The LoHud Yankees Blog

The Yankees have made their first 40-man moves of the offseason.

Chad Gaudin and Royce Ring were both outrighted to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, removing them from the 40-man roster. Gaudin immediately elected free agency.

Filling one of those spots is toolsy outfielder Melky Mesa. Mesa would have been eligible for free agency had he not been added to the 40-man, hence this move being made immediately before other players are protected from the Rule 5.

Last winter, the Yankees added seven minor leaguers to the 40-man roster. If I had to guess, I’d say it will be closer to four or five this winter.

Of the players eligible for the Rule 5 draft, only Dellin Betances and Brandon Laird jump out as guys who absolutely need to be protected. Beyond that, each addition is likely to depend on how many roster spots come open and how highly the Yankees think of some of their lower-level players.

This post is not an attempt to list every Yankees minor leaguer who’s eligible for the Rule 5 draft. These are simply some of the names who jumped out to me as leading candidates at various positions. My friend Donnie Collins has a more comprehensive list.

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Pitchers: Wilkins Arias, Dellin Betances, Jairo Heredia, Craig Heyer, Alan Horne, George Kontos, Adam Olbrychowski, Jonathan Ortiz, Lance Pendleton, Ryan Pope, Pat Venditte, Kevin Whelan, Eric Wordekemper

Betances (right) is the no-brainer of the group. He’s a huge talent who seems to be finally healthy, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could pitch his way to New York as early as next season.

Heredia is also a pretty big talent, but injuries have held him to only 39 innings above Low-A. The Yankees took a chance on getting the young and raw Ivan Nova through the Rule 5 in 2008, and that worked out. They took no such chances with Hector Noesi last year. The Yankees have to make a similar decision on Heredia this year.

Beyond Betances, the names that standout most are Arias, Pendleton and Pope. Arias is the only lefty on the list, Pendleton is coming off a nice year in Double-A (he finished in Triple-A) and Pope was invited to big league camp this spring then got an Arizona Fall League assignment this offseason. Heyer is also in the Fall League. Those Fall League assignments suggest the Yankees like the potential of Heyer and Pope, but one year ago Zach Kroenke, Grant Duff and Colin Curtis were all sent to the Fall League, but each was still left exposed to the Rule 5.

Horne and Kontos would be much more prominent in this discussion if not for injuries. Kontos is pitching again, but after a solid regular season, he’s struggling in Arizona.

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Infielders: Brandon Laird, Jose Pirela, Brad Suttle

Laird (right) was terrific this season. He can already play the infield corners, now he’s in the Fall League learning to handle the outfield. He seems like a lock.

Pirela is the biggest name of a few small-name middle infielders who are eligible. He’s never played above Class A, and the Yankees already have quite a few middle infielders on the roster. Suttle is an interesting case: A fourth-round pick who showed an impressive bat in college but missed all of 2009 with a shoulder injury. He started to hit in the second-half of this season, but I’m not sure he could actually stick on a Major League roster at this point.

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Outfielders: Abraham Almonte, Zoilo Almonte, Austin Krum, Melky Mesa, Damon Sublett

The top candidate here is Mesa (right). He can hit for power, he can run and he can throw. He also struck out 129 times in 121 games this season. And that was an improvement on last year’s 168 strikeouts. Strikeouts aside, Mesa can play center field and he brings a ton of tools. Beyond Laird, I’d say Mesa is the top position player worth a spot.

Of the other outfielders: Neither of the Almonte’s has played above Class-A, while Krum and Sublett hit below .230 in Double-A this season. Sublett and Abraham Almonte are converted infielders.

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Catchers: Jose Gil

No big names are eligible at catcher. Right or wrong, Gil (right) has been treated more like an organizational catcher than as a prospect. P.J. Pilittere will become a free agent this winter, but he’s not someone the Yankees are likely to consider adding to the roster, and he’s much better off finding a new organization.

Jesus Montero and Austin Romine are a year away from Rule 5 eligibility.

Is there a lesson to be learned from the San Francisco Giants?

This year’s World Series winners were barely good enough to win the National League West, and much of the lineup had to be pieced together as the season progressed, but there they were celebrating in Texas, in the same clubhouse where the Yankees season came to an end.

I guess the lesson learned is that the team you see in April can be very different from the team you see in October.

Otherwise, there was no stunning realization from these five games. There was only the reinforcement of one of baseball’s great truths: Young pitching is the highest commodity in the game. Add a terrific young hitter in Buster Posey, throw in a reliable closer with an awesome beard and mix some veteran bats into the bunch, and you’ve got a team that can win a World Series.

