Cliff Lee
I think it's pretty much a fait accompli that Cliff Lee will become a Yankee some time next November. I say this because the Yankees have always had a bunch of lefties in their rotation, and Lee is exactly the kind of lefty bulldog who can come to New York, throw 200 innings and not beat himself on a regular basis. He also appears to be very good friends with CC Sabathia, and that's a character mark in his favor.But is it absolutely crazy to trade for him now? Maybe not. If he were to join the rotation, it could very well guarantee the Yanks #28. The post season rotation would be deadly. Obviously, he's going to cost a lot. And of course, it would depend on the prospects. The Yanks have enough prospects to get it done without using Montero, Betances, Heathcott or Gary Sanchez. So, if they could find some common ground among the other prospects (Romine, Brackman, and Laird or Adams - very hefty sum), it might make sense. If those players are to be traded, Cliff Lee is a justifiable target.
There are other conditions. First, he'd have to come with an extension, basically, you should never pay twice for anyone, but if you are planning to get him anyway and prospects can be agreed upon, you have to do the pay twice thing and get him extended.
Second, the Yanks would have to find rotation room for him. They would probably be able to trade Javy Vazquez for good prospects, as the summer progresses. In fact, with Lee off the market and so many teams searching for pitching, Vazquez would become the best pitcher on the market and bring back most of the prospect value the Yanks would be sacrificing in the Lee deal.
Ultimately, getting Lee now scotchguards another title this year and hopefully brings back some good prospects in the subsequent Javy deal. It still probably makes more sense to try to win with what the Yanks have now as far as pitchers go, then lose their pick in `11 for Lee while gaining 2 picks for Javy Vazquez. The `11 draft is supposedly stacked, if there were any way to get 3 first rounders, short of trading Phil Hughes instead of Javy, I'd do it. Just an interesting possibility.
posted by Kalel9 @ 7:16 PM
10 Comments:
You didn't mention Brackman.
Too bad they can't trade AJ. I trust Javy more.
I rewrote it while you were posting.
For Cash to give up Brackman, I think it should only be if he is convinced that Lee is going to the RS (even though I hate factoring them into the calculus).
The problem with giving up Romine is the uncertainty about Montero's ultimate position.
If it was up to me, I wouldn't make the trade almost no matter what, but the Yankees don't want to solely rely on prospects, unlike me.
Montero is already a major league average catcher defensively. Cervelli can back him up until Sanchez arrives -- which could be next week with the way he's hitting.
And I don't know if I'd give up Brackman and Romine in the same deal. They both seem like "deal" stars, to me.
So you'd rather trade Romine than Sanchez?
If you had to choose and one had to be included: Brackman or Romine?
btw, I think Lee will be traded to the Twins.
I'd much rather trade Romine than Sanchez. Sanchez has what we call a Yankee Bat. I think I'd trade Romine before Brackman because Brackman is unique and if he hits it's gonna be big, while Romine is gonna just be above average as his ceiling.
My sense of the issues are similar, but it's not empirically based.
How does Romine compare with Wilson Ramos?
I think Romine is significantly better.
I'd strongly prefer to keep him away from the Twins. I'd be OK giving Romine away for him, as long as no other prospects are touched. Obviously, we'd need a suitor for Vazquez or A.J.
No to trading Montero, Brackman, Sanchez or Betances.
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