The LoHud Yankees Blog

Former Yankees all-star Ryne Duren died at his home in Florida on Thursday. The family announced the passing today. Duren was 80 years old.

“Ryne could throw the heck out of the ball,” Yogi Berra said in a statement released by the Yankees. “He threw fear in some hitters.  I remember he had several pair of glasses but it didn’t seem like he saw good in any of them.  He added a lot of life to the Yankees and it was sad his drinking shortened his career.  I’m sorry to learn of his passing.”

Here’s the obituary from The Associated Press.

LAKE WALES, Fla. (AP) — Ryne Duren, an All-Star pitcher known for a 100 mph fastball, occasional wildness and thick glasses that created an intimidating presence of the pitcher’s mound, has died at his winter home in Florida. He was 81.

Duren died Thursday, stepson Mark Jackson said Friday.

An All-Star in three seasons, Duren played for the New York Yankees and six other teams during a big league career from 1954-65. He went 27-44 with a 3.83 ERA in 311 appearances, all but 32 in relief. He helped the Yankees win AL pennants in 1958 and 1960 and was 1-1 with a 2.03 ERA in five World Series games.

Duren was with the Yankees from 1958-61 and also played for Baltimore, the Kansas City Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Washington.

Associated Press photo

The Yankees have not exchanged numbers with any of their arbitration-eligible players, and general manager Brian Cashman said it’s too early in the process to know whether any of the current cases might be headed for an actual hearing.

“We go in to settle unless someone is asking something unwarranted,” Cashman said. “We’ll give a good faith effort to try to settle it, but if someone does something that’s out of line, we’re forced to go to a hearing. We’re not afraid to go to hearing.”

The Yankees have to reach agreements with Boone Logan, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. This is Logan’s second year of eligibility and the first for Hughes and Chamberlain. Last year Logan settled on a $590,000 deal in mid-January.

Cashman wouldn’t comment on whether he’s working toward an early agreement with any of the three.

“I wouldn’t say where I was with anyone, at any level,” Cashman said.

Associated Press photo of Hughes

Essentially taking himself out of the running for Rafael Soriano, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said this afternoon that he absolutely will not make a move that costs the Yankees their top draft pick.

“I will not lose our No. 1 draft pick,” Cashman said. “I would have for Cliff Lee. I won’t lose our No. 1 draft pick for anyone else.”

Most Type-A free agents have already signed — including Lee — but Soriano and Grant Balfour are still on the market. The Yankees have been linked to Soriano quite often, but Cashman said it’s possible to link the Yankees to just about every free agent out there. Cashman checks on the availability and asking price of pretty much everyone — “That’s my job,” he said — but those conversations don’t necessarily go any further.

“Talking about somebody doesn’t characterize a level of interest in any guy,” Cashman said. “And obviously this winter we’ve done a lot of talking.”

The Yankees most serious discussions centered on Lee. Aside from their own free agents — Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera — it was Lee who best fit the Yankees offseason needs. The Yankees made an aggressive push, but Lee ultimately settled into a deal with the Phillies. In the weeks since Lee signed, the free agent market has gone from bad to worse.

“It wasn’t strong,” Cashman said. “It’s certainly a lot less strong since (Lee) made his decision.”

What remains at the top of the free agent market is a group of designated hitters and a group of late-inning relievers. The Yankees have no spot for a DH, and they feel no need to be overly aggressive in chasing a reliever. That said, former closers Brian Fuentes and Jon Rauch are among the relievers still on the market who would not cost a draft pick.

“We’re going to show up in Tampa, and we’re going to have a team that we’re proud of,” Cashman said.

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If only because I’ve gotten a surprising number of emails on this topic… In theory, the Yankees could work out some sort of sign-and-trade scenario to land a Type-A free agent without losing a draft pick. Cashman called such a move a “legal maneuver” but also acknowledged that those sort of trades are complicated and difficult to pull off. They rarely happen in baseball.

One of the few teams in baseball with more than enough starting pitching, the Rays have agreed to trade Matt Garza to the Cubs for a collection of young players.

Headlining the prospects package is right-handed starter Chris Archer, who was just days ago ranked as the Cubs top prospect by Baseball America. Archer was touted as having two plus-plus pitches — a mid-90s fastball and a big slider — and BA suggested he could develop into either a front-line starter or a closer.

