The Andy Effect

The Pettitte signing will impact the team in a number of ways:

THE MINORS

1. Chad Jennings looks at the deal’s minor-league repercussions. I think the most notable thing for most fans is that Phil Hughes, barring an injury to A.J. Burnett a starter, will open the season with SWB.

FREE AGENTS

2. After adding Pettitte’s contract, the Yankees are probably done dealing. Pettitte will only make $5.5 million in guaranteed money, but if he reaches incentives he’ll earn another $6.5 million. This effectively eliminates the Yankees from the Ben Sheets sweepstakes (Texas will win that “war”), as they’ll work to cap their payroll.

NADY & SWISH

3. In terms of money, the Pettitte signing makes you think that the Yankees will increase their attempts to move either Nady or Swisher, with Atlanta looking like the most likely suitor. While it may seem that way right now, with Pettitte on board the Yankees don’t have any glaring holes or weaknesses (needs). Therefore, keeping Swisher and Nady (both) could prove to be much more beneficial (for depth, etc.).

JOBA “DEBATE”

4. With more depth now added to the rotation, some will question Joba Chamberlain’s role as a starter. If you’re still one of the few folks who believes Joba should be in the bullpen, here’s another dose of reality for you. Basically, the Joba “debate” is built upon faulty logic and scant reasoning. Let it go, you lost.

Pathetic Pettitte?

Eh, pathetic is a pretty strong word.

What do you think about Andy’s return (listen to Andy’s conference call, here)? Does he look foolish after rejecting the Yankees’ initial $10 million offer, or am I just being a bit too harsh on the lefty? Now, don’t get me wrong, at the end of the day, I’m happy to have Andy back. However (and sadly), I don’t think I’ll ever like him as much as I once did.

Yankee Years excerpt

SI.com has a fascinating excerpt of the book by Torre and Verducci. Be sure to check it out.

Pettitte returns

The Yankees and Andy Pettitte have agreed to a $5.5 million guaranteed deal. Andy can make an extra $6.5 million in incentives, which would push the contract to $12 million (a $2 million increase from the original $10 million offer). The Yankees have to be pleased with this outcome. While incentives can sometimes be problematic, getting Pettitte on board for a relatively cheap base salary and finalizing the ‘09 rotation was obviously important, especially with spring training on the horizon.

It’ll be interesting to see how the incentives pan out.

(props to our very own, TJ)

Ripping Torre

From the NY Times:

Throughout the book, Torre maintains that he never knew anything was going on inside his clubhouse. But the book does describe the years when Brian McNamee, then an assistant strength coach for the team, was hanging around.

McNamee was not well liked in a clubhouse that was increasingly littered with performance-enhancing drugs, the book claims. And with a don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach to supplements, McNamee, and whatever he was supplying, became a running joke. According to the book, players would rib the teammates who showed obvious physical changes, saying things like, “He’s on Mac’s program,” or “He’s on ‘The Program.’ ”

Before, I’ve said that if Torre didn’t know about steroid use in his clubhouse then he shouldn’t be blamed for anything. However, doesn’t this information make it clear that he did, in fact, know about McNamee and the rampant PED use that has since been discovered? Why isn’t he getting railed on for this? Again, he can say that he didn’t know but when something is a “running joke” in your clubhouse, I would think that the manager would know about it. Hmm…

Yanks nearing deal with Pettitte

Breaking from KR. Apparently, the deal will be for less than $10 million and could be reached today, however, incentives could push it towards the $16 million mark.

UPDATE - Buster Olney is reporting that the deal is for “nearly $6 million, with incentives that could make it worth as much as $12 million.” This would be a big win for the Yankees.

Joba’s IP in ‘09

From Tim Deirkes (RotoAuthority):

Recently a reader pointed out a bold projection from Ron Shandler and company at Baseball HQ: 199 innings for Joba Chamberlain in 2009.  Most forecasters agree that Joba’s ERA, WHIP, and K/9 will be very strong in ‘09, but with that innings total you’d have to consider him a top five fantasy starter.  Mock drafters are taking Chamberlain in the 9th round on average, indicating concern that his innings will be limited by the Yankees, his health, or a midseason move to the ‘pen.

