Yankees & Javier Lopez Have Mutual Interest

To say the Yankees are interested in someone this offseason is like saying do you want a chocolate glazed donuts fresh from Dunkin Donuts, hell yes I do and hell yes we are interested. Today the Yankees and Javier Lopez expressed mutual interest in a deal for the 2014 season to bring the lefty to the Bronx. If the name sounds familiar it is because Lopez has been with the San Francisco Giants for the last few seasons and has been pretty dominant the last three seasons.

According to Javier's agent, Barry Meister, their goal is to make sure "Javy plays with a winner, and plays with a team that's a contender. That's the most important thing to him, he wants the innings to be meaningful."

Lopez is 36 years old and has dominated same hand batters for the last few years to the tune of a .156/.208/.222 triple slash in 2013. Lopez strikes out enough guys which is evident by his 25.4% ratio the last three seasons and gets a ton of ground balls, 63.5% over the last three season, which will surely help him in Yankees Stadium. Lopez also has two World Series rings and all the experience and all that jazz that comes along with the deep playoff runs.

Lopez sports a mid 80's fastball and a high 70's slider that is his out pitch. I would not expect Lopez to get all that much money in the offseason market with Boone Logan, Eric O'Flaherty, etc already out there but you never know. If he comes cheap sign him up, if not let's go with Cesar Cabral and Vidal Nuno and call it a day.

Boone Logan Will Have Elbow Surgery Thursday

Boone Logan has been pitching with bone spurs in his left throwing elbow and will get the surgery to fix those spurs this Thursday before officially becoming a free agent for the first time in his career. Boone is expected to be ready for Spring Training for 2014 and does not think the surgery will affect his free agent market whatsoever. I disagree with Boone, especially after CC Sabathia has elbow surgery to clean up a few things and struggled for whatever reason all season long, but I like his confidence so we will leave it at that.

Logan will be entering his age 30 season in 2014 and is coming off of a year in which he pitched to a 3.23 ERA in 39 innings with a 3.81 FIP. Logan was considered to be a LOOGY coming into the season holding same side hitters to a .215/.274/.377 with a 40% strike out rate.

We have not heard whether the Yankees would be interested in bringing back Boone for what would probably be a three or four year deal or would rather roll the dice on a Oliver Perez, Eric O'Flaherty, Matt Thornton, etc so this will be filed under the "wait and see" category.

Looking Ahead To 2014: The Yankees Bullpen

The Yankees 2014 Free Agents In The Bullpen

LHP Boone Logan

RHP Joba Chamberlain

RHP Mariano Rivera

The Yankees bullpen should be set for next season and will probably be built from within but I still see a couple of veteran options that the Yankees should at least take a look at. Here is the complete list of 2014 free agents but I will hit the high spots and realistic options for the Yankees in this years free agency period.

JP Howell (31 years old)

Boone Logan (29 years old)

Eric O'Flaherty (29 years old)

Jesse Crain (32 years old)

Joba Chamberlain (28 years old)

David Aardsma (32 years old)

Grant Balfour (36 years old)

Ryan Madson (33 years old)

Fernando Rodney (37 years old)

Boone Logan has been an integral part of the Yankees bullpen since 2010 after being acquired along with Javier Vazquez from the Atlanta Braves. Boone has seen his relief appearances, innings, and unfortunately his ERA go up in every season with the Yankees and battled an arm injury in spring training this season sending question marks all over Yankees land. Boone is also injured right now and shut down with an MRI heading over to Dr. James Andrews but that is for another post and another discussion. Boone bounced back and healthy for the most part this season but I wonder if it will be enough to bring back Boone and his $3,150,000 salary, assuming he is healthy of course. An obvious choice for his replacement internally is Cesar Cabral who deserves his shot at being the LOOGY he should have been in the 2012 season before a stress fracture in his pitching elbow ended his season.

Jesse Crain is coming off of a strong season for the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays which probably prices him out of our range as nice to have as he would be. Fernando Rodney and his arrow shooting may not go over well in New York especially the first time he blows a lead or a save plus the Yankees need to get younger anyway and they don't do that with a 37 year old former closer. Joba Chamberlain, even only as a 28 year old, has worn out his welcome in New York not only on the field but off the field after "sshh'ing" the greatest closer of all time among other idiotic maneuvers. Grant Balfour is not going to want to come to New York either to set up when he could easily get a closer's job after his successful career in Oakland with the Athletics.

That leaves David Aardsma and Eric O'Flaherty and I want both of them in my bullpen. Aardsma is healthy finally and has come all the way back from Tommy John surgery after bouncing around from team to team in 2012. Aardsma has closing experience and got his feet wet in New York and the media with the Yankees and the Mets last season so the transition should not be a huge deal either. Aardsma would essentially replace Joba Chamberlain in a 7th inning role or so for me and I would offer him a one year deal worth $1,500,000. Eric O'Flaherty has been magnificent for the Atlanta Braves from the left side of the pitching rubber since coming up to the majors and would be a welcomed addition to the Yankees bullpen replacing Boone Logan. O'Flaherty would get a three year deal on my team worth $18,000,000. With these additions our bullpen would look like some kind of combination of this roster.

CL: David Robertson

SU: Shawn Kelley

SU: Preston Claiborne

RP: Eric O'Flaherty

RP: David Aardsma

RP: Dellin Betances

LR: Adam Warren