Game 138: Building a team around pitching
ByIt’s simply not something we Yankees fans are used to. The Tampa Bay Rays, since the return of Scott Kazmir on May 4, have used the same five guys to start every single game. James Shields, Andy Sonnanstine, Edwin Jackson, Matt Garza, and Kazmir. They’ve only used seven starters all season. The Yankees have used 11 starters, 12 if you count the game Bruney started because of the potential rain delay.
Fun facts about the Rays starters. They’re all 26 or younger, the eldest statesman being James Shields. Save for Sonnanstine, they all have ERAs under 4.00. Each one of them is under team control through at least 2011, when Jackson becomes eligible for free agency. Kazmir has a 2012 team option, and Shields has one for ‘12 and ‘13. Sonnanstine and Garza didn’t even have a full year of service time heading into this year, though they could be Super Twos this winter — Garza almost certainly will be.
This, I think, is what the Yanks have been angling for. The difference, of course, is the sacrifice. The Rays have been terrible since entering the league. Prior to this season, their record for wins in a season was 70. That means lots of high draft picks, which they’ve used wisely. They didn’t have to take the signability or injury guy later in the first round. They were guaranteed premium talent. The Yankees are trying to do this without sacrificing the present. You have to admire that, though who knows if it will work.
So you can envy where the Rays are now. Kind of like you could envy where the Yankees were in 1995/1996. The difference is that the Rays lived with a decade of being the worst team in baseball. The Yankees had a few bad years in the 80s and early 90s, but only finished below .500 five times from 1982, the year after they had appeared in the World Series, through 1992, the last year to date they’ve finished below .500.
Your lineup:
1. Johnny Damon, CF
2. Derek Jeter, SS
3. Bobby Abreu, RF
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B (why does my spell checker continue to put a red line under “Rodriguez”?)
5. Jason Giambi, 1B
6. Xavier Nady, LF
7. HIdeki Matsui, DH
8. Robinson Cano, 2B
9. Jose Molina, C
And on the mound, going for his seventeenth victory, number thirty-five, Mike Mussina.
Notes: Caught this on the Star Ledger Yanks blog: The City of New York could lose out on $141 million if the Yanks fail to make the playoffs. C’mon, Bloomberg. Light a fire under this team’s ass.
…and a big part of the problem here, of course, is that the fanbase can barely handle being a few games over .500 and in third place.
it took Tampa a lot of trial and error, with an awful lot of pitchers, to get there. this fanbase would never have that sort of pressure…
….of course, Tampa’s wouldn’t either, since they’ve been playing to empty stadiums most of the time.
Its really sad. Some fans will have us turned into the present day NY Knicks or the 1980’s Yanks with their win-immediately attitude. Kennedy and Hughes have been DECLARED a failure by the likes of Kay, Joel Sherman and others. The youth movement is a failure, never mind that the ENTIRE bullpen has been rebuilt via the farm system, with more on the way.
Its as if any pitcher who doesn’t succeed IMMEDIATELY “can’t pitch in NY”. We all know there’s a long list of good to great pitchers who didn’t succeed right away, its actually the exception to the rule that comes in and dominates like Joba did.
And most free agents have their best years behind them and most trades you’re dealing with someone who knows their players better than you do. I’m not against making deals or signing FA’s, but they have to be relatively safe moves. I think Cash has a good track record in that area, actually, better than his FA signings.
…i meant “this fanbase would never have that sort of patience…”
sorry.
yeah the rays have been lucky with injuries, i wish wang only missed a month and hughes, kennedy, and chamberlain never got hurt.
that’s somehwat unfair. Yes it was huge for them not to have any major injuries to the rotation but they have had injuries to Crawford and Longoria.
Next season I don’t think they will be as good but they have a pretty team for years to come.
If you use Firefox right click and add the word to the dictionary. No more red lines.
Im sorry, but I aint willing to put up with 5 years in a row of the worse record in baseball just to get 5 #1 or #2 overall picks in the draft in a row to try to become like the Rays. I would much rather have the money and payroll of the Yankees because even with all the obsession of prospects and draft picks that this website has the best and easiest way to put together a championship team is thru a combination of both obviously but much more via spending money via FA and trading for players from teams who cant afford them anymore….
I don’t think we have to go that far, but we could live with some growing pains out of the #5 spot in the rotation and the back half of the bullpen.
Remember Edwar and Veras were AWFUL last year, and they are now two of our main guys out of the pen. You have to live with an adjustment period if you want some payoff down the line.
Remember, we tried to patch up the dynasty teams with free agents for years and we got progressively older and worse. We have to show some patience in order to put together another run, its the only way.
UPDATE, 6:25 p.m.: Joe Girardi was asked about Sidney Ponson staying in the rotation. Here was his response:
“Right now our rotation is what it is. We haven’t talked about any changes.
“He’s done it before. Obviously he didn’t have the sink yesterday that he’s necessarily has had. We need to get that back. You go to work in the bullpen and see if you can straighten things out.”
What about using Aceves or Hughes?
“We’re talking about sending a rookie possibly out there who doesn’t have a lot of starts in the big leagues. It’s not like we have Cy Young, Steve Carlton, you know, waiting in the wings. If we did make a change, you’re talking about youth.
Per Pete Abe. What bullshit. If I was manager, Aceves and Hughes would be in the rotation and Ponson would be in Minnesota or maybe even LA with the Dodgers.
Per Joe Girardi: Hey Pete, can you get off my dick Thank You.
Very disappointing to hear. I thought Girardi was brought in to actively coach and manage these guys into becoming big league players, but apparently he doesn’t want to be bothered with rookies any more than Torre did.
That’s a very unfortunate thing to hear, and really makes me think twice about who we hired. If we wanted an entitled, lazy manager who doesn’t want to teach a few kids the game, we could have kept Torre.
Isn’t this almost word-for-word what Girardi said the day before IPK was sent to Scranton? When Girarid says “he’s in our rotation for now” it means there is a snowballs chance in hell that he’ll make the next start…
Yankees have too much money to start as a rebulding team.The Rays took over 15 years to play over .500 theres no excuse to be a losing ball club that long.
The pitching is good but how will they do in the sophmore year and playoffs.Remember the 2006 Tigers….there pitchers looked like deer in headlights in the World Series and look at Bonderman,Verlander,Zumaya and Ledezma after 2 years.
The Rays are good and young but they I don’t believe they will be a dynasty we just what they got even with there horrible bullpen.
The idea you need 4 farm hands in the rotation and getting any kind of free agent is bad is stupid.The Rays will be the next Marlins.Win one world series then be horrible for another 5 years.
Wow, this has to be one of the most ill-informed posts in RAB history. Fist, the Rays came into being in 1998, so they haven’t even been around for 15 years. Strike 1.
Sophomore year? Name me one rookie Rays starter. None? Oh, right. Okay. Thanks.
Horrible bullpen? Go look at their guys. Grant Balfour is absolutely dominating. Something like 64 Ks in 43 innings. Dan Wheeler has historically been good, and is having a good season.
And finally, the Marlins were bad after their championships, because once they won they sold everyone. It doesn’t look like the Rays will be doing the same.
Get’em Joe!
Done and Done!
I guarantee you that two of Edwin Jackson, Andy Sonnanstine, and Matt Garza will be terrible next year.
Fortunately for the Rays, they have David Price on the horizon to offset that.
I have faith in Garza. He’s always been projected as a solid No. 2 guy, and he’s been showing it.
Or….they could be even better since they haven’t even reached their prime yet. Heck they could even trade one of those guys for even more talent and bring up Price.
I think what a lot of Yankees fans (although not so much here) forget about is that they have a nice pitcher in Price waiting in the wings…They’re only going up from here, boys.
Luckily, the Yanks have the scratch to compete…
They also have Wade Davis.
The City of New York could lose out on $141 million if the Yanks fail to make the playoffs.
What about all those studies that say attracting a team and building a stadium provides no benefit to a city? And all the talk about the Yankees robbing money from the city by getting some financial assistance in building the stadium? This is a huge slap against that logic.
I wonder if Garza will have to throw more than 10 offspeed pitches tonight
Hey who would you guys resign first Moose or Pettitte?
godddamn but watching moose pitch might just be the best thing about this whole lousy year!
Joe, spell checkers only recognize words in its default language (in your case, English).
Garza really is a 2 pitch pitcher.
Not really. He has the Four-Seam Fastball, the Sinking Fastball, the Slider, and a hammer. I’m not sure about the hammer, but I know the Slider is a true out-pitch for him.
God Damn, Mike Mussina is an absolute joy to watch.
I don’t see any reason to not bring him back next year. It’s the best of both worlds for the Yankees, you pretty much know what to expect and he will take a short contract.
“he will take a short contract.”
Really? I don’t know that.
Actually, he will be one of only 2 AL free agents who are Type A’s (Lackey has an 9 mil option and Andy doesn’t count). That means he’s among the best of his class and will CERTAINLY command multi year offers. Philly would give him 3 years tomorrow, and he would be closer to his PA home.
http://tigers-thoughts.blogspo.....kings.html
Asshole.
Are you kidding me? What a catch!
The day we can play D like that we’ll be a good team.
crap, dammit, that was awesome!
goddamn arod, what a choking dog.
Wow
Terrific play by BossMan Jr.
hey Joe,
Glad to see some mention about pitching. Seems all NY fans care about is runs and big long homeruns this decade. Lack of starting pitching is 95% the reason this organization has had such a drought of good baseball in this decade. The team era continues to be in,at,or around 4.50 and that is extremely unacceptable (especially during playoff time). I am tired of saying it but the only good pitcher NYY has had this decade has been Wang. We have not sent a pitcher to the all star since 2003, Javier Vazquez, and he finished that year horribly.
