Game 76: Nearly Lost You

The Yankees return home for the first time since Father's Day, opening a six game homestand with a three game set against the Seattle Mariners. The M's were the darlings of the off-season, unloading the onerous contracts of Carlos Silva and Kenji Johjima, signing spark plug Chone Figgins away from their division rivals, and making a series of lesser low risk, high reward moves. But far and away, the biggest coup for GM Jack Zduriencik was sending a package of prospects to Philly for Cliff Lee.

Everything seemingly has gone wrong for the M's since then. Franchise legend Ken Griffey Jr's continued decline and possible narcolepsy culminated in an uncomfortable retirement and a possibly fractured clubhouse. Off-season signing Ryan Garko didn't even make it to Opening Day, while fellow signee Eric Byrnes lasted a mere month before riding his bicycle off to the California keg leagues. Their offense has been abyssmal, with Figgins taking a nose dive, Milton Bradley providing plenty of problems but little pop, and virtually everyone but Ichiro and Franklin Gutierrez failing to hit at an acceptable level. All of which leaves Seattle entering the series with baseball's sixth poorest record and the AL's worst offense by a long shot.

As such, Cliff Lee and his expiring contract have become the hottest commodity on the market with the trade deadline 32 days away. There has been no shortage of rumors about whether the M's will hang on to him in an attempt to turn it around, or if they'd prefer the two draft picks his Type A status will net, or where he'd land if he were to be traded. There's been a ton of contradictory information out there, but the latest seems to be that the M's are quietly prepared to make a move.

As when any big name player hits the market, the Yankees have been rumored as a potential landing spot, with reports that Seattle has scouted the Yankees system. Yet even though a vocal segment of Yankee fans have been loudly clamoring for Lee since before Spring Training even began, a deal to the Bronx is unlikely. Despite A.J. Burnett's recent struggles, the Yankee rotation has been a strength for the team this year. As we saw with Javier Vazquez earlier this season, good pitchers may struggle for stretches, but they won't struggle forever. And with pitching coach Dave Eiland returning to the club tonight, perhaps Burnett's turnaround is coming soon. There just isn't the need nor the room for another front line starter.

Even if there were, there is no recent precedent for the Yankees making such a move. Following the 2007 season, the Yankees passed on an opportunity to acquire Johan Santana, who had a full year remaining on his contract. In his refusal to make the deal, Brian Cashman made his position clear: he is reluctant to pay twice - in both prospects and contract extensions - to acquire a player. He held fast to that philosophy the following summer, when in desperate need of pitching, he refused to deal for CC Sabathia and his expiring contract, content to gamble that the big lefty would be there for the taking on the free agent market after the season. He was, and after last season's World Series, Cashman appeared to be quite shrewd for biding his time.

If that's not enough to quell those covetous of Lee as he takes the Yankee Stadium mound tonight, then the pitcher in the other half innings should be. Phil Hughes was the centerpiece of the package the Yankees would have shipped to Minnesota had they pulled the trigger on the Santana deal, and had the Yankees pursued a Sabathia trade the asking price would have begun with Hughes as well. Instead Cashman chose to hang on to his top pitching prospect. After suffering through an injury plagued 2008, the organization was rewarded with a breakout 2009 from Hughes the set up man and is now enjoying a 2010 in which Phil Hughes is one of the top starters in the American League.

It's very possible that one of the two starting pitchers tonight will throw the first pitch of the All-Star Game in Anaheim two weeks from tonight. While it's tempting to think of Cliff Lee in Yankee pinstripes, that temptation isn't enough for me to feel comfortable sacrificing potential future All-Stars in Jesus Montero or Austin Romine or Manny Banuelos or Andrew Brackman or any number of other good Yankee prospects Seattle would want in exchange for Lee. The Yankees nearly lost Hughes two and a half years ago. I'm not prepared to lose the next Hughes in exchange for three months of Cliff Lee. Cashman runs the risk of losing Lee to another club now, but as the Sabathia situation taught us two years ago, sometimes a little patience leaves you with the best possible deal.

