Chris Stewart traded to the Pirates

Chris Stewart has been dealt to the Pirates for cash or a player to be named later, a move like this was expected as he had trade interest and they would have had to non-tender him if they didn't deal him. Stewart is a veteran backup who is adequate in that role but was just atrocious in the starting role in just about every facet for the Yankees. The Yankees inexplicably went with Stewart and Cervelli over signing Russel Martin last off season and it very predictably failed. We here at A True Yankee gave Stewart a lot of flack and I have written extensively about how they should bench him really all season, seriously every catcher that has been on the active roster outplayed Stewart and should have been starting over him; I view it as a real failure on the Yankees that they refused to play Romine or Murphy over Stewart throughout September for the incredibly obvious reason that Stewart stunk. Stewart will now likely backup Russel Martin as the Pirates have DFA their other backup Michael McKenry, however Stewart will have to compete with Tony Sanchez for the job. I'd wish Stewart the best of luck but he struck out on two pitches this season, so don't let teh door hit you on the way out Stewie.

A True Yankee Podcast Offseason!

A off season podcast! We talk about how everything about the Yankees off season sucks because their farm system is bad and they don't want to spend money on free agents. We also look at how the Yankees will fill their many holes and who we would like the Yankees to target, also my dogs started wrestling at the end of the podcast so there is some background noise at the end.

Least Valuable Yankee: Ichiro Suzuki

D'oh

The Yankees traded for Ichiro Suzuki last July and while he only came in to platoon with Andruw Jones he played well enough to get a starting job and was a great pickup for the playoff run. In the off season it began to look like th Yankees would re-sign Ichiro, but we were all a little shocked when it was announced that it was for a two year deal worth $6.5 million per year. Apparently the Phillies had offered Ichiro a similar deal and so the Yankees offered him this in response, Phillies are a terribly run organization that that deal should have sent up enormous red flags, but they ignored those and signed the 38 year old former superstar to a two year deal.
At the time I wrote how Ichiro's new deal was ridiculous and was made even worse by the fact that the Yankees were trying to reign in their spending and so this deal made no sense whatsoever. basically the Yankees were betting $13 million on the magic pinstripes keeping Ichiros revival going for two years so that Ichiro could get 3,000 MLB hits and the Yankees could make lots of money on marketing it. Considering that he just posted his worst offensive season of his career and that he would need to have one of his best to get the 258 hits he needs to get 3000, thee is really no chance he will get there next season.
I wrote before about how Ichiro's popularity leads many to ignore his struggles and they want him to do well so much that they will completely ignore his wRC+ of 71 and say how he hit .305 in July or that his .285 BABIP is way under his .344 career BABIP. The Ichiro of old is not going to show up, he can't beat out grounders like he used to and he can't make contact on everything like he used to because his bat speed isn't there anymore. Ichiro is a 4th outfielder at this point, he has defense and still has some speed so he's a decent 4th outfielder, but that's really it and the Yankees are paying $6.5 million dollars next season for a 4th outfielder.  Unfortunately even Ichiro's defense started to suffer down the stretch for whatever reason, maybe hes hurt, he had better hope that it does not continue to decline as almost all of his value comes out of his defensive WAR and if its not there next season then Ichiro is done as a MLB player. Like CC Sabathia in Chris's piece, Ichiro actually registers a positive WAR but almost all of it comes from his defense and I'd bet that if the Yankees had given Zoilo Almonte 500+ PA like they gave Ichiro, he would have outperformed him but instead the Yankees stuck with the struggling former superstar because he's Ichiro and his struggles along with the $13 million the Yankees are paying him is why he is my choice for Least Valuable Yankee.

Yankees make qualifying offer to Cano, Kuroda and Granderson

The Yankees have officially extended qualifying offers to Robinson Cano, Hiroki Kuroda, and Curtis Granderson, the team announced. Qualifying offers are worth $14.1M this offseason. If they reject and sign with another team, the Yankees will receive a supplemental first round pick as compensation regardless of whether their new team has a protected first rounder.Players have until next Monday to accept or decline and I expect all three to decline the offers.Apparently the Yankees were worried about offering one to Granderson because they thought he might accept, which seems like an odd worry.

Jeter resigned to a one-year deal

Instead of exercising his $9.5 million player option, the Yankees re-signed  Derek Jeter to a one-year deal 
worth $12MM. Somehow this has actually saved them money. According to MLBtrade rumors by agreeing to a new deal, Jeter is no longer on his old contract, the average annual value (AAV) of which counted against the luxury tax. Had he exercised his player option, Jeter would've added $6.5MM to the AAV of his three-year, $51MM contract ($3MM of the option was guaranteed in the form of a buyout). Doing so would have raised his AAV to $14.375MM. Instead, his $12MM contract will be the number that counts against the luxury tax, thereby actually saving the Yankees $2.375MM relative to the luxury tax. If you feel confused don’t worry everybody does, either way Jeter is definitely in the fold for next season and we will just have to wait and see if it will be as a shortstop, a DH or an injured former star who plays less than 40 games. The Yankees off-season will dictate the role for Jeter next season so we will just have to wait and see.

