Mailbag: Sorting out the pitching staff
Beat reporter Bryan Hoch answers fans' Hot Stove queries
By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com
12/10/2007 12:31 PM ET
What's your impression of a deal for Johan Santana? Do the Yankees still have a shot at landing him? In your estimation, does it make sense to do so? Finally, how can the Yankees even think of letting him go to the Red Sox?
-- Dan M., Franklin Lakes, N.J.
There are plenty of people who aren't inclined to believe the Yankees' stance that they are now out of the sweepstakes for Santana, and that they are instead just waiting to see if the Twins will do something to re-open the door. As promising as Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy look right now for the Yankees' future, even Brian Cashman loves to use the phrase, "Prospects are suspects." Santana is a proven commodity and, as much as it's possible in an uncertain game, you know what you're signing up for.
For the moment, though, Hank Steinbrenner has said that the Yankees are going to stand pat and proceed with their young pitchers -- which, really, was their plan all along anyway. When you have a pitcher like Santana on the trade market, it would be foolish not to investigate that opportunity, but it just seemed like the Yankees banged their heads against the walls one too many times down in Nashville pursuing a deal before deciding to take a walk around the block.
Classically, if this were the 1980s, Santana would have been the type of guy that the Yankees' GM would have to mortgage the future for, unloading whatever pieces of the farm system it took to make sure he didn't go elsewhere. Maybe the front office is due some credit for not having that sort of reaction. There were those out there who believed the Red Sox were in it only to drive up the Yankees' price, and while that doesn't seem to completely have been the case, there may have been some appeal in acquiring Santana just to keep him out of New York.
Now, hypothetically, if the Twins came back today and decided that they wanted Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera after all, would the Yankees turn up their noses at Santana and back away? Extremely doubtful. We all learned earlier this offseason with the Alex Rodriguez situation to "never say never," and so until Santana is photographed in another uniform, it seems prudent to keep our minds and eyes open toward Minnesota's options.
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I've been hearing a lot about trading Hideki Matsui to the Giants for relievers like Jonathan Sanchez and Kevin Correia. But how about Matsui for Noah Lowry? He's still pretty young, and he seems like he could eat up a lot of innings for the Yankees.
-- Nick G., Blauvelt, N.Y.
It does seem to make some sense. If the Yankees truly find the cost of trading for a Santana or Dan Haren prohibitive, Lowry at least gives them another veteran arm that would help soak up some of the responsibilities of a starting rotation that the Yankees insist they won't abuse.
Lowry's left-handedness is a nice asset for Yankee Stadium, his contract is relatively reasonable and he did grind out 14 wins for a pretty bad Giants team. His walks and hits totals are higher than you would like, and he might struggle some with the hitting in the American League East. There's only one way to find out, but as of yet, a deal does not appear imminent.
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Was trading Tyler Clippard for Jonathan Albaladejo a smart move? What happened to the "Yankee Clippard?"
-- Tom K., Seattle, Wash.
It was one of those smaller moves where a team crosses its fingers and hopes to strike gold by dealing off an expendable part. Really, Clippard didn't project to have much of an opportunity to start at the Major League level with the Yankees, having been overshadowed by the Big Three prospects. He would have entered this year as Triple-A starting depth in the event of injury.
He later admitted that being up in the big leagues changed his mechanics, part of the reason Clippard wound up back at Double-A Trenton. The Yankees like Albaladejo as a guy who can come in and have a shot at their bullpen mix, and Washington seems ready to give Clippard a chance to be in the back end of their Major League rotation.
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Why isn't there any discussion with the Orioles regarding Erik Bedard? In my opinion, he is a much better pitcher than Haren.
-- Michael A., Portland, Ore.
There is a thought that the Orioles will not want to deal Bedard to an AL East club just to watch him develop and beat up on Baltimore for the foreseeable future. That seems like a completely reasonable mindset. Bedard is in demand from plenty of teams who'd offer a bunch for the right to have a high-ceiling lefty, so it would make sense for the Orioles to consider the deals that would hurt them the least.
