Shoppin’ Robbie

A few days ago, I wrote about a Ken Rosenthal article that discussed Orlando Hudson’s value. According to Rosenthal, the Yankees could sign Orlando Hudson and then opt to trade Robinson Cano. However, that idea seemed somewhat far fetched or at least entirely speculative, even with Cano’s down year.

Jon Heyman is reporting something similar now, sans the Hudson bit.

There’s more talk lately that the Yankees may consider trading Robinson Cano. The main reason apparently isn’t that he recently earned a benching for failing to hustle, but more because he has tremendous trade value despite his off-year and the Yankees have multiple needs. The Dodgers, managed by Cano’s first manager, Joe Torre, are said to be interested. The New York Post mentioned that possibility last offseason, well before Cano’s terrible year.

So, no mention of Hudson here. Now the concept is slightly different. Now it’s trade Robbie in order to fill a few of their various holes, not trade Robbie because Orlando Hudson is available (although Hudson’s availability is an obvious factor if Cano is traded). In terms of needs, the Yankees need starters, relievers and a first baseman. The Dodgers do have options that would entice the Yanks.

If the Yankees were to trade Cano to the Dodgers, I’d expect them to drive a hard bargain because Cano’s value, as Heyman notes, is still pretty good (teams know what they could possibly get from his high ceiling). The Dodgers have some very talented youngsters, including Chad Billingsley, Matt Kemp, James Loney, Jonathon Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo (a favorite of mine), and the list goes on. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops, if at all.

Good Day

The Yankees put together a nice win tonight and Phil Hughes looked pretty good over 4 innings (high pitch count). It’s nice to see him back and hopefully he can continue to perform as the season winds down (he’ll get another start). As I’ve said before, it’s always better to end on a good note rather than a sour one (no matter how bad the season has been, as a whole).

It’s a strange feeling to watch the Yankees play out the string, especially with Yankee Stadium’s last game only days away. The home finale is starting to sound special though, as news is really starting to leak about the ceremony that will take place before Sunday’s game.

The Big Gun

Ryan Howard is reportedly up for grabs this offseason. One has to wonder whether or not the Yankees will be interested in Howard for first base, especially if the price is right (a huge 6 or 8-year deal with Mark Teixeira may scare them). With the team likely to let Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi go, he could fill the void for a powerful left-handed bat. I haven’t been a big fan of Howard this year, but his numbers are undeniably strong as he is finishing up the season with a blistering barrage of homers and RBI (.396 BA and 1.448 OPS this month). His season clip is currently .249/.335/.537 with 45 HR and 136 RBI. He has struck out 190 times (and will probably break another record) and has been rather streaky.

But, on the bright side, he’s 28, in his prime, and if traded would only be around until he was 32 (he’ll be a free agent after the 2011 season). He’ll essentially be arbitration eligible for the next 3 years and will make a good amount of money after his arbitration payday this year (he was awarded a record $10 million), but he’s reportedly looking for an extension. If the Yankees sign Mark Teixeira, he may be around until he’s 34 or 36 (and he’ll be worth more over a long period of time). Ryan Howard is a shorter commitment with less financial risk, although you’ll have to give up a lot to get him. There are rumors circulating that whatever is given up for Howard could then be used to trade for Matt Holliday, which would also complicate matters for the Yankees if they intend to look at Holliday when and if he hits free agency.

Yanks Release 2009 Schedule

You can see it, here. The Yankees will start the season on a road trip, facing off against Baltimore, Kansas City and Tampa Bay. Depending on how the team looks, that could be a great time for the Yanks to start the season off right. They will then open the season (April 16th) at the new Yankee Stadium with a 4-game series against Cleveland.

Waiting For Yu

From Newsday (Ken Davidoff):

Yankees senior vice president Gene Michael and director of professional scouting Billy Eppler watched Yu Darvish start for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters this past week. Darvish, only 22, is not expected to be posted this offseason, although a posting could come as soon as after the 2009 season.

