It hasn’t even been a week since the postseason officially came to a end, and already excitement over the Hot Stove is in full force. This offseason will be no different from prior years as elite free agents will surely continue to grab the headlines. Ludicrous trade proposals, driven by the inherent optimism and unexpectedness of [...]
The following is a guest post from friend of the blog Hannah Ehrlich (For best results, listen to Boston’s “Peace of Mind” while reading this article.) There are a lot of really great things about the Yankees re-signing CC Sabathia. The most important of which is, of course, that the big lefty would be contributing [...]
The theme of the day in the New York media seems to be that the Yankees and general manager Brian Cashman are planning a “quiet offseason,” and may not plan on making too many moves. This is based on the comments Cashman made, and didn’t make, during his call with reporters yesterday, and would be a stark contrast to most winters for Yankee fans to be sure. Even last year, in what became the Winter of the Scrap Heap, the Yankees had originally made a hard push to sign Cliff Lee. So, are the Yankees going to dial things back this year?
Well, probably not.
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if we were going to have a discussion about what makes Joe Girardi a good manager, I think the first thing we’d talk about is his bullpen management. He, like all managers, has his bad moments when it comes to relief pitchers; and he, like all other managers, likes to stick to the formula of [...]
The winners of the 2011 Rawlings Gold Glove awards were announced last night, which means that it’s time to make fun of the selections this morning. In all honesty, there’s only two winners in the American League that really stand out to me, but then, I regard the Gold Gloves with more of a morbid amusement than righteous outrage these days. I don’t really understand how Erick Aybar wins at shortstop and Alcides Escobar isn’t even a “finalist” (they changed the announcement process a bit this year, apparently to create more interest in the award, which is pretty much the definition of putting lipstick on a pig), and, of course, Alex Gordon beating out Brett Gardner in left field is a farce.
I’m not even going to rant or complain about this one. The Gold Gloves’ credibility issues are well known by now, and I really doubt I have to make a strong case that Gardner deserved the award. In any case, Gardner did win The Fielding Bible award for left fielders, which should be seen as a bigger honor anyway.
CJ Wilson and Yu Darvish are by most accounts the top two starting pitchers on the market this offseason, and their on-field performance has been discussed ad nauseum. Since I don’t have much to add to the already thorough discussions of the two pitchers, I thought I would take a look at the economics of [...]
Brian Cashman, in a conference call with the various beat writers, just announced that the Yankees have declined an option on Andrew Brackman. Per Brackman’s contract, the Yankees were bound to release him if the option was declined, meaning that the Yankees’ 2007 first round pick is now a free agent. Brackman was a highly touted prospect coming into this previous season, but a disastrous year really hurt his value, to the extent that the Yankees would rather give up 5 years of team control rather than pick up his 2012 option.
C.C. Sabathia has re-signed. That’s awesome, and gives the Yankees some certainty heading into the free agent period. We’ve discussed at length here quite a bit about those free agent options – Yu Darvish and C.J. Wilson on the high end, Mark Buerhle and Freddy Garcia on the low end. While I find things attractive [...]
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like the treatment C.J. Wilson is getting with regards to this offseason. Not that I’ve been the guy’s biggest booster, or anything, but I’ve been a bona fide cheerleader for the Rangers’ southpaw compared to most of the media, who just come up with more and more ways to run Wilson down. The New York media has been particularly brutal, which is really unusual. Usually they connect almost all of the top 3 or 4 free agents in a given class to the Yankees in one way or another, with various levels of certainty that the Yankees just have to sign them. This year you get the impression that there will be riots in the press room if the Yankees sign the best available MLB pitcher not named “C.C. Sabathia.”
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