Around the Yankee Universe: No interest in Matt Holliday?

Been saying this for a while. The issue with losing Matsui is the loss of revenue from the Asian market. The business needs that and the team needs him to be a productive player. Tough call for the ownership and a tough mandate for Girardi if they keep HM.

Unfortunately, the DH won’t be a full-time job, especially with Posada, like any catcher, needing more days off. First base would have been a good place to put JP, but not with a player like Tex on the roster. (To that end I’ve seen mention of having Cervelli as the backup for Posada. Good choice, but the limited playing time at this point in Cervelli’s career is not helpful. Keep him in AAA to get the playing time)

My gut is to keep Matsui. It worked well this season, they can make it work next season.

PC

First of all, while I agree that Posada should have kept his mouth shut about not catching A.J. Burnett during the playoffs, it doesn’t change the fact that Jorge’s comments were factual and correct.

Hopefully, the ridiculous notion that Burnett “needs” a particular catcher in order to pitch well is now officially dead and buried after a postseason which saw him him give up 15 unintentional walks, hit 5 batters, and throw 2 wild pitches in 27 1/3 innings, with a 5.27 ERA, all while having his preferred catcher behind the dish 95% of the time.

I’m not going to argue that Posada is a good defensive player. But baseball history is littered with guys, some of whom played key defensive positions, that made a living based on what they did with their bat, not their glove. If the Nationals signed Endy Chavez this offseason, would anybody say that he should start in RF over Adam Dunn, simply because Chavez is the better defensive player? Because that’s essentially what people are saying when we talk about Posada, Molina, and Cervelli.

By any measure, Posada is a good hitter, but by the low offensive standards for catchers, he is a phenomenal hitter. And having excellent hitters play positions that were traditionally defense-oriented is part of the reason why the Yankees have been so good over the past decade.

To put it another way, Posada and Matsui posted very similar numbers this year, .yet Posada was worth siginificantly more – 3.9 WARP compared to 3.1 WARP – in significantly fewer plate appearances – 438 to 526 – because a catcher who can slug .500 is worth a lot more more than DH who can slug. 500.

I like Matsui, but when you’ve already got several star players in their mid-30s, I don’t think it’s wise to carry a player who can’t play a single defensive position. Sorry Hideki.

I think we have to keep one of them for 2010 and understand why Damon, who can play the field, may seem preferable to Matsui, who can’t. What we don’t know is what each player will want to stay. Damon is looking at his last good contract and will probably want 3-4 years at $10-12 million per year. I expect someone other than the Yankees will be willing to give it to him, but the Yankees won’t want to go out 3-4 years. Damon has shown that he will jump ship to get what he wants, and I expect him to do so.
Matsui, on the other hand, may be willing to go for a one-year contract with a team option/buyout, which would fit much better into the Yankee youth movement. If he were allowed to walk, the Yankees would look bad for letting him go and he would be embarrassed because he wasn’t wanted. He can make the case (which I think would sell in Japan) that potential championships are more important than long-term $$ – ie he is not just a mercenary, the quality of the team is important. Of course, the $$ for his year and the team option year would have to be respectable, and the Yankees can certainly afford that.
Unless Matsui really, really wants to play the outfield, I see Damon going and Matsui staying.
As for a queue at DH, I don’t think that the regulars will DH more than is absolutely necessary to keep them rested because the offensive dropoff with their replacements is so severe. You wouldn’t DH Molina, but if you DH Posada and Molina catches, you get the same result. Same with Jeter and whoever the Yankees will have backing him up.
Matsui will get a lot of ABs.