Open Thread: John Flaherty
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(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Eight years ago today, the Yankees signed current YES broadcast John Flaherty to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training. He competed with Chris Widger to be Jorge Posada‘s backup during camp and won the job with ease, leading to Widger’s release in April. Flaherty spent three years in pinstripes and was generally awful, hitting just .226/.261/.387 in 389 plate appearances while throwing out 26.0% of attempted base stealers. I think we all remember his signature Yankee moment though, the walk-off shot into the gap against the Red Sox in the game Derek Jeter flew into the stands to catch a pop-up. Flash can be bland as an announcer, but that one hit against Boston is easily the most memorable by a Yankee backup catcher during the Posada era. Not even close in my book.
Anyways, here is the open thread for the evening. If you turn on CBS, you’ll be able to catch the end of the Jets-Patriots game. You’ve also got the Rangers and Flyers plus a new episode of Family Guy. Talk about whatever you want.
104 Comments»
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The Tyler Austin Watch
I can’t believe they’re actually going to do it. *Hoping I didn’t just jinx it*
You just did… haha
What a catch that was. Unbelievable.
Does anybody know why his nickname was Flash? I remeber him and Kay talking about it during a game saying that it wasn’t about his speed but it was a story they couldn’t tell on the air. I don’t know it and can’t seem to find anything online. Anybody know or am I the only clueless one?
According to an answer posted to Cha Cha….
“Flaherty earned it, climaxing a 12-pitch, ninth-inning duel with Chicago’s Bobby Howry by lining the ball deep into the leftfield seats.”
The Pats are going for it? This is their season right here.
Season over bitches.
Maybe Rex is alot smarter than people give him credit for after all uh. Maybe he’s alot things about football than we assume.
unpossible!
*Gulp*
J-E-T-S..Jets, Jets, Jets!
Oh shut up Jim Nantz
JETS JETS JETS JETS
Rex running…..LOL
Lets face it , the Jets players had better feet this whole game. When they got the lead, they poot their feet on the Pats throats. Like good little foot soldiers
How long will the foot jokes go on?
They may never end
Unfortunately.
What a fucking game. Made me believe in this team again.
Congrats to the Jets.
Now I don’t need to hear Bart Scott cry about celebrations anymore. Your coach went into the endzone to celebrate, Edwards did backflips on the field, and your teammates ran around like Jets at the end of the game.
“Congrats to the Jets.
Grumble grumble grumble.”
Hahahaha!
Congrats, Jets!
Flash can be bland as an announcer, but that one hit against Boston is easily the most memorable by a Yankee backup catcher during the Posada era.
Well, Jose Molina did hit the last home run at Yankee Stadium.
Most noteworthy, yes, but can you picture that Molina HR in your mind?
I can’t, but I can remember that Flaherty hit like it was yesterday.
(wonder to self)Was Joe Girardi’s triple against Greg Maddux during the Posada era?
To answer my own question, no. Jorge only caught 4 games in 1996, and though he traveled with the team he wasn’t on the post season roster.
Actually Jose Molina wins mine as well. Instead I’m talking about his walk-off hit by pitch.
Wow impressive run by the Jets though. To beat Brady and Peyton on the road and now have the opportunity to beat Big Ben to reach the SB, would be some run.
Let’s not get premature.
Let me say if….
God what an awful QB Mark Sanchez is and what a terrible team the Jets are in comparison to the Pats
#Comments from 3.5 hours ago
And the Patriots are the greatest team in the history of the invention of football EVA!!!!!!!!! `
RoobEagles Reuben Frank
by BizballMaury
Tom Brady is 4-5 in last nine playoff games after going 10-0 in his first 10. TD-to-INT ratio was 14-3 in his first 10, 16-13 in last nine
Tom Brady the playoff monster may be gone.
Just like Beckett the Playoff monster…
Tom Brady is a significantly better QB than Beckett is a pitcher, though.
One’s a shoe-in HOFer and the other won’t get in.
