Cano In Top 5 Of MVP Votes

In order to build up more interest in the it's year end awards, the Baseball Writers Association of America have announced five finalists for each of their major awards. Yankee fans will be happy to hear, but not surprised, that Robinson Cano is among those five in American League MVP voting.

Robbie finished with 2nd in fWAR, 5th in wOBA, and 5th in wRC+ in the AL. I fully expect Miguel Cabrera to win the award, while Mike Trout finishes second, leaving Robbie to finish somewhere between 3rd and 5th (Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton are the other two finalists). 

The Yankees didn't have any other finalists in the awards, however you can view them all here.

Andy Pettitte Still Undecided On 2013

About three weeks ago the Yankees 2012 season ended prematurely with a sweep at the hands of the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series. Shortly there after Andy Pettitte announced that he did not want to drag out this retirement decision and stated that he would need no more then a month to make up his mind... the clock is ticking Andy. We heard our first bit of news today since these announcements were made but the problem is that Andy announced that he was still undecided.

No news is good news? Let's hope so because I was looking forward to more Andy in 2013.

Yankees Set To Offer Mariano Rivera A Pay Cut

Not that we should file this kind of news anywhere but in the "expected" section but the Yankees announced that they are planning on giving Mariano Rivera a pay cut this season to close for the Yankees. Mariano Rivera cannot and should not expect to make as much or more then he did in 2012 after missing most of it with an injury and entering his age 43 season. This is much like when Andy Pettitte re signed here for an incentive laden contract that, with the escalators, brought him up to a respectable salary. I expect and I hope for some of the same for Mo because if anyone deserves a little wiggle room with these negotiations it is him.

Orioles May Be Pretty Scary In 2013

The Orioles have announced today that they plan on going after the top free agent, offensively speaking, in this years class in Josh Hamilton. This is a huge risk/reward type of signing with the off the field issues and the durability issues on the field but this could make Baltimore a scary kind of lineup for a long time if this signing happens. The outfield would be Josh Hamilton in left field, Adam Jones in center field, and Nick Markakis in right field. Add on Matt Weiters, Manny Machado, Chris Davis, etc and you have a young potent lineup for years to come. If you expected the Orioles to just go away after a one year wonder type of season we may all be in for a rude awakening.

Annual GM Meetings In California Start Today

The annual GM meetings in California start this morning and will run all the way through Friday although I do not expect much activity to go down this week. These meetings are usually centered around issues pertaining to the league and not so much the free agency aspect but agents and General Managers do meet up as well. Brian Cashman has already said that he plans to meet with the agent of Torii Hunter this week so that is encouraging and I am sure Brian has a few tricks up his sleeve so we will just have to wait and see. Patiently I will sit here waiting for Ninja Cash to show his face.

TGP Yankees Awards Biggest Bounce Back Season

The TGP Yankees Award for Biggest Bounce Back Season goes to none other then Joba Chamberlain!!

Who else could this really go to? I guess you could make a case for Ichiro if you look at his Sea/NYY splits or you could make a case for Andy Pettitte after coming back from retirement and then coming back AGAIN from a fractured ankle but no one came back quite like Joba Chamberlain did. Joba not only had Tommy John surgery but also had a freak ankle dislocation injury that was once considered life threatening. His season was ultimately deemed over immediately until Joba continued to work hard and give 120% in his rehab to get back to the majors. He blew threw the minors leagues, showed a little rust in the Majors, and ultimately settled in to have a great last month + of the season and really solidified a shaky and match up heavy bullpen for the Yankees. Let's look at Joba's small sample size of a 2012 season.

Joba came into his age 27 season a lot later then expected after the aforementioned ankle injury that delayed the Tommy John surgery rehab and the rust showed. His numbers do not reflect in any manner just how he looked from late August through the end of the season. Joba's final line looked like a 1-0 W/L record, 4.35 ERA (which got over a 10 point ERA at one point in the season), 20.2 IP,  22 K's to 6 Walks, 1.548 WHIP, and a 9.6 K/9 ratio. He was able to accumulate exactly a 0.0 WAR but it is generally hard to have a positive WAR as a reliever, let alone in 20 IP. At the end of the season he was challenging hitters, locating pitches, getting out both righties and lefties, going multiple innings, and overall he just stayed healthy. Cannot ask for much more then that at this point.

Congratulations to Joba Chamberlain for being the Yankees biggest bounce back player in 2012!

