Run, Yankees, run
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Feb 21, 2008 
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No audio today. To be honest with you, there wasn’t much you’d be interested in hearing.
A few quotes:
A-Rod on how much running the players are doing: “It’s a track meet. But I really welcome that. I like that. I’m kind of psycho myself.â€
Girardi on where Bobby Abreu will hit: “He’s done a very good job wherever he’s hit in the lineup. We’ll have discussions as we go though spring training, but Bobby’s hit third a lot in his career and been very successful there.”
A few tidbits:
* There will be live BP tomorrow. CMW, Mike Mussina, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy will be among those taking the mound. How’d you like to be a player in camp for two days who gets to face Joba, who has been in Tampa for a month?
* Girardi had a book written by John Wooden on his desk today. Joe Torre almost always had a Wooden book the desk. Then again, if you’re any sort of coach or manager, you should be reading what Coach Wooden has to say.
* New spring training instructor Tino Martinez needs work with the fungo bat. As he was trying to hit grounders to Jason Giambi and Shelley Duncan, he kept spraying line drives into right field. It looks easy, but there’s a real art to hitting grounders with the right spin.
* I followed around Joe Girardi today. He’s a guy who lets his coaches coach. He takes a lot of notes. I suspect once camp thins out, he’ll get more hands-on. He’s clearly evaluating what he has.
* You’ll be surprised when you see Joba. He has slimmed down a lot.
* Spent some time talking to Abreu today before the workout. He told me about a trip be made to Taiwan last month, mostly for pleasure but also for some business. Chien-Ming Wang was in Arizona at the time. But he arranged for his college coach, Min-Cheng Lin, to show Bobby around.
* CMW’s English is getting better, by the way. My Mandarin, however, still stinks. I know how to say “good morning” and “have a good game.”
learn to say “keep the sinker down” in mandarin
Pete,
Thanks for all your tidbits. They’re fun to read and really get me psyched for the upcoming games (pre-season or otherwise).
(fill in the blank)
Arod’s comment sounds like he wants Girardi to …..
If you can’t speak much Chinese, what was it like writing a book on Wang? Was it all through a translator, and if so, how much did that slow things down?
Pete,
You are really doing a great job with your stories and the blog this spring.
Very well done!
Senor: We wrote in English, it was translated over in Taiwan and they e-mailed us with any questions. Didn’t seem to slow it down much.
So how do you say “Have a good game” in Mandarin? And do you know the pinyin?
I love how this is reminding me so much of actual camp, but without the s’mores and Color War.
maybe i’m naive (or young), but i don’t think i knew who Wooden was until Mattingly’s comments last year.
“New spring training instructor Tino Martinez needs work with the fungo bat. It looks easy, but there’s a real art to hitting grounders with the right spin.”
Yeah it’s spring training for coaches too, LOL. I coach HS baseball and the first few days are spent shaking off the rust for us as well. Especially here in the NE where it’s 40 degrees. Overall though it’s the fly balls that take the longest to get in the groove with.
Thanks for the insight Pete.
Pete Abe, you are killing them out there this year. Great job.
Given how much of a hit that Connect Four was in the clubhouse a few years back, I don’t think an impromptu Color War breaking out in completely out of the question.
“It’s a track meet. But I really welcome that. I like that. I’m kind of psycho myself.â€
Arod to Girardi-Can we run some more and while were at it show up at 5 in the morning to do more running?
Teammates-Can someone please tell that psyhco to shut up!!!Better yet. We need someone to shadow alex and make sure he doesnt have any conversations with Joe.
Just thought i would write that for all the arod haters from the last thread.
from last thread
BOBCAT?
Has anyone heard from bobcat since all the Santana trade talks. Did he get fired for leaking all the info during the process to us? Very strange.
…How insane and amazing would that be?
Color War in the clubhouse?
I’m a little bit late to the party, but I just want to say that if Jeter didn’t win the MVP in 1999, he’ll never win one.
2006 was his 2ND best season and it’s not even close.
Jeter OPS 1999 – .990 OPS + 153
Jeter OPS 2006 – .900 OPS + 132
Pete .
