splits.
Jason Bay-See Matt Holliday.
I just don’t see who the big ticket item is that they will go after, unless King Felix becomes available. But that’s a big package of talent, not money.
Subtracting Matsui does figure to make them a bit weaker as a lineup, assuming he’s healthy enough to play. Having been hurt as much as he has been in the past 4 seasons, and given the condition of his knees, that’s a big assumption.
Burnett was on “the wrong side of 30″, too, when the Yankees signed him to a five-year deal. That may be the price you have to pay for the failure to develop young starting pitching to the point where it is reliable, but the rest of your team is built to win now. Neither Hughes nor Chamberlain qualifies as reliable. To ask them to fill 2/5 of the starting rotation next year comes close to repeating the mistake the Yankees made in 2008 with Hughes and Kennedy. Lackey remains an effective starting pitcher, far and away the best the Angels had in the play-offs this year. If the Yankees choose not to go after him, I still expect they will look for an experienced starter to add depth.
The difference between Burnett and Lackey is that despite AJs age and injury history, he’s maintained his stuff wheras Lackey hasn’t.
As far as Joba goes, Joba was an acceptable starter last year and only really lost it after being jerked all over the place in August and Sept. I’ve always thought Hughes’ main problem was confidence, and I think he gained that by working in the pen last year. If you’re looking for veteran pitchers to back them up, that’s why Gaudin and Mitre will be retained.
Joba was an acceptable starter until they started “jerking” him around but Hughes has the same innings limit on him for next year that Joba had this year so there will be the need of a veteran starting pitcher not named Gaudin/Mitre. I don’t want it to be Lackey for money reasons but I think the Yankees should take the buy low with high upside approach that failed with the Sox last year, use the same principle but on better (younger than Smoltz) pitchers.
Lackey’s stuff has declined? Not by the numbers. His career WHIP is 1.31, in 2009 it was 1.27; his K/9 is 7.2 for his career and 7.09 in 09; his K/BB ratio is 2.72 for his career and 2.96 for 09.
About weakening ourselves offensively, lets look at prospective 2010 lineups and see where were at.
Jeter SS
Damon DH
Tex 1b
A-Rod 3b
Posada C
Cano 2b
Swisher RF
Cabrera LF
Gardner CF
Or:
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Tex 1b
A-Rod 3b
Posada DH
Cano 2b
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Cervelli C
Are either of those lineups we can’t live with? Is there a better lineup in the AL that I’m forgetting? We led the league in Runs Scored last year, and while Cervelli/Gardner may not drive in as many runs, they do figure to score more than Matsui by getting on base and running ahead of the top of the lineup guys. Watch Jeter/Damon’s RBIs go up a few ticks with those guys playing everyday. We’ll be fine.
Also, since both Cervelli and Gardner are far better defensively than Melky/Posada, we figure to fare better in Run Prevention which counts as well but tends to go under the radar statistically. If the Yanks lower their team ERA by .25-.5 Runs, those two may play a large part yet get zero credit from most fans for doing so.
Do to the fact I like Brett over Melky and don’t care much for Johnnys play in the field at all, I like the line-up changed a bit. I hate putting three SH together but we only have two righties and two Lefties
Jeter SS
Cano 2b
Tex 1b
A-Rod 3b
Posada DH
Swisher RF
Melky LF
Gardner CF
Cervelli C
How is that lineup better offensively or defensively than adding Mike Cameron to play LF?
Jeter, SS (R)
Cano, 2B (L)
Tex, 1B (S)
Arod, 3B (R)
Posada, C (S)
Matsui, DH (L)
Swisher, RF (S)
Cameron, LF (R)
Gardner, CF (L)
Cervelli is better than Posada but he will be the backup and get plenty of games under his belt without making Jorge the everyday DH and Cameron is a better defender still in LF than Melky would be (or at least right as good) and he would have much more power with a similar batting average.
It also takes care of the switch on switch and keeps lefties off lefties and righties off righties.
