Today in The Journal News
-
- March
- 24
The Yankees have three spots on the staff open and plenty of candidates who could fill them.
Andy Pettitte’s back spasms haven’t gone away. This notebook also has word on Mike Mussina’s early morning assignment.
Did you hear? We lined up a Q&A with Brian Cashman.
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Our pal Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports has the lowdown on Yu Darvish and it sounds like a movie script come to life.
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Phillies-Yanks tonight at 7:15 (WCBS, no TV). The players don’t get on the field until 3:30 p.m. Back later with the lineups and other news.
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on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 3:26 am by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
I appreciate that I have a blog to go to these days that I wake up at 4am and sometimes dont go to bed at all, preparing for finals. But wow Pete you work alot man. I hope one day I get to enjoy a job as much as you do yours.
24 hours until the first pitch of the season.
Early risers or late nighters all are the guests of Pete’s blog…
Hey Pete.
Thanks for the link to the Yu Darvish story. Living in Japan I’ve seen first hand the Darvish- mania. The day after his opening day where he threw 10 strike-outs he was all over the front pages of the Japanese newspapers. I agree with the article and if he were to get posted after this season it would be probably be around 75,000 million dollar bid or more. His stock is just gonna get higher, especially with the Olympics and the WBC coming in the spring of 2009. Sky is definitely the limit for this kid.
ticket price to double in 2009 ?
NEW YORK — Those $250 box seats at Yankee Stadium will seem inexpensive in 2009.
The New York Yankees will charge $500 to $2,500 for seats near home plate in the first five-to-eight rows of their new ballpark.
In the final season of the current Yankee Stadium, the team has 162 Legends seats ringing the infield mostly in two rows, with tickets priced up to $1,000 a game. Behind that are 3,000 Field Championship seats, which sold for $250 a game this year as part of season tickets. Those same seats cost just $25 in 1996.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3305979
no joy in mudville.
They should rename the “Field Championship Seats” to “Eliot Spitzer’s Emperor’s Club Seats”
I am in 32nd place in the Lohud Bracket Challenge!
Much better than ESPN. Even though I am in the 93% there are over 200,000 people ahead of me.
I definitely am getting anxious and ready for the season to start. I put the Yankee flag outside my house yesterday and it will fly from now until the season ends for them, hopefully with a 27th championship!
“I agree with the article and if he were to get posted after this season it would be probably be around 75,000 million dollar bid or more…Sky is definitely the limit for this kid.”
If some team wants to pay $75 million or $100 million for a posting fee for Yu Darvish by all means let them.
The Yankees should just stay away.
The track record for Japanese pitchers has been at best poor to mediocre. And in general they have consistently underperformed when compared to expectations.
Igawa and Hideki Irabu speak for themselves.
But even the great Matsuzaka was a significant disappointment last year. He was a league average pitcher with poor control who put a lot of stress on the bull pen because he threw so many pitches per inning. Given his assortment of pitches and deceptive motion hitters who have never seen him before should have had a lot of trouble with him if he was so good - they didn’t.
The differences in strike zones, ball parks, pitch uses, etc. is enormous and its very clear now that pitching performance in Japan isn’t projecting clearly into MLB performance.
The strike zone issue seems to be one the biggest issue. The best pitcher to come over was Hideo Nomo and unlike guys like Igawa and Matsuzaka who are constantly up in the zone, Nomo pitched down in the zone with that terrific splitter. But even he burned out relatively quickly from all that overuse in japan.
At this point these Japanese pitchers are much more hype than anything else and Yu Darvish is absolutely headed in that same direction. Rumors all over the internet, bloggers panting about how great this phenom is going to be, over blown stories about how much money he’d generate in marketing because he’s such a celebrity in Japan, etc, etc.
No thanks. $75 million? People keep saying that Matsuzka’s posting fee is just the floor for Darvish? Why - because Matsuzaka’s been so underwhelming?
Think about how much talent a team could acquire through the draft with $75-100 million dollars. The yankees gave Joba a $1.1 million signing bonus, Kennedy $2.25 million. They signed Jesus Montero for $1.6 million (which was one of the highest bonuses ever for a international signee).
Is anyone going to really be certain that Yu Darvish has more talent or will be better than Andrew Brackman, even when Brackman’s coming off TJ? Brackman signed for $4.25 million. You’re going to pay nearly 15-25 times that much just to talk to Yu Darvish?
No thanks.
Forget all the hype and hoopla over Darvish. It sounds like he could self destruct at any time. Matsuzaka hasn’t been the phenom he was built up to be courtesy of the MLB hitter’s grapevine. They figured out his weakness with runners on base and how he pitched differently from the stretch. The same can happen with Dervish.
Let some other team throw around a riduculous posting fee.
I really hope the Yankees have learned their lesson with Igawa. NO more Japanese pitchers! Look Kei was the leader in strike outs for two season over there. How has that worked out over here? To spend 75 million just for the chance to negoitate with him? As cb said look at all the talent in the draft taht you could get with that coin!!
He also doesn’t throw 97 and his slider isn’t 91. Not even close.
He’s a 91-93, 84-86 MPH slider. Big difference.
Its the difference between a true phenom and a JAG (Just Another Guy).
You want to see a true phenom? Check out Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers. THAT my friends is a phenom. That kid has the chance to be real special.
This Darvish stuff is the same nonsense as the “Gyroball”.
Let’s see him pitch for a few more years before we annoint him as something he’s not.
I doubt Japan is going to post him prior to the 2009 World Baseball Championships.
So, we will have another 1-2 years of hype.
As CB stated, check out the results of Japanese pitchers in the states. They don’t measure up to the hype.
Maybe this guy will but, the chances are he won’t.
