Yankees packed and ready to move
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- January
- 22
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You may have heard that the Yankees built a new stadium. Well, they’re moving in tomorrow.
Starting at 7 a.m., the Yankees will move nearly all of their employees across the street to their new offices. You think your last move was a pain? They have 1,500 plastic crates and will be using four trucks going back and forth.
The only aspects of the operation staying behind will be the ticket office, the mailroom and the clubhouse staff. They will make the move on Feb. 27.
Tomorrow’s date was set months ago, so the Yankees are right on schedule with their plans.
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Sam Borden is on the Faceoff blog today wondering whether baseball needs a salary cap. Head over there is you want to offer an opinion.
I don’t believe a cap is needed and can sum up my argument with three words: Tampa Bay Rays.
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Did you see the Oscar nominations? The Dark Knight didn’t get a Best Picture nod, although The Reader did. No Bruce Springsteen (who won the Golden Globe) for best song. There were only three nominations in that category, two from Slumdog Millionaire. No best actor for Clint Eastwood, either.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
Agreed. A salary cap will level the playing field, but it will also punish the teams that actually make money from their fanbase. And, as recent teams have shown, there is not a huge correlation between successful teams in the playoffs (see Tampa Bay, Houston, Colorado) and money. The games still have to be played.
Salary Cap?
Tampa Bay Rays is an excellent arguemant as are all the competitive small market teams.
And of course on the flip side there is always the fact, which my good bud Lupica loves to wax about, about the billion bucks the Yanks have spent over a 5 year span (pick any span this decade, I’ll use 2004-2008)which have resulted in 0 championships and 0 pennants.
Good thing the ticket office isnt moving that would just put them even more behind then they are already in dealing with the relocation stuff. I still cant believe that this process is taking so long and seemingly is so unorganized. Iwent through the same process when the Phillies moved from the Vet to Citizens Bank and it was MUCH better organized and seemingly much easier
Gayle – you are absolutely right. I cannot believe we do not know anything as of yet for the partial season ticket plans anyway.
We joked at work that a few of us w/not great computer progamming skills could have dones this rather quicly.
where does everyone get this idea of having a communist system? this is America! capitalism!! Sports don’t have the same dynamic when you lack dynasties. The playing field is leveled as it is with tons of small martket teams having the chance to make the playoffs every season. You will always have the top notch teams (Yanks, Redsox, Mets) and the bottom feeders who are just there to fill out schedules (Pirates, Royals). Everyone else is in the middle of the pack. there is nothing wrong with the system. long live Capitalism!!
Salary Cap Crap is getting old. What do you cap at? $100M? So the Yankees, Sox, Cubs, LA, Mets all spend $100M, and the Royals, Twins, etc still spend 25M and complain? How bout using the luxury tax money to spend on your team instead of pocketing it.
PLus, While the Yankees spend lots of money, bad teams like KC, Marlins, Rays (circa 90s-2007), get all of the good first round picks, yet Tampa is the only team that has done anything with them.
my coworkers are beginning to think i’m some kind of strip club addict…because that Lace and Stilletto advertisement from the homepage is always flashing on my screen.
IMO, the salary cap has degraded the game in the NFL, and would do the same in MLB. While it has levelled the playing field and gives every team a chance to compete, the overall play has deteriorated since 1995 or so. By and large, the mid-level veteran is cut, and a rookie takes a spot on the team. Special teams, nickel packages, and team depth suffers. Teams like the Patriots and a few others have managed to achieve a high level of play, but they are the exception. In MLB, benches, back-end starters, and bullpens would be a disastrous mix of not-ready rookies and has-beens willing to play for near minimums. Good veterans just past their prime would be forced to retire because nobody would be willing to pay them. We are seeing a small sample of that this year b/c of the economy with players like Abreu, Dunn, and Pudge.
I agree no cap, however, this statement is just not accurate:
______ Good veterans just past their prime would be forced to retire because nobody would be willing to pay them. We are seeing a small sample of that this year b/c of the economy with players like Abreu, Dunn, and Pudge.______
People will pay them, just not the bloated outrageous salaries they think they deserve. They can choose to retire, or accept what their market is now, take their millions, shut it, and play.
If there is a cap, it should be for a minimum. They can also lower the thresh hold for which teams have to pay the luxury tax. But all luxury tax dollars that teams take should have to go back into their clubs, and not pocketed by their owners.
“Did you see the Oscar nominations? The Dark Knight didn’t get a Best Picture nod, although The Reader did. No Bruce Springsteen (who won the Golden Globe) for best song. There were only three nominations in that category, two from Slumdog Millionaire. No best actor for Clint Eastwood, either. ”
Which is why I don’t watch those phony award ceremonies.
Mark in Tampa – good argument. Never thought of it that way.
How was Clint not nominated!! That was a great movie. Everyone I told to see it raved about it. Huge snub!
Bruce don’t need no stinking Oscar!
Golden Globe baby! Now that’s a working man’s award.
Best Friend,
“bloated outrageous salaries”? A tinge of jealousy no doubt. They should be able to get whatever the market will bear. Anything else is socialism.
I’ll bet there are millions of people who think you have a “bloated outrageous salary” ;->
I think Heath will win Best Supporting Actor.
But other than his outstanding performance in the Dark Knight, didn’t really think the movie was all that. I think it was Bale’s voice that annoyed me the most.
I bet the people in my office working while im talking on this blog probably do think my salary is bloated, however, i am not talking about retiring instead of taking my ‘average’ salary.
If i did half my job well, and tried to take that to get a new one, they wouldnt hire me. This is the same for these guys. Abreu can hit, but can’t field. Dunn same, Manny has an attitude problem, Sheets has an injury that can stop him from working. SO on and so on.
If i had the choice to make 8 Million or $0, i’d take the $8M. Call me crazy.
http://www.puristbleedspinstri.....y-cap.html Why baseball doesn’t need a salary cap (you don’t want me reposting the entire thing here, trust me)
_Slumdog Millionare_ was great if you haven’t seen it. I have been listening to the soundtrack non-stop since I saw the movie.
This is what I posted on Borden’s site:
Yes baseball needs a salary cap and here is why. If we want to look at Major League Baseball as a competitive sport then let’s truly make it that. I look beyond the “mere” economic implications down to the layer of men going out there day after day and trying to give it their very best, when some have that 10th player working for them every single day, and some are lucky to get a 10th fan into the stands. I bleed pinstripes but often with some guilt. I have great ambivalence because I burst with pride to be a fan of the greatest team in the history of organized sports but also ache for the teams who go into the season year after year with little to no hope of doing much of anything save a miracle here or there.
Yes, we can regale each other with stories about how the teams with the highest payrolls weren’t always the team who ended up with the prize. But we can also see that more often than not those teams were in the hunt. If a salary cap would mean that some of the top players would be distributed more evenly, then I am all for a salary cap. I don’t know the financial status of every teams’ ownership but I think I can safely say that not every team in Major League Baseball is rolling in dough nor may have the opportunity to reach that point. Let’s even the playing field and then enjoy Yankee victories even more. I know I would.
“People will pay them, just not the bloated outrageous salaries they think they deserve. They can choose to retire, or accept what their market is now, take their millions, shut it, and play.”
