While many Yankees fans have speculated on the possibility of Pedro Alvarez coming to the Bronx as a replacement for the injured Greg Bird (a notion with which I disagree, as Bird wasn’t projected to be on the 25-man roster barring a Mark Teixeira injury, and Alvarez is undoubtedly seeking fairly regular at-bats), Joel Sherman of the New York Post opines that the Yankees should instead make a play for Juan Uribe. Adding Uribe to the mix would allow the Yankees to use Chase Headley at first base in the event of an injury to Teixeira, with Uribe slotting in at the hot corner in his stead. Additionally, Uribe’s ability to still capably play second base could make him an option there as well, should Dustin Ackley prove to be an unsuitable backup from a defensive standpoint. As Sherman notes, however, there’s competition for Uribe’s services — namely in the form of the Indians, as ESPN’s Buster Olney mentioned earlier today. There does appear to be room for a veteran infield addition on the Yankees’ roster, although Uribe would make it difficult to envision Rob Refsnyder having any kind of regular role with the team in 2016.
More on the Yankees and the rest of their division…
- In a second column, Sherman spoke to Yankees GM Brian Cashman and asked whether the delayed diagnoses in the injury cases of Teixeira and Bird led to any concerns about the team’s medical evaluation process. “We deal with two of the biggest and best hospitals in the world – New York Presbyterian and the Hospital for Special Surgery,” said Cashman. “Both of them were completely on top of this and both saw it the same way. There is no second-guessing involved. Both [hospitals] saw [Bird] last May, they saw him in October and they both saw him now. Nothing was missed.”
- As Spring Training draws nearer, it becomes increasingly likely that the Orioles will look internally to fill out their rotation, writes Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun. Encina notes that a number of free agents remain as possibilities — Yovani Gallardo, Mat Latos and Tim Lincecum — but each comes with his own issues (draft pick compensation, character concerns and health, respectively). Encina hears that the Oriols have even considered a reunion with right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, although he characterizes that as an unlikely outcome. Encina goes on to profile the team’s top internal candidates for the back of the rotation, including Vance Worley, Mike Wright, Tyler Wilson and even Brian Matusz.
- CSN New England’s Sean McAdam suggests three offseason moves that the Red Sox should have made but didn’t as well as some offseason decisions that he feels the team would have been better off not making. An extension for Mookie Betts tops McAdam’s list of suggestions for moves that the team should have made (there is, of course, still time for that to play out), while banking on Hanley Ramirez to be their everyday first baseman is a misstep in McAdam’s mind. He also mentions obtaining a second left-handed reliever and taking advantage of a deep outfield market would have been wise for the BoSox.
Isn’t Starlin Castro the Yankees starting second baseman over Ackley?
Yep. The author completely missed that. There is no room for another middle infielder on the Yankees.
I was referring to Uribe over Ackley as an option as Castro’s backup, but I can definitely see where that’s not clear. I’ll update. Thanks.
It is perfectly clear. Don’t apologize.
Yankees as of now have a 3 man bench – Hicks, one of Sanchez/Romine and Ackley
Refsnyder is not guaranteed to make the roster.
I think the Sox missed some opportunities as well. Bradley should have been traded and a more conventional power-hitting corner OF acquired.
Yeah but I think they were tentative about doing that because of the trainwreck Hanley contract
Braves may trade Markakis for Bradley straight up or with a prospect pitcher.
Boston has no need for an aging no power corner outfielder.
Perhaps they are waiting til the Aug 1 trade deadline, to ship either Bradley or Castillo out and make a real run at Cespedes when he opts out of the Mets contract next winter.
They had Cespedes on the team at one point and got rid of him right away. I think that is pretty telling.
Bradley is a decent everyday starter on the basis of his defense alone. If he doesn’t hit, he still has solid value (though more than he would likely fetch in a trade). If he does hit, he could be as much as an all star player.
Before the middle of last season, Bradley (who was rushed to the majors originally and got surprisingly little development time, remember) had trouble figuring out MLB pitching. Then in midseason he made a timing adjustment to his swing, and was GREAT.
Did he make the adjustment that will make him a really good starter for the next decade? Or did he just find a temporary fix, one that pitchers will overcome, or that he’ll lose after an offseason away from everyday play? We don’t know. But there is ZERO chance that Boston would have gotten anything close to “really good everyday player” trade value for him…so why accept a middling return, one that wouldn’t be much better than Bradley’s MINIMUM value, rather than hold on to him for 0.5 to 1 more season to see what he really is? Don’t forget, this is a guy who was a top notch OBP hitter in the minors and was viewed as being a future leadoff man, so he could be elite at the bottom of the order.
All this so Boston could pay a LOT of money for a very good, but also very flawed, hitter in Cespedes or Upton? Why?