Winter is upon us

So the Baseball season is officially over and now the off season officially begins. As of 9am today Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Hiroki Kuroda, Boone Logan, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Robinson Cano, Lyle Overbay, Mark Reynolds, Brendan Ryan, Kevin Youkilis, Curtis Granderson and Travis Hafner are all free agents and no longer members of the New York Yankees. There is a very real possibility that none of these players will be on the Yankees next year which is a very odd thought to consider. The off season is an interesting time as every time can feel like they can be contenders in the following season, but just remember that the only winner of the off-season to win it all in recent memory is the 2009 New York Yankees, the Marlins, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Angels have all been declared the winners of one off-season or another and failed to even make the playoffs, let alone win the World Series (obviously I mean in the year they were the off-season winner). Overall the Yankees do not look very good for next year as they are dealing with the A-Rod saga, an unproductive farm system, the Robinson Cano watch and the fact that their Hated rival just won the World series. Here are a few dates to watch in the next 10 days.

Today
As I said all eligible players become free agents.

Monday (November 4th)
Its the last day to make qualifying offers and all players have to come off the 60 day D.L. Cano, Granderson and Kuroda will get qualifying offers and I guess there is an outside chance that Phil Hughes gets one, but that seems unlikely. They also will need to hear if Derek Jeter plans to pick up his $9.5 million player option

Tuesday (November 5th)
This is the day free agency really begins as its when the exclusive negotiating period ends and teams can sign with anybody. The Yankees could make a push, but it seems like Cano will test free agency and I don't know if there is anyone else the Yankees will try and I don't know if there is anyone else the Yankees will go after before the 5th.

November 11th
This is the last day for a player to accept a qualifying offer, but I expect that Cano and Kuroda will both decline. Granderson is an interesting case as there is interest from teams to give him a multi-year deal but if he thinks he can have a great season and rebuild his value then he could set himself up for a much bigger payday if he accepts the offer.

November 20th
Deadline to add players before the rule 5 draft, which takes place on December 12th. Prospects Slade Heathcott and  Gary Sanchez are the most notable players who have to be added to the 40-man roster. The Yankees will undoubtedly add more and I usually do a 40 man crunch post during the off-season.

December 2nd
This is the non-tender deadline, in which teams can choose to not offer a player who is arbitration eligible a contract. Jayson Nix, Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart are all non-tender candidates. I would hope they would non-tender Stewart but he will probably wind up being their starting catcher again next year.

After this you have the winter meeting from December 9th-12th and then arbitration hearings start in February but the Yankees haven't gone to one since 2008. They do have seven arbitration eligible players whom MLB trade rumors has projections for.

So now it begins, hopefully everything goes amazing for the Yankees and we wind up having a team that will knock off the Red Sox. Who knows maybe seeing the Red Sox win will lead the Yankees to make some serous changes to the team or there front office.

The Yankees LVP: CC Sabathia

The Yankees LVP

 

To determine who on the Yankees deserves the Least Valuable Player for 2013 you have to look at who had the worst bang for the Yankees buck. The easy choice would be to say A-Rod but I don't think it is fair to say any Yankees player that missed a lot of time for injuries was the LVP. That would also rule out Jeter, Granderson, Youkilis , and Teixeira. That rules out 5 of the top 10 highest paid Yankees. Leaving Sabathia ($23 mil), Cano ($15 mil), Kuroda ($15 mil), Pettitte ($12 mil) and Rivera ($10 mil) as the highest paid Yankees. Cano, Kuroda, and Rivera all performed well in the 2013 season, leaving Pettitte and Sabathia as the only real contenders for the award.

So now let’s compare Andy Pettitte and C.C Sabathia's stats. Andy Pettitte ended the season with an 11-11 record, a 3.74 ERA, and a 1.327 WHIP over 185.1 innings pitched. CC Sabathia on the other hand ended the season with a 14-13 record, a 4.78 ERA, and a 1.370 WHIP over 211 innings pitched. If we look at this, it appears that Pettitte had a little bit of a better season, but if you take into account that Sabathia made eleven million more in 2013, then it’s clear who should win the LVP: CC Sabathia. He had performed so well the previous season, dominating in the playoffs. He went 15-6, had an ERA of 3.38, and a WHIP of 1.140, much better than this season. Many people say that the reason he has declined so much is because Sabathia lost so much weight over the off-season. When the season started Sabathia seemed to be off, and the entire time people were saying that he would work it out, that his velocity would go up, and so would his control, but it never did. So the Yankees spent $23 million on a pitcher who did not preform in 2013. I am actually a big Sabathia fan, and am hoping that he can bounce back in the 2014 season, if not, then that is a lot of Yankee money down the drain.