That is true. But, if there was a cap right now, I don’t think the Red Sox would even think about bringing Varitek back. The Yanks probably would have let Posada walk last year, and would have had to agonize over whether to bring back Mariano or go a cheaper route. Not because of what they could afford, but because of what they are allowed to spend. But all of these players are more valuable to their current teams than they would be to the teams that would pick them up at a lower salary. Then, the Yanks and sox are weakened, but the teams Varitek, Posada, and Mo go to are not helped as much as the team they leave is hurt.
How has the Salary Cap worked in Basketball?
Same teams at the bottom every year, same 10 teams at the top. Yankees signed 3 players. As crazy as it sounds, players have in fact signed with other teams. They havent gotten everyone.
The only people moaning about the cap are from teams that grossly underspend. DONT OWN A TEAM IF YOU CANT AFFORD TO COMPETE or you just want to pocket the extra money!!!
The change I would like to see (although I know it will never happen) is to eliminate incentives for individual achievements, especially things like games played and all-star selections. What if incentives were all about team results (i.e., an extra 10% if the team wins 10 more games than last year)? That would the focus back on winning and not on individual (sometimes meaningless) statistics.
To compare to the NFL: The Chargers are rumored to be thinking about dumping Tomlinson. Do you think that the Chargers really feel they are a better team without him? No, they may dump him to save money on the cap so they can spend it elsewhere. They feel they would improve the other areas of their team more than the downgrade at RB would hurt. If there was no cap, they could keep LT and improve at DB, OL, etc.
However, LT would likely not be as valuable to his new team as he was to the Chargers. New system, new teammates, an offense not necessarily built for his skills, etc. Thus, the Chargers are hurt, his new team not helped accordingly; overall league play suffers. That is my concern with a cap, not whether Bobby Abreu, Manny, or Adam Dunn can buy the new 25,000 foot mansion, or have to settle for the measly 20,000 foot dump.
trisha: You can’t look at it as a fan…not in that way, anyway.
A salary cap is ostensibly about a level playing field. Given that half the teams in MLB have made an appearance in the WS in the past decade, there’s a pretty level playing field.
Ergo, salary cap not needed.
However, a salary _floor_ is an entirely different argument-forcing owners to pay market rates for their players so that they can keep some of their players. If the owner doesn’t want to do it, he/she _SHOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT THE TEAM_
Unless a salary cap would include a considerable salary floor, this off season is a small glimpse into what a salary cap in baseball would look like at least in the short term.
The Grade A star players would get their money no matter what but the next tier down and older but still productive players would find themselves unemployed for the cost savings of signing less experienced players to more affordable deals.
The owners get richer and the fans get to see a lesser product on the field. Talk about a lose/lose in my book.
Rebecca I am waiting for it to come out on dvd. It is supposed to be out next month.
A salary cap in baseball would be terrible. Owners who go around saying there needs to be one installed are just jealous cry babies. It makes me really upset when owners don’t spend the money and would rather keep it in their back pocket then invest it into their own team.
“Unless a salary cap would include a considerable salary floor, this off season is a small glimpse into what a salary cap in baseball would look like at least in the short term.”
Then I’m for both.
“A salary cap is ostensibly about a level playing field. Given that half the teams in MLB have made an appearance in the WS in the past decade, there’s a pretty level playing field.
Ergo, salary cap not needed.”
Rebecca, much too simplistic an ergo in my book. 50% isn’t anything to write home about. Ten years is too short a span to make any kind of determination. And without knowing the payrolls of the teams that made it vs. did not, you can’t say much of anything about salary factors! In addition, without knowing a lot of the other variables that go into any particular team succeeding or tanking (was a particular team beseiged with injuries, a la the 2006 Yankees who made it to the playoffs because despite being beseiged with injuries they had the highest payroll in the league and so still had quality players left, probably the equivalent of the first string of many other teams!) it is impossible to make an unequivocal correlation between salary and world series appearances.
I have always been for a salary cap and I hope I see it happen. I will gladly add to that a salary floor too.
A lot of people forget that a cap needs a floor. The NFL and the NBA have one and the MLBPA would insist upon one.
Looking at revenues the floor would be somewhere between 85-100 million. That would mean the Royals, Pirates, Rays, Marlins, etc. would have to nearly double and in some cases triple their payroll. This is not feasible for some of their teams and might create the need for franchises to move. This would also allow the Yankees, Red Sox, etc to reap in more revenues as profit.
So, for a salary cap to work in MLB without putting teams out of business, there would need to be increased revenue sharing. The big market teams would have none of this to say the least.
So to sum it up, it will never happen.
Wait until they try setting the ceiing at 150 mil and a floor at 80 mil and watch the owners start screaming. The player’s union will never buy off on artifical salary restraints and the owners will never stand for being told they have to spend at least a certain amount. The difference between baseball and the other sports is the strength of the player’s union and the weakness of the owners.
***ceiling*** at 150 mil
Baseball does not need a cap and it will never happen anyway so I wouldn’t bother debating it. Yeah it is great that they are moving into the new stadium tomorrow but they better send my package soon, I am a former B plan holder which is now the 41 game package and I was told this month, well this month is almost over. We got to get working on organizing a blog get together at the new stadium and Pete said he has talked to people in Scranton but he can’t committ to anything yet since he doesn’t know his schedule. What do you guys want to do???
I don’t necessarily expect to see it happen. I agree the players’ union will successfully tap dance all over the heads of anyone who tries to institute the cap.
Pete:
Let’s get back to the ticket relocation issue. They started the process in October with the full season planholders. They have yet to get to the 41-game plans, and then they have to get to the partial planholders (of which I am one) in the 84 days left until the home opener.
Perhaps you can question the Yankee brass in the ticket office and get us some answers. Phone calls and e-mails don’t really get a response. I’d like to know where I’ll be sitting and how much it will cost me as I’ve got to budget these payments. As it is, the Saturday plan (which was 12 games last year) has been expanded to 15 games (they put Old Timers Day back in the plan, and added two unspecified weekday games–so much for a “Saturday” package).
Does anyone have a friend in the ticket office who can comment on how long this process is going to take?
GreenBeret7
It seems the Brewers owner wants to hold the Yankees to a certain payroll, but he will go on his merry way of spending 40 million and pocketing the revenue and luxury tax money.
“That is true. But, if there was a cap right now, I don’t think the Red Sox would even think about bringing Varitek back. The Yanks probably would have let Posada walk last year, and would have had to agonize over whether to bring back Mariano or go a cheaper route.”
Mark, just thinking about your argument more and more here. I think the effect it would have on older, veteran players would actually be good because players wouldn’t get paid obscene salaries past their prime. I don’t think it would force them to retire, it would just force them to get more realistic. Unfortunately, this also lead to some billion dollar salaries in superstar primes.
You’d make a better arguement if you put a majority of the blame on the owners rather than the union. When the greedy low payroll owners stop getting their welfare checks, they’ll find another reaso to put the arm on the beter run, more profitable teams.
Trisa, 10 years and 30 teams for two spots per year. So, that means a *maximum* of 20 teams could have made WS appearances over the last decade, and the following teams have:
Arizona, Angels, Giants, Rockies, Marlins, Rays, White Sox, Red Sox, Tigers, Cardinals, Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Astros…that’s _fourteen_ teams. Fourteen! Out of a possible 20! That’s *seventy* percent of possible teams!
Nevermind that in addition to these, the Athletics, Dodgers, Cubs, Indians and Mariners have made LCS appearances as well.