Not sure what McAdam is talking about, “banking on Hanley Ramirez to be the full-time first baseman.” Travis Shaw is still on the team. He’s probably not going to hit like he did last season, but he’s still a respectable replacement if Ramirez can’t hack it. Disagree with the signing a big time outfielder too. If anyone stumbles Young is a descent enough outfielder to play an everyday role. And there’s always Brock Holt. The team has enough depth and they’ve already spent enough money. Could have used a hard throwing lefty reliever, I’ll give him that. Signing an extension for Betts would have been nice too. Also not seeing where Beyeler was scapegoated. Yes he lost his job, but he was an outfield coach who never played in the outfield. He was miscast in his role. They replaced him with Amaro, but at least Amaro was an outfielder during his career.
Uribe shouldn’t be to hard for the Yankees to outbid the team rumored to have an interest in him. Just offer Uribe a major league deal.
Please no Guthrie. Guts was a competitor on the mound and well liked but he’s very susceptible to the long ball which plays terrible in OPACY and the AL East. I think Latos or Lincecum are better options to take a low risk chance on. Vance Worley has performed well in the NL and I think ultimately he will be given a shot to be the #5. If he falters then it will be Tyler Wilson followed by Mike Wright then if all else fails Terry Doyle or Chris Jones will get a shot. The Os have way more depth then they are given credit for.
You could say pretty much the same thing about Lincecum as you did about Guthrie, though. He’s a competitor, well liked, but gives up a lot of dingers. He’s gotten knocked around at AT&T Park the last few years, so I’m not sure that moving to Camden Yards and the AL East will revitalize him.
I know it’s petty, but I’m still a little butt hurt over that “These Os Aint Royal” shirt incident.
The Sox should’ve acquired a “second left-handed reliever”? Robbie Ross Jr. and Tommy Layne are both on the roster, and the Sox DID acquire Roenis Elias, who is almost certainly going to be in the pen
Yeah, but none of those options is really that thrilling is it? At best Ross is average, with Elias and Layne falling somewhere below that.
Youre really selling Layne short:
Lefties hit just .136 / .248 / .170 against Layne – better than virtually every other lefty specialist.
Not a fan of LOOGY’s. If you can’t pitch acceptably to both lefties and righties, then you shouldn’t have a place in a ML bullpen.
Isnt that a bit overstated? If I can put a lefty in to get Jacoby, Gardner, and make Tex bat righty, ive got a damn valuable arm. So what if you cant beat a righty? Thats what Smith/Taz/Uehara will be for.
It’s not a bit overstated. There aren’t many LOOGY types still even playing in MLB. Let’s say he turned Tex around to hit righty. Kiss that ball goodbye to the tune of .322/.433/.517. Those are brutal numbers. So the Yankees are one team he has the possibility of facing more than one batter on. How many other are there? There just isn’t enough value in a one batter reliever to justify taking up a position on the roster.
Elias has only really been a starter so far. I think he could be a solid pen option. He fits that “6th starter” profile that seems to produce a lot of good late inning bullpen types.
It’s very possible Elias could be a descent reliever. But as 6th starters go there are at least three guys I’d rather see in that role. And it’s doubtful Elias will even break camp with the parent club.
I have no idea as to how the ‘Guts’ rumors are getting started again.
The O’s media are always worried about something else other than Duquette is sitting around doing nothing again.
Our starting rotation is a great big question mark.
Our outfield is even a bigger question mark, more so than last year.
I just don’t understand as to why the Orioles had to have Chris Davis back if they weren’t going to do anything else. Two off-seasons in a row where they have been a complete mystery to me as to what they are really trying to accomplish in ‘Charm’ City! SMH
Dan Duquette is not an idiot, but he sure fakes it really well.
I’m guessing the lack of rotation improvement is intentional, they entered the offseason knowing their starting rotation was going to Jimenez, Tillman, Gausman, Gonzalez, and Wright. Duquette has been walking a tight rope of trying to keep fans believing the O’s are ready to upgrade across the board. Getting Wieters back messed their plans up a bit too. As for outfield, that’s probably done too, Jones (CF), Kim/Urrutia/Navarro (LF), Reimold/Trumbo/Navarro (RF) (or some combination there) with one of the Spring Training invitees sliding around between the corners. Does anybody think Jimmy Paredes is going to be the full time DH? I sure don’t.
If not 1B where do you think the Sox would play Ramirez? He’s clearly not going to be allowed near an outfielder’s glove after last year’s showing and Ortiz has DH locked up for his final tour. Travis Shaw looks like he’ll be a nice little player down the road but if you think he’s handling 1B and Ortiz stays at DH for ’16 where’s Ramirez? They’re sure not benching him just to get Shaw’s glove to the infield.
I think he was implying they would release Ramirez and eat the contract. Bitter pill to swallow but they were much better with him out of the lineup.
It’s as though no one can accept the Yankees are done. They haven’t signed an MLB free agent yet. With that I don’t see them paying twice the price in luxury tax for a contract of Uribe.
Let’s face facts. The huge contracts signed years ago are now impeding the idea of spending now. Instead they have built their farm system and will continue to look to the future while avoiding the contract mistakes of the past.
2013 was so long ago? they spent 100 million in 2014 as well, I love how the yankees sit out one off season and suddenly are frugal geniuses, the yankees have still spent more than any team over the past 3 years including the 0 dollars they have spent this year. 571 million dollars.