Did you hear the distant cry
Calling me back to my sin
Like the one you knew before
Calling me back once again

I nearly, I nearly lost you there
And it's taking us somewhere
I nearly lost you there
Let's try to see now

[Song Notes: Any series against the Mariners always has me thinking of the Seattle bands of the early nineties. Rather than going with one of the name brand grunge bands, tonight we'll go with the Screaming Trees. Though lesser known than Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, they had a few good tunes to their credit, this being one of them. Just goes to show that you don't always need to go shopping on the top shelf to find what you're looking for.]

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Brett Gardner's sore wrist keeps him out of the lineup tonight, but he is reportedly available for defense and pinch running duties. With a lefty on the mound Chad Huffman gets the start in left. There's a likely a roster move coming as well, as it's widely speculated that Dustin Moseley will be added to the bullpen in advance of him exercising his opt out clause today.[UPDATE 6:45 PM: No Moseley tonight, as he's still with Scranton.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Chad Huffman LF
Francisco Cervelli C

RHP Phil Hughes

Mariners:

Ichiro Suzuki RF
Chone Figgins 2B
Russell Branyan 1B
Milton Bradley DH
Jose Lopez 3B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Jack Wilson SS
Rob Johnson C
Michael Saunders LF

LHP Cliff Lee

Wrapping Up The Weekend

Good morning, Fackers. After Friday night's game, it really seemed as if the Yankees had righted the ship. Javier Vazquez came up with a terrific performance and covered up the offense's difficulties cashing in all the baserunners they had accumulated. A narrow 2-1 victory seemed like it was a step towards taking the first installment of the 2010 Subway Series and an escape from the malaise that they had spent the last two weeks in. To boot, both the Red Sox and Rays had lost against the Phillies and Astros, respectively.

However, Saturday and Sunday did not go according to that plan. The Mets got excellent performances from Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana and although their bullpen gave the Yankees a glimmer of hope in the late innings, the final two games of the series went to the team from Queens.

Outside of the two pitchers that picked up wins against the Bombers, the Mets rotation is in a state of disarray. Oliver Perez has been moved to the bullpen due to his ineffectiveness while John Maine and Jon Niese are both sidelined with injuries. It just so happened that the Yanks drew both of the Mets healthy and effective starters in a three game series and were on the losing end of two strong performances. It just seems like that's the way things are going for the Yanks as of late.

The Bombers have now dropped five of their last seven games and ten of the last 15. Even the excitement surrounding weekend's most notable bright spot, Vazquez, has to be tempered because he had to be taken from the game with an injury to his right index finger that he got while attempting to lay down a bunt. The Yankees pushed his bullpen session back until Tuesday and he is expected to make his regularly scheduled start against the Twins on Thursday. Still, there should be concern that the injury could affect his stuff when he takes the mound again.

While the Yankees were getting beaten by the Mets, the Red Sox and Rays both salvaged the last two games of their respective series, moving Tampa six games ahead of the Yankees and Boston just two and a half games back. Down in Philadelphia, the Sawx got eight shutout innings both from Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield in the final two games of the series to eek out a victory. The Rays did what they should have and came up with consecutive victories of 4-2 and 10-6 against the Astros.

No story of the Yankees current struggles would be complete without talking about the injuries they've suffered and for a while the bullpen was blowing every lead they got their hands on, but over the past week, their starting pitching has been the real culprit. The last time through the rotation, Burnett, Hughes, Pettitte and Sabathia have combined to give up 22 runs in 22 1/3 innings pitched.

Couple that with the fact that the Yanks are a combined 19-76 (.250) with runners in scoring position over the last seven games and went the entire series in Flushing without hitting a home run and you've got a recipe for a tough stretch of baseball.

As a frame of reference, the Yankees are still tied with the Twins for the second best record in the American League and have as many wins as any team in the NL, a testament mostly to how well they were playing early in the season. But between the bullpen implosions, the constant flow of injuries, the RISP struggles and the late inning comeback teases the last 15 games have been really tough to watch. Luckily, we know that none of those problems are going to last forever. It's just hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now.

Today is the team's first scheduled off day in two and a half weeks and hopefully they can collect themselves before they head out to Minnesota for yet another tough series against the Twins.