How did a-rod act to the media today?
did he smile to you guys or just wast uncomfortable with
the media?
Ok, who’s ready to make an opening day lineup? This would be mine IF (it’s a big if) Giambi looks healthy and hits well this spring:
Damon
Jeter
Giambi
A-Rod
Abreu
Posada
Mastui
Cano
Melky
SOS: Bobcat more or less stopped posting when Pete asked for him to clear up (privately) his credibility.
Al: He was fine. The strategy today was to mention Jeter winning the MVP for whatever reason. I asked him a question about Abreu and he said, “I think Jeter will have an MVP season.”
I’d go with
Damon
Jeter
Abreu
Arod
Posada
Canò
Matsui
Duncan
Cabrera
(what, so I’m a shameless Shelley fan…)
Maybe that was the statement his new P.R. guy told him to say over and over… lol
raymagnetic – You have to look at the competition for MVP, not just a player’s stats. In 2006 Jeter was the best player in the league, in 1999 Pudge won the award and his numbers were: .332 avg, .914 OPS, 35 HR, 113 RBI’s and a phenomenal defensive catcher. Basically one of the best seasons for a catcher ever (cough steroids cough). Jetes had a better OPS but people don’t look at that (especially in 99) when deciding MVP.
Assuming Jason is at 1B:
Damon
Jeter
Abreu
A-rod
Giambi
Posada
Cano
Matsui
Melky
Rebecca, only problem I see is this:
Posada – walk
Cano – single
Matsui – 4-6-3 DP
Duncan – K
How many times do you think that would happen in 162 games?
Well Pete he can’t go wrong with singing praises to Jeter can he? LOL
S.O.S 27 Let it go….just let it go!! LOL
My opening day lineup would be:
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Posada C
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF
Jesus Christ !!! look at Montero !!!
Jesus Montero
did bobcat ever have anything worthwile to say?
Glad to see that Joba slimmed down. seems like he took a few pointers from Clemens on ALWAYS being in shape and working out in order to have a long career (no pun intended). Hughes mentioned something about working hard as well and i read that they also worked out with Pettite on some of Roger’s routine. Its good that they’re catching up and helping their cause. keep it up boys!!
Yeah I’d like to know what happened to bobcat myself.
saucy: “You hear what they want you to hear”
erik
we’re getting a little picky complaining about a 100 rbi guy in the 7 hole.
forget the lineup tell me who the rotation will be the 1st week.
Brandon,
Jesus Montero = Light Tower Power
saucy,
Bobcats calls as i can recall were not on. But i might have misremembered.
Maybe Alex’s “strategy” was to help change the subject from the Penn study, assuming of course that he might be a good teammate and not the devil.
Who will steal the most bases for the Yanks this year?
My answer Jeter.
Reason-Abreu takes alot of pitches. More of a chance to run.
Patrick,
Pudge and Jeter’s seasons were identical but Jeter played a more important/harder defensive position when he was an average/slighter above average SS. In my opinion Jeter should have won it.
I’m not complaining, I’m just giving a reason why I wouldn’t do that particularly. You want my rotation?
Wang, Pettitte, Hughes, Moose, IPK
Joba slimming down is a good thing as long as it doesn’t cost him anything off his fastball….
Brandon,
I feel like I expected Jesus to be a little more rotund than he appeared in the pic. That is a good sign that he isn’t just going to outgrow catching because he ate his way to 1B. He looks pretty jacked.
Y’s Guy, rough guess:
CMW, Phil, Andy, Joba, Moose, Ian, or some such.
Having the veterans in between the young guys would hopefully allow the bullpen to get some rest, seeing as Phil, Joba and Ian have innings caps. But I don’t really know a whole lot about this, so take me with a grain of salt.
Your fastball doesn’t come from your stomach Chris.
“I asked him a question about Abreu and he said, “I think Jeter will have an MVP season.â€
Did Jeter change his first name to Abreu? Or could he finally be showing some of his good sense of humor?
no 6 guys in 5 days, or 6-man rotation schemes? they were all the rage in this blog a few weeks ago.
Nope sorry, they were fueled by people misreading Girardi’s quote about NOT having a 6 man rotation.
