Saturday, November 9, 2013

Yankees May Be Interested In Ryan Hanigan


The Cincinnati Reds signed a two year deal with catcher Brayan Pena giving them three catchers currently on their 40 man roster making Ryan Hanigan likely to be the odd man out. The Yankees have reportedly had interest in Hanigan in the past and may have interest in him again even though they have four catchers of their own on the 40 man roster in Francisco Cervelli, JR Murphy, Austin Romine, and THE Chris Stewart.

Hanigan struggled mightily in 2013 in his age 33 season posting a triple slash of .198/.306/.261 with only two home runs in a very home run friendly ballpark in Cincinnati. Hanigan is still arbitration eligible and is expected to make somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,300,000 in 2014 which may end up keeping him out of New York with the looming luxury tax threshold goal. If you look at Hanigans BABIP of .216 in 2013 and compare it to his career .283 BABIP you may find the reason why Hanigan struggled so much and may be reason enough to take a waiver on him  if the price is right.

Hanigan takes his walks, career 12% walk rate, and is tough to strike out which is always nice to have at the bottom of your order in the American League. Hanigan is also solid behind the dish, unlike the myth that is THE Chris Stewart, as evident in Ryan leading the league in caught stealing percentage to years in a row with a 45% success rate in 2013 and a 48% rating in 2012. Hanigan is also well known for his framing pitch ability so there is always that to look forward to as well.

The Yankees need to worry about their own catching situation before looking to take someone else's problems off their hands as one of our catchers has to go. There is zero possibility that the Yankees go with four catchers on the 40 man roster, that is before Gary Sanchez is protected from the Rule 5 draft. The Yankees for this reason will simply not have enough room on the 40 man for another catcher, even Brian McCann, without  a move or two going down via trades. If the Yankees were interested in Hanigan I would hope it would be as a back up catcher and not a starting catcher but either way I cannot see Hanigan in pinstripes in 2014.

Carlos Beltran To Decline Qualifying Offer

Carlos Beltran has said that he'll reject the qualifying offer given to him by the St. Louis Cardinals. Seeing as how the Cards have plenty of young talent, I see no way they re-sign Beltran, so I think it's safe to say that he will be available.

Carlos is reportedly looking for a three or four-year deal, which would likely be the final contract he'll sign in Major League Baseball. It makes sense that he'd try and cash in after two great years in St. Louis, in which he hit .282/.343/.493 with 56 home runs, not to mention some postseason heroics.

There will be plenty of competition for Beltran's services, so a 3+ year deal is not out of the question at all. However, I think a two year deal with an option for a third sounds more likely. Due to his age, I'm not sure Carlos will last three more years in the outfield, so having the DH spot available in a couple of years could be key.

Sabathia Pleads For Cano To Come Back

"It will never be behind me entirely. Some of that, what happened last year will drive me to hopefully be better in the future. Keeping that back there will help, not getting too comfortable and working, trying to get better and watching video, just trying to get better in every way and I think last year was a good reminder of that."
Last season CC set a career high in ERA, WHIP, and home run rate. Going by WAR, it was Sabathia's least valuable season of his career. Even if it weren't for the fact that three out of five starters from last season's Yankees are no longer under contract, the team needs their "ace" to get back on track.

So it's good to hear that CC hasn't suffered any setbacks this offseason, and is currently working out at full strength. Hopefully he and Larry Rothchild, who is now officially back as the Yankees pitching coach, can figure out what happened and fix it.

However, it's not just CC that needs to figure things out. Brian Cashman is going to be a very active man this winter, as he looks to plug a number of holes on the team. And Sabathia knows this...
"We’ve got some spots open and hopefully some of these young kids can step up, but we’re going to have to go out and look for some new guys."
Along with those "new guys" is Robinson Cano, who could be looking at a $200 million contract. The big guy is pleading with the second baseman that he comes back with the Yankees. When he was asked what advice he'd give to Robbie, this is what he had to say...
“Stay here. I’ve played with him [Cano] for five years now and I think he’s the best second baseman in the game. Obviously he is one of my dear friends, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
Sabathia said free agency wasn't fun for him, as uprooting his family was very stressful.

quotes courtesy of The New York Post

Yankees Interested In Bringing Back Eric Chavez


Dan Martin of the New York Post has reported that the New York Yankees are interested in bringing back Eric Chavez to the team in 2014. If this deal happened it would make so much sense for the Yankees as they would have their guy at third base if Alex Rodriguez was suspended and would also have a viable backup option for Mark Teixeira at first base a couple days a week. Chavez battled health issues again in 2013 after leaving the Yankees for his hometown Diamondbacks and the 35 year old has acknowledged that he can no longer play everyday which works perfectly into our plans next season. If Alex Rodriguez is suspended and we are looking for a good backup for Eduardo Nunez at third base and for Mark Teixeira at first base then I think Eric Chavez is the perfect fit for the Yankees.

Yankees Said To Not Be "In" On Ervin Santana


The New York Yankees are interested in almost every starting pitcher on the free agent market right now with the exceptions of Phil Hughes, for obvious reasons, and Ervin Santana, for not so obvious reasons. The Yankees brass does not feel that Santana would be a good fit in New York, which I disagree with, and do not like the fact that he would cost the Yankees a draft pick since Santana was offered a qualifying offer. Santana is expected to decline the offer fro the Royals and will test the market via free agency. There is no way that Santana would fit in with the Yankees goal of getting under the $189 million luxury tax threshold which may be the ultimate decision maker for the Yanks.

Carlos Beltran Wants Three To Four Year Deal


Carlos Beltran is expected to decline his qualifying offer from the St. Louis Cardinals in hope of landing a three or four year deal this winter. I had a lot of interest in Beltran manning right field for the Yankees in 2014 and now it's gone. Beltran's days in St. Louis are numbered and now his chances of coming back to New York are dwindling as well, especially with the Boston Red Sox said to be in the mix for his services. Beltran turns 37 years old in April and I do not covet the idea of having another 40 year old in right field finishing out his career, I thought that is what we were trying to get away from here. I understand asking for the moon in November and settling in the middle in December but if there is an inkling of truth to this count me out of the Beltran sweepstakes.

Scorpions shutout by Desert Dogs, 1-0

Well, this one was absolutely terrible. In their home game tonight against the Glendale Desert Dogs, the Scorpions were able to get just 3 hits in a 1-0 loss. I get that this is just Arizona Fall League, but really, no runs and 3 hits in a home game? They're better than that. 

Anyway, Yankees outfielder Mason Williams went 0-for-4 in this one while reliever Brett Gerritse pitched two scoreless innings and reliever James Pazos threw one scoreless frame. With this loss, the Scorps record on the season is now just 10-16, 4.5 games out of first place in the AFL East. 

This Day In New York Yankees History 11/9


On this day in 2004, after coming out of retirement, Roger Clemens became the oldest pitcher to ever win a Cy Young Award. Clemens went 18-4 in 218 innings while throwing to a 2.98 ERA for the Yankees in his age 42 season. This would be Roger's seventh Cy Young award and would become the first player to ever win it with four teams including the Yankees, Astros, Red Sox, and Blue Jays.