The bullpen takes shape

Matt Thornton

 The Yankees signed Matt Thornton yesterday to a two year $7 million deal and he is expected to be a LOOGY for next seasons Yankee bullpen. With him in the fold the Yankees bullpen now is David Robertson, Shawn Kelley, Matt Thornton, Preston Claiborne and a lot of question marks. To be honest I only put Claiborne on the list because Girardi mentioned him specifically when talking about sure things in the bullpen. That still leaves three spots in the pen open and while they can technically fill those spots internally it would probbaly be a good idea if they did not have to do so, however a lot of it depends on how they finish their rotation. If they sign another starting pitcher, whether it be Tanaka or anyone else that will leave Adam Warren, David Phelps, Michael Pineda, Vidal Nuno and any guy they happen to invite to spring training to compete for the 5th spot in the rotation and the long relief spot in the pen; however if they do not sign another pitcher then they will need to use their starting depth right away and the bullpen will suffer for it. The Yankees do have several players who will be competing for bullpen spots but they are very thin on veteran relief pitchers and while I have full confidence in David Robertson being the closer I am more concerned with handing Shawn Kelley the setup job, not that I have any issues with him being able to handle the 8th innings simply that I am not sure that he can be as good as he was for most of last season. Kelley was terrible in April and even worse in September so we are essentially basing his success on 30 innings and while I know he was injured in September its still a limited sample size to make this guy a key feature of the bullpen and if he stinks up.; Cody Eppley was effective for a longer period of time in 2012 and he was so bad in 2013 that he would up playing independent league baseball. All I am really saying is that while I know the Yankees could fill out their bullpen with internal candidates I think it would be really good for them to bring in some veterans to balance out the risk, they could decide to go after someone with a track record Fernando Rodney or go after a guy like Jesse Crain who is coming off a solid season but one in which he was injured for the entire second half. Personally I would like them to go after the Jesse Crain or Ryan Madson types, specifically Jesse Crain as he will likely be cheaper than someone like Rodney and stands a good chance of being more effective too. Thornton made a ton of sense for the Yankees because he is great against left handed batters and while he is no longer the great setup man that he once was the White Sox he will fill a need for the Yankees at a much cheaper cost than Boone Logan, but the Yankees still need to add a dependable arm so that they do not need to rely on Preston Claiborne or Dellin Betances in the 7th inning from the start of the season. The Yankees have had good bullpens with Girardi but they just lost the greatest relief pitcher of all time and there is probably going to be some drop off but they can help mitigate that by adding a veteran to this relatively inexperienced bullpen.

Robinson Cano signs with the Mariners

Well there is a sentence I never thought I would have to type ever, or speak or even really think. But yes Robinson Cano signed a ten year $240 million deal with the Seattle Mariners and I am really expecting that there will not be any Jay-Z concerts at Yankee stadium anytime soon. The Yankees offered Cano a 7 year $175 million deal which has a higher per year pay but obviously not the years or total money and Cano took it. I never blame players for leaving in free agency and I do not blame Cano for taking the money, really I see it simply as Cano wanted money more than he wanted to be a Yankee. I am not bashing Cano with that statement or making any kind of slash at his character but it is simply that he wanted to maximize his earning potential and who are we to judge him for that? Anyways I hope that Cano is happy in Seattle and that he never gets a hit against the Yankees. Also it is really weird to be outbid by the Mariners for an elite homegrown Yankee player, I don't know the last time the Yankees were outbid trying to retain one of their own or if its really ever happened.

On another note the Mets signed Curtis Granderson to a 4-year $60 million deal and I wish Granderson all the luck in Queens. I have to bring up that I think I may have preferred Granderson 4/60 to Ellsbury 7/153 but they are different players and we will have to see what happens. The Yankees also resigned Hiroki Kuroda to a one year deal and are very likely to make several more moves as they have all of there Cano money left to use. We will have to wait and see what happens here on out and I know personally I hope the Yankees go hard after Tanaka if he is indeed posted.

Woe but for an infield

Can Gladus here play shortstop?

Via Ken Rosenthal the Yankees signed Brendan Ryan to a 2-year deal worthy around $5 million with an odd option that basically adds another year. On top of that they are still pursuing Stephen Drew and were pursuing Jhonny Peralta until he signed with the Cardinals, via Jon Morosi. This is all with Derek Jeter being under contract for this coming season, but as the Yankees have already noted they will be looking for a new starting shortstop so Jeter may be viewed as more of a DH. At this point right now the Yankees infield is putrid, especially because we do not know what will happen with Robinson Cano, as after him there is only Mark Teixeira in the infield. Obviously there are tiers of free agents and someone like Brendan Ryan ranks toward the bottom,which makes giving him two years very odd, but unfortunately players like David Adams, Corban Joseph and Eduardo Nunez rank lower than him as Ryan is an amazing fielder but a very poor hitter while Eduardo Nunez is a below average to an average hitter and a poor fielder even if he isn't throwing the ball into the stands anymore. I don't expect that Ryan will be the starting shortstop but it does remain a possibility and a strong one at that. As of right now though we have no starting second baseman or third baseman (well technically A-rod is still on the roster) and yes the Yankees are likely to resign Robinson Cano but that still leaves them with a gaping hole at third and everybody else in the infield is over 30 which does not bode well for the health of that infield and there are not any young guys looking to steal somebodies job and not many good free agent targets so we are looking at another stopgap 1-year veteran at third and hoping that Tex does not get injured again. There are no prospects at any of the infield positions that are anywhere close to the majors and so the Yankees are going to be stuck with a lot of one year contract veterans because their big money infielders are getting old, hurt and ineffective; all the while still being owed a ridiculous amount of money. The Yankees have always been good at finding talent on 1-year veteran deals, but we saw last year how that as your entire off season strategy can go very badly and with no solution on the left side of the infield that is exactly what they Yankees will need to do for the foreseeable future.

Chris Stewart traded to the Pirates

Chris Stewart has been dealt to the Pirates for cash or a player to be named later, a move like this was expected as he had trade interest and they would have had to non-tender him if they didn't deal him. Stewart is a veteran backup who is adequate in that role but was just atrocious in the starting role in just about every facet for the Yankees. The Yankees inexplicably went with Stewart and Cervelli over signing Russel Martin last off season and it very predictably failed. We here at A True Yankee gave Stewart a lot of flack and I have written extensively about how they should bench him really all season, seriously every catcher that has been on the active roster outplayed Stewart and should have been starting over him; I view it as a real failure on the Yankees that they refused to play Romine or Murphy over Stewart throughout September for the incredibly obvious reason that Stewart stunk. Stewart will now likely backup Russel Martin as the Pirates have DFA their other backup Michael McKenry, however Stewart will have to compete with Tony Sanchez for the job. I'd wish Stewart the best of luck but he struck out on two pitches this season, so don't let teh door hit you on the way out Stewie.