MLB Free Agency: Grading the New York Yankees Recent Winter Offseason Moves

Game 6 of the 2011 World Series will finally take place on Thursday after rain washed it out Wednesday night.

This means the season is getting closer to ending, and we're getting one step closer to the free agency period and the offseason period for the other 28 teams.

For the New York Yankees, they're slowly formulating their plans for this winter offseason in preparation for the 2012 team.

The team is about to finalize a three-year deal with GM Brian Cashman, who has been the team's architect since taking over the job in 1997.

Each winter, Cashman has to figure out what moves he needs to make in order to make the Yankees better.

So this story will grade what the Yankees have done in past winters since the 2001 season and if it worked out for them or not.

2001

During the 2000 season, the Yankees defeated the Mets in the World Series and had just won three championships in a row.

So their team didn't need much tinkering. But they wanted to make a major move to the starting rotation.

So the Yankees brought in long-time Orioles ace Mike Mussina and gave him a six-year, $88.5 million deal and put him in a rotation with Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and Orlando Hernandez.

In his first season with the Yankees, Mussina went 17-11 with a 3.15 ERA in 34 starts.

Mussina went on to pitch for the Yankees until retiring after the 2008 season.

Grade: A

2002

Following the 2001 season, where the Yankees lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series, the Yankees went through some major changes.

Paul O'Neill and Scott Brosius retired, and Tino Martinez left for free agency; three key components to the Yankees winning four World Series in six seasons.

The Yankees' biggest move that winter was signing former Oakland A's slugger Jason Giambi to a seven-year, $120 million deal.

In his first year with the Yankees, he hit .314 with 41 home runs and 122 RBI and was fifth in the A.L. MVP voting.

During this winter, the Yankees also brought back David Wells, who snubbed the Diamondbacks to return to the Yankees and went 19-7 that year.

The Yankees also traded David Justice to the Mets in exchange for third basemen Robin Ventura.

Ventura was at the end of his career, but he was still a good veteran leader who could still play a solid third base.

Also brought in was Rondell White from the Cubs, who only lasted one season and traded for John Vander Wal, who started the first half of the year until the Yankees traded for Raul Mondesi.

The biggest moves were Giambi, Wells and Ventura, and although Giambi steadily declined though his seven years, his first in 2002 was his best one.

Grade: B+

2003

Before the 2003, the Yankees turned international to land a major star coming over from Japan.

They signed Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui to a three-year, $21 million deal, and his playing for the Yankees and in America was highly publicized by the Japanese media because of how popular he was.

In his first game at Yankee Stadium, he cranked a grand slam off Joe Mays and the Minnesota Twins. From that point on, "Godzilla" was loved by the fans.

Matsui hit .287 with 16 home runs and 106 RBI in his first year with the team.

Matsui went on to play for the Yankees until 2009, and won the 2009 World Series MVP Award when they won the championship that year.

They also brought over former Cuban star Jose Contreras to be a part of the starting rotation.

Contreras was not all he was hyped up to be, as he went 7-2 in just nine starts and 18 appearances because he spent time on the disabled list. Contreras ended up being traded to the White Sox in July of 2004.

For bench players, the Yankees brought in backup catcher John Flaherty and infielder Todd Zeile.

And for the bullpen, they brought in former Braves reliever Chris Hammond, Juan Acevedo  and Dodgers reliever Antonio Osuna.

Flaherty played three years with the team before retiring after the 2005 season.

Zeile and Acevedo were released midseason, and Hammond and Osuna only lasted one year.

Grade: B

2004

The Yankees beat the Red Sox in the ALCS, but lost to the Florida Marlins in the 2003 World Series.

So this prompted the Yankees to make even bigger changes to the team.

On Dec. 19, 2003, the Yankees signed right-fielder Gary Sheffield to a three-year, $39 million deal. People questioned the move because of Sheffield's bad attitude in the past, but then-owner George Steinbrenner was very persistent on getting the slugger and thought he could behave in the Bronx.

In his first season with the Yankees, Sheffield hit .290 with 36 home runs and 121 RBI and finished second in the MVP voting.

Sheffield had two really productive seasons with the Yankees before spending most of 2006 on the disabled list and then was traded before 2007 to the Detroit Tigers for prospects.

As big of a move Sheffield was, the Yankees made an even bigger one on Feb. 15, 2004.

The Yankees needed a third basemen because playoff hero Aaron Boone broke his leg in a pickup basketball game.

So they traded second basemen Alfonso Soriano to the Texas Rangers in exchange for shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

A-Rod switched from shortstop to third base and also had to change his number from 3 to 13.

