The LoHud Yankees Blog

Sam Borden writes that the good old times are officially over for the Yankees in the wake of Joe Torre’s book and the contentious dealings with Andy Pettitte.

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Meanwhile, this could explain why Roger Clemens threw that bat at Mike Piazza. Yikes.

Oh, and Torre stands behind what he wrote. Thanks to a friend for sending me this link.

January is traditionally a slow month for baseball news. So for the second year in a row, we will showcase other blogs with a series of pinch hitters.

Next up is Jeremy from The Blog of Champions.

Jeremy started his blog in June of 2008 after reading Phil Hughes’ blog. Jeremy is a die=hard fan who still regrets falling asleep after the fifth inning of Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.

Here’s his post:

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At Mark Teixeira’s introductory press conference. Yankee manager Joe Girardi was asked if Tex would bat third or fourth and was quite non-committal. Since he seems to be struggling with this decision, I’ll add my two cents. Here goes:

Tex has spent the majority of his career batting either third or fourth. Batting third, he has had 1,375 at-bats, with a .311 average, 82 home runs, 293 RBI, a .573 slugging percentage, and .394 on-base percentage. Pretty awesome numbers. Batting fourth, he has had 1,257 at-bats with a .278 average, 77 homers, 247 RBI, a .523 slugging percentage, and a .378 on-base percentage. Last year in Atlanta, he batted in the fourth spot behind Chipper Jones, and had a .277 average, 19 homers and 74 RBI. When traded to Anaheim, he batted in the third spot ahead of Vladimir Guerrero, and had a .366 average, with 14 homers and 47 RBI in just 56 games. So it seems he bats better when being protected by a great hitter.

A-Rod, on the other hand, will most likely bat fourth if Tex bats third and vice versa. So what are his stats? Batting third, he has had 2,787 at-bats, with a .303 average, 223 home runs, 590 RBI, a .602 slugging percentage, and a .396 on-base percentage. Great numbers. Batting fourth, he has had 2,310 at-bats, a .300 average, 170 homers, 485 RBI, a .569 slugging percentage, and a .394 on-base percentage. A-Rod still has amazing numbers no matter where he bats, but batting third is where he bats best.

So Tex and A-Rod both bat better batting third. A dilemma, indeed. Here’s a sample lineup for both scenarios (based on the current roster)

Damon, LF (bats left)
Jeter, SS (right)
Tex, 1B (switch)
A-Rod, 3B (right)
Posada, C (switch)
Matsui, DH (left)
Cano, 2B (left)
Nady/Swisher, RF (Nady right, Swisher switch)
Cabrera/Gardner, CF (Cabrera switch, Gardner left)

Or,

Damon, LF
Jeter, SS
A-Rod, 3B
Tex, 1B
Posada, C
Matsui, DH
Cano, 2B
Nady/Swisher, RF
Cabrera/Gardner, CF

Personally, I like Tex batting third. He has much better numbers batting third than when he bats fourth, and while A-Rod’s numbers batting third are better than when he bats fourth, they are very similar. Tex also has had great success when protected by a great hitter, such as A-Rod. By having Tex bat third, you have a better balanced lineup that is harder for opposing teams to mix and match, because Tex is a switch hitter.

But, let’s face it; no matter the order of the lineup, the Yankees still have a damn good offense. If things don’t work out, you can move Tex to fourth, or even fifth, and experiment with A-Rod batting second. The possibilities are endless. So I leave it up to you. Where do you think Tex should bat? Third, or fourth? Let the debate begin.

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Good job, Jeremy. My ideal lineup would be:

Damon
Jeter
Teixeira
Rodrigiuez
Matsui
Posada
Cano
Nady/Swisher
Gardner

Coming tomorrow: Joe from Fowl Balls.

The nice folks at WCBS Radio sent over this photo taken of a light show at the new Stadium. Is that mood lighting for Mystique and Aura?

You can check out the rest of the colorful shots on their site.

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Tyler Kepner has some more revelations from The Yankee Years over on the Bats blog. There is one anecdote you have to see.

It’s hilarious that the only thing everybody in Yankeeland seemed to agree on was that they all hated Carl Pavano. Must make the Indians feel good they signed him.

