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.

Could Johnny Damon be a Yankee again?

Could he take #18 back from Jones?

In case you hadn't heard the Yankees and Mariners swapped Jesus Montero and Michael Pineada and while the biggest impact of this is improving the rotation, the Yankees gave up a young impact back who was going to be their primary DH next season. Now the Yankees have a need at the DH spot and it will be curious to see how they fill this hole. Johnny Damon was not resigned by the Tampa Bay rays after a decent season as the DH, after they initially signed him for left field and Manny to DH, but the Rays signed Luke Scott instead of resigning Damon. Now Damon could be a  fit for Yankee and we know they tried to bring him back in 2010 but Damon wanted a big  multi year deal and he eventually ended up signing in Detroit for $8 million. The problem of course is that Damon is declining, as would be expected from a 38 year old and the Yankees don't want another poor year from the DH spot after two bad years in a row. However most DH's are in decline and the first thing that I thought of after Montero was traded was that Damon would be coming back. We will have to wait and see what happens, but Damon is a strong possibility.

4/3 Yankees and other notes

The Yankees failed to sweep the tigers as Hughes and Colon both got roughed up by the Tigers 10-7. The two teams combined for 14 HR, with 7 of those coming in today's loss. Here are some notes on the Yankees:

• Burnett looked okay, but he was apparently sick during the game so hopefully that means he will be even better next time around as he should likely be facing off against Francisco Liriano and the Twins.
• This first series was utterly forgettable for Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter as both combined for 4 hits and those all came in Saturdays game. But it is only 3 games so should be nothing to worry about.
• After Eduardo Nunez's error in Saturdays game I already want Ramiro Pena back.
• Russel Martin is hitting .455, A-Rod .400 and slow start Tex has 3 HR and 7 RBI's after 3 games. (He had 9 RBI's all last April) check it out
• I know its one start and its one start against one of the best offenses in baseball, but I am really concerned about Phil Hughes. He looks like he did last year after the all-star break and his velocity is still down. He gave up 5 runs on 5 hits in 4 innings. He could not put batters away racking up 1 K in 90 pitches.He needs to make a change NOW because his next start is against the Sox in Fenway.
• Bartolo Colon was a mixed bag with 5K's in 4 innings, but he gave up 4 runs and 6 hits in 4 innings. Mitre did better than that. However its only April, but I still would prefer Aceves.(who is in Sox AAA to start the season)
• The Sox got swept by the Rangers and while both teams offense's looked good the Red Sox pitching was very poor and their $142 million dollar man got bumped down to 7th today. Dropping Crawford in the order from 3rd to 7th really surprised me as its the 3rd game and they just payed him 142 million small market scrappy dollars and i wouldn't want to start off 7 years by dropping him down after two games.
• Bad news for the Rays as Evan Longoria was put on the DL for an oblique strain and he will miss at least 3 weeks according to Joe Madden. Also Manny and Damon have combined for a grand total of 1 hit and Damon was scratched today due to calf tightness.
• O's are in first, Toronto and the Yankees are both tied for second and the Sox and rays are on pace for 0-162 seasons.
• All that confidence that Brewers fans about this season was crushed by the Big Red Machine. Its only April, but the Brewers looked really bad in Cinncinati and so does my pick of them to win the NL Central.
• Matt Holiday had an appendectomy. Could the Yankees try and trade for Chris Carpenter?
• The Astros look awful. Is Brett Myers as good as that one start suggests and could the Yankees target him?
• The Yankees play the Twins for the teams only meeting in the Bronx this season. Lets hope the Yankees take over from where they left off in the ALDS.

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.