In his first season with the Yankees, he hit .286 with 36 home runs and 106 RBI. Some called it a down-year for A-Rod, but given that he won the AL MVP award the following year, it was mostly a transition period for him getting used to playing in the Bronx.

A-Rod is still with the Yankees, has won two MVP awards and helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series.

That wasn't the only trade the Yankees made. On Dec. 14, 2003, they traded Nick Johnson and Juan Rivera to the Montreal Expos for Javier Vazquez.

The day before, the Yankees traded Jeff Weaver and two prospects to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Kevin Brown.

Vazquez went 14-10 with a 4.91 ERA. Vazquez was really good in the first half of the season, but fell apart in the second half. Vazquez was traded, as you'll see in the next slide

Brown went 10-6 with a 4.09 ERA, but missed time when he punched a wall and broke his hand. He flopped in Game 7 of the ALCS against Boston, where he failed to get through two innings. Brown pitched one more year in New York.

The Yankees brought in former closer Tom Gordon on a two-year, $8 million deal to be Mariano Rivera's setup man.

In 2004, Gordon went 9-4 with a 2.21 ERA in 80 appearances. In 2005, Gordon went 5-4 with a 2.57 ERA in 79 appearances.

Gordon wanted to be a closer again, so after two good years with the Yankees, the Phillies gave him the closer job in 2006.

The Yankees also added Tony Clark, Miguel Cairo and Kenny Lofton to the team that winter as well.

The pitching moves didn't work out as planned, but adding Sheffield and Rodriguez turned out to be good moves.

Grade: A-

2005

The Yankees collapsed and lost to the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS after having a 3-0 lead.

Many felt it was the pitching staff and the failures of Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez in Game 7 that hurt the Yankees.

So on Jan. 6, 2005, the Yankees traded Vazquez, Dioner Navarro and Brad Halsey to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Randy Johnson.

The Big Unit, who was 41 going into the season, still had big expectations placed upon him coming into the Bronx.

He still went 17-8 with a 3.79 ERA in 34 starts and struck out 211 batters in 2005. But most importantly, he went 5-0 against Boston that year; the fifth game was the one at Fenway Park that won the Yankees the division.

Johnson pitched one more year for the Yankees before being traded back to the Diamondbacks in 2007.

The Yankees weren't done adding starters to the rotation. They signed two guys who still to this day rank as two of the worst free agent signings in recent time.

The Yankees signed Carl Pavano to a four-year, $39.95 million deal and Jaret Wright to a three-year, $21 million deal.

In 2005, Pavano went 4-6 with a 4.77 ERA in 17 starts, and Wright went 5-5 with a 6.08 ERA in 13 starts. Both pitchers finished the season on the DL.

Pavano in four years pitched a total of 26 games, while Wright pitched one more year before being traded to the Orioles.

The Yankees also brought in Tony Womack to be their starting second basemen, but he played so poorly, it led to the call up of Robinson Cano, and Womack got moved to the outfield first before being a bench player the rest of the year. He was traded after the year to the Reds.

Despite all of the bad moves, the Yankees did bring back longtime favorite Tino Martinez to play first base as Jason Giambi transitioned to the DH role.

Martinez hit .241 with 17 home runs and 49 RBI. During the month of May, Tino hit home runs in five straight games and had eight home runs in eight games. 2005 was Tino's last year in baseball before announcing his retirement.

Grade: C

2006

The Yankees knew Bernie Williams was near the end of his career, so they wanted to make a major move to get a centerfielder.

So after his negotiations with Boston went sour, Johnny Damon was headed to New York and was signed on Dec. 20, 2005 to a four-year, $52 million deal.

In his introductory press conference, he appeared with his new clean-shaved look, dropping the long hair and his caveman-like beard.

Damon became a fan-favorite in New York because of his personality. He hit .285 with 24 home runs and 80 RBI in the lead-off spot for the his first year with the Yankees.

Damon went on to play three more years with the Yankees and helped them win the 2009 World Series before leaving again as a free agent to the Tigers in 2010.

Aside from Damon, the only other moves the Yankees made were to the bullpen.

Tom Gordon left as a free agent to become the closer for the Phillies, so the Yankees needed a setup man for Mariano Rivera.

So the Yankees signed former closer Kyle Farnsworth to a three-year, $17 million deal.

He went 3-6 with a 4.36 ERA in 2006, which, considering Gordon's ERA was never above the 3.00 area, wasn't very good.

Farnsworth struggled during his time with the Yankees and pitched for them until July of 2008, when he was traded to the Detroit Tigers.

The Yankees also brought in left-handed specialist Mike Myers, who was 1-2 with a 3.23 ERA.

They brought in former starter turned reliever Ron Villone, and he was nothing spectacular in two seasons out of the bullpen.

