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.

The Case for John Danks

 Well it appears that the Yankees are going to bring back Freddy Garcia, so technically with CC Sabathia resigned they could call it an off season with a rotation of Sabathia, Nova, Garcia, Hughes and Burnett but I really hope they don't do that. Garcia was good last year but a back end guy and what he really should do is compete with Burnett and Hughes for the 4th and 5th spot with the loser moving to the bullpen. That being said the Yankees should upgrade the rotation and there are a number of options for how they can do it of which I will be profiling.

Could Danks be a Yankee soon?

The best option may be Chicago White Sox starter John Danks who has had a lot of trade talk surrounding him this off season with White Sox GM Kenny Williams talking about rebuilding and trading Danks or Floyd. Danks is 26 and in his last year of arbitration and is coming off a down year in 2011. There was also a recent article by David Cameron on Fangraphs that showed the remarkable similarities between John Danks and Edwin Jackson despite the general assumption that Danks is a better pitcher than Jackson. Even Jackson's HR/9 and  HR/FB rates are better than Danks however it should be noted that Jackson has mostly pitched in pitchers parks while Danks has always pitched in the hitter friendly cellular field, but the point remains. While Danks may be overvalued it also could be argued that the fault is more in undervaluing Edwin Jackson. Some people have actually compared John Danks to Andy Pettitte  and there are some similarities and it would be great if Danks could emulate Pettitte as they are both big Lefties who grew up in Texas and their stats are pretty similar through their first five seasons. While Danks stuff may be a bit in question the reason that Danks could be such a good match is that the Yankees and White Sox may watch up well for a trade.

John Danks has actually gotten rocked in his six starts against the Yankees going 2-3 with a 7.11 ERA, giving up 25 ER in 31.1 IP. He got knocked around for four runs in six innings in one start against the Yankees in Chicago. He really hasn't pitched well against the AL East but other than the Jays he has pitched well against them away from Cellular field and his new one start at Yankee stadium in 2010 was decent. Granted past success doesn't dictate future success as A.J Burnett will tell you.

The White Sox are looking to rebuild and the Yankees have a bit of a logjam at a few positions of need for the White Sox. Ideally the Yankees would like to make a trade for Danks surrounding Francisco Cervelli but the the White Sox will probably ask for Eduardo Nunez or Austin Romine and the Yankees could center a package around either of those guys. While the Yankees could offer a package surrounding Nunez I find it much more likely that they will try and offer Romine with Phelps or Mitchell with another minor league piece or two, with the options of one of the out of options OF tandem of Dickerson,Maxwell, Golson or someone like Kevin Russo, a Cervelli package would probably look very similar as would a Nunez deal. The only way I can see the White Sox wanting Francisco Cervelli over Austin Romine is if they trade A.J Pierzynski and even then they may prefer Romine. More likely they will want one of the killer b's or Noesi or maybe someone like Mason Williams or Slade Heathcott. Even after a down year Danks is a very valuable piece but the Yankees aren't going to give up the farm for a guy who is one year away from free agency and that's why I would be surprised if they gave up Banuelos or Betances to get Danks. The off-season has only just begun and we probably wont see anything happen until after the winter meetings in December.

Best Moves for the AL Central!

Only two teams led the AL Central after the first two weeks and they were the Clevland Indians and the Detroit Tigers. My pick of Chicago White Sox got blown out of the water as the Tigers were the only team to finish over .500. The division is arguably the worst in baseball and every team in the division has major holes.

Kansas City Royals
The Royals are an up and coming team with a lot of young talented position players, in fact they have more prospects than they know what to do with. The one thing the Royals don't have is pitching, like no pitching whatsoever. They also have made the first major trade of the off-season by trading Melky Cabrera to the Giants for Jonathon Sanchez and therefor cleared the way for Lorenzo Cain in Center and added a potentially good piece to their rotation. Nobody knows how Sanchez will be for the Royals, but the Royals likely aren't done shopping for some pitching. If the rotation for the Royals can improve to a respectable level then Kansas City could be legitimate candidates to win the division. The Royals could pursue one of the top starters, but I think its more likely that they will pursue cheaper options than go after someone like C.J Wilson. Resigning Bruce Chen is a no brainier for me, but he wants a multi year deal and someone else could give it to him before the Royals do. A lot of people have picked the Royals as a breakout candidate for 2012 and they may have a point because this team has consistently had a top offense and their bad rotation is what has dragged them down.

