A Post Finally--Things to Come

Where to start? We've been very lame about posting and now the 2008 season is over. I finally got inspired to write since the winter meetings are ongoing and the Yankees are close to signing CC Sabathia to a 7 year deal. I'll share my thoughts on that in a bit, but I'm just going to do a bulleted list of my thoughts on random baseball stuff in here.

• Phillies win. No one expected the Phillies to win the World Series and to my fellow Philly sports fans who are in a class of their own, congrats (belated). Droughts of championships in cities like Philadelphia tend to wear people down and make them easily aggitated, so I sure hope this win does the trick. Now you just need the Eagles to do something right.

• The Offseason. Since baseball's my favorite sport to watch, this is the time of the year I get a little in the dumps although football makes up for a lot of it. Now that the winter meetings are going on there's certainly some action. There is a pretty good group of free agents out there and already some big names are changing teams with signings and trades (ie Holliday on the A's). We've also seen two great right handed pitchers retire--Mike Mussina and Greg Maddux. Maddux is a sure first ballot Hall of Fame pitcher, but there's some debate on Mussina and I want to give my two cents on that.

• Mike Mussina. Most people are going to say Mussina is not a Hall of Famer. They use criteria such as not getting 300 wins and that he wasn't "dominating" when he pitched. He also never won the Cy Young award or won a World Series. Now he retired with 270 wins and won 20 games once in his career. 270 is pretty good these days to me because if you look at the overall wins leaders winning let's say 250 or more wins, the majority of them are pitchers who used to pitch the entire game. Wins is a very overrated and deceptive category though especially because a pitcher could leave a game down 2-0 and get the loss eventhough giving up 2 ERs is a pretty good day. So while I won't do this research, I wonder of the seasons Mussina came close to 20 wins (he had two 19 win, two 18 win, and one 17 win seasons) was because he got no run support or the bullpen blew the game. But let me get in to a few reasons why I think Mussina is a Hall of Famer:

1. Career Rankings: 270 wins (33rd all time), win/loss % (38th all time), strikeouts (19th all time), 7 Gold Gloves.
2. AL East: Mussina played in one of the toughest divisions in baseball and I'd argue that it became tougher from 1994 onward. He played more years with the Baltimore Orioles who from 1993 (his rookie year) to 1995 were an pretty good team, from 1996 to 1997 were a very good team and through 2000 were not good at all. One could argue that with the Yankees he could have pulled out more wins, but he joined the Yankees and 32 years of age and around 2004 onward was on the decline.
3. He was very durable: Which says a lot about pitchers these days who are on pitch counts and are lucky if they pitch seven innings. Out of 18 years of baseall, he pitched less than 200 innings six times and he lowest innings pitched total for a season was 164 (I'm ignoring his rookie year). I believe he only had major arm problems once after he beaned someone while on the O's and got in a fight.
4. Very smart pitcher: Mussina was a Stanford grad but more importantly had a lot of pitches (like the knuckle curve) that he used well. After his fastball flamed out the last few years, he started relying more on the soft stuff and location--becoming Jamie Moyeresque in 2008. Therefore he was able to adjust his stuff and still get hitters out. Overall though, he didn't rely on one pitch to get someone out which is different from the majority of pitchers who rely on one or two pitchers to get batters out.

A couple other points. Mussina pitched in the era when only a few pitchers got over 300 wins--Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine (and soon most likely Randy Johnson). All these pitchers have continued to pitch well into their 40s, which is certainly not the norm when considering pitcher life spans. Mussina retires at 39 and basically said he doesn't just want to pitch another 3 years or so just to reach this 300 win total because even if he gets 10 wins in each of those 3 seasons, that doesn't even look impressive. This goes to say that he on out there will be few if any 300 win pitchers anymore and the Hall of Fame needs to consider other criteria.

• Sabathia. Finally, it looks like the Yankees will get their pitcher CC Sabathia for 7 years. Had a written in November, I would have said I did not think Sabathia would pitch in New York because he wanted to be in California and did not seem to be a guy to go for all the dough. But it seems since Cashman flew out to San Francisco this week that he changed Sabathia's mind. I'm sill very concerned about a few things though.

One being, this is a very long deal taking Sabathia through his age 35 season. I'm surprised Giambi didn't call and say, "don't go, the aura and mystique are no longer in New York, it left there in 2004." It's actually strange to me that no one has reported that a bunch of Yankees called Sabathia to say how great New York is (you can't use the we'll win a World Series several times over arguement anymore).

The second is Sabathia's high pitch counts. The guy can pitch forever it seems and close out games himself, but it will wear on him at some point. I suspect he'll land on the DL a couple times while in New York. The other arguement for this is his weight problem. While very athletic, his weight will certainly take a toll on his legs and being a power pitcher that will not help his pitching.

So yes, I'm a bit negative on Sabathia eventhough I do love the guy as a pitcher ever since he was a rookie. I'm also a bit disillusioned that Sabathia would get more than Santana who's arguable the better left handed pitcher in the game today--but that's how baseball works, everyone's upping the ante and the Yankees had to since they desperately need pitching.

Some final thoughts on the Yankees offseason--don't sign Burnett, he's a head case and arm case and overrated. I hope they go for Lowe instead and resign Pettitte giving them Sabathia, Wang, Lowe, Pettitte, Chamberlain, and Hughes/Kennedy/?. At this point I do not suggest they get Texiera but do resign Abreu so that they'd play Swisher at first. The could also take a look at Raul Ibanez as well if they don't go for Abreu.

That's all from here, I'll post again when there's more to discuss.

It's Over

Yes, it's been a couple months since my last post and in that time the Yankees have managed to not be in the playoffs for the first time since 1995 and Yankee Stadium is no more.

