Yankees sign Jason Johnson
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Jan 06, 2009 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Some more news from the Bronx via Sam Borden:
The Yankees have signed RHP Jason Johnson to a minor-league deal. Joe Girardi said Johnson would compete to be the fifth starter.
This guy stinks! what’s the purpose of signing him when you can just give a shot to a young guy with similar or better potential.
Why am I not excited?
………
oh Mark Prior, where are you?
Nothing wrong with giving older guys a chance. If he’s the next Aaron Small or Shawn Chacon, that’s great. If not, no harm, no foul.
its just a filler signing…hes not gonna be the fifth starter
way to steal teixeira’s thunder…
Why even waste a minor league deal on him?
He is brutal.
Wasn’t he playing in Japan?
The #5 SP in AAA or AA ?
its a message to pettitte
Is this supposed to be a pressure tactic in the Pettitte dealings?
Meh, it’s a minor league deal. Doesn’t have any effect on the Pettitte negotiations.
the msg to pettitte: you suck b@lls even jason johnson is better. go backstab some more of your friends, scumbag.
Pettitte’s sweating now.
Bring in Chad Cordero is you want to try and catch lighting in a bottle, still young and potential nice addition to the pen. Won’t get a closer role this year on another team.
Any news on the coressponding roster move for Tex??
please remove pettitte from old yankees stadium tribute. replace him with clemens. also resign clemens to show pettitte whos boss
“Joe Girardi said Johnson would compete to be the fifth starter.”
BAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
While I have your attention, I’d like to request that everybody respect the English language enough to write in full sentences.
“Not liking this signing,” a hypothetical phrase, is not a full sentence. Despite what football commentators will have you believe, “liking” is not a finite verb, and thus does not complete the sentence. “This signing” is not the subject; therefore, the sentence contains neither a subject, nor a finite verb.
I hate to be a pain (and I’m not picking on anyone in particular), but I’m getting worried about the direction our language has taken since the internet’s rise in popularity.
I also am not saying everyone must speak/write perfect English, but respect it enough to speak in full sentences. That type of language should be reserved for resumes.
Thanks
“Any news on the coressponding roster move for Tex??”
I literally thought it was Jason Johnson
YankeeRay
January 6th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
1- Winning every year
2- Family
3- Money
There ya have it from the horses mouth
Why is Girardi so dumb to say something like that. The guy is terrible he was on boston two years ago and in fenway we bombed him. He is terrible. He is just inventory.
Wow, D Lee is the best 1B today according to Tex? Interesting.
giambi’s back sweat: I teach college freshman English. You’d be surprised the crap people hand me sometimes. This blog isn’t the worst of what’s out there.
D Lee on defense.
Bland interview. Although I like Lee Tex already !!!
yeah, why would girardi say that…
“Not liking this signing” communicates the thought effectivly, so no matter what the rules of grammer say, he has let us know his feeling about the signing. since he was trying to communicate the thought and we all got the message, he accomplished his goal, despite your nit-pickyness.
nobody liked the grammer teacher anyway.
It’s a minor league deal.
Tex sounded very comfortable with Mike – his first time being interrupted by the big guy, though, lol. I didn’t expect any fireworks – I just overall like what I’m hearing from him
Johnson isn’t great, but certianly could fill in as a spot starter in a pinch and potentially some long relief in the role that essentially was lost when Rasner and Karstens were let go. You have to assume if the %5 starter spot is now open Aceves or Hughes is the favorite if no other moves are made and Kennedy should stay in the minors as a starter. He projects there, not in long relief.
Well, last year proved you can never have too much starting pitching. Hopefully we’ll just be using 7 or 8 pitchers max this year, rather than the 27 last year.
It makes sense to always have a plan B, and a plan C or D if you can.
Low risk move, sensible move.
Who kidnapped Brian Cashman and replaced him with the genius that’s impersonating him? Seriously, this is what he should have done last year. I’m very pleased to see he learns from his mistakes. I’ve gone from hating him, to being very impressed with him.
Next, we’ll find that Joe Girardi is nice and relaxed in the clubhouse, has brought in some candy for the team, and is full and frank with the media. I hope!
Scott Boras coming up. Don’t you just want him to say something off color or unexpected? Of course he won’t.
I also teach a freshman English class. Let me just take out “The Little, Brown Handbook” and turn to chapeter…Who gives a hoot! this is a blog. If you want perfect English join the MLA.
best offseason ever!
Riddle of the Day: What do you call Andy Pettitte, but younger and costs less?
