we just traded for Austin Kearns for a player to be named or cash... good acquisition for the bench.
TMS wrote:so instead of offering Johnny Damon anything more than 2 years $14M, we instead end up spending $6M on Nick "the injury" Johnson & now on the cusp of trading prospects to acquire a .245 hitter from the NL who's way past his prime in Lance Berkman who's making $14.5M this year & has a $15M team option next year with a $2M buyout... let's see, that adds up to at least $22.5M prorated along with prospects dealt to try & "save money" & fill a hole that wouldn't have needed to be filled had we just held onto Johnny Damon from the very beginning... wonderful. 
Houston is including $4 mil this year and will pick up Berkman's buyout
SupremeCommander wrote:TMS wrote:so instead of offering Johnny Damon anything more than 2 years $14M, we instead end up spending $6M on Nick "the injury" Johnson & now on the cusp of trading prospects to acquire a .245 hitter from the NL who's way past his prime in Lance Berkman who's making $14.5M this year & has a $15M team option next year with a $2M buyout... let's see, that adds up to at least $22.5M prorated along with prospects dealt to try & "save money" & fill a hole that wouldn't have needed to be filled had we just held onto Johnny Damon from the very beginning... wonderful.
Houston is including $4 mil this year and will pick up Berkman's buyout
And they've already paid 7.5 mil of his salary. So this year they will have paid $11.5 of his $14.5 mil contract. Getting a hitter as good as he is for only $3 mil seems like a no-brainer to me. If you watched last night's game, you can see that there clearly is no such thing as having too much hitting.
i'm more excited about the Austin Kearns acquisition. Berkman is no longer the hitter he once was, not even close. if there's a hitter we should have went after, it's Adam Dunn.
now we just got Kerry Wood. Comments?
Jeeez.. Kerry freakin' Wood? 6.30 ERA Kerry Wood? puke. excuse me if i don't jump for joy over this move... the only thing i'm happy about is we just designated Chan Ho for assignment... other than that *zzzz*
I'm hoping for lightning in a bottle with Kerry Wood. Hopefully the chase invigorates him. Bases loaded, one out, seventh inning, playoffs... if he can get it together (a big if) it'd be an asset to have a power arm to get that swinging strikeout. If his line can look like "0.1 IP, 0 BB, 1 K" I'm happy
SupremeCommander wrote:I'm hoping for lightning in a bottle with Kerry Wood. Hopefully the chase invigorates him. Bases loaded, one out, seventh inning, playoffs... if he can get it together (a big if) it'd be an asset to have a power arm to get that swinging strikeout. If his line can look like "0.1 IP, 0 BB, 1 K" I'm happy
Good call SC -- that about sums it up on Wood. What I like is the fact that the latest injury wasn't really arm related, I think it was a blister. So no big deal there -- he should be fresh and ready to go.. I never even considered this guy, I was thinking about guys like Matt Lindstrom from Houston, Chris Perez from Cleveland, etc. but Wood certainly fits the bill. And we gave up nothing for him -- I'm hearing a player to be named later or $500,000...I mean that's chump change for a guy with his ability. Plus I think we even got Cleveland to pick up a nice chunk of his remaining salary..When he's right he's 95-97 with a filthy hook. And he was showing that type of stuff this year before he went down with the blister problem. Dude's still got very good stuff. I think he's gonna help us. As of now, he slides right into the Chan Ho role with a chance for more if he pitches well. Very nice addition for the bullpen. Huge upgrade over Park who did nothing for us. Love the move..
I love all the moves actually. Listening to an interview with Cash yesterday in the car -- he said he wanted to upgrade at some key spots, give Joe some more options and also protect the higher-end prospects down on the farm in the process. Mission accomplished..Losing Mark Melancon stings a little bit - he still has some promise and was always billed as one of our better bullpen prospects but then again we tried this guy a few times at the big league level and he never looked lights out at all to me so losing him's not even that big a deal. We added a big-time DH bat with very good career numbers, a serviceable OFer that Joe can go to against lefties and/or go to in late-inning situations for some defense (I mean there's no way I ever wanna get stuck with Marcus Thames playing the outfield late in an important game down the stretch or in the playoffs, not after watching him a few times out there in the 1st half 
) and a real power righty arm for the pen that's had success since being converted to a reliever a few years ago (ERA hasn't been great, but he's racked up saves & Ks while maintaining a low BA against)..All w/o giving up anything really..Tremendous moves by Cash.
