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



Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

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



Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

WHY THE YANKEES DID 9-11 JUSTICE

On the way to today's game, I actually couldn't think of anything other than how excited I was to be seeing Jesus Montero catch for the first time in his big league career. For a little while, I totally forgot what day it was.

You may have noticed that of all the regular writers here, I'm the only one who has not put up a 9/11 piece. I wanted to wait until now. I was younger and I don't remember much. I do remember my dad who worked about 30 blocks from the World Trade Center and I called to make sure he was OK. Thank God he was.

But I wanted to write my post today because there were a combination of things happening. Today wasn't just a baseball game, it was symbolic of rebirth. The Yankees snapped a 4 game losing streak, plus, I got to see both Jesus Montero and Austin Romine's first time behind the plate in the Bigs, and the Yankees just snapped back into form. There wasn't a much better day to do it on than 9-11, a day when America changed and was reborn itself. Initially, that rebirth manifested itself as fear, but soon we grew stronger as a Nation. People can say whatever they want about these tragic events, and on the surface, it may appear that it tore the Nation apart, but everyone became more patriotic that day and I feel we're closer than ever.Now, I'm not trying to say a Yankees' losing streak is similar to one of the worst disasters in the history of mankind, no. What I'm saying is it really felt good seeing the Yankees come together, regrouping and jumping back to life just in time to honor 9-11, it was almost symbolic. Perhaps it serves as just a tiny reminder that we can all recover from struggles, whether it's in baseball or in life.
Today's recap goes like this. The Yankees dug themselves into an early hole when Freddy Garcia served up a 2 run-homer to Howie Kendrick in the 1st with none out, but Robbie Cano and Eric Chavez pieced together a run to bring them within one with a pair of singles and a wild pitch in between.

The Yankees coughed that run right back up when Freddy threw a wild pitch by Montero, who predictably had trouble blocking Freddy's splitter, scoring Bobby Wilson. Freddy did a good job of working out of a 2nd and 3rd, 1 out jam to limit the damage, and given the final result, it turned out to be a huge escape.After Tex struck out, Cano drilled a solo shot into right field, one that didn't even seem like it was going to make it to the track off the bat. That brought the deficit down to 1. The Yankees loaded the bases with 2 outs for Brett Gardner, but he couldn't capitalize and the inning ended with no further damage.Peter Bourjos opened the game up to 5-2 Angels with a 2-run shot into left field, but the Grandy Man fired right back with his own 2-run blast, driving in Derek Jeter, to make the game 5-4.

Freddy then proceeded to give me a heart attack by loading the bases with one out, but he masterfully got Mark Trumbo to pop up and Callaspo did the rest for the Yanks by grounding out.

After a pair of 1-2-3 innings for each team, the Yankees jumped into action with back to back singles by Gardner and Jeter. The Angels brought in Scott Downs, who struck out Curtis Granderson, and then Mark Teixeira lifted a sac fly into center field which I assumed would have tied the game... but that's when Peter Bourjos made perhaps the most pathetic fielding error I have ever seen. He seriously closed his glove before the ball was even there and it just bounced off. I've seen guys lose balls in the sun or the Tropicana Field dome and I see guys misplay line drives all the time, but I have never seen a guy camp under a ball and just close his glove right in front of it. This actually gave the Yankees a 6-5 lead, which Rafael Soriano and David Robertson held onto for Mo, who recorded his 599th career save and his 40th of the season. Man, I was so close to seeing 600, it would have been sweet.

A few additional highlights:

• Montero played behind the dish for the first time today, and threw out his first attempted base stealer with a bullet to Cano. He went 0 for 3 with an intentional walk. While Montero didn't dazzle, he has already built up a big enough reputation to get walked intentionally.

• Austin Romine replaced Montero in the 7th inning and guided Soriano, Robertson, and Mo through three shutout innings. He allowed one stolen base when Torii Hunter stupidly walked right in front of him as he was trying to throw out Bobby Abreu, which the umpire failed to acknowledge.

• Granderson is now one homer short of the 40 home run milestone, and Cano is at 25, looking to make a run at 30. Granderson also brought his RBI total to 111. He may be hurting his MVP case with his slump lately, but if he can get his average back to .270 and his OPS back to about .950, he'll be hard to vote against. Just needs a few great nights.

• Jeter upped his average to .297 with a 2 for 5 day. In other news, the media remains silent on anything and everything related to Jeter as he continues to tear it up.

• Cory Wade took the win today, bringing his season record with the Yankees to 5-0. What a gift he's been.

• Freddy wasn't sharp at all (5.0 IP, 5 ER), but as he always does, he made sure things didn't get out of hand and kept the game within reach. Gotta love a veteran.

• David Robertson lowered his season ERA to 1.19 and continues to earn the title of best relief pitcher in baseball this year, even better than Mo. It'd be a shame if DRob didn't get a few votes for the Cy Young Award. Justin Verlander has certainly earned the award so I'm not saying to give it to him, but the kid has had a better statistical season than Mariano ever had (outside BB/9). Let that process for a moment...

