5. JESUS MONTERO (C), YANKEES
Age: 20 | Bats: R | Height: 6-4 | Weight: 225
2009 Stats: .337 AVG | 17 HR | 70 RBI | .389 OBP | 0 SB
Finished '09: Trenton (Double-A Eastern League)
The Skinny: Can he catch? Yes. Will he catch? It doesn't matter much. His bat is that potent. Much debate surrounds Montero's ability to stick behind the plate, but the bat is going to be special. He has a potential 40-homer bat with the offensive upside of Miguel Cabrera. We could see the Venezuelan slugger as early as midseason in 2010 if all goes well in Triple-A.
5. JESUS MONTERO (C), YANKEES
Age: 20 | Bats: R | Height: 6-4 | Weight: 225
2009 Stats: .337 AVG | 17 HR | 70 RBI | .389 OBP | 0 SB
Finished '09: Trenton (Double-A Eastern League)
The Skinny: Can he catch? Yes. Will he catch? It doesn't matter much. His bat is that potent. Much debate surrounds Montero's ability to stick behind the plate, but the bat is going to be special. He has a potential 40-homer bat with the offensive upside of Miguel Cabrera. We could see the Venezuelan slugger as early as midseason in 2010 if all goes well in Triple-A.
5. JESUS MONTERO (C), YANKEES
Age: 20 | Bats: R | Height: 6-4 | Weight: 225
2009 Stats: .337 AVG | 17 HR | 70 RBI | .389 OBP | 0 SB
Finished '09: Trenton (Double-A Eastern League)
The Skinny: Can he catch? Yes. Will he catch? It doesn't matter much. His bat is that potent. Much debate surrounds Montero's ability to stick behind the plate, but the bat is going to be special. He has a potential 40-homer bat with the offensive upside of Miguel Cabrera. We could see the Venezuelan slugger as early as midseason in 2010 if all goes well in Triple-A.
what's up with Xavier Nady? Injured still, or gone?
cliffy needs to answer that
i think he needs a contract?
He is a free agent and without a team. I can see the Yanks signing him to a $1-2 million contract if things dont workout with Damon or possibly Reed Johnson. Nady is supposed to be ready by Spring Training but who knows how he is going to hold up after 2 Tommy John's.
5. JESUS MONTERO (C), YANKEES
Age: 20 | Bats: R | Height: 6-4 | Weight: 225
2009 Stats: .337 AVG | 17 HR | 70 RBI | .389 OBP | 0 SB
Finished '09: Trenton (Double-A Eastern League)
The Skinny: Can he catch? Yes. Will he catch? It doesn't matter much. His bat is that potent. Much debate surrounds Montero's ability to stick behind the plate, but the bat is going to be special. He has a potential 40-homer bat with the offensive upside of Miguel Cabrera. We could see the Venezuelan slugger as early as midseason in 2010 if all goes well in Triple-A.
After four seasons and one championship, Johnny Damon won't be returning to the New York Yankees unless he slashes his asking price.
"I'm not having any discussions on him," general manager Brian Cashman said, according to MLB.com. "His abilities exceed the money that I have."
Cashman told the Web site that his priority is finding a right-handed bat for the outfield.
Damon, a left-handed hitter, batted .282 with a career-high tying 24 home runs and 82 RBIs, but he is 36 years old.
He earned $13 million last season. After back and forth in negotiations yielded little, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney reported that the Yankees offered Damon a one-year deal last weekend. Now, they appear to be backing off.
"He's a valuable player that a lot of teams are talking to, I'm sure," Cashman said, according to MLB.com. "His abilities exceed my physical ability to keep my finances afloat."
The Yankees continuously lead the league in payroll, but there are indications that they aren't willing to go higher than their 2009 levels.
"I'll always try to get the budget pushed, but you're not always successful," Cashman said, according to the Web site. "The Steinbrenner family has been extremely generous for adding talent, but you can't do everything."
Boras and Damon are trying to engage the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds as possible alternatives, a baseball source told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick.
Boras has been successful placing many of his clients in Detroit, and the addition of Damon in left field would allow the Tigers to give Carlos Guillen more at-bats at DH.
