Can Yanks dump Alex? Yanks looking at Hafner

Joel Sherman today reported that the Yanks’ brass (and some of his teammates) have had it with A-Rod. As I stated yesterday, if A-Rod did dope it up AFTER his mea culpa in the spring of 2009, then he is a bigger dumb-ass than we thought.

He is too big of a distraction. Not only this, but the hitting on a model in the middle of a playoff game… the Yanks are looking for ANY reason they can find to void the $114 MM and 5 years left on his deal. They’ve had enough.

I can say that if he’s gone, good riddance. Especially if it helps them get under the cap.

Meanwhile, the Yanks are supposedly interested in Travis “Pronk” Hafner of the Indians to fill the DH role. Hafner will be 36 next June. He hit .228-12-34 OPS+ 121 in 2012 in 66 games. His lefty bat plays well in Yankee Stadium, but Hafner has not played the field since 2007. Since 2007, Hafner has averaged just 86 games a season, .259-12-43, OPS+ 117. His 162 g. ave for his career is .278-30-102, OPS+ 137 (great) but he never plays. I mean, 86 g. a year since 2007?

Hafner did finish 5th & 8th in MVP voting in 2005 & 2006 but that seems so long ago.

Hafner has been compared to Fred Flintstone in the way he looks and runs. I wonder, should he join the Yankees, if John Sterling’s HR call will be “Yabba Dabba Doo!”.

Did he or didn’t he?

There are allegations that A-Rod and others have used HGH recently. Now as we know, Alex confessed in 2009 to using PEDs while with Texas 2001-2003.

But if these allegations prove true, that he’s been using since 2009, then A-Rod is a bigger dumb-ass than many of us thought he was.

Meanwhile, the Yanks look to void his contract.

A-Rod surgery Ok, but Yanks lose out on Morse

A-Rod’s surgery went ok, but a big bat the Yanks could have used—Michael Morse—went to Seattle.

Morse had no place in Washington after their recent moves. Morse could DH (which the Yanks are looking for) as well as play 1B and corner OF vs. lefties (which is also a Yanks’ need—a righty bat in the OF vs. lefties and a backup for Teix).

Morse hit .291-18-62 last year, OPS+ 112 and he went .303-31-95, OPS+ 147 in 2011 for the Nats.

Instead he goes to Seattle in a 3-team deal, the A’s and Nats also involved.

Morse is a free agent after 2013. So you had to watch what you gave up. The M’s now have added Jason Bay (hoping for a comeback), Kendrys Morales and Jason Bay to go with the developing Montero as they look to improve their offense. Apparently Justin Smoak (who they got for Cliff Lee) is out of their plans (as he should be after posting a .217-19-51 OPS+ 87 mark last year). … and to think that Seattle took Smoak instead of a package deal for Montero (who they got for Pineda a year later) for Lee. They might still have Pineda today. Of course, the Yanks don’t expect Pineda until mid-summer and hope he’s the same after his shoulder surgery. It’s funny how the dominoes fell.

Speaking of surgery, A-Rod had his hip surgery today and all reports are that it went as expected. If everything goes well, he may rejoin the Yanks shortly after the All-Star break.

Happy New Year! Things are quiet….

As we usher in the New Year of 2013, things have been quiet in Yankeeland.

There are no hot rumors of trades or signings as we still wonder who will be the Yanks’ catcher and DH in 2013, not to mention who’ll fill out the bench.

A couple aging Hall-of-Famers are coming off major injuries (Jeter, Rivera) and another (?; steroid abuse, Alex) will miss half the year if not more because of an operation.

Meanwhile, there are a couple of free agents still available. None of the major ones really fit the Yankees needs, and with the Yanks cutting back on spending, the $$$ isn’t there for them.

Michael Bourn, Kyle Lohse and Rafael Soriano are still out there. Soriano could be a fit, only because he went 2-1, 2.26 with 42 saves in filling in for the injured Rivera last year. But Soriano probably wouldn’t want to go back to the setup role he was unhappily doing in 2011. But after a strong year, it’s interesting that he opted out and still is unsigned.

