As the meetings got under way the Yankees announced that third baseman Alex Rodriguez will need hip surgery.
No date has been set to repair a tear in his left hip but it is expected that he could be out until June. Back in 2009 A-Rod had surgery on his right hip but this time it's the left. Maybe this was the reason why he did not hit with power for most of the regular season and couldn't make contact in the playoffs.
So with A-Rod out and Eric Chavez signing with the Diamond-Backs what did Cashman do to replace them ? He made an offer to third baseman Kevin Youkilis. The Yankees offered the former Red Sox a one year deal worth $ 12 million dollars. Here we go again another offer to an older player. Youkilis is a nice player but he's not the player he was a few years ago. Last year the 33 year old hit a combined .235 with 19 homeruns,60 RBIs for the Red Sox and White Sox. Even though he was a Red Sox I always liked his style of play. He's a " gamer. " That hard nose get the uniform dirty kind of guy. No offense to the man but I think he's in the latter stages of his career. The Indians have shown some interest in Youkilis also. There's even talk about acquiring the newest Yankee killer Mark Reynolds. Sorry Mark. No thank you too many strike outs for me.
Come on Cashman ! Can we search for somebody younger ? I have a player you can look at. Why not try to make a deal with the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners have a 25 year old third baseman by the name of Kyle Seager. Last season with Seattle he played in 155 games. He hit .259 with 23 home runs and 99 RBIs. In 594 at-bats he had an.315 OBP, .412 SLG, .727 OPS with 146 SO. Why not make a move for this kid ? Maybe the Mariners would deal the 6' 0" 195 lb. left handed hitting....did I say left handed hitting ? Should I repeat that ? The left handed hitting third baseman. They have another young third baseman (Vinnie Catricala) on their Triple-A team right behind Seager so maybe they'll deal him. Pretty soon Seager is going to be looking to sign a deal for some real money maybe Cashman should look into it. Tell this kid he's the future. He'll play everyday until A-Rod comes back. When Alex does come back make him the DH ninety percent of the time. Just a thought.
The other hole that needs to be filled is the catching position. With Russell Martin signing a two year deal with Pirates and free agent Mike Napoli signing with Red Sox There's not much out there on the market so it looks like the Yankees with be going after 35 year old free agent catcher AJ Pierzynski. In my last blog I said the Yankees should give their catching prospect Austin Romine a shot so I'll avoid going down that road again right now.
The Yankees have stated their trying to find an outfielder to replace Nick Swisher. Outfielder B.J. Upton has signed with the Atlanta Braves and Shane Victorino has also signed with the Red Sox. The younger Upton would have been a nice fit for me because he's a player with some speed and pop which would have been a decent fit for the Yanks. A nice fit but we all know that doesn't put fans in the seats.You want to know who does ? Josh Hamilton
There's talk that the Yankees are playing the waiting game so the price for Hamilton will come down. I said in one of my previous blogs.Hamilton is a great player but he's getting older. The last thing the Yankees need is a big long term contract with an older player who could physically start breaking down. If they want to sign him three years max !
Owner Hal Steinbrenner wants the payroll for 2014 to be at $ 189 million dollars. I read an article by Sports Illustrated writer Joe Posnanski that in 2009 the Yankees made $ 600 million dollars in revenue but spent $ 574 in total baseball operations. That leaves them a net of $ 26 million. Doesn't seem like a whole lot does it ? Profits must be down maybe that's why Cashman hasn't done a single thing so far this off season !
I don't care what they make or what they spend. I'm a Yankees fan for life ! Let's start getting this team younger. This team is already showing signs of getting older. If this trend keeps up we could be looking at a playoff drought in a few years. Hey Mr. Steinbrenner do you know what could happen if there's a playoff drought ? Nobody will go to the games ! Seems to me if that happens revenue goes down. So if payroll and revenue go down together your profits will be the same. The only difference is the team will be lousy. But don't worry I'll still be a die hard fan watching and writing about it.
Happy Holidays to all...The Big Ragu
No comments:
Post a Comment