I would guess that in four out of five postseasons, the Yankees would advance further than the Giants. But the Giants had a team that was good enough to win, and they played very well at the right time.

“You need a tremendous lineup,” Brian Cashman said just before the World Series started. “We have it. We had variety in that lineup. We had power. We had speed. We had guys that could bunt and run. We had guys that could stick it over the fence. We had high on-base percentage guys. I believe in all that philosophy on the offensive side.

“But the bottom line is that pitching is the key to the kingdom. That’s why you’ve got to collect as much as you possibly can, and we tried to do that. I certainly believe without question, the homegrown stuff you’ve seen is a big part of this organization again… Homegrown, and then astute free-agent signings and astute trades, along with your homegrown players is the way to go. That’s what we’ll continue to do.”

I predicted five or six games. Problem is, I got the winner wrong.

Great series by the San Francisco Giants for their first World Series championship (since the move, obviously). I kept watching guys like Aubrey Huff and Freddy Sanchez, who spent so much of their careers playing good baseball on bad teams.

On a Yankees note, Rangers CEO Chuck Greenberg appologized for his remarks from earlier in the day: “Earlier today, in the course of praising the extraordinary support and enthusiasm of Texas Rangers fans, I unfairly and inaccurately disparaged fans of the New York Yankees. Those remarks were inappropriate. Yankees fans are among the most passionate and supportive in all of baseball.”

For whatever it’s worth, I really do fear the beard.

Associated Press photo

Tonight’s World Series Game 5 is all about Cliff Lee vs. Tim Lincecum. Lee trying to keep the Rangers alive. Lincecum trying to clinch a championship.

Today’s ESPN Radio interview with Rangers CEO Chuck Greenberg somehow became all about the Yankees.

“I think our fans have been great,” Greenberg said. “I think particularly in Game 3 of the World Series they just blew away anything I’ve seen in any venue during the postseason. I thought Yankees fans, frankly, were awful. They were either violent or apathetic, neither of which is good. So I thought Yankees fans were by far the worst of any I’ve seen in the postseason. I thought they were an embarrassment.”

• The ceremonial first pitch will be thrown by Ferguson Jenkins.

• Charley Pride will sing the National Anthem. In the late 50s, Pride actually played for the Negro American League’s Memphis Red Sox. Pretty cool.

• First pitch is scheduled for 7:57 p.m. ET.

RANGERS
Elvis Andrus SS
Michael Young 3B
Josh Hamilton CF
Vlad Guerrero DH
Nelson Cruz RF
Ian Kinsler 2B
David Murphy LF
Bengie Molina C
Mitch Moreland 1B

GIANTS
Andres Torres RF
Freddy Sanchez 2B
Buster Posey C
Cody Ross LF
Juan Uribe 3B
Aubrey Huff 1B
Pat Burrell DH
Edgar Renteria SS
Aaron Rowand CF

Mark Feinsand has the story: Gil Patterson will be among those interviewing for the Yankees pitching coach position.

Patterson has been a roving instructor with the Athletics. He pitched for the Yankees in the 70s and was a pitching coach in their minor league system before leaving for Oakland.

“The Yankees have always felt like home for me,” Patterson told The Daily News.

This time of year, it’s hard to know what to believe and what to dismiss from Brian Cashman. This is a time for negotiation and bargaining, and neither is helped by the Yankees general manager laying his cards on the table. On Friday, Cashman named starting pitching and left-handed relief as his primary targets of the offseason. He seemed to leave little room for a starting outfielder.

Maybe Cashman was blowing smoke. Or maybe he was, in his own way, acknowledging two facts: 1. The Yankees might not have payroll space to go after Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth, and 2. The Yankees might not have a real need for either of them.

Today, Brett Gardner won the Bill James Fielding Bible Award for left field. Gardner was picked as the best defensive left fielder in the game, not just the American League, giving him one more triumph of his breakout season as an everyday player.

I understand the appeal of Crawford and Werth — both have a track record, both have considerably more power — but given the Yankees situation of needing to sign three icons while also clearly needing to address the rotation, Gardner is more than a solid alternative. He’s a very good and very cheap option: A guy with speed, a .383 on-base percentage and one of the best gloves in the big leagues.