John Garland
Andrea- Sorry to hear that. It’s really sad, where our society is headed. Written expression was such a beautiful thing; may it rest in peace.
Repost from last topic, and I missed one of his starts against SD:
Just looking at Olie’s gamelog for last year, 17 of his 34 starts were quality starts (6 innings, 3 or fewer runs). His remaining 17 starts included some godawful ones, but also these:
5 2/3 innings, no runs, 3 walks, a loss to the Phillies
5 2/3, 5 walks, but no runs, in a 4-2 win over the Phillies
5 1/3, 1 run, 2 walks, in a 2-1 loss to the Padres
6, 4 runs, 3 walks, in a 5-4 win over the Angels
6, 4 runs, no walks, in a 4-0 loss to Houston
6 1/3, 4 runs, 1 walk, in a 6-4 loss to Houston
the last game against the Marlins, a huge one, shut them down over 5, then gave up the three hits in the 6th and got the quick hook from Manuel. in such an important game, you take that start. biggest problem was the lack of offense.
Including those, 24 out of 34 starts were what I’d consider good for a 4th or 5th starter. He shut down Atlanta, Florida, and Philly all year. Terrible starts included ones against Washington, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, SF, Seattle … cellar dwellers. He seems to lose it against the really bad teams, which speaks a lot to his need to pitch on a big stage, something he’d always have with the Yanks. But the idea that he only pitched well against NY is absurd, as is the idea that ‘most’ of his starts were terrible.
Betsy
January 6th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Tex sounded very comfortable with Mike – his first time being interrupted by the big guy, though, lol. I didn’t expect any fireworks – I just overall like what I’m hearing from him
——
Good one Betsy, maybe Mike and Harold Reynolds have the same interview coach.
I would have liked Mike to ask him if he really considered the Sox after what happened in HS. Maybe Tex would have said no and we could have stoked the fire a little more lol.
Tom: kind of my point. Compared to the crap I see, this blog isn’t bad. I get handed papers–FINAL TYPED DRAFTS–that have completely indecipherable sentences.
sign Oliver Perez
this guy is AWFUL. He’s not even a has-been, he’s a never-was. If i ever have to watch him pitch in pinstripes, the Yanks are in trouble
giambi’s back sweat: You should see the emails kids send me. I also had someone email me an entire essay–typed from her sidekick.
“Riddle of the Day: What do you call Andy Pettitte, but younger and costs less? John Garland”
Um, I don’t think so.
are you joking? competing for a fifth spot on the rotation?! are you insane? I rather have Hughes pitch 5th
its funny how these literary types love shakespeare but they dont even realize what those writings tell us, that spelling and grammer are in constant flux, not static.
an expression like ‘Yo’ or ‘wtf’ has no meaning to them until it appears in the oxford english dictionary, yet they champion poetry and literature which depends on the diversity of human thought, not just rules of spelling and grammer to be able to express what the human mind can conjure.
I think Jon Garland would be fine he eats innings and in this market what could he possibly make? I say take a flier 2 years 16 million something like that?
Oli Perez’s BABIP and WHIP for 2008 please ..
A couple years ago Garland expressed a disinterest in ever playing for the Yankees, didn’t he?
I hear ya, Andrea.
In one of the classrooms I teach in is a poster the reads “America is the land of pleanty”. It was done by a student in the EL-ED program.
I think that Cashman is simply buying some insurance inning here. Not a big deal.
At this point anyone and everyone is competing for the 5th spot.Unlike last year they are not going to give anyone that spot or tell anyone they have that spot.
I also liked the answer that Girardi gave about where to bat Tex. he said that he could be 3 or 4 but that he wanted to talk it over with his coaches and get everyone’s input during camp.Not sure if he means what he says but that certainly was the right answer rather than just declaring him a 3 or 4.
Also the YES lineup showed Cano batting 8th. That is unreal that such a good hitter like he can be would be the 8th hitter. Talk about depth.
Tom: I teach in 3 different community colleges. Most of my students “don’t get” why they have to write a research paper. I’ve stopped explaining it and just say “because you won’t pass my class if you don’t.”
PAVANO TO CLEV!
we get to see him a few times a year!
“Confuscious BABIP and whip please ..”
1.40 WHIP last year. Same as Pettitte. Better than Garland’s.
BABIP was a crisp .280.
Jon garland is awful. He’s below a league average starter. Worse than average. What is the fascination with him? Even in this market he’s going to get more than a one year deal.
He’s nowhere close to as good as pettite is. Even last year pettitte was much better.
Take garland away from the angels tremendous defense and then stick him in the al east and the resultd will be ugly.
