Offseason Plan; Free Agents; Starters, Set 1
Welcome to the first of my offseason plan blog series thingy! Here, I will give my thoughts and opinions on possible offseason moves that the Yankees could make. First off, we have the free agents. We'll start off with the starting pitchers, the first set of them anyway. Here I'll give you three starters that are free agents this offseason, and my thoughts on them possibly moving to the Yankees. Yes, I did make the pictures. So we'll start with:
AJ Burnett
AJ Burnett will most likely not pick up his option, so he'll probably out in the FA market. I'm sure a lot of teams will be intrigued in him. Watching Burnett face the Yankees is never a pleasant sight to me or other Yankee fans. Every time he picks up the ball against us, he seems to completely dominate, holding us to 1 or 2 runs, striking out a bunch of batters, and going deep into the game. So, why not get him?
Pros: Very dominant stuff, pitched a lot of innings this year, above-average command, in his peak years
Cons: Still a big injury risk, command gets bad at times, big money
Obviously the Pros outweigh the cons, but still, he's expensive, and I don't want to spend a lot of money on a guy who won't pitch much for me. We've already seen that happen; Carl Pavano comes to mind. But is the upside big enough? You make the decision.
Derek Lowe
Derek Lowe is an interesting pick. He's got good stuff, a good sinker that he's always had. He has experience, and he pitched very well this season, helping the LA Dodgers make the postseason. He's not an extremely flashy, dominant pitcher like CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets or AJ Burnett, but he gets the job done and he does it well. So let's weigh the pros and cons;
Pros: Innings eater, great control, good sinker, veteran presence, playoff experience, AL East experience
Cons: May be getting too old(36 next season), somewhat inconsistent, hasn't been in the AL since 2004, has been very bad in the past, relies mostly on contact.
I like Lowe, and I think signing him would be a good way to start Cashman's new term as GM. I think he'd be a help to the young pitchers like Joba, Hughes, Coke, Robertson... he'd be a good help to an unsure pitching staff as we begin a new era.
Ben Sheets
Ben Sheets has long been one of the most dominating pitchers in the NL with the Milwaukee Brewers. His unique mix of great control and dominating stuff has lead him to so much success. However, he's been a huge injury risk throughout his solid career. He's missing the playoffs right now for the Brewers, and his return is "doubtful". So, is his upside big enough to pay him so much money? Let's weigh the pros and cons for Sheets:
Pros: Dominating stuff, great control, good poise, has had success in the past
Cons: Huge injury risk, big money, only pitched in NL
His upside is ginormous, as we've seen. If he stays healthy, he's a higher-ranking pitcher and a Cy Young candidate. He can dominate everytime he toes the rubber; on the other hand, that is quite a big if, and he's pretty much like Burnett; there's a large risk that we'll pay him a lot of moolah to pitch for a lower amount of time than expected.
You guys give me your opinion on this.
Stay positive, Yankee fans,
-EJ/Kid From New York