I’m not feeling very good about Karstens, Rassner or Igawa for long reliever. These guys just seem too hittable too much of the time.
I’d much rather see Ohlendorf or Traber in that role. Ohlendorf has better stuff than any of the three guys previously mentioned, and has started up until last year. Traber has starter experience and can double as a lefty specialist — both these guys can fill the role better and open up another spot for guys like Patterson and Bruney, who seem pretty deserving.
I guess the nice thing about having this type of depth is that all the guys have options, so whoever Girardi chooses initially will still be playing musical chairs with the others, and the shuttle bus to Scranton will be running regularly.
SJ,
Have you gotten a chance to see Kershaw this spring by any chance?
Don’t know if you caught this, but last week or the week before Torre said that Clayton Kershaw reminded him of Sandy Koufax.
Torre is not one to extol the virtues of young players, as we all know. That’s why when Torre compared Cano to Rod Carew very early on I figured that was something to take seriously.
That’s how impressed Torre was with Kershaw - even if he’s half the pitcher that Koufax was he’ll be an all star for years.
Everyone is saying that Kershaw and Cueto have been the talk of Spring Training all over Florida.
Russel Martin said that the spin on Kershaw’s curve ball is so tight that he can hear the pitch before it hits his glove.
Kershaw’s going to be phenomenal if he stays healthy. A power left handed arm with that kind of breaking pitch - that’s a once in a generation type of prospect. Lefites are just so hard to find.
Hard to believe that 5 pitchers were picked in 2006 before Kershaw went off the board at #7. A franchise passes on an arm like Kershaw - that’s tough to recover from. Guys like that just don’t come around often.
I understand high school pitchers are a huge risk and teams want high returns, immediately when they hand out large signing bonuses.
But when you’re the Rockies and you take Greg Reynolds before Kershaw or the Pirates and you take Brad Lincoln - you just don’t recover from blowing it like that. Similar way that the yankees got Hughes I suppose.
“Have you gotten a chance to see Kershaw this spring by any chance?”
I saw some video of him K-ing a guy with that breaking pitch. The announcers had been bantering, talking about Kershaw and how promising he was, and then he broke off that curve and headed right for the dugout, and they were just rendered speechless.
It was pretty awesome.
I remember seeing video of Sanchez and his breaking pitches too. If he comes all the way back…man, WHAT a weapon he’ll be late in games.
From what i’ve seen on Japanese TV and when I watched Darvish pitched on TV here during the Japan Series last year and the year before when Nippon Ham pitched and I’ve got to say he’s no Irabu, Nomo, or Matsuzaka. I’d say he’s better now at his age than Matsuzaka was.
“I’d much rather see Ohlendorf or Traber in that role. ”
Is it Traber’s consistent failure as a starter that makes you want him in that role? Ohlendorf’s inability to succeed as a starter at the AAA level?
This is the swingman role. You’re not going to get a guy who can throw 4-5 innings of shutout ball at the drop of the hat out of the pen. Both Rasner and Karstens have shown solid performance in the majors, back in 06. Last year was a wash. If Rasner finishes the spring strong, I take him. Karstens has REALLY hurt his chances the last two times out.
I like the Yankees.
Go team!
ONE WEEK. ONE EFFING WEEK.
I’m with CB and SJ44. The risk isn’t in signing Japanese pitchers, it’s in giving long term contracts to ANY MLB-unproven pitcher to lucrative long term deals.
Will some Japanese pitcher(s) become great? You bet.
Will most minor league pitching prospects flop? Likely yes.
But as CB and SJ44 point out, you can diversify your risk by investing in dozens of high risk/high upside prospects for the cost of one Japanese phenom.
After Irabu and Igawa i’m understandably not keen on signing japanese “phenoms”. who knows though, maybe third time’s a charm. I just know that whenever someone does sign him to an MLB contract i’m sure everyone will make a huge, huge deal about it and declare him the cy young winner, essentially saying he is better than any current MLB pitcher…only to see him be mediocre at best. Where have we heard that story?
CB,
Saw Kershaw pitch once this spring and twice last year. Only pitcher I saw in his class in the minors last year was Joba. He was that good.
I’ve never seen a bad highlight video on YouTube. Darvish highlight videos are meaningless. How he pitches against real competition is the key.
Sorry Japanese baseball fans, their leagues are not real competition. Its AA-AAAA level players.
“It was pretty awesome.”
whozat,
We’ve had a couple of conversations about evaluating pitching prospects. You’ve made a very good point how control tends to get underplayed and prospects who don’t throw strikes consistently enough often over rated based on their stuff (Homer Bailey, Jon Lester).
Sounds like the short clip you saw of Kershaw was impressive. With him the only things you hear are superlatives. Everyone who’s seen him walks away shaking their head. He’s that good.
Don’t know if you have ever looked at Kershaw’s control numbers, but check them out.
They are very bad. Kershaw walk rate last year was 5/9. That’s worse than Bailey was last year and much worse than Jon Lester was in the minors.
The year before you have to throw Kershaw’s numbers out - he was in the Gulf Coast league and no way those hitters were going to touch him there.
That’s the hard part with pitching prospect. How do you evaluate Kershaw’s poor control last year and factor that in? That goes way past statistics IMO because it’s qualitative factors that really come into play.
IMO he’s a great case of why context matters. To me his lack of control is a concern but doesn’t substantially change what I think of him as a prospect. Particularly, because he was pitching against much older competition.
I think his stuff is so phenomenal and the fact that he’s left handed are just such pluses that you can’t downgrade him very much.
The dodger think he’ll be pitching in their rotation at some point this year.
A very interesting comparison is between Kershaw and Hughes, the two best high school pitching prospects to come up through the minors in recent years.
