WHY THE YANKEES NEED THE HUNGER AGAIN

It’s the off-season early for the New York Yankees and all of us Yankee fans are walking around aimlessly with nothing to do. Yes, we could watch the postseason without the Yankees, and yes, I’ve told you numerous times that if baseball is on, I watch, no matter who’s playing.

But let’s face it, this is October and the Yankees aren’t playing, and I don't want to watch. I want to scream like Mark Wahlberg in the Other Guys, I cannot take it. Sometimes I feel like the more we try to do things right, the more we screw them up. The Yankees need that hunger back and the fans are craving it.

The Yankees looked like scrubs out there as I reflect on the ALDS, with the exception of Jorge Posada and Brett Gardner and even Derek Jeter to some extent. Where was the hunger? Where were the bats? I firmly believe that hot teams move forward and it all has to do with momentum. I don't necessarily believe great teams win it all. I think great teams need to be hot to win it all. The Yankees were great with 97 wins going into the ALDS, but they weren't great and hot, plain and simple. Now all we’re doing is sitting in front of our computers, looking at Twitter and bitching at each other.

I long for the days when Steinbrenner would put out a press release, thanking the Yankee fans for their support and apologizing for failing to win it all. Then, weeks later, we’d go out and find the top free agent out there and all would be well in Yankeeland again, we would forget, just for the moment, that we blew it.

Time is running out for some of our icons. Yes, Jorge Posada was close to possibly getting a 5^th ring, but we fell short. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are close to retirement; wouldn’t it be nice to get one for championship before they sail into the sunset? It would, for all of us.The pitching rotation will be a priority again this year, just like it is every year and while Cashman preached patience and picked up Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia and had lightening in a bottle, that charade won’t work this winter; fans get impatient, Yankee Brass gets impatient and I expect a big splash. Yes, Cashman needs to agree to a deal, but once that is done, CC Sabathia is next and then after what, who? I'm a fan of Mark Buehrle and I would love to get him, but who else? CJ Wilson? Matt Cain? Yu Darvish? Felix Hernandez?

Look, Felix is my top name after CC Sabathia. I’m not too big on “Pretty Boy” Wilson because I hate his pompous attitude. I’m also not sold on him. Matt Cain, yeah, he good, but we need him to be great. Yu Darvish…we’ve been through that Japanese pitching thing before. Felix Hernandez is the guy and if that means waiting until he’s a free agent, so be it; If it means being creative with you we unload for him, so be it. I have no desire to trade off someone like Jesus Montero for the King. After seeing him hit, it reminded me a hell of a lot like Miguel Cabrera. I can’t part with the guy.

Something needs to be done about Nick Swisher, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira. Look, no doubt they are pissed that they didn’t deliver and they looked foolish in the ALDS, but let’s face it, they always do. 2009 is long gone, these guys get paid a fortune to perform, bottom line and October is the biggest show on earth, and they need to show up. They didn’t and it’s pathetic. If I’m the Yankees, I pick up Swisher’s option and I’m bringing in a bright young outfielder this spring and have him compete for Swisher’s job. Light a fire under Nick’s ass and let him know, no job is safe.

Alex is Alex and he’s owed a ton of money. You can’t eat his contract and you can’t trade him and the Yankees won’t, they want him to hit 700 and they want him the break the home run record in pinstripes... he’s not going anywhere. I also believe ARod wasn’t healthy and while nerves were a factor in the ALDS, he’s not better yet because of injury. Hopefully a long winter’s nap will heal this guy and in Spring 2012, he’ll be back.

Mark Teixeira seems to shrivel up at the wrong time...October. Not sure what happened to this guy. He’s a great hitter…when he hits, and I would never suggest we cut Tex lose for someone better, because; let’s face it, who’s better? Tex is one of the best defensive first basemen we’ve ever had; he just needs to get his swing tweaked by the King of Swing…Kevin Long. Maybe the pressure gets to Tex, who knows, but something‘s got to happen.

