Yankees Land Tanaka... and Find Themselves in More Trouble Than Ever.

Earlier today the New York Yankees made some waves by signing Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka to a seven year $155 million dollar deal. The 25 year-old right hander is coming off a season in which went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA for the Japanese Series title winning Rakuten Golden Eagles.

The Yankees hope that Tanaka can sure up a starting rotation that is projected to feature CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, and Ivan Nova. The Yankees missed the playoffs last year for the first time since 2008 largely because of a lack of depth in their starting rotation. Yankees starters boasted only a 55-62 record and landed in the bottom half of the AL in most statistical categories.

Tanaka figures to go a long way in alleviating the Yankees starting pitching woes. While he is unproven, Japanese pitchers have experienced success in the majors during the past couple seasons. Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers has established himself as one of the best pitchers in the league. His 29-18 record over the past two years is impressive and his 277 strikeouts this past season were tops in the league.

Hisashi Iwakuma's continued emergence this year helped to Seattle Mariners establish themselves as a potential threat in the AL West. Iwakuma's 14-6 record showed continued improvement from his 9-5 mark in 2012 and his 2.66 ERA was good for third in the AL.

Darvish and Iwakuma have emerged as two of the best pitchers in the AL.

Even ex-Red Sox great Daisuke Matsuzaka found relative success over a somewhat tenuous stay in Boston. While most fans remember the anxiety and frustration that came along with Dice-K they tend to forget his 18-3 record in 2008.

The questions that must be asked then is will the addition of Tanaka be enough to get the Yankees back into the playoffs? Taken out of context the Yankees off-season looks to be one of the best in recent years. In addition to Tanaka the Yankees also signed catcher Brian McCann and outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran. Any time your team is able to add four perennial all-stars it generally bodes well for your post-season prospects. This could not be any LESS true for the New York Yankees.

Am I the only one who thinks that GM Brian Cashman has forgotten how the game of baseball works? Brian you can only have three outfielders playing at once. Yeah, Beltran and Ellsbury are good additions, but what about Ichiro Suzuki? What about Alfonso Soriano? What about Brett Gardner? Yes, you have a DH position to fill, but McCann, shortstop Derek "yeah Jeets" Jeter and first basemen Mark Teixeira are all coming back from injury plagued seasons and will likely be inserted into that spot to prevent overuse and further injury. On a team where every projected starter is over the age of 30 the DH position will be more of a revolving door than an established position.

The excess of outfielders is not necessarily a bad thing in of itself, but when coupled with a complete lack of anything resembling a major league infield it becomes a real problem. This is no slight to Jeter or Teixeira, who have proven that they were elite players, but both have significant health issues, Jeter in particular, and have seen substantial drops in production over the past several seasons. Taken in conjunction with the suspension of third baseman Alex Rodriguez and the loss of second baseman Robinson Cano (who led the team in EVERY MAJOR OFFENSIVE CATEGORY) and the Yankees infield is more exposed than a thermal exhaust port on the original Death Star.

Many Bothans died bringing Cashman this information.

What's more troubling is that Cashman has done NOTHING to rectify the Yankees infield problems. (Yes I would love to insert the Mugatu clip right here, I won't, but you get the idea.) Cashman's strategy as a GM has been throw money at big name guys and hope that the Yankees problems go away. To a certain extent it has worked, the Yankees playoff record is impressive, however lackadaisically throwing cash around will eventually come back to bite you when your team has no depth to speak of and the free-agent market doesn't offer what you need.

While they may be one of the largest markets in the league the Yankees need to embrace a rebuilding strategy if they want to meet with long term success. Think about the great Yankee teams of the late 90s and early 00s. These were teams founded on home grown talent. Jeter, Soriano and Cano all came up with the Yankees during this period. Additionally the Yankees' farm system gave rise of guys like Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada just to name a few. Over the past several seasons the biggest player to come out of the Yankees farm system has been Nova, who looks to be an above average major league pitcher at best.

We're watching a dying giant. A glutinous fiend that has fueled itself on unsustainable investment and constant growth while simultaneously neglecting to establish a strong foundation upon which to build. It's not too late, Cashman can change his tactics, accept that his team needs a season or two to rebuild and begin to invest in player development and young talent, or he can continue to irresponsibly spend money on the biggest available free-agent on the market regardless of how this individual fits into the Yankees' system.

The Yankees franchise is going in one of two directions, the signing of Tanaka may help delay the inevitable, but at some point Cashman and the Yankees have a decision to make. Will they continue to blindly through money at their problems and ultimately deny themselves long term success, or are they willing to bite the bullet, accept that the dynasty is at an end and rebuild for another dynasty five years hence? Only time will tell, but unfortunately for Yankees fans it's not looking good.

(Feel free to read this as an allegory for America's dependence on fossil fuels and lack of investment in clean renewable energy.)

Scott Boras Wants to Open Training Facility for Only His Clients In Where Else...But Miami

It was just a week ago when a Miami-based company, Biogenesis, a well-known PED distributor, had divulged its client list containing names such as Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun.  In its wake, the story has left the baseball world shaken again, with fingers being pointed in all sorts of directions.

