WHAT COULD DONTRELLE WILLIS OFFER?

Back in November, one of our writers, Jeana Bellezza suggested that maybe a pitcher like Dontrelle Willis would be a nice fit on the New York Yankees, a cheap alternative that we could observe and work with to help the Yankees win a championship in 2012. Her take was a smart one, a different angle no one really picked up on. She wrote:

"Time to face the facts, he is not a starter anymore but he is still a valuable weapon to a team as a reliever. He is pretty dominant against lefties posting 10.6 K/9 and 1.1 BB/9, good for a 10/1 K/BB ratio in 75.2 innings in 2011. His lack of experience as a reliever scares me a little, but not enough to shy away from a minor league contract and give him a shot."

Read IF YOU TRADE FOR IT... THEY WILL COME. At the time, not a lot of publications were suggesting this, but Bleeding Yankee Blue was, and it was dismissed because, after all, many said "You're a fan site, what do you know?" Well, we know baseball and we know the Yankees and it just so happens the the Yankees did in fact offer Dontrelle Willis a non-roster invite to Spring Training, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Read him HERE. Willis at the time was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies so, of course he wasn't going anywhere, until now...maybe.

Dontrelle Willis was released by the Phillies just a few short days ago. Read HERE. Sherman's suggesting that because Willis is out of a job, perhaps Willis would give the Yankees a call to see if the offer still stands.Look, my take on this is simple, I've always liked Dontrelle Willis, coming over as a non-roster invite would only offer the New York Yankees a look. At this point the Yankees have many great weapons and adding Willis won't do much at this point. If the Yankees never made the trade for Michael Pineda and didn't sign Hiroki Kuroda, I'd be concerned that maybe Willis could contribute. If the Yankees didn't give guys like Clay Rapada minor league deals, I'd suggest maybe Willis would help. But I like what the New York Yankees have right now. Even with the addition of someone like Andy Pettitte now, all Dontrelle Willis does is perhaps gives us an extra arm in the arsenal.

BYB doesn't have a crystal ball, but we know our team...that's the bottom line ladies and gentlemen. I applaud Jeana for her instincts...good job.

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WHY YANKEE FANS PICK MARK BUEHRLE

You guys are smart. You must have saw the offer that CJ Wilson wants... 6 years $120 million and realized just how ridiculous it was. I am a firm believer that no one will offer that to Wilson, surely not the Yankees. Mark Buehrle on the other hand is a smart choice. Not only is he cheaper, he’s a lefty and durable. Yes, it’s true, the Miami Marlins have put in their offer, but based on their uniform styles alone, I don’t see how Buehrle goes to an un-sure thing in Miami, even WITH Ozzie Guillen as their manager. For a player Buehrle’s age, he just wants a World Championship and even he knows the Yankees will provide that. Buehrle is the perfect number 3 for the Yankees. If the Yanks start with their ace, CC Monster, they could put Ivan Nova in the number 2 hole and make Mark Buehrle number 3. That’s lefty, righty, lefty and changing it up helps against any tough hitting club.

When looking through the Bleeding Yankee Blue poll, ya’ll chose Buehrle (77 votes) and CJ Wilson was a close second with 62 votes. After that, it really was slim…. True... Edwin Jackson received 10 votes and Dontrelle Willis received 7, but after that, it was a small batch of 2’s, 4’s and 6’s. Yankee fans want quality and pitchers like Buehrle and Wilson provide that. Ya’ll are mad smart and we're thrilled you took our poll. Take a look at the full completed poll below:

So, hopefully the Yankee brass takes note and brings Buehrle to the Bronx. True, Wilson will give us a great performance, hell, he’d probably be a great Yankee, but the biggest concern this off-season for all teams has got to be long term deals… no team really wants to do that right now, they’ve seen bad contracts and bad returns on high priced players in the past and they don't want to make that mistake. Now, 2 pieces of information you need to know. CJ Wilson reportedly had dinner with the Angels brass, read HERE and Mark Buehrle has been visited by the Nationals at his home. Read HERE. I'm sure an offer has been made, so stay tuned for that.

But that being said, take a moment… comment and tell us if the BYB readers got this one right. Should the Yankees push hard to get Mark Buehrle on the free agent market? Let us know what you think.

Please comment, we have DISQUS. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

WHICH FREE AGENT DO YOU WANT ON YOUR YANKEES?

