-The power has shifted in the AL West race, and fairly dramatically. Cliff Lee going to Seattle and Lackey leaving the Angels for Boston is a big swing in Seattle’s direction. Seattle now boasts arguably the best 1-2 punch in all of Baseball with Lee-Hernandez atop their rotation, and will therefore be extremely dangerous should they make the post season. The Angels are looking at Derek Lowe to replace Lackey (ouch!) and as things stand right now, the ace of their staff is Jered Weaver.
-It’s not as timely after Theo’s shopping spree yesterday, but I still love it when Shaunessy nukes the Red Sox. Here’s the money quote:
Everyone agrees that the Yankees can spend the most money. It was no fun watching New York commit a half billion dollars to messrs.Teixeira, Sabathia and Burnett last winter. But the Red Sox are not a team that can complain about Yankee spending. The Sox are a Have team, not a Have Not team. Boston is not Oakland, Pittsburgh or Kansas City. Through the years the Sox have been able to take players from other teams (Curt Schilling and Victor Martinez come to mind) because they can afford to pay.
They dished out millions for Johnny Damon, Keith Foulke, Daisuke Matsuzaka and J.D. Drew. They raided rosters of the Have Nots. Now they are complaining about Yankee payroll?
It’s absurd. Epstein, like Brian Cashman, can afford to make mistakes. Edgar Renteria and Julio Lugo are examples A and B of Theo’s biggest blunders. This year the Sox will pay $18 million to have Lugo and Mike Lowell (trade pending with the Rangers) play for other teams.
Epstein is touting organization prospects named Jose Iglesias, Ryan Kalish, Ryan Westmorland, Casey Kelly and Lars Anderson, but they are a couple of years away. In Boston the message needs to be “win now.’’
And that means “Beat the Yankees.’’
Now.
-While we still don’t have all the details, and I’m still not sure I understand the deal from the Phillies perspective, the best news about yesterday’s Roy Halladay deal is that he is out of the AL East. We no longer have to face him 3-4 times a year, we didn’t have to give up the farm and he didn’t wind up in Boston. This was the best case scenario for the Yankees, given what it would have taken to acquire his services.
-Mike Cameron’s signing with Boston and Hideki Matsui going to Anaheim should increase the chances that Johnny Damon comes back, since Cammy was an obvious backup plan for the Yanks. But then it would also stand to reason that Johnny’s better bargaining position will mean more years and/or dollars from the Yanks. If the budget holds (currently around 180) and Cashman stays true to inching down the payroll this year, that could mean a little less depth on the bench.
-With the reports yesterday that the Yanks are pursuing Ben Sheets, Johnny Damon still unsigned and apparently only enough room on the 2010 payroll for one or the other, it begs a question. If you’re Brian Cashman, and you have to choose between the two, which option would you prefer? Going with Sheets means Melky’s your everyday Left Fielder next year, but it also means you would upgrade your starting rotation AND bullpen, since you could move either Hughes or Joba there. Johnny Damon in Left with Phil Hughes as #5 or Ben Sheets in the rotation, Hughes/Joba in the bullpen and Melky in Left? Which team is better?
-The Red Sox aren’t done yet, not by a long shot. They may have solved their outfield situation with Cammy and bolstered their rotation with Lackey, yet the infield situation is still up in the air with Mike Lowell’s (still unofficial) departure. Which leads me to yet another good read by Lisa Swan, who’s really been making a name for herself in the Yankee blogosphere lately.
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12 Responses to Random Thoughts on Yesterday's Moves
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TIQ IQ
Always go for pitching.Sign SHEETS.
I have to say, hearing about Cameron signing with the Red Sox really bummed me out. Granderson/Cameron are roughly equivalent players in my book and it looks like the Red Sox got a bargain. If they add Beltre to the mix, it’s hard to argue that the Red Sox didn’t do an amazing job of re-tooling their roster into a run-prevention machine yesterday.
Great post. Personally I am glad Cameron isn’t coming to the Yankees; I just didn’t have faith he was going to continue the production. I think Cashman is playing this perfectly. He is like the player at the poker table with the largest stack, and just waiting until the right player comes along.