Game 43 Recap

1. The Mets got on the Yankees early in this one and didn't let up until the very end. CC Sabathia wriggled out of a one out, bases loaded jam in the first inning when he got David Wright to swing over a 1-2 slider and Angel Pagan to line out to second base. Unfortunately the second inning went the other way for the Big Fella.

Rob Barajas led off with a double but Sabathia got two easy strikeouts from Jeff Francoeur and Johan Santana. After giving up a single to Jose Reyes, CC got ahead of Alex Cora 0-2 and threw a perfect pitch, just over the black on the inside corner but home plate umpire Marvin Hudson called it a ball and gave Cora a second life. Cora fouled off a couple pitches and took a slider in the dirt before punching a single to center, driving in Barajas and Reyes. Dave Eiland came out to talk to Sabathia but whatever he said didn't help out all that much as Jason Bay whacked a changeup from CC over the left field fence for just his second homer of the year and put the Mets up 4-0.

2. The Yankees led off each of the first three innings with a single but had nothing to show for it. In the first and second, one hit was all they could muster but in the third, Jeter followed Sabathia's broken bat flare with a sharp single of his own. However, Brett Garnder grounded into a double play (only his 6th in 594 MLB plate appearances) and destroyed any momentum the Yanks had built up.

3. Bay struck again in the 5th, leading off the frame with another longball, this time to right field. We might have witnessed Bay finally finding his power stroke.

The Mets added another run in the inning when Ike Davis singled, advanced on a past ball and scored on a double by David Wright. 6-0 Mets.

4. The Yanks finally got on the board in the seventh inning. Nick Swisher worked a two out walk and Francisco Cervelli ripped a line drive towards the left foul pole. The ball hit right on the orange line and Frankie was so sure it was gone, he put his head down and went into a jog rounding first base. Since the ball bounced right back to Bay, he gunned it back in and held Cisco to a single, but Nick Swisher scored easily to make it 6-1 Mets. The umpires looked at the replays but upheld the original call.

5. The Yanks tried to pull together a rally in the 8th. Marcus Thames had walked to lead off the inning and A-Rod and Mark Teixeira both reached base with two outs to load the bases. A-Rod's walk chased Santana from the game and Pedro Feliciano came in to face Cano. Robbie took two strikes before hitting a high pop up to first to end the inning.

They again showed life in the ninth inning. Leading off, Nick Swisher worked a walk and Cervelli singled behind him. Kevin Russo grounded into a fielder's choice but Juan Miranda knocked in Swish with a base hit to right to make it 6-2.

Jerry Manuel then brought in K-Rod to face Jeter and the Captain ripped a double down the line and brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Brett Gardner. Gardner tapped a soft chopper towards third base and David Wright gunned it across the diamond to get the out by just a few inches, if at all. Both Garnder and Girardi were livid and the latter was extra demonstrative when he came out to argue the call but didn't get tossed. That drove in a run and got the Yanks within 3. Mark Teixeira then hit a high chopper to second and cut the margin to two runs: 6-4 Mets.

A-Rod came to the plate as the go-ahead run and battled with K-Rod through an eight pitch at bat, taking three balls and fouling off four pitches before striking out on a 3-2 change up.

Another day, another blue balls, too-little-too-late, close-but-no-cigar rally in the 9th.

IFs, ANDs & BUTs

• Santana was really impressive tonight, cruising through 7 2/3 innings of one run ball and at one point retired 13 Yankees in a row.
  
  
• Sabathia lasted five innings and gave up six runs, five of them earned. He allowed two walks and ten hits and although he got kind of screwed by that call in the second inning he just generally just didn't have it going. It happens.
  
  
• Sergio Mitre and Boone Logan both pitched well in relief. Mitre threw two innings and the only batter than reached base against him was Jason Bay, who he hit with a breaking pitch. Logan gave up just one hit in his scoreless frame.
  
  
• For some dumb reason, the benches were warned when Bay was hit, despite the fact that the pitch was a 75mph curve.
  
  
• This game was pretty tough to watch and it was made worse by Joe Morgan, naturally. "Uppercut" was the word of the night in the booth. Morgan used it in his trademark brand of simpleton analysis about 50 fucking times and added a grand total of nothing to the broadcast in the process. Thanks Joe.
  
