The LoHud Yankees Blog

Maybe it’s not quite a daily occurrence, but there is certainly no free agent who has sparked more Yankees discussion this winter than Johnny Damon.

Hideki Matsui signed with the Angels, and that sparked a solid week of conversation (and still generates the occasional impassioned comment). There was some prolonged excitement about the possibility of Ben Sheets or Justin Duchscherer coming to New York. Matt Holliday was a rather lengthy pipedream. Xavier Nady’s name still pops up now and then. Jose Molina might as well be playing professional badminton for all the talk he’s generated.

Then there’s Damon, the one player in the bunch who Brian Cashman has all but said the Yankees are not interested in bringing back.

But … you never know, and fans aren’t the only ones who still see Damon-back-to-the-Bronx as a possibility. There are plenty of writers and broadcasters who are writing and saying the same thing.

For now, the latest team connected to Damon is Detroit. Now that the Tigers have signed Jose Valverde to solidify the ninth inning, they are said to be shifting their focus to the lineup. With Damon, Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez, the Tigers could create a solid DH/OF rotation among some veterans.   

Of course, the Braves are also still closely linked to Damon. Atlanta has enough outfielders to fill the lineup, but adding Damon would give them Damon in left, Nate McLouth in center and Matt Diaz in right. That would leave Melky Cabrera as a strong fourth outfielder, Eric Hinske as a four-corners utility man and give prospect Jason Heyward some time in Triple-A (where he has just 24 at-bats in his career, most of them in last year’s International League playoffs). 

The Yankees other outfield options haven’t changed much. Brett Gardner remains the front-runner for left field, while the free agent market still offers Nady, Reed Johnson, Randy Winn, Marcus Thames, Jerry Hairston Jr. and plenty of others.

Just a friendly reminder from the LoHud Yankees Blog…

Yankees spring training tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. ET over at the Yankees official site. For those of you who have never been to spring training, I highly recommend it. George M. Steinbrenner Field is a cool place to watch all sorts of baseball, including the occasional bullpen session and maybe a bit of batting practice on the side field.

If you can’t get a ticket to Tampa, the Yankees are playing three spring games against the Phillies in nearby Clearwater, and that’s also a terrific place to watch a game (my first three spring trainings were spent around that park). 

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While you’re waiting to order tickets — or just killing time in the office — let me recommend the latest Dirk Hayhurst entry at Baseball America. Hayhurst never says exactly who he’s writing about, but I think you’ll be able to guess.

On this date last year, the Yankees released their list of non-roster invitees. So far this year, a few names have leaked out, but we have yet to see a full list. Here’s last year’s group:

C Kyle Anson, INF Doug Bernier, INF Angel Berroa, C Kevin Cash, OF Colin Curtis, INF/OF Shelley Duncan, LHP Kei Igawa, OF Austin Jackson, RHP Jason Johnson, INF Justin Leone, OF Todd Linden, RHP Mark Melancon, RHP Sergio Mitre, C Jesus Montero, INF Eduardo Nunez, INF Ramiro Pena, C P.J. Pilittere, OF John Rodriguez, C Austin Romine and INF Kevin Russo (RHP Brett Tomko hadn’t been signed yet, and RHP J.B. Cox, RHP George Kontos and RHP Kanekoa Texeira were added in mid-February).

Of the 20 non-roster players who were initially invited to big league camp, six eventually played in the big leagues. One of them, Pena, actually made the opening day roster. Three more — including Jackson — were added to the 40-man this winter. Leone was eventually released, Linden went to play in Japan and Johnson missed much of the season with a shoulder injury.

The 2009 group of non-roster invitees was heavy on infielders, but that probably won’t be the case this season. Pena, Russo, Nunez and Reegie Corona are on the 40-man, and that doesn’t leave much room for additional non-roster infielders. We’ve already seen the names of three non-roster outfielders signed to minor league deals — Jon Weber, Reid Gorecki and David Winfree — so there’s not much room there either.

Some in-house names that should be (I’m guessing) invited to big league camp: RHP Kevin Whelan, RHP Grant Duff, OF Colin Curtis, 1B Jorge Vazquez, LHP Kei Igawa, C P.J. Pilittere, C Jesus Montero, C Austin Romine, RHP Jason Hirsh, RHP Zach McAllister. There are others, but those are the first that jumped to my mind.

Spoke too soon about no Yankees news.

Jorge Arangure Jr. is reporting that former Latin America scouting director Carlos Rios has won a lawsuit against the Yankees and been awarded nearly $700,000 in the case.

