BOVADA: Mets the New Kings of New York

Bovada has been quoted many times on this site as the popular site releases World Series probabilities and such multiple times in a calendar year. Bovada is making news on this site once again as the website may be suggesting a power switch in the great state of New York as the Mets look to overtake the Yankees. Once again Bovada released their World Series predictions and once again the Yankees were nowhere close at 22/1. Interestingly enough though the article, SEEN HERE, lists the Mets at 20/1.

In case you were wondering the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers are listed as the favorites at 8/1 while the Washington Nationals narrowly trail at 9/1. In case you were also wondering the Houston Astros have the worst odds to win the Fall Classic followed by the Phillies, Twins, Rockies and Diamondbacks.

Ex-Yankees Pitcher Gooden Expects Yankees to Have Big Offseason

Former Yankees pitcher Dwight Gooden isn't buying Brian Cashman's proposed offseason plan.

The 50-year-old three-time World Series champion, while signing autographs Friday in New Rochelle, instead said he expects the Yankees to make a "big splash" in the next couple of weeks. The Yankees have previously claimed that they have no intention to pursue this winter's top free agents, a group which includes proven arms like Max Scherzer, Jon Lester and James Shields. 

They've also limited how much they're willing to give to Chase Headley in recent days, but that doesn't seem to matter a lot to Gooden. 

“I think the Yankees have something up their sleeve,” he told NJ.com's Brendan Kuty, “whether it’s Max Scherzer or whoever it is. I definitely look forward to them doing something.”

Gooden played for the Yankees from 1996-1997 before rejoining them in 2000. However, he is probably best known for the accolades he collected as a Met from 1984-1994, when he made four All-Star teams, won a Cy Young Award and was named Rookie of the Year.

But he still knows plenty about New York's AL representative, having worked in its front office after retiring.

“They’re not going to sit back and wait,” Gooden said. “I had the privilege of working for the Yankees for six years after I retired under (late owner George Steinbrenner). So they’re not the club that’s going to sit back and let things happen. I don’t think they need to (acquire many new pieces). I just think they need to get healthy and get some of their guys back.”

Guys like CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova and Martin Prado, each of whom ended 2014 on the disabled list. They've all been valuable contributors to the Yankees at different times over the last five years, so it certainly wouldn't hurt anything if they came back.

Nonetheless, it's a safe bet inking someone like Lester to a multi-year deal would help out the Yankees in the long run, as much their offense may struggle. 

Chris Capuano Could Be Headed To Japan

Chris Capuano spent the 2014  season with three different teams including finishing the campaign in the New York Yankees starting rotation. Capuano pitched well in pinstripes and may be headed to Japan to showcase that left arm in 2015 according to reports. This is especially interesting since Capuano was the only (technically) Yankees player to participate for the USA in the Japan All Star Series which was a five game exhibition series between the United States and Japan.

Capuano was interviewed by MLB Network Radio and confirmed the interest stating that he was interested as far back as 2006. Capuano went 2-3 in 12 starts with New York and posted a 4.25 ERA in those starts in 2014.

Alex Rodriguez Worst Case Scenario at SS?

"Take over Bro, I'm out."

Unless you have been living under a rock for the better part of a calendar year you have heard that Derek Jeter has retired and the New York Yankees are looking for a shortstop. While the market for shortstops is quickly drying up thanks to the Boston Red Sox buying all the top free agents available (and still telling New York fans how they "buy" their rings) the Yankees may start getting desperate for a replacement for Jeter. Let's be honest here before we get too far into this post by saying that whoever the Yankees get unless it's a Troy Tulowitzki the fans are going to hate at first because he's not Jeter and he's not "our" shortstop. Everyone already hates Alex Rodriguez, would he be the worst case scenario at shortstop? Boy I have a feeling this isn't going to be a popular blog post...

While we look at as many stats as we can to make a decision here we are going to use A Rod's 2012 stats as that was his last full season. Obviously it's hard, or impossible, to compare third base to shortstops and hard to quantify almost two full years off the team and another bad hip surgery for Rodriguez but what they heck, I'm still turkey drunk so let's go for it. 