Boston has been talking to Adam LaRoche, since the Napoli deal may fall through.

Shaun Marcum and Joe Saunders are out there. So are Jose Valverde and Delmon Young.

Young is a righty bat, which the Yanks could use, and a .284 hitter. He was the ALCS MVP vs. the Yanks last year. Although his 162 g. average is .284-16-89, his OPS+ is just 98 due to a poor BB/K ratio. (27/115).

There is still Scott Hairston. There’s Thome or Berkman.

There’s …. (fill in the blank).

But it appears the Yanks are “dumpster-diving.” Who they pick up between now and the start of spring training (and it’s getting closer), who knows?

As of now, who will  be the C, DH or bench?

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has gone up 2%… and that’s just from all the NFL coaches and GMs being fired. Black Monday indeed.

 

Youkilis a Yankee

This will be tough for me. I’ve always hated Kevin Youkilis.

Now I’ll admit that the guy’s a gamer. I have nothing against his hustle. It’s just his attitude, batting stance, and the fact that he spent most of his career to date as a Red Sock has made me despise him. He’s always been one of my most hated players.

So what is he now? A New York Yankee. You can just imagine how difficult it must be now to root FOR him.

But necessity makes strange bedfellows. With Chavez gone and A-Rod missing 1/2 of 2013 due to the hip surgery (and probably being more and more the DH type when he returns), there was a huge hole at 3B for the Yankees.

A hole that Youkilis is signed to fill.

Now if A-Rod CAN play some 3B when he returns, esp. against a lefty, he may be able to play 3B, and the Yanks could play Youk at 1B and give Teix a 1/2 day off by DH-ing him. Youkilis has one Gold Glove award, and is an excellent 1B.

But it is 3b that he’ll be playing until A-Rod comes back.

I guess I can’t call him F-Youk anymore. At least not in 2013. It’ll be interesting how he gets along now with Joba.

Youkilis is a .283 career hitter. His 162 g. average is .283-23-96, OPS+ 124. But the last two years are an average of 121 games a year, .246-18-70, OPS+ 111, in 121 games. He hasn’t played 145 or more games in a season since 2008. This past season was not a good one. .235-19-60, OPS+ 99.

Youkilis turns 34 in March. You hope for .245-17-70 from him.

He did finish 3rd in MVP voting in 2008 and 6th in 2009. He is a 3x All-Star.

With A-Rod out, I could see him batting 5th. With an Ichiro signing coming soon, should Jeter be ready on Opening Day, I can see

Jeter, Ichiro, Teix, Cano, Youk, Granderson as the top six. If Ibanez is re-signed, then him 7th. Cervelli could be 8th (as of now) and Gardner 9th.

R, L, S, L, R, L, L, R, L

But the ages would be 39 (in June), 39, 33, 30, 34, 32 ….

and if the #7 hitter turns out to be DH Raul Ibanez, well, he turns 41 next June.

The Yanks would still need a righty hitting OF (Andruw Jones is going to Japan). Scott Hairston could be an option.

We still don’t know if they will look to upgrade the C position.

All we know is this. With A-Rod being out 1/2 a year, and with Chavez leaving, the addition of Youkilis was a must (unless you wanted Nunez, Nix or an untested rookie like Mustelier, Adams or Joseph playing there).

Which means swallowing our tounges and rooting FOR the guy.

Ruppert makes HOF, A-Rod to miss 1/2 of 2013

Jacob Ruppert was elected to the Hall of Fame today by the Veterans Committee. The Yanks’ owner in the Ruthian era built the original Yankee Stadium.

Meanwhile, GM Brian Cashman will need to do yeoman work to build a team. We already knew that a catcher and RF may need to be found, what with Martin’s departure and Swisher’s probable departure. Throw in DH if they don’t bring back Ibanez.

Now count 3B into the mix.

Alex Rodriguez will need surgery on his other hip (possibly explaining his poor postseason) and will miss half of the 2013 season.

You wonder if his body is breaking down. It sure appears so. Alex will be 38 in July. You also wonder if that steroid abuse while in Texas has anything to do with it.

