Comments on: Today in The Journal News

By: LathamJoe

LathamJoe — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 19:39:32 +0000

I agree, Section 344. His injured back, calves and other ailments prevent him from contributing on offense and defense like he did last season. Put him on the DL until he’s healthy and either use KT or trade for a “spare part” outfielder that can show some pop and play defensively.

By: mark

mark — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 19:08:57 +0000

Tampa Bay knows it isn’t going to get anything in return for Dukes, thats why they didn’t trade him they put him on the inactive list. They are hoping he’ll play well when they reactivate him, and stay out of trouble(probably not happening) and then try to trade him.

By: LathamJoe

LathamJoe — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 19:00:15 +0000

Dukes is a social pariah, both on and off the baseball diamond. He would be a poor investment for The Yankees and would not be worth the prospects that Tampa Bay would want in return.

By: jonathan

jonathan — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:52:41 +0000

could the yankees take a flyer on elijah dukes?
he has such an upside it may be worth a minimal risk.

By: section 344

section 344 — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:25:44 +0000

I actually think the Yankees would be smart to put damon on the dl. There is no need to call up an outfielder. We would be calling up a guy to dh and that would have to be Shelly Duncan. He now has 19 homeruns in AAA . He hit another one last night and had 4 rbi. I know this is AAA pitching, but I think he could fill in rather nicely as the Dh.

By: LathamJoe

LathamJoe — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:05:13 +0000

Col:
I’ve watched the Yankees since 1958. I’ve seen virtually every game (either at the Stadium, Live on TV or TV replay) since 1995. Obviously, Mo needs work, he hadn’t thrown since Saturday (when his command was off then due to inactivity). It was a given that he would work the 9th. My point is/was, that the remaining arms in the bullpen are being overworked – again – because Torre lacks trust in what he has on the roster. Not that Henn or Villone are lights out, but a fresh arm is a hell of a lot better than a guy(Proctor, Viscaino, Bruney) who’s coming in day after day. Bullpen arms get tired, ya know? . Torre is a notorious “dolt” when it comes to bullpen management.
If he’s not going to use guys – why waste the roster spot?

Yes, Miguel Cairo is a good utilityman – but not a pinch hitter who’ll deliver a big hit. The Yankees might have their worst bench since 1973!

And Myers was orginally a one batter specialist – until this year. Check out his appearances this season – He has pitched to more than 1 batter in at least 70% of his appearances. Lefties are batting .313, while righties are only hitting .169 against him. Maybe YOU oughta pay more attention before you criticize others, huh?

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:51:46 +0000

Stuart is right that there is no good bat to replace Damon (which is why I have nightmares of Cairo or Nieves DHing), but it’s not like we’re talking about one bad option and one good one. We’ve got two terrible options and we need to figure out which one is better.

Simply put, unless we replace him somehow, Damon must get better for this team to make the playoffs. I doubt he will get better if he doesn’t go on the DL.

My hope is that Damon goes on the DL, we bring up Duncan to DH as needed, and Damon returns healthy and productive for the rest of the season.

Like I said in my last post, we’re desperate, maybe more than most people realize. We’re not getting Bradley so we have to make due, and that includes putting Damon on the DL so he has a chance to help the team.

By: Col

Col — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:47:20 +0000

LathamJoe: Myers is only supposed to be there for 1 or 2 batters – specifically lefties. Hence, title Lefty Specialist. When was the last time Mo was used, do you know – maybe Mo is more important to have constantly ready than Villone or Henn (Think Villone really needs a tune up? – he pitched in the 1-6 loss to colorado)? Do you consider Cario’s hitting off the bench?

If more people paid attention to what occurs instead of just spewing bs and whatever is going on in their mind at that paticular second out of their mouth, the whole world (not just baseball blogs) would be a more interesting place.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:44:00 +0000

I’m scratching my head about this too. Why is Damon still “playing”? What is there to lose by putting him on the DL, using Melky in center, and bringing up the best minor league hitter available to DH?

By: Stuart

Stuart — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:43:25 +0000

On Matsuzaka’s number of pitches thrown and the US baying there pitchers… We do baby our pitchers but the probability of Matsuzaka getting hurt with the # of pitches he is throwing each outing is way up. He is throwing 120+ pitches in 7 innings consistently….

they signed him to like q 5 yr contract they are not .5 yrs into it…He has alot of throws on his arm and he is not exactly a bug guy.

Igawa for 4 innings looked good, I am not sure what the Yanks thought he would be but they paid 1/3 or less then what Boston paid…If he can become a 7 or 6 inning 3 or 4 run guy they will be fine….he is there 5th starter until the franchise comes back…

I also agree Damon does not make his DL decisions, the Yanks do. They probably figure give it a few days if he does not feel better put him on.. WHo do we have to replace him???Brett Gardner(I would like to see what he can do), Kevin Thompson on a more regular basiss? They do not apppear to have any siginificant contributor to replace Damon at present…….