The LoHud Yankees Blog

Don’t look at me, I didn’t come up with the name of these awards, I’m just blogging about them. MLB.com calls its annual end-of-the-season honors the GIBBY Awards — Greatness In BaseBall Yearly — and the Yankees are nominated 17 times.

Click here to vote online. You can vote up to 25 times in each category, and voting ends on December 4. Here are the Yankees nominations.

Player of the Year
Curtis Granderson
There are five nominees from each league — all position players — and it’s pretty much the usual suspects. Granderson is in there with guys like Jose Bautista, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols and Matt Kemp. Hard to consider Granderson a favorite here, but he belongs in the running.

Starting Pitcher of the Year
CC Sabathia
Ten nominees, six of them from the American League. Former Yankees starter Ian Kennedy is in the mix as well. Like with Granderson in the previous category, Sabathia’s probalby not a favorite here, but he belongs in the competition.

Rookie of the Year
Ivan Nova 
Twelve nominees in this one, eight of them from the American League. Whether Nova is a favorite depends on how heavily you factor wins and second-half performances.

Closer of the Year
Mariano Rivera
Seven nominees, and Rivera is one of only two from the American League (Jose Valverde is the other). Rivera has the lowest WHIP and the second-lowest ERA of the bunch.

Setup Man of the Year
Dave Robertson 
Six candidates, two of them out Atlanta. Having watched Robertson all season, I find it difficult to imagine any setup reliever was better than he was. I’m not sure all of his escape acts really show up in the stats. By the way, the only nominee with more strikeouts than Robertson is former Yankees prospect Tyler Clippard.

Defensive Player of the Year
Brett Gardner
Mark Teixeira 
Hard to compare defensive performances from different positions, but the Yankees did land two players in the running for the award. If I had to choose one of the two, I’d probably go with Gardner. Of the 10 nominees, seven are outfielders. Of those seven, Gardner is the only left fielder.

Comeback Player of the Year
Russell Martin
Martin’s not a bad candidate, but he’s not even the most deserving Yankee. This seemed like a no brainer for Bartolo Colon, but he missed the cut.  Even with Colon in the mix, former Yankees DH Lance Berkman would still be my choice.

Wow Factor
Robinson Cano
This award goes to the most exciting player in the big leagues. There are a lot of speed guys on the list — I covered Shane Victorino for a year, and he really is a thrilling player to watch day after day — but Cano obviously makes the list for his big bat and range at second. Most deserving really depends on your cup of tea, I guess.

Manager of the Year
Joe Girardi
Those who hate Girardi won’t believe that he made the list, but the Yankees finished with the best record in the American League in a season when they were overwhelmingly expected to finish second in their own division. They lost two setup relievers, two starting pitchers, their shortstop and their cleanup man to injuries. Girardi belongs on this list.

Executive of the Year
Brian Cashman
Cashman proved he have a big impact with small contracts, and the impact of guys like Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia certainly help his case here. Of course, Kevin Towers getting the Diamondbacks in the postseason and John Mozeliak building a champion are hard to overlook.

Moment of the Year
No. 3,000 for Jeter
No. 602 for Rivera
Cano’s home run derby
Three grand slams in one game
Eight nominees, and the Yankees have half of them (they were involved in a fifth: The Rays rally on the last day of the regular season). For me, there was nothing more memorably that Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit. I’ve said before, I think I might remember more about that day than I remember about the World Series two years ago.

Performance of the Year
Jeter’s 5-for-5
In the previous category, Jeter is nominated specifically for the home run on hit No. 3,000. In this category, he’s nominated for the day as a whole. I’ll say one more time: There’s nothing I’ll remember more about this season than the day Jeter hit his 3,000th.

Fan Moment of the Year
Veteran instincts
You probably remember this one: The June game when a one-armed military veteran made a nice grab on a foul ball.

Associated Press photos

I believe it was Erik Boland who pointed it out this morning, and it’s perfectly true: Joe Girardi always seems especially excited for any sort of pregame ceremony honoring the military. Watch the dugout one night when the Yankees have some sort of military ceremony, Girardi’s always front and center.

