Listing Derek Jeter possible replacements in 2015

With Derek Jeter announcing that 2014 will be his last season in pinstripes, the Yankees now have the year to think about and plan out who will replace Jeter in the future. The one thing that we know for sure is that nobody can actually replace The Captain.

The Yankees have options between now and Opening Day 2015. One option that they have that will not require any additional free agent spending would be to move Alex Rodriguez back to shortstop (where he began his career playing). However, coming off of two his surgeries in the past five years, the Yankees would never even think of using him at shortstop.

They barley even want him playing third base for them next season, as it already it.

Option number two for the Yankees is to try to sign one via free agency. Next year, there are three shortstops that stand out and would fit the hole in the Yankees middle infield. Those three are Hanley Ramirez, Asdrubal Cabrera and J.J. Hardy. All three would be looking for long term, high value contracts probably somewhere in the ballpark of 5 years $75 million. 

All three of those guys would take a little bit of the sting off of losing Jeter, but would not solve the problem.

Ramirez was brought up in the Red Sox organization, but he was traded in 2005 with Anibal Sanchez to the Marlins for Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett. Hanley is a career .302 hitter and will be 31 years old going into the 2015 season. 

Hanley also has six seasons with 20 or more home runs. Although it is still up in the air on whether he will resign with the Dodgers or not, there is a really good shot that the Yankees will make a push to sign him next offseason.

Cabrera was brought up by the Mariners organization and was traded to the Indians in 2006 for Eduardo Perez. Cabrera is a two time All-Star and a career .273 hitter. He will be entering his age 29 season in 2015. Asdrubal finished last season third in the MLB in fielding percentage as a shortstop. 

The Indians have not made any indications that they will try and bring Cabrera back on a long term deal, so it is most likely that Cabrera will wind up on the Yankees radar next December at the Winter Meetings and throughout the offseason.

J.J. Hardy seems like a very realistic target for the Yankees next offseason if he is not resigned by the Orioles. Although Hardy struggled while he was on the Brewers early in his career, he has played exceptionally well while on the Orioles in the tough American League East. Hardy has hit 77 home runs in the last three seasons while playing for the Orioles and has won back to back Gold Glove awards. Hardy will be entering his age 32 season.

Lastly, the Yankees can look overseas for their next shortstop. They have already have been reported to have a few international players verbally commit to signing with them over the summer, and have recently been scouting Cuban SS Aledmys Diaz. 

Diaz is 23 years old, can hit for power and is a good fielder. Scouts say that he is a major league ready hitter, which means he would be ready to play in 2015 when the Yankees would need him in the infield. Diaz is eligible to sign on February 19th.

There are many options for the Yankees at short and it is all just a waiting game to see what they do, but until then, we all have to look back and remember all of the great things that Derek Jeter has done for the Yankees and for baseball in general.

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Adam Israel is a Staff Writer for Yanks Beat Blog.

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Which team really needs Masahiro Tanaka the most?

We all want things in life, but that doesn't mean we really need it. Sure, you may want to get the new iPhone 5s, but you're not going to die without it.

The same thing can be said about baseball players and Major League teams.

The Yankees always want to sign everybody on the market, no matter the cost, but a lot of time, they just want to buy out that certain player because they can, not really because they need to. But Masahiro Tanaka is different.

The Yankees actually need to sign Tanaka. Without him, they will likely go into the season with a rotation filled by CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova and Hiroki Kuroda. Sabathia is a question mark, Kuroda is 39-years-old, and Nova can go either way.

Michael Pineda might also be in the Yankees' rotation, but he hasn't pitched in the big leagues since 2011 with the Seattle Mariners, and you really don't know what kind of pitcher he is going to be.

Even with all the money the Yankees have spent this offseason -- over $300 million to be precise -- I can't consider them a legit World Series contender if they don't address the issues in the rotation, and it all begins with Tanaka.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are a perfect example of Need vs. Want. The Dodgers really don't need Tanaka as much as the Yankees or some other teams. They only want him.

They just signed Clayton Kershaw to a monster contract extension. They signed Zack Greinke to a big contract last offseason. And they just signed Korean left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu last winter, too. Realistically, their rotation will be just fine without Tanaka. Adding him would put it over the top, though.

The Chicago Cubs, if anything, don't really need him for the next years or so, but in a couple years down the road, the Cubs are going to have a large crop of their prospects reach the big leagues, and that's when they finally become championship contenders.

I would imagine that it was pretty tough for the Cubs to convince Tanaka of coming to Chicago considering, well, it's not New York or Los Angeles, and the team isn't going to be a contender right away as it would be in the Bronx and LA.

However, because so much of their future is tied into young players, the Cubs have enough money to throw around, and even with the great group coming up in a few years, pitchers aren't really a part of that, and adding Tanaka, who is only 25, would be a great fix to that problem.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have appeared to be in hot pursuit on Tanaka throughout the winter, and though they don't really have much of a shot to land him.

The D-Backs could really use him to go along with Patrick Corbin and Trevor Cahill in the rotation, and who better than Tanaka? They have shown that they have the money by going hard after Shin-Soo Choo, but that might not be enough to get Tanaka in Arizona.

