n by Mark Feinsand, a baseball expert who has covered the Yankees for the past 8 years. On his blog titled Blogging the Bombers, Feinsand writes the Yankees' offer for Sabathia was a good one despite negative reactions from some fans and general managers around the league. He explains the Yankees needed to set the tone for negotiations right out of the gate, and that is exactly what the team did. I found both of these posts on their respective blogs to be very insightful, and I commented on both of them. My comments can be read below."Making Sense of the Swisher Trade"
My Response:
First of all, I would like to thank you Tyler for writing such an informative post on the Yankees' new acquisition of Nick Swisher for the 2009 season. Based on what I have read outside of your blog, it seems as though management has him pegged as next year's first baseman, although Swisher can play all three outfield positions as well. Over the last few months, I have read a lot of you and your colleagues' posts in Bats, which has allowed me to see that your crew provides some of the best in-depth blogging for New York baseball. You brought up a great point in your second paragraph: "The Yankees showed here Teixeira is a player they don't absolutely have to have." Heading into the offseason, many people around baseball assumed the Yankees would be big players in the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes. While acquiring Swisher does not completely rule the Yankees out of the Teixeira bidding, it does put the first baseman on the back burner. By trading for Swisher, the Yankees not only saved money - and possibly a long negotiation period with Teixeira and infamous agent Scott Boras - on their first baseman but the team also portrayed that its prime goal this offseason is to focus on pitching, pitching and more pitching. While replacing the 30 homeruns and 100 RBIs Jason Giambi provided the Yankees throughout much of the past 7 seasons may not fit Swisher's role in the Bronx, the new acquisition does have some power (he has hit at least 21 homeruns in his four full major league seasons), and at only 28 years old, Swisher provides some youth to a team that is getting old fast. You wrote, "Swisher is popular throughout the game and does have some attributes the Yankees like: he draws a ton of walks, he's got a good glove at first base, and he's a switch-hitter with power who can fill in at all three outfield spots." He sounds like a player who, in my opinion, can be a key kog in the Yankees success in 2009. My question for you is do you think the Yankees should have made this deal or should they have dived into the Teixeira / Boras sweepstakes?
"CC the perfect fit for the Bombers"
My Response:
Mark, I would like to thank you for writing such an insightful post on your feelings about the Yankees 6-year, $140 million offer to CC Sabathia. Reading your post as a die-hard Yankees' fan, I found myself agreeing with you on most of the subjects you wrote about. You are correct, Sabathia is the "perfect fit" for the top of the Yankees' rotation. You put him at the top of a rotation followed by Chien-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain, Derek Lowe / A.J. Burnett, and Andy Pettitte, and I think the Yankees find themselves with one of the best rotations in baseball. All of a sudden, the team would go from one of the worst rotations in 2008 to one of the best
in 2009. Additionally, you wrote "All it will take to get (Sabathia) is money. Not Phil Hughes, not Austin Jackson, not any other prospect. Just money." The main reason the Yankees pulled out of the Johan Santana talks last offseason was because of the prospects. In the Sabathia case, the Yankees would get to retain all of their top prospects, and all they would be losing is money, but as you point out, money is something they have. And, even if Sabathia, depicted on the right, does get injured, the Yankees have the luxury of more money to spend on other players to help them win. While some fans might find the $140 offer distasteful and some other general managers might call it overbidding, the truth is the Yankees did what they felt was necessary to help their team win next season. You also touched on a great point toward the end of your post. Yes, Sabathia does favor the west coast and the National League, and if the Yankees only offered him a $110 million deal, then the L.A. Angels or L.A. Dodgers could have offered him a $120 million deal and plant the seed in his head to pitch out west. By blowing away everyone else's offer off the bat, the Yankees made a statement to Sabathia and the rest of the league: this guy is ours to lose. I do have one question for you, however. I think Sabathia is a given to sign with the Yankees at this point. Now, do you think the Yankees are better of signing Lowe or Burnett to round out their rotation?
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