Actually, over the past ten years, only the Orioles, Royals, Reds, Pirates, Rangers, Nationals and Blue Jays have not made the playoffs.
Of these teams, the Orioles, Royals and Nationals are notorious for poor ownership; the Reds and Pirates haven’t won in ages and the Blue Jays, who won in the 90s, simply have the misfortune of being in the AL East.
And unlike the other major sports, in baseball there are only FOUR spots per conference/league for the playoffs, so you can’t use other sports to compare Heck, in the NBA and NHL, more teams make the playoffs than miss it.
Steve I am in the same boat as you being a Saturday plan holder. When I last spoke to the ticket office which was on Jan 4th right after getting back from holidays they said they hoped to have it done by the end of the month or early next month.
Being as as far as I can see they have not yet even started the 41 game holders that forecast seems a long way off.
I asked them jokingly of course if I would know before the season started they laughingly said they hope so. I dont find it such a funny matter as I would like to know where my seats will be and what I will be paying. I know for a fact that I will paying less as the seats I have had are not even available for partial plans at the new stadium.
I don’t know about the cap to post an opinion, so I’ll just revisit what’s going on in the last thread.
The Sox guy from pinstripes and sox came on with a rebuttal. He obviously feels very comfortable with his team.
Someone who I think is a Yankee fan totally agreed with him, listing everything wrong with the Yankees.
They’re both right to some degree (insert broken clock cliche), but I still love my team.
Yes, we’re missing a 5th starter and an upgrade in center would be good, but that CF problem’s not really a problem. If Melky reverts to his pre-08 self and Gardner puts the ball into play, that’s good enough for me. And it’s not like there’s a wealth of great CF out in the trade market or free agency. All the good young ones (Sizemore, Hamilton, Victorino) are untouchable. So CF is nitpicking IMO.
If, as a fan, you can’t be happy with the signings of CC, AJ, Tex (2 of ‘em!), and Swisher, there’s nothing left to say.
As for the Sox fans, let’s wait and see what happens on the field.
There’s a marked difference between baseball, football, and the 2 indoor pro sports with salary structure.
Including exhibition, regular season, playoffs and WS, baseball teams can play as many as 210 games each season and heavy support for farm systems.
Football, between exhibition games, regular season, and playoff games can play as many as 23 games with no farm systems to support.
Indoor pro teams, between exhibition games, regular season and playoffs can play as many as 110 games. Hockey has farm teams to support, basketball doesn’t.
We can pick it apart from there, using ticket prices and average attendance figures.
“However, a salary floor is an entirely different argument-forcing owners to pay market rates for their players so that they can keep some of their players. If the owner doesn’t want to do it, he/she SHOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT THE TEAM”
Thank God somebody is sensible!!! Everybody is yelling at the Yankees, mainly because of the coverage brought to us by our friends @ ESPN. What people fail to realize, is the owners of small market teams pocket most of the money. AND, they pocket the revenue sharing money given to them so their team can compete, economically, with the revenue giants. What baseball truly needs to do is some type of screening process with buying a club. If an owner isn’t willing to invest a large portion of revenue back into the team, that person, or group of people, have no business buying a baseball team!
It’s hilarious ESPN even gave the Marlins owner the time of day to talk about the Yankees spending. If there is one organization who ruins baseball, it’s the Marlins! Win a championship–>sell everyone off and keep one or two big bucks players to bring fans to the park, which doesnt work anyway.
Why is it that noone in the media asks these crybaby owners if they would support a cap minimum? Answer, because there purpose is to just bash the Yankees to cover for their own lack of success.
I wonder how many of you “salary cap lovers” would like having your employers limit how much you’re allowed to make for doing a job that you’re trained to do and not many others have the ability to do?
“Sorry, Trisha, but, we’ll have to let you go. The ABA says we can only have so many overpaid lawyers, and we can’t afford to keep you any longer. Frankly we have too many people that can do the job cheaper and they spend less time on the baseball blogs. We’ll give you a decent recommendation, though”
Does anyone know how luxury tax and profit sharing works in baseball? Where do the moneys for each go? What I’m really trying to find out is who gets the money the Yankees pay and how much the other teams receive. Is it equal shares, sliding scale?
As much as I hate guaranteed contracts in baseball because of the injury factor, the fact that NFL teams can just cut players, especially injured ones, really gets to me because of the inherently violent nature of the sport.
Prince Fielder signing a two year extension!
Man, the more and more I look at FA’s next year and look at the Sox, the more I realize how troe the Sox & Pinstripes post is. We really screwed them and they are getting old, FAST.
m: That the NFL cuts players doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the lack of adequate healthcare.
I would most definitely say “No” to a salary cap.
From a fan’s perspective, the first thing I think about with the salary cap is the bogus trades it forces teams to make. In the NBA, you don’t trade players – you trade contracts. 99% of the trades in the NBA make absolutely no logical sense in terms of what the teams need. Yes, in baseball you have the “salary dump” trades – but at least in those deals, the team dumping the salary is acquiring something that can be useful – a decent prospect or two, for example.
In football, just forget about it – nobody gets traded unless they are holding out and the team has absolutely no alternative. In the NFL, you often see players released for no other reason than their salary is too high.
The NHL? They actually seem to be doing a pretty good job with their cap. I think it works pretty well in the NHL because many teams spend around the same amount of money anyway. Plus, it doesn’t appear that the players feel that they are being shafted…at least not yet.
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I think one of the best things about baseball is that it is a year-round sport. Once November comes along, you start thinking about what your team should do; everyone has different opinions and who should be signed and who shouldn’t be…whether to sign the free agent or give that hot-shot prospect a chance.
I just think some of this would be lost with a salary cap; you’d be reading stuff like, “The Yankees appear to have interest in Jake Peavy…but in order to acquire him, they’d have to ship a decent contract back to the Padres. Rumors say that although he probably can’t play the field anymore, the Padres would be willing to take back Hideki Matsui’s contract, because it expires at the end of the season.” Again, taking on a contract of a player you don’t want or need simply because of a salary restriction. Don’t like it at all.
Rebecca,
Wasn’t the issue basically that they weren’t taking care of the old-timers? I think the younger guys will be taken care of.
It is a shame though. The NFL prints more money than the us govt. They have enough money to cover every uninsured American, let alone retired players!
What MLB should start looking at is the luxury tax being spread to the teams DIVISION ONLY. I.E. money the Sox and Yanks spend, go to the O’s, Jays and Rays.
Therefore, if you have an entire division of cheap, greedy owners, those teams can compete with their sub par talent against each other. This, IMO makes things extremely fair. It would make no sense for Yankee money to go to the Pirates or Marlins, who don’t even have to play the Yankees, instead of the Rays or O’s, who have to directly compete with the Yanks and Sox.
If “The Wrestler” didn’t get a nomination there is something horribly wrong with the Academy.
Gran Torino should have been nominated over Frost/Nixon for best picture. What a joke. I saw both movies and this is why no one cares about the Oscars b/c they are a joke.
Dark Knight for Best Picture?