We're days away from finding out who will win the Tanaka Sweepstakes. The latest rumors have him deciding between the two teams that need him the most -- the Yankees and Cubs. Although the Yankees really, really, really need him. Much more than the Cubs.

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Nikkan: Clubs have submitted formal offers to Masahiro Tanaka

Nikkan Sports in Japan has reported that all clubs interested in signing Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka submitted their formal offers by January 16th. Tanaka has until this Friday, Jan. 24th, at 5pm EST sign with a Major League club.

The list of teams that have reportedly made an offer includes the Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks.

All offers made to Tanaka are in excess of $100 million, and Nikkan reports that the D-Backs have offered six-years, $120 million. The Yankees and Dodgers are believed to have offered similar deals, but the terms and money amount are unknown.

According Bruce Levine of WSCR-AM in Chicago, one of the biggest keys for where Tanaka signs if that he ends up being very close to a large Japanese-American community. New York and Los Angeles are both very big in that department -- both the Yankees and Dodgers and also, reportedly, the leading favorites to sign the righty, with the Cubs trying to make a big push, and willing to throw a ton of money at him.

“I think a lot of teams are interested,” Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said at the owners meetings this past week in Arizona. “This is a great, young pitcher. I’m sure he’ll come here and do great things with someone. We certainly have an interest. I believe we need another starter. But we’ll see what happens.”

Tanaka is the top starter on the Yankees' radar. There hasn't been much interest in any of the other top starting pitchers on their market. A report from Newsday in New York on Wednesday, the Yankees don't plan on making anymore moves until the Tanaka situation is resolved.

“I can only tell you we’re in the market for another starting pitcher,” Steinbrenner said, “and (Tanaka) is certainly going to be one we’re looking at.”

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Hal Steinbrenner calls Alex Rodriguez an asset, talks about Masahiro Tanaka

Alex Rodriguez's recent actions may have left a bad taste in the mouth of baseball fans everywhere, but his own, Hal Steinbrenner, doesn't appear to see things that way.

At the Major League Baseball quarterly owners meetings, Steinbrenner called A-Rod an "asset" to the club, and didn't rule out the suspended slugger from returning to play in pinstripes again in 2015.

“He’s a great player,” Steinbrenner said in his first public comments since Fredric Horowitz reduced A-Rod’s suspension from 211-games to 162-games. “I have not thought about 2015, nor am I going to right now. My focus has to be right now. But when he’s on and when he’s healthy, he’s obviously an asset. We’ll see what happens.”

The Yankees, even though they're saving $22 million by Rodriguez being suspended this upcoming season, still owe him $61 million over the final three years of his contract. Many have been calling for the Yankees to just write him the check and let him go him away.

“When Alex Rodriguez is healthy and himself, I think most objective baseball people would say he could be an asset to a club.” Steinbrenner said.

Of course, though, some of the biggest talk about what happens next with A-Rod is about the Yankees will do it he tries to show up at Spring Training in Tampa next month. Because he isn't on the 40-man roster, the Yanks can technically send him the minor league camp across the street, but we'll see what happens when the time comes.

“We haven’t even talked about it." said Steinbrenner. "Cross that bridge when we come to it kind of thing. We’re going to reach out to [Major League Baseball], get their advice obviously, but haven’t even addressed it.”

Hal speaks about Masahiro Tanaka:

An even bigger issue for the Yankees other than A-Rod has been their pursuit of free-agent pitcher Masahiro Tanaka. Hal confirmed that he and the Yankees have had talks with Tanaka's agent, Casey Close, but would not comment on any face-to-face meetings.

“I think a lot of teams are interested,” Steinbrenner said. “This is a great, young pitcher. I’m sure he’ll come here and do great things with someone. We certainly have an interest. I believe we need another starter. But we’ll see what happens.”

And Tanaka is the top starter on their radar. There hasn't been much interest in any of the other top starting pitchers on their market. A report from Newsday in New York on Wednesday, the Yankees don't plan on making anymore moves until the Tanaka situation is resolved.

“I can only tell you we’re in the market for another starting pitcher,” Steinbrenner said, “and (Tanaka) is certainly going to be one we’re looking at.”

The Los Angeles Dodger appear to be the biggest threat to steal Tanaka away from the Bombers, and Close, who also represents Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw, just landed the two-time Cy Young winning in Kershaw a record-breaking contract extension for seven-years, $215 million, and it's possible that Los Angeles could still be in the race to get the Japanese right-hander.

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Yankees, Dodgers and Angels are finalists to land Masahiro Tanaka

After spending a few day in Los Angeles this past week meeting with any teams that are interested in his services, Masahiro Tanaka has reportedly narrowed his list down to three potential suitors: Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels.

That report is from Sports Hochi out of Tokyo, Japan, and it was translated by Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times.

Hernandez also added that the Yankees are the favorites to sign Tanaka, as they have been view all along. The meetings with Tanaka took place in Beverly Hills, but it's not known who from the Yankees were there, as they have been quite about having any meeting.

