Taking Aim at the Captain

I've wanted to write this one for a while now, but how do you even do it? I mean where do you start? He's all we've known for so long and he's done nothing but earn and deserve every NY Yankees fan's undying adoration, respect, and gratitude. Big plays? There' a library of them. I can close my eyes and see them. Key hits? Yeah, he's got 'em in spades. So many hits, really. More than any other Yankee -- at the old Stadium, to be sure.

Can you even imagine the New York Yankees without Derek Jeter?

I can. And I do. It's not that bad either.

The simplest way to state it is also the most obvious. In 2 short seasons, Derek Jeter's contract is up. One of the highest paid players in the league will run out of his multi-years and the Yankees' multi-millions. He will also be 37 years old in June that year. There is no plan, outside of silly daydream scenarios, in existence that actually addresses moving him from SS to any other position on the field. He's already, statistically speaking, the worst defensive shortstop in the game, and has been for a long, long time. See this, this, this, and this if you don't believe me. Something's got to give.

Forget for one second about who he is and what he's done. Instead, try to picture what he will be and will do, 2 years older and 2 years slower in all aspects of the game. Realize that over the past 4 years long-time Yankee mainstays we all thought we couldn't live without, Bernie, Torre, and Giambi, were all shown the door with little fanfare or remorse. Next year Damon, Matsui, and Pettite get little more than a pat on the butt for their service as their contracts run out.


Why should it be any different for Derek?

It shouldn't. Sentimentality has it's place. I want 90's grunge rock to come back, but it's not happening. Sooner or later you have to come to realize your heroes are human and the game has passed them by. No one wants to see Derek fall down rounding third a la Willie Mays in a Mets uniform, do they? I mean it's not even like Jeter provides pop or power to our lineup. His bat will be missed, no doubt, but how much? Last year he led the team in hitting into double plays and he hit second all year long. How many rallies did he kill? How many runs did that type of performance prevent?

Rob Neyer offers his perspective on the Jeter issue and comes to the conclusion that the Yankess would be wise to live through 2 more years of Jeter's ridiculous jump-turn-throw things and then let him walk in 2010. I have to agree across the board and on all accounts. I even think Jeter's performance last year was a major contribution to the team's overall failure and have given my reasons, see #6.

It's a tough decision to have to make and my dismissive attitude belies my overall appreciation of Mr. November. But you cannot hamstring the organization to avoid hurt feelings or uncomfortable conversations. My real hope is that Derek starts talking about calling it a career in 2010 by the All Star break this year. I hope he has enough of the "intangibles" we shower on him to understand that it's best to leave the stage before the curtain falls on your head.

Moving forward, replacement is obviously an issue. In hindsight, dealing Gonzalez for an arm last year was probably short-sighted as Angel Berrora is now the best in-house option in the event of Posada-esque injury. In the event of a Nady or Swisher trade, I fully expect a SS prospect or player to be in the deal. Unless of course Ramiro Pena advances his game in the next 2 seasons and lives up to his presence in last year's Futures Game.

Stay tuned to this situation though. More and more opinions, scenarios, and thoughts on Derek Jeter and his future with the New York Yankees will come out as the his contract comes to a close. You might even have the opportunity to take a peek into a crystal ball this Spring when Derek lines up in the opposite dugout when Team USA takes on the Yankees.

If I'm Davey Johnson though, I'm definitely going with Jimmy Rollins.

Torre's Out Whoring

*I wanted to use "Say it ain't so, Joe", but that's pretty lame. I like this title best.*

"Classy" Joe Torre went all Jose Canseco on us and wrote a tell-all titled "The Yankee Years". The book, written with help from Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, contains a few juicy bits of gossip in regard to Brian Cashman and Alex Rodriguez. Apparently Joe felt Brian shortchanged him on the way and didn't fight hard to retain his services. Also, some players on the Yankees have called A-Rod A-Fraud. Ooooooh! Scandalous.

Whatever, Joe. Maybe if you stopped using Mo in the 7th and 8th inning you'd still be here. Maybe if you didn't wear out guys like Scott Proctor with daily appearances in game-changing situations you'd of won more regular season games. If Scott Proctor was a dog, Torre would be serving time with Mike Vick for animal abuse.