• The Rays completed a 3 game sweep of the Red Sox, closing the Red Sox' wild card lead to 3.5 and increasing the Yankees' lead to 3.5. Can you say “September choke”? I can.

Final Score: Yankees 6 - Angels 5

Just a perfect day of Yankees baseball with the assistance of one horrible error. Got to see a couple of potential legends in the making catching for the first time (Trust me, I'll be telling this story in a few decades) and watched Mariano's march to the Saves record. They couldn't have possibly done a better job of lifting our spirits on this sad day.

--Grant Cederquist, BYB Staff Writer



Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

WHY DELLIN BETANCES IS A YANKEE BRIGHT SPOT

Everyone loves a homegrown player. There's something about the Jeters and Marianos of the world that just endear themselves to their adoring fans. Well for Yankees fans, at least part of it is the feeling of being able to watch them come through in the clutch, say "SEE! SEE! We don't pay for all our good players!" and smile smugly in the face of your Mets fan friend (Who is most likely imaginary, I mean, a Mets fan? Come on.) More generally, it's knowing that the young man has never known another team and that he journeyed all the way from the Rk leagues to make the big leagues.



There's no denying it, homegrown players are the closest to the fans' hearts. But how often do you get a chance to look at a player and say that he's literally playing right at home?Dellin Betances took one huge step towards becoming that guy, the hometown hero, last Thursday when he made his AAA debut. It was no easy task facing the IL 1st place Durham Bulls, and early on it looked like Betances would fold under the pressure. However, he settled down to put together a phenomenal start. As is usual with young pitchers, the numbers don't tell the whole story. Nevertheless, here they are: 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 8 K, 0 BB



Two numbers immediately jump out from that line. The 8 strikeouts and 0 walks. Dellin has had command issues all year long. For a while I suspected he needed to pitch to contact a bit more, but apparently I know nothing. In Dellin's last 3 starts, he's struck out a whopping 20 while walking only 2. Obviously a K/BB ratio of 10 isn't something you'd expect to last, not even with Mariano Rivera, but such a marked improvement over the rest of his season is a huge accomplishment, regardless of longevity. I always say his potential is somewhere between AJ Burnett and Felix Hernandez, but he's making a case for me to move that floor up a good bit.



After those two numbers, you probably noticed that he just managed to put together a quality start. However, as I said, the numbers don't tell the story at all, so here's a quick recap of his outing:



Betances immediately went on cruise control, retiring the side 1-2-3 in his first ever work in AAA. I think he got a bit too comfortable up there because come the 2nd inning he couldn't miss a bat. Dellin allowed 3 hits, scoring 2 runs for the Bulls before escaping further danger. The 3rd inning didn't start off much better, as a he yielded his 3rd run of the game on a Tim Beckham lead off home run. After getting the 1st out of the inning, he gave up a 1 out double to put himself in danger again. I'll be perfectly honest, I started making excuses like "Well, his stuff looks good, it's his first AAA start, Durham's a great team..." Dellin would have none of my BS.Betances quickly struck out 2010 IL MVP Dan Johnson and Russ Canzler to strand Stephen Vogt in scoring position. He would not allow another hit until a 2 out Canzler single in the 6th inning. At one point he retired 7 straight, a streak which would've been extended to 10 if not for Luis Nuñez's fielding error in the 4th.



Dellin got into a mini jam in the 6th, allowing back to back 2 out singles, one of which nailed him in the leg, but he got Daniel Mayora to strike out swinging to end his impressive AAA debut.



What I saw from the 3rd inning on was honestly one of the most impressive performances I've ever seen from a minor league pitcher. Nobody could touch him. His 95-96 fastball was popping Montero's glove, his biting curve ball was making hitters look foolish, and he even appeared to flash the occasional change-up. It was hard to get a detailed view of his pitches because of the absolutely awful lone camera angle displayed throughout the entire broadcast, but it didn't take much to see that after he gave up that early 3rd run, he was in control.



If Dellin can repeat Thursday's performance every 5 days for the rest of the season, I see no reason he won't be a front runner to land a spot in the rotation for 2012. Some scouting reports say he's still a bit of a thrower rather than a pitcher, similar to what Joba Chamberlain was initially like. However his declining walk totals and increasingly economic pitching tell me that he's really starting to harness his potential. With such rapid improvement, we may be getting our very own hometown hero soon. And unlike David Cone, he can't ditch his hometown team and go to the Yankees, he's already here!



On an interesting side note, Andrew Brackman relieved Betances in the 7th inning. Much to my surprise, he looked very, very good. His outing was spoiled by a 2 run homer in the 8th inning, but for the most part he looked completely in control. His season numbers still sit at an unspectacular, to say the least, 6.83, 2-6.

(In Photo: Andrew Brackman)

However, since being moved from long relief to short relief, Brackman's found much more success. In his last 10 games he has not had a decision, but has maintained a 4.13 ERA and perhaps most importantly held batters to a measly .152 average. Those numbers are even better excluding some long relief appearances, such as when he walked 9 batters in 3.1 innings on July 29th. Since the beginning of August, his ERA is 2.89. Look for a more in depth analysis in a retrospective Killer Bs update article coming later this week.