Regression to the mean’s a bitch. But don’t worry Beantowners, he’ll have another ridiculous stretch of good luck if he hangs around and plays long enough.
The dude on MLBN just said Ozzie Smith changed how people played his position. Um…no? He was an all glove, not-much-hit SS, like…most SS before/after him. I’d say the guy to change how we look at SS was, quite easily, Cal Ripken, followed by Larkin, followed by the Rodjetaparra trio (feat. Tejada).
Didn’t he just mean defensively? Flashier play?
BTW, no way in hell am I watching MLBN in January, so caveat emptor.
Ozzie Smith did change the way people play shortstop. Before Ozzie, when a ball was hit to short, fielders would let the ball roll between their legs and point and laugh as the third baseman tried to catch up with it. But after other SS saw how much money and fame Ozzie Smith garnered with his acrobatic fielding, they started actually catching balls hit to them and throwing them to first base.
One notable holdout was Derek Jeter, who was popular and rich in his own right. So not to make waves, Derek decided to only field balls hit to his right.
I’m not the kind of guy who hates the Jets and Mets so I’m kinda surprised how dissapointed I am the Jets won. I REALLY dislike the Pats so I thought I would be at least ambivalent but. . . . nope. Turns out I dislike the Jets more than I thought I did. Hm.
Interesting. As a not hardcore Jets fan, I’d ALWAYS root for the G-Men over the Pat’s. Your football roots must run much deeper than mine. Be happy, Pats fans= redsox fans
I’m pretty solidly a Jets fan and don’t care one way or the other about the Giants but I was so pumped up for the Pats/Giants superbowl and so happy when they won.
To me it was equivalent to the Mets facing the Red Sox in the world series (which last happened beore I was born). I would be all in for the Mets. Although, I don’t really get all the Mets hate from Yankee fans either, so maybe I’m just strange in this regard
OH I was alive and was all in for the Mets in 86. I’ve never understood why I have to hate the Mets and Jets. (The Islanders I used to hate and with good reason).
Something about this Jets team just rubs me the wrong way.
I have a visceral and perhaps illogical dislike for Mark Sanchez. One of those people I disliked the moment I saw him. I hate Cromartie, I don’t like Ryan.
The players and coach on tis particular Jets team just don’t appeal to me.
I look at Sanchez and see a spoiled brat frat boy.
I know a Pats fan who’s also a Yankees fan.
From Facebook:
“so proud of the pats this season. for a rebuilding year they surpassed all expectations. talk shit all you want but they epitomize what it is to be a team.”
…cheating?
God, Boston fans are insufferable.
And this soon after a loss is what’s bad about it. Why can’t they just suck it up and accept the loss for a little while before making up excuses.
Yeah, I’m really wondering what part of the Patriots suggests they were rebuilding this year.
When they traded their best receiver for a mid-round draft pick?
When their so called Best receiver was washed up.
They still have one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
They have a really good setup for the draft, they should be able to solidify their D and be really scary. This was a big win.
In September they were far from a favorite, but once you are 14-2, that all goes out the window. They were an incomplete 14-2 as their defense, while improving, is still very young and has holes. This Pats team, on paper at least, could be the worst of the next 3 or 4 years. Two straight very strong drafts have brought 10+ rotation players, and they have 7 picks in the first 4 rounds. They should, barring injury (or that fucking lockout!), be a more complete team next year. In September you certainly could have called them a rebuilding on the fly team, but at 14-2, you are no long a rebuilding team.
The Pats are perpetually rebuilding. Which is a good and bad thing.
From MLBTR.com
“Speaking to Roger Rubin of the New York Daily News, Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey said that while Soriano didn’t make a great first impression in Tampa Bay, he turned out to be a “consummate pro.” “I wish we were the ones signed up for three more years with him,” Hickey added.”
Thats encouraging. Though on a team as vet laden as the yankees I really don’t think it matters how cool a guy is. I’ve worked with some people I loathe but that’s life
The rumors are actually more that he doesn’t like being brought into non-save situations or being asked to pitch more than one inning, to the point that he becomes visibly agitated out in the bullpen during games.
