Wrapping it up from Bradenton
-
- March
- 23
A few notes for you:
* Robinson Cano played the entire game and reported no problems with his back. He sat out yesterday’s game with the dreaded “general stiffness.”
* Mike Mussina will face the Marlins in Miami on Friday. If he can go, Andy Pettitte would pitch in a minor-league game in Tampa. If Pettitte can make that start Friday and go 85 pitches, he would be ready to pitch in the second game of the season.
* Jeff Karstens, he of the 9.64 ERA, was disconsolate after the game. “Before today I was feeling all right,” Karstens said. “I pitched better early (in spring training). I wish it were the other way.”
* The Yankees lost 8-0 and had two hits. The game zipped by, which was good. Jaret Wright pitched a scoreless inning for the Pirates and appears to have a shot to make the team as a reliever.
* Let’s go Tar Heels. I need to keep at least a few brackets alive.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm by Peter Abraham.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Share and Enjoy: 
| 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Peter Abraham
8-0
Great reporting of the 7-0 game by Pete ohh wait thats rackem with gviing us the corect 8-0 score.Guess Pete’s to busy getting the much awaited Jeff Kartens interview.
You really need reporting of a meaningless ST game in which the Yankees only brought 3 regulars?
Its not something he should waste his time reporting.
I hope that Rasner makes the team over Karstens. Karstens 2 pitches are nothing special and he gets knocked around most of the time he just doesn’t have the stuff to be a major league starter. Even his outs are usually hit really hard.
Captains, I agree.
Karstens is frustrating, because I always want him to be better than he probably really is. A long man doesn’t have to have great stuff, but I’m not sure Karstens has proven that he’s good enough to make the team in that capacity.
He’s tantalizing because he has just enough great innings to make you dream, but they are too few and far between.
You have to love McLovin, he rips me for a typo then misspells four words in his post. Nice going, genius.
Meanwhile, if you don’t like this blog, feel free to read all the other blogs that updated seven times on Easter Sunday and provided lineups for two games.
“Karstens 2 pitches are nothing special and he gets knocked around most of the time he just doesn’t have the stuff to be a major league starter.”
He’s not being considered for a starting role anyway. He’s also not being asked to be a shut down guy out of the bullpen.
In my opinion there is virtually no difference between Rasner and Karstens. Rasner gives up less hr’s than Karstens. That’s the biggest difference I see between the two. Rasner was let go by the Nationals of all teams, that’s how good (bad) he is. Choosing between Rasner and Karstens is the same as choosing six of one half a dozen of the other.
If Rasner pitches something close to what he did Friday night against the Rays, then Joe Girardi has a real decision to make with the long reliever role.
The team leaves Tampa after Thursday for 2 night games in Miami vs. the Marlins. No margin for error for those on the bubble.
If their concern is having an effective long man they could just as easily put Joba in that role.
He’s going to be in the starting rotation - they’re not going to have him as a crutch for the 8th inning all year.
He’s be far their best long man option. He could easily threw 2-3 innings two times every five days.
They don’t need to put him in games they are losing. Between Mussina, Hughes and Kennedy I’d imagine there will be quite a few 5-6 inning starts, especially at the beginning of the season.
That would set Joba up better to transition back to the rotation.
That’s how the twins used Santana when he was in the pen. They never used him as a set up guy.
If they put joba as the long guy they could take Bruney and Patterson or Ohlendor and Patterson, or whoever.
If this is the new and improved Kyle Farnsworth or Brian Bruney they should be able to pitch the 8th in theory.
If they can’t handle that role, their value on this team is greatly diminished.
Oya, Hoyas just lost.
Because of the money invested in him would they go with a shadeless Igawa as the long man until he (likely and quickly) proves his problems aren’t shades-related, then call up Rasner?
Nice to have competition for the other BP spot. Ollie, Bruney, Traber, Patterson & Veras all have good qualities. I’d like to think Bruney can get his stuff under control (as it can be nasty) but I’m glad I’m not the guy making the decision.
