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Finestrg
Posts: 27296
Alba Posts: 1
Joined: 1/1/2006
Member: #1069
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Anyone catch Ken Davidoff's "Right Moves - Do's & Dont's" for the Yankees this off-season in yesterday's Newsday? A real mixed bag of ideas. Some I agree with, some ideas are downright nuts. If you missed it, here are the highlights in substance:
Do's
(1) Elevate class-A Tampa manager Luis Sojo to 1st base coach, move Tony Pena to 3rd base coach, fire Bobby Meacham. All done with the idea of appeasing Robinson Cano and getting a guy in here who might be able to reach him like Bowa apparently did. I mean he's kidding right? As if Bobby Meacham somehow did a bad job for us (some do blame Wang's injury on him but I don't know if that's really fair. Anyway, he has nothing to do with Cano). And enough with getting someone in here to connect with Cano. Granted it looked like he had a special bond with Bowa but I really believe that the link between Bowa's departure and Cano's drop in production is way overblown. Nobody loved Joe Torre more than Jeter and Posada (Jorge just referred to Torre as a guy who's like a father to him on the recent Centerstage show). You think Jeter and Posada are gonna go into the tank all of a sudden just because Joe's gone?? Rediculous. I betcha, as long as both of those guys are healthy, they'll both put up their typical good seasons next year and Torre will be the last thing on their minds when the bell rings and it's time to play ball. Just from that Centerstage interview, you can tell Posada has a great deal of fire to get back to playing at a high level. Can't even begin to explain how radical and unnecessary a coaching shakeup like this would be, just to appease one player who had an off year.
(2) Go after Derek Lowe hard and give him in upwards of $15 mil. a season for up to 3 years to lure him here. Guilt Pettitte into coming back at a cheaper rate ($10 million) because we stood by him with regard to the Mitchell Report. Commit to Joba as a starter. Lowe's not one of the better names on the market, definitely not a guy I was interested in and that looks like a lot of money at first glance for a 2nd tier type but it's an idea that makes some sense I guess, when you look at both Lowe's recent & career numbers. Rubber arm type that throws a ton of innings every year, always has a decent ERA in the 3s, throws groundballs. Sort of a Chien-Ming Wang lite. There's stuff to like here. We all know who the top arms on the market are. But if it doesn't go according to plan (say we loose out on Sabathia, Burnett or both AND Moose retires - maybe we should consider him over guys like Garland, Wolf, Pettitte. Pretty good call here. As far as Andy goes, not interested. Definitely on the decline, doesn't have the same stuff to go after guys like he's used to doing and I don't see a complete 180 in pitching style all of a sudden. What we can bank on from Andy is more of the same: he'll throw some innings if you keep giving him the ball but it'll be a laborious process seeing him grind it out start to start. I mean you can see it. I for one don't wanna see him get smacked around the way he did to close out the season. It hurt watching him struggle the way he did. And I doubt you can get him for $10 mil. Although it was far from pretty the guy did grind out 14 wins and gave you over 200 innings. He'd likely ask for another $16 mil. I'd pass on Pettitte; there are better options. Derek Lowe might be one of them. And even if there were some interest, that's how you go about bringing him back - by making a guy who's given you everything he's had for the better part of 13 years feel guilty?!? That approach would be utterly disgraceful and completely classless. And you all know what I think about Joba starting - No brainer IMO. Our bullpen, only requiring some minor tinkering, will be one of the stronger bullpens in baseball next year even with Joba moving to the rotation. No argument there.
