Kuzul

The latest message from the New York Yankees is that they will not be caught up in the bidding for the Philadelphia Phillies‘ Jayson Werth or the Tampa Bay Rays‘ Carl Crawford.

Players are not even legal free agents until Saturday at midnight, so shouldn’t their respective teams be allowed to negotiate without the Yankees butting in yet?

The Yankees made it clear: They want to bring the talents of Texas Rangers ace Cliff Lee to the Bronx. Add Lee’s monster deal with new contracts needed for a captain, a living iconic closer and a superstar southpaw who are also three of the infamous Yankees “Core Four.”

Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte all command huge paychecks, and let’s hope the new Steinbrenner ownership doesn’t make a mess of what daddy built.

The usually non-confrontational and sensible brother, Hal, made older brother Hank-like public statements in regards to Jeter’s contract talks. Hal’s testimony sounded like a warning to Yankees fans explaining that these proceedings have to work for the business and the pinstripes. Here are Hal’s exact words:

“You just never know with these things… Both parties need to be happy with the deal—that’s absolutely going to happen—and that may make things more complicated, I don’t know. There’s always the possibility that things could get messy. I’ve got to try to do my job on behalf of the partnership and our partners and everybody else involved with the organization, and Hank and I need to keep a level head and realize… that we’re running a business here.”

My only hope is that Hal didn’t mean it to come off as a warning regarding Jeter’s future as a Yankee being in question. I feel I can speak for 99 percent of Yankees fan by saying that turmoil and anarchy would result from losing out captain. God only knows how the players would feel, but I would presume lost and upset.

Truth is, Yankees fans wish those words came out of Hank’s mouth, but they did not.

Jeter’s agents fought right back, making the normally private Jeter’s professional affairs ESPN’s needed replacement for any Brett Favre stories. Jeter’s camp had every right to invalidate Hal’s remarks. Referring to recent comments by Steinbrenner and GM Brian Cashman, Jeter’s agent, Casey Close, said:

“While it’s not our intent to negotiate the terms of Derek’s free agent contract in a public forum, we do agree with Hal and Brian’s recent comments that this contract is about business and winning championships. Clearly, baseball is a business, and Derek’s impact on the sport’s most valuable franchise can’t be overstated. Moreover, no athlete embodies the spirit of a champion more than Derek Jeter.”

Now Yankees fans should bear in mind that even with the resigning of Jeter, Mo and Pettitte, and if they can get Lee, it doesn’t completely close the door on anything.

Rewind back to the 2008-2009 offseason when the Yankees claimed not to be mixed up in bidding on Mark Teixeira’s talents, following the monster signings of CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett.

Where is Teixeira playing now?

Exactly my point. So I am not giving up on my dreams of getting Jayson Werth just yet. Having a four-man rotating outfield of Swisher, Granderson, Gardner and Werth (or Crawford) gives significant rest without forfeiting any talent. It adds another quality fast base-runner and power hitter to the lineup, while keeping the group healthy, considering all three were hurting at one point or another in 2009 season.

This should make for some seriously historical Yankees drama. Unlike before, fans want the “older and declining” players to be the first priority.

Looking back to about a week ago, age and experience can still win championships—just go ask the San Francisco Giants World Series MVP or leading regular-season RBI hitter about that.

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By Shani Muschel

Do you call yourself a sports fan, especially a New York sports fan? Then unless you’ve been living under a large rock covered by a large building in Timbuktu, you’ve been hearing about Rangers’ owner Chuck Greenberg’s ‘outlandish’ criticism of Yankee fans this week.

Still haven’t got the memo?

Then let me break it down for you. In a guest spot on ESPN radio, Greenberg publicly called out Yankee fans, bashing them for their poor behavior this offseason.

“I thought Yankee fans, frankly, were awful,” Greenberg told ESPN. “They were either violent or apathetic, neither of which is good. So I thought Yankee fans were by far the worst of any I’ve seen in the postseason. I thought they were an embarrassment.”

Greenberg swiftly followed up his statement with a call to Hal Steinbrenner in which he apologized for his remarks (presumably at the behest of one Mr. Bud Selig). Because how dare someone take a swing at the holy Yankee establishment and get away with it.

I can’t help but feel like there is a lot of misplaced outrage over this whole ordeal. Let’s all make sure that we’re thinking logically here. Why the upheaval? Is anyone really surprised by these comments? The only real argument anyone can make is the fact that the comments were made by another team owner on the radio, and that was probably not the smartest thing to do. This can be looked at as slightly surprising and disappointing.

But can any Yankee fan or NY sports fan say that they honestly disagree with what was pointed out by Greenberg?

Let’s face it. The guy was spot on. I’ve been a Mets fan since about 2006, but I spent a large part of my life worshipping the Evil Empire (long story that involves my fanatic Mets fan husband, a panel of wise men also fanatic Mets fans. And the dissolution and swearing off of a particular fandom, not a story for right now).

I’ve gone to many a Yankee game, and while I personally have never witnessed or experienced any violent behavior, I have to say, I can’t really argue with either assessment, violence or apathy. When it comes down to it, the Yankee fan base is made up of three parts apathetic executive/rich guy and one part drunk frat-guy bleacher creature, with maybe a sprinkle of fathers and sons thrown in.

What do I mean by that? Let’s dissect the statement, shall we?

The whole lower bowl of Yankee Stadium is filled with men still in their business suits and ties, coming to the game straight from work, who got the tickets from their company and are either conducting a business meeting with clients in the seats or tapping furiously away at their Blackberry’s.

The Yankees are lucky if they get the faintest of “woos” from these guys. Most likely they have no clue what’s even going on in the game and are using it as a means to escape their wives and kids for another couple of hours. This is the definition of apathy, and the high ticket prices at Yankee stadium will only continue to draw this kind of “fan” to the exclusion of the real, true, hardworking middle class fans who are stuck sitting at home rooting for their team (if they are lucky enough to have a cable provider who actually carries FOX) because they have been priced out.

This is why the Yankees have apathetic fans. It is of their own greedy doing, and the reason why Greenberg’s comments stung so badly is because they know it’s true.

Now let’s examine the “violent” characterization.

Again, if we’re really being honest, can we truly disagree with him? Take recent events for example. Has any team ever had to outlaw certain fan cheers in their stadiums? Yes, actually, come to think of it, another team that plays right across the river, the New York Jets, whose fans equal supplanted Bleacher Creatures during baseball offseason/football season, had to do just that.

Come on, just admit it.

The Bleacher Creatures are awful human beings. They’re rude, obnoxious, elitist, mean and extremely disrespectful, and they truly are an embarrassment to an organization that values pride and class above all else. The Yankee organization has looked the other way for too long.

Maybe instead of all the misplaced outrage and empty apologies in response to Greenberg’s comments, the Yankees should be using this constructive criticism as an impetus to finally take a good look at what goes on in their stadium and work to make some changes to improve fan experience at their games, so that every paying patron, even (Heaven Forbid!) non-Yankee fans, can come away from the game with a good taste in their mouth instead of full of beer.

Clearly, this is not the first time Yankee fans, specifically the Bleacher Creatures, have been called out on their despicable behavior. The only distinction here is who actually did the calling out. And if it takes a public figure in Chuck Greenberg standing up to get the Yankee fans to finally clean up their act, I say good for you Mr. Greenberg, for having the you-know-what to stand up publicly and face off against the almighty Empire. It’s about time.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

This article originally appeared on The NY Sports Digest. If its off-beat and it’s about the Mets, Yankees, Knicks, Giants, Jets, Islanders, or Rangers, than The Digest is the spot to get it. Stop with the mega-sites and get a feel for the true pulse of New York at www.NYSportsDigest.com

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Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The sports media has been talking about this for about three seasons, and that time has finally arrived.

New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter has come to the end of a 10-year contract, making him a free agent the moment the World Series ended.

The Jeter from 2009 seemed to be a ghost in the 2010 season. Glimpses would come and go on occasion, but no one is denying that Jeter had a paltry season. Whatever the reason Jeter can still play very well, and the reason behind the Captain’s never-ending slump are pointless to get back into.

Jeter has always been hyper-criticized by the media and non-Yankee fans for being just average, so his latest numbers just give more ammo to this idiotic banter.

If anything the recent Jeter headlines have at least relieved me from my Brett Favre migraine. Still, this continuous speculation that Derek Jeter will be in anything but Yankee pinstripes forever is becoming quite desperate.

First, New York City would be an unsafe place if the Yankees let Jeter walk. The Yankee fans’ uproar would be deemed a national emergency. This is something NYC Major Mike Bloomberg might want to consider the risk of a New York sans its captain, and throw some of his billions into the contract.

Second, the players would be lost without their Captain, and it would show on the field. Playing next to a man named Derek Jeter is the purest form of adrenaline and motivation a player can feel without using PEDs.

Jeter is baseball’s captain, as his peers have unanimously elected him Captain of Team USA both times he has played on it. Jeter was by far not the most talented player representing the country, but respect is the hardest thing to earn and not just in baseball.

Bottom line is, Jeter should be an exception in regards to his contract. Not many athletes get paid for what they have done, but in this case “show me the money” is the only appropriate motto.

Jeter makes baseball better, represents New York City with such pride and he is a humble leader that also happens to generate entire teams to win.

Derek Jeter is being unfairly judged because of one mediocre season, but I surely am not ready to give up on him yet. Let me say that anyone who states that Jeter is worth anything less is not a real and true baseball fan.

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Courtesy of Yankees ‘n More

According to the new free agency rules in Major League Baseball, there are only five days (rather than the previous 15 days) between the end of the World Series and open season on free agents.

That means teams can begin negotiating with free agents at midnight, this Sunday morning. If history is any judge, you can expect to hear about a substantial offer made to Cliff Lee by the New York Yankees sometime on Sunday.

“The free agent market is certainly a big thing we look at,” said owner and managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner when asked about Lee. “And we will have money to spend.”

That’s exactly what New York did two years ago with CC Sabathia, opening with a shock ‘n awe initial offer of six years and $140 million on the first day of free agency. That offer dwarfed the then-record deal for a pitcher, which was just over $120 million for the Mets Johan Santana.

If it’s possible, the Yankees appear to value Lee even more than they did Sabathia. In fact, Lee is the only player for whom GM Brian Cashman has been willing to give up both premium talent and dollars. Cash refused to do so when he had the chance to trade for either Santana or Sabathia.

The idea for such a quick and massive initial offer is to intimidate and immediately eliminate as many teams as possible from the Cliff Lee chase. That’s also why news of this offer will be “leaked,” almost certainly by the Yankees themselves. They WANT this information out there.

The plan worked well with Sabathia, who never received any firm offers from the National League teams on the West Coast he was believed to covet. A big offer from the Yankees might not immediately eliminate the Texas Rangers, but it might send just about every other team scrambling for a white flag.

In the winter of 2008, the Yankees eventually bid against themselves to lock up Sabathia. Increasing their already-best offer by another year and another $21 million, admitting they knew they had to pay a “premium” to get Sabathia to give up on the National League and the West Coast.

Back in the middle of the season, Cashman was more than willing to trade a package of prospects, including his very best in Jesus Montero, to Seattle for Lee, and then to pay top free agent dollars to the pitcher, as well.

And now that prospects like Montero are not needed to get Lee? Now that the Yankees need only write the check? Expect them to be extremely aggressive and decisively quick, and expect them to go to whatever financial lengths are required to land the best pitcher to hit the open market in years.

And Cliff Lee (along with the rest of us) can expect to here from the Yankees this Sunday.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Derek Jeter is one of the classiest guys in the Major Leagues and will go down as one of the best Yankees players in the history of the team.

With manager Joe Girardi’s contract figured out after he signed a three-year deal worth around $9 million it is now Jeter who will be the primary focus of the team. Brian Cashman knows he’s in for a delicate negotiation, but he needs to be sure Jeter signs on the Yankees’ terms.

Cashman is not afraid to make the tough decisions as he showed no mercy when he offered Bernie Williams a non-roster spring training invite. Williams looked at the offer as an insult and did not accept. Williams was one of the best center fielders in the game during his time along with his offensive output as a switch-hitter, yet there was Cashman making the cold-blooded decision.

When it came time to offer Joe Torre a new contract Cashman offered him one with incentives. It was an offer Torre found insulting as it required him to take a pay cut and earn incentives the deeper the Yankees played into the postseason. It was an offer he felt he had to refuse.

Now with Jeter a free agent Cashman has to continue to keep emotions out of the negotiating table. Cashman and most Yankees fans know what Jeter means to the franchise. Unlike some superstars who make their teams worry at night, the Yankees never worry about what Jeter is doing.

He has been one of the most marketable players in the history of the team. There are people who are Yankees fans just because of the way Jeter plays the game.

He was quoted numerous times about why he hustles on every single play. Jeter said there is always one person in the stands who is there to watch him and he feels it’s important to show that person he put all his effort into every game.

And if you watch the Yankees you can tell Jeter plays with his heart and soul. People applaud the way he runs out a routine ground ball to the shortstop, but why? Aren’t batters supposed to run everything out? The answer is yes, but most Major Leaguers don’t and Jeter is the exception to the rule.

The hustling he puts forth shows up in his career stats. When you look at the back of the baseball card some people may be amazed at what they see. Jeter has accumulated 2,926 hits in his time in the big leagues to go along with his .314 career batting average. 

He is quickly rising past the greatest players who have ever donned pinstripes, thereby going past some of the game’s greats. He has passed Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig during the past two seasons. He holds the record for most hits in the postseason as well as extra-base hits.

This season, however, we witnessed the beginning of the decline for a living legend. We saw Jeter no longer able to cover as much ground as we have become accustomed to. We saw Jeter flailing at pitches he once was able to hit. 

We witnessed Jeter ground into plenty of double plays because of him losing a step or two in the speed department. We witnessed Jeter’s power disappear and all this added to a career-low .270 average.

The question becomes what do the Yankees offer to a 36-year-old shortstop who is the face of the franchise, yet is heading downhill? Do you overpay for the appreciation of what he has done for the organization or do you play hardball?

The answer to this writer is in between. Cashman should not have to spend $23 million for a shortstop who is not producing at the level he should be. Instead Cashman should only offer $15 million per year for three years. 

There is no team out there willing to come even close to shelling out that much money for a 36-year-old shortstop, so it’s not like Jeter will have anywhere else to go. It should also occur to Cashman to discuss the possibility of having Jeter change positions if it is deemed necessary.

Last, but not least, a personal services contract should be added to keep Jeter around the organization he helped build back into prominence.

Jeter is one of the greatest Yankees of all time, but he needs to be reasonable at the negotiating table and realize his play slipped and with it comes a pay cut. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It’s official.

Joe Girardi will remain the New York Yankees’ skipper for three more seasons.

Many Yankees fans have been quick to blame Girardi for the team’s failure to repeat as World Series Champions. Fans were frustrated all season with Girardi, blaming any loss on unnecessary pitching changes or playing it by the book/binder.

I personally didn’t agree with the hyper-criticism most of the time. It isn’t going to accomplish anything. In 2009, Girardi was praised for moving Derek Jeter from the two-hole to the leadoff spot. This season, fans constantly complained about getting Jeter out of the spot, blaming Girardi and not Jeter’s problems at the plate.

Winning a World Series, followed by a trip to the ALCS is an excellent track record by my standards. Does that mean I agree with every move Joe Girardi made? No, it doesn’t. There are always going to be questionable moves, particularly when it comes to being the skipper of the New York Yankees.

It would be one thing if Girardi was lazy and his decisions were effortless, but that is not the case. Girardi wants to win as much as any fan or player. Girardi treats all the players fairly, not asking them to do anything he has not done or would not do himself. I trust him as a skipper, but more importantly as a person.

Being used to Joe Torre’s laid-back mannerism for so many years, it was hard to let go and move on. Torre’s shoes were the hardest to fill in baseball in 2007, no matter who replaced him.

Joe Girardi has brought the Yankees back to the forefront of baseball again. The team hasn’t been this fun to watch since 1998, because Girardi believes in every single player and truly wants him to succeed. This is a sentiment Torre did not share as Yankee fans learned from his book, which is not a quality characteristic in a manager, or any leader, for that matter.

Girardi isn’t perfect, but find me a better man more suitable for the Yankees. As of today, Joe Girardi is the right man for this job and I am happy he is around for three more seasons. I am looking forward to seeing  numbers 28, 29 and, god-willing, 30 on the back of his jersey.

Congratulations on a job well done!!!

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Area 51 in Nevada. JFK in Dallas. And now…Dave Eiland in the Bronx.

The conspiracy theorists are out in full force this week following New York’s surprise announcement that Eiland has been let go as pitching coach after a career in the organization.

Every good conspiracy theory is born out the idea that an authority figure is being less that forthcoming. This neatly segues into the “Those bastards are hiding something!” leap in logic.

Enter Yankee GM Brian Cashman, who refused to go into specifics about Eiland’s departure, saying only that it was a “private” decision.

Here we go…

There is a section of Yankee Universe, let’s call it a “generous swath,” that is completely insane. The majority of the e-mails I receive as a result of writing this blog confirms this.

So I’m sure you can guess I had some interesting theories about Eiland’s demise thrown my way.

Here are a few:

“eiland got into fist fight with girardi.”

I’m guessing this started when Eiland accidentally spilled coffee on Joe’s beloved binder.

“eiland is on drugs.”

This would explain why Dwight Gooden was hanging outside the Stadium on Opening Day.

“you heard Eiland got Fired for Beating the Shit out AJ Burnett during the season because AJ snitched to management that Dave was an alcoholic???”

This would explain…wow, that’s incredible! Definitely my favorite, because if you’re a die-hard fan, you should be able to put together all the moving parts in play here.

It goes like this: The “drinking problem” was the reason for Eiland’s unexplained hiatus shortly before the All-Star break. The black eye Burnett sported in September was the result of a scuffle incited when Burnett “snitched” to Cashman about Eiland’s love of grandpa’s cough medicine. Burnett’s sharp decline in 2010 was directly tied to the souring of his relationship with the pitching coach.

(In crazed Halloween mad scientist tone) It…all…makes…too much…SENSE!!!

I can’t vouch for any of the theories above, but I can imagine Cashman thought long and hard about how he was going to present this to the public. The easiest route would’ve been simply to say it was based on performance. After the Yankees‘ struggles in the ALCS, this likely would’ve been accepted at face value.

But the fact that Cashman went out of his way to say it wasn’t based on the pitching meltdown last week tells you there’s something else at play here. He knew saying it was private would raise eyebrows, but he didn’t want baseball people around the league to think Eiland was bad at his job, either. Cash, probably out of respect to Eiland, took the lesser of two evils.

As for my theory? Eiland was fully aware Burnett was completely dependent on him to keep his mechanics from going to hell. With his contract up and in need of leverage, Eiland came up with the genius plan to take a leave of absence for “personal reasons,” watch with glee as Burnett inevitably went down in flames without him, then return to rescue the $82 million pitcher, thus proving his invaluable nature to the organization. With new contract in hand, he would finally buy that awesome grill he always walks by at Home Depot.

It was a perfect plan, almost too perfect. Only Eiland was gone for too long, and Burnett’s suckiness became too strong, too powerful, for even Eiland to control. His master plan foiled, he was vulnerable. That vulnerability led to his dismissal.

Like I said, some Yankee fans are completely insane.

Dan Hanzus writes the Yankees blog River & Sunset and can be reached at dhanzus@gmail.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @danhanzus.

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It’s been a few days since the Bronx Bombers dropped Game 6 of the ALCS in Texas. And while the healing-process was undoubtedly delayed by Cooper’s drunken rants against all things Yankee and the decade-old ramblings from an endangered species called “Orioles Fans,” the fact that the Knicks are set to start the most exciting season in nearly a decade is enough to get us out of bed in the morning.

However, in the next couple days we’ll take a look at what went wrong, what went right and what needs to change for the 2010 New York Yankees.

By Anthony Strait

The New York Yankees headed into their American League Championship Series matchup with so much on their side. They were coming off a three-game demolition of the Minnesota Twins which allowed them some rest. The starting pitching was coming together after a rough September and looked poised to power the team much like in 2009. An added bonus was that the Texas Rangers needed all five games to eliminate the Tampa Bay Rays, meaning that Cliff Lee would not start till Game 3.

Yet so much went wrong for the Yankees that many will make the argument that they could have easily been swept if not for a bullpen meltdown by the Rangers in Game 1. The Yankees ALCS loss in the end became a microcosm of the problems that plagued them over the last month of the season and in the end left them short of their ultimate goal: repeating.

You can start with the Yankees bats, which many felt would be the strength that would carry them back to the fall classic. In the regular season, New York led the majors with 859 runs—72 more runs than the Rangers. Yet outside of Robinson Cano and an eighth-inning comeback in Game 1, the Yankees bats were punchless.

The team batting average in the regular season was .267; in the LCS they batted .201 with a .300 on-base percentage. New York was just 5-for-47 with runners in scoring position in Games 2 through 6. A more sobering realization for the Yanks was that Cliff Lee pitched once in the series—meaning they couldn’t hit the other Rangers pitchers either. Losing Mark Teixeira didn’t help matters but he didn’t have a hit in the series (0-14). All in all, the Yankees scored just 19 runs in the series.

“We’re capable of anything at any time on offense,” said GM Brian Cashman after the Game 6 loss. “But outside of the one inning [eighth inning of Game 1] and the one game in New York [Game 5], we didn’t do anything.”

The Yankees offense vanished while the starting pitching was pretty much beaten up throughout the series. CC Sabathia was roughed up in Game 1 and Phil Hughes followed that up by allowing seven runs in four innings in Game 2. The starting pitching, a question mark at the end of the regular season; pitched well in the Minnesota series. Against Texas however the ERA through the six games was 6.58. Andy Pettitte pitched well in Game 3 while the decision to start AJ Burnett was questioned. Yet Burnett pitched well up until the sixth inning of Game 4. The starting rotation struggled down the stretch and was really roughed up by an aggressive Texas team that ran the bases and forced the issue.

Another key under the microscope and one that will be during the offseason will be manager Joe Girardi’s decisions during the series. The decision to start Phil Hughes in Game 2 over Pettitte raised eyebrows. Many viewed starting Sabathia and Pettitte back to back would have given the Yanks a chance at trying to steal two games on the road before facing Lee.

Game 4 saw Girardi going with the numbers game in leaving Burnett in one inning too long. It led to an intentional walk of David Murphy followed by Benji Molina’s three-run home run that gave the Rangers the lead for good.

The final nail was bringing in David Robertson after Hughes was knocked out of Game 6. He immediately served up a two-run homer to Nelson Cruz.

A series that saw the Yankees get outplayed, and to an extent out-managed, has now left them with an offseason full of questions to answer. The future of the core four (Jorge Posada, Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera) is up in the air, along with adding or subtracting personnel.

Heading into the playoffs the Yankees looked like a shell of the team that won it all a year ago. The Rangers made them look old through six games and now it will be up to Cashman to retool for 2011. Perhaps he can look at the last week to address the team’s needs; considering they will have the winter to reflect on a series where everything did go wrong.

This article originally appeared on The NY Sports Digest. If it’s offbeat and it’s about the Mets, Yankees, Knicks, Giants, Jets, Islanders or Rangers, than The Digest is the spot to get it. Stop with the mega-sites and get a feel for the true pulse of New York at www.NYSportsDigest.com

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Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Despite winning a World Series last fall, Yankees GM Brian Cashman kept busy over the winter.

He acquired Curtis Granderson in a three-team deal that sent top outfield prospect Austin Jackson to Detroit along with lefty reliever Phil Coke, as well as starter Ian Kennedy to Arizona.

If not for Granderson’s late-season surge that came thanks to hitting coach Kevin Long, this deal would’ve been a complete disaster. Instead, it’s almost a push.

The outfielder finished the year hitting just .247 and continued to struggle against lefties, posting a meager .234 average, but he did provide some power with 24 homers and stole 12 of 14 bases. That number would have been higher, however, had his on-base percentage been better than .324.

Granderson shined the most in the playoffs, when he led the team with a .357 average.

Jackson, meanwhile, is the favorite to win the American League Rookie of the Year Award after hitting .293, scoring 103 runs, collecting 34 doubles and 10 triples and swiping 27 bags thanks to a .345 OBP.

All of those numbers were better than Granderson’s and Jackson is six years younger, so I’d definitely rather have Jackson on my team.

Coke (3.76 ERA, 1.44 WHIP) had a mediocre year, but Kennedy had a pretty good one, posting a 3.80 ERA in 32 starts.

Granderson trade: C-

Acquiring Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan from the Braves for Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino would have graded an “F” if not for Logan’s good year and Cabrera’s terrible one.

As expected, Vazquez was even worse than in his last stint with the Yankees. He went 10-10 with a 5.32 ERA and was even less impressive against winning teams, going 5-6 and 6.22. The right-hander was so bad that despite earning $11.5 million this year, he was left off the postseason roster.  Kennedy would have been a better No. 5 starter.

The unlikely gem in this deal was Logan, who posted a 2.93 ERA and held lefties to a .190 average, far better than the .273 left-handers hit off Coke.

Cabrera, meanwhile, was recently released by Atlanta after hitting .255/317/.354 with just four homers and 42 RBI in 147 games.

Dunn, on the other hand, gave the Braves 19 serviceable innings after being called up in mid-July. His 1.68 WHIP was way too high because of 17 walks, but he struck out 27 and posted a 1.89 ERA.

Vizcaino could turn out to be the best player in this trade after going 9-4 with a 2.74 ERA in Class A and A+ ball this year.

If you just look at the main pieces in this deal, you could call it pretty even because neither side improved much from it. But the Yankees were definitely hurt more.

Vazquez was supposed to be an innings-eater for New York, but he pitched only 157 1/3 frames and just 10 of his 26 starts were quality outings.

You know who had a better ratio than that last year? Joba Chamberlain. He made 11 quality starts over his first 20 outings in 2009, posting a 7-2 record and a 3.58 ERA before the Yankees began deconstructing him as a pitcher.

Chamberlain was the biggest loser in the Vazquez acquisition because he lost the starter’s spot that he was promised and deserved.

And I promise you, he would’ve gone better than 10-10 with a 5.32 ERA.

Vazquez trade: D+

Cashman chose not to re-sign 2009 World Series MVP Hideki Matsui and championship contributor Johnny Damon, instead inking Nick Johnson to be the full-time DH and trusting Brett Gardner to take over in left field, while signing Randy Winn to back him up.

I didn’t want to let Matsui go, but once he was gone, I was pleased with the Johnson signing because he has a lifetime .401 on-base percentage. But Johnson’s Achilles’ heel—injuries—reared its ugly head again: the DH hit just .167 before being lost for the season after only 24 games.

Godzilla, meanwhile, barely slowed down at all. His .274 average with the Angels was exactly the same as his mark with the Yanks last year, and his .361 OBP, 21 homers and 84 RBI were only slightly below his ’09 numbers.

Trusting Brett Gardner proved to be the best thing Cashman did this past off-season. The outfielder had a career year, hitting .277 with a .383 OBP and 47 steals in 56 attempts.

