Monday, March 31, 2008

Opening Day!

The long winter is finally over and opening day has arrived. Unfortunately for most of us, the game is at 1 while we are at work. At least we'll be able to follow on MLB's Gameday.

And our misleading headline of the day award goes to...John Harper, for this little number: Scouts say Yankees should have traded for Johan Santana (and I followed a link to get there that read: Scouts down on Yankess' young arms, which is equally as misleading).

Going in, I expected to read about how scouts were skeptical of the future potential of the young guys and about how they will probably never be successful enough to lead the Yanks to championships. Instead, I found that Harper polled 6 scouts and executives, and 4 of them said they think the Yanks will miss the playoffs this year. The consensus seemed to be, however, that their future is extremely bright given all the young talent. To wit:
Each of the six polled made a point of saying they were impressed by the way the young trio performed in spring training, yet four of the six said they believe the Yankees indeed will miss the playoffs in 2008, citing the inevitable growing pains as well as questions about the rest of the pitching staff.
"I love their future," was the way one scout put it. "But if you think those young guys aren't going to take their lumps at times this season against American League lineups, you're dreaming."
The pollees are in no way down on the Yankees' young arms and don't seem to be saying the team should have traded some away for Santana. They just think that they will take some lumps this year and that the team may miss the playoffs as a result, a perfectly reasonable belief. However, the presence of a bright future means, to me at least, that the team made the right decision in not trading for Johan. In a few years, we'll probably all be glad that the Yanks kept the kids while they're dominating and Santana is breaking down.

Also, forgive me for not respecting the opinion of unnamed executives and scouts. Particularly with the executives, it's quite possible they don't know what they're talking about.

Enough of that. It's opening day. Baseball is back, baby!

Friday, March 28, 2008

The (George) King of dumb

George King is stupid. Anyone who has ever read one of his columns knows it. Recently, he took his idiocracy to dangerous new levels:
Moving Chamberlain in front of Rivera was not only the right move for 2008, but forever. Finding somebody to dominate the seventh and eighth innings is harder than discovering a fourth and fifth starter.
This is so ridiculous, it's almost not worth ripping apart. To call Joba a fourth or fifth starter is borderline insanity. Were he starting for the Yankees this year, that might be his role; in the future, however, he projects as a dominating, shut-you-down ace. He's drawn comparisons to Justin Verlander in terms of stuff. A player like that has way more value in the rotation throwing 200+ innings a year than in the pen throwing 70.

Many top-flight relievers are failed starters; Eric Gagne, K-Rod, and Mariano Rivera come to mind immediately. Players that succeed in the pen after flaming out as starters do so because they lack the stamina to go deep into games, they only have one or two good pitches, or because their velocity increases in short stints. Joba doesn't suffer from any of these problems. He can go deep into games while maintaining his velocity (reports have had him hitting 97 in the 7th), and his change and curve show the potential to be plus pitches. He should be given the chance to fail as a starter before settling into the bullpen.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Alex Rodriguez is the man

I didn't post it yesterday, but there was an excellent article on Alex Rodriguez written by John Harper published in the Daily News (yes, you read that correctly - the NY Daily News published a good article). In it, A-Rod talks a bit about his maturation as a player and a person, about his regrets over the opt-out fiasco, and about his regrets over signing with the Rangers over the Mets in 2000. Some of the good stuff:

"I went for the contract when my true desire was to go play for the Mets," Rodriguez said of his decision to ink his $252 million deal with Texas eight years ago.

As A-Rod looked back on the events of the past offseason, he seemed haunted by the idea that in breaking free of the Yankees he could have made another decision based strictly on money and wound up as unhappy as he was in Texas for three years.

The three-time MVP says that at some point after his opt-out decision in October, he realized he could have been heading for a similar scenario, with Boras dictating his next destination.

"So to make the right decision just feels really good," Rodriguez said, "versus being taken down a road where I'm like, 'Oh, my God, where am I? Oh, $400 million to play in some place I hate? Great, I'll blow my --- head off.'

On finally relaxing in New York, he said the following:

Proud and happy, with no issues hanging over him for a change - unless Jose Canseco truly has some dirt to dish - A-Rod seems more at ease than ever as a Yankee. He says he learned to thrive in New York last year by no longer trying to please everyone, as well as no longer feeling compelled to react to everything said or written about him.

Derek Jeter even seems to be warming up to him again, engaging him more in clubhouse banter a year after A-Rod stopped pretending publicly that they were still best friends.

"Once you start letting go a little bit, things start coming to you a little easier," A-Rod said. "They did for me last year. In the past, I've always said, 'I have to do this and I have to do that,' mainly because of the expectations.

"Now I've come to a point where, if I get a hit with the bases loaded, cool, and if I don't, so what? Next at-bat. Or next game. People always want it to be about the .individual battle with me, but I just want to be part of this team, and I think that will help me get to where I want to go."

