Pettitte feeling better, bullpen tomorrow
-
- March
- 25
Joe Girardi just told us that Andy Pettitte woke up without pain in his lower back and is now scheduled to throw in the bullpen tomorrow.
“It’s a relief,” Girardi said.
The plan is for Pettitte to start in a minor-league game on Saturday. That would line him up to start the third or fourth game of the regular season.
The rotation for the regular season as it stands now:
Wang
Mussina
Pettitte or Hughes
Pettitte or Hughes
Kennedy
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on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 9:17 am by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
That’s a relief. Thanks Pete
Good news. Is Johnny playing today?
Injury or not, Moose should not be the #2 starter.
Or ahead of Hughes.
Red Sox game over yet?
is Joba going today?
do the players have super-quality mattresses? if waking up with or without back pain is the sign of a healthy pitcher, they should all have the best mattresses money can buy.
I don’t know who I hate more, Manny or Ortiz. Jeezus.
Eh. Figures. Drew gets hurt before the game, they bring in Moss, and he’s the hero. super.
Isn’t Street suppose to be an elite closer?
Huston Street is just plain awful.
It is the begining of the season, the starters never match up 1-1 2-2.
Is anyone actually surprised that the Red Sox came back late in a game against a bad team? I learned last year that no lead is safe against those guys if they are facing a bad team like Oakland. The A’s had a lot of chances to win but they never broke it open against Daisuke
So if Moose starts second, it’d line him up perfectly to start the game in Boston i have tickets to. This would be my third or fourth time seeing Moose pitch and I rarely go to more than two Yankee games a year!
Cute picture of A-Rod’s daughter in the News today.
Oakland is going to be awful this year, as is Texas. Which is not good for the Yankees wild-card hopes.
Look on the bright side, they just set it up for pimplebutt to blow the save.
Rebecca-
you and Moose - it’s kismet
Oakland is going to be awful this year, as is Texas. Which is not good for the Yankees wild-card hopes.
huh??
Just what is it that makes the Red Sox so friggin mentally tough? A bench guy hits the game tying HR?!?! You knew they would then win in extra innings. Is it the managing? Is it just the team chemistry? The Yanks tend to roll over and give up unless Arod can hit a HR. The season is already making me sick to my stomach!
John, I’m praying you’re indulging in sarcasm here…
Me too. Otherwise he needs help.
Wow only 4 hits for the A’s?
Yikes..
“Just what is it that makes the Red Sox so friggin mentally tough?”
Nothing in particular. The A’s are a bad team. A real lineup would have destroyed Matsuzaka today. The A’s didn’t.
Street really didn’t seem to be pitching well. He gave guys pitches they could handle in pitcher’s counts.
Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are great hitters. As soon as anyone got on base in that last inning, you knew they’d score. Either Ortiz or Ramirez would do something to make it happen.
Is someone paying Oakland to give this game away????? What a stupid, stupid baserunning mistake!
“The season is already making me sick to my stomach!”
Awesome. Then, please, never come back to the blog. Your constant bellyaching will only make it more difficult for the rest of us to enjoy discussing baseball.
Cheers.
Wow thrown out at third..
Rebecca
In 2005 I attended two Yankees games, one in Detroit, the other in Toronto. Randy Johnson got bombed both times. The Detroit game (and this is when they still stunk) was like 10- 2 or something like that.
Meacham’s in Tokyo? (sorry, couldn’t resist)
Where Marco Scutaro when you need him?
“Oakland is going to be awful this year, as is Texas. Which is not good for the Yankees wild-card hopes.
huh??”
It means that the AL West teams will get a lot of easy games, which could inflate their records. Toronto and the Rays could very well be tough teams this year, and that’s 36 games of the Yanks’ schedule.
Frankly, I think the Mariners won’t be that good either, so the Angels should get to fatten up A LOT. They could have the best AL record this year, despite being the 5th best team or so.
I hope Suzuki wins this–he’s on my fantasy team.
Wow. A’s should have this game tied already. Boo.
Red Sox win…
That will be said quite a bit this season, I’m afraid.
Wonder how Wang will fare against a real ace on opening day?
Street with a nice 16.50 ERA. Uff.
Even a Red SOx comeback win cannot dampen this beautiful day when I received my season tickets at the door.It is a great day to be a baseball fan.
Thanks, Whozat, I thought the unstated assumption in my argument was self-evident. Apparently not, but you did an excellent job of explaining it. I owe you one.
I’m curious though why you don’t think a team with King Felix, Bedard, and Washburn leading its rotation and bullpen full of power arms won’t thrive this year.
Nice work by the “Best Closer in the Game” (sarcasm). But for that bonehead out at third, this is blown save and a tie game at worst. Certainly no basis for Sux fans to crow about a win like this.
Ah!
Well, the Sox won, but it was pretty satisfying to watch the A’s make a run at it.