Randy wolf would be a better choice if he’d take a one year deal or even aceves.
Come on . .Enough with this nonsense . .And please this guy is NOT going to be our fifth starter . .Sign Perez and call it a day
“Despite his second-half troubles, Pettitte led all Yankees starters with 204 innings pitched.”
And this isn’t worth $12mil?
Good Afternoon.
Congrats on a great day to be a Yankee fan. Reading some past threads I have to say I am tired of hearing about the money.
Baseball is a business.
The Yankees have a very successful business that they have reinvested in time and time again. There is no professional sports team that has understood the meaning of ROCE like the NYY. Good for them and you, bad for us as Sox fans.
Its business. Deal with it.
The Yankees set out to improve themselves in the offseason and have don so tremendously…….AND the 2009 payroll will be less than 2008 and did not give up a meaningful prospect.
I am sick over it however it makes me sicker to hear people complain when the Yankees are playing under the same rules as every other team in MLB.
Respectfully -dennis
no offense andrea, but that’s not your best effort at teaching students i hope.
The former Red Sox pitcher? The guy who had home stolen on him by Carl Crawford? That’s an interesting deal.
Andrea, you must teach at tOhio State University.
“I rather have Hughes pitch 5th”
You already have Joba on an innings limit, Burnett with all his injury concerns, and Wang coming off a major injury. You want Hughes with his innings limit again? Given how little ability he’s shown to get major league hitters out thus far?
1- Sabathia
2- Burnett
3- Wang
4 – ?????
5- Joba
AAA
1- Hughes
2- Kennedy
3- Aceves
4- Horne
5- Giese/Coke/Igawa/Wright
So what in the world is Johnson signed for? He is down on the depth chart in Igawa territory – why sign him?
“1.40 WHIP last year. Same as Pettitte. Better than Garland’s.
BABIP was a crisp .280.”
Ok thanks I was hoping the BABIP would be higher than that, walks clearly an issue w/ this guy, we could go 2 routes sign this guy or trade for Jonathan Sanchez w/ our combo package. Another route would be a risk but a damn good one if he pans out. Ben Sheets and if he breaks down you have Philip Hughes.
anyone else like aceves? i think he could be a decent back of the rotation starter. also we still have giese dont we? i was pretty impressed with what he was doing last year for us. maybe he could start every once and a while. theyre the best options.
Ha, Irabu’s son and I had the same reaction.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight Joe.
I can’t believe some posters here actually believe Joe when he says that.
I’m betting once it gets close to February, Pettitte will realize his agents can’t do any better than 10 mil and he’ll return. Remember the door’s not closed there. Hal not being optimistic isn’t even news since its perception of 1 guy there. He’ll be back. Just watch.
ham fighters: 18 year olds really like to argue. Even when I explain why writing a research paper is beneficial to their academic growth, they don’t seem to care and still tell me it’s not useful. So the only thing they listen to is “you won’t pass the class without writing a research paper.” Threat of failure is what they’ll listen to.
girardi said the right thing about johnson, that he’s competing for the 5th spot. there was no reason to add that he’s also competing for the 14th spot at that point. give the guy a little encouragement before ST.
“So what in the world is Johnson signed for? He is down on the depth chart in Igawa territory – why sign him?”
Charity or “The Dan Giese” experiment.
I think this is the Yankees way of saying Hughes isn’t ready. Which would be accurate.
Guys it is a minor league deal. Joe is just saying that to scare Phil et al.
Not a bad move. Johnson used to have pretty decent stuff back in the day.
Maybe Johnson had some embarrassing photos of Randy Levine
Pavano to the Indians. Now the Tribe are the true frontrunners in the AL.
is it better to sign someone like Johnson to a minor league deal now, or have to grab Sidney Ponson halfway through the year?
“anyone else like aceves? i think he could be a decent back of the rotation starter. also we still have giese dont we? i was pretty impressed with what he was doing last year for us.”
I like Aceves in the BP. Same w/ Giese, Giese reminds me of Mendoza.
“Joe Girardi said Johnson would compete to be the fifth starter.”
I don’t think Joe is getting off to a good start in the honesty department.
Dear Mr. Giambi’s back sweat,
may it please you to receive the pertinent information that not all of the posters here have English as their first language. May we enquire as to your ability to parse sentences, or mastery of the syntax of Spanish, or Taiwanese?
You may also be advised that there are differing versions of English here. My own native tongue is not US English, it is an older form. Oft your version of it appears unusual to my eyes. Yet, I care not.
Indeed further, there are some young ladies and gentlemen in the audience of this blog, those who may not yet have fulfilled the goal of literary perfection.