I’m still surprised Joe Torre put his name on so much once-confidential information. While it’s perfectly acceptable that the book went into detail about his ouster in 2007, that he betrayed the confidences of so many players is shocking.

Joba Chamberlain made an appearance at Sacred Heart University last night and spoke about his role being clarified along with other subjects.

One of the questions he took on the stage concerned his DUI. I thought his answer was a good one.

“It ain’t hard to make a phone call. It ain’t hard to give somebody else the keys,” he said. “As a man, you have to fess up when you do something wrong. A lot of people would run from it, and I would never, ever run from it.”

Actions speak louder than even well-considered words, however. It remains to be seen whether Chamberlain does learn from his mistake.

Jon Lester shared the stage with Joba. He talked about going hunting and fishing with his father between chemotherapy treatments and the crying he did wondering whether he was going to die. While the cancer proved to be treatable, Lester was first told he could have testicular cancer.

“It’s an honor to be here with him,” Chamberlain said. “I’d love to be able to do some of the things he’s done on the baseball field and we all know what he’s gone through in his life.”

Sacred Heart drew a huge crowd to their gym and the people running the show were really helpful.

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The 3:10 to Joba blog has an interesting breakdown of Robinson Cano’s 2008 season. Turns out he may have just been unlucky.

January is traditionally a slow month for baseball news. So for the second year in a row, we will showcase other blogs with a series of pinch hitters.

Next up is Jason from Heartland Pinstripes.

Jason is a doctoral student in History at the University of Illinois, and has maintained his blog for nearly two years. His favorite player is Mariano Rivera.

Here’s his post:

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This off-season, the Yankees have come under fire for their high-priced, free agent acquisitions. After they signed Mark Teixeira, Peter Gammons compared them to Wal-Mart braying, “Wal-Mart eats up small-family businesses. The Yankees eat up the Brewers and the Indians.” After they acquired CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Teixeira, some, including Astros owner Drayton McLane, clamored for baseball to adopt a salary cap. While I object to the Yankees’ receiving city-sponsored tax-exempt bonds and their new stadium’s cost overruns, I disagree with both Gammons’s misguided portrayal of the Yankees’ financial relationship to other teams, and with knee-jerk cries for a salary cap.

Do the Yankees financially “eat up” teams such as Milwaukee and Cleveland? Revenue-sharing figures suggest otherwise. In 2005, Milwaukee received $24 million in revenue-sharing money and Cleveland $6 million, with the Yankees contributing $76 million of roughly $312 million that 13 teams paid the other 17.

The purpose of revenue sharing is to improve the competitiveness of small-market teams through earnings redistribution from larger-market teams. Yet teams often accept such largess to offset payroll without re-investing in new talent or keeping their own. The $24 million paid to Milwaukee represented just over 60 percent of its $39,934,833 payroll that year. Florida received $31 million in revenue sharing for 2005, yet refused to re-invest that money. In fact, that $31 million represented nearly half Florida’s combined payroll for the 2006-2008 seasons, $67,317,000, aided by its 2005 trade of Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to Boston.

What many small-market teams have done, and what the current revenue-sharing system rewards, is to profit as the team struggles and fans fish for reasons to attend games. The Marlins and Royals are prime culprits, profiting from low payrolls and with low attendance figures (each at or near the bottom in attendance every year from 2004-2008). Florida has occasionally competed for the playoffs since winning the 2003 World Series, while the Royals are perennially a profitable laughingstock far more valuable now than eight years ago. Poor win-loss records do not necessarily equal destitution.

Even as the small-market, low-payroll Rays reached the World Series last year, others caterwaul for a salary cap. Yet will this achieve either on-field parity or greater profits for small-market teams? Not necessarily. The NFL, NBA, and NHL not only have salary caps but salary minimums, pegging mandatory payroll spending to their respective salary caps (86.4% for football, 75% for basketball, roughly 72% for hockey). Should baseball adopt a salary cap after the 2011 season, it may come with such spending minimums. Based on its 2008 payroll of $21,836,500 Florida would have to increase its spending by roughly $68 million just to reach the league average.

Would baseball’s small-market teams accept this structure when mediocrity or worse has been profitable? That would require payroll investments and accountability to fans that many franchises abhor. Critics should neither pity the Yankees their riches, nor criticize them and their recent re-investments without examining profitably unsuccessful teams too often indifferent to making such improvements.

