Kuzul

As Adam Rubin reported via Twitter, New York Mets GM Sandy Alderson said that staff ace Johan Santana will throw on flat ground through April and then start throwing off a mound in May.

The goal is to have Santana return to the Mets in either June or July.

This news should come as no surprise as the Mets will take it easy with Santana. After all, Santana does have three more years remaining on his contract.

Here is what the Mets are looking at for a starting rotation until Santana returns:

1. Mike Pelfrey

2. R.A. Dickey

3. Jonathon Niese

4. Chris Young

5. Chris Capuano

I think it’s safe to say the Mets will be relying on their offense to wins games during the early stages of the 2011 season.

I would say, as presently constructed, only the Pittsburgh Pirates have a worse rotation than the Mets do right now in the National League.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Update, 2/12: According to John Hickey via Twitter, Bradley won’t be charged for threats that he allegedly made against his wife in January. Apparently, he and his wife will work things out of court.

Bradley is in the last year of his three-year, $30 million contract he signed with the Chicago Cubs before the 2009 season. He should enjoy this season in Seattle because it will be his last in a Major League uniform.

I can’t see any team signing him to a contract after this season. He has too much baggage for any team to deal with.

Update, 1/31: In an interview with KJR-AM 950 in Seattle, Mariners’ GM Jack Zduriencik said that Bradley will come into spring training and compete for a job.

“Obviously, there’s a legal process that Milton has to go through,” Zduriencik said. “As of right now, he’s a part of the organization, and we’re planning on him coming into spring training and competing for a job.”

It’s not surprising Zduriencik would have this answer. Bradley hasn’t been charged with anything yet and perhaps more importantly, he has $12 million coming to him in 2011 by hook or by crook.

Bradley has a court hearing set for Feb. 8. We should know more about this situation after that date.

Original Post: According to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, Seattle Mariners’ OF/DH Milton Bradley was arrested on Wednesday morning for violating California penal code section 422, which involves making a “criminal threat.” The details of the arrest are not yet known, but Bradley was released on $50,000 bail.

It looks like it’s game over for Bradley in Seattle.

And yes, it’s also game over for the 2011 “Cheesy Line of the Year by a Blogger” award, which I just won with the above sentence. It always feels good to run away with an award so early in the year.

In all seriousness, since we don’t know yet exactly what Bradley did, I am not going to comment on that. What I will comment on is that Bradley has most likely played his last game in a Mariners’ uniform.

Bradley has seemingly had issues with every team he has been throughout his Major League career and now it appears the Mariners are no different.

Considering that Bradley and new manager Eric Wedge had issues in the past during their time in Cleveland together, I can’t possibly see how he can be on the Mariners’ Opening Day roster.

GM Jack Zduriencik said he is going through process in determining the full circumstances of what occurred. In laymen terms, he means that he is figuring out contractually if he can get rid of Bradley so he doesn’t have to pay him the $12 million he is owed in 2011.

And speaking of Zduriencik, has a GM gone from chicken salad to chicken sh%t quicker than him? Last year he was the darling of baseball. He was the trendiest guy in all the land. Now he is running a mess in Seattle.

More on this story as it develops.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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The other day, we wrote a post looking at the “10 Breakout Candidates for 2011.” Today, we are going to look at five players who potentially could bounce back from relatively poor seasons in 2010.

These are guys who looked like they were headed for fantasy stardom after the 2009 season, but for some reason or another, had a down 2010. These are also guys that you might be able to get later in the draft because some of the other owners in your league are down on them. But you shouldn’t be.

Here are five bounce back candidates for the 2011 season.

1. Justin Upton, Arizona Diamondbacks

2009: .300/26/86/.366 with 20 SBs and an .899 OPS

2010: .273/17/69/.356 with 18 SBs, and a .799 OPS

2011: Well, there is good news and bad news concerning Upton. The good news is that all signs point to Upton being healthy heading into spring training. A lot of Upton’s down season could be attributed to a shoulder injury that nagged him all season.

The other good news is that the Diamondbacks will not use a humidor in 2011. That means the balls should continue to fly out of Chase Field. I fully expect Upton to get back to the 25-30 HR mark in 2011 and have an OPS nearing the .900 mark.

