[新聞] Yankees Begin Retreat From Winning at All Costs

[parabird (Harry)]

The New York Times


By TYLER KEPNER
Published: November 19, 2006

Consider, for a moment, the case of Ted Lilly, a free-agent pitcher from the
Toronto Blue Jays.

He is 30 years old, left-handed and won 15 games last season for the team
that finished second to the Yankees in the American League East. He is a
former Yankee who was named to the A.L. All-Star team by Joe Torre in 2004.
He has had no arm operations in the last seven years.

Lilly has a downside, too — he has never thrown as many as 200 innings in a
season, and he can be wild. But the Yankees have money to spend and an open
spot in their rotation. Shouldn’t Torre, the manager, be making a recruiting
call? The Yankees must be interested, right?

“I’m just not sure,” Lilly’s agent, Larry O’Brien, said Friday night. “
I haven’t really spoken with Brian. We exchanged calls a few days ago and we
haven’t touched base. I didn’t speak with him at the general managers
meetings. We’re getting into some fairly serious discussions, but New York
hasn’t surfaced again.”

It could be that the Yankees are more serious about other free agents from a
group that includes Jason Schmidt, Gil Meche, Randy Wolf, Jeff Suppan and
Miguel Batista. Or it could be that Brian Cashman, the general manager,
really does want to pass.

After bidding more than $30 million for the rights to negotiate with the
Japanese star Daisuke Matsuzaka — and falling well short of Boston’s
winning bid, $51.1 million — the Yankees say they are taking a step back.
Cashman wants to lower the team’s payroll while getting younger, and he
insists the Yankees have viable internal candidates for all their holes.

“We have guys that we can turn to from within at all positions,” Cashman
said Friday. “I’m not saying we’re going to turn to them, but in the
worst-case scenario, if we do, we do. I’m engaging the trade and free-agent
markets, but I have a comfort level in going with the guys I’ve got.”

If the Yankees filled every job from within, their fifth starter would be
Jeff Karstens, Darrell Rasner, Humberto Sanchez or reliever Scott Proctor.
Their everyday first baseman would be Andy Phillips and their backup catcher
Wil Nieves. Sean Henn would be their second left-hander out of the bullpen.

So Cashman has inventory, and he added to it by acquiring Sanchez from
Detroit in the Gary Sheffield trade and reliever Chris Britton from Baltimore
in the Jaret Wright deal. But Cashman also has a track record.

Last winter, when Johnny Damon was seeking a seven-year contract in free
agency, Cashman said repeatedly that he would be comfortable using Bubba
Crosby as the everyday center fielder.

If Cashman was bluffing, Damon never called him on it. He let his price fall
into the Yankees’ range — four years, $52 million — and the Yankees acted
quickly to sign him. (Crosby was cut in August.)

Next season, with Jason Giambi strictly a designated hitter, the Yankees’
 only need in the lineup is a first baseman. They outbid the Phillies for the
former Marlins infielder Wes Helms, but he chose Philadelphia for two years
and $5.45 million.

Helms said he would not have liked the “older atmosphere” of Yankee
Stadium, but acknowledged that the Yankees made a strong offer.

“The role was to play first base,” Helms said in a conference call with
reporters on Friday. “They were going to D.H. Giambi. On the guaranteed
side, they were a little higher. But that’s just me. I’m going to go where I
’m happy.”

There are other first basemen available as free agents, including Shea
Hillenbrand, Phil Nevin and Kevin Millar. But while the market for pitchers
offers more choices, teams are unlikely to find bargains.

“There are more teams looking for pitchers than there are pitchers,”
 Cashman said. “That’s why it’s pricey.”

The Yankees dove headfirst into the free-agent pitching pool after the 2004
season, spending $40 million on Carl Pavano and $21 million on Wright. Both
had a history of injuries, and both have indeed been hurt.

Pavano, who has not pitched for the Yankees since June 2005, has a spot in
the 2007 rotation. So does Randy Johnson, who is coming off back surgery. The
Yankees would seem to badly need more starters, yet Cashman said he preferred
to focus on the pitchers in the Yankees farm system, including the prized
prospect Phil Hughes.

“The method to the madness is, the more players you can develop, the more
you can keep from being desperate on the free-agent market,” Cashman said. “
You don’t want to be desperate on the free-agent market, because you end up
paying dearly.

“You almost never get fair value on a free agent, so you try to put yourself
in a position where you don’t have to go shopping in the free-agent market.”

Lilly could cost $36 million for four years, and the top free-agent pitcher,
Barry Zito, will cost much more. Andy Pettitte could be a bargain for one
year, but it seems that he will most likely retire or return to Houston.

If he worked for almost any other team, Cashman said, he could just plug in a
prospect and call it a rotation. But Cashman admitted that for all his hopes
of getting cheaper and younger, the Yankees are still the Yankees.

“We’re not like most clubs,” Cashman said. “That’s why, at the very
least, we’ll look. But I don’t have to do anything at all costs.”


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推 BleuOmbre:真的不知道 lilly 哪裡好..
推 settier:算是不錯的四五號先發吧  = =
推 guiding:我也覺得算是不錯的4、5號
推 fosa:4.5號感覺有點委屈他，但3號以上又覺得不夠
推 lanucelot:看在他長的有點像柯林法洛的面子上，就讓他當5號好了
推 asdfzx:至少比少爺好很多
推 Yajoeso:補個左投阿  不錯
推 onlyyou2:  Lily不會跟Torre打架吧?