Results tagged ‘ Hideki Matsui ’
Cashman: We could trade for a DH
In a conference call with reporters discussing the Michael Pineda trade on Monday, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that he’d be more inclined to trade from his pitching depth to acquire a designated hitter than to sign one on the open free agent market.
When the Yankees officially announce the signing of right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, they’ll have seven starters vying for five spots. CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Pineda, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett and Freddy Garcia are also in that mix.
“Maybe I use our excess pitching to find a bat,” Cashman said. “That’s a possibility. … We stretched the payroll to get [Kuroda] done, so I’m not sure what we have financially. I think we’ll look at the trade market first and foremost and see where that takes us.”
Among the DH options out there, the Yankees have reportedly heard from Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Vladimir Guerrero and Raul Ibanez, but are not thought to consider any of them an urgent priority.
“I think [the free agent market] would be secondary,” Cashman said. “Not that any of those players aren’t quality, but I do think it’s probably in our interest to first and foremost see what’s available in the trade market, because we have excess starter. There should be a demand and an interest at the various levels in our starting pitching that might prove beneficial.”
If the season started today, the Yankees would likely go with Andruw Jones as their DH, though they are curious about Minor League slugger Jorge Vazquez.
Some talk about Hideki
Busy day thus far, with the Brian Bruney trade done and the Yankees apparently getting serious with Andy Pettitte. Here’s something lighter, as White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen fielded a few questions about Hideki Matsui here in the work room this afternoon:
On Matsui’s World Series performance: “He made Girardi proud. It was unbelievable. This guy stepped up when they needed it, when they needed it the most. It’s not because of the World Series nobody would be talking about him right now. He says I’ve got another good year, but I think the World Series will help him a lot to be a free agent. He was pretty impressed.”
On being interested in managing Matsui: “I don’t mind. I manage two Japanese players and it’s fun. The only thing, I’ve got 20 Japanese guys around all the time. I’ve got all the media around. But I love it because all of a sudden when you get fired from the United States, you might have a chance to manage in Japan, you never know.”
On if the White Sox would have room for a DH: “We’ve got room for a lot of people. You know, Andruw (Jones), we need one more guy that could be him, but he’d have to show us he can play the outfield, too.”
By the way, Joe Girardi will be in town for a 4:30 p.m. press conference on Tuesday.
Breaking up the Yankees
One of the realities of that great parade down the Canyon of Heroes was that it was probably going to be the last time these 2009 Yankees were together as a group. That was confirmed yesterday when Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon, two of the biggest keys to the World Series title, officially filed for free agency.
Jose Molina, Xavier Nady and Eric Hinske also officially filed on Monday, one weekend of celebration after rolling down Broadway on a float.
Brian Cashman said yesterday that he does not expect to lock up any of his seven free agents before they splash onto the open market, which means that none of those five are likely to get a quickie deal, along with Andy Pettitte and Jerry Hairston, Jr.
What I keep telling people who ask is this: If you’d asked me at the All-Star Break who the Yankees would be more likely to keep, Damon or Matsui, I would have said Damon. But then Damon tailed off in the second half and Matsui was a monster, and now I really can’t be so sure.
The fact that the Yankees don’t see Matsui as anything but a DH hurts his chances, because the idea of a revolving-door DH between guys like A-Rod, Jorge Posada, Mark Teixeira and company is appealing and makes sense.
As for Damon, he was a great Yankee, which I wasn’t sure he’d be when he was shaving off his Red Sox scruff. But the moment I truly believed the Yankees were going to win the World Series was his dash in Game 4. People don’t understand how incredibly smart of a play that was.
So Cashman vows he does not do things for sentimental reasons, and I believe him on that topic. Just because a guy was the World Series MVP doesn’t mean you have to bring him back. Heck, the Yankees did it in ’96 with John Wetteland.
As for the other three guys in that group, Molina brings a lot to the clubhouse in terms of relationships and wisdom. If the cost isn’t crazy, a return isn’t out of the question, and if not they can entrust the backup catcher job to Francisco Cervelli – who really did seem ready for it.
Hinske never really got as many at-bats as I thought Joe Girardi would give him down the stretch — it almost seemed at times that they forgot he was on the team — and Nady will be permitted to leave as a free agent, since it’s difficult to
count on a guy who is coming off his second serious surgery.
