Who would like a Yankee catcher?

Romine, Murphy and Cervelli

 The Yankees have a plethora of young catchers with five catchers on the 40-man roster and only one backup spot considering that Brian McCann just signed a five year deal. Obviously Gary Sanchez still needs time to develop and he will probably spend the entire season in Double-A Trenton, but Austin Romine and John Ryan Murphy are both behind Francisco Cervelli at this point and the Yankees probably do not want to have both of them there. The possibility comes up then couldn't the Yankees trade one of these catchers to try and shore up the left side of their infield and who exactly is out there?
One team that has been known to be looking for a catcher is the White Sox whose Tyler Flowers had a very poor year and while he says he is going to bounce back he has not done anything in his career so far to make there be anything he will bounce back to as he has never hit better than .213 in the majors. The White Sox would like a backup and probbaly want someone who can push Flowers and really any of Cervelli, Romine and Murphy are capable of being that player for Chicago. The problem is that there really is no player that they do not match up very well as the the only player I see that the Yankees would likely be intrested in as an upgrade or at least a young player with potential is probbaly Marcus Semien who can play all three left infield positions. However I have no idea if the White Sox would be interested in moving Semien and I would bet that they probably want him to take over for a veteran and don't really want to move him, but I could be wrong.
Another pairing that has been suggested is the Arizona Diamondbacks who are looking for a backup to Miguel Montero and even that they would be willing to give up a shortstop to get one. The two names that being thrown out there are Chris Owings and Didi Gregorius as the D-Backs have a good amount of depth in terms of Shortstop prospects however it is believed that they want a very good return or else they would have dealt one of the two already. That means its unlikely that they will want to trade Owings/Gregorius for just Romine or Murphy and so I do not know if the Yankees would be willing to do that at this stage. One of these guys would be perfect though as they could move around the infield this year and then be an option to play any infield spot the Yankees would need filled next season which is likely to be every spot on the left side of the infield.
The other name that is out there is the Milwaukee Brewers who would like to move Rickie Weeks and at some point this year they will probably also try and move Aramis Ramirez and the brewers would like a catcher as they only have two on their 40 man roster and while Jonathon Lucroy has been a solid starter for the Brewers they really have no depth behind him as Martin Maldonado had a very poor year after a good 2012. But Ramirez and Weeks are both players who are making a good amount of money this season and despite a very good 2012 Ramirez was just about replacement level last season and only played 92 game and he is being payed $16 million this season with a mutual option for $14 million that requires a $4 million buyout, while Weeks is owed $11 million this season and has been below replacement level the last two years but he was a 3 WAR player the two years before and Weeks is only 28, that so there is some chance of a bounce back. The Brewers want to move him as they have Scooter Gennett waiting to take over 2nd but on top of this years salary Weeks also has an option for next season although it seems unlikely that he will get the 600 PA that he would to pick up the $11.5 million option.
After these teams any trade ideas are just pure speculation but I would expect the Yankees to keep shopping these catches in hopes of acquiring an infielder and preferably one that can contribute this season as Murphy, Romine and Cervelli are all capable of doing.

Yankees avoid arbitration with everyone

Ivan Nova, David Robertson, Brett Gardner, Francisco Cervelli and Shawn Kelely were all eligible for arbitration and the Yankees agreed to deals with everyone but Nova.

Francisco Cervelli signed on the 16th for $700,000 which was less than his projected $1 million but he did have almost no playing time the last two years and was suspended for 50 games this season.  I honestly thought he was going to be non tendered but the Yankees are keeping him at only somewhat above league minimum so its a deal for them. This was his first time through arbitration and so he has two years of team control remaining. Shawn Kelley signed for $1.7625M with a $25 thousand bonus if he appears in 55 games. Kelleys 4.39 ERA is helped by a 3.69 FIP and a ridiculous 11.98 K/9 (31.3 K%) in 53.1 innings across 57 games. Unless the Yankees sign someone I expect that he will be the Yankees setup man this year.  This is also his first time going through arbitration. Brett Gardner received $5.6 million in his last arbitration year which is a decent amount more than his projected $4 million but the MLBPA had said that they thought he would get more than $4million and they were right. David Robertson who projects to be this years closer earned $5.215M which was under his projected $5.5 million, he has one more year of team control and unless something goes horribly wrong his salary will increase quite a bit more than his roughly $2 million raise for this year. Saves pay in arbitration and he could easily rack up a  lot of saves this season. '
Ivan Nova remains unsigned but all that really means is that they could not come up with an agreement today and they will file an amount with the arbitration court and likely agree to a compromise, the Yankees have not gone to an arbitration hearing since 2008 with Chien Ming Wang. 