Further still, the keyboard contraption requires precise dexterity. Even a nimble finger can easily go astray. We do not also have the opportunity to correct such an oversight once the submit button has been pressed in haste.
I may further intimate that the primary goal of language is to communicate. Perchance, not all comments on this tome are fathomable, but the majority are. I respectfully suggest that when you are able to comprehend the sentiment behind a comment, that you cease and desist from the practice of Grammarnazism. It is a most abhorrent and wholly unnecessary trait in a gentleman.
Yours sincerely,
Darkmoonfire.
Giambi 4.5m, Burrell 8M, Bradley who led AL in OBP at 10mil
Man is Abreu screwed or what?
Irabu’s Son January 6th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
“Joe Girardi said Johnson would compete to be the fifth starter.”
BAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA”
Well if there is one thing we have learned from this blog, It’s to never EVER trust what GIRARDI says!
Just ask Pete.
Oliver perez would be a complete disaster in the bronx – he would be bood more than arod. Either sign pettitte or sign sheets or let aceves take the spot until hughes is ready. This johnson guy isnt half the pitcher hughes could be and aceves was for us the end of last season – there is no way he will startin the fifth spot or even in the majors. Still further, I cant imagine this signing will have any impact on the pettitte negotiations (if there are any). And it certainly wont put any extra pressure on pettitte to accept the 10 mil. Has any one even heard what pettitte is looking for? Is he waiting for a 16 million dollar offer because if he is, he must be hallucinating. There is none of that coming. I wish the yanks would probe a little more into the ben sheets market and see exactly what it would cost to pick him up. At some cost, it has to be worth it to sign a guy with sheet’s talent irregardless of what is medical records show. What is sheets worth if he is currently injured? 14 mil? 12 mil? If his stock drops low enough the yanks should really look into it again. If the yanks had 10 mil to burn on pettitte, sheets for 12 or so would be an absolute steal IMO.
“While I have your attention, I’d like to request that everybody respect the English language enough to write in full sentences.”
Don’t think so.
Giambi’s Back Sweat: you’re a snob. Get over yourself. Do you run around Yankee Stadium correcting split infinitives in between innings? Not that we’re not all glad to have given you the opportunity to show that you know the difference between a finite and a non-finite verb, but this is a sports site and it’s absurd to even consider banning colloquial language from a forum like this.
“or trade for Jonathan Sanchez w/ our combo package”
Jonathan Sanchez is no better an option than Garland. Perez has far better stuff. Sanchez’ only complete season as a starter was poor in the worst division in baseball, plus you have to worry about his ability to pitch 175+ innings. Maybe we could get him for expendable parts, but we might as well sign Garland and trade for something else if that’s the plan. :\
“Maybe Johnson had some embarrassing photos of Randy Levine”
Who doesn’t.
lol at Girardi.
Sure…
Why not just bring back Sydney Ponson? He at least pitches better.
add that to the list of ridiculous posts:
“I think this is the Yankees way of saying Hughes isn’t ready.”
dude, this is jason johnson, hes coming in to compete for the scranton squad, if he has a bad ST he gets released. if you think this has any reflection on pettitte or hughes you are crazy.
“Maybe Johnson had some embarrassing photos of Randy Levine”
Who doesn’t.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Mrs. Levine?
If people here are going to complain about the grammar police, then please learn how to spell grammar first. Thank you.
**IT’S OFFICAL: PAVANO GOES TO CLEVELAND**
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3813706
Thank You Darkmoondfire!
Huked on foniks werked fur me!
Dennis,
Thanks for the thoughts. As usual you are a class act.
I said this before to ray but you guys have a terriffic team which I’m sure will be improved.
The yankees needed these signings just to catch up in talent.
To me the division is largely a toss up.
I also think the sox management got out ahead of itself too much on tex especially with all of the leaks to gammons, caffardo etc. and let fan expectations get way out of line.
I’m sure its a tough day. Thanks for the post.
Ben Sheets. The ultimate lightning in a bottle.
“Oliver perez would be a complete disaster in the bronx”
Based on what? His best starts have been at Yankee Stadium. He generally pitches better against big teams in big games.
waitwhat
where can I find video of the Tex conference?
Darkmoonfire: Best post of the day.
Dear Mr. Giambi’s back sweat,
may it please you to receive the pertinent information that not all of the posters here have English as their first language. May we enquire as to your ability to parse sentences, or mastery of the syntax of Spanish, or Taiwanese?