The beginning of this season I fell into the trap of assuming the Yankees would make it to the playoffs again. I figured the offense would be as good as it's always been and the pitching would hold up. Both failed to deliver although I would say 89 wins considering what happened is not too bad, but this is the Yankees and so this is a huge failure. On all accounts though, this day was bound to happen. The Yankees have aging players--I would even argue Jeter is among them--and no coherent plan to build things up from the farm system.

On that point (the farm) I do want to say the Yankees can learn a lot from some recent teams that have made the playoffs with strong farm system teams--the Indians, Rays, Brewers, and even the Red Sox. We are seeing some light in the changes Cashman has made since 2005 in building the farm with arms like Hughes and Chamberlain and even Cabrera, but no "stars" yet.

But it will be interesting to see how the Yankees move forward. First off, they need pitching...badly. Assuming Pettitte and Mussina retires, that leaves Wang, Hughes, and questionably Chamberlain and Kennedy in the rotation. Seeing that Sabathia is a free agent I am expecting the Yankees to go after him hard--especially since they didn't bid on Santana last year, something Hank Steinbrenner seems to regret. They may need to sign or trade for a #3 starter on top of that as well. On the offense side, with Giambi most likely leaving and no 1st baseman to replace him, the Yankees may go after Texiera.

This will be a lot of money. Sabathia will likely get top dollar either matching or surpassing Santana's deal and Texiera is obviously very costly as well (especially since his agent is the greedy Scott Boras). These moves will continue the spending trend the Yankees have bolstered since 2001 something as Buster Onley pointed out in a recent article on ESPN has stunted the player development growth.

But back to missing the playoffs. Any way you cut it, the AL East is even more competitive than ever before. I personally did not see the Rays doing what they did and figured they'd have another losing season, but they are for real and honestly I think that's great. The Red Sox are solid because they have balanced great player development with key free agent signings and the Blue Jays seem to be over .500 these last few seasons on the verge of being in contention for the Wild Card. The point is, for the Yankees to compete they will have to either win the division or have a good enough record for second place to take the Wild Card and 2008 is an indicator that this is harder to do.

I will write more when the Yankees make post season moves. In the mean time the playoffs start today and despite my lack of baseball watching this year, I'm looking forward to watching as much as I can. Here is my prediction: it will be the Angels vs. Brewers. Yeah, I'll go with an underdog in the NL, but I think the Brewers are on a good roll right now.

Finally!!

Not only is it my birthday, but it's also the trade deadline today. Two years ago the Yankees got me Bobby Abreu. This year it's Ivan Rodriguez, Xavier Nady, and Damaso Marte. They finally got rid of Farnworth, Hawkins, and some minor leaguers. I'm happy.

These were some very good trades and very strategic. I-Rod will fill in for the catcher spot, provide great defense, and they he'll likely be gone after the season. Nady, who was a prospect years ago, has been having his best season by far, so hopefully he'll continue to milk that the 2nd half. And Marte is probably the best left handed reliever the Yanks have traded for in a long time.

The one thing I worry about is the bullpen at this point. Farnsworth was doing pretty good, but I never had much faith in him and he was going to start getting jacked at some point. Veras and Ramirez have been good, but Marte adds the strong left handed pitcher they've lacked for a long time (probably since Mike Stanton, his first time on the team).

But enough of the Yanks, Manny is gone (or as I'm calling Manny banning Manny). His situation in Boston just became ridiculous and the Sox had nothing to lose since they likely weren't going to sign him again. They had to give up a lot, a couple good arms, but Manny's attitude was piss poor. I'll let Doug give his thoughts on it though.

That's about all for me, I just got to NJ and it's late, I'll write more later.

Trade Talkin' Time

Having just read this article, I thought I'd throw in my two cents of what the Yanks may want to trade for this year.

I should first note that the article points out that the Yankees put Barry Bonds on the table as a possible player to sign. But it doesn't sound very serious, they were just noting that he could be a resource for the rest of the year. It looks like Matsui is done for the year, Damon is banged up and won't play much LF, so they need someone who can platoon and be willing to DH now and then. Is Bonds a solution? Sure. But that solution will come with lots of baggage. And honestly, can we see Bonds handling the NY media at all? It could be a potential disaster and huge distration should anything go down.

And now for the worst joke of the day, if the Yankees sign Bonds he'd finally be behind bars...get it, the pinstripes are like bars. I told you it was bad...

Besides Bonds in terms of priority here's where the Yanks need the most help:

1. Starting pitching. I don't even know the rotation anymore. Wang's out til Sept the earliest, Hughes and Kennedy are long forgotten, Igawa is never an option, and there's risk among the rest of them for injury due to age and just the long season. The article mentions Jared Washburn as an option--and he'd be a decent #4 starter. I think a starting pitcher who's a veteran and has post season experience would be my criteria. Which means I'd also look at Greg Maddux as well.

2. Relief pitching. There have been a good deal of injuries here too and no one's really made up for it. Edwar Ramirez has been tremendous and Farnsworth has finally been pretty good. Everyone else, I don't trust (except Mariano). If Kennedy or Hughes come back, they should go to the bullpen, but they could use some help down the stretch. A good middle reliever who can get outs is the way to go.

3. Another bat. The offense is fine, but there's always slumps in the dog days of summer. LF is a mess obviously, but so is catcher. Finding a catcher who can throw runners out is ideal, but it'd be nice to have them be able to hit some. That's a bit lofty since Posada has been one of the better offensive catchers the last decade, but they also don't need a guy who will hit below .250 the rest of the way. They're looking into Benji Molina. Or maybe Tony Pena could come out of retirement.

Don't expect a blockbuster trade. There isn't a crisis per say and the tone of trading has changed for the Yankees of late.

