According to a tweet (the most official and scientific of all resources!) today by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Yankees plan to announce a deal with former Padres GM Kevin Towers sometime before Spring Training, most likely as some sort of "special consultant" (the Cash Man ain't going anywhere, simmer down). Buster Olney predicted it back in October, and Towers himself said during the Winter Meetings (during which he met with several teams, including the Yanks) that he'd like to work with an American League team, so while Nightengale's tweet is not "official" news, Towers almost certainly will be joining the Yankees in 2010.

Whatever it is he'll be doing for the Yanks, I'm willing to bet it will result in all sorts of goodness. Even with the Padres' budget, which is approximately equal to my salary at my after-school job in high school (Jane's Cakes and Chocolates, represent!), the Padres won four division championships made it all the way to the World Series in 1998 during his reign. Before becoming GM, Towers was a scout, and used his skills to put together some surprisingly impressive teams made up primarily of random under-the-radar dudes - particularly pitchers - who had been cast off by other teams (deemed "dumpster diving" by the San Diego Union Tribune). He was also responsible for one of the most ridiculous trades of the past couple years, when he arranged a deal that sent a minor league catcher (Billy Killian), Akinori Otsuka (whose performances in the local "Corkys Pest Control" commercials remain the highlight of his career) and Adam Eaton to Texas in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez, Chris Young and OF Terrmel Sledge.

He won't be in sole charge of trades in New York, but I look forward to seeing what he comes up with for the Yanks - with his keen sixth sense for under-valued talent and the Yanks' money to behind him, I anticipate big things.

Well, my fellow Damon fans, the sad fate we knew we were likely facing has come to fruition. The Yanks signed fellow - but much cheaper - veteran Randy Winn today for $2 million to be their fourth outfielder, shutting the door on any hopes of a Damon return. Joe Girardi confirmed the news on Mike Francesa's radio show tonight, saying he called Damon to wish him well and that he "is going to be missed".

As I explained last week, with an already incredible lineup and Brett Gardner available to play left field, investing in a pricey free agent like Damon really didn't make much sense. For just $2 million, Randy Winn actually fits the bill for the Yanks pretty well. He's a switch-hitter with a career .286 batting average (although he had a wretched 2009 - let's hope that was a fluke),, can run okay, and will almost certainly mis-play 90% fewer balls than Damon.

And if he sucks, Gardner will still be there.

In short, signing Winn was a generally wise move: why pay big bucks for a star when others are available to do 70% as good a job for 20% of the price?

A-Rod's New York state of mind circa 2004-2008 (left) and 2009 (right)

When I posted the BQE with McGwire's non-apology apology for juicing a couple weeks ago, I noted that it was unlikely that any other quote would ever top that one in terms of idiocy and amusement factor. That statement stands and likely will for some time (because really, how are we going to top "I did this for health purposes"???), but A-Rod's reaction to winning an award for post-season excellence this weekend earned him a spot on the BQE list for a different reason entirely: it was sincere, endearing, and humble. In other words, totally different from any other BQE I've ever posted.

A variety of awards were handed out at the 87th annual New York baseball writers’ dinner in NYC on Saturday, from the traditional AL and NL MVP to more personal honors like the Joan Payson Award for community service (given to Carlos Beltran... that'll make his team feel better about him concealing his surgery from them, right?) and the Arthur and Milton Richman You Gotta Have Heart Award (which was given to Aaron Boone, obv). Our dear A-Rod was honored as the winner of the Babe Ruth Award (the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s postseason MVP), an award no one who had ever uttered the words "choke artist" or "A-Fraud" during the 2004, 2005, 2006, or 2007 playoffs would have fathomed him earning.

But earn it he did! His 2009 post-season numbers were indeed award-worthy: he batted .365 with six home runs (most of them undeniably clutch) and 18 RBI in 15 games, a performance worthy not just of an award but of a pardon for his prior playoff shortcomings. His amazing post-season capped off an equally impressive regular season, something no one would have expected after everything he'd endured in the previous couple of years (events which include, but are not limited to: a bitchy wife that wore clothes adorned with "Fuck You" to his games, a nasty divorce from said bitch, a romance with a near senior citizen with freakishly muscular arms [I'm looking at you, Madonna], getting dumped by said old lady for a 20 year old male model, opting out of a mega-huge contract in order to get an even bigger one [although I hold Boras primarily responsible for that one], being mocked by his former manager in a high-profile book, and a steroid scandal).

While accepting his award, A-Rod acknowledged both his record of crappy playoff performances and the personal problems:

“Postseason MVP. Wow. What’s next, the good guy award?”

