C.J Wilson & Roy Oswalt Interested in Yankees

C.J Wilson & Roy Oswalt Interested in Yankees

By Delia E.

As of right now, it is uncertain how much interest Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman has in acquiring C.J Wilson & Roy Oswalt, but if there is one thing these two pitchers share in common it’s that they are both interested in the Yankees, at least according to their manager Bob Garber.

Garber manages both Wilson & Oswalt and has described what each player wants, and they both desire the Yankees. C.J Wilson is considered the No. 1 pick in the free agent market after going 16-7 with a 2.94 ERA. Garber believes that Wilson’s outgoing, friendly personality with the media will thrive in New York

“He is one of those guys that would fit in very well.” Garber said. “He would fit in most places pretty well. New York I think he will thrive in a city like that.”

Oswalt on the other hand had a 9-10 record with a 3.64 ERA with the Phillies. In 2010 the Yankees nearly acquired Oswalt in a trade before he was sent to Philadelphia from the Houston Astros. Garber believes that Oswalt would be interested in playing for the Yankees since he has talked about it with former Yankees pitcher Andy Pettite.

“I know that he is friends with Andy Pettite and they have talked about the Yankees over the years.” Garber mentioned about Oswalt. “That’s a situation that I think Roy would fit into as well.”

Both Wilson and Oswalt are looking for multi-year contracts but the Yankees are iffy in giving Oswalt a deal due to his previous back injuries. Garber assures that Oswalt back is fine.

“It’s just a matter of figuring out how to manage his back situation.”

The Yankees are expected to have interest in both players but Cashman would like to become “conservative” which means he wouldn’t plan on getting into a bidding war with the other teams over them, especially if Wilson gets a bigger deal than Oswalt. The Yankees may pursue Chicago White Sox free agent Mark Buerhle or bid for the contract of Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish. The Yankees may also want to re-sign Yankees free agent Freddy Garcia.

Hot Stove Targeting: Trevor Cahill

 

Positives:

Trevor Cahill has proven for a season and a half that he can be an elite pitcher in MLB. Cahill had a stellar 2010 season, going 18-8, with a 2.97 ERA, 118 strikeouts, and a 1.10 WHIP. Cahill backed that season up last year by going 8-7 with a 3.12 ERA, 91 strikeouts, and a 1.29 WHIP in the first half of the season.  Unfortunately his second half left a lot to be desired. Cahill has been an innings eater the last two seasons as well. He pitched 196.2 innings in 2010 and 207.2 innings in 2011. This proves that you can count on him to be durable and to take the mound every five days. That can be hard to come by sometimes.  Cahill keeps the ball on the ground with a very good sinker.

Year	GB/FB	GB%	FB%
2009	1.40	47.8%	34.1%
2010	1.93	56%	29%
2011	2.21	55.9%	25.3%

Any pitcher who can keep the ball on the ground at Yankee Stadium has a great chance to be successful.  Cahill does not strikeout a lot of people, so he has to control the ball, and keep it on the ground.

Negatives:

Cahill has benefited from two very big things pitching for the OaklandA’s. The Coliseum is a big time pitchers park and he has feasted on weak competition in the AL West. This unfortunately shows up when Cahill goes up against the AL East.

I	Opponent	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	H	SO	WHIP	SO/9
	BaltimoreOrioles	3	1	2.42	4	26.0	20	16	0.923	5.5
	BostonRed Sox	1	2	5.55	4	24.1	25	19	1.356	7.0
	New YorkYankees	0	4	10.95	5	24.2	33	16	1.824	5.8
	TampaBayRays	2	1	4.88	4	24.0	25	18	1.458	6.8
	TorontoBlue Jays	1	3	6.83	5	29.0	32	15	1.517	4.7

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com

Since those are the majority of the teams he would be facing with the Yankees those numbers are extremely scary.  Cahill also does not strikeout enough people. His career average K/9 is a measly 5.4.  Cahill simply does not throw hard enough, and does not have well enough secondary pitches enough to get strikeouts

Pitch	Fastball	Changeup	Slider	Curveball
Usage	58.7%	22%	6.6 %	12.7%
AverageMPH	89.1	80.5	83.5	78.6

Cahill does not throw his sinker as hard as former Yankee Chien- Ming Wang did before he got hurt. During his first three years with the Yankees, Wang averaged 92.6MPHon his sinker.  Wang also produced ground balls at a 61.7 % clip, which is much better than Cahill. Even with all of that Wang struggled in the postseason with the Yankees. I would fear with Cahill’s average stuff he would suffer the same fate. Plus, he has never pitched with any kind of pressure on him inOakland. That would not be the case in the Bronx.

