The Royals are having a better season than the Yankees, but that doesn’t mean the Royals’ situation is better, Andy Martino of New York Daily News reminds fans who would like to see the Yankees take a more player development-heavy approach. The Yankees, who depend heavily on expensive talent from outside their organization, have spent the past 20 years in playoff races, while the Royals have spent years losing while trying to develop a solid core. The Yankees consistently contend, which is why Carlos Beltran picked the Yankees over the Royals last offseason, Martino writes. “I liked (the Royals). I liked the team,” says Beltran. “But at the end of the day, I felt that this (the Yankees) organization — every year, man, they find a way to put things together.” Of course, the Yankees are able to pursue the strategy they do because of their financial advantages, and Beltran’s first year perhaps illustrates certain problems with their strategy. Here are more notes from the American League.
- Melky Cabrera suffered a season-ending injury last night and can become a free agent after the season, but he wants to remain with the Blue Jays next season, the Associated Press reports. “I stay in Toronto,” Cabrera said last night. Cabrera, 30, has had a strong season in the last year of his two-year, $16MM deal, hitting .301/.351/.458.
- 2014 hasn’t been a strong season for the Rays, but Jake Odorizzi’s development has clearly been a bright spot, as Andrew Astleford of FOX Sports Florida notes. Odorizzi has struck out 9.7 batters per nine innings in a full season in the rotation, and he’s posted strong numbers overall, improving after a bumpy month of April. That’s not bad for a player who wasn’t even the headliner in the trade in which he was acquired. ”I think you’re just seeing a young man understanding what he has and how to utilize it,” says Rays manager Joe Maddon. ”That’s it.”
I wouldn’t be surprised in Melky stayed. They’ve got a close clubhouse, especially with the Dominican players, and the city has a lot to offer in terms of nightlife.
He is basically telling the GM “Put a half way reasonable deal on the table and its signed”
I saw initial reports suggesting 3/36 or 4/48 could get it done, but I think he is deserving of a bit more. I would say 3/42 would probably be good enough.
Yeah, I can’t imagine how that would not get things done. Pretty fair.
naw thats still an overpay. bautista got 57 homers in 2010 and was given 14 million a year almost. i’d say 3/39 works because thats about what shane victorino got with the red sox and thats about as good as melky has been when shane was in his prime years.
Bautista at the time was a one year wonder, so 14 mill was a fair price. You couldn’t justify giving him more than that at the time.
Teams would of if he hit FA lol
“But at the end of the day, I felt that this (the Yankees) organization — every year, man, they find a way to put things together.”
Well, at the end of this day, Carlos, who has a better chance of going to the playoffs?
Plus, your skills are diminishing, you’re getting a bit older, you don’t bounce back from injury like you have in the past.
Royals should be thankful that they didn’t sign you.
Before 2014, what reason would Beltran have to believe that the Royals were going to be any better than the 20+ years prior?
Remember that Beltran always dreamed of playing for the Yankees, anyway. The Boss just (stupidly) preferred the shell of Randy Johnson instead.
I think it’s instructive to look at the situation in KC when Beltran was traded to the Astros. They had just had a bit of a ‘false positive’ season in 2003 when they finished above .500 for the first time in forever. Then the next year, they were historically awful. Beltran signed a three-year deal. He probably thinks it’s more likely the Yankees aren’t historically awful over those three years than the Royals.
Before 2014? How about the fact that they’d gotten younger and better for five straight years, and that everyone else in baseball seemed to notice that they were getting better?
The royals are the 8th oldest team in baseball. Saying they have gotten better over the past 5 years isn’t saying much.
Hey hey hey, they’re trying to make a point here. Don’t disrupt them with your “facts.”
Hindsight being 20/20, it’s easy to look back and change your opinion, but at the time of the signing, the Yankees outlook looked a lot more promising than the Royals outlook to make the post season.
And for much of the first half of the season. What the Royals are doing is great, but I don’t blame Beltran for picking the Yankees.
The only reason they’re one of the oldest teams in baseball are Chen (Cut), Willingham, Frasor (non-factor) and Ibanez (non-factor). The core of the team is still very young.
Being old doesn’t always equal being bad. They are two very different things. I believe Red Sox were the oldest team last year. You know, the Red Sox that won the world series. You think it matters to them (or anyone else) that they were the oldest?
