Jorge Vazquez is Unhappy

El Chato cleverly disguised as New York Yankee

If you haven't heard of Jorge Vazquez he is a 30 year old "prospect" who the Yankees signed out of Mexico and has spent the last three seasons in the minors. El Chato as he has been nicknamed has a ton of power as his 32 Home runs are not just Home runs they are absolute bombs, but he is the very definition of a hacker as he struck out 166 times last season in 455 AB and only walked 30 times unintentionally. There was a lot of call to bring him up to DH when Posada was struggling last season but ultimately he stayed with the AAA Yankees and in fact is not even on the 40 man roster. The problem for Vazquez is that he seems like a classic Quad-A type player due to his strikeouts and he likely would not excel as a hitter in the big leagues; on top of that he is technically a 1st/3rd player but his fielding is poor at both positions. For these reasons the Yankees have shown no real interest in promoting El Chato and it does not look likely that their interest will change. 
Jorge Vazquezs best option would be to go to Japan and this winter there was a report that he was close to signing a deal to play in Japan for the Rakuten Eagles, but that was apparently untrue as the deal never came and Brian Cashman shot down any idea that he would be playing in Japan. This as well as the outlook that he will remain in the minors has caused caused Jorge Vazquez to voice his displeasure with being stuck in the minors. According to the president of Jorge Vazquez's old Mexican League club Cuauhtémoc "Chito" Rodríguez , Vazquez is growing impatient with being stuck in the minors saying "If they don't give him an opportunity this year, he wants them to trade him, or to go to [play] baseball in the east. He doesn't want to continue on in Triple A anymore, not just with the Yankees, but with any other organization as well." MLB Trade rumors reported this as coming from Spanish baseball blog Puro Beisbol. The Yankees are not likely to respond well to this, but they also probably already knew that he was unhappy. This doesn't change his chances of contributing for the New York Yankees as Juan Miranda had better numbers and defense in the minors at 1st base and he was given very few plate appearances and he struggled mightily when given more playing time in 2010 with the Yankees and 2011 with the Diamondbacks. The Yankees could trade him but they are not likely to get anything of value in that trade and so their is really no reason for them to do that.
Vazquez's only real chance of making a contribution would be if the Yankees turned to him if Ibanez gets hurt or struggles because he is not even the Yankees backup first baseman if Mark Teixeria gets hurt, as they would probably move Swisher to first and call up an outfielder. Some could say that he may develop an ability to walk but Vazquez has been around for 11 seasons and has been using this same approach the whole time so that's not happening. Vazquez is a quad-A player, but quad-A players want a shot in the big leagues and if he doesn't get it I expect that he will head to Japan as he will make a lot more money there then he will sitting in the minors.

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.

Being real about Jorge Posada

I'd like to start off by saying that Jorge Posada is one of the greatest Yankees of all-time and every fan should appreciate his 17 years of service to the Yankees. The agreed to his 4 year $52 million deal after he had one of the best offensive years for a catcher in MLB History in 2007 to go along with a silver slugger award, an all star berth and finishing 6th in the MVP vote. Posada has been beset with injuries likely due to the physical strain of being a starting catcher in your late thirties and only in 2009 did he catch the majority of games.  As a 39 year old Catcher coming into the 2011 season a move to DH seemed warranted especially after significant time on the DL in each of his 3 previous seasons and the Yankees were confident that he would do an adequate job despite a .205 Career BA at DH. Posada was concerned about how he would do at the position as he preferred to spend the games behind the plate. I'd like to say that the Yankees brass should have listened, but I doubt that being the backup catcher would change his offensive output. Posada is currently hitting only slightly better than Nick Johnson was at this point last year and Posada currently has a sub .300 OBP and has the worst slugging percentage of his career, although that may have something to do with being slow enough that he cannot leg out doubles. Posada also has not had a single hit while batting right handed this season and he is currently in a platoon situation at DH which will help Posada some as he is hitting .211 against RHP. But still thats not much of a platoon situation when your DH for righties is barely hitting above .200 and in the Month of May he hit .219, in fact the only positives he has is that he went 1-1  with a double as a PH and when he played 1B he went 1-3 with 2BB and a double. This has gotten ridiculos, I respect Posada but as the DH your contribution is measured by your Offense and right now he is a liability. When PosadaGate occurred I was torn as I greatly respect Posada but at the same time he should be hitting 9th and the fit he threw was extremely unprofessional as was trying to pass it off as an injury issue. No Matter what nothing will be done in the short term as the Yankee Brass wants to keep Posada around at least until Jeter gets his 3,000 hit. I think the Yankees will do one of a few things, they could keep the platoon situation going with Posada/Jones and add to it when Eric Chavez comes back, this may be the option they run with for June as having another pinch hitter for Interleague can't hurt. The more painful option is that if the Yankees decide that Posada can no longer contribute to the team then they may be forced into the option of asking him to retire and if he refuses giving him his outright release, which is the last thing that the Yankees want to do. They may also try and put Posada on the DL but the phantom DL doesn't go over as well as it does in the minors, also I doubt that Posada would agree to this arraignment. The Yankees know that Jesus Montero is sitting in AAA and they would either be able to make him the  backup catcher and send Cervelli down, have him be the Full time DH or have him split time between DH and being a third catcher who splits the backup time with Cervelli. In my opinion the Yankees need to make a decision on Jorge and soon because Jeter is less than 20 hits away from 3,000 at the End of May and he will undoubtedly surpass 3,000 by the end of the month and probably by the middle of June. Unless Posada drastically improves he will not contribute to this team and will need to either sit on the bench or end his Yankee career. The only real question is what is the plan, if Posada sits on the bench then he can still make occasionally starts at DH and the Yankees can provide a 1/2 day to a regular. The Yankees even have secondary options in AAA with Jorge Vazquez also knocking the ball out of the park with ease.
I think that the Yankees need to address this problem because right now I don't see what the benefit of having a DH is, because I think that our pitchers may be able to provide a better offense than Posada's -0.6 oWAR. I think that the best option would be to call up Montero and send Cervelli down to AAA and make Montero the backup catcher/DH and have Posada serve as the emergency backup/occasional DH because I don't think that the Front Offense wants to alienate Posada because they want to bring him back in some role after he retires, possibly as a scout or a coach. The fact is that Posada is currently hurting the Yankees and the Yankees are going to have to make some decisions when Eric Chavez comes back because he and Chris Dickerson will contribute more than Posada currently is. I do want to see the Yankees let Posada catch at least once this year and if that comes during interleague it could be a sign that Posada's time is nearly done.
As a side note for all of you who want to see Jorge Vazquez come up and DH there is a chance for that in September but he has nearly a 1/3 K rate to go along with his 18 Home Runs and while he is currently mashing the ball in AAA I don't think that will translate to the MLB nearly as well.

