Game 91: Blue Jays at Yankees
-
- July
- 16
Here is the lineup:
YANKEES
Damon DH
Jeter SS
Abeu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui LF
Posada C
Cano 2B
Phillips 1B
Cabrera CF
Igawa LHP (2-2, 7.14)
Pregame chatter: The Yankees will be facing Josh Towers (4-5, 5.07). … A-Rod’s first at-bat will be interesting. This is the first time he has faced the Blue Jays since the incident in May when he distracted Howie Clark.
Check out the Baseline Report, a new web site from Mike Pagliarulo and Adam White. Pagliarulo is involved in scouting and evaluation.
Here is their analysis of Brian Cashman.
UPDATE, 11:50 p.m.: Sorry for the lack of updates tonight, I had the night off and hung out with some friends.
Meanwhile, please do not post as other people. This means you, Kyle Farnsworth.
Also, a word of advice to the clown who keeps sending comments insulting me. They’re getting stuck in the spam filter and I suspect your bosses at Rockefeller Financial Services probably figure you could use company time better. Be a man and e-mail be directly.
This entry was posted
on Monday, July 16th, 2007 at 3:44 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Peter…in this instance, can Torre go to the umpire and tell him that he thinks that they are going to throw at A-Rod, so that IF it happens like that, then the pitcher can be thrown out immediately ? I have seen umps throw a guy out before, without any warnings, and they have said just that ( “I Knew he was going to throw at him” ) What are your thoughts ???
Igawa? Egad!
Villone and Myers are already warming up.
At least we will get a chance to see Edwar pitch tonight.
Most likely in the 3rd inning.
Talk about scathing.
Abreu recently started hitting again. So Torre moves him to the 3 spot. Yesterday, Abreu goes 0-5. Why bat him third when he was doing well batting in the 7 spot? I don’t like the move and would rather see Jeter batting third and Cabrera batting second.
As far as Damon, he should be on a short leash because time is running out and the team can’t keep him in the lineup when he unproductive. The guy’s obviously injured and his numbers show it.
Let’s hope its “Night of the Iguana”!!
Wouldn’t it be great if the whole stadium went “HOOP” everytime a Yankee popped up?
Pags should stick to what he’s good at. Hitting .217 and growing his pornstache.
pags needs to get a real website. myspace doesn’t cut it. (especially since myspace is blocked from work)
In regards to the Pags-report on Cash – “scathing”, as Doreen said (I assume she was referring to this), but a lot of truth. However, I wonder how the report would have read if Damon, Abreu, Cano, Giambi, Viz, etc., had played as many thought they were going to, and the injuries to Karsten, Rasner, Hughes, and other starters who lost a couple of turns early on – if all that hadn’t had happened. Yes, one can legitimately criticize for lack of depth, but who has that much depth? Even throwing in the results of relying on Pavano, Igawa, and Farnsy, I think anyone’s assessment of Cash’s work would be different if the above calamities hadn’t occurred. But that’s just my opinion.
At the end of the day, results matter. Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good. Being lucky makes you look good.
Joey_V,
Abreu went 0-5, but he smashed two balls to the deepest part of the park possible where they could still be caught. His stroke was fine.
Cabrera does not have the plate discipline to be a top of the order guy. Yet.
i see pete’s line-up has melky and matsui playing left field . i would assume that melky’s in center , damon is dh’ing and matsui is in left . no worries , i’m king of the typo . i hope the b.j.’s throw at a-rod , i love old time baseball . put arod on his ass and after they really piss arod off he puts a couple in the seats .
I love how the Boston media is trying to make pushes for A-Rod…no one in Boston wants him…just trying to hike up the price.
Bush leaguers.
I’ve already got Breach in the DVD player ready to go.
Seems like Pags ripped Cashmoney a new one with his analysis. I tend to agree with him though. Getting mediocre picthing that may or may not ever be fruitful, for 2 potential HOF’ers, still makes little sense to me. I liked Sheff’s bat and thought RJ was still better than Mussina for his 2 years here. Bad back or no bad back, he went out and pitched and didn’t moan when he was doing poorly. hesucked it up and tried again next time. Can’t ever say he had Pavano syndrome. At least he tried. 34 wins weren’t too shabby from my viewpoint. But it was RJ’s choice to go.
I do blame Cash for getting rid of Sheff when he knew his lineup was not anywhere near as potent without Sheff here. It was being penny wise and dollar foolish at the time and still is. There are always injuries to contend with.
For all that’s said about him, when Sheff had his contract straight, he performed as well as Abreu if not better and was more consistant, for less money.
His fielding wasn’t as bad either or at least not as bad as it was made out to be. How’d they like to have Sheff as the DH now ????
The Igawa signing has to be motivated by things other than playing baseball because if it’s not or wasn’t, Cash deserves to be let go for this one alone. For 46 million dollars, he could have rebuilt half the team with much better results.
Joey V,
Were you complaining about Abreu batting 3rd on Saturday night, when he hit a HR and drove in 5 runs?
You never know, Igawa is due for a decent game. Maybe he’ll surprise us.
I’m really interested in the Jays treatment of ARod. I think he’ll be thrown at. It could turn out to be a wild game.
As for Pags, it’s hard to argue with him. The Yanks don’t have much to show for Sheff and Randy, and Mussina is having a bad year. BUT, the Yanks had to sign Moose, it wasn’t a bad move (well, maybe the second year was a bad decision). He had a good year last season and they needed pitching. But I wouldn’t mind if they dump him on someone else this trade deadline.
I enjoyed watching Pagliarulo when he was a Yankee, but he is way off the mark. He does not consider what the realistic alternatives were.
Should the Yankees have used Sheffield at first base? Let him go as a FA? How is the trade they made any worse than those options?
How can Cashman be wrong for not having pitching depth and for signing Pettitte? Who were the available pitchers that would have made more sense?
At age 43, Randy Johnson showed no sign that he would pitch better than his 5.00 ERA of 2006. How was that going to help win a Championship?
The Sheff deal will all depend on Humberto Sanchez’s health and Kevin Whelan’s development. I don’t care how great of a year Sheff is having. I’m glad he’s gone.
