Lamenting the loss of Russell Martin

 

Well the Yankees lost out on Russell Martin to the Pittsburgh Pirates. First off lets have that sink in, the Pittsburgh Pirates outbid the New York Yankees for the best free agent catcher on the market. The worst part is that Martin gave the Yankees the chance to match the offer of 2 years $17 million and they said that they did not have the money.
Without a doubt Catcher is the most difficult position to play in baseball and if the season started today they would need to rely on a combination of Austin Romine, Chris Stewart and Francisco Cervelli. Obviously Romine has potential but he has only had a limited time in AAA, after missing most of last year with a back injury. Also the Yankees pitching staff the last two years has been great, thanks in no small part to Martin being behind the plate. Martins defense is often undervalued by Yankees fans but his receiving skills and play calling are extremely important to making this pitching staff as good as it has been. Without Martin the Yankees will see a noticeable drop off from catcher defense, not to mention the loss of his offense, as the only current regular right handed bat in the lineup is A-Rod. Say what you want about his batting average but Martin hit 40 home runs in his two years as a Yankee and the balance he helped provide to the lineup cannot be undervalued. Last year the Yankees had four lineup regulars that could bat right handed in Swisher, Tex, Martin and ARod and now they will likely only have two. Those four guys hit 87 Home Runs last season and 45 of those are leaving with Swisher and Martin and its extremely unlikely that the Yankees will be able to make them up with whomever they have to replace those two. The fact that the Yankees refuses to pony up the extra $5-6 million is really going to cost them, especially with him poor the catching market is right now.

Burnett traded to Pirates

Well after several days of speculation the Yankees and Pirates completed a trade that sent AJ Burnett to the Pirates in exchange for $13 Million in salary relief and two small time prospects. The deal had seems to work for both sides as the Pirates provide $13 million in salary relief and get a starter who can eat 200 innings from the Yankees who have too many starters and need to clear some salary. The Pirates will pay $5 million this year and $8 million next year, leaving the Yankees to pay the remaining $20 million. The Yankees will get Outfielder Exicardo Cayones and Right-hander Diego Moreno, they are both the ultimate blah prospects and neither have a very high ceiling. This now clears up the 5th starter question as it will be a direct competition between Hughes and Garcia with the loser getting the long relief role. It appears that the Yankees will use this money to sign Raul Ibanez as the Left handed half of the DH platoon and resign Eric Chavez.

Burnett may not have endeared himself to Yankees fans the last two years as he had two of the worst statistical seasons for a Yankees starter ever, but the Yankees probably would not have won in 2009 without him especially his amazing game two.

Yankees trying to trade Burnett

The Yankees are trying to move AJ Burnett and the only team that has been reported to have any interest is the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates have been trying all offseason to get a pitcher and they really have had no luck in attracting any free agents. They offered Edwin Jackson a three year $30 million deal and he turned it down for a one year deal in Washington, Roy Oswalt has also told them that he has no interest in signing with them. This is really the only reason they are looking at Burnett as his ability to eat innings would be very useful for the team and they would probably hope that a move to an easier league would make him pitch better. The Yankees are willing to pay a substantial part of the $33 million that Burnett is owed over the next two years, but they want a player in return and reportedly asked the Pirates for Garret Jones. Jones would fill the Yankees need at lefty smashing DH and can still play 1^st base and the corner outfield. Even though Jones is going to be turning 31 in June he still has three years of team control after 2012 and is one of the Pirates few decent bats so it seems unlikely that they will acquire him. However the Yankees and Pirates are still negotiating and a deal can still get done, I think the Yankees will keep trying for Jones but if they can not get him they will probably ask for a player like Brad Lincoln who can either start or relive and who the Yankees almost acquired for Francisco Cervelli last season.

Other than the Pirates Burnett has not been linked to anyone, but the Orioles are a possibility even though he probably would be worse with them than he has been with the Yankees. However some of Dan Duquette’s moves this offseason have been questionable and he could pull out a trade like this.

Best Moves for the NL Central!

In the last 20 years an NL central team has won the pennant four times and three of those times were won by the St.Louis Cardinals who have three pennants and two World Series in the last seven years. That being said they have had four different winners in the last four  years and the division could be wide open for 2012.

