Thursday, April 16, 2009

Nady's done, possible implications for 2010?

If the reports are indeed true that Nady needs TJS and will be lost for the year, what are the implications for the Yanks? Some quick thoughts to ponder:

  • If he's on the 60 day DL, does he accrue the time to be a free agent after this year anyways? I don't know the answer but it seems a reasonable question.

  • Do the Yanks offer him arbitration?

  • If yes, will he accept as he'd want a year of good performance (healthy playing) before diving into the FA pool?

    If yes, will Boras instruct him to decline anyways as that's Boras' M.O.?

    If yes, his arb figure will be based upon his $6.55m salary this year, which isn't terrible, unlike Abreu's arb figure last year ($16m). That's pretty managable if the team decided to risk the arb offer.

  • Who do the Yanks bring up to fill out the bench? I can't see them bringing up Austin Jackson to ride the pine. Shelley Duncan, maybe? Another farmhand?
Aaron Gleeman, at his vacation spot at Circling the Bases, had this to say:

However, making Swisher an everyday player significantly weakens New York's bench, which now essentially consists of Melky Cabrera, Ramiro Pena, and Jose Molina. Calling up either Shelley Duncan or Juan Miranda to take Nady's spot on the roster will give them a usable bat off the bench, but with Hideki Matsui stuck at designated hitter for a while Cabrera is in line to get any extra outfield at-bats.

I don't think it materially weakens the bench. Swisher was outperforming Nady anyways. It requires Matsui to play more and actually DO SOMETHING when he's at the plate. The Yanks are a better team when Damon's playing (at least offensively) anyways.

Bottom line, this is not something to panic over.

1 comment:

Carl said...

The Nats will send you Austin Kearns for a bucket of batting practice balls.