You may also be advised that there are differing versions of English here. My own native tongue is not US English, it is an older form. Oft your version of it appears unusual to my eyes. Yet, I care not.
Indeed further, there are some young ladies and gentlemen in the audience of this blog, those who may not yet have fulfilled the goal of literary perfection.
Further still, the keyboard contraption requires precise dexterity. Even a nimble finger can easily go astray. We do not also have the opportunity to correct such an oversight once the submit button has been pressed in haste.
I may further intimate that the primary goal of language is to communicate. Perchance, not all comments on this tome are fathomable, but the majority are. I respectfully suggest that when you are able to comprehend the sentiment behind a comment, that you cease and desist from the practice of Grammarnazism. It is a most abhorrent and wholly unnecessary trait in a gentleman.
Yours sincerely,
Darkmoonfire.
_____________
LOL.
Ed – American League, prepared to be scared! CC, Aj, and MT!! January 6th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
IT’S OFFICAL: PAVANO GOES TO CLEVELAND
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3813706
this is a good place for pavano. He will be the CC replacement the indians were looking for. Good Luck with that cleveland.
In all seriousness though, Carl, will be a good fit there – no pressure and its a one yr contract. A way to show that he is worth a multi yr deal next yr. An audition so to speak.
“Based on what? His best starts have been at Yankee Stadium. He generally pitches better against big teams in big games.”
I guess it would help when the opposing manager treats you like Sandy freaking Koufax and throws out the B lineup against you.
Kind of a pointless signing imo. We have so many young pitchers why sign this guy? And btw I think our priority should be finding a solid centerfielder as our rotation is very solid 1-4.
michelle b,
you forgot to add that the Tigers and Twins is sure going to love teeing off of him.
Why so hard on Johnson? In 2000, he pitched a couple good games!
No need for everyone to get riled up on a cheap minor league deal in the background for a guy who’s going to COMPETE FOR a job. Apparently no major-league guarantees were made to him. It’s simple … if he sucks, he won’t make the squad. They can make other deals for other guys, and there are all those arms in the farm he’ll be competing against.
Oh in case any of the more ‘verbose’, ‘acerbic’ or ‘detail-oriented’ contributors here are thinking otherwise, I’m talking about Jason Johnson not Mark Teixiera.
If a few guys got hurt it seems Johnson could eat a hundred innings or so if it really came down to it. But his career ERA is about a five-spot and his W/L record isn’t even close to .500, so that’s definitely not a great thing. The team would have to be injury plagued again to need that many innings from him, but taking out a cheap insurance policy against having to call me in to pitch is a simple ‘worst case scenario’ CYA move.
Who knows, this Johnson guy could even chew up some innings in mid-relief during blowouts too.
Kind of a pointless signing imo. We have so many young pitchers why sign this guy? And btw I think our priority should be finding a solid centerfielder as our rotation is very solid 1-4.
We dont need a center fielder, and Solid 1-4? You cant know that, with Burnett’s injury history and Joba’s inning limit. We have a solid 1-3 with CC and Wang.
Johnson, Rasner, Ponson twice, Redding, etc – We have a 200 million dollar payroll every year yet we always trot out also ran clowns at some point. Make it stop!
1 and 3 not 1-3
Tex’s new best friend –
Ya know …. Kei Igawa actually pitched a couple decent games too.
Ed,
you might as well add the yankees to that list. It looks like we face the indians 8 times – Gonna have to face Carl twice. I hope anyway.
Johnson was a hot prospect back in the `90′s, but he’s been about 10% below average over his career.
Carl Pavano just signed with the Indians.
Yea Johnson is the running for the fifth starters spot – he is right behind, aceves, hughes, kennedy, Coke and Geise. So i guess if the entire rotation is injured – johnson is our man.
“Huked on foniks werked fur me!”
this is hilarious in more than one way. it illustrates the exact point i was making, it is effective communication. everybody got it despite its botched execution vs. the rules of spellin’
Igawa’s only good game was when he came in relief to shut down boston. a low point in red sox recent history. maybe igawa pitches well when he doesnt have time to warm up, who knows. i saw why not bring him up in september to give Youkilis some chin music, let him get beat up, and send him back to Japan.
Looks like andy turned down the deal. Am i late on this? I just saw it. Where do we go now? I wasnt for or against Andy, but now we are in a big hole i believe.
I’m really hoping it doesn’t come down to it. I’d guess that most of the pitchers on the 40-man would need to go on the DL before he’s worth considering for the back of the rotation.
We dont need a center fielder, and Solid 1-4? You cant know that, with Burnett’s injury history and Joba’s inning limit. We have a solid 1-3 with CC and Wang.