Many Yankee fans will never embrace him, and that's sad. They should be able to just sit back, watch the show, and enjoy the fact that they get to watch one of the best players in the history of the game - truly a once-in-a-generation talent - play for their team every day. And when all is said and done, Rodriguez will quite possibly capture the all-time home run record as a Yankee and will assuredly enter the Hall as a Yankee. Fellow fans, I emplore you...get off his back, ignore his faults, and enjoy what is quite possibly the best player you'll ever see.

Update: After I read wrote the above prose, I stumbled across this article, but Bob Klapisch, which is completely unreasonable. Determined to make an A-Rod story out of nothing, Klapisch theorizes that the Yankees will be unhappy with Rodriguez for saying that he regrets not signing with the Mets in 2000. In his own words: Imagine how the Yankees feel today knowing the cornerstone of the franchise, to whom they've committed $275 million, has been pining for the Mets all along.

Looking at A-Rod's statement, only an idiot would come to that conclusion. All that he is saying is that, while he was stuck losing in Texas, he wished that he had taken less money to play for the better team - the team for which he wanted to play. This is not at all a knock on the Yankees; Alex is not saying that he wishes he was with the Mets now or that he prefers the Mets to the Yankees. He was simply sharing with the rest of the world that his time in Texas tought him that money is not the only thing that matters. Wouldn't being stuck in baseball purgatory for three years, even with an absurd contract, make most competitive people regret not choosing the higher profile, more talented team. If the Yankees were trying to sign Rodriguez that offseason, I could see them being upset as it would be a sign that he might be a closet Mets fan. The Yankees, however, weren't in on the bidding. If they had been and he had chosen the Texas contract over the better team, I'm sure he'd be making similar statements about how he wished he had signed with the Yankees. Or, for that matter, any hypothetical good team that may have been in the hunt.

In this case, there is no smoke and there is no fire. Klapisch is, in grand Mike Lupica style, trying to portray Rodriguez in a negative light even when there is no reason too. The fact that, to this point, no other memebers of the media have run with this story is very telling. The jackals are usually overanalyze every statement out of A-Rod's mouth, and the fact that they haven't jumped all over this one shows just how foolish and absurd Klapisch's article is. If I were Bob, I'd be embarassed to be mentioned in the same breath as Lupica, who writes the same article every single week during baseball season, with a few different adjectives and some of the words rearranged.

Monday, March 24, 2008

The bullpen

Lots of articles recently about the state of the bullpen. As of this moment, only Farnsworth, Hawkins, Joba, and Rivera have spots lined up. Right now, it's impossible to tell in which direction the Yankees are leaning for the final spots. The good news is that the Yankees have plenty of guys competing, so if the winner in ineffective, there will be a replacement a phone call away. Following are the competitors and my thoughts on them.

The Long Relievers - I truly hope the Yankees don't take a long reliever for the sake of taking one. It appears, however, that Girardi really wants someone who can go 4 - 5 innings, and these are the unimpressive candidates:

Jeff Karstens: Karstens had a good run with Team USA this offseason, but he's been slammed with the Yankees, to the tune of a 5.65 ERA and 21/20 K/BB ratio in 57 innings. He's also been smacked around in his last 2 spring outings, leaving him with a 9.64 ERA this spring.

Even ignoring his major league numbers, which are partially skewed by a stretch last season in which he tried to pitch through an injury, I'm not a huge fan of Karstens. He gave up better than a hit an inning in the minors, and though his K/9 of 7.53 is decent, he doesn't seem to have the stuff to keep that up against Major League hitters. What he has is decent command of an assortment of below average - average pitches. I may be selling him short, but I just don't see him ever amounting too much in the bigs; he's just too hittable.

Kei Igawa: Though his name has become a curse to Yankee fans, he had a pretty successful career in Japan. His first season in the bigs didn't go as smoothly as hoped, but he did show some potential. He struck out 7.05/9 in the majors (I think he was leading Yankee starters in K/9 when he was demoted) and posted a 71/15 K/BB in 68.1 innings in AAA.

Sadly, that's pretty much the only good things I can find about his season. He gave up too many hits - 76 in 67 innings in the majors, 68 in 68.1 in the minors - too many home runs - 10 in 68.1 innings in the minors, 15 in 67 innings in the majors - and walked too many - 37 in 67 Major League innings.

After watching Igawa pitch last season and looking at his numbers, its clear that command and control are his biggest problems. He has the stuff to miss bats and be a successful pitcher, but he was rarely able to hit his spots. Even when he wasn't walking people, he always seemed to miss the mitt.