I checked out Pags’ GM ratings. I think somebody screwed up his math. If you assign numerical values to the letter grades given (A = 4.0, A+ = 4.5, a B = 3, B- and a C+ being the same = 2.5, a C = 2, C- and D+ = 1.5, D = 1 and an F = 0.0) Theo and Cash grade out much closer than a full grade apart. But then again, math wasn’t my strong suit so maybe it’s me.
Guys, let’s not forget that we probably wouldn’t have won the division without Bobby Abreu last year. He hit .330 after coming here, with OBP around .400, if I remember correctly. His slump in the first half of this season is a big reason why we’re where we are, but that was unforseeable. It was his performance last year that made Sheff expendable, because Sheff had no position. I don’t remember anyone predicting that Giambi would be on the DL. Whether the return on Sheff’s deal was worthwhile, we will only know in another two years or so.
As far as RJ – I came to the conclusion after the playoffs last year that we simply had to get better starting pitching. Moose had become a 4th – which he is playing up to this year, and RJ was too old and broken down. How many games has he won for Arizona this year – 3? He’s on the DL now for the 3rd time, and who knows when, if ever, he will successfully pitch again. But he’s still getting his boatload of $, and even if the return on him doesn’t pan out to any great shakes, Cash is not paying the 16M owed to RJ for the next however many years, someone else is.
Subsequently, Andy Pettitte has done reasonably well as a frontline starter. The problems were Pavano and Igawa, and Cash has rightly been criticized for those moves (though, again, other teams were also after Pavs two years ago – would Detroit have won the AL last year if they had won the Carlapallooza sweepstakes instead?)
So criticize Cash when it is deserved, and unfortunately some of the moves haven’t worked out (an understatement) and he deserves criticism. Just don’t pile on.
I love how the Boston media is trying to make pushes for A-Rod…no one in Boston wants him…just trying to hike up the price
Every Boston fan I know, and believe me, I’m surrounded by them hardcore, want him on the team, so I’m not sure what you’re talking about here.
People (Pags included) seem to forget that Sheffield had no position, and said he wanted a new contract if the Yanks wanted him to play 1st base (a real team player, that Sheff). I give Cashman a B on that trade just for getting something for that malcontent. Also, how can he kill him for the Randy trade? He’s on the DL. If he’d kept him, Pags would presumably rip him for a lack of depth in the starting rotation. Pags appears to be as good at grading GMs as he was at hitting major league pitching.
Joe from Long Island –
Yes, I was referring to the report. And I am in agreement with you regarding the performance or, rather, non-performance, of the players you mentioned. If even just Damon, Abreu and Cano performed as expected, things would look a lot different.
As for those who say, Sheff could have DH’d—the problem was Cashman knew Giambi could no longer play 1st base and Sheffield flat out said he WOULD NOT play 1st base. Giambi’s contract was not expendable; Sheffield’s was. Sometimes it’s just numbers. And the Yankees’ offense was brilliant last year without Sheffield or Matsui in the lineup for a very extended period of time.
Johnson would not have been pitching for us this year, even if he were retained. He’s just no longer healthy. I still say, regardless of how the prospects do, this move was a no-brainer.
Igawa – well, for the longest time I was giving Cashman the benefit of the doubt, but I don’t think a sane person can any longer.
And the only thing I really fault Cashman for was the entire 1B fiasco, and not giving Torre a solid bench. I do agree that injuries to Damon and Giambi could probably have been foreseen—not the severity, but certainly that they were more likely to occur than to not occur. I still wish Damon had gone on the DL earlier in the season. Right now he seems healthy, but not in a groove yet, hitting-wise.
In the beginning of the season, Cash was being hailed for finally starting to get the Yankees minor league system back where it should always have been. He gambled, and probably lost, that the major league team could hold its own for one year. I say the jury is still out, but he was neither as bad as this report says, nor as good as I wish he was.
Well, trying to be optimistic, Josh Towers stinks, Yanks should light him up and be able to cover Igawa. And being even more optimistic, at least we won’t have to watch him in those dopey sunglasses tonight. Makes it maybe just a little more watchable.
And another thing, out of fairness to both Theo and Cash, as a general rule I wonder how many scouts think that GMs know better than the scouts. Suffice to say that there’s a reason Cash and Theo are GMs and Pags is a scout.
I could quibble with some of the crystal balling done on prospect evals by Messrs. Pags and White, but what the heck. Cashman haters will find support in the Baseline Report and Cashman supporters will see another know-it-all who thinks they could do a better job. And so it goes…
That was an awful analysis, Shef obviously hates Torre, and Randy Johnson hated pitching in NY. I like both of them, but you needed to get rid of them. Jared Wright was a no brainer as well get something for the cost of the opt-out. All 3 of those cannot get less than a B grade.
Josh Phelps cost nothing (as they said) and Andy wasn’t there to take the at-bats anyway.
Pettite is one year deal (with player options makes 2,) where else are you going to get 1-3 starting pitcher for short term deal.
The Rocket, over priced but what were your other options?
Kei Igawa, ok he deserves the F here, but, he wasn’t the only willing to put up that kind of money. Still, bad signing.
So in the end the got something for nothing (shef, RJ, J. Wright) and signed 2 top 3 starters for short term deals. How does that result in most GM? Just the mere fact that he has signing Villone as the “best” thing Cashman did losses a lot of credit with me.
I would have liked to have seen Pags’ take on the pitching prospects that are at Trenton, as well as Hughes, Karstens, McCutcheon, etc.
Peter,
I’ve read past reports that Pags did some work for the Yankees when it comes to scouting, but Cashman stopped it which might skewed Pags ratings of Cashman.
It’s amazing how stupid former players are about the game on the whole.
The Jays players are fools if they try to hit Arod. They should get over it already.
I agree that Pags comes across as a wannabe talk radio hothead. Telling are his comments on the RJ deal—you had to factor in the back surgery to what the Yankees were going to be able to get for him. He simply isn’t the RJ of 4-5 years ago—you just hope some of the prospects turn into something. He wouldn’t be helping this team from the DL
Pags immediately forgets that Cashman paid NONE of Sheff’s or Randy’s contract. Getting rid of Randy’s $16 million for 7 starts on the year deserves a solid “B” in my book just based on that fact alone.
This year’s offseason will start to look much, much better down the road, which is exactly Cashman’s plan. Theo’s will start to look much, much worse as Lugo and Drew start sucking up payroll.
