Poughkeepsie Pinstripes

Leaders

2009-06-20T14:01:00.000-04:00

Current Yankee leader in batting average:

Andy Pettitte - .333

Current Yankee leader in earned run average:

Nick Swisher - 0.00

Make of that what you will.

Draft and Game Liveblog 6/9/09

2009-06-09T17:53:00.036-04:00

We're just a couple minutes out from the start of the draft, and while John Manuel seems to be pretty certain as to how the first ten picks will go, it's anyone's guess as to who will fall to the Yankees. Some of the names being floated around the interwebs are Slade Heathcott, Brett Jackson, Matt Purke, Tanner Scheppers and Matt Hobgood.

It's also worth noting that the Yankees' two picks, since they're compensation for unsigned picks from last year, are unprotected. That means that if the Yankees can't sign their picks for whatever reason, they won't get any kind of compensation. Without that safety net, I think the team might be a little more conservative than usual.

Update 6:08PM: Washington's on the clock, and they seem like they're going to take the full fifteen minutes to make their pick. This is pretty annoying as everyone has known for months that they're picking Stephen Strasburg, arguably the best pitcher in NCAA history.

Update 6:16PM: It's looking like I might have to rename this point, as the tarp's out on the field in Fenway.

Update 6:26PM: Well, the exceptionally annoying weather guy on YES is saying that they'll be able to get the game in. Hopefully he's right. Meanwhile, the draft has proven to be entirely predictable through the first three picks.

Update 6:31PM: Why, exactly, do the teams bother sending representatives like Bill Mazeroski if Bud Selig's going to announce all the pick himself?

Update 6:40PM: Still no surprises in the draft, as John Manuel is 6 for 6. Meanwhile, I'm flipping back to the Yankee pregame show where Kim Jones is telling us that the tarp is off the field.

Update 6:44PM: The Mike Minor cheering squad is one of the more enjoyable parts of the draft so far, and makes me think that they should let more people come to this thing.

Update 6:51PM: The first surprise of the night comes from Cincinnati (or as Selig says, "Cincinnatuh"), when they pick Mike Leake, whose upside makes him look like a mid to late first round pick, but I guess the Reds are placing value in his high polish and low risk.

Update 7:04PM: Game time!

Update 7:12PM: The rain looks pretty ugly in Boston, but it doesn't look to bother Josh Beckett, as his curve is looking especially nasty.

Update 7:17PM: I think MY9's radar gun might be just a little bit off, as they just clocked Beckett's first pitch curveball to A-Rod at 96MPH.

Update 7:23PM: We're halfway to the Yankees' first pick and there's still some great talent on the board. Though I initially wanted to see the team get a position player, I'm particularly excited by the chance that they could get pitchers Tanner Scheppers or Kyle Gibson.

Update 7:30PM: Despite the walk to Youklis, Burnett seems to have unusually good command of his fastball tonight.

Update 7:36PM: The Yankees haven't been able to do any damage, but at least they're making Beckett work, as Cano and Posada grind out 8 and 6 pitch at-bats respectively.

Update 7:44PM: David Ortiz finally manages to pass pitchers Yovani Gallardo and Carlos Zambrano on the home run leaderboard thanks to a fastball that Burnett served right down the middle of the plate.

Update 7:49PM: I'm not sure what's more embarrassing, fans chanting for Ortiz to make a curtain call, or Ortiz actually obliging them.

Update 7:52PM: The rain claims its first victim of the night, as A-Rod misses a double play opportunity trying to get a grip on the ball. Meanwhile, Burnett seems to have lost the strike zone and the Yankees could be in trouble.

Update 7:55PM: I'm desperately hoping the camera will show someone warming in the bullpen. Like now.

Update 7:56PM: Meanwhile the Twins just drafted Kyle Gibson, adding to my disappointment.

Update 8:03PM: Five picks away from the Yankees at number 29 and Tanner Scheppers is still on the board, as is local product Mike Trout. Both would make for excellent picks.

Update 8:09PM: Time Warner Cable just picked the absolute worst time for a test of the emergency broadcasting system.

Update 8:11PM: Ok, I take that back, as the test finishes before the game comes back from commercial. Actually, I probably wouldn't have minded missing that leadoff walk, as Burnett continues to only have a vague idea of where the ball is going.

Update 8:16PM: Wow. That was a pretty embarrassing attempt to steal by Mike Lowell. I don't know what he was thinking, but I'm glad he was.

Update 8:22PM: The Yankees are on the clock in the draft, and while I'm really disappointed that Gibson and Trout have been taken, I'm glad to see that Scheppers is still available.

Update 8:24PM: Other good possibilities for the Yankees include outfielders Everett Williams and Tim Wheeler, but right now AJ Burnett is making me wish for a pitcher that can actually throw strikes.

Update 8:31PM: It's Slade Heathcott, a high school outfielder from Texarkana, TX. He's apparently a tremendous athlete who really impressed scouts in a workout last week. I can't say I'm a fan of this pick, as he's already had surgery on his knee and shoulder problems, but I guess you've got to trust the scouts who have seen him in person.

Update 8:34PM: Meanwhile, back in Fenway, I'm elated to see Brett Tomko start things off by throwing a strike, but Beckett's looking increasingly dominant as the game wears on.

Update 8:48PM: Brett Tomko is quickly using up any goodwill I had for him.

Update 8:53PM: That was a pretty painful half inning, as Tomko looked to have the same problems Burnett did.

Update 9:04PM: The more I look at it, the more I think that umpire Mike Everitt is calling a very tight strike zone. To his credit, he's being fair, as he's doing it to Boston as much as he is to the Yanks, but it's something that plays to Beckett's strengths far more than Burnett or Tomko.

Update 9:13PM: Meanwhile, if you want to watch the rest of the draft, you can do so here. Be warned, however. Even though Bud Selig has ceded the duty of announcing the picks, he hasn't been replaced by the hall of fame lineup of team representatives. Instead, Executive Vice President Jimmie Lee Solomon is making the announcements while Al Kaline and Craig Biggio sit and watch.

Update 9:21PM: I really don't want to see the Yankees be the team that gets David Ortiz over the Mendoza line.

Update 9:22PM: Jose Veras manages to pitch the first inning where the Yankees don't give up a walk! Granted, he did hit Jason Bay with a pitch, but I'll take whatever minor miracles I can get.

Update 9:29PM: I guess some team representatives are announcing picks, as Ben McDonald announces the Orioles' second-round pick. That still doesn't explain why MLB decided to subject the TV audience to Bud Selig.

Update 9:32PM: "Hey everyone, I'm Tommy Lasorda!"

Update 9:45PM: Nick Green homers, and I don't even care at this point. I don't think Girardi cares either, as he looks content to let Veras get pounded so the rest of the bullpen is ready for tomorrow.

Update 9:49PM: We're ten picks away from the Yankees' next turn in the draft. MLB.com's draft tracker seems to have frozen at number 42, so I've got no idea who's still available, but it's far more entertaining to watch now that the team representatives are taking the stage.

Update 9:56PM: Johnny Damon has been one of the most reliable Yankees this season, and he kills the first Yankee in scoring by hitting into a double play. It's just that kind of night.

Update 10:00PM: The Yankees' final pick of the night is announced by Constantino Martinez, and it's John Murphy, a high school catcher out of Bradenton. A very solid pick, I think, as he's a guy with both a good bat and the defensive ability to stay at catcher. It's maybe a little odd since the Yankees have quite a few good catching prospects already, but that's a position where you can't have too much depth.

Update 10:04PM: That triple is not going to look good on David Robertson's stat line, but it was definitely a fluke caused by the Green Monster. In another park, Gardner is probably able to catch that ball, and would at least be able to hold it to a double. It's too bad, because it was otherwise a great outing by Robertson.

Update 10:16PM: And that'll do it for the Yankees, whose only positive tonight has to be David Robertson's strong inning. Otherwise, it's a night to forget about and time to concentrate on tomorrow's game.

Draft Preview

2009-06-09T13:26:00.003-04:00

We're only a few hours away from the start of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, which is getting special attention this year because MLB Network has turned it into a primetime event. For Yankee fans, however, it shouldn't be terribly exciting. Thanks to their free agent signings, the team lost their first, second and third round picks. This leaves the team with just two picks tonight, one at the end of the first round and one at the end of the second, which they received as compensation for failing to sign two of their picks last year. Recent history has shown us that the Yankees will use their financial strength to take players that other teams will pass on because they might be difficult to sign, or because their health makes them a costly gamble. It's a strategy which has produced some great results, like Joba Chamberlain and Austin Jackson, and some epic busts, like Carl Henry and Gerrit Cole.

With the Yankees set to open a series in Boston at 7, I plan on watching the first hour of the draft on TV and then keeping an eye on it with my laptop during the game. I'll update here when the Yankees get their chance to pick.

Pure Genius

2009-05-14T10:20:00.000-04:00

It's a good thing that I'm not a betting man, because if I were I'd have probably put money on Brett Gardner's first major league home run being an inside-the-parker. Last night, however, Gardner managed to get one over the fence with room to spare and since there's no wind in the Skydome, he did it all on his own. That feat, however, wasn't the highlight of the game. Nor were any of the Yankees' three triples, Mark Teixeira's multi-hit game or Ramiro Pena making a heck of a catch to rob Kevin Millar of a hit.

No, the highlight of the game came from the two comedic geniuses who got seats behind home plate and decided to do their best umpire impressions in full uniform. Classic.

The Final Verdict

2009-05-06T13:16:00.003-04:00

Last night, Joba Chamberlain convinced me that he needs to go to the bullpen. Specifically, he needs to go to the bullpen before every start and throw twenty more warm-up pitches than he threw last night.

An Encouraging Loss

2009-05-05T01:53:00.001-04:00

Tonight's loss was certainly a tough one. Losing the first game against the Red Sox in the new stadium would be, even if the team hadn't come so agonizingly close to winning in the bottom of the ninth. However, there were three bright spots in the game that make me optimistic about the future of this team.

First, there was Philip Hughes. Four runs in four innings is obviously not a good performance, but the fact that he only gave up one run in each inning is testament to Hughes' maturing as a pitcher. On a night when he didn't have his best stuff, when he was being squeezed by the home plate umpire, when he allowed 11 baserunners in four innings, the fact that he didn't allow the Red Sox to have a really big inning and run away with the game is pretty impressive.

Then, there was Mark Teixeira. After weeks of being just underneath balls, Teixeira finally managed to turn a couple of those fly balls into home runs. Lately, it's seemed like he was on the cusp of getting out of this slump, and tonight might just be the turning point.

Finally, there's Alfredo Aceves. While the two-run home run he gave up to Jason Bay ended up being the difference in the game, Aceves looked very good providing more than four innings of relief. His stuff was pretty good, especially his cut fastball, and the way he used it was fantastic. I think the Yankees may have found their new Ramiro Mendoza.

On A-Rod

2009-04-30T20:41:00.003-04:00

I generally don't care terribly much about the off-field craziness that surrounds Alex Rodriguez, which is why I don't write about it very often. I wanted, however, to share a few thoughts and links regarding the whirlwind unleashed by the New York Daily News when they shared details from a leaked copy of Selena Roberts' forthcoming book.

First, it seems pretty apparent that the book is long on innuendo and short on verifiable facts. Assuming the Daily News' is representing the book fairly (an assumption that Ms. Roberts has confirmed), the allegations of current steroid use come from observations made by anonymous Yankee staff and players of how Rodriguez's body changed in 2005. Setting aside the question of how much credence should be given to the diagnostic talents of anonymous individuals without any medical training, these changes, as Paul Kix quite rightly notes over at ESPN, could just as easily be the result of withdrawal from steroids.

More problematic, perhaps, is the accusation that, while with the Rangers, Rodriguez would tip pitches in blowouts to friends on the opposing team so they could pad their stats, and that they would do the same for him. As YES Network's Steven Goldman notes these kind of shenanigans happened quite often in baseball's earlier eras, though it's unclear how they're viewed inside baseball today. Further compounding the confusion is the fact that, as a shortstop, Rodriguez could very well have been tipping pitches to his teammates, letting the rest of the infield know what might be coming. Without knowing more about Roberts' sources on the matter, it's hard to tell what to believe. It does strike me as a little odd, that no mention is made of who Rodriguez was allegedly exchanging tipped pitches with.

Ultimately, though, I think everything Roberts writes has to be taken with a grain of salt. Over at NBC Sports, Craig Calcaterra points out that Roberts' past reporting on Rodriguez has shown a penchant for trying to twist facts into the kind of sensationalist narrative that sells books, and her reporting on the infamous Duke Lacrosse case was even worse.

I'm not trying to defend anything Rodriguez did, nor am I trying to tell you which of these many allegations are true. All I am saying is that I don't find anything in these reports helpful in determining the truth, and I don't think they should change anyone's feelings on the man. If you loved him before, you should continue to do so, and if you hated him, you should do the same. As for me, I'll continue to be ambivalent towards him as a person while cheering him as a Yankee.

Where's the Heat?

2009-04-30T13:01:00.001-04:00

On the surface, last night probably seemed much like the night before, as one of the Yankees young starters dominated the Tigers while their hitters backed them up with a bunch of runs scored in one big inning. For most, it seems like the only things to worry about were the troubles of the Yankee bullpen, particularly in the case of Mariano Rivera, who gave up a big home run for the second straight time. I, however, find myself more worried by Joba Chamberlain.

To be sure, this was a great start for Joba. He dominated the Tigers all night, only running into serious trouble in the third inning. Looking past the results, however, I see the same velocity problem that I've seen all season. Last night, Chamberlain's fastball was sitting in the 92-94mph range, breaking 95mph only a couple of times all night. While that certainly was enough to put the Tigers away, it's still a significant change from last season, where he would average 94-96mph and occasionally reach back and unleash that 99mph heater we all love.

So what's behind this velocity drop? My best guess is that Chamberlain is still building up arm strength. The numbers I referenced before were what he did as a starter, but by the time he made his first start last season he had already spent two months throwing in the bullpen. It's entirely possible that when June comes around this season we'll see his velocity return.

If not, however, that doesn't mean we should be calling for his return to the bullpen. As he showed last night, Joba can be a dominant starter without a triple-digit fastball, and as long as that's the case his place is in the Yankees rotation.

As for Mariano, as I've said before, it'll take a few more rough outings to get me to start worrying about him.

No Worries

2009-04-25T00:54:00.004-04:00

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the same thing happens every year. First, Mo gets rocked by the Red Sox in April and people start to wonder whether age has finally caught up to the greatest closer of all time. Then Rivera spends the rest of the season being his usual dominating self and all is right with the world. I, for one, resolve not to get caught up in it this year,

Update 1:14AM: Turns out it's actually every other year, as this has happened in 2007, 2005 and 2002. Still not worried.

The First Trip

2009-04-23T10:53:00.004-04:00

For seven innings yesterday it seemed like I had chosen a terrible day to make my first trip to Yankee Stadium. The day was wet and cold, with rain coming in and out all day, and the Yankees were sloppy. C.C. Sabathia struggled to find his control, and wasn't helped very much by his teammates. While they were only charged with one official error, when Johnny Damon dropped a routine fly ball in the 3rd inning, but there were several more ugly plays that probably should have been counted as errors. Most notable, I think, was Derek Jeter throwing the ball home to no one in particular in the 6th and allowing Mark Ellis to take an extra base.

Then came the 7th inning. Joe Girardi, as is his habit, stuck with his starter for just a bit too long, and it seemed like we were about to face the injury of a Yankee loss to go with the insult of the weather. However, the rain finally stopped, and the bullpen which has been so volatile this year came in and locked the game down. With the score now tied, it was like a whole new game, and the next seven innings were as tight as the first seven had been sloppy.

The obvious hero of the game was Melky Cabrera who followed up a monster home run in the second inning with a game-winning two run shot in the fourteenth. However, as good as those two homers were, Melky epitomized the bipolar nature of this game. In his other five trips to the plate, he managed to strike out three times, and looked completely helpless each time. It's hard to know what to make of him at this point, but for now I'll take it.

Anyway, I think I'm going to hold off on giving my thoughts on the stadium itself. With all of the rain, it was hard to get an idea of what a typical trip to the ballpark might be like. I'm planning on going back next week when the Angels come to town, so I'll try to put something together then.

Good News, Bad News

2009-04-22T01:06:00.000-04:00

Sadly, it looks like the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees won't have a chance to challenge the modern-day record for most wins to start a season, as they lost to the Buffalo Bisons 7-3 tonight.

On the bright side, I'll be making my first trip to the new Yankee Stadium in just under 12 hours. I'll be in Section 315, Row 4 if any of you are there and want to say hello.

What's Wang with Wrong

2009-04-21T10:26:00.000-04:00

Pitching mechanics can be terribly complex things, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised when two intelligent people can look at Chien-Ming Wang and come up with two seemingly contradictory conclusions.

First, there's Dan Plesac who provides some great insights into the differences between Wang's 2008 and 2009 deliveries. His conclusion is much along the same lines of what the Yankee coaching staff is saying, which is that Wang isn't standing tall on the mound this season, and that's depriving him of the essential downward plane.

While Plesac's analysis is compelling, it provides a conundrum when you look at Mike Axisa's
excellent examination of Pitchf/x data culled from Wang's starts. With that data, Axisa shows that Wang has actually lost more horizontal movement than vertical, and that he's actually using a higher release point now than he did in 2008.

So, who's right? Should Wang's release point be higher or lower? The answer, I think, is both, and the reason lies with Wang's left foot. It's a bit difficult to see in the video, but it seems to me that Wang's stride is a bit shorter now than it was last season, meaning that he's planting his left foot a little closer to his right. This would have the dual effects of making him taller on the mound when he releases the ball, as Axisa noticed, and robbing him of some of the power generated by his right leg.

This, however, doesn't negate Plesac's observation that Wang's upper body is hunched over, keeping him from getting on top of the ball. In fact, if you look again at Axisa's charts, you can see the effect this has on the horizontal position of Wang's release point, which is now well to the right of where it was in 2008. Thus, while his release point is higher relative to the ground, it's actually lower relative to his body, keeping him from getting on top of the ball the way he needs to.

So, in my admittedly inexpert opinion, what Wang needs to do is follow Plesac's advice to straighten his back, increase his leg kick and tighten his hands, plus lengthen his stride. It seems, perhaps, like a tall order, but certainly within Wang's abilities.

Minor League Monday 4/20/09

2009-04-20T23:25:00.001-04:00

Before I get into the individual performances, I want to call your attention to what's been happening with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. In case you haven't heard, the defending International League champions have started their season by winning their first 11 games. That is not only a club record, but according to Chad Jennings at the Times Tribune , it's also the best start for an International League team for at least 30 years. Even more impressive is how they've won those games. The team leads the league in nearly every offensive category, including an 86 run mark that's a full 30 runs better than the next best team, Toledo. The team is hitting .320/.394/.510. That's right, I didn't say that the team's best hitter has a .320 batting average, I said the entirety of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, a team which is playing baseball on an actual baseball field against real, professional baseball players, and not on an Xbox, is hitting .320. It's a little insane and a lot of fun, so I encourage you to watch them if you can.

Hitter of the Week - Jesus Montero, C/DH, Tampa Yankees (High A):

It probably seems a little strange for me to be naming a Tampa Yankee the hitter of the week after gushing about the mighty offense of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, but Montero deserves the honor. As badly as Austin Jackson, Juan Miranda and Shelley Duncan have been pummeling the poor pitchers of the International League, Montero has been doing worse to their Floridian counterparts. His triple slash line of .395/.452/.658 is impressive enough on its own, but it becomes even more impressive when you realize that he's one of the youngest players in the league and is playing in a pitcher's park.

Pitcher of the Week - Mark Melancon, RHP, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees

Of course, there had to be at least one Scranton player picking up an award this week. That player was almost Ian Kennedy, who has had two dominant starts so far, striking out 16 batters against 9 hits, 2 walks and 2 runs in 12 innings. As good as he was, though, Melancon was simply ridiculous. Pitching 9 inning in relief over five games, Melancon has faced a total of 30 batters. Of those 30 batters, he has struck out 15. That's correct, he's struck out half the batters that he's faced. Of the other 15, only two have gotten hits, and another three managed to get a walk. No one has managed to make it past second base, let alone score a run. That, my friends, is why he's the most likely candidate to step into the large shoes of Mariano Rivera.

A Close Call

2009-04-19T21:59:00.000-04:00

Well, that was close. It's one thing to give up 14 runs in one inning and lose a game by a margin of 18, but I can imagine no defeat quite so ignominious as losing to Carl Pavano. That's the fate the Yankees found themselves facing as they finally got to see the pitcher they thought they were signing four years ago. Captain Bruised Buttocks stymied the Yanks for six innings, retiring the first ten batters in order before Derek Jeter finally managed a hit in the fourth inning. Thankfully, the Indians bullpen wasn't quite as unhittable, and the Yankees were able to score six after Pavano left the game and win 7-3.