Man were we flat today or what? Made this James Shields look like Roger Clemens in his heyday. Pretty dissapointing. This offense has been very all or nothing lately. I don't think Joe had a good day today at all. First off, Berkman should've continued to DH (he's by no means a butcher over at 1st but he's clearly a step down from Tex defensively. Tex makes that play on that humpback liner early on to keep it at 0-0 AND he makes that scoop on that low throw in the dirt by one of the infielders early on also [not sure if that hurt us or not but it was ugly]. Plus Tex has been hot--why mess with him? Has he been playing like a guy who needs a day or even a 1/2 day?? I don't think so), A-Rod should've been in the lineup--he might be pressing a little with this HR thing but I don't think you sit him in the rubber game of a series with the team right behind us in the standings. Why give Tampa any momentum?? Stupid. Then he goes with CC too long (CC battled but he clearly didn't have his best stuff and he had previously went for over 120 pitches in each of his last two outings leading up to today. Why over-extend him like that? The pen's pretty fresh, no? And then when he did go to Wood (Kerry was a little wild but showed good stuff with the 3 Ks) he doesn't let him finish, opting instead to go with Chad Gaudin to get the 3rd out in the 8th with the bases loaded. WTF was that all about?!? Talk about managing backwards. Come on, you let your long man, a guy who hasn't pitched in what feels like forever, come in with the bags jammed, no margin for error, in a tight game like that? Let Wood finish that right there. I wanted to see Wood work out of that jam..Gaudin wound up getting the 3rd out but I didn't care for that move at all. Joe can't be pulling nutty shit like that..Weird game for Joe today right from jump. Managed this game like a meaningless late-September game, rather than treating it like the all-important game that it was. This wasn't the game to experiment with stuff---we needed this game today. Joe approached it like the game meant nothing.
Joe didn't have one of his better games but even still, the team just looked lifeless..We better snap out of it by tomorrow. Toronto's gonna come in here all loosey-goosey ready to play. That team has a lot of talent and they always seem to play us tough. We're gonna have our hands full, we better be ready...AJ had a dynamite curveball his last time out in Cleveland. Hopefully we see some carryover..
someone please tell me how Lance Berkman is even an upgrade over Marcus Thames this season... if we're going to trade prospects for a guy, shouldn't that player be a significant upgrade over what we already have?
I like getting Berkman. He's a patient, professional hitter and I think he can be revived hitting in this lineup. He is clearly on the downside now but I think we can get something out of him. At the cost I liked the deal. Kearns too especially if it was just cash.
I wish we would've spent more time on the pen. I think Wood might be a waste of time.
i think Austin Kearns was a very nice acquisition... he adds good depth for our bench & we literally gave up nothing to get him... we had no need to trade for Berkman tho, even tho we didn't give up any top prospects, it still takes pieces away from future potential deals that might come our way... Melancon was obviously not what the Yankees hyped him up to be, but our offense was not an area of need... the DH slot was being used effectively to give guys a half day off & Cervelli has done a great job of catching all year... now we're forced to catch Jorge on most nights & his defensive skills are clearly not what they used to be... our only areas of need were to shore up our bench & bullpen, & possibly add another starting pitcher if a good deal came along... i'm cool w/Cashman not giving up a lot to get a stopgap starter while Andy rehabs, but his answer to upgrading over Joba as the setup man is to bring in a guy pitching to a 6+ ERA in the weaker hitting AL Central? i usually support most of Cashman's moves, but lately the moves he's made have really been headscratchers.
TMS wrote:i think Austin Kearns was a very nice acquisition... he adds good depth for our bench & we literally gave up nothing to get him... we had no need to trade for Berkman tho, even tho we didn't give up any top prospects, it still takes pieces away from future potential deals that might come our way... Melancon was obviously not what the Yankees hyped him up to be, but our offense was not an area of need... the DH slot was being used effectively to give guys a half day off & Cervelli has done a great job of catching all year... now we're forced to catch Jorge on most nights & his defensive skills are clearly not what they used to be... our only areas of need were to shore up our bench & bullpen, & possibly add another starting pitcher if a good deal came along... i'm cool w/Cashman not giving up a lot to get a stopgap starter while Andy rehabs, but his answer to upgrading over Joba as the setup man is to bring in a guy pitching to a 6+ ERA in the weaker hitting AL Central? i usually support most of Cashman's moves, but lately the moves he's made have really been headscratchers.
