The LoHud Yankees Blog

If Jorge Posada wants to play again, my guess is that he wants to play for the Yankees. But, as we’ve discussed time after time, I’m not sure the Yankees have a roster spot for him.

So what’s left for the Yankees long-time catcher?

Re-writing Posada’s final chapter might require something other than pinstripes, and the free agent market might present some opportunities. The crew over at MLBTradeRumors posted this analysis of the market for catchers, and it’s telling that the first two names mentioned are Rod Barajas and Ramon Hernandez, two aging catchers, neither of whom started more than 85 games behind the plate this season.

Bottom line: Finding a good, reliable catcher is tough, and this winter’s market isn’t exactly flooded with elite talent.

Does that present an opportunity for Posada as a risk-reward signing? Could some team look at him the way the Yankees looked at Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon last winter: As a veteran who’s worth a shot in a market that doesn’t offer many proven alternatives? Could a National League team pair him with a young starting catcher, expecting Posada to catch 40 games, play first base for 40 games and provide a bat off the bench for the other half of the season? Could an American League team do the same, but with plenty of DH opportunities? At what price?

It may be that Posada’s finished, but if he wants to give it another shot, this market might provide the opportunity.

Associated Press photo

One comment grabbed my attention in Buster Olney’s blog post about rival evaluations of the Rangers and Cardinals… An American League evaluator said, “the Rangers feature the strongest 25-man roster assembled in the MLB this year.”

How do the Yankees compare to that roster?

Lineup
The Yankees outscored the Rangers this season, but only barely. The Yankees scored 867 runs, the Rangers scored 855. Both scored the majority of their runs at home — Rangers more so than the Yankees — which may be a product of two teams knowing how to construct rosters for their home park. Based on the Rangers most-used lineup, I’d guess Texas has the offensive advantage at five of nine positions.

C: Napoli over Martin
1B: Teixeira over Moreland
2B: Cano over Kinsler
3B: Beltre over Rodriguez
SS: Jeter over Andrus
LF: Hamilton over Gardner
CF: Granderson over Chavez or Gentry
RF: Cruz over Swisher
DH: Young over Posada

Clearly Beltre was outhitting Rodriguez at the end of the season, and Cruz is the choice because of his postseason success. I’ll give Jeter the nod based on his second half production. Whichever lineup you prefer, it’s not lopsided one way or the other. These are two good-hitting teams

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Rotation
By basically every measurable statistics, the Rangers had a better rotation than the Yankees this season. Granted, Texas played weaker competition in the American League West, but the statistics show a rotation that pitched more innings with a lower ERA, lower WHIP and lower opponents batting average than the Yankees. Ultimately, the Rangers rotation was deep enough that they could afford to move Alexi Ogando back into the bullpen late in the season and into the playoffs.

Game 1: CC Sabathia over C.J. Wilson
Game 2: Derek Holland over Ivan Nova
Game 3: Freddy Garcia over Colby Lewis
Game 4: Matt Harrison over A.J. Burnett

Sabathia over Wilson is a close call (Wilson definitely had a better second half than Sabathia), so is Holland over Nova (check out Holland’s second half). Games 3 and 4 are fairly easy decisions, but the Rangers would seem to have the better matchup in each game if they flipped Harrison to Game 3 and dumped Lewis to Game 4.

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Bullpen
The Rangers have the lower bullpen WHIP for the season. The Yankees have a slightly lower bullpen opponents batting average and a significantly lower opponents OPS. But the overall bullpen production is hard to judge because the Rangers didn’t really get their bullpen together until the second half when they traded for Mike Adams, Koji Uehara and Mike Gonzalez. Those three with Darren Oliver — plus Ogando available for multiple innings — give the Rangers a bullpen with Yankees-like depth.

The Yankees bullpen was outstanding in the division series, but the Rangers bullpen was just as good in the American League Championship Series. The Yankees bullpen is an absolute strength, and it’s one the Rangers can at least come close to matching. Another spot that’s not heavily favoring one team or the other.

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Bits and pieces
Each team has a key platoon player — David Murphy against right-handers for the Rangers, Andruw Jones against lefties for the Yankees — and those two have done their jobs well. The emergence of Jesus Montero obviously changes things for the Yankees designated hitter situation, but Young legitimately had  a season worth MVP discussion. And Young gives the Rangers lineup flexibility that the Yankees don’t have. Craig Gentry gives the Rangers speed off the bench; Eduardo Nunez and Chris Dickerson would do that for the Yankees.

