Pinch hitting: Sox and Pinstripes
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- January
- 19
January is usually a slow month for baseball news. So we’ve lined up a series of guest bloggers to entertain you. Next up is Vince from Sox and Pinstripes. He’s the Pinstripes part.
Vince is a junior at Quinnipiac University and hopes to break into sports analysis as a future career. He started blogging in June of 2006 when he was bored after a move with his parents to Boynton Beach, Fla. Vince is from South Brunswick, N.J., and his family has passed down the Yankees addiction since the 1920’s. Here’s his post:
Though I believe numerous pitchers will be primed by the second half of the season to turn into quality relievers, and I think Ross Ohlendorf has a Manny Delcarmen-like year, I just can’t say I trust a bullpen with the best middle relief veterans having names like “Farnsworth” and “Hawkins.”
Right now I feel like the Yankees’ roster recipe has all the ingredients of a gourmet meal but the fat hasn’t been eliminated and the recipe is yet to be stirred. There are two proven starters capable of combining for 35 wins, three rookies with enormous upside, but an innings cap, and one washed-up-but-capable-of-turning-in-a-quality-performance veteran.
It’s not that I have an issue with the current roster because I think with a couple of breaks any of these teams the last three years are in the ALCS or better, it’s that I’m so sick of going into each season with the same exact question marks, but no real solution to fix it.
Can you blame Brian Cashman, Randy Levine or George Steinbrenner for not spending ridiculous money on a reliever when they have two things working on the contrary?
1. Relievers are proven to not be proven year in and year out.
2. The Yankees farm system is overflowing with pitching talent.
Can you blame anybody for throwing a lineup out there that includes Damon, Matsui, Cabrera, Cano, Rodrigez, Jeter, and Posada every night? With Giambi, Duncan, Betemit and Molina in the mix? It’s a solid offense and a solid bench yet I know when push comes to shove in the postseason, asking for more than four runs is like asking Carl Pavano to have worth.
Can you blame the lack of a true, solid, all-around first baseman when there are none available out there until 2009?
Can you blame anybody for re-signing Andy Pettitte who won 15 games and should have won more, had a four ERA as a two starter in the AL East and pitched shutout baseball in October? Or for keeping Chien-Ming Wang? Or for going into action with Phil Hughes, the projected future ace, Joba Chamberlain the phenom and Ian Kennedy the guy who pitched to a sub-two ERA in limited action last year?
All of those guys are major league ready and Mike Mussina is not, so you’re stuck with six starters until an injury. Who can you sign that can actually contribute, but is willing to be an insurance policy? It makes no sense and there are no real solutions. As a result, you have to go into action with what you have and it either reaches its potential which is championship caliber, it goes middle of the road which is playoff contender, or this turns into a transition year and in 2009 you have four starters with no innings cap, all of whom under the age of 30. I’ll take it.
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on Saturday, January 19th, 2008 at 12:06 am by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Thanks for the post Vince and good luck in school.
Nice work man. For whatever reason, I still don’t think Mike Mussina is washed up. I have a feeling he’ll prove some people wrong next season (or maybe I’m just being a dillusional fan).
Vince—Great to see you came up with an idea, and you followed it through excellent!
I’ve told you before I enjoy your blog
A bullpen is crucial, however…it’s what did us in last year…and if we’re going to rely on so many young arms then we really need to know that we have a bullpen that we can rely on…
No sports article is complete without a food metaphor. Kudos.
Nicely done Vince.
I am going to reluctantly agree that 2006 was the last very good year for Mussina in pinstripes. He’s spent his entire career in the AL East, a feat that is to be commended and boggle the mind considering he’s been working with diminishing stuff for the past three or four seasons. Yankee fans must hope for a return to the Moose of 2006, but I just don’t see it unless his fastball at least returns to average velocity – this 85 mph stuff just won’t cut it in the AL. Now, if he were pitching in San Diego like Maddux. . . maybe.