Of course, the part of the game everyone's talking about now isn't Pavano's terrifyingly good performance, but Jorge Posada's disputed home run that scored the go ahead run in the 7th inning. I can certainly understand why Cleveland might be upset by the decision to let the home run stand, but I think the umpires made the right call. It's not, mind you, that I'm entirely certain that the home run was valid. It's that I'm certain that no one can tell one way or the other from the instant replay, and lacking any better evidence the umps had to go with the ruling on the field. Of bigger concern to the Yankees is the fact that that home run probably wouldn't have made it out in the old stadium, but that's a post for another time.

Changing Priorities

2008-08-27T12:05:00.004-04:00

There was a lot to hate about last night's game. Like so many games this season, the Yankees managed to not just lose, but lose ugly, with mental mistakes and failures in big spots. With this loss, the Yankees fall back to a six game deficit in the wild-card race, and I'm about ready to declare their playoff hopes dead. In order to make the playoffs now, the Yankees would have to win their next two games, sweep Boston next month in Fenway, play one game better than the Red Sox in the other 26 games left, and erase the 3.5 game lead that the Twins have. It's a ridiculously tall order made even more ludicrous when you look at the teams' remaining schedules and see that the Yankees play only 15 of their final 31 games at home while the Red Sox play 21.

This is why I think it's time for the Yankees to shift their priorities from a futile attempt to make the playoffs this year to gearing up for next season. The Yankees are going to have a lot of decisions to make this offseason, and they can help themselves in making those decisions by using the next month to evaluate what they can expect from their prospects and young players. For example, this winter the team will need to decide whether to re-sign Bobby Abreu and continue to use an outfield of Nady-Damon-Abreu, or find a replacement. They can make this decision much easier by playing Brett Gardner regularly over the rest of the season, and letting themselves see if he's good enough to be the center fielder next year. If he is, then an outfield of Damon-Gardner-Nady becomes a very attractive option.

It's a bitter pill to swallow, but the sooner the Yankees can accept their defeat in this season, the sooner they can start to work towards victory in the next.

Minor League Monday 8/25/08

2008-08-25T10:57:00.001-04:00

I didn't have time to put together awards this week, but there are a few stories from the farm that I wanted to share.

The Yankees' highest and third-highest paid draft picks had auspicious debuts in the Gulf Coast league. Brett Marshall, the sixth round pick who signed for $850,000, pitched three dominant innings in relief, allowing only one hit and one walk while striking out four batters. Even better, though, was 27th round pick Garrison Lassiter, who began his professional career with two multi-hit games and went 5 for 11 on the week with a stolen base to boot.
I may not have any performance awards this week, but I can give Alfredo Aceves a nod for the best quote of the week. In Scranton last night, Aceves faced a Buffalo Bisons lineup which included three rehabbing major leaguers in Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner and Josh Barfield, two of whom have among the best hitters in the American League over the past few seasons. Aceves acquitted himself well, though, striking out Martinez twice and Hafner once as he pitched six scoreless innings for the win. How did he avoid any anxieties over facing experienced major leaguers? Apparently through ignorance. Aceves, who spent the last six years in Mexico, didn't even recognize any of the players, saying about Hafner "I've seen him before but I don't know where." You can check out the full story over at Chad Jennings' blog.
In less amusing news, Austin Jackson, who is arguably the Yankees' top prospect, left Friday night's game in Trenton with back stiffness and has been placed on the DL. The move, however, is said to be purely precautionary and Jackson should be back in plenty of time for the first game of the Eastern League playoffs next week.
On the subject of playoffs, congratulations are in order for the Trenton Thunder and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, who both clinched playoff berths last week. Additionally, Trenton clinched it's third straight divisional title. Considering the amount of shuffling the Yankees have had to do to their minor league rosters, the success of these teams is truly an impressive achievement for the coaches and staff.
Finally, on last congratulation for pitcher Phil Coke, who was named to the 2008 Eastern League All-Star team. The 25 year-old lefty went 9-4 for the Thunder with a 2.51 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 118.1 innings before being called up to Triple-A earlier this month.

On Pavano

2008-08-23T11:49:00.002-04:00

We're just a few hours away from game time, and there's been no change announced for today's starter. While a few hours is more than enough time for Carl Pavano to injure himself, it's looking like a safe bet that he'll be taking the mound today. I was considering making some kind of joke here, but upon further review I realized that there was no way I could top Bronx Banter's headline "The Return of Rumpofglassskin", which is my pick for the week's best Pavano joke. Honorable mention, however, must be made for Paul M.'s headline at the Baseball Think Factory "Pavano to pitch Saturday; Apocalypse comes Sunday". If nothing else, the man has provided Yankee fans with some laughs.

Depending on the kindness of strangers

2008-08-22T02:33:00.003-04:00

A little over a week ago I said that if the Yankees weren't able to sweep the Royals, they might be done for the season. Well, not only did they fail to sweep the Royals, but they proceeded to lose two out of three against the Blue Jays. So, does that mean that I think the Yankees have no chance of making the playoffs? Surprisingly enough, no.

Make no mistake, the Yankees are in a big hole. Six games is a huge amount of ground to make up with just 35 games remaining. Even worse is the fact that they trail not just the Red Sox, but the Twins by that margin. Thus, even the opportunity presented by playing six games against Boston won't be enough. If they're going to make the playoffs, it won't be enough for the Yankees to play excellent baseball. They're also going to need either the Twins or the White Sox (who currently lead the Twins by just a half a game in the Central Division) to stumble. Thankfully, the Yankees do have four games against Chicago which they can use to help themselves, but in the end they're going to be depending on the performance of others' as much as their own.

Minor League Monday: The 2008 Draft Haul

2008-08-18T12:15:00.001-04:00

With the signing deadline now passed, we can close the book on the 2008 draft. At the end of this post, I've put together a complete list of the Yankees' picks along with whether or not they signed and, where possible, the size of their bonus. For those of you who don't want to go through the entire list, here are the highlights:

As expected, the Yankees weren't able to sign first round pick Gerrit Cole. This is obviously a big disappointment, since Cole has a truly special arm, but it's hard to blame the Yankees for it. Prior to the draft, all indications were that the only obstacle to signing Cole was his high bonus demand, something the Yankees were more than prepared to deal with. However, after he was picked, it appears that Cole and his family had a change of heart, refusing to even meet with the Yankees, and deciding to go to UCLA. On the bright side, the team will now get an extra pick in the first round of next year's draft as compensation.
The Yankees also didn't sign their second round pick, Scott Bittle. This, however, was the team's choice. Apparently team physicians voiced concerns after an examination of Bittle's shoulder, and the team felt that they were better off taking a compensation pick in next year's second round.
The Yankees did sign supplemental first round pick Jeremy Bleich for $700,000. That's well under the $800,000 slot recommendation made by Major League Baseball, something you don't see the Yankees do very often.
Much more typical for the Yankees was the signing of 27th round pick Garriton Lassiter. A player with top five round talent, Lassiter fell in the draft due to a strong commitment to the University of North Carolina. As they did with sixth and seventh round picks Brett Marshall and Kyle Higashioka, the Yankees were able to lure Lassiter away from college with a big signing bonus. It's a tactic the Yankees have used to great effect before with players like Austin Jackson and Dellin Betances.

Anyway, as promised, here's the full list of draftees:

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School	Status
1	28	Gerrit Cole	RHP	Orange Lutheran HS, CA	Did not sign
1s	44	Jeremy Bleich	LHP	Stanford	$700,000
2	75	Scott Bittle	RHP	Mississippi	Did not sign
3	106	David Adams	2B	Virginia	$333,000
4	140	Corban Joseph	SS	Franklin HS, TN	$207,000
5	170	Chris Smith	OF	Centennial HS, CA	$158,000
6	200	Brett Marshall	RHP	Sterling HS, TX	$850,000
7	230	Kyle Higashioka	C	Edison HS, CA	$500,000
8	260	Dan Brewer	OF	Bradley	$125,000
9	290	Mikey O'Brien	RHP	Hidden Valley HS, VA	$200,000
10	320	D.J. Mitchell	RHP	Clemson	$400,000
11	350	Ray Kruml	OF	South Alabama	Signed
12	380	Luke Greinke	RHP	Auburn	Signed
13	410	Jack Rye	OF	Florida State	Signed
14	440	David Phelps	RHP	Notre Dame	Signed
15	470	Matt Richardson	RHP	Lake Mary HS, FL	Signed
16	500	Luke Anders	1B	Texas A&M	Did not sign
17	530	Addison Maruszak	SS	South Florida	Signed
18	560	Brandon Braboy	RHP	Indianapolis	Signed
19	590	Mitch Abeita	C	Nebraska	Signed
20	620	Pat Venditte	RHP/LHP	Creighton	Signed
21	650	Mitch Delaney	1B	Western Texas JC	Signed
22	680	Cory Arbiso	RHP	Cal State Fullerton	Signed
23	710	Ryan Wilkes	SS	Kentucky	Signed
24	740	Mike Lyon	3B	Northeastern	Signed
25	770	Jeff Nutt	C	Arkansas	Signed
26	800	Blake Monar	LHP	South Spencer HS, IN	Did not sign
27	830	Garrison Lassiter	SS	West Forsyth HS, NC	$675,000
28	860	Chad Gross	OF	Cuesta JC	Signed
29	890	Mike Jones	OF	Arizona State	Signed
30	920	Ben McMahan	C	Bishop Moore HS, FL	Did not sign
31	950	Spencer Lucian	2B	Princeton	Signed
32	980	Andy Suiter	LHP	UC Davis	Did not sign
33	1010	Tommy Baldridge	OF	Coastal Carolina	Signed
34	1040	Brad Rulon	RHP	Georgia Tech	Signed
35	1070	Andrew Shive	RHP	Azusa Pacific, CA	Signed
36	1100	Chris Dwyer	LHP	Salisbury School, CT	Did not sign
37	1130	Justin Harper	RHP	Yavapai JC	Did not sign
38	1160	Clay Caulfield	RHP	College of Charleston	Did not sign
39	1190	Erik Lovett	1B	Mount Olive, NC	Signed
40	1220	Sam Mende	SS	Clearwater Central Catholic HS, FL	Did not sign
41	1250	Mykal Stokes	OF	Tustin HS, CA	Did not sign
42	1280	Clint Preisendorfer	LHP	San Diego Christian	Signed
43	1310	Matt Summers	RHP	Chaparral HS, AZ	Did not sign
44	1339	Evan Ocheltree	OF	Wake Forest	Did not sign
45	1367	Creede Simpson	SS	Auburn HS, AL	Did not sign
46	1394	Matt Veltmann	RHP	San Diego CC	Did not sign
47	1421	Ryan Flannery	RHP	Fairleigh Dickinson, NJ	Signed
48	1448	Rob Scahill	RHP	Bradley	Did not sign
49	1475	John Folino	RHP	Connecticut	Did not sign
50	1502	Nik Turley	LHP	Harvard-Westlake School, CA	Signed

Yankees' First Round Pick Heading for UCLA

2008-08-15T11:19:00.004-04:00

We all knew that the Yankees' first round pick, Gerrit Cole, was going to be a difficult player to sign. The combination of Cole's fantastic talent and his advisor Scott Boras made it seem like the Yankees would have to pay top dollar. Now, however, the New York Times is reporting that Cole has decided to attend UCLA regardless of how much money the Yankees offer. This is surprising and disappointing, but you have to respect his decision. On the bright side, the Yankees will now receive an extra first round pick in the 2009 draft as compensation. We can only hope that they put it to good use.

Meanwhile, with the deadline just hours away, there's no news on the rest of the Yankees' unsigned picks. I fully expect the team to sign supplemental first round pick Jeremy Bleich, but health issues have clouded the status of second-round pick Scott Bittle. It's entirely possible that the Yankees will let him go and accept another compensatory pick. After those first three picks, the Yankees have signed most of the noteworthy players that they picked. Those that remain unsigned are, by and large, high schoolers who were already known to have strong college commitments, so there really aren't any surprises. I'll give a full rundown of the draft haul tomorrow, after the signing deadline has passed.

You Ain't Got No Alibi

2008-08-14T11:45:00.000-04:00

There's no polite way of putting this; the Yankees sucked on this ten game road trip. It wasn't just that they lost seven games, but that they lost while playing some ugly baseball. They wasted opportunities at the plate, stranded baserunners, gave up leads on the mound, mishandled balls in the field, and made some maddeningly illogical managerial decisions. Never before have I been so jealous of people who go to sleep too early to watch games on the west coast.

All we can do now, though, is look to the future. The Yankees are now 64-57, putting them nine games behind Tampa Bay in the division, and six games behind Boston in the wild card race. When all is said and done, I think it'll take 98 wins to take the division title and 94 wins to take the wild card spot. With only 41 games left, that means the Yankees need to go 30-11 in order to make the playoffs, which is obviously a very tall order. Even worse, of those 41 games, 22 are on the road, and only 13 are against losing teams. I'm not quite ready to say the Yankees are done, but if they can't sweep this weekend's series against the royals, it'll probably be time to get the fork out.

Don't Give Up on Kennedy

2008-08-09T14:56:00.000-04:00

A lot of people are down on Ian Kennedy right now, and I can understand why. His performance yesterday was awful, and his comments after the game were pretty bad as well. However, it's way too early to write him off as a failed prospect. The problem is that people look at Kennedy as a guy who has failed as a major leaguer, and not as a guy who just isn't ready yet.

The fault, of course, lies with the Yankees, who pushed Kennedy into the majors far too quickly. Kennedy was drafted in 2006, and didn't sign until the middle of August. Over the next year he rocketed up the minors, pitching in five different leagues before making his major league debut on September 1, 2007. Even though he performed well, it's now obvious that he missed out on the education the minor leagues can provide.

Unfortunately, the minor league season ends in a few weeks, but the Yankees need to take advantage what time is left and send Kennedy back to Scranton. Once there, he's got to work on learning how to be a major league starter, which is a different task than just getting guys out. For example, he might face a batter who he could get out with a curveball out of the strikezone, but if that's a pitch a major league hitter wouldn't swing at, then he shouldn't throw it. Instead, he needs to try and make the kinds of pitches that would get a major leaguer out. Doing so might lead to some mistakes and some extra runs, but those are the kinds of learning experiences a player is supposed to get in the minor leagues, and until Kennedy gets them, you can't just write him off.

Translating

2008-08-07T19:39:00.002-04:00

If you were reading, watching, or listening to the news, you might think that you learned new information about Joba Chamberlain's injury yesterday. You are, however, most likely mistaken about that. Don't feel bad, though, as there are many people who mistook the Yankees' announcement that Chamberlain has "rotator cuff tendinitis," for actual information, since it sounds like a real diagnosis. However, that "diagnosis" is based on the MRI Chamberlain had a couple of days ago, and there's no way to see tendinitis on an MRI. Thus, this diagnosis can't be anything but a guess. Granted, it's an educated guess made by two highly regarded physicians, but it's not terribly different from what was guessed when Chamberlain left Monday's game.

That said, there is a little bit of information to be deduced from this announcement. Even though the Yankees have been notoriously misleading when talking about injuries, it's reasonable to assume that the Yankees wouldn't make this announcement if doctors had seen anything on the MRI. That means that Chamberlain almost certainly doesn't have a full thickness tear in his rotator cuff, which is good news. He could still have a partial thickness tear, the aforementioned tendinitis, or something else entirely. Until he actually tests the injury by throwing a ball, there's no way to know what it is or when he'll be back with the Yankees.

When it Rains

2008-08-05T21:35:00.004-04:00

Last night was another of far too many nights this season where everything went wrong for the Yankees. It started out well enough, as the team took an early three run lead, and Joba Chamberlain looked like his usual dominant self for three innings. He then proceeded to give up five runs before having to exit the game in the fifth with a sore shoulder, leaving the Yankees down by one run and everyone tremendously worried about his health. Fortunately Edwar Ramirez, and Brian Bruney managed to hold the Rangers scoreless long enough for AL Player of the Week Xavier Nady to tie it with a solo home run in the top of the eighth.

Then came Damaso Marte. Brought in with one out in the bottom of the eighth to face lefties David Murphy and Chris Davis, Marte did well enough in keeping the game tied into the ninth. Indeed, he pitched well enough that I didn't really have a problem when Joe Girardi sent him back out in the ninth to face pinch hitter Milton Bradley. I did, however, have a problem when, after Marte walked Bradley, Girardi left him in to face the top of the Rangers' lineup, which starts with three right handers. While Marte managed to get two of those three out, he walked the other and proceeded to walk Josh Hamilton to load the bases with two out and a right hander at the plate in Marlon Byrd. At this point, Marte had had thrown 41 pitches, more than he had thrown in a game since May of last year, so I was relieved when I saw a figure emerging from the dugout.

That relief soon turned to shock as I saw that the figure was Dave Eiland coming out to talk to Marte, rather than Joe Girardi coming out to bring in a new pitcher. Granted, the bullpen was short staffed, with Mariano Rivera unavailable because of back spasms, Jose Veras having pitched two days in a row, and Dan Giese having thrown three innings the day before, but David Robertson was up and ready to go. I've generally been a fan of Girardi this year, but stuff like this drives me crazy.

Bizarro World

2008-07-31T01:12:00.002-04:00

Deadline trades in baseball tend to work in a predictable way; contending teams pick up players that will help them over the final few months of the season from non-contending teams, who get players that will help them become contenders in future seasons. There are exceptions, such as today's trade between the Yankees and the Tigers, where two contenders picked up players that will help over the final few months of the season, but those exceptions are usually variations on that central theme. Every once in a while, however, there's a deal which makes absolutely no sense, and the Yankees' second trade of the day fits that bill perfectly.

The Yankees, a contending team, sent LaTroy Hawkins to the Astros, who are 13.5 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central and 9.5 games behind Milwaukee for the wild card, and received Matt Cusick in return. Hawkins, as we all know, is a middle reliever who has followed a good year in Colorado with a bad one in New York, but could turn it around with a change of scenery. Cusick, meanwhile, is a second base prospect who doesn't have a lot of upside, but has a chance of becoming a pretty good player. In other words, this deal has a contender sending short term help to a non-contender in exchange for a prospect. To put it more succinctly, this deal is a complete inversion of reality as we know it.

Don't get me wrong, though, as I'm not knocking this trade. As a Yankee fan, I'm thrilled by it. Hawkins, after all, was designated for assignment following the acquisition of Damaso Marte, and I think it's something of a minor miracle that Brian Cashman was able to trade him for anything of value, let alone a prospect with even an outside chance of making the majors. Granted, the deal does include cash to pay Hawkins for the rest of the season, but that's money the Yankees were on the hook for anyway.

That said, it's a very strange deal, and I've got no idea what could possibly make Houston GM Ed Wade think that it was a good idea for him to make it. After all, the only reason he could have is that he thinks his team is one middle reliever away from getting to the playoffs. To me, that's a crazy notion, but if it is the case then I'd like to talk to him about a bridge I've got for sale.

Happy to Help

2008-07-30T21:28:00.005-04:00

Just a few days after I suggest that Kyle Farnsworth is expendable, the Yankees send him off to Detroit for Ivan Rodriguez. Obviously, the Brian Cashman has been paying attention to my very sage advice. Except, of course, my suggestion about Farnsworth was preceded by my saying that there was no way to acquire a catcher better than Jose Molina. This, I suppose, is why Cashman makes several million more in salary than I do.

Anyway, this is a fantastic deal for the Yankees, who make a major upgrade at catcher without giving up anything that they'll miss, and not a bad one for the Tigers. In fact, the only people who come out badly in this deal are the cardiologists of the greater New York area, who will dearly miss Kyle Farnsworth and the coronaries he caused.

Yanks trade for Marte and Nady

2008-07-25T19:27:00.004-04:00

It's not official yet, but from what I've been able to gather from several sources is that the Yankees have picked up lefthanded reliever Damaso Marte and outfielder Xavier Nady for pitchers Ross Ohlendorf, George Kontos, Phil Coke and outfielder Jose Tabata.

I'll give a more detailed analysis after the details have been confirmed, but my initial reaction is that it's a great trade for the Yankees. Marte and Nady are both good players who fit the Yankees' needs and are under contract for next season as well. Meanwhile, of the four prospects the Yankees gave up, only Tabata has the potential to be a real star, and he's had many personal issues and injury problems which have tempered enthusiasm for his future.

Update 11:27AM:It turns out that the trade is actually for Tabata, Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens and Daniel McCutchen. This makes the price slightly higher, as Karstens and McCutchen are more ready to contribute at the major league level than Kontos or Coke, the difference is very small. In fact, I'm tempted to say that it's a better price for the Yankees, as Kontos has the highest ceiling of the four, and Coke is the only lefthander. Considering how deep the Yankee farm system is in righthanded pitching, the loss of two guys that profile as back of the rotation types isn't a big deal.

Regardless, this is a great deal for the Yankees filling two of their four big holes. Now Brian Cashman faces the task of finding a better fifth starter than Sidney Ponson and a better catcher than Jose Molina without hurting the team in the long-term. As I've said before, I doubt that the latter is possible, but the former should be.

Right now the focus is on Jarrod Washburn, but I've got another idea if that falls through. With the acquisition of Marte, the dominating performances of Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez and David Robertson, and the impending returns of Brian Bruney and Chris Britton, I think Kyle Farnsworth might be expendable. Rather than looking at teams that are out of contention and would want prospects in a trade, why not look at a contender like the Cubs, who have Rich Hill toiling away in the minors?

