Plea to the Yankees: Don’t Sign John Lackey

Many teams have been linked to top free-agent pitcher John Lackey. Among those are the Mets, Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, and, of course, the Yankees.

Last year I pleaded to the Yankees that they should NOT sign A.J. Burnett. I was wrong so far and I will admit that.

What Yankees fans should be afraid of is that the Yankees could be paying their third starter equally or more than their second starter. While the rotation would be great for the upcoming years and the Yankees do have the money, why not spend the money on various holes, rather than one?

John Lackey was 11-8 with a 3.83 ERA last year. His career ERA is 3.81. Those are some average numbers for someone commanding $82M or more. Meanwhile, Lackey is also an injury risk having pitched in less than 30 games each of the last two seasons.

The Yankees can use that $82M over the next five seasons ($16.4M per year) and sign either a top outfielder (Jason Bay or Matt Holliday) OR one pitcher (Rich Harden, Jason Marquis, Erik Bedard, Justin Duchscherer) AND one outfielder (Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Marlon Byrd, Jermaine Dye)

Don’t you think you would rather have the latter of the two? Thoughts? Send em’ along in the comments.

Plea to the Yankees: Tigers Edition

There are reports coming out that the Detroit Tigers are considering trading Edwin Jackson and trading Curtis Granderson. If so, I plea, PLEA to the Yankees to trade for not one, but both of them.

Here is why:

Curtis Granderson would eliminate the Yankees need to re-sign Johnny Damon, or Hideki Matsui, and he would add pop to the lineup AND speed. Granderson, who hit .249 with 30 HR and 71 RBI, is only 28 years old. Granderson was signed to a five-year, $30.25 million deal with a club option for 2013 with the Tigers in February 2008. The Yankees could easily pay that contract.

Edwin Jackson was an all-star in 2009. He went 13-9 with a 3.62 ERA. The Yankees could use Jackson as their 3rd starter, which would eliminate the need to sign a John Lackey, or Jason Marquis type of pitcher. Jackson is being paid about $2 Million a year.

So the question remains: What would it take to get BOTH in a trade?

Here is my offer:

CC Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez, and Derek Jeter for Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson.

Kidding.

Here is my REAL offer:

Melky Cabrera, Reegie Corona, Josh Schmidt, and Austin Romine for Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson.

Is that too much? Too little? Good trade? Bad trade? Explain in the comments!

UPDATE: 2:01 PM: Apparently I don’t know enough about prospects, as it seems like it will take either one of the Yankees big prospects (Hughes, Joba) and an additional prospect/OR a bunch of major prospects such as Zach McAllister, Ian Kennedy, etc.

Russ Ortiz to the Rescue?

WARNING: Another plea to the Yankees to get rid of Sergio Mitre.

Sergio Mitre was not exactly rocked on Monday night, but he still did not get the job done. Mitre was mostly damaged because of his own throwing error.

Still, Mitre has been everything but lights out in the MLB. There is someone in AAA who has been lights out, however: Russ Ortiz. Ortiz has been stellar in 2 starts for Scranton pitching 13 scoreless innings with only 5 hits allowed and 9 k’s.

Ortiz was not great for the Houston Astros this year, but has been good in the past- long long past.

So my idea is for the Yankees to DFA Mitre, call-up Ortiz, put Ortiz in the bullpen, and insert Chad Gaudin into the rotation.

If Ortiz is able to pitch well enough he can keep his job as a long-man and if Gaudin struggles they flip-flop the roles.

If Ortiz struggles, they can just get rid of him, too. No harm no foul.

It really is a win-win situation.

*If you are a Yankees fan that is reading this I am looking for another writer to help me out with this blog. Email me at bco004@yahoo.com if interested. Thank you.

Plea to Yankees: Call up Zach Kroenke and Shelley Duncan

Here are a few things I would like the Yankees to do

– Purchase the contract of Zach Kroenke and demote Mark Melancon. Melancon needs to pitch and it is obvious Joe Girardi is not willing to use him in pressure situations. Kroenke spot-started today and gave up 1 run on 2 hits in 5 Innings of work. He can be a long-man/lefty specialist, allowing Alfredo Aceves to work his way into the rotation, if neccessary.

-DFA Cody Ransom and re-promote Shelley Duncan. It is absoluetly pointless to have Ransom in the MLB right now and it is absoluetly pointless to have Duncan sitting in AAA. If the Yankees want a righty bat off the bench…here he is.

-Place a waiver claim on every-yes i do mean every-starting pitcher on the block. Brian Bannister, Jon Garland, Doug Davis, even Bruce Chen for all I care (just kidding about Chen…he is a perfect fit for the Royals). Anyone but Sergio Mitre.

-Trade Juan Miranda in a trade for one of these pitchers. He could be an MLB player right now for about any team. He is worthless to the Yankees, however, unless Mark Teixeira gets hurt. Even then, the Yankees have Shelley Duncan. It is also for the better of Miranda’s career, even though he is on the Yankees 40-man roster, he is very unlikely to get playing time with the Yankees. With Jorge Vazquez waiting in AA for the AAA promotion….it’s a perfect time to use him for trade bait.

-For now, DFA Sergio Mitre and purchase Josh Towers‘ contract. Towers has reached his peak in AAA (like Mitre did) and is now ready to give it a shot in the MLB. If they don’t want to do this, why not give Kei Igawa a shot? Yes, I am being serious. If you are going to spend all this money to have him…why not make him useful? He has reached his prime in AAA, also, and he could possibly help out the club in some way.

For all the Yankees fans reading this- I ask you to remember one thing. Austin Jackson was the price for Jarrod Washburn. Austin Jackson is also a top, top prospect. If it will take Austin Jackson to get any of the pitchers I mentioned above…don’t do it.

New York Yankees Offseason Do’s and Dont’s

Here are some Do’s and Dont’s for the Yankees offseason

DO

1. Offer tons of money to C.C. Sabathia. This signing will make a statement. The Yankees mean business.
2. Look into signing Derek Lowe before AJ Burnett.
3. Sign a reliever.
4. Hold onto prospects at all costs.
5. Make Brett Gardner a starting outfielder.

DON’T

1. Trade for Jake Peavy.
2. Offer more than 4 years to any pitcher not named CC Sabathia.
3. Offer CC Sabathia more than 6 years.
4. Trade Hideki Matsui or Johnny Damon.
5. Get into a bidding war with a team and end up making too long, or too much of a commitment.

Memo to Yankees

Here is what I would send in a memo to the Yankees:

Dear front office,

I am talking to you today in hopes that you do not make two of the biggest mistakes possible for this offseason. The two are 1. Signing AJ Burnett and 2. Trading for Jake Peavy. Burnett is injury prone and great friends with Carl Pavano. Peavy would not only take many great prospects, but ALSO alot of money. So please, please sign CC Sabathia and Derek Lowe at all costs.

From,
Desperate Fan

Yankees Should Beware Burnett

As the Yankees prepare their offer to AJ Burnett all we can do is cry. This is another chapter in the Carl Pavano book. Pavano, who is a good friend of Burnett, did not pitch many games with the Yankees as you know, due to various injuries. These injuries varied from his rotator cuff, to his buttocks (BRUISED!) AJ Burnett also has a history of injuries…..and is also coming off the best year of his career. Is it just a coincidence that the one year he doesn’t get hurt is his contract year? My response: YES.