I wish I had the patience to wait for 2009
Baseball is full of surprises and littered with tales of guys who stunk but caught lightning in a bottle. Three that come to mind are Aaron Small (Yankees), Shawn Chacon (Yankees), and Jeff Weaver (won WS with the Cardinals). You just never know.
The odd thing about the first half of last season is that the lineup, rotation, and bullpen couldn’t get on the same page for chunks of the schedule. A lot of things went wrong, like the Yankees were cursed. And they still ended up with the second best record in baseball.
I’m hoping that things will get off to a much better start. The guys will have a renewed energy with a new manager, an infusion of youth, and vintage MOOOOOSE.
Well done Vince.
Not one mention of sending joba to the BP, nice going. We all know that the BP is going to be key this year, as it always is. This year, with so many question marks in the starting rotation, it is even more so. Hopefully the young guys can and will step up and give us a help line out of the BP.
Vinces’ take on the starting rotation is great. Which ever way it goes, we must live with it this year. Next year, with the experience they will have had, we should see a very good rotation. Even if one of these guys fall there are more in the MIL…Horne, Marquez, Pope even some one like Dunn, Brackman down the line. I truly believe we will be much better if we can tough it out for this year. 27/08
good balanced view.
though i don’t think Moose is washed; he had consistent life on the ball at the end of 2007. I don’t expect 200 innings, he’s no longer a horse: i think it’s realistic that he’ll give value in 15-25 spotted starts, with some relief spots.
People always leave out Kei Igawa! 5 inning shutout ball in september man! come on!
Put it this way as far as Mussina is concerned: I’d rather him, Igawa and Horne (among other potential callups)make up some starts over the Desalvo, Karstens, Rasner, Wright, Pavano train we had to deal with last year.
Joba to the pen is something I’ll see before I believe it in disappointment.
Go Bobcats!
I think you’re too negative about Mussina. He had a solid year in 2006 and a bad year in 2007. It wouldn’t suprise me if he rebounds in 2008. Moose is a proud guy, and he’s going to fight to keep his spot in the rotation.
I would love to see Igawa start to show that he has enough to contend in the majors. That’s a lot of money to spend on a minor league pitcher.
I think Eiland will do a lot of good for all these pitchers. When he came up Hughes straightened out in a fairly short time. Maybe he will have the clue for what Wang needs to put him over the top, and maybe even Igawa will get his strike zone from having time with him.
I just don’t think it is realistic to expect him to contribute anything consistant or to stay healthy. I would say I had faith in him with his smaller 5/6 starter role, but he has demonstrated an inability to pitch when thrown off schedule. I’m not ruling out that Mussina can pitch as well as he did for parts of 2006, but I doubt he can do it consistantly and it is certainly not something I expect with no pitch to set any of his stuff up.
www.soxandpinstripes.com
I think alot of people are overlooking a key aspect to the Yankees..one of the best closers in the game. How many teams would love to give up a decent bullpen for a 5 star closer. Mo isn’t what he used to be, but he’s still better than 95% of the closers out there. Bullpens never look the same way they looked in April and May. Changes will be made, pitchers will be moved. Kei Igawa, while I hated him this past season, may have needed a season to adjust to the U.S. I don’t expect him to win 20 games, but a solid reliever is not out of his realm. All in all, we know Cashman will find bullpen relief during the season. Our offense doesn’t need much tweeking. A first baseman is all we truly NEED, and every offense has holes. You can’t expect to have a Championship team on paper going into every season. In the free agent era, it just isn’t possible. One good year and a guy will demand more money. On a ssidenote, we should be grateful Wang isn’t asking for 12 million a year, or more.
good post! im down on moose but im optimistic that igawa or karstens will step up to the plate and give the yanks a suprise 5/6 starter.
G-MEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No team is satisfied with their bullpen. Relief pitching being what it is, all teams are looking to upgrade.
