2014 New York Yankees season thread Vol. (84-78) .. Essential's Offseason thread coming soon

Who just caught the two Yankee fans get pulled behind home plate by the usher :lol:
 
gotta rewind the dvr ...

who thinks Pedroia takes a bath or just goes home after this one ? i say he's in his car already :lol:


love beating these slobs :smokin
 
Klapisch: In need of an ace, Yankees sure to chase after Lester
August 1, 2014, 11:04 PM Last updated: Saturday, August 2, 2014, 12:59 PM
By BOB KLAPISCH
RECORD BASEBALL COLUMNIST
The Record

BOSTON – The year was 2006, not long after Jon Lester had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, when he received a letter of support from an unlikely source. It was Yankees’ Brian Cashman, of all people, who wrote to wish Lester a speedy recovery and that the Bombers were looking forward to seeing him on the field again. It was a generous but unusual gesture, given that Lester not only played for another team, but was one of the Yankees’ arch-rivals.

Cashman was undeterred, however. “It was the right thing to do,” is what he would later say. Lester was touched by the sentiment, friends say, and has never forgotten it.

Will a moment of compassion be a factor when the Yankees pursue Lester as a free agent this winter? We’ll see, but remember this: Lester chose to appear in Derek Jeter’s recently released “Re2pect” commercial that’s celebrating the captain’s farewell to baseball.

Clearly, there’s plenty of good will between Lester and the folks who’ll be looking for an ace this winter. If the left-hander’s 11th-hour deal to the A’s taught us anything, it’s that he’ll be playing elsewhere in 2015. The Red Sox didn’t want Lester – at least not badly enough to sign him in spring training or in the first four months of the season. And the A’s certainly can’t afford to pay him. That’s exactly the opening the Yankees need.

Members of the organization say they have no idea whether Lester will be targeted, or how much will be allotted for starting pitching next year. Those decisions are still months off, pegged to the Yankees’ finish in 2014, the budget the Steinbrenner family settles on and just how many holes need to be filled.

But there’s little doubt the Yankees will need one and perhaps two starters in 2015, assuming Hiroki Kuroda, who’s already fading, decides to retire. There’s no reason to believe CC Sabathia will be back, either. One team source says the big lefty “just doesn’t have enough cartilage” in his right knee, a chronic condition that won’t be dramatically impacted by his recent minor surgery.

Masahiro Tanaka? We’ll learn soon if he’s having Tommy John surgery, which is likely. Ivan Nova? He’s out until the second half of 2015. And Michael Pineda, the human enigma, may never anchor the rotation the way the Yankees once hoped.

So, what choice do the Yankees have except to pursue the tough, experienced and mature Lester? He was kind to the Red Sox on the way out the door, saying he’d be open to returning to Boston this winter. Lester may actually mean that today, but he’s entitled to know why the Sox never made a serious effort to sign him all year.

The best offer to come Lester’s way was four years, $70 million, which killed off any hope of keeping him in Fenway. True, Lester is a rung below, say, Max Scherzer and David Price, but he’s worth more than what the Red Sox, an organization flush with cash, were willing to pay. Go figure.

Actually, this is not unlike the crossroads the Yankees faced with Robinson Cano in 2013, when they let the second baseman reach free agency. The Bombers heard rumblings of a defection but were convinced they could play on Cano’s ties to teammates and the community to re-sign him. That plan lasted as long as it took the Mariners to write Cano a $240 million check.

This isn’t to say the Yankees will wildly overpay for Lester, but our hunch is that they’ll outbid the Red Sox. The path from Yawkey Way to the Bronx has already been carved by Johnny Damon and Jacoby Ellsbury, so there’s no reason for Lester to feel like a traitor. And, let’s face it, someone has to inherit the job that once belonged to Sabathia and Tanaka.