You also wonder if he’ll even get the 53 HR he needs for 700. (He needs 99 hits for 3000 and 50 RBI for 2000).

Meanwhile, do the Yanks now bring back 35 year old Eric Chavez for 3B? He’s brittle and would need to platoon. But with whom? Where does Eduardo Nunez slot in, especially if Jeter isn’t ready for Opening Day?

The left side of the Yankees’ infield is now a mess. Two aging, injured players.

Do David Adams (26 in May, AA .306-8-48 in 86 games) or Ronnier Mustelier (28, .314-15-69, AA/AAA, 114 games) get a shot? Platoon one or the other with Chavez?

So now Cashman has to deal with a catcher (unless they are going with Cervelli or Romine), 3B (do you bring back Chavez, and who platoons with him?), possibly a SS if Jeter isn’t ready, a DH (do you bring back Ibanez?) and a RF (do you bring back Ichiro?) Do you sign someone like Cody Ross, Shane Victorino or Ichiro for RF? Trade for a Justin Upton or Mike Cuddyer? Give Melky Mesa a shot at a platoon role? Trade for a catcher? What about DH? Utility infielder?

Position-wise, there are some four positions there where things are a mess.

Cashman has some work to do.

Forget Mike Napoli at C (the Yanks never had interest). The power hitting, but weak defense C signed a 3-yr. deal w/Boston—-to play 1B.

I was kind of hoping that the Yanks would take a flyer on Joakim Soria, thinking that Soria, coming off TJ surgery, might be worth a shot to replace the expected-to-depart Rafael Soriano. Instead, Soria signed with Texas.

Slow time.

Well, there hasn’t been many posts lately for a number of reasons.

1) the season is over and we see what happens with trades/free agents.

2) Hurricane Sandy knocked my power off for 22 hours. I’m lucky. Many didn’t get power for many more days.

3) I’ve been busy. 48 hours of work this past week and 48 next. 40 Thanksgiving week and I’m not working on the holiday. 50 hour weeks the two weeks after T-Giving.

So we await on the major awards from MLB. So far, Cano and Teix got the GG, Cano and Jeter SS awards.

I don’t know what the Yanks will do yet with their free agents. They did give some qualifying offers (rejected) to Kuroda, Swish and Soriano. I expect Swish and Soriano to be gone. Kuroda is a question mark.

Martin is a free agent. I wouldn’t mind a 2-yr. deal for him, but remember, he only hit .211 last year (with 21 HR). Romine needs a full year at AAA, something his back injury prevented him from last year. So 2013 AAA, maybe 2014 back up Martin. If so, who is the backup? If Stewart, then best to trade Cervelli and see what you can get for him. Sanchez is on the come, so you don’t even know if Romine is the future. Sanchez is a few years away.

SS/3B is a problem. Jeter is 39 next June, and coming off a broken ankle. He had just 9 sb this year, his range is in question and now a broken ankle. I’d love to see Nunez figure more in the lineup for the 35-40 SB potential he brings, but where to put his horrendous defense? And A-Rod looks like a fading star. 38 next July. Do you really want a left side of the infield that has a 39 year old SS and 38 year old 3B? Guess what. You are stuck with it.

Do you bring back Kuroda and Pettitte? One will be 38 next year, the other 41 next June. Then there is Mo. He threw 25 pitches off a mound for a commercial. Good sign, but he will be 43 in a few weeks. Ibanez is on the block. 41 next year. Jones 35. Chavez 35. Who comes back?

This team MUST get younger.

Meanwhile, Toronto mgr. Farrell goes to Boston. Toronto is looking. One-time A’s SS Walt Weiss is now the Rockies’ mgr. Mark McGwire leaves St. Louis to become the Dodgers’ new hitting coach.

The Mets and Jason Bay reach an amicable divorce. That didn’t work out.

College Football: Darrell Royal died at age 88. He won 3 national titles for Texas in the 1960′s (although, as a PSU grad, I’ll dispute that 1969 one).

