Happy 40th Birthday Hideki Matsui!

Happy 40th birthday to the 2009 #WorldSeries MVP and the man they call “Godzilla”, Hideki Matsui. pic.twitter.com/dNBgj7q1RR
— MLB Milestones (@MLBMilestones) June 12, 2014

Godzilla turns 40 today and its now been five years since he was the world series MVP in 2009. He will be in this years old timers game, along with Johnny Damon. I had a post about Matsui when he announced his retirement and from his actual retirement ceremony as a Yankee last season, it was a great career for Hideki and I do not know if I will ever love a player like I did Matsui.

Godzilla!

Well today was a good day for me, I don't normally blog about individual games but today really was a fun day. I went to today's game because Hideki Matsui was going to retire as a Yankee on his bobble head day and that he did. The Yankees had a nice ceremony for Matsui showing highlights from his Career as a Yankee, especially the stuff from the 2009 World Series and then he came out and signed his retirement papers and was presented with a Jersey, after which he changed into Pinstripes and threw out the first pitch with the whole team on the field.

Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

 Hideki Matsui is without a doubt the greatest Japanese slugger in Major League history. He has 175 Home Runs in his MLB career and has the five highest single-season home run totals of any Japanese player in the MLB. More than that though Matsui was a constant sight in the Yankees lineup player 519 straight games to begin his Yankee Career and was my absolute favorite Yankee growing up, I still have my Matsui shirt and Jersey which you can bet I was wearing today. Having this sendoff was absolutely fantastic for me and I know it was for everyone else at the stadium and the buzz in the stadium was amazing. Oh and the Yankees had a walk off so that was nice too.

A True Yankee bids sayonara to Hideki Matsui

Godzilla Swag

Hideki Matsui has retired according to Daigo Fujikawa. Godzilla  will make the announcement at a press conference in New York, where he still lived. He last played for the Rays this past season and with Oakland and Anaheim since leaving the Yankees after his stellar 2009 World series. Matsui hit .292/.370/.482 (124 wRC+) with 140 total homers in pinstripes, and his best season came back in 2004, when he produced a .298/.390/.522 (140 wRC+) line with 31 homers. He started his Yankee career in 2003 with a Grand Slam in his Yankee stadium debut (video!) and of course ended it by destroying Pedro Martinez in game 6 of the 2009 world series, earning the world series MVP honers.

As most of us know Matsui was an extremely reliable player, ending his consecutive games played streak of 538 games played only by breaking his wrist while sliding in the outfield for a ball in 2006. Hideki was without a doubt a reliable player in the postseason as well, batting  .312/.391/.541 (143 wRC+) in the postseason.  This is on top of the fact that Matsui was Huge in Japan and before he came to the big apple, he had hit 54 Home Runs and won his third Japan Series Championship  and League MVP with the Yomiuri Giants.
Matsui was my all time favorite player since he came over from a Japan, I have a Matsui shirt that I have had since 2004 and a Matsui Jersey sitting in my closet. I do not know if I will ever be a bigger fan of another Yankee player than I was of Matsui and I will always resent that fact that the Yankees did not bring him back in 2010, especially since Nick Johnson busted so bad.

Matsui was a great Yankee.  He will go down in history as an excellent teammate, a great person and a True Yankee.

ARod out until September with Broken Hand and other Yankees news

KEVIN P. CASEY/AP

ARod joined the list of the wounded with a non-displaced hand fracture that will sideline him for the next 6-8 weeks. With the exception of the switch hitters Teixeira and Swisher, ARod was the Yankees only regular right handed power bat and now the injury prone Chavez will need to play almost everyday. The Yankees could make a move for a third baseman, but I do not know how likely that is as I expect that it is more likely they could look for a versatile bench bat or just platoon Chavez and Nunez when he is healthy. They could also look for another bounce back candidate like Scott Rolen but I do not expect they will get involved for Chase Headley. The other bats are going to need to step up with ARod out especially with the Red Sox series coming up and some tough games in August. One interesting name to consider is Marco Scutaro if the Rockies make him available as he could play both Short Stop and Thirdbase. The Yankees have recalled Ramiro Pena for the time being.

Joba Chamberlain pitched a perfect rehab inning yesterday and will rehab again today. The hope is that he can be back at the end of the month and that bullpen really needs it as the shortcomings of three match up guys in a seven man bullpen are really showing lately.

This one is not technically Yankees related but the Tampa Bay Rays DFA former Yankee Hideki Matsui who had only hit .147/.214/.221 with two home runs and one double in 103 PA. This is likely the end for Matsui as he struggled to find a job this season and looks to be done. When he played against the Yankees you could see that his power was gone as the balls off his bat just were not going out. Matsui was my favorite Yankee from when he first came to the team in 2003 and we will still have to wait to see if Matsui decides to walk away now that it seems he cannot play at the MLB level anymore.