They also signed Octavio Dotel for one season, but he spent most of the season on the disabled list recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2004 and only pitched in 14 appearances.

Grade: C+

2007

The Yankees made one of the biggest mistakes in letting Andy Pettitte walk away as a free agent before the 2004 season and letting him sign with the Houston Astros for three years.

But after the 2006 season, Houston decided they didn't want to pay Pettitte as much money, so the Yankees quickly jumped at a move that they need to make.

On Dec. 8, 2006, the Yankees signed Pettitte back to a one-year, $16 million deal, which gave him an option for 2008.

In his first year back, Pettitte went 15-9 with a 4-04 ERA in 34 starts with 141 strikeouts in 215.1 innings.

Pettitte went on to pitch for three more years, which included going 4-0 in the 2009 playoffs and helped the Yankees win the World Series, then retiring before the 2011 season.

The move for Pettitte was a great one. The next one was anything but.

After missing out on landing Japanese star Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Yankees won the bidding rights for Kei Igawa, posting $26 million just to get the rights to talk to him.

The Yankees then signed him to a five-year, $20 million deal.

In 2007, Igawa was 2-3 with a 6.25 ERA in 12 starts and was eventually sent down to the minors.

Since then, Igawa is 0-1 with a 13.50 (in 2008) and has yet to be called back up by the Yankees. To me, Igawa is the worst free agent signing the Yankees have made in recent history.

The Yankees brought in long-time veteran first basemen Doug Mientkiewicz to be the starter. He played in 72 games for the Yankees before being placed on the disabled list in June after a collision with Mike Lowell caused a fracture in his right wrist.

And in another Yankees blunder move, the Yankees brought in Josh Phelps to compete for the Yankees first base job, and essentially, was the guy that the Yankees chose to give a roster spot to over Bernie Williams.

Phelps didn't play well in New York and was eventually released in the summer.

Aside from the Igawa and Phelps mistakes, bringing Pettitte back was their best move and helped them get to the playoffs.

Grade: B-

2008

The Yankees' biggest moves before the 2008 season were bringing back their own players.

Right before Game 4 of the 2007 World Series, Alex Rodriguez opted out of his remaining deal with the Yankees to become a free agent again.

A-Rod was heavily criticized for doing this, as many thought it took away from the importance of the game.

Some wondered if A-Rod would even come back to the Yankees, but A-Rod went personally to the Yankees and negotiated his contract with them. On Nov. 15, 2007, the Yankees re-signed him to a 10-year, $275 million deal.

In 2008, A-Rod hit .302 with 35 home runs and 103 RBI.

He's been on the decline in recent time, but his 2009 postseason is the reason why the Yankees paid him all the money, hitting almost .400 with six home runs and 18 RBI and helping the Yankees win the 2009 World Series, the first of A-Rod's long career.

The Yankees also had to bring back two key long-time components.

Although he was unhappy with the Yankees not bringing Joe Torre back as manager, Mariano Rivera decided to stick with the Yankees and signed a three-year, $45 million deal, making him the highest paid reliever in baseball, even at age 38.

Rivera didn't show any signs of slowing down with age and is still the team's closer heading into 2012.

They also re-signed Jorge Posada, who turned down a five-year offer from the New York Mets, for four years and $52 million.

Posada wasn't the same player he once was in his prime, and despite only playing 51 games in 2008 due to season-ending shoulder surgery, he still was a productive enough bat in the Yankees lineup.

Many speculate that 2011 will be Posada's last year with the Yankees and could retire this winter.

The Yankees were able to keep the three players they knew that had to have back.

Grade: A

2009

For the first time since 1993, the Yankees missed the playoffs, which was under Joe Girardi's first year as the manager.

So big changes were coming for the Yankees.

On Dec. 10, 2008, the Yankees landed the biggest prize on the market by signing left-handed starter CC Sabathia to a seven-year, $161 million deal.

Three days later, on Dec. 13, the Yankees then landed the next biggest prize on the pitching market by signing right-handed starter A.J. Burnett to a five-year, $82.5 million deal.

Sabathia went 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA in 34 starts during his first year with the Yankees, has gone 59-23 in his first three seasons in New York, won the 2009 ALCS MVP Award and is 5-1 in the postseason with the Yankees.

Burnett went 13-9 with a 4.04 ERA in 33 starts during his first year, but has been in a decline since. He went 10-15 in 2010 and 11-11 in 2011 with ERA's over 5 and has been very inconsistent on the mound.

Yet, his Game 2 of the 2009 World Series and Game 4 of the 2011 ALDS are two of the biggest games Burnett has pitched in for the Yankees and won.

After landing both Sabathia and Burnett, the Yankees were not done.

