This is the new location of the old Yankee Blog from
www.nyy_news.livejournal.com
I'll kick this one off with a recap of the offseason.
KEY TRANSACTIONS
-Traded OF Gary Sheffield to Detroit for RP Humberto Sanchez, RP Kevin Whelan and RP Anthony Claggert.
All three arms are minor league relief pitchers from Detroit. Humberto Sanchez is a blue-chip arm. He throws a very heavy fastball along with an above-average curveball and a plus changeup. He's slated to begin the year in AAA SW/B working with Nardi Contreras to improve his secondary pitchers. He's had some injury problems and weight issues, but the Yankees AAA pitching depth will let him take it slow. Kevin Whelan is a converted catcher who throws 95 and uses a splitter as his strikeout pitch. He struggles somewhat with his control but still strikes out almost 3 batters per walk. He'll most likely begin in AA Trenton as the closer, being carefully groomed as a future replacement of Rivera or a setup man.
Jaret Wright spent two mostly disappointing seasons in New York. The Yankees sent him and half his salary to Maryland for a pretty tough young arm. Chris Britton throws 92-94 with a deceptive motion. He's a big boy at 6'3 and around 280. Lefties hit .301 off Britton last year in his Major League time but didn't hit him for much power. He gets his massive amount of K's with his curveball. If I were the Yankees, I'd take Britton in the bullpen over someone like Brian Bruney.
-Traded SP Randy Johnson to Arizona for RP Luis Viscaino, RP Ross Ohlendorf, RP Steven Jackson and SS Alberto Gonzalez
Nothing too special about this deal. Randy Johnson won 34 games in two year with the Yankees, but mainly because of the juggernaut of an offense the Yankees featured. New York and Johnson didn't really mesh and the trade works well for each side. Luis Viscaino is a solid, durable and dependable relief arm dubbed "Daily" for his frequent use. Ross Ohlendorf is a Princeton graduate with a power arm. He has control issues, and doesn't strike out a huge amount of batters. Gonzalez and Jackson are lower-level prospects not expected to be too much in the majors.
-Signed SP Andy Pettitte
Andy Pettitte coming back was my favorite move of the offseason. He was one of my favorite dynasty Yankees along with the Warrior and Jeter. He's thrown over 200 innings each of the past two seasons so his left elbow is evidently holding up pretty well. He'll take the number two spot in the rotation behind Chien-Ming Wang and in front of Mike Mussina.
-Signed 1B Doug Mientkiewicz
A good-field, no-hit first baseman expected to fill the left side of a first base platoon. No matter how much Jason Giambi wants to play first, the fact remains that he's a liability there. Mientkiewicz is one of the premier defensive first basemen in the league and will help the infield defense tremendously. He doesn't hit much, but he won't be expected to. Another bonus to the signing is Doug is close personal friends with Alex Rodriguez which will hopefully make Rodriguez more comfortable in the clubhouse and city.
-Signed SP Kei Igawa
The Yankees consolation prize after losing out on Daisuke Matsuzaka. Kei Igawa projects to be a back-end rotation guy, so he shouldn't have as much pressure to deal with, although he will always be compared to Matsuzaka. Igawa has the advantage of being left-handed, as southpaws have traditionally fared well in Yankee Stadium. Igawa also has Hideki Matsui as an established Japanese teammate to relate to and help him adjust. The Yankees are looking for Igawa to stay healthy all year and keep their high-powered offense in games. He's slated to be the number 4 starter, although I would guess he'd end up in the bullpen by as early as next year. He's tough on lefties and Mike Myers' deal is up after this year. Igawa could move to the bullpen and serve as a lefty specialist/long reliever/spot starter if (and more likely when) the Yankees go after a big name starter (Johan Santana) or the young arms (Hughes, Clippard, Sanchez) hit the big leagues
So that was the Yankees offseason in a nutshell. As Spring Training gets underway, I'll take a look at the team and players and will end the spring with my predictions for the year. Hopefully we'll see a twenty-seven go up in Yankee Stadium.
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