The whole thing started with accusations and an investigation into whether Rios was taking signing bonus money (he was a part of signing Kelvin De Leon, one of the team’s top young outfielders). Major League Baseball got involved and the Yankees wound up firing Rios and their Dominican Republic scouting supervisor.

“I understand (the Yankees) were pressured into this decision by Major League Baseball,” Rios told Arangure. “They handled it how they thought was correct. But the Dominican court didn’t agree. I’m no criminal.”

This news broke right around the time I added the previous post. Since it’s not directly Yankees related, I thought we’d hold off for a little while and let the MLB donation story stand.

Right-handed pitcher Josh Johnson has agreed to a four-year deal with the Florida Marlins. Jerry Crasnick reports that the contract is worth $39 million. While the deal has no direct Yankees connection, Johnson has been a much-discussed pitcher in the comments of this blog. He’s one of the best young pitchers in baseball, and there was a time it seemed he would not negotiate a long-term deal with Florida. It would be hard to blame fans for salivating at the thought of the Yankees going after him.

Whether this signing has anything to do with the recent Marlins payroll compliance issue, I don’t know.

In other non-Yankees baseball news, Jose Valverde has signed with the Tigers. Two years, $14 million.

The Yankees, meanwhile, remain fairly silent. Brian Cashman basically told us to expect this sort of quiet period, but it does make one sentimental for those freewheelin’ Winter Meetings days.

Here’s the press release.

Major League Baseball has pledged an immediate donation of $1 million to benefit earthquake victims in Haiti, Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig announced today. The donations are being coordinated through UNICEF, which is aiding earthquake victims by providing necessary supplies to assist with recovery efforts including clean water and sanitation, medical supplies and temporary shelter. The contribution is being made on behalf of Major League Baseball, its 30 Clubs, MLB Network and MLB.com.

“Major League Baseball believes it is crucial to help the Haitian community in this time of need,” said Commissioner Selig. “It is difficult for us to imagine the catastrophic toll this earthquake has taken on the people of Haiti, a land not far from the United States. We hope this contribution will help aid in the relief efforts and we encourage our fans to make a donation as well. Our heartfelt condolences go out to all who have been affected by this unimaginable natural disaster.”

“This generous donation from Major League Baseball will help save the lives of Haitian children,” said Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF. “The people of Haiti urgently need food, fresh water, shelter and medical supplies, and the first days are crucial.”

“This contribution could not come at a more critical moment for the children of Haiti. MLB’s generosity will enable UNICEF to immediately purchase the supplies we need to prevent a second wave of death and suffering, caused by disease and lack of sanitation,” said Caryl M. Stern, President and CEO, U.S. Fund for UNICEF. “We were powerless to prevent Tuesday’s occurrence. However, we do have the power to help our neighbors in Haiti shape their future. We are extremely grateful to MLB for believing in the future of Haiti’s children.”

In addition to the $1 million donation, Major League Baseball has launched an effort to encourage fans to help in the relief efforts as part of its continuing “Going Beyond” campaign to help those in need throughout the global community.

MLB Network will air public service announcements encouraging fans to make donations aiding Haitian relief efforts. MLB.com also will support the relief efforts with editorial coverage, social media outreach and prominently-displayed links to UNICEF where fans can make contributions online.

A few winter ball updates.

• 1B Juan Miranda is batting .265 (9-for-34) with eight runs and two doubles in 11 playoff games with the Tigres Del Licey of the Dominican Winter League… Entered Wednesday’s games ranked first among all DWL postseason hitters in on-base percentage (.436) and eighth in batting average (.300). Those numbers went down after an 0-for-4 on Wednesday… Finished the regular season batting .409 (18-for-44) with five doubles, two home runs and 11 RBI in 13 games with the Tigres.

• INF Ramiro Pena has appeared in eight playoff games (entering Wednesday) with the Tomateros de Culiacan of the Mexican Winter League, batting .480 (12-for-25) with one home run and four RBI… Entered Wednesday ranked first in the league in postseason batting average and hits… Hit .247 (21-for-85) with three doubles and four RBI in 26 regular season games with Culiacan… Looks like he has exclusively played shortstop this winter.

• Minor league 1B Jorge Vazquez, also with the Tomateros, finished the regular season batting .252 (31-for-123) with 11 home runs. Vazquez was tied for the sixth-most home runs in the league. He reached that number in 32 games. Everyone else in the top six played at least 52 games. Most played at least 64 games. Point is, Vazquez can hit some home runs.

• RHP Edwar Ramirez has pitched only five times in the Dominican Winter League… He allowed one run in 2.2 innings during the regular season. In two postseason appearances, he allowed two runs on six hits through an inning and a third. For those of you scoring at home, that’s a 13.50 ERA.