I don’t disagree, using complete 20/20 hindsight to THIS MOMENT, that Cashman deserves a bad grade for performance UP TO THIS POINT. But, most of the offseason is up in the air. That’s the thing about prospects. Also, if Vizcaino can continue what he’s been doing since June (1.39 ERA), and the Yankees can resign him for cheap (he’s only 31), then the Randy deal starts to look even better than a B.
You can rip on Cashman all you want, but he’s basically committed to rebuilding this team while making it still a contender. If the Yankees are in the playoff hunt come September, Cashman deserves a hell of a lot more credit than what he’s getting. Please point me to a team that has rebuilt AND contended in the same year. Hint, it ain’t the reigning third-place Red Sox.
Pags has an agenda here guys. He’s a scout, but he’s also looking to break into the GM world. What scout isn’t. What better way than to be a somewhat fondly remembered ex-Yankee bashing the current Yankee GM who is on the hot seat.
That post reeks more of a “what would you do differently” job interview question and maybe he’s hoping if Cash gets tossed, he can at least get in the door and take a shot at interviewing for the head or asst. GM job.
Trading Johnson was a coup considering we have healthy players in return for a guy who is shot.
Trading Sheff was barely a trade. The only reason we got anything for him was because Sheff negotiated an awful deal with Steinbrenner that gave us the option of keeping him another season. The only reason the option was picked up was to trade him. If he were a free agent, we would have let him walk and NO ONE would have complained about it based on how Abreu played last season. I think trading Sheff was a brilliant stroke, personallly. It was an opportunity to pick up an option on a asset that was leaving and get some players in return.
No one would have traded top prospects for Sheff after last season. No one.
The only thing I can knock Cash on in the above 2 trades was not forcing the Unit to San Diego who were talking about moving Linebrink (who we desperately need this season) and Kouzmanoff (who also would be valuable at 1b and 3b this season). He shouldn’t have let RJ dictate that he go back to AZ and told him it was SD or another year in NY.
As for depending on Pavano and Igawa—sheer stupidity and he really cannot defend himself at all. I’d take Ted Lilly or Gil Meche over Igawa in a heartbeat and both guys were gettable this off season—esepcially Lilly who was begging to put on pinstripes again.
If Cash loses his job because of that grave error in judgement, he can’t defend himself really. This was his team this year and he screwed up royally depending on those 2 pitchers to be part of the starting 5.
While I like him and hope he doesn’t get canned (because I do think he can learn from his mistakes this season), I also wouldn’t be against seeing a different GM steer the ship in the future.
He made his own bed this season and Igawa and Pavano are tough to come back from.
If Igawa somehow pans out to be useful, he can save some face…but I think Igawa will be pitching in Colorado (or somewhere) next season with the Yankees paying the bill.
Oh, I’m wrong. Vizcaino is 32 going on 33. But he’s proven to be a workhorse and has given great bullpen performance since June 1st: 19.2 IP, 1.37 ERA, 19 K, 11 BB (this is bad, but he still has a 1.22 WHIP). I noticed that during this time his velocity has been low nineties instead of the high eighties it had been when he flat-out sucked. If he keeps his velocity, his slider looks a whole lot better and he will do well. Let’s just hope Torre doesn’t run him into the ground again.
Pitching matchup
NYY: LHP Kei Igawa (2-2, 7.14 ERA)
Igawa is holding opponents to a .363 average at Yankee Stadium.
DIRECT from Mlb.com….Igawa is HOLDING OPPONENTS to ONLY a .363 avg at Yankee Stadium…....HOLDING ????
Alan—
Good catch! Must be boilerplate language. Heaven help us if he wasn’t holding them right there!
Terrible analysis by Pags – trying to be sensational and get noticed, I guess.
The most glaring problem with his analysis is the fact that he decided not to rate the draft picks during the Cashman era or the international signings, either out of bias or ignorance. Cashman has excelled in this area and his philosophy of overpaying for top notch talent in the draft and in Latin America will reap dividends in the years to come.
As for his analysis of trades/free agent signings, he clearly suffers from a bad case of hindsight bias. The only move by Cash that is really poor is the Igawa signing and the non moves have hurt us as well – the decision to not shore up the bench and the bullpen has proven costly.
Pags is an idiot wannabe GM (great ‘stache though). Most telling is his analysis of the RJ and Sheff deals which he bases strictly off of hyperbole. The fact that Sheff is “feared” and that both of them are future Hall of Famers means absolutely nothing. The Sheff “fear” factor didn’t mean jack last year when he was on the DL and Abreu effectively filled his spot. As for RJ, he ASKED for the trade, has been injured all year and may never pitch again because of his back. Tough to fault Cash for either of those deals. Igawa is another story.
And Wright for Britton gets a “C”?! What a joke.
rbizzler—
Unfortunately, many people conveniently forget that RJ asked for the trade.
Cashman deserves harsh criticism for the following:
1. Signing Igawa- incredible bad move
2. Not finding a suitable back-up for Posada
3. Endorsing Torre (alleged)
4. Relying on Pavano
Other than these moves, I cannot fault him. I like his work with the drafting philosophy and so far I like his reluctance to overpay for a quick fix to a 2007 team that has plenty of holes.
Give him 2 more years, and if the ship doesn’t come in by then, he needs to be out the door.
Mark Shapiro has to be one of the best GM’s in all of baseball. His ability to stock Cleveland with talent year after year and sign young players to long term contracts is remarkable. This is what he had to say about Cashman:
“He recognized a few years ago the need to fortify his system and has taken advantage of every opportunity possible to infuse talent into it,� Cleveland Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro said.
“The system is now one of the stronger ones in the minor leagues, and at some point, as those players become major-league-ready, the Yankees will have the most deadly combination of depth of young talent combined with elite payroll resources at the major league level.�
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/09/sports/baseball/09pitchers.html?ref=baseball
Now Shapiro may have been playing nice in public but Cashman is widely respected throughout baseball. One of the reasons why Steinbrenner gave Cashman complete control of the organization was because he knew if Cash left he’d have his pick of GM jobs and would have a new position within 10 minutes.
Pags clearly has an agenda and an ax to grind. He’s trying to be controversial to get a better job or to move over to the media side of things a la Steve Phillips.
Here’s a good line, “When healthy in 2006, Johnson gave the Yankees their best chance of having a dominating start. He was their only starter who cold slot into a championship template.�
He’s clearly never heard of Chien Ming Wang and he clearly didn’t watch any of the games the past two years, particularly in the playoffs.
