Sunday, January 13, 2013

Yankees Okay With Price For Upton

According to Jon Morosi of Fox Sports, the Yankees are willing to meet the asking price for Justin Upton... which is great news. But they aren't willing to take on all of the $38.5 million remaining on Upton's contract... which is bad news. I understand that thinking, as they're looking at the money owed to Justin in 2014 and 2015. Again... I don't like it, but I understand it.

Morosi floats the idea of trading Curtis Granderson in order to free up money for Upton in 2013. That doesn't make any sense to me for a couple of reasons...

1. Granderson is gone after this season anyway, so how does trading him help the austerity budget for 2014? The answe... it doesn't.

2. Morosi talked about dealing Granderson to Seattle, as their interest in Upton shows that they want a strong outfielder to anchor their lineup. Sounds great when Jon mentions a window to sign Curtis to an extension, but when he says "even if it's only for one year" I scratched my head. Why would the Mariners, who aren't going to compete in 2013 after finishing 19 games back in the AL West last season, want to pay Grandy $14 million for one year? I already didn't quite understand paying as much as Seattle would have for Upton, who is signed for 3 more years, but them paying for Granderson makes even less sense.

Moving on, Mike Axisa at River Avenue Blues said exactly what I was thinking in their post regarding this bit of news, saying that the Yanks should look to add Upton to their current outfield situation... they shouldn't make a lateral move (switching one outfielder for another). I mean, is an outfield of Upton-Gardner-Ichiro that much better than Granderson-Gardner-Ichio? I don't think so.

Yankees Considering Javier Vazquez For A 3rd Time?


The Yankees are one of several teams including the Washington Nationals and the Boston Red Sox to be monitoring Javier Vazquez as he attempts a comeback to the Major Leagues. Javier has been down in the Winter League in Puerto Rico and has been impressing a lot of scouts with his 92-95 mph fast ball and breaking stuff. Vazquez is entering his age 36 season but is pitching to a 3.52 ERA with 30 K's and 6 BB's in 23 IP. I cannot see the Yankees bringing him back since we already potentially have six or seven starters depending on whether you count Adam Warren or not but it does not hurt to send a scout or two down there. I expect him to go to Boston who would give him the most playing time.

Swisher & Sabathia To Be Honored At BBWAA Dinner


Next Saturday on January 19th the Baseball Writers Association of America will hold its annual dinner to hand out the awards for the 2012 season. The MVP's and Cy Young award winners will be honored that night but we will also see some other awards handed out that generally do not get talked about. Nick Swisher will win the "Good Guy Award" and CC Sabathia will be presented with the "Joan Payson Humanitarian Award" next Saturday at the Hilton. HERE is a list of the rest of the awards to be given out courtesy of Lohud.