Dec
14
Fan Confidence Poll: December 14th, 2009
By2009 Season Record: 103-59 (915 RS, 753 RA), won AL East by 8 games, finished with the best record in MLB by 6 games, won 27th World Series
Top stories from last week:
- Predictably, the Winter Meetings in Indianapolis produced the busiest week of the Yankees’ offseason. They kicked it off by dealing reliever Brian Bruney to the Nationals in exchange for the first pick in the Rule 5 Draft.
- Late Monday night, we got word the Yanks were working on a three team trade to land Curtis Granderson. They agreed to a deal on Tuesday, sending Ian Kennedy, Austin Jackson, and Phil Coke elsewhere. Once the medicals were reviewed, the deal was made official and the team’s offseason picture became a little clearer.
- On Wednesday, Andy Pettitte solidified the rotation by agreeing to a one year, $11.75M contract, though he may have rejected the team’s initial offer. The next day, the Yanks used the first pick in the Rule 5 Draft to select Dodgers outfielder Jamie Hoffmann, who will compete for a bench spot in Spring Training. There were some rumblings that they could use the pick to take one of their own.
- The Granderson pickup allows the Yanks to put some pressure on Johnny Damon and Scott Boras. The two sides remain very far apart during negotiations, though they Yanks may offer two years at $10M each, which could close the gap. The Yanks have some competition for Hideki Matsui, and they also have the option of dealing a spare outfielder.
- The week concluded with Sergio Mitre, Chad Gaudin, and Melky Cabrera receiving contract offers for 2010, while Chien-Ming Wang was non-tendered. The writing had been on the wall for some time, and Wang rejected the team’s split-contract offer.
- The Yanks expressed interest in various free agent pitchers throughout the week, including Ben Sheets, Kelvim Escobar, and Ryota Igarashi, and of course they’re still in on Roy Halladay. They might not have room for another big contract, however.
- And finally, the front office wants to bring the entire coaching staff back.
Please take a second to answer the poll below and give us an idea of how confident you are in the team. You can view the Fan Confidence Graph anytime via the nav bar above, or by clicking here. Thanks in advance for voting.
Given the team's current roster construction, farm system, management, etc., how confident are you in the Yankees' overall future?
123 Comments»
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Yankees News from YESNetwork.com
- Overbay's solo shot leads Yankees over Rays in extras
- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders get back Betances, activate Murton
- Yankees claim left-handed pitcher David Huff off waivers from the Cleveland Indians
- Yankees put Granderson on 15-day disabled list
- Yankees activate Nova from disabled list, send Betances to Triple-A
- Yankees down Rays in series opener, but lose Granderson to broken pinkie knuckle
- Curtis Granderson leaves game after fracturing knuckle on his pinkie finger
- Teixeira to play for Double-A Trenton Thunder on Wednesday and Thursday
- Teixeira plans to play in Minors Wednesday
- Brian Cashman speaks to media about injured Yankees pitchers
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The Tyler Austin Watch
Like Bo Derek with braids, I’m a 10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTWDpFc7gsU (safe)
The Electrik Red girls… daddy likes.
I’m a 9 ’till we sign a LF/DH
The Granderson trade was perfect execution of Cashman’s vision. I haven’t gone to 10 yet, but I am starting to feel foolish when I click the radio button next to #9. Really, what more do I want?
+28
The team’s in good hands, sure enough.
Don’t call me radio, unit 91.
Don’t call me “91,” radio.
Really, what more do I want?
A night with Laura Posada?
Just make sure she takes a shower first. I wouldn’t want the taint of Jorge’s covetous pee-hands messing up a fantasy night.
If the current trend of polling continues, the confidence level should be right around a 7 when Spring Training starts. Tough crowd.
The further removed from the WS, the less confident people are. Which is silly of course. But most people don’t really think about the Yankees this time of year as much as some of the regulars here.
I was almost up to a 10 from a 9, but not yet. I wanna see how the DH and pitching markets shape up. I really like the Granderson trade, didn’t give up too much, got younger, and better. Worst case scenario they have Granderson replacing Damon (younger, better defense, offense not too different) and most of a solid core from last year.
Especially since the worst player may be only league avg. How could you not vote 10. Even if you were not a 10, please take a look at the competition in the AL.
I had been a 9 for at least the last year, until a few weeks ago when I dropped to an 8. But signing Andy and trading for Granderson has me back up to a 9.
