OT: Manny close with Yankees [according to Dominican site]

[hobojoe2131]

I would much rather sign Tex. 1st, I just dont like Manny. 2nd, he is just another aging/no long able to play the field player. 3rd, I'm not thrilled with the idea that our 2nd, 3rd and 4th hitters will all be righties.

[bringinhinkie]

yanks did it all wrong imo.. (not hating just how i see it)

-5 years 80+mil for a .500 4era career pitcher who is always hurt?? (w/ like only 3 seasons above 200ip?)
-SEVEN years for a pitcher is ridiculous on its own, let alone one who has only had a couple big years (he is nasty i will admit), weighs like 260, was only "above average" i'd say in the AL last year before killing the NL, now hes back in the AL, has also struggled in the postseason.. i was all for cc to yanks, but 7 years? and at that price? its risky to say the least..
- quarter of a billion dollars and you are bringing in just cc and burnett? cmon, if im payin that i want like santana and halladay, 250 mill????????????????????
-joba should be in the PEN.. near-automatic 8th and 9th innings are priceless, marte will be used more as a loogy than last year when they had no one else to throw out and he got rocked by righties in rbi situations

what i'd have done (not that you guys care)..
-sign tex 7year deal.. gold glove 1st basemen, classy player, switch power hitter, reminds me of the type of guys the yanks had in the 90s
-signed manny, 3 years like they are discussing, dh/lf, bat him behind arod
-sign andy 1 year deal option for 2nd or even a 2 year
-sign sheets 2-3 years with incentives (risky, but short years and he is lights out when healthy, much much less a risk than cc for 7 and aj for 5 and cheaper)
-jeter to 2nd, arod to short, bring in a 3b like wiggington (cheap, 6errors at 3rd in 82 games isnt bad though hes not great on d, 875 ops, which will dip).. jeter gettin old for ss, his range is not there anymore -- arod at ss and tex at 1b would be the best in the bigs on both ends --- jeter to 2b isnt a diss or anything, all great ss's move eventually, ie: ripken jr..
-deal cano and melky for a starter to fill out rotation, these 2 clowns are not yankees im sorry
-aquire a defensive cfer via trade or signing.. taveras? cameron? idk but they need a guy in there to cover ground

pen and hitting would be among best in mlb, sp is questionable but you guys have managed through it every year- this is how itd look (wang, sheets, andy, hughes, 5th through cano deal i said above, spot starters like kennedy/coke/etc

thats what id have done but then again im no gm.. flame away

[Pharmcat]

^^^ummm, no, we had really questionable SP last year and we didnt manage it, so ur whole premise is flawed

[nykgeneralmanager]

-5 years 80+mil for a .500 4era career pitcher who is always hurt?? (w/ like only 3 seasons above 200ip?)

You could say it was over-priced, but thats the going rate these days. Ryan Dempster signed for $13 mil a year a couple of months ago, so there is no way you can tell Burnett he isn't worth $3 mil more annually. When healthy (I know that is a huge "when") the guy is a potential ace. He led the AL in Ks and has dominated other teams in the division. If Burnett did NOT have injury issues, he would've gotten $20 mil a season with his stuff.

-SEVEN years for a pitcher is ridiculous on its own, let alone one who has only had a couple big years (he is nasty i will admit), weighs like 260, was only "above average" i'd say in the AL last year before killing the NL, now hes back in the AL, has also struggled in the postseason.. i was all for cc to yanks, but 7 years? and at that price? its risky to say the least..

I'm not the type of person who nitpicks over 1 extra year on a contract. Once you offer a guy 6 years (which is the LEAST he was going to get anyway), no reason to complain about a 7th. Plus his opt out clause may prove to be a very good thing for him if it comes down to that, which of course I hope it doesn't. You are acting as if Sabathia was an above average pitcher before he pitched in the NL, so you must be forgetting he was the 2007 AL cy young winner with the Indians. This is not like every other pitcher who comes from the NL not knowing what they are getting into. This guy is proven over here.

- quarter of a billion dollars and you are bringing in just cc and burnett? cmon, if im payin that i want like santana and halladay, 250 mill????????????????????

Sabathia's contract is actually less annually than Santana's. And if you signed both Santana and Halladay for 7 years, its costing you well over $300 million to get it done.

