The stove is heating up

by Travis G on Nov 5, 2008 10:27 AM EST in New York Yankees News

- Jason Giambi's ($22 million) and Carl Pavano's ($13 million) options for 2009 have been declined. It's possible, depending on what other players are acquired, that they could be re-signed to cheaper deals.

- Discussions have begun with CC Sabathia's agent. My guess is 7 years, $150 million.

- The relationship between Scott Boras and Arod has (thank god!) been repaired. I was worried for a while there.

- Despite the ripping in the media Phil Hughes has taken while in Arizona (which is a hitter's league anyway), he has had a few stellar outings - namely his last one: 5 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 bb, 8 k.

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Going Strong after CC

Just read that the Yankees are going to go hard after CC (big surprise) and several other pitchers with hopes of possibly landing 2 or 3. It really has got to suck being a Royals fan. Year after year they blow, and there’s never any real effort to make them a contender. The Yankees don’t make it to the playoffs one year, and we’re ready to back up the Brink’s truck to any and every stud pitcher in the game. I love it!

"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will

by Ronster22 on Nov 5, 2008 2:40 PM EST reply actions

Look at the Rays and Phillies

How many of their pitchers were big name free agent acquisitions?

The way to build a pitching staff is through drafting, scouting, saavy trades, and wise free agent acquisitions.

Dumping boatloads of money on the second or third best free agent pitcher makes no sense whatsover.

by 3460kuri on Nov 5, 2008 3:13 PM EST reply actions

Normally I would ...

agree with you. But Cashman and co. have not distinguished themselves as astute purveyors of talent. Also keep in mind we’ve been finishing 1st for the past decade and a half which eliminates us from drafting those #1 pitching studs. True, the Rays stole Kazmir, and had some talent to part with to land Garza. But most of their guys have come from drafting high—which means the sucked for years.

The Phillies don’t have a great staff by any stretch of the imagination. Cole Hamels panned out, but Bret Myers, Jamie Moyer … are you kidding?

"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will

by Ronster22 on Nov 5, 2008 4:14 PM EST up reply actions

talent evaluation

The Phillies have an ace in Hamels, as well as Bret Myers, Jamie Moyer, and Joe Blanton, who are all, at worst, league average pitchers capable of pitching 6 innings per start.

As for the Rays, James Shields was drafted in the 16th round, Andy Sonnanstine was drafted in the 13th round. Edwin Jackson came over from the Dodgers along with Dioner Navarro in exchange for Mark Hendrickson (who?). They stole Matt Garza from the Twins in exchange for the overrated Delmon Young.

Sidney Ponson, Darrell Rasner, and Carl Pavano combined to pitch 227 innings with an ERA of 5.61 and a WHIP of 1.56. I would have loved to have Bret Myers or Jamie Moyer pitching those innings instead.

Making the postseason and winning the World Series isn’t about having the biggest stars, it’s about the consistency of your depth. And I would disagree about Cashman’s talent evaluation. Not every prospect turns into a star. Just because Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy haven’t panned out (yet) doesn’t mean we can’t credit him for drafting Joba, promoting Wang and Cano, and constructing an effective bullpen through scouting, drafting, and saavy waiver-wire pickups.

As of right now, we have the makings of a solid rotation next year. Wang and Joba are locks, and it looks like Pettitte will be back. Between the 3 of them, we can hope for 600 innings of above-average pitching. Sabatthia is a difference-maker, but if we lose out on him, it’s foolish to burn money on an expensive mediocrity like AJ Burnett or Derek Lowe. Best case for either of those guys is 200 innings and a 4.30 ERA, at $15 million per year. I would rather gamble that we can get that kind of production from a combination of Hughes, Kennedy, Aceves, and Giese, and sign another, smaller-name innings eater.

by 3460kuri on Nov 6, 2008 10:31 AM EST reply actions