“I think, for me, it was the impact our visit to Washington D.C. had on me,” Girardi said this morning, referring to the team’s 2010 visit to Walter Reed hospital. “You really got a true sense of the sacrifices that these young men and women have made because of the what we saw in the hospital and the injuries and the rehab that these men and women have to overcome just to have somewhat of a normal life again.

“You realize how lucky we are to live in this country, how lucky it feels to be a father of three and a husband and how safe I feel about my family walking around every day in this country. Not every place is like that, and I believe it’s because of their service.”

This morning, Girardi helped pack care packages to be shipped to military men and women overseas, and of course I’m wishing a happy Veterans Day to everyone, especially one of my oldest friends, Zac, who’s currently stationed in Iraq.

A few other notes and links from today.

• Didn’t find out about this until today, and I’ll post another mention of it tomorrow morning: Jesus Montero will be meeting fans and signing autographs at Last Licks in Scarsdale on Saturday. He’ll be there from noon until 2 p.m.

• Wilson Ramos has been found alive in Venezuela.

• Obviously Jonathan Papelbon is the big baseball story of the day. With the Red Sox closer agreeing to a deal with the Phillies, old friend Pete Abraham mentioned that the free agent market is flooded with possible alternatives for Boston, and he mentioned three in-house candidates for the job, including former Yankees long man Alfredo Aceves.

• Apparently the Marlins are ready to spend this winter. They’re moving into a new stadium next season — opening it with two games against the Yankees — and today they reportedly made significant offers to both Albert Pujols and Jose Reyes.

• Looks like utility infielder Jamey Carroll is going to the Twins. Probably no spot for him with the Yankees anyway, especially not on a two-year deal, but he’s a nice player. Don’t really know him, but I’ve always liked him for some reason.

Associated Press photo from Yankee Stadium this morning

After missing the entire season with a shoulder injury, Colin Curtis is finally back on the field in the Venezuelan Winter League. In his first three games for Aguilas del Zulia, Curtis has already seen time in all three outfield positions. It’s early — obviously — but he’s hitting .333 (3-for-9) with one double, one walk, one strikeout, one sacrifice and one hit by pitch.

He’s in that group — with Greg Golson, Chris Dickerson and Justin Maxwell — of outfielders who could play a bench role at some point next season. One difference might be that Curtis has options remaining. I’m not sure the other three do.

And yes, the Venezuelan Winter League is where Wilson Ramos was playing when he was kidnapped this week. That’s a really scary situation, obviously.

• In the Dominican Winter League, Hector Noesi made another start on Wednesday and went six scoreless innings. That’s his third straight start without an earned run, spanning a total of 17 innings. He has a 1.66 ERA through five outings. He’s struck out 14, walked five, and he’s getting more than twice as many ground outs as fly outs.

• In the Arizona Fall League, David Phelps picked up his first win in his most recent start. He allowed two runs on three hits through five innings. After a rocky beginning down in Arizona, Phelps’ past two starts have been pretty good. He’s one of those guys constantly mentioned as a possible rotation candidate next year.

• Splitting time between shortstop and third base, Ramiro Pena is hitting .364 through seven games in the Mexican Winter League. He also has a homer and as many walks as strikeouts.

• Speaking of Mexico, Jorge Vazquez continues to rake down there. He hit his ninth home run yesterday, and he’s batting .327 through 25 games. Still strikes out a ton — he already has 30 Ks — but the guy can clobber a baseball, no doubt.

• Settling in at third base in Arizona, utility man Ronnier Mustelier is hitting .340 with two home runs in 13 Fall League games. He played all over the field this season, but he’s been strictly a third baseman in Arizona.

• Infielder Corban Joseph doubled in today’s Fall League game, and he’s hit for decent power down there, but he’s batting just .221, which is kind of odd for him… Joseph’s teammate Rob Segedin — primarily a third baseman, who’s been getting all of his time in left field — is hitting .261/.370/.424 in the Fall League.

• Another scoreless inning for reliever Chase Whitley in the Arizona Fall League. His ERA is down to 1.84 with a .204 opponents batting average… Another Yankees reliever, Preston Claiborne, has allowed a run in his past two Fall League outings, but he still has good overall numbers… A third Yankees reliever in the Fall League, Dan Burawa, finally had a scoreless outing this week, but his overall Arizona numbers remain ugly.

