Closing Bits: Damon, Pettitte, Matsui, Halladay
November 21, 2009, 10:36 pm by iYankees · 6 Comments
Here are some quick items to close out the day:
- According to Ken Davidoff (Newsday), the Yankees’ “biggest focus so far is finding common ground with [Johnny] Damon.” He goes on to say that Andy Pettitte’s return “should work out,” and that Hideki Matsui is “less of a priority.”
- Jesse Sanchez (MLB) says that the Yankees (and the Dodgers) are “rumored to have serious interest” in Toronto ace, Roy Halladay. Their interest could exist simply to drive the price up for Boston, though.
- Speaking of Halladay, there are reports out stating that he doesn’t want to sign an extension. However, those reports are misleading. Halladay’s “no extension” avowal was directed towards the Jays, meaning that he doesn’t want to sign an extension with them. We have yet to hear whether or not he would be open to signing an extension with another team upon being traded.
See you guys tomorrow (bright and early, as usual).
Photo by Getty Images
IF he refuses to sign an extension before the trade he really isn’t worth it… I never got the idea of “renting” players by trading for expiring contracts.
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.282/.365/.489/.854, 24 HRs, 82 RBI, 71 BB, 98 Ks
.274/.367/.509/.876, 28 HRs, 90 RBI, 64 BB, 765 Ks
Which would you rather have as your everyday DH?
The top line is Damon’s and the bottom line is Matsui’s… The only reason you want to keep the top line on the team over Matsui (considering they are similar in age and Matsui costs less) is if you are actually bringing back Damon to play LF.
I don’t think the Yankees actually want to bring back a DH, I think they actually plan on bringing back Damon and not bringing in a DH at all and just go with the rotating DH spot.
Now I think this idea is terrible and won’t work for 2 main reasons… 1 you are asking about 4 different players to never know when they are going to play the field and when they are going to DH. This means that when they do play the field they won’t be as prepared for different occurrences at their positions because they won’t be playing the same spot everyday.
Furthermore this is a bad idea because you are taking away 28 HRs from the lineup to put back in less than 24 (how likely is it he hits his career high again?) and putting another year older Johnny Damon in left field for another 2 years which means you are not only taking out at least 28 HRs from the lineup and you are decreasing your defense (Damon can only get worse from here not better at LF) and if this is the case you are taking the equivalent of 30+ HRs out of the lineup when you add in all the runs that Damon is going to give up.
A third reason this is a terrible idea is the fact that you end up adding a Ramiro Pena to the lineup every single day so instead of Damon and Matsui in the lineup like last year you have Damon and Pena.
You are also making it impossible to add a guy like Mike Cameron because Gardner and Melky will split CF time when Damon comes back to play LF, you can’t bring in a starter and put both Gardner and Melky on the bench without possibly ruining the team chemistry, you go from Melky and Gardner getting regular playing time to almost none.
Let’s just hope that Cashman and the gang come to their senses and realize that we can’t bring Damon back to play LF and if you are bringing one back to play DH Matsui has the much better power numbers and has more “real power” and can actually hit HRs on the road and to other places than RF.
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I still like Matsui, or another one year bat-only type guy, on the roster to DH 100-120 games and use the other 40-60 games to “rest” Jeter/ARod/Posada at DH without losing their bats from the lineup. That situation also leaves the team with Matsui, or whoever they choose to have as a DH, on the bench for late game PH scenarios.
I don’t like Damon for that role as he would want to play almost everyday and would be tougher to justify benching for 1/3rd of the games, or they would just keep running him out to LF and his defense already caused me to buy a home defibrillator.
Matsui still feels like a perfect fit, because the justification to have him not start 33% of the games is built in as he would need the rest to keep his knees from falling off. Also, some other site reported that Matsui brings in $15M in revenue, so he pretty much more than pays for himself. Not to mention, he seems like he would be very willing to take a one year deal and well below his salary from last year to return to the team.
Another guy I would like them to kick the tires on is Russell Branyan. Big time lefty power threat, and if they really need a DH who can occasionally play the field, he can play 1B/3B/corner OF (probably not very well at any of those, but any guy looked at as a DH is going to range from horrible to well below average at whatever defensive position people have tried them at before). Also, Branyan has extreme platoon splits. He murders righties and isn’t good against lefties. So, they could just not start him against LHP and DH Jeter/ARod/Posada during those games. He had 31 HR last year and it would be interesting to see what he would do playing half his games in NYS while finally having teammates to get on base in front of him.
I really hope Boras can get what he wants and get some team to offer Damon 3 years as that would guarantee the Yankees will walk away from Damon when they should.
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I say no to Branyan because he pretty much only hits bad pitching and strikeouts way to often to fit in with the team’s overall batting strategy. The guy can hit 30+ HRs but off what pitchers? The AL East pitching (Beckett, Lester, Halladay? Romero) would eat him alive… He faced CC twice this year struck out 3 times in one game and 4 in the other.
If you were going to bring in a big DH bat that strikesout a bunch but crushes the ball from the left side you might as well sign Thome. He is a better player than Branyan and hits good pitching better and would hit for a low average with a bunch of strikeout but he would hit 40+ HRs in Yankee stadium.
I personally feel Matsui is the only choice to be the teams DH and should get a 1 year deal worth somewhere in between 8-11 million and I would go ahead and give him the full 10 for the WS MVP honors. He hits lefties, hits with power and should only be better health wise next year so I see no down side to signing him.
Matsui for a 1 year deal and then in 2011’s FA class Adam Dunn can be signed to DH to replace Matsui. Dunn would hit 50 in Yankee stadium.
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Seems like both of you want to see Matsui return as the DH. I obviously agree. As ted said, he “still feels like a perfect fit.”
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Better than Johnny “I can’t hit on the road or play D anywhere” Damon.
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