Lee MacPhail, who was the Yanks’ GM in the late 1960′s/early 1970′s, died at the age of 95. His dad (Larry) owned the Yanks for a brief time (1945-1947). Lee later became the A.L. President and it was he who made the Pine tar ruling.

The Yanks are thinking of flip-flopping Granderson and Gardner, moving the Grandy Man to LF. If they bring Ichiro (39) back for RF, they’ll have a speedy and good defensive OF, but having Ichiro AND Gardner cuts into your power.

If Torii Hunter really wants $20 mil over 2 years, count the Yanks out. He is 37 so it wouldn’t fit the “getting younger” plan.

I worry about next year. Too much age.

As for 6-4 PSU, I’m happy with the job Bill O’Brien has done. It’ll get much harder after this year. I see an offense that has come out of the stone age. Under very difficult circumstances, he has done a good job.

A strange year. My faves are Rivera and Polamalu (Steelers fan) and between the two, I don’t get to see them on the field what with injuries. I’m happy the Steelers are 5-3. They should beat KC tomorrow night, they should reach the playoffs.

But anyone doubting the Texans needs to be aware of them. Houston is for real.

Yanks’ season over. Swept by Tigers in ALCS

The Yanks laid an egg in Game 4 of the ALCS, losing 8-1 as they were swept four straight by the Tigers.

The hitting continued to be putrid. The Yanks got only two hits in the game, a triple by Nunez in the sixth followed later in the inning by a Swisher double. For Swisher, it broke a 1 for 36 or so with RISP run for him in the postseason.

CC Sabathia had nothing. 3 2/3, 6 R, 5 ER, 11 H, 2 walks, 3 K. HR to Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera and Johnny Peralta. He gave up a run in the first, one in the second and four in the fourth. Down 6-0 after four, and hitless, the Yanks were effectively dead at that point.

Eppley 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 0 K.

Rapada 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 0 K.

Joba 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 walks and 0 K.

Lowe 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H (Austin Jackson HR), 0 walks, 0 K.

Robertson 1 IP, 1 R (another Peralta HR) 1 H, 0 walks 1 K.

The Tigers hit four HR in the game. The ALCS MVP was Delmon Young.

Over the weekend, I’ll do the postmortem, looking at the terrible batting averages of this postseason and wondering who’ll stay and who’ll go. Frankly, if the Yanks can get rid of A-Rod, I’m all for it. He’s become too much of a distraction to this team.

It’s supposed to be about the team, not any individual. The past few days, it seemed to be that everything, and yes, some was media-driven and blog-driven, was about A-Rod. But A-Rod brought a lot upon himself by not hitting and by other things (the women incident in Game 1 of the ALCS, where he was hitting on them instead of the baseball).

There was a good point on ESPN this morning about Burnett becoming too big a distraction last year, and the Yanks then dumping him. A-Rod is that now. But how to dump him? Who’d take a fading 37-year-old and that contract?

Now I can’t answer who would replace A-Rod if the Yanks get rid of him. Chase Headley is out there as a free agent.

But you wonder if it’s better that A-Rod 1) get his 3000th hit (he is 99 away) 2) his 2000th RBI (50 to go) and 3) pass Willie Mays with HR #661* (14 to go) with another team.

A bigger problem is age. Some guys are going nowhere due to their contracts or fact that they are Yankees’ legends. But let’s face it. Jeter, A-Rod, Kuroda, Ichiro, Lowe, Chavez, Jones, Garcia, Rivera and Pettitte? They are all old. Granted a couple (Jeter, Pettitte, for example) had good years but injury, either mid-season or end of season (Jeter) caught up to the aging players.

The Tigers manhandled the Yanks. Not once in the four games did the Yanks ever have the lead.

The Yankees hit just .157 in the ALCS and .188 for the postseason. Total postseason numbers to come. For example, Chavez was 0 for 16, Alex 3 for 25, Cano 3 for 40. More individual numbers to come over the weekend.

The Cardinals took a 3 games to 1 lead over the Giants in the NLCS. Should they win the NL pennant, St. Louis will then try to become just the fourth NL team to go back-to-back as WS champs, and this right after they lost manager LaRussa and 1B Pujols.