Seeing A-Rod cap off an impressive 2009 with a well-deserved award and a humble, self-aware acceptance speech is a delightful symbol of his shift in attitude. Yankees fans have been hoping for a change like this since he joined the team nearly 6 years ago, and it fills me with hope for what we'll be seeing from him for the next 8 years. A relaxed A-Rod that performs like a champ in the playoffs? It seemed unlikely just one year ago, but he proved me wrong. Perhaps that good guy award is up next after all!

After a few shaky years of relying on one or two solid starters backed up by a series of interchangeable question marks (Rasner, Ponson, Chacon) and downright WTF's (Igawa, Wright, Pavano), the 2009 Yanks finally managed to put together a roster of starters that came close to being as impressive as their lineup. The Wangster was a bust, but they still had four starting pitchers pitch the entire season without injury or major disaster (CC, AJ, Pettitte, Joba), and the collection of dudes that filled in at the 5th spot was refreshingly reliable - as far as 5th starters go, that is - as well (Hughes, Gaudin, Mitre). As we look forward to 2010, the Yanks' list of starters is even more impressive. In fact, the Yanks appear to be in possession of - I'm frightened to even say this for fear of it causing a wave of Pavano-esque injuries and sending us right back to where we were in years past - a surplus of starting pitching.

Could this really be true? Is this real life? In addition to their three best performing starters from last year (CC, AJ, and Pettitte), the Yankees will also have Javier Vazquez in 2010, giving them a rotation any team would be thrilled to have regardless of who was rounding out the last spot. Unlike previous years where the 5th (and sometimes 4th) spot was at best a gamble and at worst a throwaway, the Yanks have four viable starters to fill in after CC, AJ, Pettitte, and Javy. Hughes and Joba are the obvious candidates for the spot - Girardi and Stein still consider both of them as potential starting pitchers, not relievers - but the Yanks also still have Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin, who started 9 and 6 games last year, respectively.

Who will actually get that spot remains a mystery for now; arguments can be made in several directions (and we shall discuss them in a later post). The fact that they have all these options is the important thing. Not only does it give the Yankees some breathing room in the event that someone gets injured or proves to have an off year, but it also forces all of them to step up their game to earn the spot - having to beat out their teammates to get the chance to pitch will surely inspire some serious hard work and determination. I don't necessarily anticipate Chad Gaudin to bust out an epic season and knock Joba and Hughes out of the rotation, but for those two to know that if they don't pitch well they could easily be bumped can only be good.

It's been quite a while since I've felt such confidence in the Yankees' pitching staff. Not having to rely solely on Mariano and offense was a nice treat last year, and I'm really looking forward to enjoying that same luxury this year. With a lineup that actually could carry a team with poor pitching and a rotation like this to take the pressure off, this team is looking downright absurd*.

*Superstition disclaimer: Not I would count my chickens before they hatch. Knock on wood, etc etc.

As I mentioned last week, my love for Damon (post-Boston/beard Damon, that is) had me rooting for him to return to the Bronx for another season - if the price was right (even as a fan, I can't justify the Yanks spending more than a couple million on him, nor would I want them to sign him for anything more than one season). Unfortunately for Damon fans like myself, since the Yanks (wisely) don't want to shell out big bucks for their left field spot and Damon is still holding on to hope of scoring big elsewhere, it's time to accept the fact that Damon will likely NOT be manning left field in 2010. Thus the time has come to suss out other possibilities...

The Yanks have not yet formally announced who they plan to have in left field this year, but with Damon out of the picture, they essentially have three options: make a trade, sign a free agent, or put Brett Gardner out there. Making a trade seems unlikely - who would they be trading for? And who is left to give up? - and the list of free agents that fit the criteria the Steins have in place for their 2010 left fielder ("will work cheap" and "doesn't suck too horribly") is dwindling by the day (although Gary Sheffield is still available! I'm surprised - who wouldn't want that little ray of sunshine brightening up their team's morale?). That leaves our dear friend Brett Gardner, a guy once thought to be a better bet than Melky Cabrera before his lackluster performance relegated him back to the bench. Gardy may not be the most impressive player, but his low price (under half a mil) and potential for improvement have him just weeks away from getting the left-field gig by a process of elimination. As a Yankees fan during the Steinbrother area, I'm not used to the team "settling" at any position - they've got the money, go after the big players! - but I actually think giving the job to Gardner instead of expending more money or players is the best move the Yanks could make with their left field opening.