The rest of the package included SS Hak-Ju Lee (the No. 4 Cubs prospect), OF Brandon Guyer (Cubs minor league player of the year), C Robinson Chirinos (Cubs best defensive catcher who hit 18 homers last year) and OF Sam Fuld (injury prone fourth outfielder type). The Rays will also include a minor league pitcher and minor league outfielder.

That’s not a small package of players coming from Chicago, especially in terms of depth and proximity to the big leagues. If you’re wondering, yes, I think the Yankees could have matched and exceeded that package pretty easily, but it would be hard for me to imagine the Yankees sending a group like that within the division. Same with the Rays sending a player like Garza to New York. It just doesn’t seem likely.

As for the Cubs, Gordon Wittenmyer makes the case that adding Garza makes it easier for the Cubs to trade away a starter, but not from the Ryan Dempster-Carlos Zambrano crowd that might help the top of the Yankees rotation. Instead, it seems more likely that the Cubs would be willing to part with Andrew Cashner, Randy Wells, Carlos Silva, Tom Gorzelanny or Jeff Samardzija. Those five bring various levels of immediate talent and long-term upside — and one of them might be able to help the back of the Yankees rotation — but they’re not the kind of pitchers who are going to slide in behind CC Sabathia or make the Yankees no longer want Andy Pettitte.

For the Rays, dumping Garza clears some payroll and makes it easier for Jeremy Hellickson to find a spot in the Opening Day rotation.

UPDATE, 12:43 p.m.: Fernando Perez is the outfielder going from Tampa to Chicago. (tip of the hat to MLBTradeRumors)

Any discussion of the Yankees chasing Rafael Soriano might be premature. Buster Olney says the Yankees are only interested in Soriano if he becomes “absurdly cheap.” They’re not willing to overspend on a setup man.

That’s generally been Brian Cashman’s approach for three or four years. The Yankees themselves have made mistakes by overspending on setup men in the past, and the past three years they’ve proven that role that can be addressed midseason if necessary.

As for the will they, won’t they surrounding Soriano, this is the difficulty of following and covering the Yankees this offseason: Since Cliff Lee came off the board, no clear target has emerged. The Yankees have been connected to several players because Cashman has been in touch with several players, but there’s no reason to believe they’re aggressively chasing any of these names.

Cashman will keep his finger on the pulse of the free agent market — and there’s little doubt he’ll make another move or two at some point — but the only free agent who perfectly fits the Yankees needs is the guy who can’t decide whether he wants to play.

The Yankees should use the money they didn’t spend on Cliff Lee to sign Rafael Soriano. That seems to be the newest line of thinking, certainly within the fan base and possibly within the front office.

It would be a lot of money to spend on an eighth-inning guy — and I’m not as down on the in-house options as some folks — but with an aging closer and obvious room in the budget, building an insanely good bullpen makes some sense. Imagine having last season’s end-of-the-year bullpen for the entire season. That would shorten the game quite a bit.

That said — if only to look at this thing from the outside in — I can’t help wondering if that the Yankees might be at a disadvantage in the Soriano sweepstakes. Yes, Scott Boras has said Soriano would be open to pitching the eighth inning for the Yankees, but there are two bits of caution that come with that story.

1. When has Boras ever ruled out the Yankees? No matter Soriano’s preference, it’s obviously in his best interest to keep the Yankees in the mix.

2. Being open to pitching the eighth inning for the Yankees does not mean Soriano puts that job on the same level as closing elsewhere. Offered equal money to setup in New York or close elsewhere, which would he choose?

There are quite a few back-of-the-bullpen types available, but all of them could look for at least the potential to slide into the closer role. It’s already been reported that Brian Fuentes prefers a team that will put him in the ninth, and let’s face it, there are few teams with the ninth-inning more locked up than the Yankees.

Lee and Kerry Wood have already signed elsewhere simply because they preferred a different situation, not necessarily because they preferred a different offer. In wondering what moves the Yankees could make in these last few weeks of winter, the other side matters. The Yankees might have to offer a little more to convince someone to take a lesser position.

Associated Press photo

That’s a picture of Yankee Stadium being converted back into a baseball field after spending some time ready for football. Thanks to the Yankee PR staff for the photo. As usual, here are a few links from the day.

• Scott Boras says Rafael Soriano is willing to pitch the eighth inning for the Yankees. “I don’t think there is a team in baseball where he could be asked to be a setup guy other than the Yankees,” Boras told ESPNNewYork. Question is, does being willing to setup mean Soriano considers that job equal to a ninth-inning job elsewhere?

