If Branyan makes the team, he would earn a base salary of $750k plus incentives.

The signing of Branyan, will not stop the Yankees from looking at other options at the DH spot such as Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui or Raul Ibanez.

After being signed by the Angels last May, he hit .185 with 12 hits in 65 at-bat while splitting time at 1st and DH.

Image taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Common License Agreement.

Cashman believes Hendry will be an “invaluabe resource” (via Levine). “He can scout amateur players; he scouts pro players for us,” he said. “He’s as connected in the game as you can possibly be. Everybody loves this man.”

According to a source close to Levine, the 56 year old Hendry agreed to a multiyear deal with the Yankees. And another source close to Levine said Hendry’s duties will include “looking at minor league players, major league players and spending time with the major league team.”

The Cubs fired Hendry in August 2011. During Hendry’s tenure as a General Manager, the Cubs were 749-748, one game above .500 and won three division titles(2003, ‘07, ‘08).

Image by Ed Yourdon under the Creative Commons License.

The 29 year old last pitched in the Majors in 2010 with the Rockies and Red Sox. That year he went 3-4 with a 4.99 ERA in 52.1 innings. He also posted a 1.4 HR/9, 5.5 BB/9 and 6.5 SO/9 that season.

Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.

The New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals have also shown interest.

“Everything is great. I really don’t know how to describe it,” Concepcion, 18, said by phone from the Dominican Republic. “All the training and exercise I have done is paying off. I’ve worked so hard to get here. I’m so happy. It’s like a dream come true.”

Image by Scott Marlowe under the Creative Commons License.

“Everything is great. I really don’t know how to describe it,” Concepcion, 18, said by phone from the Dominican Republic. “All the training and exercise I have done is paying off. I’ve worked so hard to get here. I’m so happy. It’s like a dream come true.”

Image by Scott Marlowe under the Creative Commons License.

Damon, 38, is a career .286/.353/.435 hitter with 231 career home runs and 2,723 career hits. In his 17 year career thus far, he has played for the Royals, Athletics, Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers, and Rays.

Image Taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Commons License Agreement.

The Boston Red Sox would have to make a few roster moves if they want to sign Roy Oswalt, Rob Bradford of WEEI reports.  According to sources close to Bradford, Oswalt’s asking price is believed to be below $10 million that Hiroki Kuroda was given by the New York Yankees, and should the Red Sox move forward with the deal, the team would have to move some payroll in order to accommodate the pitcher.

Image by Matthew Straubmuller under the Creative Commons License.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Colon has agreed to a deal with an unknown team. Colon is not announcing the team that he signed with yet until after the physical.

According to John Heyman of CBSSports.com, the team that has an agreement in place with Colon is not the Diamondbacks or the Yankees. This leaves the A’s as the only other team, besides the “mystery team” that we know Colon has had discussions with.

The 2005 AL Cy Young posted a 4.00 era with the Yankees last season.

Image taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Common License Agreement.

Kuroda who has only pitched for the Dodgers besides in Japan, has a career era of 3.45 (4 seasons) and posted a 3.07 era in 2011 enroute to a 13-16 record.

The Yankees who decided to wait until Friday the 13th to make any big moves, earlier traded for Michael Pineda.

On January 10th, Mike Petriello of  Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness, noted that Kenji Nimura, who joined the Dodgers in 2008 to translate for Kuroda, had signed with the Yankees.The deal that brought Nimura may have helped sway Kuroda to the east coast.

Image taken by LWY and used under the Creative Common License Agreement.

Pineda who in his rookie season went 9-10 with a 3.74 era and averaging just over a strikeout per inning. He will now slot in behind CC Sabathia and in front of Ivan Nova in the Bronx Bombers rotation.

Campos, 21, posted a 2.32 era at single-A this year and possess an “electric” fastball.

Montero, saw limited action after being called up in September, but didn’t waste the opportunity to display his talent and power. In 61 at-bats, he hit .328 with 4 home runs and 12 RBI’s. He will most likely take over the full time DH role.

Noesi, who only has 56 big-league innings under his belt, was considered by many at one time as one of the Yankees top prospects (#7 in 2011 per BA). Last year at Triple-A, he posted a 3.28 era while averaging just over 7 strikeouts a game.

Image taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Common License Agreement.

We are proud to announce that our PRO Rumors Android app version 1.0 is available on the Android Market.  We spent a lot of time on the app’s design and functionality, and we are sure that you’ll love it.  To download the app for an introductory price of $2.99 you can click here.

Here are a few features:

– Push Notifications to get the latest news and rumors for your favorite MLB team

– Pulse-like view of articles – it’s beautiful

– Real-time scoreboard

– Real-time box scores of in-game action

We’re working hard to add more features, so if you have any questions or feature requests, please send an email to support@prorumors.com.  We promise to write you back.

Allan

Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.

Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.

They were not expensive pickups and the production they provided to the Bronx Bombers was probably more than they and everyone who follows this sport, would’ve expected. I do believe though, that they overpaid for a setup man when they signed Rafael Soriano to a three-year, $35-million deal (actually the Marlins got a closer, Heath Bell, this off season for the same length and $5 million less), but after all, that was the Yankees being the Yankees. But even with that, the Yankees still managed to reduce their payroll by 2.3 percent compared to 2010.