I know most people have completely given up on Igawa, but I still have some hope for him. His K/9, even with the big club, were encouraging and his career BB/9 of 2.58 in Japan shows that he does have the potential to improve his command. With that said, I think it's more likely that he flames out than it is that he'll improve enough to help the Yanks. I'm not sure why his command was so terrible on our side of the pond, but I've heard that Major League baseballs are bigger than Japanese balls, so that may have some sort of effect. It's also possible that he was thrown off in the spring training, when the Yanks didn't let him use his usual spring routine. He also seemed completely out of sorts during day games, as I've never seen another pitcher wear sunglasses on the mound. Whatever the reason, he'll have to show the Yankees something before they risk sticking him back on the mound during a big league game. Encouragingly, his spring outings have been decent after a horrible first outing, and he struck out 8 in 4 scoreless innings against Yankee minor leaguers. I don't think he's done enough to make the roster, but I think we'll see him at some point this year.

Darrell Rasner: Rasner was acquired on waivers from the Nationals several years back. He's had some success in the majors, with a 4.13 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 52 innings. This is a really small sample size, and his K/9 of 4.47, in the absence of a Wang-like sinker, is entirely too low to maintain that kind of success. He also missed much of last season with an injury, which is always somewhat concerning. He doesn't have dynamite stuff, but seems to have enough to survive in the Majors.

My take: I'm not quite sure why, but I like Rasner better than Karstens, even though they seem to be pretty similar pitchers. Their minor league numbers are eerily close:

Rasner - 3.41 ERA, 9.15 H/9, 0.52 HR/9, 2.41 BB/9, 6.78 K/9, 1.28 WHIP
Karstens - 3.48 ERA, 9/12 H/9, 0.71 HR/9, 2.30 BB/9, 7.53 K/9, 1.27 WHIP

I think Rasner's SSS success and Karstens' SSS failure has obscured the judgment of a lot of people, myself included. Even disregarding spring numbers entirely, I have more faith in Rasner than in Karstens. Just based on watching them the last few seasons, it looks to my untrained eyes like he has better stuff. Again, this could be because my last memory of Karstens is of him getting slammed while trying to work through injury.

If I'm the Yankees, and I'm determined to have a long man, I start the year with Rasner on the roster and Karstens and Igawa in the minors. I think Igawa has the most potential of the three, but I'd also like to see him prove that he can throw the ball in the vicinity of the strike zone before giving him a spot on the Major League roster. If Rasner starts getting hammered and Igawa proves he does actually suck, Karstens will be available to be called up.

My true solution, however, is to not have a long man.

The Lefties - Girardi has said that he'd like to have a lefty on the roster, but isn't committed to it. While it's nice to have a lefty in the pen, it's a mistake to carry one over a superior right hander. The Yanks have limited options in camp.

Sean Henn: Henn may begin the season on the DL with a tender shoulder and has pretty much no chance to make the squad. If you watched the Yanks last season, you know that he pretty much doesn't belong. However, here's a fun Henn fact for you: when drafted, he supposedly hit the upper 90's with his fastball. Wouldn't it be nice if that came back and he suddenly had a pitch with which he could get out big league hitters?

Billy Traber: I have not had a chance to see Traber pitch this spring, so I don't know a whole lot about his stuff. I do know that he's pitched 6 2/3 innings and given up 2 unearned runs, 2 hits, one walk, and struck out 7. It's only the spring, but he's been effective.

On the plus side, he did hold lefties to a .176 average last year, with 15 Ks in 15.1 innings. In his career, he's held lefties to a .212 average in 55 innings, with 53 Ks. It appears that, if nothing else, he can get lefties out. Righties are a different story, however, as they hit .380 against him last year, and have hit .328 against him in his career.

My take: Unless Traber has improved his ability to retire righties, he shouldn't be on the team. He's a LOOGY (Lefty One Out GuY) at best, and I'm not a big LOOGY fan. It's easy for a bullpen to get tired when there's a guy on the roster who only pitches to one or two batters in a game. Also, there aren't all that many huge lefty hitters in the AL, I'd rather have a good right hander face pretty much all of them. Do you feel comfortable with Traber facing David Ortiz in a big spot just because he throws with his left had?

My solution: No lefty in the pen to start the year. Take an extra guy from the list below.

The rest - If the Yankees decide to go with a long man, the following guys are competing for 2 spots. If they want a lefty and long man, they're competing for one. All have a lot of potential, and all have a number of question marks. If nothing else, the depth is nice.

Jonathan Albaladejo: Acquired by the Yankees for Tyler Clippard, Albaladejo has little chance of making the team this spring, but will likely play a role with them in the future. He has pretty good stuff, featuring a fastball at 91 - 93 MPH and an average curve and slider. He has good control and has posted a K/BB of 440/103 in his minor league career, and at 6'5" and 250 pounds, he's quite an intimidating figure on the mound.

He pitched well in limited time with the Nats last year, but he hasn't been great this spring. I'd like to see him start the year in the minors to work on developing at least one of his offspeed pitches. While I like his fastball, control, and ability to get grounders, I'd like to see him scrap one of his breaking balls in order to more fully develop the other. Given the Yankees' history with prospects, we'll likely see him scrap the slider and work on the curve. An above average curve would help him tremendously.

Chris Britton: Britton has already been exiled to the minors by the Yankees. There appears to be something the Yankees don't like about him, and I'm not sure what it is. He had a successful 53 inning stint with the O's in 2006, and has good minor league numbers across the board. He has good control (2.85 BB/9 in the majors, 2.84 in the minors), strikes out batters (6.24 in the majors, 9.44 in the minors), and keeps the ball in the yard (.81 HR/9 in the majors, .80 in the minors). While he doesn't have dominating stuff, he has a fastball that reaches the low 90's and a very good curve. It does appear that he is a product of the Sydney Ponson/Curt Schilling donut diet, but that's no reason to keep him down. He may never be a setup man or closer, but he could be a big (*rimshot*) part of the Yankee bullpen. Hopefully we'll see him at some point this season, and not as part of the AAA express. He's earned the right to pitch in the majors and he could really help the Yankees.

Brian Bruney: You all know the story on Brian Bruney. He can bring the heat and strike out a ton of guys. He can also walk the ballpark and has a reputation for being thick-headed and difficult to instruct. The good news is that he dedicated himself to conditioning in the offseason and showed up at camp in the best shape of his life. Whether or not the improved condition helps him to harness his upper 90's fastball has yet to be seen. If he improves his control, he could be absolutely dominating. If he doesn't, he could continue to post a 1/1 K/BB and find himself off the Yankees. If he can lower his walks to even 3.0/9, he could be a huge asset. Let's hope it happens.

Ross Ohlendorf: Acquired in the Randy Johnson trade, the Yankees have moved Ohlendorf to the bullpen and like what they have seen. As a starter, he showed great control of a low 90's sinking fastball and some unimpressive secondary pitches. As a reliever, he's bumped his velocity to the mid - upper 90's, and he spent the offseason working on a splitter to neutralize lefties. I've read good things about his splitter this spring, and it sounds like it has the potential to be a big pitch for him in the future.

I love what I saw from Ohlendorf at the end of last season. In his callup, he showed a great fastball and excellent slider, though I've read that his slider isn't normally that impressive. I think he'll be a big time reliever for the Yankees this year, provided he can find some consistency with his splitter or slider.

Scott Patterson: Patterson a relative unknown, as the Yankees rescued him from Independent League purgatory in 2006. He was a decent starter in the Indies, but he really took off when he moved to the bullpen. Since the Yankees signed him, he has been nothing short of dominant. In AA in 2006, he posted a 2.33 ERA in 38 innings, allowing 26 hits, 8 BB, and striking out 44. The K/9 of 10.24 was fantastic, but he did allow 8 homers, which is a bit high, and he was 27 years old. Last year, he eased some of those concerns, posting a 1.09 ERA in 74 AA innings, allowing 45 hits, 15 BB, 1 homer (!), and striking out 91. He may have been pretty old, but those numbers are head turning in any league. He's been nearly perfect so far this spring, giving up 1 hit and no walks, while striking out 5, in 6 innings.

Patterson is a huge man, standing 6'7" and 230 pounds. He doesn't have the blistering fastball you might expect from someone that says, but he has fantastic command of his 89 - 91 MPH fastball. He also throws and an extreme downhill plane, employing a straight-over-the-top motion that makes it difficult for batters to pick up the ball. Right now, he throws a slow, loopy, show-me curve that isn't much more than a change of pace pitch. He worked on a slider for a while and has supposedly been working on a splitter, though I haven't heard a thing about how it's developed.

Even without an excellent breaking ball, Patterson could be a very useful pitcher for the Yankees. There aren't many pitchers who throw straight over the top, and there are even less of them who are 6'7", so he is a very unique pitcher. With his good command and deceptive delivery, I think he could post good numbers in the bigs for a few seasons, though at 28 years old, he's not going to improve much.

My take: I like all of these guys quite a bit. I think we'll likely see Bruney at the beginning of the year, as I don't think he has any options left. He's shown enough improvement in command (3BB in 7 innings - vs. 9 K's) to start the season on the roster. His arm is too tantalizing to give up on. However, if he struggles or someone gets hurt, it's nice that the Yankees have a bunch of guys with potential they can call on (I didn't even cover injury returnees JB Cox, Humberto Sanchez and Mark Melancon, or Edwar Ramirez). There is a very good chance we'll see all of these guys at some point this year..and it is extremely exciting. This post at the fantastic River Avenue Blues shows that the most effective way to build a bullpen is to acquire a bunch of moving pieces that can be called upon rather than to spend a lot of money on relievers who are, by nature, inconsistent.