If the one JG chooses works out, great. If that guy falters during the season (or if Farnsworth or Hawkins proves to be a stinker) there are four worthy guys ready to promote. Then there’s Melancon’s looming arrival and Joba’s transition to the rotation to consider, and what to do if/when any of the starters pulls up lame during the season. This is a good overall position for JG to be in as manager. It’s not just about choosing the opening day roster. It’s about managing all the guys he has available all year long.
raymagnetic, The long man in the bullpen is similiar to a starting pitchers role. Karstens would be asked to throw 3-4 innings sometimes. He isn’t being asked to totally shut down the other team but 3 innings, 7 hits and 4 runs like he did today would not be acceptable. You have to be able to go threw the lineup maybe twice and if he enters a game where the Yanks are winning 6-2..keep the Yanks winning and even giving up a couple of runs is ok and I do not think he can do that.
So no reason to keep up with bb anymore - I’m ready for March 31st (depressed Hoya here…)
Hi y’all from Houston. Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it. I said it before but I definitely mean it now. I’ve had it with Karstens. How much do we need to see before we know he doesn’t have the goods!
Agreed the long guy has to be able to go a few innings maybe a couple times a week, but I don’t think that’s how to use Joba. Even if he has the stamina to start, he is not like Ramiro Mendoza.
If Joba gets a few appearances a week, some for 2 innings, that may be enough. I’m among those who believe will be a starter. But as a reliever I see him as working in tandem with Mariano. Often as a 1 or 2 inning set-up guy, sometimes closing when Mariano needs the day off.
Sometimes a long guy just has to eat innings because the team is getting wiped out. Not the ideal way to use Joba.
If he’s not pacing himself as a starter (which would be optimal) his most effective role out of the pen is to come in with the game on the line, throw his best stuff right at ‘em for an inning or two, and leave ‘em humiliated.
It’s been said he’ll go to the minors at some point to work on building up a transition back to being a starter. Of course the team’s pitching gurus would know better, but maybe he’s best used like that.
If this is the new and improved Kyle Farnsworth or Brian Bruney they should be able to pitch the 8th in theory.
If they can’t handle that role, their value on this team is greatly diminished.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Theory is nice but baseball is a game of inches and umpire decisions or lack thereof.
Pitchers that consistently pound the strike zone have a high rate of success. Cases in point, Mariano Rivera or Greg Maddux. More often than not, umpires will bend for those types of pitchers.
I’m glad Karstens is tanking. Especially after last year’s Spring Training where he was putting up some stats that weren’t good indicators of his skill. He’s not a great pitcher, he’s got mediocre stuff. He’s not effective in the first few innings, so he’d make a terrible long reliever.
This guy is the pitching version of Andy Phillips. Not good enough to play in the majors. Let him wow the crowds in Scranton. He deserves praise for taking a ball off his leg and trying to play, but his place isn’t with this team.
“Theory is nice but baseball is a game of inches and umpire decisions or lack thereof.
Pitchers that consistently pound the strike zone have a high rate of success.”
That was my point. Taking Farnsworth and a Bruney north based on the idea that they’ve remade themselves or are new pitchers because they now have new attitudes under Girardi and have experience/ stil throw hard sounds fine in theory.
Farnsworth is on the team because of his contract and based on Girardi’s theory that Kyle can turn it around, that Eiland has unlocked the secret to him. If Bruney makes the team it’ll be the same kind of theory about him - about unlocking his potenitial, etc, etc.
In practice we’ve seen a lot - probably too much of both Farnsworth and Bruney.
The pen at the beginning of the year won’t be the pen at the end of the year or even at the end of may.
Nonetheless a pen with Farnsworth, Bruney and Karstens is a movie we’ve seen before.
To expect different results now is possible but not probable.
I hope I’m wrong and Farnsy and Bruney are good. But… not so sure about that.
