New York Yankees 2012-2013 Offseason Outlook

[hardrain]

Just think. Tomorrow we can close this thread and start the first game thread!

[longtimeyankeefan]

Just think. Tomorrow we can close this thread and start the first game thread!

And, yet, the first game has come and gone, the Yankees won and this thread still survives.

It's no longer the off-sesason

[Mr Coffee]

With few obvious options available to replace the injured Mark Teixeira at first base, the Yankees are becoming creative in their search. They have asked the retired first baseman Derrek Lee whether he would come out of retirement, according to a person with knowledge of the talks who asked to remain anonymous.

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0...ef=todayspaper

[JL25and3]

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0...ef=todayspaper

"Creative" is not the word that comes to mind.

[ieddyi]

Youkilis is a much better 1B than 3B man- probably less likely to get injured there also

Why not Youkilis @ 1st and Mustellier @ 3rd?

[Allan]

Youkilis is a much better 1B than 3B man- probably less likely to get injured there also

Why not Youkilis @ 1st and Mustellier @ 3rd?

Not creative enough, I guess.

[Maynerd]

Why not Youkilis @ 1st and Mustellier @ 3rd?

This is what I'm hoping to see.

[JL25and3]

Good Lord...

Sitting in the dugout before the Yankees’ exhibition game with the St. Louis Cardinals, Cashman confirmed to three reporters that he asked Derrek Lee to come out of retirement, and then said he would be just as happy to sign Chipper Jones, who retired last year after 19 years with the Braves.

But Cashman said he did not have a working telephone number for Jones’s agent, B.B. Abbott, so he told the reporters they could report his interest through Twitter as a way of letting Jones know, even though Cashman was almost 100 percent certain that Jones would turn him down.

They really can't figure out some way to get in touch with him themselves?


http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0...es/?ref=sports

[just-blaze]

You know, if the WBC wasn't happening I think sliding Cano to 3rd and having Joseph play 2nd would be a creative stopgap.

But he definitely doesn't have time to get acclimated to the position.

Either way, I like how the youngins looked at the plate today.

[dpfeiffer]

Don't see it on this thread yet, but the Yankees have signed OF Ben Francisco

[AlbanyColonieYankee]

Youkilis is a much better 1B than 3B man- probably less likely to get injured there also

Why not Youkilis @ 1st and Mustellier @ 3rd?

Makes perfect sense, but why take this opportunity to get a look at a young player when you could sign another has-been instead?

Derrek Lee? Is this some kind of bad joke???

[False1]

Not that I wouldn't prefer to go with a Mustelier/Youk combo to start the year, or that I'm in favor of a scrap-heap retread approach... but it's getting a bit over the top. Remember Bartolo Colon? Freddy Garcia? Where were the complaints about Ibanez in October? Russell Martin, who I wanted them to re-sign and others are pretty passionate dissing the FO for not doing so, was probably just a notch above scrap heap getting non-tendered by LA and ignored by catcher-starving teams like Boston that had dibs in front of the Yankees. Similar story with Chavez.

The last few examples are probably less extreme than trying to coax Lee or Jones out of retirement, but not every challenge can be or should be met with brute force - signing massive FA deals or trading the farm to avoid the horrors of taking good risk/reward opportunities for short-term needs.

[d32123]

Who the hell is Mustelier?

[False1]

Who the hell is Mustelier?

28 year old Cuban defector who has put up solid mL numbers and is raking in ST right now.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/mi...d=mustel000---

[d32123]

Those are some nice numbers too bad he's so old.

[ArodEra]

In Yankee years he's a puppy.

[JL25and3]

Not that I wouldn't prefer to go with a Mustelier/Youk combo to start the year, or that I'm in favor of a scrap-heap retread approach... but it's getting a bit over the top. Remember Bartolo Colon? Freddy Garcia? Where were the complaints about Ibanez in October? Russell Martin, who I wanted them to re-sign and others are pretty passionate dissing the FO for not doing so, was probably just a notch above scrap heap getting non-tendered by LA and ignored by catcher-starving teams like Boston that had dibs in front of the Yankees. Similar story with Chavez.