Houston Astros 
The Astros have no chance of contending in 2012 and they will be looking to dump salary with their new ownership. They traded their two best pieces last season in Michael Bourn and Hunter Pence for prospects and will try and trade Wandy Rodriguez, Brett Myers and Carlos Lee for prospects as well. They could try for some bounce back players like Ben Sheets or Jamie Moyer, but they wont have any impact beyond that. Wandy will draw interest but they will not get the prospects they want unless they eat some salary which is exactly the opposite of what the new ownership will want to do. The Astros wont likely get much for Myers at the outset of the season but if he is pitching well then he could get something for them at the trade deadline as he is only under contract for 2012. Carlos Lee could be moved but they would get nothing but mild salary relief unless he tears it up before the trade deadline. The Rockies, Nationals and Red Sox could all be potential trade partners for Wandy or Myers and Astros can focus on rebuilding after all that money comes off the books.

Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates took a big step forward in 2012  and were in contention for a long while but they outperformed themselves. The Pirates will look to re-sign Derrek Lee, acquire a starting catcher and lock up Andrew McCutchen long term. The Yankees and Bucs almost had a deal for Francisco Cervelli last season and they could try again this off season or the Bucs could try for Ramon Hernandez. They will try Pedro Alvarez at third again this season but a strong backup is also a possibility. The Bucs biggest need is some upper rotation pitchers and while they could try for Edwin Jackson I expect that they will just try and develop their pitching prospects now that they have Gerrit Cole coming up. The Pirates would really benefit from signing Fielder but I seriously doubt they will make that impact on the Free agent market. Some key upgrades could mean that the Pirates will finally finish with a winning season and if Pedro Alvarez develops into a decent third baseman then the Pirates could be a top team in the NL Central soon.

Chicago Cubs
The Cubs have a new team president, General Manager and soon manager. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer will look to build a team that can win a world series, but first they will try and dump Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Zambrano. Cubs fans want the team to pursue Albert Pujols, but Fielder really makes more sense for the team as he is four years younger and can help the team in a few years when they can contend. Fielder will likely be the only big free agent they pursue as they will be looking to dump salary more than sign more big contracts. They may try and swap Zambrano for another bad contract like A.J Burnett, but dumping Soriano will be hard as he is under contract for the next three seasons. They could look to retain Ramirez, but some lower level free agents and bounce back players would likely be a better option for the Cubs. The resources of the Cubs are the best in the Division but they are still a few years away from contending and this is a rebuilding year for the team.

Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers screwed their farm system to win now, but if they can replace Fielders bat with a productive one then they can still win in this division. Their biggest area of need is really the left side of the infield with Casey McGehee and Yuniesky Betancourt unlikely to be retained, but their really aren't a lot of great solutions for them. They will likely try for a variety of different infielders as well as retaining utility infielder Jerry Harriston Jr who could start at 3rd or short if needed. With the money being freed up from Fielders contract there is a good chance they could pursue Jose Reyes who would really help the team. The Brewers can still contend this season but they will need to make good moves in order to do so. They could also still possibly retain Prince Fielder if a market for the First baseman doesn't develop, because the market after the Cubs is pretty hypothetical.

Cincinnati Reds
The Reds are arguably the most disappointing team in the national league, mostly due to their rotation which after Johnny Cueto was very poor and while they will be adding Aroldis Chapman to the rotation some more moves may be necessary, but due to their limited payroll they may just hope that other members of the rotation perform better. There has been some talk of trading Joey Votto, but he is a great player and still has two more relatively cheap years left and I expect that he will play at least one more year with the Reds before they really consider trading him. The Reds have real potential for 2012 but they will likely do it with primarily what they already have and will have to hope that 2012 goes better than 2011 did.

St. Louis Cardinals
The Defending World series champions biggest off season story will be their new manager and some guy named Albert Pujols. Their rotation will be better than last years with Adam Wainwright coming back from Tommy John surgery and their biggest need will be Shortstop and second base and they only need to retain Rafael Furcal to fill their need at shortstop. I doubt that they will want to start 2012 with Nick Punto at second base and could pursue someone like Clint Barmes or a lower level free agent like Mark Ellis. They could also try and put Allen Craig primarily at second, but he only had 8 starts at second since coming up in 2010. Pujols is the biggest story of the off season for the Cardinals and I expect that in the end they will show him the money.