jacksonianmarch

So as it turns out, the Yankees dropped the right hand delivery of Pat Venditte too and added a slider from the right. He is going to be a switch pitching sidearmer. His lefty delivery still brings it at most mid 80s, but the slider comes in a la Mike Myers and he actually looks more like a future lefty reliever than righty. But if he takes to sidearming from the right side, then he has a surefire route to the bigs.

That's what they call the offseason in baseball since there is so much player movement. You are going to see massive player movement over the next month or so with both the yankees and the sox getting a bunch of players

The annoying thing about overpaying Jeter is that it's truly just pandering to the "pink hat" section of the Yankee fanbase. Diehard fans who actually watch games can see he's lost a handful of steps and looked pretty pedestrian in the box this yr. But he is marketable and he does make the yanks money, but this must be a baseball decision first. If they stick to that theory, then they will leave the offer as is

What they should do and what they will do may be two different things.

Was it Rothschild's decision to let 2 young pitchers throw ridiculous innings? Last I checked, the manager makes personnel decisions. Seriously, this post is garbage

I think Beltre is gone. The A's surpassed the sox on years and hit the $13 mil mark with the AAV. I bet someone beats the A's out and goes even further. As it stands, right now the sox are out of the running (assuming they stick to the 4/52) and by the time the final offers come in, the sox max will be blown out of the water I think the same thing happens with VMart, although I bet the sox are willing to go past it a bit. The Tigers need offense and they need a catcher. And, they have a ton of money coming off the books. I could see the Tigers running this thing up to the end. I predicted before the season that a Posada deal would be a starting point. Well, a 4/52 is exactly what Posada signed his last contract for. If the Tigers go past that, say to 4/60 or 5/65 then they get him. And I bet they would be easily willing to do either. So this then goes down to who would the replacement be. If VMart and Beltre leaves, who do they go with? Olivo and Salty at the dish? Maybe Derrek Lee at 1b and Youk at 3B? Do they deal Scutaro and go with Lowrie full time at SS? Lots of question marks. This next month is going to be pretty cool to follow from a transactions POV

He has the upper hand? How? He got offered a 3yr $45 mil contract. Not a soul on the open market will beat that for a subpar SS and a guy coming off his worst offensive season of his career at the age of 36. Not a chance. This is going to be long and drawn out, but if the Yanks stick to their guns and leave this package as is, he will accept it

He has the potential to be a similar player and will likely take his lumps along the way. If he doesnt hit that potential, then you waste time developing and time letting a young guy sort it out.

It's a lateral move, IMO. He was the pitching coach on 2 WS teams, but also had some major blowups. He's known for emphasizing repetition of delivery, which I would assume all of them do. But I think he was specifically brought here to fix AJ and Joba

The Yankees acquired Cody Johnson today and DFAd Jonathan Albaladejo. Johnson is a 22 yr old with light tower power and a mediocre eye who has just had an abysmal time with strikeouts. If the Yankees can get him to avoid the K, he could be useful. He's still very young, but he is definitely a project

The yanks are apparently very interested in feliciano

The Sox seem pretty keen on moving Scutaro. My guess is they think Lowrie is ready for the big time at SS and could potentially get some pen help by dealing their SS.

More on Depaula's stuff, he sits around 92-93mph and has hit as high as 97 in tryouts. He throws a plus breaking ball and a pretty advanced change for an INTL FA from the Dominican. Even though he will be 20 for the upcoming season, I expect the Yankees to proceed as if he is a HS draftee. He will likely start the yr in the GCL and go from there. That being said, if this kid can avoid getting hurt, he has ace type potential with the frame to add velocity as he gets stronger. This is a humongous signing. And for Meh, I think they are done. They signed Tamarez for $650K at SS. They signed Romero for somewhere northward of $1 mil and they got DePaula for $700K. Typically, they make one major offensive splash, then one solid pitching splash and divvy up about $500K between 2 or 3 more guys. This yr, they went with 3 high bonuses in a FA period that was weak. Wait until next yr. The 2011 IFA period should be loaded as should be the draft Oh, and per scout.com, he officially signed his contract at 4pm yesterday. He is ours

The Yankees dealt Juan Miranda for 19 yr old RHP Scott Allen today. Like the move although wish we gave Miranda more of a chance. He's gonna be good in the desert. I can see a mid .800s OPS and 20+ homers. He's always had the bat, his problem has been his abysmal glove and his position. With Tex at 1b, Posada and Montero DHing and an aging core of vets, having a guy who is essentially a DH is not prudent, especially seeing as he is out of options. In Allen, the Yankees got a pretty good pitcher. He was a HS draftee who took a $125K signing bonus in 2009 out of the 11th round. Sits 90-91 and tops out around 93, but is still only 19 yrs old and may add some velocity. Throws 4 pitches with a slider, curve and change. Change is plus right now and the other two are right around average maybe lower with the curve being plus potential but raw. He put up nice K and BB numbers in long season ball this past season, and dealt with a very high BABIP. Sounds like he has #3 potential and should slide into a starting role with Tampa this upcoming yr. Very happy to have gotten something out of him, although I think Miranda will pay dividends much sooner than this kid will

He's the best on the market with the biggest upside. I am psyched by this signing. He's a beast

The SR on Nishioka is that he has trouble with good fastballs. That's a problem in the AL.

3 yrs $5.5 mil per is not insane for a guy who came off the yr he did.

DiceK is worth negative value to a team that is rebuilding like the DBacks. You'd have to back up the Brinks truck of prospects in order to get him, as would we. I dont like the idea of going after him since he is already expensive and would cost a ton in prospect talent. I would think a Yankee starting point would be Montero plus one of the B's. I would think the sox would need to start with Kelly and Iglesias and go from there

Marco Scutaro is drawing trade interest per rotoworld

With the emphasis on defense, he really becomes a DH. And DH's are easily platooned. I think he can get more cash elsewhere as well as more PT. Maybe he goes over there for one season, crushes 35 HRs and comes back to start on a second division club

Yankees interested in Bill Hall. I'd be alright with this. He had a good season as a supersub with the sox. Although I do think he finds work as a regular somewhere else

Marcus Thames is close to a deal with a Japanese team. Good luck to him. Would have loved to retain him

They needed to cut costs IMO with Buck coming over. But that really isnt much of a haul at all.