The New York Yankees are waiting for Kevin Youkilis to accept his $12 million and rumors have it that Brian Cashman has reached out to A.J. Pierzynski's representatives.
Youkilis has a two-year, $18 million deal with the Cleveland Indians on the table, but many analysts predict it will be impossible for him to turn down the Yankees' one-year deal.
They say Youkilis is a spotlight junkie and will not mind being under the limelight and media pressures that come with playing in the Bronx for the most popular franchise in baseball history. As a former member of the Boston Redsox, Youkilis knows a little bit about the attention.
The only thing that might prevent Youkilis from signing with the Yankees is the fact that his former Red Sox manager Terry Francona will be managing in Cleveland this summer. These two men won World Series rings together in 2004 and 2007.
The other hole the Yankees have to fill is at the catcher position. Cashman has reached out to the best catcher on the market, Pierzynski. However, the Yankees say they feel that the catcher is only average on defense.
Pierzynski commited six errors and threw out 27 of 103 runners. The percentage actually gives him one percent higher than the rest of the league. Catchers around the majors caught an average 25 percent of base stealers, Pierzynski gunned down 26 percent of runners.
He is slightly above average by those means and the six errors placed him smack in the middle of the league among guys who caught more than 100 games.
However, he pretty much produced the same numbers as Russell Martin behind the plate. Both guys had six errors, Martin played two more games and caught six less runners, but 13 less runners tried stealing off him.
Though the Yankees feel that Pierzynski is not much of an upgrae on defense, his bat makes him a better pickup than Martin. Pierzynski has cotinuously hit over .270. Last season he batted .278 with 27 homers and 77 RBI.
For now, the Yankees will patiently wait for Youkilis and they have yet to make catchers offers aside from the one they made to Martin.
However, they better start offering eals as they have lost out on cheaper possible options at thir base an Martin walked out on them to catch for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