Chicago White Sox
The Sox were arguably the most disappointing team  of 2011 and definitely had the most disappointing free agent signing in Adam Dunn. Dunn was supposed to hit 50 Home runs in Chicago but he would up hitting 11, with .159 BA. The White Sox rotation is probably the best in the division and for awhile they ended up being able to trade Edwin Jackson because of the emergence of Phil Humber. The White sox are now looking to get younger, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are going to be dumping salary and they absolutely wont be butchering their rotation. While they could move Zach Stewart into the rotation they have said that they would only trade a pitcher if they resign Mark Buehrle. The White Sox really don't have a lot of trade pieces outside of their rotation and they have some really bad contracts that they will have a lot of trouble moving. If I was the White Sox I would see what I could get for John Danks or Gavin Floyd even if Mark Buehrle signs elsewhere because they really need to try and get younger and while these players are young they can get a really good return for both of those guys.


Clevland Indians
The Indians had a great run this season but they are just starting to have their prospects going but the whole franchise is still a mess. The rotation is a mess and the one solid contributor of 2009 and 2010 in Shin-Soo Choo had a bad 2011 and going in to 2012 I have no idea what to expect from the Indians. They could win the division or they could lose 95 games, a big part of that will be how Ubaldo does in 2012 and the other part is what they do in their Outfield now that Grady is gone. Fukudome could be retained but they could try any number of players in the outfield. They could try for Cuddyer, Dejesus or Kubel but it depends on if the Indians think they can win in 2012.

Minnesota Twins
The Twins probably are the most disapointing team of 2011 because  everything went wrong for them. If they want to compete then Maur and Morneau will need to be healthy and Morneau hasn't been able to stay healthy for 3 years.  Cuddyer, Kubel, Capps and Nathan could all be gone in 2012 and the rotation is a total mess. Tsuyoshi Nishioka bombed and it was made worse by the success of 2010 short stop JJ Hardy and Nishioka is not even guaranteed to be a starter in 2012. The Twins going to need to try and turn things around next season but they may be headed to full on rebuild, but if they can make some good signings then this is still a team that could win this division especially if everyone can stay healthy and effective. They should try and resign Cuddyer or pursue Willingham and get a solid backup like Jose Molina. I also think that they should try some risk and reward typed players for their rotation and see if they can piece together a good rotation out of the scrap heap. As much as I should count them out this is a team that has been able to make idiot moves consistently over the last 10 years ans still somehow find ways to win.

Detroit Tigers
The Tigers had  a great season due mostly to Justin Verlander. Despite winning 95 games they dealt with a lot of injuries and they have question marks in RF, 3rd and at second. This team could make a play for any of the big time free agents, but even if they ignore all of their question marks they probably would be able to piece together a lineup based on what they already have that would the division in 2012. The Tigers could be in play for Aramis Ramirz but it would probably be better for them to just try Inge again at 3rd and see if he can be a contributor again and while they could try for a starting outfielder they could just as easily stick with Delmon Young and Brennan Boesch in the corner outfield. The best move for the Tigers would probably be for them to bring in veterans to spring training and have them compete with the existing option and see what happens. It would also be good for them to sign a 5th starter on a one year deal rather than give the spot to prospect Jacob Turner who has only had 3 starts at AAA.

The Tigers look like the best team in a weak division, but any of these teams could surprise everybody and breakout. The only one of these teams that will likely be considering signing major free agents is the Tigers but all the teams could be very active on the trade market this winter, especially the Royals who could definitely acquire another starting pitcher.

2011 Prediction

I decided that the day before the Season began was the best time to do a prediction of the Division Winners and wild card team for each league.

NL East: Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies are going to suffer from injuries all year long and like last year the healthy parts of the lineup will struggle to try and provide all the offense for the team just as they did last year. However in the end the teams pitching staff will allow them to win the NL East despite a valiant attempt by the Atlanta Braves. Even if Chase Utley misses the whole year the Phillies rotationis good enough that they will still be able to win the NL East. The only move i can see the Phillie making is  if Brad lidge continues to struggle or remain healthy then you could see the Phillies try and trade for someone who can fill in, much like the Twins did with Matt Capps last year.

NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers
Most people seem to be thinking the Reds right now but Prince Fielder is in a contract year and the Brewers have their first legitimate rotation since Sabathia was one all by himself in 2008. I know that Greinke and Hart will start the season on the DL but if the Brewers can wait for these guys to get healthy then they could take advantage of a weakened NL Centrall and take the division away from the Reds. Plus this is an all or nothing year for the Brewers as Fielder will walk after this year and they have emptied their farm system to try and win now.

NL West: San Francisco Giants
This one is actually pretty hard as the Rockies will give the Giants a run for their money, but the Giants Rotation is arguably the the best in baseball . That being said their offense needs to step up and the Giants are probably going to have to look for a better solution at Shortstop than Miguel Tejada. If the Giants offense struggles then the Pitching staff can carry them, but only for so long and Buster Posey can't do it all.

NL Wild-card: Atlanta Braves
If it were not for the Phillies reacquisition of Cliff Lee then I think the Braves would be able to dethrone the Phillies and claim the NL East for themselves. The Braves took their already strong offense and added Dan Uggla for a utility infielder and a reliever because Jeff Loria (owner of the Marlins) is trying to see if he can completely destroy any chance of their being a fan base for the Marlins. The Braves rotation led by Derek Lowe is formidable, but not to the same level as the the Phillies and because of that they will fall short of the Division title, but they will capture the wild-card.

AL East: Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox were already a formidable team that contends every year, but then they went out and traded for Adrian Gonzalez who if healthy will be an absolute beast in Fenway park. The Red Sox, being the scrappy small market team that they are, were able to scrounge up some change and pay free agent Carl Crawford $142 million over 7 years. Last year the Boston bullpen struggled so the Sox acquired Dan Wheeler and Bobby Jenks to bolster their pen and possibly take over for Pappelbon if he proves to be unreliable. The Red sox have a great rotation, but after Lester every one of them has question marks as Beckett and Dice-K have had recent injury problems, Lacky suffered from being mediocre and over hyped and Buchholz stats suggest he will regress this year.Even if the Rotation has problems the Red Sox have good rotation depth and their offense should be able to overcome any pitching problems and win them games.

AL Central: Chicago White Sox
The White Sox will finally be able to beat the twins and capture the Central division title. The White Sox upgraded their offense considerably by adding Adam Dunn  to their lineup who will crush the ball in U.S cellular park. The White Sox also have probably the best rotation in the AL central and I believe that the race will end up being between them and the Twins as the Tigers lack the necessary starting pitching depth to compete and will fade early. The biggest concern for the White Sox is their bullpen as the Sox were unable to bolster their bullpen and they will need to either hope it gets better on its own or they bolster it through trade if they want to be sure to get the division this year.

AL West: Texas Rangers
This is probably my most uncertain pick as i was trying to decide between the Rangers with their offense and almost no starting pitching versus the A's with their starting pitching and almost no offense. I was starting to lean toward the A's who went from no offense to almost no offense this off-season with their acquisition of Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham and a great group of young pitchers. However I was swayed by Rangers owner Nolan Ryan who stated that the Rangers will upgrade their starting pitching and will not be afraid to make a trade like last years for Cliff Lee. The Ryan ownership group wants to win, while the Athletics want to move, the Mariners stink and the Angels are just trying to confuse people. The Rangers also improved an already potent offense by adding Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli and the Rangers lineup should be able to produce enough runs to keep themselves in games and the acquisition of a top of the rotation starter will enable them win the AL west again in 2011.

Al Wild-card: New York Yankees
The Yankees will look to stay in contention until they are able to acquire another starting pitcher to bolster their rotation  and their offense and bullpen should be able to keep them close to the Sox and ahead of the Rays. The Yankees will have to fight off the Rays, the Jays and the Fighting Showalter to keep themselves in second, but I have a feeling that the Yankees offense is going to keep pace with the Red Sox and their ability to score runs will hold off the non-Sox teams in the division.There is also the fact that besides the Rays I don't see any other team in the American League that could possibly beat the Yankees the wild-card and not win their own division. When the Yankees acquire a starting pitcher they will likely give the Sox a run for the Division but I doubt that they will be able to capture the Division.