Adeinis Hechavarria: The Next Yankee Shortstop?

Yankees prospect Jesus Montero's a big hit with bat, but  20-year-old working hard on his defense

by Anthony  Mccarron
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Scheiner for News

Jesus Montero shows off his form behind  the plate as he works at the art of catcher, trying to becoming Jorge  Posada's eventual replacement.

TAMPA - Under a slate-gray sky, the Yankees' best prospect steps in front of home plate,  prepared to block it. About 10 yards away, a coach with a thin fungo bat  swats a ball at him, simulating the unpredictable nature of throws from  the outfield, as rain drops fall. The young catcher's mitt flashes out  to snare the ball and he applies a mock tag, then he jogs to the side as  another catcher takes a turn in the drill.

Most of Jesus Montero's days are made up of moments  like this, working at the craft of catching. He flops side to side in  the bullpen, honing his skills at blocking errant pitches. He pores over  the rudiments of receiving, learning how to handle different pitches  and the myriad ways they can break, and he works to shorten his throwing  motion to take better advantage of a powerful arm.

To Montero - and the Yankees - this is all vital work, even though  Montero's catching skills are not what most believe will eventually get  him to the major leagues. Montero, rated as the fifth-best prospect in  the game by Baseball America, might be the best  hitter in the minor leagues, a player who swings his way to Yankee Stadium before his defense can catch up.

"His bat may not be too far from the big leagues," says a rival  baseball executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was  evaluating a player in another organization. "But they'll have to decide  his position. Jesus has a chance to be a very, very big hitter. He  reminds me of Carlos Delgado at that age.

"When you have a guy who hits that well, you may want to get him out  of there even if he can't catch."

Then the executive invokes the name of a player who comes up often  when discussing Montero - Minnesota's Joe  Mauer, the reigning AL MVP. Mauer is big like Montero  - Mauer is 6-5 and 220 pounds, Montero 6-4, 235  - and an amazing  hitter. He is also a terrific defensive catcher.

As the executive says, "There are not very many Joe Mauers."

Still, the Yankees use Mauer's success as a response to the argument  that Montero is too big to be a catcher.

And they are determined to see if Montero can be the eventual  replacement for 38-yea-old Jorge Posada. Montero is likely to be the starting catcher  at Triple-A Scranton this season, but Joe  Girardi will get a look at him when Montero reports with pitchers  and catchers Wednesday for his third big-league camp.

Most teams don't get huge offense from catchers because the position  is so physically punishing, defense so vital. So if Montero becomes the  hitter the Yanks believe he can be while catching, "that elevates the  whole club's offense," says Mark  Newman, the Yankees' VP of baseball operations.

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Yanks'  repeat hopes tied to new names

By GEORGE A. KING III

There was a deal to be made between the Yankees and Johnny Damon and  it wasn't completed. The club decided Hideki Matsui's knees were too  much of a risk.

So two productive players left the Yankees after  being key cogs in winning the 2009 World Series.

And because  they had to beef up the rotation, starting center fielder Melky Cabrera  was dealt to the Braves for Javier Vazquez.

Now, the Yankees try  to defend their 27th title with a buffet of names, some familiar,  others new.

The trio of Brett Gardner, Randy Winn and Marcus  Thames takes over for Damon in left. The designated-hitter spot, which  could have been Damon's, is manned by Nick Johnson. It's the oft-injured  Johnson's second tour in The Bronx. Curtis Granderson takes over in  center.

AP

WELCOME BACK: Javier Vazquez, in his second stint with the Yankees, is  one of many new names on the Yanks' roster as they begin spring training  with hopes of a 28th championship.

Gardner will get the first shot to play every day in left, but  Thames was signed ($900,000 if he makes the team) to provide a  right-handed bat against lefties.

Gardner, possibly the fastest  runner in the game, was the starting center fielder at the opening of  last season but lost the job to Cabrera when he didn't hit. Gardner  finished the season batting .270 with 100 games and swiped 26 bases in  31 attempts.

Considering they get home runs from second base  (Robinson Cano hit 25) and catcher (Jorge Posada hit 22) and plenty of  power from Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, the Yankees don't need  power from Gardner. If he hits .280, steals bases and provides solid  defense, he will be a plus.

Granderson essentially replaces  Damon.

Granderson's speed allows him to overcome occasional bad  jumps, and after hitting 30 homers a year ago for Detroit the lefty  swinger could tack on 10 hitting in homer-friendly Yankee Stadium.

He could hit second between Derek Jeter and Teixeira or down in the  lineup.

Johnson for Matsui will be interesting. Hitting at the  Stadium will spike Johnson's home run totals, but will the on-base  machine be as productive as Matsui, who swatted 28 homers, drove in 90  runs and exited as the World Series MVP?