Should be a good Hot Stove. Who said baseball has an offseason?
After six years, Matsui is finally back
Hideki Matsui’s first year with the Yankees was 2003, and though the Bombers lost in that World Series to the Marlins, the thought was that they’d be back time and time again as the seasons went on. Not so, as it turned out. It has taken until 2009, perhaps Matsui’s final year in pinstripes, to get back to this point.
“Certainly, the frustration was there,” Matsui said Sunday through an interpreter. “Any time you lose, it
leaves a bitter feeling in your mouth. So not having been able to get
back here to the World Series, and in addition to that, being that it’s
the goal that I strive for every year, certainly it was frustrating.”
Matsui has been relegated to a pinch-hitter and emergency outfielder for these games in Philadelphia, though there was some thought to playing him out there. In the end, the Yankees looked at Matsui’s balky knees and his rustiness playing the outfield before Game 3 and decided that Matsui would be on the bench.
“As far as how my knees feel, overall I feel pretty good,” Matsui said. “As far as playing the outfield, there are certain factors that, I guess, are still unknown or untested. I haven’t been in the outfield obviously, and the weather and so forth. But as far as how I feel, the knees feel good right now.”
Everyone seems well aware of the idea that this could be Matsui’s last turn in a Yankees uniform. Nobody knows for sure what the future holds, but the Yankees have internally considered the idea of a revolving-door DH position for next year, allowing players like Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira to take turns.
What that means for Matsui remains to be seen. But if this is his final go-around, as he said in the first days of Spring Training, he would like to cap it with a World Series title.
Yankees tie MLB homers record
With Jorge Posada’s 20th home run of the season in the ninth inning tonight off Toronto’s Jason Frasor, the Yankees now have seven players with 20 or more home runs.
That sets a new franchise record and ties a Major League record also shared by the 1996 Orioles, 2000 Blue Jays and 2005 Rangers (credit: Elias Sports Bureau).
The Yankees with 20 or more: Mark Teixeira-32, Johnny Damon-24, Alex Rodriguez-24, Hideki Matsui-23, Nick Swisher-23 and Robinson Cano-22. The old Yankees franchise record of six players with 20 or more home runs was set in 1961 and tied in 2004.
Back home after the big trip
10 games in 11 days, to Seattle, Oakland and Boston. If the Yankees knew coming into that excursion that they would be flying home with seven victories in their back pocket – and especially two out of three in the Red Sox series – they would have signed right up for that.
Things are flying high right now for the Yankees, who open a three-game series with the Rangers tonight with Joba Chamberlain on the mound. They’re a Major League-best 27-9 since the All-Star break and own the best record in the Majors, heading into tonight tied with their season high of 32 games over .500.
All of that makes the things you actually can fret about, like the possible rift between A.J. Burnett and Jorge Posada, just background noise for the moment.
Mark Teixeira was on the Late Show with David Letterman last night and took a little batting practice outside the Ed Sullivan Theatre, sending a few bombs flying deep down 53rd Street. Here’s a video.
And now, a few other of the off-day discussion stories floating around out there:
Anthony McCarron has a great look in the New York Daily News at June 24, the night the Yankees saved their season with a pregame meeting at Atlanta’s Turner Field.
Andy Pettitte checks in with Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record, addressing the idea that this could really be the lefty’s final year.
Derek Jeter’s “favorite player right now,” Hideki Matsui, tells Jack Curry of The New York Times that he would love to stay put in Yankees pinstripes.
