Thursday, November 6, 2014

Yankees Targeting McCarthy, Capuano and Hammel as Possible 2015 Starters

The Yankees are targeting veteran pitchers Brandon McCarthy, Chris Capuano and Jason Hammel as possible starters for next year's staff, CBS Sports' Jon Heyman reports.

McCarthy and Capuano, who joined the Yankees this summer after rough stints with the Diamondbacks and Red Sox, respectively, are natural choices for the team considering their recurring contributions to it this season. Hammel, meanwhile, also makes sense for the Yanks due to his affordability, as the right-hander made just $6 million in 2014 as a member of the Cubs and A's.

From Heyman's article: 

"Yankees people are telling others at present that they don't see the wisdom in going "seven or eight years" for a top starting pitcher. The Daily News first suggested [Jon] Lester and [Max] Scherzer were unlikely for the Yankees.
McCarthy was a revelation for the Yankees, performing superbly after coming from Arizona. He was 7-5 with a 2.89 ERA as a Yankee after being acquired from Arizona for Vidal Nuno after going 3-10 with a 5.01 ERA with the Diamondbacks.
Hammel was brilliant with the Cubs, then not quite as good with the A's. Overall, he was better than McCarthy, though, going 10-11 with a 3.47 ERA. Capuano was 2-3 with a 4.25 ERA in 12 second-half starts for the Yankees."
As of now, the Yankees' 2015 rotation appears to consist of Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda and CC Sabathia, with Ivan Nova also likely to join later on. 
So, since it's certainly possible that any one of those four could experience health problems next season, it's basically guaranteed that New York will at least try to sign McCarthy or Hammel this winter. In Capuano's case, though, it seems he'll probably be inked to serve mainly in the bullpen, presumably making the occasional spot start as well.
Either way, you can bet something newsworthy will eventually come of this finding.

Yankees Interested in Chicago SS Alexei Ramirez


The hot stove is warming up and the Chicago White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez is garnering a ton of interest from both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. It makes sense for both New York teams to be interested in almost any shortstop available this winter as the Mets have dealt with less than stellar results at the positions for years now while the Yankees have to replace Derek Jeter.

Alexei is coming off a season in which he slashed .273/.305/.408 with 15 home runs and 78 RBI in 2014 and is set to make $10 million in each of the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Ramirez has been durable during his career playing in at least 155 games in each of his last five seasons as he gracefully enters his age 34 season in 2015.

Reportedly the Chicago White Sox are looking for pitching in return for Ramirez, who has officially been made available by the team, and were also linked to the Yankees catching depth as recently as this season. Could the Yankees move one of Shane Greene/David Phelps/Bryan Mitchell and one of Austin Romine/John Ryan Murphy/ Francisco Cervelli to acquire Ramirez?

Stay tuned....

Three Yankees Minor Leaguers Elect Free Agency


It's that time of the year again when minor league players are designated for assignment and outrighted to minor league camps and off 40 man rosters. Three members of the New York Yankees minor league system elected free agency tonight rather than spend another season in the Yankees farm. Antoan Richardson, Zoilo Almonte, and Scott Sizemore are now all free agents and will presumably be looking for major league deals or minor league deals with better chances to make the big show.

Good luck to these three men and thank you for the memories while you were here in New York.

Electing the New Yankees Captain


With the midterm elections a couple days ago the New York Yankees decided to hold a offseason election to name the new captain for the team. After much deliberation the team elected Brett Gardner, CC Sabathia, Dellin Betances, and David Robertson as the players that could be voted on. Much of the decision making was centered around the tenure, both current and future, of the player and whether they came up through the Yankees system or not.

Dellin Betances was described as the rookie of the campaign and while his body of work spoke for itself the team worried about his lack of experience in the demanding position. Betances finished a distant fourth in this race, better luck next time kid.

If David Robertson had signed a long term deal last offseason or had a contract for the 2015 season he may have garnered more votes than he did. Robertson's uncertainty going forward led him to a third place vote but comes with the expectations to run again in four years.

CC Sabathia is the poster child for the position as he is great in the community and would represent the team well to opposing teams. The problem here is CC ran off what he has done in the past and not what he could do for the team in the future. CC didn't have a good and detailed plan for the future because nobody has one right for the big left hander. If this election was four years ago then CC wins in a landslide, but it wasn't and he finished second.

Brett Gardner was a walk on in college and a often disrespected fourth outfielder for the Yankees behind Melky Cabrera for much of the beginning of his career and in the minor leagues. Gardner has done nothing but shatter expectations in a big way as an every day player. The Yankees broke their unwritten rule of refusing to negotiate with a player currently under contract with Gardner and was voted as the teams next Yankee captain. Congratulations Brett!

*The team did not really hold an election, this is all for fun.

Major League Players Born on November 6th


It's the offseason and news is slow so let's take a look at the players born on this day that have played in Major League Baseball. Looking at the list only one Hall of Fame player was born on this day in Walter Johnson. The list also includes a few Yankees former players including Carlos Almanzar, Bubba Trammell, Chad Curtis, Leo Hernandez, and John Candelaria.

