News and notes on a Wednesday: Soriano, Pettitte, Jones, Damon, Pavano and Joba

By On January 19, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In Uncategorized

Though nothing official has happened outside of the signing, there has been a flurry of Yankee-related information and rumors in the aftermath of the Soriano presser, so here’s a quick rundown:

- This seems to have flown relatively under the radar, but has apparently started working out again. This has to be considered good news — while we’d obviously all much prefer Pettitte start the season from the beginning, even if Andy ends up deciding he doesn’t want to pitch the full year, if the Yankees can get him on a pro-rated deal that starts sometime in May or June it will still be better than no Andy at all.

- Multiple reports suggest the Yankees are close to agreeing to a deal with as a bench piece/fourth outfielder. With the way this offseason has gone I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees wound up vastly overpaying, but as previously noted, I do approve of a Jones deal. There are also reports that the Yankees haven’t closed the door on a reunion with . However, given the need for a righty bat I just don’t see a place for Johnny, though I wouldn’t be opposed to adding Damon to the bench were he willing to accept a part-time role at a discounted rate.

- It turns out Brian Cashman was actually in pretty deep negotiations with everyone’s favorite ex-Yankee, . As unfortunately awful as Pavano’s tenure wound up being, I don’t blame Cash for looking into reacquiring the best remaining pitcher on the market. I don’t care that Pavano was a disaster from 2005-2008, all I care about is what he can do going forward, and his numbers from the last two seasons suggest that he’d be a considerable upgrade over what the Yankees potentially have slated in the #4 and #5 slots in their rotation.

- Cashman also confirmed what we all suspected, admitting that he was not interested in bringing Soriano aboard, but that ownership insisted and he was not going to stand in the way. I still find this somewhat troubling, and coupled with the fact that Cash insisted for the 80,000th time that ‘s rightful place is in the bullpen, am beginning to grow a bit agitated with some of the team’s behind-the-scenes machinations. While I have historically been incredibly supportive of the decisions the front office makes, I cannot for the life of me fathom why Joba is not being given another opportunity to start — per a discussion I had with several folks on Twitter this morning, the only logical conclusion to be drawn is that the team is convinced his shoulder is a ticking time bomb, but if that were the case it would be great if the team were at least forthright with this information; otherwise it just makes the baseball operations people look completely irresponsible. And if Joba is indeed damaged goods, then the team — which has seemingly screwed Joba’s development up considerably — is that much more culpable, and as , it doesn’t bode well for future prospect development.

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0 Responses to News and notes on a Wednesday: Soriano, Pettitte, Jones, Damon, Pavano and Joba

  1. Davey says:
    January 19, 2011 at 4:23 pm

    NO NO NO thank God they didn't sign Pavano. How could you even approve of conversations with arguably the most infamous Yankee of all time???

    Reply
  2. Larry Koestler says:
    January 19, 2011 at 4:36 pm

    Because I believe it's the GM's job to do whatever he can to make his team better. Just because the Pavano contract was a disaster does not automatically mean that a second stint in pinstripes will also be a disaster.

    He's been quite good since leaving the Yankees and the Yankees have two huge question marks in the back end. Would you rather have Sergio Mitre or Carl Pavano as your fifth starter? It's a moot point since Pavano's re-signing with the Twins, but if you look at it as Pavano replacing Mitre, it's really not that bad.

    Reply
  3. Davey says:
    January 19, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    MITRE MITRE MITRE a thousand times Mitre. I'd rather have Jose Canseco take the Hill or Wade Boggs and his knuckleball. Pavano screwed us time and time and time again. Yes, he had a couple of ok years after leaving the Yanks but that just makes it worse. They day after they re-signed him, he'd re-bruise his butt or get a paper cut or sneeze and be out for the season. He was arguably the worst signing in the team's history and I absolutely never want to hear his name again. I'd rather give Kei Igawa a shot at the fifth starter position. I HATE PAVANO. Thank you, Twins, for ensuring that this nightmare scenario never had a chance to take place. Enjoy continuing to have the wimpiest, lamest, most worthless pitcher in MLB history on your roster.

    Reply
  4. Mike Jaggers-Radolf says:
    January 19, 2011 at 5:02 pm

    Davey, is it safe to say that you feel strongly about Carl Pavano?

    Lar, for the record I agree with you. I think Cashman would have to tread lightly with Pavano, but if he's the best pitcher on the market it is encumbent upon a responsible GM to speak with him, even if ultimately there won't be a fit.

