First, what do I think about the Yankees signings…..Well, besides the fact that they make me sick, I think that they are going to eat a lot of money on these deals. 

Teixiera is the only one I can see giving them anywhere near the requisite level of production over the life of the deal to justify what they spent on him.  Even that is contingent upon what happens with the rest of the team.  There is no doubt that having guys like Jeter and A-Rod in the lineup will increase the production the Yankees get from Teixiera.  How long those guys (A-Rod and Jeter) remain in the lineup, if they maintain their level of production, or if their replacements duplicate what they brought will have a major impact on what they get from Teixiera, IMO.  I view Teixiera as a fine player, but not a guy that carries a team.  As such, you will get more from him when he is surrounded  by more.  At least that’s my take.

As far as the pitchers, any contract over 3 or 4 years is ridiculous, IMO.  The Yankees know ther is no way on God’s green earth they will get 8-years of 200+ innings and a 1.1 WHIP from Sabathia. 

I spoke about Burnett back when we were supposedly “interested” in him.  Burnett has only pitched more than 200 innings twice in his career (2002 and 2005).  Not coincidentally, he was injured in the following season each time.  Guess what?  Burnett pitched 221 1/3 innings last year, so where do you think he is headed.  Burnett will be Carl Pavano, the sequel. 

The thing that really bothers me about the Yankees signing these pitchers is that they know they will not get all the years out of them and they don’t need to care because they can afford to eat the contracts.  Since almost nobody else can afford to take a financial hit like this, it pretty much eliminates every other team from ever landing a top of the rotation, free agent arm.  That’s just not right.

1)  If Ryan Howard continues to put up the same numbers he has been, he is as good as gone from Philly.  The Phils have shown no inclination to sign him to the mega-deal he is seeking, and Howard has given no indication that he will lower his asking price.  My opinion has always been that the number of years he wants is the big hangup.  I would rather pay him more per year in exchange for a shorter deal, as I can’t see us getting the same level of production from him over the life of an 8-year contract.

2)  If we are talking about today, Cole Hamels has no choice but to accept a deal worth less than Sabathia’s.  Hamels made a name for himself this year and established himself as a big game pitcher in the postseason, but he only has two seasons under his belt and he just went over 200 innings for the first time this year.  By comparison, Sabathia has 8 seasons under his belt, has shown himself to be more of a workhorse with each passing season, and has a Cy Young to his name.  As of now, Hamels just doesn’t stack up to Sabathia.  Now, depending on what He does through his arbitration years, Hamels could close the gap considerably.  In that case he probably would want, and get, a Sabathia-type deal.  One thing that is on our side, at least for now, is Hamels’ attitude about the big payday.  I posted a link to an interview with Hamels from a weekly column called Answer Man. Check out the very last question and answer to see what I’m talking about.

3) The Phils might have done well against those guys individually, but I think it gets a whole lot tougher when they are all on the same team.

4)  I’ve always thought a salary cap was needed, but I found an article on dugoutcentral.com that might have changed my mind.  What do you think?

5)  I said more or less the same thing here a few baseball topics ago.  Here is what I said on December 9th:

Over the last few weeks I have read several times about the players’ union putting pressure on CC to take the highest offer and “set the market” for his fellow free agents (as opposed to taking less money to pitch somewhere he prefers).

I probably view this differently than most, but I don’t think this (a top level player taking the highest offer) is the biggest contributor to the continually escalating salaries we see.  Nolan Ryan becoming the first $1 million man or Kirby Puckett becoming the first $3 million man is ok with me.  In fact, if anybody gets that kind of precedent setting deal, it should be just this type of player who gets it.
I could be way off and this will probably sound counterintuitive, but I’ve always felt that the contracts given to the top level talents in the game actually place a ceiling on salaries, thereby holding down what the lesser talents can get.  I understand that the top level talents  jump over one another from one year to the next and, in the process, continue to raise the ceiling, but there is a small pool of these guys (much smaller than the less talented masses) so, again, I really don’t see this as the biggest issue.
On the contrary, I’ve always felt that huge deals given to mediocre (or worse) players are the primary cause of wildly escalating salaries and, as such, are far more damaging to the economic structure of the game.  When a decent player (and there are a lot of them) gets a major deal then everyone who is better than him is in line for a big raise at some point.  There is always some team that is either desperate or stupid enough to lay out big money for an average (or worse) player, especially a pitcher. Then the CC’s and Manny’s of the league show how much better they are comparatively and cash in.
Glad to hear from you again.  I hope I gave you what you were looking for.  Talk to you soon.  Merry Christmas, buddy.
 

I do have a writing request of you, as a baseball writer of sorts – what do you think of what the Yankees have done, in all aspects?  A few quick thoughts:

1. We could still lose Ryan Howard to them as a DH.
2. Will Cole Hamels accept a contract worth less than Sabathia’s?
3. The Phils have done well against Sabathia, Burnett and Texeira, I like our changes against them in the World Series.
4. Is a salary cap for baseball needed?
5. I don’t really think those guys set the market, because only the Yankees have that kind of money.  It’s like a bunch of guys vying for the one high-paying job, but when someone gets that job everyone has to settle for less money.

Not Phils or prospect talk, but a good baseball article.

When I said that Howard needs to improve his fundamentals, I didn’t mean that he should continue with the same things he has been doing in his previous offseasons. ( In that case, you are right.)  That’s basically what I was driving at in my final paragraph, although apparently not very clearly.  I was hoping that he would try a different offseason approach that would yield better results.  If not, I agree that he should play in the WBC.