Plus, I generally don’t base my opinions on what other bloggers believe.
Pete
Do they calculate which pitcher faces which hitter tomorrow or is it luck of the draw?
Bobcat’s calls hinged on Bill Smith not being what we know now of Bill Smith
Unless they put up a good argument, then I’ll sway.
But I think a 6-man rotation is a bad idea. Pettitte and Moose would suffer more than others would gain I think.
Wang, Pettitte, Hughes, Moose, IPK
———————————–
Since Hughes is on an IPs limit, I think he has to be the #5. Therefore: Wang, Pettitte, Moose, IPK, Hughes
everybody’s talking real nice about moose, he deserves that and he’s shown up in great shape in his contract year and all, but if he starts getting hit like he did in august, those plans are gonna change by opening day.
I generally don’t run unless I’m being chased.
Good report, Peter. Glad Girardi is reading, unless that book was just to keep a lamp on his desk from wobbling.
Can you ask CMW if he’s found any good Chinese restaurants in Tampa? (I’m not kidding. I’m genuinely curious!)
I know it won’t be a six man rotation, but seeing as we don’t know if the odd man out is gonna be Joba, Ian or Moose, might as well include them all
Very true, but I don’t think they immediately move Joba into the rotation due to his innings limit. Unless Igawa pitches lights out and Moose gets bombed, I have a hard time believing that he won’t be in the rotation.
That being said, if Moose is terrible by May 1 then we might start seeing Karstens, Rasner, Horne, Marquez in spots until Joba is ready to start.
I don’t Joba slimming down will lessen his fastball. He was overweight in college and his fastball was in the low 90′s at times. I’m glad he lost more weight I thought he was still a bit heavy looking last year despite losing a lot of weight.
Looks like many of the Yankees have gotten their butts in shape over the offseason. Abreu, Joba, Damon, Bruney, Giambi, thats a lot. Bodes well for this year.
Where can we find the photos taken of the players during photo day?
I saw one on yahoo, derek jeter popped his head in Andy’s picture. They were taking the pictures in the shower.
back to the lineup bit
Damon
Jeter
Cano(his power numbers increased durrin the second half of the season, and i really think he will be our 3 hitter for a while)
A-Rod
Giambi(pending the health)
Abreu
Matsui
Posada(i dont think he will rebound from his 338. season,i see maybe a 280. from him)
Melky
Jennifer: I saw that picture too. It makes me laugh.
where on yahoo are you seeing this picture, i’d like to see it, lol
“Your fastball doesn’t come from your stomach Chris.”
Good point. But slimming down doesn’t necessarily mean that all he did was get rid of his gut. I’m assuming he did things the right way and just trimmed fat without losing muscle, but you can lose strength and muscle by slimming down as well.
Again, I’m not at all worried that he’d purposely diminish his power. He needed to slim down.
Ill pass on seeing Jeter peeking at Petitte in the shower.
shower?
good to see Joba showing that sort of commitment. it really shows a great work ethic from a player that young. King Felix did the same thing last year; these guys are top ranked prospects not just because of their ability, but their natural drive as well.
For those who asked about the Jeter/Pettitte photo:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ph.....38;prov=ap
haha yea, just saw the jeter sneeking up behind pettite, that’s pretty funny
If things go as expected this spring, I don’t see them messing with 1-4 in the lineup (Damon, Jeter, Abreu, Rodriguez). If it returns to career norms after the outlier last year, Abreu’s .400+ OBP is a very nice asset to have in front of A-Rod.
No matter how you arrange it, Damon – Jeter – Abreu -Rodriguez – Matsui – Cano – Posada – Cabrera – Giambi/other is pretty sweet.
Now if we could get Sanchez to lose weight.
Andrea,
I went into that link with one eye closed thinking it was a shower seen. Im relieved and busting up. They should make a poster out of it. Now if we can get Jete to do the same thing to Alex’s photo shoot.
Does anyone know when the opening preseason game is?
