NASHVILLE – The Red Sox still were working through trade permutations with the Twins involving Johan Santana as the Winter Meetings concluded. The Mets believed they were back in the game for the ace left-hander.
The Yankees?
They left with Jonathan Albaladejo. They also left, if their word is to be believed, more dependent on young starters than any time during the George Steinbrenner era. It is easily argued, in fact, the Yankees have more riding on neophyte starters than any major league team.
Other clubs might have more inexperience in the rotation. But no other club will be banking the success of a $200 million payroll and the expiring baseball biological clocks of so many veterans on the young and test-less.
“It is not really an issue because we know what it is going in, there are no surprises,” Joe Girardi said.
The Yanks know they are going to ask Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy to log big innings, carry huge expectations, fill substantial roles. Kennedy, who turns 23 in 12 days, is the oldest. So the Yanks are going to ask three righties 23 and under to help them overtake the Red Sox.
Would you like to guess how many righties in their age-23 season or younger have logged even 20 starts during Steinbrenner’s previous 34 years of ownership? That would be three: Jim Beattie, 1978; Mike Morgan, 1982; and Doug Drabek, 1986.
Want to take a stab at how many total starts Joe Torre received from pitchers in their age-23 season or younger in his 12 years managing? Forty, but 19 came last year from Hughes, Kennedy and Tyler Clippard.
So clearly, the Yanks were trending this way. But they feel even stronger now about this direction with Girardi, who they view as more open-minded and tolerant of young arms than Torre. In his only season managing, 2006 for the Marlins, Girardi received 100 starts from pitchers in their age-23 season of younger.
“Everything is a challenge that you have to overcome,” Girardi said. “That was my message (in Florida), and that won’t change (with the Yankees).”
It is the right message. The Red Sox are not going to show mercy, as their pursuit of Santana demonstrates. The AL, if anything, is getting tougher to navigate for pitchers, especially with strong hitters such as Edgar Renteria and Miguel Cabrera flipping over from the NL to the Tigers.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman actually says the way the AL is constituted is why he is hoarding young, high-end starters.
“Because we are not just playing for next year,” Cashman said. “We want to compete for a championship on a yearly basis, including next year. What we are doing is for a longer time, not just next year.”
So far, Cashman has held steady to that philosophy since May 2005, when he was given greater baseball authority. His greatest challenge, though, is coming this winter, with the Red Sox now a champion for the second time in four years. With the Red Sox still the frontrunner to land Santana, team him with Josh Beckett and aim toward dynasty.
Competitors, namely Boston, do not believe the Yanks are truly out of this competition. Both Cashman and Minnesota GM Bill Smith like to work away from the glare, and the glare will recede now with these meetings done. Few would be surprised to ultimately hear the Yanks have landed Santana for a package built around Hughes. An executive from a team interested in Oakland’s Dan Haren predicted the Yanks would get the righty.
These are the Yankees, the embers of their reputation do not die quickly. So there remains this feeling that they will act as they have always acted, and go and get a front-line starter; pay the price in dollars and prospects they keep insisting they are disinclined to pay.
But the evidence is mounting that the Yankees want to fight their instinct, go with youngsters where “the payoff is on the backend,” according to Cashman. The Yanks say they are willing to deal with the growing pains, risk the $200 million, risk their older players fading before these young arms fully blossom.
“No one is conceding anything,” Cashman said. “But patience is just as important.”
The Winter Meetings concluded with the Yanks owning patience, but not Johan Santana.