Friday, January 23, 2015
Catching Up on a Busy Day
Instead of flooding the site with post after post about some of the more minor stuff that went down today I figured I would lump it all into into post to catch you up quickly.
- Ichiro Suzuki is a Miami Marlin after signing a one year deal worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million.
- Eury Perez was claimed by, you could have probably guessed, the Atlanta Braves after being designated for assignment to accommodate the Stephen Drew signing.
- Jose Pirela was hit by a pitch in the right hand in a Winter League game and the initial X- rays were negative, that's always promising.
Guillermo Heredia Defects from Cuba
The latest and the greatest product from the Serie Nacional has defected from Cuba in hopes of landing a deal in the United States and the Major Leagues. Guillermo Heredia is a soon to be 24 year old center fielder that is old enough to not count against international spending limits and caps. Ben Badler ranked Heredia as the 11th best prospect in Cuba back in August but that was obviously before the emergence of Yoan Moncada and Yoan Lopez.
Heredia runs well and could stick in center field in the majors with a strong arm and good enough range. Heredia at one time hit .343/.449/.527 in 2011-2012 before coming back down to Earth the next season. Heredia did not play other than one at bat this season due to his defection from the country.
Heredia is still a long way away from signing as he has not even declared residency anywhere or been unblocked by the United States government but all of these guys that get cleared before July 2nd intrigue me. The Yankees cannot sign anyone during the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 signing periods for more than $300,000 so it almost makes sense to overpay for anyone and everyone at this point, no?
We May See the Best ARod in a Long Time in 2015
The Alex Rodriguez comeback tour is a little less than a
month away and the circus is warming up their tent just waiting for it.
Honestly though if you think about it what does Alex have to lose and to prove
in 2015? Alex is not going to the Hall of Fame, his final tally on home runs
and numbers overall will mean little to nothing to most, his expectations from
the team and the fans is as low as it has ever been and the pressure is more on
a rookie shortstop than the man approaching Willie Mays on the all-time home
run list and 3,000 hits. Could we see the best A Rod that we have seen in a
long time in 2015? Absolutely.
We all know, no matter what he or anyone says, that the
media and the constant questioning and spotlights affected Alex. It affected
him on and off the diamond and only magnified in the playoffs. Who is going to
be watching Alex all that close in 2015 after say his first month of games or
so? It’s not likely anybody will be besides his fans, the few of us that are
left, and that is when we may finally see the true A Rod. The A Rod without
performance enhancing drugs and the A Rod without the media circus and fuss
that usually accompanies him wherever he goes.
Alex, barring Alex being Alex (also known as bring an idiot),
may finally get the chance to relax, get comfortable at the plate and have a
pretty productive season. I am under no illusions that we will see anything
close to his MVP caliber numbers at 40 years old (mid-season) and coming off a
second hip surgery but I would be ecstatic with .270 20 HR and 65 RBI. I think
the Yankees ultimately would be too in what has the signs of being an anemic
lineup in 2015.
It may be wishful thinking and Alex once again may turn into
his own worst enemy but if everything goes as planned Rodriguez may just
quietly enjoy a good 2015 season. Fingers crossed.
Being a Yankees Fan from Afar
Recently I was approached on Twitter by one of our followers
to answer a few questions about the New York Yankees and their brand. He is in
the middle of doing a research paper on the Yankees, their brand, sports
brandings, etc. so that was going to be the general gist of the line of
questioning. Of course I immediately agreed and we swapped contact information
while I waited for the questions to be emailed to me. To make a long story
short I answered the questions and he and I got to talking afterwards and I
learned he was from England. In one of the questions I mentioned that I had
moved from the Bronx to Atlanta, GA and we got talking about how hard it is to
be a fan from afar.
He mentioned having to stay up all hours of the night to
watch the Yankees game live and naturally when I say live I mean on the
television or the internet. He does not get to watch the Yankees Hot Stove, the
Yes Network, the recaps of the games he missed on Sportscenter or the games
live. Living in England and being a fan from afar has taken away probably the
greatest part about being a Yankees fan, interacting with other fans on a day
to day person and rooting for your team while watching live in the stadium.