I respect the Joe Torre era. Don't get me wrong. But the success of the bullpen in 2008 was the forgotten story last year, especially after many years of late-season breakdowns under Torre's watch. Parts of Joe's book are pretty much in line with my thinking though. For example, Torre calls out “big boppers” like Jason Giambi, who the manager felt “wasn’t part of what we prided ourselves on: playing well defensively.” And the decision to get Giambi "made for a whole different dynamic in the Yankees’ clubhouse."

You'll never see me defend Giambi and it's both surprising and refreshing to see Joe take the dancing gold thong bear thing that was Giambi to task. But, at the end of the day, Joe really should've done his job as a manager and taken control of his clubhouse. There were many instances in which Jason, recovering from injury, could've been the DH exclusively and the defensive issue would've been alleviated. I was pretty much clamoring for it during and after the 2003 season. And if you want to talk about defensive pride, what the hell was Chuck "I can't throw the ball from second" Knoblauch doing out there everyday?

A-Rod does get a lot of abuse. From the book: “Whether hitting 450-foot home runs or sunbathing shirtless in Central Park or squiring strippers, Rodriguez was like nothing ever seen before on the championship teams of the Torre Era: an ambitious superstar impressed and motivated by stature and status, particularly when those qualities pertained to himself.” Fair enough. A-Rod's a primadonna, but he's our primadonna, nothing really surprises me about him anymore.

Surprisingly absent form the book is the number of Yankees form the successful Torre years who took steroids, HGH, and other PEDs. The Mitchell report was a who's who of some of my old Yankee heroes from the '96 - '00 run. I guess it's easier to slam the guys you couldn't win with than the guys who injected ability into their asses and won you some notoriety.

Let's remember, before the Yankees, Joe was nothing more than a .500 manager. 14 years later he's a legend. Now he's just an old guy in a LA Dodgers Halloween costume. Read the articles about the book. They have all the interesting stuff anyway.

What's Next on the Agenda?

The pitching just might be solved. I'm confident going forward with both the bullpen and the rotation. With or without Andy Pettite, our staff of C.C., Wang, A.J., Joba, & either Aceves, Hughes, or Kennedy is promising enough for me to stand pat, sit back, and monitor the market.

I am the lone voice on the web who suggests the same for the offense. Look, I don't need Tyler Kepner of the New York Times to tell me the Yankees probably won't get Manny or Texiera. My brain pretty much screams the answer to that question any time I see it posed. Texiera at first creates more problems going forward than people are willing to admit and whatever offense Manny brings, he subtracts when you've got him in LF and Damon in CF. It couldn't be more apparent once you're willing to think about it.

I also don't need him to tell me that Mike Cameron isn't the best baseball idea either. It's very rare indeed when you can acquire a 36 year old OF and consider it an upgrade. Cameron would've been great 3 years ago. He's a bad idea now. He's the same as Melky but with a better slugging percentage and a slightly better on-base percentage. Why pay 9 million and and change for that when you know he'll be just as available at the trading deadline and he'll probably cost much less.

It's December, folks. Let's wait it out and let the market come to us for once. My motto until Spring Training is: DO NOTHING. Don't get Manny. Don't get Tex. Don't get Pettite. Don't get Cameron. Take stock in what you've got and don't do a single thing.

There's enough there if you're willing to look...

Decisions, Decisions....

There has been this ever-growing and ever-confounding assumption within the media that the Yankees will immediately target Mark Texiera to play 1B if they fail to sign C.C. Sabathia. This has to be one of the single dumbest things I've seen surface this Hot Stove season. It makes no sense. None. It's asinine.

If you've been a fan of the Yankees your whole life or even if you've just started following the team, the one constant thing you've see them express interest in, pursue, fawn over, drool on, and all but fall over themselves for has been starting pitching. (Especially this century -- Roger Clemens anyone?)

If you looked at the roster today, you'd see the fact that we only have 2 starters, both coming off injury shortened seasons. If you've been even remotely following what the Yankee-decision makers have been saying thus far you'd also know that everyone has expressed a need for starting pitching above all else. So with all of this information freely out there, why in the blue fuck would the team be interested in locking up 1B with another long term deal?

