Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Jorge Vazquez is Unhappy

El Chato cleverly disguised as New York Yankee
If you haven't heard of Jorge Vazquez he is a 30 year old "prospect" who the Yankees signed out of Mexico and has spent the last three seasons in the minors. El Chato as he has been nicknamed has a ton of power as his 32 Home runs are not just Home runs they are absolute bombs, but he is the very definition of a hacker as he struck out 166 times last season in 455 AB and only walked 30 times unintentionally. There was a lot of call to bring him up to DH when Posada was struggling last season but ultimately he stayed with the AAA Yankees and in fact is not even on the 40 man roster. The problem for Vazquez is that he seems like a classic Quad-A type player due to his strikeouts and he likely would not excel as a hitter in the big leagues; on top of that he is technically a 1st/3rd player but his fielding is poor at both positions. For these reasons the Yankees have shown no real interest in promoting El Chato and it does not look likely that their interest will change. 
Jorge Vazquezs best option would be to go to Japan and this winter there was a report that he was close to signing a deal to play in Japan for the Rakuten Eagles, but that was apparently untrue as the deal never came and Brian Cashman shot down any idea that he would be playing in Japan. This as well as the outlook that he will remain in the minors has caused caused Jorge Vazquez to voice his displeasure with being stuck in the minors. According to the president of Jorge Vazquez's old Mexican League club Cuauhtémoc "Chito" Rodríguez , Vazquez is growing impatient with being stuck in the minors saying "If they don't give him an opportunity this year, he wants them to trade him, or to go to [play] baseball in the east. He doesn't want to continue on in Triple A anymore, not just with the Yankees, but with any other organization as well." MLB Trade rumors reported this as coming from Spanish baseball blog Puro Beisbol. The Yankees are not likely to respond well to this, but they also probably already knew that he was unhappy. This doesn't change his chances of contributing for the New York Yankees as Juan Miranda had better numbers and defense in the minors at 1st base and he was given very few plate appearances and he struggled mightily when given more playing time in 2010 with the Yankees and 2011 with the Diamondbacks. The Yankees could trade him but they are not likely to get anything of value in that trade and so their is really no reason for them to do that.
Vazquez's only real chance of making a contribution would be if the Yankees turned to him if Ibanez gets hurt or struggles because he is not even the Yankees backup first baseman if Mark Teixeria gets hurt, as they would probably move Swisher to first and call up an outfielder. Some could say that he may develop an ability to walk but Vazquez has been around for 11 seasons and has been using this same approach the whole time so that's not happening. Vazquez is a quad-A player, but quad-A players want a shot in the big leagues and if he doesn't get it I expect that he will head to Japan as he will make a lot more money there then he will sitting in the minors.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Andy Pettitte is back

Yeah those are words that I never thought anybody would write in anything ever. I saw it when I was teaching and I thought it was a prank, but I decided to double check before the kids came back from lunch and when I saw that it was real I practically leaped out of my chair. I unfortunately had to wait the rest of the day before I could talk to anybody about it and I was met with several unbelivably supised responses. I mean honestly who saw this coming? From what I heard from Brian Cashman not even the Yankees players knew about this. Cashman apparently offered Pettitte a $10-12 million contract over the winter after Andy let him know he was thinking about returning. After Cashman added Kuroda and Pineda he told Andy that he did not have room for him, but Pettitte kept working out and the Yankees offered him a $2.5 million minor league deal which he accepted.The Pettitte signing is very exciting but Pettitte will not be ready for opening day and it looks like the Yankees will looking for him to contribute around mid-May to early-June, if he will be able to contribute at all. If Pettitte can be as good as he was in 2010 then his contribution will be huge, but the Yankees did have 6 starters for 5 spots already and a 7th will make that rotation hard to figure out if everyone is healthy. Rotations and situations change all the time and if Andy Pettitte is able to make his succesful comeback then there is a chance a spot won't need to open for him because one will have been created already. You can hear Andy Pettitte do a phone interview with the YES Network guys here if you haven't heard it, he called in during the game against Washington and he said he feels good but he needs to get his legs ready. I really hope that we can see Andy in one way or another, even if it is just a handful of starts but at the very least as of right now Pettitte is BACK!
He's back!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Swisher vs. Martin

One of the biggest storyline's this spring training has been Hal Steinbrenner reasserting that the Yankees will try and be under the luxury tax when it rises to $189 million in 2014. This has been met with some skepticism since the Yankees have Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez all making $20 million a year until at least 2016 and Robinson Cano may soon join them. This has led to some speculation about this seasons soon to be free agents of Nick Swisher and Russel Martin. The problem for the Yankees is that these guys are going to be looking for long term deals as well as their first and likely only large free agent payday.
Swisher is going to be the best power hitting outfielder available on the market with the possible exception of B.J Upton. Swisher has been a good supporting piece for the Yankees since they got him from the White Sox and his personality has been loved in New York, but he has been criticized for struggling in the postseason and some fans wanted to see the Yankees dump him and sign Carlos Beltran. Swisher is making $10.5 million this season and will be looking at making more money with this new deal. The problem facing the Yankees is that they really have no good internal options for the Outfield options that will be ready by next season and a platoon would be most likely.
Russel Martin is a more recent example and both he and the Yankees expressed interest in signing a long term deal but a deal was never completed. Martin had a good season offensively and defensively last year and good catchers are a luxury that Yadier Molinas $75 Million deal shows. However the Yankees do have a plethora of Young cathcing and unlike Swisher, Martin could be replaced by Austin Romine. The question though is whether or not Romine could be a productive player in the majors and that's a big risk to take.
The Yankees could retain both of these players but more likely they will have to pick one and its hard to gauge who the Yankees will try and retain, but both players will be looking at 3-4 year deals with a definite possibility that Swisher could try for a fifth year on the free agent market. Both Martin and Swisher are nice complimentary pieces who have hit in the bottom third of the lineup and while I think the Yankess may wish to retain Swisher more than Martin, the market may end up pricing Swisher out of the Yankees range. Do not forget Jayson Werth received a huge deal last offseason and Swisher could get a team to overpay him like the Nationals did with Werth. There also exists the possibility that the Yankees will retain neither player and opt to trade or sign a cheaper Swisher and Martin solution or simply go with their current internal options. If I had to pick a player for them to retain it would be Swisher, but I think it is more likely that they will retain Russel Martin as I expect that Swisher will become too expensive for the Yankees to put in their new plans and a team like the Dodgers, who will have new ownership, may look to add one one of the biggest bats on the market.