Torres and Oates tied for it …
http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/manage.shtml

Hey …. I think we have a “Griddle” man in our midst …. hi Bob!

A “natural Yankee” …. didn’t Carole King sing about that …. ?

I guess Giambi and Sheffield were “artificially-enhanced Yankees” then?

That’s incredibly illuminating. Despite all the hullabaloo regarding the $, there seems to be a subtext that players actually want to play baseball in NY, specifically Yankee Stadium. I’m tired of the comments regarding the overall amount of $ spent regardless of the annual expense. It’s not like the Yanks wrote a check for $400 million +.

I was listening to MLB Radio this morning listening to someone bellyaching about the Yankees’ display of spending in light of the Detroit bailout. That’s ridiculous. It’s like being angry at your rich neighbor because you pissed you savings away gambling. Get a grip.

“Teixeira instead signed with Boras and was projected as a first-round pick in the 1998 draft. But when the Red Sox asked him beforehand if he would accept a $1.5 million signing bonus, Teixeira thought he could do better. He tumbled all the way to the ninth round, where Boston finally grabbed him. “The Red Sox told everybody that I wouldn’t sign, and when it got to a late enough round they said, ‘Let’s take a flier on him,’” Teixeira told Baseball America in 2006. “So they spoiled me for everyone else.” Dan Duquette, then the Red Sox general manager, says it was common knowledge that Teixeira would be difficult to sign. “That’s why he went in the ninth round,” Duquette says.

The Red Sox still offered Teixeira $1.5 million, but Boras advised his client to go to college instead, take some time to mature, get an education, maybe even meet the girl of his dreams. Ever the ideal client, Teixeira turned down the money — “It was the most I had ever heard of a high school player turning down,” says Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall — and he met an industrial-design major named Leigh Williams at a party his freshman year. Today Teixeira and Leigh are married with two children, Jack Gordan, who is 2, and Addison Leigh, 1.

Teixeira does not like to revisit what went wrong with the Red Sox, lest he alienate a potential suitor. But the experience clearly bound him to Boras and made him somewhat jaded about the business of baseball. “

Baseball writers use “natural” a lot, like “natural second baseman.” I just think if left to their own devices in nature, won’t become second basemen.

Or Yankees.

Or even Pirates.

http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?playerID=400121&statType=1

Shortstop, on the other hand, is an organizational black hole in 2011. One or both outfield corners may be as well, but those spots are generally fillable from the free agent market.

Revenge, served up ice cold?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/lee_jenkins/12/03/teixeira.boras/

The hilarity of all the negative bloviation on the Tex deal is that the games still need to be played. The Yanks have outspent everyone for years and haven’t won a championship since 2000. There are no guarantees. Buckle up and enjoy the ride. If the Yanks win it all, then the haters will continue to hate. If they don’t, the haters will continue to hate. You want me (the Yanks) on that wall, You need me (the Yanks) on that wall!

Denial …. perhaps we should call him “Cleo” Epstein …

Note the value of the Swisher acquisition. Coupled with Teixeira, he frees up Miranda and an outfielder for a trade.

But I am looking forward to the day when all the players are put in a position of having to defend the Yankees. Cash cap?

Speaking of cash, the Yankees put a bold underline on the Tex deal by signing Kevin Cash from Boston. Sweet.

Free Agent Values: Mark Teixeira
“If Teixeira is a +5 win player, and we use the $5.5 million per win projection for off-season spending, that gives us a $27.5 million figure for 2009. Again, we’ll factor in a 10% discount off of his current value for the safety of a long term deal, and that gives us something like $24.5 million for Teixeira. Teams are more comfortable giving longer deals to hitters than pitchers, so let’s pencil him in for a 7 year, $171 million contract.”

Cots Baseball Contracts: 09:$20M, 10:$20M, 11-16:$22.5M annually

Free Agent Values: A.J. Burnett
“3.3 wins * 5.5 million per win = $18.15 million in projected 2009 value. We again factor in a 10% discount rate to make up for the fact that he’s going to get a long term deal, and that gives us an annual average value of $16.4 million. Given Burnett’s history, it’s unlikely he’ll get more than four or five years. That puts his projected contract at 4 years/$66 million or 5 years/$82 million.”

Cots Baseball Contracts: 09-13:$16.5M annually

Free Agent Values: CC Sabathia
“5.5 million * 5.5 wins = 30.25 million. That’s what we’d expect Sabathia to be worth if he signed a one year deal, which he clearly won’t do. In exchange for the security of a long term deal, he’ll give teams a slight discount off his current value. At a 10% discount for the safety of a five to seven year deal, that would put his annual average salary at $27 million.”

Cots Baseball Contracts: 09:$14M, 10-15:$23M annually

If these studies are to be believed, the Yanks got these players at a discount.