The Price Of Yankees Tickets in the Early 1980s (and Other Yankee Notes)

A few random thoughts on the Yankees and baseball:

• One of my co-workers, Adam, a die-hard Red Sox fan, had two Yankee season ticket stubs at his desk today from the 80s (a picture of them posted to the right from 1980 and 1982 for Field Box seats). Check out the price for a season plan on those tickets. The Sports Illustrated Photo Vault had posted the ticket prices from 1987 a few weeks back but these make you saw "wow" even more.

• While it doesn't look like the Yankees will be raising ticket prices to pay for Cliff Lee, the Yankees will be raising the parking prices. If people are still paying to park at Yankee Stadium, I'm very sorry. Meanwhile, the Red Sox will be raising ticket prices next year so they can retroactively have had enough money to sign Mark Teixeira.

• A report by Big League Stew at the end of October stated that the Florida Marlins were considering dealing their top prospect, Mike Stanton, for...wait for it...Ozzie Guillen. That amazing story had River Ave Blues and Tango trying to figure out what the Yankees could get for an actually good manager like Joe Girardi.

• When Joe Girardi was a Yankee, he went from the starting catcher to being slowly replaced by the young stud, Jorge Posada. Now Posada is the veteran who may be giving way this spring to super-stud prospect, Jesus Montero. With Posada only signed for one more season and Montero having nothing left to prove offensively in the minors, this makes all the sense in the world to me. I know he may not be great defensively but, really, is Posada or Francisco Cervelli being mistaken for Bench back there? Meanwhile, as Steven Goldman writes for Pinstriped Bible, Jorge is bowling for controversy with his comments. I think the Yankees should just tell the moody Posada he'll be lucky to catch more than 90 games in 2011 (though Joel Sherman thinks it will be a lot more). Make it simple

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Hot Stove Coal: How Would David DeJesus Look In Pinstripes?

Since we've been vetting almost every left field candidate for candidacy in the Bronx, I thought it best to look through the credentials of one of the more underrated left fielders out there, David DeJesus. With the recent signing of Rick Ankiel, adding to a crowded OF, DeJesus may be available from the Royals. DeJesus is nothing spectacular as a hitter: his career splits are .286/.358/.425 and his career wOBA is .340. But on a second-look, those numbers are comparable to Damon's at the same point in his career and would seemingly be better than Brett Gardner's. As you can see from the graph below from FanGraphs, the two Kansas City OF compare favorably in wOBA through age 29 (and I've added Reed Johnson to this graph just for comparison's sake):

Amazingly, all three OF had down years at Age 27. Since that age, Damon and DeJesus have been almost identical. But there are a few reasons why DeJesus would be better than Johnson/Damon. DeJesus will only turn 30 next season, making him the youngest of the group by quite a few years (well, other than Gardner). DeJesus* was born in Brooklyn, went to high school at Manalapan High School in Englishtown, New Jersey, and then went to college at Rutgers University--so he's definitely a local boy.

*Side Note: It was radio host Don Imus who first brought DeJesus to national fame when he talked on his show about the ballplayer and his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Michelle Salvatore, who did the "Scum Report" on his show. Supposedly she dumped him when he got demoted to Triple-A Omaha but got back together when he got back with the Royals. Sort of a true story.

But the big thing that sets DeJesus apart from his peers is his defense. In 4,121.2 innings in CF, DeJesus has a UZR of 16.4 and in 2,263.2 innings in LF, he has an UZR of 35.0. That's some good defensive production. This has helped DeJesus consistently put up really good WAR numbers since he's become a regular in 2005 (4.2, 3.8, 2.6, 2.6, 3.2).

The problem is that I don't think DeJesus fits on this team for a few reasons. One, I'm not sure the Royals are really trying to get rid of him. He's the best OF they have right now even after acquiring Scott Podsednick and Rick Ankiel this off-season to go along with the disappointing--but unmovable--Jose Guillen. Just because they have three other OF, doesn't mean they're going to trade one. Second, DeJesus doesn't hit lefties well (.276/.339/.377), which really has to be one of the requirements of acquiring a LF. Lastly, I'm not sure the Royals would give him up for cheap, but even if they would, he still makes $4.7 M this season with a $6 M club option or $0.5 M buyout next season. If their budget is truly $2 M, this wouldn't work for the Yankees.

The Yankees could make this work, especially if they're truly not sold on Brett Garnder as as starter. A trade of Chad Gaudin ($2.95 M), Gardner and a minor leaguer for DeJesus would seem to almost make it work player- and salary-wise, but I'm not sure if it truly makes the Yankees a better team. I just think it's another name to throw out there into the mix as the Yankees look to fill one of their final roster spots.
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In other news, a reminder that we will be doing a live chat on this blog at 2 PM so come with your questions or topics to discuss. We'll be talking all New York sports here on the blog so get excited!