Who is trying to play hero in all of this?  Baseball's most notorious agent, Scott Boras.  He has outlined plans to open a multi-million dollar sports fitness center exclusively for his clients.

"We want to make sure we're making every effort to advance the credibility and understanding of what major league players must abide by and also to protect them from the influences of many of these supposed medical practitioners who are availing themselves to the players," Boras said.

And where is Boras planning on opening this facility?  The same city in which the latest steroid scandal has come out of.  Todd Berg of USA Today Sports wrote an article on Friday in which he says, "People often seem to hate Scott Boras for being very good at his job, but this is just Scott Boras being very good at his job again."

Is that what you would call this?  This wouldn't happen to be extremely selfish, controlling or just plain sketchy?  Of all the places in Florida, Arizona or California where baseball is played year round, you pick the same city that has the most recent ties to steroids?  And to be clear, this is a facility only for your players, Mr. Boras?  You really think that you are "making every effort to advance the credibility and understanding of major league players?"

No, you mean "your players."  Your money.  Boras is known to be hated in some baseball circles because he is always pushing the envelope, trying to squeeze every last dime from teams for his players.  This is not another edge that Boras can gain.  This is not his job.

Watching MLB Network today, Harold Reynolds sat back and offered a player like Felix Hernandez of the Mariners for his example.  The Mariners just made "King Felix" one of the highest paid pitchers in history, giving him a five-year, $135.5 million contract.  Do you think they would want a player like him going clear across the country to train at some facility with his agent?  I agree with Reynolds when he said that it is the team's responsibility at this point to get their doctors on him, their strength and conditioning coaches, their trainers. 

They are the ones spending the money, so it should be the team's choice as to where the player trains.  Is that so much to ask for when you are going to be paying that kind of money to one player?  If just one player gets caught for steroids, it impacts the entire franchise and shakes the entire league.  If Boras truly cared about the game, he would be working alongside the MLB, not going outside of it.

Steroids

This issue is never going to go away.  I've written about it a few times, but it gets tough to try and avoid the speculation and so many strong feelings and biases involved with the discussion.

Lance Armstrong has finally faded from news, thankfully, but just as that has happened, we get the newest chapter in baseball's ongoing steroid saga.  Names like Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun have come up again, this time in association with a known PED clinic.  Rodriguez is a third baseman for the New York Yankees who has admitted to using steroid for three years early in his career for the Texas Rangers.  Braun is an outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, who won the NL MVP in 2011 and two months later, tested positive for PEDs.  So both players have either admitted using PEDs or have tested positive for them, but what is one thing they've never had to deal with?

Missing a game due to suspension.

Major League Baseball's performance enhancing drug policy says that the first time a player is caught for steroids, he is suspended 50 games.  The second time, 100 games.  If he's dumb enough to try a third time, he is banned from the game.  Okay, so let me see here... A-Rod has admitted using steroids once, and his name has been linked to several PED suppliers.  Braun has been caught once and linked again a year later.  Yeah, this makes sense.

The thing that irks me about both of these players, is how they lie directly to our faces.  They look into a camera or an interviewer's face; they look directly into our living rooms and say, "you guys are all stupid for thinking we would cheat."  Are we?  Then why, year after year, is the evidence piling up against you?  I read a piece by Bill Simmons the other day on this very topic, and he has a great point when it comes this issue in baseball.

We ignored their swollen noggins and rippling biceps. We weren't fazed by seemingly inexplicable surges in production, or even something as fundamentally perplexing as a 37-year-old doubles hitter suddenly hitting 50-plus homers. We didn't just look the other way; we threw heavy burlap bags over our heads and taped our eyeballs shut. And because we never stepped up, those enterprising dickheads bastardized baseball and ruined one of its most sacred qualities: the wholly unique way that eight generations of players relate to one another through statistics and records.  -Simmons

It pisses me off that Braun won the MVP over Matt Kemp got caught cheating, and still got to keep the award.  The San Francisco Giants best hitter early in the season? Melky Cabrera.  And what happened to him for a 50 game stretch that resulted in him being left of the playoff roster?  Right.

I will never be a professional baseball player.  I don't know what they go through during their careers with the pressure, the media, injuries, slumps, you name it.  I don't know that I wouldn't take steroids if I had a chance at greater fame or success.  If it was in the cards and I had, for whatever reason, cheated in the game that I love, I wouldn't be standing at a podium, or sitting in front of a camera on 60 Minutes telling my fans, the world, that they are all idiots.

This issue provides a unique opportunity, however.  As this is clearly a multifaceted dilemma, I have a virtually unlimited number of chances to write about and debate this issue.  In the near future I plan to write about players that have been suspected of steroids, players who should be suspected of steroids, and possibly some different paths to take as far as disciplinary action is concerned, so stay tuned.

True Statement

Hahahahahahahahahaha. Nice.