Kershaw has better stuff and is left handed. Hughes has much better control. Who’s going to be the better pitcher?
I wanted to know what you thought of his walk rate and how that factors into what you think of him.
I’ve seen Darvish pitch whole games and he was good. Forget these snippets on youtube and the net. I think he’s the real deal.
“I wanted to know what you thought of his walk rate and how that factors into what you think of him.”
Wow, those are some bad control numbers. But, as you say, kid was 19 in AA.
Seems like the definition of “raw talent” to me. I feel like, if you put him in the majors right now, he’d have a BIG fall-off after his initial honeymoon period. I figure you’d call him a 9D right now…tremendous ceiling, 50-50 of him reaching it. He’s so young that there’s still a good shot of him developing control, I figure. But there’s just as good a chance of him not doing so and turning into an Edwin Jackson type, who’s got electric stuff but just can’t harness it.
I dunno…you know what, if he had a patient manager, he could probably turn in some gorgeous games and some horrendous stinkers in MLB right now, and be fine as a back-end starter, wildly inconsistent from game to game, but with league-average totals. If he’s mentally resilient enough, he could do his development like that over the next two, three years.
Great info on Kershaw SJ, CB & Whozat, Torre comparing him to Koufax is quite the compliment. How soon do you think he will be up, before the All Star break?
Power arms are nice and turn heads but until they learn how to harness their array of pitches and consistently pound the strike zone, they can easily become victims of their own hype.
I’d prefer to go along with Joe Girardi’s interest in seeing his pitchers throw strikes.
This probably explains why we haven’t seen Sean Henn around lately (which is probably a good thing)
HENN MAY GO ON DL
By GEORGE A. KING III
March 24, 2008 — BRADENTON, Fla. - Sean Henn opened camp as the leading candidate to be the only left-hander in manager Joe Girardi’s bullpen and quickly was passed by Billy Traber, who isn’t a lock for a spot.
Since Henn is out of options the Yankees were likely to lose him if he didn’t make the club. Now, Henn may not be on the team but is still a Yankee because there is a chance he opens the season on the disabled list with a tender left shoulder.
It seems like young pitchers who have electric stuff come around very often. but 9 times out of 10 they lack control, or they don’t develop their secondary pitches enough. Kershaw sounds no different then Homer Baily 2 years ago. Hughes and Baily were the 2 best pitching prospects in baseball. Most thought Baily had the better arm but Hughes had the control/command. All I heard was give Baily time and IF he gets any kind of control he’ll be a number one.
Well 2 years later he still doesn’t have great control.
I think there’s something to be said when you have a young pitcher not only with the stuff but who has control.
Jax-
true. But Baily has some rad tatoos!
“I think there’s something to be said when you have a young pitcher not only with the stuff but who has control.”
Undeniably. And this is the point that CB mentioned me making in the past, so I certainly agree.
That said, when a kid is only 19 and in AA having success, that gives you some hope. He’s very, very young. If he’s still unpolished by the time he’s 22 (which Bailey is), then maybe you start worrying more.
Also, the fact that Kershaw’s a lefty makes him harder to hit, which also gives him a buffer. I could see him being like Randy Johnson, perhaps. He walked a LOT of guys his first several years in the majors, but gave up very few hits and struck out reams of people. He was good, but once he got his walks down around 28 years old, he became a MONSTER.
“I think there’s something to be said when you have a young pitcher not only with the stuff but who has control.”
Yes but those kind of pitching prospects are extraordinarily rare. That’s why Joba is such a phenomenal prospect. There aren’t too many of him to go around.
Nearly all young pitchers have some major drawback. Often it is control but it’s very difficult to know what to make of that. And that’s often an issue of scouting.
When Felix Hernandez was in AAA he walked around 5/9. He was also considered the best pitching prospect since Mark Prior. Would you pass on Hernandez or downgrade him because of his poor control in AAA.
When CC Sabbathia was Kershaw’s age he also walked around 5/9 in AA. Sabbathia skipped AAA and has gone on to be arguably the best control pitcher in all of baseball.
It’s just not that easy to distinguish between Homer Bailey and Felix Hernandez. It’s really not.
And while people are knocking Bailey now and the Reds want to trade him when he’s 28 he very well could be like Josh Beckett. It’s impossible to know.
Look at guys like Jake Peavey and Josh Beckett - it took them years and years to become top flight pitchers, despite having good control in the minors.
I’d put my money on Kershaw being more like Hernandez than Bailey. The type of advanced breaking pitch he has is very rare at his age and speaks a lot for how refined he is as a pitcher even though his control has yet to catch up. That’s very different from the way that Bailey is “raw.”
This is an issue that’s going to come up for the yankees againa and again now that they’ve turned to developing young pitchers.
Guys like Chamberlain and Hughes who throw hard and have control are very, very uncommon. They are in no way the standard for even elite pitching prospects.
Also, Jax, that’s why I like the number-and-a-letter ranking system that someone out there uses for young players. 1-10 ceiling rating, plus A-D probability of achieving that ceiling.
So, Joba’s a 9B. Kennedy’s an 8B, I think. Cano would probably be like…a 9A. Kershaw would most likely be something like a 9C or 9D, but I don’t know what that guy actually rated him.
Yeah, Kershaw had some pretty bad control last year. He has a lot of raw talent, but I already think his hype has superseded him. When it comes to lefty phenoms, I’m more interested in Price, even though he had some soreness in his arm last time out.