-joba should be in the PEN.. near-automatic 8th and 9th innings are priceless, marte will be used more as a loogy than last year when they had no one else to throw out and he got rocked by righties in rbi situations

Absolutely wrong. This has been beaten to death, but you don't waste one of the best arms in baseball by throwing him in the pen. 200 innings of dominance as a starter is far more valuable than 70, its really just common sense and not even a baseball issue.

what i'd have done (not that you guys care)..
-sign tex 7year deal.. gold glove 1st basemen, classy player, switch power hitter, reminds me of the type of guys the yanks had in the 90s

I wouldn't disagree with this, I just personally don't like the idea of making Teixeira the second highest paid player in baseball when he isn't even a top 10 or maybe 20 player in the game, but I would be happy if we signed him of course.

-signed manny, 3 years like they are discussing, dh/lf, bat him behind arod

I am also in favor of bringing in Manny for 2-3 years.

-sign andy 1 year deal option for 2nd or even a 2 year

Yanks are trying to do that, but Andy is being selfish and asking for $15 mil when the Yanks offered $10 mil. Considering how mediocore he has become and how the Yanks defended him throughout the steroid issue last season, he should shutup and take the $10 mil. We don't need him that much so I would let him go without blinking.

-sign sheets 2-3 years with incentives (risky, but short years and he is lights out when healthy, much much less a risk than cc for 7 and aj for 5 and cheaper)

I like Sheets, but he is the most injury prone pitcher in baseball other than Mark Prior. I agree that Sheets for 2 years is less risky than Burnett for 5 years, but not Sabathia. Sabathia has never been on the DL so it is unfair to consider him a risk.

-jeter to 2nd, arod to short, bring in a 3b like wiggington (cheap, 6errors at 3rd in 82 games isnt bad though hes not great on d, 875 ops, which will dip).. jeter gettin old for ss, his range is not there anymore -- arod at ss and tex at 1b would be the best in the bigs on both ends --- jeter to 2b isnt a diss or anything, all great ss's move eventually, ie: ripken jr..

It's obvious that the Yankees wouldn't switch their two biggest stars to different positions whether you think it would improve them defensively or not, so this really isn't worth bringing up.

-deal cano and melky for a starter to fill out rotation, these 2 clowns are not yankees im sorry

If the Yankees would get a good starter, they would have to include some good young pitching prospects. Melky is a AAAA player at this point and trading Cano would be selling low (same with Melky), and it is never good business to sell low on two assets although I see where you are coming from.

-aquire a defensive cfer via trade or signing.. taveras? cameron? idk but they need a guy in there to cover ground

I don't like either of them, so I would suggest keeping Gardner as a stop gap until Jackson is ready.

pen and hitting would be among best in mlb, sp is questionable but you guys have managed through it every year- this is how itd look (wang, sheets, andy, hughes, 5th through cano deal i said above, spot starters like kennedy/coke/etc

We haven't managed a questionable rotation in the past, questionable pitching is one of the main reasons we haven't won in a while. That is why signing Sabathia was so important in order to bring stability, and Burnett is supposed to be the icing on the cake. One healthy year out of Burnett and it would be hard to argue that the Yankees rotation is possibly the best. I also don't like the rotation of Wang/Sheets/Andy/Hughes/????, that would leave one sure bet. Sheets is almost a guaranteed injury, Andy has declined, Hughes has PLENTY to prove, and we don't know what type of pitcher we would get in return on the fallen stocks of Cano and Melky.

thats what id have done but then again im no gm.. flame away

Just so you know, I'm not flaming. You bring up plenty of good points that are worthy of discussion.

[BlackIce]

another offseason of overspending

The Yankees had $80 million come of the books this offseason and are moving into a $1.5 billion ballpark. They also had to fill in 3 starting rotation spots and 1B. Should they purposely avoid the best options for those spots to make you and the rest of baseball feel better about themselves?

Yes. Yes the should, lol. Or the can have their own league with the Sox and just play each other every year. There is no semblence of fairness in baseball especially. (to be fair in all sports but not like baseball) How are teams like the Jays (ya the Wells contract was stupid) or the A's or w.e supposed to compete where they are at such a disadvantage to begin with? The Jays make a mistake and they are ""ed for the next 5 years. The yankies make a mistake they just spend their way out of it. The Rays are the exeption they basically had to have the perfect plan, best scouts, a ****load of luck and even then they didn't win. **** the Yankies and **** the Soxs. No disrespect though cause I don't wanna get suspended again

[Pharmcat]

nykgm, marvelous post

[HarthorneWingo]

I can't wait for the Hankees to LOSE; hopefully beaten again by a team on a shoe string payroll.

