Yankees 2011 5th outfielder

The Yankees agreed to a deal with Andruw Jones on Thursday for one-year and $2MM and he will be the Yankees 4th outfielder and primary lefty smasher. For more info about that signing you can check out my first post that talked about the signing. That still leaves the Fifth outfield spot open and there are several options for the Yankees at that spot. The Yankees will likely look internally for their fifth outfielder and they have 6 current options from players currently on the 40-man roster. Those are Kevin Russo, Brandon Laird, Colin Curtis, Greg Golson, Melky Mesa and Jordan Parraz. I will start with the least likely and work my way up.

#6 MELKY MESA

Melky Mesa is considered to be one of the Yankees best outfield prospects with absolutely fantastic defense and a lot of raw talent and athleticism. Unfortunately he strikes out a lot and he finished last year with the Advanced A Tampa Yankees and has not advanced beyond that point despite 5 years in the Yankees farm system. That being said the Yankees did put him on the 40-man so that he could not be taken in the Rule 5 draft so they must believe at least some of the hype around Melky and if he has a good spring training he could advance up the minors ladder but he is very unlikely to reach the Bronx this season.

#5 Brandon Laird

 Brandon Laird who is the brother of catcher Gerald Laird is a top prospect who has some serious power and last year he posted a slash line of  .291 .355 .523 .878 with 23 HR's in 454 PA before being bumped up to AAA. Unfortunately his stats dropped off significantly in AAA and his struggles continued in the Arizona fall league, he also has spent all of his minor league career at 1st and 3rd before the Yankees decided to see him play in the outfield in the Fall league and its uncertain if he will stay in the outfield. His recent struggles and the very recent move to the outfield will likely keep him off the opening day roster but we could see him later on in the year. He is also 23 and the Yankees will likely want him to prove himself in AAA before throwing him into the majors and possibly stunt his development. However if Spring training goes well for Laird he could make the opening day roster due to his power and ability to play the infield and outfield corners.

#4 Jordan Parraz

This is Jordan Parraz and if you don't recognize the name or face its because he was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox back in December after they had claimed him off waivers in November from the Royals. He hit .266 last year in AAA with 11 HR's and his defense is average, but i don't know if he will even be with the Yankees by spring training so we will likely stay unfamiliar with him. According to his Minor League stats his fielding is pretty average but he also is primarily a Right fielder and hasn't played Center since 2008 and has never played Left. Honestly I could be wrong about Jordan but I'm not very familiar with him as we haven't seen him and he could wow  in spring training, but i do not expect to see him on the opening day roster.

#3 Kevin Russo

I must confess I really like Kevin Russo and as a result I may be ranking him higher than I should, but he does have something that none of the three previous players do and that is experience in pinstripes. If you are unfamiliar with him Russo is a utility player who has played at almost every position, he is also originally from Long island and grew up a Yankees fan. Russo was a hero in the subway series and won the first game of that series by contributing the only two Yankee RBI's of the game with a great double, he also had another RBI and Run scored in the next days loss at Citi field. He then had another RBI in the Yankees 3-2 win in Minnesota on May 26th and was batting .294 at the time, unfortunately that was the last RBI for Russo and he was sent down to Scranton on July 17th with .184 BA. His AAA numbers for 2010 wern't very good at .259 .333 .328 .662 and 1 HR, but with exception of his OBP  those are all the worst numbers of his career so he could bounce back and the Yankees would love to have a good utility player as their fifth outfielder. Another negative against Russo is that his infield defense is pretty average and his range is good but his defense and range in the outfield are both below average and he doesn't have a lot of playing time in the outfield while in Scranton despite spending most of his time in the majors in Left Field. Despite his drawbacks Russo is extremely versatile and has MLB experience, which is why he still has a shot at making the Opening day roster.

 #2 Colin Curtis

Colin Curtis was drafted in the 4th Round of the 2006 draft by the Yankees and has spent his entire career in the Yankees system and made his Major League debut this season on June 21st 2010, exactly a month later he hit a Three Run Home Run against the angels in the Bronx when he was called upon to pinch hit after Brett Gardner was ejected from the game while batting with an 0-2 count. Curtis appeared in 31 games and had more plate appearances than any other AAA call-up with 64 PA's but he only had an .186 BA, an OBP of .250 and he struck out 15 times. Curtis lacks plate disciple and is not very perceptive at the plate or running the base paths, he has struck out and failed to run to 1st when the ball was dropped and another time he failed to notice that the ball had not been caught and began running back to 1st and took an extra base hit away from Juan Miranda. Curtis does have an inspiring story as he is a survivor of Testicular cancer and has been Cancer free for ten years. LiL CC has average defense and can play all 3 outfield positions and his minor league batting stats are good but he needs to improve his approach and because of that he will likely need to spend more time in AAA to do so, but if he displays better plate disciple in spring training he could start the season in the Bronx.(Update: Forgot to mention the biggest plus for Curtis he is a lefty bat and their are currently zero of those on the Yankees bench)