Now the bad news.

The Diamondbacks’ offense will take a step back in 2011. Gone are Mark Reynolds and Adam LaRoche and in are Melvin Mora and Xavier Nady. I could see Upton having another down year in the runs scored and RBI department.

Look for Upton’s average, HR, SBs, OBP, and OPS to increase in 2011.

2. Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants

2009: .330/25/90/.387 with a .943 OPS

2010: .268/13/63/.323 with .732 OPS

2011: 2010 was a complete disaster for the “Kung-Fu Panda.” He came into the season out of shape and by the end of the season he was a complete non-factor in the Giants’ World Series run.

According to reports, Sandoval has done a complete 180 this offseason, has been working out with Barry Bonds and is supposedly in the best shape of his career. He will get every chance in the world to prove himself in spring training and I think Sandoval delivers.

Do I think Sandoval will hit .330 again? No I don’t. He won’t have a .350 BABIP again.

I would predict a .305/20/88 season for Sandoval, which would make him a top-10 fantasy third baseman in 2011.

3. Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay Rays

2009: .297/27/91/.405 with 17 SBs, and seven triples

2010: .238/10/75/.346 with 24 SBs and two triples

2011: Zobrist went from fantasy darling in 2009 to a second-rate player in 2010. He saw a massive drop in average, HRs, RBI and OBP. The only thing keeping Zobrist from being a complete disaster was that he qualified at three different positions, which is always a plus in any fantasy format.

Zobrist will still qualify at three different positions in 2011, but if he wants to improve in 2011, he is going to need to make some adjustments. Pitchers figured out the easiest way to get Zobrist out in 2010 was to throw him offspeed stuff. He was below replacement level on curves, sliders and changeups last season.

We’ll see if Zobrist makes the necessary adjustments in spring training. He will be the “key” to the Rays’ offense in 2011 and I think he makes the adjustments and enjoys a bounceback season.

4. Gordon Beckham, Chicago White Sox:

2009: .270/14/63/.347 with an .808 OPS in 103 games

2010: .252/9/49/.317 with a .695 OPS in 131 games

2011: After impressing in just 103 games in 2009, everyone thought Beckham was going to break out in 2010. As a matter of fact, he was a candidate for “Fantasy mancrush” along with Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies. Unfortunately for Beckham, he went in the complete opposite direction as Gonzalez.

Gonzalez was an MVP candidate and Beckham really stunk it up in the first half. Beckham hit just .216 with three HRs in the first half. He also had a pathetic .277 OBP.

But Beckham really turned it on in the second half, hitting .310/.380/.497 with six HRs. I like the odds of Beckham taking that second half over to this season and I also like the odds that he won’t hit .224 again against left-handed pitching like he did in 2010.

5. Aaron Hill, Toronto Blue Jays

2009: .286/36/108/.330 with 37 doubles and 103 runs scored

2010: .205/26/68/.271 with 22 doubles and 70 runs scored

2011: Hill had one of the all-time great seasons for a second baseman in 2009 to having one of the unluckiest seasons of any player in 2010. Hill’s .196 BABIP was the lowest of the past decade and it beat Tony Batista‘s .225 by almost 30 points.

That won’t happen again in 2011.

But I also don’t think he will hit 36 HRs again either. I would expect a .271 average with 31 HRs, and with a solid offense surrounding him, Hill should drive in between 90-100 runs in 2011.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Yesterday, the trustee representing Bernie Madoff’s victims, Irving Pickard, filed a $300 million lawsuit against Fred Wilpon, Jeff Wilpon and Saul Katz, Fred Wilpon’s brother-in-law and business partner.

The suit claims that Fred Wilpon and his partners, who have owned the Mets outright since 2002 and partially since 1980, “knew or should have known” about the fraud.

My friend of nearly 20 years (man are we getting old), Justin sent me their officially response to their lawsuit courtesy of the Flushing Flash:

STATEMENT FROM FRED WILPON, CO-FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN,
AND SAUL B. KATZ, CO-FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF STERLING EQUITIES,
ON BEHALF OF THE STERLING EQUITIES PARTNERS AND THEIR FAMILIES

Dear Mets Fans:

Following days of leaks and press speculation, the Court—with the agreement of the Sterling partners—has released the complaint that was previously filed under seal.

