"THE RUMOR SEASON IS CRAZY"... STARRING GIANCARLO STANTON!

It's the offseason, and there is no baseball fan out there that isn't dreaming up ideas about how to improve their team. I do it all of the time with my Angels fan husband. Baseball insiders also dream up ideas too, but sometimes their dreams are pretty far from reality.

Maybe you have seen Joel Sherman's recent piece, if not you can read it HERE. Nothing wrong with a little creativity, but I think some of these are a little too outside of the box. Sherman ranks the Yankees offseason priorities as re-signing DJ LeMahieu, strengthen the rotation, and look at a possible shortstop replacement so Gleyber Torres can go back to second. All good ideas but he says "BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE" the Yankees should try to trade Giancarlo Stanton even though it could be a "non-starter." HUH? Why waste time on a "non-starter" and risk missing out on LeMahieu or anything else far more realistic?

That's a crazy approach to the offseason but anyway, on to his trade proposals! 

Proposal #1: Send Stanton and a prospect to the Padres for Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers.
The Padres will be contenders moving forward, and the Padres GM likes big names (like Manny Machado) as they continue to build a championship caliber team. The Padres would actually benefit with a bit of savings if this were to happen. Myers and Hosmer will make $40 million over the next two seasons, so they would shed some payroll while the Yankees would actually add more. The Yankees are responsible for $19 million of Stanton's salary, while the Marlins pay the remaining $10 million. The Yankees are rumored to be looking to shed some payroll, not add to it.

And besides the payroll factor, it adds more complication to the Yankees roster. Hosmer adds a valuable lefty bat, but Luke Voit is a much cheaper option and still has a potent bat. Then what about Meyers? He's an outfielder and we have plenty of those. Why spend the extra money when the Yankees have cheaper options already. If the Yankees really needed an outfielder they could just bring back Brett Gardner at a much better price or sign a cheaper free agent. 

Proposal #2: Send Stanton and prospects to the Cubs for Yu Darvish, Jason Heyward and Craig Kimbrel

I don't see why the Cubs would agree to this. The Cubs have other pitchers that are hitting free agency, and Yu Darvish is probably their best starter. If the Cubs know they are likely to lose other starters over the winter trading away a trusted asset doesn't make a lot of sense. There isn't a lot of great pitching on the market this winter, so it makes more sense to hold him and not spend money on a market that isn't as attractive.

Then there is Heyward. First, I am not a big Heyward fan. He's too inconsistent and he's all or nothing. His stats the last few seasons are a roller coaster. I'd rather the Yankees just stick with their options they already have in house, they have a lot of them. As far as Kimbrel goes, he's an expensive reliever who isn't reliable anymore. He used to be good, but those days are gone. If the Yankees needed a reliever, there are better options that cost a lot less. 

I have a hard time with this option because it really doesn't make the Cubs any better, so they have no reason to say "yes" to this trade.

I can't say that either of these options really make sense, but I like to talk baseball. I like trades, rumors and crazy ideas like these. I will read them all, even if I don't agree with them. I like Sherman's creativity, but I think he's lost his marbles with this one.

  --Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

     BYB Managing Editor

    Twitter: @nyprincessj

HOW IS IT THAT I'M JEALOUS OF THE CUBS?

So once again I was watching my favorite series of the week; not America's Got Talent; not Blue Bloods or American Ninja Warrior.  ESPN Sunday Night Baseball is my favorite series.  This week featured a battle between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the first place Chicago Cubs, arguably the best team in baseball with a record of 47-21.  I watched guys like Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Jason Heyward take these aggressive, nasty swings against a Pittsburgh team, who held its own despite their record, which is slightly below .500.  As I sat gazing adoringly at the Cubs, I came to the realization that I am jealous... of the Cubs.

I actually take my envy one step further.  I am jealous that Joe Maddon is the Cubs Manager and not the Yankees' skipper.  I would like to trade for Joe Maddon and fire Joe Girardi.  Now, I am not alone in this thought process.  My son, agrees.  He agrees so much that he has decided that the entire Yankee veteran squad just take a bus from the Port Authority to Scranton and stay there.  Here's his idea of an ideal lineup:  If he was not injured, Greg Bird would take his rightful place at first base, Starlin Castro would remain at second along with Didi Gregorius at short stop.  At third base would be Rob Refsnyder and the outfielders would be one of two veterans allowed to stay, Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury and young stud Aaron Judge in right.  Behind the plate would be Austin Romine and on the hill, Nasty Nate Eovaldi. According to Chris, he would be the only starter he would keep and Dellon Betances, and Andrew Miller would head the pen. Carlos Beltran could stay also, simply because he is anchoring the team's offense. Other Scranton Yankees would fill in as needed in field, on the hill and behind the plate.  As for the other has-beens, Mark Teixeira and Co., good riddance. Maybe then, I would not be so jealous of the Cubs.