Confidence Level: 8
As of right now our team is much worse than last year…but the fact that they’re agressively making moves to get better keeps the confidence level up. Melky/Gardner in LF with no DH and Joba/Hughes as the #4 and 5 right now brings it down…but Granderson, Pettitte returning, as well as constant talks with free agents to fill holes makes me happy.
Their rotation in the second half last year was CC, AJ, Andy, Joba, Gaudin. Gaudin’s still around, it’s just that Hughes is competing with him for a spot now.
and Joba/Hughes as the #4 and 5 right now brings it down…
Joba and Hughes as our #4 and #5 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> everybody else’s #4 and #5
I meant the Joba/Hughes as #4 and 5 being bad by taking away from the bullpen. I really don’t have a problem with them starting at #4 and 5. I’d rather them start than be in the bullpen but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t still make the bullpen worse without either/or.
Fair enough.
The holes they plugging in the rotation are bigger than the holes they’re leaving in the bullpen.
Furthermore, we have solid internal candidates to replace/supplant them (D-Rob/Marte/Aceves for high leverage; Melancon/Nova/Dunn/WDLR/McAllister for the back of the bullpen), and there’s plenty of reasonably priced, non-Type A decent relievers on the market to add quality depth to fill the gap.
Escobar, Igarashi, Capps, Carrasco, Gregg, Casilla, Dotel, Park, Beimel, Oliver, etc.
I’d like to get Beimel or Oliver, if either are still available, to replace Coke.
I’m not sure how you can think the team is “much worse” than last year. We just traded for an all star centerfielder and only gave up Phil Coke from our ML roster last year. Joba and Phil should, most likely, both improve. ARod should be healthier. The Yanks are still not done with free agency.
How confident am I that the Yankees will win ANOTHER World Series in 2009?
….
10, bay-bee! Duffman! Oh, yeah!
How confident am I that the Yankees will win ANOTHER World Series in 2009?
Quick! To the Delorean! Somebody grab Einstein!
1.21 GIGAWATTS!!!!
What the hell is a gigawatt!
What’s a nubian?
Jigawatts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigawatt
Rose is correct.
Spelled with a G, sometimes pronounced like a J, generally depending on the speaker’s mother tongue.
But how does Jay-Z spell it?
“Giggaman”
I figured it was “Jiggawhat”
Linguistic fun fact:
In classical Latin, the letter C was always pronounced with a hard “K” sound, and never the soft “S” sound.
So, Cicero isn’t “siss-er-o”, as commonly pronounced today, it’s “kick-er-o”.
And Julius Caesar?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser
I’m order a Kaiser Salad for lunch today.
going to
In classical Latin, the letter C was always pronounced with a hard “K” sound, and never the soft “S” sound.
So, Cicero isn’t “siss-er-o”, as commonly pronounced today, it’s “kick-er-o”.
Correct. Although the word “Celtic” is a bit more tricky. Both soundings of “K” and “S” have been proven correct in English prescriptive usage.
And Caesar’s famous pronouncement would be pronounced:
“Way-nee, Wee-dee, Wee-kee”
(Veni, vidi, vici)
Fortunately the Jesuits taught us “Church Latin”, not what they called “schoolboy Latin”
Of course this led to all sorts of fun – for example, the verb “he knows” caused some chuckles in 9th grade.
Celtic: Not classical latin
And Caesar’s famous pronouncement would be pronounced:
“Way-nee, Wee-dee, Wee-kee”
That guy is nuts.
N-V-T-S, nuts.
Andy in Sunny Daytona says:
I’m going to order a Kaiser Salad for lunch today.
Instead of olive oil and parmesan cheese, it’s probably going to be filled with bratwurst and sauerkraut.
Can’t wait. It should overpower the taste of the french bread.
One of my fave quotes from that flick:
“Run with Mucus!”
As a Latin nerd, I enjoyed this bit:
“Romani eunt domus”? The people called ‘Romans’ they go the house?
I always thought that they just used a made-up unit of measurement, the Jigawatt.
As a Physics major, one would hope I would know how to spell Gigawatt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLorean_time_machine
HOLY.
SHITBALLS.
http://www.latimes.com/busines.....0463.story
I wish the fan confidence poll would allow me to either vote a level of 11 or 28. Either one would be acceptable, and more accurately depict my sentiments.
I think I’m a seven, at most eight. Andy returning was great but I personally don’t think he will be as succesful during the regular season as last year. How clutch can granderson be? Johnny and hideki were clutch players. I still think we need a bat and for a 10 then a Halliday.
Sarcasm? Joking?
