Pete Abe’s 5 Ways to Fix the Yankees
From Peter Abraham -
The ALDS loss to Detroit exposed some holes in the Yankees that need mending. Here is what Yankees beat writer Peter Abraham of Gannett News Service proposes:
1. Keep Joe Torre: To win in the playoffs, a team has to get there first. The Yankees have great talent, but with Toronto improving and Boston always a threat, a berth is no guarantee. Having a hothead such as Lou Piniella as manager would only decrease the odds.
2. Trade Alex Rodriguez: It was a steal getting him for Alfonso Soriano and a prospect in 2004. But three years later, teammates and fans dislike him and he’s a proven playoff choker. His act has worn thin. Deal him to the Angels for Ervin Santana and a prospect.
3. Cut ‘em loose: The Yankees hold options on Mike Mussina and Gary Sheffield. Let them leave. Why keep two 37-year-old players who are in decline? Both are me-first types.
4. Sign a first baseman: Sean Casey would be fine. Most anybody with a decent glove would be fine. Let the untradable Jason Giambi DH, where he can’t get hurt.
5. Sign Daisuke Matsuzaka: Barry Zito belongs in the National League, not the tough-and-tumble AL East. Matsuzaka will cost a lot to bring over from Japan, but the Yankees will have plenty spend having dumped Mussina and Sheffield. That would make the rotation Wang, Matsuzaka, Santana, Randy Johnson and eventually Philip Hughes.
I still want to think about what I would do, if I ran the Yankees. But, I’m open for suggestions – anyone have any?
Is there something about Ervin Santana that I should know?
Young, cheap, and has some stuff.
Better than Wright and Pavano, for sure.
Why does Mussina have this reputation for being a “me-first” guy? Not everyone has to be a Kevin-Millar-idiot-type in the clubhouse, do they? And aren’t starting pitchers notoriously touchy and standoffish? These reports of him being a me-first guy don’t mesh well with the reports I’ve also read of him helping out younger pitchers and teaching them things. Which is it? What has he ever done except pitch well and reasonably consistently for lots and lots of innings? I don’t get why anyone makes negative comments about him.
FWIW, I’ve heard it (Mussina being a jerk and not liked) from many different sources – mostly media guys.
I don’t get the Mussina comments either. Maybe he’s cranky with he media or doesn’t joke around in the clubhouse, but he seems like a good teammate in terms of mentoring the youth and sucking it up in big games. How quickly people forget all of those duels with Pedro, the relief appearance in Game 7 2003, that game in Oakland. It all comes down to not having any rings. If Mariano doesn’t make that error in 2001 and Weaver doesn’t give up that HR in 2003, then Mussina has two rings and nobody is running him out of town. I would have no problem with Moose coming back at a reduced salary.
Steve (and everyone else) -
What about going after Andy Pettitte for say a 2-3 year deal? I know he is going to be 34, was in the NL and did not have a great year last year, however his stats outside of his ERA were not that bad. He is roughly the same age as Schmidt and younger than Mussina. While he will no doubt suffer some decline I would imagine his numbers would be no worse than Mussina’s were the past 3 years and probably equal to or better than what Mussina will do the next 2 years. I know he has suffered from some elbow issues but the Yankees already know all about this so while he is technically a new pitcher to the team he comes with less question marks than say a Schmidt or Zito becuase the team knows his strengths and weaknesses. Finally, I can’t help to think that he will bring a better attitude to the team and make it tougher. Both Buster Olney’s and Joel Sherman’s books pointed out that whenever Pettitte pitched and say a fielder made an error behind him he did not look at the fielder in disgust (i.e. Mussina and A-Rod) or even let it unnerve him, he simply bore down and tried that much harder to get the next guy out. Also, with Hughes, Clippard et al. coming down the pike it may be nice to have a guy like Pettitte mentor them.