The Yankees signed Ivan Nova for $3.3 million and so they avoided arbitration with all five of their players signing them for a grand total of $16.58 million. Nova was projected at $2.8 million and so he received half a million more than projected, this is Nova's first time through arbitration and that's always the best for players because its when they starts making bigger money, Nova made $575K last year.

Lamenting the loss of Russell Martin

 

Well the Yankees lost out on Russell Martin to the Pittsburgh Pirates. First off lets have that sink in, the Pittsburgh Pirates outbid the New York Yankees for the best free agent catcher on the market. The worst part is that Martin gave the Yankees the chance to match the offer of 2 years $17 million and they said that they did not have the money.
Without a doubt Catcher is the most difficult position to play in baseball and if the season started today they would need to rely on a combination of Austin Romine, Chris Stewart and Francisco Cervelli. Obviously Romine has potential but he has only had a limited time in AAA, after missing most of last year with a back injury. Also the Yankees pitching staff the last two years has been great, thanks in no small part to Martin being behind the plate. Martins defense is often undervalued by Yankees fans but his receiving skills and play calling are extremely important to making this pitching staff as good as it has been. Without Martin the Yankees will see a noticeable drop off from catcher defense, not to mention the loss of his offense, as the only current regular right handed bat in the lineup is A-Rod. Say what you want about his batting average but Martin hit 40 home runs in his two years as a Yankee and the balance he helped provide to the lineup cannot be undervalued. Last year the Yankees had four lineup regulars that could bat right handed in Swisher, Tex, Martin and ARod and now they will likely only have two. Those four guys hit 87 Home Runs last season and 45 of those are leaving with Swisher and Martin and its extremely unlikely that the Yankees will be able to make them up with whomever they have to replace those two. The fact that the Yankees refuses to pony up the extra $5-6 million is really going to cost them, especially with him poor the catching market is right now.

Yankees Catching dilemma

In Spring Training Russel Martin was going to be the starter and we were all wondering if Austin Romine would be able to get the backup job from Francisco Cervelli, but Romine injured his back almost immediately and it seemed certain that Cervelli would be the backup. Of course then the Yankees traded George Kontos for  Chris Stewart and Stewart became the backup Catcher because he was out of minor league options and Cervelli was sent to AAA. Stewart has had some timely hits but he was brought in for his defense and five passed balls is not the way to stick if Defense is your reason to be in the majors. Remember Montero was supposed to take over behind the plate but the Yankees did not trust him behind the plate last season and then traded him to Seattle because he did not fit in well unless he was a catcher. I think we would all prefer Cervelli to be with the big league club but until Austin Romine comes back then the Yankees are going to stick with Stewart and it looks like Romine will be out until July. If Romine had been able to have a full year in Triple A they could have potentially platooned Romine and Cervelli but now his injury means he is not guaranteed to start next year with the Yankees as they may want him to have a full year in Triple A. The Yankees are full of good catching prospects but right now with Romine injured the Yankees are lacking at high level catching depth. This is also an extremly odd time for us as Yankee fans as Jorge Posada has been a staple behind the plate for over a decade and replacing a player like Posada is nearly impossible. The other big downside with the loss of Romine for the first half of the season is that the Yankees are going to need to resign Russel Martin because they have nobody who could start next year behind the plate except for Martin. I also really do not want to risk letting Martin go either because Gary Sanchez is a long way away from the Majors and Romine has a grand total of 35 PA above Double A.

Yankees trade Kontos to Giants for Stewart. Demote Cervelli to AAA

In a move that absolutely nobody saw coming the Yankees traded George Kontos to the San Francisco Giants for Chris Stewart and he will be the backup behind Russel Martin. Francisco Cervelli has been demoted to AAA and it looks like Austin Romine will be out longer than we originally anticipated. What especially sucks for Cervelli is that he hit a Home Run and threw out a runner in today's exhibition against the Mets.

The biggest surprise for me is that the Yankees would trade Kontos, a useful bullpen arm for a guy that the Yankees could have found in free agency. The Yankees are loaded with bullpen depth and so the move isnt a significant blow to them it just seems like a bad move.