Good night, for a second time.
murphydog-
You wouldn’t think so, but I’m in Boston, and they already are appluding the team and their preformance.
3-2-1 Till the Soxs fans laugh that we are in second by 1/2 game.
Juding by gameday they had no business winning that game. I hope the check is in the mail to the A’s front office.
oh no the red sox won a game! The season is over! The Yankees will never catch them. AHHHHHHHHHH
(sarcasm)
“Certainly no basis for Sux fans to crow about a win like this.”
I’m in NY and as soon as the game ended I hear someone elated that the Sox are 1-0. I hate that.
“You wouldn’t think so, but I’m in Boston, and they already are appluding the team and their preformance.”
Why wouldn’t Boston fans applaud coming back in the 9th inning and winning the game in extra innings? What was the Yanks record in extra innings last year? How many times did the Yanks come back in the 9th vs Boston coming back in the 9th?
Manny already is crushing the ball. Let’s see how the “ace” Wang does on opening day vs a real ace. Gonna be another fun season!
How can Boston feel good about themselves ? They played an inferior team and gave Oakland many chances to blow the game wide open. Any other team would have put Matsuzaka on the ropes and down for the count by the 2nd inning. Take Ramirez and Ortiz out of their lineup and they measure up to Oakland.
There was actual clapping here in the office after they won. Seriously, clapping and high fives..
DMan-
what kind of office?
“Why wouldn’t Boston fans applaud coming back in the 9th inning and winning the game in extra innings? What was the Yanks record in extra innings last year? How many times did the Yanks come back in the 9th vs Boston coming back in the 9th?”
I thought Red Sox fans didn’t like talking about the past. What does last year have to do with how the Yankees will play this year?
Not pleased with the 1-0 start, but if they play the next 161 like this–mediocre pitching, just enough offense to beat sub-par teams–all should end well.
my present to the A’s
Dman,
At least you’re in Boston where it’s sort of expected. Being in NYC and hearing people congratulate each other after a Sox win is annoying.
realist
March 25th, 2008 at 9:59 am
“You wouldn’t think so, but I’m in Boston, and they already are appluding the team and their preformance.”
**************************
Some people are satisfied with little and have rose colored glasses. [Pre}formance ???
“oh no the red sox won a game! The season is over! The Yankees will never catch them. AHHHHHHHHHH”
Sarcasm is great, but the fact of the matter is that these early season games DO MATTER. The Yanks lost the division last year due to tanking the early games. Boston has already shown it is taking each and every game seriously. It would be nice if NY did the same.
Seriously though, how does Emil Brown get thrown out at 3rd? What makes it even worse is that the next two hitters got singles thereafter. Emil Brown should have to run 20 laps around the stadium right now.
Raymagnetic -
It’s called history when it suits them.
“The Yanks lost the division last year due to tanking the early games. Boston has already shown it is taking each and every game seriously. It would be nice if NY did the same”
So you’re saying that the Yankees purposely lost their early season games last year? And your statement makes sense to you?
Is Emil Brown the goat of the game or is it Street?
street is a very good relief pitcher, but he is not an elite closer. I wish the Yankees would have drafted him instead of that mega bust Poterson, he could have been the 8th inning guy we’ve been looking for.
“I’m curious though why you don’t think a team with King Felix, Bedard, and Washburn leading its rotation and bullpen full of power arms won’t thrive this year.”
Because they drastically out-performed their expected record last year and traded their best young hitter and a quite good bullpen arm for Bedard. This was not a team that was one pitcher from going over the top. This was a lucky team. Their offense is ABYSMAL. Sexson is terrible, Vidro is not nearly a productive enough hitter to be a DH, Jose Lopez is pretty terrible, Betancourt is a below-average hitter, Beltre is below average for a 3B, and I don’t even know who their third OFer is. Ibanez is a solid hitter, but I’m pretty sure he’s close to a disaster in the field.
rayg com’on man you know Oakland’s kryptonite is baserunning
Wow some of you are clueless. No one is referring to the soxs coming back. They are referring to the chanes that the A’s blew. Getting thrown out at third. Putting a small army on base and getting ONE RUN!! This really isn’t a game to be proud of. It is a game that every player and fan should be, phew we got away with one!
realist, you’re such a Cassandra.
Boston may sweep the A’s in Japan, although I don’t think they will seeing as they have used up their best starter Dice-K, and A’s have Harden now to go tomorrow, but even so this trip will take a lot out of the Sux and it will take some time for them to get their feet under them once they get back to the States. If the Yankees can take 2 of 3 from the Blue Jays, and play well, I see a 5-6 game lead in the standings for the Yankees over the Sux by the end of April.
“So you’re saying that the Yankees purposely lost their early season games last year? ”
The Yanks had the same “it’s only April” attitude that some fans here have. Those games are just as important as games in September. We’ll see if they take things a bit more seriously this season.
