Jul
31
It’s official: Lance Berkman is a Yankee
ByThe 24-hour grace period is over, and according to a press release the Yankees have officially acquired Lance Berkman. The Astros receive minor leaguers Mark Melancon and Jimmy Paredes in the deal while kicking in $4M to help cover for the $7M still guaranteed to Berkman through the end of the season. The Yanks’ new designated hitter will be in uniform tonight, and presumably in the starting lineup.
Welcome to the Boogie Down, Lance.
93 Comments»
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The Mason Williams Watch
So do we call him Big Puma or Fat Elvis?
I’m a fan of Big Puma myself, it’s more bizarre. Also, didn’t he give himself that name? If it’s true that’s a nickname no-no. Then again he makes millions of dollars and I… well I don’t. (sad face)
Yes, he did give himself that nickname in jest.
Indeed. He is very cat-like. All he needs are these…
http://farm3.static.flickr.com.....5e2efe.jpg
Excellent. What if the whole Yankees roster did dueling productions of “The Nightman Cometh” and “The Dayman Cometh”?
If THAT’S the kind of team chemistry BP will bring to the table then by all means give that man a plaque and retire his number.
You KNOW the Steinbrenners would have MORE than enough money to pay the toll to get to the boy’s hole.
I prefer calling him the Big Puma.
Hells no! Puma sneakers are wack, that’s not how we roll in the Boogie Down!
/KRS-ONE’d
He wears PF Flyers. Guaranteed to make him run faster and jump higher.
/Sandlot’d
for now, its gotta be Big Puma . If he begins to suck, he could quickly become Fat Elvis
Jeter, Swish, Tex, A-Rod, Cano, Berk, Jorge, Grandy, Gardner
I’d love to see that line up.
Love it even more if Jeter was 8th and Gardner was leadoff
Jeter seems to be finally turning things around……and if Gardner continues to get on base at an absurd clip in the 9 hole, things are looking epic
He has a ~.380 OBP in his last 10 games (fueled by two hit games), and .313 OBP for the month. But we’ve seen it before this year, a good 10 games, then 20 game slump.
Gardner should bat leadoff, but he won’t.
Sadly, yes. Despite having superior numbers to Jeter, Girardi would never bat Jeter that low because… Why exactly? Oh, that’s right – because Jeter’s a team first guy.
Wai-
Yeah, like I said below. Who would’ve thought we would be clamoring for Gardner to bat leadoff instead of Jeter? Gardy truly has exceeded expectations.
Seriously, he was a “4th OF/pinch runner/couldn’t beat out Melky” in March, now he’s everyone’s favorite.
I hope they don’t move him (even though I know his OBP probably won’t be .380 next year), but you can’t have 32 year olds tied up for 6 years at every position.
that lineup is absolutely sick…
if ARod and Berk really hit their stride and OPS 900+ for the rest of the season… one can only wonder.
But I thought Cano would be batting 2nd?????
holy fucking lineup…..the speed at the end with the lineup turning over is huge. The weakest link is Jeter.
Lance is quite the OBP machine also
“weakest link is Jeter”……WOW
You just can’t make these things up
Gardner, Swish, Tex, A-Rod, Cano, Berk, Jorge, Jeter, Grandy?
Yeah, they’d never drop that unselfish, team-first guy Jeter that low even if he’s OBP and SLG are worse than Gardner’s (wOBA is around 50 points higher), but man… what a lineup.
Hopefully he can hit a go-ahead homer or something and quickly ingratiate himself a la Granderson.
Asking for too much? But hey, if he goes 0-5 and we win, I won’t care.
Can you guys post a link to the press release?
It’s on LoHud.
Thank you sir.
It’s not online at the official site yet. LoHud has it though.
Thanks.
The biggest debate I can foresee is the juggling 6-8 in the lineup. Given Berkman’s struggles with lefties, it should probably be Berk-Jorge-Curtis in that order. Don’t want two guys who struggle with lefties back to back.
I wish Gardner were used at the top, but that’s another topic.
i’d platoon grandy for the rest of the season with Kearns in left and Gardy in center and use him as a pinch hitter and defensive sub when a RHP comes into the game.
is that you, peter gammons?
granderson really can’t hit lefties. i think he’d have more value as a PH, PR and defensive sub at the end of games. The last few weeks he’s been doing ok vs lefties, but I think that’s just luck than skill.
