The LoHud Yankees Blog

The Yankees have officially announced the Mark Prior signing, and they’ve added a list of spring training invitations that includes a few new players who have agreed to minor league deals. I’m a big fan of the Doug Bernier signing. He didn’t hit with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2009, but the coaching staff loved the guy, and he can really play some defense. If it’s only for help at Triple-A, he’s a good guy to have in the organization. Here’s the press release.

The New York Yankees today announced they have signed seven players to minor league contracts with invitations to Major League spring training, including right-handed pitcher Mark Prior.

Prior, 30, was originally selected by the Yankees in the first round (43rd overall pick) of the 1998 First-Year Player Draft, but instead chose to attend Vanderbilt University. He was later selected by the Chicago Cubs as the second overall pick of the 2002 First-Year Player Draft. He owns a 42-29 career record with a 3.51 ERA (657.0 IP, 256 ER) in 106 Major League starts over parts of five seasons with the Cubs (2002-06). In 2003, Prior went 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA and was selected to the National League All-Star team, placing third in the N.L. Cy Young Award voting. He last appeared in the Majors in 2006 and has missed the last four seasons recovering from shoulder surgeries performed in 2007 and 2008.

In August 2010, the San Diego, Calif., native signed with the Orange County Flyers of the independent Golden Baseball League, where he did not allow an earned run in nine relief appearances (11.0IP, 5H, 1R, 0ER, 5BB, 22K). In September, he signed with Triple-A Oklahoma City—a Texas Rangers affiliate—where he tossed 1.0 scoreless inning in relief (2H, 1BB, 2K).

RHP Brian Anderson, 28, saw his first action as a pitcher in 2010, combining to make 14 appearances (four starts) with the ASL Royals, Single-A Burlington and Triple-A Omaha (0-0, 2.08 ERA). Originally drafted by Chicago-AL in the first round (15th overall pick) of the 2003 First-Year Player Draft, Anderson converted to pitcher following the 2009 season, having spent the first seven seasons (2003-09) of his professional career as an outfielder in the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox organizations. He has appeared in 355 career Major League games as a position player, batting .227 (181-for-799) with 108 runs, 47 doubles, 22 home runs and 80 RBI.

INF Doug Bernier, 30, will attend his second spring training with the Yankees after also being signed as a non-roster invitee in 2009. Bernier has played in two Major League games in his career, going 0-for-4 with Colorado in 2008. In 69 games with Triple-A Indianapolis in 2010, Bernier hit .240 (48-for-200) with 14 doubles, one home run and 15 RBI. Originally signed by Colorado as a non-drafted free agent in 2002, he owns a .238 (576-for-2,420) career minor league batting average with 101 doubles, 12 triples, 20 home runs and 239 RBI in 809 games.

RHP Buddy Carlyle, 33, spent the 2010 season pitching for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s Pacific League, going 0-3 with a 4.88 ERA in seven appearances (27.2IP, 35H, 18R, 15ER, 11BB, 14K, 2HR). He last appeared in the Major Leagues in 2009, pitching with Atlanta and going 0-1 with an 8.86 ERA (21.1 IP, 21 ER) in 16 relief appearances. In 104 career Major League appearances (27 starts) with San Diego (1999-2000), Los Angeles-NL (2005) and Atlanta (2007-09), he is 11-11 with a 5.61 ERA (245.2 IP, 153 ER). Carlyle was originally selected by Cincinnati in the second round of the 1996 First-Year Player Draft.

LHP Neal Cotts, 30, was originally selected by Oakland in the second round of the 2001 First-Year Player Draft. He owns a 10-12 record with a 4.63 ERA (256.1 IP, 132 ER) in 284 appearances (five starts) over seven Major League seasons (2003-09). Cotts was signed by Pittsburgh to a minor league contract and invited to spring training in 2010, but missed the entire season recovering from “Tommy John” surgery performed in July 2009.

C Gustavo Molina, 28, spent the majority of the 2010 season with Triple-A Pawtucket, batting .241 (27-for-112) with eight home runs and 18 RBI in 35 games. He also played in four games with Boston, going 1-for-7 (.143). Molina has played in 23 career Major League games with Chicago-AL (2007), Baltimore (2007), New York-NL (2008) and Boston (2010), making 11 starts at catcher. The Venezuela native was originally signed by Chicago-AL as a non-drafted free agent on January 3, 2000.