The All-Star Game/Rev Up for the 2nd Half

Elmo aside (see prior post from Doug), the All-Star game was fun to watch this year. Sure the AL won again, even with a DH the NL can't win. As I've mentioned in prior posts, I'm not big on the All-Star game, but since this one was at Yankee Stadium I had to watch it. What was interesting about the game was how fast paced it was up until the 7th or 8th inning when it reversed gears and went into slow motion. The best inning to watch was when Aaron Cook took over and Uggla made some very bad mistakes in the field subsequently loading the bases. But they got out of it with no outs on the board.

In the end, the game ended around 1:30am, which was a good thing since Kazmir was the last arm and everyone kept thinking back to that time in Milwaukee 6 years ago.

So now the second half is underway and there are going to be some great races in the AL East, AL Central, NL East, NL Central, and a very weak NL West. I exclude the AL West because assuming the Angels don't get an injury bug, they are surely going to win the division. Once again:

• A Mets-Phils rivalry is beginning (if there's a Mets fan and Phillies fan out there start blogging daily) again--start the smack talk folks.
• Can the White Sox keep up their offensive prowess and keep Ozzie Guillen calm?
• Do the Sabathia and Harden trades start an arm race?
• Will we have a repeat 2005 season in the NL West where one team finished above (barely) .500?

For the Yankees, last year they had the best record during the 2nd half. Off to a 5-0 start they'll be in the hunt for the Wild Card or division. While they're offense is good, their starting pitching is not, and it will be interesting to see if they trade for a good #3 or #4 pitcher. This year they got their wish at first base having just claimed Richie Sexson off waivers. I'm not sold on Sexson at all though as his batting eye and power skills are sliding away quickly. But he holds the promise of resurrecting it all. Look for Robinson Cano to have his tremendous 2nd half surge and Derek Jeter will get it going too.

It's All Over (And You Only Half-Realize It)!!

A point-by-point rebuttal to the delusional ramblings of a Yankees fan:

While it's true that the Yankees will contend for the Wild Card with the Rays, the notion that they can "contend" with the Red Sox is like saying Elmo could contend with Wolverine. While Elmo's teaching kids how to love and hug and share or whatever, Wolverine's busy carving them up with his razor-sharp adamantium claws.

Hughes and Kennedy will be too busy running for City Council in Trenton to put on a uniform after labor day.

Papelbon not only eats Mo Rivera's lunch, he eats his breakfast, brunch, dinner, and that piece of pie he left in the fridge he was going to eat as a midnight snack. If Papelbon, armed only with a kilt, was to face off again Rivera, armed with his cut fastball, Jason Giambi's mustache, a bazooka, and a hive full of live bees, Papelbon would take him down faster than Mo could blame it on the rain.

Have a super all-star break!

It's Half Over (Already)!!

Yikes, we're at the half way point in the baseball season already. Time flies, I can't figure out how to slow it down anymore with the exception of work some days, which is not how I like spending 40+ hours of my time most weeks.

I just wanted to put a few thoughts/notes/whatevs down here on the season so far, which again as I will point out, I haven't followed as intensely this year.

• For one, the Yankees have a better record than they did last year at the break. But it's not all that good now that they have the Rays to contend with as well as the Red Sox. They're only 6 games out and had a good run a couple weeks back. The pitching is worrisome still, but Hughes and Kennedy will hopefully get straightened out for the stretch run.

• In other news, the NL Central made some bad ass trades. I was suprised Sabathia was traded to the Brewers. My bet is that he will end up somewhere else this offseason--the Yanks could be a contender if they get rid of Mussina and Pettitte reconsiders retirement. Plus with Giambi likely leaving, the $$ are flashing. The Red Sox will be in there too, probably the Mets, Phils, and Dodgers. The other player traded was Rich Harden, who has already been on the DL once this year. Yet the Cubs, even after the disasters called Prior and Wood, traded some of the farm for an arm that's only pitched one full season. If Harden can be Harden and stay healthy--great trade--otherwise I'm somewhat pessimistic on this one.

• All-Star game is on tonight and I'm actually going to watch this one--yes, only because it's at Yankee Stadium. I watched part of the HR derby last night (I usually don't watch any of these things) and it was one of the best I've seen. Josh Hamilton has an incredible swing, strength, and it again confirms that it's good he was able to play baseball again.

• Speaking of the game, what's up with Jonathan Papelbon. I got what he was saying, wanting to close and all, but he didn't say it very well. Almost a bit cocky--Rivera is the greatest closer of all-time Papelbon, you're just getting started still.

My goal this second half is to try and watch more games. I'm not only wasting my MLB TV subscription, but it's just weird not feeling in the loop. Have a good All-Star break people!

Scenes from the Yankees Front Office

HANK STEINBRENNER: What is this nonsense? Wang getting his foot hurt? The designated hitter rule was part of the Magna Carta in the 13th century - why are pitchers still hitting?

GENE MICHAEL: Good call, Boss!

GEORGE STEINBRENNER: I'm the boss!

GENE MICHAEL: Um... right, sorry, boss.

GEORGE STEINBRENNER: I like pudding!

HANK STEINBRENNER: Listen, Stick - the important thing is that we have Joba Chamberlain starting now, right? I mean, what's he done so far - won like, forty games, right?

GENE MICHAEL: Well, yeah, he's won a game...
HANK STEINBRENNER: And Hughes and Kennedy, they're tearing it up, right?

GENE MICHAEL: How about that new stadium, Boss?

GEORGE STEINBRENNER: I'm the boss!

GENE MICHAEL: Yeah... right.

GEORGE STEINBRENNER: My shoes taste like cupcakes!

JOE GIRARDI: Hey guys, remember what I did to those young Marlins pitchers in '06?

BRIAN CASHMAN: Yeah...?

JOE GIRARDI: Yeah. Uh... nevermind.

HANK STEINBRENNER: What's up with this team, Cash? I mean, Robinson Cano? More like, Robinson... Can't... Play... No......... More.