Rk Name Born Yrs From To ASG G R H HR RBI BA OBP SLG OPS W L ERA G SV IP
1 James Paxton 1988 2 2013 2014 0 17 1 0 0 0 .000 .333 .000 .333 9 4 2.66 17 0 98.0
2 Cory Rasmus 1987 2 2013 2014 0 49 0 0 0 0 4 3 3.36 49 0 77.2
3 Atahualpa Severino 1984 1 2011 2011 0 6 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.86 6 0 4.2
4 Ricky Romero 1984 5 2009 2013 1 129 1 2 0 2 .095 .095 .095 .190 51 45 4.16 129 0 801.1
5 Justin Maxwell 1983 6 2007 2014 0 341 119 181 34 107 .224 .311 .417 .728
6 Mike Thompson 1980 2 2006 2007 0 26 2 4 0 0 .148 .179 .148 .327 4 6 5.27 26 0 107.2
7 Adam LaRoche 1979 11 2004 2014 0 1478 711 1363 243 838 .264 .340 .472 .811
8 Carlos Almanzar 1973 8 1997 2005 0 210 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 13 13 4.82 210 0 239.0
9 Justin Speier 1973 12 1998 2009 0 613 0 3 0 0 .176 .176 .176 .353 35 33 4.11 613 17 675.0
10 Matt Skrmetta 1972 1 2000 2000 0 14 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 2 2 11.66 14 0 14.2
11 Deivi Cruz 1972 9 1997 2005 0 1234 442 1109 70 464 .269 .293 .388 .682
12 Bubba Trammell 1971 7 1997 2003 0 584 243 469 82 285 .261 .339 .459 .798
13 Chris Petersen 1970 1 1999 1999 0 7 1 2 0 2 .154 .267 .154 .421
14 Don Wengert 1969 7 1995 2001 0 162 0 0 0 0 .000 .095 .000 .095 14 32 6.01 160 3 438.2
15 Chad Curtis 1968 10 1992 2001 0 1204 648 1061 101 461 .264 .349 .396 .745
16 Brian Givens 1965 2 1995 1996 0 23 0 0 0 0 6 10 5.86 23 0 121.1
17 Ever Magallanes 1965 1 1991 1991 0 3 0 0 0 0 .000 .333 .000 .333
18 Leo Garcia 1962 2 1987 1988 0 54 10 10 1 2 .172 .269 .241 .510
19 Ron Romanick 1960 3 1984 1986 0 82 0 0 0 0 31 29 4.24 82 0 531.0
20 Leo Hernandez 1959 4 1982 1986 0 85 23 56 7 30 .226 .263 .351 .614
21 Brock Pemberton 1953 2 1974 1975 0 13 0 4 0 1 .167 .167 .167 .333
22 John Candelaria 1953 19 1975 1993 1 603 39 104 1 48 .174 .233 .223 .456 177 122 3.33 600 29 2525.2
23 Skip Pitlock 1947 3 1970 1975 0 59 2 2 1 2 .080 .111 .240 .351 8 8 4.53 59 1 192.2
24 Chris Arnold 1947 6 1971 1976 0 273 47 103 4 51 .237 .303 .315 .618
25 Jim Gosger 1942 10 1963 1974 0 705 197 411 30 177 .226 .309 .331 .640
26 Mack Jones 1938 10 1961 1971 0 1002 485 778 133 415 .252 .347 .444 .790
27 John Oldham 1932 1 1956 1956 0 1 0 0 0 0
28 Bob Darnell 1930 2 1954 1956 0 7 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 2.87 7 0 15.2
29 Bill Wilson 1928 4 1950 1955 0 224 87 145 32 77 .222 .308 .407 .714 0 0 0.00 1 0 1.0
30 Harley Hisner 1926 1 1951 1951 0 1 0 1 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 1 4.50 1 0 6.0
31 Bob Addis 1925 4 1950 1953 0 208 70 150 2 47 .281 .327 .341 .668
32 Buddy Kerr 1922 9 1943 1951 1 1067 378 903 31 333 .249 .312 .328 .640
33 Frank Carswell 1919 1 1953 1953 0 16 2 4 0 2 .267 .389 .267 .656
34 Bob Repass 1917 2 1939 1942 0 84 30 64 2 24 .242 .328 .317 .645
35 Frank Gabler 1911 4 1935 1938 0 113 4 21 0 13 .196 .232 .262 .494 16 23 5.26 113 8 376.1
36 Chet Covington 1910 1 1944 1944 0 19 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 1 1 4.66 19 0 38.2
37 Earl Clark 1907 8 1927 1934 0 293 122 240 4 81 .291 .324 .372 .696
38 Joe Munson 1899 2 1925 1926 0 42 22 39 3 18 .287 .349 .434 .783
39 Chick Tolson 1898 5 1925 1930 0 144 23 78 4 45 .284 .350 .393 .743
40 Dana Fillingim 1893 8 1915 1925 0 203 21 77 2 26 .209 .261 .236 .498 47 73 3.56 200 5 1076.1
41 Jeff McCleskey 1891 1 1913 1913 0 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .250 .000 .250
42 Red Torphy 1891 1 1920 1920 0 3 1 3 0 2 .200 .200 .333 .533
43 Ralph Bell 1890 1 1912 1912 0 3 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 9.00 3 0 6.0
44 Walter Johnson HOF 1887 21 1907 1927 0 934 241 547 24 255 .235 .274 .342 .616 417 279 2.17 802 34 5914.1
45 Danny Green 1876 8 1898 1905 0 923 552 1021 29 423 .293 .359 .391 .750
46 Dave Altizer 1876 6 1906 1911 0 514 204 433 4 116 .250 .318 .302 .619
47 Tim Shinnick 1867 2 1890 1891 0 259 164 222 2 134 .239 .332 .320 .651
48 Billy Crowell 1865 2 1887 1888 0 64 20 27 0 9 .124 .181 .138 .319 19 45 5.15 64 0 549.0
49 Sam Childs 1861 1 1883 1883 0 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000
50 Steve Behel 1860 2 1884 1886 0 68 37 54 0 17 .210 .283 .249 .532
51 Dory Dean 1852 1 1876 1876 0 34 9 36 0 4 .261 .271 .297 .569 4 26 3.73 30 0 262.2
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/4/2014.