Yanks to Land Pierre?

[nyjunc]

From today's NY Post:

PIERRE DEAL TO YANKS HAS MARLINS PERKIN’

By GEORGE KING


December 2, 2005 -- The last time Juan Pierre played center field in Yankee Stadium, he helped the Marlins win the 2003 World Series.
Now, Pierre could be returning to The Bronx as the Yankees’ center-fielder. The cash-dumping Marlins have asked for lefty Sean Henn and right-handed reliever Scott Proctor for Pierre, and the Yankees didn’t reject the offer.

When the Marlins started dumping salary by trading Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to the Red Sox and Carlos Delgado to the Mets, the Yankees seemed cool on acquiring the

28-year-old Pierre.

However, with only Bubba Crosby to replace Bernie Williams, the Yankees have

been keeping tabs on who’s available.

Possibly what makes Pierre attractive is that it’s likely a one-year deal, since Pierre can become a free agent after the season and the 2007 class of free agent center-fielders

will include Andruw Jones, Torii Hunter and Mike Cameron. And there is always the possibility that Pierre performs well enough to be brought back.

Pierre is arbitration eligible after making $3.7 million last year.

According to several Sources, the Marlins also are shopping Pierre to Texas for pitching prospects and perhaps outfielder Laynce Nix, who annoyed Ranger brass by not playing winter ball after missing a good part of the season with an injury.

Pierre would give the Yankees speed in center field and the pure leadoff hitter they haven’t had since Chuck Knoblauch left after the 2001 season.

That would allow Derek Jeter to bat second, a spot he did with Knoblauch around when the Yankees won three straight World Series and came close to copping a fourth straight in 2001.

While Pierre is coming off a down season in which the career .305 hitter batted .276 with an on-base percentage of .326, he batted .326 with a .374 on-base percentage in 2004. He also swiped 57 bases in 74 attempts. And he hit lefties (.299) better than righties .270) last season.

When the other center fielders available are presented, Pierre stacks up. The Angels are shopping Darin Erstad and Steve Finley. The Dodgers are expected to trade Milton Bradley before Dec. 20. The Phillies asked for Chien-Ming Wang, possibly the Yankees’ No. 3 starter, for Jason Michaels, who never

has been a regular player. Carl Pavano’s name surfaced yesterday in a possible deal for Michaels. Tampa Bay could move Joey Gathright but he is raw.

Unless Johnny Damon’s wishes for a seven-year contract decrease, the Yankees aren’t interested.

The gamble in it for the Yankees is Henn. He is a 24-year-old lefty they thought enough of to promote from Double-A to the big leagues for an emergency start when Randy Johnson was scratched in May. In three games Henn was 0-3 with an 11.12 ERA. He was 5-5 with a respectable 3.23 ERA in 16 games for Columbus and 2-1 with an 0.71 ERA in four games for Double-A Trenton.

However, the emergence of Wang and the chance that RHP Phil Hughes, the No. 1 pick

in 2004, could be ready for the big leagues in 2007, softens the blow of losing Henn.

[Hammer]

pierre is a limp wrist, but he does have some range, and he's a respectable leadoff man. id much prefer michaels (though not for wang), and id prefer gathright, who is the fastest man in baseball... but for the price tag (proctor is one of the most inconsistent humans on earth, henn got bombed by tampa twice), i wouldnt be upset with this deal.

michaels could potentially be something though... one of those sabermetricianal stats (vorp maybe? i dont remember) had michaels as the #2 center fielder in all of baseball last year behind jim edmonds. but as i said... not for wang.

it was w.a.r.p. actually... **** if i know/care what warp is, but im sure its an impressive stat to someone, and michaels was #2 at it.

[nyjunc]

We're still trying to get Michaels and it appears we aren't getting Pierre unless Fla's demands come down, they want cano or Wang and that's nto happening.

I have not seen much of Michaels but have heard alot of good things about him. Have you seen him play alot?

[Hammer]

ive seen him a few times, mainly when they played the mets. free swinger, but hes a good hitter who can hit both lefties and righties. hes an upgrade over bernie in the field... but then again who isnt. he does have decent speed and decent range though... he takes some iffy routes to the ball sometimes though, kinda like ricky ledee did.

nonetheless, he's the ideal guy in center for us, i think... but as i said, i would never give up wang for him. thats not a statement on michaels though, its a statement on wang.

[Fishercat]

I'm going to assume it's WARP3, which expands a season and is used to account for shortened years. Although, I doubt with Griffey and Edmonds in CF, Michaels was Top 2.

BTW, WARP = Wins Above Replacement Player.

[Hammer]

http://www.rotoauthority.com/2005/11..._fielders.html

[Fishercat]

I see. They have it for WARP per 600 ABs, which means they expanded Michaels #'s that way. WARP-3 does it on a rolled back scale, so Michaels would only get some of ABs rated over a season.

Michaels is a nice player, but I still believe that relying on a guy who hasn't played FT as a full-time CF is dangerous.

[Hammer]

cant be any worse than reliving the bubba-bernie platoon. though i like bubba crosby myself.

[yhova]

I am telling you. We won't be sorry if we get Juan. Just get Jeter out of the leadoff hole, please.