Austin Kearns can’t really hit.
wait what
Granderson’s value is in his ability to play a good CF and provide pop from anywhere in the lineup. If you use him as a bench player it would be a stupid move and a waste of his value to the team.
I think he means on the bench vs. lefties. The idea would have merit, if Austin Kearns didn’t suck.
Why do you think they traded for him if he sucks?
He sucks less than Colin Curtis?
OK, I should’ve said “isn’t good enough to start.” He’s fine off the bench, I just don’t want him starting.
That would be ok if Granderson wasn’t like having a pitchers spot in the lineup vs LHP.
I don’t know how much they will do it in the regular season, but I can’t see Granderson starting vs LHP in the playoffs.
A platoon the rest of the season is certainly possible and maybe even likely.
At the very least Kearns will get at least some starts vs LHP the rest of the season to keep his bat ready for the scenario in the playoffs.
Perhaps. I do think they’ll ride out Granderson full-time in the regular season as long as possible, but I could see Kearns starting against Price or Cliff Lee in the playoffs.
granderson has opsed 570 against lefties in the past 3 years, 538 this year. Kearns numbers look poor due to the previous 2 years, but has still OPSed 700+. He’s not a bad defensive player in left (i think just a tab below average, if not average?), still gets walks and is a definite offensive improvement over Granderson.
If it came down to a game situation and I had started Granderson against a lefty, it’d be his sub 600 ops for 3 at bats, and then Kearns’ 700+ ops for an at bat against a lefty or Kearns’ 700+ ops and then Gardy’s 900+ ops against a righty?
i’m not sure if granderson’s defensive presence warrants that type of offensive loss.
Gammons was not exactly going out on a limb there.
It is a pretty foreseeable scenario without hearing anything Gammons had to say.
Is that you, Peter Gammens?
http://riveraveblues.com/2010/.....ent-948441
Yay! I’m curious to see what number he gets. He’ll probably get 17.
#3.
Welcome aboard Fat Elvis.
I just got the email
Vs RHP
Jeter, Berkman, Tex, ARod, Cano, Swisher, Posada, Granderson, Gardner (Granderson, Cerv, Gardner)
Vs LHP
Jeter, Swisher, Tex, ARod, Cano, Posada, Kearns, Cerv, Gardner
Why do you want to platoon Granderson so badly? How do you expect him to improve against lefties if he doesn’t face any lefties? I can understand him being benched against elite lefties, but not average lefties.
A platoon will be best suited for the playoffs, where results matter immensely.
Cervelli and Posada will not be in the same lineup anymore. Posada at catcher and Berkman at DH >>>>>>>>>>>>> Cervelli at catcher and Posada at DH. I can’t even put enough >’s to show it.
I agree with platooning Granderson against elite lefties, and in the playoffs.
As for more ABs means he can improve, don’t know. He’s been bad against LHP for years.
If he never faces any lefties, at all, then you can forget about him progressing against them. It’s very possible that he improves against lefties, but if he doesn’t face any, then it’s very doubtful. He’ll just develop even more of a platoon split.
“where results matter immensely”
And the regular season doesn’t matter immensely?
Curtis’ best OPS against lefties on a full time basis was a tad above 700. He’s never going to improve and hit lefties, lets face it. Look at his stats against RHP and he’s an absolute monster over 400+ ABs. He can still get 450 ABs through pinch hitting late in games and I think he’s going to be even more valuable.
3-4 plate appearances in a regular season game doesn’t care nearly the same weight as the same amount of plate appearances in a playoff game. You know this. One game doesn’t really matter in the regular season. One series doesn’t matter.
You have to look at the big picture. It is in the Yankees best interest to develop him into an all around player. Saying that he will never hit lefties is short-sighted and pessimistic.
And the regular season doesn’t matter immensely?
No, not really. If Curtis Granderson continues to get every PA against all lefties for the rest of the season, those plate appearances won’t really make a difference for this team which is stacked as hell and can afford to carry a bad bat in one of 9 spots against less that 50% of the league.
Any chance General Joe (stupidly) hits Big Puma second and drops Swish to 6th because of reputation?
I don’t think it would be stupid at all. Dude walks about ~17% of the time. That’s almost double league average.
Actually, Berkman leads the MLB in walk rate at 16.8%, so I would much prefer him second in the lineup.
Isn’t Fat Elvis sort of redundant?
