Bronx Baseball Daily » Bronx Baseball Daily, a New York Yankees blog

Yankees sign Eric Chavez to 1-year, $900K deal

Rob Abruzzese — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:32:26 +0000

Joe Girardi was a little premature, but the Yankees did eventually sign backup infielder Eric Chavez to a one-year major league deal worth worth $900K today, according to Jon Heyman and Ken Rosenthal.

Chavez is back to play the same role he served as last season, backup third baseman to Alex Rodriguez who might also see some time at first base and DH.

Chavez is certainly a big risk. The former MVP candidate has not played in more than 90 games since 2006 and played just 58 last year after he missed about half the season with a foot injury.

Not only did he barely play, but once he returned from the injury he lost most of his effectiveness. He had a .410 OBP and a .834 OPS in his first 17 games, but had a .294 OBP and a .633 OPS in his final 41 games. The Yankees are signing him in hopes that he can finally stay healthy and put up the numbers he posted in April last season over the long haul.

The Yankees do have Bill Hall, whom they signed to a minor league deal, but this pretty much takes his roster spot away. He isn’t impressive either, but hopefully he’ll spend some time in the minor leagues to start the season while he waits for the almost inevitable injury Chavez will suffer.

The Yankees 40-man roster is currently filled, but they can easily make room for Chavez now that spring training has started by placing Pedro Feliciano on the 60-day DL.

Not so fast: Girardi talking like Chavez already signed

Rob Abruzzese — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:18:07 +0000

All offseason it has seemed as if it has almost been a forgone conclusion that Eric Chavez would be back in the Bronx this year. However, it is late February and he still hasn’t signed.

That hasn’t stopped Yankees manager Joe Girardi from planning for having him on the team this year.

“If you wanted to DH Tex, you could move Swish to first if you wanted,” Girardi told reporters. “Or you could put Chavez at first.”

He then backtracked, “If he shows up. We don’t have him, but there’s been talk about that we might get him. That’s not official. We’ve had discussions with him. But I don’t know if he’s going to be a part of our club. I’d like to have him back. I thought he was productive for us, and he gives me flexibility.”

The Yankees have been discussing a one-year major league deal in the $1 million range, but have given mixed signals as far as if a deal will actually happen. First of all, they signed Bill Hall, who can pretty much serve in the same role. They also said that they might not have enough to sign both Chavez and Raul Ibanez, whose signing was made official today.

But Girardi gave us a pretty big hint that Chavez will indeed be back this season. It’s probably only a matter of time and will likely happen before position players have to be in camp this week.

Yankees make Ibanez signing official

Rob Abruzzese — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:04:10 +0000

The Yankees officially have their next DH as they announced this morning that Raul Ibanez‘s one-year $1.1 million deal is done. There is no need to make room on the 40-man roster for him as there was an empty space following the A.J. Burnett deal.

Ibanez will be the team’s primary DH, but he probably won’t see much time at all against lefties. Instead the Yankees will probably use Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter or Andruw Jones at the spot.

It’s hard to like this Ibanez deal with the way he played last season, but he supposedly worked hard to improve this offseason and could have some more success aiming at the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium. The fact that he’s signed for such little money is good too because it gives the Yankees the flexibility to go out and get a replacement for him easily if he’s not carrying his weight.

Johnny Damon seemed to have been the only other option they seriously considered, but he lost out on the job because he wanted $5 million to play. Not sure where he’ll find work now, but it would be sad to see him fall short of 3,000 hits because he was greedy.

Yankees discussed a 3-year extension with Russell Martin

Rob Abruzzese — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:42:55 +0000

At the end of last season, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman made it obvious that he is a fan of Russell Martin, calling him Thurman Munson-like. So it shouldn’t come as much of shock to hear that the Yankees briefly talked about a three-year extension with the catcher.

“My agent and the Yankees talked a little bit about an extension,” Martin told Chad Jennings of the Journal News. “Including this year, they were talking about three years. That’s where the conversation ended. They didn’t really throw any numbers out there. Well, they did, but I’m not going to throw them out there.”

