Bay worth 100 M?

[Synovia]

Did you see Text play first during the playoffs?

Yeah, I did. Teixera has fantastic reflexes, and great hands. He does everything well at first base. The problem is, he has bad range, and a lot of balls get by him to his right side.

Also, Bay is in no way a "bad" LF'er. He's more than adequate out there. He's certainly better than Rivera and Ibanez.

No, hes not. Both Rivera and Ibanez, neither of who mare good, both have better range than Bay. Bay WAS a good defender before he blew his knee a couple years ago. Now, hes one of the worst. He frequently gets bad breaks on the ball, is slow, and has terrible transitions (glove to hand, ground to glove, etc).

Any metric that puts a butcher like Howard ahead of Textiera defensively, has to be questioned.

Of course it has to be questioned. And theres a very clear answer to that question: Howard positions himself better than Texeira. Texeira plays entirely too close to the line, and too far forward, relying on his superior reflexes, and gets burned because of it. Howard plays further back, and gets to more balls, despite being nowhere near the athlete.

 

[maverick4]

Given the economy, who in the entire league is worth 100M?

The Yankees have basically spent as much as they could, they're probably no longer a player for free agents anymore.

With the Yankees out, the market value for every elite free agent is probably reduced significantly.

 

[Synovia]

Given the economy, who in the entire league is worth 100M?

The Yankees have basically spent as much as they could, they're probably no longer a player for free agents anymore.

With the Yankees out, the market value for every elite free agent is probably reduced significantly.

The Yankees are dropping basically 50M off their payroll this year. They're going to be very active.

 

[Real World]

Yeah, I did. Teixera has fantastic reflexes, and great hands. He does everything well at first base. The problem is, he has bad range, and a lot of balls get by him to his right side.



No, hes not. Both Rivera and Ibanez, neither of who mare good, both have better range than Bay. Bay WAS a good defender before he blew his knee a couple years ago. Now, hes one of the worst. He frequently gets bad breaks on the ball, is slow, and has terrible transitions (glove to hand, ground to glove, etc).



Of course it has to be questioned. And theres a very clear answer to that question: Howard positions himself better than Texeira. Texeira plays entirely too close to the line, and too far forward, relying on his superior reflexes, and gets burned because of it. Howard plays further back, and gets to more balls, despite being nowhere near the athlete.

I couldn't disagree more with everything you said above. Howard is horrible at first base. He's better than he used to be, but he's well below average. He's in Giambi territory. Textiera is one of the top 1B's in the league. Howard made 14 errors at 1B, 14! Text made only 4. The bottom line is which player is a better defender, and it's Text hands down. It's not even close. Yet, the sabermetrics will have you believe the opposite. As for Bay, he's a superior athlete to either Rivera, or Ibanez. The notion that they have better range than Bay, is the opposite of what the sabermetrics say. Bay has a higher RF (range factor) than both Ibanez and Rivera. It's another reason why the defensive sabermetrics have to be taken with a high dose of salt. He covers more ground, but is a worse outfielder, while the other has 3+ times as many errors, but is a higher rated defensive player. It's an unproven science that too many use as a dictionary. Again though, I'm not saying there isn't a place for them. I just think that they are shady, unproven, and inconclusive.

 

[Real World]

The Yankees are dropping basically 50M off their payroll this year. They're going to be very active.

I don't think they will be. They have $165 million or so dedicatd to 12 players. They are set at every position except for maybe CF, and LF. In CF, I think they are content with the production they got from Melky and Gardner. Both are cheap, cover both sides of the plate (Melky is a switch hitter, Gardner a left handed batter), and each is adequate defesnively. Plus, Gardner has some real upside with his speed, and his ability to get on base in the minors. He could be a 60 steal guy in the league. Basically, the only position that could change, is LF. RF if they moved Swisher over. Another key is their prospect in AAA, named Austin Jackson. He's about a year away, and the Yanks would probably like to keep LF open for him in 2011. So I doubt they sign anyone long term for LF. Especially since Carl Crawford is likely going to be a free agent after 2010. So Damon on a 1 year, or Dye on a 1 year for example, makes much more sense for them.

The only area where the Yankees might spend, is for pitching. I don't think they will, but they could make a player for a veteran starter, or maybe a veteran set up man if they move Hughes & Joba to the rotation. Still, I don't see the Yankees breaking the bank for anyone. Save for one of their own free agents.

 

[Synovia]

Textiera is one of the top 1B's in the league. Howard made 14 errors at 1B, 14! Text made only 4.

I don't see how that contradicts anything I said.

I said Teixera is much better with the glove, but doesn't position himself as well. He does more with the balls he gets, but he doesn't get to as many.