Friday, November 14, 2008

Yankees Make Offer...

The Yankees have made their initial offer to CC Sabathia. This is just breaking so I do not have a lot of details, but it is apparently a 6 year deal in excess of $137.5 (Santana's deal) most likely in the $140-$142MM range.

Burnett and Lowe should have offers in hand within the next couple of days. Guesses are that all three contract offers would total approximately $275MM.

I did see the Blue Jays may have made an initial offer to Burnett for 4 years at $54MM. That will most certainly be the starting point for every other team.

It sounds like the Yankees are prepared to sign all three. If they do, that is a pretty formidable rotation. If they manage to get 2 of them Andy Pettitte could be the fall back option for that third vacancy. Who knows they could sign Pettitte even if they get all 3.

The results of the pitching situation will dictate if the Yankees go aggressively after the big bats on the free agent market. When asked if the Yankees could land all three pitchers plus Teixeira plus Manny, Brian Cashman laughed and responded that's fantasy land not reality.

19 comments:

Middle Relief said...

I've been out of the loop lately - Has Moose made a decision on what's he up?

Crash said...

Mussina has said he will make a decision this week. By that time the Yankees will have offers out to Sabathia, Lowe, and Burnett. And Pettitte is still out there saying he wants to return to the Yankees.

Crash said...

Moving away from the hot stove for a moment. Am I the only one out there who thinks Tennessee is overrated?

Their schedule has been a complete joke, they have 1 maybe 2 quality wins, beating the Ravens and beating the Colts, though the Colts were early in the year and looked terrible at the time.

I know 10-0 is impressive in the NFL, but I'm not buying the Titans just yet. They're "hard" schedule is still to come with having to play the Jets (at home), Steelers (at home), and Colts again (last game of the season and could mean nothing). In between they get the Browns, Lions, and Texans again.

It's not like you look at that schedule and see an automatic loss anywhere.

Could they go undefeated?

The Scooter said...

OK...this is completely OFF TOPIC but whoever took the Steelers and laid the five points yesterday must be absolutely NUTS today. The NFL confirmed that the Palumalu's TD at the end of the game should have counted which would have enabled Pitt to cover.

The NFL has the most incompetent and buffoonish officiating in all of sports...and that's tough to do when you have guys like Tim Donaghy running around the NBA and when MLB can't figure out a common strike zone....JEEESH

Do I sound bitter?

Crash said...

So how much did you lose?

old professor said...

mid, you must be in some kind of mourning. The Yankees have sold Rasner to a Japanese Team. (He asked for the deal.) Why would anyone American Player ask for a trade or want to be sold to a Japanese Team??

GM for the Brewers is claiming if the offer from the Yankees to CC is true, they over-bid. His view is the Yankees could have offered $110m (since the Brewers offered $100). Apparently he doesn't understand the Yankees want to wrap it up quickly.

Even if Sabathia does not want to come back to the American League and would prefer the West Coast, I cannot see him turning the offer down. The Union will be telling him to accept the offer because it sets the bar for all of the other free agents to negotiate down from that point.

The Scooter said...

Crash, ummm I don't want to talk about it.

The GM for the Brewers should shut his fat face.

I just read that the Astros would consider trading Carlos Lee if they can get him to waive his no-trade. Hmmmmmm......talk about a hitter. I wouldn't mind seeing him in Pinstripes. How about a blockbuster of Lee and Oswalt for Hughes, Melky and anybody else that the Astros could possibly want?

Crash said...

Scooter I love you're thinking on Oswalt and Lee. Unfortunately they said previously that Oswalt was not available. El Caballo however looks to be just a salary dump as he is due to make $18.5MM each of the next 4 seasons. He's a .300+ hitter, with 30+ HRs, 100+ R, and 100+ RBI. He's not great defensively and that's only going to get worse as he gets older (and bigger).

If the Yankees were ever considering signing Manny, they should consider this step first. I would guess Lee is a step above Manny defensively, a step below offensively but about $9MM cheaper each season, saving the Yankees at least $36-$40MM over the course of the 4 years.

I certainly would be willing to make Cano, Melky, and/or Kennedy part of any package for Lee. The only way Hughes is included is if it brings back Oswalt too.

The Scooter said...

WIDE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>RIGHT

old professor said...

Well it would appear the Yankees are serious about landing Burnett as well as Sabathia. The Yanks are preparing to offer a five year $80 million contract to Burnett.