Oh Rickey

2008-07-23T10:48:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, the Yankees announced the list of former players who will be attending Old Timer's Day on August 2nd. Since this is the last such event in Yankee Stadium, it's a long list, but one player really stuck out to me, as I think that he could become a problem: Rickey Henderson. I hope that the Yankees have made it clear to Mr. Henderson that he's supposed to be showing up to play for one of the Old Timer's teams, and not for the Yankees themselves. While you don't usually have problems with 49 year-old men showing up to play for a Major League team, with Rickey you never know. Then again, considering the Yankees' current outfield situation, that might not be such a bad thing.

Jorge jeading back to the DL

2008-07-21T19:28:00.001-04:00

By now, I'm sure you've all heard the news that Jorge Posada is heading back to the DL, and there's a strong possibility that he won't be back until next season. Posada is to have an MRI today to help decide whether he should have season-ending surgery now in order to make sure he's ready for next year, or play through the injury and finish out the season. Personally, I'm hoping that he chooses the latter. It's far more important for the Yankees to make sure that they have Jorge Posada the borderline Hall-of-Famer for the next few years than it is for them to try and have Jorge Posada the catcher who can't throw for the rest of the season.

Assuming that Posada does opt for the surgery, the question the Yankees must now answer is whether they can do better than Jose Molina at catcher. The short answer is probably not. The long answer is that good catchers are hard to find, and the names that are currently being floated as possible trade candidates, like Yorvit Torrealba and Paul Lo Duca, aren't any better than the defensively great and offensively terrible Molina. Right now, the only catcher who might be available and might be an upgrade over Molina is Rangers' prospect Taylor Teagarden.

Teagarden is a very good defensive catcher who has good power and plate discipline, but struggles to make contact. At worst, he'd be Molina's equal, and he has the potential to be much better. However, Teagarden's availability depends on whether or not Texas believes that either Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Maximiliano Ramirez is a long term solution at catcher. Additionally, a prospect of Teagarden's caliber wouldn't come cheap, and considering the Yankees' weak bargaining position, they'd have to give up a lot. In other words, I wouldn't hold my breath for this deal to happen.

Hear no Evil

2008-07-19T12:03:00.000-04:00

You know, as long as I'm asking for favors from people who probably don't read this blog, here's another. I don't normally bother writing about players' personal lives (as shown by my non-existent coverage of A-Rod's divorce), because I generally don't care. However, this story in the New York Post about Joba Chamberlain dancing on the tables at MLB.com's 33 Club party concerned me.

Now, I can't begrudge Joba for having his fun. He's certainly earned it, and I don't think it's anyone's place to tell him what to do in his free time. However, I can't stop imagining him falling off a table and injuring himself. As I said, I don't think anyone has the right to ask Joba to stop dancing, but I would like to ask the New York Post, or anyone else, not to tell me about it. I think it's best for everyone.

Picking Nits

2008-07-19T10:48:00.000-04:00

It was most certainly a good day for the Yankees. New acquisition Richie Sexson made an immediate contribution by knocking in the Yankees first run, and the rest of the team followed his lead by knocking six runs off of Greg Smith on their way to a 7-1 win. Meanwhile, on the mound, Mike Mussina continued to baffle the the opposition, giving up just one run in six innings, and the bullpen work of David Robertson, Edwar Ramirez and LaTroy Hawkins was absolutely dominant, striking out six in just three innings of work. On a day like this, complaining might seem a little petty, but Brett Gardner managed to pick at one of my pet peeves.

In the bottom of the fourth, Gardner attempted to bunt for a base hit, and was just barely out as he slid headfirst into the base. It's that last part that gets me. Sliding into first is one of those things that drives me crazy, because it doesn't get you to the base any faster, and you run the risk of injuring yourself. Brett, I implore you, don't do that again.

Remembering Murcer

2008-07-17T17:17:00.001-04:00

As we wait for baseball to start again, I thought I'd share a great little story with you. Steven Goldman is one of the best writers covering the Yankees, and his post on Monday about Bobby Murcer brought a tear to my eye. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to check it out.

Bringing the Thunder

2008-07-15T09:27:00.001-04:00

I don't like the home run derby. It's not that I'm opposed to the concept, mind you. I actually think it's a good idea, but whenever I watch it I find myself incredibly bored by it. There's obviously no interest in the outcome, and watching a glorified batting practice while the three or four hundred announcers and analysts ESPN has covering it try to squeeze in as many product placements as possible just isn't that enjoyable for me. That said, I needed to balance my checkbook last night, so I had the TV on in the background. If nothing else, I figured, the small army of children they have shagging flies are kind of amusing.

Thank goodness for those kids, because otherwise I might have missed Josh Hamilton put on a show that people will be talking about for a long time. Twenty-eight home runs, hit into parts of Yankee Stadium that have only been hit a handful of times before. It was an epic performance, and if you missed it you should definitely check it out here.

I can only hope that something similar manages to save the All-Star Game, another event which I like in theory but manages to have all the fun sucked out of it by Major League Baseball and Fox.

Feeling the Burn(ett)

2008-07-13T17:35:00.004-04:00

After an oh so brief respite, the Yankees returned to their offensive futility this afternoon as they were thoroughly dominated by AJ Burnett. For many people, though, this performance was more than just another bad day for the Yankee offense; it was also a look at a potential trade target.

Obviously, what we saw out of Burnett was good, even taking into account the slumping ways of the team he was facing. To me, it confirmed what I had suspected, that Burnett is pitching better than his 4.96 ERA would have you think. Taking a closer look at his stats this year, you see that he's still striking guys out (in fact, he leads the league), and isn't allowing any more walks and home runs than he has in the past. The only big difference has been that more of the balls that have been put into play against him are going for hits rather than walks. At .337, his batting average on balls in play (or BABIP) this season is far higher than it has been over his career. That suggests that he's either been a victim of bad luck or bad defense (or both). This means that his perceived value might be less than his actual value, and the Yankees could get themselves a bargain by taking advantage of that.

That said, there's another factor to consider with Burnett: his contract. Burnett is signed for two more years and is owed $24 million. This would be a good deal for a pitcher with his talent, except that Burnett has only managed to remain healthy for only three out of his eight full seasons in the majors, so it's a safe bet that he'll have problems in the future. When you consider the plethora of young pitching talent the Yankees have in their system and the excellent pool of free agent pitchers available after this season, it's easy to see how Burnett could easily turn from an asset to an albatross in a few months.

Bobby Murcer, 1946-2008

2008-07-12T22:15:00.000-04:00

Bobby Murcer passed away earlier today. I never saw him play, as I was only two years old when he retired, and I certainly never met him, so I'll leave the task of paying tribute to him as a player and as a person to those who did. Instead, I'm going to spend a few moments talking about Bobby Murcer as I knew him; an announcer.

My first memories of Murcer are of the guy who would occasionally talk about the game I was watching while Phil Rizzuto was talking about something else entirely, and who would then be left alone when Rizzuto would suddenly head home before the game was over. As entertaining as Rizzuto was, I can't imagine it was an easy job for Murcer to be the straight man, but he did it well.

It was after Rizzuto retired, I think, that Murcer really came into his own as a broadcaster. There are plenty of ex-players out there who bring experise and love for the game to the broadcast booth, but there aren't many who were as likable as Murcer. His midwestern drawl and genial manner made him a great storyteller; the perfect company for a summer afternoon. He worked well with whoever was in the booth with him, no mean feat when you consider the revolving cast of thousands that make up the YES Network's announcing teams, but he was especially good when paired with Ken Singleton. Too often, the sportscaster's version of humor involves a barrage of self-aggrandizing catchphrases, but the team of Murcer and Singleton were genuinely funny, and were one of the few that actually made me laugh.

When measured against the accomplishments that his family, friends and colleagues can attest to it's a small thing, but I truly enjoyed Murcer as an announcer, and I'll miss him.

An Epic Battle

2008-06-20T12:15:00.000-04:00

I've been having some technical difficulties lately, which have kept all my posts from the past two weeks from actually appearing on the site. I've got it sorted out now, so I'll be posting some of the relevant stuff that was lost over the next few days. Today, however, I want to talk about last night's game between the Staten Island Yankees and the Brooklyn Cyclones. It might not be as important as the Yankees' seven game winning streak or Chien-Ming Wang's injury, but it's just too cool of a story to ignore.

You see, last night marked the professional debut of Pat Venditte, a reliever drafted by the Yankees in the 20th round out of Creighton University. Venditte, of course, is the pitcher who gained national attention last year for his ability to pitch with either arm. The advantage of being able to pitch right-handed to a right-handed batter and left-handed to a left-handed batter is obvious, but it raises the question of how to deal with switch-hitters. In college this question was answered by NCAA rules, which stated that Venditte had to declare which arm he was going to use before the first pitch. Thus, Venditte would have to give up his advantage and settle for forcing switch-hitters to hit from their weaker side. However, no such rule in professional baseball, so the question arises again: What happens when a switch-pitcher faces a switch-hitter?

Well, in the ninth inning of last night's game, the answer was "hilarity". After facing the first three batters of the inning as a right-hander, Venditte saw Cyclones DH Ralph Henriquez taking warm up swings left-handed and switched his custom made glove to the other hand. Seeing that he was now facing a lefty, the switch-hitting Henriquez stepped to the plate as a right-hander. Venditte then proceeded to switch his glove back. Henriquez responded by crossing over to the other side of the plate. The switch-pitcher and switch-hitter continued to dance like this, neither player willing to give up his advantage in a hilarious game of chicken. Finally, after discussions with the players and managers, the umpires ruled Henriquez had to bat right-handed and Venditte proceeded to strike him out as a right-hander. You can watch the whole eight-minute affair here.

There's still no word on how this will be handled in the future. There's no rule dealing with this situation in the Major League Baseball rulebook (which also governs the Minor Leagues), and the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation manual only says "In the rare occasion of an ambidextrous pitcher, pitcher and batter may change positions one time per at-bat.", which isn't that helpful. Officials from MLB and PBUC are still figuring things out, but while they do I've got my own suggestion. As far as I can tell, there's no rule saying that a player has to use a glove at all. Since the glove is the only sign a hitter has of what arm Venditte will use before stepping into the batter's box, maybe he should just leave it in the dugout. That way, batters won't know where the ball will be coming from until Venditte is set to throw. That surprise could be an even bigger advantage than what he's already got. Plus, it'd be very, very cool.

Draft Day 1, Part 2

2008-06-05T19:06:00.004-04:00

With their third pick of the draft, the Yankees have taken Scott Bittle, the closer for the Ole Miss Rebels. Bittle doesn't have classic closer stuff, as his fastball sits around 90mph, but he dominated hitters with a devastating cutter, striking out 130 in just 70 innings. Don't, however, make the mistake of comparing him to any other closers who rely on a devastating cut fastball. Unlike Mariano Rivera, Bittle doesn't break 90mph with his cutter, and it's more of a swing and miss pitch than a breaker of bats. To me, it seems like a kind of high pick for someone whose ceiling is as a setup man. I'd rather have seen them take Preston Paramore, the catcher for the Arizona State Sun Devils who walks more than he strikes out and is very good defensively.

Update 7:25PM:I'm much happier with the next pick, David Adams. The second baseman for the University of Virgina Caviliers, Adams began the year as a possible first round pick, but had a disappointing season where he was merely good and not the star he was in his previous two seasons. If he can bounce back to his earlier form, he'll be a steal in the third round.

Update 7:59PM:We're reaching the limits of my knowledge, but what little I know of the Yankees' fourth round pick, Corban Joseph, is good. A shortstop out of Franklin High School in Tennessee, Joseph possesses a short lefthanded swing and uses the whole field. He has the ability to stay at shortstop, though he probably won't be a gold glover, and is only an average runner. It sounds like a solid pick to me.

And I think that's it for me tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with a review of the entire draft.

Live Blogging 6/5/07, Draft Day Special

2008-06-05T12:44:00.032-04:00

I'm sorry about the recent lack of posts, but I've been feeling under the weather lately. I thought I'd make up for it by doing a double live blog, covering both today's game and the First-Year Player Draft, which will commence at 2pm. So, without further ado, here are your starting lineups:

Yankees

Pitcher: Chien-Ming Wang

Blue Jays

Pitcher: Dustin McGowan

Obviously, the big story of the game is the return of Jorge Posada. I'd be very surprised if the Blue Jays don't test his shoulder.

Update 1:13PM:Well, Toronto's not going to be able to test Posada's shoulder like that, as it take Wang only ten pitches to send the first three batters back to the dugout. He's definitely got his best sinker today, and just as importantly, he's throwing it for strikes at the knees.

Update 1:25PM:Considering how many baserunners they've stranded this season, you've got to be happy with the Yankees getting two runs here. Still, after a leadoff walk followed by a double, I kind of hoped for a bigger inning.

Update 1:30PM:If, by the way, you're someplace where you can't watch the game on TV, you can watch the draft online here. Right now the various teams' delegations are being introduced. The Yankees, I believe, will be represented by Tino Martinez.

Update 1:35PM:Wow. Posada wastes absolutely no time as he rips the first pitch he sees into right field for a single. Even if baserunners go wild against him, his bat is going to be a major boost.

Update 1:48PM:MLB.com is reporting that Tampa Bay will select Tim Beckham, a high-school shortstop from Georgia, with the first pick. Obviously, Beckham wasn't a player the Yankees were watching, as he was always going to be taken well before their turn came around. As they've done in recent years, I think the Yankees will be focusing on players who other teams might pass on because they'll be expensive to sign. Unfortunately, more and more teams are willing to shell out big money for their big draft picks, so the Yankees may not be able to do that in the first round. That said, there is a chance that either first baseman Eric Hosmer or shortstop Casey Kelly, both high-schoolers out of Florida with top 10 talent, will be available, as Hosmer is a Scott Boras Client and Kelly has a strong commitment to the University of Tennessee as quarterback as well as a baseball player.

Update 2:01PM:Wang manages to wriggle out of trouble thanks to a nice play by the Captain, but he's really got to get that sinker back into the strike zone or this game is going to get ugly.

Update 2:17PM:Well, the draft has officially started and the Rays, annoyingly, took all five minutes to make the pick they knew they were going to make all day. Congratulations to Tim Beckham.

Update 2:18PM:Matt Stairs hit a sky-high fly ball that very slowly drifted over right field. It looked like an easy out right until it landed on top of the fence for a two-run home run. That might have been the laziest home run I've ever seen.

Update 2:28PM:So much for Eric Hosmer, who was just taken by the Royals with the third pick. As I said, more and more teams are becoming willing to pay big money to their high draft picks, and Kansas City is a perfect example. That said, the Yankees can still flex their financial muscles in the later rounds, as they've done in recent years with players like Austin Jackson and Dellin Betances, two players who other teams felt were too expensive to sign away from college.

Update 2:38PM:What a horrible error by Melky Cabrera. He completely missed an easy fly ball that could've resulted in a double play and the end of the inning. Instead, the ball bouces off his glove, a run scores and there's two men on with one out.

Update 2:44PM:That'll do it for Wang. who leaves with the Yankees down 7-2. Obviously Melky's error hurt him, but he wasn't doing well to begin with. If anyone knows where his command went, I'm sure he'd like it back.

Update 2:49PM:Prior to this year, Chien-Ming Wang gave up 2.41 walks per nine innings. Over the past month, that number is at 5.88. I'm not sure what the problem is, but the Yankees need to figure it out fast.

Update 3:04PM:Now that's dissappointing. Bases loaded with no one out and all Abreu, Rodriguez and Matsui can muster is two runs off of a ground ball and a sacrifice fly? That's a huge waste of an opportunity to get back in this game.

Update 3:08PM:There aren't many times when I'm happy to see LaTroy Hawkins, but this is one of them. Hopefully this means that Joe Girardi realizes that Ross Ohlendorf is only effective as a short reliever.

Update 3:35PM:Wilson Betemit doesn't have the bat to be an everyday first baseman, and I can understand why people might be upset to see him in the lineup instead of Jason Giambi for the second straight game, but he's still a valuable player. There simply aren't many guys with that kind of power that can play every infield position.

Update 3:50PM:How is it that Jose Veras managed to jump ahead of Chris Britton in the bullpen? He did a nice job bailing out Hawkins here, but his stuff doesn't really seem special, and Britton is the one with a track record of success in the majors.

Update 3:55PM:Over at the draft, Casey Kelly is still available, as is Christian Friedrich, a lefty from Eastern Kentucky who would be a real coup for the Yankees.

Update 4:07PM:The Cubs, Mariners and Tigers just took three college relievers in a row, which I think is good news for the Yankees, since I doubt that they were interested in any of them.

Update 4:10PM:Well, Brad Wilkerson provides the first test of Posada's shoulder, and it doesn't go so well. Wilkerson's jump was too good for anyone to throw him out, but Posada's throw was way off target, and only a leap by Robinson Cano saved it from heading into the outfield.

Update 4:23PM:Just three picks left before it's the Yankees' turn, and there's still quite a few interesting players still left. Aside from the aforementioned Casey Kelly and Christian Friedrich, there's Tulane ace Shooter Hunt and high-school righties Gerrit Cole and Tim Melville. All of these would be strong picks, so the Yankees have to be feeling pretty good right now.

Update 4:28PM:I understand the impulse to have Robinson Cano bunt here, but considering how bad he looked trying it, you've got to question the move. Bunting is a skill, and a manager should know which of his players has it and which don't.

Update 4:37PM:Finally, the Yankees turn has come. Christian Friederich is gone, but there's still plenty of good players that have fallen. So many, in fact, that the Yankees really need to base their decision as much on what players might fall to their next pick at number 44 as on their talent.

Update 4:45PM:The Yankees take Gerrit Cole, a right handed pitcher from Lutheran High School in Orange, CA. The folks on ESPN are comparing him to Phil Hughes, based largely on the fact that he's considered the best pitching prospect from southern California since Hughes. Cole, however, is a very different kind of pitcher. Hughes is all about command, while Cole is all about power, throwing his fastball consistently from 94-96mph and occasionally hitting 98mph. However, even though he's got more velocity, Cole's command is erratic, and his mechanics make some scouts worry about the possibility of injury. If the Yankees can improve upon those weaknesses, he's got potential as either an ace starter or closer. It's exactly the kind of high risk, high reward pick the Yankees have been making over the past few years, and it's a good strategy for them.

Update 4:56PM:Meanwhile, back at the game, the Yankees wasted their opportunities to take the lead in the eighth, and now find themselves down to their last out with Matsui at the plate representing the tying run. He's been pretty bad today, as the only starter without a hit, but there aren't many hitters I'd rather see in the clutch.

Update 5:00PM:And that would be why. Now it's a question of whether Jason Giambi's moustache can overcome the gimpiness of Jason Giambi's foot.

Update 5:02PM:The Moustache delivers! A walk off, pinch-hit home run into the upper deck in left field, and that's the game.

Update 5:17PM:The first round of the draft is over, and with it goes ESPN's coverage, but MLB.com will be showing the rest, which is going to continue until 9PM today. The Yankees next pick is in the supplemental first round, which they recieved as compensation for losing Luis Vizcaino to the Rockies. So far, two of the players who I had hoped would fall to the Yankees, Casey Kelly and Shooter Hunt, have been taken by Boston and Minnesota respectively.

Update 5:27PM:And the Yankees surprise me greatly by taking Jeremy Bleich, a lefty from Stanford that most people saw as a third or fourth round pick. It's especially surprising since Tim Melville, a right hander from Missouri has fallen from his expected mid-first round status because of the money he's asking for. I guess the team didn't want to take two high school pitchers in a row and went for some polish instead. Anyway, Bleich is a pretty classic lefty who throws his fastball in the 88-91mph range and complements it with a good curveball and changeup. At best he's a middle of the rotation starter, and it won't take him long to develop.

Update 5:42PM:With the end of the first round, there'll be a break till 6:15PM, so I'm going to wrap up this post and start a new one when the Yankees make their next pick at number 75.

Links

2008-05-30T16:29:00.003-04:00

On Monday I promised to share any further information I could dig up on Alfredo Aceves, the righthanded pitcher who has been so successful for the Tampa Yankees and Trenton Thunder. Well, Mike Ashmore of the Hunterdon County Democrat sat down with Aceves for a short chat which you can read over at his blog. It's a short interview, as Aceves' English isn't great, but it does provide some insight into where he came from and why he didn't pitch in the US until he was 25.

As long as I'm linking to other blogs, now is as good a time as any to point out that I've added a small list of non-Yankee baseball blogs on the right. The first is Warning Track Power, written by fellow Poughkeepsie Journal blogger Matt B. If you're interested in keeping up with the Mets, or with Willie Randolph (one of my favorite Yankees as a child), I reccomend you check it out.

If, on the other hand, you're interested in an experience that's almost the polar opposite of being a Yankee fan, I suggest reading Rany on the Royals. Baseball Prospectus writer and dermatologist Rany Jazayerli is always entertaining as he shares the "painful, humiliating, soul-sucking" experience of rooting for the Royals.

Finally, for a look into the inner workings of a Major League front office, head over to It Might Be Dangerous... You Go First. Paul DePodesta, former General Manager of the Dodgers and current Special Assistant for Baseball Operations for the Padres, doesn't give up any secrets on his blog, but he does provide a fascinating look at how decisions get made in baseball. It's an especially interesting time to be reading as DePodesta and the Padres ready themselves for the draft next week.

The Silver Lining

2008-05-29T14:15:00.003-04:00

I hate to say I told you so, but after his strong start against the Orioles last week, I wrote that Ian Kennedy couldn't repeat that success if he continued to rely heavily on his fastball and didn't throw more breaking balls for strikes. On Thursday, Kennedy started the game by throwing thirteen fastballs and just four breaking balls to the first five batters, and none of those breaking balls were in the strike zone. There's one event in baseball where a hitter doesn't have to worry about breaking balls and can wait for a 90mph fastball to hit. It's called the home run derby, and the Orioles proceeded to hold their own as Kevin Millar and Ramon Hernandez knocked back to back homers to give Baltimore a three run lead.

Thankfully, those two home runs seemed to help Kennedy realize that, as he proceeded to throw fifteen breaking balls in his next thirty-one pitches, seven of which seemed to be in the strike zone. By keeping the hitters off balance, he proceeded to cruise through the rest of the second inning, as well as the third, with the only damage coming thanks to errors and passed balls.

Of course in keeping with this season's theme, Kennedy followed this success with an injury, but at least he's given us reason to be optimistic about his return.

Minor League Monday 5/26/08

2008-05-26T23:42:00.000-04:00

For some reason, my Minor League Monday post from last week seems to never have been posted. Rather than waste some perfectly good writing, I'm going to present the players of the each past two weeks this time around.

Hitter of the Week 5/12-5/18 - Juan Miranda, 1B, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (Triple A):

A Cuban defector, Miranda didn't make his American debut until last season, when he was already 24 years old. He's quickly made up for the lost time, however, climbing the organizational ladder to Triple A in just one season, where he's had encouraging early success. A classic slugger, Miranda has a patient approach at the plate, waiting for a pitch upon which he can unleash his light tower power. He returned to the Scranton Yankees on the 12th after losing a couple of weeks to a shoulder injury and promptly hit a home run and drew a walk. Overall he hit .294/.478/.706 on the week with two home runs and six walks.

Unfortunately, once that week was up he proceeded to head back to the disabled list, having reaggravated his shoulder injury. If he can come back from the injury and remain healthy, Miranda should be in line to replace Jason Giambi next year. However, Miranda has huge problems against lefties putting up a .393 OPS versus a 1.013 OPS against righties, so if he did take Giambi's place he would almost certainly need a platoon partner.

Pitcher of the Week 5/12-5/18 - Dellin Betances, RHP, Charleston Riverdogs (Single A):

There might not be a more exciting pitcher in the Yankees' system than Betances. Standing 6'8" and throwing in the mid to upper 90s, his stuff and potential is undeniable. In fact, I think that even at this early stage in his development, major leaguers would have a hard time getting hits off of him. The problem is that those major leaguers probably wouldn't bother swinging, since Betances often doesn't know where the ball is going when it leaves his hand. His May 16th start is a good example of this, as he no-hit the Asheville Tourists for six innings, but gave up a run thanks to a wild pitch. At 20 years old, he's still got time to learn command, and if he does, he'll be a real force to reckon with.

Hitter of the Week 5/19-5/25 - Austin Jackson, CF, Trenton Thunder (Double A):

The year's first repeat MLM, Action Jackson had a very strong week highlighted by a seven RBI game on Wednesday in Reading. There's very little I can add to that, as the numbers speak for themselves. In six games last week he hit .333/.467/.750 with two home runs, a triple, two doubles, six walks, and a stolen base to boot. In other words, he hit for average and power, showed patience at the plate, and speed on the basepaths. Add to that good range in center field and a solid arm, and you've pretty much got the whole package. Obviously he has to show that he can perform over the course of a full season, and do the same in Triple A, but don't be surprised if he's fighting for a starting job with the Yankees come spring training.

Hitter of the Week 5/19-5/25 - Alfredo Aceves, RHP, Trenton Thunder (Double A):

Some of you may be asking "Who is Alfredo Aceves?", and you're not alone. It's a question I asked myself several times after seeing him put up strong starts for the Tampa Yankees. Unfortunately, the information I've been able to gather is pretty thin. Aceves is 25 years old and in his first minor league season, having been signed by the Yankees out of the Mexican League last year. He throws a four seam fastball, cutter, curve and changeup. Oh, and he's the first pitcher to throw a complete game shutout in the Eastern League this season, as he shut down Altoona last night. This performance comes after he held Reading scoreless for seven innings in his Double-A debut on Tuesday. That makes for 16 innings, no runs, 13 strikeouts, 5 hits, 1 walk, and a little bit of a mystery. I'll be sure to share any further information about where this guy came from and how he's been so successful as soon as I can uncover it.

Most Valuable Facial Hair

2008-05-26T11:39:00.001-04:00

Over the past week we have finally seen the Yankees become the team they were supposed to be this season; a team whose inconsistent pitching would be bailed out by a punishing offense. After weeks of offensive struggles, the team averaged just over 7 runs a game, while going 5-1. A lot of credit for this turnaround has been given to Alex Rodriguez, and deservedly so. Since returning to the team on Tuesday, A-Rod has scored a run and gotten a hit in all but one game, and his presence as the only big power threat from the right side seems to have boosted the lineup as a whole.

However, I'm surprised by the lack of attention being paid to the team's newest member, as he's been just as hot as A-Rod. I'll admit, I was surprised to see Fridriech Nietzsch playing first base, but I guess he really is an Ubermensch.

In all seriousness, though, Jason Giambi's moustache has done a heck of a job, hitting .526/.625/.947 on the week, and with any luck it'll continue to follow in Don Mattingly's moustache's footsteps.

The cloud in the silver lining

2008-05-23T12:11:00.000-04:00

Regular readers of this blog know that I'm generally an upbeat person, often trying to find hopeful signs in even the worst losses. So, you might expect that I'd have found Ian Kennedy's performance last night to be cause for celebration. After all, it was Kennedy's best start by far this season, and one of only two which didn't result in a Yankee loss. Surprisingly, however, what I saw last night didn't seem like good pitching from Ian Kennedy, but bad hitting from the Baltimore Orioles.

Kennedy started the game by throwing twelve straight fastballs to retire the first three batters, and continued to rely heavily on that pitch for the rest of the game, throwing it around 80% of the time. This was fine last night, as the Orioles weren't able to hit that fastball particularly well, but it's not a strategy that I think will work for him very often. Kennedy simply doesn't have the kind of overpowering fastball that you need to be able to pull that off, and he needs to use his other pitches to keep hitters off balance. Unfortunately, none of those other pitches seemed to be working for him last night, and therein lies the problem. Of the few off speed pitches that he threw, less than half were strikes. Unless Kennedy can improve upon that, I think we're going to see hitters simply ignore his off speed pitches and wait for a fastball they can hit hard, much as they've done before.

What a difference a day makes

2008-05-22T11:55:00.001-04:00

On Tuesday night the Yankees played about as badly as a team possibly can. First, their defense let them down, with Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon commiting costly errors. Then their pitching collapsed, as Mike Mussina was unable to recover after Jeter's error and failed to make it out of the first inning. Finally, their offense was completely stymied by Daniel Cabrera and Lance Cormier, who only allowed seven Yankees to reach base in the game.

Twenty four hours later, they looked like a completely different team. Every starter managed to reach base at least once, and only two (Melky Cabrera and Bobby Abreu) failed to either score or knock in a run. Meanwhile, Darrell Rasner absolutely sparkled, holding the Orioles to just five hits, one walk, and no runs while striking out six over seven innings.

The only constant over the two games was Alex Rodriguez, back from injury in style, as he knocked three long home runs into nearly the same spot in right center field (though one was erroneously ruled a double). The past couple of days have shown that the Yankees aren't as bad as they've shown so far, but they're also not as good as they ought to be. If anyone can elevate them to that level, though, it's A-Rod.

Saturday Afternoon Pics

2008-05-19T10:11:00.001-04:00

Friday was my birthday, and I celebrated by heading down to the stadium for Saturday afternoon's game against the Mets. Unfortunately, no one told the Yankees as they suffered a pretty sloppy loss to the Mets. The goat of the game was obviously Kyle Farnsworth, who came in with the Yankees down by just one run and proceeded to allow two homers and a walk to the first three batters he faced, putting the game well out of reach.

What was almost even more disheartening, however, was watching Derek Jeter make a very rare mental error on the basepaths. In the bottom of the sixth Jeter got a clean hit into center field which he inexplicably tried to stretch into a double. It didn't work out.

As you can see, Jeter wasn't anywhere close to making it to second, and I have no idea what could have made him think that he should try.

On the bright side, Andy Pettitte did a good job dominating the Mets in the first three innings and recovering nicely after putting the first four batters on in the fourth inning.

In off the field matters, the Yankees have been conducting a little ceremony after the fifth inning of each game to count down the final games at Yankee Stadium.

Considering all the nostalgia and schmaltz that's going into the Yankee Stadium farewell hoopla, I think it's pretty weird that they would choose to set the background music for this particular ceremony as Europe's "The Final Countdown". So much for dignity.

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

2008-05-15T13:41:00.001-04:00

"Post hoc ergo propter hoc," is a Latin phrase that translates to "after this, therefore because of this". It's a logical fallacy where a person assumes that one event causes another just because it happened in that order, and they're often wrong. For example, if you stepped on a fissure in the sidewalk and then your mother had a spinal injury, you might believe that "step on a crack, break your mother's back". It's lazy thinking, and I hope Hank Steinbrenner is smart enough to avoid it. The fact that the Yankees won on the night after he ranted about them having to play "smarter and harder" doesn't mean that he's the reason they won. Just as Mike Mussina didn't start pitching lefthanded, Mariano Rivera didn't suddenly realize he hadn't been trying the night before, and Robinson Cano didn't think his way into four hits.

All that happened last night was the same thing that happened the night before. The Yankee hitters stranded lots of men on base, and the Yankee pitchers did the same. The only difference was that this time the hitters managed to plate one extra run. In the great scheme of things, that's not a lot, and anyone who thinks that last night was evidence of real improvement is fooling themselves.

Minor League Monday 5/12/08

2008-05-13T01:08:00.005-04:00

It's deja vu all over again, as this week's Minor League Monday honors the same two players I honored last September.

Pitcher of the Week - Ryan Pope, RHP, Tampa Yankees (Single A Advanced):

There was a lot of competition for this award this week, as pitchers on every one of the Yankees' farm teams threw scoreless starts. Pope, however, gets the nod thanks to his excellent command, as he struck out six over six innings without allowing a walk, and because he's an intriguing prospect. Last year, Pope managed to continue pitching well despite the jump from the relatively weak competition in the NAIA to the much stronger New York-Penn League. Now he's skipped a level again, and still hasn't had any problems. With a fastball that tops out around 93mph, he's not overpowering, but his strong command of it and his plus curveball and changeup makes him a good candidate to be a back of the rotation starter in a couple of years.

Hitter of the Week - Austin Jackson, CF, Trenton Thunder (Double A):

After his breakout season last year, Jackson came into with high expectations, so it's easy to be disappointed by the .268/.358/.349 line he put up in April. However, like all stats, those numbers are useless without context; specifically the facts that Jackson is young for the league, and he plays half his games at Mercer County Waterfront Park, which is a notoriously bad place to hit. Last week, with a month of Double A experience under his belt, Jackson took advantage of a road trip to show us what he's capable of. In six games he hit .348/.444/.522, with two doubles and a triple. Granted, he still has yet to hit a home run, but this improvement makes me think that it's just a matter of time.

Comebacks

2008-05-09T13:50:00.001-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I made my way down to the stadium for the first time this season and was rewarded with a win that was filled with great signs from players who have been struggling. The first came from Robinson Cano, who entered the game as arguably the worst hitting regular in the American League. In retrospect, it's pretty obvious that his performance wasn't going to remain so terrible. Beyond the fact that he's just too talented a player for that to happen, his .165 BABIP is just too low to be anything but horrible luck. It's one thing, however, to know that he'll turn it around and another thing altogether to see it happen. He had two hard hits with the double and the home run, and the flyout he made in the third inning was hammered as well. He's now hitting .273/.304/.591 in May, and I think we can declare this slump officially over.

Also making a comeback is Wilson Betemit who hit a solo home run right after Cano's. He's now got two hits in as many games since coming back from the DL, and has looked solid at third base. It's a far cry from how he performed while struggling with corneal ulcers in April, and proof that sight is a valuable tool for a baseball player. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Then there were the rebound performances of Joba Chamberlain and Ross Ohlendorf. On Tuesday, Chamberlain revealed that he's some kind of strike throwing cyborg sent from the future by blowing the lead and picking up the loss. Yesterday he showed that, while he is human, he's a resilient one, striking out the man who hit the big home run against him, David Delucci, as he retired the top of the Indians lineup in order. Ohlendorf, meanwhile, continued to show that the beatings he took in the last half of April really were the product of overwork. He threw two efficient, scoreless innings, and as long as he doesn't have to continually throw three or more innings at a time, I think he'll be very dependable.

Minor League Monday 5/5/08

2008-05-06T14:39:00.000-04:00

I'm a little late with this week's Minor League Monday, but I decided to add a new award. I realized that relievers rarely play enough in aek to really merit recognition as the pitcher of the week, so I've added a Relief Pitcher of the Month award:

Relief Pitcher of the Month - Wilkins De La Rosa, LHP, Charleston Riverdogs (Single A):

It probably seems a little strange for me to be giving this to a guy who walked 11 batters in just 15.3 April innings but, as I've mentioned before, these awards aren't just for performance; they're for newsworthiness as well. De La Rosa has done a good job working around those walks, striking out an exceptional 26 and holding hitters to a .154 batting average, resulting in a very nice 1.15 ERA. What makes him stand out from the other dominating relievers in the Yankee organization, however, is that he does it by throwing a high 90's fastball with his left hand.

The Yankees have a lot of power pitchers in their system, and a few left handed ones, but very few that are both. There's no doubt De La Rosa is raw. A converted outfielder, this is only his second season on the mound and he's still learning how to throw the slider and changeup, but that electric fastball makes him a guy well worth keeping an eye on.

Hitter of the Week - Eric Duncan, 1B, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (Triple-A):

Duncan's name might be familiar to many of you. A first round pick in 2003, he was hyped the way only a Yankee prospect can be, by being mentioned in possible trades for a future Hall of Famer. Even though the Yankees did end up landing Randy Johnson without him, the drive to raise his trade value pushed him up the minors and set him up for a series of disappointing seasons which have destroyed his status as a prospect in the minds of many. However, he's quietly been putting together a solid season in Scranton, and went 6 for 19 this week with a double and a home run to bring his season line up to .270/.382/.429 line thus far. It's possible that, at 23, Duncan has finally learned the lessons he missed when he was rushed up the minors.

Pitcher of the Week - Zachary McAllister, RHP, Charleston Riverdogs (Single A):

I've written about McAllister before, and most of what I wrote still applies. He's still a pitcher with unusually good command of four solid pitches; two and four seam fastballs, a slider and a changeup. This week that command brought him two wins and only one earned run in fifteen innings. Even more impressive is that he walked only one batter while striking out ten. For the season he's struck out 29 while walking just 5 in 39 innings, and has amassed a miniscule 0.92 ERA.

The Hits Keep Coming

2008-05-04T15:17:00.000-04:00

I know I promised to do some nitpicking, but apparently my list of disasters that have befallen the Yankees was not complete. Barely an hour after I finished that post, it was revealed that Phil Hughes had suffered a stress fracture to his ninth right rib. It will be at least four weeks until he's even allowed to throw a baseball again, meaning he probably won't be back with the team until July. However, there's more to this story than just the time Hughes will miss.

First, this sheds new light on Hughes' performance this season. Stress fractures develop gradually, and it can take anywhere from two to four weeks before you can see them on an X-ray. This means that he could very well have been pitching with this injury since the season began. It's impossible to say whether or not it hurt his performance, but it certainly would make sense.

More important than how this injury affected his past, however, is how it affects his future. A stress fracture of the rib isn't a common injury among pitchers, and one on the ninth rib is even more unusual. As far as I know, no explanation has been provided as to what might have caused it, and that makes me worry. The most obvious explanation, after all, is that it was his pitching motion that placed so much stress on the rib. If that's the case, then what's to stop it from happening again once he returns to the mound?

I have no idea if the Yankees will ever answer those questions in public, but I hope that they're at least asking them in private.

April is the Cruelest Month

2008-05-01T18:02:00.006-04:00

The first month of the baseball season is over and the Yankees find themselves in third place with a losing record. While this is certainly an improvement over last season, I don't think it's what any of us expected. Baseball, however, is all about the unexpected and a lot of what has gone wrong for the Yankees are things that no one could have seen coming, let alone do anything about:

A schedule which started by playing twenty games straight without an off day.

Miserably cold and/or rainy conditions in the first thirteen of those games.

A Papal visit to Yankee Stadium which created a schedule where the team would play a Major League record 18 road games in April, with only two days at home between 8 and 10 day trips.

Injuries which caused Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez, three of the most valuable and durable players in the game, to miss significant time.

Injuries to the backups for Jeter and Posada, with Jose Molina only able to catch sporadically as he worked through a hamstring strain and Wilson Betemit unable to play at all thanks to corneal ulcers.

The freakish coincidence of A-Rod going pulling his quad the night before his wife gave birth. This kept him from getting an MRI, something which might have kept him from aggravating the injury.

Pneumonia which hospitalized Joba Chamberlain's father and caused the pitcher to leave the team in order to be with his family.

A torn Lisfranc ligament in Brian Bruney's foot which may cause him to miss the rest of the season

Looking at that list, I have to say that it's something of a minor miracle that the team is only one game under .500. This isn't to say that the team shouldn't be doing better. While you can't really blame anyone for the above mishaps, you can question how Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi and the rest of the Yankees' staff have reacted to them, and I'll be doing that tomorrow.

Minor League Monday 4/28/08

2008-04-28T21:38:00.000-04:00

I somehow managed to miss Minor League Monday last week, so these awards will cover two weeks.

Pitcher of the Fortnight - Daniel McCutchen, RHP, Trenton Thunder (Double A):

When a pitcher faces a team two times in a row, he often finds himself at a disadvantage, since hitters have a better idea of what to expect. On Friday, however, the New Britain Rock Cats had no idea what to expect, as McCutchen struck out twelve of them over seven one-hit innings in Trenton just five days after he held them to two runs over seven innings in New Britain. As I've mentioned many times before, the Yankee farm system is packed with righthanded pitching prospects, so it can be hard for someone like McCutchen to stand out since he doesn't have the kind of high ceiling of a Dellin Betances or Andrew Brackman. However, McCutchen's polish and excellent curveball could make him a very useful Jon Lieber kind of fifth starter.

Hitter of the Fortnight - Matt Carson, OF, Trenton Thunder (Double A):

The current owner of a 15 game hitting streak, Carson has been absolutely pounding the ball in a stadium that's very pitcher friendly. Over the past two weeks he's hit .407/.458/.833, including four home runs. Still, as good as he's been, it'd be a stretch to call him a prospect. Carson is 26 years old, and it's only after a 186 mediocre games at Double A over the past few years that he's managed to find this success.

A few other notes:

Darrell Rasner is making a strong argument for taking Ian Kennedy's place in the rotation. In five starts, Rasner has walked more than one batter only once, on April 16th, and has yet to allow more than one earned run in a game.

Austin Romine, who has been alternating with Jesus Montero between catcher and DH in Charleston, had just started to get into a groove when he strained his groin last week. There's no word on the severity or how long it'll be till he comes back. It's turning out to be a really bad spring for Yankee catchers.

Posada heading to the DL

2008-04-27T20:54:00.001-04:00

Usually watching Chien-Ming Wang dominate opposing hitters makes for a great day. However, as I watched today's game, my usual enjoyment was soured by a sense of impending doom. Minutes before the game, Jorge Posada was scratched from the lineup with no explanation, and the Yankees provided no information as the game wore on. Finally, the New York Times reported that Posada had suffered a muscle tear in his subscapularis muscle. It's uncertain whether he'll need surgery or how long he might be out, but he's already been put on the DL for the first time in his 13 year career.

Anyway, I'm sure some of you are wondering which of the shoulder's many muscles is the subscapularis. The shoulder's a bit too complicated for me to try and make a diagram, but there is an easy exercise you can do. First, raise your right arm with your elbow at a ninety degree angle, like you're taking an oath. Then, stand in a doorway so that your palm and forearm are pushing against the wall. As you lean forward, you'll feel your subscapularis stretch in your chest and shoulder. Now imagine trying to throw a baseball without full use of that muscle, and you'll understand the predicament Jorge Posada finds himself in.