That said, I’d take both over Darvish. 97? Please, the guy doesn’t throw anywhere near that. Beware of Japanese players, they get more hype than imaginable. I’m sure there are a lot of good players in the NPB, but don’t pay Matsuzaka type money for them when there’s such a high percentage of flops.
if Darvish was a lefty then I would think about it but CB made a great point.
we gave Joba $1.1 MIL, Kennedy $2.25 MIL, Brackman signed for $4.25 MIL, Betances $1 MIL, why the hell are we even thinking about posting $75 MILLION just for a phone call ! lets be honest Dice-K has been a bust in the US, the best pitcher from foreign land other than the D.R. we have him his name is Chien-Ming Wang and he didn’t cost all that money. People here’s one Yankee fan who thinks we should steer away from another train wreck. Not saying he’s not that good but why pay over 75 MILLION just to talk when him, when you can use it to find another Hughes, another Joba another Betances or Tabata.
And what we need is LHP I hope Cashman/Yankees FO know that.
“Guys like Chamberlain and Hughes who throw hard and have control are very, very uncommon. They are in no way the standard for even elite pitching prospects.”
I agree. And that’s one of the reasons that I felt so strongly that the people arguing to trade Hughes for Santana because “their just propsects lololol trade them now ace Santanna is an ace we need an ace” were being…naive. When you get a prospect that has great stuff AND control, those are the guys you bet on without hesitation.
“I hope Cashman/Yankees FO know that.”
I’m pretty sure they’re aware of it. I suspect that’s why they went for Igawa. A 27 year old strikeout king lefty? Yeah, NPB is like the minors, but I’d be interested in a minor league pitcher with the kind of numbers that Igawa had.
Problem is that it seems to be less similar than perhaps we thought, at least with respect to projecting pitching talent there into the MLB.
Here’s a couple of links to Darvish’s strike-outs from last season.. it’s in Japanese but still pretty good
part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhlzij7ifpM
part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r5C3234104
“And what we need is LHP I hope Cashman/Yankees FO know that.”
Who is the last very good left handed pitcher who fell in the draft because of signability?
I’m sure Cashman knows the lack of lefties are a problem. The issue here is that the yankees draft strategy of paying over slot doesn’t work that well for left handers.
They are so rare that teams aren’t going to let them fall very far. They are going to pay their bonus demands and they aren’t going to get to the yankees picking late.
The last lefty who got drafted past the late first round who turned into a blue chip prospect was Jake McGee. Tampa drafted him at the top of the third round in 2004. He wasn’t considered that great a prospect coming out of high school. He’s surprised a lot of people but still is very raw and doesn’t have a good complementary pitch to go along with his plus fastball.
To get a high end lefty it’s probably going to have to come through the international signings.
whozat, Igawa right now has to be the 2nd worst piece of you know what on this roster and I only say that because it’s hard to beat Pavano
anyway from what Igawa was suppose to be I heard David Wells type arm and then see this, this ..IDK what it is, but the price would have been resonable if he could throw heat but he really can’t, he doesn’t locate, he lives up in the zone w/ 90 mph which makes no sense. I just for once wish we can land another Angel Reyes a LHP fireballer who can have the upside. I’m tired of posting and not getting what you think you should have. And now listening how we want Darvish !
There can be no doubt that Damon Oppenheimer will have the best lefthanded pitchers available as high on his priority list in this year’s draft followed by infielders.
Michael Dunn is the only lefthander in the organization worthy of consideration in the next few years and he’ll be at Trenton this year.
This is much of the reason why C.C. Sabathia will be pursued in light of good money coming off the books after this season.
“After Irabu and Igawa i’m understandably not keen on signing japanese “phenoms”. ”
Irabu really wasn’t as bad for the Yankees as people remember. he had a horrible rookie season, just like Igawa, and then turned in 2 *pretty good* seasons for a #5 starter.
if Igawa turns into Irabu for the Yankees, i think the Yankees would have succeeded in what they were trying to accomplish with Igawa.
they saw him as a back half of the rotation starter (with some upside) at a decent price, half of which they could exclude from the luxury tax. has it worked out so far? nope.
but if Igawa can be as “good” as Irabu was in 1998, he would be the best #5 starter in baseball, just like Irabu was in 1998.
-To get a high end lefty it’s probably going to have to come through the international signings.-
my perfect LHP
95 mph and a splitter or slider as the secondary pitch, just get mme a fireballer who can hit the spots 45 % of the time
Mornin’ guys. Just put my Sox season preview up. Feel free to disagree and rip me.
http://www.puristbleedspinstripes.com/2008/03/preview-day-keeps-winter-away-24.html
Later =D
hmmm I hope so, seeing the innings that we need from our starters we need beaver face to pitch better this season.
Japanese baseball has advanced but still not the quality of MLB. There should be a standard rule that any signed talent from Japan cannot be placed on a 25-man roster until experiencing spring training and a minimum of a half season at AAA to see how they adapt. If the player disappoints, then all or at least most of the posting fee is returned to the team that signed him.
Rebecca, great summary of the Sox! Good refresher course even for those paying attention.
Only suggested update: “Mike Lowell: … Best third baseman in the AL outside of Alex Rodriguez.” Detroit has the new #2 in town.
A bit off-topic,
This is a story about Jim Leyritz. Pretty sad. Two families detroyed.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbleyritz0324sbmar24,0,5300699.story
I have no idea why Girardi would bring a guy like Karstens, Igawa or Rasner north. Id bring anohter bat instead of one of those guys. A long reliever justs wastes a orster spot in my opinion.
In a game where the starter gets knocked out early, whats the point of bringing in a guy like Kartens, Igawa or Ranser who will get hit just as hard, if not harder than the starter they came in for. Giradrdi is better off having Wilson Betemit throw a few innings in that situation.
Scott Rolen has broken his finger, AJ Burnett still has issues with his fingernail. The Bllue Jays just cant catch a break when it comes to injuries amazing.