The most efficient way to use Joba out of the pen is in high leverage situations. But if you do that and Farnsy/ Bruney, etc. bomb you’re back in the position of everyone saying Joba is indispensable as the set up guy, they can’t afford to move him back to the rotation,etc.
That’s the point I was trying to illustrate with Joba. No matter what role you put him in he’s incomparable - not because of the role - but because he’s got the best stuff on the team and the most flexible arm.
Jeff Karstens is such a good guy. I’ll never forget him trying to pitch with the broken leg last season because he knew how thin the pitching staff was at that time. I’ve always hoped things would work out for him, but it just doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen. He’s an AAAA guy - Rasner, while certainly not perfect, seems like more of a Major League quality pitcher. Although I would take Scott Patterson over both, and didn’t Girardi say he could regularly go 3 innings? So why not him in the long relief role?
Stephen Curry is just an unbelivable pressure player. He’s like a minature Reggie Miller. What a great story Davidson is - even though by beating G-Town I probably went from first to last in my bracket pool. Del Curry had one of the smoothest strokes in basketball shooter history and his son is showing off the pedigree.
How’s everyone else’s brackets going?
BBB- agreed, he’ll always be appreciated for being gutsy. it’s hard to believe igawa came out that day and won the game..
Also, I’ve been kind of out of the loop the past few days, can someone clarify how the reg. season rotation looks like it will be shaking out? I know it’ll be CMW on Opening Day, then Andy 2nd if he stays on schedule from here on out. If he doesn’t and has to start the 3rd game of the season as a result, who would go 2nd?
Personally I’d go with IPK. In fact, while I don’t want Andy to lose any more time, I’ve always felt that he and Wang shouldn’t be slotted next to each other in the rotation since they go deepest into games. To start the season I’d go:
Wang
Kennedy
Andy
Hughes
Moose
“If he doesn’t and has to start the 3rd game of the season as a result, who would go 2nd?”
Whoever is closest to being on-turn, I suspect. As it is, some people will be on 6 days rest and stuff when they make their first start. They’d jiggle it around and make it work. As it is they’ll be skipping Hughes when they can. That’ll give them plenty of opportunities to shuffle things a bit. Of course…they won’t have any times they can do that until May or so.
can pettitte stay healthy without HGH?
Ideally a long reliever needs the mindset to be ready when a starter falters early or a bullpen has been overworked the previous game or two. He also needs a history of no health issues and be used as an occasional spot starter when the schedule crowds up.
A good reliable one deserves near closer money.
I get my typos from you Pete.I love to see your Live blogs of two innings it’s great.I’m a fan.
Even though I am totally out of it with 4 of my elite 8 gone i did have the fore thought to pick Davidson lol
Davidson has been a cinderella story so far but I don’t think that they’ll beat Wisconsin.
“A good reliable one deserves near closer money.”
:-O
Then what do set-up guys get?
According to Jon Heyman Miguel Cabrera has signed a 7 year $141 million dollar extension.
Cabrera was scheduled to make $11.3 million this season and the total years he’s signed for are 8 years/ 152 million (including this season).
They bought out one of his arbitration years in the process.
I like that deal for the Tigers. I think they got Cabrera at a surprisingly low total dollar amount. Rumors were that he was going to be seeking or would get 10 yrs/ $200 million given his age.
I’d guess Mark Texeira will be looking for similar money now that he’s on the verge of hitting the open market.
That probably is the neighborhood of what the yankees would have to spend to get Texeira.
Cabrera’s got risks but given his age and production a 7 yr/ 141 mill extension starting when he’s 25 was as inexpensive as the tigers could have hoped to get him for.
Compared to giving that same contract to a 29 year old Texeira that is a good value for the Tigers. They’ve locked him up through what’s likely to be his most productive years.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/specials/spring_training/2008/03/23/cabrera.tigers/index.html
I wouldn’t have given him that contract. But I guess they already committed to him when they acquired him.