Wang's Velocity

2008-04-22T20:44:00.002-04:00

If you're watching tonight's game on YES, you might be wondering why Chien-Ming Wang's fastball has only been hitting the high 80's in the first inning. I can't be completely certain, but I think YES's radar gun is broken, because that sinker looks as lively as ever, and MLB.com's gun has him sitting in the 95-97mph range. I think the guys over at YES must've figured that out too, because they've stopped showing the readings.

As for those of you keeping track of the game on MLB.com's Gameday application, you might be wondering when Wang started throwing a cutter. The answer is that he hasn't, it's just that the pitch tracking software is misidentifying his slider.

Haranguin' Hank

2008-04-22T15:29:00.000-04:00

I'm starting to find myself cringing every time Hank Steinbrenner opens his mouth. At this point, I'm sure you've all read about the comments he made to the New York Times on Sunday about moving Joba Chamberlain into the rotation immediately. Of course the media was all over him and Brian Cashman, and he's since backed off, saying that he's onboard with the plan to keep Chamberlain in the bullpen until later in the season. However it's his comment about Mike Mussina, which has been largely overlooked, that really made me shake my head:

"[Mussina] just needs to learn how to pitch like Jamie Moyer"

Now, I'm guessing that Steinbrenner picked Moyer to be Moose's new role model because he's an aging pitcher who has been somewhat succesful even though his fastball doesn't hit 90mph. The problem with this is that the reason that Moyer has been able to remain effective is that he's left-handed. Lefties have always been able to get by with less velocity than their righthanded colleagues. Now either Steinbrenner doesn't understand this fairly basic baseball fact, or he thinks Mussina should start throwing with his left hand. Either way, it's the kind of idiot suggestion you usually hear from the drunk sitting three rows in front of you, not the co-chairman of a Major League Baseball team.

Minor League Monday 4/14/08

2008-04-14T23:13:00.000-04:00

The weekend did not go well for the Yankees, but it's Monday and that means talk of conjuctivitis and hamstrings can wait. Today we look to the future:

Hitter of the Week - Jesus Montero, C/DH, Charleston Riverdogs (Single A):

Montero showed why he's one of the Yankees' best prospects this week, getting a hit in all seven games last week, including four doubles and two home runs, resulting in a robust .375/.394/.688 (AVG/OBP/SLG) line. That performance becomes even more impressive when you put it in context, as he's the second youngest player in a league and park that's not so friendly to hitters.

Of course the big question about Montero is whether he has the defensive ability to remain a catcher, where his fantastic bat has the most value. Most scouts don't think he has the agility to compensate for his already large size (6'4", 225lbs), but the Yankees are giving him the opportunity to prove them wrong by alternating him with Austin Romine between the catcher and DH spots. It's a great move on the team's part, as it gives two catching prospects who are raw defensively the chance to hone their game while limiting the injury problems that come with moving to a full-time professional workload for the first time. For Montero, the results have been mixed so far, as he's thrown out a healthy three of nine basestealers, but allowed an unhealthy three passed balls in just seven games behind the plate.

Of course, without being able to see him in person, it's impossible for me to get a real read on what his future is like defensively, but even as a first baseman or DH, his offensive future seems bright.

Pitcher of the Week: Eric Hacker, RHP, Tampa Yankees (Single A Advanced):

For the second time in as many weeks, a Yankee pitcher came close to perfection only to be denied thanks to his pitch count. Hacker, who missed the 2006 season with shoulder injuries, pitched seven perfect innings against the Dunedin Blue Jays on Tuesday before being pulled. He then proceeded to retire the first seven batters he faced on Sunday, giving him a total of 9.1 perfect innings. All told, he threw a total of fourteen scoreless innings this week, striking out ten, walking one and allowing only two hits. It's extremely hard for a 25 year-old righthander in Single A who doesn't have electric stuff to stand out in a farm system that's packed with young pitching, but Hacker certainly did so this week.

As always, here's a few more items of interest:

Last week I mentioned that Double A infielder Kevin Russo had left the team after doctors found some abnormalities in his blood work. I'm glad to report that further testing revealed no problems, and he celebrated his return to the Thunder by hitting a home run in his first game back.

Shelley Duncan has been taking whatever frustration he might have about his demotion out on the pitchers of the International League. He hit a home run in each of his first three games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and in five games has posted a ridiculous .500/.560/1.136 line. While still at the mercy of injuries and roster mechanics, Duncan is making a strong case to be called back up as soon as possible.

Almost Perfect

2008-04-12T13:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I questioned whether the Yankee offense would be able to produce against the Red Sox pitching. The answer, it seems, was only in the most frustrating way possible. The team managed ten hits and four walks, which was very nice, but stranded a whopping nine baserunners. Thankfully, the four runs they did manage to score were enough, and I think it's only a matter of time before they start stringing these hits together.

Of course the big story last night wasn't the Yankees stranded on the basepaths, but the one standing on the mound. Chien-Ming Wang came within a hair's breadth of a perfect game last night, and in a very different way from the previous time he came close to a perfect game last May. Instead of sinker after unhittable sinker, Wang increasingly mixed in sliders, four seam fastballs, and splitters. It was these pitches that Wang was working on with Dave Eiland in spring training, and that work seems to have taken his game to a new level. Considering the level he was at before, that's pretty impressive. The true test, however, will come on a day when his sinker isn't working for him. If he's truly improved his secondary pitches to the point where he can still win without the sinker, we could see a Cy Young type of season.

Stay Calm

2008-04-11T13:46:00.001-04:00

You can shuffle lineups, review tape and tinker with swings all you want, but nothing jump starts an offense like bad pitching. After being held to just two runs over the first two games of the series, the Yankees were able to knock in six runs off of journeyman John Bale and the long past his prime Hideo Nomo. Unfortunately, the Red Sox are going to be sending far better pitchers to the mound this weekend, and it remains to be seen whether the Yankee offense is ready to face them.

Of course no matter how the weekend goes, we should all remember that it's still far too early in the season to be panicking, In fact, I think we should be pretty happy with the fact that the team remains at .500 despite it's troubles at the plate. This lineup has too much talent to remain cold for long, and as long as the pitching remains solid, the rest will fall into place.

Hijinks

2008-04-09T21:47:00.000-04:00

It's been a very strange couple of days for the Yankees, and even stranger ones for Yankee fans as the team made some very confusing moves in response to injuries and the weather. Let's see if we can straighten this out.

First, Derek Jeter is out till Friday at the earliest, but will almost certainly stay off the DL. Also avoiding the DL is Jorge Posada, as an MRI revealed no structural damage in his shoulder. What's unclear, however, is how long it'll be until he can actually play. That's all pretty straightforward. What's bizarre is what the Yankees did next.

With Posada and Jeter unavailable, it was obvious that some kind of move needed to be made to get some help. They elected to call up Alberto Gonzalez to start at shortstop tonight, which is not the move that I would make. Wilson Betemit may have looked shaky in yesterday's game, but I think the greater need is for a catcher to back up Jose Molina. Right now, if Molina were to get injured in a game, he would be replaced by Morgan Ensberg, who, as far as I can tell, hasn't played the position in this millenium. However, that's just a questionable move. The bizarre move came when it was time to make room for Gonzalez on the roster.

First, Joe Girardi told reporters that Ensberg had injured his ankle and implied that he was headign to the DL. This, apparently, was news to Ensberg, who told Tyler Kepner of the Times that he was fine. Finally, after tonight's batting practice was over, the team revealed that Shelley Duncan had been sent down to Triple A.

So that's all there is for the injuries, but the wackiness didn't end there. About fifteen minutes before gametime, the Yankees stopped Ian Kennedy from warming up and announced that he had been scratched from his start, without providing any reason. Thankfully, it turns out that there was no injury. What happened was that Joe Girardi, perhaps because of the advice of team meteorologist Al Roker (no, seriously, he really is on staff), felt that the game would be postponed or delayed due to rain and didn't want to waste a start by Kennedy. It probably would've been a good decision, except that tonight's umpires are apparently a little crazy, as we're now in the sixth inning, even though it's been pouring all night and the field is an absolute mess. Meanwhile, Kennedy has finally taken the mound after Brian Bruney, Billy Traber and Kyle Farnsworth combined for four good innings, and one not so good one from Farnsworth.

Minor League Monday 4/7/08

2008-04-07T23:47:00.001-04:00

Pitcher of the Week - Kei Igawa, LHP, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (Triple A):

There were some fine pitching performances this week in Scranton, but only one of them could be described as perfect. The much maligned Kei Igawa did not allow a single member of the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs to reach base in the first six innings of the Yankees' opening game. Unfortunately, Igawa was on a strict pitch count, and the Scranton coaching staff decided to pull him after the sixth rather than allow him to chase perfection. Still, six innings of perfect baseball is impressive, and is probably enough to push him to the top of the list of potential replacements should something happen one of the major league starters. Even more impressively, it may be enough to keep me from cringing if that happens.

Hitter of the Week - Brett Gardner, CF, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (Triple A):

I'll be the first to admit that these "awards" aren't always given to the week's best players. This week's best hitter, for example, was probably either Jason Lane or Brad Suttle. However, since I'm forced to write about whoever gets the award, I'm inclined to give it to the best story, and this week that's Brett Gardner. I wrote about Gardner back in my first Minor League Monday when he hit his first home run in two years. Thankfully it's taken a lot less time for him to hit another, as he went deep off of the Ironpigs' Brian Mazone in Saturday's win. Even more surprising was that this home run didn't sneak over the wall, but instead soared over the "371 feet" sign in right center by a healthy margin. Whether this is a sign that Gardner is adding the one missing element to his game remains to be seen, but you can rest assured that if he is it's not at the expense of his formidable speed. Gardner remains so fast that, even though he was in his home run trot, he nearly made it to third base before the ball landed.

A few extra notes:

Those of you who check the box scores might have been worried by Mark Melancon's appearance for the Tampa Yankees on Thursday, which said that he left the game without facing the batter. If so, then you can put your mind at ease, as it had nothing to do with the oft-injured Melancon's health. It turns out that when he took the mound someone noticed that his name had been accidentally left off the lineup card by manager Luis Sojo, making him ineligible to pitch. Since then, Melancon has pitched 3.2 mediocre, but completely healthy, innings.
Those of you who like to worry should feel free to do so for Trenton Thunder infielder Kevin Russo, who left the team and headed back to Tampa after doctors found abnormalities in his blood work. Here's hoping that it's nothing more than a little scare for the 23 year-old.

Tidbits

2008-04-04T13:57:00.004-04:00

In one of the stranger stories I've heard lately, a hawk that has been nesting in Fenway Park for the past few years attacked a 13 year-old girl named, I kid you not, Alexa Rodriguez. Fortunately she's fine, only suffering a few minor scrapes, so I feel no guilt in finding the story so amusing.

In more hopeful portents of things to come, Peter Abraham of the Journal News took a peek inside Joe Girardi's office and noticed that, among other things, the new skipper has a copy of the Baseball Prospectus 2008 annual on his bookshelf. For those who don't know, Baseball Prospectus is a collection of some of the best baseball writing out there, and they're especially well known for their statistical analysis. It's good stuff, but for some reason there are a lot of people in baseball who absolutely hate it, and I'm glad to hear that Girardi isn't one of them.

Finally, I've added a new blog to the list on the right. As the Yankees continue to turn to players young enough to have grown up with the internet, it was inevitable that one would start a blog. That one is Phil Hughes, who has been blogging for a few months now. It's definitely a must read.

Opening Day Live Blog 2.0

2008-04-01T18:14:00.026-04:00

It seems to be a pretty nice spring evening in the Bronx, so we should finally have some baseball this evening. The lineups remain the same as they were yesterday:

Yankees
1. Johnny Damon - LF
2. Derek Jeter - SS
3. Bobby Abreu - RF
4. Alex Rodriguez - 3B
5. Jason Giambi - 1B
6. Robinson Cano - 2B
7. Jorge Posada - C
8. Hideki Matsui - DH
9. Melky Cabrera - CF
Pitcher: Chien-Ming Wang

Blue Jays
1. David Eckstein - SS
2. Shannon Stewart - LF
3. Alexis Rios - RF
4. Vernon Wells - CF
5. Frank Thomas - DH
6. Lyle Overbay - 1B
7. Aaron Hill - 2B
8. Marco Scutaro - 3B
9. Greg Zaun - C
Pitcher: Roy Halladay

Update 7:00PM: I wonder if the rainout meant that the pregame performances were changed, because it just doesn't seem right for "Oh Canada" to be played without a singer. Though I suppose it's better than that badly mangled version of "The Star Spangled Banner."

Update 7:15PM: By my count Chien-Ming Wang threw 14 pitches in the first inning and 13 of them were sinkers. Simple, but effective, as only Alexis Rios managed to get a solid hit.

Update 7:25PM: It looks like Halladay had the same idea as Wang, throwing 11 sinkers in his first 13 pitches. Unfortunately for him, A-Rod seemed ready for it, as he knocked that 13th pitch for a double and the season's first RBI.

Update 7:32PM: Of course the danger in using the sinker to induce grounders is that sometimes the ball finds the home. Alexis Rios remains the only Blue Jay to put solid wood on the ball, and yet Toronto has four hits and a run.

Update 7:43PM: One of the big improvements Robinson Cano made last season was becoming more selective at the plate, but he jumped on the first pitch he saw so quickly that YES barely managed to get the camera on it. Can't argue with the result, though.

Update 7:52PM: Now that he's making his way through the Jays' order for a second time, Wang's decided to bust out the slider. It works on David Eckstein, who swings right past it for the first strikeout of the night, but not so much on Alexis Rios. Rios seems to be able to see the slider coming, and lets them go by in order to work the first walk of the night.

Update 8:04PM: It's nice to see that Melky Cabrera hasn't fallen asleep waiting for a ball to be hit to the outfield, as he makes a nice play on Lyle Overbay's long fly ball, and a great one to rob Aaron Hill of an extra base hit. After being victimized by cheap hits in the first few innings, Wang's got to appreciate the fine work by his center fielder.

Update 8:10PM: Good lord this game is going by fast. I barely finished typing that last update before the Yankees' half of the inning ended. Wang and Halladay are both pitching extremely efficiently.

Update 8:14PM: Marco Scutaro certainly seems to have Wang's number on the basepaths. He's now stolen two bases with great jumps.

Update 8:32PM: Wang finally cracks, such as it is, as a leadoff walk makes its way home on a weak groundball. Meanwhile, Halladay is cruising. At least Jorge Posada made him work a little bit before striking out.

Update 8:37PM: Can anyone explain the commercial YES just showed for Fox Business' Happy Hour show? Am I supposed to be taking financial advice from drunk people?

Update 8:42PM: God bless that short porch. Melky's home run may have barely cleared the fence, but it counts just the same.

Update 8:51PM: As nice as it is to see Giambi make a nice play at first, snatching a hard line drive out of the air, it does make me worry that he'll end up playing there regularly. With his injury history, that's just asking for a trip to the DL.

Update 9:03PM: Apparently it's Jason Giambi Fundamentals night, as the big G keeps himself out of a double play with some smooth baserunning, keeping out of reach as Aaron Hill tries to tag him out.

Update 9:08PM: Giambi's baserunning pays off, as Hideki Matsui's ground out results in the go-ahead run rather than the end of the inning.

Update 9:11PM: That's it for Wang, as Joba Chamberlain takes the field. No midges in sight so far.

Update 9:23PM: Chamberlain wasn't quite as sharp as he was last season, but that's a pretty high bar. Even with a slightly slower fastball and a little less control, he still gets the Joba done (sorry, couldn't resist).

Update 9:30PM: I'd absolutely love it if Johnny Damon tried to steal home right now. With a lefty on the mound and the shift pulling the third baseman off the bag, it's certainly the perfect time.

Update 9:32PM: So much for that hope. Jason Giambi grounds out and Scott Downs escapes the inning unscathed after giving up a leadoff triple.

Update 9:40PM: On comes Mo, and out go the Blue Jays in order. I don't think you could ask for a better game to start the season.

Opening Day Live Blog

2008-03-31T11:55:00.004-04:00

At long last the first game of the season is nearly here, and I'll be posting through the whole thing. To start, here are the lineups:

Yankees
1. Johnny Damon - LF
2. Derek Jeter - SS
3. Bobby Abreu - RF
4. Alex Rodriguez - 3B
5. Jason Giambi - 1B
6. Robinson Cano - 2B
7. Jorge Posada - C
8. Hideki Matsui - DH
9. Melky Cabrera - CF
Pitcher: Chien-Ming Wang

Blue Jays
1. David Eckstein - SS
2. Shannon Stewart - LF
3. Alexis Rios - RF
4. Vernon Wells - CF
5. Frank Thomas - DH
6. Lyle Overbay - 1B
7. Aaron Hill - 2B
8. Marco Scutaro - 3B
9. Greg Zaun - C
Pitcher: Roy Halladay

It's very interesting to see Cano get bumped up the lineup over Posada and Matsui, especially considering Posada's fantastic season last year. Joe Girardi obviously thinks highly of Cano, and isn't afraid to show it.

Update 12:15PM: Well, it's pretty ugly out and the tarp is on the field. Assuming that they get this game going, it's going to be a cold one.

Update 2:45PM:Looks like we'll have to wait a day to start the season. Check back here tomorrow night for the Opening Day live blog version 2.0.

Spring Training - The Starters

2008-02-12T16:35:00.000-05:00

40-Man Roster Players:

Non-Roster Invitees:

As I said yesterday, there's a lot more going on with the pitchers than the catchers this spring. While the majority of the intrigue will be in the bullpen, there's still some questions to be answered in the rotation. The top three spots are, of course, set with Wang, Pettitte and Hughes. The fourth spot is ostensibly Mussina's, and he won't lose the job in Tampa, but considering how awful he was in the second half of the season, he'll be on a short leash come April.

The big question for now, however, is whether Joba Chamberlain is in the rotation or the bullpen. Hank Steinbrenner has said unequivically that Chamberlain is a starter, and I've got no doubt that that's where his future lies, but I don't think he's ready for a full season as a major league starter. Last year he threw 116 innings, most of them in the minor leagues, where he never had to struggle. If he starts all season for the Yankees, his workload will increase by at least half. That would be a terrible risk to take on the health of a very valuable player. Both Chamberlain and the Yankees would be much better served if he started the year in the bullpen and moved into the rotation a few months into the season. In the meantime, Ian Kennedy can take the final spot in the rotation.

While Chamberlain and Kennedy seem to be the only serious candidates for the fifth starter's job, that doesn't mean you should ignore the rest of the starters. If the Yankees learned anything in 2007, it's that there's no telling how many pitchers you're going to end up needing. Jeff Karstens figures to be the first one called upon in an emergency, but strong spring performances by Kei Igawa (who the Yankees have invested a lot of money in) or prospects Alan Horne and Jeffrey Marquez could put one of them at the front of the line.

Of course no matter who ends up taking the mound, I'm certain Carl Pavano will step up and pull his hamstring.

Spring Training - The Catchers

2008-02-11T13:27:00.000-05:00

I've been away for a while, but it's February now and that means roses, chocolates and baseball. It's just three days until pitchers and catchers report, with all the other players reporting just five days later. For the Yankees, that'll be a whopping 69 players altogether:

Player	Position
Bobby Abreu	RF
Jonathan Albaladejo	RHRP
Kyle Anson	C
Wilson Betemit	IF
Andrew Brackman	RHSP
Chris Britton	RHRP
Jason Brown	C
Brian Bruney	RHRP
Melky Cabrera	CF
Robinson Cano	2B
Bernie Castro	IF
Francisco Cervelli	C
Joba Chamberlain	RHSP
Justin Christian	OF
Colin Curtis	OF
Johnny Damon	CF
Eric Duncan	1B
Shelly Duncan	1B
Morgan Ensberg	3B
Kyle Farnsworth	RHRP
Brett Gardner	CF
Jason Giambi	DH
Dan Giese	RHRP
Alberto Gonzalez	IF
Nick Green	IF
LaTroy Hawkins	RHRP
Sean Henn	LHRP
Alan Horne	RHSP
Phil Hughes	RHSP
Kei Igawa	LHSP
Austin Jackson	CF
Steven Jackson	RHRP
Derek Jeter	SS
Jeff Karstens	RHRP
Ian Kennedy	RHSP
Jason Lane	OF
Jeffrey Marquez	RHSP
Hideki Matsui	LF
Daniel McCutchen	RHSP
Mark Melancon	RHRP
Juan Miranda	1B
Jose Molina	C
Jesus Montero	C
Mike Mussina	RHSP
Eduardo Nunez	SS
Ross Ohlendorf	RHRP
Scott Patterson	RHRP
Carl Pavano	RHSP
Andy Pettitte	LHSP
Heath Phillips	LHRP
P.J. Pilittere	C
Gregory Porter	OF
Jorge Posada	C
Edwar Ramirez	RHRP
Cody Ransom	IF
Darrell Rasner	RHSP
Mariano Rivera	RHRP
Alex Rodriguez	3B
Austin Romine	C
Humberto Sanchez	RHSP
Scott Strickland	RHRP
Jose Tabata	RF
Billy Traber	LHRP
Marcos Vechionacci	3B
Jose Veras	RHRP
Chien-Ming Wang	RHSP
Steven White	RHSP
Chris Woodward	IF
Chase Wright	LHSP

That's a full 40 man roster, 29 non-roster invitees and a lot of names for anyone to keep straight. So, over the next couple of days I'm going to break it down for you, starting with the catchers:

40-Man Roster Players:

Non-Roster Invitees:

As usual, the Yankees are bringing nearly every catcher in the organization to camp, for the simple reason that there's a lot of pitchers who need to throw to someone. Obviously, only Posada and Molina will be on the team come April, but keep an eye on Francisco Cervelli. Posada and Molina are both getting old, especially for catchers, and its very possible that the 20 year-old Cervelli would be called up if either was injured.

