Quick Hit: Qualifying Offer Set at $15.3 Million

Just a quick hit for free agency this season, the qualifying offer has been set at $15.3 million this season. Any player who is offered a qualifying offer by their team can either decline the one year deal worth $15.3 million and test free agency or they can accept as a sort of pillow contract for 2015. 

If the Yankees were to offer anyone a qualifying offer it would be David Robertson or Hiroki Kuroda, no one else, so this number doesn't seem to affect the team much. Kuroda is likely to retire or return to Japan while one would think Robertson would return to the Yankees. 

Yankees Could Pursue Giants 3B Sandoval This Offseason

The Yankees could consider pursuing Giants Third Baseman Pablo Sandoval this offseason, The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo reports.

Sandoval, 28, will be a free agent this winter after spending the first seven years of his career in San Francisco. During that time, in which he made it to two All-Star Games, the Giants won a pair of World Series, beating the Rangers in 2010 and the Tigers in 2012.

"The Giants would be surprised if Sandoval was their starting third baseman next season with the team’s management not likely to offer more than a three-year deal for the heavy-set switch-hitter, who is likely to receive better offers," the aforementioned Cafardo wrote.

Cafardo opined that only the three richest clubs, the Dodgers, Yankees, and Red Sox, will be able to afford the veteran. Sandoval, in 588 at-bats since 2008, has hit .294 with 106 home runs and 462 RBIs, numbers that seem worthy of a sizable contract.

"Most major league executives we’ve talked to believe Sandoval will wind up with a five-year deal worth about $100 million," Cafardo stated. "That could be with the Red Sox, Yankees, or Dodgers."

Yes it could, but considering that the deals they made last offseason haven't worked out yet it'd be strange for the Yankees to make another right now. Not impossible by any means, but still, definitely not likely.

Who is the Face of the Yankees?

With Derek Jeter gone, retired, and likely married to Hannah Davis right now who is the new face of the New York Yankees? The answer may not be as simple as one would think unfortunately. I have seen many around the Yankees blogosphere and around the beat writers saying that it is Alex Rodriguez. News flash guys, we see through your attempts to garner views and readers by pushing the envelope and I personally did not click a single one of those links. Sorry, not buying it.

The Yankees currently sport home grown talent in left field with Brett Gardner and on the pitcher’s mound with David Robertson (assuming he comes back), Ivan Nova, Shane Greene, Dellin Betances, Adam Warren, and others. In my opinion the face of a franchise has to be an everyday player so Gardner has to win this one by default, no?

That doesn’t downplay the importance of Gardner to the Yankees and it doesn’t make him any less deserving either. New comers like Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, and Brian McCann will get their shot at it but it’s probably too soon to consider any of them at this moment. Mark Teixeira ruffled a few feathers this season with his inability and unwillingness to play through injuries this season and is also likely out of contention in the race for the face of the Yankees.

The face of the Yankees has to be a player that not only the team can gather and rally around but the fans have to be involved to. I’ve already donned Gardner as the next Yankees captain so why not the face of the franchise as well, right? Don’t the two go hand in hand? So an early congratulations to Gardner from us here at The Greedy Pinstripes on the promotion. 

Does The Second Wild Card Prepare You For October?

I have been watching these postseason games this season, and honestly that is something that I rarely find myself doing unless the Yankees are involved, and I have been utterly amazed. The Kansas City Royals and Oakland Athletics Wild Card Playoff game was something for the ages and it hasn’t stopped there for Kansas City. San Francisco also won their Wild Card Playoff game blowing out the Pittsburgh Pirates and taking that momentum with them to Washington. Neither team was especially hot or far from the hottest team going in so does the second Wild Card spot actually prepare you better for October?

With the Baltimore Orioles being the exception, and for a good reason that I will get to later, the teams that coasted into the postseason have struggled this far this October. Baltimore is fresh off a sweep of the Detroit Tigers but you have to remember that O’s manager Buck Showalter is a spiteful old man that played his regulars against the Yankees as he tried to eliminate the team from playoff contention. Teams like the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Washington Nationals, and the Los Angeles Dodgers really had nothing to play for in the final weeks but best record positioning and I think they have truly struggled because of this.

While the higher ranked teams coasted into the postseason you had teams like the Royals and the Giants who had to scratch and claw their way to the postseason holding off a slew of teams chasing them. Kansas City and San Francisco has been playing playoff baseball for the last month already as their teams struggled to secure the final playoff spots in their respected leagues. Because of this these two teams both have a legitimate shot at representing those respected leagues in the World Series, something I truly chalk up to the second Wild Card.

I may have been against the second Wild Card when it was first put into play and I am still not crazy about an uneven five teams per league making the playoffs but it has definitely prepared these teams for the postseason this year and made these games fun to watch as a fan. I guess that’s all that matters in the end, right?

