The Yankees won in 12 innings yesterday and I flipped on the 
game when it got into extras. At one point, I believe in the 11th, the announcers started talking about Eduardo Nunez. If you don’t know who Eduardo Nunez is, relax. I assure you you’re not the only one who doesn’t know that Nunez is the Yankees backup infielder who has gotten a bulk of the time at shortstop since Derek Jeter got hurt. Anyway, the announcers were discussing how much the Yankees liked Eduardo and they mentioned that he was the piece that New York wouldn’t part with to make a Cliff Lee deal with the Seattle Mariners fall thorough last year.
WHAT? I almost fell off my chair. Eduardo Nunez is the reason the Yankees didn’t get Cliff Lee? Not super-prospect Jesus Montero? Not some good young pitching or something? Eduardo Nunez? Nunez’s positions as listed on Baseball Reference include “Pinch Runner.” He is 6th in the majors in errors at shortstop this season despite having played only 15 games at the position. He’s a .274 career minor league hitter with 30 homers in more than 2550 ABs. He is decent backup infielder, at best. He is not something to hold on to at the expense of getting Cliff Lee. Sorry Eduardo.
Let’s imagine a world in which the Yankees weren’t idiots and parted ways with Nunez to get Cliff Lee:
Imagine the trade goes through. Now, well before the trade deadline, the Yankees have a pretty formidable rotation. CC Sabathia is still the ace of the staff, last season he posted 21 wins and finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting. Lee is the number 2 (or really 1A) and Phil Hughes, who had 18 wins a year ago, is the definite number 3. In this scenario, AJ Burnett is the number 4, meaning he and his 15 losses wouldn’t necessarily have to pitch in a postseason series.
Now let’s look at the 2010 playoffs. With Cliff Lee in New York, the Yankees would face the Rays in the ALCS. I say this because though I believe the Texas Rangers would still
have won the AL West without the services of Lee, I don’t think they would have been able to get past Tampa in the ALDS. With Lee on their side this time, I think the Yankees beat the Rays and advance to the World Series.
How would the Yankees have matched up against the San Francisco Giants? Quite well I think. Their offense was clearly better. On the pitching side of the ball they don’t fare too poorly either. Let’s take a closer look:
Tim Lincecum vs CC Sabathia- Ace vs ace, former Cy Young vs former Cy Young. Push
Matt Cain vs Cliff Lee- Top of the line number 2 and quality pitcher capable of dominating vs playoff machine, former Cy Young and borderline ace. Advantage Yankees
Madison Bumgarner vs Phil Hughes- Young, good, and pretty much unproven. 18 starts in 2010 vs young, good, and a little more proven. 18 wins in 2010. Advantage Yankees
Jonathan Sanchez vs AJ Burnett- Talented and unpredictable vs talented and unpredictable. Push
If you look at it that way, the Yankees would have had a pretty good shot at the championship last season. If that happened, could we really imagine Cliff Lee leaving New York (where, in this scenario he’s won a ring and his wife has not had beer thrown on her)? This season, the Yanks would have Lee leaving Feddy Garcia back in the unemployment line. Perhaps they wouldn’t have signed Rafael Soriano so they could pay him to sit on the DL and would have had their first round draft choice. New York would have the stopper they needed for the 2 Red Sox series, Philadelphia would have a normal pitching staff and wouldn’t run away with the NL like they’re doing now. Perhaps, the Angels would have the services of Adrain Beltre because Texas would have been more hesitant to spend the millions they’d already alloted for Lee. In any event, the world would be a very different place.
Thanks, Eduardo.
-Max Frankel