It’s not a lineup that is as good offensively as we were this year but it makes up for that by being a much better outfield defense than this year.
This offseason I say we re-sign Damon, Pettitte and Hairston and we pick up Mitre’s option. Also, we could maybe offer Wang arbitration. If both Gardner and Cabrera play, our bench would include Pena, Cervelli, Hairston and Russo/Miranda/Duncan/Rodriguez. Another spot we need to fill is the setup man. Personnally, I think this is the main preoccupation for the yankees apart from re-signing damon and pettitte. If both chamberlain and hughes are in the starting rotation next year, the main candidate for the 8th inning role is David Robertson, who has absolutely not enough experience/talent to fulfill that role. We need an established reliever.
I was with you up until offering Wang arbitration. He’d get 7-8 mil guaranteed in arb just based on service time, and will get 1-2 mil guaranteed w/incentives if we non-tender him.
I also agree that the 8th inning role is going under the radar. Hughes contributions will be very hard to replace, we need a reliever.
when I think about it, you’re right. Wang would be too expensive. But if we don’t get Wang back, then we need someone safer than Gaudin and/or Mitre if Chamberlain or Hughes fail to succeed as a starting pitcher, which is very probable. Having Mitre as a 5th starter all year won’t do it.
There are other options at AAA. Ian Kennedy, Zachary McCallister, possibly Ivan Nova. Between those guys and Mitre/Gaudin, someone will stick.
I wouldn’t go nuts about the 5th starter. We didn’t have one for most of this year and still won 103 games. In 1998, we had the all-too-forgettable Hideki Irabu as our 5th starter and won 114.
I don’t 5th starters matter much towards the end of the year when you know what kind of team you are and you know what games you need to win, but at the beginning of the year a 5th starter can become a 4th or 3rd starter real quick with injuries and if you have a bad 5th starter the backups are even worse and before you know it you have Sydney Ponson and Darrell Rasner on your team.
I would like to see Gaudin out of the pen next year and have Mitre in Scranton as the 6th/7th starter in case of emergency.
Sabathia
Burnett
Pettitte
Hughes
Chamberlain
Is not a rotation I would trust because you don’t know if you will get as good a year (or as healthy a year) from Pettitte as this one and I don’t trust Chamberlain or Hughes being a 4th starter in the playoffs (and a year older I don’t see a 3 man rotation working again).
I would be nice to re-sign Pettitte and then bring in a Ben Sheets like pitcher who has some upside and can be a 4th starter but won’t cost all that much and if they fail it won’t be a terrible black on eye on the season. Even though it didn’t work out signing Penny and Smoltz to high reward low risk contracts is a decent idea for the Yankees this year (not those guys obviously).
You can never have to many pitchers… Wang isn’t a good enough answer to this problem because he is just as likely to never pitch well again as he is to bounce back to form, you just don’t know what to expect from a shoulder surgery (especially not someones 2nd one). Bringing back Wang isn’t necessarily the best idea but I would want another pitcher signed so that Wang would have absolutley no pressure on his starts, that way he could come in without being counted on for anything. However right now I wouldn’t sign Wang at all because he can’t throw the ball and there is no reason to extend him a contract until he can prove that he can pitch again.
Matt Holliday has been in the top 2 LFers in WAR the past 3 years… he would have placed number 1 each year had it not been for Manny last year. He’s a good defender as well. Just clarifying.
As I posted, I think they want to leave LF open as a landing place for all sorts of possibilities. A big long term deal for Holiday would preclude that.
I wasn’t saying I would sign Holliday, just saying that he plays pretty good defense.
Why are we signing Mitre? Am I missing something? This guy isn’t good. I hate to bash a fellow chicano, but what has this guy done to deserve to be re-signed?
I agree w letting Molina walk. I like Cervilli alot. Plus, he has more speed and his enthusiasm is off the charts. He’s not a sloth on the bases like JM, so we wouldn’t have to pinch run for him if the situation called for it.