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says:
    January 19, 2011 at 6:32 pm

    I couldn't disagree more strongly, Mike. But I must say that it's spirited debate like this that keeps me coming back to Yankeeist every day.

    Reply
  6. Mike Jaggers-Radolf says:
    January 19, 2011 at 10:13 pm

    We certainly hope to welcome a diversity of views. And Carl Pavano is about as divisive a subject as there is in Yankee-land.

    Reply
  7. Wayne says:
    January 20, 2011 at 2:27 am

    Hey, Larry,

    It's a moot point now, it seems, but I agree with you that the Yankees had to at least talk with Pavano about returning to the Yankees for one year.

    I understand the anger directed at Pavano by Yankee fans — hell, I've been furious at him for years now, too — but, as you wrote, he 'd be a vast improvement over Mitre. My skin crawls at the thought of watching a dozen or two Mitre starts this year! Ugh!

    I agree that Andruw "My mother no spell so good" Jones is probably our best option for a fourth outfielder at this point. He has power, hits lefties very well (which we need), can play all three outfield positions, and he's a decent stopgap solution should one of our outfielders go down with an injury.

    I'm not thrilled about a Damon reunion. Nothing against the guy personally, other than the fact he's lousy defensively, throws like a girl, and he's a lefty hitter, which we don't need.

    What we do need is a better reserve infielder than Pena. It's painful watching him futilely flail at pitch after pitch; he's the first MLB hitter I've ever seen who has rosin-bag power.

    I wish Laird was a better and more versatile infielder. I saw him play for the Trenton Thunder, and I liked his bat a lot, but he's a bit of an abomination in the infield. (He only had a couple of chances in the two or three games I saw him play, and he handled all of those chances, but I believe he had a ton of errors at third.)

    I understand the Yankees are trying to groom Laird as an outfielder to increase his versatility. I hope he can cut it in the outfield. I think he could be a nice fourth outfielder and emergency infielder in the future. There's even a chance he could be a full-time corner outfielder some day, either here or somewhere, if he continues to mature as a hitter. He certainly had an impressive year last year with the bat.

    Larry, what's your read on Laird's potential? And do you have any idea what the Yankees' projection is for Laird after last season?

    Laird's one of only four hitters I've seen in Trenton who has enough bat to be a factor at the MLB level. The others were Tabata (sorry to see him go), Romine, and some guy who's hopefully going to walk across the Hudson River to Yankee Stadium each day (not that I want to put any unreasonable expectations on him).

    Reply
  8. Larry Koestler says:
    January 20, 2011 at 8:38 am

    Hi Wayne,

    I appreciate you asking for my read on Laird, although truthfully you probably know more about him than I do, as someone who's actually seen him play. The best I can do is interpret the numbers and scouting reports I've read.

    I was about to launch into some analysis here, but then I realized that I may as well just do a post on him, so thanks for yet another post idea, Wayne!

    Reply
  9. Wayne says:
    January 20, 2011 at 2:04 pm

    Thanks, Larry, I'll look forward to a piece on Laird. I think he has some real potential as a MLB hitter, the only question being, can he field well enough to play on a regular or semi-regular basis.

    I'll be interested in reading how the Yankees or baseball analysts/scouts feel he did defensively this past fall in Arizona, where he played outfield (if I'm not mistaken).

    Reply
  10. Jamie says:
    January 20, 2011 at 2:40 pm

    Hi Larry,

    Assuming Andruw Jones signs as the fifth outfielder, did you mean Damon could provide depth as a 5th outfielder/pinch runner kinda role? Would that be a 1 yr/$1 mil kind of deal?

    I think that's exactly how the Yankees should use Andy, if he chooses to come back – there is no reason to pitch a valuable (although fragile) starter in April when you only need a fifth starter once or twice.

    ~jamie

    Reply
  11. Larry Koestler says:
    January 20, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    Hey Jamie,

    Ha, I guess that's what I meant, although when you put it that way it does seem like overkill to have Damon and Jones. Damon as a 5th outfielder would be kind of hilarious. I'd imagine the only way the Yanks and Damon reunite is if the team can't come to an agreement with Jones.

    SG at RLYW did a fantastic post looking at how the Yankee offense would fare depending on if they were to sign Jones, Damon, Manny or Scott Hairston. I'd highly recommend checking it out.

    Reply

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