DeRosa Picks Giants Over Yankees
Holy Rice-A-Roni Batman!
Via Anthony McCarron -
The Yankees viewed free agent Mark DeRosa as potential help in left field and an unbeatable super-utility option. But DeRosa, a Bergen Catholic product, agreed to a preliminary two-year deal with the San Francisco Giants Monday night, The Associated Press reported. The agreement is to be announced today.
But missing out on DeRosa does not mean the Yankees will seek an expensive option such as Matt Holliday or Jason Bay for their left-field opening, one Yankee official said before the deal was made. “No chance on Matt Holliday, no chance on Jason Bay,” the official said. “Zero. None. Underline it.”
The Yankees are thinking of much cheaper free agent options – former Blue Jay and Cub Reed Johnson, Jerry Hairston Jr. from last season’s team or other players for left field, the official said. Brett Gardner could have a chance to compete for a role there. They will also troll the trade market.
Of course, Yankee GM Brian Cashman once said that he was comfortable with Bubba Crosby being the team’s starting center fielder – mere weeks before the Yankees gave Johnny Damon $52 million over four years to play there instead. The Yankees certainly could afford to stretch their self-imposed budget for a big name, but they also believe that next year’s free agent class – hello, Carl Crawford! – is much more attractive, so they are saving cash for that.
Cashman is probably thinking “We won in ’96 with Gerald Williams and Tim Raines in left. We won in ’98, big time, with Chad Curtis out there. And, we won in ’99 with Chad Curtis and Ricky Ledee playing left field. So, why do I have to sweat who plays left in 2010?” That said, expect an outfield of Gardner, Granderson and Swisher this coming season – along with a fourth guy TBD…like Reed Johnson or Jermaine Dye…working into the mix to spell Gardner against lefties.
Good to see that DeRosa saved Cashman from making a mistake. Hopefully Jermaine Dye is also in the Christmas spirit and saves Cashman from another mistake.
I still don’t see what the big deal is with DeRosa…
As for Cashman’s thought process, with Bay, Holliday and Damon looking for work, and not having much interest, there’s no rush to go out and sign a LF’er just yet. There really isn’t a reason to make a splash now.
Raf wrote:
Doncha know? The Cubs had great clubhouse chemistry with DeRosa but missed his gutty, gritty attitude after they shipped him to Cleveland last year.
explain to me how having derosa on the team is a bad thing again??
especially with gardner in line to start in lf??
theres a gaping hole in lf. good thing the 3 best fa’s are lf’s
DeRosa saved Cashman from making a mistake? Is there any evidence that the Yankees were ever interested in Mark DeRosa, save from rumor mongering and pure speculation?
I think a previous commenter noted that the referenced Cashman interview on MLB Network was misinterpreted. The announcers, for some reason, thought Cashman was talking about DeRosa, when he was clearly talking about Nick Johnson.
Jake1 wrote:
It’s not that signing De Rosa would be a “bad thing”, it’s that $6M for a utility player that has next to no experience as a LF would be ridiculous. For $4M more, you get a better player in Johnny Damon. Or, the Yanks could choose to save the entire sum and just allocate that money to other areas of need, such as in the bullpen, another low-risk/high-reward starter, a better bench player, etc.
De Rosa is a utility player and I don’t see how the Yanks can justify $6M to a utility player if they can’t justify $10M to a valuable guy like Damon.
The Yankees never made Derosa an offer, so I would say the headline is more than a bit misleading. They may have viewed him as an option, but likely at a much lower price. Same with Dye- they are not interested unless the price were extremely low, and possibly not at all. Let’s not create the illusion that Cashman is all over these guys and they are choosing other clubs.
yagottagotomo1 wrote:
Is this your opinion, or, a fact? Do you have an email or something from Brian Cashman in which he swears on his children’s heads that he never made an offer to DeRosa?
If not, then your assertion that the Yankees never made an offer to DeRosa is no more valid than that made by those who believe the reports that DeRosa was the Yankees #1 target to play LF for them next season.
I’m not sure I’m following you. Are you saying that because we don’t have explicit evidence that the Yankees *didn’t* offer Mark DeRosa a contract, that it’s equally likely, or that we should assume, that they did offer him a contract?
Steve Lombardi wrote:
I’d love to see those reports. And if it makes you feel any better, how about I amend my statement:
There has not been a single report suggesting the Yankees made Mark Derosa an offer anywhere in the ballpark of the offer he got from San Francisco.
Can’t believe they can’t work something out with Damon. His role in the #2 spot makes the whole line up much stronger. Everyone knows his defense is bad, but the whole package (hitting, running, clubhouse, experience) is still a plus. Boras is probably growing cobwebs waiting for the phone to ring for Damon. He really only makes sense on a team with 1) otherwise sound defense, 2) a shortstop with a plus arm, 3) a leadoff hitter in front of him that has a .400 OBP, 4) a ballpark that rewards short homers to right field, and 5) solid #3 and # 4 hitters behind him.
Pitchers and catchers report in 6 weeks. Enough already on both sides. Make a deal around $7-8/yr for one or two years and Johnny can make up the difference hawking styling gel. If Damon gives us what we got last year, and, IMO, Johnson + Grandy > Melky+Godzilla, plus we’ve got a deeper rotation, I’d keep Pena as my ute, Gardner and the 4th OF, Cervelli as my back-up catcher, trial a few arms for the pen from the minors and we are good to go.
yagottagotomo1 wrote:
I second this.