There may be a lot of unknowns, but the tools are in place for the Yankees to have a dominant bullpen this year.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Rejoice!

Rejoice, blog readers, for Morgan Ensberg has made the Yankees. I think it's largely due to the occasional praise given to him on this blog. You're welcome, Morgan.

I apologize for the lack of postings lately, but I was at Turning Stone for Spring Break. Even being an Irish boy in a casino on St. Patties day did not give me good luck.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Papelbon really is an idiot

I documented in a earlier post some idiotic comments comments from Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, and he came out with some dumb ones today. It appears he's been taking notes from Schilling on how to make stupid comments to the press. The difference is, I think Schilling has at least some manner of intelligence, whereas Papelbon lacks a functioning brain. From today's Post:
It's one thing for owners to have a little back-and-forth like John Henry and Hank Steinbrenner did recently in regard to Red Sox Nation vs. Yankees Universe. It's another for a young player to take a shot at an owner.

That's what Jonathan Papelbon, 27, did in criticizing Steinbrenner.

"I don't know if he's trying to stir things up or not," the Bosox closer said. "I sure as hell don't care, because he sure as hell hasn't stepped on a baseball field. He needs to just stick to pencil-pushing, I guess."

Hammerin' Hank fired back yesterday.

"Being insulted by Papelbon is like being attacked by a mouse," Steinbrenner told The Post.

"John Henry and I traded a couple of jabs good-naturedly," he added. "So now, all of a sudden, this player, this 20-something kid who really doesn't know his way in the world, comes out with a personal insult. There's no excuse for that."

Hey Jon, become smart enough to have a valid opinion, and some people might actually care what you think. For now, just go back to giving up game-winning taters to A-Rod.

And a quick note to Elliot Johnson, who claimed he had no choice but to bowl over Francisco Cervelli in a game a few days ago: you are an idiot. Watch the second clip here to see the play, and check out this quote from Cervelli:
Cervelli, who suffered a fractured wrist and is out 10 weeks, said yesterday that he was surprised to have been hit in such a manner.

"I gave him the back of the plate, he had room," Cervelli said. The young catcher added he has learned a valuable lesson and will expect anything next time.

Not only did you break the wrist of a young catcher, but you also probably would have been safe if you slid instead of running him over. But, yeah, you sure showed the manager what kind of player you are: both stupid and bad.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

On Shelley, retaliation, and the dewussification of the Yanks

By now, you all know what happened in yesterday's game between the Yankees and Devil Rays. If you've been living under a rock or haven't been able to check the sports pages, both benches emptied following a hard slide into second base by Shelley Duncan in the bottom of the first. Popular belief is that Shelley's slide was in response to an incident from last week, in which Devil Ray Elliott Johnson broke Yankee catcher Francisco Cervelli's wrist in a collision at the plate. You can read about the home plate collision here and watch video of the Shelley slide here (the second video also shows the collision at the plate).

I didn't write about the Cervelli injury at the time, but I think it was completely uncalled for. It was a clean hit, but it was also a spring training game. No benefit can come from such a collision with the catcher; the game means nothing, and the run means nothing. Johnson may well have been trying to impress his manager, but one play at the plate is not going to be the difference between making the team and riding buses at AAA (especially for Johnson...his minor league career is a joke). Spring training is a time to get into shape, and to get back into the swing of things. It is not a time to play like the 7th game of the World Series.

A big part of the problem is Devil Ray manager Joe Maddon, who is both delusional and ball-less. He's been encouraging his team, who have sucked so hard for so long that they've developed a Napoleon complex (I'm reminded of Demitri Young plowing into John Flaherty in ST a few years ago and saying that they were the Tigers and not the Kitties), to play rough in meaningless games all spring. He, as well as members of his team, condoned Carl Crawford's plastering of Astros catcher Humberto Quintero as "a good, hard play" while ignoring the fact that such a collision could easily have taken Crawford (to say nothing of Quintero), arguably the teams best player, out of action for a long amount of time.

After the Cervelli collision, Maddon locked himself in his office and refused to talk to reporters, a gutless, spineless, ball-less move. After such a ridiculous play, he should at least be a man about it. He later defended the play as good "hardball" and when asked whether he wanted to talk to Girardi about it, he made some of the stupidest comments I've ever heard:
“Honestly, I really haven’t even thought about that,” said Maddon. “I like the guy, I like Joe, I’ve always liked Joe. If he would like to have a conversation, God, I’d like to talk about politics, I’m good with global warming, I’m good with a lot of different topics on a daily basis. I like iTunes, I download some stuff off iTunes, I like different restaurants, I like red wine. I have a lot of different areas I can go conversationally.”
What a jackass. I'd love to see the two get in a fight. Girardi would stomp Maddon.