Pags writing isn’t even analysis and for many of the players he talks about it seems like he’s not even familiar with who they are.
Take Humberto Sanchez: “he is a big boy with a soft body and prior to his surgery he projected as a possible middle starter at the ML level….�
That is just ridiculous. Sanchez pitched in the Futures Game last year! The Futures Game!! You don’t pitch in the futures game if you only project, “as a possible middle starter.� He was widely regarded as a Top 50 type prospect. Look to see how many pitching prospects at his level are traded each year. They are the rarest commodity in all of baseball bar none and to get one in a trade is very difficult. Yes he had arm trouble but in the age of outlandish long term pitching contracts that turn out to be busts getting a player of Sanchez’s upside is only possible if there is some risk involved.
How is the Randy Johnson deal even still being discussed – it was a huge winner just by dumping his salary. He’s been on the DL three times this season already – $16 million and on the DL three times and is only happy because he’s at home and got a two year extension (I can’t even imagine what they were thinking).
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t continuously say that you’re sick of seeing the Giambi’s and the Damon’s of the world break down and still criticize moves to get younger players.
Young players have risks. That’s it. That’s just the way it is by definition. They don’t have track records to fall back on. At the same time the only other option is to keep on trotting out older guys who have not worked for this team at all over the past 7 years.
In the earlier post Pete mentioned “Krazy Kyle has put 60 men on base in 37.1 innings.�
Quick, trade him to Boston for prospects so he can be one of the set up men for the Papelboner. Offer to pay the rest of his contract too. Think about it … the Yanks signed him to pitch for the Yanks, right? If we need to put him in a Boston uniform to do it, then so be it.
Up in Boston they’re still not onto the fact that Mike Timlin is one of NY’s favorite batting practice pitchers. The fans have been onto him for a while, but from Terry Francona on up the Sox haven’t figured it out yet. Timlin & Kyle would be NY’s 26th & 27th men.
Hopefully NY won’t sign Timlin like they did our last favorite Fenway BP pitcher … Mike Myers.
For every decision maker, there will be successes and failures. No one will have perfect record.
On the whole, Cashman’s decisions are better for the Yankees. Even Shef and RJ trades will be better for the yankess in the long run. Evaluate them a couple of years from now. Instant gratification is not the answer.
When is Igawa sunglasses night scheduled as a promo at the Stadium ? Hopefully when there’s inermittent showers during the game so he can look extra ridiculous.
Pags had his Yankee Japanese scouting deal cancelled by Cashman when he got full control of the organization.
Might that make him a bit emotional when it comes to his “analysis” of the job Cashman has done? Just sayin’....
As far as the deals are concerned, Sheffield didn’t want to play first base with the Yankees. It was the only position available to him. Giambi was the DH, he can’t play first anymore, and Abreu was set in RF.
Second guessing the results, after the season is halfway gone, is not really “analysis”, is it? Its second guessing the results after the results are in. If Bobby Abreu was hitting like he was last year, nobody would be second guessing that deal.
Randy Johnson’s back is shot. He can’t even pitch for the Diamondbacks. Imagine if he was on the DL in NY, and the Yankees had to cover his 16 million dollar contract? How can anybody with any knowledge of baseball question trading him? Makes no sense to me.
Those deals will be judged on the success or failure of the prospects involved in the deals. Neither one of those deals were made for this year so, IMO, coming up with an instant analysis of those deals is foolhardy at best.
Wanna complain about Igawa? Legitimate complaint.
Wanna complain about the lack of a bench or Cashman’s excessive optimism when it came to believing in Carl Pavano? Legitimate complaint.
However, its pretty tough to rip him over Sheffield and Johnson when one guy can’t pitch and the other guy didn’t want to be here. Not much leverage when you have those situations.
As far as his overall “grade”, shouldn’t one look at the ENTIRE body of his work before assessing a grade?
If you are just going to go month by month, then a lot of GM’s would have failing grades. Just not how the biz works, IMO.
Drew: I’ve been saying that about Sheff all season. He could hit 90 home runs and steal 280 bases and I’d still be glad he’s gone.
I agreed with Pags on every one of his grades. Humberto Sanchez was supposed to be the best prospect we received and it turns out that Cashman knew there were health questions.
I don’t purport to be an expert, but every scout who saw Igawa pitch said he was a fifth starter at best. How could Cashman commit $46 mil to such a player after getting burned by Pavano? An incredibly stupid move.
Cashman was here for the championship years but didn’t learn that the Yankees always had a game changing threat on their bench. As well as Miguel Cairo has played, he’s their closest thing to a threat…and obody is scared of Miggy. Having Wil Nieves as the backup catcher can only be described as emabarrasing.
In ‘06 he made some nice pickups, but in ‘07 Cashman deserves an F.
That’s some “analysis”, and a mighty professional website as well. I liked Pags as a ballplayer. Let’s hope for his sake that he doesn’t quit his day job…or that this isn’t his day job.
Drive 4-5 –
Cashman also described Igawa as a 4-5 starter, definitely back of the rotation, or a possible long relief guy. There was NEVER any indication that Igawa was supposed to be anything else. So Cashman did not disagree with the scouts. Unfortunately, Igawa has not been even as good as a 4-5, but, again, no one ever expected more.
If it wasn’t for Cashman Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain wouldn’t be Yankees.
He was the one who committed to developing young pitchers, he put Oppenheimer in charge of the draft and he made Nardi Contreras in charge of pitching development.
Giving GM mid-season grades is all well and fine but you really need to do this at the END of the season. Then you can decide if things worked out like he thought they would.
Welcome back SJ44—the king of common sense!
Hey Pete,
Just out of curiousity what’s the deal w/ Carl Pavano?
Can you believe I actually had to sit & try to remember his name? Good Lord..
-Christy
Pavano is getting TJ surgey right?
After watching the four games in Tampa, one thing I can say about the Yankees. They aren’t quitting. They are playing hard every night, even if some guys (Farnsworth, for one) can drive you nuts.
They may not play well all the time but, the effort is there.
I was at the ballpark over two hours before gametime every day and I saw a bunch of guys there early for BP, for pitching work (Clemens and Pettitte, especially), and the dugout was alive with emotion each night. If these guys didn’t care, they wouldn’t be putting in the extra time.