Why give the gig to Brett? As noted, Brett ain't the best left fielder in the league, and when compared to the rest of the Yanks lineup he looks like he belongs in the minors. That said... who cares? Have you seen the rest of that lineup? While a 1-9 can't-get-em-out lineup like we had last year is fantastic, it's also rare and simply not necessary. A-Rod, Teixeira, Jeter, Granderson, Cano, Posada, Swisher and Nick Johnson are more than capable of taking care of business whether their 9th teammate is Brett Gardner or Wily Mo Pena or even Matt Holliday. Would having another 25-home run guy on the team be nice? Sure. But it's not necessary for the Yanks to be successful in 2010.

What's more, Gardner shouldn't be written off as a "waste" of a lineup spot anyway - he has the potential to contribute much more than we saw last year. Remember, last year at Spring Training he impressed Girardi so much he was actually given the starting job in centerfield over Melky. Once the season got rolling, his performance unfortunately dropped off significantly, but he's obviously got some natural ability in there somewhere. He's only 26, and doesn't have a ton of experience - perhaps what he needs is the chance to get in a lot of at-bats without a ton of pressure (look at that lineup above). His first partial year in the Bronx, when he appeared in 42 games in 2008, was not impressive (.228/.283/.299), but he improved substantially in 2009 when he had more opportunities: .270/.345/.379 in 108 games. Why not give him the chance to prove what he can do? If he does poorly, it won't have a huge impact on the team, and if he does well the Yanks find themselves enjoying the services of a quality left fielder without sacrificing anything.

That's my two cents... what dost thou think?

If you're a long-time YC reader (all three of you), you are likely familiar with the fact that I am a tender-hearted soul, prone to empathizing to the nth degree with anyone hurting. The earthquake and subsequent disastrous state of affairs in Haiti has affected me deeply, as it has so many others (Pat Robertson excepted). I donated as much as I could afford, and I was thrilled to see yesterday that both the MLB and the Yankees stepped up to the plate themselves, to the tune of $1 million and $500,000 respectively. Makes you feel a little better about dropping $80 at a baseball game, no?

Whether you're an overly-sympathetic person accustomed to getting choked up at the thought of so much as one injured child, or a cynical ethnocentric conservative with no interest in anyone outside your immediate community, I urge you to donate something to the relief effort. This is not a political issue or a religious cause: these are human beings suffering from something completely out of anyone's control. If the Yankees can donate more than they pay Brett Gardner in a year, you can afford five bucks.

If you had told me five years ago that I'd be mourning the departure of Johnny Damon from the Bronx, I would have laughed in your face. I'm not ashamed to admit that I harbored an intense hatred for "Johnny Demon" when he and his nasty beard were residing in Beantown - the very sight of him was enough to illicit a vomitous reaction out of me - but something unexpected occurred at some point over the last four years: I became a Damon fan.

I actually tried hard NOT to like him once he joined the Yanks, but my efforts were in vain. He lost the beard, stole a few bases, showed some good team spirit, and I was converted. I liked his contributions to the team, from the solid OBP and speed (and the fact that he capitalized on the new stadium's freakish right-field with a buncha cheap-o home runs in 2009) to the relaxed and fun-loving attitude he brought to a team in dire need of a little loosening up. When the Yanks opted not to re-sign him right away after his contract expired, I sincerely hoped that they would reach a deal to bring him back (just for one year; let's not get too crazy here) - not because he's the best player available, but because he's been such a great fit for the team.

Unfortunately, it's not looking like Damon will be back in the Bronx in 2010, thanks to his salary demands and the Steinbrenners' out-of-character adoption of an actual budget. According to the New York Post, the Yanks are dead against spending a dime more than $2 million for their 2010 left fielder, a number far lower than what Damon thinks he's worth. To be fair, while I would like Damon to re-sign, the Steins are wise to stick to their guns on this matter: there are a plethora of similar left-field options to be had for $2 million (Brett Gardner is an obvious choice, but free agents like Nady or Jerry Hairston Jr are also available and could form a platoon of sorts) and the rest of the lineup is so absurd that paying big bucks for an offensive star is simply not necessary.

At this point, it appears that the only way Damon will wind up back on the Yankees this year will be if he can't find a deal elsewhere and is forced to lower his asking price and ditch his demand for a multi-year deal. Both the Giants and more recently the Braves have reportedly shown an interest in him, so the odds of that situation coming to fruition are slim.

It'll be sad to see Damon go; I'll miss his BS right-field home runs and his sheepish smiles after he makes mistakes in the outfield. He's got good mojo. I can only hope he goes to the National League so that I can continue to like him (cuz we all know the minute he hits a home run against the Yankees, he'll be stricken from my fickle heart).


*I vote Cano

See, everyone? Injecting steroids over and over and over and over again was strictly a health regimen; those beefy American Gladiator arms that jacked a gazillion home runs were a side effect. The motive was health.