Brandon,
They must be some of the worst baserunners around. Did anyone actually see the play however? Was he thrown out by a lot or was it a bang bang play?
the same “it’s only April” attitude that some fans here have.
Are you serious, have you seen how fans here react to poor ST outings?
“The Yanks had the same “it’s only April” attitude that some fans here have.”
What should they have said? “Wow, we’ve lost some games early…we’re screwed!”
Their pitching staff was DECIMATED by injury. Their point was that it didn’t make sense to start acting like the season was over because of one bad month caused mostly by injury. And they were right.
“The Yanks had the same “it’s only April” attitude that some fans here have. Those games are just as important as games in September. We’ll see if they take things a bit more seriously this season”
As I asked earlier, do you think they actually wanted to lose the games? You’re implying they didn’t take the games seriously but you’re logic doesn’t make any sense. Do you not remember Wang, Moose, Abreu amoung others being injured to start the year? Do you not remember American Idle and Igawa starting games for the Yankees last April?
Do you not think that the combination of unfortunate events had anything at all to do with the Yankees poor record last April? You call yourself realist but you’re not being a realist.
ray,
It was a rundown.
How many of you would’ve taken your chances with Ortiz rather than intentionally walk him?
I questioned it at the time because Manny’s even more clutch than Ortiz. The matchup was better, but still Manny’s too good.
i guess it’s starting already on this blog.
can’t wait.
http://jaydestro.org/st2008.jpg - look what i got in the mail today
“I questioned it at the time because Manny’s even more clutch than Ortiz. The matchup was better, but still Manny’s too good.”
Depends on how Street’s splits look, and his history with the two guys. I don’t have that data, but I’m sure the A’s do.
I really don’t care about today seriously, the only thing I witnessed is the A’s baserunningis horrific other than that we’ll catch them this year & they better be ready.
So listening to WFAN and that little twirp Knicks PR Jonathon Sapranowitz was hovering around Mark Jackson watching what he said in last night’s Knicks loss, Mark if I were you I’d grab that little twirp and tell him “listen man I don’t work for you GET DA F*** AWAY from me”
hmmm-
My thoughts exactly. Don’t know how long I’ll be able to stand it this year.
Why answer? Why answer the Boston fans who come here? It just perpetuates the negativity.
the A’s should try Harden as their closer since the guy cant stay healthy in the rotation. I think it will benefit Street as well.
“Do you not think that the combination of unfortunate events had anything at all to do with the Yankees poor record last April?”
Nope, I don’t blame things on unfortunate events or bad luck. That backup for Boston came through and tied the game in the 9th. Nobody stepped up for the Yanks with the injuries last year. They could have but didn’t. It’s that simple.
Should be interesting to see how our “ace” does vs Toronto on opening day.
Jay -
Very cool!
I walk Ortiz AND Manny. Make Mike Lowell beat you. If you’re worried about Street walking in a run then he shouldn’t be closing.
Boston is in First Place! The Yankees are a game behind!
ESPN was right. Boston is the team to beat. Better to concede the division now, stay in Tampa this whole season and be ready to start over for 2009.
jay destro:
You go, papi! Enjoy immensely.
Compare the poise and composure Boston shows in late inning situations vs the Yanks with Joba flailing his arms around panicking because of bugs. There’s a reason Boston has become the better team. There is no mental toughness on the Yanks. The Sox’s whole team is made up of players who aren’t afraid of pressure situations.
“Should be interesting to see how our “ace” does vs Toronto on opening day.”
We get it. You’re a troll. A Boston fan who’s trying to get under our skin. You’re hilarious and can totally get a high five off your fellow basement-dwelling friends later today because you spent all morning “pwn1ng $pank33 f4nz” on their own blog.
Go enjoy your $100 million dollar pitcher’s 5-walk, 5-inning performance and your “dominant closer” almost giving the game away to a AAAA team.
This is going to be a long season with the chicken littles complaining already.
every year when the package arrives i always am so excited to tear open the ups envelope! then i remember that it’s just a bunch of paper and i still have a week till i can go to a game
Today’s troll list:
John
realist
Feel free to add to this as the day progresses and continue to ignore these folks.
murphydog,
I’m with you, this team is too old to go through the motions for another fruitless season.
Only one problem, the Big Three need to up their IP count.
What the heck, they should just go out and see what happens. lol.
Negative Nancies already? At least wait until the season starts on US soil.
Fair point about the M’s offense, Whozat. But a dominating pitching staff can carry team quite far.
Then again, look at the Jays last year. They probably had the best staff, 1-12, in the AL but couldn’t generate runs.
Still, even with their obvious offensive shortcomings, the M’s were 7th in the AL last year in Scored Runs with 794. Beltre could duplicate his numbers, Ichiro is always a hit machine and terror on the bases, and as the trade deadline approaches, bats are always obtainable. (Hey, isn’t Kenny Lofton still unemployed?)