Before the 2016 season started, the Cubs were destined for greatness.  "Fourteen of 31 experts surveyed by ESPN had the Cubs winning the championship. The optimism came despite the team’s star-crossed history, including a 107-year stretch without a championship and a sweep by the Mets in last year’s National League Championship Series," reported the New York Times in April.  So my jealously is clearly not unfounded.

According to ESPN in November, "Young teams simply don’t win often in baseball. The grind is too long and the learning curve too tough. But the young Cubs thrived under Maddon. It was never just about the message he delivered to his team; it was about how he delivered it, right down to the vocabulary he used."  That's the same formula he used in Tampa Bay back in 2008. Another good reason to be jealous of the Cubs.

I guess when it comes down to it, the Yankees are just disappointing and the Cubs are up lifting. Watching them thrive after so many years of cursed baseball, is encouraging.  I will always be a Yankees fan but the Cubs are giving me something to envy, to believe in as we approach the final days in June.  I guess if I squint really hard, the C could turn into an NY.  It's a stretch, I realize but I blame it on jealousy.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Senior Staff Writer
BYB Hot Stove Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof




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THE BEST TRADES ARE THE ONES YOU DON'T MAKE

I miss the days where we would make a big splash. It was definitely more exciting, but I like the direction this team is going in. It would feel so much better to win it all with out own home grown guys. We don't need to "buy" our players anymore. I can't believe I am about to say this but....for once thank you Brian Cashman for not making a trade.

In case you didn't hear Cashman said no to a big trade that could've completely changed the future of our team, read that HERE. I guess I can't blame the Atlanta Braves for trying. They were starting this new "rebuilding" phase and we have some young and exciting prospects but man that would have hurt. Jon Heyman tweeted the names in the trade proposal and I have to say, I am breathing a HUGE sigh of relief.

I am glad to see the Yankees sticking to this youth movement and after seeing what we have waiting in the wings and coming up in the near future, I am OK with not spending any money this off-season!

After watching Luis Severino go 5-3 in 11 starts with a 2.89 ERA last season I am excited to see what happens this year. He could be our new ace down the road. I would hate to watch him turn into a big time pitcher somewhere else. The same can be said for Gary Sanchez, the first offensive catcher that is homegrown since Jorge Posada. He has made great strides on his defense, question is will we see that as the backup catcher or will he be stashed down in AAA?

Aaron Judge is going to be a power house. I see a big, powerful right handed bat in the outfield that the Yankees always seem to be looking for. Now we will finally have one without having to go out and BUY one. It certainly can't hurt that Carlos Beltran is mentoring him. He caught Beltran's eye and he is capturing Yankee fans attention everywhere.

Personally, the most important take away for me in all of this is that we saved our best prospects for major leaguers that the Yankees didn't particularly need, No offense to BJ Upton, but the Yankees do not need a .244 career hitter. His best years were back in 2007 and 2008, and he is no upgrade over Brett Gardner or Jacoby Ellsbury.

And I can't forget to throw Jason Heyward in this. Sure, his .293BA looked great last year with the Cardinals, but that could be a one hit wonder. He is another player with a career .268BA and thanks to his one good year the Cubs threw him a $184 million dollar contract for the next 8 years to be their center fielder. Oh, before I forget to mention......he only played 8 games in center last season. In fact, over the course of his career he has only played 32 games in center. So, how does that batting average and that little experience at the position earn him that much money? Personally, I think the Cubs are crazy. Have fun with that contract while we watch our guys put up the same if not better numbers for a lot less money!

So moral of the story here is....for once Cashman really did something right by not making a trade for these guys. He truly made the best trade by passing on names that weren't needed for our security in the future. It's nice not to shake my fist at him this time.


   
--Jeana Bellezza, 
BYB Senior Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ 
 





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"THE SHREDDER" NEEDS TO BE SCRAPPED

I love analyzing baseball. It doesn't have to be stats or Sabermetrics, and we don't even talk about Sabermetrics here but I am just talking about a good breakdown of the game. As we reach the end of the MLB off season I have been watching a lot of MLB Network lately, and I gotta tell you....I am watching some of these "Top 10 right now" shows and shake my head.

Whether there are Yankee players on the lists right now or not, I am watching a lot of the "MLB Network's Top 10 Right Now" because let's face it, I am excited for Spring Training. If you have never watched the show a supposed unbiased algorithm based system called "The Shredder" picks the top ten players in each position and ranks them from ten all the way top the "best" at each position and I have to tell you....some of these I have to scratch my head at.