Fit for the Yankees?

I do not believe Cahill is a good fit for the Yankees. The Yankees defiantly should not consider him as a #2 starter. His numbers against the AL East are awful and his stuff is just average. He would also be leaving perhaps the best pitchers park in the majors, to perhaps the worst pitchers park in the majors.  You also must question whether he can handle pitching under the bright lights of New York.

From the Athletics’ Perspective:

The A’s do need to improve their hitting greatly, and have been tangling some of their pitchers in trade talks. Cahill has had solid numbers in his career, and has an extremely friendly contract. The A’s only owe him 30 million dollars over the next 4 years with team options in 2016 and 2017. Those factors would suggest that they would want a good package of prospects back.
Cost for the Yankees?

I would not give up any top of the line prospects for Cahill, and that probably would not get it done. I do not believe that the A’s and the Yankees are a good match. The A’s need hitting and the Yankees’ farm system is rich in pitching. The only hitter projected to be elite in the Yankees system is Jesus Montero. I figure the A’s would want one of the Yankees’ best prospects like Jesus Montero, Dellin Betances, Manny Banuelos, or Gary Sanchez. Cahill is one of their best players so they should feel that way, but I would never give one of them up for Cahill.

Season In Review: Brett Gardner

The New York Yankees are all about power, hence the nickname “The Bronx Bombers.” They did have some speed in the past with Ricky Henderson & Alfonso Soriano but the Yankees weren’t sure what they were going to receive from 5’10, South Carolina native Brett Gardner. They signed him in 2005 and he made his debut on June 30, 2008 against the Texas Rangers. The Yankees knew that he was fast but they also knew that he was a singles hitter so he wouldn’t have much power, but in 2011 Brett Gardner made doubters into believers as he rose to the top with his defense and speed.

Brett Gardner’s season may have ended (almost) like a fairy tale, but it started like

Brett Gardner led the AL with 49 SB even with a slow start on the basepaths.

a nightmare. Gardner couldn’t buy a hit even if he tried, and in the beginning of the season he was caught stealing constantly. Gardner was hitting an abysmal .194 average in the month of April. But when the calendar turned to May, Gardner’s bat changed. Soon it was almost impossible to get him to ground out or fly out, and Gardner was having fun on the base paths having stolen 22 consecutive stolen bases throughout that time period. Gardner had batted .301 in May, .317 in June and .289 in July. Then Gardner started going down again as the season ended, batting a .226 average in August & a .219 average in September. But when Gardner was needed the most, he delivered and that was in the postseason.

Gardner was one of the 3 Yankees who showed some offense in the short postseason run (the others being Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada). Gardner put up a batting clinic with a .412 AVG and a .444 OBP.

Brett Gardner led all of baseball defensively so it's a question to most Yankees fans why Gardner didn't receive the Gold Glove

One place where Gardner never lacked was in the outfield. No matter how bad he was doing on offense, he made up for it with his stellar defensive catches that got fans excited to watch him just track down a baseball. Gardner was so fantastic that he earned himself a Gold Glove nomination. Unfortunately this is where the fairy tale ended for Gardner when he was robbed of a Gold Glove in favor of Alex Gordon of the Kansas City Royals. But one thing that Gardner did earn was the Fielding Bible award which was bases solely on statistics. Gardner had won the award in 2010 as well as this year. In a recent press conference, Brian Cashman praised the young LF saying that he was “Carl Crawford-like.” I guess the Yankees are glad that they didn’t waste their time with Crawford and put trust in a player that performed better and made less money. How much money? Try approximately #153 million dollars less.

Brett Gardner may not have had the year that he wanted, but he sure played true to himself by having 49 stolen bases (which lead the American League) and a Fielding Bible Award.  So to round it off: Is Brett Gardner streaky? Yes. But does he play like the pro that he is? Yes.

Morning Bits: Burnett, Martin

Good morning everyone! I hope you have a happy Thursday!

here are your morning links…

* Brian Cashman says A.J Burnett will be in the rotation in 2012, “if he’s with us”

* Russell Martin could get a long term deal with the Yankees