There are more issues  facing the Yankees, who open camp this week in Tampa.

Who is the  No. 5 starter? Will Vazquez feel more comfortable in his second stint?  Can Nick Swisher duplicate last year's solid season, or improve on it?  Will stud prospect Jesus Montero display the power that has many  believing he is a can't-miss big league star?

The Yankees won't  admit it, but the No. 5 spot is Phil Hughes' to lose. The Yankees  limited Joba Chamberlain's innings last year to prepare him as a starter  this season, but voices inside the organization believe having  Chamberlain in front of Mariano Rivera provides the strongest bullpen.

Even if Hughes doesn't win it, Chamberlain isn't a lock for the  rotation. Hughes and Chamberlain in the bullpen would give Joe Girardi  late options. Sergio Mitre, Chad Gaudin and Alfredo Aceves are the other  candidates.

When the Yankees acquired Vazquez following the  2003 season they believed they had an ace. He was gone after one season  in which he was an All-Star, but awful in the second half, finishing  with a 14-10 ledger, a 4.91 ERA and giving up a grand slam to Boston's  Johnny Damon in Game 7 of the ALCS.

Since leaving the Yankees,  he went 64-61 and topped 200 innings in each of the past five seasons.  He was 15-10 with a sparkling 2.87 ERA last year for the Braves.

"The stuff he had last year was as good as I have ever seen him pitch,"  an NL scout said of the 33-year-old right-hander, "even when he was  younger with the Expos."

Swisher introduced himself to the  Yankees' universe as a zany character, and when Xavier Nady got hurt  turned a chance to play into a sensational season.

Can he  duplicate 29 homers and 82 RBIs?

Montero has no chance to make  the team, but what provides for better spring training fodder than the  stud prospect flexing his muscles early in camp? Montero is a  20-year-old, 6-foot-4, 230-pound catcher whose bat is alive. Be prepared  to read about power that Rodriguez didn't have at the same age.

george.king@nypost.com

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Hardball’s  winners and losers of the offseason

Last Updated: 6:10 AM, February 14, 2010

This was a good offseason to  be a young ace as Felix Hernandez, Josh Johnson, Tim Lincecum and Justin  Verlander all received multi-year contracts. It was a bad offseason to  be an older, defensively deficient player such as Jermaine Dye, Vladamir  Guerrero, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Jim Thome.

It was great  to be a Halladay or a Holliday, and the holiday spirit must have moved  the A’s, Rangers and Cardinals to give good money to the wing-and-prayer  trio of Ben Sheets, Rich Harden and Brad Penny, respectively.

The  Mets signed the third-biggest free-agent contract of the offseason  (Jason Bay) and were criticized for spending too little. The Yankees,  who were ripped last offseason for spending too much, were ripped this  offseason for trying to live within — of all things — a $200 million  payroll.

Getty Images

HALLADAY IN: Roy Halladay, with wife Brandy, found a great situation, if  not the most money, with the Phillies.

Money, as usual, dominated the offseason conversation. But now, for  the most part, wallets are put away, replaced by bats and balls. But  before we do pitchers and catchers, let’s do winners and losers from an  intriguing offseason:

Winners

 1. ROY HALLADAY

Better late than never, he got all he wanted. He was traded to a  contender (Philadelphia) that trains near his Oldsmar, Fla. home, and  received an extension that might not have netted him the last dollar  (three years, $60 million), but showed how sincere he was in wanting to  be with a contender who trains near his home.

2. TWINS

Have they graduated from a good team that can’t beat the Yankees  to a legitimate title contender as Target Field opens? Francisco Liriano  received raves for his work in the Dominican Winter League, so the  Twins might have rediscovered an ace internally. And externally they  upgraded their roster and took their payroll near $100 million.

The  new double-play combo is J.J. Hardy and Orlando Hudson. With Hudson and  Thome added to Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel and Denard Span,  Minnesota might have more lefty production than even the Yankees.

3.  MARINERS

Jack Zduriencik stuck to a pitching/defense philosophy. The best  move any team made was Seattle translating three good, but not elite  prospects into Cliff Lee to team with Hernandez atop the rotation.  Hernandez was signed to a fair, long-term contract. Jack Wilson was  retained, Chone Figgins and Eric Byrnes were bought, and Casey Kotchman  was acquired in a trade — and all are above-average defenders. You don’t  usually applaud the acquisition of volatile Milton Bradley, but he was  worth the gamble to excise the ineffective Carlos Silva.