In the case of the Yankees, spring training will answer the vital questions in how the roles will be established.
Some fans see Hawkins as a bad move but his role will only be to eat up an inning when a starter has reached his pitch count ceiling in the 6th or 7th inning.
In the interests of smart usage and keeping fresh arms, Joe Girardi can flip-flop any of 3-4 pitchers for work leading up to the set-up man and ultimately to the closer. Farnsworth or another reliever (Veras ?) need to step up to claim the role of set-up and occasional closer.
This spring training will see the best competition of young arms in several years.
While this is what I want, this is ALSO what I believe the Yankees will do: Joba starts the years in the BP!
So our pen is not terrible. If Veras or any one jid steps up, we will have a pretty dominating 7,8 and 9th.
Nice work Vince. (Good baseball blood lines, too).
I tell you, I was all for getting Santana at any cost, but the more I learn about our young kids I have now changed my mind. It is going to be a fun year. Let the kids play
Good post! I can blame Cashman for putting together a bad bullpen year after year.
Multiple Quinnipiac..hmm.
Look at Quinnipiac go!
Good job, Vince. I agree with you about the bullpen, but ours is simply not good enough to compete in October. We’ll win the 162, but we’re not taking the 11 with this pen. That being said, I’m OK with that looking at what 2009 can bring.
“I just can’t say I trust a bullpen with the best middle relief veterans having names like “Farnsworth” and “Hawkins.”
Thanks for the article, Vince.
I can understand your point, but don’t under-estimate the impact that Girardi’s new “braintrust” (Contreras/Eiland/Harkey/Monteleone) will have on the pitching staff.
Although its a different sport, the NY Giants were able to get to the NFC Championship when most were predicting an 8-8/7-9/9-7 Season. Excellent scouting and effective coaching had an impact on their fortunes, as it will with the 2008 Yankees.
Vince,
I claim a bias – when I read you were from South Brunswick, NJ, I knew I was going to like your post! My family lived in Monmouth Junction for about 10 years (89 – 98).
It was a good post, I thought. The only thing I disagree with you is, like a few people so far, is exactly what Mike Mussina is going to bring to the table. I don’t think he’s washed up, but I will agree with your last entry, that his consistency might be questionable. I still like his experience, and if he can adust to a modified schedule, and if he has no injury issues, I think he can win 10 to 12 games.
So much of the baseball season comes down to luck or fate, or throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. At least, as you said, there are some quality ingredients there. Now for the fine-tuning, right?
Vince,, thank you for the contribution.
One disagreement, don’t underestimate the power of a contract year to an over the hill veteran, such as Mussina and Giambi. These guys are obviously well past their prime, but they will come prepared this year to bring it all because in a sense they are playing to extend a career and cash in on FA in the process.
Mussina may not win as much as 10 games, and Giambi may not even hit 25/80/.270 but it sure as hell won’t be due to lack of preparation or intensity.
Good situation for the Yankees.
Vince –
Just visited your site. I like the concept, and I love the set-up.
I agree with the article, the team as constituted will win even if we don’t know which pitcher pitches the 6th, 7th or 8th. My only critique of the article is the early tenor of the article is negative to the Yankees. On most sites, that would be ok, but if I was writing a site that debated Yankees-Red Sox I would definitely be more upbeat. Although this guy might be a bit gunshy after probably taking more than his share of abuse on his own site. So I respect Vince, he is on the front lines of this battle.
There ya go – Latham Joe (hey, that rhymes). I agree with your thoughts on the coaching staff. Joe Girardi has able assistance in spring training.
Also include Gil Patterson who is highly valued for the work he’s done to push the lower level prospects up to AA and AAA.
I prefer to be realistic.
How bad was our 1st half team?
How good was our 2nd half team?
Which team was the real Yankees?
Is the 2008 team better then the 2nd half 2007 team?
The math seems pretty easy to me.