Gardner received 96 points, four shy of a unanimous decision. Only catcher Yadier Molina (a perfect 100 points) and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (97) had more convincing point totals at their positions. Much of that is due to Gardner’s range in the outfield, but also for his ability to throw. He doesn’t necessarily have a cannon, but his arm is strong enough. More importantly, his throws are accurate, and he closes on the ball fast enough — and releases it fast enough — that he finished with 12 outfield assists this season. Nick Swisher, who’s own throwing seemed much improved this season, said he got better in part by taking advice from Gardner.

The Yankees have a good outfield. They have a terrific defensive outfield, and if Curtis Granderson’s second-half was a sign of things to come, and if Gardner can repeat this year’s results, they’ll have a good offensive outfield as well. I understand the desire to have all the toys in the toy box, but the outfield pieces that are in place are pretty good as is.

Associated Press photo

Just a couple of notes on the coaching staff.

Kevin Long is coming back. The New York Post reports that Long will return on another three-year deal, this one likely to be raise over the $1.2-million he earned through his previous contract. This had to be an easy decision for the Yankees. Long is well liked and respected in the Yankees clubhouse, and it’s easy to praise him for some of the work he’s done with Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano.

The Yankees pitching coach vacancy isn’t likely to be filled any time soon, but Dave Eiland broke his silence over the weekend to shoot down an ESPNNewYork report that he and Joe Girardi had some sort of falling out. For whatever it’s worth, that never seemed to be the case in the clubhouse. Eiland’s role on the team never seemed to take a hit after he returned from his June absence.

Eiland still has not addressed his departure from the Yankees. I’ve known him for four years now, and frankly, I’ll be surprised if he ever talks about it.

Last night, Major League Baseball announced its Hank Aaron Award winners. The award is meant for “the most outstanding offensive performer” in each league, which sounds a lot like the Most Valuable Player award. The MVP obviously takes other things into account, but offensive numbers are usually the first thing cited when defending a choice or campaigning for a favorite.

That said, there’s very little correlation between the Hank Aaron Award and the MVP.

This year’s winners were Joey Votto and Jose Bautista. Votto is a legitimate MVP candidate in the National League, but Bautista was be an upset in the AL. The guy hit a ton of home runs in a breakout season, but it’s hard to imagine him winning the MVP ahead of Josh Hamilton or Robinson Cano. If the award is going to a non-playoff team, I’d still have Miguel Cabrera well ahead of Bautista.

Here are the past winners of the Hank Aaron Award. The names in italics were also named MVP. It’s barely 30 percent.

2009: Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols
2008: Kevin Youkilis and Aramis Ramirez
2007: Alex Rodriguez and Prince Fielder
2006: Derek Jeter and Ryan Howard
2005: David Ortiz and Andruw Jones
2004: Manny Ramirez and Barry Bonds
2003: Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols
2002: Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds
2001: Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds
2000: Carlos Delgado and Todd Helton
1999: Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa

Associated Press photo of Cano

It’s been less than a week since the World Series started, and I’ve received more than one email from Yankees fans upset at the national media’s treatment of the Giants. The Yankees are ripped for being old. The Giants are praised for being young. Why hasn’t anyone noticed the veterans who fill that San Francisco lineup?

I think it has to do with perception and importance.

The Giants do have veterans throughout the lineup, but a lot of those are placeholders. Pat Burrell is a mid-season addition. Juan Uribe and Aubrey Huff are on one-year deals. Edgar Renteria is in the second-year of a two-year deal. The Giants are built on a rookie catcher and a homegrown rotation of 20-somethings. That’s why the team seems so young, and that’s why – in the most meaningful ways – it is young.

The Yankees are kind of the opposite. They have young players, but they’re old in key spots. Closer Mariano Rivera turns 41 this month. The face of the franchise, Derek Jeter, turned 36 this summer. Cleanup hitter Alex Rodriguez is 35 with a body that is starting to show some age, and Jorge Posada is no longer trusted to catch more than two or three games in a row.

All of that overshadows the fact Robinson Cano, Phil Hughes, Brett Gardner, Dave Robertson and Joba Chamberlain are in their 20s. Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia will be 30 on Opening Day. Those are nine important parts of the roster, all born in the 1980s.

The Yankees have some youth, and they have several players in their prime, but they also have significant age at significant spots. In no way are the Yankees a young team, but I think Brian Cashman might have been onto something when he said after Game 6 of the ALCS that age won’t be a huge concern this offseason.

“I don’t think it’s as big of a problem as maybe it gets portrayed,” he said. “We’ve been transitioning from an older crew to a younger crew for a period of time now. I don’t think that’s as big of an issue as some other areas that we need to get better at.”