No one said they were “frugal geniuses”. They do seem to have a direction they are following–run out the clock on some of the older contracts while getting somewhat younger and more athletic.
What big signings did the Yankees have last offseason? Miller and Gardner don’t really count since everyone agrees those are very team friendly contracts (Headley wasn’t the best resign but thy can definitely get out from under it down the road.. As for 2013, they were going all in for the Jeter farewell tour. They only bad contract was Ellsbury… which I don’t think was all Cashman’s call.
Long story short, after the 70 million came off in 2008 and was replaced with four multi-year FA deals, the Yankees signed a total of 0 players longer than three years (Rafael Soriano) from 2010-2013. When the next large amount of money came off, they signed four more players to 3+ years. and now two players and less than a 100 million total since. Compare that and the lack of first round picks they’ve surrendered (compared to the ones they’ve gained) to the 7 years prior and see the stark difference in philosophy.
You’re understating the change in philosophy since 2009. The Yankees haven’t really raised payroll in seven winters now, they simply replace money as it comes off. Here’s a good breakdown of it:
baseball-news-blog.com/yankees-spending-habits-sin…
And 571 million is a big disingenuous. It’s been $578 million in the past 7 years.
To put it another way, in the past 8 winters counting 2009, the Yankees spent $880 million in 2009 and 2014 combined (the two years they had about 140 million off the payroll in those two years) and $133 million in the other six winters combined (or 80 million less than David Price’s contract alone). They basically haven’t paid for a high priced free agent in six of their past 8 winters combined. It’s not a cry of poor by any means but it is an indication they have practiced restraint a lot more than people understand when they constantly think the other shoe is about to drop.
Almost all players return to their norms after an either up or down season. Ha key can flat out hit. 10 homers last April before the injury. And he’ll turn out to be at least an average 1B. Lots of defensively sub par sluggers have manned 1B just fine. The Panda project however I have less faith in. The sox will take this year. They were 4th in runs last year less than 20 runs from 2nd. This is a deep and very well balanced team, they will win the east if they stay way from catastrophic injuries. Do they have the best SP, no. Best defense? No. Most power, no. But they are the best overall team.
Braves could deal Freddie Freeman (6-117) to the Bosox for Hanley Ramirez (3-68), and prospects Rafael Devers and Sam Travis.
Why would the Braves want Hanley whatsoever? Especially being an NL team
Pretty clearly, trademeister has the Braves wanting Devers and Travis, and you have to give up something to get something. It wouldn’t cost the Braves money given Freeman’s contract, give the team a player (Ramirez) who maybe would hit roughly as well for a few seasons as Freeman, and then offer up those two nice (one very very excellent) prospects.
Not saying Atlanta would do it, but there is plenty of “why” in the offer.
What a terrible group of suggestions by Mr. McAdam. MLB Trade Rumors shouldn’t post weak musings among other quality notations. Outside of the Betts one (which isn’t even done yet), it’s all a bunch of silly nonsense:
-RPs go up and down, and Boston already has three options (including Elias) who could fit the LH reliever role. Let them play, and if they don’t cut the mustard make an addition midseason. Plus, Boston doesn’t have to do very much to “keep up with NY” in the bullpen, given that Kimbrel/Uehara already match up evenly with 2/3 of the Yankee trio (and it would be foolish for Boston to aim to HAVE to match the third). Tony Sipp??? That’s lazy armchair GM’ing right there…sure, just add all the fairly expensive 32-year-old RPs who were mediocre for years before last season as you can, that’s smart!
Also, gotta love when a writer says that Boston’s bullpen is “only” good…and yet multiple objective sources have labeled it as high as the #2 bullpen in all of baseball.
-You can’t let young players become mega-cost-efficient starters without PLAYING THEM. Bradley finally showed that he might be set to hit, and with his defense if he does hit he’ll be a huge piece. Castillo has great physical skills but his 2015 was largely aborted due to injuries. Call it a mulligan and take another shot at it; he’s far from a lock to not succeed. Why add an expensive and flawed FA piece (the kind that has gotten Boston in trouble lately anyways) when you can play the string to see what you have and perhaps get better value than the best-case FA scenario?
-Boston would be foolish to give up on Ramirez and all the money owed him after just one season. That would be a gross waste. With that in mind, 1B was essentially the only option for him. So, give him one season to try it out, and then move him to DH or get rid of him if he falls flat. Meanwhile, in the worst-case scenario Boston has a decent stopgap option in Travis Shaw, so clearly the team isn’t “relying” on Ramirez.
I agree on almost all your points and would add: a few. Hanley was signed to replace Papi long term and back up Papi up in case of injury short term. It would be stupid to pay most of his salary to DH for someone else in 2017-18 and have no DH themselves. In 2016 Hanley will DH when Papi needs a day off and be replaced in the late innings for 1b defense.. For true Sox fans who watched them finish strong in 2015 with great outfield “D” despite injuries to Pedroia, Uehara, Tazawa ,Hanley and Panda it is clear they have done more than enough to contend in 2016.