If it is a Tigers/Cardinals WS, it would be the fourth such matchup. The Cardinals won in 7 in 1934, when the “Gashouse Gang” rode Dizzy Dean to an 11-0 shutout in a game Joe “Ducky” Medwick was pulled from by Commissioner Landis when fans threw stuff at him. In 1968 the Tigers came back from a 3-1 deficit, Lolich over Gibson in Game 7. In 2006 the Cardinals won in five when Tiger pitchers proved they couldn’t field.

ALCS Game 4 PPD to today at 4

ALCS Game 4 was ppd. to today at 4 as the Yankees, down 3-0, try to stay alive. CC Sabathia will be on the hill.

Should the Yanks win Games 4 and 5, there will be no off-day before Game 6, and should the Yanks stretch the series to 7 (unlikely, the way they are hitting—or NOT hitting), CC would NOT come back on two days rest.

Meanwhile, bench coach Tony Pena has interviewed with Boston for their managerial job.

Ex-Yank Jason Giambi is interested in Colorado’s managerial job. I can’t see it.

Derek Jeter will have surgery on his fractured ankle on Saturday (the late Mickey Mantle’s b/day). Recovery time is expected to be 4-5 months, putting Opening Day 2013 (and some of the April schedule) in jeopardy.

It’s always something with A-Rod. Did he really send a ball to some attractive girls and basically hit on them in the course of ALCS Game 1? Hey Alex, how about hitting the ball instead of hitting on the women? If true, it’s a good reason to get rid of him… as if anyone would take his five years and $114 million salary. He’s slipped incredibly…to the point where he has been benched this offseason (the Game 3 lineup was without A-Rod and Swisher, the Game 4 lineup had A-Rod and Granderson benched). He seems always to be a distraction. Maybe if the Yanks CAN move him (unlikely), they SHOULD move him.

But it is not like they have someone in the system at present to replace him. Brandon Laird was DFA’d. (And pitcher Cory Wade, DFA’d, was just picked up by Toronto). They’d have to look outside the system. Chavez, 35, is a free agent, not an everyday player, and may retire.

Last year, the St. Louis Cardinals got into the playoffs as the wild card on the last day of the season. They won the WS. This year they got in as the 2nd wild card, the #5 seed. They are now up 2-1 in the NLCS. Talk about taking advantage of your opportunities. Paying attention, Yanks?

ALCS Game 2. Silent bats, bad call, doom Yanks.

Hiroki Kuroda pitched his heart out. Two outs into the eighth inning, he was losing 1-0 despite eleven strikeouts. This on three days rest. He then gave up a single. Then another.

But on the second single, Nick Swisher threw behind Omar Infante… and had him. Only the second base umpire didn’t see it that way. Instead of getting out of the top of the 8th down 1-0, the inning continued.

Logan replaced Kuroda. A broken-bat single made it 2-0. Girardi got ejected in taking out Logan and replacing him with Joba. A single by Miguel Cabrera made it 3-0. In came Rapada and a walk loaded the bases before Eppley came in and got the last out.

But the way the Yanks were and are hitting, going from 1-0 to 3-0 could just as well have been an increase to 300 to 0.

The Yanks got just four hits the entire game in getting shut out.

Kuroda 7 2/3, 3 R, 5 H, 0 walks and 11 K. He deserved better. He was great.

Logan 1 batter, hit.

Joba 1 batter, hit.

Rapada 1 batter, walk.

Eppley 1 1/3, 0 R, 1 h, no walks and 2 k.

Cano is now 0 for his last 26 in the postseason. Unbelievable.

A-Rod is now 3 for 23 in the postseason. He struck out two more times today.

Granderson is now 3 for 26 in the postseason. 3 more strikeouts.

Swisher is now 4 for 26. He struck out twice.

You have to wonder about Kevin Long’s job security.

The Yanks go to Detroit down 0-2. They look, especially offensively, like dead men walking.

You wonder if this series comes back to NY. For now they have to face Verlander Tuesday in Game 3.

They way the Yanks are hitting (or not hitting), he’s the last thing they need.