The Tigers traded leadoff hitter Curtis Granderson to the Yankees in December and lost No. 2 hitter Placido Polanco to the Phillies in free agency, so the top of their batting order is in a state of transition.
Cincinnati's outfield alignment currently consists of Jay Bruce in right field, Drew Stubbs in center field and Chris Dickerson in left. The Reds' leadoff hitters also ranked last in the major leagues with a .650 OPS in 2009.
The catch is, the Reds and Tigers don't appear to have much money left in the budget. Both clubs have been economizing this offseason, and that might be truer than ever now that Cincinnati has signed Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman and Detroit has added closer Jose Valverde. Both teams would probably have to get creative to make a run at Damon.
Nothing that we didn't know, but if Damon has trouble going to the Tigers or Reds, I could see him lowering his asking price and the Yankees nabbing him. I'm not so sure how happy he'd be with his contract situation, though.
I am somewhat fine with this. Winn had a really down year last year and will not be a full time player. I think the Yankees are good with an outfield of Winn/Gardner, Granderson and Swisher. The lineup should look something like this.
Jeter
Johnson
Tex
Arod
Granderson
Posada
Cano
Swisher
Winn/Gardner
Not too shabby. Maybe against lefties drop Granderson towards the bottom and bump the others up.
Gonna miss Damon, while I may never forgive him for that whole grand slam thing, he had some important clutch plays for us, particularly in the playoffs last season!
Winn isn't a bad #9 hitter, but I'm not very keen on him.
I think part of this is the yankees being tired of Scott Boras's games and them sayin you know what boras FU and your client. Stop using us to drive up prices etc.
I would have liked damon more but Randy winn is a good pick up if he can revert back to his 07/08 numbers.
Charlotte 00 Charlotte 03 Asheville 04 Atlanta 12 Greenville 16, Columbia 16 Seattle 18 Nashville 22 Ohana Festival 24 x2
Gonna miss Damon, while I may never forgive him for that whole grand slam thing, he had some important clutch plays for us, particularly in the playoffs last season!
Winn isn't a bad #9 hitter, but I'm not very keen on him.
Definitely was huge last year, it took me a long time to warm up to him but he will be missed.
Winn is not playing everyday, he has some horrendous splits. I am fine with Winn/Gardner.
I think part of this is the yankees being tired of Scott Boras's games and them sayin you know what boras FU and your client. Stop using us to drive up prices etc.
I would have liked damon more but Randy winn is a good pick up if he can revert back to his 07/08 numbers.
Agreed, almost everything Cash has said the past few days seems to be a shot at Boras.
Last year was a down yea, only thing that worries me is that he is getting up there in age. In the end it is the #9 hitter and 1% of the payroll.
I think part of this is the yankees being tired of Scott Boras's games and them sayin you know what boras FU and your client. Stop using us to drive up prices etc.
I would have liked damon more but Randy winn is a good pick up if he can revert back to his 07/08 numbers.
Agreed, almost everything Cash has said the past few days seems to be a shot at Boras.
Last year was a down yea, only thing that worries me is that he is getting up there in age. In the end it is the #9 hitter and 1% of the payroll.
Carl Crawford next year.
yea. doing the same thing they did when they didn't go after johan.
I could've sworn yanks offered damon 2 yrs -- 14 mill very early in the off season? If so, I'm sure JD feels like a big douche now.
That's what was reported. Boras says no. It is pretty clear the Yanks saw Damon has having a great year last year and don't think he is going to do it again.
I also read somewhere that he said he was not comfortable taking that big of a cut from the Yankees becvause he didn't want to set a trend, which means Cashman was dead on about that earlier in the off season. He said players are more likely to take a pay cut from another team than the team they were on.
What should the Yankees expect from Randy Winn in 2010?
By Mike Axisa .
When word got out that the Yankees had agreed to a deal with Randy Winn yesterday, many fans were up in arms over letting a silly little thing like a budget get in the way of bringing Johnny Damon back. Damon was a proven performer on the big stage after all, and he had just played a major role in helping the team capture their 27th World Championship. Instead the Yanks opted for Winn, who was so bad with the bat in 2009 that he got outslugged by Ramiro Pena. By 30 points!