A-Rod still working out with Mientkiewicz this off season and he found another friend to play with too.
http://www.miamiherald.com/519/story/385553.html
morning all
For those who say Mussina won’t be consistent throughout the year….
WHO WAS???
Pettitte had a great year but hit slumps where he was terrible. Wang as well.
I agree that he’s not as safe of a bet, but is it not possible that Mussina was a little worn down or had some minor injury that plagued him?
He seemed to pitch much better after he got that little time to rest in September.
Nobody knows what to expect from him this season, so why are most people assuming he’s finished and useless?
Igawa showed flashes. if he can keep the ball down, he’ll be effective, as he misses bats.
but i guess you could say that about a lot of pitchers who never make it; command is rare.
Vince – nice job.
Boston Dave – I agree with you about Mussina. I am hoping that we can get some quality starts and innings from him.
Boston Dave- good point, but I think it’s safe to say Pettitte and Wang were a lot more consistant than Mussina. I think a huge factor is how well Hughes pitched in September and October-when he was originally expected to be called up. Besides the innings cap, I don’t see a Hughes adjustment as far as major league seasoning goes.
Jeff- Haha, perhaps I have been a little more objective about what I truly expect from the Yankees from the site.
To be fair, I had Tigers-Dodgers in the WS in 2007, so I may actually not know anything.
In all seriousness, all I’ve seen since 2004 is inconsistant starting and an unreliable bullpen when the season is on the line. Add in the random offensive outages and it’s frustrating when our biggest weapon as fans is to hope the bullpen can form as the season continues.
Trust me though, there is nothing more I would love for my site than to see Yankees fans overthrow the Sox fans when the Yankees pass them this season.
Just to add on to what Boston Dave said about the Moose: he had a .348 BABIP last season, which was the second highest in the AL. Moose had a low HR/9 rate (less than a home run per inning), though admittedly his other peripherals (K/9 and BB/9) were down.
Watching Mussina pitch, especially during that awful stretch before he was removed from the rotation, surely leads credence to the view that Mussina lost something last year (that something clearly being fastball velocity), which definitely explains his reduced K/9, but that does not necessarily lead to a higher BABIP. In short, in addition to Mussina showing signs of age last year, I think that was compounded by some unluckiness (batted balls not finding gloves) which made Mussina look even worse than he actually is.
I think it’s really hard to predict anything from Mussina next year as a result; even if his K/9 and BB/9 remain relatively constant, a drop in BABIP probably brings Mussina to a more-than-serviceable 4th or 5th starter, and I really don’t think the Yankees need anything more from him in 2008.
I know Joba will be on a innings cap, but will the Yankees really start him out in the bullpen? I would think that they would want to see how well he could handle being a starter fairly early so they could see how he handles more innings, more batters coming around for a second or third time, use of all his pitches. He can always be moved back to the bullpen to keep his innings count down, but if he just doesn’t quite have “it” as a starter, isn’t it better to know that earlier in the season?
I think the whole reason why people are so down on Mussina is because he failed so spectacularly. It was like a complete melt down, rather than just a game or two of some struggles.
Go PatPats!
In response to whoever said anything about how the Yankees would have a fine regular season but wouldn’t win on the playoffs:
I think it is absurd to say a team can win in the regular season but not in the playoffs. The postseason is mostly luck and is NOT about smallball or manufacturing runs or saving 1 run leads with the bullpen more than any other time of year. It is a game where you try and win but the rules don’t change. Trying to change the way you play in th postseason will get you a loss every time.
Baseball postseasons are extremely flawed and in my opinion rediculous, because any team can win 3 out of 5. But that doesn’t mean the bullpen is magically more important than the regular season. A win is a win.
Jaewon-on the flip side, in the playoffs you solely take on presumably solid teams. You face the toughest rotations and the toughest bullpens. If you are winning your regular season games partly thanks to the best offense in baseball and partly thanks to beating up on some teams you don’t see in the postseason, you most certainly can win in the regular season and not the playoffs.
