What About Edinson Volquez for 2017?

The 2016 season is all but over at this point and there's nothing left but putting in the work as far as the players are concerned. As far as upper management and Yankees GM Brian Cashman is concerned it's time to start planning for the 2017 season and while the positional players look to be better than they've been in quite some time the pitching will need some work, especially the starting pitching. The free agent market as it stands right now looks to be bleak with none other than Ivan Nova quite possibly left as the best available starter. Well, unless somehow Edinson Volquez of the Kansas City Royals finds his way to the free agent market.

Volquez has a $10 million mutual option for the 2017 season and while he has expressed an interest in returning to Kansas City next season he has also announced his intentions to decline his side of the option. If he does the Royals have to decide whether to buy-out his contract for $3 million, pick up the $10 million tag, decline the option and offer him a qualifying offer or simply let him hit free agency for any and all to have. Let's look at why the Royals more than likely want to keep him and why the Yankees would want him.

PROS:

-Volquez is a durable, veteran innings-eater that has American League, playoffs and World Series tested.

- Volquez would make an ideal 3rd, 4th or 5th starter on the Yankees. Especially if he returns to his first half form from this season in 2017.

- Volquez is a ground ball pitcher who gets over 52% of his outs via the grounder. Pitching in a home park like Yankee Stadium this could be the difference between being that 3rd starter or being that 5th starter.

- If he hits the free agent market it likely won't be after being attached to draft pick compensation as I see him accepting the option if it's offered.

- Volquez could mentor some of the younger guys along with CC Sabathia.

CONS: 

- His second half pitching has left much to be desired. Is it fatigue? That's hard to say but while sabermetrics paint a different story his ERA, BABIP, line drive percentage and other stats have not been pretty lately.

- In a weak starting pitching market and free agent market in general Volquez will command a butt-load of money. A butt-load.

- Volquez barely strikes out over six batters per nine innings.

- Volquez has also seen his walks slowly creep up lately and in this season.

- Did I say a butt-load of money? Ivan Nova wants $70 million. What would Volquez get? $100 million? Probably and without the team blinking an eye.



Should the Yankees sign Volquez if the right-hander hits free agency? Honestly it depends on the number of years in the contract. He's 33-years old and the Yankees are in the midst of a rebuild and youth movement so giving Volquez even four years may be a bit counterproductive. Yes, Michael Pineda is set to hit free agency and so is Nathan Eovaldi and CC Sabathia while Masahiro Tanaka could opt out of his contract after the 2017 season but the way I see it those are merely roster spots for more youth and an ace. Volquez for three years? Yes. Volquez for four years? Honestly, I probably would but I wouldn't exactly be happy about it. Volquez for five seasons? No thank you.

Pineda Makes Start on Thursday, Why?

The New York Yankees have an odd way of going about things in my opinion when it comes to roster management and such. The Yankees will seemingly, and this is my opinion as a lifelong fan and as someone who watches almost every single game every single season, call up a young guy and wait on him to fail while they sign a veteran that stinks up the joint and keeps his job. Luis Severino is down and will likely stay down once he's healthy, my speculation as nothing has been confirmed, yet Michael Pineda (who has a minor league option remaining) and his almost 7.00 ERA will make his next scheduled start on Thursday against Toronto. Why?

Pineda has the worst ERA in all of Major League Baseball among qualified starters. The worst. Worse than Luis Severino and much worse than the whipping boy of the rotation heading into the season in Mr. CC Sabathia. The real answer to the question is this though, who would the Yankees call up to replace him?

Sure I realize that any of Luis Cessa, Chad Green, Brady Lail, Severino (who threw three scoreless innings in his first rehab start since a triceps injury), Layne Somsen, Anthony Swarzak or others could go out and post a 7.00 ERA or lower and technically make the Yankees better there are a few saving graces for Mr. Pineda. Pineda is actually striking out 10.0 batters per nine innings and his velocity is sitting right around where it always has been throughout his career. Pineda seems healthy he just needs to get out of his own way.

How does one get out of their own way? Trust Brian McCann and throw what he calls. Something is not right with Pineda. Usually a control freak, literally and figuratively, Pineda is walking 2.5 batters per nine this season while walking just 0.8 and 1.2 batters per nine in his previous two seasons in New York. Limiting base runners makes his 1.9 HR/9 ratio look a little better as well as that ugly 6.92 ERA.

So why won't the Yankees demote Pineda to figure it out in the minor leagues? Because they can't. They should, but they can't.