Positives:
Granderson
Pettitte
Wang non-tender
Negatives:
LF situation
DH situation
SP depth beyond Gaudin
Nine.
SP depth beyond Gaudin
All things considered, a #6-#11 of Gaudin/Mitre/Nova/McAllister/Hirsh/Romulo isn’t THAT bad, and if we add a piece or two in the bullpen capable of handling high-leverage innings (Escobar? Igarashi? Capps?) that may free Aceves from an irreplaceable bullpen role to bump right up in between Mitre and Nova.
Sure, we’d all like to add another vet, but if it doesn’t happen, Nova and ZMac are super-raw but are probably decent bets, through their natural talent levels, to provide replacement level production on a short term basis, and that’s probably all those vets would give you (the ones who would come here, anyway.)
Looks like we have the inevitable rumors on some of these other guys helping us too…(specifically Duchscherer and Sheets in this article)
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ru.....mlb,208474
From the bottom of your article:
Ah, that explains everything.
prints out article, crumples it up, throws it in the trash
Hmmm maybe they can sign Ryan and Justin Duchscherer that would really provide some depth.
Side note, Baseball Reference needs to put J-Duche in as a nickname.
It’s J-Douche. The “o” is for outstanding.
The “o” is for the O-Face.
Speaking of Baseball Reference, check out the sponsor of Melky’s page.
http://www.baseball-reference......me01.shtml
I think “Rob” is really Drew. Or, thanks to the superfluous swipe at Cameron, possibly “Rob”ert Grant.
9.
If Cashman’s interest in bringing Ben Sheets onboard is real, I guess we’ll start seeing more Sheets-Yanks rumors this week as the talks start leaking. I’d find that awesome and yet troubling. Aside from the what-of-Hughes talk, bringing Sheets onboard would create one heck of a rotation.
Keep me entertained Cash!
For the first time in ages I’m a 9 just because I have some concerns that a rotation DH might be used…
If either one of Johnny or Matsui comes back then I have no doubt this team has the best chance of winning it all again.
9. A ninja move by Cash to get Granderson. Andy coming back to make the rotation solid. Lots of confidence.
Cash Money Trillionaire is indeed a Ninja Assassin, except he’s more bloodier.
more bloodier, when bloodier just isn’t enough.
I work for a livin, Bill Shakespeare.
actually William Shakespeare often used the double comparative, something that has sadly disappeared from the English language since… until now that is.
However he would normally use it with most like:
Cash is the most bloodiest GM in baseball
I am at a confidence level of 9 again this week. Good moves with Andy, Wang and Granderson. I still hope the Yanks sign Matsui and Damon with resonable deals (if not reasonable. let ‘em walk).
It’s basically the same team that won it all this year, so what’s not to be confident about? The management and farm system is the same (less Coke, IPK and AJax plus a few pickups). Wang was a non-factor last year and now will be no factor.
What’s not to like? I have a hard time understanding anyone voting less than an eight at this point.
Honestly, I think its hard to understand anyone voting less than a 10. We’re the world series champs and we’ve made more off-season moves and improvements than anybody else has so far. Plus we *know* we’ll get at least one other impact piece like Damon/Cameron/Matsui.
It’s a long way to next October. Between now and then there are a lot of uncertainties: Injuries, moves by other teams (For example, how would the Phillies acquisition of Halladay change your confidence?) The unexpected rise of a young super star on a competing, contending team, career years by players on other teams, a decline in performance from our older stars, etc., etc.
There is uncertainty in the future, so I understand someone being less than 10.
I can respect that perception.
That said, its just as likely for our young superstars to rise, our dudes to have career years, etc.
But yeah, can’t argue with someone having a 9. EVEN THOUGH IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FAN CONFIDENCE POLL IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE!
ietcvm – The other factor is that we all differ in our personal level of optimism.
It’s basically the same team that won it all this year, so what’s not to be confident about?
Quibble:
The team that won it all last year had Damon at LF and Matsui at DH.
So far, we’ve replaced one of those two, thanks to Granderson. We have yet to replace the other. Until that happens, it’s not really the “same” team that won it all this year.
Counter quibble:
The team that won it all last year had a 23-24 year old Joba Chamberlain as its #4 starter, and his innings limit was juggled awkwardly. The Joba of 2010 should be markedly better and more consistent.
http://www.hiyoooo.com
Details, Details . . . .
Gut true none the less.
*But
Hey, I’m with you. We haven’t filled the Matsui vacancy yet, but I still voted a 10, baby.