I hope Sheets comes here, although I believe the Angels will have the inside track. I think Matt Holliday has a legit shot as I don’t believe that the report of an 8 year offer the Cards made him is accurate. I think the offense could handle Melky in left if Sheets came to town.
Whatever happens, it’s a great position to be in. The Yankees can just sit back and know that whatever they add is a luxury. The only real mistake is to not do anything… teams need to retool a bit each year, even if they won the World Series.
I’m all for signing Sheets but the ’09 Red Sox experience should be instructive, to a certain degree. Everyone praised the low-risk/high-upside Penny/Smoltz signings and, as it turned out, neither move truly panned out for Boston.
While I endorse a potential Ben Sheets signing, the guy has enough of an injury history (and is an NL pitcher) that he’s not a guy the Yanks can or should truly rely on. The Yanks will need another starter besides Sheets, given how unreliable he’s been in his career.
Now that Matsui signed with the Angels, what will happen with Vlad? He may be an ideal DH/reserve corner outfielder for the Yankees at a low cost. My guess is that he will cost much less than Matsui — maybe $5M?
Bite your tongue! Vlad’s value has dropped dramatically from a 5-win player in 2005 to under 1 in 2009. If the Yanks wouldn’t let Matsui play LF, why the hell would they let Vlad play the field? He’s just as brittle and just as horrendous out there.
He obviously had a big, injury-fueled decline last year, but I would not be surprised if he was a 2-3 win player (primarily as a DH, with limited time in the OF to preserve his legs). I’m just saying, if you are going to take a flyer on Sheets, why not Vlad (who will be cheap).
Do the Yanks really need to get older, slower, more brittle and more defensively challenged?
I’m opposed to the Vlad/Nick Johnson types because they’re neither healthy enough to play a full season nor able to do anything other than DH. I loved Matsui and I’m sorry to see him go but why would we bring in the same guy we just let walk away? Just because he’s cheap? That’s never been a good enough reason to do something.
MJ, I totally agree. If Vlad were taking AB from Jesus Montero, I would not be happy. But, if he were signed for less than $4-5M (which I think is quite possible) and he was taking AB from Juan Miranda, I would be happy. He played the whole year hurt last year, but his line after the All-Star Break was .300/.347/.498. He’ll be 35, but Damon will be 37+. I would bet that he’ll match Johnny’s OBP and exceed the SLG — with a real chance of major out-performance if he’s slightly more healthy. Wouldn’t you rather have Vlad than Damon (who is going to cost $10M at least per year)?
If our only choices are Vlad over Miranda or Vlad over Damon, I obviously prefer Vlad over Miranda (whose role I have yet to figure out. He seems worthless to me).
As to the Vlad vs. Damon question, it’s a tough call. Although the cost does seem to favor a case for Vlad, I’m just not sure Vlad’s a better player at this point. He’s certainly a greater injury risk, even if he’s younger, and he truly cannot be asked to play in the outfield any longer. They’re both roughly 3-win players but Damon’s game is slightly more diverse (speed, defense) and too many things have to go right for Vlad, in my opinion.
Nick Johnson is so yesterday’s news.
He is so brittle, he can NOT be depended on as an option to the team trying for the championship. Just when you need him, he will be hurt.
You mentioned the Mike Lowell trade(which still haven’t gone thru officially, yet, because of ML’s thumb).
One thing that I haven’t noticed ANYWHERE in print, but that I REMEMBER.
The $9M that the Red Sox will be paying NEXT year, to the Rangers, as part of the trade, should be chalked up as a YANKEE VICTORY, in the ever lasting war.
The reason, when Lowell’s last contract was being negotiated, the Red Sox were digging in and only offering him a year LESS than he eventually signed for.
Very late, the Yanks jumped in and made it every clear that they would give him the 3 years that he wanted, to PLAY FIRSTBASE(!) for the Yanks. Within a day or two, Lowell got his extra year from the Sox.
At the time, I didn’t quite understand why the Yankees were after Lowell to play the out-of-position 1B, plus some DH.
I suspected that the Yanks were just trying to jack up the price on Lowell for the Sox.
Well, now it’s confirmed, that’s exactly what it did. Just think what an extra $9M could buy for the Sox in 2010. It may have got them Bay.