So you want Swisher, Gardner, or Cabrera to start for the Yankees? I’m a big Cabrera fan but if we want a World Series that isn’t the way to do it.
And besides are you honestly wanting to rely on Jason Johnson? Surely we could have gotten someone better!
Yea Johnson is the running for the fifth starters spot – he is right behind, aceves, hughes, kennedy, Coke and Geise. So i guess if the entire rotation is injured – johnson is our man.
Don’t forget Horne, Brackman, the janitor, and anyone Cash signs off the mid season toilet (Ponson).
Injuns? Well that’s good for Pavano. That he’s off the books here is all that’s important to us.
Watch him toss a 3 hitter against us now.
Why are people so fired up about this? It’s a minor league deal. He’s inventory. Calm down.
btw grammernazism was great! im sure one of the teachers is looking up whether its a ‘real’ word or not. (and double checking the spelling)
So you want Swisher, Gardner, or Cabrera to start for the Yankees? I’m a big Cabrera fan but if we want a World Series that isn’t the way to do it.
You think every team that wins championships has 8 allstars on the field all the time? We can afford to have Gardner/Melky batting 9th in the lineup. At a given time, both of them have come up big.
Ham fighters – Thanks!
i really despise people who tell people how to write on a blog. A blog is unofficial, you are completely right in saying unless you dont understand what the context of the sentence is, dont complain. Most people dont speak in complete sentences either. And, use the words “like” and “you know” in every sentence more than once.
http://www.simplebits.com/note.....wdors.html
CB- Thanks and hope you are well.
Even tougher day as I had to send my check today for season tickets as the $ is due by the 16th..(Fenway has no partial season packages like most mlb parks)
I think the NNY have pulled ahead of the Sox unless there is a major move that occurs before ST. Tampa is the team to beat as they are the AL champs. The PB singing yesterday was a great move for TB. Shocking how low that market has become. Everything fell together for TB last year and we know how that usually goes the next year…especially with a staff that is not used to pitching late in the PS. David Price will be the wild card in 09.
-dennis
Tex’s new best friend
January 6th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Why so hard on Johnson? In 2000, he pitched a couple good games!
————————————————————
Please restructure your sentences. This is a family blog, even though it fits well with the advertizing by Stiletto And Lace.
You think every team that wins championships has 8 allstars on the field all the time? We can afford to have Gardner/Melky batting 9th in the lineup. At a given time, both of them have come up big.
Yes but you can’t deny that that is our biggest weakness in the field. Basically for pitching we can just bring back Andy. If anyone’s hurt, we bring up a young guy. Why waste your time getting Johnson when you could be off getting a centerfielder?
Pavano = Chief Boo Boo? Chief Wah Wah? Cheif Boo Hoo?
(Sorry Mr. Giambi/Sweat)
Carl Pavano is a Cleveland -Injury- I mean Indian.
Please sign Ben Sheets. Please sign Ben Sheets.
Don’t lump all the teachers in with the “grammarnazism.” I won’t lie, I correct people in my head. I can’t help it–it’s what I do every day. But I wouldn’t really say I’m a grammar nazi as I don’t correct people visibly. I do get a little miffed with a newspaper, mlb.com or one of the thingies on YES have grammar mistakes–but that’s mostly because in my head, that means that they should hire me to correct such things, and then I get to work for YES
Confucious,
He would be a disaster in the bronx based on umm i dunno: how about his entire career? I agree he is lights out against the yanks and that is part of the reason his numbers arent god awful. Against teams outside of the yankees, he is either lights out which is rare or a complete train wreck. And with boras as his agent – he isnt coming here for chump change. He walked over 100 batters in less than 200 innings and throws far, far too many pitches. We need an innings eater and he has the potential to really wear out the bullpen. We need a starter who is perfectly capable of pitching 200 innings and he has NEVER done that in his entire career. I like sheets because his price is low and he was one of the best pitchers in baseball last season and every season when he is healthy and he doesnt throw too many pitches on any given day. I like pettitte because he is consistent, adds veteran presence and would take some of the load of the pen because he is a 200 innings pitcher year in and year out. Oli perez is not any of those things and with boras, Im sure he is looking for more than the 6.5 mil he made last season. In sum, he isnt worth it!
i LOVE teachers! you guys dont get enough credit and certainly not enough money to do what you do.
its an open question how to apply the rules of grammer and spelling on blogs, in email and texts, etc. i too see misspellings in other people’s writings as well as my own (after i post them) if there was spell check, or if i decided that i thought the rules should be strictly enforced on this blog, i’d make sure it was as perfect as i can make it, as if it were my resume or a buisness plan submitted to a potential investor. so obviously i disagree with giambi’s back sweat about the application of these rules on this blog.
however its the smarmy, i’m-smarter-than-you-are attitude that kills me, as if the thoughts being expressed here, however imperfectly are less valuable than the same sentiment spelled correctly are.
theres a difference between ‘correct’ english and effective comminication and ill take the later over the former any day.
pavano should have been kicked out of baseball – instead he signs before wolf, pettitte, Garland, Prior, pedro, Looper and others – JUST AMAZING! I hope the indians arent holding their breath.