Hey, I realize its been a bad year so far and a lot of things haven’t gone well. But, Torre is telling the truth when he says the effort is there with the team.
We just have to hope the results improve for this year. For the future? I am much more bullish on the future of the Yankees than I am about this season. I think the future is real bright for the Yankees, even if this year is a struggle.
alan i was just thinking the exact same thing that you posted. dont you think that a bean brawl could pump the hell out of this team? and thats kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. but only if its a boring game. if towers is smart hell wait until the second atbat
andrea i just read your comment. i may be jewish but AMEN. once again wise beyond your years
Pavano is a ******
Roger Clemens, Chen Ming Wang,Phil Hughes will be major pieces to the Yankee’s comeback
Joba Chamberlain will be here mid season 2008
The yankees will make a run at the east. (However, Winning the division is another story.)
Farwworthless is as good as gone.
snoop sorry to break it to you but the al east IS the division…
“The bullpen is an especially big headache, because Joe Torre is a lousy manager of relievers and tends to pick one or two favorites and ride them until they melt into a big puddle of goo.”
This is what Keith Law wrote on ESPN Insider about Yankees.
For a change, what he wrote about Yankees in his article was quite realistic.
i’m not going to watch the first inning. AFK bathroom.
im so happy its back at home. NO MORE FSN FLORIDA! YAY!!!
hey ben… entourage sucked last night.
ben: I thought Jews said Amen too…I was at a wedding celebration at my friend’s house in France (I know, I’m a freak) and they said Amen. I think they were speaking Hebrew the whole time, but I don’t know Hebrew OR French, so I really can’t be 100% sure. But, either way, I’ll take the AMEN.
My brother, in exchange for cleaning his disgusting excuse for a living space, gave me monetary compensation and offered me an autograph. I wanted A-Rod, as he is my boyfriend. He offered me A-Rod alone, or a picture of Sheff, A-Rod and Jeter. I sacrificed a possible Jeter autograph because the thought of having Gary Freaking Sheffield on my wall angered me.
I think that’s where I’m NOT wise beyond my years. How old are you, if I may ask?
Jeff G – I appreciate the comments as I didn’t watch the game on TV.
As far as Cabrera, he’s been hitting well in the two spot. In July, his average batting 2nd is .378 or 14 hits in 37 ABs. The one time he hit 9th he went 2-4. Batting 1st or 6th, he went 2-8. Therefore, he’s showing discipline by getting on base and producing runs.
On July 1, he was batting .259 with .320 OBP. Presently he stands at .274 and .330 OBP. I think hitting ahead of Jeter is helping him see better pitches, thus improving his performance. Thus I like seeing him that spot which allows Jeter to drive in runs.
NO NO NO rocco dont tell me i havent seen it. saying it sucked doesnt care just no details lol.
This is from the analysis of cashman:
* 1/5/07: Signed Doug Mientkiewicz to 1-yr/$1.5M deal C
17 runs, 4 hrs, 16 rbis, .226 BA
o Mientkiewicz is a good backup player or pinch hitter on a championship team. However, with the Yankees, he was signed to play almost every day. Though he has no offense left (remember when he was 14th in AL MVP voting in 2001?), his defensive ability can serve a great purpose in the playoffs. However, it’s NOT the way to get to the post season. Championship first basemen need the stick, not leather.
The last line is either wicked stupid or i was asleep when dougie won a CHAMPIONSHIP with the sox…
Rocco—entourage did kind of suck last night. I’m somewhat disappointed with this season. Maybe this is the “lets get through this season to get to the events that will be fun to watch but if we do that now it’ll be too inconsistent” season.
lol andrea nice research
That analysis was actually being nice – i would give cash an F. Almost every move he has made has been detrimental to the team minus acquiring britton for wright. If u couldnt see this grade coming from a mile away u were being naive. Cash is also responsible for acquiring farnsworthless and I have to believe he had some say in getting pavano and wright. Cashman has the most leeway and payroll of any GM in the majors – two yrs ago and what does he do? Absolutely nothing to improve the team and actually makes them worse. I love how that analysis says absolutely nothing about the fact that not only did he trade sheff for nothing usefull now or possibly ever. But also he traded sheff to the best team in the AL – and it was known this off season that with one more big bat detroit would look incredibly. Good job cash! Not only did u weaken the yanks but u helped the team that knocked us out of the playoffs tremendously and they didnt even have to give us something useful – we could have asked for mike maroth or even a decent proven starter with all of their pitching – they gave away maroth for a player to be named later a couple of weeks ago. They wouldnt have given us him for a number three or four hitter.
The last line is either wicked stupid or i was asleep when dougie won a CHAMPIONSHIP with the sox…
The commisioner cancelled the 2004 season after game 3 of the ALCS remember?
lol ANDREA ROCCO!!! POSITIVE! that includes entourage too. and andrea i think im so loyal to entourage its like my baby even if it did suck i wouldnt be able to see it
Bobby Abreu got a haircut. Why does this somehow make me like him a little bit more? He doesn’t look as old and bushy.
Andrea
I liked the columbia episode but yeah the rest of it kind of sucked. Cannes should be fun if they do an ep there.
mike that better be a lie because i have taken way tooo much for that. i keep saying you didnt win kenny lofton lost it but they tell me “dave roberts” and some other filth flarm filth.
Gabbard of Red xoS is perfect through one!
Joe – I’m not “complaining” about a thing. I’ve made an observation that Abreu has been more successful recently batting 7th. On the same hand the Yankees have been winning with him batting 7th.
Coincidently, since July 1, he went 15 for 31 or .483 in that spot. In the two games he’s batted 3rd during July, he’s hitting .200 or 2 for 10. As far as his 5 RBIs on Saturday, that’s what he’s paid to do. BTW, that was his best RBI production in a game this season. Last season he had a couple of games where he drove in 5 and 7 respectively.
I hope that I’m wrong about Abreu and that he begins to play the way he’s capable of playing while batting 3rd. But most importantly, is that the team win regardless of the lineup.
I agree—the stuff with Columbia was good. I’m going to shut up about Entourage though so that ben doesn’t get upset.
Igawa’s not doing that badly. Maybe this is the game where he shows us that he figured it all out!
@Alan I saw that…lmao
I typed too soon.
scott s…..you liked that, huh ???
lol andrea its fine as long as you dont say oh in this one vinny dies. and give something away. my dad took aaway my hbo. but at school next year we get it so im happy. but we do get nesn i was hoping because its closer to ny wed get yes
i wish kei was good then we could make signs like: k (backwards) igawa
My, Oh, My…the K-Man Mows down Frank Thomas ! if he can keep this up for 6 more innings….I will EAT ALL OF MY WORDS…..( alas, but would we ALL like a repeat of this inning ?...retire 2, give up a hit, walk one, then a K ? ) I am going for the Pepto right now, just to be safe (wink)
or make “kei” signs with a big K for every strikeout
That analysis is not fair, Clemens and Pettite have been given zero run support. Viz has been overworked, and it was obvious to everyone Sheff was going to be traded so they could not have gotten a better deal. Cash gets a C at least, you cannot assume injuries would hit the Yankees to the extent they have this season.
the analsysis also says incredibly well why the yanks minor league system would have been one of the best without any of cashmans supposed “building up the farm system.” Hughes, chamberlain, Clippard, Betances, Cox, Melancon, Marquez and many other very high caliber pitchers were in the farm before last off season started.
i found a clinical study online. heres a direct quote:
“Despite all of the work the yankees have done to prevent drug usage, the placement of igawa and farnsworth in games has launched the use of illegal drugs ten-fold in the greater Manhattan area”
Good evening everyone!! Miss me??
here’s to a Yankee win!!
I think that Cash thought that this year was going to go well enough to avoid any pressure. He is playing the long game (also known as the game that can get your rear fired in the short term)
The rash of hammy pulls at the start of the year aside, there were obvious holes on the club coming into the year at 1B, bench, and 4 and 5 in the rotation. These have not (ahem) turned out well. (Captain Obvious strikes again)
But the long term is pretty darn rosy with Hughes, Chamberlain, et al. I don’t see great position players yet but I didn’t know that Sori and Cano would turn out like they did. Right now I would give Cash a C+ and keep him, but I hope that he is an A+ by 2009.
Welcome back SJ – good to see you here and glad to hear the lads are fighting/working hard in Tampa!!!
Man…Glaus is like a jackrabbit out there with his reflexes !!!
welcome back jennifer
well, if Bobby works a walk..I would LOVE to see them plunk A-Rod and load the bases !!!
jennifer where have you been!!!
clinical study—nice
Ben—where are you going to school? I went to college right near the border of NY and MA, and there were more Sox fans than yankees fans. It was rough. And I was there in 2004.
Jennifer—you seem like the type to join our optimism club. we’re being optimistic about every play, every game, every series.
Can they stop talking about the HA thing!! Come on. It is old news!
Why do any of the GMs around the league become free agents. I wouldnt mind seeing what guys like Bean or even minaya would do with a 200 + million dollar payroll
How many runs win this game – - – I say 7!
Jennifer,
Did you call Michael Kay on the Dan Patrick show? There was a Jennifer from New York.
At some point Mr. Torre has to acknowledge how crippling it is to have a .244 hitter batting leadoff.
I was down in LBI all weekend. Got myself a nice tan.
It was beautiful this weekend.
Sure I’ll join the optimism club.
Nope that wasn’t me. I’m not the type to call. I might threaten it, but wouldn’t do it.
Bryan is back everyone!!!!!
At some point Mr Cashman needs to put that 240 hitter(Career Low OPS also) on the DL.
Bring up Shelly Duncan and let him DH.
By the way, I miss not not having to listen to Michael Kay. Took it for granted in that TB series.
like I said…the plunking would have been better there….(wink)....Well, I don’t think he is out of the woods yet, as I would not be surprised IF given a better opportunity, that A-Rod gets some Chin Music before all is said and done tonight…...( STORY at 11 ! )
okay Andrea I know I said i’d join the optimism club. but I think I might already be out of it. Can you find something optimistic about Kei’s pitching preformance so far?
All I got is the fact he pitched a scoreless first
Can you find something optimistic about Kei’s pitching preformance so far?
He has a 0.00 ERA for this game, has struck out a batter an inning, and is set up for an inning ending DP
Now is that optimism or what
is it ME ? or does the K-Man look a little FIRED UP ???
Jenn – 46.2 innings pitched, no broken bones or torn muscles.
Optimism LIVES!
and has a few K’s
Optomism…NOT ONE SINGLE Blue Jay has advanced past 2nd base in this ENTIRE GAME !!!!
Okay I found something 3 strike outs.
yea jennifer its really great we only speak positively! im going to roger williams in bristol, RI. it should be a good time. at least there were some yanks fans there at my high school it was acceptable to be gay (the way it should be) so “coming out of the closet” was announcing youre a yanks fan haha. there we 10 people “out” in a grade of 400-500
Cumulatively, we’re pretty optimistic
He`s still getting paid less money per SO than Carl Pavano
Mike and TKinDC—that’s what I’m talking about!
The good thing about Igawa today: he’s not wearing those goofy sunglasses. I can only see that as a good thing.
I won’t say anything else because I have a habit of jinxing.
hey the yanks havent lost yet thats optimism
One of my friends had tickets to tonights game and she gave them away because she couldn’t bear to watch Kei pitch. LOL
andrea you do its scary predict something good for the jays!
hahah i yealled “AH” at my computer and he whiffed
Alan—I was thinking that. But again, I’m a jinxer. Good thing I didn’t type it or I’d feel bad now.
ben-
RI is definitely Sox land. That’s a lot worse than where I was-up near Albany.Um…
I think Igawa freaks out when there’s a baserunner on second or third. A walk directly after someone got on second base.
Igawa still has averaged less than 20 pitches per inning
I am positive that the Blue Jays will either score a run with this AB…or they won’t….
Load the bases for Alex Rios…nice
What is Gator saying to Kei Igawa? Can he even understand him?
Jennifer—I was offered a ticket to go today but I graciously declined. I have tickets for Thursday, and that’s Wang day, so I think I’m good.
2 scoreless innings from Igawa! Way to pitch!
Two consecutive shutout innnings. Think about that. Who needs Phillip Hughes!!!!
Escaped that jam!
That wasn’t the best situation for Igawa to be in, but luckily he got out of it.
Igawa’s on pace for 4 or 5 scoreless innings! I’m positive that the bullpen will respond by giving up a few runs.
WOO HOO!