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Thanks, Jason, you made some good points. Coming tomorrow: Jeremy from the Blog of Champions.

Here we are at Sacred Heart University, where a capacity crowd (80 percent of them Yankees fans) are here to hear Joba Chamberlain and Jon Lester speak. Andrew Marchand of the ESPN Radio is the moderator.

It’s great to be at a school in the dead of winter and see so many baseball fans.

Joba is headed down to Tampa tomorrow and is ready to start throwing off the mound “Twenty-five fastballs, I’m feeling great,” he said.

The Yankees, he said, told him in November that he would be a starting pitcher and he has been preparing for that. “It’s a relief to have it all settled,” he said.

Joba had dinner with CC Sabathia in December and gushed about his personality. “Tremendous guy,” he said. “People are going to love him.”

I need to get cracking on my newspaper story. But Joba looks good and he’ll be on the mound soon.

(By the way, not a half-bad photo with the new iPhone, huh?)

Joba Chamberlain is making the rounds today. He was at the MLB Network studios to record an interview that will run on their Hot Stove show tonight at 7 p.m. Matt Vasgersian and Senator Al Leiter asked him about ithe upcoming season, Andy Pettitte returning to the team, CC Sabathia joining the team and being part of the farewell to Yankee Stadium.

Meanwhile, Joba and Jon Lester will be speaking at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., this evening. I’m headed up there and will file a report from the scene, so check back later.

To make room for Andy Pettitte on the 40-man roster, the Yankees designated LHP Chase Wright for assignment.

Hal Steinbrenner is on WFAN right now with Mike Francesa.

The book: “I’m sure I’ll thumb through it and read certain sections.”

His father: “He’s looking forward to spring training.”

He said the team is run by committee because he and his brother are involved. Good political answer there.

“I’m the control person but this is a family business,” he said.

He said last year was “tremendously disappointing.” Based on the additions, he expects a better team in 2009. Steinbrenner just said he thought Joe Girardi did a “great job” but adjustments had to be made.

On the new Stadium in relation to the economy: “This is a different world for all of us, every single person in this country.” He said they were concerned about a few things a few months ago.

Hal is plugging the ticket prices at the new Stadium. They’re not all expensive, he says.

On the new Stadium: “There aren’t too many bad seats in the house, if any.” Well, that’s a relief. They only spent $1.5 billion.

Hal said the Yankees can duplicate their run of the late 1990s. “I would expect nothing less,” he said.

Hal said his family is committed to owning the team. “We have no intention of selling,” he said.

Hal said he won’t be a hands-on owner in terms of baseball and chastising the manager. “Right or wrong, I’m a little less like that than my dad was,” he said.

Hal said they will sign Manny, Dunn and Sheets tomorrow.

(Only kidding. just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.)

Francesa is shocked to learn the Yankees formed a concessions company for the new Stadium.

The interview is over, 20 minutes. Thankfully Mike didn’t ask about Joba pitching in relief.

Here are some sub-plots we’ve learned from the The Yankee Years that don’t necessarily reflect well on Joe Torre.

· Torre wanted Brian Cashman to offer Bernie Williams a contract for the 2007 season.

· Torre liked having Ron Guidry as the pitching coach and Cashman did not.

· Torre didn’t like Cashman suggesting lineups based on statistical analysis.

Let’s see, that’s 2-1 in favor of Cashman.

God Bless Bernie, it’s great he wanted to keep playing. But a GM has to make tough calls and that includes telling popular players when it’s time to go. It was time to go. Guidry is a colorful character and was a great pitcher. But his idea of coaching was sipping a cup of coffee and telling stories about Billy Martin. Pitching coaches are the most important coaches on the staff, it’s not a position to give to an old buddy.

Point to Torre on the lineups. It’s not up to the GM to suggest lineups unless the manager is doing something unusually stupid. If a GM doesn’t like how the manager runs the team, fire him. Otherwise stay upstairs.

I found it funny in the book that everybody hated Carl Pavano. It reminded me of the time we were asked to interview him in the hallway because the PR staff was worried what would happen if teammates saw him talking to reporters in the clubhouse. There were a few times you wondered if somebody would take a swing at the guy, the dislike was that thick.