The 2012 Yankees Bench

The Yankees had one of their better benches this season even with injuries to Eric Chavez and Francisco Cervelli that had both spend a good deal of time on the DL. Chavez hurt himself in Detroit back in May and Cervelli started and ended the year on the DL with a Broken leg and a Concussion. Cervelli only appeared in 43 games with 137 PA, but he was on a Offensive tear before going down with a concussion, including 3 home runs in the week before he went on the DL. That being said with Jesus Montero showing that his bat is definitely MLB ready and Russel Martin likely coming back their really isn't place for him and Austin Romine. Either one could get traded but I would bet that Cervelli will seeing how they have tried to trade him twice in the last year. Chavez appeared in 58 games with 175 PA  he finished exactly replacement level and is apparently strongly considering retirement. Andruw Jones also did well despite a poor start, the only real problem was that the outfield played well enough that he really didn't get too many plate appearances. In fact Jones had the fewest plate appearances since his debut as an 18 year old back in 1996. Jones could be back but he also could probably get the same contract from a team that would give him more playing time. So honestly the only guy who is more than likely going to be back in 2012 from the 2011 bench will be Eduardo Nunez who had an interesting season to say the least, but was the primary backup for Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.
If Andruw Jones and the Yankees part ways there are a number of options for the Yankees if they bring in another Right Handed Outfield Bench bat, including Marcus Thames or Jonny Gomes. The Yankees have also said that they want to give Nunez more reps in the outfield and if that's true they could bring in a Lefty bat like Chris Dickerson, Scott Hairston or Laynce Nix. A left handed outfield bat isn't ideal but the Yankees may have a problem finding a good left handed infield bench bat especially since reports indicate that if Eric Chavez retires then the Yankees would consider Brandon laird who is a right handed bat and can play the outfield and infield corner spots. Ramiro Pena is a no offense option but the Yankees will probably keep him as a depth option because they know exactly what they would get from him and his defense was not very good in his limited time with the Yankees. The other internal infield options are the aforementioned Brandon Laird as well as Jorge Vazquez, Kevin Russo and Mike Lamb. I doubt that Kevin Russo is an option as he is essentially a lesser version of Eduardo Nunez and was already removed from the Yankees 40 man once. Vazquez is a power bat who can play 3rd and 1st  but has primarily played 1st in the Yankees organization. Mike Lamb is really the only internal left handed infield option but I don't know if the Yankees consider him a real option despite a good 53 games with the Scranton Yankees. Casey Blake is another suggested option after he had his contract bought out by the Dodgers and probably the best available one but he is another right handed bat and would probably be the most expensive option.
The likeliest option is that the Yankees will have a competition in Spring training for the non-Nunez/Montero bench roles. I expect that they will go with a right handed outfield bat, an infielder, Eduardo Nunez and Jesus Montero. This would leave them with another spot as Montero will probably be the primary DH and while the Yankees will probably go with a second infielder they could potentially bring Cervelli as a third Catcher/emergency infielder. We really wont know until Spring training so we have a while to wait.

Trade Targets: Wandy Rodriguez

Could he be in Yankees pinstripes this year?

