Pitchers and catchers report February 19
Yankees pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to spring training on February 19, according to the official spring schedule released today. Position players are scheduled to report on February 24, and the team’s first full-squad workout will be February 25.
Here’s the full spring schedule, including a lot of back-to-back matchups, two exhibition games in the new Marlins stadium and a home-and-away series against the Mets. This is the Yankees latest spring opener since 2005. Home games are bold.
The Yankees open the regular season at the Rays — that’s convenient! — on April 617.
Fri., Mar. 2, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
University of South Florida
Sat., Mar. 3, Clearwater, 1:05 p.m.
Phillies
Sun., Mar. 4, Steinbrenner Field , 1:05 p.m.
Phillies
Mon., Mar. 5, Clearwater, 1:05 p.m.
Phillies
Tue., Mar. 6, Bradenton, 1:05 p.m.
Pirates
Wed., Mar. 7, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Rays
Thurs., Mar. 8, Dunedin, 1:05 p.m.
Blue Jays
Fri., Mar. 9, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Braves
Sat., Mar. 10, Lake Buena Vista, 1:05 p.m.
Braves
Sun., Mar. 11, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Phillies (ss)
Sunday, Mar. 11, Fort Myers, 1:05 p.m.
Twins (ss)
Mon., Mar. 12, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Astros
Tue., Mar. 13, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Red Sox
Wed., Mar. 14, Dunedin, 1:05 p.m.
Blue Jays
Thurs., Mar. 15, Viera, 1:05 p.m.
Nationals
Fri., Mar. 16, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Nationals
Sat., Mar. 17, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Astros
Sun., Mar. 18, Sarasota, 1:05 p.m.
Orioles
Mon., Mar. 19
Off Day
Tue., Mar. 20, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Pirates
Wed., Mar. 21, Port Charlotte, 1:05 p.m.
Rays
Thurs., Mar. 22, Fort Myers, 7:05 p.m.
Red Sox
Fri., Mar. 23, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Twins (ss)
Fri, Mar. 23, Clearwater, 1:05 p.m.
Phillies (ss)
Sat., Mar. 24, Lakeland, 1:05 p.m.
Tigers
Sun., Mar. 25, Steinbrenner Field, 1:05 p.m.
Tigers
Mon., Mar. 26
Off Day
Tue., Mar. 27, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Blue Jays
Wed., Mar. 28, Lake Buena Vista, 1:05 p.m.
Braves
Thurs., Mar. 29, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Orioles
Fri., Mar. 30, Steinbrenner Field, 7:05 p.m.
Phillies
Sat., Mar. 31, Kissimmee, 1:05 p.m.
Astros
Sun., Apr. 1, Miami (New Marlins Ballpark), 1:10 p.m.
Marlins
Mon. Apr. 2, Miami (New Marlins Ballpark), 7:10 p.m.
Marlins
Tues., Apr. 3, Port St. Lucie, 2:10 p.m.
Mets
Wed., Apr. 4, Steinbrenner Field, 12:05 p.m.
Mets
Posada finds familiarity in Williams
It was Jorge Posada who first mentioned Bernie Williams last night. Posada said he’d been talking to Williams a lot this offseason — in fact, the two had talked earlier that day — and Williams was advising patience. He didn’t want Posada rushing to a decision, one way or the other, about whether to play next season.
Five years ago, Posada saw the sudden end of Williams’ career. He saw a lifelong Yankee fade in his late 30s, and he saw the Yankees decide to move on. Did that prepare Posada for his current situation?
“If you asked me that question in February of this year, I would have said, no,” Posada said. “But now, I would say, yes. It went the same way, pretty much.”
Posada has options. He said other teams have called, but the Yankees are clearly the one team he truly wants to play for. Retire, or play elsewhere? For now, Posada can’t decide.
“What I saw with Bernie was tough,” he said. “It’s all over again… (Bernie) says, ‘Make sure you make that decision the right one, and don’t say something that later you want to regret or do something that you regret.’ I don’t want to tell you something because I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
That was the sense I got last night: That Posada really doesn’t know. His career is not going to end the way he hoped, and he’s not sure what to do about it.
“I think after he stays home a few more months and he realizes how hard it is to stay home with the kids, he’s going to pay a team to have him play,” Posada’s wife Laura said, getting a big laugh out of her husband.
“Honestly, what I said to him was, ‘You need to really be sure about your decision because you don’t want to have any regrets. You don’t want to feel in your mind that you didn’t accomplish something that you set out to accomplish when you started playing baseball. He has been playing baseball all his life, so it’s really hard to wake up and not have anything to do. For me, whatever his decision is, I support him. I just want him to be happy and have no regrets. That’s all I want.”
