YANKEES’ TURNOVER

Hey Yankees’ fans, it looks like there's some great news as the Steinbrenners may have changed their minds about trying to stay under the luxury tax threshold of $189 million for this upcoming season!!  They are fully beginning to demonstrate that they will honor George Steinbrenner’s passion of persistently putting the Yankees in a position to win each and every year.  Since George's passing, his family - with Hal showing the most involvement - has shown most signs of wanting to stay involved while achieving more World Series Championships.  Then, last year they began planning to decrease the total salaries so that once the 2014 season began, their total team spend fell under the luxury tax trigger of $189 million (assuming A-Rod is still activated).  Most of the other team owners have certainly achieved that feat, but this would have been the first time any Steinbrenner ownership would have.  Now, with their attendance and YES Network ratings decreasing, along with the departures of Rivera, Pettitte, and possibly A-Rod, they apparently realize the timing of such a financial reduction may be the worst timing to achieve that goal.  At least, that's what it's looking like over the past week based on their most recent player signings!

With that, since my blogged article last month, the Yankees are already looking like a very different team.  Perhaps the Steinbrenners read my prior “Dismal Upcoming 2014 Season” article and realized how important it was to satisfy little ol’ me…yeah, right!  Anyway, let’s look below at this past week's many transactions of incoming and outgoing Yankees.  I'm sorry that this blogged article is so long, but there's so much to share from last week!

 

PLAYERS WHO HAVE LEFT

Robinson Cano - Robinson is now a Seattle Mariner!  I "liked" Cano, but even with his stats, I never quite felt he was one of my all-time favorites.  He and his agents led by Jay Z got very greedy, clearly showing their disregard for keeping Cano a Yankee player forever.  The Yankees offered him a very fair amount of approximately $175 million, but Cano and his agents went for the "now" money and didn't see the bigger picture in which he could have eventually made much more than the $240 million Seattle offered him.  From an offensive standpoint, I will miss his steady production numbers.  Defensively, I will miss his quick-wrist throws and over-the-shoulder catches.  As for his well-known lack of effort in running the base paths, I will not miss that any more than any other Yankees' fan.  Whether it was due to the money or pure anger towards the Yankees’ management, Robinson just hurt his fans and made his hugest error of any game he will play!  Ciao!

Curtis Granderson - Curtis is now a New York Met – having been signed to a 3-year contract worth a whopping $45 million (a lot of commitment from the Mets)!  Similar to Cano, I “liked” him, but never loved his contributions.  He is a very good player who hits a lot of homeruns, but he's not a superstar.  I do love his attitude, which seems very genuine.  His strikeouts are way too high, but he will add a lot of offense for the Mets who have desperately been seeking such a hitter for many years.  David Wright must be pleased to have some protection surrounding him in the lineup.  I wish nothing but good luck to Curtis.

Phil Hughes – The Minnesota Twins signed Phil to a 3-year contract worth $24 million.  Just like Cano, he was drafted by and had played only for the New York Yankees' organization.  Phil had many signs of showing greatness, but had more signs of inconsistencies.  His homerun pitches will not be missed, especially at Yankees Stadium.  The Twins' Target Field Stadium will help him somewhat on that front.  He's a good guy who helped us a lot in 2009 when he produced very dominantly in the bullpen after being asked to step away from his career role as a starting pitcher.  That season he was one of the main contributors towards our eventual World Series Championship.  So, for mostly those contributions, I can only wish him good luck – except when he pitches against the Yankees.

 

PLAYERS WHO HAVE BEEN ACQUIRED/RENEWED

Brian McCann - The Yankees contracted free agent catcher Brian McCann for 5 years at $85 million.  This is one of my favorite acquisitions in a long time!  Wow!  I love McCann’s stats and his demonstrated efforts in being a true gamer.  Earlier this week, I heard an interview with Hal Steinbrenner in which he credited Gene Michael for telling him that McCann reminded him of Thurman Munson.  That, alone, is the best compliment a ballplayer can be attributed!!  I can’t wait to see his offense but, even more so, I can’t wait to see a catcher call great games, again!  Not only do his Atlanta Brave career stats support that, but several pitchers in Atlanta have voiced it, too.  Welcome, Brian!!!

Jacoby Ellsbury - The Yankees contracted centerfielder Ellsbury for 7 years at $153 million.  I also love this acquisition.  He is one of the best leadoff hitters in the game today.  Yes, he’s had a lot of injuries, but most of them occurred with his aggressiveness via collisions and one fracture injury via a foul ball.  None of his so-called "prone" injuries have been caused by bodily deteriorations.  The Yankees have not had a successful typical leadoff hitter in very long time.  He will be a catalyst, just like he was for the Red Sox.  Plus, remember the Yankees’ addition is the Red Sox’s subtraction – remember Wade Boggs and Johnny Damon?  Let’s hope he doesn’t get hurt so we can truly enjoy his base running abilities which I find to be similar enough to Ricky Henderson.  He will be fun to watch!  Welcome, Jacoby!!!