The Yankees hunger is gone while the hunger by the fans grows. We need something drastic, a shakeup… so we can stand up and say, “The Yankees put the best on the field and we will return to win it all.” Because, let’s face it, 1 championship in 11 years is not a dynasty, it’s average.

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THE STATE OF THE YANKEES PITCHING

First, let me give you alittle Yankee pitching news. 3 names have moved on according to LoHud, read it HERE.

Aaron Laffey was apparently claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Royals. Scott Proctor elected free agency as did Raul Valdes.

Now, for other important stuff coming out of Yankeeland. The next logical target for the Yankees as far as starting pitching is concerned is the Rangers lefthander CJ Wilson in my opinion. Yes, the 2011 rotation did much better than anyone anticipated, but there is definitely a need for improvement, so why not “Pretty Boy” Wilson, as Casey calls him? CJ Wilson has improved on his 2010 breakout year, proving more than capable as the ace of the Rangers staff. He finished the season with a 2.94 ERA, 206 strikeouts (8.3 K/9), and a career high 223.1 innings pitched.

Adding Wilson behind CC, assuming CC Sabathia returns, would certainly give the Yankees the most dominant pair of lefties in the game, which could prove to be a valuable commodity when facing the lefty laden lineups of Boston (who despite collapsing, is still an excellent offensive team) and the Rangers. That said, I don’t see the Rangers letting CJ get away. Don’t forget, the Rangers lost out on the Cliff Lee sweepstakes too and have plenty of money sitting around to make sure he stays. Losing their ace in back to back off-seasons would be a PR nightmare, especially given the current free agent market. Sure, the Rangers could abandon CJ and make a run at Yu Darvish, but should they fail in that pursuit, they’re left with a staff led by… Derek Holland and Colby Lewis. And, could Neftali Feliz truly succeed in a starting role with only two pitches? As much as I’d like to have CJ Wilson, I don’t see him going anywhere. He seems to love playing in Texas and the fans love him back. Additionally, I don’t see how a 31 year old with all of 2 years experience starting in a division with the Athletics, Mariners, and Angels is a sure thing to perform in the AL East. If Yu Darvish doesn’t work out (Read WHY I’LL CONVINCE YOU ON YU), I’d go for CJ.

Clearly, Manny Banuelos is another lefty that could prove reliable and dominant for the Yankees, very possibly in 2012. And speaking of Banuelos, what do we do with those other B’s? If their performance in AAA is any indication of how they’ll look at the beginning of next year, Betances and Banuelos should be given a chance to make the rotation out of Spring Training and boot Phil Hughes to the bullpen, but more than likely they need to be sent back to Scranton Wilkes-Barre (or I guess Rochester seeing as they’ll playing most of their “home” games there next season) and given their chance to dominate.

As for Andrew Brackman, I say he should be in the bullpen on Opening Day 2012, ready to work late innings. He proved last season that he has huge flaws as a starter, but towards the end of the season, he was an utterly dominant setup man for the Yanks’ AAA affiliate. His fastball + power-curve combo works fantastically out of the bullpen, and adding him into a bullpen with Joba Chamberlain, Rafael Soriano, David Robertson, and Mariano Rivera would pretty much a guarantee that the Yankees have the best bullpen in baseball for the second year in a row.
If all went according to my plan, we’d have a rotation resembling Sabathia, Darvish, Ivan Nova, Phi Hughes, AJ Burnett for Opening Day, and as the season progresses, I believe Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances could both try their hardest to beat out the latter three. That’s a damn nice 1-2-3, and if Hughes maintains the form he displayed in the end of the season, he’ll be one of the better 4th starters in the game.

Finally, an important part to all of this is an extra lefty in the Yankees bullpen. Casey has been ranting about the need for an extra one in the pen, and he’s right. Boone Logan is a fine relief pitcher, but a lefty specialist he is not. We were all set for Pedro Feliciano to be our hero, but his entire career may be in jeopardy, so forget about depending on him in 2012. Damaso Marte was never any good, except of course the 2009 postseason, but let’s face it, that was 2009. I’m not sure who’s out there, but it has to be done.