LHP Andy Sisco, 27, made 48 relief outings for Double-A Richmond in 2010, going 4-4 with one save and a 4.32 ERA (66.2 IP, 32 ER). In 151 career Major League outings with Kansas City (2005-06) and Chicago-AL (2007), he has gone 3-9 with one save and a 5.18 ERA (147.2 IP, 85 ER). Sisco was originally drafted by Chicago-AL in the second round of the 2001 First-Year Player Draft.

In anticipation of the inevitable pipe-dream trade suggestions that will follow the Cliff Lee signing — many of which are already floating through the comments of this very blog — I started working this afternoon on a list of every top-of-the-rotation starter in baseball. Not prospects or solid veterans, but guys who could legitimately step into the Yankees No. 2 spot behind CC Sabathia, filling the spot Lee was supposed to occupy. Phil Hughes upgrades, essentially.

I’m still going through team-by-team, but I paused when I got to the Indians and saw Fausto Carmona’s name.

I hadn’t thought much about Carmona this winter, but the Indians stink and Carmona’s contract is reasonable. Just as I was writing a few sentences about him, Jon Paul Morosi reported that Carmona is generating significant interest.

Back in 2007, Carmona seemed to be on the verge of a big career. Then he came crashing back to Earth with terrible numbers in 2008 and 2009. Last season was a big bounce-back year for him. He’s not a sure thing – Hughes might very well outpitch him next season — but Carmona is owed a little more than $22 million for the next three seasons combined, and that third season is an option year. Given the going rate for pitchers, that’s not bad.

The Indians don’t need a catcher, but they could certainly use some upper-level pitching, and the Yankees have plenty of that. Morosi says the Indians aren’t actively trying to trade Carmona, but they’re willing to listen.

Just a guess, but I’d say he’s a more reasonable trade target for the Yankees than someone like Zack Greinke or Felix Hernandez.

In the wake of the Cliff Lee signing, the crew over at MLBTradeRumors posted a poll question asking, who is the top remaining free agent? Of their seven candidates, only one or two seem to fit for the Yankees.

Adrian Beltre
The most complete player left on the market obviously doesn’t fit for the Yankees. The last thing the Yankees need is an everyday infielder. Beltre would be a defensive upgrade and a nice boost to the lineup, but he just doesn’t fit with Alex Rodriguez at third base and Jorge Posada at DH.

Vladimir Guerrero
Put up big numbers last year, but he proved in the World Series that he’s a bad idea in the outfield. Might be worse than Marcus Thames. Even on a short-term contract, it’s hard to imagine the Yankees going after this sort of DH-only kind of player.

Magglio Ordonez
Consistently productive hitter when he’s healthy, but he turns 37 in January and had season-ending ankle surgery last season. It’s a recurring theme on this list that a lot of the top available hitters are going to need significant time at DH, and that spot is pretty full for the Yankees. If the Yankees had reason to trust Ordonez to stay healthy, he might be an outfield option — with an eye on a trade — but he’s a significant risk.

Carl Pavano
For every other team in baseball, Pavano is the best available starting pitcher. For the Yankees, though, Pavano is a hard sell and the best pitcher still on their radar is the next name on this list.

Andy Pettitte
The two sides would still have to figure out a contract that works for both, but ultimately this seems to be a matter of Pettitte simply making a decision about retirement. If he wants to come back, the Yankees will gladly take him back. Cashman said yesterday that he still doesn’t know what Pettitte is going to do.

Rafael Soriano
I have no idea whether the Yankees would be willing to pay Soriano closer money, and I have no idea whether Soriano would be willing to accept an eighth-inning job, but he would certainly make the Yankees bullpen significantly better.

Jim Thome
Put up impressive numbers last season, absolutely crushes right-handed pitching and he has a terrific reputation as a clubhouse guy. But it’s been three years since Thome played the field, and the Yankees are clearly not in the market for a designated hitter.

Associated Press photos

Still no official announcement from the Yankees, but Buster Olney says the physical is done and the Russell Martin signing should become official soon.