In any case, I hope you prove right Whozat and the Yankees won’t have to worry about the M’s. I think they play them 10 or 11 times this year.
Keep in mind folks. The Yankees have two West Coast Road Trips between mid-August and mid-September, so it’s imperative for them to prosper early in the season this year.
“Go enjoy your $100 million dollar pitcher’s 5-walk, 5-inning performance and your “dominant closer” almost giving the game away to a AAAA team.”
I would be willing to bet that Boston fans will enjoy Dice-K a little more that Yankee fans will enjoy the astute baseball investment (Brian Cashman is a genius!) that is KEI IGAWA.
Drove up the Major Deegan this morning on the way to work, and the sign on the Stadium said “7 days until opening day”.
Sounds great to me. Can’t wait.
New Stadium looking great next door too. Can’t wait.
In other news, Manny Ramirez doesn’t think he can pry the tile of “Mr March” away from Joe Maddon, does he?
I didn’t see the Sox first game in Tokyo, I won’t see the second one, and I didn’t see any of the exhibitions against Japanese teams. I really hope Manny Being Manny never got/gets the opportunity to stand at the plate and admire his long ball work like he does here. If he does that in Japan the perception of arrogance would be off the charts. If it’s assumed that’s what’s accepted here, that’s how the US game gets perceived there.
Its like sending some ‘colorful’ WWE protohuman in to strut his stuff at a serious sumo match. They have / have had things like WWE wrestling, but there’s a time and place for people to go there and act like idiots and there’s a time to act more like ambassadors. These baseball games are a little closer to the latter than to the former.
you Red Sox fans really don’t have a blog do you ? ^^^
Boston had a terrific offensive club last year and they are going to have an even better offense this year.
Manny Ramirez had what was probably one of the 1 or 2 “worst” years of his career (still a very good year by regular player standards).
This year Manny has a lot to play for - the Sox have a $20 million club option on his contract for 2009 and 2010.
Manny has already said that he is going to get both years picked up and an extension. Hasn’t made any demands. More implying the way he was going to play was going to force the sox hands.
For the first time in his career Manny actually worked out hard over the off season. He’s lost a lot of body fat and added a lot of muscle.
Things like today are going to happen for them.
That’s fine. The bigger issue is their pitching. Today was supposed to be the unveiling of the new Matsuzaka. They changed his mechanics and he’s supposedly been working on keeping the ball down in the zone.
Today he was just the same Matsuzaka - 5 inning 95 pitches only 51 strikes.
In turn the sox had to use 4 relievers to finish the game.
It’s a long season. Buchholz is on an innings limit. Wakefield is only older and doesn’t go deep into games. Lester also doesn’t go deep into games because he has poor command.
That bull pen is going to get worked. The only decent guy they have in front of Papelbon is Okajima. Let’s see how he comes back after that large workload he threw last year - he had a tired shoulder by the end of the year.
Last year their bull pen collapsed second half and they needed all of that huge april lead to pad their way into the playoffs.
Beckett will be there. Their season is going to largely depend on what they got from Matsuzaka - he’s their #2 guy. They not only need wins but they need quality innings.
A pitching staff that isn’t deep is a real challenge to overcome in the AL East.
Jay-
Um, do you need a date for any of the games?
if you have a significant other, I’m sure she’ll understand (just like ARod’s wife)
“What the heck, they should just go out and see what happens. lol.”
mel: I agree.
Even with three rookies in key positions, the Yankees are poised to start off the season with better quality pitching than they did last year, when the rotation was a game of Russian Roulette. The lineup is still bloody awesome without a place for even the best pitchers to catch a breath. Abreu is hitting, not nursing an oblique, Damon is healthy (except for the flu) and Jeter’s feeling better than he has in 5 years according to him and a hitter like Cano is in the 8 hole.
So, let’s let the boys play, enjoy the games and let’s see the standings in June. If it’s not a dogfight with Boston this year, I’ll be surprised and disappointed.
Jay, I got mine yesterday and I cannot wait! I am currently waiting for my opening day tickets to arrive (they are on schedule to be here today).
ranting guy, glad to hear the report about the new stadium!!!
“Fair point about the M’s offense, Whozat. But a dominating pitching staff can carry team quite far.”
I was surprised to see how many Mariner’s fans were mixed about trading for Bedard.
They felt that even with Bedard they’d just be repeating last year where they just couldn’t score enough runs. It’ll be another wasted year, Bedard will move towards free agency and they’d lose Adam Jones.
Just an anecdotal observation - but they really were down on that offense.
Bedard and Hernandez could very well be the best 1-2 combination in the league. They’ll be interesting to watch.
With Lackey, Escobar, and Shields on the DL to start the season, the Angels may struggle this season.