• Trying to bounce back from a disappointing year in Double-A, 40-man outfielder Melky Mesa is hitting .389/.421/.611 through his first eight games in the Dominican… Mesa’s Double-A teammate Ray Kruml is hitting .364 through just four games in Puerto Rico… Two other outfielders, Abe Almonte and Ziolo Almonte, are both off to slow starts in the Dominican, with neither getting much playing time.

• Catching prospect Gary Sanchez, who was injured late in the year, is back on the field in the Dominican Winter League. He’s played only once.

• Switch pitcher Pat Venditte is holding lefties to a .211 average and righties to a .214 average in Mexico.

First Nick Swisher had a baseball field named after him. Now it’s Derek Jeter’s turn.

The field at Kalamazoo Central High School will be renamed after the Yankees captain following a unanimous vote by the board of education on Thursday night. According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, the board “praised Jeter’s accomplishments on the field and his philanthropy through his Turn 2 Foundation” in agreeing to the honor.

Jeter graduated from Kalamazzo Central in 1992 and was inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame in 2007. As a high school senior he hit .508 with four homers, 23 RBI, 21 walks and one strikeout in 23 games.

How cool would it be to be that pitcher who got the strikeout?

Looks like the Red Sox lost their closer.

Jim Salisbury is reporting that Jonathan Papelbon has agreed to a four-year deal with the Phillies. The deal is reportedly worth roughly $50 million.

For the sake of comparison, Rafael Soriano chose not to opt out of his contract, which pays him $25 million the next two years. Obviously a good — and easy — decision by Soriano.

Joe Girardi hadn’t addressed the media since his end-of-the-season press conference last month. When he finally spoke at Yankee Stadium this morning, Girardi didn’t provide much news — or any news for that matter — but he commented on several things going on with the team.

“I think we will try to add some (pitching) depth like we did last year,” Girardi said. “This is an organization that feels that you never have enough pitching, and that’s the way we approached it last year.”

Asked if he could see the Yankees going beyond a depth move to sign an impact pitcher, Girardi said he expects the Yankees to look into every option.

“The way I look at that is, it takes two people,” he said. “It takes our organization, and it also takes a player wanting to come here and this being the right fit for him. I’m sure we’re going to be active, but it takes two. I know we have a great things to offer here, I do know that, and I think the players that have come here have been very happy.”

A few other comments from Girardi this morning:

• On re-signing CC Sabathia: “Obviously he had the right to (opt out) in his contract. I felt that, what he has done here in the first three years, and his love for this team, I always thought he would be a Yankee, that something would be worked out. I’m glad I was right. I didn’t want to imagine life without CC.”

• On Jorge Posada: “It’s hard to imagine him in another uniform, but it’s the desires of his heart if he wants to continue to play and there’s not a spot here, I would encourage him to do it because as a player, I think you have to make sure that all of that is out of you before you decide to retire.”

• On replacing Posada: “Our DH is something that might be a rotating DH a little bit next year. I’m not sure. You’ve kind of got to see how things shake out as we get into December and January.”

• On using Jesus Montero next season: “We believe that this kid has a lot of talent. He’s a work in progress. He’s got great bat speed, and we think that he’s going to be able to provide some offense for us… You’ve got to see how a young player does and how he approaches spring training, comes into spring training and does his job. We see him as a guy that can do some different things for us. You think about how old he is, we’ve heard about Montero for so long, I think we all think he’s 24 or 25. He’s a baby, and there’s going to be some growing pains as you go through with him, but I think the kid is extremely hungry, I think he’s talented, and I think he can help us.”

• On Posada’s Hall of Fame chances: “I think he has a very good chance, I do. When you look at the catchers over the last 15 years, Jorge’s been one of the dominant catchers.”

• On A.J. Burnett: “You look at the game that he pitched in the playoffs for us and you try to feed off of that… To me it’s just trying to shorten (the amount of time) when he does get in a little rut.”

• Girardi said he could see Hector Noesi being a rotation option next season, and he also mentioned David Phelps, Adam Warren, D.J. Mitchell, Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances as pitchers who could compete for rotation spots if necessary. “If we need one, they’re all going to compete for a spot,” Girardi said.