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Do you think that the Yankees will go with a six-man rotation this year to keep the innings down on the players, because of how old and young the rotation is?
-- Jacob B., Portsmouth, N.H.
Manager Joe Girardi said that he is not planning to start the season with a six-man rotation, but he seemed to hint that some creative solutions may be in the works. The Yankees have innings limits on Joba Chamberlain, Hughes and Kennedy, and even though they won't tell us exactly what they are, it's safe to assume none of the three will be leading the AL in innings pitched.
Here's what Girardi said in response to a direct question on this topic last week in Nashville, Tenn.: "I'm not insinuating we'll do a six-man rotation, but what I am saying is we'll watch innings very [carefully]. If people start getting to certain levels, adjustments will have to be made."
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I have noticed a lot of talk about Type A and B free agents this offseason and how a team that offers them arbitration can get draft picks for them somehow. Can you explain how that all works?
-- Nick R., Pequannock, N.J.
Sure. It's essentially a way of providing compensation to clubs for signing free agents who are offered arbitration and ranked in the top 50 percentile of Major League players, as ranked by the Elias Sports Bureau. The top 20 percent are Type A players.
For example, Andy Pettitte was classified a Type A free agent. The Yankees offered him arbitration, so if he had signed elsewhere, the Yankees would have been entitled to two selections in next June's Draft -- a first-round pick plus a supplemental first-round pick.
Here's one success story: In 2006, the Yankees lost reliever Tom Gordon to the Phillies. For signing Flash, Philadelphia supplied New York with not only their first round pick, which was used to take Kennedy from the University of Southern California, but also a sandwich pick which they used to take Chamberlain from the University of Nebraska.
This year, it appears that the Yankees will lose Luis Vizcaino, a Type B free agent, so they will be entitled to a supplemental first-round pick when Vizcaino signs elsewhere.
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Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
News source：http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071210&content_id=2322161&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy
12/10/2007 12:31 PM ET
What's your impression of a deal for Johan Santana? Do the Yankees still have a shot at landing him? In your estimation, does it make sense to do so? Finally, how can the Yankees even think of letting him go to the Red Sox?
-- Dan M., Franklin Lakes, N.J.
There are plenty of people who aren't inclined to believe the Yankees' stance that they are now out of the sweepstakes for Santana, and that they are instead just waiting to see if the Twins will do something to re-open the door. As promising as Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy look right now for the Yankees' future, even Brian Cashman loves to use the phrase, "Prospects are suspects." Santana is a proven commodity and, as much as it's possible in an uncertain game, you know what you're signing up for.
For the moment, though, Hank Steinbrenner has said that the Yankees are going to stand pat and proceed with their young pitchers -- which, really, was their plan all along anyway. When you have a pitcher like Santana on the trade market, it would be foolish not to investigate that opportunity, but it just seemed like the Yankees banged their heads against the walls one too many times down in Nashville pursuing a deal before deciding to take a walk around the block.
Classically, if this were the 1980s, Santana would have been the type of guy that the Yankees' GM would have to mortgage the future for, unloading whatever pieces of the farm system it took to make sure he didn't go elsewhere. Maybe the front office is due some credit for not having that sort of reaction. There were those out there who believed the Red Sox were in it only to drive up the Yankees' price, and while that doesn't seem to completely have been the case, there may have been some appeal in acquiring Santana just to keep him out of New York.
Now, hypothetically, if the Twins came back today and decided that they wanted Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera after all, would the Yankees turn up their noses at Santana and back away? Extremely doubtful. We all learned earlier this offseason with the Alex Rodriguez situation to "never say never," and so until Santana is photographed in another uniform, it seems prudent to keep our minds and eyes open toward Minnesota's options.
