Link Dump: Options, Spring Training, Starters
ByA little of this, a little of that…
Righties Nova and Noesi optioned down
The cuts continue to roll in, and this time it involves two players on the 40-man roster. Ivan Nova was sent down to Triple-A Scranton, and he’ll likely be among the first called up when a pitcher is needed. Hector Noesi was sent a little further down the ladder, back to High-A Tampa, and it would be a surprise if he contributed anything to the big league team before the summer of 2011. By my count, there’s 46 players left in camp, but don’t hold me too it.
Cliff’s Spring Training Status Report
Cliff Corcoran at the great Bronx Banter posted a report card for the one-third point of Spring Training. There’s not to much we can say with any certainty at this point, but he touches on the expected lineup, the bench spots, the fifth starter’s spot, basically the entire team top to bottom. As always, it’s well worth the read.
Maybe the Yanks shouldn’t be so worried about their starters’ workload
Sucka got no juice (he’ll never, ever live that down) says that all the innings the Yankees’ three top starters have thrown in recent years may not be such a problem, citing what may or may not be evidence to support his claim. Of course, it’s easy to not be concerned about it from the outside looking in, and it’s obvious the Yanks are doing their best to mitigate the risk of a breakdown. Javy Vazquez was brought in to soak up innings at the back of the bullpen, and everyone’s been on a light schedule so far in camp.
Chad Jennings takes a closer look at Yankees hitting instructor Kevin Long. He’s helped a number of players with their swings, and he doesn’t want to stop any time soon. The profile covers his playing days — he never saw a major league at bat, topping out at AAA — and a freak accident that sounds like it could have been a lot worse.
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Ken Sucka-thal:
Tommie: very aroused.
I like the way Noesi pitches. I think he will be a solid contributor in the bullpen someday.
192.2 career IP w/ 9.1 k/9 and a 1.6 bb/9. I like that too. There’s a reason the Yanks put him on the 40 man even though he was only in A ball last year.
I hope this isn’t considered off-topic and if it is, then I apologize, but does anyone here have a link to the “sucka got no juice” article? I see people reference it all the time here and its one of the few inside jokes I apparently missed out on. Thanks.
FoxSports pulled it down off their page. The link to the article, “Imagining One Crazy Summer in New York”:
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/s.....k?MSNHPHMA
goes nowhere.
Here’s the original RAB appearance of it, though:
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-314976
That should give you all you need.
Thanks TSJC!
Heh, what exactly was the basis of that article? I assume it was something with A-Rod……
It outliens the failing 2009 Yankee season.
It talks how A-Rod is unclutch and will fail in every PA and will dump Madonna for Beyonce.
It says CC will never let the bullpen take his job and will pitch one billion innings. It says Brunett will get injured in his second game or something.
And there’s probably a jizz in my pants section for Boston but I don’t remember.
In short by far the worst combination of words you will ever see.
Of course it was one big joke and he didn’t mean any of that but it was still horrendously retarded.
Hah. Thanks. Wow. I missed that. ;_;
Isn’t there ALWAYS a JIMP section for Boston in national media?
Heh: But John Smoltz is even better at Fenway Park, stifling the Blue Jays with a complete-game shutout.
sadtrombone
Did he throw 9 scoreless innings all year for the Sox?
no–in fact, he only had two outings where he gave up fewer than 5 runs
Smoltz threw a whopping 25 scoreless innings out of 40 for the Sox out. That’s a shame.
It was an April Fool’s Day mock “prediction” of all the trials and tribulations that would befall the 2009 Yankees. We assume that Rosenthal was trying to be funny.
He failed at that, though.
also, nothing was worse than Jeff Pearlman saying “Smoltz and Penny could easily win more games than CC and AJ” in his original predictions then going back and editing it in September
Yeah that was sad.
Wait, what? What did he edit it too? I remember that article, I didn’t realize he’d changed it.
Yup. No sign of the original article (blog post) because he edited it.
http://jeffpearlman.com/?p=1084
The funny thing is, he figured he’d edit his predictions after the fact to make himself sound like a genius, but he declined to edit the comments users left on the page, so there are people clearly responding to what he originally said (that obviously isn’t included in the now-retouched article).