Have you seen pics of Elvis in the ’50s? “Skinny Elvis”.
Fat Elvis didn’t appear until the early ’70s. Hence the “Fat”, to distinguish between the two extremes.
But he doesn’t look like skinny elvis.
Yes, but if you don’t include the qualifier, it doesn’t make sense.
Berkman doesn’t look like Skinny Elvis, but he does look like Fat Elvis. If you add the qualifier, it makes the comparison more logical.
I think getting Berkman is great but am I the only one bummed that Melancon is gone. He has a lot of talent. The hook on his curve is sick when it’s on. When the deal was going down the word was non-prospects were going in the deal. I know he has been struggling but I wouldn’t call him a non-prospect.
Well if you’re a not an elite-relief prospect, then you are kind of a non-prospect, because you’re a middle reliever.
meh. Don’t care very much. Adding Berkman for $3 million >>>> keeping Melancon
That he is in the trade tells you what kind of prospect he is.
He is a pitcher that will always have a rough transition to the major leagues.
He could be a closer right now in the National League.
/Bizarro Peter Gammons’d
Lance looked lost in the Trop
Haha did anyone see Berkman at the Trop right now on MLBN? He looked so hilariously lost.
Beat ya Bexy =)
GMTA.
I added that it was hilarious though so I win? ;P
It was funny especially with the Astros bag and randomly shaking that dudes hand
richard nere says the yanks are the rich kids on the block. So he says when met fans say you buy championships and yankees fans just have to accept it cause the kid down the block had to work just as hard and didn’t get the same reward the rich kid got. THen he says yankee fans shouls just deal with it. Okay Richard #1 you used the mets as an example when the mets outspent the marlins in 2007 by 90 million. 90 million did you hear that Richard and got knocked out of the playoffs.They also outspennd them in 08 and 09. Thats also 90 million mistakes the Mets could afford to make that the marlins couldn’t afford to make . #2 You wouldn’t use the mets as an example because they’re the worst example you could use along side the redsox.# 3 Don’t tell me the mets are not the rich kids on the block too. They’re just not the richest kid on the block!
But you know why Marlin fans don’t hate on them. Cause the mets don’t win as much.#4 Don’t tell me that you don’t hate the yankees when you use the mets as an example and you look at the florida example I just showed you. If you’re using the mets fan as an example or if you are a mets fan Rich, you are basically the rich kid complaining about an even richer kid on the block.#5 If the yankee spent all that money but had nothing to show for it you or met fans wouldn’t bitch about them. So you need to accept the fact you resent the yankees because they win not because they spend money!
Is he the radio host from the FAN this morning? That guy was passive-aggressively bitching as well.
Everytime a caller would say “They’re running a business and put the money into their business…” he’d cut them off and start complaining about how it’s not fair.
http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Sho.....038;sr=8-1
MLB tonight just said that berkman is in the lineup tonight CLEANING UP for the bombers
whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
Yeah I heard that too. That can’t be right.
I heard that too. No way thats right unless somethings up with ARod
Rays going after luke scott
dodgers as well
Harolds projected lineup
Jeter
Granderson
Teix
Arod
Berk
Posada
Cano
Swisher
Gardner
lol?
I was just about to post this. Harold is such a dumbass.
Harold is so dumb that I’m forced to take sides with Verducci and John Hart…and for that I hate him even more.
From LoHud:
Lance Berkman has arrived in Tampa. He’s scheduled to meet with the media at 4 p.m. Still no word on a lineup, but it seems safe to say it will not be the one Harold Reynolds just predicted on MLB Network.
Nice work, Mr. Jennings.
I was assuming we’d be hitting Berkman at #3 and Kearns at #4, benching Swisher permanently, and dropping Tex and ARod to #8 and #9.
This lineup is a juggernaut. I mean you could slide Ramiro Pena in at 3B and not miss a beat.
/HR’d
This is where I hit the ‘like’ button.
Granderson #2 and Swisher #8… it’s like he’s mind-melding with Ozzie Guillen.
NEED MORE SPEED AND LESS PUSSY-ASS WALKS AT THE TOP OF THE LINEUP!!!!
Lance is gonna look so sexy in pinstripes I can’t wait
pinstripes are slimming
Unfortunately he won’t be wearing them til next week.
According to Tim Marchman at SI.com, Berkman coming to the Yanks is no big deal.