Open Thread: Mo … and everyone else
By
That’s tough to see, so I highly recommend clicking on the image to open a larger view. It shows the number of closers that each team has used during the Mariano Rivera era, which spans from 1997 to present (so 13 full seasons going on 14). Only two other clubs have used fewer than five closers in that time, and that’s the Angels (Troy Percival, Francisco Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes) and Padres (Trevor Hoffman, Rod Beck the year Hoffman was hurt, and Heath Bell) with three. The Cubs have managed to use eleven closers in the last 13 years, with the only repeater being Ryan Dempster. As if you needed more proof, Mo is awesome. (h/t Gleeman)
Once you’re done marveling at that, use this as your open thread. The Red Sox and Astros still have a Grapefruit League game to play tonight (on MLB Network), though all five hockey and basketball locals are in action as well, some against each other. Oh, and CC Sabathia will be on Letterman tonight, I mean it this time. Have at it.
89 Comments»
RAB Info
The Founders
Mike Axisa, Ben Kabak, Joe Pawlikowski
Editor-In-Chief
Mike Axisa Archives | Email
Managing Editors
Ben Kabak Archives | E-mail
Joe Pawlikowski Archives | E-mail
Contributing Editors
Larry Koestler (Archives)
Moshe Mandel (Archives)
Eric Schultz (Archives)
Weekend Writers
Hannah Ehrlich (Archives)
Matthew Warden (Archives)
Special Contributor
J.R. O'Grady (Archives)
Technical Consultant
Jay Gordon
Subscribe to RAB by RSS
Follow @RiverAveBlues
Search RAB
Yankees News from YESNetwork.com
- 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
- Alberto Gonzalez clears waivers, will report to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
- Seattle Mariners option Jesus Montero to Triple-A
- Thriving with the Yankees, Vernon Wells fulfilling his father's dream
Banner Design By
The Tyler Austin Watch
Calm before the storm.
soo yeah, Brandon Belt made the team. can’t wait to see him rake, like Posey did.
So I’m pretty (read: SUPER UBER MEGA) excited about going to my first Opening Day tomorrow, but I’ve been looking at the weather forecast, and it looks pretty bad, and even worse on Friday. How long do you think the team will wait to play tomorrow?
Looks like it’s going to rain the entire himestand except the weekend lol. I’m sure they’ll get in though. Have fun at the game!
http://www.tangotiger.net/survey/
This seemed pretty cool.
Anyone want great analysis for fantasy baseball? Ignore those older Yankees like Teix and go get Ellsbury!
And Cano won’t be the best 2B fantasy wise because laser show is coming back despite only hitting in a bandbox, despite his injury concerns and despite is worse hitting skills, he’ll be the motherfucking best.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....index.html
I saw this. I don’t know fantasy very well but it seemed odd even to me. Who’s gonna go get guys like Garcia (or Nova, unless it’s a very deep draft) just because they’re Yankees? If they do they’re dumb anyway. If nothing else, guys like A-Rod and Tex will get you HR and RBI.
I also liked this:
The Rays and Yankees are good enough to make the playoffs, but they won’t.
I understand people saying the Yankees won’t make the playoffs, but neither the Yankees or the Rays? That is insanity.
Also, Lowrie is made out of tissue paper. I know there’s a lot of risk involved with many players and Lowrie is a pretty good late-round gamble but him saying confidently that he’ll be a top 5 or 10 fantasy SS with 20+ HR is crazy.
It’s possible he’s screwing around because at the end he was like feel free to bash me or mock me at Twitter but this is ridiculous.
I knew the MSM was going to go overboard but after seeing SI’s AND ESPN’s rankings I don’t think anyone could not say that they don’t love them their Sox.
If Kelly was still on that team the universe wold explode of how good that team will be.
guy drafted Nova in my league. yeah, its a 12 team league but damn…Nova?
Me, I got Sabathia instead.
/fatkidssticktogether’d
/rltw
JOSH BECKETT HAD A 5+ ERA LAST YEAR HE HAS LIKE .00000001% CHANCE OF WINNING THE CY YOUNG.
I need to stop reading baseball articles. They just make me really angry.
Join the club. I haven’t watched a non-muted game on ESPN in almost 2 years. My sanity and blood pressure both thank me.
hey hey easy tiger…i need 15 wins out of him this year…
eVeryone complains that the Yankees are old. Fun fact: the yankees aren,t evn in the top 10. Number 1 is phillies and 2 is boston. The Yankees? Number 11. HA.
Boston 3 not 2.
The point stands.
Cliff Lee’s chubby wife just called and told you to go FK yourself. She pushed the Philly issue b/c she loves herself some cheeze steaks.