• Girardi said the Yankees have not finished signing the coaching staff. Asked whether we should expected everyone back, he said, “I think our guys did a good job last year.” Take that for whatever it’s worth.

• Girardi has actually seen some of the Yoenis Cespedes viral scouting video. “Obviously he’s an impressive athlete,” Girardi said.

• Because he was busy with his family, Girardi said he didn’t see every inning of the World Series, but he saw quite a bit of it, including the Game 6 comeback. “I’m happy for Tony La Russa, for what he’s meant to this game,” Girardi said. “I had a chance to play under him one year – unfortunately I was hurt a lot of that year – but I was impressed with what he did and loved to pick his brain. I’m really happy for him.”

Associated Press photos

Got to Yankee Stadium much earlier than I would have liked this morning, but it’s for a good cause.

The Great Hall is full of volunteers, including David Cone and Joe Girardi, who are putting together care packages for military men and women overseas. It’s an impressive scene with a massive pile of boxes in front of a series of tables.

Girardi is addressing the media later this morning, but he said earlier that he’s stayed in the area so far this offseason. Last night he went to a Daddy-Daughter dance, and tomorrow he’ll be watching his son’s last football game of the season. As you can imagine, he’s been shaking a lot of hands this morning.

Joe Torre’s Safe at Home Foundation had it’s annual gala tonight at Chelsea Piers. The guest of honor was Paul O’Neill, but the topic of discussion was Jorge Posada. When Torre stopped to answer a few questions, every single one was about his former catcher.

Here’s Torre…

On how hard it would be for Posada to play elsewhere
“I think that’s going to be hard for him only because it’s sort of like selling your home after all these years. You have a comfortable spot. I’m not saying he won’t do it, because you just can’t all of a sudden say you don’t want to play baseball anymore when it’s been your whole life – your whole professional life – for such a long time. I can’t say he’s made up his mind, but he looked really comfortable last night. I’m not sure what that means – I was at his function – but he seemed very happy.”

On Posada’s Hall of Fame chances
“I’ve noticed over the years when guys get voted in, whether it’s first ballot, second ballot, if you play in the postseason, people get a chance to see you in a different light and it may carry a little more weight. As much postseason as he’s played in, I think consideration is certainly warranted.”

On what Posada brought to the clubhouse
“He brought he passion; screaming and yelling. He’d look across the clubhouse and there’s Derek smiling at him. Probably the thing that will always stay in my memory bank was a game in Cleveland when he and Duque almost came to blows in the dugout. Then, later on, I was walking through the mall and there they were side-by-side going to dinner together. It was just that passion that he knew it was there. Was he sorry sometimes, yeah, but you never wanted to lose the heart that he had. I think the heart was the most important thing.”

On Torre’s relationship with Posada
“He never liked me very much early on based on the fact that he wouldn’t catch enough, and then finally in the postseason I said, ‘It’s yours.’ I think that was ’99 when he caught the championship game. I just felt that Joe Girardi had so much to offer as far as teaching how to go about certain things, Jorge was anxious but he was a class kid. He was like a son to me. I’ll always be close to him. Just watching him grow from this young player to one of the voices in that clubhouse was fun to see.”

On Posada’s legacy in New York
“He played under pressure about as well as anybody for me. He was always excitable — I think you saw that – but the one thing about it, when he got up there with the bases loaded or with the winning run on base, he was like ice. He was really good. Did he have his issues running the bases? Yeah, I don’t think that’s any secret – I’m nobody to make fun of it because I couldn’t run worth a damn – but as far as his ability to play in big games, it was pretty amazing. He doesn’t get a whole lot of acknowledgement for it because there were so many people around him, but to sit there on the bench as his manager, you were pretty happy to see him at the plate in situations like that.”

On the void left by not having Posada
“You miss people in the clubhouse, I don’t think there’s any question. But, you know what, the Yankees are used to that. We had our MVP in the World Series in ’96 not with us the following year, John Wetteland. David Cone, he left. Pettitte left. It’s just what you do. In this town, nobody cares why you didn’t win, they just know you didn’t win, if that’s the case, so you really don’t have time for sentiment here. I remember in ’96 when we traded Gerald Williams and there was some concern about, how is Derek going to handle it, because they were very, very close, and they remain very close, but it’s one of those things. Business as usual. As cold as it sounds, that’s our job.”

