Yankee Offseason

[Guest Edgy DC]

Can they really re-sign Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte as well as land Cliff Lee and Jayson Werth, and pay the luxury taxes. Really? I mean, none of those guys are likely to get better, and most of them are likely to get worse.

I mean the following numbers aren't that crazy:

Jeter: Four years, $70 million.
Rivera: Three years, $50 mIllion.
Pettitte: Two years, $25 million.
Lee: Seven years, $150 million.
Werth: Three years, $45 million.

Am I wrong or is that the price of doing business these days? That's $340 million in commitments (again, plus the luxury taxes) and no guartantees of anything, really. I know being a Yankee fan means you wake up on Christmas morning with everything on your list under the tree and none of the parts missing and the batteries in your stocking ready to be plugged in, but holy moly, that's a heckuva list Daddy's got to fill. Cano is starting to get 'spensive, too.

[Willets Point]

Yep, they'll do it. And then they will hoist trophy #28. You heard it here first.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Snooze today has them eyeing Jorge dela Rosa of COL. Not a bad idea for us guys neither

[Ceetar]

No. I don't think they get Werth.

Pettittes been doing one year deals mostly, and they were reluctant to pay him what they did this year, and I can't imagine they'll pay the same next. I think they may let him walk.

I heard a rumor (rumor's too nice a word, I think it was Francesa) that Rivera wants a one year deal because he doesn't want to leave a contract on the table or something. I don't believe it.

I'm not sure what they'll do. They need pitching as much as we do. if they do get Lee, that's a big deal, but that's a big chunk of cash. I guess they'd try to get Pettitte cheap or go in-house for a 5th guy.

They have a lot of work to do as well, on the cheaper end of things. They really need a solid backup 3B/SS, and I'm not sure how much they like what they've got there. The talk is they're promoting that catching prospect of theirs, taht supposedly isn't as far along with catching as Thole even, so I imagine they want to get a decent backup besides Cervelli...who didn't seem very good. I guess they may be casting Posada in that role when he's not DHing?

[Guest attgig]

not sure about the years on jeter/pettite/mo, but the $/year looks right.
and yeah. i can see them doing that.
and there was a report about delarosa, who i'm guessing they'd take over pettitte.

here's to hoping lee stays in texas.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, but... they've got to at least forsake Werth and go with Jesus Montero instead, right?

[Guest attgig]

Ceetar wrote: They need pitching as much as we do.

I don't know about that.

their ace isn't questionable for 2010, and the rest of the rotation, while not lockdown isn't has full of question marks as our rotation is.

[Guest attgig]

Edgy DC wrote: Yeah, but... they've got to at least forsake Werth and go with Jesus Montero instead, right?

for RF? not sure if Montero will be able to man the OF quite yet. I suppose he can come in as DH and occasionally playing in the field (C/OF), but not quite the same as having Werth in the OF.


They can realistically have both. trade away thames or swisher and have a pretty good of.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Everybody needs pitching. Don't succumb to ace-lust.

[metirish]

I would think Werth looks for and gets Bay money.

[Guest attgig]

metirish wrote: I would think Werth looks for and gets Bay money.

I thought he turned down bay money from philly. He's looking for Holliday money.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

He may just be worth Holliday money.

Montero's athleticism is about as iffy as his hitting is superlative (remember Mikey stumbling around at first?)... so while you can stick him in the outfield, he's someone for whom you'll have to cover if you do. They're better off sticking with their outfield as is, methinks.

Either way, I look forward to watching Montero's exploits with the glove.

[Ceetar]

attgig wrote: Ceetar wrote: They need pitching as much as we do. I don't know about that. their ace isn't questionable for 2010, and the rest of the rotation, while not lockdown isn't has full of question marks as our rotation is.

I was actually referring to quantity of guys they need.

But I'm not so sure CC (off surgery), Burnett, and Hughes is markedly, amazingly, better than Dickey-Pelfrey-Niese. Particularly if Burnett continues the Perez impression.

[metsmarathon]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: He may just be worth Holliday money.

going into their respective offseasons, werth's worth is more bay than holliday.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Have you written off Santana?

[metsmarathon]

from a roster-building standpoint, wouldn't it be wise to?

