Sunday, January 3, 2010
Interesting Thought
In this Chicago Tribune column, a Mr. Rogers suggests that the Yanks and BoSox are saving up, not for next year's free agent class, but for the free agencies of Joe Mauer, Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez. He suggests that the Yanks have held onto Montero and Romine in order to entice the Twins when it becomes clear to them they can't afford to sign Mauer to an extension. It's an interesting idea that I've not seen anyone put forward up to now. The conventional wisdom is that the Yanks are probably saving up for next year's free agent class. It should be interesting to see what direction the Yanks go in in the next couple of years.
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5 comments:
The conventional wisdom says that the Yankees are saving up for next year? Is that what Cashman said when he said next year's free agent class is a lot more attractive? Hmm, I wonder. And that was weeks ago. Funny, I didn't know Cashman could read Cashman's mind.
i think the yankees are going to make a play for Lee next off season if he doesnt get signed to an extension with the mariners.
its unreasonable to think that they will sign all of the big names next year, and there are a lot of them... but i really do think that this will be pettitte's last year, and they are going to need a number two.
i also would like to see them get wang back this year. if he is able to rehab this year, pitch well out of the bull pen and make a few spot starts in august or september, he would be on track to be a starter again in 2011. and if we had a rotation of:
sabathia
lee
burnett
wang
huges
we would be the best.
If Pujols is ever on a team other than the Cardinals, and if Mauer is ever on a team other than the Twins, I'll be really shocked (then again, the Twins let Torii Hunter walk and basically gave away Johan Santana for a bag of crap). Obviously having either of them would be fantastic, especially Mauer because I don't think people realize how incredibly important having a catcher that can hit like Posada has been to the Yankees, because they're too busy complaining about his game calling, non-catching of balls in the dirt, base running (he IS a terrible base runner.), demeanor, goofy ears, etc.
The other two, I can see going other places. Fielder not for a while though. The Brewers probably won't want to get rid of offense that potent until their pitching staff is WHOAH better. Wolf alone won't cut it, and the bullpen seems pretty terrible (aside from Trevor Hoffman).
I can't see the Cardinals letting Pujols walk. The Twins are cheap so Mauer seems up in the air. If the Yankees sign him the rest of the league will revolt. Prince at dh is very interesting he could hit some home runs in NYS. It seems like Gonzalez is going to end up in Boston eventually. They're going to get settled with good players at the corners eventually I just hope it isn't Pujols. They would be after Mauer too I would think. He has to be the biggest impact player in the game right now, hitting like that at catcher.
Yeah, the Mauer situation will be interesting b/c both the Yanks and BoSox have aging catchers that won't likely play much longer (Varitek should've been done some time ago). Mauer would be a huge upgrade for Boston (they never had a catcher who hit like that in the last ten years, though Varitek always had a way of hitting in big spots), and obviously would be a big upgrade for the Yanks (Posada mashes, but Mauer hits for a better average).
The one troubling stat with Mauer is that he hit 28 home runs last year after never having hit more than 13. So clearly he's on roids. But the Yanks will have to replace Posada somehow. The Yanks are a very different team without Posada. They didn't miss the playoffs in 08 because Wang went down, they missed the playoffs b/c they lost Posada that year.
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