hating on the Yankees, 2005

I wouldn't blame Torre for their past few seasons, the guy was pretty ace during their championship run for putting the right person in the right place at the right time. It hasn't worked of late, but the current team while having much more name recognition strikes out way too much, doesn't play defense as well and is not as deep as it was in the late 90s.

http://www.banglabel.com/largetee_blue.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/30/books/30grim.html?

Um, the early-mid '80s Yanks "sucked"? '83-88 they won 85 to 97 games every year. That qualifies as suckitude if the WS trophy is your divine right? '89-92 they were sub-.500.

Phil Niekro was the ace for at least one of those years, Gossage was still around in the early 80s. I checked baseball-reference to be reminded they had Doug Drabek (7-9, 4.10 in '86), Tommy John, Dennis Rasmussen and some awful bullpens.

that and that bernie williams has no business playing centerfield. i mean, i know there's a lot of space to cover out there in yankee stadium, but it seemed like every ball hit in his direction would've been a single w/ an outfielder more fleet of foot.

i have to say, too...while the o's weren't spraying hits around right & left center yesterday like they were saturday, bubba crosby still saved a few hits. i mean, compared to old man williams, he's like a human dynamo.

i also liked basically blaming the loss on jorge posada doglegging it on his shot off the wall. i'm sure giving up 7 runs didn't affect the outcome at all. yeesh.

Somebody's not grokking the concept of cause and effect.

seriously can we talk about how awesome roberts is?

George Steinbrenner is a soulless braindead asshat and is getting exactly what he deserves. All my tears and sympathies re: the Yankees' "plight" (OH NO WE ARE NOT WINNING THE WORLD SERIES IN APRIL WTF?!?!) are saved for either Brian Cashman or Brian Cashman's dog.

Watching (listening to) him stew all season could be a once-in-a-baseball-generation joy.

When a 5'8" second baseman hits more homers in the first two weeks of the season than he did all of last year, it's not unpatriotic to call that a fluke.

i'm just looking out for dave's mental and physical well-being, is all. dude doesn't need an ulcer by 30.

1) I'm already 30.
2) I probably already have an ulcer from being curmudgeonly re: non-baseball matters.

3) He who coins "Flukezilla" cannot be deemed a curmudgeon, no matter how much he may kvetch and grouse.

gygax! don't get all sensitive, dave knows i love him.

(obv. it's not self-detecting)

can anyone tell me whether pavano is trying to grow a 'stache (which would be pretty sweet) or if he just has something wrong w/ his face?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=250418110

His ERA is 1.44!!*

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(* per $1M earned, assuming his average salary over the length of the contract)

(and i mean, not for nothing, but it's not exactly hard to blow out the devil rays...)

(i'm looking at you, tanyon sturtze!)

yanks are screwed.

Don't look so hard, you are going to hurt him worse!

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-spynotes194224383apr19,0,6412348.story?coll=ny-yankees-print

"It's bad timing in a sense, but you can't hurt the team and sit around not being able to pitch," said Sturtze, who emerged late last season as a trusted favorite option for manager Joe Torre. "Doc says that 15 days should be all I need to be back."

Trusted?

I imagine this as playing out with Sturtze hooked up to an IV, sweating, as a grim-looking Joe Torre looks at the doctor, who subtly shakes his head "No". Torre then turns back to Tanyon and says quietly, "Sure, kid. 15 days."

NAME                TEAM LG POS  PA  PA%   AVG   OBP   SLG  SB  CS   MLVr  PMLVr  VORPr    MLV   PMLV   VORP
Bernie Williams      NYA AL  cf  50  9.5 0.244 0.360 0.341   0   0 -0.040 -0.029  0.081   -0.4   -0.3    0.9

Useless info! This is exactly one half of Woody Williams's batting VORP.

xpost, damn that handsome mod...

First 3 consecutive starts giving up 4+ ER for Big Ugly since '94.

http://www.yesnetwork.com/yankees/news.asp?news_id=1031

Imagine the hate spam he must get. He also wrote recently that A-Rod is their only above-avg gloveman.

I heard Sterling's call of the 3rd HR (hit by Kevin Mench) - it sounded like he had been goosed from behind, given a check for one billion dollars, and flashed by the Coors Light twins all at the same time. That is to say he was impressed with Mench's ding dong.

... it's down to 1.31 !!!! *

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* per $1M average salary

Well Mazzone did it, but he's some sort of miracle worker. But has Stottlemyre proven himself to be good at anything other than walking from the dugout to the mound?

Your boys got schooled by CHAN HO FUCKING PARK.

However, I don't know if there's any coach anywhere that can make anything out of this staff. Brown's a disaster right now, and is bound to log DL time; Wright is pitching about as ineffectively as Yankee haters could dream of, and is (unfortunately) on the DL w/ more shoulder trouble; Mussina's BAA is up over .300 right now, after last year's .276 clip. And how about that fantastic bullpen Georgie bought? RJ's fine, aside from giving up 5 HRs already, & Pavano's been A-OK (though 7 unearned runs is a bit silly). Still, firing Stottlemeyer would be a cosmetic move at best, and still doesn't address the root cause of all this garbage, which is you-know-who trying to do you-know-what by spending way-too-much on way-too-old and way-over-rated.

halsey's looked good thus far in az.

``Definitely tonight was one of those magical nights. I've hit three home runs twice before, but nothing feels as special as this, doing it in New York, doing it in the pinstripes.'' -- Alex Rodriguez

what a douche.