I’ll have what Peter is drinking.
remember the 2006 yankees, how they started out with high hopes but just a couple of weeks in it became apparent how old and unatheletic they had become?
this is the fate of the 2009 socks imo. unless oritz and lowell both come back strong, the heart of this lineup is going to be weak. bay and nancy drew both helped the socks through the loss of manny through the end of last season, but neither of them is a replacement and that is going to become painfully obvious.
on the pitching side, they have alot of young arms and alot of promise there, but if beckett continues to slide, the yankees and drays both have significantly better staffs.
we need comebacks from (i would contend) either posada or matsui to make our lineup solid. we are not worrying about the heart of our order the way the socks are.
yes the socks are a good team, but good teams turn quickly into so-so teams and now its the socks turn.
Mel, it’s the MLBPA that forced the medical care. Every player that spends at least one day on a major league roster gets free medical care for life. Other than salary, that’s their gret incentive. The medical is funded by both the union and MLB. The other sports unions are too weak or non-existent to force such a deal.
that’s their ***greatest*** incentive
“remember the 2006 yankees, how they started out with high hopes but just a couple of weeks in it became apparent how old and unatheletic they had become?
this is the fate of the 2009 socks imo. unless oritz and lowell both come back strong, the heart of this lineup is going to be weak. bay and nancy drew both helped the socks through the loss of manny through the end of last season, but neither of them is a replacement and that is going to become painfully obvious.”
I agree Ortiz without the Manny safety net was painful to watch. Drew is good but can only get 400 AB’s and Youk is best suited closer to Pedroia at the top of the line-up. If Lowell has any problems coming back from the bad hip it could be the Sox leaning heavily on their 2 best hitters(Youk and Pedroia).
GB7,
You’re slipping again, Rebecca and I were talking about the NFL not paying for the health care of the really old timers.
The players union came up short on that one, IIRC.
Just kidding, GB7. Thanks for that info on the MLBPA leading the way. It is indeed a nice reward for years of working in the minor league system even if players don’t stick around in the majors.
Yanksrule57
Yeah why hasn’t anyone asked these owners what they think about a floor of say 80 million. Watch how quick they back track or how they try to explain why you only need a cap with no floor.
m
From what I have been able to find:
With Revenue Sharing all teams “owe” 30% of local revenues to MLB who pools it and returns equal “checks” to teams. For example, if the Yankees had 300 million in revenue. They would owe the pool 90 million dollars. If the Marlins had 5 million in revenues, they would owe the pool 1.5 million. If the total pool collected was 400 million, the Yankees would get back 13 million for a net payout of 77 million to other teams while the Marlins would get 13 million for a net gain of 11.5 million.
Luxury Tax is different in that it is paid to the league and not distributed to teams directly. A percent of the money is used for players benefits, a percent for globalizing MLB in countries without better than high school level baseball programs and a percent for promoting MLB corporate.
GreenBeret7
Free medical care is a great incentive! I pay over $120 a month, for a okay plan. I can’t go out of network. I’m sure their plan isn’t an hmo.
i mentioned this before, but if they were to implement a salary cap in MLB, wouldn’t it have to be more than the current top payroll? in this case, the Yankees.
and if they ever do implement a cap, i think they would also have to get rid of luxury tax and revenue sharing. i always thought of them as MLB’s answer to a salary cap.
a salary floor would be strange though. would undeserving guys on small market teams, whether aging stars or unproven kids, be vastly overpaid in order for their team to reach that minimum?
i like it the way it is. it’s been said a lot on this blog, but nobody was complaining as much about the Yankee spending, until the Yankees started spending more intelligently…
If RobNY is around, here’s what he asked for yesterday (the Yankees in Keith Law’s top 100 Prospects beyond the top 20):
RANK PLAYER POS. ORGANIZATION ‘08 RANK #AGE
46 Austin Jackson CF New York Yankees
TOP ‘08 LEVEL: AA (Trenton) 24 22
Jackson’s star has dimmed over the past year or so, as an expected breakout hasn’t come. He’s shown that he takes a while to adjust to each new level or challenge. He’s still a great athlete, but it’s not translating into baseball skills as quickly as hoped.
Jackson’s tools grade out as more or less average across the board, with nothing standing out as plus except for the possibility that he’ll become an above-average hitter (for average, that is). He had good speed but is, at best, a 55 runner now, although he has good instincts on the bases. He has gap power and can jerk a ball over the fence to left, but doesn’t project as more than a 15-20 homer guy unless he fills out substantially.
He’s solid in center field with a good arm, but probably isn’t a Gold Glove candidate. Because he lacks a major weakness, he’s still a valuable prospect, and he’ll play all of 2009 at age 22, so he has room for growth. It’s just hard to see the ceiling that appeared to be there a year or two ago.
RANK PLAYER POS. ORGANIZATION ‘08 RANK #AGE
83 Jesus Montero C New York Yankees
TOP ‘08 LEVEL: A (Charleston) UR 19
Montero’s a catcher in name only, but his bat is very promising. Montero played the whole year at 18 in the Sally League and had no problem making consistent contact. He has a quick bat and takes a healthy cut, with plus raw power that’s around average in-game right now. He extends his arms well for good plate coverage, adjusting well to off-speed stuff so far, but doesn’t have much patience and will have to work the count more as the quality of pitching improves. Behind the plate, he has an average arm but his throwing motion is long and it takes forever for him to get from the crouch to his release. He’s already enormous for a catcher, listed at 6-4, 225 pounds, and is only going to outgrow the position with time, but his bat will play at first base.
RANK PLAYER POS. ORGANIZATION ‘08 RANK #AGE
95 Andrew Brackman RHP New York Yankees
TOP ‘08 LEVEL: Hawaii League 100 23
Brackman returned from Tommy John surgery to pitch in the Hawaiian League this fall, showing the same velocity, 91-97 mph, he had before he hurt his elbow, but below-average command, which is very typical of pitchers who’ve just had the zipper. He threw a solid-average knuckle-curve in the mid-70s before hurting his arm, but hasn’t found his feel for the pitch in his limited action since the surgery, and his changeup was rudimentary even before he got hurt. When he was healthy, Brackman offered the two pitches plus good downhill plane on his fastball — he’s about 6-foot-10 — and a surprising ability to repeat his delivery, although that went out the window when he hurt his elbow and started trying to compensate for it. His pitching experience was limited, since he also played basketball at N.C. State and didn’t give it up until his junior year, but there is significant upside here if he can stay on the mound for most or all of 2009.
And just missing the top 100 was:
Dellin Betances, RHP, New York Yankees: Betances has a great frame and big fastball, but poor command and control and iffy secondary stuff hold him back. He’s all upside, but there’s a lot of development between where he is now and where he could be if it all clicks.
For those interested, Keith Law has his top 100 prospects out. yankees have three, #46 AJax, #83 Jesus Montero, #95 Andrew Brackman.
He was very critical of AJax, thinks Montero has the offense to play, but never as a catcher, and was pretty high on Brackman, if he can recover form post surgery.
or like Rishi said…
a salary floor would be strange though. would undeserving guys on small market teams, whether aging stars or unproven kids, be vastly overpaid in order for their team to reach that minimum?
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Interesting point!
“No Bruce Springsteen (who won the Golden Globe) for best song.”
The same thing happened to Eddie Vedder last year. He had won the GG for best song; however, he wasn’t nominated for an Oscar.
Vedder and Springsteen have issued a joint statement about this slight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4J54_MvGL0
Law also had McAlister as a high prospect.
Jesus Montero is talented but its still too early he can be David Ortiz or Wily Mo Pena it can go either way, lets allow the kid to develop.
pat,
Thanks. So it’s revenue? Proceeds minus expenses? Because the stadium costs are supposed to bring that down, right?
