Oct
09
Link Dump: Joba, Posada, Jeter, Oliver, A-Rod
ByWe’re all waiting anxiously for Game Two of the ALDS tonight, so here’s some links to hold you over.
- Alex Eisenberg at Baseball Intellect took a look at Joba Chamberlain‘s mechanics (with .gif’s!), hoping to find what’s wrong with his command and velocity. He determines that Joba has a bit of a timing issue, and essentially it’s causing his arm to drag a bit. Eisenberg advises Joba to “sit down a little more, keep your hands low, [and] aggressively step-over into foot plant” to solve the problem. What he said.
- Scott Ham at The Bronx View took a look at all this Jorge Posada-Jose Molina nonsense, showing that it may have been “a rash decision on Girardi’s part” to stop letting Posada catch AJ Burnett after the rough patch late in the year. I wrote something similar back in August. This backup catcher in the playoffs stuff isn’t unprecedented. Paul Bako was Greg Maddux’s personal catcher in 2000, and started behind the plate in Game One of the NLDS over Javy Lopez, who hit .287-.337-.484 with 24 homers that year. The result? Maddux gave up six runs in the first and Bako was pinch hit for in the second inning. Then there was the whole John Flaherty-Randy Johnson mess in 2005.
- The Legacy of Derek Jeter, in picture form.
- Remember all that noise about Andy Oliver winning his case against the NCAA, essentially eliminating the “no agent rule” for amateurs? Well, the two sides reached a settlement that a) sends $750,000 of the NCAA’s money to Oliver, and b) reinstates the “no agent rule.” So much for that. Apparently kids fresh out of high school are supposed to negotiate multi-million contracts on their own. Oliver was the Tigers’ second round pick (#58 overall) last year and signed for a well-over-slot $1.495M bonus.
- This isn’t Yankee related, but it’s a great read from a very, very frustrated Royals fan.
- Finally, via Ed Price on Twitter, Dr. Marc Philippon does not believe A-Rod will need a second surgery on his hip this off-season. The original procedure in March was supposed to be a stop-gap, but A-Rod has responded very well to the treatment. We’ll have more on this over the weekend, but it is definitely good news.
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The photos in that Jeter video are great but the narration is priceless.
I agree that Jorge should have caught AJ more down the stretch. Looking at the decision as it stands now, however, I am starting to be convinced that it is the right move, or at least is neutral. I have seen two posts from Pinstripe Alley and two from The Book Blog breaking down the numbers and suggesting that it is not a crazy decision at all, and may actually be supported by the evidence that we have.
I’m less pissed because its Blackburn (who we should hammer) and not Verlander. But I still don’t like it. I’m almost rooting for a PB at some point to wipe this option out down the line (be it Game 5 or next series).
If you look back at those last 6 starts circumstances got in the way of Posada catching him. He had a thumb issue, suspension, and doubleheader.
And neck stiffness if I recall.
Some of those circumstances meant Posada couldn’t catch AJ, but others Posada could have caught him.
In the doubleheader, Posada caught CC in the first game. Posada could have caught AJ in the second game instead.
I believe Molina caught Posada in a day game after a night game as well. Posada could have played the day game instead of the night game to catch AJ.
From MGL (emphasis mine):
The A-Rod surgery stuff can be focused on Nov 6.
Nov. 2, after the Yanks sweep the World Series you mean.
+27
But I still dont know why Bo doesnt want anyone to “focus” on it now.
Because Bo likes to disagree and dissent.
Ah, dissent of victory, she is sweet, no?
IETC
Bo knows disagreement and dissension.
Aiyyo Bo knows this, and Bo knows that
But Bo don’t know jack, cause Bo can’t rap
Well whaddya know? the Di-Dawg is first up to bat
No batteries included, and no strings attached
No holds barred, no time for move fakin
Gots to get the loot so I can bring home the bacon
Brothers front, they say the Tribe can’t flow
But we’ve been known to do the impossible like Broadway Joe
http://i38.tinypic.com/2myrlvc.jpg
“and Bako was pinch hit for in the second inning”
i.e., bako’s offensive dropoff literally had no effect on the game whatsoever…
Right, but that’s because the Braves were losing 6-0. Hopefully, that won’t happen tonight.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Al doesn’t need that second surgery. He’s a straight up freak.
• This isn’t Yankee related, but it’s a great read from a very, very frustrated Royals fan.
Heh. That article is basically the big ‘ol F.U. to my “WHY THE FUCK IS MY BURRITO TAKING THIS LONG TO COOK IN THIS MICROWAVE?!?!?!?” meme.
But you know what? Royals fans have a right to be impatient and give the finger to GMs or managers who tell them that it’s going to take time to start winning again. They’ve been waiting since the Reagan administration. (You read that correctly.) I know that 95% of that ineptitude wasn’t related to Dayton Moore or Trey Hillman, but it doesn’t matter. If you’ve sucked that long, you deserve to hire geniuses who will make smart decisions to keep you from sucking anymore, and no, acquiring Willie Bloomquist, Yuniesky Betancourt, Kyle Farnsworth, and Jose Guillen are not said smart decisions.
I’m with you, Royals Nation. Throw the bums out. Get a real GM and a real manager with a real plan for success and real, actual, tangible signs of that success at every step of the way.
You know who doesn’t really have the right to be impatient?
Yankees fans. Yeah, I said it.
