The LoHud Yankees Blog

According to Yu Darvish’s agent, the Nippon Ham Fighters will announce tonight which Major League team won the bidding for starter Yu Darvish. It will be Tuesday morning in Japan at the time of the announcement, which is expected to come around 8 or 9 p.m. ET.

The Blue Jays and Rangers seem to be the industry favorites to win the rights to Darvish, with the Blue Jays especially emerging as leading contenders. The Yankees, once seen as major players in this process, now seem to be in the background. There will be a real sense of surprise if they’re announced as the winners.

I didn’t come up with the Pinch Hitters series, but it’s become a tradition here at the LoHud Yankees Blog. The series has become incredibly popular during those slow weeks in January and February, and I love getting new opinions and points of view on the blog.

Of course, we’ll be running the Pinch Hitters series again this winter. We’re looking for anyone who would like to write a post — 400 words or so — about anything related to the Yankees. It could be your opinion of offseason moves, or your indignation at Don Mattingly not being in the Hall of Fame. It could be your defense of Jesus Montero as a legitimate superstar, or your plea for the Yankees to deal Montero as soon as possible.

Whatever you have to say, email your ideas to me — a few sentences explaining what you want to write — and I’ll make some choices to start organizing a schedule. In early January, I’ll begin contacting the folks chosen for the series. Please, no more than one proposal per person. It’s not necessarily first come, first serve, so take your time coming up with what you want to write.

The absolute cutoff for submissions will be Friday, January 6. Send your ideas to: cjennings (at) lohud.com. As always, I’m looking forward to reading them.

Earlier today we looked at milestones Alex Rodriguez is approaching. Here are the milestones Derek Jeter will be chasing next season.

Doubles
Currently 61st with 492

Needs…
3 to tie Alex Rodriguez and Frank Thomas for 59th
8 to reach 500 – tied for 52nd
13 to move into the top 50, tying Tony Perez for 49th
32 to move into the top 40, tying Ken Griffey, Jr. for 39th
48 to tie Joe Medwick and Dave Winfield for 29th

—

Hits
Currently 19th with 3,088

Needs…
65 to pass Paul Waner for 15th
196 to pass Willie Mays for 10th

—

Runs scored
Currently 20th with 1,769

Needs…
31 to reach 1,800, ranked 17th
52 to pass Eddie Collins for 15th
113 to pass Tris Speaker for 10th
120 to pass Lou Gehrig for 9th
131 to reach 1,900

—

At-bats
Currently 28th with 9,868

Needs…
84 to pass Eddie Collins for 25th
132 to reach 10,000, still ranked 25th
363 to pass Luis Aparicio for 20th
605 to pass Rafael Palmeiro for 15th

—

Games played
Currently tied for 71st with 2,426

Needs…
4 to pass Willie Davis for 70th
41 to pass Dave Parker for 60th
74 to reach 2,500, ranked 52nd
78 to pass Babe Ruth for 50th
103 to pass Ernie Banks for 45th
158 to pass Steve Finley for 40th

Associated Press photo

One unexpected bonus from last week’s Winter Meetings, there was a handbook full of upcoming milestones that are potentially reachable in 2012. Here’s a list of milestones Alex Rodriguez might reach next season.

RBI
Currently ranked 10th with 1,893

Needs…
7 to reach 1,900
11 to pass Willie Mays for 9th
25 to pass Eddie Murray for 8th
29 to pass Jimmie Foxx for 7th
59 to pass Stan Musial for 6th
69 to pass Ty Cobb for 5th
103 to pass Lou Gehrig for 4th
104 to pass Barry Bonds for 3rd
107 to reach 2,000

—

Home runs
Currently ranked sixth with 629

Needs…
2 to pass Ken Griffey, Jr. for 5th
32 to pass Willie Mays for 4th

—

Doubles
Currently tied for 59th with 495

Needs…
5 to reach 500, tied for 52nd
10 to move into the top 50, trying Tony Perez for 49th
29 to move into the top 40, tying Ken Griffey, Jr. for 39th
40 to pass Lou Gehrig for 33rd
45 to tie Joe Medwick and Dave Winfield for 29th

—

Hits
Currently 49th with 2,775

Needs…
67 to pass Omar Vizquel for 45th
99 to pass Babe Ruth for 40th
190 to pass Sam Crawford for 30th