GENE MICHAEL: Good one, Boss!

GEORGE STEINBRENNER: I'm the boss!

GENE MICHAEL: Erm...

GEORGE STEINBRENNER: I want Famous Ray's!

HANK STEINBRENNER: And Melky Cabrera - more like... Melky Crap-era!

GENE MICHAEL: Zing!

HANK STEINBRENNER: Where's Torre, anyway?

JOE GIRARDI: Uh... I'm the manager now.

HANK STEINBRENNER: And why isn't Joba Chamberlain a starter yet? He's like a combination of Cy Young, Albert Schweitzer, and Dirk Diggler!

JOE GIRARDI: Actually, we do have him starting...

BRIAN CASHMAN: Hey, lay off the new guy.

HANK STEINBRENNER: You're on thin ice, Cash. Remember when I told you that you should trade every player on the 40-man roster for Johan Santana and you didn't and then we ended up in third place? Yeah... you know what I'm talking about.

BRIAN CASHMAN: But-but-

HANK STEINBRENNER: Shuddup. I've got the solution here - a personal letter to the managing partner's office. It says here, "Put Rickey in, Rickey's ready to play."

Neglect

I fess up, I have been neglecting this blog and baseball overall this year. I have no excuses, only realities like meeting a big deadline at work the last month (it was met) and focusing more energies on a side music career. And now that it's July 1st and been summer, I'm looking at the calendar and half the season is over already--and I haven't been to Nationals Park still...

I'll also admit I haven't been keeping up with the Yankees as much, I know where they stand and see players going on the DL, but it's not something I'm remembering on a daily basis. I haven't watched many games either on my MLB TV.

Okay, but enough of my lameness, here are some notes on the Yanks and baseball all around I wanted to comment on:

Baseball Stuff

• What's with players pushing GMs and other baseball staff around. Shawn Chacon's case was the worst and I'm sure we will see him in an independent league soon if no one picks him up. I was suprised that Manny pushed the head of ticket distribution down the other day because they weren't going to get him enough tickets for some upcoming game.

• The All-Star game is coming up and there's probably going to be some new faces which is good. Also, since it's up at Yankee Stadium, I may have to watch this one.

• The Devil Rays are for real. I'm convinced they will be an above .500 team this year with a good shot at the Wild Card. This is something I admire because they've finally learned how to build a young talented team through the farm and not free agency.

• Willie Randolph getting fired with several other staff was an attempt at slapping the Mets awake. I don't know if it will work, hearing some of those guys talk leads me to think there's no real leadership in the clubhouse and I doubt Jerry Manuel is the guy to change that.

Yankees Stuff

• Well, they finally are having a good run despite the injuries. The offense is letting loose with the likes of Damon, Giambi, Abreu, Matsui and A-Rod all hitting over .300 the last two months and producing well. Joba's doing just fine as a starter, though it'd be nice to see him go deeper into games. I'm wondering if they'll make a move for Sabathia in a trade. If not now, they may go after him hard this offseason unless the Tribe locks him up quickly.

• Kei Igawa's made a couple appearances and they did not go well. $27 million to talk--water under the bridge for the team right?

• Mike Mussina has been unbelieveable. This not only saved him face (he was deemed for the bullpen before the season started), but it helping the Yanks out when the starting rotation is in shambles. I think this is making the Yanks reconsider signing him for another year or two.

• Farnsworth and Hawkins have settled down...somewhat.

Again, my apologies to our readers, I'll do better the second half and try to watch some games every once in a while.

Are they saying Boo or Drew?

On May 22nd, I was grousing to a buddy about J.D. Drew's paltry .402 SLG while following the game at work.

Then he hit a grand slam. (Lowell hit one that day, too)

Today, his SLG sits at .601 - he's finally looking like the $70 Million man.

He rocks almost as hard as Teddy's new songs.

Lawsuit!

So like two weekends ago I wrote out a post longhand over the weekend with every intention of typing it up and posting it at work that week. Then Jon Lester went and threw a no-hitter, and all my clever bits of insight (including a "Scenes from the Yankees Front Office") seemed a trifle shallow. It's all worth resurrecting at some point, but currently the notebook that contains this post and I are about 1,000 miles apart, so now is not that time.

(On a personal note, I lost luggage somewhere between Charleston and Providence - Reagan Airport is the best guess of where it landed. Keep an eye out, Teddy - my Spice Girls T-shirt is at stake)

I just learned that Ortiz is going on the DL, which means that Man-Ram will probably DH, with an outfield of Ellsbury, Crisp, and Drew. I am very thankful that Coco Crisp was not traded for the sake of trading him, even though I was definitely in that camp this offseason - he wants to start, teams need center fielders, he could bring back value, let's go ahead and trade him!

As for the title of this post, about fifteen minutes ago I walked in on a Fox Sports story about the Lakers-Celtics NBA championship. The graphic that was used to introduce the story was "Rivalry Redux".

KA-CHING!

Lots of Things, So Little Time

I haven't posted in a while, needless to say my job has been misery of late, but I won't get into that right now. So the Yanks are hovering around .500, the Red Sox are in 2nd place, but more impressively the Rays are in first place. I thought I'd catch up on stuff that happened in May and then look forward to a week of work before taking a vacation.

Team and Player Celebrations

Delluci homers and puts the Tribe up over the Yanks off Joba Chamberlain. The next day Joba strikes out Delluci and pumps his fist. Delluci is offended and then Don Larson is, and now baseball's celebrations are out of hand. Short of rules that prohibit celebrating anything (as it is in the NFL of late), to me baseball's antics after a homerun or a strikeout are downright cliche these days.

Now Joba's not the first to do this pumping of fists after striking someone out. I recall Randy Johnson doing it frequently and he's going to the Hall of Fame, but no one's been on his case about it of late. This whole thing's relative to what other things go on in the game. Do I think players and teams are wrong for celebrating stuff and going over the top? Not really, mainly due to what our culture is these days.

The fact of the matter is, these things are almost expected today. Yes, baseball has a tradition of players not watching homeruns leave the yard from home plate or throwing your helmet off as you round third on a walk off homerun. Quite frankly, lots of things lose tradition and there will be more celebrations and so on. The only thing that can be done is if baseball fines players or bans them from certain types of behavior on the field.

Those Rays

Yes, the AL East is in bizarro fashion right now. SI has a great comic book-type cover depicting it. Since this blog is not about the Rays, I have to say it's great to see a young team with lots of talent just shocking everyone right now. The last fews years the team building concept went from Moneyball to replenishing your farm system. We've seen the Indians, Brewers, D'Backs, and now the Rays do this, and they've all done well one year or another the last five seasons or so.

This is a Yankee fan posting, but honestly it would be nice to see the Rays have a winning season and even make the playoffs. I'm not saying I wish the Sox or Yanks do not make it, but like tradition everyone figured the Rays would have another bad year (okay, not everyone, but anyone who did you had to think was going out on a limb). I believe they are the real deal, and even if they don't make the playoffs, they should have a winning record and be able to compete in the AL East the next few years.

Games I went to

My final notes here are that I'm really enjoying going to games this year, especially when--here it comes--I haven't been following this season as closely as I usually do. I went to a game in Petco and that is a nice field. Huge concorses, a nice green space in the OF, but food was a lot (more than Yankee stadium, yes, wait until the new Yankee stadium is open next year).

I was also at Yankee Stadium for my first game this year. I'm really going to miss that stadium and as the drunk fan in front of me said, "I don't know what the fuck is wrong with this stadium, it's a classic." I do have to agree, but this stadium is merely a sign of the times and Geore Steinbrenner's last addition to the organization.

Anyhow, I leave you with a video I took of Joba Chamberlain, who between innings I caught on video lip singing with Eminem. Check it out, May's review to come soon.

By the way, if anyone knows a Rays fan, an actual one, please let me know. That'd be a first for me to hear of.

Rivalry Re-Redux

In an effor to land on our feet in the Topsy-Turvy world of the AL East, we will be changing the format of this blog. While it will still be a rivarly blog, I will now be representing the interests of the Tampa Bay Rays, while Teddy will be toeing the rubber for the Baltimore Orioles.

Keep an eye out next week for these posts:

The Greatest Rays' Center Fielder of All-Time: B.J. Upton or Ice Williams?

The Baltimore Orioles: The Three Guys on the Team I've Heard Of

Enjoy the weekend!

Anniversary

Good-gosh-golly-geez. A year already? I remember those heady early days, when I was blogging at a Fast and Furious pace that Vin Diesel would have been proud of, before coasting into a Tokyo Drift of not posting.

Well, I ain't back up to my old pace yet, but I should be good for once a week, at least.

I haven't been able to catch many games this year (though I do thank Buffalo South on Folly Road for realizing that there weren't really that many people interested in the NHL playoffs) nor am I playing in a fantasy league this year, so I feel a little less plugged in than I usually would.

Also, that second World Series in 4 years does take some of the bite out of a guy. Yes, I know the Yankees have still out-championed the Red Sox by a margin three times the distance of a Johnny Damon throw from the outfield, but it's nice to have some of the desperation seep away.

After 2003, I had promised myself that if the Red Sox did not win the World Series by the time I turned 30, I would turn my back on baseball. Now, I don't know if I would have followed through on that (and I won't have to) but having recently turned 29, I remembed that vow, and had the Sox lived up to their historical reputation, I could be looking at my self-imposed final year as a fan. No real point there, just reflecting.

Three of four from the Tigers last week was nice - we're all still waiting for the Tigers' offense (which was supposed to be a hybrid between the '27 Yankees, Big Red Machine teams of the '70s and the Thundercats) to come together. They'll straighten out and score a bunch of runs this year, but have already missed the expectations put on them. It was nice to get those games taken care of early.

The Sox are going for a split against the Twins - another 3 out of 4 would have been nice, but Wake's flutterball apparently betrayed him last night. I mean, a home run for Adam Everett? Did the rapture happen last night and I missed it?

The Sox pitching staff is something I'm still struggling to hold in my head. Oh, Beckett and Wakefield are known quantities. And I did learn that "Matsuzaka" apparently means "Crossing Guard", in Japanese, which explains why Dice-K walks as many as he does.

Jon Lester has the same problem with racking up the free passes. Every good young lefty prospect is invariably compared to either Randy Johnson or Tom Glavine. Since Lester is not mulletted sasquatch with a howitzer for a left arm, he falls into the latter camp. He'll need to get those control numbers looking better if he wants that to stick.

Although both Dice-K and Lester are prone to One Bad Inning Syndrome (OBIS), fortunately they do not use this to go into a Derek Lowe/Aaron Selesque form of shellshock, resulting in crooked number upon crooked number flying up on the scoreboard until their manager goes all 8 Belles on them. (Too soon?)

Clay Buchholz has lost when he's pitched great, lost when he's been awful, won when he pitched great, and won when he pitched okay, and has a mess of no-decisions. It still doesn't tell me a lot about the guy.

Insurance policy Julian Tavarez was designated for assignement today. If you don't already know, Tavarez and Manny are BFFs. They go all the way back to the Indians farm system in the '90s. Without looking, I'm sure the Boston media has drawn straws so that half of them can write the "Manny pouts" story, while the other half takes the whole "If nobody tells him, will Manny even notice? Will they just tell him that Mike Timlin is Tavarez? Oh, that Manny being Manny on Planet Manny - that's so Manny" angle.