Lester will only be 31 in January; he’s still in his prime, having his best year, in fact. He’s obviously been playoff-tested, with a 2.11 lifetime ERA in the postseason, including 0.43 in three World Series starts. That’s why the A’s acquired him in the first place. And now we know the Sox are willing to let the industry take their best shot.

Looking for reasons to pass? Granted, there are a few. No one knows if it’ll take more than four years to get Lester to commit. If so, the Yankees will likely look elsewhere – they’ve already learned of the risk of giving pitchers long-term deals, thanks to Sabathia. And there has to be a good reason why the Red Sox were so passive in negotiating with Lester, just as they were with Ellsbury. Remember: they knew the left-hander better than anyone.

And, there’s another reality about this winter’s free-agent market. If Scherzer leaves Detroit, the Yankees will have stiff competition for Lester from the Tigers. That means the Bombers would have to take a run at Scherzer, who is a better pitcher than Lester with more dynamic stuff.

One way or another, the Yankees will have to find a healthy, reliable ace this winter, and they’ll have to do so with their most trusted weapon – cold, hard cash.
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/sports/k...e-after-lester-1.1061199#sthash.MR6kzxor.dpuf
Click to expand...
 
I'd rather snag Scherzer this year and then try to lock down Latos next year.

A 1-2-3 of Scherzer-Tanaka-Latos in '16. 
pimp.gif
 
We will probably have to blow past even the Dodgers salary next year just to make the playoffs in 2015.

If we re-sign Drew, Headley. Pay A-Rod to go away. Re-signing Robertson or Even if we kept A-Rod, and didn't bring back Headley (Which is stupid). We'll be over $200mil with Tanaka, CC, Phelps, Nova (out until July) and Pineda (who knows) as our rotation.

They have to keep doubling down on spending.
 
Last edited:
No doubt that Scherzer and Lester are aces but I never understood why teams go crazy in free agency for starting pitchers 30 years and older. They end up offering a guy 5-7 years and over $100M. But then by year 3 or 4, the pitcher isn't worth the money they getting and they start to break down. It happened with Halladay, Johan, Zito, Kevin Brown, looks like it's happening with Cliff Lee, Sabathia, & Josh Beckett. Recently teams have gotten smarter when it comes to offering long term contracts to position players but not with pitchers.
 
^ Definitely true. But it's more so because that's when almost all Aces truly hit the market, so there's very little choice in the matter, unless you have a good farm system.

I'd be more for just going overboard on $/yr to give less years.
 
Pineda hit 94 in a rehab start. 3-1/3 58pitches 0ER 4Ks

Olney said if all goes well he could be in the rotation in 10 days.


Also about 3 weeks out until final decision on Tanaka. Girardi said that right now things look positive.
 
^Just saw on Twitter that Tanaka is gonna play catch on Monday. 

Also just read that the reason Marlon Byrd isn't a Yankee right now is because Amaro wanted either Aaron Judge or Luis Severino for him. Then this man had the nerve to go on tv and radio here in Philly blaming other gms for the team not making any moves. Claiming that they only wanted to give the Phils major league players and no prospects in return. 
 
PhillyzPhan said:
^Just saw on Twitter that Tanaka is gonna play catch on Monday. 

Also just read that the reason Marlon Byrd isn't a Yankee right now is because Amaro wanted either Aaron Judge or Luis Severino for him. Then this man had the nerve to go on tv and radio here in Philly blaming other gms for the team not making any moves. Claiming that they only wanted to give the Phils major league players and no prospects in return. 
Click to expand...

-Fingers crossed for Tanaka. He's such a good guy. Also the **** show it will make next year is unfathomable.

-Amaro is really an irrational person. You guys should have just cleared house of everything. Even if you got little to nothing in return (outside of Lee).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

The ultimate sneaker enthusiast community.

NikeTalk was created as a way of giving back to both the sneaker enthusiast community and to the greater global community of which we are all a part.

NikeTalk is NOT affiliated with Nike Inc. in any way, shape, or form. All opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Nike, Inc.

© 1999-2024 NikeTalk.com

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom