[0] And the cost difference! Tex is basically a steal!

Which one would you bet on to turn his season around?

If this is a “which one would you rather have” question, then it’s a trick question because the answer is neither.

Long term deals continue to get put in perspective pretty quickly. 2009 would have been different, but if the Red Sox got Teixiera then they’d have him and not Gonzalez.

That said, I think Teixeira will turn it around.

[3] What do you mean when you say turn it around?

I think he’ll hit lefties fine, but I don’t think he’ll return to pre-2010 levels of hitting righties. I think the Tex we’ve seen over the past two season (mashes as a RHB and hits the occasional HR as a LHB) is the guy we’ll see for the remainder of his contract.

I miss the steroid era.  Ten years ago, Teixeira would have had a bad year, people would get down on him, and then the next year he’d start hitting 50 HRs.

[5] Think about how awesome the android era will be!

A-Rod is getting on base mightily fine, but will his power ever return? The Yankees really need a masher in the middle of the lineup…either Cano, A-Rod, or Teix needs to start hitting some hurtin’ bombs.

Come to think of it, why not swap Grandy and A-Rod in the lineup. A-Rod is looking like a fine #2 hitter at the moment.

Teixiera needs to start hitting more line drives to “turn around,” but since that’s been declining for 4 years, my bet is that he doesn’t. I don’t hate the guy. I hate the Yankees for paying waaaay too much for decline years of former star players.

RAB was so for signing Tex that you were a stumbling idiot if you thought Tex’s contract would be a bad one.  That Pujols is stumbling so bad doesn’t excuse anything.  Lord knows that Fielder contract is going look awful in a few years, if not sooner.

Which one would you bet on to turn his season around?

Obviously Pujols, but I wonder if Teix’s illness is at least partially responsible for his struggles this year.  At this point he’s looking like a .250 hitter at best, but maybe he can surprise us.

It’s just amazing to me how poorly Pujols has started. 

Come to think of it, why not swap Grandy and A-Rod in the lineup. A-Rod is looking like a fine #2 hitter at the moment.

Probably want to avoid Granderson/Cano back to back for platoon reasons, and if/when Gardner returns that should help get a few more runners on for when Granderson’s up.

RAB was so for signing Tex that you were a stumbling idiot if you thought Tex’s contract would be a bad one. 

Hell, I was on board with Teixeira and A.J. big time.  2009 was great.  2010 on, less so.

[10] I was for it, but I wasnt going to be upset if they didn’t sign him. I was skeptical.  I don’t mind paying a lot for big bats at premium defensive positions, but 1b or DH? I know building a team is a lot harder than it looks & no set of statistics can predict the future.  I’m not looking forward to the next few seasons of WOE. Pitching doesn’t look awful, but there’s a lot of money wrapped up in underwhelming bats & the cheaper production isn’t going to be so cheap and there isn’t much in the pipeline to look forward to.

[4] I think he’s got a chance at getting somewhere between 2009 and the last two years.  Like a wRC+ of 130 (overall), which if he has an above average year on defense (2011, so far this year) is like a 4-5 WAR player, depending on playing time.  If it is 2010 defense still a 3-4 WAR player.  A 4-5 WAR player is still worth (approximately) what the Yankees are paying for him.  Of course the slow start - probably made worse by his health - will be difficult to overcome.

[11] You do remember all the howling about Giambi’s inability to match glove to ball unless another player threw it directly in ? Giambi could barely track balls off the bat with his eyes, much less move his glove or his feet.

Whether the defensive upgrade is worth the money or not, the thinking was probably colored by defense.

[13] In November 2010 I asked SG to do a comparison of Yankee 1stB over the last 10-20 years, and I’m still hoping. In my biased fanboy perspective, was Giambi possibly as bad as I remember? And is Teixiera really such an outstanding defender, or is it just by comparison with .. No! I DON’T WANT TO REMEMBER!!

At this point he’s looking like a .250 hitter at best, but maybe he can surprise us.

This is OPS, I presume?

I was on board with Teix but I knew it was an overpay.  He wasn’t an elite player at his position but he was very good, young, and the Yankees really needed a 1b.  You can’t build a championship team year in and year out by waiting to only sign players you can get at great value.  I never expected this decline this soon.

A.J. I hated from the start.

signing Tex was a no brainer at the time

Signing Carlos Beltran in 2004 was a no-brainer.

[4] I’m reluctant to predict a slash line. I’m saying he’ll be a 3-4 WAR player this year. Just a hunch, nothing to back it up.

How cooked did Adam Dunn look last year?

DFAs are also no brainers.

[18] It was. And I think it wa a no brainer to sign him for this season too. A .900 OPS guy on a 2 year contract 10 mill each it was a very good deal, much better than signing Kuroda

This is OPS, I presume?

No, wOBA.

[18] - I guess Torre has less than no brain.

Beltran wasn’t on Torre.  It was on George’s “Baseball People.”

[20] Adam Dunn looked more cooked, but he seems to have rebounded this year. Teix looked cooked last year, and his metrics look even worse this year.

I can’t complain about the decision to sign Tex.  It looked like a perfectly solid decision at the time.  I was angry when they signed Burnett, partly b/c I believed Burnett was an overhyped (electric stuff!) underachiever, but also b/c I believed that it meant no Tex.

He’s a good player.  Somehow, he’s gotta figure out what’s wrong and fix it.  Das it.

Somehow, he’s gotta figure out what’s wrong and fix it.  Das it.

Right.
Unless he doesn’t.
In which case that’s really it.

I was at the Angels game last night.  It’s not often your star slugger goes 1 for 4 with a single and improves his slash line.  He was persistently booed—not the whole stadium, but they were booing.  And ironic claps for the single.  I was surprised by how many people were still wearing Pujols jerseys.

[22] There were - and still are - serious questions about how well his knees would hold up playing the OF 150 games, and whether or not he would accept a role as the DH.  And as bad as it seems now, if Gardner comes back soon OF/DH isn’t an area of need for Yankees.  Starting pitching, still is.

[25] Yeah, they said they could afford one of trading for Johnson or signing Beltran, and Boss said Johnson whom he had coveted.  Another one on the Boss is Sheff over Vlad.  Also Womack over Cairo (though there’s a chance Cano wouldn’t have been called up if they kept Cairo).

I thought Torre had some say in it too and he basically said he didn’t want Beltran because coming to NY meant he didn’t want to step up and be a leader and he wanted Bernie in CF instead. 

That could be an amalgamation of events over the years but I thought Torre said in his book he was part of the reason they didn’t sign Beltran.

[32] I think Torre voted for Johnson over Beltran.  But IDK his reasoning.  I don’t recall that in the book, but I didn’t finish it, either.

if the Red Sox got Teixiera then they’d have him and not Gonzalez

And the Sox fans I know are disappointed by Gonzalez.  So it’s a tough time for first basemen on big contracts.

But I’m with [12].  As bad as Teix has been, he still averaged 3.7 fangraphs WAR over the last 2 years, which is by no means a disaster.  I think he can sustain something like this going forward, with a still realistic chance that his luck/health changes and/or he makes the necessary adjustments for age and the shift, and he has a bounce-back season or two.