Whozat, HMMMN, CB, SJ44, MurphyDog, can one of you persuade me that Girardi/Cashman is making a wise decision by allocating one of the bullpen positions to either Rasner, Karstens, or Igawa and consigning either Bruney or Ohlendorf to the minors.
I understand in principle why the Yankees need a long-man this year in the pen, more so in the past, because of the innings’ limits. What troubles me is that neither of their three options impresses me. And I wonder whether they the team wouldn’t benefit more from having both Bruney and Ohlendorf (or Abbadabbdo or Veras or Patterson) instead. After all, Ohlendorf was a starter last year. Can’t he pitch at least two innings?
(The above assumes Traber will make the team as the lefty)
“I would be willing to bet that Boston fans will enjoy Dice-K a little more that Yankee fans will enjoy the astute baseball investment (Brian Cashman is a genius!) that is KEI IGAWA.”
Most people who want to be taken seriously will concede that not every pitching move works out (e.g, Matt Clement). So, rather than compare Dice-K to a pitcher who is not going to be in the starting rotation, doesn’t it make more sense to compare Dice-K to someone in the rotation, like maybe Hughes or Kennedy?
Kill-Schill(ing):
The best I can tell you is that I don’t think whatever decision they make now is irreversible. I believe there are enough options left to allow reshuffling based on results.
seems like they are grooming Ohlendorf for the 8th inning, not to follow failed starting pitcher… he’s got better stuff than to be relegated to mop-up duty.
Karstens and Rasner dont have flashy stuff, nor do they have any real upside, but for what the Yankees need as a long man, they’ve got a small sample of success at the major league level, and they’ll be able to eat innings, and keep the game close to give the offense a chance to come back.
i wouldnt let Igawa come anywhere near this team.
How can ESPN say they are not biased towards the Red Sox with a straight face?
http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/mlb/index
“making sense” is asking waaaaaaaaaaaay too much of people who insist on posting on blogs that were not created to support their team.
Saw this over on the Mets Blog….Pete, any news on this? IF not can you find out?
“Alex Rodriguez was quoted in today’s NY Daily News saying he regrets not signing with the Mets”
“Most people who want to be taken seriously will concede that not every pitching move works out (e.g, Matt Clement). So, rather than compare Dice-K to a pitcher who is not going to be in the starting rotation, doesn’t it make more sense to compare Dice-K to someone in the rotation, like maybe Hughes or Kennedy?”
Fair enough. IMO, Dice-K will be better than Hughes or Kennedy this year. And better than Mussina, too.
Daisuke and Igawa acquisitions don’t even compare. you’re talking about a guy who was projected to be the ACE of the staff before last season (before Beckett dominated all year and established himself as the bona fide ace of the Red Sox staff) vs a guy who the Yankees hoped would make a good 4 or 5 guy, and they spent close to $60 million less on him than Boston did on Matsuzaka.
You can look through and see most of the frieze the outside. The beams supporting the roof are being painted. It’s going to be spectacular.
I can’t wait to compare it to the old stadium, and to Baltimore’s stadium which by far the nicest one I’ve been to. So far.
John - You have no clue what you’re talking about. Mental toughness? Ever noticed how easy it is to get Youkilis’ or Pedroia’s panties in a bunch? Most Sox fans I’ve spoken to acknowledge Joba was dealing with a problem that would have “bugged” anyone in Cleveland. Everyone there was being rattled to some degree. On the other hand, if you look at Youkilis reaction when Joba twice missed his head by at least a foot and a half, Youk showed everyone a better example of what ‘flailing’ is. And ‘whining’. As did Francona afterwards - they showed no mental toughness, only fear. If Joba actually wanted to hit him in the head with those pitches, he’d still be in a coma.
Realist - I respectfully disagree with your opinion on Dice-K.
Mike R. - That link is just nauseating. At least the Yanks don’t have a huge target on their back this year.
TurnTwo, I actually thought Rasner acquitted himself well last year as a starter. I wonder how he’d perform in a mop-up role. I suspect they anticipate the need for a long-man as much for spot starts as mop-up roles.
What happened to Karstens? He was pretty good in 2006 in his few starts and looked so good last spring.
Anyone see this story in the Dail News…apparently the Mets Blog is reporting that A-Rod regrets not being a MUT!
Alex Rodriguez was quoted in today’s NY Daily News saying he regrets not signing with the Mets
“Mental toughness? Ever noticed how easy it is to get Youkilis’ or Pedroia’s panties in a bunch?”
lol Ranting Guy!
our “ace” has a better ERA+ than their “ace”. one good year does not an “ace” make.
the good news is that the sawx already used 5(!) relievers.
Mike R- I threw up in my mouth a little bit when i clicked that link. I’m by no means surprised though.
