Best and worst of the offseason

This has to be one of the most interesting off seasons for the Yankees, the Yankees spent almost half a billion dollars but lost their best player and still have glaring holes on the team. Its hard to narrow this down to the best and worst moves by the Yankee's this off season because as with most new contracts it really depends on how they will play out than on how it looks right now. Look at the Jesus Montero for Michael Pineada trade, that has changed whose won several times and Pineada has not actually pitched for the Yankees yet.

Best Move: Masahiro Tanaka
I said in our offseason podcast that I thought that signing Tanaka was the most important part of the off season and that if it came down to Cano or Tanaka that it was more important for them to sign Tanaka and apparently the Yankees agreed with me because they let Cano walk and signed Tanaka. Tanaka provides the Yankees with what they needed a young pitcher with high upside and while he has a risk of flopping it seems very unlikely as the Yankees have been scouting him for 7 years.We will have to wait and see how Tanaka adjusts to the MLB but it was truly a move that the Yankees needed to make if they want to contend in the very competitive AL East let alone vie for another World Series title.


Worst Move: Carlos Beltran
This is one that everyone seems to love but I really am not enthused about it. They gave Beltran at 36 three years this off season when they could have signed Nick Swisher for his age 32-35 seasons last off season. I know that Swisher did not hit well in the postseason but you have to get to the off season first and we have no idea if Beltran is going to be able to last all season while Swisher has always been a model of consistency.In the end though its crying over spilled milk from a year ago, but there was a better move than Beltran that the Yankees could have done and that was signing Shin-Soo Choo who like Swisher is a high walk guy who can hit 20+ HR a year, he isn't a switch hitter like Beltran or Swisher and his platoon split isn't very good but guys who walk a lot don't stop doing it as they age and that power and patience is exactly what the Yankees look for in a player. instead the Yankees gave three years to Beltran based largely on the fact that he has been great in the postseason, which is significant but I don't know if he will last to the postseason and with an aging roster I do not want the Yankees to have to be trying to get him in the lineup two years from now when his knees are shot but he, Teixeira and McCann all need time at the DH spot. Beltran is a bat only player at this point as his defense has declined due to being old and his walk rate has steadily declined with a career worst 6.3%  walk rate last season. Also as great as Beltran has been as a switch hitter last season he hit only .251 against LHP and recorded only 7 walks in 171 PA and so he is unlikely to help a lineup that looks like it will be weak against lefties. Beltran may bust out and have an amazing season but it honestly seems like this deal is likely to be an overpay and leave fans disappointed.

Stop hating Nick Swisher!

Haters gonna Hate

 Stop Hating Nick Swisher. There is a phrase I never thought I would have to utter but seriously people stop it. All I keep hearing is how Swisher is a great guy and great clubhouse personality, but he isn't a good enough player. Really people? After another poor postseason some have advocated that the Yankees should dump Nick Swisher. The most popular idea seems to be that the Yankees should decline Swisher's option and sign Carlos Beltran to play RF. This is a terrible idea for several reasons:
1.) Beltran is 34
2.) Beltran would command at least 3 years
3.) Would need to DH significantly.
4.) The 2012 Free agent class is awesome


The first and second reasons are pretty tied together, but I mean come on would you really want to sign an older declining veteran for three years? When Beltran has productive years he has been very productive, but he has had some trouble staying healthy only playing more than 150 games 3 times in the last 9 years. Also for all the talk about how Beltran would be more productive than Swisher in the postseason, he hasn't actually played in the postseason since 2006 and his only other time in the postseason was with Houston in 2004. Also one of the benefits of Nick Swisher is that he will only be under contract for one more year and if he isn't productive then we can cut him lose but Beltran would command at least a 3 year deal and possibly 4 years which would probably force him into more of a DH role in the last year or two of his contract which would be a problem with the already crowded DH role.
The other big factor is that the 2012 Free agent class is going to have some big names with Josh Hamilton, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp and B.J Upton highlighting the Free agent Outfield class. All of these free agents are better than Beltran in terms of age and are not he injury risk that Beltran is.