First of all Wandy is on the DL right now with Elbow fluid, but he is projected to be 100% after his DL stint however if he does not recover then a trade for him is no longer practical. Wandy is a 32 year old LHP with a newly signed deal for 3 years $34 million and a 4th year team option that becomes a player option with a trade. Wandy currently has a 3.41 ERA in 66IP this year and from 09-10 he combined for 400.2 IP , a 3.30ERA and a 8.3 SO/9 rate. He also possesses a 44.2% GB rate and HR/FB rate of 10.7%. The Yankees have been incredibly lucky this year as Bartolo Colon has beeen able to fill the hole left by Phil Hughes. Phil Hughes is going to throw BP tonight and if it goes well then he may go for some rehab starts which would be great. That being said you can never have enough pitching depth and having Silva, Nova, Noesi, Mitchell, Phelps and Warren for depth would be great. Freddy Garcia has done a more than adequate job in the Yankees rotation but the Yankees would like to have another LHP and somebody who can help the Yankees down the road instead of just this season. Wandy could be a solid mid rotation guy behind CC, Burnett and Hughes and if Colon can remain healthy then he could be a solid back of the rotation guy and the Yankees would have a very solid rotation for the next several years and cold easily insert Nova or other AAA prospects into the rotation if anyone breaks down. Wandy could also be a very effective placeholder while we wait for Betances and Banuelos to develop and the Yankees would not have to fill any major holes in their rotation until at least 2013 when AJ Burnett's contract expires.
There is always a downside as transitioning from the NL to the AL can be difficult for some pitchers especially when you are going to the AL East and you can never tell what will happen as evident by Javier Vazquez. Also the current trade market does not have many top pitchers and the Astros could bring in a lot for Bud Norris, Brett Myers, J.A Happ and Wandy Rodriguez and it could be more than what the Yankees want to offer. The Astros will look for some decent prospects and they will want at least a prospect as well as one of our AAA arms that they can put into the rotation because while they have their top pitching prospect Jordan Lyles who they could bring in to the rotation, they could end up trading all of their rotation this trade season. If the Yankees want Wandy they will probably trade one or two of the AAA arms, possibly Nova, and probably Romine or Cervelli and Houston native and former Houston Rule 5 draft pick, Lance Pendelton just to sweeten the deal. I'm sure that the Yankees would trade Cervelli or Romine unless Jesus Montero is traded already or is planned to be traded, but in that case we probably would not be looking at Wandy Its also possible that Brackman could be traded along with another prospect due to his struggles just as top pitching prospect Zach McAllister was traded to Cleveland last year. There is a new ownership in Houston and with their release of Bill Hall earlier today, I would have to believe that they are looking to build for the future and will be very much sellers this year as their inning eating veterans could bring them a good load due to the lack of available top pitchers. I think Wandy would be good for the Yankees as much as I like Cervelli he could be a stater with Houston wheras with the Yankees he would likely always be a backup. If Cervelli is traded then it would also give the Yankees the opportunity to promote Jesus Montero who could play fulltime as back catcher and part time DH. Overall I think this is the best pitcher for the Yankees to target and while the price may be high it will be very beneficial to both teams.

Francisco Cervelli 2011

(Nam Y. Huh/AP)

Heading into spring training there has been a lot of talk about the Yankees catching situation with the newly acquired former Dodger Russel Martin and Top Prospect Jesus Montero both looking at the starting job. The Yankees have already said that Martin will be the Starting catcher but Montero hopes to win the job in spring training, however most expect that he will start the year in AAA before making his debut later in the season. One person lost in the Montero/Martin talk is current backup Francisco Cervelli, who despite being the backup last year actually started more games than Jorge Posada. Cervelli will likely start the year as the backup behind Martin, but could still catch a fair number of games if Martin doesn't feel 100%.

Francisco Cervelli endeared himself to many Yankees fans when he was called up in 2009 after both Posada and Molina were injured and he did a great job behind the plate. Starting off the 2010 season Cervelli was great at and behind the plate and some even said that the Yankees should trade Montero and Romine because Cervelli was clearly the future starting catcher for the Yankees. Unfortunately Cervelli made a lot of errors in the second half of the season and as a result his defense rating plummeted and he finished  at the bottom of the league defensive ranking, but anyone who watched the games saw that a lot of these errors were not due to Cervelli making true defensive errors but were more bone headed than anything else. Also he was has statistically been good at throwing out runners until this year when he posted his lowest caught stealing percentage ever and again he was good at the beginning of the year before falling apart around the second half. He did post a .359OBP but his batting average took a nose dive after a very hot April & May and he has never had any power , but oddly enough did hit more triples this year than he hit in his entire minor league career.

Despite the criticism of Cervelli he has was a good backup and he hits well enough to be the starting catcher on most teams and in a recent interview he talked about working with Robinson Cano on hitting and on his desire to be a Starting catcher and win a Gold Glove. Cervelli has been apart of a lot of trade talks with many clubs asking the Yankees about him and he was almost dealt to the Dodgers for Russell Martin. Unfortunately for Cervelli I doubt that he will ever be the Starting catcher for the Yankees due to their great Catching prospects, but he could be a long term back-up or he could be traded at some point in the future as he is definitely capable of starting for a number of teams. Many could project that Cervelli could be dealt some time this season when the Yankees trade for a Starting pitcher but I expect that Romine will be the most likely trade chip this season if a catcher is involved.
I expect to see Cervelli about once a week and I expect that now that he will be playing in the backup role his defensive stats will improve. Also hopefully we will see the return of his Rawlings S-100 protective helmet which earned him the nickname Gazoo.