I realize going 6-0 against the Indians counteracts this point, but they beat Carmona once, did not face Sabathia, Jacobs Field was not as big of a homefield advantage and Wang collapsed. Midges hurt too. This, all in hindsight of course.
Joba will start in the rotation and will be in the bullpen for the playoffs. Moose is going to turn it back around this season. He had a bad start due to an injury. He missed part or all of spring training. Moose isn’t hurt and will report on time. Hopefully, he will be able to build the armstrength that he was unable to build up last year. I think that the five man rotation will be:
Wang
Pettitte
Hughes
Joba
Moose
IN the playoffs:
Wang
Pettitte
Hughes
Moose
With a bullpen of:
Joba
IPK
Mo
Hawkins
Kei
Farnsworth
Great post Vince and nice link Pat to the A-Rod article. I’m with those of you who beleive that the kids will prevail in the bullpen. Sick of seeing veteran relievers let us down. Rather see the yankees mix and match who’s hot out of the minors than see a bullpen with no options or answers. Hopefully with the logic of contract years Farnsworth steps up his game this year.
“I would say I had faith in him with his smaller 5/6 starter role, but he has demonstrated an inability to pitch when thrown off schedule.”
this is one of those things that just gets repeated so much that everyone accepts it, but the evidence doesn’t really support it.
2007 – days of rest/IP/ERA:
4 Days 67.1 5.35
5 Days 55 4.91
6+ Days 29.2 5.16
2006:
4 Days 151.1 3.45
5 Days 17 3.71
6+ Days 29 3.72
i don’t really see the evidence that Moose falls apart when he is taken off his regular rest.
i think within those numbers are probably a few bad starts that he had on non-regular rest. then he probably blamed his performance on having too much rest, so the media has picked up on that and turned it into a soundbyte.
I agree with Jaewon and have said many times that Post Season is somewhat of a crapshoot. Generally, any Team that gets to Post Season is capable of winning a 5-game or 7-game series. Look at the last 10 years, Teams with the best records seldom win. Teams that get hot win. More recently, the 2006 Tigers were awful in the last Month, then dominated the Yankees, went to the World Series..and their vaunted pitching staff tanked against the underdog Cardinals. The 1996 Yankees won 92 games. The Cleveland Indians won 99 Games and didn’t make it to the ALCS. The Yanks were underdogs to the Atlanta Braves (96 wins) with their great pitching staff and still won the World series 4 Games to 2.
Be proud that the Yankees consistently put themselves in the position to win it all by making the Post Season for 13 consecutive years (14, if there was no Strike in 1994)!
So Dirk, Hughes and Joba who are on 150+/- IPs limits will start, and IPK who is good for 200 IPs won’t?
Jaewon – I agree with you. I made up an acronym RCNB: Random Chaotic Nature of Baseball. This is basically the same as ‘luck’, but many people object to the connotations of ‘Luck’, and I think RCNB expresses it better.
The PS used to be worse. Not that long ago, BOTH the Division AND Championship series were 5 games. Bug Selig is a complete moron. He was asked WHY the Division Series can’t be 7 games, and he said it would make the season too long and they would need to shorten the regular season. So what does he do last year? He adds the SAME TWO PS DAYS as ‘off days’, which only broke the continuity of the series and made them seem to drag on.
Way, way back when, for a few seasons, the WS was the best of 9 games. I would love to see the playoffs be 7, 7 and 9 games. This would be a much better indicator of the depth and strength of teams, and much less likely to be determined by RCNB or a weak team with the best #1 and #2. One way to do this would be NOT to shorten the regular season, but have the last 2 games played in a neutral, INDOOR stadium, with each of the 2 teams being the ‘Home’ team 1 of the 2 games. This would actually generate MORE income, and bring the WS to places like Minn. and Miami, and other cities, as more new parks are built with domes.