Tex’s new best friend January 6th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
So you want Swisher, Gardner, or Cabrera to start for the Yankees? I’m a big Cabrera fan but if we want a World Series that isn’t the way to do it.
You think every team that wins championships has 8 allstars on the field all the time? We can afford to have Gardner/Melky batting 9th in the lineup. At a given time, both of them have come up big.”
____________________________________________________________
that is a correct assessment. In 2003 we got to the world series with Juan Rivera. In 2004, the bosox won the world series with trot nixon a career .274 hitter with an obp of .364. In, 05 – the astros got there with a lineup that included jason lane, adam everett, morgan ensberg and mike lamb. And the white sox had juan uribe and joe crede.In 06 world champion cards – had encarnacion and belliard and the tigers went with,neifi perez, craig monroe, rafeal santiago, marcus thames and inge.
So, i think the least of our worries is brett gardner/melky cabrera combo.
And he is making 1.5 mil with 5.2 mil in incentives. Wow i wish i can have a series of real and fake injuries just to get out of playing baseball, be one of the biggest disasters in baseball history, take a four year vacation showing up to work a mere 26 times and then, make 1.5 million for my effort (or lack of effort) afterwards.
“I like sheets because his price is low and he was one of the best pitchers in baseball last season and every season when he is healthy”
Yeah, the ‘when he is healthy’ is sort of the hitch there, ain’t it? If you go by the rumors, and the general lack of interest from teams, his shoulder is a mess.
“I agree he is lights out against the yanks and that is part of the reason his numbers arent god awful.”
He pitched twice against the Yankees last year. This idea that his season is weighted by his Yankee starts is ridiculous. Look at his starts against the Mets’ chief division rival & the WS champions. He was *dominant* against them in two games in July. Look at his starts against Atlanta, another big Met rival.
He pitched at least 6 innings 20 times. You can’t ask much more from a 5th starter. For starts where he’s chased early, you carry a long reliever.
ham fighters: I can’t say I disagree with you. But I also get on the defensive–nobody wants to take English in college unless they’re English majors, and I only teach the required classes. So I’m constantly getting “English is stupid, why do I need this?”
However–my point was that if I get papers handed in grammatically worse than what some people post here, then this blog can’t be that bad.
Although I’m not even sure you’re talking to me…
Giambi’s back sweat: Would you rather have everybody type like today’s pinch hitter blog entry? The guy used big words just to use big words. Don’t use five words when four will do.
Why would Manny want to play for the Giants?
He needs to be in the AL regardless
“Why would Manny want to play for the Giants?”
…because he ‘always wanted to be a giant’…*wink*
“And with boras as his agent – he isnt coming here for chump change.”
Again, the jury is still out on this. Lowe gets resolved first, then we see how much interest he draws. The Braves could be a player, but are they willing to give up a 2nd round pick? Are the Dodgers or Red Sox willing to give up a 1st round pick? Are any of these teams willing to roll the dice on Perez as a front end starter?
Pete,
I dont think ppl are annoyed about signing jonson to a minor league deal. The annoying or rather dumb comment from girardi that he could be our fifth starter was probably what may have ticked a few people off just because it makes little or no sense. We have plenty of guys already with the organization that certainly could put up better numbers than johnson could so the comment sounded a little strange. Even though johnson has the experience, i would certainly hope girardi wouldnt put him in a starting spot over aceves to start the year or hughes when he is ready to come up just because he wont be nearly as good.
no andrea it was his death-of-the-language line that sent me off, sorry.
And this signing does not reflect the idea that hughes is not ready – it is pretty clear hughes will start the season in triple A and be promoted at some point during the season. We didnt need this signing to tell us that.
I agree GB. Everyone should stop being hard on Johnson.
But then, I guess I’m just an ol’ softy.
ham fighters: Gotcha. While I don’t think that partial sentences on a blog signify the death of a language, I am beginning to lose faith in the “younger generation’s” ability to actually understand the English language and utilize it properly.
