The New York Yankees have signed Pete Kozma, former St. Louis Cardinals shortstop and postseason hero, to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training 2016. Kozma is all defense and no bat and may be another alternative/option for the last utility player spot on the roster. Brendan Ryan is now officially on notice.
More to come later on Kozma. This is not going to change the season much and Kozma will likely start the season in Scranton manning the shortstop position.
Friday, December 4, 2015
FYI: Top 20 Contracts in Major League Baseball
Just an FYI to end your night, the Top 20 highest paid players in Major League Baseball as it stands today. Why? Just because, it's not like much else is going on.
1. Giancarlo Stanton, $325,000,000 (2015-27)
2. Alex Rodriguez, $275,000,000 (2008-17)
3. Miguel Cabrera, $248,000,000 (2016-23)
4. Albert Pujols, $240,000,000 (2012-21)
5. Robinson Cano, $240,000,000 (2014-23)
6. Joey Votto, $225,000,000 (2014-23)
7. Clayton Kershaw, $215,000,000 (2014-20)
8. Prince Fielder, $214,000,000 (2012-20)
9. Max Scherzer, $210,000,000 (2015-21)
10. Joe Mauer, $184,000,000 (2011-18)
11. Mark Teixeira, $180,000,000 (2009-16)
12 . Justin Verlander, $180,000,000 (2013-19)
13. Felix Hernandez, $175,000,000 (2013-19)
14. Buster Posey, $167,000,000 (2013-21)
15. CC Sabathia, $161,000,000 (2009-15)
16. Matt Kemp, $160,000,000 (2012-19)
17. Troy Tulowitzki, $157,750,000 (2011-20)
18. Masahiro Tanaka, $155,000,000 (2014-20)
19 . Jon Lester, $155,000,000 (2015-20)
20. Adrian Gonzalez, $154,000,000 (2012-18)
All stats according to Cots Baseball Contracts on Baseball Prospectus
MLB.com's Precious Medal: Thankful trip to White House
It is nearly 10 at night, and I am riding in the passenger seat of my dad's car along the long, dark stretch of I-95 between Washington, D.C., and New Jersey. We're listening to country music, and we're both too emotionally spent to really have a conversation. Because, wedged between our duffel bags in the back seat, in a glossy mahogany box with a bronze nameplate on its front, is my Grampa's Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Depending on how you look at it, the Presidential Medal of Freedom that my late grandfather, Yogi Berra, was presented on Tuesday, was either six months or 90 years in the making. It was last May that we started the online petition on whitehouse.gov to nominate Grampa for the medal, in celebration of his 90th birthday. Getting those 100,000 signatures in 30 days is something my family is incredibly proud of, and we then spent the summer writing letters to the president to keep it at the top of his mind. I remember one July afternoon, reading Grampa a portion of a letter I would send to Obama to try to expedite the process. "You'd better be careful," Grampa said, "insulting the king."
Grampa passed away on September 22nd, a month before we were notified by the White House that he would receive the medal. The news then was bittersweet; I was so sad that Grampa would not be able to get the medal in person, but so, so proud that he would receive the honor.al of Freedom
President Obama honors Yogi Berra with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, accepted in his honor by Larry Berra
On Tuesday at the White House, my emotions were much the same. I watched the president shake my father's hand and give him that box that now rests in our back seat. I imagined my grandfather getting the Medal himself, having to remove his ever-present Yankee cap to have it draped around his neck, and I cried, still feeling a bit like I'd come up short for a man who never came up short for anyone in his life. But I was also immensely proud to see my father, beaming, representing my grandfather, on a golden stage filled with luminaries and dignitaries, between those two famous, gilt-framed pictures of George and Martha Washington in the East Wing.
The charismatic President Obama is a pro at these things and did not disappoint. He went off-teleprompter frequently, ad-libbing comments and jokes, and did a wonderful job of keeping the ceremony funny and entertaining while also making it touching and poignant.
My dad thinks Grampa would have been overwhelmed by the honor, and would wonder why he belonged in company with NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson or world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman. And Dad is probably right; despite the number of lives he touched for the better, Grampa didn't think of himself as an above-average American citizen. He just did his best on the battlefield and the ballfield and did his best to be a good man.
Still, he would have enjoyed the company. Grampa had met director Steven Spielberg on numerous occasions, and they could have caught up. He would have chatted with Spielberg's wife, the actress Kate Capshaw, about their shared hometown of St. Louis; up until Capshaw's mother passed away two years ago, she frequented Tony's restaurant on The Hill, one of my grandparents' favorite haunts.