In 2011, the Yankees won 97 games (48 games above the 49 games won line) and paid $202,689,028 in salaries. This means they spent $3,985,250.58 for every win they earned above 49.

Their top five paid players were:

– Alex Rodriguez($32,000,000): Rodriguez hit .276/.362/.461 with 16 HR’s, 62 RBI’s, 67 runs and a .823 OPS. Rodriguez earned $2,000,000 for every home run he hit, or $516,129.03 for every RBI he got, or $206,451.51 every time he got on base.

– C.C. Sabathia($24,285,714): Sabathia went 19-8 with a 3.00 ERA and 230 strikeouts in 237.1 innings in 2011. For every win, he earned $1,278,195.47, for every strikeout $105,590.06.

– Mark Teixeira($23,125,000): Teixeira hit .248/.341/.494 with 39 HR’s, 111 RBI’s, 90 runs and a .835 OPS. He earned $592,948.72 for every homer he hit, or $208,333.33 for every run he batted in, or $99,248.93 for every time he got on base.

– A.J. Burnett ($16,500,000): Burnett went 11-11 with a 5.15 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 190.1 innings throughout 33 games, 32 starts. Burnett earned $1,500,000 for every game he won or $95,375.72 for every strikeout.

– Mariano Rivera ($14,911,701): Rivera went 1-2 with a 1.91 ERA, 60 strikeouts and 44 saves in 61.1 innings. Rivera earned $338,902.30 for every game he saved.

The Yankees had a collective OBP of .343, a SLG of .444 and a .788 OPS. The Bombers scored 867 runs, meaning they spent $233,782.04 for every run they scored.

When you talk about the Yankees and salaries you will, most likely bring A-Rod’s name into the conversation. Because he’s the highest paid player in the Majors, and because his offensive numbers haven’t been the same as of late. I know he has been battling injuries the past couple of years, but his extremely high salary brings out the question, is there a player who could produce at a similar level as Rodriguez but for a fraction of his salary? The answer is yes, and by a fraction, I mean probably $30 million less that what Rodriguez earns a year.

I’m not saying Rodriguez is a bad player, or that he doesn’t deserve his reputation, or the money. He was the best Major League hitter for a long time, and he will probably break Barry Bond’s HR record, but financially speaking, A-Rod was as inefficient as it comes, at least for this season. Although I must point out that Rodriguez had a higher OBP this season compared to 2010, even though his batting average was lower.

Moving on to another low point for the Yankees, Burnett, the $16.5 million pitcher had a 5.15 ERA. While I do believe that ERA is not a stat that depends entirely on the pitcher, the stats that entirely depend on him weren’t that impressive. He allowed 1.5 HR/9 and 3.9 BB/9, although he struck out 8.2 per nine innings. He also threw an incredible 25 wild pitches.

Another of the top five paid Yankee who has a disappointing season was Teixeira. The Yankees first baseman had a .341 OBP this season, and his OBP, and BA have been declining about .020 points per season since 2008, something that should be take into account.

Of the five top paid Yankees only two had good seasons, Sabathia and Rivera. The other three, Rodriguez, Burnett and Teixeira, who earn a total of $71,625,000 out of a $202,689,028 payroll (35%) had disappointing seasons. The reason why the Yankees, although somehow financially ineffective, are still successful is because they have incredible financial flexibility. They are capable of overpaying for a player that doesn’t pan out then going out and buying another player.

I do understand though that when you pay $32 million for Rodriguez, you’re not only paying for a .341 OBP guy. You’re paying for a guy who’s going to sell jerseys, a guy who’s going to be on the news every week, a media guy. You’re paying for a guy who is going to bring people to the stadium and the closer he gets to Bond’s HR record the more baseball fans will bring. All those “intangibles” are attached to Rodriguez’s salary, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Basically, his salary has probably more “intangibles” than offensive attributes attached to it, but there’s not much you can do about it. Players like Rodriguez will always go to teams like the Yankees, and players who can produce at a similar level, but not in a flashy way will go to smaller market teams. And finding those players is the key to succeeding in baseball for teams with limited resources.

Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.

Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.

Image by Matthew Straubmuller under the Creative Commons License.

Brackman was the New York Yankees’ first-round pick in the 2007 MLB Draft.

Image by ChipMahaney under the Creative Commons License.

The Yankees agreed to a deal with Garcia back in November. It had been no secret that New York wanted to bring back Garcia for 2012. The 35-year old Garcia was 12-8 with a 3.62 ERA in 146.2 innings throughout 26 games, 25 starts, for the Yankees in 2011.

Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.

– The Boston Red Sox have signed Jesse Carlson to a split contract. (Robert Mayer, Berlin Patch)

– The Colorado Rockies are willing to offer Michael Cuddyer a three-year deal, making them strong suitors to land the free agent reports Troy Renck of the Denver Post..

