Lester to Cubs, Robertson to cross town rivals. What’s next for the Yankees?

Yesterday both Chicago teams caught some big fishes. The Chicago Cubs reportedly signed Jon Lester to a six year $155 million contract. Despite efforts of Red Sox owner John Henry to get him back to Beantown, Lester opted for the Cubs. Why? Probably because of a couple of former Red Sox front office guys who are with the Cubs now. I read some comments by Red Sox fans. They were ticked off with Lester to put it mildly. But what do they expect? The Red Sox traded him away. Do they expect him to get back there? I cannot blame him. I keep saying that if you and I can improve ourselves, job/ salary wise, we will do the same. You can only wonder if the amount of $155 million is really worth it.

David Robertson signed a four year $46 million deal with the White Sox. Do I blame him? No! After all I think that the Yankees did not treat him in the right way. He filled Mariano Rivera’s shoes very well. He deserves the credit for that. But it appears that the Yankees never were after him and that they only made this $13 milllion qualifying offer to make sure that they would get the draft pick from the team that would sign Robertson. Sure it is big business, but I don’t think it is the way you treat people.

So with both pitchers out of the FA pool, what is left for the Yankees? Are they really after Scherzer? How about Shields? Rumours say that the Red Sox go after Scherzer now. If I was Brian Cashman, I would drive up his price. I still prefer other pitchers over Scherzer. Like I wrote the other day, he is relying on his fastball too much. That makes him vulnerable if he will not be able to throw it anymore due to an injury.

The current rotation has shown that it can deal with the pressure but there are question marks as well. Sabathia is not effective anymore without his fastball. Pineda and Nova have shown flashes of brilliance but have shown lack of control as well. Tanaka was good but ended on the DL with a shoulder injury. Will he be healthy in time? I am affraid that he will end up with Tommy John surgery anyway.

To fill a vacant spot in the rotation, Cashman has to make one move at least. What will he do? Trade for one or just sign one of the remaining free agent pitchers? I hope that he will sign one. If he trades for one, he has to give up some of the little talent that the Yankees have left in their farm system. And when it comes to trades, I feel that the Yankees have to give up more than other teams; that the Yankees are ripped off because they are the Yankees.

Is there any help on the way from the farm system? One of the few pitchers that should be ready to make the plunge is Manny Banuelos. But the kid always had some control issues and those have gotten worse after his Tommy John surgery. Next to Banuelos Jaron Long (son of former hitting coach Kevin) and Louis Severino may be ready to break into the Majors. But both have some issues. Long has an excellent control but lacks some elite stuff. He only throws a change up and a fastball and then his fastball is not overpowering. Severino possesses a sinking fastball, inconsistent slider and developing changeup and is developing into a ground ball pitcher. But at times he loses control because he has a tendency to overthrow.
There are some other talented pitchers in the farm system, but according to the reports they are at least two years away from being called up. So I don’t see any real help coming from the farm any time soon.

Not that he will read this, but I would like to urge mr. Cashman to go after Jordan Zimmermann instead of Max Scherzer. I would like to urge him not to trade for a pitcher. Forget this “A year without a World Series win, is a lost season” crap. You cannot win it every year. Take a couple of losing seasons by rebuilding your farm system and by stockpiling talent. Sure there will always be some positions that need to be filled throug a trade or through free agency but I rather see a homegrown team instead of a team full of mercenaries. I long for the days of 1996 when Gene “Stick” Michael ran the business. Maybe the Yankees should get him back.