Let's start slow, errors, where Derek Jeter made 11 in 267 opportunities in 2014. The good for Jeter is seven of those errors came on errant throws that Mark Teixeira could not dig out of the dirt or the air in time and the bad is that Jeter's range could have prevented a whole lot more. Jeter was below average in his final season, remember as a 40 year old shortstop, in league fielding percentage and far below league average in league range factor per 9 IP and league range factor per game. Jeter was worth a whopping -27 runs defensively and saved -12 runs in his final season but I think we all knew that Derek struggled, I think we're all here to see is Alex could fill in for Derek at short in 2015.

The short answer is obviously no but considering that the free agent market is dry, the farm system is dry for shortstops, and a one year pillow contract with a Stephen Drew or equivalent does nothing for the team as the free agent market and farm will likely be comparable this time next year. In 2012 Alex was worth -6 runs in the field and saved -2 runs in the field. Alex was above average using fielding percentage and just slightly below average in league range factor per 9 IP and per game showing the obvious signs of a defensive decline. Factor in the fact that Alex has missed the better parts of two seasons and had that hip surgery, which he has had plenty of time to let heal and rehab the injury to get back into playing shape, and his stats may look a lot like Derek's stats defensively in 2015. 

This wouldn't be Plan A or even Plan L but honestly I personally think it wouldn't be Plan Z either. The Yankees fans are used to spotty range at shortstop and can't expect much offense from the position either. I'm not saying announce him as the starting shortstop now and stop trying to build a better team and fill the position with a better suited player but I am saying with a rangy guy like Headley at third and one of Martin Prado, Jose Pirela and Robert Refsnyder at second base cheating a step or two on both sides I think the team could make it work, at least until July anyway. 

Comparing the 2015 Yankees vs. Red Sox Offenses

As it stands right now I wanted to take a look and compare the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox right now to see just how much work Brian Cashman has ahead of himself this winter. It's scary but take a look. The bolded player gets my nod as having the advantage.

	2015 NYY			2015 BOS
1B	Mark Teixeira			Mike Nappybeard
2B	Refsnyder/Pirela			Dustin Pedroia
SS	Brendan Ryan			Xander Bogaerts
3B	Martin Prado			Pablo Sandoval
LF	Brett Gardner			Hanley Ramirez
CF	Jacoby Ellsbury			Rusney Castillo
RF	Carlos Beltran			Yoenis Cespedes
C	Brian McCann			Christian Vazquez
DH	Alex Rodriguez			David Ortiz

Derek Jeter "Almost" Became NY Governor

I am slightly exaggerating in the title of the blog post hoping to generate views here but seriously Derek Jeter was in consideration for the New York Governor's race this year. Jeter, Bill Clinton, and two Cuomos received votes in this past year's election for NY State Governor. As we all know Andrew Cuomo won the election handily over Rob Astorino but some in New York missed Mario Cuomo so much, Andrew's father, that he received at least one vote as well.

Check out the officially tally HERE. As you can see voters got creative this year with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, Taylor Swift, Roseanne Barr, Michael Bloomberg and Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey's character on House of Cards) also received votes in the election.

Derek Jeter almost became the governor of New York State, how awesome would that have been?

This Day in New York Yankees History 11/28: Steinbrenner Suspended

Just one short tidbit of news on this day in Yankees history as on this day in 1974 George Steinbrenner was suspended from Major League Baseball for two years. Then Commissioner Bowie Kuhn made the controversial decision after Steinbrenner was caught and convicted of making illegal contributions to the re-elect Nixon campaign. Whoops.

Betances Hopeful Robertson Will Stay in New York

Though to many he appears to be the more reliable of the two, Yankees' Reliever Dellin Betances wants David Robertson to return to the team next season.

The 26-year-old set-up man revealed so to the New York Post Tuesday, but didn't go into much detail as to why. He and Robertson are coming off an impressive 2014 in the back of the Yankees' bullpen, in which the two of them recorded ERAs of 1.40 and 3.08, respectively.

Betances did seem to be less hittable than Robertson, however, as good as the latter was.

“I hope that he does come back,” Betances said. “I think he’s a big key for the team.”

Robertson recorded 39 saves in 44 opportunities for the Yankees this season, so there's certainly evidence to back up that claim. He accomplished that feat despite spending a couple of weeks on the DL, when he could've collected even more.

But with the younger Betances having just struck out a franchise-record 135 batters this year, some are thinking he'd do better in the closer role. He did have a lower WHIP than Robertson this season, but then again, Robertson is the one with the experience. 

What does Betances think?