Congratulations to The New York Jets!
I know people want more but they beat Manning and Brady on the road it’s gravy time.
Yea, you can never be disappointed making it to the championship round. Saying that, I want more, ha.
Soriano to Montero. Has a nice ring to it.
My favorite will be when God comes on in the ninth and Jesus is the catcher.
I just want to say thanks to the weekend writers. I love having more content to read on the weekends then before and so far, the posts have been pretty interesting. keep up the good work!!
Two rumors were bandied about today.
1-Some sort of Gardner for Ervin Santana rumor on Twitter. I didn’t even see who started it, so it might be totally bogus.
2-Any news on Andruw Jones other than the Heyman tweet?
As a side note (for Mike A) could MLBTR please stop referring to the “Pettitte won’t start the season” story as if it’s a fact? Cashman said his comments were poorly worded, and subsequently cleared them up. Nothing’s changed with Andy.
Then, um…who would play LF?
…Joh…….Johnny…. Johnny Da…….
Nah, I just can’t do it. But you know who I mean.
Professor Rainbow Lobbing Noodle Arm
Andruw Jones looked very slow to me last year. He looked awful even in right field. I don’t see how he can play center anymore.
I think of Gardner as a CF as well, but I think they mean for Left.
Well, I don’t think he’d wind up playing it much…They have two plus CFers on the roster, Jones would be there to play average D in a corner and hit lefties.
The Austin Kearns spot I guess. Yeah he should be fine in that role. I’d rather have Damon if the cost is similar though.
The Thames spot, actually.
Damon can’t hit lefties near as well. Why would you prefer him? That doesn’t make sense.
I hoping Johnny doesn’t sign with the Yanks, if for no other reason I can’t wait to see his press conference when he signs with the Kansas City Royals, and says “This was my first choice” and “This is where I always wanted to play”.
Damon has hit lefties better than Damon in each of the last 3 seasons. I like him better than Andruw cuz Jones is an all or nothing hitter who’ll strike out a lot. I feel like Damon is a much better situational hitter. Such as if you need to get a runner from second to third, score him from third and against though pitchers. You know the kind of situtations that you often have in the playoffs. I like to build the Yanks for the playoffs success and to me Damon does that much more than Andruw.
*I meant Damon has hit lefties better than Andruw.
Last year, Jones hit lefties far better than Damon.
The old saw about “contact” hitting takes a back seat to making outs less often and hitting the ball with authority. Even in the playoffs.
Word. Teams in the playoffs have great pitching, and you’re not going to beat those guys with sacrifices and a bunch of singles. When you get a hit, you have to make it count.
Hello Twinkies.
Meh only 2 of the past 3 has Damon outperformed Andruw vs Lefties. It wasn’t by much either. Last year Andruw creamed lefties to a .931 OPS though, Damon was under .800. Andruw also has a career .863 OPS vs lefties and Damon has a career .749 vs lefties.
I think Damon has a great shot to hit for a lot more power coming back to YS3. He seemed to take advantage of the short right field better than anyone in ’09 hooking many fly balls to right. Joe had a great post a few weeks ago substantiating this with Damon’s hitting charts. Even if Andruw is slightly better against lefties and I’m not convinced he is, I’d still rather have Damon on this team.
So you’d take the older player coming off the worse season with the platoon disadvantage and the lesser defensive numbers based on your gut feel about the importance of contact hitting in the playoffs.
Dear Masshole,
lololololololololololololololololololololololololol
As a Giants fan, I hate the Jets, but hats off to the team for beating the hated Patriots. It seems that Brady’s UBERCLUTCH rep is slightly outdated.
An effective reliever seems very valuable to me. Can someone who feels otherwise and I know there are a lot of you, point me to some good literature on the subject?
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Huckleberry Finn is also pretty good, though I hear that they’re censoring out the word “Joba”.
