Both New York teams have received the top gift on their holiday wish list: CC Sabathia to the Yankees and Francisco Rodriguez to the Mets. And both teams came away from the winter meetings with another item on their offseason wish list crossed off, shopped for and secured, as into the Yankees’ fold came A.J. Burnett and into the Mets’ fold fell J.J. Putz.
Yet as of today neither team is a division favorite. What the Yankees and Mets do from here until the start of the season to address their other needs will determine whether they leap their foes and capture their respective divisions.
The Mets need to fill out their rotation with free agent Oliver Perez, a known commodity to them, likely to be their top choice on the open market. But agent Scott Boras may well hold Perez off from cutting a deal until February as Perez could become the ultimate "consolation" prize once fellow free-agent starters Derek Lowe, Randy Wolf and Jon Garland have signed. That trio is also rumored to be in the Mets' discussions but Lowe's price jumped with the Burnett deal.
And getting a corner outfielder is still a Mets’ need, although as time passes and options peel away, you wonder if the Mets are serious about a Fernando Tatis/Daniel Murphy platoon in left field, Ryan Church in right field and Jeremy Reed and Angel Pagan as reserves. Carlos Beltran, of course, is in center.
The wild card question in Queens is what effect, if any, will the Bernard Madoff scandal have on the Mets? Fred Wilpon, the Mets’ principal owner, is a longtime friend of Madoff and reportedly Madoff’s Wall Street scam has cost Wilpon in the neighborhood of $300 million. While Wilpon has had no comment on the scam, multiple sources have said the Mets will continue with business as usual. And MLB insists the Mets are fine financially. One certainty from my view: Mets general manager Omar Minaya has received updated payroll orders. We will soon see if all is normal monetarily with the Mets.
And I pose another question: Does Boras want to drop by the Mets’ offices and ask if MLB is still insulated from the economic turmoil in this country – something he has maintained to be the case this offseason.
The Yankees are closer to a finished product than the Mets. If they complete the Melky Cabrera for Mike Cameron deal with the Brewers, they will have a proven veteran at every position, although the additions of Cameron and Nick Swisher would greatly increase the team's strikeouts.
And if Andy Pettitte accepts an offer of $10 million for next season, the Yankees’ rotation will match any other in MLB in depth.
The big if in the Bronx is Manny Ramirez. The buzz is growing that the Yankees – the one team truly safe from the country's money problems will make a run at Ramirez. It makes sense although the Yankees have to be prepared for the reality that the Ramirez with new contract in hand won't be the Ramirez from Dodgerland, whose productivity was motivated by a push for huge cash in a new deal.
Both New York teams have had good winters so far but the Mets have more work ahead under what could be an uncertain financial cloud brought on by the Wall Street scam. And in the words of our last post, the Yankees have added "garage cars" – starting pitchers -- while the Mets have landed "station cars" – relievers. Thus far, it’s advantage Yankees.
FOUR MORE SWINGS:
1. SOMEBODY WITH BELIEF IN THEIR PITCHING COACH…is going to take a chance on Daniel Cabrera. Does that sound like a mission for Dave Duncan in St. Louis?
2. FASCINATING E-MAIL FROM RED SOX OWNER JOHN HENRY…to a Boston Herald writer: "The Red Sox effectively had a 10-year deal with a player determined not to live up to his contract. A lot can change over 10 years, for both sides." That’s a wonderful synopsis of l'affaire Manny Ramirez and the Mark Teixeira derby. Or, in other words, "Scott Boras, do you hear Henry?"
3. JUST A THOUGHT ON THE PADRES...the owner of which is about to experience the attempt to sell the team in the worst possible market. Why wouldn't you wait on moving Jake Peavy? Why wouldn’t you wait into the spring in the hope that a new President and his attendant policies will administer a jumpstart to the economy? And why wouldn’t you wait into the summer in the hope that competition and all the uncertainties of a season (i.e., injuries) would trigger a desperation trade-deadline offer for Peavy from one of the big-market teams?
4. HEADING INTO CHRISTMAS…I wonder about the Angels. They stand to lose a lot (Garret Anderson, Jon Garland, Francisco Rodriguez). If they can’t re-sign Mark Teixeira they may still be favored in the AL West but they will have lost much of the buzz that helped establish them in SoCal. Remember they are no longer Anaheim’s Angels -- they are the Los Angeles Angels. That is owner Arte Moreno's vision. If on the heels of another playoff disappointment, they lose their two premier free agents (Rodriguez and Teixeira), what next? Don't think Scott Boras isn't counting on some interest in Manny Ramirez from Angels’ land.