Yazman - I think that Cabrera probably will turn out to be the new #2 third baseman in the AL behind Alex, but I think that we need to wait and see how he adjusts to the AL. Also to see if he stays in shape. Some were questioning the wisdom of giving Cano a long term contract because of his motivation. What about Cabrera?
Rebecca - nice preview of the sox. A lot of work to write up blurbs for all those players as you’re doing.
An interesting note - many people have said that Ortiz had bit of an off year last year, particularly because his home run total fell off dramatically from the year before (54 vs. 35).
Sadly to say, 2007 was actually almost as good (and in some ways even better) for Ortiz than 2006.
ARod had a historic season last year and was clearly the best hitter in the game. ARods OPS last year was 1.067. Ortiz’s OPS was 1.066.
The year he hit 54 HR Ortiz’s OPS was actually lower than it was last year (1.049 vs. 1.066). His batting average and on base percentage last year went up dramatically last year (.287 vs. .332 BA and .413 vs. .445).
Last year Ortiz had the highest OBP of any player in baseball. That is phenomenal given that he also hit 34 HR and knocked in 117. If Manny had had a more typical Manny season Ortiz would have scored many more runs in 2007 than he did in 2006.
Ortiz was simply awesome last year just in a different way than he was in 2006 when he hit 54 HR.
I’d guess ARod may wind up having a year in 2008 like ortiz had in 2007 - fewer HR and RBI which gets people talking about an off year but still tremendous offensive out put overall.
AJ Burnett gee this guy can break. My thoughts of the Marlins player developement is leaning towards not good, I mean who doesn’t expect the next SP to go down be Andrew Miller the way they handle thier staff, but it’s easy to blame Girardi for it
Rebecca :
A reasonable summary with Boston but excluded was their so-so bench and lack of pitching depth in their farm system. Repeating is not easy and in their case haven’t done it since 1916. Many question marks.
The Yankees will not get off to a 21-29 start like in ‘07 and are a better prepared team. No contract issues hanging in the air. A full year of Jose Molina. Some experience with Phil, Joba, and IPK from last year. A better bullpen that will be used right. Last but not least, wanting to leave the old Stadium on a high note.
“In a game where the starter gets knocked out early, whats the point of bringing in a guy like Kartens, Igawa or Ranser who will get hit just as hard, if not harder than the starter they came in for.”
well, you basically forfeit the game and save all your other arms. there is value in that.
that said, i am *generally* against the idea of a long man, and in *general* i do agree that it is a waste of a roster, but i think the Yankees have some good reasons to take a long man FOR APRIL.
the yankees have 1 off-day in April.
as the season starts, starters will need a few weeks to settle in. there may be a few games when the starter underperforms.
since the Yankees have an April schedule unlike one i have ever seen before, they can’t rely on their off-days to rest the bullpen.
i think taking Rasner or Igawa makes sense for the first month. after that, i would drop them in exchange for Britton or Patterson or Ohlendorf…
so i ended up taking reyes in the first round of the draft yesterday. i feel ashamed. i guess i can always trade him midseason, which would probably be smart if he repeats his performance from last season…
this is pretty good. a tournament of the worst offseason MLB moves.
http://mlbfleecefactor.com/2008/03/24/the-2008-sweet-sixteen-of-offseason-fleeces/
Yazman: Yeah, I should amend it to second best 3B that can play some defense
We learned last year that not having a long man in the pen made us burn out our bullpen when starters had bad back to back outings.
1000-plus run teams in MLB history
Here’s how baseball’s seven 1,000-plus run teams fared in the standings:
1931 New York Yankees (1,067 runs) - They finished second in the American League with a 94-59 record, 13 � games behind Philadelphia. The Yankees outscored opponents by 307 runs and led the AL in batting average (.297), home runs (155) and stolen bases (138).
Philadelphia outscored opponents by “only” 232 runs (858-626) but led the AL with a 3.47 ERA. The Athletics lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in a seven-game World Series and never were the same team again under Connie Mack.
1936 Yankees (1,065 runs) - They won the AL pennant by 19 � games over Detroit and won the World Series in six games over the New York Giants.
1930 Yankees (1,062 runs) - They finished third in the AL with an 86-68 record, 16 games behind first-place Philadelphia. The Yankees outscored opponents by 164 runs but Philadelphia had much better pitching (4.28 to 4.88) and outscored opponents by 200 runs (951-751).
1950 Boston Red Sox (1,027 runs) - They finished third in the AL with a 94-60 record, 4 games behind the pennant-winning Yankees.
1999 Cleveland (1,009 runs) - The most recent team to top 1,000 runs won the AL Central with a 97-65 record but lost to Boston in the AL Division Series.
1930 St. Louis Cardinals (1,004 runs) - One reason the 1930 Rochester Red Wings were so potent is that the parent team was loaded. The Cardinals were second in ERA and outscored opponents by 220 runs. They won the National League pennant by 2 games over the Chicago Cubs but were upset by the Philadelphia Athletics in a six-game World Series.
1932 Yankees (1,002 runs) - Won the AL pennant with a 107-47-2 record, 13 games ahead of second-place Philadelphia; swept the Chicago Cubs in the World Series.
The bottom line: Of the seven teams to top 1,000 runs in modern baseball history (post-1900), only three won league pennants (1930 Cardinals, 1932 Yankees and 1936 Yankees), and only the 1932 and 1936 Yankees won the World Series.
MAYBE WE SHOULDNT BE HOPING WE SCORE 1000 RUNS THIS YEAR.
999 IS MORE LIKE IT.
If Andy (or any other SP) were to spend time on the DL, what’s the latest priority order for filling in the rotation?
1.
2.
3.