Vince – You are correct about better competition in the PS, but this applies to the other teams as well, who also ‘padding’ their winning record on weaker teams.
I would like to see TWO divisions, East and West, with 70%+/- of games within the division, and the rest interdivision and interleague. For the PS, the 2nd Place team in the East would play the 1st place team in the West, and visa-vera. The winner of those 2 series would play to determine who goes to the WS. Home team advantage goes to the 1st place team, or the team with the better regular season record when 1st plays 1st, or 2nd plays 2nd.
I think that is much fairer and more accurate in terms of the PS and the regular season. There would also be more competition amoung the top 2 teams in each division to finish 1st so they can play the weaker team in the other division.
Old Goat
Thank you. I have been saying the same thing about Joba starting. It is much easier to go ST to BP than it is the other way around.
hmmm
Moose was much better the last 2/3 games he pitched. His fastball was at 90/92 at times. Was it because of the rest, or an injury? I don’t know, but I do know that as one gets older one needs more rest. Maybe, it finally got through his stubborn head, that he is older and will need to skip a start every once in a while. 27/08
Good post, Vince. Love the gourmet meal analogy, and I agree no matter which of those 3 ways our pitching staff’s fate ends up unfolding this year, I’ll take it, cause the future is bright either way.
As far as Moose though, count me in with those who still believe in him. I think his stuff has been declining since about 2004 or so, but he’s still had some pretty effective stretches during that time; in 2006, I think he was top 5 in the AL in ERA. I don’t expect him to have another year like that but think he’ll rebound somewhat. Last year his early injury probably robbed him of a lot of velocity, so hopefully w/a strong spring this year, that’ll be a nonissue. This is his last year in baseball and I think he’ll go out stylin….and hopefully with a ring too, 27 IN 08!!
Ken and old goat- With you guys on Joba. I think he needs to start the season in the rotation. His secondary pitches will suffer if he doesn’t. Put a cap on him starting, stick him in the bullpen for the rest, and see where our other pitchers are at come playoffs. If we have 3 strong starters at that time maybe he stays in bullpen. If not let him start game fours in the play-off series’.
Old goat,
You can depend on the starters getting injured during the season. IPK will get plenty of innings. Wang, Pettitte, and Moose were all out at one time or another this past season. Kennedy will be the pitcher who fills in. Joba will get to about 125 innings—and then will be ushered back behind the fence for the rest of the year. Joba needs the experience of starting and using all of his pitches. If Joba is in the pen, he will be relegated to the 7th or 8th inning and again will not be able to use all of his pitches.
Nothing is etched in stone saying Igawa MUST be on the 25-man roster when spring training concludes.
Hank & Hal realize that Igawa was a counter move for Boston’s signing Matsuzaka that backfired. The best 25 players will see opening day and if Igawa doesn’t merit being on the roster then so be it.
Vince: It’s true that a team plays easy teams on a regular basis in the regular season and only tough teams in the post. But you’re not always facing the toughest bullpens or rotations or lineups for that matter; you’re facing the toughest teams. While it’s easier to beat up on the bad teams, to win 90+ games you have to be a good team who has beat playoff-caliber teams over the course of the season, even if it’s by simply outscoring them. My point isn’t that it’s easy to win in the post season, but if you win so many games in the regular season it doesn’t make sense to change your approach or put an emphasis on small ball/ saving slim leads.
Oh, well when you put it that way, I agree. The approach should not change and the Yankees are a dynamic offense to begin with. My point is that offenses tend to score less to begin with in the postseason because of the presumed better pitching. The pitching tends to face more of a challenge against the “tougher” lineups (at least in the american league), so far the Yankees rotation and bullpen have not been good enough to keep down the “tougher” lineups, that’s mainly been it.
I’m by no means saying these Yankees teams have not been good teams and have not had the chances to win, but, as I originally stated, the recipe hasn’t been quite finished yet.