(i didn’t really throw up in my mouth)
I just don’t get how when the Yankees were winning a lot, they were hated for it. ESPN also ragged on the Braves constantly in the 90s. The Red Sox are now a team that is always winning, and doing it the same exact way the Yankees were criticized for doing it- (that 2004 team had hardly any homegrown talent on it, all big money free agent signings and blockbuster trades, a practice that so many Sox fans called “buying a championship” for so many years) And Yet they’re beloved for it for some reason. Same thing goes for the Patriots to a greater extent, even with the spygate thing this year. granted they did bring up “spygate” a lot it was still a constant Patriots lovefest…didn’t seem to resent their winning ways that have been going on for more than half a decade.
“I understand in principle why the Yankees need a long-man this year in the pen, more so in the past, because of the innings’ limits. What troubles me is that neither of their three options impresses me.”
I agree - these aren’t great options. It seems like necessity is driving this decision.
There’s been a lot of discussion about competition this spring, especially in the bull pen. There’s been a lot of talk about how there are 13 pitchers competing for 3 spots in the pen, etc., etc.
That’s not actually accurate. Pete’s said the yankees, as an organization, decided they needed a long man in the pen this year.
So of the three available bull pen spots one was essentially dedicated to a long man. Girardi clearly had a preference for at least one lefty.
What they had in camp this year for the pen was actually very, very unbalanced competition.
You had 6 or so guys competing for the short man slot (Patterson, Brunety, etc.). So that’s a lot of competition and talent there.
But you only had two guys competing for the long man role - Karstens and Rasner (I don’t buy that Igawa was ever in the mix - that’s PR related to his contract).
So for 1 slot you had like 6 guys competing. For the other slot you had 2.
2 guys competing for 1 spot is not a lot of competition. That’s the minimum needed to meet the definition of competition.
Neither really was there that much competition for the lefty role - Traber, Phillips and Henn - and Henn got hurt. (my sense was that if any lefty pitched half way decent Girardi was going to take him).
Unfortunately neither Karstens nor Rasner is that attractive an option and they are far less talented than most of the 6 guys competing for the short man role.
Given this imbalance and how they knew that they were definitely going to take a long man, IMO they should have changed the distribution of pitchers to increase the competition/ options for the long man role.
I would have liked Girardi to at least try to see if a Patterson, Albaladejo or even a Britton could throw 3 innings as sort of long guy. Look at Britton - since getting here he’s only put up very good numbers. But they clearly don’t like his stuff as a one inning guy - try him in a different role, especially if you know that you have to have a long man and the other options aren’t great.
Ultimately, the pen we have now isn’t going to be the pen in July. It might not even be the pen in May.
The young talent is going to come and fill in the cracks in the pen at some point.
Alan Horne, Jeff Marquez or even Dan McCutcheon would be better long men than either Rasner or Karstens. They may go that route at some point this year.
i dont think Karstens has really changed, he’s just had a bad week. i’m not giving up on him yet. i actually like him- he throws a ton of strikes and works quickly.
i really dont have a preference between Rasner or Karstens, because i think they are almost one in the same, and can both handle that long-man role in the BP.
ESPN is the absolute WORST when they jump on a bandwagon. It’s awful, and I wouldn’t mind it as much if it weren’t for their holier than thou “How dare you accuse us” attitude.
Jennifer.
You are dead on. I had pepto next to me and actually considered Irish whiskey at 9:00AM. That was a game that you just hope there is some rust and feel lucky to get away with a win. Both the Yanks and Sox will have plenty of these types of wins. I would like to say based on other posts that I do not come here to troll but to read Pete A as he is a decent writer and the hardest working beat guy of any newspaper I read. I used to read Feinsand but PA works much harder to make this blog informative. I look forward to reading posts and have no interest in knuckleheads trying to antagonize on either side. I hope it is a dog fight till the end and both make the playoffs. I would rather have a Sox-Yanks postseason series than say playing LA or Detroit.
Have a good week and take care.-dennis
CB-
I’m not sure I’d want to see Horne as a long man. Maybe the other two, but definitely not Horne. It’s just too sporadic of a role, i don’t think it would benefit him at all in preparing to come into the majors. And i’m sure most of us want him to be well prepared for the majors. You might go a whole turn through your rotation without needing your long man, ideally.
TurnTwo - I agree Karstens hasn’t changed a bit, he’s always been horrible. He has no business pitching against major league hitters.
Dennis thank you for being honest.
Realist - Dice-K do better than Moose, Kennedy & Hughes?
For Moose I’ll give you a ‘most likely’, unless his August 07 troubles were an abberation, then it’s just a ‘probably’. I’m not expecting Moose to win 15-16 but I don’t think the Yanks are either.
The only reason Dice-K will likely get more wins than Hughes this year is Hughes’ innings limit. If you look on a per game basis, Hughes will clearly be the better pitcher.