Johnson could have expressed her admiration for my plucky Grampa to him rather than to my dad and me, and Perlman could have told him his stories about watching him and the Yankees play in the early 60s. 2015
Grampa would no doubt have loved to see his long-time pal Willie Mays, who accepted his medal in his Giants' cap; like Grampa's Yankee cap, that hat is as much a part of who Willie is as his DNA. Those two Hall of Famers would have talked the day away; I've never seen a picture of them in which they weren't both smiling ear-to-ear.
And I have no doubt Grampa was smiling down on us.He would have laughed at my history-buff father, who took pictures of every White House painting of every president and first lady, of the chandelier in the library that once belonged to James Fenimore Cooper, of George Washington's sword on the wall. He would have given me a thumbs-up for wearing a leopard-print top in homage to my very stylish Grammy Carmen. And he would have loved the orchestra playing scores from Stephen Sondheim's musicals and Spielberg's movies in the Grand Foyer.
I know Grampa would have enjoyed President Obama's sense of humor as he chided the medal recipients. When he talked about Grampa, the president said, "He lived his life with pride and humility and an original, open mind." That was Grampa, to a T. President Obama also said, "What can be said about Lawrence 'Yogi' Berra that he couldn't say better himself?" I am certain, though, that Grampa would have come up with a gem. And I am doubly certain that as Grampa strolled into the Green Room to take his picture with the president, who arrived a few minutes behind schedule after a day of meetings with French President Francois Hollande, he would have tapped his watch and said, "You're late."
Instead, it was my dad and me, along with my uncles Tim and Dale and aunts Jane and Betsy, who shook hands with President Obama and received big, hearty, I've-known-you-for-years kind of hugs from First Lady Michelle Obama. The president expressed his condolences on the loss of my grandfather and said he had just assumed Grampa had already received a medal of Freedom.
I'm OK with that, the fact that the President of the United States thought enough of my Grampa to think he must have been awarded our nation's greatest civilian honor sometime in the past. And I've come to terms with the fact that Grampa finally received his medal posthumously, because Grampa wasn't the man he was because he thought it would earn him a Medal. He simply was who he was.
Still, I'm thrilled about that piece of hardware sitting in the back seat. Soon, we'll deliver it to the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, where the 20,000 school kids who visit each year can see it for exactly what it is: an exclamation point at the end of my Grampa Yogi's amazing, exemplary life.
Lindsay Berra is a columnist for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Comparing the Yankees & Red Sox Lineups
The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox rivalry is one
of the most storied and at times hated rivalries in all of North American
sports. While the rivalry has taken a back seat in recent years these two teams
are always a high-and-tight fastball away or two good teams away from
rekindling the flame. That season could come in 2016 as the Red Sox look to
rebuild and retool in hopes of getting back to the playoffs and out of the
cellar of the American League East Division. We will do a run of these lineup comparisons
now, as they stand, today and we will have to do another the closer we get to
the regular season. A trade in Boston is coming, you don’t give former Yankees
outfielder Chris Young a multi-year deal if you’re not about to trade one of
your talented outfielders, and that trade may change the entire landscape of
the AL East.
Catcher
Brian McCann/ Ryan Hanigan
First Base
Mark Teixeira/ Hanley Ramirez
Second Base
Robert Refsnyder/ Dustin Pedroia
Third Base
Chase Headley/ Pablo Sandoval
*could be a push. Homer in me makes me go Headley
Shortstop
Didi Gregorius/ Xander Bogaerts
Left Field
Brett Gardner/ Rusney Castillo
Center Field
Jacoby Ellsbury/ Jackie Bradley Jr.
Right Field
Carlos Beltran/ Mookie Betts
Designated Hitter
Alex Rodriguez/ David Ortiz
Looking at the final tally I have the New York Yankees
“winning” five spots out of the nine. Remember, bolded player wins. I think we
all thought the Yankees would have the advantage in the lineup department over the
Red Sox, especially now, but I think we all know a lot of change is coming to
Bean Town. With Dave Dombrowski at the helm and a plethora of prospects for him
to trade for established talent I don’t expect the Red Sox to stay down long,
especially in David Ortiz’s last season. I can see the Red Sox going all in
this season with their young core and established farm system. This is not good
news for the New York Yankees so enjoy the “victory” while you still can.
Also it’s worth mentioning that the Boston Red Sox had one
of the worst records in the American League in 2015. They finished in last
place in the AL East Division and were a whopping 15 games behind the Toronto
Blue Jays for first place. I’ve already shown why I think the Yankees have a
better offensive player in six or seven of the nine positions over Toronto but
have New York winning less positional
battles here. This goes to show you that it is a team sport, not a sport for
individuals, and it all comes down to actually putting in the work and getting
the job done. Winning on paper is fun, winning in real life is so much better.