I know he expressed that he may retire at the end of the year but IMHO that was more frustration than anything else. Assuming Houston will not offer him a good contract, which they may not because McClane apparently wants to cut payroll, why not go after him for a 2-3 year deal. Thoughts?
The stuff I hear from Mussina’s critics is that he’s snobby and smarter-than-thou. Rob Dibble, for one, really can’t stand him. Of course, that might be (at least partly) because Mussina is the Anti-Dibble – educated, cerebral, never got into a fistfight with his manager… you know.
I’ve never heard anything negative from any of his former teammates, though.
IIRC, some teammates on the O’s were pissed at Moose in the past when he refused to help form a 4-man rotation, FWIW.
As far as Pettitte – I would take him on a 2-year deal, with a team option for a 3rd, in a heartbeat.
Actually, I’d keep Mussina. He has a 1.5 M buyout, so he’s in the Jaret Wright “Am I worth the difference between the buyout and the potential salary” territory. I’d rather have Mussina than Wright, and given the pitching available this offseason, I think the Yanks will need to keep one of them. You *could* take the buyout and try to negotiate a reduced salary, but the amount you could expect to save may not be worth the risk of ending up a pitcher short.
As for Giambi, *anyone* is tradable, depending on what else is included. I’m not sure that it’d be wise to do so, given that he (1) is overpaid, so Cashman would likely need to include a not-trivial amount of cash in a deal, and (2) led the team in OPS+.
If you really just wanted to be rid of him, though, I imagine the Rockies would love to move Todd Helton’s albatross contract (90M remaining, vs. 47M-ish for Giambi), and his production has been declining since ’04). That’d be a huge gamble, since Helton’s 31 and has the aforementioned contract and two-year history of declining production, but he put up some historically great years (’00-’04).
I know that this Alex for Ervin Santana and a prospect thing is the result of frustration over the Tigers series.
I implore you to think clearly. Alex Rodriguez for Ervin Santana? Johan Santana, sure. Maybe even Carlos Santana….but Ervin? come on.
He won the MVP last year. I don’t need to rehash his amazing run-creating stats, except to say that he lead NYY in RBI’s in 06.
There are about 5 players in the majors that create value for the Yankees in an Alex trade…and maybe even less if you believe that Alex will leave the Yankees and go off the charts offensively…which makes it an even worse deal if you dump him and make another team massively better while making yours only marginally better.
Torre and Jeter need to welcome Alex into the fold for the best interests of the team.
1> KEEP TORRE – Can’t agree. He said on WFAN yesterday that after game 4 he sat with his coaches and asked them what they could have done better, or different and they ALL had NO IDEA. That says to me that they don’t know what happened, or why. Should have got rid of him.
2>TRADE AROD – Unless Sweet Lou gets a manager’s job I can’t see A-Rod going to play for anyone else. Otherwise he will be labeled, forever, as not being able to play in N.Y.
3>CUT’EM LOOSE – Agreed. Why do people love Mussina? This guy should have easily gotten to 20 wins this year but he got worse and worse as the year went on. And blew a 3-1 lead to the Tigers.
4>SIGN A 1st BASEMAN – What’s wrong with Andy Phillips? His glove was better than decent.
5>SIGN DAISUKE MATSUZAKA – There are reports of up to $30 million to win the right to TALK to this guy…WTF is that? Stay away for this guy!
Andy Petite – This guy has elbow problems, that ship has sailed, forget about him. Zito will sign with the Mets.
Let’s put up there two BIG words why the Yankees shouldn’t go crazy trying to get Matsuzaka:
Scott Boras… Matsuzaka’s agent…
You put up almost 30 million just to talk to him, and THEN you have to deal with Scott Boras, who’s gonna up the ante all ways possible… yea… no…
1. What could they have done better? What could they have done different? They didn’t hit, they didn’t pitch. There’s nothing the manager or his coaches could do about it.