There was a story talking about how startling it was that David Delluci was tied for the league lead in walks with Derek Jeter, as if Jeter's position atop the list was not a surprise...

I toyed with the idea of doing a Michael Kay blog post but decided against; it's like trying to get inside the head of Ed Gein. Icky.

johnson is mortal but he's strikin' 'em out and getting his era down. that vaunted yanquis run support musta disappeared (except when a-rod needs some xtra cash).

PANIC.

I forget which asshat was leveling blame @ BC for "personnel decisions", but you'd have to be 13 types of naive to think that Cashman was the one pulling the strings on the albatrosses the team's currently sporting.

btw, if you take out his TWO monster games, Slap-Rod has been weak.

The RJ business also has me recalling a piece that the New York Times did a few months back when Vioxx and Celebrex were getting yanked from the market. Apparently Clemens had become a big fan of Vioxx in recent years, and the article did some vague speculating about what the disappearance or greater restriction of these more-powerful pain killers might mean for his performance. That got me wondering how widespread the use of COX-2 inhibitors was among other aging players. Now, the poor performances and injuries among Johnson, Schilling, Wells, etc. have me thinking even more about a "Vioxx effect."

Wow, Goldman has a Pinstriped Blog too, can't waitfor histake:

http://www.yesnetwork.com/yankees/pinstripedblog.asp

Gold from the current one:

"In Dan Shaughnessy's book, 'Reversing the Curse,' Alex Rodriguez is asked about the famous picture of him eating Jason Varitek's glove on July 24, 2004. His response: 'I just want to know how I get some royalties from it.'

No comment here."

it's 10-4 rays in the bottom of the 7th.

OK, that came out wrong.

uhhh...

Perhaps they're still in the denial stage.

Only thing I know fo sho - moving Bernie to the bench will have a deleterious effect on the damage he can do at the plate. (oh ha ha ha) (ha ha haha) (ha)

http://futilityinfielder.com/blog/2005/05/shuffling-deck.shtml

"Basically, the thrust of these moves is to:

• limit the (damage) playing time of Williams, Jason Giambi (.224/.395/.373), Tino Martinez (.239/.338/.358), and eventually Ruben Sierra (.269/.296/.692 -- all of those hits for extra bases) in that they can field only one DH and one first baseman. Players like Gary Sheffield (who struggled through shoulder problems last year and who's earned the nickname of "Magellan" for his circuitous routes to flyballs) and Jorge Posada might be nice to keep fresh in the DH spot once in awhile as well, but the Yanks now have the deepest DH slot in the league and no real backup rightfielder, since Crosby's really around as part of the Make-a-Wish foundation and should be limited to pinch-running duty and fetching Bernie herbal tea at best...

i don't know...the damage bernie can do at the plate pales in comparison to the damage he does in the field.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/crystal-ballsthe-slide-of-the-yankees/

Now wait, the Yanks' starting pitcher tonight is Henn? HENN?

There is also some definite bad mojo for the Yanks leaving a field where the history of the team and game took place. Recent example, the Celts have not been the same since they moved out of the Garden.

S Henn, 2.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 72 PC, 19.29 ERA

against tampa!

Funny, that stuff from Futility infielder the other day just paraphrases the cutesy stuff the Prospectus said about those Yankees (Crosby, Shef). Not that there's much originality in baseball writing anyway.

Well, I realize it is superstition to say such. But you won't have duffers on TV pointing out to right field and saying that is where Ruth played or to center for the Mick and the upper deck where Reggie hit those jacks in the World Series will be gone. History in baseball is a big part of the game, no?

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20050505/capt.flsa10105050112.yankees_devil_ray_flsa101.jpg

Yanks not even close to bottom yet... Re that pic, who is Big Stein's Salome, Suzyn Waldman?

HOWEVER - I have to say that listening to a contrite, humble John Sterling beats the pants off of listening to the loud, boisterous John Sterling. I've actually gotten a bit nostalgic listening to him & Suzyn work - some of the first games I heard on the radio were by Sterling & his then-partner Jay Johnstone (sic) (w/ special guest appearances by Ms. Suzyn Waldman!), back in the Leyritz / Maas / Azocar heyday, and wow were those games awful. The play-by-play was nice, tho.

L'chaim!

I call it the Pagliarulo / Whitson / Mel Hall heyday.

Thanks for clarifying, Morb.

They seem to score in bunches, but the hitting isn't the problem, as the Yanks are currently 4th in runs scored in baseball and are hitting .276 as a team. This is with a few players that are either off to a slow start or are in slump, so this could improve. With their pitching situation, the Yanks are going to have to win a bunch of games with beer league softball scores, which they might be able to do for a while.

"Womack is an inadequate solution as a second baseman; he immediately becomes the worst left fielder in baseball, a converted infielder with a .227 EqA and no upside. The organization's affection for Womack is inexplicable, and as long as Womack maintains a decent batting average, that love will threaten the team's chance to turn around its season.

Even given the need to get Bernie Williams out of center field--something that dates back to the 2002 Division Series--and the idea that Hideki Matsui can move over to be an improvement, the logical solution is to allow Williams to play left field. His nonexistent arm and declining range will have less impact there, and in the worst slump of his life he's a better hitter than Womack is. That's not hyperbole. Williams, chased to the bench, is hitting .247/.324/.312 for a .235 EqA. Womack, your #2 hitter, is at .277/.320/.319 with a .227 EqA.