Look, at the end of the day, I have a plan, it may not be perfect or realistic to some, but in my opinion, I think it could work. Do you agree, maybe disagree? You can comment… let me know what you would do.

--Grant Cederquist, BYB Staff Writer



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WHY I'LL CONVINCE YOU ON YU

Earlier this year, I wrote a piece on Japanese phenom Yu Darvish titled WHY YU COULD BE THE ANSWER. I know... we’ve all heard this story before: a studly Japanese pitcher dominates in Japan, impresses in the World Baseball Classic, gets a massive contract in the US, then he turns out to be a dud on the Major League stage. I’ve hear a lot of people calling Darvish "Dice-K 2.0", but a quick look at his numbers shows that this could not be more wrong. The following are the NPB career ERAs for each of the two pitchers.

(In Photo: Daisuke Matsuzaka)

• Daisuke Matsuzaka: 2.95 ERA
• Yu Darvish: 2.01 ERA
  

Their career ERAs are separated by 0.94, nearly a whole run per 9 innings. Trying to compare Dice-K’s success to Darvish’s would be on the same level as saying that Jaime Garcia’s 2011 season (3.56 ERA) is essentially the same as Justin Verlander’s (2.40 ERA). To be frank, it’s not even a close comparison.

Even Matsuzaka’s best season in which he posted a 2.13 ERA doesn’t match up with Darvish’s career average. Similarly, the only time in his career in which Darvish posted an ERA over Matsuzaka’s career 2.95 was his rookie year. The only other time he came close to the average again was his 2.89 in his sophomore season. Since then, he has made NPB hitters look helpless, recording 5 straight seasons with an ERA under 2. If I haven’t made my point, just take a brief look at his 2011 season numbers, his best to date:

1.49 ERA, 17-6, 223 IP, 27 starts (averaging just under 8.1 IP/G), 10.53 K/9, 1.41 BB/9, 9 complete games, 5 shutouts, 7.46 K/BB

Dominant, durable, and only 25. Proof of being able to pitch in the MLB be damned, Darvish is arguably the greatest pitcher we have ever seen come out of Japan, and he is reportedly open to pitching on short rest and is not nearly as anal about routines as Dice-K is. Some consider it a gamble, but when is bringing a new player to the Bronx not a gamble? I say pay the absurd $60 million posting fee and sign him to a 6 year, $55 million contract. Who knows, maybe he won’t turn out to be Kei Igawa.

(In Photo: Kei Igawa)

Even if playing in the MLB causes his ERA to go from 1.49 to 2.98, less than $20 million per year would be a steal when CC Sabathia is getting paid nearly a quarter of a million. Darvish is no Matsuzaka, no Hideki Irabu, and sure as hell no Kei Igawa. In my opinion, after getting everything done with CC and Cashman, Darvish should be the Yankees’ #1 target this offseason.

--Grant Cederquist, BYB Staff Writer



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WHY YU COULD BE THE ANSWER

As I’ve said countless times, the Yankees have been skating by with a hodge podge rotation and frankly we’re lucky that it has held together to this point. The other day Bartolo Colon reminded us again why he’s more than a serviceable #2 pitcher with a dominant 7.0 IP, 2 ER outing against the Athletics. Freddy Garcia has posted some unexpected great numbers, despite his peripherals and FIP being almost identical to those he had last year.However, the fact that either of the two have made it to this point can be considered nothing short of a miracle, and if they can make it all the way through the season and perform well in the post-season it will be even more of a miracle. With the fact that we have been lucky, let me ask you this: What are we going to do next year? Maybe Colon continues throwing darts and maybe Freddy keeps getting lucky. But who’s to say they even stay with the Yankees if they’re still healthy? I’m not going to even get started on the question marks. I think I’ve made my point. Next year’s rotation is going to need a big addition. So who?Well C.J. Wilson is an option, but we can’t place all of our hopes in a converted reliever with 1.5 successful seasons under his belt, especially since we can’t guarantee we will sign him. There are the Killer B’s, Banuelos and Betances (sorry Brackman, get your ERA under 7 and we’ll talk…), but both have had troublesome command issues this season. There’s no reason to panic and give up on them, it’s just part of their development, but it shows that they are not ready to carry a rotation and there is no guarantee that both can perform exceptionally at the Major League level.

