Today in The Journal News
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- November
- 12
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The economy is hurting even the Yankees. But they’re ready to spend in free agency.
From a newspaper coverage standpoint, this has been an interesting winter so far. The newly interesting Knicks, the contending Jets and the status of the Giants as perhaps the best team in the NFL has dropped baseball to the back burner. The slumping economy also has cut back on space in many papers.
I’m not sure if that’s good for the baseball-reading fan or not. But it has cut down on the “Player X likes Yankees” sort of stories that were mostly useless. This probably will start to change come Friday when FAs can sign. But for now there’s a sort of calm before the storm feel.
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David Brown of Big League Stew has a funny take on what CC Sabathia might have asked Derek Jeter.
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on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 9:44 am by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
Rumors out of the DR say that Marte has signed a 3 year $12M deal. Let’s hope that’s not true.
Slow news cycle indeed. But we know where to find the most recent info. In the LoHud comments section.
If you want a good laugh, check out the web series “Back on Topps” with the twins from cheap seats. They’re trying to get back the Topps Baseball card co. their uncle sold to Eisner.
The pilot episode is a little slow, but it really picks up. Lots of cameo appearances. The episodes are short~ about 6 minutes.
http://www.hulu.com/back-on-topps
marte signed with who????????
4 million a year for Marte is a pretty good deal if true. He could probably get 5-6 per year on the open market. Marte has consistently been a good relief pitcher over several years so signing him to a 3 year deal isn’t a huge risk.
Us….mlbtraderumors.com… check it out
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/
rumor saying yankees signed him
Sox fans cheer…
MArte 3 years $12M.
The yankees have three open slots in their rotation right now (maybe 3.25 if you consider Joba’s innings’ limit…)
IMO what they do with 2 of those 3 spots is clear – go after CC aggressively and bring back Andy. As long as they don’t completely jerk around Andy he’ll be back. CC they’ll make every effort. That’s clear.
Right now, how they approach that third open spot is the really difficult issue because the directions they can go in are so different.
Bringing back Moose next season is probably the best option but of course it looks like he might retire. However, even if Moose doesn’t retire there are real concerns – he will likely regress off his 2008 performance. But an even bigger strategic concern is the intermediate term one. Moose says if he comes back for one season he’ll come back for three. But there’s no guarantee on that. There’s no guarantee the yankees would want him back next season.
So going in to the 2010 season the yankee could find themselves in a similar position next year – Andy and Moose may both be retired/ not coming back. One of those slots could go to Hughes. But how do they fill the other one? Can’t count on Kennedy. Can’t just assume other guys like McCallister will be ready.
This is an issue because the free agent crop of pitchers is particularly deep – much, much better and deeper than next years.
So making 2 free agent moves this off season could avoid the issue of losing two starters going into 2010. From here on out I think the yankees will try to introduce no more than one young pitcher into the rotation in a season. Signing 2 free agents lets you do that in 2009 and 2010.
But free agency clearly has its pitfalls both in terms of money and performance.
The difficult issue with picking betweem Burnett and Lowe is that the strengths/ weaknesses of each are almost exactly opposite.
Lowe’s biggest strength – durability/ innings. This is Burnett’s biggest weakness. Burnett’s biggest strength – he misses a lot of bats (very helpful in the AL East). Lowe – pitches to contact (yankees have a bad defense). Burnett – great stuff. Lowe – survives on his pitching skills more than stuff. Burnett – pitched in the best hitting division in baseball. Lowe – pitched in the worst hitting division in baseball.
Burnett and Lowe have very little in common as pitchers. That’s makes picking between them very difficult, and very risky. You either make the right choice and it works out or you make the wrong one. Not a lot of room in between.
Here’ an English Translation , via Google translate, of the article about Marte:
“The torch Dominican Damaso Marte agreed to three years and $ 12 million with the New York Yankees, as revealed this Wednesday to a reliable source Impactodeportivo.com.do.
Originally, the Yankees had declined an option of six million dollars for 2009.
But assuming its weaknesses in the pitcheo opener, and how useful it can be over Mars in between, have decided to detain him for three years and $ 12 million.
