OT: MLB Discussion Thread, Part II: Yanks pay Ellsbury

[darko]

Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS 3s
Yankees mccann finalizing $85M/5 year deal

I think that's a brutal signing.

 

[ecemleafs]

I think that's a brutal signing.

meh. should be a 25-35 HR guy in our park and is decent behind the plate. hes still only 29 years old.

 

[darko]

meh. should be a 25-35 HR guy in our park and is decent behind the plate. hes still only 29 years old.

Being a lefty will help but the guy is starting to decline. There's lots of wear and tear on those legs for a 29 year old. Over 1000 games started behind the plate.

I was all for McCann on a 2 or a 3 year deal. 5 is rich.

 

[Rangerfan4life90]

Meh, Mccann can easily slide over to 1B after 3 or so years (following the Tex contract expiring). Plus, he can DH.

Good signing. Now hope we can sign Tanaka next.

 

[AlternateSideParking]

Mcanns a tough SOB and a bit of a throwback. I'm not jumping for joy but catching has been friggin abysmal for so long.

He can always DH.

Personally i think they got better but the contract stinks.

 

[SA16]

Not once did I use batting average. OPS is the stat I used. The guy would make an excellent 4th outfielder because he's one of the better defensive OFers in the game. At the plate he doesn't cut it as a starter.

Well first off OPS is a decent but highly flawed stat as it makes the assumption that OBP and SLG are in equal in value when in reality each point of OBP is worth approximately 1.8 points of SLG. That is why metrics like wOBA are highly preferred as it attempts to do the same thing as OPS but assigns more correct linear weight run values to each event that can occur.

Secondly, from 2011-2012 Young was ranked number 13 of 22 among qualified CF in OPS with a .749 which puts him just slightly below the median. At that same time the average OPS for all centerfielders was around .736 which then puts him at a bit above average (obviously the league average, however, includes games played by backups). He, of course, falls down to 28 of 37 if you include 2013 but that was an outlier bad season for him. So either between 2012 and 2013 he completely lost his ability to play the game. Or he just had one bad year and we should expect to be able to regress it back to his career norms.

So basically all looking at OPS here tells us is he was right around league average for CF with OPS at the plate in 2011-2012 while in 2013 he had a terrible year which we already knew.


On McCann: I think it's an ok signing. It's certainly a lot of money and is definitely a curious move if they are going to be insistent about staying under the luxury tax but if they don't care about that they have the money to spend, he's a top catcher, and being a left handed power hitter in Yankee Stadium is a huge plus I can definitely see him being around 30 home runs. The issue is he is older, has caught a lot of innings, and has had injury issues lately. You have to wonder how much longer he will be able to catch before they consider moving him to 1B or DH. The stranger thing to me with this is if they were willing to give a catcher such a big deal why didn't they just give Martin a decent contract last year and keep him? But given that that's in the past I think this is a pretty solid move for them.

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

Mccann will only be 34 when his contract expires, and Teixiera is gone in 3 years, Mccann can easily transfer to 1B the last 2 years or DH if need be. I love the signing.

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

Not an awful deal but it definitely is an overpay.

 

[Rangerfan4life90]

Is it an over payment? Probably, but with the Yankees resources, it doesn't really mater much. I just hope we can escape that A-Rod contract to give the Yankee brass more money to play around with.

 

[2Leetch_94]

It's free agency. You're going to overpay. But it's not a killer contract by any means.

Chris Stewart and Austin Romine weren't going to get the job done at catcher.

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

everyone was predicting about 80M for mccann.. The thing is the Yankees wanted him and they HAD to go high to get him signed this early

 

[BroadwayBlues]

The signing is fine. As long as they don't think they can trade G.Sanchez because of it. McCann will be at DH in three years. Sanchez could still be the starter.

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

just read there is still money allocated for Cano and Tanaka, even with Arod's full contract on the books.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

just read there is still money allocated for Cano and Tanaka, even with Arod's full contract on the books.

As long as they hold fast on the no 10-year deal for Cano. Pay him what he wants in yearly salary, but the max term I'd be willing to go is 7 years, and I'd really rather keep it to 5.

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

As long as they hold fast on the no 10-year deal for Cano. Pay him what he wants in yearly salary, but the max term I'd be willing to go is 7 years, and I'd really rather keep it to 5.

yes, im hoping for no more than 7 as well. I think 5 is a pipe dream, maybe if we gave him the highest AAV deal ever (30M)

 

[darko]

The signing is fine. As long as they don't think they can trade G.Sanchez because of it. McCann will be at DH in three years. Sanchez could still be the starter.

That's my biggest worry too.

Oh and when McCann moves lets hope it's to a DH spot. That would mean that in 3 years time Greg Bird is the real deal and ready to go.

 

[Hire Sather]

Yankees would be bidding against themselves for Cano at this point.

Wait till March and then reduce the offer.

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

no reason to up our offer unless someone comes in higher

 

[Hire Sather]

I'd love to see them lower their offer and really play hardball.

These MLB salaries infuriate me.

Cano would sure regret turning down 170M if he blew out his knee tomorrow.

 

[Zil]

I'd love to see them lower their offer and really play hardball.

These MLB salaries infuriate me.

Cano would sure regret turning down 170M if he blew out his knee tomorrow.

Why do the salaries infuriate you? The game is flush with cash and everybody's making lots of money. Look at the huge tv deals the league and teams are signing. Read this and let go of the silly anger: http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2013/11/27/5149512/mlb-free-agents-2013-2014-jhonny-perala-brian-mccann

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

MLB has proposed the following scenarios to get Masahiro Tanaka (the Yankees TOP pitching target) for him to be posted.

#1. a Maxium bid for the posting fee and if multiple teams offer the max bid then the team with the worse record the previous season gets negotiating rights.

#2. A maximum bid of $20M for the posting fee.

#3. The winning team's bid to count against the Luxury Tax for teams who go over

I wonder what their intentions are here... Anyone feel free to chime in?

 

[17futurecap]

Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS 30s

told Ellsbury deal with Yankees will "above Crawford." $150M is a fair estimate. will give yanks dynamic lineup top.

 

[Carnival Barker]

$150M for a slightly better Brett Gardner.

Only the Yankees.

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

We paid Ellsbury 7M less than we offered ****ing Cano.

FML

 

[Made Dan]

Bad contract, but can't lie...excited to have him.