There's an argument that Yankee Stadium's spacious left field presents a considerable challenge, but as bad as Williams has become in center, is there any reason to think he can't play left field better than a 35-year-old second baseman who has never played left as a major leaguer and who has less than 15 innings in the outfield in this century? I've been Williams' biggest critic, and I can't imagine he's not a better defensive left fielder than Womack, or that, at worst, he's close enough that his massive offensive edge would make him the better choice.

Moving Matsui to center field is no bargain, either. He's 30, something less than lithe, and more strong than fast. His defensive numbers haven't been impressive in left field (below average in both '03 and '04), and he doesn't have a strong arm. If the standard is "better than Bernie Williams," Matsui can play, but expecting him to even be an average major-league center fielder is wildly optimistic.

Two corner outfielders and a converted second baseman. Not to self-check, but shouldn't $207 million buy more than this?

The one mild positive is that Cano replaces Womack at second base...He's a better player than Womack right now, but as with Matsui as a center fielder, you'd like to shoot for a higher standard."

No complete game victories in ten months of baseball? Wow.

good times, folks.

I think The Boss saved his juice from his horse and instead gave it to Kevin Brown and Mike Mussina considering their last two starts.

I guess I don't really expect the Yanks to finish with a losing record, nor do I really expect them to miss the playoffs, just based on sheer firepower. But I suppose it could still happen.

As for the ChiSox -- they could play about .500 ball the rest of the way and win 95 games on the season, and I think they'll play a lot better than that even if their pitching starts to let down a bit.

SHOULD HAVE NEVER GIVEN YOU N*****S MONEY!!!

(I'm a Yanqui fan, true, but most of the moves by this team baffle me)

I heard some talking heads discuss a buyout, which I don't understand. Why would Giambi accept $.50 on the dollar? Gimme the entire $80mln and I'll sit here at the end of the bench until you decide to bite the bullet and cut me, thanks.

I'm on record somewhere on ILB claiming this as the biggest free agent bust ever. I give Dreifort the nod over Giambi because

a) Giambi had a couple of good seasons in NY -- Dreifort has done NOTHING for LA.

b) Giambi was a legitimate superstar when he signed that contract. He won the MVP in 2000 and was robbed of another by Ichiromania/goodwill in 2001. Dreifort's best season was 12-9, 4.16.

c) Giambi had no known injuries when he signed, Dreifort had had injury troubles. Not to mention the larger injury risk with pitchers in general.

Analyzing by "Triple Crown stats," as Vinny From Queens would?
Giambi was #3 in the AL in Adjusted OPS in both '02 and '03 (after being #1 in his last 2 Oakland seasons), which makes him miles more successful than Mo Vaughn, George Foster, etc. Come September, "monster among men" Tino will not crack the top 25.

No time to fully research here, but adjusted for inflation (or MLB avg payroll), there must be a dozen or two signings worse than JG. Wayne Garland?

Carl spots the struggling Sub-Mariners 5 runs on 5 hits (including two tacos - 1 each to Anglo-Sexson and Bret the Boone).

Of course, Jamie "Slo" Moyer is showing the Yanks the same sort of kindness. It's gonna be one of those "American League" games.

Vaughn was a productive player for part of his contract, he had what 3 seasons on the deal that were worthless at ~$14 per? That's still only $52mln, where Giambi has another $80 to come plus last year, so the Boss is on the hook for $95mln with no return.

That's going to be damned hard to beat (unless Giambi suddenly regains his roid-prime production, which seems rather doubtful).

>Vaughn was a productive player for part of his contract<

You mean half a season? His only full year for the Mets, Mo did

.259 .349 .456

ie, Rico Brogna in 1995 (who made less than a tenth of $14 M, I bet).

Tino's having a hot month. I'd say it's at least 4-1 against him hitting 40 HRs.

         AVG   OBP    SLG     
        
Home   .380   .482   .699	
Away    .310  .422   .517

Just a BIT better than Hatteberg, even on the road.

I heard recently that Joe Buck had never actually heard of "On-Base Percentage" before he was asked about it earlier this year.

Miller is AGHAST that Morgan would ask Jeter about blowing the 3-0 lead last year, he's treating it as if Morgan took a shit in the Queen's cornflakes.

Bottom 5 AL Team Defenses, by Defensive Efficiency

New York Yankees, .6608
Boston Red Sox, .6843
Kansas City Royals, .6891
Texas Rangers, .6931
Tampa Bay Devil Rays, .6943

And, y'know, Bronson Arroyo could've pitched well last night (instead of coughing up 7 R in less than 3 IP), but it wouldn't have mattered, as Rodrigo Lopez pwns the Sox every damn time he takes the mound. I'm as dismissive of pitcher success v. team stats as the next guy (given free agency turnover & such stuff), but SWEET CRAP.

I think Manny's been the one constant in Boston since RL has been in the league, tho - maybe success against Manny = success against the Sox? (Yes, I mean to say that getting the team's best hitter to go 0fer might mean achieving success against said team. It's crazy, but it just might be true!)

April 3-30 .238/.342/.365, 2 HR - Rehearsals for retirement
May 1-15 .357/.456/1.095, 10 HR - Ruthian
May 16-now .167/.208/.286, 0 HR - Who took me spinach?

fuck you,

john.

PS - Go Texas; suck it, Scoscia.

PPS - A welcome back fuck you to you, too, John! :)

Did widdle Dewek Jeter hab a nassty chest cold? Aww!

Torre responded by saying, "We don't need anything. It's up to the two of us (Torre and Cashman)."

