By Anthony Tripicchio
For the first time in decades, financial constraints may have hampered the Yankees.
Whatever the cause, the Yankees enter 2010 as an inferior team compared to the unit that won the 2009 World Series.
The everyday lineup suffered the most damage. Allowing both Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon to leave the Bronx created a void that GM Brian Cashman didn't adequately fill.
Curtis Granderson, the most notable offseason addition, comes packaged with an epic flaw. His well documented inability to hit left-handed pitching is an issue that did not plague the departed duo of Matsui and Damon. In fact, Matsui excelled in that department, batting .282 versus lefties (eleven points higher than he did against righties) with 13 homers, 46 RBI, and an astounding .976 OPS in 2009.
Damon, meanwhile, hit a respectable .268 against southpaws which is markedly better than his replacements, Granderson and Randy Winn.
The switch hitting Winn, who will be 36 in June, hit a pitiful .158 from the right side last season. Although his career numbers are much better than that, it's easier to expect deteriorating numbers as he reaches the twilight of his career.
More perplexing is the acquisition of former Yankee and new DH Nick Johnson.
While evaluating Johnson, it's a question of when, not if, he'll spend an extended stint on the DL. Johnson has only played 100 games or more in three major league season and has failed to do so every year since 2006.
Anyone anticipating a power surge from him due to the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium could be headed for disappointment. Johnson has only hit 20 or more homers once in his career. Further, he's always spread the ball to all fields and isn't known as a pull hitter.
Since Johnson signed for $5.5 million, just one million less than Matsui's $6.5 million deal with the Angels, the decision to let Matsui walk for a one million dollar discount on Johnson is far from a sound baseball move. More preposterous is the notion that Johnson will be invaluable as a first baseman to spell Mark Teixeira.
Scouts have observed Johnson's once above average defense taper off in recent years. More significantly, Teixeira is in the prime of his career at age 30 and rarely needs a day off. In the unsual circumstance that Teixeira would be on the bench, Nick Swisher has proven to be a decent option at first base anyway.
The brittle Johnson will have the opportunity to play with the pitcher he was traded for in 2004, Javier Vazquez. Yet another spotty addition by Cashman, Vazquez finds himself returning to a league where he's been little more than an average starter.
Vazquez's track record aptly demonstrates that he's strictly a NL pitcher. Three of the four years Vazquez has spent in the AL, he's amassed an ERA of 4.67 or higher and surrendered at least 25 homeruns. That includes his one unforgettable year with the Yankees when he went 14-10 with a 4.91 ERA and capped it by yielding Damon's earth shattering grand slam in Game 7 of 2004 ALCS against Boston.
Although his numbers in Atlanta last year represented an ace-like performance, Vazquez is a misfit in Yankee Stadium. Left-handed power hitters will have field days off of him at home and he'll be nothing more than an exorbitantly priced, backend starter.
Granted, on the surface, the Yanks didn't give up much to acquire him. Melky Cabrera is a useful fourth outfielder whose production Brett Gardner and Randy Winn can replicate. The wildcards in the deal, however, are pitchers Mike Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino.
Vizcaino was ranked as the third best prospect in the Yankees system prior to the trade and impressed in Staten Island in 2009. If the 19-year-old continues to develop over the next few years, this is a trade that could really burn the Yankees down the road.
The more attractive alternative to Vazquez was to roll the dice with one of the several low risk, high reward starters that were on the market. Despite Ben Sheets startling signing for $10 million after missing the enter 2009 campaign, his base contract is still two million less than what the Yankees have committed for Vazquez and wouldn't have cost them an intriguing young arm like Vizcaino.
In the end, Cashman just needed to resign either Matsui or Damon, not both. He should have been able to play one against the other in negotiations as a result, but instead let his personal vendetta against Scott Boras, an Arliss Michaels wannabe, intercede.
Both Matsui and Damon have become defensive liabilities, but their bats will not be easy to replace.
2 comments:
I totally agree with you, I figured we would bring back Damon especially for his chemistry which is a huge intangible....
And like you I am not sold on Granderson, Winn, Vasquez or Johnson.
Regards.
Thanks, Carlos. Cashman has a tendency to let some of these issues get personal. He was adamant the Yankees were better with Mienkiewicz/Phelps over Bernie despite Torre's stance and was wrong there, and now he's allowed his distaste for Boras to weaken his team too.
When you look at how productive Damon and Matsui have been for them and specifically how crucuial they were to the team's success last year, it's very surprising they're both gone. Especially considering they each got just one year deals elsewhere.
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