Lets talk about Carlos Beltran

Carlos Beltran signed his 7 year $119 million deal with the Mets back in 2005 and his deal expires after this season making $18.5 million this year and the cash strapped Mets want to deal him. Beltran had knee surgery last year, he was moved from Center field to Right field and has not played more than 81 games since 2008. His name has come up in trade rumors as he has been very good this year and most think that a move to the American League to DH would be great for Beltran, but his high price tag and injury history has made teams wary.
The Mets have solved some of their financial issues with selling a minority stake in the club, but the ownership has also said that no player is off-limits to be dealt by the trade deadline.
Beltran had been part of trade rumors since before the season even began and at the time the Yankees did not seem as though they would be even considering Beltran as they had Nick Swisher in Right and Posada as the DH. Now its mid-Febuary and Nick Swisher is slumping bad and Jorge Posada is slumping really bad and so Carlos Beltran's name has come up in trade rumors with the Yankees. The idea is that the Yankees would trade for Beltran and split time with him in Right and at DH with Swisher and Posada and Jones would probably be released.
I don't think that the Mets would be realistically expecting anything for Beltran except maybe a mid level prospect or two, this trade is about Salary relief and the Yankees definitely can afford to take on Beltran's salary. This seems like a match made in trade rumors heaven as the Mets free up a lot of salary room and the Yankees get a bat that can energize their slumping offense as Beltran is swinging the bat pretty well slugging .564 in 39 games and just had a 3 homer game. The problem is that we as Yankees fans sometimes forget that those other guys who play baseball across town and make all those funny mistakes are technically our rival and Mets fans would probably be really pissed if Beltran was traded to the Yankees.
Also some Mets fans apparently think that Beltran is deserving of some legitimate prospects or even for some reason Brett Gardner or Nick Swisher in addition to taking on his salary. The Yankees could take Beltran's full salary and in exchange they would give someone of Justin Maxwell's caliber. If the Mets Front office expects more then that in a trade will never get done with the Yankees. This is also assuming that Nick Swisher does not rebound, because if he does and Posada continues to struggle then the Yankees would likely just promote Jesus Montero to DH and Catch once in a while or promote Jorge Vavquez who has hit 16 HR in 37 games with a .303 average.

Jorge Vazquez

Honestly even if Swisher continues to slump will likely keep him for next year even if they trade for Beltran and I think that a deal is unlikely to come about. To me the most likely scenario is the A's trading David DeJesus for Beltran with the Mets eating a large part of his salary. It is still more of a possibility than any of us expected coming into this year.

The upcoming Toronto series 4/19-4/20/11 and Notes

The Blue Jays came into the season strong with a 4-2 record, but they now stand at 7-9 with several poor performances from their starting pitching and their offense sputtered after the series opener against the Red Sox and they only managed one run in each of the three games they lost to the Red Sox. The Pitching matchup will be featuring Kyle Drabek going against A.J Burnett. Drabek is 1-0 with an 1.93 ERA in 3 starts while Burnett has a 3-0 record with a 4.67 ERA in his 3 starts. Wednesdays game will feature the very uninspring pitching duel between a Bull frog that has found his way into Pinstripes, aka Bartolo Colon who has posted a 3.97 ERA in 3 relief appearances and Brett Cecil who has a 1-1 record with a 6.19 ERA in 3 starts. There is no official word of whether or not A-Rod will play in Tuesdays game but it has been stated that he will play in Wednesdays game. A positive for the Yankees is that if they need to exhaust the bullpen they have Thursday off before heading to Baltimore for an Easter weekend series. The Blue Jays have really struggled the last 3 games and lets hope the Yankees will spoil the Blue Jays home opener.

*If you haven't heard about the J triplets tearing up the international league.  Jesus Montero, Jordan Parraz and Jorge Vazquez have been absolutely destroying AAA pitching Jesus Montero is hitting .452   and Jorge Vazquez has a very impressive .340 with 7 HR and 17 RBI's in only 11 games. Jordan Parraz who I wrote about in a previous article is hitting .356 with 3 triples and 2 HR. Also if Justin Maxwell raises his BA to match his .435 OBP then I can start calling them the J Quintuplets.
*Curtis Granderson is hitting .333 against lefties and .194 against eighties. I never thought I would have to say this but Granderson you need to start hitting RHP as well as you are hitting lefties.
*Check out CC's Commercial