Many thanks to Big Mac for the comic relief on this Monday!

I'm not a huge fan of change when it comes to my Yanks, particularly when the status quo is working just fine and dandy, but it came as no surprise that after winning the World Series in November the Yanks basked in the glory of their 27th championship for about 36 seconds before beginning their quest to improve the team for a bid for #28. While I personally would have been content to watch the exact same team trot back out there in 2010 and try to repeat their successes, I understand the need to capitalize on free agency (by both letting some dead weight go and snapping up some available players from other teams) and lucrative trade offers, and I must say the Yanks have done a bang-up job tweaking the team thus far this off-season. They've steered clear of all the blockbuster-type players many assumed they'd be in the market for (Lackey, Halladay, Holliday, etc), instead focusing their energies on making minor changes that cost relatively little in terms of both money and prospects. Is it possible that the Yankees might make it through an entire off-season without blowing $3028023091283 or shipping off their entire farm for one player? The winter's not over yet, so there may be a big move still up their sleeves, but the 2010 team is shaping up quite nicely without the need for major moves. Let's review what the Yanks have done so far to prepare for 2010:

No hard feelings, Hideki: Despite having a very productive 2009, capped off by an MVP-worthy World Series performance, the Yanks let Matsui walk away rather than re-signing him. I like Matsui and appreciate everything he's done for the Yanks (and I'm sure the Steins appreciated the Japanese advertising yen he brought in), but there was really no need to keep him around at this point. He is not able to play defense anymore and his knee is hanging on by a thread - keeping him around strictly as DH is silly when there are other candidates available who can offer more for a lower price.

...But we'd rather have Nick Johnson: I loved NJ when he was first with the Yanks, and I'm thrilled to have him back. His services won't be needed at first base very often (Teixeira took a grand total of about half an inning off last season), so he's likely to spend just about all of his time in the DH spot, but that is precisely where he should be with his .400+ OBP and potential for a bunch of right-field cheapie homers in the new stadium. I'm not always keen on teams signing someone strictly to be a DH, but the Yanks' infield is set in stone and they've already got a plethora of outfielders, so NJ it is!

You better learn how to dance, Curtis: The Yanks already had about 678 outfielders, but when they agreed to a 7-player three-way trade with the D-Backs and Tigers that landed them centerfielder Curtis Granderson I was excited all the same. He's got speed and power and is a good all-around dude to boot - which, as we saw from Nick Swisher last year, can add a lot to a team. For Cano's sake, though, let's hope he can dance a la Melky...

No mas Melky, bring back Javi: The writing was on the wall for Melky once CG was signed - as mentioned above, how the hell many outfielders does this team really need? Still, seeing him traded to the Braves for Javier Vazquez was bittersweet all the same. Javi is obviously much more valuable to the Yanks than Melky, however, and will hopefully fill out the rotation quite nicely. Whether he can repeat the incredible performance he put together in '09 seems unlikely when you factor in the league change and the park he'll be pitching in, but he's just what the doctor ordered to back up CC, AJ, and...

...Dandy Andy!: Bringing back Pettitte was a no-brainer - he's affordable (relatively) and you know exactly what he'll be bringing to the table.

That just about sums up what's been going on in Yankee-land since November, but I'm sure there's more on the horizon - will Damon settle for a one-year deal eventually after all? Will a reliever of some sort make his way into the Bronx? What's going to happen with Nady? Stay tuned: per my (somewhat late) 2010 resolution, I assure you I shall be here to discuss all the goings on this year!

Yes, it's been a minute or two since I last blogged (and longer still since I kept this site updated on a truly regular basis), and I apologize for my absence. No, I haven't stopped obsessing over the Yankees (come on now), nor have I given up on the blog - 2009 was simply a wildly busy year in the land of the YC. Even whilst I was forced to push the bloggity to the back burner last year, I always intended to fire it back up as soon as one of three things happened:

1) I finished school, thus freeing up my evenings for bloggin'
2) Vince McMahon hired me as a high-paid special consultant for the WWE, with my sole responsibility being to watch every episode of Raw and Smackdown and offer suggestions on how the storylines and characters could be improved (for the love of christ, can John Cena and Randy Orton not be in a title match at just one PPV?), thus freeing up my days for bloggin'
3) Something ridiculous in the baseball world fired me up so much that I decided I simply MUST get back on the blogging saddle pronto, regardless of my lack of time to do so.

I'm still in school, and Mr. McMahon has yet to seek out my valuable services, so you can all thank Mark McGwire for inspiring me to dredge up my blogger.com password and get back to work!