The Trustee’s lawsuit is an outrageous “strong arm” effort to try to force a settlement by threatening to ruin our reputations and businesses which we have built for over 50 years. This is a flagrant abuse of the Trustee’s authority and we will not succumb to his pressure. The conclusions in the complaint are not supported by the facts.

While they may make for good headlines, they are abusive, unfair and untrue. We categorically reject them. We should not be made victims twice over—the first time by Madoff, and again by the Trustee’s actions.

The plain truth is that not one of the Sterling partners ever knew or suspected that Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme. Because the Trustee has no evidence to support his claims even after a year-and-a-half review of over 700,000 pages of documents and many, many hours of depositions, he has created a claim that we “knew or should have known” that Madoff was a fraud.

The Trustee is suing not only for what he defines as “fictitious profits” but for monies that we deposited with Madoff over almost 25 years. That is outrageous, unfounded and inconsistent with the law. Let us be clear, the Trustee is attempting to seize money originally invested with Madoff, which was earned from the Sterling businesses.

The Trustee also alleges that we were blinded to Madoff’s crimes because our businesses “depended” on the returns. That is complete nonsense. We have good, sound businesses that were successful years before we invested with Madoff, including both real estate and the New York Mets. Those businesses never depended on returns from Madoff.

Our previous statements

All of the public statements we have issued to date have been accurate and true. We said when the fraud was first disclosed that the losses we suffered in the Madoff scheme would have no impact on the operations of the New York Mets and that was true.

At the time, we could not have anticipated that a trustee would file a lawsuit seeking to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in addition to the substantial amounts that Madoff had stolen from us.

As we announced last Friday, we are now seeking one or more strategic partners in the New York Mets specifically because of the uncertainty created by the lawsuit filed by the Trustee in the Madoff bankruptcy.

We thought that Madoff was a friend for 25 years. That is why his betrayal was so painful. Each of the Sterling partners and their families invested with Madoff in good faith right up to the day his crime was exposed. We were as shocked as the rest of the world when the money in our accounts vanished along with the billions he swindled from thousands of other innocent people.

In summary, we are proud of what we have built and achieved as a family. We have worked very hard for our entire lives, always with character and integrity. We will not sit still while the Trustee or anyone else makes these outrageous and irresponsible allegations. People who know us know the truth about who we are and what our life’s work represents.

Again, we have done nothing wrong. We played by the rules. We abided by the court order not to discuss the lawsuit. Others did not. We are confident we will win in court.

The only thing I disagree with in this standard statement is that “not one of the Sterling partners ever knew or suspected that Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme.“

I am sorry, but I am calling BS on that one. As my friend Justin pointed out, it would be almost impossible to prove in a court that they knew what Madoff was up to unless they had recordings or exchanged emails and I 100 percent agree with that, but someone can’t 100 percent convince me that they had no idea what was going on.

To be in the financial position the Sterling partners are in, you can’t be an idiot. Mets fans can accuse the Wilpons of a lot of different things—being cheap, not caring about winning, etc—but you can’t accuse them of being idiots.

And there is no way that people who are as smart as the people in the Sterling partnership are didn’t know that getting guaranteed 25 percent on their returns wasn’t normal. That just seems ridiculous to me.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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I really can’t believe the Baltimore Orioles fell for it. I really can’t.

Here they were, rolling along this offseason. Rolling along and making solid moves like picking up Mark Reynolds, J.J. Hardy, etc… And now they pull this.

On Friday, the Orioles inked DH Vladimir Guerrero to a one-year, $8 million contract. According to FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal, a significant portion of that salary is deferred.

I don’t care even if $6 of the $8 million is deferred. To give Guerrero $8 million is so ridiculous on so many levels.

The first level is that the Orioles really didn’t need Guerrero. The Orioles would have been just fine with Luke Scott at DH and a platoon of Nolan Reimold and Felix Pie in left field.

Last year, Guerrero produced a 2.6 WAR. Let’s say he produces that again in 2011—highly unlikely—but let’s pretend for a second. I will then say that I believe that the platoon of Pie and Reimold could have produced a combined 1.5 WAR in 2011.