And what is included in revenue? ticket sales and ?? surely not the money that YES brings in.
Anybody have ESPN Insider Access to Keith Law’s top 100’s prospects?
m
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
GB7,
You’re slipping again, Rebecca and I were talking about the NFL not paying for the health care of the really old timers.
The players union came up short on that one, IIRC.
Just kidding, GB7. Thanks for that info on the MLBPA leading the way. It is indeed a nice reward for years of working in the minor league system even if players don’t stick around in the majors.
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Ther was an article about a year ago that said that NFL players had the lowest life expectency of all [pro athletes, in part because of the pounding they take and the poor medical care. I’m sure that their diets and injections they take in order to play have alot to do with it. You never read about baseball players dopping dead at practice like you do with football players.
In that same vein, a few years ago, there was an abnormal amount of football players that had developed ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Oddly, the the players all played for the San Fracisco 49ers and all were team mates at one time. They never did find a connection to it.
http://www.time.com/time/magaz.....id=googlep
If a cap was needed it would be because the game is being harmed ? Is it? Attendance was through the roof in 2008 and whenever the Yankees come to town (the biggest spender) games are sold out. Doesn’t really sound like people are pi$$ed off and the game is suffering does it? If it was so bad, the fans would walk away from MLB. In fact, people are walking TO MLB. What does that tell you? The people who put up their own money to see a game, don’t care. Only the whiny, bleeding – heart liberal reporters (Lupica, etc). who don’t pay for seats want a cap b/c the Yankees spending offends their sense of fairness. Well guess what, it does not offend my sense of fairness and free markets, should why should Lupica win out ? Let the market decide and fan attendance is telling you people don’t care.
Al,
Agreed, but that what guy’s like Law get paid to do. There really is no place for Jesus for a couple years anyway.
Not to sting my Yankees, but just because you finish last and get the first pick in the draft doesn’t mean you’re going to get the best pick. A lot of the grief the Yankees get is that they overpay for their slot, ending up with player that normally would have gone to teams higher in the draft selection. Because of this model, a lot of teams will always gripe about the Yanks (and Sox) because they always pay over slot to get the best draft pick still available. If the slot money was locked in, the draft would go pretty smoothly and no draftee could say I want X amount of dollars or I go to college, or I wait another year because baseball has limited what every team can give to the draftee. The system as it stands now is hardly pristine or absent of abuse.
Hughes,
I do. What’s your interest?
If I am a Minnesota Twin fan, I am more offended that Pohlad pocketed my money for years vs. resigning Johan Santana than by the Yankees going out and getting CC, AJ, and Tex. My (Twins) owner already demonstrated that he won’t spend the loot, no matter what, so why should I care what the Yankees do.
jennifer
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:30 pm
a salary floor would be strange though. would undeserving guys on small market teams, whether aging stars or unproven kids, be vastly overpaid in order for their team to reach that minimum?————————————
Interesting point!
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In that case,there would be absolutely no change in the standings of some teams and nothing is gained, except that fans are deprived of watching their favorite players playing for their favorite teams. You’d have no more lifetime Yankees like Jeter, Rivera, Posada and others. You’d be treated to lifetime Yankees like Edwar Ramirez.
Buckner,
I was interested in all the Yankees, just too slow on the trigger. What about the rest of the AL East?
“Oddly, the the players all played for the San Fracisco 49ers and all were team mates at one time. They never did find a connection to it.”
Uh…I don’t think it’s, uh, that odd. The only question is _what_ they took…
Anyone think Hughes can get the 5th spot out of ST. I think it could be a mistake letting Hughes make the the team without first establishing dominance down at AAA.
sunny,
It’s not a knock on the Yankees if the Red Sox and Tigers do it, too.
The Sox broke the bank just to talk to Daisuke. He’s good, but I would’ve been pissed if it was my team that spent $50M to have some o-cha. (please don’t bring up Igawa, it doesn’t help my point)
The White Sox and Oakland aren’t shy about spending up on international signings, either.
sunny615
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Not to sting my Yankees, but just because you finish last and get the first pick in the draft doesn’t mean you’re going to get the best pick. A lot of the grief the Yankees get is that they overpay for their slot, ending up with player that normally would have gone to teams higher in the draft selection. Because of this model, a lot of teams will always gripe about the Yanks (and Sox) because they always pay over slot to get the best draft pick still available. If the slot money was locked in, the draft would go pretty smoothly and no draftee could say I want X amount of dollars or I go to college, or I wait another year because baseball has limited what every team can give to the draftee. The system as it stands now is hardly pristine or absent of abuse.
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The frst time baseball tries that, they’ll be in court. Lawyers and agents will be fling lawsuits for restraint of trade. As long as baseball insists on keeping their antitrust, they’ll never find a legal way to contol salaries to the extent that they want. Baseball will never give up territorial rights and game blackouts.
Hughes
He’s much higher on Baltimore, Boston, and Tampa prospects. The usual names, Wieters (Bal) Anderson and Borden (Bos) Price and Beckman (TB) and Snyder (Tor).
I will say this, not sure Hughes, Kennedy, Joba count anymore.
Rosenthal reported yesterday that Freddy Garcia is choosing between the Mets and Yanks. I would give him 1 year 1 mil. Worst case scenario he doesn’t pitch enough and the Yanks owe him a million or he pitches well out of the 5th spot and gets 10-12 wins. Either way for a million its worth the risk.
William Buckner
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:29 pm
For those interested, Keith Law has his top 100 prospects out. yankees have three, #46 AJax, #83 Jesus Montero, #95 Andrew Brackman.
He was very critical of AJax, thinks Montero has the offense to play, but never as a catcher, and was pretty high on Brackman, if he can recover form post surgery.
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It’s doubtful that Lawhas ever seen Jackson or Montero play at all. Montero is actually a prety good defensive catcher for a 19 year old. Great arm and agile for a big guy. He is not some fat slob. Jackson will neve be a 20 mil a year player, but, he has amazng skills that he’s just no learning. Never will be a Mickey Mantle/Willie May, but, he has many of the Johnny Damon skills with an outstanding arm. Not a rifle, but, strong and accurate.
Keith Law is chatting at 1 if you have questions…
Someone ask Law to find out what owners think about a floor.
speaking of japanese players and posting fees, i wonder if we’ll ever see a team make a huge bid/post on a player, just to block him from another team. if i recall correctly, if the team with the winning bid does not sign the player, they are not responsible for the posting fee.
imagine if we bid $100M to talk to Daisuke, just to tell Boras, “yeah, we’re not really interested… call us back when he’s a free agent.”
is there anything preventing things like this from occurring?
the thing about ajax is it seemed like his star rose a little too quickly in 2007 because of good fall league #’s this was before he played an inning above a ball. now after a decent but not great season at trenton, he’s dissed. i saw him play in trenton, i think he has a chance to make it, he got some big hits and looked good most of the time. people who pencil him in to the yankees OF are definitly premature, but so is anybody who’s writing him off.
Jennifer,
Their response would be, “marble or Terrazo tile?”
Al,
Nice discussion on the 5th spot. I think Hughes is capable of winning that spot outright. He did it last season. I think people forget that he had a great ST except for the last 2 starts (injury?). Nothing wrong at all with starting him in AAA. Except that Garcia’s not an upgrade (IMO). I’d rather let Aceves win the job, he’s strong and healthy.