Brian Cashman has been saying for weeks that he only had $2MM to spend on a left fielder, but almost no one took him seriously because hey, they’re the Yankees and they usually get what they want and will pay top dollar to do so. Not this time. Scott Boras told Cash that he wouldn’t take a penny less than $26M over two years for Damon back in December, and Cashman ended up calling his bluff. So now the Yankees are paying Winn $2M in 2010 to do something. Whether that’s serve as the every day left fielder or be a platoon partner for Brett Gardner or just provide a veteran presence on the bench, we don’t know. We won’t know until the season starts either.
Winn’s .262-.317-.353 batting line in 2009 represents the worse full season offensive output of his career, an ominous sign for a 35-year-old. His .158-.184-.200 line against lefties was the worst mark by a righty batter in 54 years, however that comes with the disclaimer of a microscopic .178 BABIP. One-seventy-eight. If he had posted his career average BABIP against lefties (.301), he actually would have picked up an extra 17 hits, nearly doubling his average to an even .300. That is some horrific luck ladies and gentlemen. It’s so horrible that even at his age, a rebound is all but guaranteed. Bouncing back against lefties alone will improve his overall offensive output, but moving from cozy AT&T Park Park to the New Stadium will help as well. I’m not saying Winn will revert to his ~.350 wOBA ways of ‘07-’08, but matching Melky Cabrera’s .331 wOBA from a year ago isn’t out of the question. He did have 22.3% line drive rate in 2009, his highest in at least eight years, so Winn’s bat hasn’t gone totally limp.
The one area of Winn’s game that doesn’t need to improve is his defense. He’s been well-above average in both corners over the last few years, and Jeff Zimmerman’s age-adjusted UZR projections peg him as a +2 defender in left and +9 in right. The Yanks could optimize their defensive alignment by sticking Winn in right and sliding Nick Swisher over to left (where he projects for +1 UZR), but for now let’s assume Winn’s staying in left. Baseball Prospectus’ EqBRR metric rates him as well-above average on the bases, but if you’re into raw stolen base totals, then you’ll be pleased by Winn’s 56 steals and 88.9% (!!!) success rate over the last three years. Gardner’s fast, crazy fast even, but he was too hesitant in late-inning stolen base situations at times last year. Given his experience, Winn should absolutely be the new guy for that job, and he should be fantastic at it.
So let’s round it all up. We’ve got Winn as a .331 wOBA hitter next year (essentially replacing the Melkman), a +2 UZR defender in left, and let’s say +2.4 runs on the bases (half of his 2009 total). Assuming 400 plate appearances, Winn would be just a tad over a two win player in 2010, but let’s call it an even two. For all intents and purposes, that’s league average. Despite his struggles last season, Winn was worth just under two wins, so we’re not out of the realm of reality here. A two win player for $2M is a bargain, and even if the aging process is harsh or the NL-AL switch is tougher than expected and knocks Winn down to a one win player, the Yanks are still paying him about two-thirds of his market value. The Yankees should expect the bare minimum from Winn, but chances are they’ll be rewarded with more.
He’s certainly not a sexy name and he won’t be as productive as Damon, but the Yankees didn’t just take a match to $2M bucks. Remember, he’s not replacing Damon; Curtis Granderson is. Winn is essentially filling Melky’s spot (for $1.1M less). He’s a useful player and perfectly qualified for what the Yankees are asking him to do. Oh sure, there’s always a chance Winn will be just awful and is DFA bait by May, but I’d be shocked if he ends up being that bad. It’s a very easy move to back out of, and the Yanks did well to improve two of their roster’s biggest weaknesses (defense and baserunning) with Winn. And he’s going to bat ninth for cryin’ out loud, with this lineup they could let the pitcher bat and be a top five offense.
The Yankees are hiring Kevin Towers (finally), wow, one hell of a front office, imagine it will only be for a year or two but he will bring a lot to the organization.