  
• Morgan also took time to congratulate his daughter and her new husband on getting married and later to say hello to the Mets bullpen coaches' mom. Listen Casey Kasem, no one fucking knows or cares about this shit. Do your job and talk about the game. Actually, better yet, just shut up.
  
  
• During the disputed home run call, the ESPN production crew called over to the Mets PR office to check on the ground rules and were given incorrect information. They originally claimed that if the ball hit the line it was considered a home run, which of course is wrong. Hell of an organization they've got over there.

After taking the first game of the series, the Yanks end up dropping the final two. Tomorrow is an off day before the Yanks head to Target to face the Twins for the first time in their new park on Tuesday.

Game 43: Strangers In The Night

The first round of the Subway Series wraps tonight with a showdown of superior southpaws. CC Sabathia and Johan Santana locked horns several times during their years together in the AL Central. But Subway commercials notwithstanding, this will be their first meeting in the Big Apple.

Despite that, at least in the eyes of Yankee fans, the two are already firmly linked. The story is well known. Santana's Twins were shopping him following the 2007 season. The Yankees, in desperate need of a front line starter, balked at the asking price, which at various times included some combination of Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Chien-Ming Wang, and Melky Cabrera. Brian Cashman, not wanting to pay twice for Santana in surrendering the necessary pieces to acquire him and committing the necessary dollars to extend him, chose not to make the deal. Instead, Cashman gambled that the equally talented Sabathia, slated to be a free agent following the 2008 season, wouldn't sign an extension and would be there for the taking a year later.

Cashman's decision was heavily criticized in many circles, and by Hank Steinbrenner as well. Things didn't get any better when the Mets landed Santana for a song - four fringe prospects, only one of whom remains property of Minnesota - while the Yankees missed the playoffs in 2008. More than two years later though, I doubt anyone would say Cashman made the wrong decision. After an outstanding 2008. Santana dealt with elbow issues last year, required surgery, and appears to be a bit diminished compared to his former self. Meanwhile, Cashman managed to land Sabathia as hoped, and the Big Fella led the Yankees staff to a World Series title in his first year in the Bronx.

The Yankees have hit a rough patch over the past week, going just 2-5, alternately betrayed by their starting pitching, bullpen, and offense. The Subway Series isn't nearly as important as it's hyped up to be, but given the state of the Mets in recent years and the way the past week has played out for the Yankees, dropping tonight's game would further raise the already ratcheted up panic level in Yankeedom. A win on the other hand would soothe the nerves heading into tomorrow's off day.

Last year we often turned to Old Blue Eyes in big spots. I don't think tonight's game is quite that important, but in an effort to change the Yankees recent fortunes and in hopes of making tomorrow's off day alarm free, we're going with Sinatra. CC Sabathia and Johan Santana haven't crossed paths in more than two years. Much has changed for both of them in that time. But whether they realize it or not as they square off tonight, they've both had a profound influence upon the direction of both clubs over the past two plus seasons.

Strangers in the night, exchanging glances
Wondering in the night, what were the chances?

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Jeter SS
Gardner CF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cervelli C
Russo LF
Sabathia P

Mets:

Reyes SS
Castillo 2B
Bay LF
Davis 1B
Wright 3B
Pagan CF
Barajas C
Francoeur RF
Santana P

Dodging Zack Greinke

When I saw that Kansas City's ace and lone star player had pitched a nice game against the Red Sox last week (contrary to the observations of Jim Rice), I figured that the Yanks would be running into him as well when the Royals came to town this week.

Up until that point, one of the very few remaining arguments against Zack Greinke's right to the AL Cy Young was the fact that he hadn't faced the Yankees or Red Sox this season. Needless to say, this is a pretty weak point both because pitcher's can't control their own schedule and if you wanted to complain about a lack of competition, you might want to start by noting that he pitches in the AL Central.