Among the non-roster invitees, Montero and Romine stand out as the prospects to watch. Both appear on my list of the Yankees' top prospects (which I'll be sharing here over the coming weeks), and both are players with loads of raw talent. I'm especially interested in seeing how Montero handles himself behind the plate, as defense said to be his biggest weakness. As for the other three NRIs, there's not much to say. Anson, Brown and Pilittere are all decent minor league catchers, but it's hard to imagine any of them having an impact on the major league level.

Tomorrow, I'll take a look at the starting pitchers, where there's a lot more players, questions and competition.

Santana Claus Going to Boston?

2007-12-04T20:19:00.001-05:00

The great Will Carroll, over at Baseball Prospectus, is reporting that a deal to send Johan Santana to the Red Sox is "all but done," with Minnesota getting Jon Lester, Justin Masterson, Ryan Kalish and an unnamed center fielder. If that center fielder turns out to be Jacoby Ellsbury, then I'm quite happy with the news. We all saw what Ellsbury and Lester are capable of in September, and the other two players are very good prospects as well. Plus, the players are only Minnesota's price. The Red Sox will still have to contend with Santana's price, as the pitcher won't waive his no trade clause without a long term deal. Considering what Barry Zito got last season, the Sox will be lucky to sign Santana for "just" $120 million over six years. Obviously Santana is a great pitcher, and I don't relish the idea of seeing him in a Red Sox uniform, but I'm glad to see Boston pay so heavily. Of course, I won't be quite as happy if the unnamed center fielder is Coco Crisp, but I've got a feeling that that's not the case.

Clippard Sailing Away

2007-12-04T00:33:00.000-05:00

It's not the most prestigious of news sources, but MLBTraderumors.com tends to be pretty good with their information, and they're reporting that the Yankees have traded Tyler Clippard to the Nationals for reliever Jonathan Albaladejo. If it's true, which is a big if, it makes no sense to me. The Yankee farm system is filled with hard-throwing righthanders, and I can't find anything that makes Albaladejo seem better than Ross Ohlendorf, Chris Britton or Jose Veras. Granted, they'd only be trading another one of their many righthanded pitching prospect, but Clippard's success as a starter makes him significantly more valuable. I'll try and stay on top of this story and see if things start to make sense.

Update 1:06AM: The Washington Post has picked up the story as well, with no new information that would explain the Yankees would do this. I understand trading Clippard for a reliever; the Yankees need bullpen help and have pitching prospects to spare. What I don't understand is trading for a right-handed reliever with only 14.1 innings of major league success, and 24 innings in Triple-A. Considering that Clippard could very well make it into the Nationals' rotation, you'd think Brian Cashman could at least have found a lefty, or someone with
more of a track record.

Back in the Saddle

2007-12-03T13:14:00.000-05:00

Late November tends to be pretty slow as far as baseball is concerned, so I took a little time off from blogging. However, it's now December, and that means it's time for the Winter Meetings; that magical time of year when the 30 MLB teams' general managers, managers, assistant general managers, player development staff, public relations spinsters, trainers, lawyers, accountants and coffee boys turn some random hotel into The Baseball Capital of the World for one week. This year, it's the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN, which I will henceforth be calling the Gaylord Perry Hotel.

The Yankees headed into Nashville this morning knowing that whatever happens at the meetings, this will have been a good week. That's because before they left, Andy Pettitte let them know that he wanted to put the pinstripes on for another season. It was a surprising announcement, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Not only does Pettitte help solidify a rotation that's heavily dependent on unproven talent, but he also greatly decreases the team's need for Johan Santana. One of my biggest fears about this week was that the Yankees would overpay for Santana, and hopefully this means that they won't.

Everything Can Change

2007-11-15T00:17:00.000-05:00

Johnny Carson once said that a New York Minute was the time between a traffic light turning greeen and the cabbie behind you honking his horn. Tonight, however, a New York Minute is the time it takes for Alex Rodriguez to negotiate a ten year, $275 million contract with the Yankees. This is a deal that's shocking on many levels.

Let's start with the fact that A-Rod and the Yankees were actually talking. A-Rod, after all, had rebuffed calls from Brian Cashman, the Steinbrenners three, and a number of his former teammates both before and after deciding to opt out of his contract. Meanwhile, the Yankees had repeatedly and emphatically stated that there would be absolutely no negotiations with Alex Rodriguez as a free agent.

Then there's the fact that the negotiations were made between the Yankees and A-Rod. For whatever reason, Rodriguez decided to bypass Scott Boras and sit down with the Yankees on his own (or, more accurately, with only his wife by his side).

Plus, let's not forget about the size of the contract. Reports have the total ranging from $275 to $290 million, but whatever it ends up being it won't be very different from what he makes now, and it's a lot less than the $350 million that Boras was looking for.

I'm honestly not sure whether or not I like this deal. This is partly because my head has been spinning too much for me to form a coherent opinion, but it's mostly because, since the deal isn't official yet, we don't know what the fine print says. A-Rod's last contract, after all, showed us that the devil's in the details.

Hip Hip!

2007-11-13T23:58:00.000-05:00

Well, Brian Cashman can cross the first thing off his to-do list, as Jorge Posada signs a four-year, $52.4 million contract. While I'm happy that Cashman was able to get this done quickly, the deal shows exactly how big of a mistake he made when he declined to offer Posada an extension before the season started. By all accounts, Posada would have been willing to sign a three year extension for something around $30 million, which would be much better for the Yankees. Granted, there was no way to know that Posada would have a season like he did, but I still don't understand how Cashman could have looked at this offseason and thought there would be any better options.

Of course, just because Posada signed doesn't mean Cashman should stop looking for someone to replace him. This contract will last until Posada is 40 years old. Here is the list of players who have caught regularly and remained productive at that age:

Carlton Fisk

Fisk was a freak of nature, and while Posada is a better candidate than anyone to replicate that kind of success, the Yankees shouldn't count on that. Getting a capable backup for the short term is imperative, and in the long term the Yankees should be prepared to move Posada to the DH spot after Giambi's contract is up next season.

However, those are concerns for another day. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the fact that we'll get to see Jorge finish his great career while still wearing pinstripes.

The 2008 Replacement Level Yankees

2007-11-08T14:44:00.000-05:00

In Sabermetrics, there's a concept called the Replacement Level. It's a way to look at a player's value to a team by comparing him to the player who would replace him if he wasn't there. Usually one would use a hypothetical replacement based on the kind of talent that's freely available. However, when you're looking at off-season moves for one team, you can move from the hypothetical to the real. So, I present to you the 2008 Replacement Level Yankees:

Position	Player	Salary
C	Omir Santos	$0.4¹
1b	Shelley Duncan	$0.4¹
2b	Robinson Cano	$3²
3b	Wilson Betemit	$1²
SS	Derek Jeter	$20
RF	Melky Cabrera	$0.4¹
CF	Johnny Damon	$13
LF	Hideki Matsui	$13
DH	Jason Giambi	$21
BN	Andy Philips	$0.4¹
BN	Alberto Gonzalez	$0.4¹
BN	Bronson Sardinha	$0.4¹
BN	Juan Miranda	$0.4¹
SP	Chien-Ming Wang	$3²
SP	Mike Mussina	$11
SP	Phil Hughes	$0.4¹
SP	Joba Chamberlain	$0.4¹
SP	Ian Kennedy	$0.4¹
RP	Kyle Farnsworth	$5.5
RP	Kei Igawa	$4
RP	Chris Britton	$0.4¹
RP	Jose Veras	$0.4¹
RP	Ross Ohlendorf	$0.4¹
RP	Darrel Rasner	$0.4¹
RP	Jeff Karstens	$0.4¹

This is the team that the Yankees would field if they made absolutely no moves before opening day based, with one exception, on their 40 man roster. The exception is Omir Santos, who I put on the team because the Yankees have no catchers on their 40 man roster. Santos was the catcher for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, so I went with him. You could make an argument for their other catcher Raul Chavez, and you can argue with my bullpen choices considering how many pitchers are on the 40 man roster, but those are little details that miss the point of this exercise.

Obviously, I don't think this is the lineup that will take the field come spring training, let alone opening day. It's just a tool to help look at the team's needs, and to evaluate what they do to fill them. For example, it lets us see all the ramifications of the decision to exercise Bobby Abreu's option. Having Abreu on the team creates the same "problem," as last season; too many good players for too few positions. You can move Giambi to first and use Matsui to DH, but that's a huge defensive downgrade at first and Giambi is almost guaranteed to be injured in the process. You could bench Melky Cabrera and move Damon to center field, which would only be a small defensive downgrade, but you might overtax Damon's problematic back and legs. No matter how you slice it, the overall effect of this move is a small upgrade for a lot of money.

Of course, the Yankees have enough money to be able to afford these kind of moves, but I think there's a trade they can make that can make this move much better. All they need to do is make a trade with Rawlings for a couple of first baseman's gloves for Damon and Matsui. Ideally, the Yankees would just have to give them Carl Pavano, but cash would be fine. Both Damon and Matsui are athletes with good fundamental baseball skills, and it's reasonable to think that they could be better fielders than Jason Giambi by the end of spring training. It is, after all, a pretty low bar to clear. Additionally, taking time off from the outfield would help them avoid aggravating their chronic injuries. In other words, there'd be decent defense, better hitting and fewer injuries. That's a move worth $14 million³.

¹Estimated salary based on Major League minimum.
²These players are arbitration eligible, so I've just made educated guesses as to what their salary will end up being.
³The option was worth $16 million, but declining it would have required a $2 million buyout, so it effectively cost them $14 million to exercise it.

Options

2007-11-06T13:08:00.000-05:00

It's been a dull week in Yankee land, with only a few small stories worth mentioning. The biggest news was the team's exercising their $16 million option to bring Bobby Abreu back for another season. Of course, this wasn't news at all, since Brian Cashman has for weeks implied that that was what he was going to do. Normally, I'd say that that $16 million would be better spent on something other than an aging right fielder whose production has been declining for the past few years. However, with A-Rod gone the Yankees have the money to spare, and the alternatives aren't that good. Without Abreu, the Yankees would either have to use Shelley Duncan, who's a good platoon player but not good enough to play every day, or downgrade their defense by moving Melky Cabrera to right and Johnny Damon to center. Of course the team could go the free agent route, but the pickings are pretty slim. The only possible free agent who I think would be a better choice than Abreu is Kosuke Fukudome.

Fukudome (whose name is pronounced Koh-skay Foo-koo-DOH-may), is the star right fielder for the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese League. He's a patient hitter, with doubles power, posting a career line of .305/.397/.543 (AVG/OBP/SLG), and .329/.435/.600 over the past three seasons. Defensively, he's reported to be excellent. His speed and instincts are both above average, which makes for great range, and his arm is both strong and accurate. American fans may remember him from the World Baseball Classic last year, where he proved himself to be a clutch performer by hitting pivotal late inning home runs in both the semi-finals and finals.

Looking at how Japanese hitters have performed in the majors, I think Fukodome would perform significantly better than the declining Abreu, and would do so for less money (he's expected to cost around $12 million a year for three or four years and, as an unrestricted free agent, there would be no posting fee). That said, there's no guarantee that the Yankees would be able to sign him, and I can't fault Cashman for taking the sure thing. Plus, he now has the option of trading Abreu if he does try to sign Fukudome, much as he did with Gary Sheffield (though I'm not entirely sure if Abreu's no-trade clause is still in effect after he waived it last year).

In other option news, Andy Pettitte has declined his $16 million option for next season. According to his agent, he did so because the deadline came up and he needed more time to consider his future. However, he also said that his future consists of only two options; the Yankees or retirement, and he's not looking for more money. While the A-Rod circus might make you cynical about a player being honest in these situations, Pettitte's a stand up guy, and there's no reason to think that he doesn't mean what he's saying. It'd be better for the Yankees to know whether he'll be in their rotation, but you have to respect Pettitte's need to weigh his decision. I really do hope he comes back, but either way I wish him the best.

Our long national nightmare is over

2007-10-29T19:54:00.001-04:00

After all that waiting, the news is starting to come fast. Right on the heels of the news that Alex Rodriguez is a narcissitic idiot comes word that the Yankees have decided to hire Joe Girardi as manager. Technically they're still negotiating, but I doubt it'll take long to finalize the deal. After all, Girardi is going to have to get right to work and find himself some coaches. Don Mattingly, who is disappointed at not getting the job, has already announced that he won't be returning next season. Meanwhile, Larry Bowa has been offered a job as the third base coach in Seattle, and Ron Guidry will likely be getting the axe soon. This would leave Girardi with a staff that consists of first base coach Tony Pena, hitting coach Kevin Long and bullpen coach Joe Kerrigan. Right now, the only candidate whose name I've heard bandied about is Dave Eiland, the pitching coach for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees who helped Phil Hughes so much in September. Other than that, I think the field's wide open.

As for Girardi himself, I think it's a good decision by Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenners. I've certainly written about his qualifications enough, but that's not what really impressed me about their choice. For the past few seasons, Don Mattingly has been the presumed heir to Joe Torre's throne. There really was no question that the Yankees were grooming him for the role, and when Torre left it really seemed like it was Mattingly's job to lose. However, the Yankees sat down with their candidates and allowed themselves to be impressed by Girardi, who was reportedly fantastic in his interview. As I said, it seemed like the job was Mattingly's to lose, but Girardi went ahead and won it anyway. The reason he was able to wasn't because Mattingly did anything wrong, but because the Yankee brass kept their minds open, and you have to give them a lot of credit for that.

After the sour notes of the departures of Joe Torre and Alex Rodriguez, it's truly refreshing to have good news coming out of Tampa and I'm hoping to hear more soon. Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte all said that Joe Torre's departure would impact their decisions. I hope that the arrival of the catcher who helped them so much in their younger days will also make an impact.

A-Rod opts out

2007-10-29T00:15:00.001-04:00

Regular readers of this blog know that I'm a big fan of A-Rod the player, and I still am. My opinion of Alex Rodriguez the man has gone down considerably tonight. For those who weren't watching the World Series, Scott Boras announced that Alex Rodriguez is opting out of his contract. According to Boras, the decision was made because he didn't know if Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte were coming back, and he didn't want to make any decisions before seeing what happened.

Alex, I can respect your decision to become a free agent. What I can't respect is the ridiculous lie your agent just spouted. You had ten days before you had to make your decision. That's ten days you had to at least talk to the Yankees. That's ten days for you to wait and see what was going to happen with your teammates. Don't tell me that you don't read the papers, that you didn't know the team was ready to make offers to you, Posada, Pettitte and Rivera in the next week. The truth is that you always intended to become a free agent, and saying anything else is just insulting.

No news is just boring

2007-10-27T13:50:00.000-04:00

Well, so much for all the rumor and innuendo that said a decision on the new manager would be announced yesterday. According to Peter Abraham over at The Journal News, the decision's probably been made, but the announcement won't be made until after the World Series. Normally, I'd be in favor of such a decision, as it's better for baseball as a whole for the Yankees to let the World Series have the public's full attention. That, however, is because normally that delay wouldn't affect the rest of the Yankees' agenda. Unfortunately, this is not a normal offseason.

You have to figure that the identity of next year's manager will end up factoring into A-Rod's decision making process, so every day that goes by without an announcement is one less day the Yankees' have to negotiate. Again, this normally wouldn't be a problem since there's usually plenty of time to negotiate with players who can become free agents, but according to his contract A-Rod has only ten days after the World Series ends to decide whether or not to opt out of his contract and effectively become a free agent. That's an awfully small amount of time to negotiate what could be the largest contract in history.

The final countdown

2007-10-25T14:18:00.000-04:00

The word is that the Yankees will announce their new manager either today or tomorrow. Right now the short list seems to consist of Don Mattingly, Joe Girardi and Tony Pena. I wrote about Mattingly and Girardi before, but Pena's name came up later, so I'll share my thoughts about him now.

Pena's resume is very similar to Girardi's. They're both former catchers who had very successful rookie seasons as a major league manager, leading mediocre teams with limited payrolls to surprisingly strong seasons. They then followed that rookie season by getting fired in the next one. Unlike Girardi, however, Pena was not fired because of a conflict with ownership. Instead, he lost his job over the trivial matter of losing 104 games. I'm not sure what that says about his managerial skills. On one hand the Royals were a pretty bad team, and you have to give him a lot of credit for bringing the team their first winning season since 1994, a feat they have yet to replicate. On the other hand, 104 losses is one of the worst totals in baseball history, and no matter how bad his players were, he has to take some of the blame.

So how can we make any kind of guess as to his managerial skills? I decided to go back to his experiences as the manager of the Aguilas Cibaenas in the Dominican Winter League. in three seasons he led the team to two league championships and a Carribean Series title. Of course managing a great team in Santiago de los Caballeros is very different from doing it in New York, but it's all we have to go on.

Similarly, we don't know much about how he'd be able to handle the media or his players. Neither of his previous managerial positions required him to face an aggressive media or deal with star players and their egos. All we can say is that he's had two seasons to watch Joe Torre do those things better than anyone, and that he's known to be a terribly nice guy.

In the end, I see the three candidates as breaking down like this. All three of them are classy guys who conduct themselves with the kind of professionalism that you'd expect from anyone who worked under Joe Torre. Girardi and Pena both have had success as managers, while Mattingly has had no experience whatsoever. Mattingly, as a former Yankee star and captain, is the only one who has ever had the spotlight of New York upon him and he's dealt with it well. All three are fine candidates, but I'd go with Mattingly and his media experience. The Yankees' are depending heavily on their young pitching, and the next manager is going to have to protect them from the media and teach them about how to deal with New York. While I've no doubt that all three would be willing to throw themselves in front of the proverbial bus for these kids, Mattingly's probably the one whose best equipped to survive it.

Of course two weeks ago I said that Girardi would be the best choice. That has less to do with me being indecisive and more to do with just how good these candidates are. Considering how badly the Yankee brass handled the end of the Joe Torre era, I'm glad to see that they're in a situation where there is no bad choice for them to make.

An open letter to Red Sox fans

2007-10-24T14:22:00.000-04:00

Dear Red Sox Fans,

It's been a while since we've had a heart to heart, and I think we need one before tonight's World Series opener. Before we start, however, those of you whose love of baseball keeps your fandom from devolving into buffoonery can excuse themselves (I'm looking at you, Peter). The same goes for anyone who learned any basic sense of sportsmanship as a child. As for the rest of you, I want to remind you of a few things.

First of all, making it to the World Series while the Yankees were knocked out of the playoffs in the Division Series is not a moral victory; it's just a regular victory. I know you like to think of this rivalry as the good "Red Sox Nation" versus the "Evil Empire," but it's not. I know this because the Yankees have yet to enslave the people of Connecticut, and the Red Sox have yet to restore freedom to the oppressed peoples of Rhode Island. Instead, they've played baseball, a game where good and evil don't come into play. So you should stop thinking that rooting for the Red Sox makes you a better person than me.

Please don't look at me like that. I really do understand how you feel. I'm a Buffalo Bills fan and, while I haven't endured 86 years of heartbreak, I defy you to find any fan who went through a more devastating four years as Bills fans did from 1990 to 1993. I know it's tempting to take solace by creating a comforting fantasy world where, even though you lost, you did so fighting evil, but when you do you run the risk of starting to act like an idiot.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy mocking fans of other teams as much as you. It's going to be a few months before my brothers stop hearing about the Mets' incredible collapse. However, I don't call them names (at least not for baseball reasons), nor do I hypothesize about the sexual habits of David Wright, and I certainly don't harass random strangers wearing Mets' paraphernalia.

Now, the reason that it's so important for you to understand this before tonight's opener is because you're playing the Colorado Rockies. This is a scrappy young team who rode an incredible hot streak to make it into a one game playoff for the wild card. Now they've made it to the World Series for the first time in franchise history where they face a perennial contender who had the best record in baseball and sports a payroll more than three times their own. In other words, they're the underdogs and if you persist in your delusions you'll find that you've become the Evil Empire.

Calm down, now. I know it's scary, but I'm going to help. Have a glass of water, take a breath and repeat after me:

"Baseball is a great game that can be enjoyed without being an ass to other people."

I'm glad we had this little chat, and I hope you've learned something. Now run along and have a fun World Series.

Sincerely,
Amol

Winter League Week Part 2 - Javelinas in the Sun

2007-10-20T00:06:00.000-04:00

Considering how badly the Joe Torre situation has been handled, I think it'll be good for everyone to take some refuge in actual baseball. So, as promised, I'll continue with my review of the Yankees' winter league action by looking at the six prospects the team has sent to play for the Peoria Javelinas in the Arizona Fall League.