This, my friends, is NOT the way to build a good team. Teams built around offense never win anything, proven fact. This team in this decade has deceived everyone into thinking the pitching is fine with some #3 starters and trillions of emergency spot starters.
The runs scored has finally come back down to earth a little bit and now it isn’t enough to carry horrible pitching the Yankees have made a tradition of, in this decade.
Just look at the Yankees rotation from 1998-2003. Oh, and Pettitte was the only homegrown starter in the group.
That was a different world back then, Baseball doesn’t operate like that anymore.
But in any case, that was during a time in Baseball when teams would dump off high priced top talent still in their prime because they couldn’t afford them. That doesn’t happen as much anymore with revenue sharing and the national TV/Satellite radio deals. Most teams are in much better shape financially, and only look to deal off players when they think they’re selling high on a player that doesn’t have much left. Top players now get locked up into their free agent years with contract extensions that take them well into their prime years. CLE has been doing that for years, now everybody does it, even the Yanks did it with Cano. In this environment, the upcoming free agent markets will be getting progressively thinner year by year.
BTW-El Duque was sort of homegrown. Intl’ FA who spent half a year in our farm system. But overall you’re right about us not developing pitchers back then.
Your decade must be very short. I think in 2001 we had the 2 best pitchers in the AL and the 3rd guy wasn’t shabby.
All SEVEN of the guys who made starts in 2002 were above average. With Moose, Clemens,Andy, Wells, Lilly/el Duque/Weaver- not bad.
2003- Four 15 game winners, the # 4 starter was 15-7, 4.14..
2004- sucked
2005- Johnson had a good year by any objective measure, Moose had a down year and Brown and everyone else sucked.
2006- moose and Wang both had very good years, with Moose better than Wang in every stat except accumulating wins. Johnson sucked but got run support-inflating his win total also.
2007- Wang was great, Andy was above average
5 of Mussina’s 8 seasons have been pretty good. Actually, Mussina’s 4th best season this decade is better than Wang’s best season.
Wang has had 1 season where he was the best pitcher on the team. yeah he was the only good pitcher this decade.
Where the hell is Mike?
Even though they are playing in Tampa, I am waiting for Michael K to mention the “boo birds”….
I got to laugh.
Nice job, fatty.
Big K there.
watching on Gameday (because for some reason the game is blacked out on MLB.tv in Orlando… ugh) and that called 3rd strike looked a little sketchy. How did it look?
a nice damn pitch
Good job Moose.
Cant beleive Joba starting in the pen in 09 too
Already saw on ESPN tonight they were debating again if Joba should be in the pen or rotation. Here we go again….
I know it’s childish, but check this out http://joesportsfan.com/ Watch the first video. Too much, too much
Guys, if you are ever bored at work or at school (like I found myself today, first week back is always lame), just read through the comments at LoHud. The sheer idiocy of those people will leave you entertained for hours at a time.
For example (After PeteAbe mentioned how Jose Tabata is doing in the rich sample size of 22-games):
The Tabata trade 5 years from now will be the Kazmir trade.
People laughing about it for years to come.
Tabata IS the next Manny.
Classic.
Does Pete Abe even like the Yankees
I’ve heard on numerous occasions that he’s a Red Sox fan. Makes perfect sense, he does gloat about being a Patriots fan all the time (which makes it highly, highly ironic that he gets on Joe Girardi so much for keeping things so close to the vest, when, you know, he roots for a team that is coached by Bill Bellichick).
It’s not really his fault his posters are morons. A majority of the people on the internet are morons. It just so happens that very few intelligent people spend time over there.
Actually it is. The knee jerk, in-game comments he makes on his blog draw people who are attracted to that kind of crap, so he reaps what he sows. The audience he draws reflects on him.
your 19 right? You go to college right?
Yessir. John Jay now, hopefully USC next year.
L.A. sucks, how are you going to go from New York to L.A.? As a matter of fact all of Southern California sucks
Acting. I have opportunities that have slowly started to present themselves here, but sooner or later, I will have to make the journey to L.A. if I’m serious about acting for my career. Which I am.
Well then you got a good reason, close to ten of my friends attempted to move out west after finsihg up college all from Boston or New York, everyone who moved to L.A. or San Diego hated it and left a after six months. I ended up in San Francisco which is been one of the best decisions I ever made.
Why you hate LA?
The plastictiy of the people, the traffic, the consumer mentality, smog.
Yeah, I was planning to move in with a friend of mine as we were supposed to attend the San Francisco Institute of Arts & Design. It would’ve been cool, she was going to go for her dancing and me for my acting. Unfortunately it didn’t work out so we are still here in Brooklyn.
Sorry have to be a dick and ask, wanted to move in with a “friend” huh. You sly dog…..
Heh, I made the move out west. Got one degree at Penn State, moved out to Northern Cali to get the second degree, then went down to San Diego for 2 years or so. I’m back in NY now.