2. I wouldn’t sweat it too much. I’d move him if the right deal came along (which goes for any player on the roster), but Rodiguez is always going to hear that he can’t handle NY, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
3. I’d keep Mussina, there aren’t many options out there. As for getting worse;
Apr: 2.31
May: 2.53
Jun: 4.93
Jul: 4.22
Aug: 5.14
Sep: 2.89
The reason people love Moose is because he has done a good job in his time in NY. I’d say goodbye to Sheffield, unless he’s willing to convert to a 1b. I don’t think he’d be willing to do that.
4. Phillip’s glove is decent, but his bat isn’t
5. Reports are he’s worth it. When it comes to the Yanks, $$ really isn’t an option. Go for it. If things don’t work out, they can always trade him.
I don’t mean to offend any Peter Abraham fans, but he doesn’t know much about baseball. He’s great for behind-the-scenes stuff with the team, but when it actually comes to the game, he’s one step above a fan-boy. Reading the stuff on his blog is often hilarious.
The other day he suggested moving Johnny Damon to first base. Now it’s Sean Casey?
Media guys have issues with Mussina. His teammates don’t. Don’t believe what press guys say about players. Moose doesn’t like the media and they don’t like him. Abraham is just pushing his personal agenda here.
I followed Abraham’s blog after the ALDS loss to see some player reaction, and it was hilarious to see Abraham flip-flop on so many issues — originally he was in favor of bringing Sheff back in and benching Melky, then he said the loss wasn’t Torre’s fault because he was saddled with “one-dimensional players,” and then he suggested putting Melky in centerfield next year. This is his first year with the Yanks and he’s blinded by the “Torre aura.” He can’t say something nice about Torre fast enough. There is no objectivity there.
As for trading A-Rod: he seems miserable to be here, his teammates seem miserable to play with him, I don’t think the manager likes him, he’s not producing in the playoffs, the fans boo him — um, why WOULDN’T you trade him? Why does he want to stay? Because of his image? He needs to forget image for once and leave New York as soon as possible. I know Alex puts up great numbers, but I just don’t see the guy winning games for them the way I saw Jeter and Giambi winning games. If they can dump his salary and get a young pitcher back, they should do it. When Sheff and Matsui went down, Giambi and Jeter (and to a lesser extend Damon and Cano) carried the team offensively. Which just proves that if you have Damon, Jeter, Cano, Bobby and Giambi, you don’t “need” A-Rod. They’ll get along fine without him. And they’ll be free of that distraction AND the payroll will reduce AND we’ll get a young pitcher in return.
The Padres need a third baseman. Anyone want to start “Peavy for A-Rod” rumors…?
I don’t know much about Peter Abraham, but his suggestions sound about right to me. The only issue I have is that I do not know much about the Japanese pitcher. Is an unproven player really worth Barry Zito money? Not sure.
This team definitely needs an everyday 1B, preferably a guy with a good glove, a solid bat and a lot of heart. Sean Casey is that type of guy. He is totally a 1996-style Yankee.
The only other controversial issue in my mind is whether to keep Mussina. (I think A-Rod and Torre are easy ones.) It’s a close call, but if Moose were willing to go one year at a time at a reasonable price, I would have him back.
Everyone who wants a new 1b: that will just create more problems. So Giambi moves to fulltime DH. Where does Matsui play? LF. So what about Melky? 1b is a position that we’re ok with. Giambi is below average defensively, but has everyone forgotten what he does with the bat? And for D, Phillips is great anyway there. The offense will be fine. And the D wasn’t great, but was fine. (If you take out Arod’s 24 Es, it’s downright good.) The problem was starting pitching. We had just 2 quality starters. Looking back, maybe Karstens should’ve bene given a playoff start. He couldn’t have done worse than RJ or Wright.
As for Matsuzaka, the posting fee is only collected if the player signs. So if the Yanks paid $100 mil posting, and never wanted to negotiate, they’d get that $ back. The fact that Boras is his agent is unfortunate. That might be the death knell to his Yankee career.