Via Tim, we learn that the Yankees have signed reliever Damaso Marte to a three year deal worth $12 million. The story comes from Impacto Deportivo, a Spanish-language site. I believe they also broke the Luis Castillo signing last year. We’ll monitor this for further confirmation. If true, it seems like a decent deal for the Yanks. At least we won’t have to hear pundits scream in the Spring about the Yankees bringing in a lefty reliever just for the sake of it.
Update: It’s official.
This first came up early this week, but didn’t become official until today. The Yankees have declined the option for Damaso Marte. As has been mentioned, there’s a chance they could bring him back on a new deal, rather than paying him $6 million for 2009. The team will likely offer him arbitration, meaning that if he signs elsewhere the Yankees can collect a first round pick and a compensation pick. However, his Elias ranking isn’t towards the top of the free agents — 79.288 — so if a team signs two Type A free agents, it’s likely we could get their second rounder. We’d also get a second rounder if he signed with a bottom 15 team.
Hopefully Brian Cashman makes a statement regarding this decision (or a savvy reporter asks him). Was it that they’ll seek compensation picks, or that they’d just like to have him longer and for less money?
Just a couple of notes to take you into the Election Night proceedings:
According to a few reports, the Yankees are planning on declining Damaso Marte’s $6 million option for 2009. As we figured the Yanks would pick up this option, I’m about surprised by this move, but the Yanks could be taking one of two approaches here. They’re either going to cash on Marte’s Type A status and take the draft picks or they will attempt to sign him to a multi-year deal worth less per year than his one-year option. I’d like to see Marte return; he offers more stability than Phil Coke and could be the best lefty the Yanks have employed since the heydays of Mike Stanton. We’ll see how this plays out. This is certainly not a finalized divorce.
Last week, we ponedered the Damaso Marte question. The Yanks, long in the hunt for an effective lefty out of the pen, hold a pricey $6-million option on Marte. Last week, I advocated re-upping with Marte. It is, after all, only money.
Today, we introduce a new wrinkle into the debate. Eddie Bajek released his Elias rankings for relievers, and Marte seems to have earned himself Type A status. (Of note is Kyle Farnsworth. He didn’t even garner Type B status. We’ll find out about Pudge later today.)
Bajek speculates that the Yankees will decline Marte’s option. I don’t agree with this conclusion, but the Type A status makes things interesting. If the Yanks let Marte go and if they happen to sign two or three Type A free agents this year, they recoup the draft pick they lose by letting Marte go.
Now, I know a lot of Yankee fans and analysts are high on the idea of getting more draft picks. After all, if you throw enough things against the wall, something’s going to stick. But I approach draft picks more guardedly than that. Simply put, draft picks are an unknown quantity. The best can’t-miss prospects miss, and the guys in the later rounds that some team takes a flyer on becomes an All Star. Having more picks in the first round just gives a team like the Yanks a little more margin for draft error.
But the Yankees have another advantage: They have a lot of money. They have money to spend on Major League-ready free agents; they have money to spend on international free agents. If they miss out on one of their draft picks because they feel Marte — or a similar player — has a role to fill at the Big League level, then so be it. They’ll just snap up the next best guy on the international scene.
This news about Marte’s status isn’t surprising. It just adds one more dimension to the decision Brian Cashman and Co. will have to make in three or four weeks, and on this one, I don’t really know the answer. I like Marte’s stuff, and I like his left-handedness. But if the Yanks opt to safeguard some draft picks, I can’t argue with that decision either.
I can see where the Yankees might not want to pick up the $6 million option on Damaso Marte, who had problems throwing a strike in the AL. But wouldn’t it make sense to pick it up and then try and trade him? If you agree to pick up $3 million, you could get a pretty good prospect or two in return.
I disagree. After a rough first few appearances on the Yanks, Marte threw 2/3 of his pitches for strikes. He also threw 11 stellar innings over 15 appearances, allowing nine base runners and striking out 13. He did the job the Yanks expected him to do.
In today’s market, $6 million for a solid bullpen arm seems to be a little bit high, and while the 2008 Yanks proved that the bullpen-by-veteran approach is largely unnecessary, Marte has a role on the Yanks next year. He can be that power lefty out of the pen the Yanks haven’t had since the glory days of Mike Stanton. He can set up for Rivera, and he can solidify the back end of the game.
I don’t advocate signing three Marte’s and three Farnsworth’s for the rotation. But Marte offers up something the Yanks haven’t enjoyed in a while. Phil Coke is still an unknown, and the future of the pen is up in the air. Bringing Marte back is a move the Yanks can afford, and they should do it.
Earlier today, Damaso Marte threw yet another scoreless inning for the Yankees, and his mid-August troubles are seemingly long gone. In his last 14 appearances, stretching back to August 16, Marte has thrown 11 innings, allowing one run on three hits and four walks. He’s struck out 13 in that span and is pitching about as well as any reliever could. As he’s now shown why he was a hot commodity at the trade deadline, I believe the Yanks will pick up his option this fall, solidifying the late-inning need for a lefty next year.