Comments
i don't like how they are writing off / underminding the importance of having a strong defensive catcher. or am i just reading this wrong?
sure the kid can hit, but you can't have every team running on the yank's pitchers night in night out.
totally but it did say he can catch
im sure they are working with him big time
cliffy needs to answer that
i think he needs a contract?
I think it is more saying who knows if he is going to be a catcher or DH. or even 1B, hitting is the reason he is ranked as the 5th best prospect.
He is a free agent and without a team. I can see the Yanks signing him to a $1-2 million contract if things dont workout with Damon or possibly Reed Johnson. Nady is supposed to be ready by Spring Training but who knows how he is going to hold up after 2 Tommy John's.
They are definitely working with him year round. Here is a pretty cool video of Posada and him working together in Spring Training last year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0sZ0Tg7koE
HMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Olney says the A's are still talking to him, we shall see.
yanks should offer 1 year 6 million
it says gardner cant handle the job all year
that being said we have won world series with chad curtis and shane spencer as left fielders
i think its time to bring damon back
Assume Johnny Damon will have to look elsehwere.
"I don't believe in damn curses. Wake up the damn Bambino and have me face him. Maybe I'll drill him in the ass." --- Pedro Martinez
oh well nice knowing you johnny
you can go back to the sux and look like a caveman again
I am somewhat fine with this. Winn had a really down year last year and will not be a full time player. I think the Yankees are good with an outfield of Winn/Gardner, Granderson and Swisher. The lineup should look something like this.
Jeter
Johnson
Tex
Arod
Granderson
Posada
Cano
Swisher
Winn/Gardner
Not too shabby. Maybe against lefties drop Granderson towards the bottom and bump the others up.
Jeter
Johnson
Tex
Arod
Granderson
Posada
Cano
Swiser
Winn
Gardner
Hoffman (maybe Baldelli per Joel Sherman)
Pena
Cervelli
CC
AJ
Pettitte
Vasquez
Joba or Hughes
Mo
Robertson
Marte
Joba or Hughes
Aceves
Gaudin
Logan/Melancon
Winn isn't a bad #9 hitter, but I'm not very keen on him.
I would have liked damon more but Randy winn is a good pick up if he can revert back to his 07/08 numbers.
Charlotte 03
Asheville 04
Atlanta 12
Greenville 16, Columbia 16
Seattle 18
Nashville 22
Ohana Festival 24 x2
Definitely was huge last year, it took me a long time to warm up to him but he will be missed.
Winn is not playing everyday, he has some horrendous splits. I am fine with Winn/Gardner.
Agreed, almost everything Cash has said the past few days seems to be a shot at Boras.
Last year was a down yea, only thing that worries me is that he is getting up there in age. In the end it is the #9 hitter and 1% of the payroll.
Carl Crawford next year.
I would imagine the yanks will make a run at one of mauer/crawfod/lee
yea. doing the same thing they did when they didn't go after johan.
From Scott Boras: “The Yankees never even made an offer to me regarding Johnny Damon during the entire process.”
From Brian Cashman: “On Dec. 17, Scott’s exact words were that he would not take a penny less than $13 million a year for two years. We believed him.”
Charlotte 03
Asheville 04
Atlanta 12
Greenville 16, Columbia 16
Seattle 18
Nashville 22
Ohana Festival 24 x2
EV - 5
(**Letterman'02, Irving Plaza, Storytellers, Beacon, ACL, Spectrum 3&4, Bridge School '10**)
"Constant recoil,..sometimes life don't leave you alone."
Let's connect on twitter - @Jeffgorra
I saw that as well, interesting exchange. Cashman is obviously a big fan of Boras.
That's what was reported. Boras says no. It is pretty clear the Yanks saw Damon has having a great year last year and don't think he is going to do it again.
I also read somewhere that he said he was not comfortable taking that big of a cut from the Yankees becvause he didn't want to set a trend, which means Cashman was dead on about that earlier in the off season. He said players are more likely to take a pay cut from another team than the team they were on.
http://riveraveblues.com/2010/01/what-s ... 010-23081/
What should the Yankees expect from Randy Winn in 2010?
By Mike Axisa .