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Obviously, you’d rather be the Rangers right now. But a straight swap of 25 players for 25 players, which roster would you rather have? Which team is best equipped to win a seven-game series against the Cardinals, the Yankees or the Rangers?

Associated Press photos

Brian Cashman still seems perfectly unconcerned about his expiring contract. He said yesterday that the team isn’t likely to make any significant moves until the end of this week’s pro scouting meetings, and today he told Brian Hoch that he’s still focused on those meetings, without much worry about his own deal.

“It’ll get done between now and Oct. 31st, I’m sure,” Cashman said. “I can’t promise, but I think that’s what everybody expects. I know it’s something that everybody has to follow. But that’s not a pressing circumstance, as far as something I’m worried about right now.”

Yesterday Cashman said only that the pro scouting meetings would take place this week. He told Hoch that the specifically begin tomorrow.

• From the Yankees media relations department: Yankees Stadium has begun it’s winter transition to a football field.

• Buster Olney tweeted about Damon Oppenheimer’s resume this afternoon. Oppenheimer is interviewing to be the Angels general manager.

• A story you never knew you wanted to read: A history of the World Series programs. It’s pretty cool; off the wall and interesting.

• It’s a few days old, but check out this Times profile of former Yankees second-round draft pick Brandon Weeden, who’s now the quarterback at Oklahoma State, having falling back into football after his baseball career never took off.

• I was never much of an autograph guy myself, but here’s a story about the guy who has the world record for autographed baseballs. His collection started with a Mickey Mantle signature.

• MLB announced the umpire crew for the World Series: Jerry Layne will serve as the crew chief with Gary Cederstrom, Ted Barrett, Greg Gibson, Ron Kulpa and Alfonso Marquez rounding out the group. This is the second World Series assignment for all but Kulpa and Gibson, who will be umpiring their first Fall Classic.

• From another MLB press release: Major League Baseball will dedicate Games One through Four of the 2011 World Series to important community causes, highlighting year-long MLB partners and initiatives including veterans and their families with Welcome Back Veterans during Game One, community service with the Roberto Clemente Award presented by Chevrolet during Game Two, youth in underserved communities with Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) and Boys & Girls Clubs of America during Game Three and advancing the fight against cancer with Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) during Game Four.

Photo from the Yankees media relations department

From The Associated Press…

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. senators and health officials are taking on a baseball tradition older than the World Series itself: chewing tobacco on the diamond.

With the Series set to begin Wednesday between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers — a team that started life as the Washington Senators 50 years ago — the senators, along with health officials from the teams’ cities, want the players union to agree to a ban on chewing tobacco at games and on camera. They made the pleas in separate letters, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

“When players use smokeless tobacco, they endanger not only their own health, but also the health of millions of children who follow their example,” the senators wrote to union head Michael Weiner. The letter was signed by Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, and fellow Democrats Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Senate Health Committee Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa.

The senators noted that millions of people will tune in to watch the World Series, including children.

“Unfortunately, as these young fans root for their favorite team and players, they also will watch their on-field heroes use smokeless tobacco products,” they wrote. Smokeless tobacco includes chewing tobacco and dip.

“It’s going to be kind of hard to ban that,” Texas Rangers pitcher Matt Harrison said. “They probably would have a big fight on their hands for that. … They can hide it a little bit better, I guess — not be doing it in the dugout and showing it where kids can watch and stuff. But I think it’s kind of like your own freedom. If that’s what you want to do, then you do it. ”

With baseball’s current collective bargaining agreement expiring in December, the senators, some government officials and public health groups want the players to agree to a tobacco ban in the next contract. A coalition including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Cancer Society and the American Medical Association has been pushing for one since last year.

“Such an agreement would protect the health of players and be a great gift to your young fans,” the senators wrote. Durbin also sent copies of the letter to the player representatives for his home state teams, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs, as well as the representative for the Cardinals, a team that draws Illinois fans from across the river in Missouri.

Commissioner Bud Selig endorsed the ban in March, but the players union hasn’t committed to one.

Weiner said in June that a “sincere effort” will be made to address the issue. Union spokesman Greg Bouris said Tuesday that since the issue is subject to collective bargaining which is currently taking place, it would be inappropriate to comment.