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
I've been hearing a lot about trading Hideki Matsui to the Giants for relievers like Jonathan Sanchez and Kevin Correia. But how about Matsui for Noah Lowry? He's still pretty young, and he seems like he could eat up a lot of innings for the Yankees.
-- Nick G., Blauvelt, N.Y.
It does seem to make some sense. If the Yankees truly find the cost of trading for a Santana or Dan Haren prohibitive, Lowry at least gives them another veteran arm that would help soak up some of the responsibilities of a starting rotation that the Yankees insist they won't abuse.
Lowry's left-handedness is a nice asset for Yankee Stadium, his contract is relatively reasonable and he did grind out 14 wins for a pretty bad Giants team. His walks and hits totals are higher than you would like, and he might struggle some with the hitting in the American League East. There's only one way to find out, but as of yet, a deal does not appear imminent.
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
Was trading Tyler Clippard for Jonathan Albaladejo a smart move? What happened to the "Yankee Clippard?"
-- Tom K., Seattle, Wash.
It was one of those smaller moves where a team crosses its fingers and hopes to strike gold by dealing off an expendable part. Really, Clippard didn't project to have much of an opportunity to start at the Major League level with the Yankees, having been overshadowed by the Big Three prospects. He would have entered this year as Triple-A starting depth in the event of injury.
He later admitted that being up in the big leagues changed his mechanics, part of the reason Clippard wound up back at Double-A Trenton. The Yankees like Albaladejo as a guy who can come in and have a shot at their bullpen mix, and Washington seems ready to give Clippard a chance to be in the back end of their Major League rotation.
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
Why isn't there any discussion with the Orioles regarding Erik Bedard? In my opinion, he is a much better pitcher than Haren.
-- Michael A., Portland, Ore.
There is a thought that the Orioles will not want to deal Bedard to an AL East club just to watch him develop and beat up on Baltimore for the foreseeable future. That seems like a completely reasonable mindset. Bedard is in demand from plenty of teams who'd offer a bunch for the right to have a high-ceiling lefty, so it would make sense for the Orioles to consider the deals that would hurt them the least.
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
Do you think that the Yankees will go with a six-man rotation this year to keep the innings down on the players, because of how old and young the rotation is?
-- Jacob B., Portsmouth, N.H.
Manager Joe Girardi said that he is not planning to start the season with a six-man rotation, but he seemed to hint that some creative solutions may be in the works. The Yankees have innings limits on Joba Chamberlain, Hughes and Kennedy, and even though they won't tell us exactly what they are, it's safe to assume none of the three will be leading the AL in innings pitched.
Here's what Girardi said in response to a direct question on this topic last week in Nashville, Tenn.: "I'm not insinuating we'll do a six-man rotation, but what I am saying is we'll watch innings very [carefully]. If people start getting to certain levels, adjustments will have to be made."
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
I have noticed a lot of talk about Type A and B free agents this offseason and how a team that offers them arbitration can get draft picks for them somehow. Can you explain how that all works?
-- Nick R., Pequannock, N.J.
Sure. It's essentially a way of providing compensation to clubs for signing free agents who are offered arbitration and ranked in the top 50 percentile of Major League players, as ranked by the Elias Sports Bureau. The top 20 percent are Type A players.
For example, Andy Pettitte was classified a Type A free agent. The Yankees offered him arbitration, so if he had signed elsewhere, the Yankees would have been entitled to two selections in next June's Draft -- a first-round pick plus a supplemental first-round pick.
Here's one success story: In 2006, the Yankees lost reliever Tom Gordon to the Phillies. For signing Flash, Philadelphia supplied New York with not only their first round pick, which was used to take Kennedy from the University of Southern California, but also a sandwich pick which they used to take Chamberlain from the University of Nebraska.
This year, it appears that the Yankees will lose Luis Vizcaino, a Type B free agent, so they will be entitled to a supplemental first-round pick when Vizcaino signs elsewhere.
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Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
News source：http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071210&content_id=2322161&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy
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