-yes. it's quite clear that the yankees don't need anything.

and nero continues to fiddle...

1) John Sterling suggested that Sierra's good game might earn him more PT in the OF, which would (shockingly) actually be an improvement over The Small Mack; sez more about the Yank's sad state of affairs than of their depth, of course.

2) John Sterling also said that "Bernie can still run well". If anyone can ever recall a time where Bernie ran even remotely well, let me know. From what I recall, his "running well" involves him pistoning his legs like they're broken stilts.

I know what you're getting at, though - it seems like a lot of their games are either close losses are big wins. I'm sure a lot of that is due to their starting pitching, none of which is terribly impressive at this point.

I haven't been paying much attention, but what's Randy Johnson's fastball been topping out at this year? I heard a lot of talk earlier about the cold spring possibly affecting his velocity, but it's warmed up plenty in NY lately. His K/BB and K/9 numbers this year are kind of staggering:

K/9:
2001: 13.41
2002: 11.56
2003: 9.87
2004: 10.62
2005: 7.82

K/BB:
2001: 5.24
2002: 4.70
2003: 4.63
2004: 6.59
2005: 3.65

That's the lowest K/BB rate Johnson's posted over a full season since 1994, and the lowest K/9 rate he's posted since 1990. Unless these are significant career outliers, I'm starting to wonder if he might not be hurt. (Or, y'know, 41 years old.)

I can only get splits from the last 3 years, but I'm not sure domeage means a damn thing according to these numbers:

DOME: 294 IP | 231 H | 72 BB | 374 K
OPEN: 325.2 IP | 268 H | 70 BB | 375 K

Fun fact: he's only pitched outdoors this year.

Well, it's only really started to warm up seriously since they left for their long road trip. If the temperature really is a factor, then it might take a bit longer till we see the change.

Fair enough. However, check his home/road splits:

Home: 4-2, 3.40 ERA, 50.1 IP, 7.86 K/9, 3.38 K/BB, 1.15 WHIP, .662 OPSA
Away: 1-3, 5.08 ERA, 33.2 IP, 7.75 K/9, 4.14 K/BB, 1.39 WHIP, .855 OPSA

I'm not sure what that proves, exactly, about weather as a factor in his struggles. I hesitate to buy it.

I realize that home/road splits like these aren't unusual, but he's only had one cold weather start away from Yankee Stadium (a loss to Boston in April on a 45-degree day). I tend to think there's more to it than climate.

Also, I hate "quality starts" as a metric, but here goes.

Quality starts:

April 3 (BOS): 43 degrees, cloudy
April 24 (TEX): 51 degrees, cloudy
April 29 (TOR): 56 degrees, partly cloudy
May 9 (SEA): 60 degrees, clear
May 15 (@OAK): 69 degrees, clear
May 27 (BOS): 70 degrees, overcast
June 1 (@KC): 75 degrees, partly cloudy

Non-quality starts:

April 9 (BAL): 55 degrees, sunny
April 14 (@BOS): 45 degrees, cloudy
April 19 (TAM): 66 degrees, clear
May 21: (@NYM): 67 degrees, partly cloudy
June 6 (@MIL): 85 degrees, clear

Yanqui Stadium is a pitchers park and always has been, particularly for LHP with all that grazing area in LC. Wasn't Hinske's homer against unit the first homer he'd surrendered to a lefty in about a year?

Check out RJ's 2003, as he was not very good that year. Johnson was banged up and ended up going on the DL, but people hit .280 against him that season.

...in the 8th.

It's on.

anyways...

Bernie was never really a great, great CF as is.

xpost: I think Torii deserves a HOF glance if defense gets fairly weighted.

williams was always overshadowed by tino-paulie-jetes; i don't think the yanqui factor will be nearly as big as one might expect, esp. considering the position.

So what in the ding-donging heck could the Yankees give the A's to even have BeaneCo consider trading Kotsay?

i was just trying to say that i don't think the yanqui factor is so huge anymore. i don't think mattingly is deserving of hof on the merits, but i wouldn't have surprised had he been sent. bernie is probably more deserving on the merits, but not nearly as high profile as mattingly...i just don't see bernie getting the call.

Bernie wasn't dominant for nearly long enough. He has no chance.

It's way too early to talk about Torii Hunter, as he's only been a star for about four years. Andruw Jones has to be ranked far ahead of Hunter right now, and on another thread most of ILBB was none too impressed with Jones' HOF chances.

The Gold Gloves are impressive. The 3 All Star appearances is not. 10 years of near top of the line ball is generally the starting point for the Hall, I don't see Edmonds there yet.

Edmonds is gonna have 400-500 HRs and a lot more hits than Bernie.

Bernie's batting comparables thru 2004; not a HOFer among em:

Bob Johnson (927)
Reggie Smith (907)
Luis Gonzalez (904)
Fred Lynn (898)
Will Clark (894)
Bobby Bonilla (893)
Paul O'Neill (888)
Ellis Burks (885)
Dante Bichette (885)
Earl Averill (882)

HOF Standards: Batting - 35.6 (189) (Average HOFer ~ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 78.5 (206) (Likely HOFer > 100)

*except for some other guys

Bernie has a better shot than Paul Blair.

HOF Standards: Batting - 46.4 (94) (Average HOFer ~ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 140.0 (85) (Likely HOFer > 100)

I'm seeing the same batting comparables that you are, but those are a bit misleading in this case because Bernie deserves more credit for playing a difficult position.