Hankee Steinbrenner is like his dad on steroids going out and signing every trophy player he can, at 150% above market value, so he can buy himself a World Series. I'm sure Petitte will be next after Manny. I can only hope and prey that CC hurts his arm when, while pitching, he hits his elbow against his big, fat stomach; that Wang continues to choke in the playoffs; that Posada can't throw anymore; that Johnny Damon has to play 150 games in center field (lol); that Petitte has to testify at Clemens' defamation trial in the middle August; that ARod marries Madonna; that Manny hamstring begins to "hurt" when Girardi attempts to DH him.

[HarthorneWingo]

Joba and Wang ended the season on the injured list and Moose retired. That left us with no sure bets and 3 spots to fill. On paper, that would be a questionable rotation at best unless we filled it with big names as we did.

What happened to letting the young guys fill those spots? Phillip Hughes? No? Ian Kennedy? No? I guess the Hankees' "youth movement" came and went pretty quick, huh?

[nykgeneralmanager]

another offseason of overspending

The Yankees had $80 million come of the books this offseason and are moving into a $1.5 billion ballpark. They also had to fill in 3 starting rotation spots and 1B. Should they purposely avoid the best options for those spots to make you and the rest of baseball feel better about themselves?

Yes. Yes the should, lol. Or the can have their own league with the Sox and just play each other every year. There is no semblence of fairness in baseball especially. (to be fair in all sports but not like baseball) How are teams like the Jays (ya the Wells contract was stupid) or the A's or w.e supposed to compete where they are at such a disadvantage to begin with? The Jays make a mistake and they are ""ed for the next 5 years. The yankies make a mistake they just spend their way out of it. The Rays are the exeption they basically had to have the perfect plan, best scouts, a ****load of luck and even then they didn't win. **** the Yankies and **** the Soxs. No disrespect though cause I don't wanna get suspended again

But you say it is so unfair as if the Yankees have won each of the last 6 World Series because they spend $400 million every off-season. People always say "Its so unfair, but let them overspend it doesn't work anyway." Then why complain?

Its not the Yankees fault that they can pay their way out of a mistake, and its not the Jays fault that they can't. The Yankees are a business in their own right, they have revenue pouring in from left and right, and then they turn around and put that money back into the team. That is called smart business, so why be mad that the Yankees know how to run their organization as a business as well as a baseball team? Its not like Steinbrenner goes into his own pockets and uses money that he makes off of other investments for the team. The Yankees just make more than other teams, it is just a fact of life but for some reason people get annoyed at the Yankees for that. Makes no sense.

Was it unfair when the Yankees passed on giving Johan $140 mil last season? No, instead they were ripped for not getting him. So what do people want them to do?

[nykgeneralmanager]

Joba and Wang ended the season on the injured list and Moose retired. That left us with no sure bets and 3 spots to fill. On paper, that would be a questionable rotation at best unless we filled it with big names as we did.

What happened to letting the young guys fill those spots? Phillip Hughes? No? Ian Kennedy? No? I guess the Hankees' "youth movement" came and went pretty quick, huh?

The "youth movement" is still in full effect. You want the Yankees to put Hughes and Kennedy in the rotation when neither one has proven they are worthy of a ML rotation spot? Kennedy is not ready, and Hughes needs to continue working on his changeup and cutter in AAA before getting another shot. Moving into a new stadium and having $80 million come off the books, the Yankees were in no position to ignore the free agent starting pitchers in favor of unproven rookies who haven't earned a spot yet.

Sabathia has been in the Yankees' plans since last year, and his free agency was actually the reason the Yankees passed on Johan last year. They didn't want to give up Hughes and $150 million for him when they knew that they would just have to give the money to Sabathia a year later. Sabathia said that this commitment to him for over a year is one of the reasons he chose the Yankees.

Trust me, with the ridiculous amount of top arms the Yankees are currently building in the minors they are not going away from the young arms. They were #1 in the minors last season in ERA and WHIP, and the expected rotations for each minor league team are pretty amazing.

[Pharmcat]

I can't wait for the Hankees to LOSE; hopefully beaten again by a team on a shoe string payroll.

Hankee Steinbrenner is like his dad on steroids going out and signing every trophy player he can, at 150% above market value, so he can buy himself a World Series. I'm sure Petitte will be next after Manny. I can only hope and prey that CC hurts his arm when, while pitching, he hits his elbow against his big, fat stomach; that Wang continues to choke in the playoffs; that Posada can't throw anymore; that Johnny Damon has to play 150 games in center field (lol); that Petitte has to testify at Clemens' defamation trial in the middle August; that ARod marries Madonna; that Manny hamstring begins to "hurt" when Girardi attempts to DH him.

when u are praying for a player to get injured, u lose all credibility

[bringinhinkie]