We all love Mark Texiera. What's not to love? The guy's 28, he's a great switch-hitter who can get on base and hit with power, and he carries a gold glove caliber first baseman's mitt. In a perfect world he'd be starting at first and hitting behind (or in front of) A-Rod on a daily basis.

We all know it's not a perfect world. There are many problems that surround Texiera. The worst of which is agent. And while Scott Boras does have a seemingly good working relationship with the Yankees and despite the fact that Brian Cashman met with both the agent and the player yesterday, getting a deal done will not be an easy or smooth transition. The worst situation I can think of would be one in which Anaheim gets Sabathia and replaces Texiera with Adam Dunn leaving the Red Sox and the Yankees to try and outbid one another for Texiera's services.

Boras has had wet dreams about this. The price tag and length on Texiera's contract would skyrocket past absurd.

The most ridiculous thing of that scenario is that neither team really NEEDS Texiera. The Red Sox would love his bat, but are set defensively unless they can somehow find a way to move Mike Lowell (Good luck with that!). And if the Yankees got him they'd essentially be forcing Jorge Posada to catch for the life of his contract and forcing the infield to essentially stay the same for a very long time. This would all be done despite Posada's surgically repaired throwing shoulder and A-Rod's and Jeter's increasing age and decreasing defensive abilities.

It would also be done despite the Nick Swisher signing and the emergence of Juan Miranda's progression in the Arizona Fall League. Miranda hit .295 with a .423 OBP and .551 slugging this season for the Javelinas. For a full, in depth look at Miranda go here. Big ups to the boys at River Ave. Blues. 2nd best Yankee blog I can think of....

I really hate to do this because it's so far away, but if Mark Texiera signs it's going to be for a very long time -- at least 8 years if you ask me. This signing would no doubt affect a guy like Jesus Montero, who some call the future of the Yankees. And while Montero sits behind the dish now as a catcher, most project him, due to his size, power, and hitting ability, to become a corner outfielder or firstbaseman. Why get Texiera when you've got 2-3 years until this kid is ready?

I dunno. Seems to me that if the Yankees don't get C.C. they'll just target another pitcher and stay in on Texiera to push the price higher. Not to sign him. The business nature of baseball pretty much dictates it. I mean the Yankees are trimming enough money to be able to sign both Sabathia and Texiera and still be in the black. Why wouldn't they just be in on both?

The simplest answer is that they're both Type A free agents and would cost draft picks. These are arguably the two best free agents on the market. The problem is that they are not interchangeable talents. Mark Texiera won't help our starting pitching and C.C. Sabathia won't help the Angles score runs. If the Yankees have the capabilities to sign both the fact that they don't, in the first offseason of the past 13 in which they failed to make the playoffs, should be very telling.

What they are telling me is that if C.C. makes up his mind to pitch someplace else the Yankees will move onto Derek Lowe and ask on A.J. Burnett (Also Type A free agents). They will not pursue Mark Texiera first or for first. So stop it.

Let's Play The Dating Game!

Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman gives us a Winter Meeting Preview in his Daily Scoop. In it, an anonymous friend of C.C. Sabathia reveals two mystery suitors have offered up deals. These unnamed teams and unknown deals are indeed curious, but I have to think if they were substantial or attractive we'd know about them by now. It's not like there's been a lot of news lately on the Sabathia front.

Heyman also notes that Cashman expressed "heavy interest" in Derek Lowe when he met with Scott Boras yesterday. There's something very off-putting about the phrase "heavy interest" in this situation. The mental picture I get isn't pretty.

Seriously though, I am not enamored by Derek Lowe. There's nothing negative about the guy I can pin point though. His numbers, durability, and big game status is impressive. The worst thing I can come up with is his age, agent, and affiliation with Red Sox. I just don't like Lowe I guess.

Oh, No! A Mexican Standoff!!

Peter Gammons is elusive!

I keep seeing this little blurb on the ESPN news ticker that's accredited to Gammons. I'd like to link it for my readers, but seeing as I have gotten one response since I started this thing, (Thanks whoever you are. You are appreciated and loved.) I'm just going to give a brief rundown.

