Mum's the Word in Yankeeland

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how eerily quiet the Yankee offseason has been?  With five weeks to go until spring training, Brian Cashman and the Yankee brain trust have shown tremendous restraint by not making a big splash in the free agent agent pool.  Instead, the Yankees have focused on keeping their own players rather than overpay for mediocre talent. This year's free agent season has not been dominated by the Yankees and their seemingly blank checkbook, it has been the LA Angels who have  made this biggest splash this offseason by backing up the truck and wrangling away the King, Albert Pujols from St. Louis to La La land for ten-years and $254 million dollars guaranteed.  The Angels also committed five-years, $77.5 million to CJ Wilson, who was arguably the best pitcher on the market.  Before the Angels stole the show, the new look Miami Marlins stirred up quite a buzz by signing Heath Bell to close games, Mark Buehrle to bolster their rotation and coerced Jose Reyes to take his talents to South Beach for six-years, $102 millions dollars, much to the chagrin of Hanley Ramirez.  The Marlins are moving into a new stadium and are eager to put butts in those seats.  I like the moves that the Marlins made, but I hope this doesn't turn out to be 1997 when the Marlins assembled a fantastic team and won the World Series, only to have a fire-sale and dismantle the team in 1998.  The Texas Rangers acquired the right to negotiate with Japanese free agent phenom Yu Darvish by outbidding all teams and paying an astounding $51.7 million dollars.  On the trade front, the Washington Nationals pulled off a nice trade and acquired Gio Gonzalez from the A's for a package of young prospects.  Billy Beane also traded Trevor Cahill to Arizona for another package of prospects headed by Jarrod Parker.  There have been some other moves such as San Diego acquiring Carlos Quentin and Houston Street, but I'm not going to waste too much time talking about them.  Instead, I am going to turn my attention to the Yankees and their current offseason.

The first order of business this offseason for the Yankees was to re-up with CC Sabathia to ensure that the burly lefty would not opt out of his current deal and test the free agent waters.  The Yankees and Sabathia reached an agreement on October 31st, adding one-year, $30 million dollars on top of the remaining four-years, $92 million dollars remaining on Sabathia's deal.  The result translated into a five-year, $122 million for the Yankee ace.  The Yankees also brought back the surprisingly durable, surprising effective Freddy Garcia on a one-year, $4 million dollar deal.  Garcia managed to stay healthy in 2011 and posted a respectable 3.69 ERA in 146.2 IP.  Nick Swisher will be patrolling right field for at least one more year as the Yankees picked up Swisher's $10 million dollar option.  Swisher, 31, saw his average dip from .288 in 2010 to .260 in 2011, but still managed to hit 23 HR and drive in 85 runs and came at a much cheaper price than the two-years, $26 million dollars that it took to sign Carlos Beltran, 34 who's playing with arthritic knees.  The last move of significance was the Yankees picking up Robinson Cano's $10.25 million option, which is a steal for Cano, who I feel is the best 2B in baseball.

As a Yankee fan, I am pretty happy with the restraint the Yankees have shown.  The Yankees have a tremendous farm system with the likes of Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances and Jesus Montero primed to make an impact in 2012.  The Yankees are hoping that Phil Hughes can revert back to his 2010 form and are praying that AJ "Nook LaLoosh" Burnett can give them something.  Ideally, I'd love to see the Yankees trade him, but that would be a pipe dream on my behalf.  While the new Yankees are operating on a budget and attempting to reduce payroll, I do think they should make a run at free-agent first baseman Prince Fielder. 

We are in mid-January and the first baseman still has yet to sign.  If these were the George Steinbrenner Yankees you can bet your bottom dollar that Fielder would be wearing pinstripes by now.  Fielder is 27, in the prime of his career and would do real damage with that short right field porch.  Fielder's build begs for him to sign with an American League team where he can DH and occasionally fill in at 1B.  The Yankees have one of the oldest left side of the infield with Jeter, 37 and A-ROD, 36.  Jeter was mired in a deep slump last year and started to show his age.  While he did rebound nicely in the second half, you can expect the regression to further advance in 2012.  A-ROD hasn't been able to stay healthy and is beginning to break down.  He has missed significant time in 2010 and 2011 with hip and knee surgeries.  It was once thought that Fielder and his agent, Scott Boras were seeking a ten-year contract similiar to tha of Albert Pujols.  That seems less and less likely as we get closer and closer to springing training.  It is my belief that the Yankees could sign Fielder to a 3-5 year deal, which would be the perfect length for a player such as Fielder.  It appears as though the Nationals have tremendous interest in Fielder and signs point that he will sign with them, however, keep in mind that prior to the 2009 season, it was a virtual that Mark Teixeira would end up in Boston until the Yankees decided to step in. 

The Yankees may now be run by Hal Steinbrenner instead of his father but you can never count them out on any free agent, nor can you dismiss any trade rumor.  Only time will tell how these last few weeks will fill out.  If there is one thing I am sure of, it is that this Yankee team as it is composed now will not be the same Yankee team that takes the field on opening day.