So if my math serves me correctly, and I believe it does, the Orioles just paid $8 million for around one or 1.1 wins in 2011. That’s not good anyway you want to cut the mustard.

Also, the Orioles now have to expose Scott in LF. That’s going to leave a mark in the morning.

The second level is which Vlad are the Orioles getting? Are they getting the Vlad that was an MVP candidate in the first half of the 2010 season when he hit .319/.364/.554 with 20 HRs or are they getting the Vlad that hit .278/.322/.426 with nine HRs and ran like Mark Eaton in the second half?

My guess is they get the latter.

That’s why I thought when they offered him a contract in the $2-$3 million range, they absolutely made the right move. Vlad potentially could have been a low-risk, medium-reward signing. Now he is a a high-risk, medium-reward signing.

What happened between the point of when the Orioles offered him $3 million to the point they are at now, I’ll have no idea. It’s baffling at best.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg.

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When talking about Andy Pettitte, it’s only fitting to thank God. And thank God that baseball’s version of “Favregate” came to a quick conclusion.

As most of us know by now, New York Yankees LHP Andy Pettitte officially called it quits on Friday. Pettitte retired with a career record of 240-138 with a 3.88 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 16 seasons with the Yankees and Houston Astros.

Now that Pettitte is done playing baseball, there are only two questions left to answer:

1. How will the Yankees replace him in the rotation?
2. Is Pettitte a Hall of Famer?

Let’s answer the first question first.

In regards to improving their starting rotation, the Yankees’ offseason has been an unmitigated disaster. They lost out on their No. 1 priority in Cliff Lee, and now the mainstay in their rotation retires.

The Yankees rotation now consists of CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett, Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre. They also have gray-beards Freddy Garcia, Mark Prior and Bartolo Colon competing for spots in the rotation as well.

This Yankees rotation has more holes in it than a Mel Gibson apology.

Where is the consistency in this Yankee rotation? If Sabathia is not on the mound, who is the guy to stop a three- or four-game losing streak?

New Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothchild said in a recent interview that he believes Burnett can turn things around. Okay, I will believe that when I see it. Burnett certainly has the talent, but the only person who has ever gotten through to him was Roy Halladay.

Rothchild will certainly have his hands full in his first season in the Bronx.

I fully expect the Yankees to go out and acquire a back-of-the-rotation type of starter. They could sign someone like Kevin Millwood or trade for guys like Joe Saunders, Joe Blanton or Scott Kazmir. The pitcher who might be the best fit for the Yankees would be Fausto Carmona, but I think the Cleveland Indians will go into the season with him.

The second question concerning Pettitte and the one that has the baseball community on Twitter in a heated debate is: Is Pettitte a Hall of Famer?

The simple answer to that question is no.

Let’s take his numbers and his playoff success out of the question for a second. Pettitte is a known user of PEDs. How have the other known users of PEDs done on the HOF ballot the last couple of years? Not very well I remind you.

The users I am referring to are Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro. Those two put up immortal numbers. And you can’t say, “Well, the only reason they put up those numbers is because of PEDs.” You can say the same about Pettitte as well.

Pettitte was a very solid pitcher for a very long time. His playoff numbers speak for themselves. He was as clutch in Game 2’s as any pitcher in any game in playoff history.

Game 2 of a series was the Pettitte game. No matter what the Yankees did in Game 1, you knew Pettitte would either get them 2-0 or even the series at 1-1. He was that good in that game.

During the regular season, Pettitte was very solid and I think the best word to describe him was consistent. Pettitte never had that season that defined him like an Orel Hershiser in 1988 or Dwight Gooden in 1985. He was a very consistent pitcher on a team that allowed him to be one.

So why would two players who put up immortal numbers only receive 10-25 percent of the vote, but Pettitte get in? That makes no sense to me.

The voters have proven they won’t vote for guys who have used PEDs in the past. Pettitte won’t be any different.

To be a Hall of Famer, you need to have a chance to get into the HOF. And Pettitte won’t get into the HOF.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg.

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When the Florida Marlins traded CF Cameron Maybin to the San Diego Padres this offseason, many wondered who they were going to put in center field to replace him? The obvious choices were moving either Logan Morrison or Mike Stanton to center.