This is the perfect example, to answer a question I received on the Toronto vs.
New York lineup comparison, of how the Blue Jays can outscore the Yankees by
over 120 runs and lead the league in offense and still “lose” the head-to-head
battles.
Possible Yankees Losses in the Rule 5 Draft
As we inch closer and closer to the Winter Meetings in
Nashville, Tennessee we also inch closer and closer to some actual activity in
the baseball community. We have seen a few trades get pulled off, a few free
agents overpaid (totally not looking at you Cliff Pennington), a few starting
pitchers get paid (and I am totally looking at you Jordan Zimmerman) and a
whole lot of talk. That talk equates to moves at the Winter Meetings and it
also means the Rule 5 Draft comes leaving us with the answers to the “will he
stay or will he go?” questions. We know who is staying for New York but looking
at the roster the Yankees may see more than a few go as well this December.
Mark Montgomery was once thought to be the heir-apparent to
Mariano Rivera after being drafted in the 11th round of the 2011 MLB
Draft but a lot has happened since a shoulder injury dampened his 2013 season.
Montgomery had a nice 2014 season and basically repeated the solid season in
2015 between Double-A and Triple-A posting a 4-4 record with a 2.66 ERA and 17
saves with 53 strikeouts in 50.2 innings. Montgomery was especially good in
Triple-A posting a 1.17 ERA and 0.391 WHIP in just 7.2 innings leaving many to
wonder if he couldn’t stick as a long man on a MLB roster. I certainly think he
could, and will, as he is much better in my opinion than Tommy Kahnle who the
Colorado Rockies hid on their roster two years ago after taking him from New
York in the draft.
Taylor Dugas and Jake Cave fit a similar mold not only in
the draft but inside the Yankees system. New York has so many left-handed
defensive first outfielders in their system, Mason Williams, recently protected
Ben Gamel and Slade Heathcott immediately come to mind, that it may not be the
worst thing to see one or both picked. For their sake, not the team’s sake.
Dugas and Cave can play all three outfield positions, have high on-base
percentages and have hit for average at every minor league stop they’ve made.
Neither have large sample sizes above Double-A to base their picks on but could
easily be hidden as a fourth or even fifth outfielder on a MLB roster this
season.
Tony Renda is a second baseman that lost out to the
versatility “metta” currently going on in Major League Baseball. Renda plays
second base well but the problem is that’s the only position he can play. In a
world where every team wants their own shiny Ben Zobrist type player Renda was
made available in the draft. His bat is average and he hasn’t had much time
above Double-A so he’s unlikely to be selected, but he could be and that’s
enough at this point.
Finally we finish with a prospect we did one of our “Weekly
Check In” posts with multiple times this season, left-handed starter Miguel
Sulbaran. Sulbaran was acquired from the Minnesota Twins in the Eduardo Nunez
trade from a couple years back and made it all the way to Double-A with the
Trenton Thunder before the 2015 season came to a close. Sulbaran is not a sexy
name and probably not a common household name for many despite being in his age
21 season but was solid this season and is left-handed, that’s intriguing to
some teams in itself.
Just as a reminder there are three phases to the Rule 5
Draft, the Major League portion being the most popular. If a player is taken in
the Major League portion a $50,000 fee is charged to the team selecting the
player and the team must keep the player on their 25-man roster for the entire
2015 season. If they do not they must offer the player back to his original
team with a $25,000 price tag attached to him before he is eligible to sign
elsewhere.
The Luxury Tax, the Yankees and Getting Greedy
We learned this week that the New York Yankees would have to
pay another $26 million in luxury tax penalties for the 2015 season. The
Yankees are once again preaching austerity, and why wouldn’t they after spending
more money than I will ever see in my lifetime every single season in luxury
tax for basically nothing. If the team was winning playoff series and World
Series rings that would be one thing, but they aren’t lately. I can’t believe
I’m saying this as the owner of a Yankees blog donned “The Greedy Pinstripes”
but for once I agree with Hal Steinbrenner. Cut the payroll.
The two highest paid teams in Major League Baseball, the
Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, both made the postseason in 2015 and both
were gone after one game. The Yankees lost the AL Wild Card Round to the
Houston Astros while the Dodgers fell in the NLDS to the New York Mets. In
fact, none of the top nine payrolls in all of Major League Baseball won a
playoff series in 2015, the Chicago Cubs with the 10th highest
payroll in baseball won a series in the National League as the second Wild Card
winner. To take it one step further the Yankees have paid the tax in every
season of its existence and haven’t won a World Series since the 2009 season.