The people in Cali are very phony, very superficial. I didn’t make many quality friends out there, guys I’d take a bullet for, shit like that. All my true homeys were back here.
There’s no place like home man, NY is truly one of a kind.
Yeah, I’ve heard about the phony thing. I know it’s a family blog and all, but are a lot of the women phony, if you know what I mean?
you from Brooklyn?
I’ve been living here for 5 years and have two to threee good friends. The mentality in san francisco is refreshing though. You can get away with just about anything in public and not get harrassed as long as your not infringing upon anyone elses rights
Just curious, why USC and not UCLA??
Connections.
You wanna be a actor? wow that’s very interesting and good luck. Why you wanna be an Actor? Always been a dream of yours.
Yeah, always been a dream. Same ol’ story really, did a school play, really liked it, kept on with it.
awwwwwwwwwww.
oh ok. Hope you ain’t fuckin up cuz a mind is a terrible thing to watse.
If hes in the pen say hello to CC =]
The debate will never end regarding Joba, like you said even moreso this off-season if they do sign CC and re-sign Pettitte and Moose so they would say no need to have Joba start and he would be better off in the pen to help out the Yankees more.
It shouldn’t be debate cuz really when Joba was out of the BP it didn’t kill the yanks, when he was out of the rotation due to injury that killed them.
Ya know what sucks bout this season. I blame it all on Jonathan Albadadejo
that’s alright, i blame everything on nick johnson … if only he wasn’t made of glass …
I blame Morgan Ensberg.
I blame Paul O’Neill.
I guess if joba goes to the pen we have to get Burnett
Well that answers the question, Joba HAS to be in the rotation, to avoid throwing $$ away on AJ
Say if we lost out on CC and the other guys. Would you guys like a deal for Mike Jacobs and Scott Olsen ?
NO!!!! I live in Miami. Olsen is a problem-child who hasnt pitched that well this season at all, and Mike Jacobs while does have some power his OBP this season in below .300 and he makes Giambi look like a Gold Glover at 1st base.
I don’t think what you would have to give up to get it would be worth it
I’ve always been a Scott Olsen fan, head case or no. Mike Jacobs gets a pass from me.
Buster Onley made some interesting points in his chats. He said obviously the yanks need to get younger and try to avoid long expensive contracts and he said that if he was running the yanks he would sign Ben Sheets instead of CC or Tex cuz Sheets is cheaper in years and money and he can be just as big of help like CC and Tex.
completely, utterly agree.
He won’t be much of a help when he’s on the DL.
Ivan we should get all 3 lol
Which Rays youngster will be the first to become a FA… barring any extensions? Upton?
Olsne/Jacobs would be good cuz we get younger and have reduced payrolls but i dont think we can rely on them
Jacobs isn’t that good even though Olsen has potential.
but Olsen’s Ks are way, way down.
Hermida’s the guy they should go after from the Marlins, he’s the one with sustainable talent and obvious progression ahead of him. Olsen’s nice, but he’s got an attitude problem. Jacobs is just a slugging meathead.
If im Hank im overpaying for Tex. Idc he would help our lineup out and help protect Arod. Take him and one of the SPs and we back in the playoffs
you pay that type of money to superstar players. Texiera is not a superstar.
Or he won’t be long enough to make it worth while
Agree totally, if Hermida can stay healthy for an entire season he is due to have a breakout season.
besides, you’d be buying low.
Any interest in Josh Willingham? He produces like Hermida does, but since he’s five years older (29), he’d probably be much cheaper. We all know the Marlins are loath to deal away cost-controlled youngsters…
Just like that the yanks are down 1-0.
Mussina will hold them
bugger.
Is it bad that I don’t have any faith in the O to score even 1 run? I know I should with what they did yesterday but the whole season the O just hasn’t been there.
What they did yesterday has absolutely no affect on what they will do this series vs Tampa’s pitching.
Jeter legging one out.
I’m moving to Tampa. Cute little blondes, good baseball town, Yankees minor leagues… just gotta pray the hurricanes move up the coast.
Good baseball town? They still aren’t coming and they have the most fun team in baseball to watch and tehy still arent coming. I was there on a friday night once and there were no more than 3000 people.
Would you go to the Trop to watch a game? I don’t think you could drag me there even if the ‘27 Yankees were playing….
There’s cute little blondes everywhere, that’s not a good reason to move… Tampa is a heartless, soullless, milquetoast town of nothingness that drives you to American Beauty-ish ennui.
Any Rotation in baseball for your franchise ? Not countin prospects in A,AA,AAA ball . Who would you take ? Im going with the twins. God they are good
Can’t say the captain doesn’t hustle.
Jonathon (yes, the loser spells it H-O-N) Niese gives up a homer and consecutive walks to his first three batters in the Major Leagues. Fail.