So here I am complaining in the email, before I knew his
location of course, about only getting to see the Yankees once every three or
four years and having to pay top dollar for seats when he has never been to
Yankee Stadium and never seen the Yankees live. Talk about feeling about three
inches tall! It did warm my heart to hear that he has a savings fund going and
his plan is to come over and see Yankee Stadium within a decade. I’m
complaining about seeing my team once every three or four years and he has to
save for the better part of a decade just to see them once.
I tend to ramble on and I don’t want to get too long winded
with this so I will simply end it here. Don’t take for granted your ability to
turn your TV on and watch the YES Network or to jump on the subway and see your
favorite team in the Bronx. What you feel is a part of your everyday life is
something that some people would save and sacrifice to enjoy just once. We ARE
the greatest fans in the world and we ARE a family and that is truly special
about being a fan of the New York Yankees, whether domestic or abroad, whether
close or whether afar.
Interesting Way to Get Around the Luxury Tax
When teams sign or trade for big time free agents the art of
deferring payments is not something new in Major League Baseball but the Max
Scherzer contract brought up an interesting aspect of the deferral. As we all
know Scherzer signed with Washington for seven years and $210 million with 50%
of that money being deferred out over an additional seven seasons. So many
times we have seen the Bobby Bonilla’s of the world getting paid millions of
dollars for being retired due to deferrals and do not blink an eye but could a
team that is looking to get under the luxury tax threshold use this to their
advantage?
I found it interesting when Jon Heyman tweeted out that, for
luxury tax purposes anyway, the Nats were on the hook for a shade over $191
million rather than $210 million due to the deferral of money. Now while an AAV
of $27.29 million is a miniscule discount from $30 million it is a discount
nonetheless. Could a team like the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Phillies or any
other big market team with staying power financially take advantage of this
loophole?
Naturally these deals would have to be reasonable as I am
sure MLB and the Player’s Union have to come to terms and agree on them but
this could work for New York. With an absolute ton of money coming off the
Yankees books after the 2016 and 2017 seasons the Yankees, while employing this
strategy, could conceivably still go large with their spending and get under
the cap for one season to get the fiscal benefits of the penalty reset.
Whether Rob Manfred and the league would allow this on a
large scale remains to be seen but I personally would rather the Yankees be
ahead of this curve than behind it. Try it out, all the league can do is
continue to show their bias against the team and say no.
The Alex Rodriguez Story that did NOT Break This Week
Remember earlier in the week when news broke, twitter broke
and the internet as a whole broke when Alex Rodriguez was reported to be
working out with Barry Bonds? Well I dug deeper into that story recently and I
found out that there was a bit of news, a nugget as my good friend from
Bleeding Yankee Blue Robert Casey would say, that no one seems to be reporting
on. While Alex is in San Rafael, California working out with Barry Bonds and
taking batting practice at the Future Prospects batting cages he is also
working out with former teammate Edgar Martinez.
Why was the longtime Seattle Mariners DH and probably Hall
of Fame player not mentioned in the original article about Rodriguez and Bonds?
It’s simple, it doesn’t garner clicks. Honestly I probably won’t get many views
for this post but I don’t care frankly, it’s the news and I feel compelled to
report on it COMPLETELY. Again quoting Mr. Casey from BYB when I say “get it
right, not get it first.”
Former Yankees Update: Kelly Johnson
Somehow I (purposely) missed this little bit of news
Wednesday regarding a former member of the New York Yankees. Kelly Johnson
signed a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves continuing the mass exodus
of former Yankees players to Atlanta. The 33 year old Johnson received an
invite to spring training and will compete for a roster spot as a utility
player.
Johnson began his career with the Braves after making his
major league debut there back in 2005 where he stayed through the 2009 season. Johnson
played for the Yankees, Orioles and Red Sox in 2014 playing second base, third
base, first base and the outfield. Combined Johnson accumulated a .215 average
with seven home runs and 27 RBI in 2014 in his three stops.
This Day in New York Yankees History 1/23: Masahiro Tanaka Press Conference
There is not much history on this day in New York Yankees
history so I want to use this opportunity to remind all Yankees fans that we
got Masahiro Tanaka yesterday. Just in case you missed it here is the press
conference from when New York introduced their newest starting pitcher and toy.
Happy Friday everyone.
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