Associated Press photo

Yankees pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to spring training on February 19, according to the official spring schedule released today. Position players are scheduled to report on February 24, and the team’s first full-squad workout will be February 25.

Here’s the full spring schedule, including a lot of back-to-back matchups, two exhibition games in the new Marlins stadium and a home-and-away series against the Mets. This is the Yankees latest spring opener since 2005. Home games are bold.

The Yankees open the regular season at the Rays — that’s convenient! — on April 617.

Fri., Mar. 2, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
University of South Florida

Sat., Mar. 3, Clearwater, 1:05 p.m.
Phillies

Sun., Mar. 4, Steinbrenner Field , 1:05 p.m.
Phillies 

Mon., Mar. 5, Clearwater, 1:05 p.m.
Phillies

Tue., Mar. 6, Bradenton, 1:05 p.m.
Pirates

Wed., Mar. 7, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Rays 

Thurs., Mar. 8, Dunedin, 1:05 p.m.
Blue Jays

Fri., Mar. 9, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Braves 

Sat., Mar. 10, Lake Buena Vista, 1:05 p.m.
Braves

Sun., Mar. 11, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Phillies (ss)
Sunday, Mar. 11, Fort Myers, 1:05 p.m.
Twins (ss)

Mon., Mar. 12, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Astros

Tue., Mar. 13, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Red Sox 

Wed., Mar. 14,  Dunedin,  1:05 p.m.
Blue Jays

Thurs., Mar. 15, Viera, 1:05 p.m.
Nationals

Fri., Mar. 16, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Nationals 

Sat., Mar. 17, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Astros 

Sun., Mar. 18, Sarasota, 1:05 p.m.
Orioles

Mon., Mar. 19
Off Day

Tue., Mar. 20, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Pirates 

Wed., Mar. 21, Port Charlotte, 1:05 p.m.
Rays

Thurs., Mar. 22, Fort Myers, 7:05 p.m.
Red Sox

Fri., Mar. 23, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Twins (ss) 
Fri, Mar. 23, Clearwater, 1:05 p.m.
Phillies (ss)

Sat., Mar. 24, Lakeland, 1:05 p.m.
Tigers

Sun., Mar. 25, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Tigers 

Mon., Mar. 26
Off Day

Tue., Mar. 27, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Blue Jays 

Wed., Mar. 28, Lake Buena Vista, 1:05 p.m.
Braves

Thurs., Mar. 29, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Orioles 

Fri., Mar. 30, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Phillies 

Sat., Mar. 31, Kissimmee, 1:05 p.m.
Astros

Sun., Apr. 1, Miami (New Marlins Ballpark), 1:10 p.m.
Marlins

Mon. Apr. 2, Miami (New Marlins Ballpark), 7:10 p.m.
Marlins

Tues., Apr. 3, Port St. Lucie, 2:10 p.m.
Mets

Wed., Apr. 4, Steinbrenner Field, 12:05 p.m.
Mets

Just a few things to be aware of…

• Down in Baltimore, MASN wonders if Jorge Posada might be a good fit as a backup to Matt Wieters. Jon Heyman also mentions the Orioles as a possible Posada destination. Tough for him to adjust to that sort of team, though.

• Baseball America reports that the Yankees have re-signed minor league free agents Reegie Corona and Ronny Marte. They’ve released Gabriel Tatis. You might be familiar with Corona, who had a 40-man spot the past two years.

• The Pirates have signed catcher  Rod Barajas. That’s relevant only because of some early speculation that the Pirates might be in the market for a catcher and fit as a trade partner for the Yankees.

• The Phillies have signed lefty Raul Valdes to a minor league deal. He spent a little bit of time with the Yankees last year.

• The Marlins are still looking heavily at Yoenis Cespedes, and apparently they have money to spend.

• Of course there’s the bizarre story out of Venezuela where Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos has been kidnapped. Word is that he’s alive, but it’s unclear what his kidnappers are hoping to accomplish.