Damon played well for the Tigers, batting .271, getting on base 35.5 percent of the time and swiping 11 of 12 bags, but the Yankees definitely got younger and saved some money with this exchange.

Winn, on the other hand, was a complete bust, hitting just .213 in 61 at-bats before being released and signing with the Cardinals.

New DH: F

New LF: B+

Cashman didn’t make a big splash at the trade deadline, but he actually helped the team more with these little moves than he did with the larger ones in the off-season.

The Yankees didn’t have to give up much to get Kerry Wood, Lance Berkman, and Austin Kearns, so whatever they got out of them would prove to make the deals valuable.

New York got the most out of Wood, who allowed just two earned runs on 14 hits over 26 regular-season innings (0.69 ERA), before contributing again with a 2.25 mark in eight playoff frames.

Berkman struggled when he first came over from the Astros, but he turned things around and proved to be a worthy DH against right-handed pitchers. He hit .303 in September and slugged .688 in the postseason.

Kearns was a bust, hitting just .235 in 36 games.

But you also have to look at what Cashman didn’t do at the deadline. The Yankees really needed starting pitching help, and while I understand his reluctance to part with more big prospects for a guy like Cliff Lee when you can just sign him as a free-agent this winter, Cashman could have nabbed a second-tier hurler like Ted Lilly.

Trade Deadline: A-

Overall, I’d give Cashman a C-. He did well at the deadline, but all of his moves over the winter came under the heading of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Follow me on Twitter at JordanHarrison. Jordan Schwartz is one of Bleacher Report’s New York Yankees and College Basketball Featured Columnists. His book Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and authorhouse.com. Jordan can be reached at jordanschwartz2003@yahoo.com

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Mariano Rivera is a 16-year Major League veteran, and at 40 years old he is still dominating hitters in their 20s, but the question is how long can this continue.

Take a look at Rivera’s career, and it’s easy to tell this is a future Hall of Famer on the mound. What he has been able to do while seemingly only throwing one pitch has been incredible. Rivera has a career ERA of 2.23 which accompanies his 559 career saves. 

Rivera has been the rare player who seemingly has gotten better the more he has aged. Take the last three seasons for instance in which he competed at the advanced ages of 38, 39, and 40 years old. In those seasons, he pitched to a 1.40, 1.76, and 1.80 ERA respectively.

Those seasons rank among the best he has pitched in his entire big league career. The reason why is simple: He does not rely on velocity in order to get hitters out. Rivera specializes in making hitters get themselves out because of the movement on his trademark cutter. 

The pitch has such late movement that a hitter knows what is coming but is still helpless in trying to hit against him. Rivera has been especially unhittable in postseason play where he has cemented his Hall of Fame resume.

Rivera has pitched in 90 postseason games, recording 41 saves in 135.2 innings while pitching to a 0.73 ERA. That’s right, Rivera’s postseason ERA is more than two times better than his ERA in the regular season. Against tougher competition, Rivera raises his game to the next level which makes him one of if not the most indispensable Yankees.

However, this season is the last on Rivera’s contract, and the question the Yankees must ask themselves is how long Rivera can keep pitching on the level he has his entire career. There are two comparable players for a pitcher such as Rivera, and they are Greg Maddux and Trevor Hoffman.

Maddux like Rivera did not rely on velocity and instead relied on precision and movement on his pitches. Rivera has pinpoint accuracy and can place the ball anywhere he wants within the zone. If Rivera continues to place the ball wherever he wants without losing movement on his fastball then he can pitch as long as he desires.

The lack in velocity has not seemed to effect him this season as he still broke the same amount of bats he has throughout his career. However, Hoffman is a case where the aging process has obviously taken its toll. 

His fastball has lost so much velocity that there is minimal difference between the fastball and change-up rendering his pitching ineffective. Rivera is a proud man, and he would not want to go out a shade of his former self. 

The decision is all his. As long as Rivera wants to pitch and has his trademark cutter, he will continue his assault at the saves record in a Yankee uniform before delivering his Hall of Fame introduction speech in Cooperstown.

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