What Pearlman’s “revised” prediction now says:
What people who commented on his original prediction said, back in February when it first came out”
Clearly, he has the right to go back and edit part of his post to correct glaring moments of idiocy (without ever mentioning in the body of the post that he’s editing it) and this doesn’t diminish his journalistic integrity because, “It’s just sports. Lighten up, bub”.
yeah man, it’s just sports. I dunno what’s up your ass. Now pardon me while I go write an article about how Yankee fans shouldn’t root for the Yankees because it’s so unfair.
But the $$$$$!!!!11111!!!!1!1!!
And get paid for it.
This is his job.
I wonder if, when he gets a paycut, his bosses just say “It’s just sports. Lighten up, bub!”
Why bother even doing predictions if you can’t handle it when they are wrong?
The sad thing is, I’ve played March Madness Tourney Pick ‘Ems against Jeff Pearlman for 15 years straight, and he beats me every time.
I’ve never seen a perfect 63-for-63 bracket anywhere else other than Jeff Pearlman’s. The dude must be a college basketball supergenius, because I just can’t ever seem to beat him. I don’t know how he does it.
Seriously?
what he originally wrote about the AL East, thanks to The Yankee U.:
AL East
1. Boston Red Sox—Oddly, I like their moves more than the Yankees. Penny and Smoltz could easily win more games than Sabathia and Burnett.
2. Tampa Bay Rays—I smell a letdown. But not a huge one.
3. New York Yankees—They’re becoming the 1980s version of themselves, Remember Steve Kemp, Don Baylor, Roy Smalley, etc …
“Oddly, I like their moves more than the Yankees.” Shocker.
thanks to The Yankee U. for this, but here are his original comments on the AL East:
AL East
1. Boston Red Sox—Oddly, I like their moves more than the Yankees. Penny and Smoltz could easily win more games than Sabathia and Burnett.
2. Tampa Bay Rays—I smell a letdown. But not a huge one.
3. New York Yankees—They’re becoming the 1980s version of themselves, Remember Steve Kemp, Don Baylor, Roy Smalley, etc …
“Oddly, I like their moves more than the Yankees.” Of course you do.
Apparently he also trashed the Phillies in his original post, as well. Such a shocker from a Mets fan. Pearlman’s a good writer, but when I can smell your bias from over here, well…
Yeah, I remember that! That was funny shit. Too bad they took it down.
Ooh, I found it:
http://edgehillroad.blogspot.c.....nthal.html
Note it’s on a Red Sox blog so he thinks it’s FAHKIN’ HILARIOUS!
Go Bexy!
I like the part where the Royals are contenders
Yeah, that cracked me up too.
I’m glad Bexy found it, I never got to read it before it was yanked.
My favorite part is him going on and on and on mocking the bullpen, when the bullpen was a strength of the 2008 Yankees
I know, but it would have been funnier had that not been eerily accurate to the April pen, especially given that CC was pulled after 122 with the game tied at 1
I assume you meant 2009 Yankees.
To be fair, the bullpen was pretty crappy early on, and the specific reviewers he pinned the blown saves on were crappy and were DFA’d.
As noted above, though, that and A-Rod’s HR in his first game were the only things he got right; but, how awesome is it that he thought A-Rod doing that would be so ridiculous, he put it in a spoof article…and yet it actually happened!
As noted
abovebelowNo, I meant the 2008 Yankees. The 2008 Yankees actually had a pretty good bullpen; it wasn’t nearly bad enough to go on and on about in a derisive way in a preview of the 2009 Yankees.
And yeah, the 2009 Yankees’ early bullpen was um… a scary place. Kind of funny to see the comments both on LoHud and here alike.
OK, I see.
If you think about it, he was actually pretty prescient about the utter collapse of our bullpen, considering what you pointed out about their performance in 2008.
Although he may have actually looked at their FIPs, etc. I’m too lazy to do it, but I bet they scream “due for a major correction”.
Although he may have actually looked at their FIPs, etc.
Let’s not be too crazy. This is Ken Rosenthal we’re talking about here.
Heh.
I was groping for a way to explain that tiny, tiny bit of accuracy in that large, large article of dross other than “he guessed right”.
Why I bothered, I don’t know.