—

Runs scored
Currently 14th with 1,824

Needs…
58 to pass Tris Speaker for 10th
65 to pass Lou Gehrig for 9th
76 to reach 1,900, still ranked 9th
126 to pass Stan Musial for 8th

—

At-bats
Currently 56th with 9,199

Needs…
117 to pass Rod Carew for 50th
261 to pass Paul Waner for 40th
394 to pass Ivan Rodriguez for 35th
649 to pass Barry Bonds for 30th

—

Games played
Currently 79th with 2,402

Needs…
28 to pass Willie Davis for 70th
65 to pass Dave Parker for 60th
98 to reach 2,500, good for 52nd
102 to pass Babe Ruth for 50th
127 to pass Ernie Banks for 45th

Associated Press photo

This was the week of Yu Darvish.

Even though we still don’t know the identity of the team that won the right to negotiate with him, Darvish speculation dominated the past week, largely overshadowing significant signings by Aramis Ramirez and Michael Guddyer, and a big trade between the Padres and Reds.

Once seen as favorites for Darvish, the Yankees are now believed to be bit players in the process. The Blue Jays seem to be the industry favorites while the Yankees continue to play offseason small ball.

The Nippon Ham Fighters have until Tuesday to announce the winning bid.

Some more of the past week in review…

• The non-tender deadline came and went with the Yankees tendering all of their players contract offers for 2012.

• Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Dave Robertson won GIBBY Awards, the annual honors handed out by MLB.com. Jeter was picked for the year’s best performance, Cano as the most exciting player and Robertson was tabbed as the best setup reliever.

• Colin Curtis cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A. Greg Golson cleared waivers, became a free agent and landed a minor league deal with the Royals.

• Hal Steinbrenner landed on Sports Business Journal’s list of the most influential people in sports business. Who knew running the Yankees would get someone on such a list?

• The Yankees are bringing back veteran catcher Gustavo Molina on a minor league deal. He’ll serve the same insurance role he played last year. Meanwhile, Andrew Brackman — surprise! — got a big league deal with the Reds.

• The Red Sox made some moves, most notably adding former Yankees reliever Mark Melancon to their bullpen. Boston also added Nick Punto to play a utility role.

• Lou Pinella is coming back to the Bronx to work at the YES Network.

• We got a glimpse of what it might cost to trade for a young starting pitcher. The Reds acquired Mat Latos from the Padres at the expense of three prospects — all ranked in the organization’s Top 10 according to Baseball America — plus Edinson Volquez, who’s still fairly young and just a few years ago looked like an elite big leaguer.

• We also got a glimpse of what Nick Swisher’s value might be next winter with both Josh Willingham and Michael Cuddyer signing three-year deals.

• The new CBA was approved, and with it comes a series of changes. Baseball has also appointed a committee to begin looking into changes in the way teams acquire international talent.

Associated Press photo

Pretty much impossible to make this up. 

Don Mattingly will wear a wig and a big dress in an Indiana performance of The Nutcracker tonight. He’s going to play a character named Mother Ginger, whose dress apparently hides multiple little kids, who come pouring out during the second act. *

The above link has all the details from the Evansville Courier & Press, including the somewhat awkward suggestion from the Evansville Ballet’s artistic director, who had vaguely mentioned the idea to Mattingly’s wife, who’s also performing.

“I’ve been around athletes my whole life,” Mattingly said. “I look at all these dancers as basically athletes in a very disciplined art form. I really have enjoyed it.”

—

*As you might guess, I’m basing the details of the performance entirely on what I’ve read. I’m not exactly a ballet expert. Or a ballet anything for that matter.

Yankees Rule 5 pick Cesar Cabral has been dealing down in the Dominican Republic this winter. The left-hander has a 0.77 ERA through 19 relief appearances. He’s struck out 13, walked three and opponents are hitting just .171 against him.

In his past seven outings, he’s pitched 4.1 innings allowing no runs on two hits and one walk while striking out five.

Lefties at hitting .211/.286/.211 with no extra-base hits, but right-handers have been even worse, batting just .136/.174/.136.