Let's start with pitching. There's the old saying that "Good pitching beats good hitting" well no matter how much I love the Yankees, I can't deny that the "other" New York team has an amazing starting rotation. I could go so far as to say that they have the best rotation in all of baseball, but interestingly enough "The Shredder" doesn't seem to agree because not a single Met made the list.

How do you NOT include Matt Harvey or Jacob DeGrom on that list? They pitched well all season and after years of not playing October baseball they finally made it! They have two of the best arms in the game. I just don't get it.

And how does Jake Arrieta get ranked as number 2? Not to take anything away from the guy because I know he had a great year but come on....second?! He is number two after Clayton Kershaw? That is a difference about the size of the Grand Canyon and I can't imagine Zack Greinke behind him either.

Now first base got to me a little. Yes, I stick up a lot for Mark Teixeira and I always will. He didn't even make the list! Now, I am not jaded. I am in no way even going to say that he deserved to be ranked number one but according to "The Shredder" Brandon Belt is the 10th best first basemen?

Sure, I wish Teixeira had his .280BA last season but he didn't have his home runs or RBI's. When I think about the best first basemen, my mind does not jump to Belt.

The real kicker for me, was the best center fielder list. In this case numbers seven and eight were puzzling to me. How are Kevin Kiermaier and Randal Grichuk on the list? Kiermaier had average numbers on an under performing team and Grichuk only played in 103 games. He doesn't even have the playing time to call him one of the best.

My biggest beef of all though....naming Jason Hayward the fifth best center fielder in the game. What algorithm did "The Shredder" use for that? It's based on a prediction at this point because last year he only played 10 games as a center fielder. How can you rate the guy number five when he was basically a substitute? It's a wild ranking to give with the lack of experience especially with a very under valued Andrew McCutchen only ranked a number four when he has been one of the best in the game.

I think "The Shredder" is crazy. The algorithm is broken somewhere because some of these rankings are a little screwy. It's just another reason why baseball can't be written like a math problem. There is a lot of logic involved in this but it goes deeper than that. So for the time being, I am going to scrap this Shredder for awhile before they try to convince me that two plus two is equal to five.



   
--Jeana Bellezza, 
BYB Senior Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ 
 





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THE JORGE SOLER TRADE THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAPPEN

Disclaimer: This is purely speculation and wishful thinking on my part. A friend from a Yankees Facebook group, Scott, would be the happiest man alive if this happened! So this one's for you Scott!

The Cubbies appear to be the favorite to sign Dexter Fowler and after already signing Jason Heyward this off season, a Fowler signing would create a backlog of outfielders on the Cubs roster. Also with one of their top prospects, Albert Almora, who is a defensive stud in centerfield and not far from the Big's, Jorge Soler might not have an everyday position.

So should Brian Cashman make a couple phone calls and see if he can get a hold of Theo Epstein? I say yes. Soler would fit the bill of the youth movement and has a very high ceiling.

Soler will be just 24 when the season begins and has some serious power potential in his bat. Some speculate he could be a 30 home run guy. His downfall is he is not seen as a great defensive player. But if you can hit 30 home runs, an improvement from just 10 in 2015 over 366 at-bats, a couple defensive miscues can be overlooked.

The problem is the Yankees have a ton of money invested in their outfield right now and not much young controllable pitching they are willing to part with. Andrew Miller would likely be the leading candidate Cashman would try and sell.

Besides Miller, Gardner has been a topic of trades as we all know, but the Cubbies would be looking to deal an outfielder, not acquire one.

A three team trade could be plausible and the Rays have reportedly been in contact with the Cubs discussing a starting pitcher for Soler or infielder Javier Baez. Crazier things have happened.

Realistically it would be very difficult to get this deal done at least from a perspective outside of the organization. Obviously Cashman and Hal know better than me.

This is likely just a pipe dream really, but who doesn't enjoy one of those once in a while?

The Yankees seem content on standing pat for the meantime and as much as some of you despise it, I don't. They need to wait until after the 2016 season and 2017 season, free up some payroll, continue getting younger and start filling in the pieces.

So maybe a miracle happens, maybe not. Either way speculation is fun and even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally.

We shall see!


 --Dan Lucia
BYB Senior Writer
Twitter: @DManLucia








 
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CESPEDES STAYING PUT WITH THE METS!

After all the waiting, Yoenis Cespedes is staying in New York with the Mets.

The slugging outfielder agreed to the deal late Friday ESPN reports. His haul will be $75 million over three years and includes an opt out clause after the first year.

Cespedes had one of his best seasons last year after arriving to the Mets—he finished the 2015 campaign with 35 home runs and 105 RBIs. So why did it take so long for him to be plucked from free agency?