Jon Niese.
http://failblog.files.wordpres......jpg?w=500
Need to get to Garza here, hit balls hard off him all night, he’s been living on the edge so far
I HATE sending the runner on a 3-1 count.
Wow I thoguht Abreu hit it out.
B.J. Upton better not wander near A-Rod and Bobby Abreu after the game.
Kay just gave Alex the ole’ jinx
Holy crap, someone mentioned Jon Albaldejo earlier. Guess who made a rehab start for Staten Island tonight?
I thought SI’s season was over.
Everyone but SI is done. Their season ends Saturday.
nick johnson???
Hey Mike, another Elias update from DTT. This time the pitchers
http://tigers-thoughts.blogspo.....kings.html
Roy Halladay A 95.6928839
John Lackey A 94.85018727
Scott Kazmir A 90.917603
Felix Hernandez A 88.67041199
A.J. Burnett A 87.64044944
Daisuke Matsuzaka A 87.07865169
Fausto Carmona A 84.73782772
Josh Beckett A 84.64419476
James Shields A 84.45692884
Erik Bedard A 83.70786517
Andy Pettitte A 83.70786517
Chien-Ming Wang A 81.92883895
Javier Vazquez A 81.08614232
Justin Verlander A 80.14981273
Cliff Lee A 76.68539326
Gil Meche A 75.93632959
Mike Mussina A 73.22097378
Jon Lester A 73.03370787
Mussina squeaks in as a Type A.
Wow, Type-A makes me think we should offer him arbitration and treat it like Bobby Abreu, if he accepts cool, if not, even better.
Yep, I would bet stuff like that is already in their deals. Where the Yanks offer and the player automatically declines. You would think with the $$ the Yanks pay, they could get a clause like that thrown in.
I always think of arbitration as a formality. I can’t think of a single Yankee signed FA where arbitration related draft pick comp was ever a problem. If someone else can, please tell me.
They got compensation for Pettitte (Hughes) Tom Gordon (Joba) Vizcaino (Bleich). I can’t think of a ranked FA who left where they didn’t get it, but maybe someone else can.
Yes, but there’s a little caveat to that, how many ranked free agents have the Yanks known to let walk?
And there is one famous one, Roger Clemens.
He retired, not sure if that’s the same.
Actually, that def isn’t the same. There are deadlines for offering arbitration and declaring free agency and its easy to assume that since he retired, some of those would have been missed. Would also explain why the team was as upset as they were when they found out he was coming back.
Oh I know, just saying that’s the only one I can think of off the top of my head. If they did offer him arb and he officially retired, then came back, would the Yanks still have been compensated?
Boomer and Pettitte walked after 2003. The 4 comp picks turned into Hughes, Poterson (ugh), Brett Smith (ugh) and Jeff Marquez.
Thanks Mike.
Can you think of any who walked where we didn’t get compensation? I can’t, and that’s why I suspect the arby stuff is a formality.
The 2-2 was a ball all the way…
Yep that was me who mentioned jonathan albadadejo. And Mike do you think Texiera is gonna top the 140 mill offer Texas offered him
That was Alex Rodriguez’s first walk since August 24th. Yeah, seriously.
Just get at least one run.
Pettitte a type A? Bedard?
Nice hit X
X-Man just destroyed that ball.
Holy crap
A-Rod had one earlier in the year, and Nady had himself one now, a majestic Home Run.
Holey Shit, Nady hit the fuck out of that!
fucking craig wilson pt. II. that blows.
Huh?
posted on the wrong site … cliff corcoran over at bronx banter decided that nady was craig wilson, pt. II when the trade was made … i just like reminding him of that … too many windows open at once, doh!
Heh, Cliff is a funny dude. I really like their site, feels like I’m reading a novel every time I read the opening to a game thread.
An X-bomb for X-Nady.
X-Rated!
Its hard to get excited for these games when you switch to the Red Sox game and they are again winning pretty easily.
and doing it with that lineup………
I kind of don’t want to beat the Rays. We’re out of it; we can still be a $200 mil spoiler for the Red Sox.
Lose to the Rays, lose to the White Sox, beat the Red Sox.
That was DEEP
damn that was a shot.
Nady’s HR was nothing compared to a bomb Strawberry hit there in 1999.
One of the farthest homers I ever saw was when Strawberry was with the yanks and he hit one dead center Camden yards.
the furthest i ever saw was strawberry’s shot in olympic stadium in montreal while he was with the mets … he hit the cement ring that supported the dome at the top of the upper deck RF bleachers … just an ungodly blast.
Man, the wheels have fallen off T-Clipp:
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....pid=461325
Thats a shame
did ok yesterday…
Man Tyler Clippard is one ugly dude.
LOL couldn’t agree more
That’s not terrible….25 of those walks have come in his last 10 games.
He is what he is.
The thing that jumped out at me when he pitched for the Yanks was that he didn’t even have a consistent delivery.
One time he would throw the ball and end up landing toward home plate, the next pitch he would land toward the Yankee dugout.