In Senate speech Tuesday, Durbin said, “Let’s not let the health and safety of young baseball fans across America be a bargaining chip between the major league players and the owners. Let’s win one for the kids across America.”

The first World Series took place in 1903, but chewing tobacco in the sport dates well back into the previous century, when the habit was a popular pastime in American culture, not just on baseball diamonds. Players used tobacco juice to soften gloves, keep their mouths wet on dusty fields and doctor baseballs (the juice was part of the spitballer’s arsenal until baseball banned the spitter in 1920).

Some baseball players interviewed by The Associated Press last month were receptive to the idea, but others viewed a ban as an infringement on their freedom. Baseball banned smokeless tobacco in the non-unionized minor leagues in the 1990s, and recent call-ups from the minors spoke of “Dip Police” who would come through clubhouses and cite players if they saw tobacco at their lockers, subjecting violators to fines.

The health officials from St. Louis and Arlington, Texas, asked that players in the World Series voluntarily abstain from using tobacco, in addition to calling for a permanent ban.

“The use of tobacco by big league ballplayers at a single World Series game provides millions of dollars worth of free television advertising for an addictive and deadly product,” wrote Dr. Cynthia Simmons, the public health authority for Arlington, Texas, and Pamela Walker, the St. Louis interim health director. They said that with tobacco companies banned from advertising on TV, they “literally could not buy the ads that are effectively created by celebrity ballplayers using tobacco at games.”

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says smokeless tobacco can cause cancer, oral health problems and nicotine addiction, and stresses it is not a safe alternative to smoking. Despite the risks, the CDC’s most recent survey found that in 2009, 15 percent of high school boys used smokeless tobacco — a more than one-third increase over 2003, when 11 percent did.

Prior to last year’s World Series between the Rangers and San Francisco Giants, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., called on the teams to tell their players not to use tobacco on the field or in the dugout.

Associated Press photo of Mark Reynolds

Two years later, it seems obvious that the Yankees made the right choice with Chien-Ming Wang. He’d been a steady force in their rotation for a good part of four seasons, but injuries had taken their toll, and the Yankees let Wang walk away after the 2009 season.

In the two years since, he’s pitched in 11 big league games.

But somethings are finally starting to come together for the 31-year-old. Those 11 appearances came in the final two months of this season, and Wang had a solid 4.04 ERA in those 11 starts. In his final four starts of the year, he struck out 16 and walked none. He won his last two starts and allowed just one run in six innings in his season finale.

Now Wang is looking to resign with the Nationals, the team that spent a year and a half trying to get Wang healthy again.

“I’ll try to work on my breaking ball more and hopefully get better and better again,” Wang told MLB.com in September. “Every year, we have to deal with different conditions. I hope I can have a really good year, get all my good stuff and keep myself at the best condition. I want to do my best in the future.”

In theory, Wang might be the kind of risk-reward signing that might interest the Yankees for the back of their rotation — a more familiar but slightly younger version of Freddy Garcia — but Wang seems to like the idea of returning to the Nationals and being of some value there.

Associated Press photo

As you probably know, during the offseason I like to focus on the minor league system every now and then. Today I was looking through milb.com’s end-of-the-season awards, searching for nominated Yankees. There are only a handful, none of them coming from the upper levels, but this small collection might put a few unfamiliar names on your radar.

If you’re interested, you can vote on these awards through Thursday. Go here to vote for the 2011 MiLBY Awards.

Mason Williams
Nominated: Best short-season hitter
Second in the New York-Penn League with a .349 average, Williams also led the league with 29 stolen bases and finished top 10 in hits, runs, total bases, triples and on-base percentage.  Williams was a fourth-round pick in 2010, and he’s quickly emerging as one of the most interesting players in the lower levels of the Yankees system. His athleticism has never been questioned, and this season he turned that talent into baseball results. With Slade Heathcott battling injuries and Melky Mesa struggling after last year’s breakout season, Williams might be developing into the Yankees top center field prospect. Maybe you can’t rank him ahead of Heathcott just yet, but a bit year in full-season ball could really solidify his status.

Ryan Flannery
Nominated: Best High-A reliever
Before a late-season promotion to Double-A, Flannery was a dominant late-inning reliever for High-A Tampa. He had 19 saves, a 1.24 ERA and only five walks through 43.2 innings. The numbers were similar to 2010, when Flannery allowed a .207 opponents batting average in Low-A Charleston. He was a 47th-round pick in 2008, so Flannery has never been an elite prospect, but he has a 0.995 career WHIP with a ton of ground balls and very few walks.