Yankees List Of Minor League Free Agents

Baseball America has listed their list of minor league free agents and a ton of Yankees names made the list including Ramiro Pena's name at the very top of the list. Here is the complete list broken down by organizational affiliate.

AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre

Jason Bulger RHP

Manny Delcarmen RHP

John Maine RHP

Jon Meloan RHP

Tim Norton RHP

Ramon Ortiz RHP

Kevin Whelan RHP

Mike O'Connor LHP

Jose Gil C

Gustavo Molina C

Craig Tatum C

Kevin Russo 3B

Doug Bernier SS

Ramiro Pena SS

Cole Garner OF

AA Trenton 

Grant Duff RHP

Lee Hyde LHP

Josh Romanski LHP

Walter Ibarra SS

High A Tampa 

Ronny Marte RHP

Rookie Ball

Kelvin Castro RHP

Short Season Ball

Edwin Beard OF

Yankees Claim Josh Spence

The Yankees have claimed another reliever. This time Josh Spence from the Padres.

Spence is only 24 years old, but has already appeared in 51 MLB games. In that time he's pitched to a 3.15 ERA while striking out over 9 hitters per 9 innings. However, Josh has also walked 5.4 batters per 9 innings, which is not a good number by any means. His batting line against was a big .302/.375/.395, but that came with a BABIP of .375. Taking his age into account, if Spence can regain some of the control he showed in the minors (he walked 2.8 per 9 there), then he could help the team out.

Yankees Claim David Herndon

It's not Joakim Soria or Ryan Madson, but the Yankees acquired a reliever rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. They claimed David Herndon off of waivers from Toronto.

Herndon isn't expected to return until midway through the 2013 season. David is 27 years old, and has spent the last 3 seasons with the Phillies, where he threw to a 3.74 ERA. He threw 7.2 innings this past season before going to the DL, and struck out 8 batters while walking only 1.

I wouldn't expect Herndon to contribute much to the Yankees, but at this point why not take a shot?

On A One Year Deal, Consider Me Sold On Torii Hunter

If the Yankees and Torii Hunter were willing to sign a one year deal, maybe even with a mutual or team option for 2014, I think I have finally warmed up to the idea of Torii Hunter in pinstripes. I have finally come to the realization that we are not going to acquire someone like Justin Upton after the D Backs traded Chris Young to the Athletics earlier in the offseason. I have also come to the realization that we are probably going to see some sort of a downgrade in right field next season, not that we cannot afford a little bit of a step back in some areas offensively as we will still be a prolific offense when healthy. Torii Hunter just may make the most sense for the Yankees in 2013, here is why.

The Yankees will have two guys out in the outfield next season batting from the left side in Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner while Torii is a right handed power bat to even out the lineup. While Torii was never as good as he was advertised in the outfield his speed made up for a lot of his miscues in center field so a move to a smaller right field in Yankees Stadium would really do him some good. Not to mention that potentially having Brett Gardner in center field covering all the ground that he does can only help Mr. Hunter. Torii has been an above average hitter basically his entire career even in a spacious outfield out in Anaheim. His triple slash for 2012 was .313/.365/.451 while hitting both right handed starting pitchers and left handed starting pitchers. It helps that Torri is an all fields hitter which will help him in Yankees Stadium although his power is considered more of "pull power" and left and left center field tend to swallow more then a few home runs for right handed hitters. After the year of the injury and post season let downs in 2012 Torii Hunters durability and post season experience will be a sight for sore eyes in New York and will be, in my opinion of course, highly welcomed by the fans. Torii is one of the more respected players in the game and does everything right and by the book and that just screams New York Yankee to me.

The Angels did not offer Torii a qualifying offer so basically all we would have to give up to acquire him would be money so if the years are right, preferably just a one year deal for the 37 year old, then show me where to sign. Sure his ground balls are up and sure his strike out numbers are up and sure he only hit 16 home runs in 2012 hitting in between guys like Mike Trout and Albert Pujols and sure he has always been double play prone but unlike most of his career we do not need him to be the superstar, we just need him to be Torii Hunter. His right handed bat evens out the lineup, his speed and fundamentals and more then adequate defense mixed with Gardner in CF gives us the best outfield defense in the game hands down, his (hopefully) willingness to sign a one year deal keeps us flexible going forward, and his character will give us another guy for the fans to flock behind.