And as everyone, including myself, has suggested we could put together a package for Ubaldo Jimenez who would help for a few years, but the price is even higher than I predicted (they’re asking for Montero, Banuelos, Betances, and Nova) and it would ultimately be a deal we’d regret.

And then there’s Yu Darvish: 2x NPB MVP, 2x NPB ERA leader, 2x strikeout leader, and indisputable best pitcher in all of Japan.

Yu Darvish will be a hot commodity if he is auctioned off to the highest bidder, which is very likely for the 6’5” right hander. Through just over 5 years in the NPB, he has compiled a 75-32 to go with a 2.12 ERA. Since 2007, he has not recorded an ERA over 2.00 (2007-2010 ERA is 1.81), his WHIP has been under 1 in all but one season (2010), his BB/9 has been at worst an excellent 2.2, and his K/9 is consistently over or just under 9. He has pitched over 200 innings in every one of those seasons except 2009, and has pitched an absurd 40 complete games from 2007-2010. Mind you the Japanese season is shorter, so he’s had only 98 starts…and 9 of those were shutouts…. Wow.

If you need any more convincing, he’s having a career year with a 1.44 ERA and a 13-2 record (stats subject to inaccuracy, they’re difficult to find). He’s only 24 years old, and about to enter the 27-31 year age prime that is typical of ball players. He’s the Felix Hernandez of Japan.

Numbers only mean so much, so here’s a video to show you just what he can do:



Now to explain what he’s doing: Darvish has a mind blowing arsenal of 7 pitches, all of them nasty. He has a 4 seam fastball that sits from 91-94 and tops out at 97 (hit 100 once), a 2-seam/shuuto with heavy movement, a changeup, a splitter, a slurve, a curveball, and a cutter. Unlike many Japanese pitchers he does not have a particularly violent pitching motion, so health isn’t a huge concern.

Needless to say, if Darvish is available to MLB teams, every team in the league with any room on their payroll is going to be all over him. However at the risk of sounding entitled: we’re the New York Yankees, when it’s a bidding war, we get it if we want it. One could point out how we failed to sign Cliff Lee last offseason, but that wasn’t a bidding war, it was the man’s preference. Trying to get a player from Japan is essentially nothing more than a rich man’s auction, everyone interested gives their highest bid and if they win, they win. Kei Igawa’s horrific contract expires after this season ($4 million), Jorge will likely retire ($13 million), and we failed to sign Cliff Lee ($23 million-$14 million for Soriano=$9 million). That’s $26 million open on the payroll, not to mention the Steinbrenner’s can always dig deeper in their pockets. The Yanks have a lot of money clearing off the payroll next offseason, and they will undoubtedly have the money to win the bidding war for Yu Darvish and sign him to a big contract.

The Yankees are the clear frontrunners in the Darvish sweepstakes, but there are a few reasons we could fail to even get him. First off, the failure of Kei Igawa may leave a bad taste in the organization’s mouth. It’s safe to say that Igawa is no Darvish though, even before coming to the U.S. he was clearly declining and the Yankees signed him as nothing more than a response to the Red Sox winning the Matsuzaka bidding war. Second, there’s never a guarantee that a Japanese player will sign with us, even if we win the “auction.” Personally, I think we have a better chance of getting him than not getting him if he becomes available prior to the 2012 season. In yet another off-season which lacks big name free agent starting pitchers, Yu Darvish could be just the deadly arm the Yankees are looking for.




--Grant Cederquist, BYB Staff Writer



--Jeana Bellezza, BYB Associate Editor



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