The Yankees and Martin eventually agreed on a one-year $7.5 million deal in his final year of arbitration eligibility. With Jesus Montero headed to Seattle it seems like a multi-year deal isn’t a bad idea. I think at this point though, with Austin Romine just a year away from being ready, it makes sense to float an idea to him and if he doesn’t take it to sit back and wait and see how Romine progresses. That probably explains their lack of aggressiveness at least.

AJ claims too much tinkering and Martin agrees

Rob Abruzzese — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:55:24 +0000

How did the Yankees go from paying A.J. Burnett $82.5 million to paying $20 million just so he would go pitch for somebody else? A.J. thinks it might be too much tinkering from the coaching staff.

“I let a few too many people tinker with me, maybe,” Burnett told the AP. “When you let that happen, you start doubting yourself sometimes. You wonder, ‘Am I doing it right? Is this how it’s supposed to feel?’ and things like that. In ’09, nobody messed with me. I was able to do what I wanted to do on the mound, whether it was turn around, close my eyes and pitch upside down. Then you have a few bad games and you start changing and listening.”

One of the people on the Yankees who probably knew him best, catcher Russell Martin agreed with his comments.

“Exactly,” Martin said. “A big part of getting better is knowing what information to retain and knowing what information to block out. The best way to do it is, when you’re working on something, work on something specific, work on that well and make it muscle memory. Once you get that going, you can move on to something else. If you’re trying to tinker with eight things at the same time, you’re not going to get any progress.”

Martin also went on to say that a big part of Burnett’s problems were from head games.

“I think sometimes he would let negative thoughts get into his mind and they would affect him a little bit,” Martin said. “It wasn’t the fact that he didn’t care or anything; he probably cared more than anybody. He’s just very hard on himself and sometimes over-critical, and when you do that, sometimes you just go the wrong way. Instead of just simplifying the game, he would listen to everybody trying to help him out, and when you do that, it becomes chaotic. I think that’s what was happening in his mind.”

Burnett wasn’t responding to Martin, but he did say, “I think I put more pressure on myself to get out of it than anything.”

It’s hard to say how much of it was too much tinkering or how much was just in his head. It is probably a combination of both. However, there is a good chance that Burnett sees an improvement in his results this year. Not only is he moving to the National League and into a bigger park, but the fact that his xFIP last year was 3.86 compared to his actual ERA of 5.15 suggests he is in line for some stat regression.

With all of those things going for him combined with the lack of media attention in Pittsburgh, 2012 could end up being a good year all around for A.J.

WIFE NOT AFRAID TO FLY: The prevailing thought on why A.J. invoked his no trade clause to block a deal to the Angels is because his wife is supposedly afraid to fly. However, it turns out that’s not exactly true. His wife isn’t afraid to fly, but he said that California is too far away from his kids who won’t be relocating out of Maryland.

“It’s too far. My kids are 7 and 10 and they’re in school.” he told Anthony McCarron of the NY Daily News. “She met me on freakin’ 15 different trips last year. She loves to fly.”

Quote: Mariano Rivera sounds like a man ready to retire

Rob Abruzzese — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:14:27 +0000

At age 42, Mariano Rivera didn’t come out and say that he was retiring after this season, but he sure dropped what seems to have been a big hint that this year could be his last.

Speaking with Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com, Rivera said that he has made up his mind on retirement, but that he refuses to reveal his answer yet. Here’s what he said:

“I know now,” Rivera said. “I just don’t want to tell you. I know now. I will let you guys know when I think I should tell you.”

“I don’t want to be seen like that,” Rivera said of pitching past his effectiveness. “It is important for me to leave the game on top if God allows me to do that, just finish on top, knowing I did what I was called to do.

“It is hard when you have the ability to continue and you have to make that decision. It is hard. For me, baseball is not everything. There are a lot of more things than baseball. I’ve been blessed. I’ve had a great career, but at the same time there are a lot of other things to do.”