SoS Sanchez did lose weight
Humberto & somebody
Your right i take that back and toss it to Britton. Sanchez looks to be the same size as the ballboy next to him.
i hope “somebody” isn’t giving any post tommy john advice…
If you want to learn basic Mandarin, you should watch Ni Hao, Kai Lan on Nick Jr
I wonder if Girardi has a big scale in the clubhouse and is having the sports addition of the biggest loser. All that running,slimmer players. Gotta be. Id hate to be the team that has Beaver(Igawa) on it. Their deffinately behind right now.
saucY
February 21st, 2008 at 5:48 pm
i hope “somebody†isn’t giving any post tommy john advice…
CLASSIC!!! Thats not the only thing he could catch. Theres that Pavanoitis thing going around. Its worse than Tommy John. I heard it can keep you out for 4 years.
Chris NY
I figure someone’s fastball improves with ‘abs of steel’ than with Wellsian flab. While strength in one’s abs is important for lots of the body’s kinetics which we never think about, perhaps it doesn’t directly effect velocity so much. But Joba had to slim down somehow. If he did cardio (running/bike) then his legs are probably stronger from it. Seems like lots of running is happening in camp doesn’t it? And if he did weights he probably worked his legs while in the gym. Any tough guy fireballer will tell you they get a lot of power from their legs, and they need strong legs to keep the heater going deep into games. So, you’re probably right. But whether he’s dealing 100′s after 7 innings or he’s down to 98, he’s still as overpowering as there is. At very least his stamina improves and injury risk decreases.
Anyone interested in seeing Joba, he does look a bit slimmer… heres your link
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ph.....ov=reuters
We need a picture of Igawarabu …
…There’s a Mandarin show on Nick Jr?
Haven’t heard that one before!
I’m liking the way joba looks
Except for the razor stubble, Joba looks too young to shave.
SOS: it’s funny because Andy’s all serious and then there’s Jeter, all smiles behind him. I wonder if Andy even knew he was there.
Here comes the couch potato
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ph.....ov=reuters
Hey Pete,
As if losing the Super Bowl was bad enough. The Pats did not franchise Moss. I cant immagine him staying for less money. It had to end some time Pete. My Colts are now accepting band wagon applications.
If that’s Igawa’s interpreter, he looks like he’s in better shape than Igawa. Hey, does he throw left-handed too?
Wow!! Igawa lost weight!! Oh. Hes the one on the left. Scratch that.
Why were people calling him ‘Iron Beaver’ the other night?
Andrea,
All they need now is to take one of those upside down head shots pictures.
Still think it would be funnier if he was to smile in Arod picture.
I was trying to find a nickname for him and i cant remember who came up with iron beaver. I thought the iron part was to machismo for him. But Beaver comes from his rock chewing teeth.
I could see the beaver-looking teeth part of it. It still reminds me of Grace Jones in the movie “Boomerang”.
“Steel Va….”
… oh never mind
“i cant remember”
Sorry for the improper english. What I meant to say is “i misremembered”.
RayMagnetc and Patrick
Re: Jeter and Pudge as MVP rivals in 1999.
There’s a body of thought that Pedro Martinez should have been MVP in 1999 …. 23-4 record, 2.07 ERA, 313K to 37BB….. all compiled in a hitter’s era.
I’m aware of the argument that pitchers should only be eligible for the Cy Young, not that I buy it. Don Newcomb won the first NL CY Young award, AND the NL MVP, in 1956, showing that it was never the intent to bifurcate the awards.
Ultimately, of course, it depends all depends on the relative merits of the competiton. I believe that Kirk Gibson won the award with a fairly pedestrian season with the Dodgers.
…Dude, I think I’m in better shape than Igawa right now, and seeing as my regular exercise comes from walking back and forth to class, that’s saying something.
Pedro was worthy in ’99.
SOS: It would be funny if there were people just popping in and out of each others official pictures.
Andrea – like Rudy Giuliani cheering in the Red Sox celebration?
Ranting Guy: not what I meant.
Andrea,i didnt know.. You should have said something.Your the right field pole squirrell(im on my knees bowing to you).
“bifurcate”?
that sounds obscene …
I know andrea .. I saw the Pettitte / Jeter pic too
You can say what you want about Bobcat, but Miller had the biggest scoop of the year.
What was Miller’s scoop? Was it A-Rod? I can’t remember!
