Time to waste some time at Camden Yards
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Jun 28, 2007 
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The clubhouse opened to the media at 3:35 p.m. Joe Torre told the players not to report to 6 p.m.
But competition being what it is, we have to go down there and hang out just in case something happens. It’s a little silly sometimes, this job.
Meanwhile, according to my Mac weather widget, it’s 92 degrees and thunderstorms are expected. Sweet. No offense to Baltimore, but I’ll be happy when we hop in the car and drive home tonight.
Finally, for your reading pleasure, check out the latest post from Tiffany at Ultimate Banter. She is not too pleased with the Yanks and it makes for a funny entry to her blog.
Why are the Yankees so interested in Hillenbrand and his .254/.275/.325 line? His -9.0 VORP ranks him at #775 out of 785 players. He has a terrbile clubhouse reputation and he has never been to the playoffs. I don’t get it.
Cairo .247/.303/.296
Mientkiewicz .226/.292/.379
Phelps .263/.330/.363
I see Tony Pena’s mustache has partially grown back. I want to see it gone again, a bald Larry Bowa, and some playing cards posted back onto this blogs postgame entries. ASAP. K thanks.
saucy,
No problem. Let’s get started tonight.
pretty good article, but if you bought an andy phillips/josh phelps/got melky t-shirt, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself
At this point I’m okay with Hillenbrand if we bring him in. It would be nice to see someone come in with something to prove and be a professional hitter.
You can’t judge the guy on this season — it wasn’t working in Anaheim and his presence actually inspired some of the young players to play up to their capabilities leaving him no role.
If you’re gonna throw up Hillenbrands season numbers for this year, then throw up Cano and Abreu’s. Based on their numbers, they certainly aren’t good players at the moment.
I’d like to see Cashman do something with this roster though — the bullpen has become a toxic situation. It needs a shake up.
And as for the hitting, I think they have to make some hard changes. This current mix of guys is not doing it. Last season a lot of these guys performed better with something to prove and also because there were players waiting to take their at bats in the wings. Having Bernie, Craig Wilson, etc. on the bench was just enough of a threat that if you hit a slump like Abreu has, you would find yourself on the bench. Not to mention Cano missed a lot of time last season and he definitely had something to prove returning from injury.
The team as constituted offers no threats to anyone’s playing time. Without any capable backups, what do they have to worry about?
Every other winning team has enough capable reserves that they can afford to have injuries and also inspire the slackers to perform or be embarrassed.
Cash needs to fill this bench up with major leaguers who want to win and want to play every day.
At least Hillenbrand comes out and says he wants to play every single day.
Now go get a backup 2b to really like a fire under the sleepy Cano. I can’t watch him anymore. He really sucks right now.
Quotes of the Year:
“Actually before you send Bobby Aboo Aboo somewhere tie him to the wall in the batting cage put a catcher’s mask on him and drill him with 95 MPH heat from the pitching machine and don’t let him wear a cup either MAYBE HE WILL GROW UP AND ACT LIKE A MAN!!!�
“VOID GIAMBI’s contract I don’t care if you have to plant roids at his house do whatever it takes!!!!!!!!�
“Post Igawa up for Japanese teams to bid on him.�
HAHAHA those are good
Guys I’ve done all the leg work for Brian Cashman and I have the perfect trade idea in mind that will solve all the Yankee woes. We trade Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, Carl Pavano, and Wil Nieves to the Devil Rays for Carlos Pena, Dioner Navarro, and Carl Crawford. The Devil Rays may be a little reluctant seeing how two of the proposed Yankee players are on the DL and the other two might as well be, but they may take this deal if Cashman offers to pay all the contracts and signing bonuses in the Tampa Bay minor league system for the next 10 years.
is mike from bayshore going to post the “quote of the year” in every thread? WE GET IT.
I guess Boog’s BBQ gets old pretty quick, especially when the Yankees are playing like they have.
Is Shea in the clubhouse yet?
Shea is leaving the Angels on good terms. They liked him over there. They are just giving him what he wants, a chance to play everyday.
Fernando- Aside from being a top heavy trade, I don’t believe the rules allow a team to trade a player who is on the DL….and Giambi has a “no trade” clause. I doubt he would approve a trade to Tampa Bay.
But, it would be a nice trade for the Yankees if it were possible.
Im having deja vu about Shea on the Yankees from last December.
Admittedly it would be a terrible trade for the Devil Rays, but the beauty of being an internet GM is that you can make this crap up.
I’m having Shea deja vu from December. I didn’t like it then.
Fernando,
The one thing that would make that worthwile would be if somehow the Devil Rays were switched to the NL due to a new expansion teams in a few years (ala Milwalkee Brewers). I’m sure some strings could get pulled.