Flashing forward to yesterday's game, I think Shelley's slide was a bit on the dirty slide. It wasn't nearly as bad as many people, especially on the D-Rays, have made it out to be. It was also awesome to see. He came in higher than I would have liked, but it's about time the Yankees started defending themselves. All too often in the Torre years the Yankees would sit by while player after player got drilled. After an uncalled for shot resulting in injury, something had to be done. I can't even criticize Shelley for going in high, as I've done the same thing in many soccer games in defense of teammates. I've been accused multiple times of trying to injure, and some of those claims have been accurate. When you defend teammates, you want to make it known what you are doing.

Not surprisingly, the opinions of Maddon changed when the shoe was on the other foot. He called Shelley's slide "borderline criminal," a statement that is completely idiotic (anyone else noticing a theme with Maddon?). Why a spike to the shin is criminal but bowling over a catcher is "a good, hard baseball play" is beyond me. One ended with a broken wrist, one ended with a booboo. Which is more criminal?

Johnny Gomes, who deserves the longest suspension for charging in from the outfield and attempting (and failing badly) to tackle Duncan, made the comments that pissed me off the most, saying:
"I've never played for the Yankees; I've played against them and I watched them growing up, but I know that's not the Yankee way," Gomes said of the slide. "That's not how they play. Those guys are athletes, they're clean-shaven; you rarely see the Yankees do stuff like that."
I'm sick of all the nonsense about the Yankee way. His implication seems to be that it would be acceptable for another team to retaliate, but not the Yankees. Most teams would have been mad about the injured catcher and most would have retaliated; it's about time the Yankees joined that group. Retaliation was warranted and it was issued; that may not be the Yankee way, but it's the way the game is meant to be played. My guess is that Johnny was just mad that he looked like such a fruit when trying to tackle the monster that is Shelley Duncan:

So to sum up today's post:
1. Bowling the catcher is uncalled-for in spring training.
2. Elliott Johnson sucks and isn't making the D-Rays anyway.
3. Joe Maddon is a moron.
4. Shelley Duncan is awesome.
5. The Yankees will, with any luck, start retaliating more often.
6. Johnny Gomes completely lacks tackling ability.

*Update:
I found the below quotes from the Yahoo article I linked earlier:
“His left foot was right there blocking the plate, and my options were either hook around and slide, I thought that would probably have taken too much time and I would have been out,” Johnson said. “The time that I had there, the instinct was slide and be out or hit it him and see if I can pop the ball loose.”

Johnson does understand Girardi’s point of view.

“Hopefully he’s OK,” Johnson said. “I’m not trying to hurt anybody. But I’m trying to show these guys what I can do, and I was just trying to score the run. Looking back at it, I’d have to say I’d probably do the same thing.”

Hey Elliott...you've got a career .250/.325/.377 line in the minors. Run over as many catchers as you want, you still suck.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The Joba debate

I'll probably have more to say about the great Joba debate of 2008 (it rhymes!) before long. However, Peter Abraham summed up my opinion pretty well today:

Mike and the Mad Dog were at Legends Field the last two days and interviewed assorted Yankees. Listen to the clips on WFAN.com if you want.

I just listened to their interview with Brian Cashman and wanted to put my head through a wall as they discussed Joba Chamberlain. They want him to pitch the 8th inning based on the 24 innings everybody saw last season.

What they (and many other people) don’t seem to understand is that Chamberlain was brilliant as a starter in the minors last season. Not good, brilliant. He was 9-2 with a 2.45 ERA. He was considered one of the best two or three starter prospects in the game.

The Yankees scouted him and drafted him as a starter. He throws four pitches and stands 6-2, 230 pounds. He’s a classic big, power right-hander. Using Joba as for one inning would be like saying A-Rod should be a pinch hitter because he’s such a great hitter.

Joba is, by most accounts, the number one pitching prospect in the game today. You wouldn't put Beckett or Johan in the pen, even though they'd be extremely successful there; you'd probably be laughed at for suggesting it. While Joba isn't at their level yet, he could reach that level very soon. He could be the Yankees' answer to those pitchers. It's beyond foolish to take someone with his level of talent and put him there.

And they day Mike and the Mad Dog have a valid opinion about present day baseball is the day pigs fly, Hell freezes over, and all the Diet Coke he drinks actually helps Mike to lose a pound.

Monday, March 10, 2008

The only article from today that matters

Is this one, from the Daily News. Blog namesake Phil Hughes, nearly traded this offseason for Johan Santana, threw 4 hitless innings yesterday. He has yet to allow a hit in 6 innings this spring. Yesterday, he struck out 1 and walked 2. Some of the good stuff:
"My fastball was good," Hughes said. "I threw some good breaking balls and a couple good changeups, but my slider was pretty bad. It's getting there."
Manager Joe Girardi likes what he sees:
Joe Girardi called the outing "really good," praising Hughes for using all his pitches, holding baserunners and "doing everything he has to do to be successful."