• Speaking of the ninth inning, Brian Fuentes is apparently still looking for a team that needs a closer.

• Not that he was ever a legitimate possibility for the Yankees, but it seems Carl Pavano is off the market. Ken Rosenthal says Pavano is closing in on a two-year deal with the Twins.

• If Edgar Renteria had experience at third base, I wonder if the Yankees might have become interested. Renteria seems to be on his way to Cincinnati on a one-year deal.

• The Indians made room on their roster for short-term Yankees outfielder Austin Kearns by designating Jordan Brown for assignment. Brown’s been a pretty good hitter in the minor leagues, but he doesn’t have much pop for a guy whose primary position is first base.

• Interesting story in the Times about publicly funded stadiums (or the lack of publicly funded stadiums).

• Nothing good coming out of this Alfredo Simon shooting case. It seems he might have tried to cover his tracks by changing the barrel of the gun he turned over to police. Not a good situation.

Just a few winter league statistics from the Yankees organization. As usual, there aren’t many big names playing down south this offseason, but there are a few names that might at least ring a bell.

Ramiro Pena
Mexican League
.233/.295/.308 in 33 games
Splitting his time pretty evenly between shortstop and third base, the Yankees utility infielder put up a fairly typical offensive slash line (though he did hit one homer). Truth be told, even for Pena this was a pretty slow offensive winter. He’s hit better than this the past two winters.

Eduardo Nunez
Dominican Winter League
.348/.333/.391 in seven games
Nunez bunted a ball off his face and was limited to only seven games. Last time I talked to anyone in the Yankees organization about the incident, the team hadn’t heard much but knew enough to be overly concerned. Like Pena, Nunez was getting time at shortstop and third base.

Colin Curtis
Dominican Winter League
.240/.356/.300 in 14 games
Tiny sample size for Curtis, who got all of his time in the outfield corners this winter (and probably made some pretty solid money doing it). He actually had a hit in six of his last season games, and finished with the same number of walks as strikeouts, but it’s hard to make too much out of 14 games.

Romulo Sanchez
Venezuelan Winter League
1-2, 6.89 ERA in 19 games
The hard-throwing right-hander did have 17 strikeouts in 15.2 innings, and he generated a lot of ground balls, but he also allowed a .292 opponents batting average and gave up three homers.  Not nearly as good as last year’s winter ball numbers (45 strikeouts and a .218 opponents average in 31 innings).

Jordan Parraz
Venezuelan Winter League
.306/.393/.389 in 25 games
This is the outfielder the Yankees claimed off waivers this winter. He played center field and right field this winter, and he got his hits in bunches. He had seven multi-hit games, including three three-hit games.

Jorge Vazquez
Mexican League
.346/.401/.647 in 36 games
If you don’t already know this name, you should probably store it somewhere in the back of your mind. Vazquez is a big, power-hitting corner infielder who more than held his own in Triple-A last season. He’s primarily a first baseman, but he can play third. He hit 10 homers but also struck out 41 times this winter.

Josh Schmidt
Venezuelan Winter League
5-3, 2.79 ERA in 14 games, 13 starts
There is absolutely nothing flashy about Schmidt, but this is the second winter in a row in which he’s pitched very well in Venezuela. He’s been terrific in Trenton as well, but his stuff simply doesn’t compare to the bigger name pitchers in the Yankees system. He’s eligible free agency after this season, and it will be good for him to move on.

Justin Christian
Mexican League
.356/.452/.561 in 64 games
I believe Christian is a minor league free agent, but he spent last season in the Yankees organization and has his only big league service time with the Yankees. I mention him primarily because he was absolutely dominant this winter, leading the league in hits, doubles, stolen bases, runs and extra-base hits. He fell off the map with some injury problems the past few years, but those winter league numbers are hard to ignore.

A few more…

C Gustavo Molina: .170/.207/.364 in 31 games in Venezuela
Signed as a minor league free agent this winter.

LHP Andy Sisco: 6-5, 4.04 in 15 games in Mexico
Minor league signing worked as a starter this winter.

INF Walter Ibarra: .303/.356/.387 in 56 games in Mexico
Class-A utility man did pretty well for himself.

SS Jose Pirela: .333/.387/.471 in 29 games in Venezuela
Fringy prospect hit just .180 in the Arizona Fall League.