Yankees talking to Matsui about a return

According to Jon Heyman the Yankees have been in contact with Hideki Matsui. The Yankees reportedly only want to spend about $1-2 Million on a DH after trading Jesus Montero to Seattle.
Matsui posted a .251/.321/.375 line with 12 homers in 583 plate appearances last year in Oakland. He recovered from a slow start to produce better results in the second half (.753 OPS after July 1st), but the average DH posted a .265/.340/.429 line in 2011, so Matsui, and his lack of fielding ability, hasn’t drawn much interest. A return to Oakland doesn’t seem likely and no other teams have been publicly linked to the Wasserman Media Group client.
After his poor year in Oakland  Matsui will probably be looking for one last year before retiring as he will be 38 in June. The Yankees limited budget would seem like enough to bring back Matsui for one last year in Pinstripes before riding off into the sunset. The worst part is that even if Matsui put up the same numbers as he did last year it would still be better than the performance from Yankees DH since Matsui in 2009.
Personally I like this deal for two reasons. One is that Matsui has a proven bat in Yankee stadium and his cheap contract will provide minimal risk. After Matsui the Yankees would have to look at some minor league invites if they plan on staying on budget. The other factor is that I absolutely loved Hideki Matsui and it would be absolutely amazing if the Yankees could bring him back. Ive loved Matsui since he came over in 2003 and he hit a grand slam on opening day.
I really hope it happens, because if it doesn't work then the Yankees can fall back on Jorge Vazquez and I think we would all love to see Godzilla return to the Yankees.

The Yankees DH solutions

Are one of these men the Yankees DH?

I wrote earlier about Johnny Damon as a possibility at DH for the Yankees now that Montero has been traded and Jon Heyman stated that the two have been talking. Heyman also threw out the name of Posada, but said that the chances were probably was very remote. The Yankees have also said that they are about as high with their payroll as they will go so all of those hoping can forget about them signing Prince Fielder. In my view the Yankees have a few options that they will consider for the DH spot and the biggest factor will be in cost as I doubt that the Yankees will give any more than $5 million to a DH and it could be significantly lower than that.
The Yankees first choice is undoubtedly Carlos Pena who they claimed off waivers last August, but the Cubs pulled him back. Pena strikes out a lot and doesn't  hit for average, but he hits for a lot of power and gets on base at a very good rate. Pena is a good choice as he is a good fielder, but that's part of the problem in that he will want a multi year deal for a good salary and its a good bet that he will get a better offer. If the market for him falls apart then there is a chance but he is the top 1st baseman after Fielder.
After Pena the Yankees will look at Johnny Damon who the Yankees obviously know well. The problem with Johnny is that he is both declining and a complete idiot. Don't get me wrong I like Johnny Damon, but he is a total idiot. This is a guy who has been convinced the last three years that he was going to sign a large deal and has seemed shocked and offended when he did not sign a large contract. I do not think this will effect his play at all but he may not realize that he would need to drop his price to be signed by the Yankees and will instead insist on a salary that they will not pay him. I expect that Damon will sign with the Orioles who will pay him more than he is worth, just as they did with Vlad Guerrero. The chance of the Yankees bringing in Damon are better than them signing Carlos Pena, but I still do not view it as very likely.
Next there is the option of Vlad Guerrero who is likely on the same level as Johnny Damon as a declining player who will ask for money than he is worth. Guerrero held out for $8 million from the Orioles and generated a grand total of .1 WAR, but while Guerrero is certainly declining,  his talent is nothing to ignore.Guerrero could be a decent option, but he will ask for more money than he deserves and while somebody may give it to him it wont be the Yankees.
An option that is undervalued is bringing back Hideki Matsui. Matsui declined last season after a decent year for the Angels in 2010. His decline is real, but what makes him different than Pena, Guerrero or Damon is that Matsui could likely be had for a small deal perhaps as he already was only being paid $4.5 million by the A's and so would probably take something in the $2-$3 million range perhaps even lower. If Matsui stinks then they can DFA him and bring up someone like Jorge Vazquez and they have lost nothing. If he does well then he has one last year as a Yankee before retiring. This leads to another idea which is simply to make Jorge Vazquez, who has raked in ever level, the primary DH. Last year Vazquez hit .262 with 32 Home Runs, but he also struck out 166 times which is why people tend to believe that he is mostly a quadruple-A player. He could be a good fallback option but he is probably not a good guy to start the year as the DH. Going along with the cheap options the Yankees could also bring in several veterans to compete for the DH spot just like they did for the bench spot last year. This could included Jorge Vazquez and Hideki Matsui as well as some names like Marcus Thames, Russell Branyan, Carlos Guillen or even Manny Ramirez. They could also look at trading some of their rotation depth for a DH, with a suggestion of A.J Burnett for Carlos Lee being one that I have seen written about.
The Yankees could also go without a primary DH and instead use a rotation of players at DH, but most teams like to have somebody who will be the primary DH and I expect that the Yankees will have one to start the year.