The only problem is Hughes and Joba both have IP count issues.
“is there anything preventing things like this from occurring?”
A team bidding, and then not negotiating in good faith would likely not allowed to bid the next time. I seem to recall hearing a discussion about that concerning Matsuzaka. For a little while, it looked to some like the sox were not trying too hard to sign him, and some talking heads were discussing whether it was a move to just block him from the Yanks.
“where does everyone get this idea of having a communist system? this is America! capitalism!! Sports don’t have the same dynamic when you lack dynasties. The playing field is leveled as it is with tons of small martket teams having the chance to make the playoffs every season. You will always have the top notch teams (Yanks, Redsox, Mets) and the bottom feeders who are just there to fill out schedules (Pirates, Royals). Everyone else is in the middle of the pack. there is nothing wrong with the system. long live Capitalism!!”
Yankeepelotero:
I agree, the problem is the Yankees are pretty much the last place where we still actually have capitalism. Especially when 30% of our economy is now run by the government! Now all the socialists want to ruin baseball too!!
What I find funny is BSox fans saying they were within 1 game of a World Series, when in fact they were lucky the season ended when it did, because the Yankees & Blue Jays were closing fast after the loss of Manny! Now in 2009 the BSox will have to play a whole season w/o Manny. I believe the results will be a 3rd or 4th place finish for BSox at season end.
Manny made that whole team better. The loss of Varitek will be felt as well from the handling of pitching standpoint.
I think Bluejays can’t be ruled out either. AJ was great for them last year, but they do have a lot of depth on their staff, plus Wells should be healthy too.
I believe the Yanks win the division, Tampa is 2nd & Toronto finishes 3rd barely ahead of BSox in 4th. What will ESPIN do if that were to happen? LOL!
ESPN.com – Keith Law’s minor league system rankings:
1. Texas
2. Tampa Bay
7. Boston – Probably an aggressive ranking, but their 2008 draft class has the potential to be one of the best. They have become more aggressive at going over slot to obtain premium players in the draft and have become more active internationally. Their system probably had more prospect depth on 2008 short-season rosters than any other but Texas’.
15. NY Yanks – For the first time in several years, the Yankees’ system is light on impact talent, with major question marks on each of the top four prospects. The 2008 draft class doesn’t offer much hope — the Yankees’ first pick reversed course on them midsummer and decided to go to college; their third pick had a medical issue and didn’t agree to terms; and the resulting crop of players doesn’t offer much upside.
Keith Law ranks Austin Jackson as the Yanks top prospect at #45 overall:
Jackson’s star has dimmed over the past year or so, as an expected breakout hasn’t come. He’s shown that he takes a while to adjust to each new level or challenge. He’s still a great athlete, but it’s not translating into baseball skills as quickly as hoped.
Jackson’s tools grade out as more or less average across the board, with nothing standing out as plus except for the possibility that he’ll become an above-average hitter (for average, that is). He had good speed but is, at best, a 55 runner now, although he has good instincts on the bases. He has gap power and can jerk a ball over the fence to left, but doesn’t project as more than a 15-20 homer guy unless he fills out substantially.
He’s solid in center field with a good arm, but probably isn’t a Gold Glove candidate. Because he lacks a major weakness, he’s still a valuable prospect, and he’ll play all of 2009 at age 22, so he has room for growth. It’s just hard to see the ceiling that appeared to be there a year or two ago.
Montero is #83 overall:
Montero’s a catcher in name only, but his bat is very promising. Montero played the whole year at 18 in the Sally League and had no problem making consistent contact. He has a quick bat and takes a healthy cut, with plus raw power that’s around average in-game right now. He extends his arms well for good plate coverage, adjusting well to off-speed stuff so far, but doesn’t have much patience and will have to work the count more as the quality of pitching improves. Behind the plate, he has an average arm but his throwing motion is long and it takes forever for him to get from the crouch to his release. He’s already enormous for a catcher, listed at 6-4, 225 pounds, and is only going to outgrow the position with time, but his bat will play at first base.
Brackman is the only other top 100 guy at #95:
Brackman returned from Tommy John surgery to pitch in the Hawaiian League this fall, showing the same velocity, 91-97 mph, he had before he hurt his elbow, but below-average command, which is very typical of pitchers who’ve just had the zipper. He threw a solid-average knuckle-curve in the mid-70s before hurting his arm, but hasn’t found his feel for the pitch in his limited action since the surgery, and his changeup was rudimentary even before he got hurt. When he was healthy, Brackman offered the two pitches plus good downhill plane on his fastball — he’s about 6-foot-10 — and a surprising ability to repeat his delivery, although that went out the window when he hurt his elbow and started trying to compensate for it. His pitching experience was limited, since he also played basketball at N.C. State and didn’t give it up until his junior year, but there is significant upside here if he can stay on the mound for most or all of 2009.
I’d be OK with a salary cap if there was a minimum salary figure too.
A ‘ceiling’ that effects only one or two teams current payroll and a ‘basement’ that only effects one or two teams current payroll would be a farce.
Eliminating the luxury tax would be a must if there were a cap, although profit sharing might still be required to help the bottom-most bottom feeders meet the minimum salary amount too. But then ALL of the teams not feeding off the profit sharing pot should contribute the same amount or the same percentage to it.
I still think no cap at all is most fair. But if there has to be one it shouldn’t penalize only one or two teams. That the luxury tax was set below the Yanks payroll and above the Sox payroll and barely effected anyone else when it was set is a little fishy.
Boston’s top 100 guys on Keith Law’s list:
#7 – Lars Anderson
#52 – Michael Bowden
#81 – Nick Hagadone
#90 – Junichi Tazawa
#94 – Daniel Bard
FYI – Jose Tabata ranks higher than any Yanks at #32
“I believe the Yanks win the division, Tampa is 2nd & Toronto finishes 3rd barely ahead of BSox in 4th.”
My fellow “Ray” in New England. If you think the Sox end up in fourth I think you were smoking your lunch!
p.s. next time I should notice that somebody already posted all that
sorry
“I believe the Yanks win the division, Tampa is 2nd & Toronto finishes 3rd barely ahead of BSox in 4th. What will ESPIN do if that were to happen? LOL!”
They would run a two hour special starring Peter Gammons and Steve Philips on how the sox are just resting and loading up for a historic 2010 undefeated season!
Thanks Rishi I appreciate the info. I’ve never seen any of these guys play (except Betances in Staten Island) but I hoped Jackson would be higher. You think AJax has a shot at Damon in his prime level of play GB? That would be great to have, especialy with how young he’ll presumably be when he comes up.
“Thank God somebody is sensible!!! Everybody is yelling at the Yankees, mainly because of the coverage brought to us by our friends @ ESPN. What people fail to realize, is the owners of small market teams pocket most of the money. AND, they pocket the revenue sharing money given to them so their team can compete, economically, with the revenue giants. What baseball truly needs to do is some type of screening process with buying a club. If an owner isn’t willing to invest a large portion of revenue back into the team, that person, or group of people, have no business buying a baseball team!”
Hey Joey,
I agree completely. I’ve always believed that many small market teams simply pocket the money they get from revenue sharing, but when I emailed Pete last fall he insisted that those teams are forced to spend in on players.
Does anyone know for certain about whether teams can simply pocket the money or if there are some rules already in place stating that the money must be spent on the team?