A few other updates from winter ball…

• Hector Noesi took his second straight loss on Friday. It was his first outing in eight days, and he allowed two runs on four hits and three walks through six innings. The three walks was a single-game high for Noesi this winter. He’d walked a total of three batters in his pervious five starts.

• Sticking with pitching, Pat Venditte is still dealing down in Mexico. The switch-pitcher had back-to-back scoreless outings on Wednesday and Thursday and opponents are hitting .208 against him. He’s given up five home runs — three to lefties, two to righties — but only one in his past nine outings, and two in his past 17.

• Also in Mexico, Ramiro Pena is still have a solid offensive winter hitting .268/.336/.433 while serving as Culiacan’s regular shortstop. He’s actual been hitting third recently, and he hasn’t made an error since the middle of November.

• Sticking with the middle of the infield, Jose Pirela — the Double-A shortstop playing second base in Venezuela — is still having a great winter. He has six hits in his past four games and is batting .306/.348/.415. He’s a right-handed hitter, but he’s hitting much better against righties (.325) than against lefties (.185) this winter.

• Also down in Venezuela, Colin Curtis got hot with back-to-back three-hit games earlier this month, but lately he’s been taking a bunch of walks. Hence a slash line of .280/.391/.409 with almost as many walks (14) as strikeouts (16).

Maybe there is some movement in the pitching trade market afterall.

The Reds have acquired Mat Latos from the Padres. The package of prospects going to San Diego includes 24-year-old former first-round pick Yonder Alonso (who hit .330/.398/.545 in 47 big league games with the Reds last year) and big league starter Edinson Volquez (who hasn’t been able to repeat his breakout 2008 season). The Reds are also sending two other young players — Yasmani Grandal and Brad Boxberger — who rank among their Top 10 prospects according to Baseball America.

Teams entertaining offers for good, young starters have been looking for significant hauls in return, and that doesn’t seem to be a small package given up by the Reds. They are, however, hanging onto their top two prospects.

Also in the National League: Jimmy Rollins has re-signed with the Phillies on a three-year deal with an easily vesting fourth year.

There’s another Yoenis Cespedes video!

Kevin Goldstein has the video itself and another clip-by-clip breakdown over at Baseball Prospectus. The video includes a passing appearance by Tony Pena and Billy Eppler, two of several baseball coaches/executives shown visiting Cespedes on Pro Day. You can see them around the 4:18 mark.

You can also see the incredible number of scouts on hand. This is why the simple fact the Yankees have scouted Cespedes is not particularly relevant. Everyone has scouted this guy.

This new video has more baseball material than the first, but it’s still a highlight video with graphics and occasionally oddities. It changes little except to give a better look at Cespedes as a player.

Goldstein does add this news: It looks like Cespedes won’t become available until some time in January because of a goof up with his Dominican citizenship, “but interest remains sky high, so he’ll certainly be signed in time for spring training,” Goldstein writes.

It’s kind of an awkward name, but MLB.com has its own annual awards called the GIBBYs. It stands for Greatness In Baseball Yearly, and three Yankees were named when the awards were announced last night.

Setup Man of the Year
Dave Robertson

A breakout season recognized, Robertson was named the season’s best setup reliever with 27.2 percent of the vote. Mike Adams was second with 22.7 percent after splitting his season between San Diego and Texas.

Wow Factor
Robinson Cano

This is intended for the game’s most exciting player, and Cano won it with 33.5 percent of the vote, edging out Jose Reyes who had 30.2 percent. As I said when I posted about my MVP ballot, I believe Curtis Granderson had the best year of any Yankees player, but I absolutely believe Cano is the team’s best player.

Performance of the Year
Derek Jeter

In this sort of thing, 46.3 percent of the vote counts as a landslide, and that was Jeter’s total for his 5-for-5 performance on the day he got his 3,000th hit. I’ve said before, it was perhaps the most unforgetable athletic achievement I’ve ever seen in person. Just an amazing performance that cemented exactly who Jeter is and what he’s meant to this franchise.

—

Former Yankees starter Ian Kennedy was named Breakout Player of the Year after pitching his way into the Cy Young conversation in the National League, short-term Yankees designated hitter Lance Berkman won Comeback Player of the Year, and Dan Johnson‘s home run on the final day of the season — the one that beat the Yankees — was named the Moment of the Year.

Associated Press photos