“I won’t be there dragging my arm to pitch,” Rivera said. “I’m not going to start pitching with my left arm. I want to be able to compete.”

Now Rivera has cried wolf before talking about retirement going back to his mid-30′s, but this sounds like a man who has made up his mind. If he was leaving open the option to come back next year I feel like he would be saying stuff like, ‘we’ll see how it goes,’ rather than a definitive statement that he has made.

We’ll have to wait and see what he says before we know for sure, but it certainly sounds like this will be Rivera’s last year. Hopefully it ends with him on the mound in October shutting the door on his 6th World Series.

Girardi addresses Yankees 2012 issues

Rob Abruzzese — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:24:00 +0000

Yesterday was the first day for pitchers and catchers to report for spring training, but on the first day they do little more than check in and take a physical so today is really the first day of spring training. On and the first day, manager Joe Girardi addressed the media about where he thinks the team stands. Here is what he said:

5TH SPOT: Girardi said that he sees Phil Hughes as a starter, but that there will be a competition for the spot with Freddy Garcia (link).

TOP OF THE ORDER: Derek Jeter to be the leadoff man again with Curtis Granderson batting behind him (link).

MIDDLE OF THE ORDER: Girardi said he expects it to be Robinson Cano – Alex Rodriguez – Mark Teixeira as the 3-4-5 guys (link).

PRESERVING A-ROD: There is no plan for use of A-Rod as the team’s DH. They plan on being flexible with him using him there as needed (link).

CC NO. 1 THEN WHO: Girardi didn’t have an answer for this saying that, “you go in with an open mind,” (link).

D-ROB STILL THE MAN: Rafael Soriano will remain the 7th inning guy and David Robertson the 8th (link).

ON CERVELLI: Girardi said he expects Francisco Cervelli to be the teams backup (link).

Questions on any of this stuff?

6 questions about the Yankees rotation

Rob Abruzzese — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:06:08 +0000

Last season the Yankees came into camp with CC Sabathia and a bunch of question marks in the rotation. This year it at least seems more settled, but that doesn’t mean the rotation isn’t without questions. So here it is, six starters and six questions:

CAN CC MAINTAIN HIS WEIGHT? CC showed up to camp slimmer last season, but he wasn’t able to maintain that through the season and there were questions of whether it contributed to his poor performance down the stretch. In his final nine starts he had a 4.30 ERA and of course he had a 6.23 ERA in two playoff starts, walking eight batters in 8.2 innings.

Sabathia has one again shown up to camp skinnier this preseason, but now we are left to wonder if he will be able to maintain that. For what it’s worth, he has vowed that he will keep up with his routine all season.

CAN KURODA ADAPT TO THE BRONX? Hiroki Kuroda had it made in Los Angeles, pitching in a spacious park while facing the poor Giants, Padres, and Diamondback offenses often. Now he has to deal with the more intense New York media while facing the Red Sox, Rays, and Blue Jays more often in a much smaller ball park.

Kuroda told reporters that he came here because he wanted to win a championship and said he is fully aware of the hitters in the AL East. Now we just have to see if he can handle it.

WHO IS THE REAL PINEDA? Michael Pineda made a huge splash starting off last season with a 2.58 ERA, a 8.83 K/9 and a 2.83 BB/9 in his first 17 starts. After that, he had a 5.71 ERA, a 9.57 K/9 and a 3.0 BB/9 in 11 starts. Which is the real Pineda? Was it just the wear of pitching in his first major league season or is it a sign he was overachieving in the first half?

A big determining factor in this could be in Pineda’s changeup. He was primarily a two pitch pitcher last season, but is working with pitching coach Larry Rothschild on developing his change. Perhaps if a lack of a third pitch contributed to his struggles down the stretch than adding the pitch could help him return to his earlier form.

WAS NOVA A FLUKE? Ivan Nova was a great surprise last season, especially toward the end of season putting up a 3.09 ERA in 12 his last 12 starts, but he was never expected to exceed this well and his pedestrian K/9 of 5.3 and 4.01 FIP suggests that he might have been getting lucky.