Letting him go after trading all that talent for him would have been a disaster.
Cabrera doesn’t seem like a gamer to me… He seems lazy and out to shape and bound to get hurt.
I bet Arod who is like 6 or 7 years older than him misses less time during his contract than Miggy misses during his…
Oh, and LOL at McLovin getting the verbal smack down from Pete! Hahaha…
“Compared to giving that same contract to a 29 year old Texeira that is a good value for the Tigers. They’ve locked him up through what’s likely to be his most productive years.”
I tend to agree. He needs to move off 3B, but he’s just an incredible hitter. He’ll move to LF and be the next Manny…but perhaps a little less airheaded
I’d pay that money to Tex. Yes, we wound up regretting the Giambi contract, but I think Tex is a better bet to stay healthy long-term, and he’s a GG caliber defender at 1B. By the end of his deal, he’d probably degrade to an average defender in the field, but actually capable of playing 120 games out there without getting hurt.
I’d be happy if, next off-season, they give 7/140 to Tex, 5/120 to Sabathia, and 2/24 to Abreu (if he has a good year). The RF thing…we’ll need to see what other options might be available in trade, but if Bobby’ll take that deal…
CB -
I agree with your thought that Joba’s best use is as a long man, and the way you described it. One reason is if he’s as dominating in the 8th inning role as last seson, there will most definitely be temptation to keep him there (depending on how the season unfolds, of course). Also, I think the transition from long man to starter should be smoother (of course, I have no practical ideal of these things having never pitched in my life
!)
Brackets! Huh! Having just finished cleaning up after Easter Dinner, I have no idea what the teams I picked did today, but if it’s anything like last night, next year I’m choosing based on my favorite colors! I certainly could not do any worse.
“He’s be far their best long man option. He could easily threw 2-3 innings two times every five days.”
That’s not what they mean when they say “long man” though.
That would be a good way to use Joba, I agree…bring him on to get out of a jam in the 7th and let him finish out the game, or to escape a jam in the 6th and bring it all the way to Mo. Don’t have him do that two days in a row like Gossage did, but use him that way every few days. Keeps him relatively stretched out and saves the entire rest of the pen for a day.
Even if they’re using Joba like this, they still need that guy to come on in the 3rd when the starter doesn’t have it and make it so they don’t need to use 6 pitchers that day, and also a guy to spot-start. I don’t think you can use Joba like that. Not enough of those innings are high-leverage.
“5/120 to Sabathia”
And, by the way, I don’t think they’ll actually be able to get CC on a 5-year deal. Someone (Sox? Mets? Dodgers? Rangers?) will be dumb and offer him 6-7 years, and the Yanks will have to match it or let him go.
Doreen: I’m with you on that!
Texeira and Sabbathia are going to be big test cases for how the team is going to approach the future.
This year with the $75 million dollars coming off the books at the end of the season they’ll finally be getting out from under many of the long term contract mistakes they’ve made in the past such as Giambi and Farnsworth.
Do they turn right around and then go back to the well signing other guys in their late twenties to very long term, big money contracts?
That’s a major decision. They’ve been burned so badly with these big money contracts. They’ve already signed ARod for 10 years and Posada for another 4. Jeter will never leave so he’ll be here into his 40’s.
Texeira is a future hall of famer. And doesn’t appear to have any of the physical issues that Giambi had when he signed, even before the steroids became apparent.
But that’s always the thing with these contracts - they always look good in theory. In practice they usually don’t turn out so well, especially for pitchers.
And Boras will be very painful to deal with. He’s going to try to get Texeira $175 - $200 million. I’d bet that would be the number he tries to set the bar at.
They don’t have anyone in the minors who projects to be a Texeira. Given Arod, Jeter and Posda, etc. are signed and not getting younger adding Texeira makes sense.
But it wouldn’t be that surprising if they wound up regretting it 4-5 years from now.