I don't think Bern has NO chance, but I don't see him as a top-ballot type. I'm unconvinced either way.

In 30 years, only Jeter and Rivera will be canonized from those teams. People will give them all of the credit and say that the Yankees won in 1996-2000 despite not having a team full of superstars. Of course, the opposite is true of 2001-4, so maybe that will be remembered too.

http://www.yesnetwork.com/yankees/pinstripedblog.asp

"The state of New York should make writing Womack's name in a lineup card an indictable offense. Even the Black Sox didn't tank games in so obvious a manner. Their left fielder was Shoeless Joe Jackson, for goshsakes. He hit .375 in the 1919 World Series. He was trying to lose and he still outhit Womack by 130 points."

New York Yankee stars Derek Jeter and Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez have stopped beating themselves up for their team’s worst season in over a decade—and started beating on each other. On June 20, after a throwing error from Jeter to Rodriguez handed the Yankees a 5-4 loss to the last-place Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a TV producer says the sluggers came to blows in the clubhouse.

“I was doing an interview in the locker room and saw them go at it,” says the source. “A-Rod walked past Jeter’s locker and mumbled something about his throw, then Jeter told him to go fuck himself and all hell broke lose. Their teammates were pulling them away from each other.”

Tensions between the two have been brewing since Rodriguez dissed Jeter in a 2001 Esquire interview. As a result, we hear, Jeter, the Gold Glove-winning team captain, never wanted his ex-pal on the team in the first place—but Yankees boss George Steinbrenner didn’t listen.

“Now you have guys like Bernie Williams who remember winning the World Series taking Jeter’s side, and then you have the trades, like Tony Womack, taking A-Rod’s side,” says a ballclub insider. “What you have is a team that’s split, and you can’t win baseball games like that.” Yankees spokesman Rick Cerrone called the fight an “absolute fantasy,” and denied any rift between the players, claiming “there are no lines drawn in the clubhouse.” Not since Darryl Strawberry anyway.

A theory the A's and Yanks of the '70s didn't follow.

Still, they should've disabled each other.

"I don't think the chemistry is worse this year than any other year. The difference is that we're losing."

And what the hell is Steve Kline seeing 2-run 8th inning action anyway? (This question's so U&K, I'm posting it to the Oriole thread, too!)

wtf was up w/ ryan?

Now that the Yankees are well into this ‘80s Revisited leitmotiv, complete with Jaret Wright in the Ed Whitson role, Tony Womack as Dave Collins, Hideki Matsui as Jerry Mumphrey, what questions are left? Who gets to be Bob Shirley? Dale Berra? I figure Redding can do a nifty Andy Hawkins impression if everything goes his way, but I wouldn’t bet on that any more than I’d expect May or Franklin to be the new Ray Fontenot. I guess it’s a New York thing at any rate; between The Producers, Wicked, and Spamalot, it isn’t like Broadway’s cranking out any original artifacts. Sports, kulcha, if it’s second-hand, at least it’s familiar, and because it’s New York, you can always pretend that makes it better somehow.

what i want to know is who gets to play steve howe?!

can we agree on a preliminary bust rating of, say, 25%?

(i'm just kidding, y'all know i can't flip a switch and turn that off)

you don't sign a 31 yr/o 1B to an 8 year (or whatever) contract and expect it to not end up an albatross. it seems pretty clear to me the guy won't be hitting for average anymore, but if he can retain a good portion of his power game along w/ that patience, he can still be a formidable asset. worth 18M? fuck no, but i doubt any player is.

i know from watching the o's this year that even w/ his modest numbers, sosa has done much of homerunning when the o's have a sizeable lead and most of his grounding in to double plays when something more is needed.

that was LAST season, g!

hooohooohooohooo. oh man my eyes are watering this is HILARIOUS.

nothing beyond the initial report, where are you getting your info John?

mcdonough was also saying that another couple weeks were being tacked on to pavano's dl time.

to paraphrase mark renton, i don't hate the yankees, i just thing they're a bunch of wankers.

Winning fugly, but still winning.

to expect f-rod, wright, brown, & pavano to come back strong & leiter's start against boston to be a harbinger of things to come is incredibly wishful thinking, and i maintain that, eh, 3.5/5 of those must happen for the yanks to have a healthy shot at winning the d.

Sure they have a good shot at the division because everyone is fucked. But you have to win the div coz WC comes out of the Central. O's are not for real, Boston is good but imperfect. Toronto could finish 3rd again (or 3rd finally, whatever) and TB's TB.

AVG ERA Whip
NY .276 4.71 1.40
Boston 4.83 1.39
O's 4.

If you insist on continuing to pick up ex-SF bullpen arms, you will suffer a fate known by many.

Also: Out with Torre, in with Dusty.

"Hi Michael,
Why isn't Carlos Beltran being dissected by the New York press? A-Rod had an "average" year last year, and the press made it seem like he was batting below .200. Obviously the Yankees are having some center field problems this year, but it's hard to look at Beltran's stats and say that he could've been the solution.
Marc — Versailles, Ky.
KAY: Hi Marc,
Simple as this: the Yankees are scrutnized way more than the Mets. If Beltran had signed with the Yankees and had the same benign first half, he would have been villified and so would the team for signing him. With the Yankees in town, the Met problems kind of fly under the radar and it gives Beltran some breathing room to break out of it without being under the white hot light."

i mean, beltran isn't tearing shit up, but this nutsack really doesn't think he'd be the solution to the yanks' centerfield problem? what. ever.