Associated Press photo of Posada’s final division series at-bat
Posada: “It’s not going to happen”
Jorge Posada can read the writing on the wall as well as anyone. Brian Cashman has not yet reached out to Posada’s agents this offseason, but Posada doesn’t need a phone call to tell him the Yankees don’t have a spot for him on their roster.
“I don’t think there’s even a percentage of a chance that I can come back,” Posada said. “… It’s not going to happen.”
Posada said five or six teams have already contacted him this offseason, and he started working out on November 1 — which he’s always done — but at this point he’s trying to decide between retirement and playing for a new team.
“I will always be a Yankee,” he said. “The Yankees for me is my second family. It would be tough to put on another uniform for real and learn another set of rules and all that stuff, but that’s one of those things. I have to see if I want to keep playing… Do I want to do it for somebody else? Do I want to leave home? Do I want to do it all over again without knowing anybody? It would be tough. I’ve got great people, great friends and great teammates and it would be tough to learn new people again.”
Posada said he’s not upset with the Yankees. He understands what’s happening, and he understands why it’s happening. He called his relationship with the organization, “a great partnership” and said the first check that came into his foundation for tonight’s dinner was from the team.
“At the end of the day, it’s a business,” Posada said. “You look back and you wish there was some things that could have gone differently, but they didn’t. There’s nothing I could control. Everything happened for a reason. I’m not bitter at the Yankees. I’m not bitter at Joe Girardi. I’m not bitter at Brian Cashman. It just happened.”
Posada said he’s been talking a lot with Bernie Williams — talked to him today, as a matter of fact — and Bernie has told him to make sure his decision is the right one. Posada’s wife, Laura, said she’s told her husband to make sure he doesn’t look back with any regrets (about either staying or going). Posada guessed that he won’t make up his mind until closer to February.
“If I don’t want to play, you guys will be the first ones to know,” Posada said. “I’m not one of those guys that’s going to linger around and wait. I’ll tell you.”
Associated Press photo
Cespedes one of many being scouted in the Dominican
Brian Cashman still won’t say much about sudden sensation Yoenis Cespedes, but it’s clear that the hype surrounding the Cuban center fielder goes beyond internet hysteria. George King today named the Yankees executives who have seen Cespedes workout, and it’s an impressive list of the team’s elite player development gurus. I heard yesterday that international scouting director Donny Rowland has seen far more of Cespedes than anyone else in the Yankees organization, and I suppose that comes as no surprise. Clearly the team is paying close attention.
Today Cashman emphasized the fact that this happens to be a time when there’s a heavy emphasis on several players currently in the Dominican. Cespedes has most of the hype, but he doesn’t have all of the attention.
“Te describe what just took place in the Dominican over the last 10 days, there were a number of players in the marketplace down there, and a number of showcases,” Cashman said today. “MLB had one. The individual (agents) had one. Our scouts had their own individual workouts. It was busy in the Dominican for everybody in the game the past 10 days, not just for the player getting a lot of notoriety. Where that takes us, I don’t know.”
Cashman wouldn’t comment specifically on Cespedes aside from stating the obvious: “They’re certainly putting themselves out there to be evaluated.” Today, Kevin Goldstein did another piece on the viral video and the ensuing hype.
“We had an army of scouts down there because there was a large population of players that were presented for viewing,” Cashman said. “We had a number of scouts go in there to evaluate over a nine or 10 day period, a lot of different showcases, not just him… In fairness to the other clubs, (they did the) same thing.”
The potentially changing cost of a Type A
Last winter, when Brian Cashman was arguing against the Yankees signing Rafael Soriano, part of his opposition had as much to do with Soriano’s status as his arm. Soriano was a Type A free agent, and that meant signing him would cost the Yankees a first-round draft pick, and that was a significant cost.
Yesterday, Buster Olney wrote that one of the current sticking points in the collective bargaining agreement negotiation is about Type A free agents, specifically making sure draft pick compensation doesn’t hurt the players themselves.
It ultimately didn’t hurt Soriano — and this winter it won’t hurt Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder — but some players who carry the Type A label could lose out on money because of it. They could accept arbitration for less than the open market would provide, or they could carry an added cost that brings their free agent value down. Kelly Johnson could be one such case this winter, like Grant Balfour and Juan Cruz were in the past.
According to Olney, the league and the union are discussing two alternatives to the current system.
1. Essentially making Type A free agents into Type B free agents so that they generate only compensation picks.
2. Creating a system that assures a massive payday for any Type A who accepts arbitration.
According to Olney: One of the unresolved questions is whether the Type A adjustments will be made for the 2012 season or for 2013. But there continues to be optimism, in general, that a new labor agreement will be finished sometime in the next two weeks.
An immediate change could obviously impact this winter’s free agent market, and the approach to some of the biggest names available.