Given Martin’s hip issues, the physical wasn’t exactly a given. He’s expected to get roughly $4 million.

At some point during last week’s Winter Meetings, I told a friend that — for the time being — the Yankees were the most falsely interesting team in baseball. They were at the heart of the game’s biggest ongoing story, but that story was the same day after day.

The Yankees were interested in Cliff Lee. They were talking to Cliff Lee. Oh my gosh, they were making Cliff Lee an offer!

Derek Jeter’s press conference changed the tone for a while, but even at Jeter’s press conference, Brian Cashman answered a series of Lee questions. Back at the meetings themselves, when he wasn’t talking about Lee, Cashman was talking about the “wide net” he had cast into the free agent and trade markets.

Turns out, we should have focused on the net.

“You have to be in a position to still know what the trade market is,” Cashman said yesterday. “What the available free agent market is, the prices attached to that, the requests, and match it up to what your budget is.”

Now that the story has changed, it’s time for Cashman to begin looking into that net to find the pieces that fit.

“There are definitely pitchers out there available,” Cashman said the day before he left Orlando. “And I know that we can line up with teams because of the deep farm system I think we have, and I think people recognize that. There are some players that are available on the trade market.”

Around here, it’s hard to see the Cliff Lee signing as anything but a punch to the Yankees gut, but there’s another side to this story. What’s taking place in Philadelphia is impressive, and Jayson Stark did a nice job writing about the Lee signing from the Phillies side.

I appreciate any story that includes this quote: “Holy [colorful adjective] [colorful noun].”

Brian Cashman wasn’t quite as colorful in his Phillies assessment, but he made the key point.

“They have evolved into one of the more premier franchises, and that’s a credit to Dave Montgomery,” Cashman said during this afternoon’s conference call. “It’s an attractive place to play. It’s healthy competition, and it’s good for baseball.”

Not a lot of “mystery teams” end up with the top free agent on the market. The Phillies made it happen. Give credit where it’s due. It’s a heckuva signing.

A few other links:

• Cool post over at MLBTradeRumors about the lessons of the Lee signing.

• Even before Lee signed, Jack Curry was already reporting that the Yankees did not consider Zack Greinke to be a legitimate Plan B. I talked to quite a few Yankees officials today, and one of them suggested it’s more likely the team will mix and match a few different upgrades rather than try to find a Lee replacement.

• The A’s have finalized their Hideki Matsui signing. He’ll get one year and less than $6 million.

• Austin Kearns is on the Diamondbacks radar, according to Jon Paul Morosi. So is former Yankees outfielder Xavier Nady.

• Jerry Crasnick says the Rangers have discussed signing Chien-Ming Wang.

• The Mariners have signed Royce Ring to a minor league deal. When it rains it pours, huh?

• Former Yankees prospect Dioner Navarro has signed with the Dodgers.

Associated Press photo

Just confirmed the Jerry Crasnick report that the Yankees have agreed to terms with Mark Prior on a minor league deal.

It’s hard to expect much from Prior, but it’s easy to hope for quite a bit. Obviously there’s very little risk in a minor league deal, and even if Prior can’t help the Yankees out of spring training, there’s always the chance he could get some things straightened out with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and become a solid mid-season addition.

Given the state of the rotation, having Prior in the mix certainly can’t hurt.

UPDATE, 6:46 p.m.: Jon Heyman says Prior will get $750,000 if he’s in New York, and he could make another $750,000 in incentives.

The Yankees just made the Mariano Rivera signing official. Here’s the press release.

The New York Yankees today announced they have signed right-handed closer Mariano Rivera, the American League’s all-time saves leader, to a two-year contract.

Rivera, 41, owns 559 career saves, the most in franchise history and the second-most all-time behind Trevor Hoffman (601). His 394 saves over the last 10 seasons are the most in the Majors, while his 978 career appearances are the most-ever by a Yankees pitcher and place him in 17th place on Baseball’s all-time list. Among pitchers with at least 250 save opportunities, Rivera’s 89.3 percent career conversion rate (559-for-626) is second-best all time, behind only Minnesota’s Joe Nathan (89.5, 247-for-276).