The Giants, Orioles and Diamondbacks have all been heavily scouting Japan this year, as teams try to figure out which players’ skills can translate over and which players’ can’t. The Yankees, with a success in Hideki Matsui, a failure in Hideki Irabu and a profound failure in Kei Igawa on their resume, are still trying to master this art.

Yes, they are. Yu Darvish seems like a can’t miss type of guy, though.

Bleich Headed To Hawaii

Jeremy Bleich, the lefty from Stanford that the Yankees selected in the first-round (supplemental pick) of this year’s draft (and is, in fact, our highest drafted signee, no thanks to you Gerrit Cole), will reportedly play in the Hawaii Winter Baseball circuit. Bleich has dealt with an elbow strain earlier in the year before pitching a 3-inning start for short-season Staten Island (hey, at least he struck out 4!), so he’s looking to get some work in.

My only advice, don’t go surfing in North Shore…

Joba & IPK To Fall League?

From Joel Sherman (NY Post):

The Yankees are strongly weighing sending Joba Chamberlain to some form of extra pitching — likely either the Arizona Fall League or the Instructional League — as a way to further build his inning load this season to better prepare him to start in 2009, Hardball has learned.

The Yanks already have determined they will have Phil Hughes go to the AFL and are leaning toward doing the same with Ian Kennedy. But the most interesting case, as always around the Yanks, belongs to Chamberlain and his valuable right arm.

The Yankees have to be slightly more careful with Joba than with IPK or Phil Hughes. As Sherman notes, he’s gone from the bullpen to the rotation this year, has been on the DL for a lengthy period of time only to participate in a brief rehab stint and now he has returned to the bullpen. He’s pretty much been all over the place and his arm needs to be taken care of in light of his year.

The Silent Vocal Leader?

From Tyler Kepner (NY Times):

While Jeter is too guarded to say if he had confronted Cano, he gave an interesting answer about how he is perceived. Jeter has a reputation for being a leader by example and for not being especially vocal.

“I always hear the same thing about myself, ‘He doesn’t get in somebody’s face,’” Jeter said. “Well, how do they know? How does anybody know? Unless I was to tell someone or unless he was to tell someone, nobody is going to know. And you don’t do things for the camera.”

So if Jeter did verbally challenge a teammate?

“I ain’t going to tell you about it,” Jeter said. “And if I yelled at someone, you think the person I yelled at is going to tell you? It’s always baffling because people think they have this perception of how someone is. I don’t do things for the camera. There are people like that.”

You know, this is something I’ve always wondered about. There’s been this belief floating around, for years now, that Derek Jeter doesn’t speak up in team meetings, he doesn’t speak out when a player makes a mistake, he only leads by example, and so on and so forth. However, what I’ve wondered is, how do we know that to be true? All we really know is what we see or are told by beat writers and scouts. These guys don’t see everything, right? I’m sure if Jeter were to speak up in a given situation, the context would have to be strictly private and behind closed doors (no press).

This sort of reminds me of Ichiro’s famous All-Star game speeches (which he delivers in English). Ichiro, the perennial All-Star, supposedly rallies his fellow AL players with a barrage of insults and curse words aimed at the opposing NL squad (an insult-laden pregame speech). It’s totally out of character and not what you’d expect from him, but it happens reportedly every year and is a fabled tradition since the players are the only ones who have really seen and heard it.

Maybe Jeter’s “vocal leadership” is similar to Ichiro’s AS Game rants?

Calling All Kids

With the season soon to end, the Yankees are calling up the kids (not like, literal kids, I’m talking about rookies… OK, good). Phil Hughes will get the start tomorrow (with his snazzy new glasses on), while we’re now hearing (via Chad Jennings) that Juan Miranda will also be joining the Yankees. Miranda, a 1B and DH, has had a solid year, although he needs to hit lefties better (he too is a lefty, of course). It’ll be interesting to see how he develops next year (maybe he’ll be a better off-the-bench bat than our previous cast of throwaway players).

With Hideki Matsui heading for surgery after Sunday’s game (thanks PA), I wouldn’t be surprised to see Miranda at first with Giambi as the DH (or vice versa) down the stretch.