BTW, thank you everybody for all the comments and feedback so far.
Doreen, did you enjoy your time there?
Excellent post regarding the format of the regular season and postseason! I have been thinking about the same sort of thing for a long time.
I like your idea of a 7-7-9 format for PS. It would be a much better indication of who the best team is. I would like to see them shorten the regular season to 150 games (14 vs. div. teams, 7 vs. other division teams and 17 interleague.) Then I would take away 1 off day in each PS round. The result would be a season that starts one week later than it does now, extends to a 7-7-9 PS format, and ends at the same time.
I didn’t like as much your suggestion of who gets into the PS. I like the 2 division format but I think the winners and the 2 best WC teams get in. Would hate to have a 2nd place team get into the PS after finishing 5 GB the 3rd place team from the other division. I don’t think your method encourages teams to try to finish 1st anymore than the current one does.
As for formatting the WS, I don’t like the neutral site idea. It takes the most exciting games away from the fans who deserve them. Also, my shortened season means the series wont be any colder than it is now.
But I really love the 7-7-9 format idea!
Vince –
I loved living in South Brunswick – my kids grew up there. The only reason we moved was for my husband’s job – we actually jumped at the opportunity to live outside of Chicago for 2 years. We didn’t move back to S.B., because I loved our old neighborhood (we were across from SBHS)so much and we couldn’t buy our old house back, so we ended up in Monroe instead.
It has changed, though. A lot more people, a lot of new housing developments.
I have a question. I seem to remember that Kyle Farnsworth is good every 2 years, or every other year. What would 2008 be, a good year or a not-so-good year, based on that premise? I can’t remember if he was supposed to be good last year and wasn’t, or if he just isn’t any good any more!
I thought that last year was supposed to be his good year. I don’t think he just isn’t any good any more
the other thing baseball has to do is take back control of the scheduling or PS games from the networks. MLB will have to settle for less money in right’s fees and schedule all PS games to start no later than 7:05 local time. Weekend games start no later than 4pm. They need to tell the networks, this is the way we will run the PS and just take the best bid they get, even though it will be less than the absolute maximum possible. By doing this, the game will be much more accessible to fans to watch and kids will be able to watch alot of it (if not all of it). i think in the long run the ratings will be much higher.
I was also under the impression the odd number years were his good ones.
2001: 2.74 ERA
2003: 3.30
2005: 2.32 and 1.98
Those were his good years.
I lived on Ridge Road between route 1 and 27! Not far at all. Did you know the Bondi’s? They lived in the neighborhood I think you speak of.
I made a post about a stat I invented that I planned to make guest post about here. THeir was some confusion over my blogs name though so I won’t be making one here. If anybody is interested its here:
http://riveravenuewatch.blogspot.com/2007/12/pitching-statistic.html
If you read it I`d appreciate any comments and a vote on the poll. Thanks
Another great guest post Vince
- Boston Dave “Nobody knows what to expect from him this season, so why are most people assuming he’s finished and useless?”
Um, because M&M IS useless and washed up…(atleast in the AL) Maybe he should’ve taken some of Rogers ass needles…Roger was still pretty good at Moose’s age no?
-george “Igawa showed flashes. if he can keep the ball down, he’ll be effective, as he misses bats.”
He may miss bats but he also misses the strike zone.
- Boston Dave “Nobody knows what to expect from him this season, so why are most people assuming he’s finished and useless?”
Um, because M&M IS useless and washed up…(atleast in the AL) Maybe he should’ve taken some of Rogers ass needles…Roger was still pretty good at Moose’s age no?
-george “Igawa showed flashes. if he can keep the ball down, he’ll be effective, as he misses bats.”
He may miss bats but he also misses the strike zone.