Big decision - do you try to muddle along with a shelley/betemit type first base? Do you sign Tex? Do you give Horne a shot or sign Sabbathia.
I think this off season and those two players will really show the teams philosophy going for the future.
“it’s hard to believe igawa came out that day and won the game..”
Indeed, and it’s even harder to believe that Porcelain Pavano was our Opening Day starter that year, or that Karstens and Rasner BOTH broke and/or fractured bones on the mound in mid-outing within just a few weeks of each other. The entire first 2 months of last year’s season were like something straight out of Bizarro World. But yet we still managed to win enough games to make the playoffs.. which is a large part of why I’m SO excited about this season! Hurry up and get here, 3/31!
We love you Pete. You have the best dang blog in all of the Yankee universe and probably all the others as well. No where else do you find such poignant commentary from the likes of murphydog, sj, rebecca, cb, jennifer, whozat, etc. as for McLovin best to ignore idiocy.
Doreen,
I don’t know what the best way to use Joba is or what Girardi has in mind when he means long man.
To me, their need this year with Mussina and Kennedy/Hughes innings caps is for someone who can throw 2-3 innings at a time.
I do think they’re going to have a number of games where they get decent 5-6 inning starts and the gap in innings will need to be made up. Young pitchers tend not to be that efficient with their pitches.
I don’t think they need a guy who can come in in the first or second inning if the starter just tanks.
But that may be what Girardi wants. I don’t know how much of a conventional long man Girardi wants.
Joba can fill that 2-3 inning gap but pitching him in those “take one for the team” roles will be a waist.
The think with Joba is that he can literally fill and excel any role on the staff - starter, long man, set up man, or closer.
The think people lose site of with him is that his stuff is so good his performance will be largely independent of the role he’s placed in. He’s going to excel no matter what because of the quality of his pitches and his stamina (which is why he should be put in the most valuable role possible - starting pitcher).
So if that 2-3 inning role is what Girardi wants with a long man then the most talented pen they could pick given how weak karstens/ rasner look is Joba in that role and other guys to fill in the one inning seventh man roles.
If they want to concentrate Joba’s use into high leverage situations when they have the lead then he’s the set up man.
For his development that kind of 2-3 inning role might be best. For the team winning the set up man might be best.
I do think setting up the bull pen where Joba becomes an irreplaceable set up man part is going to lead to trouble down the line.
Whatever role he’s in they will never be able to “replace him” because he’s always going to be better than the next guy who comes after him.
If ohlendorf comes up to take the 8th inning role he could do a very good job and many people are still going to say moving joba was a bad move because, “ohlendorf isn’t joba” etc.
Anyway, as for Cabrera’s extension, I will tip my hat to the Tigers on this one. I think it will look like a bargain within the next couple of years. Cabrera has supposedly lost about 30 lbs in the offseason (tho I haven’t seen him yet, that’s what I read.) So between the being in better shape, increased motivation from playing on a much better team and WAY more protection in the lineup, he is worth every penny imo. Especially when you consider the Mets are paying Santana more, aren’t they? And Cabrera’s value as an everyday player trumps Santana’s as a pitcher.
However, if Tex wants the same kind of deal the Yankees should say no. Cabrera is better than Tex and also what, 5 years younger? Plus, he’s simply not worth that much $$ to the Yankees considering it would behoove them to keep 1b flexible for Jesus, Jorge or even Jeter further down the line.
“I think this off season and those two players will really show the teams philosophy going for the future.”
If they had guys a year or two out who would be blocked by them, I’d agree. But they don’t. Signing those two guys, while expensive, isn’t going to slow them from mixing in talent from their system. And it’s also probably not going to keep them from signing the right young players before they hit free agency.
On the pitching front, personally, I think Horne is going to battle control problems forever, and that’ll keep him from being a front-line guy. Maybe he’s a Lester-type who can dominate sometimes, but usually throws 110 pitches in 5.1 innings. Or, maybe he turns into a mow-em-down reliever. Either way, I don’t feel too bad about putting Sabathia in the way of Horne.