Said Girardi: "It seems like he's growing as a pitcher."

After his injury last year, we didn't see the real Phil Hughes until the playoffs, when he picked up the only Yankee victory against Cleveland, and I'm still not convinced he was even all the way back even then. Lacking his usual leg drive, he lost much of the snap on his curveball and some of his velocity. His 4.46 ERA is nothing to sneeze at, especially for a 21-year-old learning to pitch in the Majors, but it's made even more impressive when you consider that he did it without having his best stuff. I was only ever able to watch short clips of him pitching in the minors, but one thing I noticed when watching him with the Yanks was that, even sitting around 90 MPH, he still got a lot of swings and misses on his fastball. It seemed hitters had a hard time getting a read on the pitch. Having his normal velocity back will help him tremendously.

I'm expecting big things from my favorite Yankee this year. He's not yet ready to contend for a Cy Young, but he probably can put up a high 3's ERA and win a bunch of ballgames, which is what the Yanks need from him. Of course, his innings cap will limit him somewhat, but I still think he'll make the team happy that they held onto him. I can't wait for his first regular season start.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Wang, Joba, and Ian

I've noticed over the last few days that there is some unwarranted panic on the part of Yankee fans about the struggles of Wang, Joba, and Ian in the last couple of days. Everyone needs to relax, take a deep breath, and remember that it is spring training. While it's certainly not encouraging to see players struggle, it's also not necessarily a sign that there is something wrong. Consider:

1. This early, players often don't have arm strength and command in mid-season form.
2. Pitchers often use spring training to work on things, perhaps throwing to a side of the plate or using their offspead pitches more than they would in the regular season.
3. Pitchers sometimes struggle in the regular season. One bad outing does not mean that they're completely finished.
4. Short outings magnify the numbers. It's quite possible that, given more innings in their respective starts, Ian and Joba would have settled down and not given up any more runs.

The sky is not falling, and none of the aforementioned pitchers are toast. If they continue to struggle for the rest of spring, it'll be time to worry a little. But until that happens, rest easy and enjoy the fact that baseball is back.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Melancon - this year's Joba?

I've seen this suggested in a few different articles this offseason, and there's another one today. The highlights:
As Joba Chamberlain blazed through the Yankees' minor league system and became a late-summer sensation in the Bronx, Mark Melancon quietly rehabbed his elbow and silently cheered.

Suddenly, it's not crazy to believe that a kid with a few innings and immense potential could join the 2008 pennant race by August.......

At 6 feet 2, 215 pounds, Melancon (pronounced muh-LAN-sen) already is in possession of an electric fastball out of a high, three-quarter delivery. But his plus-rated, big major league curveball sets him apart. "It's just a hammer," said Mark Newman, the Yankees' chief of baseball operations.

I like Melancon a lot and see him as a big part of the Yankee bullpen, but I'm trying to hold off from expecting too much from him on the big-league level this year. He's about to turn 23, has 7 2/3 minor league innings under his belt, and is in his first year back from Tommy John surgery. It's entirely possible that he'll prove himself ready to contribute to a contender, but it's also possible that he'll need the entire year to get his form back, even if he looks great right now. While I wouldn't bet on him helping the Yanks a whole lot this year, I definitely wouldn't count him out, especially with the raves about his mental makeup.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Moose's Start

Murray Chass says that Moose's year will have an impact on the big 3:
All of which means the Yankees are counting on Mussina, partly because they are paying him $11.5 million this season, partly because his distinguished track record of 250 career wins makes him an ideal veteran presence to nurture a young staff.

The problem, of course, is that because he looked finished last season, to the point where he had to be pulled from the rotation in favor of Kennedy, even an early spring training start is subject to scrutiny.

As such the three-run monster home run that Carlos Lee hit off Mussina Monday was enough to set off alarms - March or not - at least among Yankee fans.

The Yankees definitely need innings out of Moose this year. With so many young starters on innings restrictions they need someone to pick up the slack and eat up some innings. I'm not expecting a return to his previous form, but 180 - 200 league average innings would be nice from him.

Also, if any alarms went off in your head because Moose gave up a home run to Carlos Lee in his first spring training start, you are an idiot.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Game Recap

Moose got off to a tough start, posting the following line: 2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 1 HR. Peter Abraham reminds us to keep it in perspective:
Mike Mussina wasn’t too upset with his performance, noting that worrying about the results this early in spring training would be counter-productive. He also noted that four of the six hits he allowed came on two-strke counts.

“I didn’t have an out pitch,” he said.

I’m sure the many members if the Yankee Panic Society will proclaim that Mussina is finished. But you can make up a long list of pitchers who looked like bums the first week of March and did fine once the season started. The list of pitchers who looked great the first week of March and proved to be bums is even longer.