BD — don’t tell brandon about Tabata.
Boston Dave
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Montero is #83 overall:
Montero’s a catcher in name only, but his bat is very promising. Montero played the whole year at 18 in the Sally League and had no problem making consistent contact. He has a quick bat and takes a healthy cut, with plus raw power that’s around average in-game right now. He extends his arms well for good plate coverage, adjusting well to off-speed stuff so far, but doesn’t have much patience and will have to work the count more as the quality of pitching improves. Behind the plate, he has an average arm but his throwing motion is long and it takes forever for him to get from the crouch to his release. He’s already enormous for a catcher, listed at 6-4, 225 pounds, and is only going to outgrow the position with time, but his bat will play at first base.
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I wonder what Law would think of a catcher at 6′3″ and 225 pounds….oh, say a catcher like Carlton Fisk?
“Al,
Nice discussion on the 5th spot. I think Hughes is capable of winning that spot outright. He did it last season. I think people forget that he had a great ST except for the last 2 starts (injury?). Nothing wrong at all with starting him in AAA. Except that Garcia’s not an upgrade (IMO). I’d rather let Aceves win the job, he’s strong and healthy.
The only problem is Hughes and Joba both have IP count issues.”
You are right I’m sure Aceves at this point is comparable if not better than Garcia.
““I believe the Yanks win the division, Tampa is 2nd & Toronto finishes 3rd barely ahead of BSox in 4th.”
My fellow “Ray” in New England. If you think the Sox end up in fourth I think you were smoking your lunch!
”
I have to agree with our resident Sox fan on this one. You could argue the Sox not being the best team but not finishing in the top 3? What do you expect Beckett and Lester to both have season ending injuries?
m
Other than tickets sales, I don’t know what they consider a revenue.
I looked it up in the CBA once but too much lawyerese for me to understand what it said.
ray (sox fan)
i sent you an email about maine. just wanted to give you a head’s up in case you have your email filter set to send emails from yankee fans directly to your junk folder .
“What I find funny is BSox fans saying they were within 1 game of a World Series, when in fact they were lucky the season ended when it did, because the Yankees & Blue Jays were closing fast after the loss of Manny!”
Then you’ll find this just hilarious. The day Ramirez was traded, the Yankees were tied with the Red Sox in the loss column. By 8/26, they were 6 games back. They never drew any closer.
ray (sox fan)
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
“I believe the Yanks win the division, Tampa is 2nd & Toronto finishes 3rd barely ahead of BSox in 4th.”
My fellow “Ray” in New England. If you think the Sox end up in fourth I think you were smoking your lunch!
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He’s not allowed to smoke in the building. He gets his ideas from the secret ingredients in the brownies he’s having for dessert.
ray (sox fan)
Well, I said last year that Tampa would win the division & I was accused of smoking something then too.
I truly believe the loss of Manny will equate to 10 more losses for BSox. The loss of Varitek & Manny will be 13 or 14 more. Dice K pitched w/ a lot of luck & IMO will not have a record > than .500 this year. BSox are weak up the middle C, SS & CF. They will miss Crisp who literally won the starting CF job last year & now he is gone. Ellsbury will struggle IMO as well. Then there are the Ortiz/Lowell issue over health & Wakefield’s back too & BSox w/o a knuckleball catcher.
I thought Toronto played great last year & they are young & will be much better this year. Tampa is much better this year as well.
The Yankees are much improved over a team that won the head to head vs BSox & TB last year. A lack of Pitching caused them to lose too many games against weak teams. I don’t believe that happens this year.
Thank you Randy.
I have no “Yankee spam filters”.
Just a GB7 filter.
Boston Dave
I’d kind of expect a guy coming off surgery to take a little time to get his control back to 100%. If his velocity is already back to where it was, things are looking good for Brackman. Hopefully he regains the feel for it soon enough.
ray (sox fan)
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Thank you Randy.
I have no “Yankee spam filters”.
Just a GB7 filter.
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Come on, Ray. You know that you can only resist my wit half of the time.
“I wonder what Law would think of a catcher at 6’3” and 225 pounds….oh, say a catcher like Carlton Fisk?”
Great point. Fisk wasn’t a full time MLB’er til age 24, so he was probably done growing. You wonder if that’s the case with a 19 year old. I always remembered Fisk as being pretty quick. Doesn’t sound like quickness is Montero’s forte, but I’ve never seen him.
One thing I’ll say about Law is that I’ve seen him refuse to offer comment on players he hasn’t seen. I’ve always found him to be pretty above board, though I found his Jackson assessment a little harsh as I thought a .354 OBP and nearly 50 extra basehits in AA was a hell of a season for a 21 year old.
“With Revenue Sharing all teams “owe” 30% of local revenues to MLB who pools it and returns equal “checks” to teams. For example, if the Yankees had 300 million in revenue. They would owe the pool 90 million dollars. If the Marlins had 5 million in revenues, they would owe the pool 1.5 million. If the total pool collected was 400 million, the Yankees would get back 13 million for a net payout of 77 million to other teams while the Marlins would get 13 million for a net gain of 11.5 million.
Luxury Tax is different in that it is paid to the league and not distributed to teams directly. A percent of the money is used for players benefits, a percent for globalizing MLB in countries without better than high school level baseball programs and a percent for promoting MLB corporate.”
Hmmm…. Sounds alot like the way are economy is currently being run. Redistribution of wealth, gov’t picking winners and losers.
If anything, the Yankees should be bitching up a storm to get baseball to get rid of this luxury tax/profit sharing BS!!
Why should the Yankees be punished for being successful and actually putting alot of that money back into the team? What gives any other team the right to the money the Yankees make??
The nerve of those scumbags with Marlins and Brewers to complain about the Yankees, the team most responsible for supporting all of MLB!!!
Steve B
The Yankees pitching staff at the end of the year was:
Pavano, Injured Pettite, Ponson, Karsten & Moose. Scary Huh?
What would you say if they were tied & facing:
CC, AJ, Wang, Joba & Aceves/Hughes/Pettite?
Just a thought!
No one that is honest to themselves believes Boston ends 4th. The Sox and Yanks will battle for 1st, and Tampa will be a moderate third. But Toronto and Baltimore are barely even considered baseball teams anymore.
Seeing Gammons name just reminded me of something.
He was on Mike and Mike this morning and they asked him about Manny. He said the Dodgers are afraid to give Manny a 2 year deal because Boras promised him more and Manny may throw a hissy fit if he only gets 2.
Somewhere in that answer he also suck in that Manny stiffed the clubhouse kids in Boston when he left.
When he shared stiffing the clubhouse kids, Greeny and Golic looked at each other and got a big smirk on basically nodding to each other about what a jilted lover Gammons looked like for tossing that in.
Pavano, Injured Pettite, Ponson, Karsten & Moose. Scary Huh?
Rasner, not Karstens. That makes this a force.
Please dont mention Gammons. He is the only person i want to talk about less that Pettitte at this point.
“FYI – Jose Tabata ranks higher than any Yanks at #32″
I wonder who’s more valuable in 2009, Nady and Marte or Tabata?
“I thought Toronto played great last year & they are young & will be much better this year”
Losing Burnett and Marcum from last year’s rotation is probably going to a bit of a problem for them. They have to hope McGowan bunces back BIG. Also an infield of Overbay, Scutaro, Inglett (til/if Hill comes back) and Rolen, with Barajas behind the plate is neither young nor inspiring. Like the outfield bats though. Depending on when Weiters comes up, I like Snider as the AL ROY.