Mars has launched in Major Leagues with the Mariners, Pirates, White Sox and the Yankees.
For life has Effectiveness of 3.29.”
It’s a rough translation, to say the least.
Someone in the previous thread was talking about BaseballAmerica’s report on the Yankees farm system. In my opinion, they did an okay job. Their top 10 is okay but Phil Coke and Alfredo Aceves shouldn’t be anywhere on that list. I might add Brandon Laird and/or Jairo Heredia to the list rather than Coke and Aceves.
Their list of best tools is okay but there are a few glaring mistakes. The best hitter for average is Bradley Suttle? The guy who hit .270 in his first full season? I don’t see him projecting as more than a .270-.280 hitter in the majors. I think Montero has the most potential to hit for average in the majors; he’s the best overall hitter in the farm system.
Finally, BA’s 2012 lineup is a joke. Maybe their rules are to only include players that are within the franchise but theres no way Xavier Nady is our starting LF in 2012.
How useful can Marte be over Mars?
And from now on Marte will be known as the “Torch Dominican”
Why are you hoping it’s not true? Yes, a three-year commitment to a reliever is risky – but $4M a year is not a huge investment. And Marte has shown to be about as reliable as any short reliever in the game. His ERA+ for a full season has never dipped below 100 (except in his rookie campaign).
It’s a bit unlikely that Marte would have received an offer from a team with an unprotected first round pick. They could have waited to find out, but there isn’t too much downside in bringing this particular pitcher back into the fold.
This is about what I thought they would do with Marte, but I figured it would be 2 yrs/ 8M. At least they have a decent lefty in the fold for a few years. Onto the more pressing issues.
Hopefully, he isn’t the Dominican Torch! We don’t need a firestarter out of the pen.
“have decided to detain him for three years and $ 12 million.”
I think I would go to jail for three years also for 12 large! LOL!
“Hopefully, he isn’t the Dominican Torch! We don’t need a firestarter out of the pen.”
Nothing is guaranteed with a short reliever, but Marte does have history on his side – he isn’t a Farnsworth Jeckyl & Hyde routine. He’s been consistently very good – and, at times, dominating. I don’t think we should base our opinion on his based on one bad stretch of pitching.
Marte pitched well when he was used right. He got lit up only after being used more than normal. I think this is a good move for the Yankees and for Marte.
Signing CC is a no brainer. Between AJ, Sheets and Lowe, this is how I see the reward and risk in each:
AJ has top flight stuff and average command and control. When he is on, he is un-hittable. The movement on his FB to me is the biggest plus. When he is off, his stuff still gets to above average levels but the locations are off. His pure stuff is better than Sheets and Lowe factoring into the AL East competition. His command and control are below that of Sheets and Lowe. He has great swing and miss stuff to challenge a great hitting lineup. In terms of health, his delivery is very sound and appears effortless. He should be able to repeat his delivery nicely and avoid major shoulder surgery. AJ is the best reward vs. risk pitcher.
Sheets also has great stuff. Although I would rank his overall stuff a bit below AJ. His command and control are better than AJ. However, he is a max effort pitcher with out a smooth delivery. He is also not battle tested in the AL East. His FB although very good when he is healthy is very straight. Good hitters can time him. His overall health is not great especially recently. If Yankees can not get AJ, he would be the second choice to file the second rotation slot behind CC. In terms of reward and risk for Yankees, he is behind AJ.
Lowe at best is a #3 and #4 pitcher on a Championship level team. He will be 35 going to 36 I believe. His stuff is marginal at best. He does not have one pitch that can miss bats. He is very durable which is his strength. He pitches to contact and the infield defense must be great to maximize his return. His motion is easy and effortless. However, Yankees should be looking to put two strike out pitchers ahead of Wang. Lowe would be a safe bet to be a good pitcher with ERA around 4.50, IP 200 and K 120 with a potential record of 15-13.
Marte is at best to be used as a lefty specialist and no more than one inning at a time and no more than 3 days pitched in a 7 days period.
hooray for marte!
i would not get rid of bruney.
he gave up 18 hits in 34 innings,a whip of 0.99 and the league batted only 1.53 off him and he is not even 27 yrs old.