The last few examples are probably less extreme than trying to coax Lee or Jones out of retirement, but not every challenge can be or should be met with brute force - signing massive FA deals or trading the farm to avoid the horrors of taking good risk/reward opportunities for short-term needs.

There's no comparison between Raul Ibanez and Derrek Lee. There's the scrapheap, and then there are players who aren't even on the scrapheap.

And please stop pretending that the only alternative to what they're doing is brute force, massive contracts, trading the farm. Those other guys are good examples of reasonable risks at reasonable prices, or - in Colon's case in particular - purely a gift, if he hadn't made it, oh well.

And, btw, I thought not signing Martin was a reasonable decision - as long as they had another plan in mind. What they've got now reminds me way too much of Bubba Cosby in center field, except they seem to be serious.

[False1]

There's no comparison between Raul Ibanez and Derrek Lee. There's the scrapheap, and then there are players who aren't even on the scrapheap.

There's not? Raul Ibanez was pretty much universally unwanted. His production in '11 was abysmal, his defense atrocious and reports of his bat speed basically disappearing were reinforced in ST. He was entering his age 40 season. Really the only difference (and I'm not saying it's trivial) is that Lee didn't play last season. But he's younger, put up better offensive production in '11 than Ibanez did in either '10 or '11, looked really good in Pittsburgh and can (or could) field a position. Pettitte retired for a year and came back as good or better. I see no issue with reaching out to him to see if they can get him in ST for a quick look-see. The way the structured Ibanez' deal, with AB clauses, they weren't exactly committed to him getting meaningful time and frankly if it weren't for Gardner's injury he might have been cut (thankfully, he wasn't).

And please stop pretending that the only alternative to what they're doing is brute force, massive contracts, trading the farm. Those other guys are good examples of reasonable risks at reasonable prices, or - in Colon's case in particular - purely a gift, if he hadn't made it, oh well.

Wow, touched a nerve I guess. I'm not pretending anything. I said earlier you can argue pretty convincingly that they are paying for the sins of their past (although it was a pretty effective strategy and a great ride). But we're talking about right now - what should they do now that Tex is out for 2 months or so? Freddy Garcia was a pure scrap heap, mL deal, guy coming off a lousy year and on a 4 year run of below league average production. His peripherals sucked, he was an injury risk. He was lucky as heck in '11 and the Yankees benefitted from it (and should never have gone back for seconds). How is that so radically different? The broader point is the level of despair around the fact that the Yankees reached out to Lee to replace a $24MM first baseman that got injured in spring training is over the top IMO. Yes, their depth at 1B is an issue and the Yankees FO is accountable. But the fact that they didn't sign Swisher or come up with some other stud backup 1B isn't anything close to "austerity" evidence or "small market-ism".

And, btw, I thought not signing Martin was a reasonable decision - as long as they had another plan in mind. What they've got now reminds me way too much of Bubba Cosby in center field, except they seem to be serious.

I wanted them to sign Martin. That's really the move that is hard for me to rationalize given the new financial scenario they are operating in, given the drop off of '13 options at C. But I still have to chuckle when folks use an analogy to what is happening in Greece for example to what is happening in the Bronx. Or comparing this team's situation to that of the A's. Those are preposterous comps.

[flymick24]

28 year old Cuban defector who has put up solid mL numbers and is raking in ST right now.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/mi...d=mustel000---

imagine he makes the team and actually manages to hit a few out?... what would john sterling say?

think of all the possibilities with a name like that

[awy]

at least ronnier seems to be a fixed point under teh girardi pet name function

[philleotardo]

imagine he makes the team and actually manages to hit a few out?... what would john sterling say?

think of all the possibilities with a name like that

I would give him zero chance of pronouncing it correctly the first nine times he tried.

[snapple]

I would give him zero chance of pronouncing it correctly the first nine times he tried.

I'll take the over on that.

[just-blaze]

Those are some nice numbers too bad he's so old.

It's not his fault he's Cubano.