Hot Stove Part I

Since the World Series is officially over (thankfully) and since it's gotten a bit nippy here in NYC (43 degrees), it's officially Hot Stove season. I encourage all baseball fans on this blog to participate and speak for their favorite teams (Indians, Reds, Cubs) as I will be speaking for the Yanks.

First order of business for the Yanks, now that their manager and GM are staying put, is to re-sign Hideki Matsui. After that, the Yanks need a new centerfielder and I think I have the perfect candidate...(read below). Most baseball ignoramuses (ESPN, in particular) will trumpet Johnny Damon via free agency or Torii Hunter via trade but I reject both of these players on specific grounds:

-In the case of Johnny Damon, his arm is horrendous and his range in the field is quite poor. Playing a ball off the wall in Fenway, where center is the smallest in the American League, doesn't mean you can patrol Death Valley at Yankee Stadium, where it's 396 to the power alley and 408 to dead center. There's a lot of ground to cover and Damon won't be able to do it any better than the 2002-2005 version of Bernie that the Yanks have been trotting out there. Johnny Damon's best destination is in Wrigleyville where the outfield is small enough that he's not exposed as a bad fielder and where the wind blows out enough such that he can probably hit 15-20 homers from the leadoff spot.

-In the case of Torii Hunter, there's no denying his ability to roam the field. However, at $10M, he's quite expensive and, in my opinion, not worth the price. For $2M more you can get yourself a Vlad and for $4M more, a Beltran. Sure, money's no object, but here's the kicker -- Torii would have to come in a trade and the Yanks should not part with Robinson Cano or Chien-Ming Wang. Those two guys are the only youth movement the Yanks have working for them and they both played a HUGE role in getting that eighth consecutive division title. I say keep Cano and Wang and get...Milton Bradley. Here's why:

-Milton Bradley turns 28 years old on April 15, 2006. That makes him younger than Damon and Hunter. Milton Bradley's a switch-hitter, which, obviously gives the Yanks more flexibility with their lineup than the lefty-swinging Damon or the righty-swinging Hunter and Bradley can replace Bernie's switch-hitting presence on the roster. Bradley's a solid fielder and a marginally worse hitter than Torii Hunter (career OBP is .350 to .321 in Bradley's favor) and costs a fraction of what Hunter or Damon will. Because the Dodgers fired Paul DePodesta as their GM today, I think Dodgers management will want to rid itself of all of DePo's players. As such, I think Bradley can be acquired cheaper than he'd normally go for.

For those that think Bradley is too much of a cancer to bother with, I only half-agree. He's certainly a borderline psycho but I think everyone would have to admit that there is probably no manager better-equipped to handle personalities like Joe Torre is. A baseball-strategy savant he isn't, but a personality-handling genius he most certainly is. Throw in the fact that the Yanks win more often than Bradley's been used to in LA or Cleveland and perhaps a little of that edge comes off. The Yanks have had other "problem children" on Torre's watch in the past (Sheffield, Strawberry, Gooden, Sierra, etc.) and there have been few, if any, distractions. I think Milton Bradley is worth the risk for the Yanks. At best, they get a 28 year old with a bit of speed, a bit of power, a solid glove who is happy to be in a more successful environment (see Chacon, Shawn). At worst, they get a guy that is a pain in the ass to deal with, at which point they cut him and eat his $2.9M contract which ain't no thang when you're George Steinbrenner.