LOL – Am I supposed to be surprised? I was sure that if anyone could do it, you would have figured out a way to vote 11 or moreby now.
How about Jermane Dye for RF/DH? Right handed power, good defense, strong arm?
Hell. No.
I don’t know where you got the ridiculous assertion that Dye is good defensively, either. He’s had a UZR/150 of MINUS 21.4 OR WORSE over the last 4 years (-24.5 in 2009). He’s wretched defensively.
good defense
Jermaine Dye’s RF UZR/150 since 2002:
-20.3
-15.0
9.8
-2.6
-21.5
-21.5
-21.4
-24.5
Good defense and Jermaine Dye are not synonymous.
/high five
At least he’s consistent.
+42
Yeah, but he hasn’t put a negative UZR/150 at DH in years.
Also, as Joe Morgan would say “he has been cosistent.”
(pours bleach in eyes)
http://tinyurl.com/ye7k5s7 (safe)
Let’s bank on that 2004 UZR! Yeehaaawww!!!
When are we going to get a fancy chart showing week-by-week results of fan confidence? You could keep it on the left side of the page and update it at the end of every poll.
You’re kidding . . . right?
OH SHIT YOU MADE BOB ANGRY.
I have my sarcasm meter in for repairs this week so I wasn’t sure if there was a good joke in there . . . somewhere.
When are we going to get a fancy chart showing week-by-week results of fan confidence?
When you start reading the entire post.
http://riveraveblues.com/fan-confidence-poll/
I offer my deep apologies to Bob.
KNEEL BEFORE BOB!!!!
(snootchie bootchies)
Very funny. It’s only a friggiin’ graph.
im almost at a 10…i would say im at 9.7 , i cant give them a 10 because of LF/DH. also small pitching concerns.
ill vote 9, for now
That sounds really funny. The Yankees getting a good LF/DH is only a “0.3″ increase in confidence for you. I vote an 8 because the future of the team will look very interesting a few years from now as it currently stands. As for my confidence in the team going into next season, well then I’d vote a 9. 10 would mean this team is perfect and this team is not perfect.
Cashman is the man. I can’t help but have complete faith in him. 10 all the way.
Cashman fanboys like u make me sick. Had you even HEARD of Jamie Hoffmann before they picked him in the r5 draft???
/SalBoGrantLanny’d
ietlcivm
lci = Lanny comment impersonation.
Hey RAB, at some point you should do a fan confidence poll analysis article. And go over what the circumstances were surrounding the valleys and peaks. Not sure what the best time for that would be. Maybe during Spring Training or something. Just an idea.
I like the idea.
How about a fan confidence poll in Cashman?
YOUR GOING TOO FAR MAN!
Oh god. That’s basically asking them to analyze the innerworkings of how the average fan thinks.
Remember: when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.
It would analyze the EVENTS that trigger the inner workings of how the average fan thinks . . injuries, winning streaks, losing streaks, ups and downs of the starters, the bull pen, the competition, trades, etc.
So . . I still like the idea.
Haha yeah, I like the idea too actually. I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to sneak in a Nietzche allusion on a baseball forum.
Ha Ha. I like Nietzche too.
Nietzche? Is he a pitcher or position player?
ha, I’m not up on my Nietzche. Missed the reference.
It is asking them to analyze the innerworkings of how RAB readers think, which include me and you.
so people voting on this site are average fans?
As I’ve been doing this, I’ve noticed that the events of the previous weekend play a gigantic role in the voting. If the Yanks won five games during the weak convincingly, but lost Sunday because of an Ichiro walk-off homer, the voting would be in the tank.
But yeah, that’s definitely something worth doing.
Interesting. I guess talk radio has already taught us that though. What have you done for me lately? As in, yesterday.
Unfortunately, that is so true.
And fortunately, RAB comments are a good antidote to talk-radio panic mentality.
RAB is a safe haven for baseball common sense. And pussytubing.
Now wait on the line for five minutes while I eat this sub.
its probably worse than that – if Mitre started on Sunday and we still won it would still be down because they were reminded he got starts for us
hahha, funny. Is it concerning that I have slightly less confidence even after a mere comment in reference to Mitre’s past starts? It wouldn’t be fun if pure emotional reactions were completely left out of fandom.
Hey, I just read in MLBTR that Buster Olney mentions the Yanks as a possible destination for Brian Giles. Is there any truth to this? Do you guys think he’s a player worth a look?
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-716050
OMG BOSOX MIGHT SIGN LACKEY!!!
Is it too late to change my confidence level to 0?
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