“Um, because M&M IS useless and washed up…(atleast in the AL) Maybe he should’ve taken some of Rogers ass needles…Roger was still pretty good at Moose’s age no?”
in other words, because i said so!
i have no way to explain his last few starts and playoff appearance, so i will just repeat my opinion louder and make a steroids joke!
pat,
Thanks for the link. I loved that story. Alex got burned talking about his workouts a few years ago, so he’s been pretty private about them since. I hope he has another monster year.
Hmm
I’m finding it very difficult to understand how people who actually watched Mike’s starts last year could argue that he was anything but washed up and over the hill.
So after a 3 week break he had a couple decent starts against bad teams…
That should give us all hope?
Godbless him but he’s cooked. The man has lost 6 mph on his fastball and throwing 84 and 83 will not work unless Tim Wakefield teaches him to throw knuckleballs.
Please excuse my lack of required effort but I have no interest in digging up stats. Since statistical evidence is what I assume you are after I’ll ask you if you’d like to dig up evidence that could somehow persuade me to forget all I watched from M&M last year?
Sorry but it’s Saturday if I wanted to work I’d have chosen a different profession.
Vince –
Yes! We still keep in touch a bit, but my husband used to play cards with Mr. Bondi and Mrs. Bondi and I bowled together.
For the last 4 years I was driving on Ridge Road to Route 27 to bring my daughter to school in Princeton!
Small world.
Regarding Farnsworth—So it means he really messed up the “schedule” last year! I’m just hopeful that Girardi is able to get something special out of him. Sometimes it is simply the tone of voice or the level of expectation from the manager/coach. He throws so hard, and he did have a few good outings last year – sparks of what could be. I almost feel like whoever is in charge of that bullpen is going to have to be like a chemist – knowing exactly how to mix things up in the exact quantities (as opposed to a chef, who has more freedom to fool around with the ingredients).
That’s wild, I went to high school with their daughters. I was very close with Kristen.
Yeah, perhaps Girardi can finally be the one to crack the Farnsworth mystery, but I’ll be content with his upgrade of bullpen management.
Good point about the bullpen and relief pitchers, Vince. I feel the same way about the Sox using the philosophy of building a bullpen from within. Some of these relievers’ salaries are crazy. Guys like Ron Mahay, Scott Linebrink, Octavio Dotel and Scott Downs getting all that money when it is definitely proven that the long-term success of a reliever is not guaranteed. The Twins and Padres know how to build bullpens. I see the Sox and Yankees following their lead.
Jeff
(the Sox part of Sox and Pinstripes)
www.soxandpinstripes.com
“Please excuse my lack of required effort but I have no interest in digging up stats. Since statistical evidence is what I assume you are after I’ll ask you if you’d like to dig up evidence that could somehow persuade me to forget all I watched from M&M last year?”
ok, it’s really not that hard.
he had 3 horrible starts in late august. that is undeniable. something was very wrong with him in those 3 starts.
outside of those 3 starts, he pitched 142 innings to a 4.31 ERA.
in other words, despite what you think you “saw”, Mike Mussina was a very servicable #4-5 starter last year up until the middle of August.
no one here is arguing that he will be returning to the top of the rotation anytime soon.
but i don’t see the evidence that he is “done” either. unless we are giving 3 bad starts more weight than his entire body of work in a borderline Hall of Fame career.
Great to see another Quinnipiac guy blogging!
Vince I always enjoyed your posts and your P.O.V over at your website and this wasn’t any different. Great job.
More importantly can you tell me if the “Red” house is still standing?
Great Job vince, Love your website!
LETS GO BOBCATS… CLAP CLAP CLAP ..CLAP CLAP!!!!
YANKEES IN 08
humble yanks > cocky boston
LETS GO G MEN AND CHARGERS
Great job Vince! Just want to throw out an idea that could significantly help the pen this year and beyond…hold off on Santana and call Billy Beane about a package for Huston Street. He’s a young, a solid closer who can set up for a year or two and then step in for Mo when he heads off to the Hall of Fame. The offer might sting a bit, but it will be worthwhile in the short term and long term.