To respond to the Japanese pitchers. JUST SAY NO!! I say go to Tiawan we’ve had 1000% success rate there for much less.
Hey brandon,saucy and others.
I have 12 of the teams i picked in the sweet 16. Whats yours looking like? Anyone have more going?
sos, i did horrible. 8 teams.
but i got to make this jersey:
http://lohud.com.pickmanager.com/_images/colbb/jerseys/www/1080478.jpg
So Fields might be going back to the minors. Replaced by Crede. Another name that pops up is Marte. All this hype on these players sort of makes me leary about our young minor league position players. How good will they be when they come up? Is it better to go after a free agent or a trade for someone who has a track record in the majors. Rather than banking on a minor leaguer that might not adjust to the big league game?
i got an e mail from the yankees today about tickets for opening day…so i went to the web-site and actually got a single ticket in the upper deck ( tier 26) for opening day!
just $33.00
One other thing to remember when talking about Japanese pitchers. They use a different ball in Japan than the US.
Its why Terry Francona freaked the other day when he thought they were using the Japanese ball on their tour.
Its more like the college ball here in the states. The stitching is higher, enabling them to get bigger breaks on their curveballs and more depth on sliders.
Its also a little smaller, which helps them with their fastballs.
Its why Igawa threw 93 in Japan and 88 here.
Its why I put zero stock in Japanese pitchers.
When you play against inferior competition and use a different ball, how exactly does one make a proper evaluation of their talents?
Its probably why so many Japanese pitchers have crashed and burned in the States.
Clayton Kershaw is the real deal. He’s the lefthanded version of Joba. When Joba was 19, he wasn’t even pitching against this level of competition.
Very, very rare type of talent.
I would hope that MLB teams have learned their lesson regarding much-hyped Japanese pitchers. Even with the skepticism that was in place at the time, Dice-K and Igawa were expected to be different from the rest (the former more than the latter, of course). How much difference did they make? Matsuzaka became a league-average pitcher and Igawa is getting paid $4M/yr to play AAA ball.
It’s easy to see how different the leagues are. All one has to do is consider not only how much difficulty their pitchers have adapting to MLB, but how much success mediocre batters from the states have when they play in Japan. Guys that can barely crack a roster here or are on the downside of their careers go overseas and smack 30+ dingers. It’s hardly coincidental. Look at Igawa - his biggest problem has been keeping the ball down and MLB hitters are feasting on the big fat balls left up in the zone for them. If the strike zone is that much bigger in Japan and they are that much more successful pitching there, it’s no wonder MLB has-beens can go over there and hit for power the way they do as well.
I don’t care what the hype is on Darvish. After the world expected Dice-K to come over and make MLB hitters look foolish - and not live up to those expectations …. let some other team take the risk paying exorbitant posting fees and signing these guys to fat contracts.
saucY,
Well maybe youll go 8 for 8 in the next round and look like a genius.
t-shirt
I like it!! But i have to be honest with you. Im not sold on those colors. blue and white o.k. Burnt orange and white good. red and white not bad. Silver,black and white another option. But blue,green and white? Is that your high school colors or did they have a sale on that green?
“How good will they be when they come up? Is it better to go after a free agent or a trade for someone who has a track record in the majors. Rather than banking on a minor leaguer that might not adjust to the big league game?”
All proven major leaguers were once unproven minor league players until they proved themselves in the bigs. The best teams have a combination of homegrown talent, free agent acquisitions and players who were traded.
One example of proven vs. unproven I’ll give here. In 2005 the Yankees signed a “proven” second baseman, Tony Womack. Tony Womack hit like Tony Womack. The Yankees then had to call up an unproven prospect to replace him when they realized just how bad Tony Womack really was. The unproven player of course is our very own Robinson Cano. Now what if the Yankees had decided it wasn’t worth depending on an unproven player?
Mike thats great just looked at the 10 day forecast and finally for the first day in a while it looks like no rain (says 10 per cent chance). I will be watching from the bleachers (got bleachers for the holiday pack to subsidize my regular saturday seats lol) am sooo excited
3 remaining bullpen spots -
Rasner.
Traber.
Patterson.
Yu Darvish?
Bid upwards of Matzuzaka’s posting fee just to call this puppy up and talk? No freekin’ way. With all that money going for essentially nothing, would Carl Pavano feel cheated? I totally agree with CB on this one - Think about how much talent a team could acquire through the draft with $75-100 million dollars.
How much total $$$$ did NY sign Mussina for when he came over from Baltimore? I don’t remember how much it was but is it worth bidding/paying anywhere near as much money, just to negotiate how much more money you’ll have to pay for a 22-year old who’s never faced ML hitters? No. I doubt the kid could come close to what Moose was in his prime. Any one of the current big 3 will probably out pitch him at the same age, if not all 3 of them. All 3 were collectively signed (incl bonus & salary up to his age next year) for probably less than 10% of the cost of that kind of posting fee. They will be worth (and earn) more than him in the long run.
He is NOT going to be worth it on the field, although it sounds like he could sell a ton of gossip newspapers if he ever met Benson’s wife. Hey …. maybe Ruppert Murdoch should underwrite his posting fee for the winning bidder, then arrange an ‘accidental’ introduction.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03242008/news/regionalnews/yankees__mets_want_their_cut_103240.htm?page=0
who read this crap
Papelbon eyes big money for closers
he saids Mo set the tone and he wants to continue the trend
“I think all the other closers out there need to see what’s going on, and they shouldn’t settle for anything less.”
OH BOY ..IS THIS GUY SERIOUS
I want dirt from the infield of YS!! Pete can you get me some? My father has dirt from Ebbots field.