^^^ummm, no, we had really questionable SP last year and we didnt manage it, so ur whole premise is flawed

you didn't manage it? you guys had a rotation of: mussina, pettite, rasner, SIDNEY PONSON, hughes kennedy and wang had 33 starts between em - hughes and kennedy were rocked for the most part, and some other guys.. yet you STILL won 89 games! and its not like you guys had some insane offense, it was 7th best in the american league.. did the rotation suck? ya it sucked, but its not like you won 70 games, you still won 89 games with a makeshift rotation.. how can you say you did not manage it?? you guys had one strength last year, the pen.. then you moved joba, dealt farnsworth (ya hes a clown but he wasn't terrible either), and the pen went from the best in baseball to guys like hawkins, ramirez appearing in big spots, then using marte (after the deal) vs righties and it all fell apart. you went from an above average offense, the best pen, and sh*tty sp to an above average offense, an average pen, and a little less sh*tty sp.. my point is when you have such a strength, just let it alone -- not saying it means anything but i know francessa felt the same way (to show im not hating its just an honest opinion that i know some yank fans have too)

And to NYKGM, my point with joba is, you cant look at it as 200ip or 70ip.. the yanks were at their best with joba and mo in the 8 and 9.. how many teams can say that if they are leading after 7 innings they are going to win say 97% of the time? you have (imo) the best set up or at least top 3, and no doubt the best closer (still) in baseball, it is invaluable and i know im not alone on this one.. yea you wanna see joba start, but if its working, don't change it up, and please dont try and make joba (the same dude you guys had "joba rules" for last year to prevent injury) go from a 1 inning set up man to a STARTER in the same year (i think they did this in like a month actually) and then not expect him to get hurt.. hes not superman - i know this already happened but what on earth were they thinking with that - i literally felt bad for the guy..

regarding cc, i cant say its was a terrible move the 7 whole years, i just said i would have done it differently - everyone knew he was going to be a yankee.. the burnett though i really think is going to f**k em.. i mean you guys say sheets is this injury prone pitcher (which he is), but look at AJ.. since 2001 IP:

sheets: 151, 216, 220, 237, 156, 106, 141, 198
burnett: 173, 204, 23, 120, 209, 135, 165, 221

it really isn't that far off, and when healthy, sheets >>> burnett not to mention would have been much cheaper and for less years - tho he IS coming off an injury just this year.. either way though the burnett signing was atrocious.. again i see what you mean with the cc and stability, its very true.. i just still cant get past this burnett thing and i guess i value hughes higher than most in regards to the rotation i suggested had you not gotten cc or aj.. and though cano had an off yr(unless this IS what he is idk), i still think gm's would jump all over him based on his bat control and 20+hr 40+ dbl potential.. dude just has no discipline but i dont think his value is as low as some may think.. regarding the jeter arod swap, your right itd never happen but it would be a huge defensive upgrade.. jus my opinion

[nykgeneralmanager]

^^^ummm, no, we had really questionable SP last year and we didnt manage it, so ur whole premise is flawed

you didn't manage it? you guys had a rotation of: mussina, pettite, rasner, SIDNEY PONSON, hughes kennedy and wang had 33 starts between em - hughes and kennedy were rocked for the most part, and some other guys.. yet you STILL won 89 games! and its not like you guys had some insane offense, it was 7th best in the american league.. did the rotation suck? ya it sucked, but its not like you won 70 games, you still won 89 games with a makeshift rotation.. how can you say you did not manage it?? you guys had one strength last year, the pen.. then you moved joba, dealt farnsworth (ya hes a clown but he wasn't terrible either), and the pen went from the best in baseball to guys like hawkins, ramirez appearing in big spots, then using marte (after the deal) vs righties and it all fell apart. you went from an above average offense, the best pen, and sh*tty sp to an above average offense, an average pen, and a little less sh*tty sp.. my point is when you have such a strength, just let it alone -- not saying it means anything but i know francessa felt the same way (to show im not hating its just an honest opinion that i know some yank fans have too)

And to NYKGM, my point with joba is, you cant look at it as 200ip or 70ip.. the yanks were at their best with joba and mo in the 8 and 9.. how many teams can say that if they are leading after 7 innings they are going to win say 97% of the time? you have (imo) the best set up or at least top 3, and no doubt the best closer (still) in baseball, it is invaluable and i know im not alone on this one.. yea you wanna see joba start, but if its working, don't change it up, and please dont try and make joba (the same dude you guys had "joba rules" for last year to prevent injury) go from a 1 inning set up man to a STARTER in the same year (i think they did this in like a month actually) and then not expect him to get hurt.. hes not superman - i know this already happened but what on earth were they thinking with that - i literally felt bad for the guy..