Carlos Beltran - The Yankees contracted outfielder Beltran for 3 years at $45 million.  Beltran has wanted to become a Yankee since the day he was born - I'm sure he even sneakily rolled out of the hospital's bassinet back then to call George Steinbrenner and tell him about his love for the Yankees and his 9-month long dreams .  Past negotiations have never worked out for Beltran.  This time, he and the Yankees came to an agreement that will now finally provide Carlos his dream.  That love he has persistently expressed for the Yankees is reason alone to admire him!  His stats are very impressive, especially his playoff/World Series stats.  Although he's not young, his physical condition has been good enough to show he should be durable enough, at least at the beginning portion of his 3-year deal.  Of course, only time will tell.  Welcome to your dream, Carlos!

Kelly Johnson – The Yankees signed utility player Kelly Johnson for 1 year at approximately $3 million.  He has basically played first base, second base, third base, and leftfield fairly well and he has a decent bat.  Based on last year's injuries, this type of player is very valuable!

Hideki Kuroda - The Yankees re-signed starting pitcher Kuroda with a one-year contract worth approximately $16 million.  Last year, his pitching was great during the first 75% of his starts.  Ironically, his 2012 stats offered almost identical results during the same period.  He seems to tire afterwards resulting in a swift depreciation of his pitching repertoire.  Hopefully, we'll see a full season in 2014 that resembles his early strengths.  For a one-year contract, it's certainly worth the risk.  Welcome back, Hideki.

Brendan Ryan – The Yankees also re-signed infielder Brendan Ryan to a $4 million contract for two years.  While he only hit .220 during his short stint with the Yankees last year, he offers superb defense at shortstop.  That is an important need the Yankees have with Jeter's questionable health.  Hence, Brendan offers some insurance for 2014 at a position that doesn’t normally depend on a lot of offense.  Welcome back, Brendan.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Winter Meetings just began today and I fully expect the Yankees to make at least 4 more significant moves/signings before spring training.  Hopefully, this week MLB and Japan’s Nippon  Professional Baseball will reach an agreement regarding the main criteria enabling MLB to bid on Japanese players.  It is currently expected the deal will limit teams’ posting bids up to $20 million by any or multiple MLB teams.  Of course, the Yankees will undoubtedly be part of that bid this year, if it’s ever resolved, for Japan’s most successful pitcher of all time, Masahiro Tanaka.  His record this past season for them was merely 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA.  If the Japanese team (Rakuten Golden Eagles) accepts the bid and the Yankees can concoct the most attractive offer to allure Masahiro away from the other bidding teams, he can immediately qualify as the Yankees’ number one or number two starting pitcher in their rotation.

Additionally, I agree with a lot of the sports writers (for once) that it looks more and more like Brett Gardner may be traded.  The Yankees still have many holes to plug and their requirement for a starting pitcher (or two) is the most important.  No one else on the Yankees whose salary is attractive to perspective teams can bring back the value that Gardner can.  I like "Gardy", but his unbelievable speed failing to achieve great results in successful stolen bases brings part of his value to almost subpar for us.  Girardi has always expressed his appreciation for Gardner's speed, so Brian Cashman will have to ensure to bring back very good value in any deal in order to keep peace with Joe (and the fans).  I would personally rather have them trade Eduardo Nunez or Ichiro Suzuki; but, Eduardo's injuries and questionable defense and Ichiro's age and diminished skills won't offer too much in return; however, they can still trade them for a possible future player - perhaps from Single A or Double A.

Furthermore, I feel that the acquisition of Brian McCann enables another opportunity of trade.  Brian's signing affords the Yankees an opportunity to trade from their strongest and only current farm system depth - catching.  Several of their catchers are highly regarded, such as J.R. Murphy and Gary Sanchez.  They also have two other young catchers in Austin Romine and Biogenesis suspect, Francisco Cervelli.  In any case, the Yankees don’t need so many catchers now that they have an All-Star in Brian McCann.

So, whether they trade collectively or trade each individually, I feel that the Yankees have a chance of attaining some farm system strength, a top-tier pitcher, and even possibly a power-hitting infielder or right fielder, especially if they resist their self-restricted $189 million team for 2014.  Let's keep our fingers crossed!

At this point, with all of these new team players, Jeter will soon have to introduce himself during Spring Training 2014!!