What If: CC Sabathia Keeps Pitching This Well?

Yes Yankees fans you are about to read some optimism. No I’m not sick and yes I really mean it. CC Sabathia has undoubtedly quieted many of his doubters and haters this season the way he has pitched including myself which has given me lots of joy and optimism while eating my crow. Now granted it’s still early and my crow eating may be a bit premature but I am more than willing to give credit where credit is due and credit is due to Mr. Sabathia this season. What does it mean if he can find that fountain of youth while reinventing himself and continue to pitch this well this season?

Even the deepest teams in the league have holes and flaws, the league calls it parity, and on any given day the worst team can beat the best team in the league and so do decisively. What sets apart first place teams and playoff contending teams is just how deep the team is on the field and just how much depth they have behind the team from top to bottom. Adding a sub-3.00 ERA (that’s his ERA currently and not nearly what I expect out of him when the season is in the books) pitcher to the back end of a rotation is almost like having a leadoff type hitter batting ninth in the batting order and then another one batting first in the order. It just makes you that much better. The Yankees may have that if CC keeps pitching at the clip he’s currently pitching at.

With CC pitching so well, Tanaka being the ace the Yankees paid for and Nathan Eovaldi constantly eovolving towards the better the Yankees pitching staff is looking deeper and deeper all the time. If the team could get any sort of consistency out of Michael Pineda or Luis Severino if and when he returns along with strong outings from Ivan Nova and this team could be scary and could compete again. Especially when you consider that even on the Yankees off days they could still simply throw their bullpen at the problem and shut down a game for five or six innings.

If CC continues to pitch this well the Yankees continue to climb in the AL East. It’s as simple as that. If he reverts back to his near 5.00 ERA then the Yankees continue to fall. It sounds simple enough on paper but it’s simple enough in real life as well if you let it be. CC pitches well and the Yankees win. Bottom line. 

The Free Agency Royal Rumble Returns – Starting Pitching

Last year around this time the blog was in full offseason mode with our eyes, as writers, on the 2015 season. The World Series was over and all 30 MLB teams were making their shopping lists and checking it twice for the winter so I thought this year we would do the same with the return of the Free Agency Royal Rumble. This is a bit of a play on the popular WWE PPV, the Royal Rumble, as we pit all the potential starting pitching targets for the New York Yankees and see which one wins the rumble (and is most likely to sign with the club).

The participants in the 2015 Free Agency Royal Rumble for starting pitchers are David Price, Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake, Jordan Zimmerman, Zack Greinke and Wei-Yin Chen. Men, take your positions the rumble is about to begin.

Immediately the group begins to wrestle and Zack Greinke, feeling his anxiety kick up and wondering what it would be like being booed off the Yankee Stadium field like the team was during the AL Wild Card Game, throws himself over the top rope and eliminates himself from the competition. The rest of the competitors take this opportunity to work together while they still can to get David Price up and over the top rope before his $30 million expected AAV on the wrong side of 30-years old and his postseason demons and monkey’s on his back make it impossible to take him out. Four remain.

Johnny Cueto walks up to Jordan Zimmerman and takes a peak at the contract he is said to be asking for that will undoubtedly set the market and wants to mimic Zimmerman’s demands with his own. Zimmerman catches Cueto peaking and reminds him of his numbers after switching to the American League and his postseason numbers as he throws him over the top rope to eliminate him. While this is happening Mike Leake, the opportunist, is also sneaking a peak at Zimmerman’s proposed contract demands and gets offended that he won’t make that for the rest of his career, let alone in one contract, and throws Zimmerman over the top rope while he is distracted leaving just two contestants remaining.

Mike Leake and Wei-Yin Chen. Leake has been active, eliminating Zimmerman, but Chen has quietly been sitting back resting and waiting for the opportunity. Chen is an ace in the making but is never mentioned alongside the other aces in this market and that has visibly angered him. Chen rushes at Leake intending to take out his frustrations on the former Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants right-hander and knocks him over the rope and to the floor. The problem is his momentum also carries himself over the rope and to the floor leaving no clear cut winner for the Yankees.

Chen is probably the best suited for the Yankees because he won’t command an astronomical contract in terms of years and dollars despite being American League East tested and Leake is the most likely for the same reasons, just on a lesser scale than Chen. With the Yankees already having a ton of depth, although no defined ace as we stand today, it seems unlikely that either are signed, or anyone in this field for that matter. The Yankees may take this rumble as a sign to stand pat here this winter.