• RHP Romulo Sanchez in the Venezuelan Winter League playoffs: Five games, 0-3 record, 16.20 ERA, opponents batting average of .444. Yikes. Who was that writing kind things about Sanchez on the blog a few weeks ago? That must have been Sam. Surely it wasn’t me.

• One of the infielders recently added to the 40-man, 2B Reegie Corona is hitting .300 in three Venezuelan Winter League postseaon games with Navegantes del Magallanes… That’s after Corona hit .317 with 17 doubles in 44 regular season games… He played almost all of his games at second base, with four games at third and one at shortstop.

• Some recent organizational additions… OF Reid Gorecki finished the Mexican Winter League regular season with a .250 average, five home runs and 17 stolen bases (fourth most in the league). He played all three outfield positions… Also in the Mexican Winter League, OF Jon Weber is hitting .342 in the postseason. He hit .396 with seven home runs in the regular season. All of his time has come in left field… In the Dominican Winter League, RHP Zack Segovia had a 0.71 regular season ERA, converting six of seven save opportunities.  

• Minor league RHP Josh Schmidt, with the Aguilas del Zulia of the VWL, went 2-5 with a 3.58 ERA (30ER, 75.1IP) in 16 regular season games (13GS)… Ranked first in the league with 71 strikeouts, second in innings pitched and fourth in WHIP (1.22)… One of only two VWL pitchers to have recorded a complete game during the season with his seven-inning, 10-strikeout shutout of the Cardenales de Lara on 11/24 (1H, 3BB).

• 3B Marcos Vechionacci became a six-year free agent this winter, but I’ll still point out that he had a game-winning, three-run home run in the 12th inning of a VWL postseason game on Tuesday.

Melky Cabrera has avoided arbitration with the Atlanta Braves, agreeing to a one-year, $3.1 million deal. That’s more than twice what Cabrera made last season with the Yankees ($1.4 million).

In other Yankees-related news out of Atlanta, the Braves are said to still be pursuing Johnny Damon. Cabrera, Damon, Mike Dunn and Eric Hinske to Atlanta? Apparently it’s possible.

Oh, and don’t put Jerry Hairston Jr. in pinstripes just yet. This story says the Padres are mildly interested in Jermaine Dye but seem more likely to sign either Hairston or Randy Winn.

It seems at least one of the Molina brothers will be playing in New York next season.

While Jose Molina remains on the free agent market, the Bengie Molina is reportedly close to a two-year deal with Mets. That would be the Mets second significant offensive addition of the winter. Jason Bay, of course, was the first. The Molina news came just news of Carlos Beltran’s knee surgery that likely make him unavailable for the start of the season.

The Mets already have Henry Blanco, Chris Coste and former Yankees minor leaguer Omir Santos to compete for the backup catching role.

One other signing that broke late last night: Reliever D.J. Carrasco has agreed to a minor league deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are also reportedly close to signing Octavio Dotel. Carrasco is coming off a solid season with the White Sox, but this doesn’t seem to be a great market for relievers.

I’m not sure earthquakes are discussed too often in the New York area, but growing up in Southeast Missouri — right along the New Madrid fault line – I remember learning about earthquakes from the time I was in elementary school. I’ve felt some small ones, but the idea of a big one is terrifying. The more I read, see and hear about the earthquake that hit Haiti, the more fortunate I feel that New Madrid was never rocked while I was in Missouri.

Good job by the Yankees, who have announced that they are donating $500,000 to support rescue and relief efforts in Haiti. 

“The catastrophic event has devastated an entire nation and will have far-reaching effects in the worldwide Haitian community,” the team wrote in a press release. “The Yankees hope their donation will inspire people throughout the United States to do everything they can to aid the people of Haiti in their time of need.”

A few more notes from today…

• Yankees spring training tickets go on sale Friday morning (I’m sure this won’t be the only time we mention it).

• The Red Sox have signed Brian Shouse. His splits against lefties were solid last season. Not a bad addition for a minor league deal.

• You never, ever want Will Carroll to tweet this information about your team: “Big news pending for mets. Doesn’t sound good.” Yikes. Rumor is that Carlos Beltran had knee surgery. Double yikes.

• Utility man Khalil Greene signed with the Rangers.

• Remember Derrick Turnbow? Apparently he’s auditioning for 16 clubs.

UPDATE, 10:17 p.m.: Yep, knee surgery for Beltran. Expected to return to baseball activities in 12 weeks. By the way, Will Carroll called this at the end of last year. That guy knows his stuff with injuries.