Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Genius Maker - Off Season

Next year is supposed to be a very strong year for free agent year compared to this year.  I do not want the Yankees to spend big money on above average pitchers and that is all I see this year.  The Yankees need to wait and get the studs as I have said over and over.  Yu Darvish will be posted today, and again, while I have never seen him pitch, the word is that he is better than above average and is still young (25).  The Yankees should make a strong play if their scouts feel he is as good as advertised - people think he is.   The Red Sox posted 51.1 million for Matsuzaka and while that seemed outrageous to me at the time, they then signed him for only 8.5 mil a year which made it more reasonable, but, still the total was about 16 mil a year (in the AJ range).  I would expect Darvish to be in the same area.  What I like about Darvish is that he is a mature 25 in that he has a lot of experience in tough spots and also he is 6'5" and the height is a positive in my eyes.  

The Yankees did win negotiating rights to shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima from Japan (Lions) on Wednesday. The posting fee for the 29-year-old was $2.5 million.  His batting numbers should translate into a 800 OPS type of middle infielder (hard to gauge though) but what iI didn't like was Girardi seemed to indicate he wasn't a great defensive SS.  Overall, this is a small signing that gives some more depth.  It also shows that Pena is probably done in the Yanks eyes.

I would not be spenders for this MLB free agent group though and I am glad the Yanks are letting the "Mark Buhrle's" go to other teams... Wait until next year and get the better players.