Associated Press photo
Cashman at the coat drive, plus some notes and links
Brian Cashman will be on hand for the Yankees winter coat drive tomorrow morning. Here are the details from the team.
The New York Yankees and New York Cares will hold a winter coat drive on Wednesday, November 9 from 8:30 a.m. — 3:00 p.m. at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square (1501 Broadway between 43rd and 44th Streets).
The first 1,250 people to donate gently-used coats will also receive a pair of tickets to the Army-Rutgers college football game at Yankee Stadium on November 12 at 3:30 p.m.
Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman will be on-hand assisting in the collection of coats beginning at approximately 10:00 a.m.
The 2011 New York Cares Coat Drive officially kicks off on November 15 and runs through December 31.
For the last 23 years, New York Cares has collected used winter coats each holiday season, and distributed them to men, women and children who would otherwise go cold. This massive undertaking is run by New York Cares, but relies on the generosity of all New Yorkers for its success.
• Buster Olney reports that, while the Yankees have talked to Mark Buehrle’s agent, the Yankees are “highly unlikely” to make a serious effort to sign him.
• Jon Heyman says the Yankees were disappointed to see Jonathan Sanchez traded to the Royals. Heyman says the Yankees thought they “had more to offer” in a Sanchez trade. Personally, I’m not sure I see the match. The Yankees don’t have a spare outfielder, and their greatest position depth is catcher, which isn’t a need for the Giants.
• Speaking of Heyman, he says the Yankees still haven’t contacted Jorge Posada. Not sure what there would be to say in that conversation, but I’m sure it needs to happen at some point.
• Apparently a few teams in Japan want to sign Kei Igawa. As I’ve said before, I never got the sense that Igawa had any interest in playing back home again. He would have had the opportunity to leave the Yankees and go over there before now.
Associated Press photo of Cashman with Joe Girardi, headshot of Buehrle
A bargain last winter, Garcia’s value on the rise this year
Last winter, Brian Cashman’s best offseason signing was a minor league deal with Freddy Garcia. That contract was a steal long before Garcia started Game 2 of the division series, and in theory, a similar deal would make sense for the Yankees again in 2012.
“The conversation I have to have with him (this winter) is different than what I had last winter,” Cashman said.
Cashman said he doesn’t expect a non-roster invitation to be enough to land Garcia this winter, not after he went 12-8 with a 3.62 ERA and provided some rotation stability from start to finish. Garcia seems like a good fit for the Yankees — still relatively cheap, provides rotation depth without a long-term commitment — but his value has gone up.
“I liked what he did for us this last year,” Cashman said. “Obviously he was good enough to run the whole distance.”
A few other very quick notes:
• Cashman said he’s going through the usual “dances” of checking in with agents and getting a feel for the market. “I haven’t made any offers to anybody but expressed an interest in talking further,” Cashman said. “That’s it.” Cashman said he hasn’t received any offers either. It’s just a lot of talking right now.
• Cashman laughed a little bit about the sudden flurry of calls he’s gotten from reporters about Cuban center fielder Yeonis Cespedes. Cashman wouldn’t say whether he’s interested in the player, only said that the Yankees have scouted him.
• Without getting into specifics, Cashman said he’s spoken to other Yankees free agents — not only Garcia — but again, no offers are on the table one way or the other.
• Does the thin free agent market create a problem of potentially overspending on a player? “I guess it would be bad if I felt like I had to spent the money regardless,” Cashman said. “But that’s not what I feel.”
Associated Press photo
A star is born
Be honest, how many of you knew the name Yeonis Cespedes three days ago? Even if you vaguely remembered him from the World Baseball Classic, how many of you had strong feelings about him one way or the other? How many of you knew his name of the top of your head?
How many of you desperately want the Yankees to sign him now?
Every now and then, something like this happens. A player who hardly anyone knows anything about grabs the baseball world’s attention and becomes a sensation. Not sure I’ve ever seen it happen this quickly, but you really can’t predict baseball, and right now Cespedes is the unpredictable star of the offseason.
He and Yu Darvish rule the world. And most of us have only seen a few highlight clips and exhibition innings of them actually playing the game.
Of course the Yankees have seen Cespedes. The Yankees have always been heavily involved in the international market, and I can’t imagine they needed a Baseball Prospectus story — which was terrific, by the way — to find out about this guy. Is he as good as advertised? I have no idea. I’m one of those people who wouldn’t have recognized his name on Saturday morning. But I get it. I get the excitement.
The world of prospects is all about high hopes and best-case scenarios. It’s about seeing a young player and thinking about what he might become, and Yeonis Cespedes might become a great major league player — he’s certainly hyped that way — so of course Yankees fans should want the Yankees to sign him. He’s the name of the moment, and he’s out there, and one guess is as good as the next about what he’s really worth.