I wouldn’t bring back Hinske bc he hasn’t done much for us, but I want Matsui back- a one yr deal if he bites. His bat is just too good to let go. I hear you on clogging the dh spot for older players, thats why I would like to see him signed for just one more year.
Mitre is simply a depth move. I wouldn’t get upset about it one way or the other.
Any idea how much the arb raises would increase the number that Cot’s has for the 2010 Yanks?
Its easy to figure. Just take the total salaries I listed above (50.5) and subtract the difference between this year and next years payrolls (39.5). There’s 11 mil in automatic raises.
Arbitration is another thing to consider, but that gets too complicated between service time and competing bids, we’ll just have to wait and see on that.
Yeah, I meant the latter type of arbitration. I guess it’ll be around 170-175 after those raises.
The Yankees have stated numerous times that they want to get younger and more athletic. So if I were them I would look into acquiring Curtis Granderson. He won’t turn 29 till March of 2010 and the rest of his contract looks like this: $5.5 million in 2010, $8.25 million in 2011, $10 million in 2012 and a team option of $13 million for 2013 with a $2 million buyout.
This senario would allow them to get younger, move Cabera to left field and give the outfield defense alot more range. Also that contract makes Granderson extremly affordable.
Now I bring up Granderson b/c there have been many rumors about how Detroit wants to trade his contract and because NYY won’t be sacraficing anything on the field. Granderson had 20 stolen bases and hit 30 homeruns while playing 1/2 his games in spacious Comerica Park. Also he played 160 games which makes his durable and he could slide right into the 2 spot as lefty in between Jeter and Tex.
Also if Austin Jackson turns into a adequate outfielder than he could challenge Cabera in left or Swisher in right and than eventually move into CF down the road.
With regards to the other players:
Jose Molina should be let go and be replaced with Cervelli. Cervelli will cost a fraction and is a very good defender. Also he is not an automatic out.
I would try to bring back Pettitte, Hairston, and Wang. Andy I would offer 12 mill and hopefully he is happy with that since he was mad about last years contract. Hinske I would let go b/c I think Juan Miranda could do his job and backup firstbase. Also since he is a lefty he could end up hitting around 10 homeruns with some playing time.
The whole idea is getting younger, more athletic while also putting teams on the field that could win every year.
Granderson’s a decent bat but he strikes out an awful lot. 30 HRs this year was great, but his OBP is down to a lackluster .327 and he’s not going to get faster with age. At the plate he’s basically Johnny Damon plus 50 Ks.
I agree and disagree with various comments listed above. I’m sure there will be plenty of time to go back and forth on issues such as Damon vs. Matsui vs. neither; set-up roles, etc. The main thing that I want to bring up here is the primary Free Agent target that we will pursue this off-season: Aroldis Chapman. Sure, we don’t have a spot open for him to take right now but that would be the least of our concerns if we land the hard throwing, 21 yr-old lefty.
I am just not a fan of Gardner. His numbers look fine but he gets over matched repeatedly.
Its tough to hit when you dont play everyday. If he got regular playing time, I think he’d be fine.
Every where Brett has played, he has improved year to year. I hope Long spends time with him this winter, he has gone back to trying to hit with his arms and upper body again…that ain’t gonna cut it in The Show. Earlier (before his injury) he was hitting with his lower body and putting a charge into his hits, when he came back, he quit doing that for some reason. As of right now, we don’t have a true CF except him. I want Long to work him hard this off season, the kid has a good eye and good OBP, avg., when he is right but, he was swinging at everything in sight and letting the fat ones go bye for strikes…not good.
If we replace Jerry with Pena, we have a younger, faster and better defender (plus, cost less) he can play the OF or INF, just as Jerry can, we give up a little power but get a SH with some speed. Matsui has said he can play the OF next year, we only would use him a few times out there anyhow, therefore I would sign him for a year (no Arbitration)…he is a much better hitter then Johnny. Of course, if I had my way, I would put Posada as the DH/Catcher…but, we can’t have everything the way we want it.