Don’t show up til 6? Most of the players have not shown up yet this year.
Peter,
So how do beat writers pass the time in the locker room?
Players like to play cards, dominos, watch DVDs or Jerry Springer in the old days, text message, call their brokers and tailors, line-up colgne and car endorsements, write children’s books, sober up from Dominican clubbing, etc.
You guys are educated and worldly, let us in on your day.
Bonus: Lara Croft is a Yankee “Grrl”:http://tinyurl.com/2dq2vx
That ‘rant’ wasn’t funny at all
How about this shocker of an idea?
Yanks trade: Arod, Cano, Clippard &,Farnsworth.
Cubs trade: Zambrano,Ramirez & Rich Hill.
I got say that sounds like an even trade there
2 players who are eligible at the end of the year for FA.
Ramirez will be a good offensive replacement for Arod.
Cano has been very disappointing. Maybe he was overrated?
Zambrano is the key to this trade and Rich Hill.
Pitching is the name of the game. Redsox are showing that now.
I love Arod and want him to end his career as a Yankee and if he leaves without compensation then Cashman should be fired.
Does this sound good??
Question: was that a “you don’t have to show up until 6″ or a “I’m locking the clubhouse and not letting you in until 6″?
“Don’t show up til 6? Most of the players have not shown up yet this year.”
Shhhssssh Boooooooom!!!!!
I love Tiffany’s enthusiasm. 80% of the game is half confidence – “on the left”:http://tinyurl.com/2crsbq
great another day no moves… everything is working so well they need to keep villone, myers and the other clowns on the team.. tonight the bench is stacked; nieves, basak, phillips, thompson, and whoever.
the pen looks stacked with the likes of autonatic strike throwers like; kyle, proctor, bruney, villone, vizciano, myers, and the gang.
wow how can we go wrong with this crowd……………
I like the idea of bringing in Shea. Even if he doesn’t have the best rep in the world, I think some new blood in the clubhouse could do the Yanks a lot of good. They could use a little bit of fireness in the clubhouse right now anyway. I love Torre, but fireness is not exactly his forte.
Plus, even if he’s struggled lately, he was a pretty good hitter at one point and I could always see him reviving a bit with a new club and the fresh burn of getting DFA’d by his old team.
Even if he turns out to be a kind of a weak hitter, I don’t think anyone can reasonably argue that the Yankees can be contenders with the team they have right now. Some things just have to change, and this could be a good start.
Hillenbrand will have no effect on this team because he wont get to play. He will get 1 or 2 games to be awesome and if he doesnt perform right away it will be right back to Cairo.
Check out Carlos Pena down in florida, hes got a .292 avg with 17HR and hes great with the glove. He was a yankee last year, but never even got a shot.
“I could always see him reviving a bit with a new club and the fresh burn of getting DFA’d by his old team.”
Didn’t work for him last year.
Yanks trade: Arod, Cano, Clippard &,Farnsworth.
Cubs trade: Zambrano,Ramirez & Rich Hill.
So the Yanks trade one superstar who will be a FA in 3 months, one lazy underachieving 2B with a career .337 OBP that has dropped over .020 this year, a mediocre 4th or 5th starter, and a crappy reliever who has already sucked in Chicago…
…for a 26 year old Top 10 superstar pitcher, a 29 year old All-Star 3B with an OPS around .900 this year, and a 27 year old, extremely talented Top 20 pitcher making less than $500k a year.
Yeah, they’ll go for that.
You know, I was thinking on the drive home (no jokes, please). Maybe what the Yankees need is some attitude. A chip on their shoulder, instead of driving up the pressure on themselves. An attitude that says, “F- it!”. That seemed to work for David Cone, among others. Maybe Shea Hillenbrand can bring that sort of thing (let’s ask John Gibbons). If he does, and it does turn us around, he should get some award.
Pena’s strike out ratio is high. historically it was 1 in 6. its worse this year, averaging one strike out for every AB. though his BA and OBP did improve.
I’m not a believer in strike out ratios, cuz Mickey and Reggie used to strike out alot, and they did fine. But GMs and coaches hate high strikes outs. Thats a big reason why swing for the fences types like Jeromy Burnitz never unpack their suitcase.
that should read “one strike out for every _four_ ABs.”
Mr. Balboni
….Zambrano is a FA after this season
….Arod is the best player in the game PERIOD.
Cubs probably won’t be able to sign Zambrano because of the 300 million payroll.
People forget Carlos Pena didn’t work out here before..
Yikes… this isn’t looking good already.
Carlos Pena played for the Yankees? Really?
Oh my didn’t know something that big was going on, I was just reading some of her posts and seemed like there was something going on. I know he’s married so not good but I’ll just wish them all luck leave it at that.