Very weird. Never seen anything like that.
That really threw hitters off too
The wheels were never on. Smoke and mirrors.
true, to be fair. but at least he used to give results
Yeah, but in the end, who cares about A-ball stats if he scouting report doesn’t back it up.
Maybe we should keep losing so we get a protected first rounder
i’ve only been saying *that* for the last month …
A) Losing on purpose to get a better pick (or protect a pick with compensation considerations) is incredibly stupid and wrongheaded in baseball, a sport where the draft is a much bigger crapshoot than the NBA or NFL, and B) seeing as how the 15th worst team in baseball is the 68-70 LA Dodgers, we’d have to basically go 7-18 over the last 25 games just to get two games under .500 to even have a shot at one of the 15 worst records in baseball.
Boo that.
Where the hell is Moose’s curve tonight?
Moose is doin his best Ponson impersonation tonight havin given up 7 hits already in the 4th inning.
and that’s what separates him from Ponson.
That and about 150 lbs
…of Pabst Blue Ribbon.
He’s from the islands Mon!
You know he’s drinking Red Stripe! Hooray Beer!
You sir, you are very ugly, are you not?
YES, YOU ARE AN UGLY MAN!
At least Moose gives up singles, strikes guys out, and induces the DP.
Nice job, Moose.
Cano will hit 330 next year with 25 bombs. My prediction
but he can’t do that! he’s not small and gritty and scrappy!!!1!!!!11!!!!!
65-XBH for him is my prediction.
He needs to say sorry to lady luck, cuz she has screwed him over this season.
I will say this, Cano will bounce back in a huge way.
Heh, that throw by Garza made me think of that asshole pitcher who threw the ball into the stands in a Minor league brawl.
When does the AAA playoffs start?
Tomorrow. AA too.
cool.
I thought I read it was free on milb.tv, but I could be wrong
You were right.
yup, its free
“In order for Brett Gardner to be a successful big leaguer, he needs to learn how to bunt.”
He also needs to play.
True, but who does he really deserve to start in favor of? With the current road trip, I think he might spell Johnny Damon for a game.
Are we in a pennant race that I missed?
We need to make some evaluations going into next year, let him play. It’s not going to be easy to find a CF, we need to know where we stand.
let me guess: Michael Kay
way to bunt, juggs!!!
Why why why couldnt we do this all year
You never know, it might not matter. Miracles happen, dammit.
The Yankees could win the rest of their games and Boston will still somehow find a way to finish ahead of them.
Not for nothing, but Johnny Damon sure has made people eat shit who questioned his signing to a four year deal. Also makes the Red Sox look even worse for replacing him with Covelli Crisp.
johnny damon’s problem in the last 3 years has been johnny damon and his counter-productive urge to play every game, regardless of health …
Yeah, but the only time his health has truly hampered him was last year. His first season in NY was everything we could have hoped for.
oh, quit yer bitchin’, ray announcers, the top of the pitch crossed at the front knee … it might have been low, but it wasn’t “almost in the dirt …”
Every time he makes a throw Sox fans talk smack… until they look at his #s.
Boo the guy that helped win your first championship in 86yrs. Most ignorant fanbase ever.
We make fun of his arm because it sucks. We made of his arm when he played in Boston too. I don’t condone the booing, you’re right it’s ignorant, instead I laugh at him, because he thought he would tip the scales NY’s way and instead missed out on a second ring. The Red Sox have had pretty good luck in not bending over and grabbing their ankles for players wanting extra years. Damon, Pedro and Mo Vaughn all come to mind in this regard. Doesn’t appear to me that the Sox missed any of them.
Wow, the Yanks are hitting good pitching.
I am a little bit surprise too.
Yanks scoring runs.
What about a Cano for Weeks swap? Straight up, one of one. Change of scenery type thing.
Ah, I’d take pitching.
i dunno, the brewers fans over at BBTF are not very high on weeks and there’s no way around the fact that he’s legit brutal with the glove …
I know Weeks has serious potential, but Cano has averaged about 56-XBH per season (if he hits another 10-XBH this year, which has roughly been his monthly average). I don’t want to trade that production for Rickie Weeks, who has yet to consistently display his potential on the field.
No way, even Cano in a bad year is in the .260’s. Weeks has hit .235 and .226 last 2 years. On a funny note, I went to baseball-reference to look up weeks’ stats, and look at this poor guys name
http://www.baseball-reference......ch01.shtml
Now that’s just unfortunate. Funny. But unfortunate.
Nah. At least with Cano you get good defense and has shown he can put up big #’s. Where as Weeks hasn’t really put that potential on display.
Oh damn, season premiere of “House” was tonight.
I stopped watching that show after the hot chick doctor left. The one that cared too much.
She didn’t leave. None of the original doctors left, they are all regulars one the show despite being re-assigned throughout the hospital.
Yeah, but her face time has dropped considerably.
did you watch Generation Kill??