#1 Greg Golson

Greg Golson was acquired last off-season from the Texas Rangers and he was drafted by the Phillies back in 2004. Golson was called up several times to the Bronx, but he made  his biggest impact on the field in September and the ALDS with some fantastic defense and an unbelievable throwing out of Carl Crawford at third in September, the throw was so good he would have thrown out Rickey Henderson. Golson hit .261 in 23 PA's but it is best to go by his minor league stats due to his limited PA's in the majors. Golson strikes out a lot but he hit .263 with an OBP of .313 and had 10 HR, he also is a speedster and stole 17 bases last year in 21 attempts. Golson's great ability as a defensive replacement in the outfield and ability as a speedster make him the ideal 5th outfielder for the Yankees with the exception of Scott Posednick. The combination of Gardner, Granderson and Golson in the late innings will be a scary good outfield and he could have some potential power as he was 4th in Scranton in Home Runs. Unless Golson hits below .200 in Spring training then his only competition for 5th outfielder will be if the Yankees bring in a free agent. Have fun in the Bronx Golson, I look forward to seeing more of Gutty Gritty Greg Golson.

MLB Offseason Update

Well no sooner did I wright my article yesterday about the remaining top free agents that two more signed a deal today. The Rays signed both Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez making them teammates again since their days together on the Red Sox from 2002 to 2005. Damon's deal is worth $5.25MM plus a potential $750K in bonus money based on attendance; Damon lives in Orlando and would have to make a difference at the gate. He would get $150,000 each for every 10K people after 1.75 MM, in home attendance.  Ramirez's deal is worth $2MM and he will undoubtedly be the DH while Damon will be the starting left fielder, after posting a .298/.409/.460 slash line in 320 plate appearances in 2010 Ramirez will definitely earn that $2MM if he puts up similar numbers. Damon's incentives will be hard to earn as he would have to keep attendance the same from last year to earn even the first level of his attendance bonus and his $5.25 base salary essentially offsets the salary they saved in trading Garza and while his offense is much better than Ben Zobrist's .230 his defense is very questionable. Both of these deals are pending physicals and have yet to be announced.
Vlad Guerrero is also apparently nearing a deal with the Orioles for a "humbling" 1 year deal. This would be a sure bargain for the O's after  Vlad hit .300 last year with 29 HR's and 115 RBI's and he would undoubtedly be the O's DH. No exacts on the amount but i would say probably between $2.5MM and $4MM. I have to question whether this deal is true or not as yesterday a similar story came out and was soon declared false.

In other MLB news The Blue Jays traded Vernon Wells for Juan Rivera and Mike Napoli, Wells still has four years left on his massive $126MM deal. The deal has earned praise for Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos and left many Angels fans scratching their heads and personally I don't understand the deal either. There really doesn't seem to be any upside to this deal for the Angels as they add a lot of salary for another old declining outfielder and they lose their starting catcher who hit 26 HR's last year and right now are looking at Jeff Mathis as their starting catcher when he IS the worst backup in the game. This deal could affects two of the three Molina's as it would seem that Jose Molina is out of the back up job unless Napoli is viewed as a first baseman by the Jays.  Don't feel to bad for Jose because he or his brother Bengie or even Chad Moeller are all better options at starting catcher than Mathis. The Angels have also said that they could still be in the market for a lead-off hitter but I doubt they will replace Peter Bourjos in the outfield and I don't see where they can add another player. The one positive of this trade for the Angels is that it makes the Angels outfield arguably the best defensive outfield in baseball and the best in a very good AL West. 
I would not be surprised to see Scott Podsednik sign with the Jays soon as he was an option for lead-off for the Jays and they now have a glaring hole in center that either he or Fred Lewis could fill.

Nothing new from the Yankees but they are still looking for another starter who could still end up being Andy Pettitte. I will be writing soon about the Yankees options for a fifth starter and their options for a fifth Outfielder. It is only 23 days until Pitchers and catcher report.

Remaining Free Agents

Of MLB Trade rumors 2011 top 50 free agents only 11 remained by January 10th, including the number 7 overall Rafael Soriano and in the 11 days since 5 of them have signed and those were:

Soriano:Yankees
Pavano: Twins
Thome: Twins
Balfour: A's
Fuentes: Angels

MLBTR remaining top 50 free agents are Vlad Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, Andy Pettitte, Scott Podsednik, Kevin Millwood and Johnny Damon. I will also include Orlando Cabrera and Russel Branyon who were both featured in other top 50 free agent lists and then to make it interesting why don't we add in the Yankee free agents of Nick Johnson and Chad Moeller just for fun. Obviously Pettitte will either retire or play for the Yankees so he is not much of a free agent, but the rest are all interesting cases especially Guerrero who found himself out of what seemed like a sure thing in Texas.