Actually I recall many times Miller stating that he had been a graduate of Ohio University. The mascot of Ohio University you may ask??
The BOBCAT. Coincidence?
I never realized how much inside scoop Mr. Abraham has. Wow.
I don’t know much about Wooden.
I forgot what Miller’s scoop was …
That Miller/Bobcat time was actually quite exciting. His scoop was Arod. I actually skipped a meeting at work to read the blog that day.
Miller had the A-rod re-signing and posted it 4 days before it actually happened. But he had it verbatim.
Sean
There have been a few posters that are more aware of what’s going on than regular fans or even some journalists know. One can only guess what organization they work for.
There are a few posters at the far far opposite end of the spectrum too, but most of us regular fans find Pete & the blog a very good source of info.
Some of us skipped work even though we were at work, KD.
Thinking back to this off-season and the season before that, I realized that I read this blog way too much. It’s not that I’ll stop.
Great job Pete
Was Miller also Bobcat? Haven’t seen either since.
Thats because there were so many fake Bobcats and Millers after the fact, neither of them decided to post again.
Finally I think Pete asked Bobcat to stop posting unless he was 100% certain on something (which is legit) and Bobcat obliged. I think Miller just followed suit.
I dont know if Miller was Bobcat. But that Ohio University thing was a pretty big coincidence.
And Kentucky was the other cat mascot.
yeah fake posters made it tough but at least Pete can trace everyone’s IP addresses and weed out those idiots.
Brandon (Proud supporter of “Alex being Alex”) February 21st, 2008 at 5:44 pm
SoS Sanchez did lose weight
Humberto & somebody
Geez who the heck is that!? I’ve never seen him before!
Funniest name for a poster was ‘Buck Foston’ though.
I was dyin’ …
Thanks for the post, Pete. Have a great evening !
bamboo beaver?
http://www.newsday.com/sports/
Go to photo’s on #22, do you think we can get that for either Igawa or Pavano?
“Your fastball doesn’t come from your stomach Chris.â€
A fastball absolutely and totally comes from the belly. Its an energy thing. Energy moves from the belly down into the legs and up into the arms/shoulders. Consider where a pitcher starts his pitch from…hands,glove, ball over his belly.
It’s funny how A-Rod has a great sense of humor. Gotta love that guy. If you think about it, you’ll know everything he’s trying to tell you in that comment. Go Alex!
Ranting Guy – -
Rumor has it that Buck Foston’s son will be posting soon. He’s Buck Foston 11.
“There’s a body of thought that Pedro Martinez should have been MVP in 1999 …. 23-4 record, 2.07 ERA, 313K to 37BB….. all compiled in a hitter’s era.”
Brian (Red Sox Fan)
Pedro affected what, 34 games? Jeter and Pudge affected 150+ games. If you have two hitters more than worthy of the MVP then I don’t see how you can choose a pitcher over one of them.
didn’t Pedro come in 2nd for MVP in 1999?
Pete
I don’t blame you at all.Chinese language no matter is Mandarin,Taiwanese,Cantonese etc..are so difficult to learn. It’s just too complicated. I’m a so call ABC(American Born Chinese). I was born in Long Island NY. But my parents are from Taiwan. And I moved to Taiwan about 2 years ago. You don’t have any idea how hard it is for me to learn my own language. One thing I’m so sure that is don’t learn Mandarin from Wang tho. Cuz he speaks much better Taiwanese than Mandarin lol….
In Taiwan, Mandarin is official language, and Taiwanese is a more used at home language ….
Taiwan has a lot of different tones like, Taiwanese, native Taiwanese, Hakka,and some dialect in China (speaks by those came to Taiwan after 1949….)….
The people live in North part of Taiwan speak a sort of bad Taiwanese and use Mandarin more.. South part of Taiwan, people speak better and more Taiwanese, still use Mandarin…
Because Mandarin is the official language, so when Wang speaks to Taiwanese media in formal interviews he is use Mandarin, I think he uses Taiwanese more in the case of private, although he may use both in private….
1999 MVP
http://www.baseball-reference......html#ALmvp
Jeter was 6th! behind Pudge, Pedro, Alomar, Ramirez, and Palmiero…