If they had a promising lefty like…ANYWHERE in the system, that would also make me want CC less. If they give him 7 years, they will almost certainly be regretting it by the last two years. If they can get him for five…He’ll probably miss about a season’s worth of time in there, but I’d take that. Brackman is the next guy that I think will be really an impact pitcher, and they could certainly trade Wang or Kennedy to make room. Or, one of Joba, Phil and Ian might have flamed out by then.
That rambled. But my point is that signing those two wouldn’t block anyone in the system that’s interesting, so I don’t know if doing so would really signal that they haven’t changed their philosophy. That’s what makes the Yankees so dangerous…they can afford to build from within AND sign key premier free agents.
If we’re going to overpay for any FA next year (which we will have enough $$ off the books to comfortably do) I think CC is of greater value to us than Tex. JMHO….although there are a couple of things about CC that worry me, namely his conditioning and his shoddy outings for the Indians this past October. Although Wang also had shoddy outings for us, and it doesn’t mean he can’t pitch well in the playoffs, we’ve seen him do it before.
“it would behoove them to keep 1b flexible for Jesus, Jorge or even Jeter further down the line.”
Not a bad point. Though, I’d not want avoid signing Tex because Jeter needs to play 1B in his next contract. If he can’t play SS…I dunno if Jeter should really get a “next contract” with the Yanks.
Though I’m not sure you can unequivocally say that Cabrera is better than Tex. The former is CLEARLY a better hitter. No question. But, Tex is a switch hitter, which has value AND he provides GG defense as well. Granted, not at a premier defensive positions, but he saves some fielding runs, while Cabrera costs you many.
I think watching Montero behind the plate this season will be a factor in whether they want to go for Tex. If they decide that, hey, this kid can stick behind the plate for at least a few years, AWESOME. If they think he’ll need to move to 1B before he even hits the majors…then that’s an issue. But, if he can even catch until he’s 26 or 27, that’d take him past Tex’s likely contract.
Just wanted to chime in on the past two due to the fact that there’s some significant depth which is a luxury….I’m an advicant for the hard throwing non-contact type arms, which the Yanks have plenty….Strike one is the best pitch in baseball, and that’s the answer to the Yankee bullpen riddle for 2008…..I’m partial to Ohlendolf, Bruney, Traber and Patterson…..As for Joba, I think that’s an ever evolving situation….I really thought that he should just piggyback or pitch in tandem with Kennedy or Hughes…They start, he comes in to pitch in the 6th….Treat him like a starter with scheduled throw days…This way when the time comes to replace Mussina he can slid right into that slot…As for Texeria, I’m quite certain he’s on Yankee radar, as is Frankie Rodriguez of the Angels……..I see Roy Williams kept all his starters in until North Carolina scored 100 ….I hope they make it to the Finals so UCLA can kick their pompus rear ends….
“Either way, I don’t feel too bad about putting Sabathia in the way of Horne.”
I was just using Horne as a fill in example. They have so much talent with arms is could be any of an array of guys who could fill in that fifth slot and do so much, much more cheaply than Sabbathia.
The bigger issue with Sabbathia is do you sign him if Pettite has a good year and wants to pitch on in 2009 on a one year deal (which he’s already said he wants to do in order to pitch in the new stadium)?
Its reasonable to sign either of both of those guys but they will invariably block someone in the minors. That I am certain about.
It might not happen in year one or two but it will happen. Yes they don’t have anyone in the upper minors necessarily ready to step in (though I do like horne and think his control will be better than it seemed last year when he tired) but that’s the thing with long term contracts - they lock you in and you’re stuck.
If the yankees are committed to keep getting high end talent in the draft and internationally long terms signing will become problematic.