He is absolutely right, of course. It was Mussina's first start of the spring, so there's really no reason to worry yet. Even the great Johan Santana got smacked around the other day. We shouldn't get too high or too low about any spring training results.

Even though I just admitted it doesn't mean much, blog favorite Morgan Ensberg was, at last check, 2-2 with a double, an RBI, a run, and an error. Shelley Duncan, unwilling to give any ground in the race to platoon with Giambi at first, is 1-2 with a double, RBI, and run.

Keep raking, Morgan.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Short post today

I'm fighting off a cold and have little energy, but if I get out of the habit of posting, I'll have a hard time getting back to it.

Shelley Duncan
got off to a red-hot start this spring:
Shelley Duncan warns against gushing about the sizzling first exhibition game performance he delivered yesterday against the Phillies.

"You can't make too much of it," said Duncan, who clubbed a three-run homer in the first inning and drilled a two-run double off the left-field wall in the third that propelled the Yankees to a 9-3 win at Bright House Networks Field. "In spring training you can get locked in and the feeling goes away."

I like Shelley, but I have some concerns about him at the Major League level. It's quite possible he'd make an excellent platoon player, but I fear the holes in his swing will be overexposed. Then again, I think some of that is just my desire to see Morgan Ensberg make the team.

Chien-Ming Wang is working on developing his change up, which is good news for the Yankees and bad news for the rest of the league. Improving this pitch will allow him to strike more guys out, which, combined with his extreme groundball tendencies, makes for one hell of a pitcher. I hope he uses the pitch more throughout the season.

"Winning 19 games is all well and good but you have to change," pitching coach Dave Eiland said of Wang's willingness to make the change-up an out pitch that can be used eight to 10 percent of the time.

Wang learned the circle change in the minor leagues but basically has been a two-pitch hurler. And since his signature sinking fastball is so filthy, Wang has been able to get by. Yet, good hitting teams like the Red Sox and Indians have spanked Wang recently. Who can ever forget the paddling the Indians gave Wang in two ALDS games last year when the Yankees' ace went 0-2 with a 19.06 ERA. In 52/3 innings he gave up 14 hits (three homers).

"He puts it in the hitters' mind that instead of two pitches, now they go up there and think he might throw another one," said catcher Jose Molina who caught Wang's two-inning effort yesterday at Bright House Networks Field, where the Yankees topped the Phillies, 9-3.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Great quote from blog favorite Morgan Ensberg

On the team's win over USF:
Morgan Ensberg, who won a College World Series title while at Southern California, joked about a return trip after the win over USF. Said Ensberg: "If we keep playing like this, we'll be in Omaha in June."

Kei Igawa

There's not much I really need to say about Igawa. I had moderately high hopes for him when he was signed. I didn't think he'd be great, but I thought he'd miss enough bats to be a decent starter. It turns out I was only part right; he did miss plenty of bats, striking out 7.05/9 innings last year. His other numbers weren't so pretty: 10.11 H/9, 2 HR/9!, and 4.92 BB/9. He was better in AAA, but still allowed 1.32 HR/9, which is entirely too many for someone who puts a lot of guys on base.

Igawa's spring got off to a horrible start yesterday, giving up 4 runs on 1 hit (a grand slam), 2 walks, and a hit batter. Keep in mind that he was facing college kids using wood bats, and that the guy who hit the grand slam hasn't played in 2 years because of injuries and a transfer. Igawa apparently was hit hard in the head at some point during the game, because after the game, he was delusional:
In one inning, he allowed four runs, one hit, two walks and hit a batter.

The hit was a grand slam by Eric Bauman, who hadn't played collegiate baseball since 2005 because of transferring and injury.

"My control was pretty good," said Igawa, oblivious to the walks and hit batter.

"What I would like to do is to get more control when I am throwing harder. Today, I felt like I was throwing too low."

If two walks, a hit batter, and a wild pitch are good control, I'd hate to see him have bad control.

In much better news, the big three had a pretty decent day:
Chamberlain, who was given the start even though he is being groomed as Mariano Rivera's setup man, retired all six hitters he faced, fanning two. Kennedy, who is being counted on as the fourth or fifth starter, worked two scoreless innings and gave up a single. In one inning, Hughes faced three batters, didn't give up a hit and whiffed two.
It was an exhibition against a college team, but it was still good to see the big 3 have a successful day. I have huge hopes for all of them, particularly Phil Hughes (as the blog title would imply). I can't wait to see all three of them in real game action this year.

*Note: I refuse to post any part of the rest of the article, as it is George King and he insists on calling them Generation Trey, which is too stupid to even mock. King also insists on constantly reminding his readers that the pitchers were just facing college guys, as though we were all predicting a 3 way Cy Young race between the three because of their first exhibition starts. This is why I think George King should be fired...out of a cannon, into the sun.