“I haven’t really thought about (moving to the ninth inning),” he said. “I just want to win. My whole situation, whatever opportunity I get, I’m just going to embrace it and try to do my best. Whatever I have to do to help the team win, that’s my job.”

Robertson is currently asking for a four-year contract worth $52 million, a much larger salary than the $502,100 Betances is presently making. Not to mention Betances is younger than Robertson, with a larger arsenal of pitches.

We'll see how much those facts actually matter to the Yankees at next month's Winter Meetings, which are set to begin December 7. 

Yankees Black Friday Check List

The Thanksgiving Day festivities are coming to an end in most households so now it’s time to gear up for a fight, let’s go Black Friday shopping. First and foremost I am big on history so here is a little tidbit as to why it’s called Black Friday. Most department stores claim that they operate in the red, or losing money, all year long and more than make up for it on Christmas. The first time these stores would make a profit, or see their bottom line go into the black, would be the day after Thanksgiving when all the sales and door busters were going on. Now you know so now let’s sign some players for the Yankees.

Chase Headley is a must and if you sign him now I think he comes at a bargain. Don’t let other teams come in and ramp up the price after missing out on Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez just give him what he wants. If it’s a four year deal then so be it because he can always be stashed at first base after the 2016 season when Mark Teixeira leaves. If it’s money he wants then so be it because the team is already over the luxury tax threshold before signing a single arbitration case or free agent when you consider the players bonuses and such that are written into the new CBA. If he wants both then you do it, we’re the Yankees dammit and we need to start acting like it.

Brandon McCarthy/Jon Lester is a must sign as well. I know everyone is screaming about how the team needs bats and if we bolster the pitching staff we would lose 1-0 and 2-1 every night but the pitching is important too. With a rotation decimated with injuries last year hence all the question marks this year the team needs some sort of reliability at the top. Lester does not cost us a pick and McCarthy was great pitching in Yankee Stadium. Sign them both!

Finally our last stop would get us a shortstop. At this point I don’t care who it is, Troy Tulowitzki, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jed Lowrie, Stephen Drew, Clint Barmes, Jimmy Rollins, whoever. The team needs a shortstop and the team needs one now before this turns into a 2014 second base search that nets us a Brian Roberts all season long. The Yankees don’t need to necessarily react to Boston’s signings and go crazy but the team needs to do something because the team has holes to fill. What better day to check a few things off the list then Black Friday, right?

Boston Making Things Extremely Difficult for the Yankees

The Boston Red Sox pulled a George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees move when the team bought up the top hitting free agents on the market in Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez. Looking at the market now, especially for the left side of the infield, New York may be almost forced to make a trade to compete. If Chase Headley decides to sign somewhere other than New York then the Yankees would truly be in trouble and may be forced to either gut the farm or miss the postseason for a third straight season.

After Headley the most enticing third base options are Mark Reynolds, Alberto Callaspo and Kelly Johnson. I would take a flyer on Reynolds but for the others I would give a very emphatic “no thank you.” Shortstop is not much better as the best available right now are Jed Lowrie, Stephen Drew and Asdrubal Cabrera. Lowrie is going to take advantage of a weak market to get way too much money for way too many years while Drew takes a pillow contract for one season. Cabrera is basically a second baseman at this point in his career although I’m sure Yankees fans wouldn’t notice his lack of range after watching Derek Jeter run around at age 40 last season.

Enter the Chicago Cubs who have Starlin Castro, Addison Russell, Javier Baez and others along with the Arizona Diamondbacks who have Didi Gregorious, Jake Lamb, Brandon Drury, Chris Owings and others. You can always throw in the Philadelphia Phillies willingness to trade Jimmy Rollins and Chicago’s willingness to move Alexei Ramirez into the fold for the Yankees as well. The problem for New York? Boston has a huge stable of major league ready prospects and established major league players, Yoenis Cespedes for example, that could be had without mortgaging the future prospects wise or money wise. Boston can have any player that they want, and that is available obviously, and could swoop in and steal any potential player in a trade that the Yankees could be targeting. Could you imagine Troy Tulowitzki in Fenway Park in 2015?

Boston has made things extremely difficult for the Yankees and this is going to be the first offseason in a long time that Yankees GM Brian Cashman is going to have to use his brain and not his checkbook to make the team better. Stay tuned and damn you Boston!