2 IP 0 ER!
i dont get when people cross stuff out. WHAT! lol
I am Positive that I just took my first dose of Pepto AND that I will need more B4 the nite is over….
I got this from the YES boards anti-Arod shirts for sale!
http://neighborhoodies.com/anti-arod-p-135.html
Holy crap, I cannot believe Igawa got out of that unscathed! Good for him!
For those of you watching on TV is he really wearing the sunglasses? He is in the game pic on yankees.com. Optimism, look how well he pitched when he wore them vs Bos!
Tseng….you are OUT of the club !!!...(wink)
Matsui is ON FIRE!!!
HEELS YEA!
Godzilla is on fire!
What is Gator saying to Kei Igawa? Can he even understand him?
Gator: ARE…YOU…OKAY
Igawa: Smiles and nods
Gator: JUST….STAY…FOCUSED
Igawa: Smiles and nods
Gator: OKAY….BYE
Igawa: Smiles and nods
GODZILLA!!!
ben: when I cross stuff out it’s by accident. I type with a lot of—and when you type two of those it crosses out everything in between. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t mean it when I do it.
I took my French friend to a Yankee game when she was here visiting, and she’s a big Matsui fan now. I email her every time he hits a home run. she gets excited. I think she can be on Team Optimism.
Godzilla is back! I can’t believe the way he is tearing it up!
i just literally did the fisk haha
KC is hanging with Boston… 0-0 in the 4th…
Posada had a HR. Imagine how far A-Rod will hit one
Godzilla reppin’ w/the run support for his fellow countryman! Yay Matsui! YAY OPTIMISTS!
Go-Go-Godzilla!
Girl in the USA jersey catching the Japanese All-star. That’s cool.
Anyone else listening to CBS? If I could be paid $100 for every blown homerun call by Sterling I would never have to work again.
GET LASIK!!!
(Other than that I like him
)
Oops. That was a guy. I assumed it was a girl b/c of the hair and he was hugging a guy. My bad.
mike nyy LOL!!!
alright andreaAww almost had back to back to back.
Kei igawa will strike out the side in order in the 3rd. YEY team optimism!
Robbie Cano!
ROBBIE CANO DONTCHA KNOW!!
Sterling misses a ton of calls and I hate his need for a call for every player but you can really tell he loves his job. I actually feel sorry for him with all the criticism he gets. Maybe he should be tried with a different partner.
Canoe!
Matsui was being written off as being old and breaking down despite the wrist injury he was coming back from. 14 HRs just past the all star break. Pretty much on track to have a typical Matsui year.
Cano had to be traded or sent down to the minors.
It sure would have been nice to have 3 homers in a row. Towers is sure getting hit hard this inning, as in, balls being hit very hard.
I don’t mind Sterling missing calls every now and then…however, I do mind him taking forever to update me on the score whenever i’m catching the game in the car.
HOLD THE LEAD! has anyone seen “safe at home” 1962, with maris and mantle? my dad wants that movie “kill the umpire” but i can only find the two togehter. so if anyone can give me anything about it thatd be wicked good. i dont trust amazon and those crazy cats
Yeah Charlie Steiner and Sterling were great.
Despite all of Sterlings shortcomings I do know one thing be true. Given the choice between listening to John Sterling or Michael Kay for 3 hours. I’ll pick Sterling every single time.
Mike, don’t you understand that the game is really just a vehicle for us to bask in the glow of J. Sterling’s deathless prose???
yeesh
Mike NYY, I definitely think Sterling would be alot more tolerable w/a different partner…it’s Suzyn that really upsets the apple cart as far as I’m concerned. I wonder why they don’t give Tino a try, he filled in for Suzyn one night last year and I thought it went great..
Same grafxkid
Does Towers have a K yet? If not then we’ve got a good shot at scoring no less than a hundred gazillion runs. I`m writing off Igawa’s struggles in the 2nd because of him sitting on the bench for a while due to my sudden surge of optimism
mel i thought it was a girl then i was like wait is that a guy?
Mike, don’t you understand that the game is really just a vehicle for us to bask in the glow of J. Sterling’s deathless prose???
Lol
BBB, Suzyn actually just signed an extension
So what does everyone think…if ARod gets HBP as a result of “HA!”, does Proctor bean back?
I went to Hughes’ rehab start on Fri. and Trenton was playing New Hampshire, the Jays’ affiliate…every time there was an infield popup, I totally yelled “HA!” Gotta represent for Alex!
FIRE SUZYN, KENNEDY, HAZEL MAE, MORGAN, BUCK, KEN ROSENTHAL, AND JOE BUCK’s partner in crime
Gabbard of Red xoS is perfect through 4 !
I am POSITIVE that we will score 7 or more runs this game and I am POSITIVE that it will be very likely that we will need all of them….
proctor is the only one with balls
Igawa is like an Asian Jaret Wright, only somehow worse (thus far). I’m still hoping that he somehow fixes everything and becomes a decent starter..
F!@#
Okay what is positive about that?
oh
I am POSITIVE that I don’t like being right about my last post….DANG !!! We got the bats though….GO YANKEES !!!
suc-kei strikes again.
Must stay optimistic….
Must stay optimistic….
I think the announcers are a little too harsh on Kei. I mean, i agree with everything they’re saying, but calm it down a little.
hopefully this will be his last game in pinstripes.
alan is nostrudomus i swear. JENNIFER ROCCO… it isnt supposed to be easy. we have to fight
igawa is done. once one of the young guys can pitch, i would be shocked to see this clown again.
by far the worst signing of the cashman era(up there with pavano,wright, and womack)
The positive is that Igawa has not given the Jays the lead. Hm, maybe Igawa should burn his gear too.
Igawa got squeezed. Inning would’ve been a lot different if he got the call on Wells.
oh oh I have something positive. Phil will be back soon!!!
This umpire is as wild as Igawa. I would say this is a good thing, but Igawa is clueless where the strike zone is. Especially when he is up on all these guys. Maybe fans should not clap at 2 strikes so he doesn’t know the count.
there you go jen
We have a 54% chance of winning this game!!!!!
Enough is enough. I have read through that appaling and biased report and then some even more ill-informed scathing things here.