But don’t  hand the AL West to them just yet. Big questions remain about pitching  depth and RBI production after an Ichiro Suzuki/Figgins top of the  order. The organization brought Ken Griffey Jr. back for a second  goodbye tour and should have flushed sentiment in exchange for someone  such as Thome or Damon.

Trades, not free agent spending, key to NY Yankees' active offseason

By Marc Carig/The  Star-Ledger

February 14, 2010, 6:00AM

Seth Wenig/Associated PressCurtis  Granderson, middle, the Yankees' first acquisition this offseason,  posed with teammates CC Sabathia, left, and Alex Rodriguez in December.On  a December night, in a hotel suite high above the frozen streets of  Indianapolis, the retooling of the Yankees was in full swing.
 
A  bank of laptops sat opened on a dining room table, their operators so  focused they hardly looked up from their screens. A large white board  rested on an easel, its contents  hidden from outsiders’ eyes with a  strategically placed bedsheet. A BlackBerry buzzed, its vibration  drawing only a passing glance from its owner.

It was just  another of the thousands of text messages, perhaps even one that helped  shape the future of the franchise, sent to the phone of general manager  Brian Cashman. Already consumed with the task of defending a title, the  sleep-deprived Yankees GM allowed his mind to wander.

“It’s  easier . . . for people to text you an offer that’s a little bit more  difficult to convey verbally,”
Cashman said with a laugh, amused by  the ease in which outlandish trade offers can be made. “I know I’ve used  it in that way, too.”

But since that night at the winter  meetings two months ago, Cashman’s moves have been no laughing matter,  at least not to those who wish to knock off the world champions.

Cashman  revamped the Yankees roster, making it younger than the one that  claimed title No. 27. But with pitchers and catchers set to report to  Tampa on Wednesday for the start of spring training, the Yankees will  begin the process of answering the most important question: Will all of  those hours, dollars and text messages add up to the successful pursuit  of championship No. 28?

In the past, Cashman has been known to  use the phrase “big-game hunters,” an apt description for the Yankees’  place atop the free-agent food chain. The best evidence came during the  haul following the 2008 season, when the Yanks went on a $423.5 million  spending spree to acquire A.J. Burnett, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia.

But  with the Yankees entering this offseason on a self-imposed budget of  roughly $200 million, and a free-agent market mostly devoid of top-level  talent, or “big game,” the Yankees made their most significant moves  with trades.

“We knew the free-agent market was weak compared to  last year’s, as well as compared to next year’s, on paper,” Cashman said  last week. “We had to gauge how strong the trade market was, and gauge  the ability and willingness to match up.”

It turns out that  process started quickly.

Cashman’s work in preparation for 2010  began, by chance, before the 2009 season was over. Once the Yankees set  their World Series roster, Cashman spent the next three days calling  rival general managers to get a feel for possible trades.

One of  his first conversations was with Tigers general manager Dave  Dombrowski. One of the names brought up was Curtis Granderson.

By  the winter meetings, the 28-year-old All-Star center fielder was a  Yankee, part of a three-team blockbuster trade in which the Yankees  parted ways with two high-profile homegrown talents, pitcher Ian Kennedy  and outfielder Austin Jackson. The trade gave the Yankees a younger  replacement for free agent Johnny Damon, whose time with the Yankees  ended with a contract squabble, and seemed to set the tone for the rest  of the offseason.

The Yankees allowed World Series MVP Hideki  Matsui to sign a free-agent deal with the Angels, signing Nick Johnson  in his place. Though he has had injury issues during his career, Johnson  is a younger replacement for Matsui at DH.

Johnson’s signing  also spelled the end for Damon’s run in the Bronx, perhaps the Yankees’  biggest misfire of the offseason.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t get  Johnny Damon back, but we made a very strong offer,” said Cashman, who  had a two-year, $14 million offer rebuffed in December. “We had intent  and interest, but it took them awhile to come around.”

The  Yankees also addressed perhaps their top priority entering the  offseason, improving their pitching depth.

Because of Chien-Ming  Wang’s struggles and Joba Chamberlain’s inconsistency, the team found  itself leaning on just three starting pitchers throughout the  postseason, a clear sign of the need for another reliable arm.

In  response, the Yankees re-signed left-hander Andy Pettitte and traded  for former Yankee Javier Vazquez. Earlier in the offseason, Cashman  called the Vazquez trade perhaps the most important move of the winter.

With  Vazquez joining Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte in the rotation, only  one spot remains, which likely will be decided between Phil Hughes and  Chamberlain.

But even if they falter, the Yankees could fill the  slot with Chad Gaudin, Alfredo Aceves or Sergio Mitre.

Regardless  of which direction the Yankees go, they have choices to fill out the  rotation, a major goal entering the offseason.

Said Cashman: “I’m  comfortable with how we did.”

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