Isn’t that from the makers of “The Wire”?
Yup, I think so. Great series. It was only 8 episodes though.
legit?????
FUCK I missed it
no wait–it’s 09/16/08. nvm.
I thought the Mets rookie was getting owned??????
And I thought my son would marry a woman. A cold wake up for all of us.
What a great show..
Actually I wasnt being sarcastic, I just remembered reading Jamal’s post about him being owned, and I just clicked over to the game now and saw the Mets up 5-1.
I know, but I had a chance for a great obscure TV reference. Had to take it.
what show, may I ask?
The Loop.
Great, great show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
lol wtf?
How come super talented players are not considered scrappy players and gritty.
Seriously, Look at A-Rod. He does things that would make Pete Rose proud.
Slaps a ball out of a player’s glove
Runs over a couple of catchers
Gets into a fight
faked an infielder on a pop ball.
Gritty shit, and yet people call him not a winner. If A-Rod wasn’t A-Rod, you would say hey, he’s tougher than Eckstein and Pedroia.
Why?
He makes too much money and hasnt won a championship yet. Oh and people are jealous of him.
…And he’s not white or fugly.
Because 5′6 baseball writers like Buster Olney can’t relate to A-Rod, they think they can relate to Pedrioa and Eckstein, because they all got their lunch money stolen from them as kids
And they watch to many movies of Rudy and Hoosiers.
A-Rod plays as hard or harder than any player in baseball. But I don’t think any of that stuff you mentioned could be called “gritty.”
I think people are more down on Cano not being “gritty, not A-Rod.
I just think it’s steriotypes and misconceptions.
Wow, the chick who just sang at RNC was UNBELIEVABLY hot
Who says “Politics is show biz for ugly people”?
Oh, that’s right. Everyone does.
The Vice-President candidate!!!! Just kidding….
Did you see her daughter who got knocked up?
. . . . . . kinda . . . . chunky, huh?
Well, she’s 5 months pregnant. And you’d hit it anyway.
Yeah, but I’d be drunk and lonely.
Which is most nights, come to think of it.
Who was it?
I was watching the other convention with the other 72 year old white guy. He’s having a popular Republican female sing tonight. Some find her hot, but she doesnt do anything for me.
Some 22-year-old Christian singer. I forget her name. Perfect looking.
I don’t care how hot she is, fuck McCain, and fuck Palin. I won’t say “fuck her daughter” because someone has apparently done that already…
Gotta love talkin politics!!!!
i wouldn’t fuck ann coulter with bea arthur’s dick!
Ladies and Gentlemen, the highlight of Jeffrey Ross’s career! It’s all downhill from here.
Alaska.
Where men are men and Walruses are nervous.
Seriously, that daughter of hers is built like a Harbor Seal.
The mom though for her age dont look that bad.
I know, thats why it jumps out at me.
Here’s one thing that has struck me the most so far: regardless of your politics, I’d say, the Republican convention tonight looks like a snoozefest. None of their speakers are even moderately intriguing, good or captivating public speakers, or have anything worthwhile to say. Both the president and the first lady almost put me to sleep. Denver was a damn rock concert; Michelle, Hillary, Bill, and Biden all did well (although Al Gore is still boring as shit) and Obama killed it in Mile High, all the glitterati (even Chevy Chase – wtf?) were there front and center. Tonight in St. Paul looks like Bingo night at the old-folks home. The jokes all suck, the platitudes all seem fake, the applause is all perfunctory, and people are just rattling off retread policy points and not speaking towards any compelling issue, philosophy, or value towards why the country should rally behind their vision. And neither Palin or McCain will be any better…
The 2008 McCain Republicans remind me of the 2000 Al Gore Democrats… they look rudderless and talentless. It’s kinda sad.
Perfunctory! That’s a fifty center right there! Dynamite Drop in!
Giambi showing leather.
A Gold Glove to go with the Gold Thong
EL GATO GIAMBI!!!
You know, the Rays rotation has almost nothing to do with their high draft picks. This is the end result of being patient with young pitchers, and getting enough luck to keep them all healthy for the entire season.
Here’s how the Ray’s acquired their pitchers:
Scott Kazmir – he’s the highest draft pick of the bunch (by the Mets at 15th overall). He was acquired by fleecing the Mets.
Matt Garza – 25th overall pick by the Twins. Traded for Demon Young, who was the 1st overall pick. This is the only starter that you can attribute to the Rays having high draft picks.
Edwin Jackson – 6th round pick by the Dodgers. Acquired in a low profile trade.
Andy Sonnanstine – 13th round pick
James Shields – 16th round pick
This rotation should be a credit to the Rays player development – don’t just write it off because of their high draft picks.
You know, outside of 1998 (when the D-Rays did not pick until the 4th round, maybe Mike can explain why), the Rays have not picked higher than 8th overall since 1997.