INF Luis Nunez: .361/.425/.389 in 15 games in Venezuela
Continuing a trend, another organizational infielder with good winter stats.

LHP Wilkin Arias: 3-0, 3.21 in 17 games in the Dominican
30-year-old held lefties to a .192 average. Old for a prospect.

RHP Eric Wordekemper: 0-0, 6.05 in 21 games in Mexico
Four-run outing didn’t help. Good Triple-A numbers last year.

Associated Press photo of Pena

Just a little bit of things-could-be-worse perspective on another slow January afternoon: At least this isn’t an Angels blog.

The Yankees entered this offseason with three primary needs: Re-sign their shortstop, re-sign their closer and add a starting pitcher. The free agent market wasn’t designed to give them many options, and when Yankees missed out on Cliff Lee, they were left without an obvious alternative. That’s especially true if Andy Pettitte moves ahead with retirement.

The Angels entered the offseason in a very different situation. Their rotation was fine, but they needed help in the outfield, the infield and the bullpen. They had room for a designated hitter as well, and this free agent market actually seemed to be a good fit for them.

But the Angels — much more so than the Yankees — have missed out time after time.

Carl Crawford would have fit in an outfield with Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu, but the Red Sox won that bidding. Adrian Beltre could have solved the Angels issue at third base — Brandon Wood simply has not hit like they expected — but Beltre landed in Texas. So far, a three-year deal with Scott Downs has been the Angels most significant bullpen addition.

The Angels were a below-.500 team last season, but given the Mariners multiple problems, the Athletics weak lineup and the Rangers losses of Lee and Vladimir Guerrero, the Angels could have pushed themselves back to the top of the AL West. Instead, the Rangers improved an already good infield and the Athletics added a little bit of offense to go with their young rotation. It’s the Angels who are really scrambling, having done little to improve, despite plenty of opportunities to do so.

Associated Press photo of Beltre

For the Yankees, spring training actually provides a unique opportunity to evaluate talent. It doesn’t mean much for the veterans who have been there and done that, but for Rule 5 picks and borderline minor leaguers, there is legitimate pressure to perform. It’s a different sort of pressure than they face in Scranton or Trenton.

“It’s as close to the regular season in New York as you can simulate,” pro scouting director Billy Eppler said. “They’re going to demonstrate anything they can do. They aren’t going to hold anything back. It can be a situation where you’re getting to see these guys in a little bit more adverse setting than what is typically out there.”

The results are not necessarily what the Yankees are trying to evaluate. They’re looking for how a player attacks and how he reacts. “We’re looking more for approach and process,” Eppler said.

I asked Eppler to give me a brief scouting report on each of the two Yankees Rule 5 picks. In each case, the Yankees saw talent in the minor leagues and thought they take a look under the microscope of big league camp.

Robert Fish
The Yankees had more than one scout who was impressed by Fish. “From the left-handed aspect there could be some value there,” Eppler said. “And we wanted to get a closer look.”

Fastball: 89-94 mph, averaging 91 to 92. Can miss bats.
Curveball: Has “feel” for the breaking ball. Curve has good downward tilt and size.
Change: Slight fade action.

Needs to improve strike throwing ability, but the Yankees like that he has the ability to miss bats and get strikeouts. They especially like those things from the left side. Eppler didn’t mention this, but obviously the Yankees have their top two left-handed options. They’ve also loaded up on lefties signed to minor league deals. Like any Rule 5 pick, Fish must be considered a long shot, but the Yankees believe there’s talent there.

Daniel Turpen
This one is more about grabbing an arm that has talent and finding out how it plays. Unlike Fish, Turpen has spent all of his career pitching out of the bullpen, having done it at Oregon State and throughout the minor leagues.

Fastball: 88-94 mph, averaging 92. Good sink that generates ground balls.
Slider: His breaking ball can be a strikeout pitch. Delivery plays a role.
Changeup: Turpen has thrown a changeup in the past, but the Yankees didn’t see one in 2010.

Turpen throws strikes, and he comes with a low 3/4 arm slot that adds deception. Just like Fish, the Yankees scouting reports described Turpen as having a “large, burly build.” He’s a big guy throwing with some velocity and sink from the right side. As it stands, the Yankees seem to have six of seven bullpen spots accounted for. Turpen could find his way into the mix kind of like Jonathan Albaladejo did when he broke camp in 2008 and 2009.