Everyone Waits for The Plan

           Tis' the season for baseball GMs and agents to scamper around the hotel lobbies in San Diego for the official MLB Winter Meetings. While several teams have been making headline-worthy additions, Yankees GM Brian Cashman let home grown closer David Robertson walk out the door and has been pressing the mute button when it comes to any improvements.



           Refusing to go a fourth year on a new deal for Robertson, Cashman sat by and allowed the Chicago WhiteSox to steal "Houdini" with a 4-year contract at $12 million per. Meanwhile, only a few days earlier Cashman felt comfortable with giving four years to an "outsider" like Andrew Miller at $8 million per. It's true, the Yankees will receive a draft pick from Chicago due to the free agency rules, but that individual is more like to be working at Walmart five years from now than being the same quality player as Robertson was for the Yanks. Miller has come into his own the past two seasons and the tall/hard-throwing lefty is an intimidating presence on the mound, but he hasn't shown nearly the consistency that Robetson has displayed in pinstripes. Not only is Robertson one of the best closers in baseball, but he's a rare talent that able to succeed in New York versus Miller who is yet to be tested. Had Cashman inked both of them, with Bentances, that would've given the Yanks the best bullpen in baseball. Instead Robertson flip-flops for Miller, the Yanks save a whole $12 million over four years and will get a draft that could turn out to be anything but a legit MLB talent.



          The decision wreaks of last offseason when the Yankee front office drew an early line in the sand with Cano and refused to budget any further. Like Cano, Robertson was a proven home-grown talent in his prime who the Yanks let walk away, yet brought in expensive talent such as Tanaka, Beltran, and McCann who were either hurt or disappointments in 2014. There was speculation that the Yanks were being thrifty with Robertson because they were making a play for one of the top starting pitcher free agents on the market (Jon Lester and Max Scherzer), but Lester ended up with the Cubs for $155 million and Scherzer's agent, Scott Boras, has made indications his client's asking price is even higher than that. With all the money the Yanks are still due to pay out to CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka, its unlikely Cashman is going to go to bat for Scherzer. Sure Scherzer throws 97 mph and is an exceptional talent, but it would be a disaster beyond epic proportions if the Yanks give him $180 million and he turns out to find the same injury bug that has bitten CC and Tanaka.



          Other candidates the Yankees had in mind for the 2015 rotation have also fallen off the board. Brandon McCarthy, who came over from Arizona last season and was marvelous for the Yankees, found himself a 4-year deal for $48 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers. As good as McCarthy was in 2014, certainly Cashman can't be blamed for staying away from that type of deal for a player - who is injured frequently and has been mediocre across his career. Shane Greene was brought up from the minors as Yankee starters kept dropping like flies last year and he showed promise with his 97 mph fastball, but now he's out of the picture as Cashman shipped him to Detroit in a 3-way trade that brings in shortstop Didi (aka Sir Mariekson Julis) Gregorius from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Didi will be the new "Derek" so to speak, but overall he's not even close to the player that The Captain was. Although he's a solid defender at short, which is what a GM traditionally is only concerned about, at-best he's a .240 slap hitter. It's a good pick-up in terms of the expectations in which the fans and the media won't be pressuring the Dutchman Didi to fill Jeter's shoes versus if the Yanks found a way to bring in Troy Tulowitzki, for example. The downside is giving up Greene who is in his early 20's, throws hard, and pitched okay in his first major league go-around. Cashman's reasoning was that the free-agency shortstop pool was very thin, but at the cost of Shane Greene the Yanks would've been better off leaving in Brendan Ryan for now and addressing the position at a later date when more opportunities would present themselves. Chase Headley is still an option to return at third-base and play some first, but the rumor currently is that the San Francisco Giants are also showing interest. As it stands, the Yankee infield doesn't look to be much better than it was a year ago......and young pitcher Shane Green is gone!



           Other nick-nack moves the Yanks pulled off which didn't grab much attention was resigning Chris Young, who was a bust for the Mets but a blast for the Yankees, and trading away backup catcher (and character) Francisco Cervelli to the Pirates for bullpen lefty Justin Wilson who had a weak 4.20 ERA last season. It's assumed either Bentances will be the new closer, or perhaps it will be on a case-by-case basis with Andrew Miller, depending on the match-ups Girardi likes. Other than that the Winter Meetings haven't yielded much merry feelings from Yankee fans who might have to endure a torturous third season in a row without a playoff berth. Boston has vastly strengthened their left side of the infield by snagging clutch post-season performer Pablo Sandoval from free agency as well as the highly-talented, but frequently lazy, Hanley Ramirez. Baltimore took a step back as they lost Miller (to the Yanks), plus power hitters Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis to the free agency market. Joe Maddon bolted from the dump stadium in Tampa Bay to manage the Cubs and Toronto is always going to be Toronto, mediocre if they're lucky. Boston's starting rotation is still iffy, but as it stands they're probably the Yanks biggest challenger for the AL East crown and if somehow Max Scherzer ends up in beantown, they then become the sure favorite. If the RedSox weren't willing to go near $155 million to bring back fan-favorite Lester, then it wouldn't make sense for them to chase Scherzer for more money.



          The Yankees have become more cost-conscious in recent years compared to the ol' George days and blowing away other teams for overpriced and past-primed talent, but the Yanks are still willing to spend as the contracts of Tanaka-Beltran-McCann-Sabathia show and there's usually a plan in Cashman's head.



      Yankee fans would just like to see these plans take action sooner rather than March 31st.....

Playing in the Citi

            After a start to the season that showed promise, the Yankees have fallen into a pit about the size of CitiField and are as about as exciting to watch as the Mets.