But as we all know, the Marlins don’t always do the obvious things.

Instead of moving Morrison or Stanton to center, the Marlins currently plan to play Chris Coghlan in the middle of the outfield in 2011. I’m sorry, but I just don’t see it.

This is the same Coghlan who was hasn’t mastered playing left field in his two years in the Major Leagues. He has a career -8.0 UZR in 213 games in left field. Now he is going to move to center where he has to cover more ground and cover ground in one of the biggest center fields in baseball? No thanks.

Usually, it’s the other way around. Usually, it’s a player moving from center to left or right, not the other way around.

Listen, the San Francisco Giants won a World Series with Pat Burrell playing left field and the Boston Red Sox accomplished the same feat with Julio Lugo playing short, so it can be done.

However, the difference between what appears to this year’s version of the Marlins and those World Series teams is that those teams had dynamic pieces (Giants with their pitching and Red Sox with their overall talent) to help counter their deficiencies.

Over the past three seasons, the Marlins have had one of the worst defensive teams in baseball. I look at the 2011 Marlins and see a team that will once again struggle defensively.

Putting Coghlan in center won’t help the situation.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Everyone in their fantasy draft is looking for the Jose Bautista. Everyone is looking for the next breakout star in baseball. Those guys are few and far in between.

However, those guys are out there and we are here to help find them for your fantasy team in 2011. Here are the top-10 breakout candidates for 2011 courtesy of The Ghost of Moonlight Graham.

Players are ranked in no particular order.

Brandon Morrow, Toronto Blue Jays

In his first year in Toronto, Morrow increased his K’s/9 from 8.1 to 10.9 and lowered his BB/9 from 5.7 to 4.1 in 146.1. While Morrow does still struggle with his control from time to time, but really turned things on in the second half last season (3.69 ERA and 13 K’s/9) and I can’t get his August 8th start out of my head when he struck out 17 and only gave up one hit against the Tampa Bay Rays.

I say Morrow puts it all together in 2011.

Chris Johnson, Houston Astros

Because the Astros were irrelevant in 2010, I think few people realized that Johnson had one of the best second halves of any rookie in baseball. Johnson hit .316/.348/.510 with 11 HR’s in the second half of last season.

Put those numbers over an 162 game schedule and Johnson is putting up an 18 HR and 90 RBI season. Johnson is turning the magical age of 27 in 2011 and is primed for a breakout year in Houston.

Mike Stanton, Florida Marlins

Perhaps the biggest no-brainer on this list. Stanton hit 22 HR’s in just 100 games with the Marlins in 2010. Stanton has “light tower power” and his talent is limitless.

He will be the Marlins’ starting right-fielder on Opening Day and 35-40 HR’s and 10-15 SB’s is not out of the question with is this stud.

Travis Snider, Toronto Blue Jays

The second Blue Jay on this list, Snider will get every chance in 2011 to be the man in right field for Toronto. Snider hit 14 HR’s in 82 games and saw his K Percentage decrease from 32.4 percent to 26.4 percent, OPS increase by 19 points and even stole six bases.

Is a .270 average with 25 HR’s and 10 SB’s out of the question for Snider? I don’t think so. And those numbers as pedestrian as they look, would make Snider a top-20 OF in fantasy baseball.

Carlos Santana, Cleveland Indians

Before his injury, Santana was hitting .260/.401/.467 with six HR’s in 192 plate appearances. If you translate those numbers over 162 game season, Santana would have put up the same slash line, but with 22 HR’s 130 BB’s, and 11 SB’s. For a 24-year-old catcher, that is simply amazing.

If healthy, Santana will be a top-five fantasy catcher.

Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers

After looking like his career was at a crossroads at the beginning of 2010, Scherzer came on really strong in the second half. He had a 2.47 ERA and was pitching like a man possessed. I think he can carry that second half over to 2011 for a full year.

Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants

In 18 starts as a rookie, Bumgarner went 7-6 with a 3.00 ERA and struck out 86 in 110 innings. He is a four-pitch pitcher, who at the age of 21 already has tremendous poise and command on the mound.

