When the Whip Comes Down

            Cheers poured out of the Yankee front office when it was announced that the third-party arbitrator in the A-Rod biogenesis saga ruled in favor of MLB and decided upon a 162-regular season ban as well as a ban for any postseason play for the 2014 season. It's more than certain Rodriguez will appeal the decision in Federal Court, but as it stands the Yankee Organization will save themselves the $25 million salary A-Rod had coming to him this season due to the suspension.



           The penalty came as a surprise since 162 games is three times more than the usual 50-game suspension a player receives for failing a drug test, yet technically Rodriguez didn't fail any tests at all. Commissioner Bud Selig was pushing for a 211-game penalty, but word from the MLB office was that they're more than satisfied with the decision. The MLB Players Union did protest the length of the suspension, but within their statement they too left Rodriguez hanging out to dry.



            Without a failed drug test, the evidence that sealed Rodriguez's fate turned out to be the testimony and saved Blackberry messages from Anthony Bosch, the person who ran the biogenesis clinic that supplied A-Rod with the "anti-aging" products. Rodriguez was foolish enough to send Bosch suspicious cryptic messages concerning "stuff" and sneaking around hotel entrances by use of service elevators. Bosch turned on A-Rod after A-Rod refused to pay him hush money to keep the whole affair a secret. If Rodriguez failed anything, it was reading his sleezeball detection radar.



            Rodriguez refuses to admit any guilt and still holds onto some belief that the decision will be overturned and he'll be in the starting day lineup when the season starts.



            While the Yankees look to be free of the dark cloud of A-Rod hanging over the club, at least for one season, there leaves the room to wonder if the Cano contract negotiations could've gone differently had the Yankees front office known they would be liberated of the $25 million they were obligated to pay A-Rod in 2014. Or does this mean that the Yankees can make a stronger push for Tanaka if they happen to get into a bidding war with the Mariners or the Dodgers? Either way, its clear the Yankees were pulling for A-Rod to get hammered and issued a statement afterwards which basically high-fived the arbitrator and MLB process without mentioning any support for Rodriguez.



            In less dramatic fashion - they'll also be no Vernon Wells for the Yankees in 2014 (and beyond) as he was formally cut by the team. The move is no surprise with the abundance of outfielders on the roster now (Ellsbury, Beltran, Gardner, Soriano, Ichiro) and the fact Wells forgot how to hit baseball after April of last season. Without A-Rod clogging up the majority of the DH at-bats, his absence serves to benefit the likes of Jeter, Beltran, and Teixeira, who need the breaks from field duty. It also helps Girardi put Soriano's bat in the lineup more often without worrying about his defense in left. For the time being, Eduardo Nunez and recently-signed Kelly Johnson will probably compete in Spring Training for the 3B job, plus GM Brian Cashman can wait till the trading deadline if any bigger names become available at the position. With A-Rod pretty much gone for 2014, the lineup will mostly appear as follows:

1. Ellsbury - CF
2. Jeter - SS
3. Beltran - RF
4. Teixeira - IB
5. Soriano - DH
6. McCann - C
7. Nunez - 3B
8. Roberts - 2B
9. Gardner - LF

           The Yankees also made the Matt Thornton signing official (Wells was cut to make room for him on the roster) for the tune of $7 million for 2 years. They also continue to pursue Tanaka, but no formal offer has been leaked yet, so the numbers involved remain unknown. Most experts predict Tanaka can fetch up towards $20 million per season; this isn't the Yankees of ten years ago and through the revenue sharing model, several teams now are in position to make Tanaka a big offer.



            Rodriguez will have to spend the 2014 season kissing his reflection in the mirror....

Holiday Shopping Season Continues

            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.....