I am starting a league here a couple weeks in the season with the draft on April 14th (two Wednesday from now). This league is based off metric stats and is a 20 team league. With the draft starting a couple weeks in the season it will be a little different than most drafts as you get a two week free preview. However, here is the info and if you and/or friends would like to join it should be a fun year.
Link: http://games.espn.go.com/flb/t.....eId=229055
Password: Yankees
The thing about Rivera is he makes it looks effortless. There are very few athletes who you can say that about. Even in a game where he is not at his best, he generally comes through (Like against Arizona last year).
So he’s lazy.
LOL imagine if he tried harder or was ‘grittier’ like Papelbon? he would be the even better bestest pitcher in the universe!!!!!!
When I see Rivera and Arizona mentioned in the same sentence my blood pressure rises.
When I see Rivera and Arizona mentioned in the same sentence
my blood pressure risesI curl up under my bed and sob hysterically.FTFY
damn formatting incompetence…
Too bad he couldn’t come through against Arizona in 2001.
Murder his ass.
Can’t tell if you’re mocking me so let me just say that I was making a joke
I think she meant you not him, so…there’s that…
Some pretty good summary of the upcoming year by Verducci.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....index.html
My fantasy team, 6 team league, 2nd pick
Batting Categories Runs (R), Hits (H), Home Runs (HR), Stolen Bases (SB), Walks (BB), Total Bases (TB), Errors (E), On-base Percentage (OBP), Slugging Percentage (SLG), On-base + Slugging Percentage (OPS), Extra Base Hits (XBH), Hitting for the Cycle (CYC), Grand Slam Home Runs (SLAM)
C Buster Posey
1B Adrian Gonzalez
2B Dustin Pedroia
SS Hanley Ramirez
3B Adrian Beltre
OF Brett Gardner
OF Jay Brue
OF Colby Rasmus
Util Curtis Granderson
Util Ben Zobrist
BN Jacoby Ellsbury
BN Elvis Andrus
BN Gordon Beckham
Pitching Categories Innings Pitched (IP), Complete Games (CG), Shutouts (SHO), Saves (SV), Earned Runs (ER), Strikeouts (K), Earned Run Average (ERA), (Walks + Hits)/ Innings Pitched (WHIP), Strikeouts per Walk Ratio (K/BB), Strikeouts per Nine Innings (K/9), On-base Percentage Against (OBPA), Hits Per Nine Innings (H/9), Walks Per Nine Innings (BB/9), No Hitters (NH), Perfect Games (PG)
SP Roy Halladay
SP Cliff Lee
SP Tim Lincecum
RP Carlos Marmol
RP Neftali Feliz
P Matt Cain
P Huston Street
P Matt Thorton
BN Jonathan Sanchez
The extra categories makes this tougher. Does anyone have any suggestions as to whether the bench position players should be starting over my starters?
Trade Elvis Andrus for another starting pitcher.
The only problem is that every team already has a shortstop because there are only six teams. I don’t know who would want Andrus.
No offense and I’m sure it wasn’t your choice, but hitting for the cycle and perfect games are a stat in this thing? o_O
yea its crazy, kinda pointless but kinda cool. And no, not my idea.
Does anyone here honestly think the Yankees will make the playoffs? I want honesty here not wishful thinking
Yes, of course they can.
That’s not what he asked.
Most experts have them as the WC by a significant margin. It’s pretty likely
It’d be ludicrous to say they don’t have a good chance. Might they not make it? Absolutely, but the odds are a lot better that they do make it than they don’t. They’ll acquire someone mid-season for the rotation and/or someone from AAA will step up.
World series predictions?
Red Sox over Rockies as it stands. I think Yankees trade for a good #2/ low #1 like Carpenter mid-season, which would make it Yankees over Rockies. For the record, I still think the Yankes are teh 2nd best team of baseball right now.
And the number 1?
I said the Sox in the WS predictions.
I’m surprised. Everyones saying the phillies are the best team in baseball
The best teams don’t always make it to the WS. See: 2006 Mets, 2010 Phillies, 2008 Angels, 2007 Indians, 2002 Yankees, etc.
Really? Most projection systems have the Sox as better.
The Phils have major holes in their line up. like everyone past Howard and Victorino.
Yanks win it following the SF script closely with 20 year old Manny (Madison) Banuelos (Baumgarner) winning a world series game pitching to Jesus (Buster) Montero-who wins the mvp after a dominant performance since early June.
Montero wins AL MVP? no fucking way.
World Series MVP. Sorry.
You crack me up sometimes.
Cubs over Mariners in an epic seven game showdown.
for what?
Last place
Because of the airing of grievances thread, I would like to propose a Crazy Cheerleader Insane Optimism Prediction Thread right here. Hey, both SOSH and some other major analysis site (I wanna say it’s BBTF but I’m not sure) have a Red Sox Fanboy Dream Predictions thread.
http://riveraveblues.com/2011/.....nt-1799401
Folks, quick question:
Would you guys pick up Edwin Jackson or John Lackey on waivers? I had Johnny Cueto but he was placed on the 15-day DL.