(3) Offer Abreu and Marte arbitration. If they accept great, if not move on. Plan for Cabrera, Gardner and Damon to share time in center next year with A-Jax waiting in the wings at AAA. First of all, Abreu and Marte are vital IMO. As I understand it, if they wind up signing with another team we get compensation draft picks which would be nice but that's not what we should be focusing on. Some feel we should let them go just to get those picks and that's wrong. These are two very important parts of the greater whole that would be very hard to replace and it's up to the Yankees to retain as many of these working parts as possible. We're trying to get back on top next year - no doubt both of these guys will help us get there. I said the other day, losing Abreu thins us out and we'd then have to scramble to fill his spot in RF, a spot that was a already a strength for us the past two seasons. As for Marte - I mean you don't pull off the nice trade for this guy just to cut him lose in the off-season. Remember his first outing against the Red Sox? Came in and blew away Big Papi on three pitches. He had his ups and downs for us, but he's one of the best lefty relievers in the sport. It took him awhile but Girardi finally found out exactly how to use him - a couple of lefties and out. He can't be overextended. You use him like that, he'll be fine. Marte AND Coke next year. I want both. I want Joe to have that depth and those options. Very few teams would be able to match that kind of depth from the left side late in ballgames. I want Girardi to be able to mix and match right from game one next year. Every effort should be made to bring back both guys. I wouldn't even get caught up in jerking them around with arbitration. Both might win their arbitrations anyway coming off productive years (Abreu's due $19 million, Marte $6 if I'm not mistaken). I have a little different take on centerfield - Gardner would be my fulltime guy in CF and hit 9th (hopefully he puts in some work offensively this offseason to justify the expanded role), Damon's primarily my DH (wanna cut back his PT, especially in the field - he's injury prone and I think that's in his best interest now) and Cabrera's on the fence. Melky's really in no-man's land. He not as fast as Gardner nor as good a defender and he can't hit. Decent glove with a plus arm but that's about it. Don't want him in there unless someone's just getting a day off. You can argue that Justin Christian should be the extra outfielder over Melky anyway just for that extra speed element off the bench. And I agree that A-Jax could be a factor at some point next year provided he comes back and builds off the solid year he had this past season. I'd like to see him hit for a little more power; hopefully that'll come. Would love to be looking at the next Torii Hunter here. We'll see what happens.
(4) Push Cano this off-season, frequently sending guys like Kevin Long, trainer Gene Monahan and strength & conditioning coach Dana Cavalea to the D.R. to check on his progress. Check his trade value and be prepared to pull the trigger on a deal that might land us a top-flight pitcher for Cano and possibly Ian Kennedy. Sounds good although I'm not sure what they can expect to gain from sending Monahan and Cavalea out there - Robbie appeared to be in good shape. Highly doubtful that a few visits from the team's trainers to the man's house will automatically transform Cano into a 30 HR guy. Can't hurt I guess. Anyway, as possibly dealing Cano for the right guy goes, I think we're all in agreement here; most of us have been saying the same thing. I even heard Joe Beningo on the FAN in the car yesterday mentioning Zack Grienke's name as a possibility for Cano (Beningo also mentioned Carlos Delgado for Cano and that's when I had enough and threw in a CD). Maybe he read us talking about Grienke! Funny. Anyway, Davidoff mentioned Jake Peavy and Matt Cain - two others I like a lot. Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Sanchez and Roy Oswalt are a few others I'd consider dealing Cano and Kennedy for. Cano AND Kennedy is very good value. That should fetch us a starter with a live young arm should we find the right match. Meanwhile, if that happened, I think we could survive with Benemit/Ransom at second until we came up with something better. Benemit could surprise with a starting role.
(5) Meet with Girardi and find out what went wrong. Pull Jeter aside and ask him for his opinion on Girardi. Hey there's always room for improvement but he was far from terrible. I was suprised to hear that a few (Damon especially) had a problem with him at times. Would love to see Gardner improve to the point where we can just cut Damon loose eventually. And not to make too many excuses but we were snakebit with some huge injuries this year and that has nothing to do with Girardi (if we don't lose Wang that's close to 10 more Ws right there and we're in the playoffs). Important to re-tool and give Girardi what he needs to get the job done. I'm sure Jeter would say the same thing. Not sure what there would be to gain from pulling Jeter aside. It's not like Jete's gonna come out and bash his skipper, he played with Joe and won championships with him in '96, '98 & '99. I'm sure they have each other's respect.