[Ceetar]

metsmarathon wrote: from a roster-building standpoint, wouldn't it be wise to?

I'll feel better about Santana once he starts throwing and is on a timetable for return.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

You really have to plan on nothing from Santana, and proceed from there. When you count on some indefinite midseason return from your injured studs, you get the last two seasons of Met baseball.

metsmarathon wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: He may just be worth Holliday money. going into their respective offseasons, werth's worth is more bay than holliday.

Fair enough.

Then, Holliday's not really worth Holliday money.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Build the staff with redundancy no matter what, i say, But he's going to give them something this year, right?

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Build the staff with redundancy no matter what, i say, But he's going to give them something this year, right?

Yes, but I think that number can range anywhere from 10-28 starts. You gotta build the team very differently for those two extremes. The longer he's out, the better a pitcher to replace him should be.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I can't belive you've polluted my Yankee thread with all this Met talk.

[Guest attgig]

oh, just realized. no talk of carl crawford in here.

what if they sign both crawford and werth?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Maybe we should have taken the Jorge de la Rosa hijack. Or does a free agent Mexican lefty with strikeout stuff but some control issues scare people?

[metirish]

attgig wrote: oh, just realized. no talk of carl crawford in here. what if they sign both crawford and werth?

Apparently the Angels will strike very quickly and get him.

[Fman99]

Willets Point wrote: Yep, they'll do it. And then they will hoist trophy #28. You heard it here first.

Steve J. Willets

[HahnSolo]

Edgy DC wrote: I mean the following numbers aren't that crazy: Jeter: Four years, $70 million. Rivera: Three years, $50 mIllion. Pettitte: Two years, $25 million. Lee: Seven years, $150 million. Werth: Three years, $45 million.

Four years for Jeter sounds about right, but I go lower 4/$50m. I think they will go 2 years on Rivera, something like 2/$28m, and 1 year on Pettitte for about 10M. They'll chase Lee, but I don't think they will go to 7 years. How about 6 at $125m?

As to Werth, I have thought they were doing a stealth recruitment of either Werth or Crawford, despite proclamations that they really like the Gardner, Granderson, Swisher combo and were not looking to upgrade the OF. I think they will pull a Teixeira, and swoop in at the last minute to grab Crawford, since he's a bit younger. They'll be willing to give him 6 years and more than $100m, because they can.

Semi-bold prediction: in addition to Mo, they grab Soriano in a 2 or 3 year deal. $8-$10 m per.

[Guest Edgy DC]

You may not go, but I'm trying to anticipate where the Yanquis will go, and what the agents will demand. (I mice elf wouldn't go over two years, $10 million for Jeter, so...)

C.C. Sabathia got seven years. Santana got six plus an option year that becomes guaranteed if he hits some reachable markers. So I wouldn't be surprised to see Lee look for that sort of length and land somewhere close.

[HahnSolo]

Those are my predictions on what the Yanks will do (I agree with your take on Jeter's worth).

Santana and Sabathia were both at least a couple of years younger than Lee when they signed their respective contracts...that's why I see them not going to a seventh year.

[Frayed Knot]

You have to remember that Jeter, Rivera & Pettitte aren't going to up the total salary as their per/year rates will probably be around where they were and maybe a bit lower.

Vazquez ($11-ish) comes off the books so if/when Lee gets $20+ only half of that is "new" money as far as 2011 is concerned.

Cano is going to get expensive but he signed one of those arb-eligible deals so, again, will make about the same in '11 as in '10

Granderson & Swisher are on multi-year deals that probably go up but whatever the increase it's a known quantity.

They've already told Posada he's essentially the full-time DH. He'll get the occasional start I'm sure but their system is kind of catcher-happy right now and they'll probably go with a combination of Montero and some glove-first guy behind the dish. No way Montero plays OF from what I know about him and I don't think it's in his future either.

[seawolf17]

Rivera: 1 year, $15 mil - he'll go year to year until retirement
Pettitte: 1 year, $15 mil - so will Andy
Jeter: 4 years, $85 mil - no way he takes a pay cut
Crawford: 6 years, $110 mil
Lee: 6 years, $110 mil
Werth: 6 years, $100 mil

And they'll trade Gardner for a setup man.