As I mentioned before, one of those players is a personal favorite of mine, Kevin Whelan. He's not a favorite because he's a huge talent like Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes, but because of his arsenal. Whelan throws three pitches, and they're all fastballs. His four seamer is strong, sitting in the low to mid 90's, and he complements that with a splitter and a forkball, both of which can be exceptional when he's on. Unfortunately, like so many hard throwing prospects, he struggles with his command. Its been no different in Peoria so far, where he was dominant in his first outing, and wild in his second. Of course the whole point of the AFL is for players to learn, and I'm hoping to see some improvement from a him.

The other pitching prospect that accompanied Whelan to Peoria is Steven White. White was drafted in 2003, and the Yankees had high expectations. However, like so many promising pitchers, injuries have kept him from fulfilling those expectations. He's not a bad pitcher, mind you. He's performed well as he's slowly moved up the ladder, but he hasn't stood out in any way. He's now 26 and coming off of another typically good but not great season in Triple A, and has been rocked in his first two starts in Arizona, giving up eight runs in just three innings. To me, he's a classic Quadruple A player; the kind of guy who can do well in Triple A, but won't make it in the majors. He might have some success if the Yankees move him to the bullpen, but otherwise I wouldn't expect much.

In addition to the two pitchers, the Yankees have sent three positional players to the Javelinas, all of whom could be in pinstripes in the coming years. I've written about center fielder Brett Gardner before, and there's nut much to add to it. He's one of the fastest men in baseball, hits for average and draws walks, but lacks any real power, having hit all of six home runs in 294 minor league games, and only one in the past two years. At best, he develops enough doubles power to be a Kenny Lofton kind of player. At worst, he's a fourth outfielder who provides excellent speed and defense at all three outfield positions. Either way, he's a useful player to have.

Another player whose power will determine his fate is Reegie Corona who's currently a shortstop, but can play all over the infield. Like Gardner he hits for average and draws walks, but has very little power. Unlike Gardner, he only has average speed, meaning there's an even greater chance that those ground balls which are slipping through for hits will turn into outs when they hit Triple A and major league fielders. Still, he's a strong defender and could very well become a useful utility infielder, something every team needs.

Finally, there's Juan Miranda, who is something of a mystery. A first baseman who defected from Cuba to the Dominican Republic in 2004, he was signed to a four year, $2 million contract last year and split the season between Advanced Single A and Double A. He put up solid numbers in Tampa and replicated them after being promoted, which is a good sign. Another good sign is that while he was merely solid statistically, he recieved nothing put praise from coaches and scouts, who say he has light tower power, and just needs to refine his game after having spent two years out of the game. His performance thus far in Arizona certainly speaks to that, as he's currently sporting a .571 SLG, and a .250 ISOP (ISOP stands for isolated power, a quick measurement of a player's power which is simply a players slugging percentage minus his batting average). Granted, it's a lot to read into seven games, but this kind of performance and the Yankees' current hole at first gives him an outside chance of becoming part of a major league platoon as early as next season.

Goodbye Mr. Torre

2007-10-18T22:46:00.000-04:00

I did not see that coming.

For those who haven't heard, the Yankees decided to offer Joe Torre a 1 year, $5 million contract, and Torre turned them down. Its a surprising turn of events, and it seems more than a little shady to me, at least as far as the front office is concerned. The Steinbrenners (its been reported that George's sons Hank and Hal had a lot of input on the decision) couldn't really think that Torre, a Hall of Fame manager who has led the Yankees to historical greatness, would take a 33% pay cut just to have to go through the headache of another negotiation in a year. If they did think that, then they're idiots. If they didn't, then they must have been trying to look good to potential free agents Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada, who have indicated that Torre's future will play a role in their decisions.

I've already written about the potential replacements, so let me just say a few things about Joe Torre. He could absolutely infuriate me with some of his in game moves, but there's no denying that he handled the spotlight of New York, and shielded his players from it, better than anyone. With the rise of cable, Torre faced scrutiny from more press than any manager in Yankee history. In fact, other than the White House Press Secretary, I can't think of anyone, that has to face more reporters and cameras than Joe Torre. His class and professionalism set the tone for a clubhouse that could easily fall apart with the number of highly paid stars that are on the team. and its going to be an incredibly difficult act to follow. I'm sad to see him go, and I've decided that as a farewell present, I'll be making a donation to the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation. It's a small thank you to a man who helped bring me some very good memories.

Aloha from Winter League Week

2007-10-16T18:42:00.000-04:00

About the only news in the Yankees' off field drama is that the reporters who camped out at Joe Torre's house have moved on to the Steinbrenner estate in Tampa. Quite frankly I'm finding the whole wait and wildly speculate thing kind of boring. Fortunately, there's still Yankee baseball being played, and so I've declared this week Winter League Week here at Poughkeepsie Pinstripes. In the coming days, I'll be going over the Yankee players and prospects who are spending their off-seasons working on their game against live competition.

Today's focus is on the Hawaiian Winter League, whose inaugural season last year was a great success for the Yankees as well as the league. It was with the Honolulu Sharks that Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy made their dominating professional debuts and put themselves on the fast track to Yankee Stadium. This season the Yankees have sent four players to the Sharks, where they'll play against a combination of players from Japan and America.

The biggest name among the four is Austin Jackson, who I've written about before. Jackson has followed up his very impressive showing in the Florida State League with a solid .275/.367/.431 (AVG/OBP/SLG) line in 14 games. However, stats in Winter Leagues can be deceiving. Obviously there's the issue of a very small sample size, but there's also a huge amount of variety in the quality of opponents. In any given at bat you could face a pitcher who may have no professional experience or blue-chip prospect who has dominated Triple-A, or even a prospect from the Japanese League. Thus, when analyzing a player's performance in these leagues, it's sometimes better to look a little deeper for indicators of how a player is progressing.

When I look at Jackson's stats, the thing that jumps out at me is his high strikeout total. He's struck out 16 times in 51 at-bats, which is the second highest total in the league. It's a pace that would result in nearly 200 strikeouts over a full major league season, and that worries me. There are guys, like Adam Dunn or Jason Giambi, who can put up big strikeout totals while still producing but they're generally guys who hit the ball over the fence, something Jackson hasn't done so far. If he's going to continue to be successful as he moves up the minors, he'll either need to cut down on the strikeouts or develop some prodigious power.

The other position player the Yankees have sent to Honolulu is third baseman Brad Suttle. Suttle was a fourth round pick out in this year's draft. Coming out of the University of Texas, the Yankees hoped that he was the kind of polished college hitter who might be able to come straight out of a big time college baseball program and move quickly through the minors. His performance so far, however, isn't encouraging, to say the least. He started the season with a 24 at bat hitless streak, and now has a terrible .097/.263/.194 line. The good news is that he's had three hits, all of them doubles, in his last three games, which might be a sign that he has begun to adjust to using a wood bat.

On the pitching side, the Yankees have sent George Kontos and reliever Anthony Claggett. Kontos was a fifth round pick in the 2006 six draft out of Northwestern. He's got a plus fastball and slider, which allows him to rack up strong strikeout totals, but he has trouble with his mechanics which leads to lots of walks. Thus far he's continued this in Honolulu, picking up 11 strikeouts against 7 walks in 10 innings, which has resulted in a 5.40 ERA. He's worth keeping an eye on, because if he can find consistency in his delivery and improve his command, he would make for a formidable major league reliever.

Claggett was one of the three young pitchers who came over from Detroit in the Gary Sheffield trade, and he's the least exciting of them. Righthanders who throw an average fastball and slider are a dime a dozen, and unless he does something spectacular he'll just be an anonymous career minor leaguer.

Next up is the Arizona Fall League, where one of my favorite prospects, Kevin Whelan, is pitching for the team with one of my favorite names, the Peoroa Javelinas.

Get your ballot in

2007-10-12T15:54:00.000-04:00

Voting for the Internet Baseball Awards ends at 2AM tonight. The more well informed fans who vote, the better these awards are (and they're already a lot better than the BBWAA awards), so I hope all of you take the opportunity to participate.

The vultures are circling

2007-10-12T15:51:00.001-04:00

The vultures, in this case, are the throngs of reporters who have circled Joe Torre's house in a shameful display of tabloid hackery at its worst. There are stories whose importance might warrant harassing a man at his home, but whether or not the Yankees' manager will be fired is not one of them. It's incredible to me that this point even needs to made.

Anyway, there's not much in the way of actual news out in Yankeeland, just a lot of rumors and posturing. What's hilarious to me is how much those things have been contradictory. For example, I've read that the lack of word from the Yankees' on Joe Torre's fate means that Steinbrenner is reconsidering his position, and that it means the decision's been made. In other words, we won't know a thing until the starts having some organizational meetings in Tampa next week.

Let the speculation begin

2007-10-09T14:21:00.000-04:00

So that's that for the Yankees' 2007 season. Last night's defeat is a little too fresh for me to do a look back at what went wrong and what went right in the season, so I'm going to place my focus on the future for now. The big story for the future right now is, of course, who will be the manager next season. It seems almost certain that it won't be Joe Torre. The only real question about that is whether he will announce that he's not coming back, or whether the team announces that they're not re-signing him.

As for his replacement, Peter Abraham is reporting that the short list consists of Tony La Russa, Bobby Valentine, Buck Showalter, Joe Girardi and Don Mattingly. Its a pretty weird list to me, consisting of two guys who'd be good picks, and two who I don't think would work out, and one who would be an absolute disaster. Let's go over them individually.

The disaster is Tony La Russa. One of the biggest challenges of being manager in New York is dealing with the media, something at which La Russa is incredibly bad. This is a guy who nearly got into a fistfight with a reporter in St. Louis. I really can't imagine that he'd make it through spring training with the New York media without having to serve jail time.

Then there's his actual managerial style. La Russa really seems to believe he's some kind of genius, and makes all sorts of wacky little moves to prove it, not caring about how it might affect his players. In his book Three Nights in August, journalist Buzz Bissinger starts with a story about one of La Russa's more insane decisions. Albert Pujols, who is as valuable to the Cardinals as a player can possibly be, has an arm injury which allows him to swing a bat, but not throw a ball. A doctor has informed La Russa that throwing a ball could result in a career ending injury for Pujols. Any sane man would bench Pujols until he was well enough to play, but La Russa decided he had a better idea. He played Pujols in left field and told him to just underhand the ball to the shortstop if he has to field a ball. This is not a man you want to entrust a team to.

I'm actually a fan of Bobby Valentine's. I think he's a smart man who amuses with some wacky antics. However, those wacky antics are a lot funnier when they're coming out of someone else's clubhouse. He's just not a good fit for the Yankees.

Buck Showalter is the other guy who's a perfectly decent manager, but wouldn't fit in with the Yankees. I'm actually surprised that he's even being considered for the job, or at least reported to be considered, in light of his acrimonious relationship with George Steinbrenner. Managing the Boss is as big a part of the job as managing the team, and Showalter just can't do it.

Joe Girardi, I think, would make a good pick. As the manager of the Marlins in 2006, he did a very nice job in bringing a team with the lowest payroll in the majors into playoff contention. Granted, he didn't have a good relationship with the team's owner, Jeffrey Loria, which is probably what got him fired. Loria, however, is a very different kind of owner from Steinbrenner. Where Steinbrenner can be an ass because of his obsession with winning, Loria is an ass who is obsessed with making money without regard to any kind of ethics or the law. I could write a whole piece about this, but I'll just say that Girardi understands proffesionalism, and I think would fit in with the Yankees as a manager as well as he did as a player.

Finally, there's the obvious choice; Donnie Baseball. He's certainly proven that he can handle the New York media, has a good relationship with the boss, and a lot of respect in the clubhouse. However, since he's never managed at any level, we've got no idea what his managerial skills are like. Heck, I couldn't even tell you if he's a good bench coach, since its never been clear to me what it is a bench coach does. However, he is, at least, a smart man who knows as much about baseball, especially the art of hitting, as anyone. His three seasons as the hitting coach were filled with so much success and praise that I was actually against making him the bench coach because I thought he was more valuable where he was (though, again, I have no idea what a bench coach does, so its possible that that was where he was more valuable).

Personally, I'd lean more towards Girardi. The Yankees are a team who will be relying on young pitching going forward, and I think a former catcher would have a leg up in helping them along. However, its a small leg up, and Mattingly would certainly be a fine choice. Just please don't let Tony La Russa anywhere near the Yankee clubhouse.

Wang to pitch tonight

2007-10-08T10:40:00.000-04:00

Joe Torre didn't leave the question of tonight's starter up in the air for long. It's not a particularly surprising move. If the Yankees were eliminated tonight without sending their best to the mound, there'd be hell to pay. Granted, we don't know how Chien-Ming Wang will react to pitching on three days rest, but I think it'll work out. Wang is an efficient pitcher who can give you a good seven innings without running up much of a pitch count.

Also, I have a feeling that part of his problems in game one had to do with being a little rusty after too much rest. His sinker ought to have its customary bite, and it'll just be a question of whether or not he can command it. Which, of course, is a big question. The Indians showed great discipline last night, continually laying off Roger Clemens' out pitch, the splitter, because Clemens couldn't hit the lower part of the strike zone, which is where Wang lives. The Indians are going to make Wang earn that strike, but if he can hit it he'll be unstoppable.

Live Blogging 10/07

2007-10-07T18:12:00.000-04:00

I'm back for another night of liveblogging. Here are today's lineups:

Yankees
1. Johnny Damon LF
2. Derek Jeter SS
3. Bobby Abreu RF
4. Alex Rodriguez 3B
5. Jorge Posada C
6. Jason Giambi 1B
7. Hideki Matsui DH
8. Robinson Cano 2B
9. Melky Cabrera CF
Pitcher: Roger Clemens

Indians
1. Grady Sizemore CF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera 2B
3. Travis Hafner DH
4. Victor Martinez C
5. Ryan Garko 1B
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Kenny Lofton LF
8. Trot Nixon RF
9. Casey Blake 3B
Pitcher: Jake Westbrook

The big changes from the last couple of games are Giambi, who takes Doug Mientkiewicz's spot at first, and Nixon, who is the Indian's third right fielder in as many games. They're both pretty obvious moves. Nixon is a left hander with good numbers against Roger Clemens, and Giambi will hopefully provide some spark to an offense that's been pretty well shut down thus far in the series. The Yankees may get more of a spark from Westbrook, who has not done well against them. He gave up four runs over seven innings in his last start against the Bombers, and was pounded for eight runs over one and two thirds innings the last time he pitched in Yankee Stadium back in April.

Of course the big pregame news is George Steinbrenner letting the world know that Joe Torre's job may depend on the outcome of this series. It'd be ironic to me if Torre lost his job after this season, since I've been impressed by his performance in bringing the team back to the playoffs. Of course, even if I didn't feel that way, I'd still think that he deserves better, but that's the Steinbrenner Way, and Torre should be commended for showing, once again, amazing professionalism and class.

Update 6:38PM: Anyone looking for the game on TBS, switch over to TNT. They're showing the game there until the Boston-Anaheim game is over.

Update 6:41PM: I'm sure some of you are thinking it, but I really doubt Doug Mientkiewicz could have made that play. Even if he had been able to catch Jeter's errant throw, it would've been extremely difficult to tag Cabrera.

Update 6:53PM: A tough first inning for Clemens, but he seemed to get better as the inning wore on. I'm hoping he's just shaking off the rust that comes with not having pitched for three weeks.

Update 7:06PM: Ouch. Looks like Eric Wedge made the right call by putting Nixon in. That ball was hit so hard that it almost didn't have time to elevate over the fence.

Update 7:14PM: The Yankees' are going to need to get to Jake Westbrook soon, because I don't think that Clemens is going to settle in. It might be time to get Mike Mussina warming up.

Update 7:18PM: Excellent at bat for A-Rod. He seems to have gotten comfortable with the fact that the Indian pitchers are afraid of him and aren't going to throw him much in the strike zone. So, he watched some balls go by, pounced on a mistake and didn't try to do too much with it.

Update 7:32PM: It's certainly got to be frustrating for the Rocket to be pulled in favor of a kid that hadn't even been born when he made his major league debut. However, I'm glad that Torre didn't let that factor into his decision making. Now we've got to hope that Hughes is in command of all his pitches, because it looks like he's going to need it.

Update 7:42PM: I think Hughes needs to mix in his other pitches a little more. He threw 13 pitches, 10 of those were fastballs. The rest were three beautiful curveballs, which I'd like to see more of, as well as the slider and change. Still, he appears to have good command on the fastball, and its up to 93mph, so I think we'll see some solid innings out of him.

Update 7:47PM: Kudos to Matsui for legging out that infield hit with that gimpy hamstring. You could definitely see he was in pain as he ran down the line.

Update 7:52PM: Who would've thought that Matsui would be making contributions with his legs. Great baserunning on that play, especially with his slide into third. That gutsy play not only puts him ninety feet from home, but keeps Melky from being out at first. That could well be a turning point in this game.

Update 8:05PM: Hughes has got to be feeling good about his curveball, because he shook off Posada twice in order to throw it. He's definitely got good reason for it, as its got some great break, and he's been spot on with his command. Plus, there's a huge speed differential there, as , at 70mph, it's more than 20mph slower than the fastball. And there's that slider coming in at 81mph. The kid's looking really good out there.

Update 8:40PM: It was only a matter of time before the Yankees broke through against Westbrook. Beyond the runs, Damon's home run is great since it eliminates the possibility of Jeter, who has been the rally killer in this game, grounding into another double play.

Update 8:48PM: Joba's warming up. With nary a bug in sight, He and Mo ought to be able to lock this down if Hughes can get through this inning unscathed.

Update 8:59PM: It's surprising to see Westbrook back out on the mound. Not that I'm complaining.

Update 9:06PM: I can't say I really see the point of that bunt. Considering who's coming to the plate, I think sacrificing a chance to bust this game open is a mistake.

Update 9:10PM: Well, it looks like they didn't need any more chances to bust the game open anyway. Big hit by Cano, and a bigger error by Nixon.

Update 9:14PM: Now the question is what do you do about the bullpen. One of the Joba rules is that once he starts warming up, he has to come into a game. However, with such a huge lead do you only use him for one inning so that he's available tomorrow? Do you use Mo, or do you trust the end of a must win game to a lesser pitcher? I say hand the ball off to Ohlendorf, Vizcaino or Veras. Five runs is a big enough lead to start thinking about tomorrow.

Update 9:21PM: That strikeout is exactly why Joba's stay in the bullpen is temporary. He just struck out Cabrera on three exceptional pitches. The fastball and slider we've seen plenty of, but that curve hasn't been used much as a reliever, and it's fantastic. Anyone with that deep an arsenal needs to be in the rotation.

Update 9:30PM: Tonight's public address announcer, Jim Hall, sounds so much like Bob Sheppard that it's creeping me out.

Update 9:40PM: I'm having a hard time figuring out who is annoying me more, Dane Cook in these "There's Only One October," commercials, or this Frank guy and the endless promos for his show.

Update 9:52PM: I think the bullpen phone is broken again. Joe Torre is signaling Robinson Cano to check if Jose Veras is ready. This happened a few weeks ago, and you'd think that after the first time someone would think to bring a cellphone out there.

Update 10:10PM: Man, I really hate to see Mo here. I'm not knocking Torre's decision to use him, mind you, because I think it's a good call. It's just annoying that there's no one else in the pen you can really trust.

Update 10:15PM: And Mo closes it out against the top of the Indians' lineup looking like he was barely trying. I won't be able to live blog tomorrow's game, but I'll try and keep on top of the pregame stories, especially who the Yankees' will be sending to the mound. My vote is for Chien-Ming Wang, whose sinker ought to be better on short rest than long rest.

Live Blogging 10/05

2007-10-05T16:38:00.000-04:00

Here we go with my first attempt at blogging while watching the game. Today's lineups are, according to mlb.com, as follows:

Yankees
1. Johnny Damon, LF
2. Derek Jeter, SS
3. Bobby Abreu, RF
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Robinson Cano 2B
8. Melky Cabrera CF
9. Doug Mientkiewicz 1B
Pitcher - Andy Pettitte

Indians
1. Grady Sizemore CF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera 2B
3. Travis Hafner DH
4. Victor Martinez C
5. Ryan Garko 1B
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Kenny Lofton LF
8. Jason Michaels RF
9. Casey Blake 3B
Pitcher - Fausto Carmona

These lineups are almost identical to last night's. The only changes are that Joe Torre has flip flopped Matsui and Posada, and Eric Wedge has benched Franklin Gutierrez in favor of Michaels in right field. I'm a little surprised Wedge didn't bench Lofton against the lefty, but I guess his big game last night was too much to ignore.

Update 4:50PM: Bob Sheppard will not make it to the stadium for Sunday's game due to bronchitis. This will be the first time he has missed a playoff game in his 57 year long career. Thankfully, its not serious, and I think all Yankee fans wish him the best. Peter Abraham has the full story.

Update 5:21PM: That was some efficient work from tonight's starters. I have to say that I'm a little afraid of Fausto Carmona, who is looking a lot like Chien-Ming Wang on a good night.