On Dec. 23, 2008, the Yankees gave their fans an early Christmas gift by getting the best bat on the market and signed Mark Teixeira to an eight-year, $180 million deal.

In his first year with the Yankees, Teixeira hit .292 with 39 home runs and 122 RBI and finished second in the A.L. MVP voting.

In Teixeira's first three years, he's hit over 30 home runs and driven in over 100 RBI, despite his batting average dropping each year.

The Yankees also traded Wilson Betemit to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Nick Swisher.

In Swisher's first season, he hit .249 with 29 home runs and 82 RBI and became a fan favorite with the Yankee fans because of his good personality.

What made all of these moves so key was the fact that the Yankees won the 2009 World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies that year. All of the players the Yankees added contributed big time.

Grade: A+

2010

The Yankees won the World Series in 2009, but they still wanted to make the team stronger and better for the future.

So on Dec. 9, 2009, the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Tigers pulled off a three way trade.

The Tigers got Austin Jackson, Max Scherzer, Phil Coke and Daniel Schlereth.

The Diamondbacks got Ian Kennedy and Edwin Jackson.

The Yankees got the biggest player in the deal with centerfielder Curtis Granderson.

In his first season with the Yankees, it wasn't what everyone hoped to be, with him just hitting .247 with 24 home runs and 67 RBI.

His 2011 season is what the Yankees were hoping for, when he hit .262 with 41 home runs and 119 RBI.

Granderson has not only been a force with the bat, but has played a good centerfield for the Yankees.

On December 22, 2009, the Yankees re-acquired right-handed starter Javier Vazquez from the Atlanta Braves, along with left-handed reliever Boone Logan in exchange for Melky Cabrera and two minor leaguers.

In 2009 with the Braves, Vazquez finished 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA and 238 strikeouts. The Yankees were hoping to get this production out of him, but really didn't.

In 2010, Vazquez went 10-10 with a 5.10 ERA in 26 starts, with only 121 strikeouts before being taken out of the rotation in September.

The Yankees also brought back Marcus Thames on a minor league deal, and he made the team out of spring training and hit 12 home runs in 82 games as a part-time player.

Grade: B

2011

After losing to the Texas Rangers in the 2010 ALCS, the Yankees had one top priority in the winter: bring Cliff Lee to the Bronx.

That failed, as he snubbed the Yankees' and the Rangers' offers to return to the Philadelphia Phillies on Dec. 14, 2010.

It got even worse when Andy Pettitte retired in February of 2011, so the Yankees had some scrambling to do with regards to their offseason plans.

Before anything else, on Dec. 3, they did re-sign Mariano Rivera to a two-year, $30 million deal.

The very next day, on Dec. 4, the Yankees also re-signed Derek Jeter to a three-year, $51 million deal.

Both moves were expected, and nobody expected Rivera and Jeter to go anywhere, despite Brian Cashman telling Jeter to test the market.

Their biggest move, aside from bringing back Jeter and Rivera, was landing closer Rafael Soriano to a three-year, $35 million deal to become the Yankees setup man.

Soriano struggled out of the gate and eventually went on the disabled list in May and didn't return until July, where David Robertson took over the job. In his first season with the Yankees, Soriano went 2-3 with a 4.12 ERA in 42 appearances.

The Yankees also brought in Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia on minor-league deals with invitations to spring training to see if they could make the roster, both of which did.

Colon went 8-10 with a 4.00 ERA and 135 strikeouts in 26 starts and Garcia went 12-8 with a 3.62 ERA in 25 starts.

It's unknown if Garcia and Colon will be back with the Yankees for 2012.

The Yankees also took a chance on bringing in Dodgers catcher Russell Martin and signed him to a one-year, $4 million deal, who was coming off an injured 2010 season.

Martin took over as the everyday starter, hit .237 with 18 home runs and 65 RBI and played great defense behind the plate for the Yankees and is expected back for the 2012 season.

The Yankees also brought in veterans Andruw Jones and Eric Chavez to be key bats off the bench. Jones hit 13 home runs in 77 games, and Chavez played in just 58 games, but still played a solid third base.

It's been rumored that Chavez might retire, but if not, he could be brought back for 2012, while the status for Jones is uncertain.

The Yankees were prepared to spend $25 million per season for Lee, but spent roughly around $20 million on Soriano, Martin, Colon, Garcia, Jones and Chavez, and they still managed to win the A.L. East crown in 2011, while the Red Sox, who traded for Adrian Gonzalez, signed Carl Crawford, and were expected to run away with the American League crown, failed to make the playoffs for a second straight year.

Despite missing out on Lee, in the end, it was one of the smarter offseasons by Cashman.

Grade: A