CC Sabathia & The History of Pitchers After Micro-fracture Surgery

CC Sabathia had his shortest season of his career in 2013 after undergoing treatments for a degenerative knee condition that ultimately required micro-fracture knee surgery. Earlier we looked at comparisons for Mark Teixeira and his wrist surgery as an indicator of what to expect from Teixeira in 2015 so I decided to try and do the same for Sabathia and his surgery. Unfortunately only four players in Major League Baseball history have had the same or similar micro fracture surgeries and two of them were positional players. Matt Kemp the Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder and the Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore both had the surgery and so did the Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Jeff Clement. The Texas Rangers southpaw Derek Holland missed the entire 2014 season with the surgery so unfortunately there has never been a pitcher in the majors to date to have the surgery and return to a MLB mound to compare to.

Wikipedia states that the surgery is a quick and minimally invasive surgery that only lasts between 30-90 minutes. In patients under the age of 45 years old there is a reported 75%-80% success rate with the surgery. The problem with those stats are they don't include a player who has to put extreme pressure on the joint and the repaired cartilage 300 or so times a week on a pitchers mound.

The team doesn't know what to expect from CC next season, CC doesn't know what to expect from CC next season, none of us know what to expect from CC next season. All the more reason for the Yankees to bring in depth and stability to the starting rotation for 2015.

Mark Teixera, Jose Bautista, David Ortiz, and Wrist Surgery

The New York Yankees did not get the most out of Mark Teixeira this season and many around the league blame his wrist surgery that cost him much of the 2013 season for the lack of production. Thankfully for the Yankees they have two recent comparisons in David Ortiz and Jose Bautista to look at who had recent and similar wrist surgeries to look at as they predict what to expect from Teixeira in 2015.

I have included the stats for the season before each players surgery, the year of the surgery, the first season after the surgery, and the second season after to see if there was a correlation and incredibly the second season after the surgery always seemed to be the much better season. Should the Yankees expect a big 2015 from their big first baseman? These stats say so.

Jose Bautista:

Year	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2011 ★	149	655	513	105	155	24	2	43	103	132	111	.302	.447	.608	1.056	182
2012 ★	92	399	332	64	80	14	0	27	65	59	63	.241	.358	.527	.886	138
2013 ★	118	528	452	82	117	24	0	28	73	69	84	.259	.358	.498	.856	132
2014 ★	155	673	553	101	158	27	0	35	103	104	96	.286	.403	.524	.928	159

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

David Ortiz: 

Year	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2007 ★	149	667	549	116	182	52	1	35	117	111	103	.332	.445	.621	1.066	171
2008 ★	109	491	416	74	110	30	1	23	89	70	74	.264	.369	.507	.877	124
2009	150	627	541	77	129	35	1	28	99	74	134	.238	.332	.462	.794	102
2010 ★	145	606	518	86	140	36	1	32	102	82	145	.270	.370	.529	.899	137

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Mark Teixeira:

Year	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2012	123	524	451	66	113	27	1	24	84	54	83	.251	.332	.475	.807	115
2013	15	63	53	5	8	1	0	3	12	8	19	.151	.270	.340	.609	68
2014	123	508	440	56	95	14	0	22	62	58	109	.216	.313	.398	.711	101

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

2015 coming soon.....

TGP Daily Poll: Two 2nd Wild Card Teams Will Make World Series

For the first time in the short existence of the two Wild Card format both of the second Wild Card winners will make the World Series in the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants.

Vote in our poll. 

Quick Hit: Outman Elects Free Agency

The Yankees minor league pitcher Josh Outman has elected free agency rather than accepting an outright to Triple-A Scranton. Outman was designated for assignment to make room on the roster in the final two weeks for Masahiro Tanaka when he returned from rehabbing his partially torn ulnar collateral ligament. The Yankees could always bring the southpaw back on a minor league deal but that seems unlikely with Tyler Webb, Jacob Lindgren, and others on the brink of the major leagues.

This Day In New York Yankees History 10/7: Joe Torre’s Job Is In Jeopardy

George Steinbrenner was known for his hiring and firing of his manager’s but easily the longest tenured manager during his reign as Yankees manager was Joe Torre. After winning four World Series championships with the club and reaching the postseason every single season as the Yankees manager Steinbrenner threatened Torre’s job on this day in 2007 stating that if the team did not beat the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS this season that his job would be in jeopardy. The Yankees trailed 2-0 in the best of five series and would rally behind Mr. Torre on this day to win 6-4 in come from behind fashion.

Also on this day in 1988 Billy Martin was once again replaced as the manager of the Yankees by Dallas Green. During his tenure Martin compiled a 1253-1013 record as the manager of the Tigers, Yankees, Twins, A’s, and Rangers in 19 seasons.

Finally on this day in Yankees history New York clinched two different World Series titles. The first was in 1950 when rookie pitcher Whitey Ford helped the Yankees sweep Philadelphia for the team’s second consecutive World Series title. In 1952 the Yankees would win their fourth consecutive title, also on this day, as the Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games.