Branden Pinder
Nominated: Best short-season reliever
The past two seasons the Yankees have drafted quite a few college relievers who seem poised to move quickly through the system. This year, Pinder was a 16th-round pick out of Santa Ana, and he was overwhelming in Staten Island. Through 31 innings he allowed just 16 hits — a .152 opponents average — with five walks and a 38 strikeouts. He was second in the New York-Penn League with 14 saves. Full-season ball might be a different challenge next year, but that’s an impressive debut.

Abe Almonte
Nominated: Best High-A game
More of an event than a game, Almonte was singled out for a hitting streak that reached 30 games on August 29. That day he went 2-for-3 with a single and a double. Almonte went on to extend the hitting streak to 34 games before it ended in his next-to-last game of the season. The streak raised his batting average from .235 to .266 and he ended the season at .268 (he had three hits in the finale). The second baseman-turned-center fielder has long been touted for his potential, but he has yet to put up consistent results.

Staten Island Yankees
Nominated: Best short-season team
Made up mostly of players from the past two drafts — plus some international guys and a few players coming back from injuries — the Staten Island Yankees won the New York-Penn League. They were third in the league in runs scored, second in batting average and first in strikeouts (for the pitching staff). Williams was the star of the show, but hitters like Tyler Austin, Ben Gamel and even Cito Culver — who led the team in RBI despite batting just .250 — had nice seasons, and the pitching staff showed some depth with Pinder in the bullpen and Matthew Tracy serving multiple roles.

Honestly, Michael Young’s bottom-of-the-MVP-ballot season was one of the best stories in baseball this year, and now that story is gaining some traction in New York because of comparisons to Derek Jeter.

They’ve been fairly similar players — more similar than you might think, anyway — and they both had contentious offseasons battling franchises they’ve come to define.

Jeter quieted his doubters with a tremendous second half. Young reasserted his value with one of the best seasons of his career. Young did what I have to think Jorge Posada wanted to do: Came into camp with a chip on his shoulder, then became a relentless hitter who made the Rangers look silly for ever doubting him.

The Yankees are never going to shop Jeter on the trade market the way the Rangers shopped Young, and it’s hard to imagine any of the Yankees being asked to fall into a kind of everyday utility role like Young played this season, but that doesn’t mean the Yankees don’t have players capable of a Young-type told-you-so season.

These four could take next season as a challenge to prove themselves all over again.

Mark Teixeira — If the Yankees stick with their playoff lineup, with Teixeira dropped from third to fifth, their first baseman could take that as a challenge to prove he’s still an elite all-around hitter. To some extent Alex Rodriguez fits here as well, but his problems seem more easily connected to injuries than disappointment. Rodriguez just wants to stay healthy. Teixeira’s the one who wants to prove himself all over again.

Nick Swisher – I still expect the Yankees to pick up his option and let Swisher move quietly to next season, but I also expect the Internet to remain full of folks calling for Swisher to be replaced in right field. Swisher’s been a fan favorite ever since his first roll call salute. Would a big season — more importantly, a productive postseason — put him back in everyone’s good graces?

Phil Hughes – A.J. Burnett is a different situation (he’s played his way into having to prove himself again). Hughes, though, had a strong first full year as a big league starter, the had his second full year cut short by shoulder and back injuries. This winter he’s been called out of shape — to be honest, I didn’t think he looked much different than when I saw him in Scranton four years ago — and already there are plenty wondering if he’s a bust. He’s in a very different stage of his career than Young, but Hughes could certainly reassert himself after falling quickly to the margins.

Joba Chamberlain – Four years ago he was an elite rotation prospect, one of the top young pitchers in the game. Now it’s entirely possibly Chamberalain will return from Tommy John surgery to find himself relegated to middle-inning relief appearances, setting up for the late-inning trio of Rafael Soriano, Dave Robertson and Mariano Rivera. Not sure he could take that as a sign of disrespect, but he could certainly take it as motivation.

Associated Press photo

The Yankees have decided not to have Jesus Montero play winter ball this offseason. Between Triple-A and the big leagues, Montero played in 127 games this season, and he caught most of them.

General manager Brian Cashman said the Yankees will have Montero maintain his strength and conditioning, but they don’t want him to continue playing in games.

Just to answer some of the emails I’ve gotten recently: Cashman immediately dismissed the notion of moving Montero to right field. That’s just not going to happen.