When word got out that the Yankees had agreed to a deal with Randy Winn yesterday, many fans were up in arms over letting a silly little thing like a budget get in the way of bringing Johnny Damon back. Damon was a proven performer on the big stage after all, and he had just played a major role in helping the team capture their 27th World Championship. Instead the Yanks opted for Winn, who was so bad with the bat in 2009 that he got outslugged by Ramiro Pena. By 30 points!
Brian Cashman has been saying for weeks that he only had $2MM to spend on a left fielder, but almost no one took him seriously because hey, they’re the Yankees and they usually get what they want and will pay top dollar to do so. Not this time. Scott Boras told Cash that he wouldn’t take a penny less than $26M over two years for Damon back in December, and Cashman ended up calling his bluff. So now the Yankees are paying Winn $2M in 2010 to do something. Whether that’s serve as the every day left fielder or be a platoon partner for Brett Gardner or just provide a veteran presence on the bench, we don’t know. We won’t know until the season starts either.
Winn’s .262-.317-.353 batting line in 2009 represents the worse full season offensive output of his career, an ominous sign for a 35-year-old. His .158-.184-.200 line against lefties was the worst mark by a righty batter in 54 years, however that comes with the disclaimer of a microscopic .178 BABIP. One-seventy-eight. If he had posted his career average BABIP against lefties (.301), he actually would have picked up an extra 17 hits, nearly doubling his average to an even .300. That is some horrific luck ladies and gentlemen. It’s so horrible that even at his age, a rebound is all but guaranteed. Bouncing back against lefties alone will improve his overall offensive output, but moving from cozy AT&T Park Park to the New Stadium will help as well. I’m not saying Winn will revert to his ~.350 wOBA ways of ‘07-’08, but matching Melky Cabrera’s .331 wOBA from a year ago isn’t out of the question. He did have 22.3% line drive rate in 2009, his highest in at least eight years, so Winn’s bat hasn’t gone totally limp.
The one area of Winn’s game that doesn’t need to improve is his defense. He’s been well-above average in both corners over the last few years, and Jeff Zimmerman’s age-adjusted UZR projections peg him as a +2 defender in left and +9 in right. The Yanks could optimize their defensive alignment by sticking Winn in right and sliding Nick Swisher over to left (where he projects for +1 UZR), but for now let’s assume Winn’s staying in left. Baseball Prospectus’ EqBRR metric rates him as well-above average on the bases, but if you’re into raw stolen base totals, then you’ll be pleased by Winn’s 56 steals and 88.9% (!!!) success rate over the last three years. Gardner’s fast, crazy fast even, but he was too hesitant in late-inning stolen base situations at times last year. Given his experience, Winn should absolutely be the new guy for that job, and he should be fantastic at it.
So let’s round it all up. We’ve got Winn as a .331 wOBA hitter next year (essentially replacing the Melkman), a +2 UZR defender in left, and let’s say +2.4 runs on the bases (half of his 2009 total). Assuming 400 plate appearances, Winn would be just a tad over a two win player in 2010, but let’s call it an even two. For all intents and purposes, that’s league average. Despite his struggles last season, Winn was worth just under two wins, so we’re not out of the realm of reality here. A two win player for $2M is a bargain, and even if the aging process is harsh or the NL-AL switch is tougher than expected and knocks Winn down to a one win player, the Yanks are still paying him about two-thirds of his market value. The Yankees should expect the bare minimum from Winn, but chances are they’ll be rewarded with more.
He’s certainly not a sexy name and he won’t be as productive as Damon, but the Yankees didn’t just take a match to $2M bucks. Remember, he’s not replacing Damon; Curtis Granderson is. Winn is essentially filling Melky’s spot (for $1.1M less). He’s a useful player and perfectly qualified for what the Yankees are asking him to do. Oh sure, there’s always a chance Winn will be just awful and is DFA bait by May, but I’d be shocked if he ends up being that bad. It’s a very easy move to back out of, and the Yanks did well to improve two of their roster’s biggest weaknesses (defense and baserunning) with Winn. And he’s going to bat ninth for cryin’ out loud, with this lineup they could let the pitcher bat and be a top five offense.