When they signed Giambi it never looked like they would have to worry about him blocking anyone (he blocked Duncan some last year and is blocking Miranda some now). But things change and long term contracts do not.
For instance, there are a ton of talented first baseman’s in this year upcoming draft. A ton. I think there’s a very good chance that one slips to the yankees. That kind of thing is going to happen. Or Brackman, Betances, etc. turns into a beast two years from now and they have Sabbathia.
There’s a trade off with these long term contracts that’s going to happen with the type of committment the yankees have made to blue chip prospects.
You just can’t predict where and when that log jam is going to occur.
“You just can’t predict where and when that log jam is going to occur.”
True.
But you can’t not sign a premier talent that’s on the right side of 30 because you might draft a guy this year who might be MLB ready before there’s a spot for him.
Obviously there are guys in the system who’d be ready to fill the 5th slot inside of two or three years. But you don’t avoid getting Sabathia because you don’t want to have a log-jam at the back of your rotation.
Surpluses are not always a bad thing. If Brackman or Horne or whoever is ready for the bigs, but the rotation is filled by Sabathia, Joba, Hughes, Wang and Kennedy…trade Wang or Kennedy. They’d bring back excellent return.
And, again, this all depends on how long a deal someone’s willing to give CC. 7 years makes me really uncomfortable.
CB, I think much depends on the success of Hughes, Kennedy & Joba….I also think that the FO may have a wait and see approach to inking pitchers to long deals…Especially guys who view fitness & dieting as a hassle……I was told that the Yanks had Colon pretty much locked in until the weight clause came up…..See ya NYC as the Angels offered less dough, but no weight clause….I cannot see them passing on Texeria this upcoming winter, as stated before, he’s the real deal….Firstbase would be secured for years to come…..I agree with CB, that Joba needs to be more than a one dementional pitcher…..
NOW SOME PROSPECTS NEWS
Austin Jackson, CF 2-for-2, 2B, run, BB, SB :p
Ivan Nova 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Zach McAllister 2.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Jeff Marquez 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Eric Duncan, 3B/1B 2-for-5, 3B, 2 RBI, run
Jesus Montero, DH/C 1-for-2
“The game was played at Legends Field with about two dozen random spectators, plus a ton of coaches and other Yankees personnel, including Mark Newman, Nardi Contreras, Pat Roessler and — for the first half — Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland.”
————
SWB
this guy i talk to online sometimes (good baseball mind, huge White Sox fan though) wanted me to come up with my preseason playoff picks by Easter so i thought i’d share them here real quick. Of course they mean absolutely nothing, it’s just fun.
AL
East: Yankees (of course!)
Central: Tigers
West: Angels
WC: Red Sox
NL
East: Mets
Central: Cubs
West: Diamonbacks
WC: Dodgers
All good points. It would be very difficult to just let Texeira pass. That combination of offense and defense just doesn’t come along often.
Boras will try to make Texeira his make up signing for how bad the whole ARod deal made him look. It’s going to be very expensive to sign him.
Where do you draw the line? I could see him getting $160-$170 million? Everything I’ve heard from Texeira is that he wants to make as much money as possible.
I wouldn’t give Sabbathia a seven year deal. The concerns BBB raised before about his weight/ conditioning are spot on. If they could get Pettite on another 1 year deal I think I’d turn in that direction. But I do think Sabbathia will get a seven year offer.
The success (or failure) of the three arms this year will be pivotal. If any get hurt or pitch poorly then they’ll probably hit the market hard.
I don’t think they’ll need to.
East: Yankees (I can see Boston’s SP breakdown or losing Papelbon)
Central: Indians (better pitching)
West: Angels (Soscia)
WC: Red Sox or Mariners
NL
East: Braves (better roster, more pitching other than the big 2)
Central: Cubs
West: DBacks
WC: Rockies
the tigers got a huge bargain, i wrote a blog entry on it.
http://www.thebaseballoutsider.com
come and visit, i’ve started posting again!
what channel is it on?
disregard my last post it was supposed to be in an AIM chat window..