– Andrew Bailey appears to be on his way out of Oakland. According to Jon Heyman of CBSSprots, he’s hearing that Bailey will probably be dealt at the trade deadline compared to now.

– According to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians and Colorado Rockies are the most likely teams to land Josh Willingham.

– The Washington Nationals are interested in bringing outfielder Rick Ankiel Back according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.

– The New York Yankees could trade Hiroyuki Nakajima since they don’t have a role for him. (Buster Olney, ESPN)

– The New York Mets were debating on Wednesday as to whether they would trade relief pitcher Bobby Parnell. (Source of Adam Rubin, ESPNNewYork.com)

Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.

Golson hit .182/.250/.182 in 11 AB’s for the Yankees in 2011.

Image by Ed Yourdon under the Creative Commons License.

Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports add that the Yankees, Blue Jays and Texas Rangers are expected to bid on the right-handed pitcher.

Darvish,25 has never posted an ERA above 2.00 in Japan. It is possible that other clubs will become involved in the bidding process for the Darvish who is viewed as another option for clubs who lost out on Mark Buhrle or C.J. Wilson.

For those wondering, MLB clubs have four days to bid on Darvish, then four days for Nippon-Ham Fighters to select a bid then thirty-days to work out a contract with the club with the winning bid.

Image taken by Keith Allison and used under the Creative Common License Agreement.

– The Minnesota Twins are interested in Jeff Francis according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports. A source close to him says the team already had initial talks with Francis’ agent, and the sides will probably have further discussions at the winter meetings in Dallas next week. The team is also interested in right handed pitcher Edwin Jackson according to Morosi.

– The Nationals, Rangers, Indians and Pirates have all spoke to free agent infielder Mark DeRosa. (Ken Rosenthal, FOX Sports)

– According to Tom Haudricourt of the Journal-sentinel, the Milwaukee Brewers and third baseman Aramis Ramirez have mutual interest. “He has expressed interest in us, too,” GM, Doug Melvin said. “That’s something I always like to hear.”

– Short stop Alex Gonzalez has been drawing interest from the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers according to Jon Heyman of Sprots Illustrated (via Francisco Zambrano of LiderEnDeportes)

– Jorge Posada, who owns a house in Miami, says he still wants to play if he finds the right job reports Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated. He adds that Posada would like to join the Marlins if they consider him.

– The Houston Astros are apparently shopping not only Wandy Rodriguez, but Brett Myers and Carlos Lee too says Heyman.

– The Rockies, who are willing to trade Ian Stewart, say that they are interested in Cubs’ infielder Blake DeWitt according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post.

– The Minnesota Twins are interested in left handed pitcher Chris Capuano according to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

– Infielder Eric Chavez wants to play in 2012 and according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, there are several teams interested in signing him. She adds that the Yankees might be one of them.

Image by Keith Allison under the Creative Commons License.

– Sources close to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports say that the Los Angeles Angels have met with free agent Aramis Ramirez and a contract offer is likely coming.

– Sources close to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reports that the Texas Rangers are optimistic about signing Mike Napoli to a multi-year extension.  He’ll be a free agent after the 2012 season.

– According to Buster Olney of ESPN, the Milwaukee Brewers’ last formal offer to Prince Fielder was for five years and $100 million, and he says they could stretch it to six years and $120 million.

– The Baltimore Orioles are among the teams interested in veteran catcher Jason Varitek according to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated. He adds that he finds it hard to imagine Varitek leaving the Red Sox.

– Another veteran catcher, Jorge Posada, is still looking for a job, and according to Heyman, he inquired with the Mets. Heyman adds that the Mets are looking for a backup catcher so Posada won’t probably be among their candidates as they are looking for defensive minded catchers.

Image by alex44k under the Creative Commons License.

In the book’s preface, the author quotes work done by a Manhattan lawyer named Doug Pappas. Pappas, says that a team with only minimum wage players, both on the Major League roster and the rest of the 40-man, would still probably win 49 out of the 162 games played.

In 2011, the minimum wage for a player on the 25-man roster was $414,500. The minimum wage for a player on the 40-man roster, with at least one day of MLB service time or had been on the 40-man roster for a year was $67,300.

The minimum that a team could spend on their 40-man roster in 2011 was: $11,397,000. That’s $10,387,500 for their 25-man roster and $1,009,500 for the rest of their 40-man roster. If a team could get approximately 49 wins with a $11,397,000 payroll, that means that if you divide the total wins a team got above their 49th win by the total dollars they paid over the minimum, you get the “price” each team paid for each win they got.

After this brief introduction of the “marginal win” formula, I’m going to say what this report is all about. I’m going to analyze the “price” for each win a team got in 2011 so we can determine which teams were the most cost effective. Besides that, I’m going to list the top 5 paid players on each team and give you their performance line, to see how much they actually contributed to their team.

I’ll also list each team’s OBP, runs and SLG totals so we can see for ourselves how related these stats are at the moment of scoring runs and winning games. So get ready to experience a thoughtful analysis of every 2011 Major league team.

The team’s payroll was taken from USA Today and the individuals salaries from About.com.

Image by dherrera_96 Under the Creative Commons License.