I don't expect Andy Pettitte to be in pinstripes next year. The team is not inclined to offer him the same $16 million he made last season ($10 million seems to be the number being tossed around), but his agent has stated he does not envision AP coming back for less than he made last year. If this is true, Lowe might also be on the serious radar. If the team signs all three free agents, that would put Hughes and Kennedy back at AAA and at least two to three years away from being with the team.

Crash said...

If the Cubs are offering Dempster, who had 17 wins and an ERA under 3.00, a 4 year deal at $52MM, why would the Yankees offer Burnett a 5 year deal for $80MM? I see these two as reasonably comparable. Is Burnett really worth the extra year and an extra $28 million? I liked Burnett early in the year, but have become leery recently. I just have a feeling that this contract will make us forget all about the disaster that was the $40MM waste known as Carl Pavano.

The Scooter said...

I think the difference between Burnett and Dempster is that if healthy and things break the right way, AJ Burnett can be Josh Beckett...while Dempster is well, Dempster. He has peaked, but I think AJ is just beginning to fulfill his potential. Sure, it's a bit of a risk, but the upside is tremendous.

Crash said...

Just saw a report that the Yankees will offer arbitration to Abreu. It will be interesting to see if he accepts or opts to look for a multi-year deal.

old professor said...

Scooter, Burnett's history of injury makes a long-term deal a very big risk. He pitched well last year and stayed relatively healthy, that does not translate into continued good health. It would appear the Yankees will throw offers to all of the top free agent pitchers with the hope of landing one of them. I am surprised that there has not been a response from Sabathia on the offer the Yankees made (realistically no one is going to exceed what they put on the table).

Crash, Abreu is hoping for a multi-year contract. The Yankee offer of arbitration will guarantee them a supplemental pick in next year's draft when he signs elsewhere. I do not believe he will accept arbitration. If he does accept, the Yankees will once again have a log jam in the outfield (though it appears Swisher will be their first baseman. I liked his enthusiasm about joining the Yankees in the recent interview conducted by WFAN.

Crash said...

Burnett has pitched 9 seasons, only 3 have been injury free where he pitched over 200 IP and only twice did he register 30+ starts. I would perform every test known to man to make sure his elbow and shoulder are clean.

I just think $80MM is a lot for someone that is just going to give you 13-14 wins with an ERA around 4.00, with that injury history. Andy Pettitte had that type of season last year and the Yankees want to give him a pay cut, not a 25% raise.

Don't get me wrong, if Burnett pitches like last season it would be a great signing and we as fans would ecstatic, but last year was a career year and not the norm for him. I don't think you can expect that type of production again.

I didn't realize this, Burnett was actually drafted by the Mets and went to Florida in the trade that brought Al Leiter to the Mets.

The Scooter said...

I know we want to compare the risk of signing Burnett to the Pavano signing....and we want to compare him to Dempster and the deal he just got from the Cubs.

All I can say is that Burnett has ELECTRIC stuff...much better than either of those two has ever shown. If the Yankees were um let's say the Florida Marlins, I would be totally against the signing, but they are not. One of the great things about being one of the richest franchises in sports is that you can gamble on a high ceiling but possible injury risk and not have it effect your long term spending ability.

Burnett just absolutely ROCKS in a big setting (check out his record vs the Sox and the Yankees) and I don't think anyone suggests that the Bronx would be too big of a stage for him.

Whenever you hear hitters talking about AJ, you get words like "uncomfortable at bat" and "high octane stuff".

I think four years and 60-65 mil is something the Yankees would really have to consider. This guy could be an ace.

The Scooter said...

Red Sox just traded Coco Crisp to the Royals for Ramon Ramirez (a pretty good relief pitcher).

Crash said...

Scooter I can't argue with a single point you made about Burnett. All are true and I agree 100%.

I absolutely love that trade by the Red Sox. It effectively allows them to move Masterson into the rotation. Great move for them, and maybe not so bad for the Yankees...if the Sox go Beckett, Matsuzaka, Lester, Masterson, and Wakefield, did the Sox just leave the Derek Lowe discussion?

Crash said...

Good article from Dan Graziano. He indicates that Sabathia hasn't signed with the Yankees yet because he is waiting on the Dodgers. The Dodgers may be ready to offer 6 years at $120MM. Which may be close enough to the Yankees offer to keep him in the NL and out West. The Dodgers are also trying to trade for Roy Halladay. If the Dodgers get Halladay then they turn their sites to Manny and bypass CC.

I haven't seen anything on who the Jays would be asking for in return for Halladay, but my guess would be a young pitching like Clayton Kershaw or Chad Billingsley, and OF talent like Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp are just the start of the conversation.

This all sounds a little crazy, but would anybody leave $20MM on the table???

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