Will he live up to this instant hype? Maybe. Maybe not. For now, that uncertainty is enough to grab our attention.
BBWAA New York chapter awards, plus notes and links
During today’s meeting, the New York chapter of the BBWAA voted on its annual awards which will be handed out at our awards dinner on Saturday, Jan. 21, at the New York Hilton. Yankees Mariano Rivera, Dave Robertson and Gene Monahan were among those chosen for the chapter’s awards.
William J. Slocum/Jack Lang Long and Meritorious Service
Gene Monahan
Joe DiMaggio Toast of the Town
Mariano Rivera
Joan Payson Award for community service
Dave Robertson
Milton & Arthur Richman You Gotta Have Heart
Gary Carter
Sid Mercer/Dick Young Player of the Year
Jose Bautista
Babe Ruth Award for postseason MVP
David Freese
Ben Epstein/Dan Castellano Good Guy
Jose Reyes
Casey Stengel You Could Look It Up
Tommy Davis
Willie, Mickey & The Duke (given to a group forever connected in the game)
1962 Mets
• Speaking of Robertson and community service: He and his wife Erin were in New York this weekend to support cancer awareness during the marathon. He spoke to Ed Coleman on WFAN and talked about his offseason plans.
“I’m just going to start training and try to stay on the same path that I did last year,” Robertson said. “Do a lot of cardio and try to get body as strong as I can and basically get ready for that long stretch that’s coming up. If I can keep it going and hopefully come out in spring training and feel just as good as I did at the end of last season, I’ll be happy.”
• In the past two days or so, Cuban center fielder Yoenis Cespedes became one of the most discussed international prospects on the market. Kevin Goldstein wrote a scouting report that doubled as a review of Cespedes’ unusual scouting video, and Jeff Passan reported that Cespedes is expected to be cleared for free agency soon.
• In the coming days and weeks, Brian Cashman is going to be checking in with a lot of agents and general managers. The New York Post today reported that Cashman talked to the agent for Edwin Jackson, who’s one of the rotation options on the market.
• Another nice story out of Taiwan for Jack Curry, who wrote about the relationship between Robinson Cano and his father during the exhibition series.
Associated Press photo
The past and present value of Melky Cabrera
The New York chapter of the BBWAA had its annual postseason meeting today, and thanks to traffic, I just got back to my apartment. I could write an entire blog post about the experience, but I won’t. Instead, let’s focus on Melky Cabrera.
If you haven’t heard, Melky was traded today. The Royals used his outstanding 2011 season to swing a deal with the Giants for left-handed starter Jonathan Sanchez. The Giants needed a hitter, the Royals needed pitching, and so the deal makes sense. Of course, it also begs the question:
If Cabrera is worth this — a straight-up swap for a 28-year-old left-hander with good stuff — why didn’t the Yankees get that for him? Did the Yankees miss out?
The trade to Atlanta
When the Yankees got rid of Cabrera, he was part of the package that brought Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan from the Braves. The Yankees also lost a legitimate pitching prospect (Arodys Vizcaino) and a good young lefty (Mike Dunn) in that deal, so it’s hard to pinpoint the return value of Cabrera alone, but it’s important to remember that it’s still too early to fully evaluate that deal. Logan for Dunn was something of a wash — L0gan’s slightly older and more expensive, but ultimately it’s lefty for lefty — and although Vazquez was a massive disappointment, it’s important to remember two things about him: 1. He had considerable trade value at the time, and 2. As a Type B free agent, he netted the Yankees the draft pick they used on Dante Bichette Jr. Have to consider Bichette part of that haul as well.
The value of Cabrera
In his five years with the Yankees, Cabrera hit .269/.331/.385, and his value was slightly diminished when the Yankees no longer needed him to play center field. He was good enough, but rarely great, and the Braves didn’t want him back after he hit just .255/.317/.354 during his lone season in Atlanta. Suddenly, he showed up in Kansas City and hit .305/.339/.470 in a breakout, age-26 season. Cabrera is young enough that there might be more of this to come, but I’m not sure the Yankees did a bad job by selling low on him. I think the Royals might have done a good job of selling high.
The value of Sanchez
Sanchez is a nice pitcher who should be just entering his prime, but let’s not build him into Matt Cain or Tim Lincecum. After a terrific 2010 season, Sanchez had a 1.44 WHIP and was limited to just 19 starts this season. He was considered a non-tender candidate before the Giants traded him to the Royals. He made .8 million this year, and he’s due for a raise through arbitration. None of that is to knock Sanchez — obviously the Yankees would be happy to have him — but he’s not cheap and he doesn’t have a clean health record, so there’s some risk involved. The Giants and Royals simply matched up, swapping two players they could each afford to lose.
Associated Press photo