The 'shadows' of Hall of Fame careers aren't negligible. Moose is among the 20 best pitchers in the league this year, Big Ugly might turn out to be.

>it may be a cliche, but you kinda need this thing called pitching to win<

You do cuz, as Casey might've said, otherwise you get nothing but forfeits. It has to be Good Enough Pitching, not Great Pitching.

The thing is, we know "the team as constructed" will not be the team that's suiting up on August 1.

The Red Sox have scored 501 runs in 93 games, so they are averaging 5.41 runs a game with their pitching ERA at 4.83.

The Orioles have scored 452 runs in 94 games, so they are averaging 4.81 runs a game with their pitching ERA at 4.33.

These were the stats that I was trying to spit out above when my browser went funky and I started studdering. My point being that Yanks have the better scoring differential between the three teams.

The Jays have scored 460 runs in 93 games, averaging 4.94 runs/game, team ERA is 4.21 ...

... and they have the best Pythagorean record in the league (tied with Boston).

Yanks and Sox are nearly identical teams: great offense, starting rotation in ruins (a couple of solid guys plus filler), a couple of good arms in the bullpen, *very* high team ERA for a pennant contender. And yet, a lot of people are saying that the Sox have blown it, couldn't take advantage of the turmoil in Yankee land, and should be leading the division by several games now. That doesn't make any sense to me.

xpost

the sox rotation isn't in ruins, it's just not great. they have a couple solid guys AND a couple more solid but slightly less talented guys. the yanks just have the first, and that's a huge difference.

they better not trade him for soriano or something.

That was 'vintage Leiter,' 2000 pitches in 5 innings. It inspired reference to the time in '89 the Yankees did their best to destroy Young Al's career by letting him throw 162 pitches (culprit, Dallas Fucktard Green).

The Yanks signed up Hideo Nomo to add to their collection of 1996 AllStar pitchers.

It may be a crazy notion, but I think renting Billy Wagner for the playoff push might work if Wagner can take not always being the closer. It would shorten the games up another inning and I am sure left handed sluggers like The Big Popi would not rather see Rivera than Wagner staring them down later in the game. There isn't that much help for starters available anyway, so maybe beefing up the pen might work.

He's third in AL OPS for the year, although technically I don't think he has enough PA's to qualify.

There's really nowhere else to hit him other than 9th, really... the top 5 in the order is pretty set... batting him 9th means he has Jeter behind him, which neutralizes a decent baserunner in Jeter...

wtf are they thinking?

He's that bad.

wtf are they thinking?

They were thinking that they wished they had something to trade to sove that problem.

Well, getting on base has value even if the runner doesn't score or drive in a run. It pushes other runners forward that can score while Big G is going station-to-station.

Cruz, sure. Neither of the guys the Red Sox traded are of any consequence. Winn? The Giants strike me as having given up a lot for him - Torrealba, however you want to slice it, is a fair sight better than Miguel Olivo (not that the Mariners were going to PAY WIKI or anything), and Foppert is on the cusp of full TJ recovery.

Who in the Yankees system is comparable to Foppert, anyway? Steven White? Wang, maybe, but his injury makes it a moot point. And I can't see the Mariners having any interest in Wilbert Nieves.

As for teh Giambino - batting him 2nd would probably make a lot of sense, esp. in front of Sheff & Le Fraud, because you don't have to run when someone hits a homar, and the chances of JG seeing hittable strikes increases as #2 (tho he's been doing juuust fine w/ the strikes he's seen as the 6th hitter). Cano might be best suited for 9th slot duties, given what this lineup has.

It's been suggested that the Cruz move was as much a Yankee-aimed cockblock as it was a move to give Kapler a blow against righties while Trotski recovers from his tweak.

And I can't belive that Chris Kahrl bopped the M's for the Winn move - sure, they have pitching prospects galore, but, of course TINSTAAPP, so getting one more prospect can't hurt, esp. when your rotation is relying on the likes of 95-year-old Jamie Moyer, 45-year-old Aaron Sele, and 3 types of ewww. And Yorvitt (not Ourvitt) is a fine guy to have as a #2 (behind WIKI). Also, Randy Winn ain't all that, and I imagine most teams would agree, so getting that schwag for him seems like a fine bounty. And, hey, Bill Bavasi's gotten enough shit for the Beltre and Sexson and Speizio signings - give the man some credit for not making a totally awful move!

True and getting that many walks it also force pitchers to throw more pitches generally (although in Giambi's case I would be curious how many IBBs he's drawn--has to be a few with the undynamic trio waiting behind him.)

cruz otoh has some bad back injury afaik, but he's still worth a flyer.

By Associated Press

August 5, 2005, 11:43 AM CDT

NEW YORK -- Gary Sheffield knows who leads the New York Yankees, and it apparently isn't Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez. Sheffield all but appointed himself the Yankees' most valuable player in an interview with New York magazine, accusing reporters of distorting the truth and ruining team chemistry.

"I know who the leader is on the team," Sheffield told the magazine. "I ain't going to say who it is, but I know who it is. I know who the team feeds off. I know who the opposing team comes in knowing they have to defend to stop the Yankees.

"I know this. The people don't know. Why? The media don't want them to know. They want to promote two players in a positive light, and everyone else is garbage."

Sheffield was batting .302 this season entering Friday night's game against Toronto, a percentage point behind Jeter and well behind Rodriguez's team-leading .316.