I think what will happen is that the Yankees will sign Tavarez, so that along with Farnsworth and Hawkins they will have the Holy Trinity of erratic right-handed setup men. Then, when the Yankees next play in Boston, Manny can sit out the game with "the flu" and then meet up with Tavarez for drinks after the game.

What I'm waiting for is the 300-style cavalry - and yes, I just referenced my least-favorite movie in the entirety of space and time, but it's apt - by which I mean, the elephantine cavalry.

Yes, there are Curt Schilling jokes to be mined there, and I am including him in the cavalry - but I don't know if he'll even pitch this year. No, what I'm waiting for is...

(gulp)

I can't believe I'm about to type this...

Bartolo Colon

I may not have dispensed any vitriol on the man in this space before, but Teddy can certainly attest that I have long been not a Bartolo Colon fan. By which I mean that I actively went out of way to hate on the man. I used a lot of "over" words. Overpaid, overweight, and (most especially) overrated.

When I first heard that he'd been signed, I figured they were going to stencil Goodyear on his side and use him to get aerial shots of Fenway.

Theo Epstein characterized this as a low-risk, high-reward investment. The risk in dollars is certainly low, as for the reward...

Shockingly, he's looked really good in his minor league rehab starts. So suddenly I am faced with the prospect of having to actively root for Bartolo Colon. I've been trying to find another comparable shifting of loyalties and come up blank. Any suggestions?

Happy Anniversary (to us)!!

Over the weekend this blog celebrated its one year anniversary. This is certainly viewed as a success considering Doug and I tried this idea a few years ago and nothing happened (we didn't blog much). But now we're wiser in our baseball knowledge and putting our thoughts down when we can.

We appreciate those of you who read us and encourage you to tell your baseball--Yankee and Red Sox friends about this blog. We're looking forward to the next year of blogging!

There Will Be Blood

This is awful.

For once, I'm not getting melodramatic about anything that happened on the field, but rather something that happened off of it. According to a story at espn.com, a Yankee fan killed a Red Sox fan over a - what else? - Red Sox/Yankees argument.

I can't let this go without at least one quip - namely, that maybe this is a good time to retire the insufferable "Yankees Suck!" chant - but really, this is a situation to be dead serious about.

Hey, Teddy and I are proof positive that Red Sox and Yankees fans can exist in harmony without raised voices and certainly without bloodshed.

I'll write something a little more topical to the state of the Sox later on, but just felt the need to say something about this while it was fresh on my mind.

Hindsight and Foresight: Yankees April Review, May Preview

This post isn't the one you have been waiting for. Much to my pleasant suprise Doug posted an entry on here and I didn't see it until a couple days later after which I pumped my fist in the air. Welcome back and I'm sure we'll see more coming!

But here from me is the seasons first Hindsight and Foresight which is now a monthly installment. I'm going to play around with how I write these. There will be stats and comments, and I'll throw my two cents in on decisions, quotes, and so forth. Anything I've posted on during the month already I'll just lead you back to what I wrote or if I have anything new to say, I'll just say it. So let's just get into this.



Hindsight: April Review

April was a tough month to watch. The new pitching combination of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy failed to produce a win. The offense struggled. Injuries crept up on key players. And Hank Steinbrenner in his father's fashion blasted the team for not starting Joba (and clarified his comments later on). Was this a typical April in the Bronx?

Fans shouldn't be suprised with the lackluster and mediocre start by the Yankees in April. Here's how the last five April's have gone for the Yankees in terms of their record:

2008: 14-15
2007: 9-14
2006: 13-10 (tied first place with Boston)
2005: 10-14
2004: 12-11

Can the Pope be blamed for some of this? Well, the Yankees only had 11 home games because of his visit to Yankee Stadium. But they only won five of these games. Overall, the Yankees failed to put any sort of winning streak together. They hit three wins in a row twice and subsequently lose three in a row after both of those streaks. They won three series against teams (Toronto, Chicago, and Tampa Bay), split three (Boston, Tampa Bay and Cleveland), and lost the other three series (Kansas City, Boston, and Baltimore--I'm not counting Detroit which ended in May).

April Stats

W-L: 14-15
RS/RA: 125/133
Offense (AVG/OBP/SLG): .255/.324/.411
Pitching (ERA/Whip/K per 9/BAA): 4.56/1.41/6.55/.269

Who's Hot: Hideki Matsui was off to a .322/.425/.511/4 HR/13 RBI start
Who's Not: Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy (0-6 combined, each with ERAs over 8.00, more on this), also Robinson Cano is off to a terrible start (.151/.211/.236)

My Yankee of April: Although Matsui is great out of the gate, Melky Cabrera has been showing power early hitting 5 HRs (8 is his career high) and actually had more RBIs than Matsui (15).


Notes on Offense

• The Yankee offense scored only 4.3 runs/game in April
• Bobby Abreu known for a good batting eye, walked only 8 times against 24 strike outs.
• Robinson Cano, known as a "slow first half" player had his worst April to date. In the last two years he was hitting over .300 and then dropped off only to pick it up in the second half of the season. His rythm is off at the plate and he looks uncomfortable swinging.
• Jason Giambi isn't cutting it at first base. I have no stats to share on this, but after watching a few games he'll have to platoon more with someone else at first and DH (I just don't know if Duncan or Betemit's gloves are that much better though).