Don'ts
(1) Don't sign Sabathia and Burnett. Don't agree at all. These are the two best out there (provided Burnett even opts out of his deal) - at least one should be a Yankee. Having said that, it's important to keep an eye on how Milwaukee and Dale Sveum have been using Sabathia here. He's out there 120, 130 pitches almost ever game. That's a lot. Maybe they don't care. Maybe they think he's gone and they might as well just gas him to try and win ballgames. That's how it was down the stretch to get into the playoffs and that's how it will probably be until they're eliminated. Don't mind Sabathia's thick body type as much as some btw (David Wells had a nice career pitching with some extra weight) but the way the Brewers are using him has to be a concern. Here's hoping the Brew Crew is knocked out early this way big CC can shut it down and get some rest. As for Burnett, spent 4 seperate stints on the DL in 2006 & 2007 with elbow and shoulder problems but appears to be over that now. Rebounded to win 18 games, throw over 220 innings and lead the league in Ks with 231. Some of the best stuff in the game. Stuff's a good as Josh Beckett's, maybe better. Lights out when he's on. You can't let past injuries scare you away - not for a talent like this (we're not talking Jaret Wright, Carl Pavano or even Ben Sheets here - Sheets didn't even make Milwaukee's post-season roster). If CC's not available we have to turn to this guy. Suppose AJ signed with Tampa or Boston, then what? Plus, what have we really won without adding a top-notch FA starter the past few years? JACK that's what. Time to bring this franchise back up to that next level and we'll probably need at least one of these guys to help us get there. Worth taking a chance on, the both of them.
(2) Don't resign Giambi. Sign Casey Blake, not Mark Teixeria to play 1st base. Totally rediculous. Blake had a decent year with the Dodgers hitting around .275 with 21 HRs but he's no Mark Teixeria. I mean it's not even close. No comparison. He's not even as good as Giambi IMO. Blake's also 35 yrs. old and played 3rd base for the Dodgers fulltime this year not 1st. I know you try to cut corners to save money and he'd come cheaper than big Tex but you're not even getting half the player. Big Tex is only 29, a switch-hitter & one of the better 2-way players in the game. He'd be excellent protection for A-Rod in the lineup. This is the FA we probably have the best chance of getting (even better than Sabathia) as Teixeria and his wife are from Baltimore and are partial to the east coast. That's big. When you're the NY Yankees and you have all of this money coming off the books and you need a 1st baseman - Mark Teixeria's a classic no-brainer. There are really no excuses. They need this guy. If Casey Blake would ever be interested in coming here as a platoon righthanded DH/infielder/nice righty stick off the bench with some pop, I could be interested. But he wouldn't so what's the point? If it came down to it, you bring back Giambi before you replace him with a Casey Blake.
(3) Don't worry about A-Rod. His odd years are usually his better years. Agree. Just pencil the guy in the lineup at 3rd and in the cleanup spot and leave the man alone. This is the best player in baseball, like him or not. The more help he has the better he'll be and the better off we'll be. Getting Teixeria to hit behind him will be huge for him.
(4) "If you win 89 games and miss the playoffs again next year but the kids and minor leaguers display promise, then all will not have been lost." WHAT???? Is this guy kidding me. Talk about complacency. Jesus.... Is he talking about the Yankees or the Knicks???? To have an identical year to this past season would be a monumental failure in my book. You think that's what Hank Steinbrenner's thinking about heading into his internal meetings with his executives?!?!? Absolutely not. They're all thinking re-tool, brand new ballpark, bring in/retain who we need to and lets go after this thing. Division title, postseason, World Series berth. Minimum. Anything less would be a disappointment. I can't believe the guy even wrote that to be honest.
Sorry for such a long post but (a) I'm bored and (b) I got a little pissed off reading this in the paper yesterday morning... Share your own thoughts please.....
[Edited by - finestrg on 10-01-2008 1:00 PM]
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9/28/2008 7:42 PM