They signed a whole bunch of FA. Greg Vaughn, Jose Canseco, Vinny Castillo were probably the Type-A’s.
Great post, Chris. Allow me to restate it slightly to make a point:
Sonnanstine – 13th round pick
Shields – 16th round pick
Kazmir – Acquired when the Mets gave up on his potential after some struggles
Garza – Acquired when the Twins gave up on his potential after some struggles
Jackson – Acquired when the Dodgers gave up on his potential after some struggles
Am I the only guy who finds that Avis commercial funny as hell????
Heh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPZW28L4deo
LMAO. WOW.
Heh, this one’s better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwvrje8uySo
Oh man, I absolutely love how he tries to play it off by walking away so calmly.
LOL. I give him credit for playing it off the way he did.
No way is that one funnier than Odell “Uh..we may need emergency surgery.”
I enjoyed how much Odell looks like Peter Griffin.
LOL. I’ve seen that before.
“That got me Odell.”
“Ooohh that hurt. Oh that hurt big time. A piece of that tip just got me. Oh that hurt.”
What a dumb$$!!!ROFLMAO!
Heh, I like how the camera kept slowly panning the other swords as if nothing happened.
I know most people are outraged by the pricing of the new Stadium, but my Tier Reserve MVP seats are actually going DOWN in price from this year, if you can believe that. I think the Yankees did a good job, to be honest. Only the most expensive seats are really becoming more expensive, and the people paying for those seats most likely have the income to support such price hikes. I know it’s only the first year of the Stadium and the prices will probably skyrocket in ‘10, but what do you expect in a state of the art new ballpark? I think people should appreciate the Yanks not railing you in the wallet right off the bat.
that’s like a rich Republican saying, “Wow. I think Bush was a a great President. He cut my taxes and now I have a lot more money to keep to myself. Who gives a fuck about the poor or middle class? Thanks George!”
I don’t really see how that’s like that at all. The rich in this scenario are PAYING MORE, not getting exempt from paying. I’m a 23 year old one year out of college making an entry level salary and supporting myself, if I made it seem like I was saying “fuck poor people”, then I apologize, b/c I was in that class.
sorry but I meant that to be a politcal joke. obviously it didn’t land.
I understood the joke, just didn’t think the context was right. Anyway, fuck W, McCain, Palin, and her pregnant daughter. Obama/Biden ‘08
Also, I’m not really sure how decreasing or maintaining the prices in the bleachers and most of the upper deck can be classified as “Who gives a fuck about the poor or middle class?”
They run a business. If we want them to go out and get CC/Tex/Sheets, they can jack up the prices as much as they want and still sell tickets. If a $20 face value ticket goes for $200 on the street, they don’t get a dime of that extra $180, why not jack up the prices themselves so they get the benefit of it? It’s all about supply and demand, and until the supply outweighs the demand the Yankees can profit off of their product and lucky for us they put it back into the team. Rather see them get the extra $$ than some scalper on the street.
Seeing that I live in Miami, hell yeah raise those prices and make that money to keep up having a huge payroll!!!!!!
I think the yanks are gonna have a good sept.
Yikes, the Florida-Atlanta game is 13-10 in the 5th.
Falcons and Dolphins are playing.
I think Hinske would be a good pickup as a bench/platton player. Then again, we have to know what we’ll get from Juan Miranda…
buchholz stole my laptop
Just secured tix for the World Champion New York Football Giants and I must admit, I am pumped. Now for my Super Bowl pick: Saints over Chargers. A little ballsy, but I figured I’d go out on a limb
*Tix for the opener, my bad
New Max Payne trailer (it is fucking amazing): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....-US:offici
The song is “If I was Your Vampire” by Marilyn Manson.
If there were three people you wanna meet in the history of baseball who would it be?
Mines are Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth and the third guy would be Buck O’neil.
Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, and Ted Williams. I would want to meet Cobb because I’d just want to find out if he truly was a bad person, and why. I’d want to meet the Yankee Clipper because, well, he’s the fucking Yankee Clipper. Also, to find out if he really was a douche to Mickey Mantle, and why. Lastly, Ted Williams because I’d want to find out how much he regretted sacrificing an opportunity to be regarded as the best hitter in the history of baseball to fight in the war.
You picked a couple of A-holes there.
hell, i’d be more interested in knowing what it was like to be the greatest hitter ever and a fucking fighter ace … ted williams was a bad, Bad, BAD ASS man …
1st group:
babe ruth, mickey mantle, billy martin
2nd group:
jim bouton, mike marshall, moe berg
see if you can guess the themes for both …
I really would love to meet Ruth. He was really the first Athlete with absolute swagger. You can talk for 2 hours and had nothing to do with baseball and drink mad beer and liquor.
Eddie Gaedel, Kirk Radomski, and Morgana the Kissing Bandit.
Yogi, Mickey Rivers, and Bob Ueker. All at the same time.
DP JETER!!!
Is that a fantasy of yours?