As BYB has noted previously, this year’s market had nearly two dozen outfielders up for grabs including marquee players like Justin Upton (who also just signed a deal recently), Alex Gordon, Denard Span, and Jason Hayward. In fact, Yahoo! Sports notes there is enough quality free agents left on the market in January to field an entire team.

So what gives?

One observation is that many teams that have traditionally spent big money are holding back this year. Angels owner Arte Moreno, perhaps still smarting from the Josh Hamilton bust, said early in the fall that he would not be fronting tons of money to fill his void in the outfield. The Yanks also seems to be holding on to their pocketbook as they wait for other contracts to expire says FOX Sports analyst Ken Rosenthal.

Pair this unwillingness to spend with a glut of available talent (the Braves and Reds basically put everyone out for grabs) and lack of trade options and you basically have a buyers market for players.

But don’t feel too bad that Cespedes had to wait so long. His new salary puts him on par with Giancarlo Stanton as one of the highest ever paid to an outfielder. That’s a lot of coffee table books.


   
--Alexis Garcia, BYB's "Eye on MLB" Columnist &
Los Angeles Dodger fan
Twitter:  @heylexyg




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HEYWARD. CUBS. 8 YEARS. $184 MIL. WTF.

That's alot of years.

Aquick note.  Jason Heyward just made a hefty pay day.  There are multiple reports about this deal, but we'll just use ESPN on this one:

"The Chicago Cubs have agreed to terms with free-agent outfielder Jason Heyward on an 8-year, $184 million deal...Heyward's deal has two opt-outs: One is after three years, the second after an unknown time frame."

I gotta tell you, I am a huge Heyward guy. He's a jersey guy like me. I love him, I love the way he plays, if he was a New York Yankee, it would make me very happy. But lets be real about this; I think a contract like this for the Yankees is utterly ridiculous and Brian Cashman was brilliant in NOT signing or pursuing Heyward at the tune of 8 years and $184 million. 

Who knows, it could prove a huge mistake not signing him, but I'm applauding us not budging here.  We need to concentrate on starting pitching now, and that's what I hope we're doing. 

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YANKEES EYEING JASON HEYWARD

With the offseason being fully operational, the predictions are rolling in on who the Yankees are going to chase. One of the top names this year is Jason Heyward, who would be an asset to any team. At age 26, he could bring youth and durability to a Yankees team that has been plagued with injuries for the last few years. Last spring the Atlanta Braves put Heyward on the trading block and the Yankees expressed interest, but the Cardinals swept in and snagged him in a 4-player trade. Now he’s on the free agent market.

He began his career making a name for himself as a power hitter, posting a .277/.393/.456 slash line in his rookie year (2010), netting a 2nd place showing in the NL Rookie of the Year vote, and even cracking the top 20 for the NL MVP vote. Since then, he’s gotten away from the hitting and focused on his fielding. He has earned 2 Gold Gloves for his play in right field, and last year he ranked 7th in the majors in fielding percentage among hitters who played 80 games or more. Personally I would like to see a hitter that can hit over .300 in the Yankees lineup, but he brings diversity in his approach at the plate, with a good mix of average and power. The impressive thing about his hitting as that he heated up as he went along. April and May were somewhat slow, but by August he was on fire, and his postseason batting average was .357. That may be directly attributable to his durability and age. Did I mention he’s only 26 years old?

The troubling thing with Heyward’s bat is his situational hitting. Last year he hit .293. With 2 outs and runners in scoring position, he only hit .245. When the game was late and close (after the 6th and either tied, up by one, or under pitching save conditions), he hit .244. When you’re hitting 50 points below your average, there is cause for concern. Also, for some reason he stopped hitting the ball in the air last year. His GB/FB ratio hit 1.4, whereas it was 0.81 the three years prior. The fear is that he’s lost some discipline at the plate and is just trying to make contact instead of driving the ball. In Yankees Stadium, we want our left-handed hitters to be driving the ball while swinging up.

The last thing, which could spell trouble, is the rumor that he is looking for a long-term contract. At his age, offers for a 10-year deal are not out of the question. Being somewhat a complete package – good hitter, good fielder, good runner, young – he could command over $20M per year. I think the Yankees should think long and hard before offering should deals. When I say think, I mean think about the top 54.7% of their 2016 projected payroll, which is all 7-10 year deals and all but one are a question mark in terms of their physical health.

I think Jason Heyward would be a tremendous asset to the Yankees outfield and lineup, adding youth, range, power, and durability. Hopefully, we can get him at a fair price. A lineup that reads Tex followed by ARod followed by J-Hey has a nice ring to it.

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Senior Staff Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon
My blog is: Shots from Murderer's Row






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