Gammons is reporting that Sabathia is waiting to see where Mark Texiera goes before he signs. Meanwhile, Derek Lowe isn't doing anything until C.C. sets the market.

Jeez, it's a good thing this isn't getting complicated.

It seems C.C. is specifically waiting to see if the Angels retain Texiera, as that kind of long-term deal would officially push the Angles out of the running to land the big man. The problem is, Mark Texiera is a Scott Boras client. Scott Boras isn't known for the speed and ease in which he conducts business and gets his clients signed.

Blowing Smoke?

ESPN's and Vanderbilt's own Buster Olney checks in today with a few head scratching and eye catching tidbits.

• The Red Sox apparently plan to meet with C.C. Sabathia in the next few days. The general consensus around baseball doesn't see the Red Sox with the ability or desire to attempt to match, meet, or exceed the initial Yankee offer of $140 million. It seems Theo and the boys would just be doing their due diligence by meeting with Sabathia. Still though, screw the Red Sox.

• Despite the great news last week on the new and improved Robinson Cano, the fact Kevin Long sees him as a 3 or 5 for us next year, and his numbers in the Dominican Winter League, the Yankees seem to have Orlando Hudson on the brain. Olney seems to be taking a shot in the dark here, but he sees a scenario in which the Yankees will offer Cano to the Dodgers in a straight up deal for either Claton Kershaw or Chad Billingsley. When those deals are shot down the Yankees will then try to use Cano and land Matt Kemp. Ultimately leaving 2B free for Orlando. This scenario seems highly unlikely, but is a possible route the Yankees make take if they fail to land any of the front line starters they are targeting. The sting of losing Cano would no doubt hurt, but an upgrade via trade protects your draft day options. It's pretty sill still though. Why trade a 2B for an OF like Kemp when everyone with eyes and a brain knows you desperately need pitching.
  

An Amendment

Looks like Newsday's Ken Davidoff was looking a little too far into his crystal ball. David O'Brein of The Atlanta-Journal Constitution actually heard from Braves GM Frank Wren. A pretty good source if you ask me. Anyway, O'Brien confirms that while the Braves did indeed offer a contract for the services of AJ Burnett, they have yet to guarantee a fifth year. The contract may have a fifth year as an option and is believed to average 15 mill per. This amounts to nothing more than the first ticket entered in the A.J. Burnett sweepstakes.

Oh,wow! It's some news!

Holy crap, there's actually news in the paper today! Let's take a peek.

• Newsday scribe Ken Davidoff pens a charming article that describes a good news, bad news scenario involving C.C. Sabbathia and A.J. Burnett. The Braves seemed poised to snag Burnett for 5 as if the name Mike Hampton was never spoken in the ATL. Meanwhile the Yanks seem confident that C.C. won't see a better deal and will soon come a knockin'. Kenny does a little embellishment in this one when he suggests the Yankees will target Derek Lowe once C.C. and Pettite are signed.
  
• In sharp, direct, and pointed contrast, Big Mark Feisand of The Daily News contends that The San Francisco Giants will test the Sabbathia market by trying to find the magic number between 100 and 140 million. Personally I can't think the words "home team discount" will exist this offseason and C.C. will chase the paper. Apparently the hefty lefty's wifey wants to stay closer to home. I think she'd want a bigger paycheck for her husband more. Why not? I know just her as much as anyone else reporting.
  
• Andy Pettitte is in the paper today too. Jack Curry of The New York Times did a phone interview with Mr. Pettite in which he once again expressed his desire to be a part of the '09 team. This one's a no brainer. The agents and the team just need to decide on a number. All we know is that it's not 10 million and it's certainly not 16. I think 12.5 will do.
  
• And finally, Tony Massarotti of The Boston Globe scoops all the New York "journalists" with the interesting, intriguing, and unexpected news that Brian Cashman flew to California today to meet with Scott Boras to discuss clients. (Seriously, how the hell does a Boston sports journalist know this?) More specifically, Cash is there to make an offer on Derek Lowe. Let the Mark Texiera and Manny Ramirez rumors fly!