Last season the Yanks lost 5 games where they blew their lead in the 8th inning. They went 5-4 in games which they were tied after 7. I’m sure leads were blown and ties were broken up in the 7th as well (although I don’t know how many). With this in mind, how is a dominant reliever not immensely valuable? So many games are decided in the later innings.
That evidence doesn’t help your case at all. 5-4 in games when they were tied after seven? What about the other 153 games?
Relievers are obviously very important, but the difference between Soriano and Joba in the eighth inning isn’t that big.
If he can help win just 3 or 4 of those 9 games in which they were tied or had a lead after 7 innings is he not immensely valuable?
That’s a gigantic assumption to make. If Soriano throws a scoreless eighth inning in those spots, a ton of other stuff still has to happen for the Yankees to win.
I don’t think it is. So many games are decided in innings were Soriano is going to be pitching. I don’t think it’s a stretch to belive he can cause the Yankees to win a few more games than having an average reliever in that spot. A ton of other stuff needs to happen for the Yankees to win if a hitter homers too.
It was 9 games. An average reliever, in those 9 games (and assuming 9 innings) is likely to give up 1 more run. That will not make a 3 or 4 game difference in those 9 games. It just won’t, the math doesn’t bear it out.
Steve, what’s 9 games? are you referring to how many games they were tied or had a lead going into the 7th?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
I’m sure you feel you’re right, but that’s because you remember all those games because they were exciting and close and it was frustrating that the Yanks lost. You’re also comparing Soriano to like…Romulo Sanchez or whatever “average reliever” they pull up to fill the last slot in the pen, which isn’t valid. The comparison is to whoever else would be pitching the 8th (Joba, DRob, Feliciano), and…no, Soriano’s expected production just isn’t so much better than those guys that it’s extremely valuable. You also have to remember that Soriano will not perform to his 2010 numbers when he moves to the stadium. Flyball pitcher moving TO the stadium is going to give up more homers than pitching half his season at the trop.
Good stuff. I see that there might be an emotional side to this. Have to think it through using my head. Seems to me though that the Yanks have a lot of luxury pieces: A $29M 3rd Baseman, a $23M 1st Baseman, a $23M and a $17M starter (CC and Burnett) and a $15M closer. So is it so terrible if they have a $12M reliever if he actually performs like he has the last two years?
You also have to assume that someone else would blow those games every time, and that Soriano would never have blown any of the OTHER games that last year’s team won.
The argument is also not “relievers aren’t valuable,” the argument is that, given the volatility of relievers year-over-year, the difference between Mo-Joba-Drob-Feliciano-Logan-whoever-whoever and Mo-Soriano-Joba-DRob-Feliciano-Logan-whoever just isn’t that big. Especially not when it’s not that hard to add an arm like Wood mid-season.
Yeah I get that whozat. There were 73 games where the Yankees lead after 7 that they didn’t blow. But all you need is for Soriano to make a difference in 2-3 games for him to be worth his contract. And it’s not just the difference between him and say Joba it’s the difference between him and a Gaudin or Mitre in some spots. Having more total effective relievers helps in extra inning games as well as games where the starter comes out early.
What if the offense failed to score any additional runs in those games that were tied? That’s a very miniscule sample size, and once a game is tied after 7 innings, odds aren’t far from 50/50 that win (or lose) the game.
Well I would say that having a reliever with a 1.73 ERA pitch that inning sways the odds in your favor, especially if you have an offense as strong as the yankees do.
wasn’t flash’s walk-off against the red sox down the left field line and into the corner?
Yes.
Gotta say, all of the new writers have been really good, solid job of hiring
Who would win, a team of Derek Jeters or Arods?
A team of Arods would crush a team of Jeters.
I think his question is if you take a team of Jeters in his best year against a team of arods in his worst who would win.
Just for fun, I hopped on BR and used the RC/G stat. Jeter’s best season was 9.6 per game; A-Rod’s beaten that four times.
I’m surprised it’s only four
Interview with Dellin Betances on mlb.com
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play......id=7961660