Rodriguez also leads in home runs (30) and RBIs (85). Sheffield's 21 homers and 81 RBIs are tied for second in both categories.

Sheffield said the heavy scrutiny that goes with playing in New York inhibits friendships in the locker room.

"This is the first team I've been on where no one sits at their locker," he said. "It's where you build your chemistry, just talking about life. I'm used to having six chairs around me, but here if there are six chairs, then there's going to be 20 reporters."

Even if the clubhouse were less hectic, Sheffield said he wouldn't grow too close to any teammates.

"I don't trust that many people," he told New York. "Just my mother and my wife and a couple of friends. When I trust people, it doesn't end well."

Sheffield was never known for his congeniality during tumultuous stops in Milwaukee and Los Angeles. He blamed the media for his reputation.

"It happens because you're white and I'm black," Sheffield said. "My interpretation of things is different. You don't see it the way I see it. You write how you understand it, how you would articulate it, not how I, as a black man, would articulate it."

(would any of you be talking about his greatness if this piece was about him popping off at the red sox some more? thxshuddupbye)

And dude, how massive of an unforgivable asshole is Schilling? Basically he comes to town and is immediately coronated Mr. King Shit of the Red Sox. Pedro can definitely be a baby, but he's mostly justified in this case.

That said, when people are pissed off over almost nothing, or calling for the head of yesterday's hero, this town's love for baseball is pretty damn amazing and inspiring. Basically the exact opposite of post-strike Atlanta.

w/ bonds out, i'd say schilling has become the most despicable fucker in baseball (he was always kinda bonds mirror image in ways, tho the press seems to adore him). there might be a couple worse, but w/out doubt none have his popularity or bullshit mythologization going for them.

Again, Martinez is great, but so are Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson, and how's that working out in Oakland?

"Fans booed when a Yankees fan proposed to his girlfriend on the videoboard."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=250805114&prov=ap

Carlos Pena 40
Nick Johnson 22
Doug Mientkiewicz 22
Dave Bergman 17
Ron Jackson 16
Willie Upshaw 15
Shane Halter 15
Willie Bloomquist 11
Luis Sojo 10

I guess the behavior wasn't too surprising. There was some coverage of it here in Chicago, but it was an obvious provocation and not worth responding to. And don't expect them to acknowledge it.

Luis Sojo playing 1st = HELLO JOSEPH TORRE!

It was a joy hearing John Sterling during the implosion last night.

What's it like having the YES crew advertising your UTI during the game?

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-sphey0824,0,4990165.column?coll=ny-sports-headlines

(also I gave NYY the wc in BP Predictatron)

no wonder the yes network keeps running highlights from other seasons. IT'S NEVER TOO SOON TO BE RETRO YO

Rivera: 1.52 ERA, 33 saves in 37 opportunities
Eddie Guardado: 1.47 ERA, 29 saves in 31 opportunities

(#1 is a decent point)

"golly, it's a shame we lost brown & pavano, really drops our payroll figures [or not]. i dunno if we can still make the postseason without them, that's shaving like 25M dollars off our total dude. oh well, still about a 50M edge over boston, should be enough to close the gap by the end of the season. if not, we're gold in the wildcard. oakland's down 130M. no chance."

A Heyman April column went something like "Yeah, Moneyball, the A's have only won in the past with JUICEball Giambi Bash Brothers etc..."

http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/ny-sphey264398654aug26,0,2899810.column?

The Wright-Reyes/A-Rod-Jeter line even makes ME laugh.

And I mean Embree & Bellhorn, natch - if Lawton has dirt on the Sox, then woo hoo bonus.

http://www.yesnetwork.com/yankees/pinstripedbible.asp

guess who the numbers favor?

1) Cano's value is tied up in his AVG
2) Bellhorn has better discipline @ the plate & more pop potential
3) Bellhorn's unspectacular glove trumps Cano's sub-Sorianoian booty

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 3 - Brad Fischer, the bullpen coach for the Oakland Athletics, took a check to Ron Washington on Saturday.

"When you see this," Fischer told him, "you're never going to believe it."

Washington, the longtime A's infield coach, who lost his New Orleans home to Hurricane Katrina, looked at the check. It was from the Yankees' Jason Giambi, his former pupil. It was for $20,000.

"I left out of here and ran over there, and got him outside in the hallway," Washington said in the A's clubhouse Sunday. "I broke down and cried a little bit. I don't cry. My wife says there's something wrong with me. I hold it in. But it was hard to hold it in yesterday. That really touched me."

Washington, a former major league infielder, said he was now the only provider for more than 40 family members who were displaced by the hurricane. Everyone is safe, Washington said, and a brother who lives in Houston has taken in some family for now.

But their jobs and homes are gone, Washington said, and he planned to deplete his savings to help. Then Giambi made his gift, and the current A's players have collected $12,000 for him. Washington said he would use the money for apartments for his family.

"I told them when they were doing it, I can take care of my family," Washington said. "But they insisted. I realized, when I talked to other people about it, they said, that's all you can do is say thank you. You can't have no pride with something like this."

Giambi called Washington a great man and compared him to family.

"I've known Wash probably longer than most of those kids in their clubhouse," Giambi said. "I just felt it was a little something I wanted to do."

Yankees outfielder Gary Sheffield did not have a personal connection to the hurricane, but he donated $10,000 to relief efforts Friday. Sheffield, who has lived through hurricanes in Tampa, Fla., said he could not watch footage of the devastation on television and not help.