Nowhere out there have we heard a single report that Brian Cashman has made an offer to Mark Derosa or Jermaine Dye. These players are most likely part of a list, with other players, that are options for LF if their price falls to a certain number within what the Yankees want to pay. We all know this decision won’t be made soon, so why is everybody jumping the gun and falling for the annual rumors?
This literally happens every offseason, and it boggles my mind when so many Yankee fans get caught up in the “OMG he has interest in Jermaine Dye? Cashman you’re the idiot!!?”
How about we wait and see what their next LF move is before we start hanging our GM? He did, after all, just win a World Series.
Re-sign Hinske. Have Gardner, Hoffman, and Hinske all have at-bats based on the pitcher/needs.
@ #15:
I feel at this point its Boras and JD being stingy. I feel like The Yanks probably want him back for what you proposed, but its them being stubborn.
BTW..I really want Hairson back. Anyone else agree?
Steve Lombardi wrote:
One opinion is based in reality, the other isn’t.
@ clintfsu813:
Yes, I agree. Failing other signings named Damon, he’s an excellent person to have out there for about $2M per year for a one year deal. While we’re on topic for this thread, for my money he’s a better ute than DeRosa at a much lower price, who actually plays a good OF and won a ring with us. Failing Damon, let him compete with Gardner for the job.
clintfsu813 wrote:
Then Damon needs to remember that Boras works for him.
@ #15:
Touche’. Just like Arod (Thankfully) did.
At this point Damon probably figures he’s getting lowballed by the Yanks and he’ll wait to see what the market pays for Bay and Holliday, and not make a move till then.
clintfsu813 wrote:
Even so, had Hank not gotten involved, who knows if Rodriguez comes back?
Raf wrote:
The difference maker was that A-Rod made the first move. I still think Hank/Hal overpaid him at that point. They should have penalized him for the $30 million he cost them from the Rangers. Ball is in Damon’s court. It’s looking to me like he needs the Yankees more than the Yankees need him. That said, they’ll both be better off together.
ESPN says Bay to the Metamucils… http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4779416
Good. Boston’s offense just lost another cylinder. That’s 120 RBI’s and 921 OPS off there 09 performance. Their pitching is good enought to keep them in the hunt, but we can out-hit them by a mile. Maybe they take a run at Holliday out of deperation, cause their offense could way off if Ortiz doesn’t bounce back (nah), if Drew can’t stay healthy (nah), if Lowell doesn’t return to form (maybe) or get traded (likely). Bay must have hated playing in Boston to go with the Mutts. His stats will nose dive and his limited outfield play will be exposed.
@ #15:
Boston isnt goin after holliday theyre set in the outfield with drew cameron and ellsbury. bay wanted a 5th year and boston wasnt giving him that and the mets did. ortiz bounced back the second half the season. he ended up with 28 hrs and 100 ribis pretty decent season.
in general if it was between reed johnson and jermaine dye for lf i would take dye considering hes hit no less then 27 hrs for the past 6 seasons. and reed johnson has had 500 ABs once in a season
More on this via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Newly introduced as a San Francisco Giant with a position to be determined later, Mark DeRosa said the idea of playing at AT&T Park and living in the Bay Area had always intrigued him. But when asked what accelerated the timing of his signing, which was finalized with a physical Monday, the utility infielder and former St. Louis Cardinals third baseman said he no longer wanted to be a runnerup.
“I was just tired of being a lot of teams’ Plan Bs,” DeRosa said during a conference call this afternoon with reporters. “I’m not hitting No. 3 or 4 in the lineup … I understand that. (But) I wanted to go to a place where I felt comfortable and where the team wanted me and needed me. This was a good spot.”
DeRosa signed a two-year deal worth $12 million.
The Giants said DeRosa won’t have a specific position except being a starter somewhere.
“We don’t know where he’s going to be in the field,” Giants GM Brian Sabean said. “But we know he’ll be in the lineup everyday.”
DeRosa described how about six teams were on his final list of options, though not every one — like the Cardinals — had an offer on the table. Beyond the Cardinals, he didn’t explicitly say what teams viewed him as a Plan B, though both the New York Yankees and New York Mets had expressed interest in DeRosa pending other moves, a baseball source with knowledge of DeRosa’s options said.
DeRosa said he didn’t fee like waiting. And San Francisco was calling.
“I always felt a nice vibe playing there,” he said. “There was a bunch of teams that were interested, and I whittled them down. This happened to be the right spot for me at the right time.”
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/commishs-hot-stove/commishs-hot-stove/2009/12/derosa-was-tired-of-being-a-lot-teams-plan-bs/
@ Steve Lombardi:
So they saw him as plan B. That suggests 2 things:
1) He wasnt their #1 option.
2)They never made him a serious formal offer, as it was still pending other moves.
Seems to fit in exactly with what I said. Unless you read “Plan B” and “expressed interest pending other moves” differently.
For all we know, that “baseball source” could be the reporter
yagottagotomo1 wrote:
Agreed.
BOHAN wrote:
Bo, I like Reed Johnson BUT having seen him with the Blow Jays and the Uncuddly,Unlovable Cubsters, he’s a gritty player BUT not a worldbeater. Dye is an older player(contrary to the hype we’ve heard about getting younger) and Cash man and his cronies are aware of his stats. He has the edge over Reed ” Goate Face ” Johnson.
Raf wrote:
Hank? HAHAHAHAHAAAH! You just questioned something from a reporter AND believed that Hank “The Horse Breeder” was the catalyst in the Arod debacle? Hal was puppeting Hank if anything, you best believe that if Hank was involved at all! ;
Whether it was Hal or Hank the point is that Cashman wasn’t the point man in the negotiations.