An Early Review of the Yankees 2010 Transactions

Yankees fans may have been spoiled by the 2009 season. After missing the 2008 playoffs, Yankees' General Manager Brian Cashman went to work on building the 2009 team and added many important pieces including Sergio Mitre, Damaso Marte (a resigning), Andy Pettitte (ditto) Nick Swisher (for basically nothing), A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira. The mid-season trades worked out as well as they acquired Romulo Sanchez (a possible 2010 September call-up if healthy) for a spare part, Eric Hinske for more spare parts, Jerry Hairston, Jr. for yet more spare parts, and then picked up Chad Gaudin and Freddy Guzman during the waiver wire period. Every one of those players contributed in one way or another (except for Sanchez) to the 2009 World Series winning team and Brian Cashman came away looking like a genius who turned everything he touched into gold.

Thames has been Cashman's best off-season move to date (NYDN)

The Midas Touch didn't translate as well to 2010. The Yankees traded Brian Bruney for a Rule 5 draft pick (Jamie Hoffmann). They traded Phil Coke, Austin Jackson and Ian Kennedy for Curtis Granderson. They signed Nick Johnson, traded and signed a ton of spare outfielders (Reid Gorecki, Greg Golson, Jason Pridie, Chad Huffman, etc.), traded for Javier Vazquez (and Boone Logan), signed Randy Winn, Royce Ring, Dustin Moseley, Marcus Thames, Chad Moeller, and Chan Ho Park. Since the season started they resigned Chad Gaudin, signed Eric Bruntlett and Chad Tracy (the latter which has been released), and traded for Austin Kearns, Lance Berkman and Kerry Wood.

While the 2010 mid-season moves have worked out to date, the off-season moves have not. Hoffmann lasted until March and then they returned him to the Dodgers (despite rumors he would be traded back, he's still with Los Angeles). Phil Coke, Ian Kennedy and Austin Jackson have all excelled for their new teams, and Granderson has been a huge disappointment for the Yankees*. Nick Johnson (injuries) and Javier Vazquez (ineffectiveness) both have been huge disasters in their return to the Yankees, and although Michael Dunn for Boone Logan is a wash and I don't think Melky Cabrera truly had a place on this team, Arodys Vizcaino (the prospect traded in the deal), dominated the Sally League going 9-3 with a 2.34 ERA, a WHIP under 1, and a SO/BB ratio of 7.33 before being promoted (and remains one of Atlanta's best prospects).

Read more>>

The Yankee Clipper: Catcher and Designated Hitter

So far in our post-All-Star Break Yankee Clipper series we've covered the Yankees' infield and outfield so far in 2010. Now let's take a moment and look at their catchers and DHs. I felt like this went together since Jorge Posada has spent so much time at DH this season. Let's take a look at how these two groups have performed and see if the Yankees may need to make some changes before the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline:

1. Jorge Posada. If you were to give Posada's year an overall grade, what would it be? I think it would have to be someplace in the B- range. Since Posada's 6th place MVP finish in 2007 (and subsequent contract extension), the Yankees backstop has missed quite a lot of time with injuries. He played in only 51 games in 2008, 111 games in 2009, but is on pace to play in 134 this season. Posada's value is almost solely in his bat behind the plate (his catching has regressed with age) so when he has to spend a lot of time at DH, it hurts his value somewhat. So far in 2010, Posada has played 36 games at catcher, 20 at DH and 1 at 1B. Those 20 games at DH blow past his previous high of 15 in 2008. Posada's .265/.373/.464 slash line is down from last year or 2007, but some of that could be attributed to trying to play through injuries. His power numbers have suffered as well as his pace of 27 doubles, 20 HR, and 65 RBI would be one of the poorest outputs of a full season in his entire career. According to FanGraphs, Posada is crushing fastballs and hitting sliders well, but any other pitch has been getting him. Posada's home-road splits have been quite pronounced this year as he's hitting exactly 300 OPS points higher in New Yankee Stadium (which reflects last year's numbers as well when he hit 253 points higher). He's also hitting lefties at a .914 OPS while hitting righties at only .784. Still, there is tremendous value in Posada's bat being in the lineup regardless of who is pitching or the location of the game and the bet here is that the Yankees will try to keep Posada in the lineup but well-rested through DH stints. The biggest problem with this is Posada is not a good career hitter as a DH. As a catcher, he's hit .280/.381/.489 for his career--and as a DH, he's at .220/.341/.352. Some players can't adjust to just playing half the game and a catcher such as Posada who is involved in every pitch thrown would seem to be the most affected by that. And 2010 has been no different as his OPS is 116 points lower when he DHs (which he's done 20 times, the most on the Yankees). If Posada can't find a way to make himself into an effective DH, the Yankees may have some troubles in 2010 and 2011. Best Month: April .310/.394/.638 with 5 HR and 12 RBI.
2. Francisco Cervelli. "The Cisco Kid" had a tremendous start to the season but has since fallen off. He's been pretty good behind the plate and looks like he has a good rapport with the pitchers, but his bat hasn't quite been keeping up. His .266/.338/.333 line and .305 wOBA looks pretty rough after a fast start. His 30 RBIs, however, is quite impressive. His caught stealing rate has also dipped a lot. Last year he threw out an unbelievable 43% of the runners who tried to steal. This year he's at 14%--which is worse than Posada's 19%. I'm not surprised to see Cervelli struggle with the bat, however. He never showed a great bat in the minors (except a brief stint in 2008 at AA) and there was little reason to think that he suddenly would have become a great hitter in the majors. But when Cervelli woke up on May 15th, he had a .415/.483/.528 line and 14 RBI. Since May 15th, he's hit .202/.277/.250 with 16 RBI. And the last month he's been dismal with a .167/.167/.250 line and 1 RBI. The problem really becomes with Cervelli how much Posada can catch. If Jorge can squat more in the second half, then Frankie's issues at catcher don't get shown as much because of the limited amount of PAs. But if Posada were to suffer another injury or will be spending more time at DH, the Yankees may be in trouble having Cervelli playing every day. Though, when you factor in that Jose Molina was a worse hitter, the Yankees are actually improved in 2010 at the backup backstop. Best Month: April .360/.448/.400.

Read more>>