Papelbon dismisses the notion that Rivera’s deal was somewhat of an aberration, just a product of the richest team in baseball showing loyalty to one of the lynch-pins in its success.
raymagnetic,
That was a good example but i guess my question is if we play the percentages(i know everyone starts out in the minors). Do you go with lets say an above average major league player or a very hyped minor leaguer?
Jennifer,
a.I wonder how much that big red apple will cost someone?
b.I got first dibbs on the bambinos #3 in the outfield.
Brandon,
How many teams you got left in the tourny?
S.o.S.27
Why would anyone want to buy that piece of garbage paper mache apple?
Somehow I doubt the Yankees will be selling the numbers.
I wish I could get a seat from the stadium, but I know the only thing I could truely afford is the dirt. 
I have only one team left.
NC
Jennifer my office is across the street from the Yankee store and they have this thing called save a stub where for i think 129 you can give them your ticket stub they frame it with lineup card for the day and some dirt from the stadium. I think I am going to do it for the opening day this year nice little momento.
From: THEGOOSE
Posts: 2760
NEW YORK—Yankee officials announced plans Monday to construct state-of-the-art, multimillion-dollar Yankee Stadium replicas in every MLB city, allowing Yankee players to experience the same first-class amenities and home-field advantage they currently enjoy during the other 81 games of the season. “The New York Yankees are a proud, venerable franchise that should never have to be subjected to artificial turf, domes, other teams’ logos, or anything unfamiliar or unfavorable,” said president Hank Steinbrenner, noting that the new Yankee Stadium scheduled to open in 2009 is so beautiful and spacious that it would be a waste to only use it for half a season. “Each of the 29 new Yankee Stadiums will feature Yankee Stadium’s signature white upper-deck façade as well as the historic Monument Park, and all games played in them will count as Yankee home games, as 51,000 Yankee fans will be bussed in from New York to attend them.” The Yankees also plan to build Yankee Stadiums in every single international city just in case Major League Baseball ever decides to hold their season opener there.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/yankees_to_build_stadiums
Here’s another way of looking at it.
Is Alan Horne worth 130 million dollars?
If you go after Darvish and the posting fee is 75 million plus another 50-60 million to sign him, you are paying that kind of money for a guy who has pitched at the same level of competition as Alan Horne.
If Darvish is worth 130 million, so is Alan Horne.
That’s the rub when you spend that much money on a Japanese pitcher.
He may be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Changes are, he isn’t better than Jake Peavy, Johan Santana and CC Sabathia. Yet, he will be paid like it.
Too much cash for too much uncertainty for my tastes.
SoS I have 9 teams left
I’ll be going to the second to last game. Maybe I should do it for that? Which store are you near? the one on 5th? I usally go to that one, if I feel like going through the crowd I walk to 42nd.
I don’t want to be pessimistic, but is the Yankee bullpen really that much better this year? Aside from Mo and Joba, I am not sure if there will be enough consistency to keep us in games once the starter has failed. I am not an expert in these things but when I think about Farnwsorth, Igawa, Rasner, Karstens, Bruney, etc, I have doubts.
Or maybe someone has a ticket to the last game that they’d love to give to sweet old me.
“Now that Rivera has set the tone, my goal is to go out there and bring it to the next level and keep the market going,” Papelbon explained
We should have known that this guy was up to something when he accepted the closer role. He initially said he wanted to start and felt strong about it before last season. Then he comes out and says that he wouldnt mind closing. You would think he could retire today and be a first ballot h.o.famer. memo to pucker mouth. You have to do it for more than 2 years to be the spokesman for all closers BIG MOUTH!!
jennifer-I have only one team left. NC
I guess you took the word “cinderella” to the extreme.lol
The good news is n.c. looks to be playing the best right now.
Jennifer the one at 49th and 7th
You’re like 15 blocks north of me.
2008 season preview headlines - some funny ones:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview08/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=3306865
I would imagine they do them at all the stores there are signs in the window about it. There are like 3 different plans each more more expensive then the next and you get diffferent things with each one. I figure for the last year of the stadium it is worth it and a nice piece of memories.
I can put it next to my Mike Schmidt signed poster which he signed “To my good friend Gayle” lol
Florida Marlins: “We Just Saved a Ton of Money on Our Payroll by Switching to Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin”
Washington Nationals: “We’ll Be Lucky to Win 70 Games, But the Concessions at the New Ballpark Should be Great”
Two good ones.
saw a post in here earlier about scoring 1000 runs. i don’t exactly care whether they do or not i just want them to bring home #27 but it got me thinking about our lineup’s chances of plating 1000 this year. many people seem to think that if they haven’t done it in the last couple of years there’s no way we can this year but i’m not sure.
say our primary lineup looks like 1-3 Damon Jeter Abreu, 4-6 Rodriguez Giambi Posada, and 7-9 Matsui Cano Cabrera.
Just looking at the bottom of our lineup…they combined to hit .288 last year with 273 RBI. 273, and they each had a slow first half, yet still averaged over 90 RBI each….we’re talking a bottom of the order that averaged 90 RBI last year between the three of them when getting off to slow starts. and of course we know what we have in the middle of the order with A-Rod and Posada, and what it could be if Giambi has a bounceback year. I’d say this team has a pretty solid chance at 1000 runs too. not that it matters, just pretty interesting.
compassionate conservatism?
ESPN has just sunk to a new low.
The Tigers were expecting big things from Curtis Granderson this year.
He’s now out for three weeks with a broken finger. Got hit with a pitch.
That team is built to win this year. Given how close the division/ wild card will be losing Granderson and Rodney (on top of Zumaya) are really tough blows.
The yeankees bull pen is unsettled but they’re lucky to be healthy up to this point.