So, it goes like this... Here are some of the big names on the free agent market right now. Look through the list and vote in our polls on the home page of Bleeding Yankee Blue. There will be 2 polls, 1 poll on the left will be about free agent hitters and 1 poll on the right will be about free agent pitchers. When the polls are concluded, there will be a feature written about both. In the past, Bleeding Yankee Blue readers have been accurate with their picks, choosing for instance Freddy Garcia as having the best chance to succeed on the Yankees in 2011…and you did that in February! Clearly you were right, he was better than expected.

Here are the polls, take a look and have fun with it:

WHICH FREE AGENT PITCHER DO YOU WANT ON THE YANKEES?

• CJ Wilson
• Erik Bedard
• Jon Garland
  
• Zach Duke
  
• Hiroki Kuroda
  
• Bartolo Colon
  
• Bruce Chen
  
• Mark Buehrle
• Brad Penny
• Dontrelle Willis
  
• Edwin Jackson
• Doug Davis
• Javier Vasquez
  
• Jeff Francis
  

WHICH FREE AGENT HITTER DO YOU WANT ON THE YANKEES?

• Travis Buck OF
• Albert Pujols 1B
• Rick Ankiel OF
• Mike Cameron OF
• Bill Hall 2B / OF
• Prince Fielder 1B
• Eric Chavez 3B
• Endy Chavez OF
• David DeJesus OF
• Russell Branyan 1B
• Wilson Betemit 3B
• Carlos Beltran OF
• Casey Blake 3B
• Johnny Damon OF
• Hideki Matsui DH

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

IF YOU TRADE FOR IT...THEY WILL COME

What is a good lefty worth? Well, right now, it is definitely a coveted prize that the Yankees have been searching for, and spent a heavy investment on with no big return. Last year I was ecstatic when we signed Pedro Feliciano. I liked how durable he was; he set the MLB record for appearances three years in a row and I loved how effective he was, he really defined what a “loogy” was. Well, he did until he came to the Bronx and spent the season on the disabled list. The Yankees have Boone Logan , but you never know what you are going to get with him... it is like doing a coin toss. I am not going to rip on Logan, but fact of the matter is he is paid to get lefties out, and he can't always seem to do it. The Yankees need another lefty, Casey's been screaming about it for months and there are several free agents out there but who are they and how much will they cost?

There are only 2 free agents that I would even consider adding to my roster:

• Darren Oliver: Oliver has his good points and his bad points. He has posted an ERA under three every season since 2008. He is a Type-B free agent. Oliver is also 41 years old, another fact that scares me. That being said, he would be helpful.
• Dontrelle Willis: Time to face the facts, he is not a starter anymore but he is still a valuable weapon to a team as a reliever. He is pretty dominant against lefties posting 10.6 K/9 and 1.1 BB/9, good for a 10/1 K/BB ratio in 75.2 innings in 2011. His lack of experience as a reliever scares me a little, but not enough to shy away from a minor league contract and give him a shot.
  

While there are other names on the Free Agent market this year, none of them excite me like last year. So instead of spending a lot of money for nothing….like Feliciano’s $8 million contract, let’s play “let’s make a deal” with another team and use some of our resources.
If I were Cashman, I would pick up my phone and start talking to the Twins new Interim General Manager Terry Ryan about an overlooked pitcher named Glen Perkins. We wrote about him in YANKEE RUMORS & BYB: PART 9... check it out. Perkins posted a 9.49 K/9, and 65 strikeouts in 61.2 innings pitched. His walks were a little high at 3.1BB / 9 however; the great mentoring of Larry Rothschild could fix that. Perkins is arbitration eligible and would not be an expensive investment. With the right offer, the Twins could move him.

The Twins are in the process of rebuilding their team after losing 99 games and not claiming the central title after two years of being on top. So, what would it take to get him? Not much, possibly just a lower level minor league player and throw in some cash to go with him….and that sounds like it would benefit both sides.

The Yankees don’t need to focus only on signing free agents to be successful this off season; they have a large amount of resources to tap into including the farm system and they can be smart not giving away to truly valuable pieces. Plus, There are no lefties on the free agent market that I would want to throw a lot of cash at at this time, let’s save it for the big fish. It's the off season... and it's getting good!




--Jeana Bellezza --BYB Writer and Editor



Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.