--Grant Cederquist, BYB Staff Writer

Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

WHY THE YANKEE KIDS ARE GROWING UP

There's no way to question it; Jesus Montero and Manny Banuelos are the future of the New York Yankees, and the day is coming when they'll no longer be top prospects, but instead rookies. Some have suggested that the two are looking at a starting spot for the 2012 season, but in light of recent events and rumors its looking like the future is today, if you'll excuse the cliché. Manny recently became the youngest player in Scranton Wilkes-Barre, and Jesus Montero's power surge and rising average (both of which I said would come around July-August, as usual with him.)

Manny made his first start since being promoted to the AAA level last Tuesday and reminded us all why he had the Yankees universe buzzing in the spring. He pitched in and out of danger against the Iron Pigs, displaying the advanced pitching arsenal and veteran-like understanding of sequences he's become known for. His final line was 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 8 K, 3 BB, 7 H. Looks pretty good, but even better is the fact that he would've had 9 or 10 strikeouts and only 1 walk if the umpire hadn't blatantly blown a few calls. But perhaps it's for the best that the umpire created a bit of adversity for Manny in his very 1st inning in AAA. After striking out the first batter he faced, Manny gave up a single to Pete Orr, and walked two straight on blown full count calls. A normal 20 year old kid would absolutely fold under such pressure, but Man-Ban is no ordinary 20 year old. He proceeded to strike Delwyn Young out swinging, and forced Erik Kratz to weakly pop out and strand the bases loaded.That was basically the story of the entire game, Manny kept guys out of scoring position, but when they managed to get there he'd strand them every time. The Iron Pigs were a pathetic 1 for 9 with RISP and left 10 men on. The first of the two Iron Pigs runs came off a monstrous Domonic Brown solo blast, and let me tell you if it takes arguably the best hitter in the Minor Leagues (he and Montero likely tie) to score off Baneulos, he's making huge strides. The second came with 2 outs and a man on second, when Pete Orr hit a deep fly ball which center fielder Greg Golson misplayed and allowed to drop for a triple. Frankly, he should have read it, caught it, and ended the inning, but instead he allowed the go ahead run to score and put a man on 3rd with Domonic Brown coming back up to the plate. Manny wasn't fazed at all, he got a ground ball right back to the mound which he casually took over to 1st to close out the inning. He got into a little trouble again in the 5th when with 2 outs he gave up two straight singles and moved up the runners with a wild pitch, but he instantly snapped back and got Cody Overbeck to strikeout swinging, and end his AAA debut.

Perhaps most importantly he threw an even 100 pitches, a sign that he's being stretched out and is ready to take the next step. It's not a great sign that it took 100 pitches to get through 5 innings, but if he gets those two strikeouts instead of seeing them turn into walks, and the defense makes a few plays that get covered almost every time at the major league level (such as a failed double play by Bernier and Golson's misread), he would've been closer to 80 and had enough gas to go an inning or two longer. With this in mind, I have to say it was quite an excellent first outing.
There's been talk of calling him up in a month to work out of the bullpen as a lefty specialist, not a LOOGY mind you, a full inning guy, through the pennant race and post-season. While some fans may moan and groan at the idea, seeing how bouncing Joba and Phil between the pen and rotation worked out, I'm in full support of it. People forget that pitchers have been broken in as relief pitchers for ages. For example, two time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana, a man many have compared Banuelos to, spent two full seasons hopping between the bullpen and rotation before becoming a mainstay. David Price too was broken in as a relief pitcher, and do you see him on the DL? No last I checked he's making some merchandise that says “I gave up DJ3K” with his signature, so clearly it didn't completely wreck his career. Hell Joba had health issues before he was even drafted, which is why he fell to us, so his issues should be no surprise. He isn't a disaster either, he was having a great season before undergoing what is these days a very routine surgery. Hughes was an 18 game winner, so obviously it didn't kill him, rather he's gone through what even Roy Halladay, who posted an ERA of 10.64 in his second year, has gone through: a major slump that causes him to change things and work hard. If his last start is any indication, he's going to throw like the All-Star he can be again, so I don't see how there's some huge issue with it. Manny may very well be introduced as a reliever, and I'll just be happy to see him up in the Bronx.
And how fitting that Montero was behind the dish to guide Manny through his first start. These are two battery mates we hope to be seeing for a while, so seeing them work together on Tuesday was like a glimpse into the not so distant future. Montero had a huge night himself, going 3 for 4 with a homer, which he followed up with a 1 for 3 1 BB performance last night. Jesus has really caught fire at the plate; in his last 10 games he's batting .342/.395/.632 (1.027 OPS) with 3 homers and 2 doubles. I know I've said it many times before, but now I can confidently say that Jesus is coming (pun intended, please excuse it). Look for a more expansive look at his numbers and his future role with the Yankees from me in the next day or two.

In the meantime, I found an excellent article by Donnie Collins from July 22nd HERE that I found to be one of the most insightful and level-headed articles on Montero around. Check it out.




--Grant Cederquist, BYB Staff Writer

Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

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



Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.