Steve B
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:45 pm
“I wonder what Law would think of a catcher at 6’3” and 225 pounds….oh, say a catcher like Carlton Fisk?”
Great point. Fisk wasn’t a full time MLB’er til age 24, so he was probably done growing. You wonder if that’s the case with a 19 year old. I always remembered Fisk as being pretty quick. Doesn’t sound like quickness is Montero’s forte, but I’ve never seen him.
One thing I’ll say about Law is that I’ve seen him refuse to offer comment on players he hasn’t seen. I’ve always found him to be pretty above board, though I found his Jackson assessment a little harsh as I thought a .354 OBP and nearly 50 extra basehits in AA was a hell of a season for a 21 year old.
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He doesn’t take into account that he’s only been playing baseball exclusivly for 4 years. He was always a basketball player. As far as Montero, he’s a much better defensive catcher than Romine. I’d guess that Romine ends up as a corner outfielder. He’d make a great right fielder with his arm. The real defensive/offensive catcher is about two years behind them…Kyle Higashioka.
‘Come on, Ray. You know that you can only resist my wit half of the time.’- gb 7
ray( sox fan)-
i think that’s gb7’s way of calling you a half wit.
Wow, the Boss got screwed!
RayVTNC:
I understand the issues of the pitching staff at the end of the year. But I wasn’t the one who worte this gem:
“What I find funny is BSox fans saying they were within 1 game of a World Series, when in fact they were lucky the season ended when it did, because the Yankees & Blue Jays were closing fast after the loss of Manny!”
Montero’s a catcher in name only, but his bat is very promising. Montero played the whole year at 18 in the Sally League and had no problem making consistent contact. He has a quick bat and takes a healthy cut, with plus raw power that’s around average in-game right now. He extends his arms well for good plate coverage, adjusting well to off-speed stuff so far, but doesn’t have much patience and will have to work the count more as the quality of pitching improves. Behind the plate, he has an average arm but his throwing motion is long and it takes forever for him to get from the crouch to his release. He’s already enormous for a catcher, listed at 6-4, 225 pounds, and is only going to outgrow the position with time, but his bat will play at first base.
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I wonder what Law would think of a catcher at 6’3” and 225 pounds….oh, say a catcher like Carlton Fisk?
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Or his take on 6′5″ 220 lb Joe Mauer?
“The real defensive/offensive catcher is about two years behind them…Kyle Higashioka.”
What’s his story??? GCL in ‘09?
“Or his take on 6’5” 220 lb Joe Mauer?”
More than a few have suggested that Mauer’s destiny long term will involve something other than catching.
Didn’t I hear somebody say last year that Mauer grew from 6′4″ to 6′7″ between the ‘07 and ‘08 seasons? It seems if anybody is outgowing the position, it may be him. Yet, he is still very fast throwing to second.
if mauer grew 3″ at his age, mlb really needs to figure out a way to test for hgh.
keith laws list is rubbish
“if mauer grew 3” at his age, mlb really needs to figure out a way to test for hgh.”
I could have sworn that Bert Blyleven and his broadcast partner said that’s what happened, but I could be wrong.
Some of you are not factoring in the NFL doesn’t have guaranteed contracts like in MLB so it’s easy to cut a player and move on. That’s one main reason why it’s easier for a team to win it all in football than in baseball.
if mauer grew 3” at his age, mlb really needs to figure out a way to test for hgh.”
Randy l I assume you were joking. But Mark in Tampa ought to be aware, if he isn’t, that hgh could not have produced that result at Mauer’s age of 24, unless Mauer were growth hormone deficient and at the same time still an adolescent at age 24, which it is safe to say was not the case.
Steve B
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:05 pm
“The real defensive/offensive catcher is about two years behind them…Kyle Higashioka.”
What’s his story??? GCL in ‘09?
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No, I think he’ll be in an extended spring training until the NY-Penn League opens up, but, hopefully they’ll put him in Charleston. They need a catcher to cut down on the wild pitches.
I don’t pay much attention to those top prospect ratings. It’s all about player development and anyone in any round could turn into a superstar.
Randy, I had to leave yesterday so I didn’t see your response till later. Do you still live in Maine?
Joe Mauer is a future Yankee.
maineyankee-
no, i lived in strong/farmington until i was 5, then moved to connecticut, but always went back to maine for family vacations as both my parents families were there . farmington, waterville, and jonesport were annual treks.
maines a great place. i live on cape cod now which is a great place too except for all the red sox fans. lol.
GreenBeret7 I go see Trenton when they come to Portland to play the Sea Dogs. Who do you see coming up that is one to watch in regards to high prospect?
Randy I live in So. Paris. I think the RS fans are just as bad here. Any family still farming?
MaineYankee
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:04 pm
GreenBeret7 I go see Trenton when they come to Portland to play the Sea Dogs. Who do you see coming up that is one to watch in regards to high prospect?
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Most of the Tampa team from ‘08, and, possibly Wilkins De La Rosa by late May. A skinny left handed fireballer with a Bugs Bunny changeup and a cutter. The only real offensive possibility may be Seth Fortenberry, a right fielder, left handed bat with power and speed to hit 20 or mor homers and speed to steal 2 to 25 bases. Great glove and better arm in all thee positions. One other guy to watch is Tim Battle. Great speed, some power and could be a fine center fielder. His career was derailed by bone cancer a few years ago and they had to cut through the chest muscles to remove a rib. He had a ton of talent, and he’s a good guy, and stil young at 24. He’s definately somebody to pull for.
“What I find funny is BSox fans saying they were within 1 game of a World Series, when in fact they were lucky the season ended when it did, because the Yankees & Blue Jays were closing fast after the loss of Manny!”
I am really anxious to see how the sox play without Ramirez. The lineup is a good all-around lineup (and the softball-like Fenway Park dimensions play in favor to a team designed around those dimensions) but they are no longer “scary.” Now the big hits and protection for Ortiz will be a 32 year old Youkilis. And Ortiz isn’t even the same anymore. I am also excited that Ellsbury will be an every day player given his offense last season. This allows us to use Gardner in center.
I’ve always enjoyed the history of the game almost as much as I enjoy the game on the field. With that in mind I think that the “storied” franchises (Yankees, Sox, Cubs, Cards…) make MLB better. IMHO a salary cap will greatly dilute the product. I enjoyed seeing the Rays make history, but I don’t want to see them placed there by virtue of owner lobbying.
The NFL is a great example of this. They place minimal value on history, the treatment of retired players in part of this. Look at the the closings of some of the most historically important stadiums in each sport. Yankee stadium closing was a year long celebration of everything that happened there. The closing of Texas stadium got a line or two from Troy Aikman during a game broadcast (there may have been stuff on the NFL network, but it certainly wasn’t a big deal like YS was).
maineyankee-
the farm is still there in the family, but hasn’t been farmed for a while.
do you know scott currie , a potter from so. paris? i order his work each year for my gallery.
Clint not getting nominated is a tragedy! Slumdog was a good kiddy movie but Gran Torino rocked. Pity that the PC folk in Hollyweird despise old fashioned, honorable movies.
Have you seen the Reader? It’s a damn good movie.