I started to write my response but it is turning into a 10 000 word document so now let me just say that I think Cash had a very difficult job last winter, because after the Tampa run years the team was old and expensive. Cash had to keep the team competitive while trying to develop talent. He couldn’t wave the big cheque book at most top players because they want 5 yr deals and that is what he is trying to steer the team away from. Do you really want Lilly keeping Kennedy out of the rotation in 3 years time?
Essentially he tried to keep the team in the game with players he can move when Tabata, Hughes, Chamberlain, Kennedy, Horne, Marquez, et al run the roost they are complimented by veterans Posada, Jeter and ARod, not underachieving, over-paid former superstars. The team would be also tied with Boston right now if not for the crazy run of injuries which lost us about 5 or 6 starting pitchers (esp Pavano, Hughes and Karstens), Damon’s troubles, Giambi despite DHin getting hurt. Plus Abreu and Cano have played very badly – contrary to every scouting report!
I’ll post my take on the deals individually as the game goes on. At the least it should give the Cashman haters something new to snarl at every 20 mins!!
what mike?
Yeah I agree with Dimitri, it should be 2-1. He got the call on Thomas that he probably didn’t deserve as a sort of “compensation” at least.
Now we just need to answer back! Damon then the top of the order coming up! (Haha is it wrong that Damon is tantamount to the no 9 batter in my mind right now..prove me wrong Johnny!!!)
what mike?
http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?gameid=270716110
you guys seriously thought there was a chance kei igawa might hold a two-run lead? really?
don’t disagree even a little bit with the evaluation of cashman. his winter of 2006 is like a perfect storm of idiocy.
OK…now it is time for Bobby to get on…nice bit of hitting by Jeter again….Is it me, or is he hitting a “soft” .333 ???(joke)
got it. and kasey you arent invited to the optimists club
An A BOMB FOR A ROD!
OK,,,after THAT bomb…I bet, no matter what, they BEAN the ROD !!!
Brian,
Your points are very well made. This year Cashman was trying to break the endless cycle the yankees have been stuck in:
Sign older free agent to long term contract – lose draft picks – watch player lose athleticism and break down.
How many times did we see that? There just no future there. It doesn’t work.
The Tampa people arguably ran the worst draft in all of baseball. It wasn’t until 2004 when Cashman started to get the organization moving back in the right direction with the draft and young pitching.
He made mistakes with Pavano and Wright. But to his credit he learned the right lesson.
MVP MVP MVP MVP!!!!!
HA!!!!
Hey Peter- Don’t you think Cash is looking to turn some of these bad moves into one or two really good moves. I mean he’s got trade chips. Looks like we just want to hold on to Phil, Joba and Ian anyway.
I like to see them run out potential DPs. A lot of people just give up when they see where they hit the ball. The Yankees (a lot of them) run out DP, and they run out pop ups, just in case. Case and point: Chris Basak.
Every time A-Rod hits a home run it’s closer and closer to my sunday season ticket seats.
cha ching!
Right Kasey – we would be so much better off with Randy Johnson keeping Pavano company on the DL, with Sheff being Sheff (future head of United Nations), and some new GM who would have panicked and gotten rid of the young pitching on the way!!!
A-BOMB!!!
Now does he get beaned?
thats a great coincidence… am i the only one who still insists to his friends that roger is the real homerun king?
How many homers for Rod 32?
OH…
McDonalds commercial count = 0!
YEY!
thirtEEE twUuu HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES TJ!
KC trailing BoSox by 2 but have bases loaded, 2 out
If he gets beaned Proctor better throw back! Or Farnsworth should…cause if he got suspended, we’d have a short respite from his 8th inning antics..
andrea are you sure you are a 23 year old young lady. youre like a 40 year old- columnist (who isnt dumb)
I’d get Bruney to do it ! He needs a bigger target!!! and he seems to be a little ornery
Tkin… not anymore and here here BBB
UGH Kei got the runs back. He better not give them back
You can talk about the Sheffield deal, the Johnson deal, Igawa, Phelps, etc…
But the most important personnel move made in the off season was Cashman refusing to even entertain the idea of trading ARod.
Gabbard of Red xoS has one-hitter through 5 !
everyone. the season may not be going the way we want but we have been privy to two great games these past two days
True TK, Bruney looks like he could definitely throw down with the best of them. Farns has been so useless on the mound though and at $7m a year, he might as well earn his keep by kickin some azz! Which we all know he can do..Paul Wilson anyone? LOL
Can Clemens speak Japanese? Igawa is averaging 20+ pitches per inning this game and Rocket seems to pitch about 12 when he is on.
I am afraid we just picked up Kei to jump on the Dice-K express after the train had already left the station. Asian posters (self-described) to this site have said that he was not well regarded.
But we are ahead and will WIN!!!
On the bad news front …........Igawa will be a free agent after the 2012 season.
ben: you caught me, I’m a 40 y.o. man posing as a 23 year old. Just to trick you!
BBB: Farns isn’t coming in today. Torre told Kim Jones. God I despise her. So let’s count on someone else. Hopefully not Proctor. He can’t get suspended again.
if all of igawas outtings are like this i can deal with it
andrea as long as youre positive it doesnt matter
how is THAT not a strike???....K-man IS getting squeezed !
Dontcha think Proctor would volunteer to peg a guy just so he can get another rest to make sure his arm remains attached to his torso?
Andrea is a man? Is this an Austin Powers thing?
Andrea, Why do women hate women?
Someone, I think Varitek?, would write Japanese phrases on his arm to communicate with a Japanese pitcher. Maybe Jorge should try this? Or just get Matsui in there! Doesn’t he speek English well enough to do a bit of translating?
I guess Igawa has to earn the trust of the umpires just like bulllpen guys have to earn the trust of Joe!!!!!!!!!!!!
ok—I’m really not sure what a balk really is. Things get called balks and I dont’ get it, and then other things don’t. Can someone explain it to me for sure?
wells is on my fantasy team. it makes things complicated but hey if wells hits one out. i can be positive!
Guys gonna be at 100 pitches through 4 innings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balk
Phil Hughes – where art thou?
Andrea, duh, I should have figured Farns wasn’t pitching today after back-to-back days of futility. And you’re right, Proctor can’t get suspended again so looks like Bruney’s our man!
btw, I hate Kim Jones too. Must be a chick thing lol.
although i do like that better. a balk is basically when a pitcher tries to deceive the runner is what ive heard.
McDonalds Commercial count = 1
BOOOOO
Yeah I really think if Iggy has to be in