Thursday, January 14, 2016

Quick Hit: Free Agent Starting Pitching Clearance Carts


The New York Yankees are a franchise that tends to contradict themselves, especially when it comes to the whole hot stove and free agency market. One minute Bubba Crosby is the Yankees starting center fielder and the next Johnny Damon is shaving that ridiculous long hair and beard and flashing peace signs in a Yankees uniform. One minute the Yankees are looking to add a starting pitcher to their rotation for some stability and innings and the next the rotation is full and so full in fact that the Yankees are looking and willing to trade away Ivan Nova one year away from free agency. Who knows what is going on inside Brian Cashman’s head right now and what’s going on in Hal Steinbrenner’s wallet pocket right now but if they need me to lay out a few bargain basement signings for them I will, and I will right now in fact.

Cliff Lee would pitch again in 2016, and has been cleared again to pitch in 2016, for the perfect fit. The Yankees have the innings to give him and they have the need for a veteran left-handed starting pitcher on a short one-year deal worth chump change as far as MLB starters are concerned and that’s all Lee is likely to command. Lee undoubtedly wants to win and with a healthy and effective Lee the Yankees can do just that. Lee is Plan A.

New York has three “Plan B’s” in Tim Lincecum and Doug Fister and they all fit the same mold. They can start or they can relieve. Both of them remind me of what the team traded away this winter and have yet to replace, Adam Warren. Any of these men could be a safety net for the rotation and none of them will require salaries that would come anywhere near that of Jordan Zimmermann, David Price or Zack Greinke.

With every Plan A and Plan B comes a Plan Z and the Yankees have two of them. Mat Latos and Aaron Harang. Both struggled mightily in 2015 in the National League and both are likely to command minor league deals only in 2016, if anything. If the Yankees feel like they need more Triple-A insurance, sure sign them. If not, no thank you.


7 comments:

  1. DANIEL.....good morning.
    I've seen you post-up Cliff Lee's name before. And, like others, I am certainly aware of his long career....but is not there a red flag, and
    a wife that dislikes NYC ?
    So, what are the odds that Yankee management reaches out to him, and
    if they do, that does Lee & Wife say ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. patrick, even more than that! I dont recall exactly what happened, or if it was just media or whatever, but something like yankees fans were throwing trash on her, spitting on her, or poured beer on her.

    But reaching out won't hurt, even if highly unlikely. out of the bunch, I'd like him the most (then fister followed by lincecum).

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  3. DARYL...I do recall the reports that fans cursed her, threw trash at her,
    tossed beer, and even spit upon her.

    I've been to a number of games in my lifetime, and I have never witnessed,
    nor heard of fans going after a women in that manor.

    Something is missing from that report. Was she the innocent victim,
    or a bomb thrower who got more than she bargained for...?

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  4. patrick,

    There is a red flag with Lee, no doubt about it. There is a red flag with probably every pitcher I named and every pitcher available now that Chen is off the board.

    What Lee and his wife will say? Who knows, he's spurned the team once in free agency but no one knows what is said and what goes on behind closed doors besides Lee and his wife. It may have been over dramatized by the media, or maybe it wasn't. I unfortunately do not have that answer for you.

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  5. And Daryl, I agree. If you reach out your odds go from 0% to 50%. He'll either sign or he won't. if you don't call you have 0% chance of signing him and improving the rotation.

    ReplyDelete
  6. KENNETH....Have you been able to go, and find, the highlight video
    of Aaron Hicks while on the Twins ? Not hard to muster up, and it will put a smile on your face.

    Mrs. Reed drives a Cadillac, and you drive a '62 Volvo with a gun rack?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not in this life time! "The Boss" got me a 2015 GMC for my birthday so, I returned the favor and got her the 2016 Cadillac Escalade for her birthday. After all she just turned 60years old...poor baby!

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)