Non-tendered; Molina, Johnny, Jerry, Eric, CMW, Guzman and X-Man.
I liked when he copied the Johnny Damon swing in Spring Training, I hope he goes back to it. When Damon came up, nobody thought he’d ever hit for power either, and his game was all about his legs, just like Brett. You never know.
Does nobody have a problem with Johnny Damon playing leftfield? Obviously Steve doesn’t but I can’t believe no one else does… Damon was god awful in LF this year and it’s only going to get worse over the next 2 years, at this point it’s Damon the DH or no Damon at all in my mind… and if you are going to sign Damon to DH you should just sign Matsui because he has more power and can hit HRs on the road as well as at home and is much better match up against left handed pitchers.
Damon’s bat almost becomes useless with him playing the field because every time he drives in a run he has to make up for letting a run score in LF.
Johnny is a great guy but at this point any ball hit to LF is a double, any ball hit to LF with a runner on 2nd is a run (even if that runner is Ryan Howard), he doesn’t have the same speed he did to make up for his bad routes to balls, he has no arm at all so sac fly’s are guaranteed when hit to LF no matter how deep and he has routinely started dropping the ball and at times almost looks scared or worry when he is under the ball almost hoping he catches it.
Damon is a defensively liability and at this point we would be better off letting him go and upgrading our defense and let Matsui stay as a DH.
I know everyone hates Cameron but just using Mike as an example of a guy with less of a bat than Johnny but better D a guy like that upgrades this years team. Sure you won’t have Damon’s bat at the top of the lineup but Cano is more than prepared to move up and hit 2nd and with the upgrade in D you would only need someone who can hit with some power to go along with the defensive upgrade.
I would…
1. let Molina go for Cervelli.
2. Let Nady go UNLESS he can prove he can play and NOT unless he takes a reduced role (4th outfielder) coming in.
3. Re-sign Matsui to play DH for 1 year.
4. Let Damon go and find a defensive replacement.
5. Don’t give Wang a contract UNLESS he can 100% prove he is healthy and throwing like the old Wang can.
6. Re-sign Pettitte to a 1 year deal.
7. Let Hinkse and Hairston go in order to make room on the bench for Juan Miranda and Ramiro Pena
The Number 1 priority this offseason should be to upgrade our defense in LF by whatever means necessary whether they want to trade for someone or sign Mike Cameron to a 1 year deal the defense needs to be improved.
We also need to look for a veteran starting pitcher who we can buy low on and maybe allow us to let either Hughes (innings limit) or Chamberlain (mechanical problems/velocity) start in Scranton next year.
If a good setup man becomes available we should be in on trade discussions because I don’t know if I trust Robertson with the 8th due to his walks.
Aroldis Chapman should be looked at but only if he is willing to accept at least a year (if not 2) in the minors and at no more than 45 million dollars.
IN CASE NO ONE SAW THIS
“Yankees Willing To Give Lackey $12M Annually”
“New York Daily News – The Yankees could make a play for John Lackey if teams aren’t willing to pay him the expected rate of $15 million annually.
According to the New York Daily News, the Yankees are only willing to play Lackey $10-12 million per year.”
So the Yankees (according to this) would be willing to offer Lackey either a 4 year 48 million dollar deal or a 5 year 60 million dollar deal…
I’m not sure how I feel about this, as Lackey proved in the playoffs he can be gritty and he can be good but he can also be beat and forced out of games by good lineups. The other problem is Lackey has injury concerns and I’m not sure if I would be comfortable giving 48-60 million to someone who hasn’t thrown 200 innings in a single season since 07 (to be fair AJ did pitch 221.1 innings in 08 before signing).
Lackey is a good pitcher and would make a killer 3 man rotation along with CC and AJ but it’s a lot of money that could be spent other places, with that contract alone you would be plugging up almost all the money coming off the books. You could get a starting pitcher, a setup man and a left fielder for that much money and still have money to re-sign Matsui/Damon to DH and Pettitte left.