Well, he did predict that A-Rod would hit a HR in his first game and that was right. Everything else . . . well, not so much.
At least this stuff would have been cool.
Heh, I was thinking that too. Our rotation according to that article:
Sabathia
Halladay
healthy Sheets*
Andy
Hughes/does it even matter?
/videogame’d
* I know it’s ST so it means nothing but Sheets gave up 10 runs without recording an out today o_O
I know it’s ST so it means nothing but Sheets gave up 10 runs without recording an out today o_O
Sweet, says the guy who drafted Sheets last night in his draft.
The K-Long article is highly recommended.
Several good answers to the endless question “if he sucked as a player, how could he possibly be any good as a coach?” from Jeter, Granderson, et al.
if he sucked as a player, how could he possibly be any good as a coach?”
Talk about nonsense. That is such an asinine point for someone to make, and it works both ways, see Magic Johnson’s coaching career.
And Ted Williams, famously unable to teach anyone anything because it was all his natural ability…yet people still say it.
Why can’t Larry Bird teach me to shoot and see the floor like Larry Bird. Also, while I’m working with him, can he teach me to become 6’10″ and not have a bad back? I just don’t get it!!?!?!??
Maybe Rick Barry can help you to shoot like a girl?
Maybe Wilt can help me get into the 20k club, and I don’t mean points.
Well played, sir.
ICWURM
(Stomps on floor) Where’s my hat tip for the acronym tag??!!!111!
(4:35 PM) Edit:
Hat Tip:
Andy (different one) in chilly NYC
Since I didn’t know what Tom meant, and didn’t think to look until you posted this, I will give you a gold star.
(Blushes handsomely)
Awww, shucks…
(Walks off, solemnly promising never to hat-tip-whore ever again)
In Conan: The Destroyer, Wilt Chamberlain plays a guard whose job it is to protect the princess’s virginity. That’s irony.
I smirked.
Fun facts about Ted Williams:
1) He tore up a letter that Ty Cobb sent him after the ’46 series telling him how to handle “the switch”; whereas the Cards moved to the right and Ted batted like .220 for the series.
2) Tony Gwynn explains that Williams would always just give you a vague thought on hitting (after Gwynn was around for a dozen MLB years) and he understood the technique years after the conversation.
Wouldn’t you love to have read that letter from Cobb or would you rather have seen Ted’s fuming about the letter?
Fun fact: When Ted opened that letter from Ty, Cobb popped out and stabbed him in the face.
I’m Ted [BLEEP]-ing Williams! No one can get me out!
[BLAMs another batting-practice pitch off the wall] Not even Jesus could get me out! [BLAM!] Koufax? [BLAM!] You think that [BLEEP] could get me out? [BLAM!!BLAM!] NO ONE can get me out![BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!!]
I’m Ted [BLEEP]-ing Williams!
And Ted Williams, famously unable to teach anyone anything because it was all his natural ability
Um, the guy used to take batting practice until his blisters bled.
See also, http://tinyurl.com/yapsh2w
Ted Williams was a shitty manager because he couldn’t stomach the fact that his players weren’t willing to put in the prodigious amount of work that he did, and he belittled them for it.
Agreed…but…all the practice in the world ain’t gonna make you Ted [BLEEP]-ing Williams unless you have his talent also, and/or his phenomenal eyesight.
You don’t become a military pilot without perfect, or -damn-near-perfect, eyesight.
And I was speaking more to the popular perception with that, not necessarily to the truth.
Joe D. cussed out a rookie named Yogi Berra when he asked not to catch both games of a double header.
…But whose glove was mint perfect.
The glove comment was a reply to the Williams comment from SDW about Ted and his blood blisters
I guess this is the luxury of being a Yankees fan with only one potential hole in the line-up (Gardner), but I’m excited about the Russo/Pena battle. Glad to see Russo pushing Pena.
5th starter is interesting, but I wish it were interesting because Hughes and Joba were so dominate you wanted to have both in the rotation…
I agree, but it’s still early. Hopefully Hughes/Joba results are just the typical SSS and because they are working on certain pitches.
However, the lack of their heaters does not compare to where Price, Strasberg, etc. have come out with in regards to their known velocity.