With Kennedy, you may have a close race his rookie year. But I wouldn’t bet the farm on Dice-K. Kennedy has much better control.
In a year (let’s assume neither Kennedy, Hughes or Matsuzaka get hurt) I’m sure you would never consider seriously making that statement. Since Moose would be a non-factor next year, I’d like to see if you’d care to substitute Joba’s name into that statement when Moose is gone.
Thank CB, cogent and trenchant analysis as always.
If igawa showed he could consistently do what he did last april against the Red Sox when he came in for Karstens, i would have absolutely no problem making him the long man. He came in in the first and i think he pitched into the 6th, and was pretty dominate. that was a perfect long relief outing…too bad igawa is so damn inconsistent.
“Most Sox fans I’ve spoken to acknowledge Joba was dealing with a problem that would have “bugged” anyone in Cleveland. Everyone there was being rattled to some degree.”
I don’t recall the Cleveland pitcher having much of a problem. Only the mighty Joba choked and couldn’t handle the situation.
“Whozat, HMMMN, CB, SJ44, MurphyDog, can one of you persuade me that Girardi/Cashman is making a wise decision by allocating one of the bullpen positions to either Rasner, Karstens, or Igawa and consigning either Bruney or Ohlendorf to the minors. ”
i won’t pretend to know the answer, but i will tell you this:
the bullpen on opening day will NOT be the bullpen in June.
almost all of our relievers have options.
despite the fact that some of the people on this blog are conceding the division to Boston already, it is NOT crucial that the Yankees get the exact, perfect bullpen on April 1st.
they will be tinkering for the first few months of the season, shuffling the guys who are pitching the best back and forth. they have pretty good depth and by June or July, they’ll probably have hit on 4-5 reliable relievers.
if Girardi wants a long man b/c the schedule in April is absolutely insane (i’ve never seen an April schedule like that ever before), he should take a long man.
no need to worry. Ross Ohlendorf WILL pitch in the Bronx this year. Bruney will pitch in the Bronx. Britton and Patterson will all pitch in the Bronx this year.
if Girardi takes Karstens and he stinks, he will be sent down quickly and someone else will come up.
nothing is set in stone.
there is nobody in the bullpen past Rivera signed past this season. and almost everyone has options.
you’ll see a lot of relievers this year, and by the end of the year, i think you’ll see an above average bullpen. maybe not the best in the league, but solid.
ah manny, way to pimp!!! what a great ambassador to the game. for those that think his antics are small, they are not. its completely represntative of his lack of respect for fellow players and other teams. his offensive skills are without question. otherwise, he is offensive.
Alan Horne, Jeff Marquez or even Dan McCutcheon would be better long men than either Rasner or Karstens. They may go that route at some point this year.
- - - - - - - - - -
CB :
This is where depth in the organization plays a part. The names you mention and more stand a good chance of playing prominent parts of the equation as the season moves along.
We must first however give Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland the opportunity to see how they use the entire pitching staff. Much of what they do will be unlike what we’ve seen in recent years.
i don’t recall as many bugs when cleveland was pitching
Why are we comparing Matsuzaka to Hughes, Kennedy and Moose? Daisuke is Boston’s second best starter, Pettitte is ours so compare those two. With Schilling down the Yankees rotation is easily better than Boston’s. Even with Schilling the two rotations match up pretty closely.
“I don’t recall the Cleveland pitcher having much of a problem. Only the mighty Joba choked and couldn’t handle the situation.”
can everyone please stop responding to this guy?
Realist
“I don’t recall the Cleveland pitcher having much of a problem. Only the mighty Joba choked and couldn’t handle the situation.”
If you go back and look at the footage you’ll see that Joba had easily like 10 times as many bugs on him and around him. That’s because Cleveland didn’t tell the umps or anyone that the bug spray attracts the bugs. cleveland used no bug spray, the yankees practically bathed in it. even their fielders had way more bugs on them.
I don’t recall the Cleveland pitcher having much of a problem. Only the mighty Joba choked and couldn’t handle the situation.
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since I’m latino I can tell you no sh.. Sherlock, Fausto Carmona is from D.R. that’s all we see in some campos. And literally it’s not funny no more do you have a life ? do you have a blog ? should I get you a link to find a Red Sox blog ?
The thing is, if a mop-up guy was impressive in the first place, you’d be trying him as a starter and not as mop-up anyway.
Great news about Andy, a relief indeed.
In other news, I think I’ma go jack Huston Street’s 2005 ROY award and give it to Cano where it belongs! He is terrible, Cano is obviously way better and I would laugh if JB Cox ended up being better too.