Notes on Pitching

• The Yankees will just have to deal with Kennedy and Hughes' poor starts. Hughes is now injured (more on in a bit), but both did not show any command on the mound. Kennedy has consistently worked behind in the count leading to lots of hits (10.9/nine innings) and walks (8.05/nine innings). Three of Hughes' starts lasted no more than 4 innings pitched. Just check out his game log.
• A bright spot is how quickly Mike Mussina has reinvented himself. See I knew that Stanford degree would come in handy again. Asked to pitch more like a "Jamie Moyer", Mussina has done just that throwing more breaking stuff and not relying as much on his fastball which got him in trouble a lot last year.
• In the bullpen LaTroy Hawkins is looking like the twin of Kyle Farnsworth. Hawkins has allowed every runner that was on base when he came in the game to score. Don't you think in his wind up he gives away his pitch (he doesn't cover the ball with his glove)?
• What's up with Wang? 6.23 K's/nine innings! We'll see if this holds up.

Injuries

Well, I noted this the other day before even more injuries came into play. Lots of injuries are going to put the Yankees in a precarious position this early in the season. To note:

• Brian Bruney tore something called a lisfrac in his foot. After getting three opinions, he is going to try to rehab and avoid season ending surgery. He won't be back until the second half at best.
• Wilson Betemit is recovering from pink eye and is playing in the minors right now.
• Phil Hughes somehow has a stress fracture in his ribs and is out until July. This is bringing back memories of Kevin Brown and Carl Pavano. Again, not an arm injury so no one's freaking out yet.
• Alex Rodriguez as I suspected has a grade 2 tear in his quad. He just needs rest, but his bat will be missed the next two weeks. Let's hope this isn't a lingering problem during the year--don't rush him back.
• Jorge Posada was probably the worst injury of all since he's never been on the DL and the Molina, Moeller combo behind the plate is weak at best. As reported by BP's Will Carroll, from MRIs Posada has a strained rotator cuff. They are getting multiple opinions, but the only way to know if anything serious is torn would be to open him up and look. Likely, he's going to miss 6 weeks and rehab the shoulder. However, if problems throwing still persist, expect him to be DHing a lot.
  

Foresight: May
The Yanks will has six series at home and four on the road in May. There are some key match ups against Detroit, Cleveland, the Mets, and Baltimore. Right now the offense is showing some signs of waking up and hopefully when A-Rod is back will be in full swing. The pitching is what is most concerning. While Wang, Pettitte, and Mussina are holding the line they could all have a bad month. Look for Kennedy to be sent to the minors and for spots starts from Rasner, Karstens, Henn, and dare I say it--Igawa.

Brother, Can You Spare a Run?

Sooo... what did I miss?

'Kay, I guess since I've posted, the Sox picked up Eric Gagne (yay!) and then let him actually pitch (boo!) then beat the Angels in 3 (yay!) then went down 3 games to 1 against the Indians (boo!), then they won 7 games in a row to win the World Series (double yay!) and then they resigned Lowell (yay!) and Schilling (eh?) and restrained themselves from trading Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, Justin Masterson, Michael Bowden, Old Ironsides, Quincy Market, and the cast of "Cheers" for Johan Santana (more yaying!).

Which just about catches us up.

A month into the season, the Sox are locked in a life-and-death struggle for first place in the AL East with a truly terrible foe: the Baltimore Orioles. Apparently, the immortal outfield of Luke Scott, Adam Jones, and Nick Markakis, the fiery leadership of Kevin Millar, the impending trade of Brian Roberts, and the rocket arms of Steve Trachsel, Jeremy Guthrie, and Brian Burres are what it takes to win in the East these days.

Clearly, both the Yankees and the Red Sox need to go back to the drawing board.

Nah, they'll be all right - we've weathered Baltimore springtime mirages before. Unfortunately, the Sox are currently fighting like Rocky in the second Creed fight, instead of like Rocky in the second Clubber fight - they're staying in it, but they're not landing the big punches they need to.

The recipe for catastrophe goes like this: take nine parts lack of run support, add six parts leaky bullpen, sprinkle liberally with injuries. Serve lukewarm.

The Big Worry, of course, is Big Papi. Is he still hurt? Is that Papi Shift really that effective? He is still second on the team in HRs, tied for first in RBIs, and alone in first for walks, so he's still doing most of the things he does that have made him who he is, he's just not doing it with a .300+ batting average.

The other trouble in River City is the distressing lack of run support. Two gems by Buchholz and Beckett were wasted this weekend when they were swept by the Dev- I mean, by the Rays, and outscored 10-5.

Even last night's (1-0) win over the Blue Jays required an essentially perfect pitching performance (thank you, Lester and Pap) and some bottom-of-the-ninth heroics to win the game. While it's nice to pull out a one-run game in the ninth, it's not necessarily a blueprint that any team can (or should) repeat at will.

The 2003-2005 Sox spoiled a lot of fans - I don't know if that kind of offensive juggernaut will ever come back, but this team should be able to score 5 a game and keep that many off the board.

Here They Come

The injury bug is upon the Yankees this last week. The biggest injury could potentially be Jorge Posada who can no longer throw as a catcher. He'll be seeing Dr. Andrews, the shoulder expert, this week but the prognosis doesn't look good based on Jorge's reaction.

Depending on the severity of the injury there's some good news out of this and that's that Posada's knees are in tact. It may look like Posada will become more of DH during the rest of his 4-year deal or they could put him at firstbase. Time will answer that question, but at this point Posda could miss a lot of 2008.

Brian Bruney, who dropped 20 pounds or so and was looking like a great middle reliever has also landed on the DL. He has a foot problem and torn tendons which may keep him on the DL for the rest of the season.

A-Rod also is dealing with a strained quad muscle which is effecting everything from running to his swing. I've had this injury before and it's tough to play through, so while he's still playing I also believe he's being conservative and therefore the team will not get the best results out of him. It wouldn't suprise me if he lands on the 15-day DL if this doesn't improve soon.

Finally, Joba had a tweak (or was it a twinge?) in his hamstring the other night in Chicago. There are no red flags because he's come back and is okay, however a hamstring injury is typical of power pitchers since they rely on their legs. I'm sure the Yankees are glad it wasn't anything bad this time.