A few other quick notes this morning…

• The Yankees had to give permission for Hector Noesi to play winter ball, and as part of that agreement, they stipulated that he had to be used as a starter with a certain pitch limit. “He’s in good hands,” Cashman said.

• Despite Noesi’s move to the bullpen this season, Cashman said the Yankees still view Noesi as a starter who will compete for a big league rotation spot next spring. “It wasn’t part of the plan to have him as a mopup guy or long man out of our bullpen this year,” Cashman said. “He needs to make up for lost innings.”

• Eduardo Nunez will also play winter ball this offseason, but he doesn’t have enough Major League at-bats for the Yankees to be able to dictate the terms of his use. The Yankees would like to see him play some outfield, but they can’t stipulate that. “I think it would be beneficial,” Cashman said. “I think he can play anywhere.”

• Cashman said it would be a blow to lose either Damon Oppenheimer or Billy Eppler to a GM job, but it’s ultimately good for the organization to have those sort of up-and-comers in the front office. “You’ve got to develop talent on the field as well as the front office,” Cashman said.

Both the owners and the players want a new collective bargaining agreement in place before the end of the World Series. As Ken Rosenthal explains: Announcing a new deal during the Series is a public relations jackpot, and players want the new rules in place before the start of free agency.

The two sides remain far part on the owners’ desire to institute “hard slotting” — predetermined signing bonuses — for the amateur draft, major league sources say.

However, the same sources suggest that the gulf between the sides on that issue could narrow quickly, and enough progress has occurred in other areas for an agreement during the Series to remain within reach.

The new agreement is likely to include very noticeable changes, particularly if it includes — as expected — a realignment to two 15-team leagues and a new 10-team playoff format that includes two wild cards from each league.

Check out Rosenthal’s story for a quick, easy-to-understand breakdown of what’s happening and what it might mean.

• As usual, good stuff from Buster Olney about the World Series matchup between the Cardinals and Rangers. He included this three-step process that led to such an unlikely situation:

A. The Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves in the final regular-season series to knock them out of the playoffs, creating a window for the Cardinals to get into the postseason.
B. The Cardinals then beat the Phillies.
C. The Cardinals now have home-field advantage against the Rangers in the World Series because Prince Fielder hit a monster home run off Wilson in the All-Star Game.

• From an MLB press release: “First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden will attend Game One of the 2011 World Series as part of Major League Baseball’s Welcome Back Veterans program and the First Lady’s Joining Forces initiative. MLB has dedicated Game One of the World Series to veterans and their families.”

• The Red Sox and Cubs are still trying to sort out compensation for Theo Epstein. Apparently the Red Sox at one point asked for Matt Garza as compensation. That’s aiming high.

• Does this have any impact on the offseason free agent market? The McCourts have reached a divorce settlement, which might let Frank take back full control of the Dodgers.

• Making Music magazine has a feature on Bernie Williams. “Playing music is great and fun, as long as you’re not playing in front of 500 people,” Williams said. “There’s a completely different aspect to music that has less to do with music and more with performing under pressure, and that was one thing I was able to draw from baseball… It never disappears, but you find the tools to handle it. My work was basically dealing with that on a daily basis for 16 years.”

Associated Press photo

Brian Cashman has planned a series of meetings this week, but his contract won’t be a topic of discussion. Cashman is holding his annual pro-scouting meetings this week in New York, and for Cashman, these meetings must happen before any plans are put in place.

“We’re not missing anything right now,” he said. “I’m doing my job on a daily basis… There is nothing (new) right now.”

Cashman said he might have some contract discussions with Hal Steinbrenner in the not-so-distant future, but those won’t necessarily involve a trip to Tampa. Those discussions “could be on the phone,” Cashman said.

For now, the focus is on the pro scouts who were given last week to go home, spend time with family and recharge after intense advance scouting for postseason preparation. This week is when the Yankees will begin to seriously look back and plan ahead.

“We assess ourselves,” Cashman said. “We assess our system. We assess the market that’s available to us. It’s all of it.”

Cashman wouldn’t comment on the status of CC Sabathia, but he said he has not yet spoken to guys like Eric Chavez, Freddy Garcia or Andruw Jones. He wouldn’t be ready to have those conversations until he’s finished with this week’s meetings.

Associated Press photo of Cashman talking to people who are absolutely not his pro scouts