Since earned runs became an official statistic in the National League in 1912 and the American League in 1913, Rivera’s 2.23 career ERA is the second-lowest all time among pitchers with at least 1,000.0 innings pitched, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, trailing only Eddie Cicotte’s 2.20 career ERA over the span.

In 2010, Rivera was 3-3 with 33 saves (in 38 opportunities) and a 1.80 ERA in 61 relief appearances for the Yankees. It marked the eighth consecutive season he reached the 30-save plateau (since 2003) and the 13th time in his last 14 seasons (1997-2001, 2002-10), surpassing Trevor Hoffman (12) as the only pitcher in Major League history to record at least 30 saves in 13 different seasons.

An 11-time American League All-Star, Rivera has posted a sub-2.00 ERA in seven of the last eight seasons since 2003. From 2008-10, Rivera became the only pitcher in Baseball history to record at least 60 appearances and a sub-2.00 ERA in each of three consecutive years after the age of 35. He has pitched in at least 60 games in 13 different campaigns, tying Mike Stanton for the most such seasons all time.

Rivera’s 42 postseason saves—18 in the ALDS, 13 in the ALCS and 11 in the World Series—and his 94 postseason appearances, are all Major League records, while his 0.71 ERA (139.2IP, 11ER) in postseason play is the lowest all time (minimum 30.0IP). He was part of his fifth World Championship team in 2009, recording the final out in each of the Yankees’ three clinching wins en route to the club’s 27th World Championship. Rivera has allowed just 1ER over his last 23 playoff appearances (30.0IP, 0.30 ERA) since the 2005 ALDS vs. the Angels.

The Panama native was originally signed by the Yankees as a non-drafted free agent on February 17, 1990, and is currently the longest-tenured Yankee (15 yrs, 105 days).

Associated Press photo

Amid one report that the Rangers tried and failed to make a trade for Matt Garza last night, Brian Cashman this afternoon preached nothing but patience. He’s been using that word a lot this winter, and he seems to believe it’s as prudent as ever in the wake of Cliff Lee’s signing with Philadelphia.

“I think the first phase of this will be people trying to test us a little bit,” Cashman said. “The price tags are going to go up a little bit to see if we’ll bite because they’re going to sense blood in the water. I assure you we’re going to take patience. We’re going to pursue what we think makes sense. If it doesn’t, we’ll wait and we’ve got a good team.”

It’s easy to look back at this and think the Yankees should have been more aggressive this winter, but as I’ve written several times, it’s hard to find a completed signing or trade that made sense at the time. Nothing fit the Yankees quite the way Cliff Lee fit the Yankees.

“I’ve said he was worth waiting for,” Cashman said. “That is true. He was worth waiting for even though he’s not going to come here.”

There will obviously be plenty of second guessing in the coming days and weeks — and months — but I don’t look back and find anything the Yankees did wrong. They knew what they wanted, and they went after it. Lee also knew what he wanted, and he went after that.

Patience didn’t work, but that doesn’t mean it was the wrong approach.

“The one thing The Boss has taught me personally is the fact that you have to get in the arena and fight,” Cashman said. “Sometimes you win the fight, sometimes you lose the fight, you get knocked down and you have to pick yourself back up and keep fighting. The Boss is a fighter, the Yankees are fighters and I’m going to keep working. We’re not down and out at all.”

Associated Press photo

For every other team in baseball, the best starting pitcher still on the free agent market is probably Carl Pavano. For the Yankees, that might not be the case. For the Yankees, there is still the possibility of Andy Pettitte.

“He’s in a position right now where he has to decide whether he wants to play or not,” Brian Cashman said. “Really, that has to come first. He knows if he puts himself in play, that we’d love to talk to him, but he’s got to go through that process.”

Cashman said the Pettitte situation has not changed since the Winter Meetings. Pettitte has told the Yankees to move forward as if he’s not going to pitch, but he has not settled on retirement and the Yankees are still think there’s a chance he’ll come back.

“He has not officially retired,” Cashman said. “He has not officially decided to play either. We’re focused on the available marketplace, and he hasn’t put himself in that marketplace. I don’t wake up today with the Cliff Lee decision having to make a phone call to Andy because, regardless of whatever Cliff was doing, it doesn’t affect whatever Andy is going to do.”

Associated Press photo