The only thing that I can see holding Bumgarner back from being a complete breakout fantasy star is not getting enough wins. Giant pitchers have a tendency to leave games either down 2-1 or tied 2-2. Other than that, look for Bumgarner to take the next step in 2011.

Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves

I wrote about Kimbrel the other day in my “Top-Five Fantasy Winners From This Offseason” post, so everyone knows my mancrush on him already.

Kimbrel had a 0.44 ERA and 40 K’s in just 20.2 IP in 2010. Now that he will be with the Braves for a full year and will have saves added to the mix, Kimbrel could be a top-10 fantasy closer. Remember, Wagner was a top-10 closer last year in most fantasy formats and the Braves should be just as good in 2011 as they were last year.

Homer Bailey, Cincinnati Reds

It seems like we have been talking about Bailey for 10 years now, but the kid is still only 24 years old. Sometimes when a player gets rushed to the majors and is clearly not ready for that, it takes them a little longer to develop. That’s what happened to Bailey.

But in the second half of last year, Bailey seemed to figure things out. He had a 3.55 ERA and struck out 59 in 58.1 IP. Pitching on a good Reds team and in the NL Central, I will go on record and say Bailey wins between 15-20 games and has an ERA around 3.75 in 2011.

Brian Matusz, Baltimore Orioles

Matusz was much, much better than his 10-12 record and 4.30 record indicates. Most of the damage done against Matusz was done in the first half of the season when the Orioles were god awful.

However, when you take a look at his second half numbers, you realize Matusz is the real deal. He was 7-3 with a 3.63 ERA and averaged 7.9 K’s/9 in 14 second half starts.

Matusz should also be the benefactor of an improved Orioles defense with the additions of Mark Reynolds, J.J. Hardy and Derrek Lee in the infield and overall an improved Orioles team.

Others who just missed the cut: Bud Norris Logan Morrison, Daniel Hudson, Jeremy Hellickson

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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As spring training approaches, there is one question on the mind of Minnesota Twin fans: Will first baseman Justin Morneau be ready for Opening Day?

GM Bill Smith believes so.

“I have April 1 circled,” Smith said Tuesday in an interview with CBSSports.com’s Danny Knobler. “That’s the day we’re targeting.”

While that’s seems very optimistic, Smith did add that Morneau’s rehab was a “work in progress.”

“We have pledged patience, and we only want him to go when he’s ready,” Smith said. “If that’s March 1, April 1 or July 1, that’s what it will be. We only want him to go through this one time. We don’t want this to become a roller coaster.”

Here is my take on this: Morneau won’t be ready for Opening Day.

Concussions are the most unpredictable injury in sports—they come and go and, in some cases, (like with former New York Jets WR Al Toon) they never go away.

Morneau has been out since last July with his concussion. That was seven months ago—why should I believe anything is going to change in the next two or three months?

I hope Morneau is ready for Opening Day because the Twins and baseball will be better off with him in the lineup. Nobody wants to see the game’s best players not in the lineup.

What I find somewhat funny about this whole situation is that the Twins have played so well in Morneau’s absence the last two years, I almost feel like Morneau has become undervalued as a player.

The guy won an MVP award, misses the ALDS against the New York Yankees the last two years, and it was like ho-hum. However, when Mark Teixeira went down in the ALCS against the Texas Rangers, Yankee fans acted like Chicken Little.

The Twins will be AL Central contenders even without Morneau. But they would be World Series contenders with him in the lineup.

Let’s hope the latter is the case.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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The New York Yankees have signed 35-year-old Freddy Garcia to a minor league contract, according to multiple reports.

Garcia was 12-6 with a 4.64 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP, and averaged 5.1 Ks/9 in 157 innings for the Chicago White Sox in 2010.

The Yankees have signed Mark Prior, Bartolo Colon, Andruw Jones and now Garcia this offseason. I will take “guys who were stars back in 2003,” Alex.

Based on their trend of recent transactions, here are some other guys the Yankees are looking at to fill out their roster…

Brian Giles
Jim Edmonds
Garret Anderson
Carlos Delgado
Jeff Conine
Gary Sheffield
Javy Lopez
Ryan Klesko

Look for only Andruw Jones to make the Yankees roster out of spring training.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostoflg

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