Oh, gayle, don’t be too shy to mention the 8×10 Jeter glossy that’s signed, “I’ll always remember that night…”
Words can not explain how much I dislike Papelbon. You can say, “Well you’d feel differently if he were on the Yankees”. True, I would. I always cheer for the uni, but if he were on the Yankees he wouldn’t behave the way he does. So that would be that.
CB: Dang, I feel bad for Granderson. Isn’t the first rule of training camp always ‘Stay healthy’?
There are rules against collusion on player signings and salaries.
Are there any rules against collusion on posting fees, regardless of what the player gets paid?
Is it time for MLB owners & GM’s to secretly agree on a posting fee ceiling, perhaps $5 or 10 million, or one year’s salary of the player in question? Matsuzaka’s posting fee paid his old teammates’ total salaries for more than a season. Teams over there shouldn’t be expecting/holding out for that kind of pay day.
Just for a comparison … Could any one of you imagine paying the Minnesota Twins’ the amount of all their player’s salaries for this entire season, just for the right to to talk to Johan Santana about his next contract? Me neither.
Instead of the current posting system, maybe their teams can be persuaded to operate sort of on behalf of the player they have under contract. Not sure what kind of agent system they already have there, but maybe the deals could work like they take a percentage of the player’s actual US salary. US teams will then have to deal with the luxury tax differently and Japanese teams will get a taste of what the players are really worth, rather than reaping these hyped & absurd posting fees. If the Japanese team holds out too long for a ridiculous amount of money, and the player becomes a free agent at the end of his contract with them, they get diddly squat.
Tiger Woods Loses!!!!!! Yeah, Yeah, Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/24/sports/golf24.php
apparently jerry crasnick bases the “slogan” for the entire season of the yankees and red sox on one day’s worth of events from last week.
granderson is one of those players you wish you had on your team, i was sorry to hear he broke his finger. he shouldn’t be out for long though
SJ44 great post I never really thought of it like that. I mean Dice-K and Darvish are great in Japan but Japan is the new AA and why pay $130 MIL for Alan Horne or Philip Hughes when you can get them in the states or latin america for a cheaper price.
I do not want Darvish, the only reason anyone should even think about it is because he has no innings cap and would draw an audience other than that I have no interest in this kid, it just financially doesn’t make sense. I can just imagine how much Dellin Betances or Joba Chamberlain would have cost if they would have moved to Japan at the age of 8,9 or 10 and then have the same success as a teen in Japan being showcased to the U.S.
That team is built to win this year. Given how close the division/ wild card will be losing Granderson and Rodney (on top of Zumaya) are really tough blows.
cb-Immagine after the offseason moves they made,they fail to make it to the playoffs. I think they are the only other team that has a chance of scoring 1000 runs this year. But im not sold on their starting pitching one bit.
I have Cleveland,Seattle,Anaheim, Boston and us ahead of them this year. With that trade they made,they cant afford to have anyone injured throughout the season. Thats the risks you take giving up the best young talent you have the last couple years.
1000 runs for the season divided by 162 games = 6.17 runs per game.
If they could accomplish that, Kei Igawa would actually stand a legitimate chance at a winning record.
Those non-winning 1000-run teams apparently had weak pitching.
This year’s team has a legitimate shot at having a good, deep pitching staff & bullpen even if they don’t have one guy who compares to Pedro Martinez in his prime.
S.o.S>: I agree with you. Detroit has MAJOR pitching issues.
6 more spring games, then the Yankees opener on 3/31.
Less than 24 hours until MLB’s opener in Japan.
WooHoo!
Detroit = Just another example of why you can’t have too much pitching on hand. Not too long ago their raw pitching talent was scary. Now they’re in trouble.
If they could accomplish that, Kei Igawa would actually stand a legitimate chance at a winning record.
With sunglasses,not a chance.
Without. 50/50.
Blindfolded. Absolutely
What’s up with the Rich Harden rumors? A’s want IPK or Horne or Marquez.
Anyone, does this have any teeth?
it has teeth but we’re not trading Kennedy or Horne or Betances
mel,
Dirk is out for 2 weeks. I think if he doesnt comeback sooner. They miss the playoffs all together. How bad does that Kidd trade look for them right now. They havnt beaten a winning team with him. As i stated when the trade happened. Thank you Dallas for trading away Harris and Diop. Who were S.A. achillis heal.
Do you hear the footsteps? 1 game behind and closing.
Ill take Harden for Marquez and make him the 8th inning guy. Put Joba back in the rotation. Or 7th inning guy till July. Then he takes over the 8th inning role.
Thanks Brandon,
If they could get him for some of the other guys I’d do it. We have a glut of “promising talent” down on the farm - they all can’t pitch for the Yanks. Harden, if healthy could really help.
Matsuzaka’s “gyroball” is a myth and a fable. A pent up version of an American screwball through the use of a ball that would hardly be used for infield practice in the states.
The Dice-K mania that gripped Boston a year ago is now down to whispers of fraud and disappointment.
Hot selling Dice-K shirts are now seen wiping wax off cars from a hard winter.
Until Harden proves he can pitch effectively and stay healthy for an entire year I wouldn’t trade anyone for him. He’s an injury waiting to happen. I definitely wouldn’t trade for him to make him an eigth inning guy. If healthy he has filthy stuff, number one starter type stuff. I would just be leery of trading anybody for him right now, let alone a combination of Kennedy, Horne, Marques.
Ranting Guy: The money Japanese teams would get back in any new system would have to compensate potential lost revenue from letting their stars go (nevermind that they would prefer to keep their stars in the first place)
At least, that was apparently the purpose of the posting system when it was implemented after Nomo’s retirement-from-Japanese-baseball-then-sign-with-Dodgers thing.