Update 5:28PM: Now that's more like it. Hideki Matsui took a page out of the Indian's playbook from last night and works a walk by making Carmona earn that low strike. The fact is that his sinker nearly unhittable when its at the knees, so you may as well lay off it and hope he misses the zone.

Update 5:40PM: You know, I was really hoping that TBS' coverage would be an improvement over Fox's. I understand that baseball's pace lends itself to some meandering conversations (I did, after all, enjoy Phil Rizzuto's broadcasts), but I'd like to hear tangents about baseball, not Queen Latifah's wardrobe.

Update 5:44PM: Wow. Maybe it's because I watch Melky so much, but I saw that coming a mile away. I'm not really sure what Indians' third base coach Joel Skinner could have been thinking when he sent Peralta (assuming that Peralta didn't just go on his own). It's not like Cabrera hasn't been doing this for the past year and a half.

Update 5:52PM: That, my friends, is how you break out of a slump. That's also an appropriate way for Melky to celebrate the two month anniversary of his last home run, which came against Kansas City on August 5th.

Update 6:07PM: The story of the day before the game was "Andy Pettitte: Big Game Pitcher," but it's been the defenders behind him that've been coming through in the clutch so far. First Melky, and now Mientkiewicz have saved Pettitte's bacon so far by stopping runs that the Indians should have scored.

Update 6:27PM: I guess Pettitte's been reading this, because he went ahead and saved his own bacon this time. Actually, he did it twice, first getting a double play ball after allowing a leadoff single, and then stranding a runner on second after the double play opportunity was missed. Granted, he was the one who missed the opportunity by deflecting that double play ball away from Robinson Cano, but it's still an impressive performance.

Update 6:40PM: Another note about TBS' coverage. The graphic showing the size of the baserunner's lead at first is a good idea, but those red and green zones are just silly. I mean a safe lead for Jeter or A-Rod is completely different from one for Posada or Matsui. Just give us a distance and let the announcers give the context. That's pretty much what they're there for, after all.

Update 7:07PM: This is starting to get ridiculous. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Pettitte were to allow a leadoff home run in the seventh and still not give up a run. Its almost enough to make you feel sorry for the Indians. Almost.

Update 7:55PM: Good lord. What was a cute little side story a half hour ago has turned serious, as this swarm of gnats seems to actually be bothering Joba Chamberlain's control. You really can't blame him either, as the cameras cut to a shot of his neck with a dozen of the little buggers perched on him and plenty more buzzing around. This is after the Yankees' trainer has doused him in repellant twice.

Update 7:58PM: This is crazy. Chalk that run up to the bugs, and there's a decent argument to be made at this point for the umpires to stop the game so they can spray the field.

Update 8:12PM: According the TBS on field reporter, the bugs that are causing these problems are "Canadian soldiers," which is another name for mayflies. Should the Indians win, they might well be the MVPs.

Update 8:23PM: A huge missed opportunity for A-Rod right here, and a huge opportunity given to the A-Rod haters. Before they get started, let me just say that that was a great battle against a pitcher who is having a huge night and who has stymied the entire Yankee lineup, including Captain Clutch himself.

Update 8:49PM: He's being overlooked by the TV crew, but big props to Doug Mientkiewicz for being able to keep that ball from heading to the outfield, which might've allowed Sizemore to make it to second.

Update 9:10PM: Here's when we should really start to worry. The Indians' bullpen is much deeper than the Yankees'. At least the Viz gets the bottom of the order this time around, but the top of the order will get their chance no matter what the Yankees do.

Update 9:32PM: And that's all she wrote. Goodnight folks.

The Bright Side of Life

2007-10-05T10:39:00.000-04:00

Last night's game was chock full of bad news, so I thought I'd contribute some good news. Since the inception of the division series in 1995, the Yankees are 5-0 in series where they've lost the first game, as opposed to 2-5 when they've won game one. Also, if the regular season has taught us anything, it's that this team doesn't let early struggles keep them down.

I'm going to make my first attempt at in-game blogging during today's game, so come back at five for what I hope will be some amusing commentary.

Just Do It

2007-10-04T12:57:00.000-04:00

We're less than six hours from the start of the Division Series, and Joe Torre has announced a roster that, surprisingly, contains three rookies who didn't join the team until after September callups; Jose Veras, Ross Ohlendorf and Bronson Sardinha. Normally, in order to be eligible for the playoff roster, a player has to have been either on the active roster or the disabled list on August 31st, which means that Ohlendorf and Sardinha wouldn't have been eligible (Veras was on the DL at the time). However, a team can substitute any player from their forty-man roster for any eligible player of the same position that's on the DL when the playoffs start (this is the rule that allowed Francisco Rodriguez to get five postseason wins for the Angels in 2002). Thus, Ohlendorf and Sardinha step in for Carl Pavano and Andy Phillips. Should Ohlendorf actually contribute I think it'll be most value the Yankees have gotten out of the Pavano contract.

Anyway, this leaves the Yankees with a pitching staff that features only one lefthander (Andy Pettitte), and a bullpen whose slowest fastball is in the 92-94mph range (Jose Vizcaino). It's safe to say that the Yankees have decided to go with talent over diversity and experience. It's a gutsy call, but it's also in line with the decisions that have brought the team back from their horrible start.

I'm not usually one to quote ads, but Nike's 80 foot tall billboard by Penn Station pretty much sums things up:

Rotationology

2007-10-01T10:09:00.000-04:00

With the regular season wrapped up, it figures to be a slow couple of days while we wait for the playoffs to start Thursday. So, I've decided to take the opportunity to talk about the playoff roster, starting with the rotation. The first two spots in the rotation are no brainers. Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte have been battling each other all season long for the title of team ace. Torre seems to have decided that Wang is his number one guy, and that's who will take the start in game one against Cleveland's ace (and my Cy Young pick) C.C. Sabathia. Pettitte will follow on Friday against Chien-Ming Wang's doppleganger, Fausto Carmona.

The rest of the rotation is harder to figure out. There are three candidates for the last two spots; Roger Clemens, Philip Hughes and Mike Mussina. Supposedly Clemens' spot as the number three starter is locked up, but by the time game three rolls around, he won't have pitched in three weeks. His continuing health problems calls into question whether or not he can actually make the start.

Of course no matter what Clemens' ultimate status might be, a decision has to be made between Hughes and Mussina. They both have turned things around in September after struggling in August, and they both have done so against weak hitting teams like Baltimore, Toronto and Tampa Bay. Based on their last starts, you'd have to go with Hughes, who allowed only one run in seven innings against the Devil Rays. However, Mussina is the veteran with a history of postseason succcess. Ironically, I think it's that history that makes the bullpen the best place for Mussina. Both pitchers are at risk to get into serious trouble, and I feel better about Mussina being in the bullpen, ready to bail Hughes out, than vice versa.

Anyway, my schedule's pretty tight right now, but I'll try and write about the far more complicated bullpen situation in the next couple of days.

Popping the Corks

2007-09-28T10:29:00.000-04:00

Thursday the Yankees passed a difficult test in their quest to win the championship: they celebrated clinching a playoff spot without suffering a single injury, no small feat when Shelley Duncan is in the clubhouse.

A few random thoughts:

Joba Chamberlain's picture on his official MLB player page freaks me out. It's like some sort of very disturbing photoshop job.
Robinson Cano has been showing a lot of extra power of late, not just hitting home runs, but hitting long home runs the opposite way. Thanks to the fantastic you can see that he's hit nearly half of his 19 home runs to left and center field. It's one of the reasons why I think Cano is going to be much more consistent next season.
As Thursday's celebrations began, YES' cameras clearly caught Jason Giambi dousing Doug Mientkiewicz with champagne and Mientkiewicz exclaiming "God that's #@!$ing cold!" This, my friends, is what digital video recorders were made for.

The Asterisk

2007-09-26T17:25:00.000-04:00

In non-Yankee baseball news, fashion designer Mark Ecko will be donating Barry Bonds' record breaking 756th home run ball to the Baseball Hall of Fame after branding an asterisk into it. Ecko, who is a big fan of graffiti art, bought the ball for $752,467 (which makes me wish he would've ponied up the extra $3,533 to make it $756,000 even) and held an online poll allowing fans to decide what to do with it. 47% of fans voted to brand it with the asterisk and donate it to the Hall of Fame, 34% voted to donate it unblemished, and 19% voted to shoot it into space.

As a baseball history geek, I kind of like the result, not because I think Bonds' achievement should be denigrated, but because its a symbol of the era that achievement occurred in. I think fifty years from now fans will come to the Hall of Fame to see the ball and be reminded of how badly baseball owners and players dealt with the steroids issue, and how that affected the fans' view of the game.

Off to see the Wizard

2007-09-25T14:02:00.000-04:00

You might think that since I've advocated resting players to get ready for the playoffs, I'd be ready to slam Joe Torre for breaking the Joba Rules on Sunday. If so, you'd be wrong. The Joba Rules were certainly a great idea, minimizing the risk to a very valuable arm as Chamberlain adjusted to a bullpen role, and pitched more than 100 innings for the first time since his sophomore season at Nebraska. However, anyone who thought that the Yankees' were going to keep to those rules in the playoffs was crazy. So, it makes sense to get Joba ready for what might be a slightly heavier workload in the postseason. Its especially important for him to be able to warm up and be available to come in mid-inning. With his ability to get strikeouts, he is definitely the man you want on the mound in a tight game with runners on base.

In more entertaining news, after yesterday's game the Yankees left for their final road trip of the season, which meant it was time for some rookie hazing. As in years past, the veterans stole the rooks' clothes from their lockers and replaced them with new outfits. Last year, it was George Steinbrenner turtlenecks and blazers. The year before it was cheerleading uniforms. This year, with a dozen rookies, the Yankees' were able to put on their own production of the Wizard of Oz. Here's Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Shelley Duncan and Phil Hughes as Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man:

Additionally, the Daily News has shots of Edwar Ramirez as the Wicked Witch of the West, Kei Igawa a flying monkey, Chase Wright as the Good Witch of the East, and Ross Ohlendorf as a palace guard. Plus, a guy by the name of Rob managed to get pictures of Igawa's translator Yumi Watanabe as a talking tree, and strength coach Dana Cavalea as the Mayor of Emerald City. Sadly, I wasn't able to find pictures of Munchkins Matt DeSalvo and Alberto Gonzalez, or of flying monkey Tyler Clippard and palace guard Bronson Sardinha. Hopefully I'll be able to catch them once they start their run on Broadway.

Sneaking Up

2007-09-22T11:15:00.000-04:00

I know I said I was going to go over the playoff roster options, but that voice in my head won't let me write about anything but the division title. For weeks I've been saying that even if the Yankees stayed hot, they wouldn't have a chance at the division unless Boston stumbled. Well, Boston most definitely stumbled, losing three games against Toronto after having lost the series against the Yankees over the weekend. With the title suddenly in reach, we have to ask two questions: How hard should the team try to win the division, and what are their chances?

On the surface, "How hard should the Yankees try to win?" seems like a silly question. Winning is their goal in every game. However, you have to look at the bigger picture and ask what their overall goal is. Is it to win the division, or is it to win the World Series? It may seem like semantics, but its actually an essential question for determining the team's strategy for the rest of the season. If you want to win the division, that means you should be sending your best players out there. However, since the Yankees already have a sizable lead in the Wild Card race, if they want to win the World Series, they should be gearing up for the playoffs. This means using backups while your best players get some rest. I'm not just talking about the ones with nagging injuries, like Giambi, Matsui and Damon. Everybody on the team could use a day off. Sure, taking the division from the Red Sox would be sweet, but I don't think anyone on the Yankees wants it more than they want to win the World Series, and Joe Torre needs to plan accordingly.

Of course, there's no reason that the Yankees' can't win the division while getting themselves ready for the playoffs. Its not like they'll stop trying to win games just because the regulars are resting. So, let's take a look at what their chances are by looking at their schedule and Boston's. The Yankees have nine games left, three against Toronto at home, then three in Tampa and three in Baltimore. Meanwhile the Red Sox have eight games, two in Tampa, two at home against Oakland, and a final four against Minnesota. The Yankees definitely have the advantage in strength of schedule, playing more games against teams that are either bad (Tampa Bay) or bad and completely falling apart (Baltimore). That said, Oakland and Minnesota, while not bad teams, are pretty mediocre and the Red Sox do have the home field advantage. So, the story's the same as it ever was. The Yankees need to stay hot, and Boston needs to stumble just a little bit. Its going to be an interesting week.

I'll be in the right field bleachers Sunday afternoon, if anyone wants to say hi. You can look for me in section 39, row H.

The return of the Moose

2007-09-19T13:16:00.000-04:00

One month ago Mike Mussina was falling apart, and people (myself included) were at a loss for what the solution might be. By pulling him from the rotation, though, it seems the Yankees have stumbled upon the answer; Moose just needed some rest. In retrospect, its actually kind of obvious that a 38 year old man might benefit from some time off.

Anyway, where his first start after rejoining the rotation was merely good, last night's was excellent. His fastball was up to a respectable 90mph with good life, and his curve had some excellent snap to it. Like his pitches, Moose seemed to have some extra life in him, making five plays in the field, including a great reaction play on a line drive at his head. Granted, neither the Orioles or the Blue Jays will ever be mistaken for Murderer's Row, so we should temper our excitement. That said, as long as he pitches well in his next start, I think he's locked up his spot in the postseason rotation.

That, of course, assumes that the Yankees are going to need a postseason rotation, and things are looking good on that front. Both Detroit and Boston have lost their last two games, putting the Yankees four and a half games up on the wild card and two and a half back for the division title. Even better, the magic number has shrunk to seven with only eleven games remaining. All the Yankees have to do now is not collapse and they're playoff bound. So, I don't think it's premature to start talking about the playoff roster, which I'll be doing on the off day tomorrow.

Thunder Tuesday 9/18

2007-09-18T23:12:00.000-04:00

Minor League Monday comes in a little bit late this week, partially because I had a piece of glass removed from my left hand yesterday, and partially because I'm a sucker for alliteration. This week we celebrate the Trenton Thunder and their win over the Akron Aeros in the Eastern League Championship Series.

It was actually a pretty unusual series for the Thunder, who made their way to the championships on the strencth of their starting pitching. However, their three best starters didn't do much in this series. Alan Horne and Daniel McCutchen were both hit hard, and Jeff Marquez didn't even get to pitch.

Instead, the team relied on stellar relief work, and, in the last game, an unexpected outburst from one of the worst offenses in the league. In that last game, the Thunder scored ten runs off 16 hits, including a home run and three singles from series MVP Matt Carson.

So, I send a hearty congratulations to the Trenton Thunder in my last minor league of the season.

Makin' Me Sweat

2007-09-17T01:58:00.000-04:00

Never let it be said that I'm not man enough to admit when I'm wrong, even when no one would know. I didn't get around to writing it before the game, but I didn't think Roger Clemens should have started tonight's game. I simply did not believe that his elbow could stand up to the Red Sox offense. Granted, Clemens said he could pitch, but I'm pretty sure he'd say the same thing if he were run over by the bus. He's just that kind of Texas son of a gun. The Rocket, however, was pretty sharp, pitching an efficient six innings, allowing only one unearned run, while striking out four and allowing only six men to get on base. While he had only thrown 87 pitches at that point, Joe Torre wisely decided that he didn't want to push Clemens' elbow to hard and turned things over to the Joba Chamberlain.

Unfortunately, Curt Schilling was just as sharp, if not more so. He only needed 69 pitches to get through seven innings, giving up only one run off a solo homerun by Robinson Cano in the 5th. Considering that Chamberlain was available for two innings, and Mariano Rivera was pretty well rested too, it seemed like we might be in for a long night, waiting for someone to scratch out a run against these dominating pitchers. Derek Jeter, perhaps having plans for the rest of the night, had other ideas.

After Melky Cabrera struck out to start the eighth inning, Doug Mientkiewicz managed to get on with a single. It was then that Joe Torre made a gutsy, brilliant call. Rather than have Jose Molina try to sacrifice Mientkiewicz into scoring position, Torre sent in Jason Giambi to pitch hit. What made this decision so surprising was that the only catcher who could replace Molina, Jorge Posada. For those who don't know, when you have a DH take over for a player in the field, the pitcher has to take over for that player at the plate. Torre, however, saw his chance to get a run and took it, deciding to worry about the pitcher's at bat when it came.

The gamble worked out beautifully, as Giambi singled and Damon grounded into what would have been the third out had Torre used Molina to sacrifice. Since Torre didn't, though, the Captain had the opportunity to come through in the clutch, and he did so in style, knocking a home run over the Green Monster to put the Yankees ahead 4-1. That would be all the offense the Yankees' needed, though the bullpen would make it close.

In the bottom of the 8th, Chamberlain gave up the first earned run of his short career when Mike Lowell took him deep for a solo home run. The 21 year old remained poised, as he came right back against J.D. Drew. Joba the Hutt struck him out with a breaking ball that Drew watched go by like he was frozen in carbonite.

The real nailbiting came in the botton ninth, which Mariano Rivera started by walking Jason Varitek. A Julio Lugo double would score him, and a hit batter followed by another walk would load the bases with two outs for David Ortiz. It's funny how Yankees/Red Sox games always seem to come down to big moments like these, where the game is on the line and each team has exactly who they want on the mound and at the plate. This time the moment was Mo's, as he got Ortiz to Big Papi out to shortstop with the classic cutter inside. The perfect ending to a game that was everything this rivalry is supposed to be.

Even though the Yanks won the series, without the sweep they're too far back to have a realistic shot at the pennant. However, by winning five of their last six against Boston, they've proven that they're more than ready to meet them in October. As far as getting to October, they remain two and a half games ahead of Detroit for the Wild Card, and their magic number drops to 10.

Wow

2007-09-15T00:04:00.000-04:00

I'm a little too drained to write anything in depth about tonight's incredible, improbable win , but there is something I must share. I know that the Yankees are still four and a half games behind the Red Sox. I know that they have to win the next two games to have a chance at the pennant. I know that even then, their chances are slim. I know all these things, yet I can't help hearing this voice in my head; this voice that says, in a thick Boston accent, "Bucky freakin' Dent."

Love in the stands

2007-09-14T13:36:00.000-04:00

When I was last at the stadium, one of the odd things I saw was a marriage proposal on the Jumbotron that read "Dear Sharon, I love you forever! Will you marry me? Streety Bird". As I read it, I thought to myself, "Who would actually call themselves Streety Bird?" Now, it seems, I have the answer:

How can something so wrong be so hilarious?

Save Me

2007-09-14T00:52:00.000-04:00

This is the kind of loss that drives me nuts. With the game tied in the bottom of the ninth and the heart of the Blue Jays' order coming to the plate, Joe Torre hands the ball to Chris Britton. Meanwhile, Mariano Rivera watchs his team lose from the bullpen.

Torre has allowed himself to become a slave to the save. Granted, he's not alone in this. Most, possibly all, major league managers refuse to bring in their closer unless its a save situation, letting a statistic dictate their strategy. Don't get me wrong; I'm a big stat geek, but they're only supposed to inform your decisions, not make them. Sometimes the most crucial situation in a game isn't a save situation, because baseball is more complicated than the eight lines that make up the definition of a save.

For example, when its the bottom of the ningth in a tie game, when just one run ends the game, and the other team's best hitters are coming to the plate, I say that you want your best pitcher on the mound. If that means that a lesser pitcher facing lesser hitters picks up a save, then so be it. If you end up losing the game altogether, then at least you can say that you gave your best.

A Belated Minor League Monday 9/12

2007-09-12T12:22:00.000-04:00

I've been experiencing some technical difficulties, so I'm afraid this week's Minor League Monday has become Minor League Wednesday.

While the Yankees spent the last week marching towards the playoffs, their minor league affiliates were mostly exiting the playoffs. To start, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees were knocked out in the first round of the International League playoffs, winning only one game of their five game series with the Richmond Braves. Part of this can be blamed on the fact that the team recently lost its best hitter, Shelly Duncan, and three of its best pitchers, and three of its best pitchers, Ian Kennedy, Chris Britton and Brian Bruney. That's life in the minor leagues, I suppose. They did keep it close, losing by one run in two of their losses and by two in the third.

Also knocked out of the first round were the Staten Island Yankees, losing the first two games of their three game set with the Brooklyn Cyclones. In the first game, the defending champions fell victim to shoddy defense when first baseman Taylor Holiday who bounced a throw to the plate, allowing the winning runs to score. In the second game, they were simply outmatched by the Cyclones' pitching, as starter Dylan Owen combined with three relievers for a 15 strikeout performance, allowing only one run.

The lone spot of good news came out of Trenton, as the Thunder beat the Portland Sea Dogs three games to one to get themselves into the Eastern League Championship Series. The Thunder won the same way they've been winning all year, with dominant pitching. The pitching staff allowed only three runs in their three wins, capped by a shutout in the final game by starter Jeff Marquez and relievers Eric Wordekemper and Justin Pope.

The Thunder have also been helped out by the late season promotion of hot hitting center fielder Austin Jackson, who I wrote about last week. Jackson knocked in three runs, including the game winner, in the opening game of the championship series against the Akron Aeros last night. I'll be sure to recap the entire series on Monday.