You know who doesn’t really have the right to be impatient?
Yankees fans. Yeah, I said it.
+1000
Confidence level = 10.
Exactly, Royals and Pirates fans can be plenty frustrated at this point, and the issue is about the kids not being ready, or can’t miss prospects that have missed, its a slew of terrible moves at the major league level. On top of it they’re bad moves that were bad at the time, anyone can look in retrospect and say the Yanks didn’t their moneys worth out of say Randy Johnson or Jason Giambi, but at the time they looked like good (or at least good enough decisions), same could be said with Vernon Wells.
Meanwhile with the Royals, no one wanted Betancourt, let alone giving up the systems top pitching prospect, no one wanted Jose Guillen, when they signed him, people weren’t exactly banging down the doors on Farns or Cruz…so plenty of very questionable decisions (both at the time and in retrospect)
Royals and Pirates fans can be plenty frustrated at this point, and the issue is about the kids not being ready, or can’t miss prospects that have missed, its a slew of terrible moves at the major league level.
Bingo.
Royals and Pirates fans have a right to be pissed when they see the Marlins compete for the division on basically an annual level by never making a bad signing, keeping payroll close to the vest, trading every single extraneous piece for a slew of youngsters, drafting smart, and then developing the kids en masse and running out a quality, youthful, talented lineup on a nightly basis.
If the Marlins can do what they do, there’s no reason the Pirates and Royals can’t.
Is the ARod surgery thing really good news? I see very little REAL chance that his temporary fix magically transformed into an actual permanent solution. He might not want or “need” the big operation right now, but who knows what kind of additional damage might be done in the meantime, how the wait might impact a future fix up, what it might do to his long-term durability, what level of relative health he has deemed to be acceptable, etc.
Simply putting off a decision isn’t good news.
You know, the human body is capable of healing itself, even without medical help.
Sure, medical help helps (most of the time), but if a doctor thinks the body’s natural healing process will accomplish over time what surgery can possibly do more rapidly, they’ll pick the conservative, slower, non-surgical natural healing process every time, because every time you cut someone open you increase the risk of complications.
If the docs say another winter of rest and relaxation is the right prescription, I’ll accept it.
I’d suggest A-Rod not listen to a single Yankee doctor though. Especially if they’re the same guys who told Bruney and Wang not to work too hard last winter and rest up.
Especially if they’re the same guys who told Bruney and Wang not to work too hard last winter and rest up.
Each 3 of those cases are nothing similar to each other.
And ARod also has his own personal doctors. Once the Yankee trainers identified the problem, they outsourced ARod’s health issue to Dr. Marc Philippon, an expert in the area and a man who is NOT affiliated with the Yankees.
So, yeah, all this is needless false alarming and anonymous smearing.
TSJC, something tells me that you won’t be getting a flu shot this year.
I hear what you’re saying, but presumably they’re not putting off the inevitable, this has been the word pretty much since after A-Rods first major check-ups, so basically people have been saying this for 5-6 months.
Ahh, this falls directly into my conspiracy theory that Arod never had a hip problem at all. It was all a PR move to keep Al off the team until Selena Robert’s book came out and the news of it became old.
Well, then Robert’s changed the date so it came out after, and Al came back before anyway.
But it was a cool conspiracy theory when I first thought of it!
WAKE UP SHEEPLE
Andy Oliver ruling is annoying, basically randomly helps those high school draftees who’s family members are lawyers/have negotiation experience and thus have someone that can negotiate for them.
Across all sports, the NCAA consistently screws with it’s athletes under the false pretenses of amateurism.
Signing with an agent to represent you as you consider becoming a professional athlete is NOT the same thing as becoming a professional athlete. You’re not a professional athlete until you start getting paid by a professional team for your services.
Every kid should be allowed the right to seek proper legal counsel for financial decisions that will impact and affect his life without forfeiting amateur eligibility. There is no material downside or drawback from the NCAA’s perspective to allowing amateurs to sign agents to represent them (as long as those agents don’t have any sway or ability over the college teams, only over the individual players.)
The NCAA blows chunks.
could not agree more
if the ncaa is so obsessed with being “amateur”, then schools should stop selling jerseys with player names on them
(pssssst… the NCAA doesn’t sell jerseys with player names on them. College jerseys are numbers only, no names. I agree with you, but you picked a poor example.)
http://www.shopncaasports.com/.....all_Jersey
(emphasis mine)
Nike Florida Gators #15 Royal Blue Twilled Football Jersey
Show your support for the Florida football program with this twilled jersey from Nike!
* Mesh body
* Dazzle shoulders, sleeves & side panels
* Tackle twill numbers & logos
* Embroidered Nike logo
* Screen print stripes on sleeves
* Rib-knit collar
* V-neck
* Jock tag
* Length + 2
* Imported
* 100% Polyester
* NO NAME ON BACK
whoops
thought for sure i owned a harold jensen villanova jersey in 1986!
Oh, I’m sure there are NCAA jerseys with player names on them, but they’re not the officially sold NCAA jerseys.
the royals piece is fantastic
“the placid, slow-moving, mostly silent and dark streets of Tokyo”
great stuff
If Joba, or any other pitcher or pitching coach, saw a website dedicated to breaking down the mechanical flaws in their delivery, what do you think their reaction would be?
Hellen Keller can see Joba’s mechanical issues.