Mind you, I’m 25. These kids ARE of my generation.
And why else this talk of melky starting in center? Does no one remember that melky wasnt even called up when the roster expended last year illustrating how much faith the organization still had left in melky. Either we trade for someone by ST or gardner becomes our everyday centerfielder. The only way melky has a decent shot is if he turn into a machine in spring training and gardner fades into oblivion.
Gardner has a major weapon that melky does not – a ton of speed. Enough speed to distract pitchers from the at bat and terrorize them on the base paths. Enough speed to hit an infielder grounder for a single and to turn every walk into a double. He also has the speed to create errors in the field and score from first on a well hit ball. Melky has no speed and little power and was a complete disaster/atrocity last season. I didnt think melky had the skills to hold the starting centerfielder job last off season and now, i dont think melky has the ability to take the job away from gardner during spring training. Melky could be the backup but i dont even think its likely they would platoon unless melky really turns things around for himself. Just my opinion
“Mind you, I’m 25. These kids ARE of my generation.”
why dont we all ffffffff fade away……
Confucious,
Frankly, i find it hard to believe oli perez will pitch much better than the combo of aceves, hughes, kennedy and company and if signed, he will cost far more than those three. I dont think he is worth a good amount of money. Second, he is not really worth a draft pick either.
Yes, i said in my post that is lights out some games but not enough games. And the games that he isnt lights out, he is just terrible and sometimes comes out in the first or second inning. You mentioned he pitched to 6 innings 20 times but how many times did he come out in the first, second or third innings? That takes a huge toll on the pen also. It isnt just a matter of how many times he pitches 6 innings.
Sheets is a risk but he is worth the risk if his price drops low enough. The complete lack of interest works in our advantage because at this point, he may even take a one year deal with incentives for almost the money we would have given to pettitte. And sheets would be our third starter and not our fourth or fifth. And honestly, i dont buy all of these rumors.
If sheets shoulder was a mess, why decline 14 million in arbitration? And why decline arbitration in a horrible market when he could have accepted and improved his health while jumping into a new free agent off season with a much better market? And if he knew his shoulder was a mess, why would he think the teams looking into him wouldnt look at his medical records and if he thought so, how could he possibly believe he would get more than 14 mil next season?
All of those questions make it seem very likely that this shoulder situation is completely overblown. Either that or casey close is a horrible agent but i would like to believe the former. And i think it is this injury tag that sheets has had to carry around the wide majority of his career that is turning a minor shoulder problem into “his shoulder is a mess” in the media. There is a big difference at times between reality and perception and when sheets has always been viewed as injury prone and he gets an injury right before becoming a free agent – that original title certainly goes a long way in turning perception far, far away from that of reality at times. I think this is one of those times.
Further, i think burnett after finally having an injury free season somehow turned the perception in the other direction making the yanks believe that he would be worth a 5 year deal when in fact he has rarely been healthy through his career and missed far more time than sheets in total due to injuries. It is a similar situation but in the other direction.
Oh and oli perez’s pretty mediocre numbers and atrocious walk per inning rate all occurred in the inferior national league. Imagine how high those walk totals will be when he has to face the dh instead of the pitcher in the superior AL lineups. He will be a terrible signing for the yankees.
“Watch him toss a 3 hitter against us now.”
I wouldnt be surprised. We are known to struggle against sub 6 era starters.
GB7,
lol. That Johnson joke was classic. Ill make sure i never take a lunch again so i could pounce on the next one.
As iv said a couple weeks ago. That Silleto advertisement is getting hotter by the minute. I heard once Peter makes this blog a registration one, he’s going to ask for a major credit card and must be over 21 to get in. No need to worry your over.
Andrea,
I guess if its grammer that you look at on this blog. Iv officially flunked your class.
“Andy and I have something in common: I also was not happy with the Yankee’s offer of 10 million.
I would have offered him 8.”
My post of the day.
About Jason Johnson – if the Yankees signed him they had a reason for doing it. So it’s all good to me.
It might be a weakness on my part, but I still think the Yankee organization knows a lot more than the posters here as well as more than the the blog reporter. In fact, I KNOW they do.
No offense of course.
When I say Ponson, you say Johnson!
Ponson!
Johnson!
Ponson!
Johnson!
“Why are people so fired up about this? It’s a minor league deal. He’s inventory. Calm down.”
It is unbelievable how people react for every little thing here.
And Girardi said Johnson will compete for 5th starter, what is wrong with that? He not being given the spot like they did with Phil and IPK last year. If he pitches very well in spring, he had succes before, he will get his chance.