Well to be fair, I think the Wood acqusition was made with replacing Park in mind not Joba..Although if Joba continues to falter, we now have a pretty good option to go along with Robertson in those late game situations if need be. I think that was the idea -- an overall bullpen enhancement, not specifically a Joba replacement..The 8th is still Joba's I'm thinking, esp. coming off two good outings in a row..His to lose -- but if he continues to underperform to the point where we need to try something else, we now have an additional option -- a guy with plus stuff that even has experience closing games. Kerry Wood and his stuff for $500,000 along with the Indians picking up some of his remaining salary for the rest of the year?? Complete no-brainer if you ask me. I mean we got this guy for a bag of marbles...Wood might wind up being the most important of the 3 new additions.
i personally think cashman might have made this move for wood so joba actually has some competition for once. joba has been handed everything since he came up to the yanks and hasn't had to really work for anything. seems to me that for a long while there joba lost his competitiveness and i think this move was made in part to get him riled up and competing again. i see joba taking this as a challenge and he starts looking like the pitcher of old again.
nyk4ever wrote:i personally think cashman might have made this move for wood so joba actually has some competition for once. joba has been handed everything since he came up to the yanks and hasn't had to really work for anything. seems to me that for a long while there joba lost his competitiveness and i think this move was made in part to get him riled up and competing again. i see joba taking this as a challenge and he starts looking like the pitcher of old again.
Yup. I think that was definitely part of it as well. Good call.
Finest, we got Kerry Wood for a bag of marbles because he's been absolutely horrible this season.
TMS wrote:Finest, we got Kerry Wood for a bag of marbles because he's been absolutely horrible this season.
i think you're looking a little too far into kerry wood's numbers this year. he had blister problems which limited him to only 20 games with the indians and most of his bloated era is due to a 5run stinker he had. he had far more clean sheets than clunkers and here with the yankees joe has the luxury of taking him out and bringing someone else in at the first sign of trouble.. something manny acta didn't have with the crappy indians bullpen.
listen im not proclaiming that we got a guy whose going to be joba from 3 years ago, but he does have the ability to do it. we got him for nothing, i think it's worth taking the chance, especially for what we gave up.
sorry, not excited over getting Wood... Kearns was a very solid acquisition... the rest are retread acquisitions we didn't need... i am hoping just like u are that we can get lightning in a bottle, but it's foolish to put too much hope into this guy or into Lance Berkman at this point... i don't see either of them as upgrades to guys we already had on the roster.
Obviously the team still has as good a shot as anyone but passing on Oswalt was probably Cashman's biggest mistake of the season. He's very good and he would have allowed Hughes to move to the 'pen when Pettitte returns.
TMS wrote:sorry, not excited over getting Wood... Kearns was a very solid acquisition... the rest are retread acquisitions we didn't need... i am hoping just like u are that we can get lightning in a bottle, but it's foolish to put too much hope into this guy or into Lance Berkman at this point... i don't see either of them as upgrades to guys we already had on the roster.
yanks have the best record in MLB. these weren't moves out of necessity, just shoring up potential weaknesses in october. i don't think anybody is banking on berkman to save the day.
BigSm00th wrote:TMS wrote:sorry, not excited over getting Wood... Kearns was a very solid acquisition... the rest are retread acquisitions we didn't need... i am hoping just like u are that we can get lightning in a bottle, but it's foolish to put too much hope into this guy or into Lance Berkman at this point... i don't see either of them as upgrades to guys we already had on the roster.
yanks have the best record in MLB. these weren't moves out of necessity, just shoring up potential weaknesses in october. i don't think anybody is banking on berkman to save the day.
"The ship be sinking..."
Just kidding, but it feels like it as I watch them recently. Joba looked pretty good last night, so maybe Girardi has lit a fire under his arse. Overall, I don't like any of the moves we made but am happy we didn't kill ourselves financially or by giving up elite prospects. We really need our core to perform (Arod, Tex, Jeter, Robbie, Posada and Swish) and it doesn't seem like we've had everyone hitting on all cylinders at the same time yet this year. Having said that, we need to turn it on SOON!