regarding cc, i cant say its was a terrible move the 7 whole years, i just said i would have done it differently - everyone knew he was going to be a yankee.. the burnett though i really think is going to f**k em.. i mean you guys say sheets is this injury prone pitcher (which he is), but look at AJ.. since 2001 IP:

sheets: 151, 216, 220, 237, 156, 106, 141, 198
burnett: 173, 204, 23, 120, 209, 135, 165, 221

it really isn't that far off, and when healthy, sheets >>> burnett not to mention would have been much cheaper and for less years - tho he IS coming off an injury just this year.. either way though the burnett signing was atrocious.. again i see what you mean with the cc and stability, its very true.. i just still cant get past this burnett thing and i guess i value hughes higher than most in regards to the rotation i suggested had you not gotten cc or aj.. and though cano had an off yr(unless this IS what he is idk), i still think gm's would jump all over him based on his bat control and 20+hr 40+ dbl potential.. dude just has no discipline but i dont think his value is as low as some may think.. regarding the jeter arod swap, your right itd never happen but it would be a huge defensive upgrade.. jus my opinion

We won 89 games, but we missed the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. It wasn't the first time we've had a make shift rotation in those years, but it is the first time we didn't make the postseason. So we didn't manage it well enough, although I obviously see your point.

Aa for Joba, you don't waste a potential ace's arm in the bullpen. Closers are overrated. I know you are a Mets fan and after last season you will tell me differently, but that happened because the Mets had a terrible bullpen overall. That is why most closers or relievers in general are guys who couldn't cut it as a starter, because you don't put a good arm in the pen, you put the bad ones there. It is bad enough wasting a guy like Joba as a closer, but it would be a disaster to waste him only in the 8th inning. The more games Joba pitches innings 1-7, the less games will be decided in that 8th inning. As for moving him, I can't say the injury was expected or not. Its not like it wasn't done before. They had no other choice because they had to get his innings up so that he can pitch out of the rotation all season in 2009.

Also, I don't see how Burnett's contract can kill the Yankees. It is all relative to the team. The Yankees just paid Pavano $10 mil a year for nothing and didn't miss a beat as a franchise. Sure, Burnett's contract would possibly kill 95% of teams in baseball if he hit the DL every year, but the Yankees are one of maybe only a couple of teams (if not the only team) that can never truly be "hurt" by a contract unless ARod misses the entire season or Sabathia now. But if Burnett fails to pitch 200 innings, it won't effect the Yankees as an organization at all. It hurt Toronto when he was there because they are a mid level market team, but the Yankees wouldn't even blink.

I don't see why a healthy Sheets is better than Burnett. Burnett just led the AL in Ks while pitching in the AL east, and his numbers against the other teams in the division are completely FILTHY. I have absolutely no reason to believe Sheets can do any of that. You can say he is less risky because he would have gotten a shorter contract, but by no means is he better. There is more risk with Burnett but also a lot more reward. And the Yankees are the one team that have the capabilities to go for the jugular with Burnett instead of having to play it conservative with Sheets, and as they should, they got him.

[VinnyTheMick]

Joba and Wang ended the season on the injured list and Moose retired. That left us with no sure bets and 3 spots to fill. On paper, that would be a questionable rotation at best unless we filled it with big names as we did.

What happened to letting the young guys fill those spots? Phillip Hughes? No? Ian Kennedy? No? I guess the Hankees' "youth movement" came and went pretty quick, huh?

You really aren't bright, are you? All those young pitchers are still with the organization. That is the beauty of it all. We gave up NONE of our farm system to get these guys. Kennedy is clearly not ready for the bigs & Hughes just needs to stay healthy & get his innings up. They can now keep both of them in the minors until they are ready for the big time.

You really make me laugh.

[VinnyTheMick]

People still think Joba should be in the pen? Someone listens to WFAN

[EnigmatiC]

I can't wait for the Hankees to LOSE; hopefully beaten again by a team on a shoe string payroll.

Hankee Steinbrenner is like his dad on steroids going out and signing every trophy player he can, at 150% above market value, so he can buy himself a World Series. I'm sure Petitte will be next after Manny. I can only hope and prey that CC hurts his arm when, while pitching, he hits his elbow against his big, fat stomach; that Wang continues to choke in the playoffs; that Posada can't throw anymore; that Johnny Damon has to play 150 games in center field (lol); that Petitte has to testify at Clemens' defamation trial in the middle August; that ARod marries Madonna; that Manny hamstring begins to "hurt" when Girardi attempts to DH him.

haha you sound so bitter its really pathetic