Also, saux fans are hanging out here already? Really??? (coughcoughgetalifecoughcough) …oh my bad, I must have had something in my throat…what I meant to say is, don’t they have any of their own blogs to post in?
realist, get your hater glasses off. The problem wasn’t nearly as bad for the Clevland pitcher as it was for Joba. Plus I heard the bug spray actually made it worse for Joba. I have an idea. Lets stick you near the lake spray you with bug spray let the bugs go all over you and you can swat at them. Lets see how long you can stand it.
And writing of the bullpen, What happened to Veras this Spring? A guy I know travelled to the Dominican this Winter to watch him pitch and said he was invincible, throwing 95 and controlling his breaking pitches.
The hitters are inferior in the Winter leagues, granted, but this guy fancies himself an amateur scout and evaluated Veras as having some of the best stuff in the Yankees organization.
For whatever reason, he couldn’t build on it for the Spring.
Along with Ohlendorf, I had high hopes for Veras as well. I hope he rebounds.
is posada with the team today?
“there is nobody in the bullpen past Rivera signed past this season. and almost everyone has options.”
This is probably the entire key to the bull pen this year and the underlying strategy that Cashman had in putting it together.
Even Farnsworth might not be that hard to trade this year because he’s in the last year of his deal.
They are going to be mixing and matching all year. Initially, I’m sure the April schedule (Pope’s trip, lots of road games, etc) is what’s driving the immediate decisions.
Having depth in the minors is great. But in order to take advantage of that depth you need to have flexibility in the 25 man roster.
Flexibility is driven by short term contracts, reasonable salaries, and marginal players who still have options.
The yankee pen has most of those elements (well except for farnsworth’s $5.5 million dollar salary… but again, last year of contract)
I am particpating in the fantasy draft for the LoHud blog tonight. Anybody have an idea of how long the draft takes? Thanks
Fran, a normal 20 round Yahoo! fantasy baseball draft can take give or take about 2 hours.
“Even Farnsworth might not be that hard to trade this year because he’s in the last year of his deal.”
exactly. or release.
if Farnsworth stinks, the Yankees can eat $2M if they have to. same with Hawkins.
i think Hawkins is going to be ok though.
Thanks Turn Two.
What’s the “Pope’s Trip”?
The pope is visiting the New York area in April. He’ll be appearing at yankee stadium when he comes. That’s part of the reason why they have so many road games/ so few off days this april. It was one of the scheduling issues.
I also posted on your comment about veras in the new thread.
Sara, about the ARod thing…did you read the article? I doubt it, or you wouldn’t be asking for “more news” about it.
I’m not buying Dice-K will be better than Hughes.
Just don’t see it.
Against a bad A’s team, he couldn’t throw strikes and couldn’t go deep into the game.
If you recall, he went deep in most of his early 2007 starts.
Today, was the same Dice-K we have seen since last July.
Bragging that he would be better than Ian Kennedy is a hoot. A 100+ million dollar pitcher is going to be better than the Yankees rookie #5 starter? He better be if you are a Red Sox fan!
I don’t know why there is this concession for the WC by some Yankee fans.
What did anybody see today that makes you think the Red Sox are a “lock” for the division?
Sometimes, I think some people listen too much to ESPN or just hate their own team so much, they can’t objectively evaluate them.
The Yankees have a very, very good team this year. Cano looks like he is going to be a monster this year. Giambi seems to have turned back the clock.
Does anybody really think guys like Jeter, Arod, Posada, Abreu, etc are going to regress.
Last year, Carl Pavano and Kei Igawa made up 2/5th’s of the early rotation.
A tad better this year, wouldn’t you say?
The bullpen has a full year of Joba. BTW, has anybody noticed Hawkins has not given up a run this spring?
Don’t pump up the Red Sox at the expense of poormouthing the Yankees. The AL East race ain’t over on March 25.
Unless of course, you work at a certain Bristol, CT complex or go by the name of Steve Phillips.
“Alex Rodriguez was quoted in today’s NY Daily News saying he regrets not signing with the Mets”
yes, in 2000.
what’s your point?
it’s not exactly a secret that the Mets were Alex’s team growing up.
SJ44.
You are correct. The Sox are no where near a lock to win the division. Both teams have great offense ball clubs with an edge to the Yanks as I do not believe Pedroia and Ellsbury will produce like 2007. (Ellsbury had very few regular season at bats so he is still unproven albeit a great post season. Cano seems to be primed to have a great year. As far as the rotations go I believe both rotations will look much different on August 1st than they do to open the season. We will both have injuries as well as Lester-Bucholtz-Kennedy-Hughes will struggle at times and fatigue will become a factor which could lead to injuries. I believe that Hughes has the most upside of all 4. There is still way too much hype over Kennedy and Bucholtz. We have no idea how effective they will be in 2008 and beyond.
No lock as far as I am concerned. The Yanks-Sox-Toronto and a much improved Rays team will beat each other up. The wild card will be difficult to come out of the East.
The good news is that the season is starting and we have the best rivalry in sports.
Have a great week.
-dennis