The reason that the Yankees didn't see him the first time around this year goes back to the fact that Gil Meche was tagged as the opening day starter for the Royals. This was due in part because he had that designation ever since being signed to a 5 year, $55M deal before the beginning of the 2007 season, but we can be sure it won't be the case next year, barring some unforeseen circumstances. Greinke was the Royals best pitcher last year too, but not by all that much, and as such was ticketed to start the second game of the season. As a result, when the Yankees came to town for the 4th through 6th games of the season, they missed the Zack Attack who pitched in the 2nd and 7th.

[Sidenote: The Yankees actually drafted Zack's younger brother Luke in the 12th round out of Auburn University last June. The lesser Greinke started 9 games for the Staten Island Yanks to a 4.01 ERA in 33 1/3 IP but was released out of Spring Training this year, before he could be assigned to a higher level of the minor leagues.]

As fate would have it, however, Zack Greinke shut down the Twins over 7 innings on Sunday night, temporarily derailing their charge for the AL Central title, and will once again miss the Yankees. This would be a welcome reprieve during the regular season, one that the Yankees never seem to get from the likes of Roy Halladay. However, with nothing left to be determined but how many games over 100 the Yankees can win and who gets the last few spots on the postseason roster, it would have been nice to see Greinke make a start which could potentially tip which way the Cy Young voting goes.

As Joe Posnanski has seemingly taken it upon himself to prove, Greinke is having a historically great season. He currently leads the league with an absurd 2.06 ERA (213 ERA+) and 1.066 WHIP, and has struck out 237 and walked just 49 in 223 1/3 IP. He's gone fewer than six innings only four times all year, and in two of those outings, he didn't allow any runs. His six complete games are second only to Roy Halladay's 8 and both of them have 3 shutouts to their name. Basically, the only reason he hasn't won 20 games yet is because the Royals are historically inept offensively.

As Jason pointed out this morning, Greinke's ERA in his losses is just about equal to CC Sabathia's overall mark. Were he having the same type of season for the Yankees, he'd likely be headed for 25+ wins. If he doesn't get the Cy Young it will rank alongside choosing Bartolo Colon over Johan Santana - and to a lesser extent, Mariano Rivera - in 2005 in terms of recent egregious snubs.

It's too bad we won't be able to see him first hand against the Yankees.

Game 148: It's Good To Be King

It was the modern day version of the story where some scout was driving through the backroads in his pickup truck and found a kid somewhere out in the sticks who could throw rocks through the side of a barn. It used to be that parts of the United States were rural and isolated enough that there might be a diamond in the rough just sitting out there waiting to be discovered. Today, those searches have turned towards third world nations such as the Dominican Republic and Venezuela where the passion for baseball has spread throughout the countryside.

The kids play for the love of the game of course, but there is also the potential that if they reach the highest levels of the game, they can rescue their families from real, extreme poverty, a reality that most kids growing up in the States just don't face.

Felix Hernandez was only 14 years old and already throwing in the low to mid 90's when he caught the eye of scout of a scout named Luis Fuenmayor outside of Maracaibo, Venezuela. He couldn't sign with any team until he was 16 years old, but important steps had to be taken in order for teams to put themselves in position to sign him; relationships to be formed, trust to be gained.

The Yankees were in hot pursuit of the young flamethrower and so were the Braves, Astros, Dodgers, Rockies and Hernandez's eventual choice, the Mariners. The Yankees extended the first offer to Hernandez and the Braves the largest. But he chose the $710,000 option from the Mariners and the rest, as they say, is history.

The USS Mariner anointed him "King Felix" in 2003 when he was just 17 years old, pitching in short season A-ball. He continued to eat up the minors, striking out 172 in 149 1/3 innings as an 18 year old between high A and AA and 100 in 88 innings the following year at AAA. He was called up in August that year, and in his second start ever in the Big Leagues, he threw 8 shutout innings using only 94 pitches against the Twins as the Mariners took the game 1-0. He was still only 19.

The reign of King Felix has continued to grow over the years. In his first full season as a starter, he had a a roughly league average ERA but it has declined every year since. Along the way, he offered up a resplendent performance at Fenway Park in early April, with a complete game, one hit shutout of the Red Sox on Wednesday Night Baseball replete with 17 ground ball outs. Last year, he hit an eyes-closed grand slam off fellow Venezuelan Johan Santana. This season, behind only Zack Greinke, he has the second best argument for the AL Cy Young award when you remove the performance of his team behind him.