         





            Like the Mets; the Yankees can pitch well and hold opponents down (for the most part), but they've been lucky if they could even scratch across two runs per game. Teixeira's surgically repaired wrist tendons are getting rusty really quick, someone speared Carlos Beltran's elbow with something from 10,000 BC, and the "game-changing" Jacoby Ellsbury from April has been abducted by aliens.


            Having Teixeira and Beltran out of the lineup for a couple of weeks forced Girardi to take Ellsbury out of the leadoff spot and bat him third; taking away the man who was getting singles, stealing, and scoring runs as a leadoff hitter in April. Admittedly, Ellsbury has taken the #3 role to heart and has been swinging (and missing) for the fences - hence the drop off in his production. Rest for Teixeira and a series of cortisone (narcotics) shots for Beltran have gotten them back into the lineup in recent days, but the time away has taken any momentum out of the Yankee offense and these two will have to deal with these nagging issues all season long. Players who needed to step up in their place, such as Kelly Johnson or Ichiro (as an everyday player) just haven't been producing enough. A "hot" Soriano has yet to show up this season and although McCann has finally bopped some homers, overall his batting average zone of .210-.220 gives chilly reminders of Curtis Granderson and Russell Martin.



            This has subsequently placed an enormous amount of pressure of the Yankee's pitching staff, which is asking alot with the absence of three-fifths of the starting rotation. Nova, of course, is done for the year with Tommy John surgery under his belt. Sabathia is only now beginning to walk on a treadmill to rehab his weak knee, but even GM Brian Cashman has no sure date of his return. Realistically August, at best. Even if he does come back, what kind of CC Sabathia are the Yankee getting? On the road to his recovery from a strained back muscle and pine tar poisoning, Michael Pineda suffered a set back with the same muscle area and had to be placed on the 60-Day DL. The likes of David Phelps, Vidal Nuno, and feel-good story Chase Whitley has kept the rotation respectable, but all three aren't durable enough to go seven innings and throw a hundred-plus pitches every fifth day for the rest of the season. The trio of young arms from the system and the mega signing of Tanaka are the main reason the Yankees are .500 at 31-31 and not below that mark. Tanaka is certainly the Yankees' MVP at 9-1 with his only loss as a result of giving up 4 runs in a game (shame on you!). He certainly won't go 24-0 this season, but with the way he's pitching he looks like he can go 24-1 and he's definitely outshining Cashman's other winter free-agency acquisitions.



          The other bright spot during this disappointing period of the season for the Yankees has been their relatively young and untested bullpen. David Robertson has finally coughed up a few leads as the closer, but the collection of Adam Warren and Dellin Bentances continue to be one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball to get the ball to the 9th inning. With Shawn Kelley due back soon, Girardi can piece together the final 4 innings of most of these games (especially until Sabathia and Pineda can come back). With all that, the onus is on the offense to pick up the slack. Yankee pitching has to be allowed to give up 4-5 runs once in a while and not lose the game. It helps that Robinson Cano is stuck on two homeruns still for 2014, but this offense is looking as lame and putrid as 2013's version that didn't make the playoffs. Eventually, the lack of offense last season took its toll on Kuroda and the staff as a whole and by mid-September the entire team was shot. Ellsbury, Jeter, Beltran, Teixeira, McCann, and Soriano have to be better than this.

Position: 31-31 (3rd Place AL East - 6 games behind 1st Place Toronto Blue Jays)

Homeruns:
- Tanaka continues to prove he's completely legitimate and can dominate in America (and Canada). 
- Dellin Bentances' brilliance in the 7th and 8th innings have drawn comparison to a 1996 Rivera.
- The Yankees might have a blue collar discovery in Chase Whitley; his three-year wait in AAA has paid off with a 1-0 record in five starts with an impressive 2.42 ERA. 
- Yangervis Solarte's average has dipped down to an earthly .299, but he's the team-leader in that category as well as RBIs with 28. 

Foul-Tips:
- Mark Teixeira's wrist keep barking every couple of days and it will be necessary to give his bat and glove a rest more than the team would want. 
- If Beltran's cortisone shot doesn't prove to be the answer, then surgery to remove the bone spur from his elbow will have him out for 8 weeks, in definitely. 
- Huroki Kuroda has yet to get on a roll this season and perhaps Cashman rolled the dice with him one season too many. 
- Derek Jeter's legs have held up to play shortstop on a consistent basis, but his current .254 batting average isn't exactly ending his career with a bang.

Strikeouts:
- Kelly Johnson's play at first base and at the plate in Teixeira's time of absence has been doubly atrocious. As a result, Scott Sizemore was called up to take Johnson's time away at 3rd base. 
- Alfonso Soriano has shown no reminiscence of the Soriano of the second-half of 2013 when the Yankees traded for him. 
- Michael Pineda was finally making Cashman look like Einstein with the Montero trade, but the stupid choices concerning the placement of pine tar on his body with the world watching him and these lame back/shoulder muscle pulls have put Pineda back into the 'Carl Pavano' dunce corner. 

            For all the Yankees' issues, especially with scoring runs, they probably have the least amount of worries outside of the Toronto Blue Jays - who aren't going to keep up their current torrid pace. The usual suspects in Boston and Tampa have gone on uncharacteristically long losing streaks, upwards of ten games in a row for Beantown. Tampa has also suffered key injuries such as Scott Moore for the year and phenom Will Myers for a couple of months with a stress fracture. Being 6 games back in early June is no major concern, but the Yankees have to start hitting like a major league team......