Also people really don't appreciate Nick Swisher for his regular season production. In his Three years as a Yankee Swisher had hit 81 Home Runs and has been very productive as a Yankee with a .267 BA with 250 walks and 256 RBI's. Nick Swisher isn't just with the Yankees cause he has a pretty face hes been a solid hitter with power, patience and has gotten better in the field. This may not be the reason but also who do you think will be the number one suitor for Nick Swisher if we decline his option? The Red Sox, they need a Right fielder and he is better than everyone else out there with the possible exception of a Healthy Carlos Beltran. Some People have suggested that the Yankees should sign Josh Willingham, but they are surprisingly similar in terms of career stats and Willingham has never played more than 144 games in a season and he only player 96 games in the outfield this year. Swisher on the other hand has played exactly 150 games each of the last three years for the Yankees and despite all the criticism his overall value during his time as a Yankee ranks 7th among Right Fielders and Swisher is a consistent 3+ WAR player and even in this down year for Sisher he has a higher WAR rating than Michael Cuddyer who had a career high 3 WAR year, so please forget about that idea.
The end result is that there really isn't anyone at Swisher level for this year other than Carlos Beltran and as I said before Beltran is probably going to be looking for a 3 or 4 year deal as it will be his last big payday. The Yankees have a cheap option for Swisher who has outperformed his salary in each of the last 3 seasons by far and 2012 will likely be no different. As Fans we always want the best players for our team, but you need to appreciate Nick Swisher for the quality player he is and honestly their is  good chance he will be with the team for the next several years as he would make a great stopgap player while the prospects develop in the minors. Also think of it this way, if Nick Swisher slumped in any other 5 game time period would you want the Yankees to not renew his option because of that 5 game period?

Lets talk about Carlos Beltran

Carlos Beltran signed his 7 year $119 million deal with the Mets back in 2005 and his deal expires after this season making $18.5 million this year and the cash strapped Mets want to deal him. Beltran had knee surgery last year, he was moved from Center field to Right field and has not played more than 81 games since 2008. His name has come up in trade rumors as he has been very good this year and most think that a move to the American League to DH would be great for Beltran, but his high price tag and injury history has made teams wary.
The Mets have solved some of their financial issues with selling a minority stake in the club, but the ownership has also said that no player is off-limits to be dealt by the trade deadline.
Beltran had been part of trade rumors since before the season even began and at the time the Yankees did not seem as though they would be even considering Beltran as they had Nick Swisher in Right and Posada as the DH. Now its mid-Febuary and Nick Swisher is slumping bad and Jorge Posada is slumping really bad and so Carlos Beltran's name has come up in trade rumors with the Yankees. The idea is that the Yankees would trade for Beltran and split time with him in Right and at DH with Swisher and Posada and Jones would probably be released.
I don't think that the Mets would be realistically expecting anything for Beltran except maybe a mid level prospect or two, this trade is about Salary relief and the Yankees definitely can afford to take on Beltran's salary. This seems like a match made in trade rumors heaven as the Mets free up a lot of salary room and the Yankees get a bat that can energize their slumping offense as Beltran is swinging the bat pretty well slugging .564 in 39 games and just had a 3 homer game. The problem is that we as Yankees fans sometimes forget that those other guys who play baseball across town and make all those funny mistakes are technically our rival and Mets fans would probably be really pissed if Beltran was traded to the Yankees.
Also some Mets fans apparently think that Beltran is deserving of some legitimate prospects or even for some reason Brett Gardner or Nick Swisher in addition to taking on his salary. The Yankees could take Beltran's full salary and in exchange they would give someone of Justin Maxwell's caliber. If the Mets Front office expects more then that in a trade will never get done with the Yankees. This is also assuming that Nick Swisher does not rebound, because if he does and Posada continues to struggle then the Yankees would likely just promote Jesus Montero to DH and Catch once in a while or promote Jorge Vavquez who has hit 16 HR in 37 games with a .303 average.

Jorge Vazquez

Honestly even if Swisher continues to slump will likely keep him for next year even if they trade for Beltran and I think that a deal is unlikely to come about. To me the most likely scenario is the A's trading David DeJesus for Beltran with the Mets eating a large part of his salary. It is still more of a possibility than any of us expected coming into this year.