Some have speculated that he might get a $200 million dollar contract when he reaches free agency after the 2011 season, at which point he'll be 25 years old; extremely young for a starting pitcher to hit the open market.

Hernandez has faced the Yankees once each year since 2005 and his performances have been anything but royal. He's given up 16 runs and 15 walks in 24 1/3 innings in the four outings. He hasn't faced them since May of last year, when he gave up 12 hits and six runs over 5 2/3 IP.

Much has changed since then, namely the Yankees line up but King Felix has also stepped up his game considerably. His ERA has dropped a full run, he's is striking out more batters while walking fewer, and giving up fewer hits per nine innings.

One thing hasn't changed though. It's still good to be King Felix.

[Ed Note: Since we've got a ways to go before the game at 10:10PM EST, we've included an extra long live version of the song which Petty & Co. apparently have chosen as the one tune they work an extended jam into. The first couple of links about third world scouting and King Felix are worth the read if you're looking to kill time as well. The USS Mariner (also linked above) is a great place to go for info on the boys from Seattle. Enjoy.]

It's good to be king, if just for a while,
To be there in velvet, yeah, to give em a smile,
It's good to get high, and never come down,
It's good to be king of your own little town.

Weird Series

What a strange series. On Friday, the Yankees won a game they should have lost. On Saturday, they lost a game that, on paper at least, they should have won. On Saturday they were held at bay by an emergency starter they should have beat up on. On Sunday they hung a career high 9 ER in 3 IP against one of the top starters in the game.

Two innings were key to this afternoon's game. In the bottom of the second, with the game still scoreless, the Yankees had runners on first and third with two outs and #9 hitter Francisco Cervelli at the plate. Cervelli took a 1-2 change-up and dropped a blooper into short right field to plate the first run of the game. Derek Jeter followed with an RBI single, then Johnny Damon singled in both Cevelli and Jeter. The inning may had carried on, but Damon was called out at second for knocking the ball out of SS Alex Cora's glove. Replays showed it to be a borderline call, but it too closely resembled A-Rod in the Series That Shall Not Be Named.

Spotted to a 4-0 lead, A.J. Burnett responded by sandwiching two walks around a single to leave himself with a bases loaded, no out jam. He wriggled out of it, striking Alex Cora out with the benefit of two borderline calls, whiffing Fernando Martinez, and getting a Carlos Beltran liner right to Jeter.

It was all over from there. The Yankees added nine more runs in the third and two in the seventh en route to a 15-0 victory. Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano both hit 2 run homers. Jeter had four hits; Cano and Cervelli three each; Damon and Melky Cabrera two each. Every starter had a hit save for Nick Swisher, who walked twice and scored twice. The game got so good for the Yanks that Angel Berroa was allowed two plate appearances. Ramiro Pena also got into to the game and started a beautiful double play to end the top of the seventh.

Burnett recovered from his rocky third inning to turn in seven shutout innings, allowing four hits, four walks, and striking out eight. The walks are a little higher than you'd like to see, and he still needed 110 pitches (60% strikes) to get through seven, but overall he gave the team just what they needed: length. He was followed by David Robertson and Phil Hughes both of whom struck out two in working a scoreless inning.

It's been a rough week in Yankeedom. They were swept in brutal fashion by the Red Sox to fall to 0-8 against them on the year. They played two lackluster games against the Mets. They got into verbal spats in the papers in near physical spats on the field (more on that tomorrow). They needed a game like this. It'll certainly make tomorrow's off day all the more enjoyable and leave them in a good spot as the lowly Nationals come to town Tuesday.

Game 63: Soul Sacrifice

Before you even tune into the YES broadcast today, you know what the storyline will be shoved down your throat. Hey fans! The Yankees could have traded for Johan Santana!

Get ready for Michael Kay to frame the struggles of Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Melky Cabrera as clear reasons for why the Yankees should have jettisoned these pieces to acquire Johan Santana when they had the chance. It will be interesting to see whether anyone on the broadcast takes a deeper look into the divergent paths of the trade.