I asked eleven of my favorite baseball writers to predict Chamberlain’s 2009 regular season Major League innings total.  Here are the results:

• Will Carroll, Baseball Prospectus: 175
• Peter Abraham, The Lohud Journal: 160
• Ken Rosenthal, FOX Sports: 155
• Peter Gammons, ESPN: 145
• Joe Pawlikowski, River Ave. Blues: 142
• Jerry Crasnick, ESPN: 142
• Ken Davidoff, Newsday: 141.6
• Rick Wilton, Baseball Injury Report: 140
• Rob Neyer, ESPN: 137.6
• Keith Law, ESPN: 125
• Jon Heyman, SI: 109

The average comes to 142.9 innings.  If Joba pitches 143 innings, I’d rank him 18th among fantasy starters – after Cliff Lee but before Rich Harden.  It’s quite conceivable that Chamberlain could have more fantasy value (in just 143 innings) than John Lackey, Felix Hernandez, Scott Kazmir, and Daisuke Matsuzaka, who are all being drafted before him.

Fantasy value is one thing, but I’d be surprised and maybe even frighteneded to see Joba go beyond 140 IP. Joba pitched 100 innings last year and was limited by a significant arm injury. Maybe I’m too invested in the rule of 30? I guess I could handle 150 IP, but anything that goes well over that mark is just asking for trouble.

(props to TYU)

The (d)evolution of an era

Michiko Kakutani (NY Times) has an excellent review out on the new Verducci-Torre book, The Yankee Years. In the book it seems that Verducci, with Torre’s insider knowledge and expertise, has crafted an insightful text about an evolving franchise and one that experienced (and some could argue is still experiencing) an “identity crisis.”

From Kakutani:

Torre and Verducci note that as the core of the old guard from the championship years dwindled — Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblauch and Paul O’Neill were all history by 2002 — the front office tended to turn to imported All-Stars, who failed to congeal into an effective ensemble. The farm system, which had produced the likes of Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams and Rivera, was increasingly neglected, and Steinbrenner began to indulge his taste for what Torre calls “big boppers” like Jason Giambi, who the manager felt “wasn’t part of what we prided ourselves on: playing well defensively.”

This decision, Torre and Verducci write, “made for a whole different dynamic in the Yankees’ clubhouse.” A-Rod’s arrival in 2004 would cement this metamorphosis, and the authors say he became fairly or unfairly “the unmistakable shorthand symbol for why the Yankees no longer were champions and suffered at the rise of the Red Sox”: “Whether hitting 450-foot home runs or sunbathing shirtless in Central Park or squiring strippers, Rodriguez was like nothing ever seen before on the championship teams of the Torre Era: an ambitious superstar impressed and motivated by stature and status, particularly when those qualities pertained to himself.”

With each year’s failure to win a world title, Yankees management grew increasingly desperate, going for the quick fix instead of a long-term plan, bringing to the stadium a succession of aging hitters and what the authors of this book call a “collection of expensive pitchers” — including Kevin Brown, Jeff Weaver, José Contreras, Javier Vázquez, Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano — who “were ill suited for New York, either because they were too emotionally fragile or broken down.” Meanwhile, the team made only lukewarm efforts in 2003 to keep the clutch left-handed pitcher Andy Pettitte, who left for his hometown Houston Astros.

While the Yankees were going through an identity crisis, the dynamics of baseball had begun to change, with other teams embracing new cost-effective business practices based on statistical analysis. No one excelled more at this new number crunching and player development than the Yankees’ archenemies, the Boston Red Sox, who in 2004 would deal the once-mighty Evil Empire a crushing blow, coming back to win the American League championship after the Bombers were ahead by three games to none and a mere three outs away from the World Series. It was a devastating loss that only accelerated the Yankees’ dysfunction, the authors observe, resulting in more organizational backbiting and a team made up of “a slapdash collection of parts that didn’t fit or work.”

This is some intriguing stuff. This team-centric to player-centric transition is especially fascinating and, I agree, A-Rod is a symbol of what the team is and will continue to be in the future (we are forever linked as one). It’s not like we, the fans, don’t know this or haven’t talked about it, but it will be interesting to see what Verducci and Torre, in particular, have to say regarding this issue.