-the tigers got a huge bargain, i wrote a blog entry on it.-
Inge use to kill us on defense I can’t wait to hit some hard shots to 3B or drop a few bunts
Jay,
Nice blog entry. Good to see you keeping up the blog. You’re entries from spring training will be great.
I agree on the tigers deal though I do think that Detroit’s future is really up in the air over the life of cabrera’s contract.
They are an extremely old team - ordonez, pudge, sheffield, renteria, guillen are all at least 33.
On top of that Detroit’s systems is completely, totally barren now. Used to be one of the best - now its one of the worst.
The age of that team is going to show. Sheff is always hurt at some point and I don’t see ordonez coming anywhere close to his numbers last year.
Mark Teixeira is unquestionably a talent but Scott Boras is his agent and can he handle New York ?
Once agan putting out a call or one last team for our peteabe fantasy league. We need one more team or the 2nd group. If we dont get a 10th team we cant draft. Come on it will be lots o fun
What are your opinions on Beckett not having pitched in this year’s ST games yet? I’ve seen mentioned about how Mussina suffered from not being able to build up arm strength in ST last year. However, Beckett is 27 (28 in May). Would he also suffer from lack of throwing time? Or it’s less important for him?
Beckett is 2-3 weeks behind the rest of Boston’s staff. He’s yet to face major league hitters.
If he tweaks his back in the slightest he may try to overcompensate and the result is his mechanics being thrown off.
They can ill afford to be without him for too long of a stretch. Matsuzaka is not the phenom they thought they signed. No pitching depth in their farm system.
“Would he also suffer from lack of throwing time? Or it’s less important for him?”
I think that Beckett’s younger body would be able to build up the arm strength more quickly. And, he can lose a little velocity and not suffer THAT much, while Moose really couldn’t afford that at this late stage of his career.
Also, though the Sox need him badly, I think they can afford to give him a little more time to come back. Moose came back as soon as he could throw the ball again because Wang was out, and then Pavano (obviously) went down shortly thereafter.
But, the more starts he doesn’t make for the MLB team, the better for the Yanks. Or, if he rushes back and is ineffective, even better.
Brett Gardner, New York Bound
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/sports/baseball/24yankees.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin
gayle,
I thought you had enough fantasy players. When is your draft?
detroit is a totally win now team, no doubt. but i think they are set up for a little while
Drive we did but they had to dsrop out the draft is tuesday night at 830
Is it a free league? Does it require registration?
it is free we are doing it for fun what is your email and I will end you the link Rebecca set it up via CBS as we have 20 some odd teams so we needed a plce that could accomodate us all
gayle,
Can you send the link here?
My Preseason Picks:
East: Yankees (well, duh!)
Central: Indians
West: Angels
Wild Card: Mariners or Red Sox.
I don’t think the Tigers have enough pitching depth with Zumaya and Rodney hurt.
East: Braves
Central: Cubs
West: Arizona
Wild Card: Phillies
I’ve been doing a preview-a-day on my blog for the past month, you guys should check it out.
I’m doing the Red Sox tomorrow.
no since it is private i have to send an invite you can email me at gayle@qprime.com so you dont have to post it public iof you want
gayle: I didn’t set it up, Jen did.
gayle,
I just e-mailed ya.
I meant Jenn sorry lol
and I just sent the invite you need to register for cbs sportsline first I think (it is free) but if you folow the link i sent it should be self explanatory
Which name is more common on MLB rosters :
1. Brown ?
2. Cabrera ?
3. Williams ?
I just tried to register at CBS and Drive 4-5 is already taken LOL
maybe you already are registered and forgot lol that happens ot me then i have to gothrough the 4 or 5 different passwords i use lol
gayle,
I’m all registered and in.Thanks. Should be a lot of fun. Good luck!
whoo hooo!!!!
Williams