Half of the top 10 in oldest teams this season are vying for a playoff spot. This includes Tigers, Dodgers, Angels, Giants, and Yankees.
Yes, every team wants to build bench strength through their farm, but let’s not act like age is the end all be all. Winning is.
Out of curiousity, what happens when you remove Raul Ibanez from that equation?
The same thing that happens when you remove the oldest player on every team?
Most analysts and com mentors on this sight believed KC would be the same as last year, miss the playoffs, and then be much worse next year after Shields walks. Hard to blame Beltran going to the perceived better situation
I was thinking that very same thing last night when I was watching him bat in the 9th….Crazy how things work out. Makes me think also about the Tigers going out and getting Price to insert into the rotation. In this instance, it MAY not help the Tigers as it appears that this was a mediocre move at best, atleast for this year.
” Well, at the end of this day, Carlos, who has a better chance of going to the playoffs?”
Well isn’t hindsight 20/20? Cliff Lee could have went back to Texas instead of Philly and appear in his 2nd straight WS in 2011. Of the 3 teams that offered him a contract, Philly by far has been the worst of the 3 (from 2011-2014 that is)
The Royals schedule is so much easier than the Yanks, yet they are competing for the same wild card spot. MLB needs to balance the schedule again.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the Royals aren’t competing for the Wild Card anymore. They’re competing for the division.
The Yankees are competing for the Wild Card with Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, Oakland, and Seattle. Do all of those teams have easier schedules than the Yankees, too?
The Tigers & Royals play the Twins & White Sox 19 times. The A’s and Seattle play Houston & what’s left of Texas 19 times. The AL East teams have the far tougher Red Sox and Rays as their 19 game “easier” opponents, so the Wild Card is a cakewalk in two divisions, but far more difficult in the East. MLB needs to balance the schedule.
I’d have an easier time buying your argument that the AL East has a much tougher time getting a WC spot if they hadn’t gotten at least one of the WC spots in every season since 2007.
The idea that one division is stronger than others doesn’t hold a lot of water this season, but if you really want to try, you’d have more success making the argument about the AL West than the AL East. The West has been stronger against the other two divisions except for the fact that its record has been wildly skewed by an unlucky Texas team.
Regardless, KC has a winning record against all three AL divisions this season. The Yankees have a winning record against one AL division this season.
Are you referring to the 2014 schedule as a whole, or the remainder of the season? Just on the surface, and I am not a follower of the AL East, but they seem similar.
Are you kidding me, Yankees arent gonna make the playoffs so you want to change the schedule to equal it up, lets play with an equal payroll and see how often the yankees make it
We will be back on top if we sign Lester Big Game James and Scherzer. We will need help in the infield.Money is not an object for the Bombers.This is what we do.As long as MLB has no salary cap.So what if we have no prospects.
They wouldn’t sign all three of those, if any. They may sign one at most. Tanaka and Pineda are a solid 1 and 2, Sabathia, who will probably be slotted at #2 is more of a 3 now. Then they have Shane Greene who has earned another look next year as the #5. Nova won’t be ready for opening day, so they’ll need a replacement for that #4 slot, which will be vacated by Kuroda this winter. Of course this all depends on Sabathia’s recovery and what happens in the next 30 days with Tanaka, then things could change. They need to focus on middle infield, a power bat, and resigning DRob.
Pitching isn’t the Yankees problem this year (despite 4/5 of their rotation missing most of the year). The replacement pitchers like Greene and McCarthy have done a fine job.
Their problem all year has been their inconsistent offense which explains why they have been outscored all year. For instance , of the 72 games they have won so far, only 29 have been by 3 runs or more and only 17 have been by 4 runs or more.
that argument doesn’t hold water from the standpoint that teams such as KC who do a rebuild don’t succeed or contend because they lack the finances to resign or extend all the players once they’re developed. imagine how great the A’s couldve been in the 2000’s if Billy Beane had NYY money and could have kept all the players they had to let walk away.
it’s not the rebuild that kept the Royals from competing the past 2 decades, it’s their sub standard payroll the owners have implemented so they could pocket a greater amount of the revenue. the Yankees on the other hand could both develop their own stars, and then extend or resign them once they are established stars and going towards free agency.