Jumpin' Joba!! Hank's Ill-Advised Comments

Yankees starters are off to an ugly start, posting a 7-9 record with a 5.33 ERA. Wang and Pettitte have done well, but the rest have been hit hard (I personally witnessed this Friday and Saturday nights in Baltimore, more on this later). With the Yankees in fourth place, posting a .500 record overall, and out of Wild Card contention it was time to summon the brilliance of Hank Steinbrenner.

"There is no question about it, you don't have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don't do that. You have to be an idiot to do that."--Hank Steinbrenner

Hank said a few other things, but this statement said it all. Joba is being wasted as a set up guy for Mariano Rivera and would be better suited starting. Hank is correct about a few things that support his argument:

- Joba Chamberlain is a very good pitcher.
- Joba can throw heat upwards of 100 mph, along with a slider, curve and change up.
- Joba was a starter up until he came to the major leagues.
- Joba has shown he can be better than Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy (and 251 game winner Mike Mussina).
- Joba is a draw for Yankees fans (okay he didn't say that, but who wants to pay to see Joba pitch just one inning of work when you could see him for a few more??).

I see what Hank is saying and I don't completely disagree, with the exception that this "you" is being an "idiot"--no one's figured out if this is Girardi or Cashman or the editorial "you". What I do disagree with is several fundamental and practical things on the baseball level. But let's rewind the videotape a bit to give some context to this.

"Joba Rules"
Joba was brought up as an early August call up last year and quickly established himself as a reliable pitcher who could strike a lot of batters out and who had very good control (mechanically and mentally I would argue). But right away, Joe Torre implemented the "Joba Rules". He was limited to a pitch count. He rarely pitched more than one inning and only once did he pitch on back-to-back days.

There was a reason for these rules and it was quite simple: Joba was young and the Yankees didn't want him hurt. Afterall he was in their future plans and would be part of the rebuilding process. Even in the offseason, the "Joba Rules" included him being off limits for trades even when another young pitching phenom, Phil Hughes, was nearly traded for Johan Santana.

Of course we can point to a few players that give some practical examples of young arms that fell apart because the "Joba Rules" did not apply to them. These guys are the infamous: Rich Harden, Mark Prior, and Kerry Wood. There have been others though such as Jason Isringhausen and Pete Wilson (when with the Mets in the early 90s) or even AJ Burnett, Ryan Dempster, and Josh Beckett (formerly of the Marlins) who had their share of injuries early on. In these cases there are examples of high pitch counts, being overworked, not adjusting mechanics, and even random trips to the DL (ala Beckett's blisters '03-'05). Moreso, these early injuries not only cost them time on the DL, but may cost them a long and successful career--even if there were moments of greatness early on. So for Joba, who is just 22 years of age, the "Joba Rules" are there to prevent injury and the risk of putting his arm at risk for the next few years.

These "Joba Rules" continue into 2008. It appeared in the off-season that Joba would start the 1st half or so in the pen and by the 2nd half of the season ease his way into the rotation. Ironically, this is what the Twins did with Johan Santana from 2000 to 2003 (ages 21 to 24) and I don't need to repeat Santa's greatness since then. And I say ironic here, because I suspect that much of Hank's frustration comes from the fact that the Yankees could have had Santana right now and presumably have won a couple more games.

But my point goes without saying--an injuried or frequently injured Joba is the worse case scenario for the Yankees and it will pay to be cautious in the long-run with his arm.

There's No Proof Yet
Joba may have launched his way to the majors last year as a starting pitcher, but that was in the minor leagues. We also have to take into account that Joba has pitched 30.3 innings to date in the major leagues, which doesn't mean a whole lot right now. Take these two things with the fact that starting is a different mentality to switch from being a set up guy and it makes the situation a bit more complex. Right now there is no proof, track record, you name it that Joba would continue to pitch as well or better as a starter than he has as a reliever.

I don't know all the technical pieces about pitching, but I do know that as a starting pitcher you have to build up your arm strength, set the pace of the game, know how to pitch in certain situations, and be able to pitch from the stretch as well as non-stretch (probably not the correct term). I'm not saying Joba doesn't know how to do these things, but they all go into being the complete package of a good pitcher. For example, Joba may have the arm stength and be able to throw lots of 95+ mph fastballs, but he can't think he can strike everyone out when he's in trouble. All these factors need to be in check and balanced with each other so that he gains confidence and can learn from any mistakes he makes.

Is this even a Good Overall Strategy?
Let's say Joba goes into the rotation tomorrow--who gets bumped? Where does that person go? Who becomes the set up man?

There are the three candidates to be bumped based on their early struggles: Mussina, Kennedy, and Hughes. Hughes most likely will not be bumped. Kennedy, who I saw pitch Saturday night, could--he continues to pitch behind in counts. Mussina may be the most likely unless he starts pitching like Jamie Moyer as Hank also pointed out.

One of these guys would go to the bullpen or possibly the minors and then what? Mussina's always been a starter and was once considered one of the smartest pitchers in the game (Stanford helped too). We have no proof he'd make a good middle inning reliever at 38. Kennedy is young and a demotion could effect his confidence. The same with Hughes, mainly because he's one of the "future aces" in the game.

The Yankees will then have to rely on Kyle Farnsworth or LaTroy Hawkins as the set up guys, and you're just playing with gasoline and matches no matter who you pick. The impact could mean blown holds, leads, and no sure path to Rivera.

Word to the Wise and Idiots
Hank's statements are not as clear and dry once you take a lot of other factors into account. Personally, pushing Joba in the rotation so early into the season is not only jumping to conclusions, but puts Joba in a high pressure situation that he may or may not be up for. When Joba becomes a starter it will be under the advisement of the rules set up for him and done in a way that is natural for him to be ready to take the ball physically and mentally.