Needing to rebound after getting slam dunked by Robinson Cano and the Seattle Mariners, the Yankees quickly fired back with the nifty free agent signing of Carlos Beltran; a player who can immediately slot into the vacated Number 3 hole in the lineup.
The former Met centerfielder will be 37 years old in 2014, but coming off a season in which he batted .294 and slugged 24 homeruns, the switch-hitter with power Beltran will serve as the ideal No. 3 hitter as other switch-hitters that roamed centerfield at Yankee Stadium have.
With his age, and especially with the signing of Jacoby Ellsbury, Beltran will be relegated to play rightfield, which should be no problem for the former Gold Glove winner. The Yankees originally passed on Beltran and his demand for a third year on a new deal, but after the Cano fiasco, the Front Office had to scramble fast to get some power back into the lineup and caved to Beltran. For the next two seasons he should be able to hold is own out in right, then for that final year he could be a 'Raul Ibanez' type DH. He'll bring homeruns and RBIs to the rightfield position which was dreadful last season due to Ichiro's poor production. As for the vacant second base position, in addition to Kelly Johnson who was signed a few weeks ago as a utility backup, Brian Cashman took a flyer on former Oriole Brian Roberts on a one-year deal. Roberts, another switch-hitter with a little pop in his bat, has had a string of bad injuries over the past few seasons, but managed to play in 70 games in 2013, so Cashman hopes he can get lucky with Roberts the way he's done in the past with fragile players such as Eric Chavez and Bartolo Colon.
The Roberts signing came after a rumored trade fell through that would've send Brett Gardner to the Reds for their second baseman Brandon Phillips, who is one of the top players at second in the game. Cashman didn't want to have to pick up the remaining years on Phillips' deal, so they decided to keep Gardy with his Southern Comfort theme music and go with Roberts. Of course, the rumored deal was a complete reverse from Cashman's original statement that they weren't shopping Gardner around at the annual GM Winter Meetings
Unless there's any drastic injuries or criminal charges for A-Rod, the 2014 Opening Day Lineup for the New York Yankees should be something as follows:
1. Jacoby Ellsbury - CF
2. Derek Jeter - SS
3. Carlos Beltran - RF
4. Alex Rodriguez - DH
5. Mark Teixeira - 1B
6. Brian McCann - C
7. Eduardo Nunez - 3B
8. Brian Roberts - 2B
9. Brett Gardner - LF
Even if A-Rod does get hammered, Girardi could also move Beltran into the DH position and have Ichiro in the lineup and playing rightfield for a while. There's been talks of bringing back Mark Reynolds for third base, who was a good pickup last season for Cashman, but so far they've only been rumors. Infielder guru Brendan Ryan is still on the roster. Clearly, the Yankees are unhappy with Eduardo Nunez's inability to field a ground ball without having the entire stadium hold its breath.
As expected, both Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes officially became ex-Yankees with Joba moving to Detroit and Phil Hughes getting a three-year deal from Minnesota to pitch in their spacious ballpark. Boone Logan also left the Bombers for the Colorado Rockies, a place where pitcher ERAs skyrocket to Venus. To get a lefty option out of the pen back, the Yankees rolled the dice on hard-throwing Matt Thornton who saw limited time with Boston last season before getting injured. Other than that, GM Brian Cashman seems content with the guys who were contributing last season out of the Yankee pen; Preston Claiborne, Adam Warren, Shawn Kelley, David Huff, Cesar Cabral, David Phelps, and naturally David Robertson.
There's been no new news on Japanese pitching star Masahiro Tanaka, but he would be the ultimate present under the tree.
That's if Cashman hasn't already maxed out his credit cards at the mall.....
The former Met centerfielder will be 37 years old in 2014, but coming off a season in which he batted .294 and slugged 24 homeruns, the switch-hitter with power Beltran will serve as the ideal No. 3 hitter as other switch-hitters that roamed centerfield at Yankee Stadium have.
With his age, and especially with the signing of Jacoby Ellsbury, Beltran will be relegated to play rightfield, which should be no problem for the former Gold Glove winner. The Yankees originally passed on Beltran and his demand for a third year on a new deal, but after the Cano fiasco, the Front Office had to scramble fast to get some power back into the lineup and caved to Beltran. For the next two seasons he should be able to hold is own out in right, then for that final year he could be a 'Raul Ibanez' type DH. He'll bring homeruns and RBIs to the rightfield position which was dreadful last season due to Ichiro's poor production. As for the vacant second base position, in addition to Kelly Johnson who was signed a few weeks ago as a utility backup, Brian Cashman took a flyer on former Oriole Brian Roberts on a one-year deal. Roberts, another switch-hitter with a little pop in his bat, has had a string of bad injuries over the past few seasons, but managed to play in 70 games in 2013, so Cashman hopes he can get lucky with Roberts the way he's done in the past with fragile players such as Eric Chavez and Bartolo Colon.
The Roberts signing came after a rumored trade fell through that would've send Brett Gardner to the Reds for their second baseman Brandon Phillips, who is one of the top players at second in the game. Cashman didn't want to have to pick up the remaining years on Phillips' deal, so they decided to keep Gardy with his Southern Comfort theme music and go with Roberts. Of course, the rumored deal was a complete reverse from Cashman's original statement that they weren't shopping Gardner around at the annual GM Winter Meetings
Unless there's any drastic injuries or criminal charges for A-Rod, the 2014 Opening Day Lineup for the New York Yankees should be something as follows:
1. Jacoby Ellsbury - CF
2. Derek Jeter - SS
3. Carlos Beltran - RF
4. Alex Rodriguez - DH
5. Mark Teixeira - 1B
6. Brian McCann - C
7. Eduardo Nunez - 3B
8. Brian Roberts - 2B
9. Brett Gardner - LF
Even if A-Rod does get hammered, Girardi could also move Beltran into the DH position and have Ichiro in the lineup and playing rightfield for a while. There's been talks of bringing back Mark Reynolds for third base, who was a good pickup last season for Cashman, but so far they've only been rumors. Infielder guru Brendan Ryan is still on the roster. Clearly, the Yankees are unhappy with Eduardo Nunez's inability to field a ground ball without having the entire stadium hold its breath.
As expected, both Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes officially became ex-Yankees with Joba moving to Detroit and Phil Hughes getting a three-year deal from Minnesota to pitch in their spacious ballpark. Boone Logan also left the Bombers for the Colorado Rockies, a place where pitcher ERAs skyrocket to Venus. To get a lefty option out of the pen back, the Yankees rolled the dice on hard-throwing Matt Thornton who saw limited time with Boston last season before getting injured. Other than that, GM Brian Cashman seems content with the guys who were contributing last season out of the Yankee pen; Preston Claiborne, Adam Warren, Shawn Kelley, David Huff, Cesar Cabral, David Phelps, and naturally David Robertson.
There's been no new news on Japanese pitching star Masahiro Tanaka, but he would be the ultimate present under the tree.
That's if Cashman hasn't already maxed out his credit cards at the mall.....
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