I think we can safely assume that if the Yanks had traded the package mentioned above, or at least something similar, to the Twins in exchange for Santana, they would have had to sign him to an almost identical extension that the Mets did. Santana had a no-trade clause and was ready to veto the deal if a contract with the Mets was not negotiated. He signed for $137M over 6 Years, an AAV of $22.8M. That essentially amounts to free agent money and in addition to that, the Mets parted with Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guera.

Instead of trading for Johan, the Yankees opted to wait a season and sign CC Sabathia on the open market, for $161/7, an AAV of $23M and a first round draft pick. Would the Yanks have been in play of CC if they had already signed Johan? I think it's fairly safe to assume not. Locking over $45M into two starting pitchers would be a pretty disproportionate allocation of funds, even with a $200M+ payroll like the Yankees have.

I think Sabathia and Santana are pretty similar pitchers. Both are dominant lefties who register a lot of strike outs without allowing many walks and accumulate a lot of innings. Both have won AL Cy Youngs and we're traded just before reaching free agency. Santana is two years older, but they will both be 35 when their contracts expire. If you go by last year, Santana logged an ERA of 2.53, which is amazing, but CC finished at 2.70 after making 18 starts in the American League and throwing nearly 20 more innings. This year Santana is decidedly better, but has also started 7 games at pitcher-friendly Citi Field whereas CC has started 6 games at what is easily the best home run hitting park in the majors.

The difference really boils down to this: If the Yanks traded for Santana, they would have had him last year, a season in which they really could have used some stabilization at the front of the rotation. However, the Yankees finished six games out of the Wild Card. FanGraphs pegs his Wins Above Replacement last year at 4.8. If the Yanks still didn't make the playoffs, would it really have been worth sacrificing the arbitration eligible years of Hughes, Kennedy and Cabrera? If they had snuck in but lost in the first round, would it have?

The point is that even right now, in hindsight, it's not an obvious move to trade for Santana and Hughes still has years to find his way as a starting pitcher. Melky has been a valuable piece to the club this year, and has had several walk off or game winning hits this year. Kennedy is gone for the year after surgery to remove an aneurysm from his shoulder, but is by no means worthless to the club. And all three as still cheap, controllable (and possibly tradeable) parts moving forward. So when you hear the decision not to trade for Santana referred to as a "mistake", keep those things in mind.

Speaking of "mistakes", A.J. Burnett looks to rebound his last one in Boston today. Burnett has taken on the opposing team's ace three times this year, once against his former teammate, Roy Halladay and twice against Josh Beckett. Twice Burnett has been beaten quite handily and his other start against Beckett in April, he was spotted six runs which he ultimatley gave back, and then some. Here's to hoping that he can buck the trend against Santana, although that might take some drastic measures, with consequences that could echo into the afterlife:

A Frustrating Afternoon

In yesterday's game preview, I theorized that Saturday's game couldn't possibly be sloppier than Friday's. It may not have been worse, but it was just as ugly. And to make matters worse, this time there was no deus ex machina to deliver the Yankees a last minute win.

Andy Pettitte struggled again. Following Joba Chamberlain's lead from the night before, he needed 104 pitches to get through just five innings, including 23 in the first and 31 in the second when Pettitte reportedly had trouble breathing. He exited having surrendered 12 hits and 5 ER.

Equally as frustrating, the offense was unable to get anything going against Fernando Nieve, further fueling the theory that the Yankees struggle against unknown pitchers. True or not, Nieve cruised through 6.2 innings, allowing only six base runners and surrendering just two runs.

Perhaps the only silver lining was Jose Veras' two scoreless innings of mop-up work. He struck out two and even managed not to walk anyone. You have to figure either Veras or Tomko will be DFA'd when Bruney is activated within the next few days. Based on their most recent performances as well as past history, I think Veras should have a leg up.

In the end, it was a bad Saturday. What I thought would be a nice day featured a steady and consistent rain. What I hoped would be a bounce back start for Pettitte turned into the latest in a string of bad ones. What I thought should have been an easily winnable game turned into an exercise in frustration.

We'll back later as the Yankees try for two the hard way in attempting to take the series against Johan Santana.