- The biggest news today, the 10 playoff system will begin this year. Though Cashman might blame himself, this is really Selig’s money making idea. I really dislike the decision, in fact I hate it, but I’m sure the next week will be filled with more opinions than one needs to read.
- The Greedy Pinstripes posted their top 20 prospect list today, surprisingly Romine came in 4th and Santana came in 6th. Their sleeper prospect is Daniel Lopez, and they provided a nice writeup about his season and his outlook.
- Today is leap day, and Pinstriped Bible examined the baseball history on the day that only occurs every four years.
- This offseason, FanGraphs held an ongoing poll asking fans who were the best TV broadcasters. The Yankees came in at 22, with pretty average charisma and analysis, but got extra points for David Cone’s FanGraphs love.
- Wallace Matthews of ESPN New York has a great writeup on Bobby Valentine’s obsession with the Yankees. Its clear that Valentine is trying to motivate his players to hate the Yankees, but his ridiculous criticism is making him look a lot like Rex Ryan, minus 100 pounds.
- For those with ESPN Insider, Jim Bowden says that the Braves are already targeting Nick Swisher for next offseason, and the matchmaker again wants the Yankees to sign Andre Ethier instead. I don’t understand why Bowden thinks Ethier is an upgrade, his bat has been been worse than Swisher’s, his defense is much worse, and I feel Ethier is overrated enough to receive a bigger contract.
- Finally, today’s workouts from Tampa.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
10 Responses to Nightly Links: Lopez, Kay, Valentine
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
I also do not understand why the Braves would intend to go after Nick Swisher unless they also went after Michael Bourn
I suppose they could go Heyward-Prado-Swisher, but you’re right they need Bourn to bring that outfield together defensively.
He may be trying to get his team to hate the Yankees, but Bobby also loves being on TV and in the popular talk of the day. The guy is a grade A media whore and always has been. Nothing describes Bobby V more than putting on a phony disguise and making himself visible enough to make sure he’s on TV for doing it.
The funny thing about Andre Ethier is he’s nothing more than a platoon player. Any team giving him everyday player money is disregarding the fact that he’s never hit lefties, his best OPS Vs LHP with more than 100 ABs in a season was .715 in 2007. Every other year has been sub .699 OPs Vs LHP. He blasts RHP, he’s been much better than Swisher against RHP over the last 3 years in fact, but as you said that is literally the only thing he does better and he’s only a year younger.
Ethier Vs LHP in 2011- .220/.258/.305
Ethier Vs LHP last 3 years- .215/.279/.329
Ethier Vs LHP in his career- .242/.302/.359
I suppose you could cite Granderson as a lefty who struggled against LHP his whole career who figured it out with coaching. I’m not betting on that again though, especially for a decent sized contract, and Granderson plays a more preeminent defensive position and does it in an above average fashion. Ethier plays RF poorly, so the risk associated with Ethier not figuring it out is greater.
If it came down to Swisher vs Ethier I’d just rather extend Swisher 3-4 years after the season, over signing Ethier to platoon in RF.
Even Curtis Granderson showed signs of hitting lefties that Ethier really never has. A .302 OBP is unbelievably bad for such a player, and its only gotten worse. I’m in total agreement, though I think Swisher might want a contract that’ll take him to the end of his career. I don’t mind a 5 year contract, as long as the money is reasonable.
I’m actually really against 5 year deals for guys like Swisher. He’s a good player, well worth the last 3 years. I just don’t think I want Swisher around at age 35-36 manning RF. Maybe you hope that by the last year or two DH is open and his OBP skills are still high, which they should be. There just really doesn’t seem to be any reasonable options for RF next year outside of Swisher or a trade. I’d love a 3 year deal but I know that’s not happening, someones giving likely giving him 5 years.
Also are we extending Swisher 5 years and then a year later giving Granderson 5 years? Granderson would probably want a bigger deal than Swisher, in either total dollars, years, or both. I like this outfield right now, it’s great, but I don’t think it’s smart to commit to 2/3 of your OF until they’re in their mid 30′s.
I’d prefer Upton really, and while a 5 year deal to Swisher wouldn’t be my favorite move, I could understand it. The Yankees would get some sort of benefit in AAV taking on such a long contract, and I don’t foresee a big problem with him playing a poor right field defense in 5 years, as long as he’s swinging the bat. His versatility helps a tad too.
In regards to Granderson, I don’t think he’ll be on the team after 2014. Competing in the 2014 market to sign one of Granderson or Ellsbury will kill any hopes of a budget, since we know Cano will be the first one to be resigned. Hopefully one of their outfield prospects will be ready at that point.
Upton is the best overall OF option for sure, in that scenario you are moving Granderson to RF. That would easily be the best defensive OF in baseball and it’d have 100+ steals a year too. Upton’s still young so a 5 year deal would be in order, not sure on his price tag though, less than Swisher I would think. I don’t think the Yankees are going to go that outside of the box though and have 3 center fielders starting.
Swisher’s defense is OK but he’s nothing special, I would expect that he’s going to be below average on defense most of that contract.
I still think the best option with Curtis is to pick up 2013 option and trade him. If he has a year even close to the year he had in 2011 his trade value will be sky high, even with 1 year of control left. I just have this feeling they’re going to try and re-sign him for 5-6 years.
Just an FYI, this is the link for the right Daniel Lopez.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=lopez-003dan
Oh thanks. Those links appear automatically, so thanks for catching that.
NP. Lopez is a good candidate to break out, his .843 OPS isn’t mind-boggling, but great speed (22/25 on SB attempts), .300+ hitting with discipline, a handful of OF assists…all in his first taste of baseball in the states.