To take it even one more step forward the Yankees haven’t won a playoff game
since Derek Jeter’s ankle snapped in Game One of the 2012 ALCS. That’s a lot of
money for, if you believe in the World Series or bust mantra, a whole lot of
nothing.
Imagine if the Yankees had $26 million to spend last winter,
would Max Scherzer or Jon Lester be Yankees right about now? What if the
Yankees had an extra $26 million to spend this season? Would we be seeing a
Brett Gardner trade and a Jason Heyward or a Justin Upton? Maybe a David Price?
Jordan Zimmermann is 29-years old and only got $22 million annually and he was
considered to be one of the Top 3 best starting pitchers on all of the free
agent market.
Every single season the Yankees take one of those big names
and high-priced free agent acquisitions that we as fans demand and enjoy and
flush it down the toilet labeled “Major League Baseball Luxury Tax.” Let that
sink in for a minute. Getting under the cap for just one season allows the
Yankees 100% resets on their taxes and allows them to not only Get Greedy but
to own the free agency market once again if they see fit. I think I could
handle one season with a payroll under $200 million, the rumored luxury tax
threshold limit after the 2016 collective bargaining agreement expires this
season, in order to once again wear the Greedy Pinstripes crown but maybe
that’s just me.
Injuries, Depth, Versatility and the New York Yankees
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| Scranton, PA. Where all the talent comes from. |
The New York Yankees have been hampered by the injury bug
more so than not over the past three or four seasons. Ever since Derek Jeter
thought he could play through a fracture in his ankle during the 2012 season
that left him on the field in pain in the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers the
Yankees have had more DL time than most teams around the league. The problem in
New York has been despite the large payroll the team has been exposed during
these DL stints and injuries due to a lack of depth. The Yankees offense went
stagnant in a sweep at the hands of the Tigers in that ALCS and the offense
remained stagnant for much of the 2013 and 2014 seasons. In 2015 the team was
moving right along until Mark Teixeira and Nathan Eovaldi went to the DL in the
second half leaving the club backing into the playoffs in an eventual Wild Card
round loss to the Houston Astros. Fool me once with injuries, shame on you.
Fool me twice with injuries, shame on me. The Yankees have been fooled four
times in a row now but they don’t look poised to make it a five-peat.
When the Yankees lost Mark Teixeira last year the offense
got exposed, especially against good left-handed starting pitching, but this
year may be different. The Yankees now have a much clearer idea what they have
in Greg Bird and the big first baseman will be the first one called up in the
event of a Teixeira injury.
If the Yankees were to lose Alex Rodriguez for any
significant amount of time in 2015 the team likely doesn’t make the postseason
without him and his 150+ games at DH. This time around the Yankees can inject
some right-handed power and youth into the position, either in case of an
injury or to keep Rodriguez fresh to prevent another second-half fall off, by
letting Gary Sanchez get some at bats there. He’s likely going to be the backup
catcher anyway so why not keep his development going while getting him regular
at bats rather than allowing him to rot on the bench.
The Yankees pitching staff went to pieces at the end of the
2015 season with a few exceptions. The biggest exception was Luis Severino.
Having a full season of Severino in the rotation can only help while Bryan
Mitchell looks to put it all together finally, Rookie Davis continues to knock
on the door and while whoever the 2016 version of Kyle Davies and Chris Capuano
are stay stashed in Triple-A as depth.
Did I really make it this far without mentioning Aaron
Judge? The first outfielder, regardless of position, to go down brings up Judge
in my opinion barring a 40 man roster crunch. If that’s the case then obviously
Slade Heathcott and Mason Williams are still on the roster and ready to contribute
alongside Ben Gamel. But really, call up Judge. The Yankees outfield is set
with three center fielders on the roster. The positions are so interchangeable
that it doesn’t matter at this point with the exception of Carlos Beltran who
is a right fielder only at this point. Aaron Hicks, Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett
Gardner could play any of the three positions if needed at any given time.
Finally, the bullpen. The Yankees will already have one of
the deeper bullpens in the league before even mentioning the “Scranton Shuttle”
which is comprised of Caleb Cotham, Branden Pinder, James Pazos, Nick Goody,
Nick Rumbelow and others. That’s before mentioning, and the Rule 5 Draft may
have a lot to say about this list, the likes of Mark Montgomery and a slew of
relievers that were left unprotected.
The Yankees have depth and have depth at almost every
position but shortstop. The Yankees are seemingly ready for the 2016 season and
we’re not even to the Winter Meetings yet. Don’t expect a lot of major moves or
signings, that’s because the team doesn’t necessarily have to. Although another
bat would be nice, just saying.
This Day in New York Yankees History 12/4: Free Agent Draft
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