"To happen in New Orleans, being so close to Tampa, it could have easily been me or my family," Sheffield said. "I just thought, how could I sit and flip the channel and watch a football game and go on with my average day when people are out of homes and everything they've got? To turn my back on it would be a tragedy in itself."

As for Washington, who was born and reared in New Orleans, he was eager to visit his home after the season. It is underwater, he knows, and he will have to rebuild or relocate. But he wants to stay.

"If it looks like New Orleans won't be coming back, then we're going to have to move somewhere else," Washington said. "And I have no idea where that's going to be."

And Sheffield, man Sheffield can't even play in the field anymore he just retire to the AL already. Asking for a day off due to an injury, what a disgrace to the game.

August 19-10 .655
Sept 12-6 .667

I would have never expected them to get as much out of Small and Chacon as they have. Leiter has been terrible, but has given them enough to stay in some games. If Wright can keep from getting tagged by line drives, he would even be more of a help.

I remember when I was 16 and weighted 180. NOW LOOK AT ME!

http://www.dudleychateau.com/Yankee%20Email/jeter%20skirt.gif

I got a tkt to Monday's game (Big Ugly alas), but I think I'll have a better view of Boog's BBQ. Are the O's gonna lay down for all 8 of these games?

and re: o's, a poster to btf put it best: who's corn flakes did walter young take a shit in?

Starting in 2001 when the Yanks lost to the D-Backs, NY seem most vulnerable as a team to clubs with pitching that gets them to strikeout a bunch which is why I think they got caught by the Angels in 02 and Marlins in 03. Last year was odd and crazy, so I can't say that was the case against Boston, although their bats did go just as cold as their pitching in the collapse.

Of course, the 3,4 and 5 starters aren't the problem as much as Home Run Randy and Schitzophrenic Mike.

And just a little FYI on that "best defensive 3B in the league" that you keep hearing about in the MVP talks:

Hank Blalock
Fielding %: .975
Errors: 23
Zone Rating: .738
Range Factor: 2.63

Alex Rodriguez
Fielding %: .973
Errors: 25
Zone Rating: .733
Range Factor: 2.60

STATS began tracking Zone Rating (ZR) as, essentially, the total number of outs per balls in a fielder�s "area of responsibility" (i.e., zone). This addressed some of the shortcomings of RF. However, STATS ZR has many shortcomings of its own. For example, each fielder is only given one zone. We know that it�s much easier to convert a ball in play into an out if the ball is hit near you, rather than on the fringes of the zone.

WTF HAHAHAHAHA

Big Unit needs to visit the noise board!

If they weren't the Yankees, there'd be something to root for here ... Giambi's resurrection ... coming back from a terrible start ... somehow scrounging up enough pitching to compete ... spent only a handful of days in first place, but won the division ...

But they're the Yankees, so fuck 'em.

Looks like another dual-entry-winner 'pennant race' for NYY & BOS. Meaningless.

'Boring' is good! That's exactly how I would have picked them at the beginning of the season.

STATEMENT BY GEORGE M. STEINBRENNER,
PRINCIPAL OWNER, NEW YORK YANKEES
RE: DEPARTURE OF PITCHING COACH MEL STOTTLEMYRE

"Mel Stottlemyre will always be a Yankee. When I purchased the ball club more than 30 years ago, he was one of the team’s true stars and leaders and, during his 10 seasons as Pitching Coach, we won six American League pennants and four World Championships. While it is no secret that I can be a very difficult boss, Mel has always conducted himself as a professional and a gentleman. I wish he and Jean much success and happiness in the future."

!

Babe Ruth in "close and late" World Series situations: 0-for-16.

NOT A TRUE YANKEE

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=rotowire-aisukeatsuzakaanksay&prov=rotowire&type=lgns

STATS | TEAM | OFFICIAL
Daisuke Matsuzaka
: Pitcher : Seibu Lions (Japan)
Daisuke Matsuzaka (Pitcher) 
DOB Sep. 13, 1980 AGE 25 BIRTH PLACE Tokyo 
HEIGHT 182 cm WEIGHT 85 kg BATS- THROWS Right - Right 
Year	Team	        W	L	GS	IP	SO	BB	K/9	K/BB	ERA	WHIP
1999	Seibu Lions	16	5	25	180.0	151	55	7.55	2.75	2.60	0.99
2000	Seibu Lions	14	7	27	167.6	144	85	7.73	1.69	3.97	1.29
2001	Seibu Lions	15	15	33	240.3	214	104	8.01	2.06	3.60	1.20
2002	Seibu Lions	6	2	14	73.3	78	30	9.58	2.60	3.68	1.23
2003	Seibu Lions	16	7	29	194.0	215	71	9.97	3.03	2.83	1.22
2004	Seibu Lions	10	6	23	146.0	127	50	7.83	2.54	2.90	1.21
2005	Seibu Lions	14	13	28	214.0	226	49	9.50	4.61	2.30	1.03

He still has one year on his Seibu contract but that's never stopped the Yanquis before.

The Rolling SEIBU LIONS - CHUNICHI DRAGONS 2004 Japan Series Thread

Not enough to be a fat pussy toad, is it?

Judging by our numbers, I do think it's an A-Rod effect. Jeter's strength is his arm, so going in the hole toward third base and making the strong throw is his bread and butter, while his footwork and moving to his left towards second is his biggest defensive weakness.

Scott Brosius and Robin Ventura were excellent 3Bs but nowhere near as athletic as Rodriguez. With him to his right, Jeter can shade towards second and get to more ground balls than he did before.