His healthy groundball percentage of 52.7 last season gets overlooked and partially makes up for the low K/9. He also developed a slider midway through the year last season that ended up being his best pitch. Also, while he was never expected to be a big prospect, scouts always praised his exceptional poise which could be something that has helped him make the jump to the majors that most minor leaguers can’t handle.

IS HUGHES A BUST? Phil Hughes‘ 18-8 record in 2010 tricked everyone into ignoring his 5.07 ERA in his final 16 starts that year. Last season was a disaster as he only made 14 starts, putting up a 5.79 ERA and now it seems like a lifetime ago since there were any positive results.

Nobody benefited more than Hughes in the Burnett trade though as he has a real shot to make the rotation now. Hughes also reportedly lost about 20 pounds this offseason as he intensified his workouts. Can his re-dedication to conditioning save his career?

WHO WILL BE THE NO. 5 STARTER? At this point Freddy Garcia may have the least question marks of any pitcher of the six, what you see is what you get and he’s the No. 5 in the rotation than the Yankees are in good shape. However, that doesn’t mean he’s a lock to get the final spot. The reason is because Hughes’ success effects the club in the longterm, not just in 2012 so they may prefer to go with Hughes as the No. 5 instead.

Garcia told Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com that he has no regrets re-signing with the Yankees and in all honesty it would be amazing if all six starters made it to April with no injuries and 100 percent ready to go. Even if the “loser” of this group heads to the bullpen to start it might be sooner rather than later before the sixth becomes the fifth.

Rumor: Yankees in talks with Eric Chavez

Rob Abruzzese — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:05:18 +0000

As expected, now that the Yankees have signed Raul Ibanez they have turned their attention toward Eric Chavez, whom they are now in talks with on a major league deal, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

I expect any deal to be similar to Ibanez’s where he will get a base salary of around $1 million and then will get the chance to earn some more money in incentives based on plate appearances.

Chavez would fill the same role for the Yankees this year that he did last year where he is primarily the backup for Alex Rodriguez at third base, but would also get at bats at first base and DH.

Ibanez’s signing probably killed Russell Branyan‘s chance at making the opening day roster and if they sign Chavez that will probably kill Bill Hall‘s chances too.

Yankees sign Raul Ibanez to 1-year $1.1 million deal

Rob Abruzzese — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:04:59 +0000

Now that the A.J. Burnett deal was made official yesterday, the Yankees have finally reached a deal with Raul Ibanez on a one-year $1.1 million deal, according to Buster Olney of ESPN. Incentives that are based on plate appearances can make the deal worth up to $4 million.

Ibanez was brought in to be the DH against right handed pitchers. He had just a .307 OBP and .747 OPS against them last year, but is only a year removed from a .366 OBP and a .822 OPS. He has put in work with famed hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo this offseason and will also be taking aim at the short porch in right field so the hope is he’ll rebound a bit offensively this year.

But Ibanez will be 40-years-old by June of this season so his 2011 season may be a good indicator of where he is at now and he could struggle mightily again this year. That’s where his contract will come into play as it is mostly incentive based and the guaranteed $1.1 million really isn’t that much. If he sucks, the Yankees can just cut him and find another DH at the trade deadline.

The other DH the Yankees considered was Johnny Damon, but his contract demands of $5 million seemed to scare them away. Beyond contract demands, the Yankees don’t like the fact that he hasn’t played in the field for the past two seasons. Ibanez is really not a better option defensively, but he has at least been out there over the past two seasons.

This deal is of course terrible news for Russell Branyan, whom the Yankees signed to a non-guaranteed minor league deal last week. Now he pretty much has to hope for an injury to Ibanez or somebody even more important if he’s got a shot to make the team. It’s really ashame too because he isn’t that much worse than Ibanez really being one year removed from a .352 OBP and .875 OPS against righties. Hopefully Branyan will stick around in the minors for a month or two as insurance, but that doesn’t seem likely.

Bronx Baseball Daily » Bronx Baseball Daily, a New York Yankees blog

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