Thursday, November 29, 2012

New York Yankees updates heading into the Winter Meetings

The baseball hot stove has heated up the past couple of days. The Yankees are in the news for signing a couple of their old players. The Yankees have resigned Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera to one year deals. They did the same for Hiroki Kuroda a couple of weeks ago, they seem pretty set in the pitching department. The Yankees head into the winter meetings looking for a catcher, right fielder and some bench help. 
Andy Pettitte was signed officially yesterday for one year and 12 million with performance based bonuses. Mariano Rivera officially signed tonight for one year and 10 million also with performance based bonuses. Kuroda had signed earlier in the off season for one year and 15 million. The Yankees did lose Russell Martin to the Pirates tonight though, he signed for two years and 17 million pending a physical. The Yankees apparently didn’t make him an offer as they said they weren’t going to match that offer. I want to make it clear that it wasn’t that they didn’t have the money, they just chose not to spend it on Martin. The Yankees I am sure have a plan for catcher. I would trust Cashman and company more then some of the fans do. I do think he was a very good catcher but he did hit 211 last year so let’s not act like it is the end of the world.

The Yankees right now though have Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart as their catchers with Austin Romine in the minors about to get a good luck. I don’t think the Yankees will sign any of the free agents such as Mike Napoli and A.J. Pierzynski. I think if anything the Yankees will make a trade for a catcher, maybe they will just go with what they have, say play good defense and don’t worry about the hitting. They may figure that these guys can’t really do worse then 211, they will lose a lot of power though.

The Yankees most likely will resign Ichiro Suzuki to a one year deal to be their right fielder and I am all for it. They are going to lose Nick Swisher along with Martin though and that is a lot of power gone from the team. The Yankees may have a whole new offensive strategy though which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I am all for Ichiro, Gardner, Nunez and one of those catchers playing. They can use speed, more bunts and hit and run and manufacture runs. When it comes to the playoffs that is how you score runs and the Yankees won’t have to wait for the homerun and more often then not fail because of that.

In other baseball news the Minnesota Twins traded Denard Span to the Washington Nationals for minor league right handed pitcher Alex Meyer. It was a good move for the Nationals as they have a legitimate leadoff hitter now and he will play good defense also. Bryce Harper can now shit to left field where he is better served.

There are some other rumors going around such as the Dodgers being the favorites to sign Zack Greinke. The winter meetings will begin next week and I am sure we will get a lot of action and really start to see how things are going to line up for next year. Will the Yankees have a new catcher and right fielder by the end of the meetings, will they sign some spare parts?? Will the Yankees make a big move such as signing Josh Hamilton?? I would doubt them making a big move but you never know.

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