According to Nikkan Sports in Japan, Tanaka had met with the Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox and about six other teams on January 9th for anywhere between one to two hours each. With his limited time in America, Tanaka kept his meetings with teams short and to the point.

Sponichi in Japan also added that Tanaka could have met with teams like the Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, and Toronto Blue Jays on the 10th (US time)/11th (Japan time).

According to the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea, Tanaka’s top three cities are Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. That would give the Yankees, Dodgers, Angels and Red Sox the upper-hand in any negotiations, knowing he wants to be there.

Tanaka is the best free-agent on the market, and the number of teams interested in signing him is in double-digits. The $20 million posting fee — which will be paid in four parts over two years — offsets the total amount of his upcoming contract, which is expected to be upwards of $100 million.

He has until 5 p.m. EST on January 24th to sign with an MLB club, or he'll be forced to go back to Japan to play with the Rakuten Golden Eagles until they decide to post him again.

The Yankees came into the offseason with the hopes of re-signing Robinson Cano, then winning the bidding war for Tanaka. Well, Cano left for Seattle, and the Yankees’ rotation could be very subpar should they fail to land him, making their need to him sign even bigger.

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Yankees will meet with Masahiro Tanaka while he's in America

Masahiro Tanaka was posted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles almost two weeks ago, but the party is just getting started.

Tanaka is now in the United States, reportedly in Los Angeles, to start meeting with any clubs interested in his services – and there are a lot of them.

The Yankees are among at least a dozen teams that Tanaka is expected to meet with over the next couple weeks, and it’s no surprise because he is their top free-agent target, and the player that could make or break the Yanks’ offseason.

After spending almost $300 million so far on Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran, but the Yankees have yet to spend on a starting pitcher – which they currently need more than anything.

The Yankees have not shown much interest in the current free-agent pitching market, and should the fail to sign Tanaka, it would seem that trading for a starting pitcher is the only other way. However, some MLB general managers think the Yanks could end up with Ubaldo Jimenez.

The Seattle Mariners could be the biggest threat to the Yankees landing Tanaka. If they can convince ownership to let them spend the money on him, Seattle might be able to steal Tanaka away from the Yanks just like they did with Cano.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs are probably the other two team with the best chance to land the 25-year-old. The Dodgers seemingly have unlimited funds to throw at him, and the Cubs are expected to go after him hard in hopes of setting up a solid rotation when the rest of their prospects become big league ready in a couple of years.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels are among the other teams interested, and expected to meet with him. 

Tanaka, because of the $20 million posting fee that will be paid of two years -- $13 million in the first and $7 million in the second -- is expected to command a contract upwards of $100 million over at least six years, and there is no doubt that he will get it.

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Dodgers make a rare trip to the Bronx.

Donnie Baseball makes his long awaited return the the Bronx as his last place Dodgers will try to turn things around against the reeling Yankees. Rookie sensation will make his first trip to the big apple since coming up and Yankees fans will have a great chance to see what the hype is all about.

Tonight's lineup, 7:05 ET at Yankee Stadium:

Gardner 8
Nix 6
Cano 4
Wells 7
Neal DH
Suzuki 9
Adams 5
Overbay 3
Stewart 2
Hughes 1

Phil Hughes (3-5, 4.89 ERA) has had his fair share of ups and downs this season and just hasn't been able to pull off a string of solid starts this season. His last outing against the Athletics is one he'd like to improve on, tossing only 4 1/3 innings in Oakland.

"I didn't have good stuff that day. It's something that I can't really help sometimes," Hughes said. "It's led to a lot of deep counts, foul balls and the pitch count getting out of control very quickly. I have confidence that I'll bounce back from that."

Hughes' opponent from the other dugout will be Korean rookie, Hyun-Jin Ryu. Unlike Hughes, Ryu has been successful lately, coming into tonight's start on a streak of four straight quality starts with a season ERA of 2.85.

Teixeira to the DL:

Not coming as a big surprise, but the Yankees have officially place Mark Teixeira on the DL. GM Brain Cashman said yesterday that was was leaning towards placing Teixeira on the DL, but was going to wait a few days to see how things played out.

Teixeira was diagnosed with inflammation in his right wrist and received a cortisone shot in his wrist. Lyle Overbay will resume his role as the starting 1st baseman in his absence. Just days after Kevin Youkilis went onto the DL, Teixeira will now join him.

To accommodate the move, the Yankees have called-up RHP Adam Warren from AAA-Scranton along with teammate OF Zolio Almonte. Chris Bootcheck was designated for assignment, as well, today.

Youkilis to have surgery:

The Yankees announced on Tuesday that Kevin Youkilis has been diagnosed with a herniated disk in his back and he will undergo surgery on Thursday. Youkilis is expected to miss a minimum of 10-12 weeks.

This is news that Yankees fan feared. He was placed on the DL on Friday with a lumbar strain in his back and now it seems like his career as a Yankee might be over as know it.

I'll have more on Youkilis as the day goes on and I has more info on Twitter as it becomes available.

Don't forget that you can follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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