Ramirez, Guerrero and Damon are all looking to DH next year, so they are limited to the American league but many clubs, including the Yankees, still view Damon as a possible 4th outfielder, but I haven't heard of any National league teams expressing interest in him. Damon and Ramirez both have the huge advantage of Scott Boras as an agent and he did pull that starting job in Detroit for $8 million out of thin air last year, but Vlad had more HR's and RBI's than both of them put together last year. MLBTR reports that Vlad is close to a deal with the Orioles but that the Angels remain another possibility, the article also says that Manny is likely to sign by next week. The Angels, Rays, Rangers and Blue Jays have all shown interest in Manny, but i think that the Rangers are the best option for Manny as the Rangers have stated that they want a veteran bat and Manny could easily become the primary DH if Mitch Moreland starts off bad and Michael Young moves to first. The Rays remain a possibility and they could use another bat that can hit above .250, but they probably won't see eye to eye on money. Damon and Scott Podsednik have both been discussed as lead-off options for the Blue Jays and the Angels and while Podsednick is the better lead-off option both players would fit with either team.

There has not been a lot of talk about Orlando Cabrera, but the Pirates and the Giants seem the most likely possibilities and he would have to compete for a starting job in spring training but could definitely win the job with either teams. Kevin Millwood is another interesting piece as he went 4-16 in 31 starts and had a 5.10 ERA, but he is reportedly being pursued by the Indians, Orioles and even the Yankees. I doubt that the Yankees would match what the Indians and Orioles would offer as both those teams would likely insert him into the rotation immediately, while the Yankees would make him compete for a rotation spot . Millwood has expressed interest in returning to the Orioles, but Progressive Field is more pitcher friendly and he did play for the Indians back in 05. Russel Branyon has a number of options and could catch on with a number of teams, including the Rays, Rockies and several other clubs, but he will likely have to accept an incentive based contract similar to his deal from last year with Cleveland.

As for our former Yankees; Nick Johnson and Chad Moeller, both will likely receive minor league deals and they both could very well start the year in AAA. Moeller will get another minor league contract where he will provide depth and as a result he could end up in a number of clubs, his off-season does weigh party on  if Bengie Molina signs, because Moeller is only real option left after that and some club could bring him to compete for the backup job if a trade changes things. There has been almost Zero talk about Nick Johnson this off-season and that has everything to do with his injury back in May, he will probably get a minor league deal, spend the beginning of the year on the disable list and hope to get called up to the bigs, to think we gave him $5.5 million for 98 PA.

Yankees sign Andruw Jones

Well this is my first post for this blog and I will the start it out with the Yankees signing of Andruw Jones today. Jones signed to a 1 year deal for $2 million and the possibility of another $1.2million through incentives. In 328 PA he hit .230 with 19 home runs and had an OBP of .341 with 45 walks. Andruw Jones will be the Yankees 4th outfielder and lefty smasher. His defense is not what is was, but is definitely better than Thames. That aside I'm not sure how i feel about this deal knowing that Thames signed for $1 million with the Dodgers. Thames was terrible in the field, but I think his monster Lefty smashing more than made up for it, especially with the superb defense of Gutty Gritty Greg Golson as the fifth outfielder. Thames hit 12 HR in 237 PA with a .288 BA and against lefties he hit .300, while Jones hit .256 against lefties. Between 05 & 06 Jones combined for 92 HR 257 RBI and an average of .262, but his .230 BA last year was the best he has done since, but perhaps working with Kevin Long and Yankee stadiums short porch will boost his stats like it did for Marcus Thames and as i said before his defense is far better.
Overall the Yankees are probably hoping that Jones will flash some of his old power and that he can still play the field neither of those assumptions proved true about Randy Winn, but Jones is obviously a much better player than Winn. We will have to see how Jones fits into the clubhouse and how he plays, because you never know, if you remember back to last offseason Randy Winn was supposed to compete for the Starting Left field job while most people thought Thames would be cut/traded by June at the latest.
Good luck in Dodger Blue Thames,  we will always have the memories....

As a side note I would have thought it was kind of funny if  Thames went to Japan as had been rumored, because if he had then three Yankees from the 2010 club would have been playing in Japan in 2011 with Randy Winn looking like he might have to head to the far east to play as well. Jonathan Albaladejo  signed with the Yomiuri Giants and Chan Ho Park  signed with the Orix Buffaloes. Park only pitched 63.2 inning last year and while he is a superstar in Korea he is likely done in the MLB, but Albaladejo will likely make a comeback to the MLB next year as his numbers in AAA and with Washington are absolutely lights out.