8/17 – Yankees at Athletics
YANKEES (74-44)
Jeter DH
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Pena SS
Pitching: A.J. Burnett (10-5, 3.71)
ATHLETICS (52-65)
Kennedy 3B
Davis CF
Suzuki C
Hairston LF
Sweeney RF
Ellis 2B
Cust DH
Crosby 1B
Pennington SS
Pitching: Brett Tomko (1-2, 5.23)
FROM THE CLUBHOUSE: Isn’t it funny that Brett Tomko can resurface as a starting pitcher exactly as the Yankees open a three-game series against the A’s, having departed saying how he was happy to be leaving because it never seemed like he got a chance in New York? Well, now he gets his opportunity here to pull off an upset. Said Joe Girardi: “We know Brett and Brett knows us.” …
With Hideki Matsui out until at least tomorrow after having his left knee drained, Derek Jeter got to jump in the lineup as the designated hitter. Good timing, considering his nearly unpublicized pursuit of Luis Aparicio’s record for hits as a shortstop concluded Sunday. …
The Yankees are anxious to see how Matsui responds to treatment and Girardi said he will not use him at all on Monday. …
A couple of other small items — the name Russ Ortiz did come up briefly in discussions about helping the big league team, but never seriously. Ortiz elected free agency from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in hopes of latching on with a playoff contender that would call him up. Brett Gardner is set to see a doctor on Wednesday about his left thumb and wouldn’t rejoin the big league team until September.
Yankees cautious about Matsui’s balky knee
The Yankees are proceeding with caution regarding Hideki Matsui’s balky left knee, which kept him out of the lineup for the second successive game on Sunday against the Mariners.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that Matsui is experiencing some fluid in the knee and that having it drained could be a possibility. Girardi had planned to rest Matsui anyway for the series finale against the Mariners because of stiffness and was told by head trainer Gene Monahan that Matsui needed another day.
“He has a little bit of fluid on it today,” Girardi said. “What that means, I can’t tell you yet. The right leg is fine, the left leg has a little bit of fluid. It’s the first time in a long time. Is it a concern of mine? A little bit. Hopefully we get it out.”
With Matsui on the bench, Mark Teixeira started as the Yankees’ designated hitter and Nick Swisher manned first base. Matsui homered twice in a four-hit, five-RBI game for New York on Thursday and has 12 hits in his last 36 at-bats.
Closing up at Steinbrenner Field
Final score, Twins 7, Yankees 3. Some short notes for you:
– Alex Rodriguez isn’t talking like a guy who plans to meet with MLB investigators on Sunday. His name remains on the travel roster for the game against the Reds in Sarasota and he said he plans to be on the 9 a.m. bus. We’ll see. Seems likely that A-Rod could be a last-second scratch from that sheet.
– Don’t fret just yet over Joba Chamberlain’s rough inning here today. He was throwing all four-seam fastballs, and when you fire a 2-0 heater down the pipe to Delmon Young, an RBI double is a predictable result. Joba said he threw two changeups and one slider in the whole frame. For Feb. 28, he did enough. Next up for him: Team Canada on March 5.
– CC Sabathia will throw a simulated game tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. I’ll hang back and give it a look – Joe Girardi said he would as well. The Yankees are trying to limit Sabathia’s innings in the spring whenever possible because, you know, he’s thrown a ton.
– Jorge Posada will throw on Monday, Girardi said, and could resume DHing soon after that. I know the panic button needs to be pushed with every Yankees injury, especially a player as significant as Posada. But Posada himself did not seem too worried at all about this, and he’s never been exactly the world’s best actor in masking his true feelings. Brian Cashman told me that they had to have a 4-on-1 discussion just to talk Posada out of playing today.
– Hideki Matsui is running on dirt and anxiously awaiting Gene Monahan’s signal to turn him loose. Matsui needs to just be able to make the turns on the bases without soreness and could be cleared to DH late next week. Girardi said he had to corral Matsui and get him out of the outfield today. (On an unrelated note, I think I may have cut Matsui off today on Boy Scout Boulevard. Oops.)
You could bet on it
Bobby Abreu took an $11 million pay cut this year to finally land with the Angels, so Hideki Matsui probably shouldn’t be checking his mailbox for a check this spring.
Remember that bet from last March, when Matsui flew off to New York for a surprise wedding and pulled a fast one on Derek Jeter and Abreu? Matsui wagered at the beginning of Spring Training concerning who would get married first, never letting on that his date was set for March 26.
“Bobby left without paying. Jeter has one more month,” Matsui said.
Abreu had a girlfriend and had six months to tie the knot, while Jeter – who claimed to be single – had a year. Abreu already lost his part of the bet and unless something shocking happens with the Yankees’ favorite super-bachelor, Jeter will be paying Matsui by the end of camp.
Bryan Hoch
Recent Comments