If you actually read the original article, then you would see that this is not actually true. RealGM grabbed on to a comment by Bill Madden, one that he simply pulls out of nowhere (it’s appears to be his own suggestion, rather than predicated upon an actual source). Plus, there’s nothing in there about giving Lackey either a 4 or 5-year deal. You’re making an unfounded inference, based on an unfounded comment (why not a 3-year deal, or a 6-year deal?).
Basically, move on folks, there’s nothing to see here.
wow…
It really is amazing that such a comment could be turned into “Yankees Willing To Give Lackey $12M Annually”
Does anyone see Jose Valverde or Rafael Soriano as our setup-man? Fernando Rodney would do too. Basically the yankees have 40M off the books. Say the arb raises lowers that number to 30M and they sign pettitte and damon at 10M each plus hairston jr. at 2M and mitre at 1.5M. They could lower the payroll or take the remaining to sign one of these closers to be our 8th inning guy for let’s say 3 years.
I’d like to see the Yankees sign Soriano. His stuff is very good.
Valverde has really good stuff and brings a lot of energy to the mound but that was as a closer, if he is willing to be a setup man for the chance to win then I would be all for bringing him in. You could count on a solid bridge to Mo with Jose setting up!
Steve – We briefly had this conversation before, but I’d love to read your thoughts on the Matsui situation in particular. Since we really don’t know what the market for Matsui will look like yet, hypothetically, if you could bring Matsui back for 1 year at like $6-8 million, do you do it? On the one hand, it’d be nice to be resting one of the older players every day by letting them DH. On the other hand, that’s a short and cheap deal for a guy who you know is an offensive upgrade and who you only have to play in around 135 games in 2010, so you’d still be able to use the DH slot to rest guys relatively often (and, obviously, you’d still be giving guys full days off here and there). On a deal that team-friendly, do you pull the trigger? That’s a mighty nice bat to have in your arsenal. I think on a 1-year deal, I bring him back. He’d only be taking the roster spot of a bench player, and he’s a pretty big offensive upgrade and insurance, on the offensive side of the game, against injury depleting your lineup too much. And when the time of year comes when resting guys isn’t an option, a time of year we hope and expect to reach in 2010, having Matsui around makes your A-lineup pretty monstrous.
Come on Steve, Mondesi has given you the chance to write something about “The do we or do we not resign Matsui”.
I would like to have him back how about you?
In all fairness, he gave his opinion in the post above. I just got the impression he was dealing with it in the context of ‘do you give Matsui a multi-year deal or not,’ since he said Matsui’s last “contract is one they wouldn’t repeat in hindsight, Matsui’s gone.” I just think the more accurate question is do you sign him to a 1 or maybe 2 year contract at a lower AAV, since I don’t think he’s getting a contract like his expiring contract.
In all fairness you are right!
I was more or less trying to get him to give an answer to the one/two year question, because I am up in the air on it myself. I like his professional bat in the line-up and he will have days off to give others a rest…when needed. If they bring back Johnny…my question is why, he can’t play the OF anymore. It is much esyer to find an OF then a good catcher…we do have two of them but, they are a 1/2 year or two away.
I’d like to push off our final decision on Matsui for another year. If we can sign him to a one year deal, I’d do it. I’d also have no problem going to 2 years on Damon if we can get that done. Bring back Pettitte. Let Nady, Wang and Hinske go. Bring back Hairston. Maybe find some value signing for the pen. That would still cut a good amount of payroll.
You want Damon in LF and Matsui at DH? It doesn’t make any sense to stick with Damon’s bat in LF it is simply stupid! He can’t score enough runs to make up for the ones he lets drop in… I would cry if the Yankees brought back the exact team they had this year.
If either Damon or Matsui come back it should be Matsui and only as a DH and nothing more!
Hairston doesn’t need to be brought back because we have Pena who will fill the exact same role and is much younger so he runs better…