Definitely Jackson.
My pitching staff is Felix Hernandez, Dan Haren, Ryan Dempster, Hiroki Kuroda, Trevor Cahill, Joakim Soria and Joe Nathan. If I pick up Jackson, what kind of upgrade am I looking at?
Not a big one with that staff, but he’ll definitely boost your strikeouts.
I grabbed Lackey when Latos went on the DL. Lackey WILL give you 12-15 wins on that team, even if the stats around those wins kinda blow.
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-.....id=6271653
This Yankees team will have to earn its way into the postseason. It isn’t one that is built to dominate like those in the recent past. But there’s no reason to panic. They’ll be alright.
I don’t know who this Mark Simon guy is, but he seems like a decent character.
I don’t know why but I feel a great year coming from aj.
Does anyone have a link to the ESPN article or whatever that had the average age of each team?
Check NoMass. I think they did something on it.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/r.....rder/false
this I different from the one I referenced above it has yanks at 5. But Philly and Boston ar still 1 and 2
It’s probably the newest one including the additions of Colon, Garcia, Jones, Chavez, and Feliciano. Even still the average age of the Yankees is almost 1.5 years younger than the Sox
Also even with Colon, Sabathia, Joba, and Andruw Jones, we’re only one pound heavier than the average weight of the Sox.
Fatties we are NOT!
The Phillie are still 1.5 years older than us AND they got rid of Jamie Moyer.
Alfredo Aceves threw 5 perfect innings in AAA today and struck out 9. Not bad for a guy who was too injured to be worth $650K.
Yawn. Let’s see him do that against MLB hitters.
lets see him do it against SWB!
He also got lit up in ST a few times. None of it means much of anything.
Bud Smith threw a real life, 9 inning no hitter in a big boy league once. Would you give Bud Smith, in his prime at 31 years old $650k guaranteed?
I’ve thrown a perfect game on easy in MLB 2K10. Can you give me 650K?
If it was 5 innings I’ll consider it. 9 innings and it’s a done deal.
The Yankees may have spit the bit here, but it’s too early to tell.
Corey Hart to the DL. Picking up Brandon Belt and stashing him on the bench.
and i just found out he made the team too. Awesome!
14 Team league:
C: Mauer
1B: Teixeira
2B: Kelly Johnson
2B/SS: Bill Hall
1B/3B: Carlos Lee
OF:Rasmus
OF:Snider
OF:Cuddyer
OF:Beltran
OF:Drew
UTIL:Posada
Bench:Overbay
Bench:Montero (had to)
P: J. Johnson, Haren, Feliz, Brett Anderson, CJ Wilson, J. Jurrjens, Porcello, Jake Westbrook, Anibal Sanchez
Bench: Capps
I know it sucks, lolwhatevs
not mad at your pitching… Posada as a late round grab is pretty cool if you need a catcher. I woulda skipped Overbay, but the Bucs actually look SOLID offensively, so you might get some blood from that stone.
My finalized roster for a 12 team league:
Normal 5×5 plus Total bases and Holds:
C: Carlos Santana
1B: Prince Fielder
2B: Rickie Weeks
SS: Elvis Andrus
3B: Evan Longoria
OF: Colby Rasmus
OF: Andres Torres
OF: Luke Scott
Util: David Ortiz (yuck)
Bench: Rajai Davis
Bench: Brandon Belt
DL: Corey Hart
SP: Josh Johnson
SP: Jon Lester
SP: Brian Matusz
SP: Ricky Romero
RP: Matt Thorton
RP: Drew Storen
RP: Leo Nunez
RP: Ryan Franklin
P: Bobby Jenks
P: David Robertson
Bench: Jorge De la Rosa
Bench: John Danks
Bench: Michael Pineda
Aside from a weakish outfield and question marks at closer, I’m very happy with this team.
Letterman is late night television what CC is to pitching.
*Letterman is TO late night television what CC is to pitching
CC is severely out of date and stopped being edgy when he left NBC?
CC is a winner, something Letterman isn’t.
CC has a fold out bed in the Clubhouse too??? AWESOME!!!!
10 team rot (I drafted 9)
C-M. wieters
1b- Mig. Cabrera
2b- R. Weekes
3b- A. Ramirez
Ss- al. Ramirez
Util- j. Votto
OF- M. Kemp
OF- A. McCutchen
OF- J. Werth
BN- C. Rasmus
BN- I. Stewart
BN-A. Hill
SP-C. Kershaw
SP- Z. Greinke
P- M. Scherzer
P- J.Hellickson
RP- J. Broxton
RP- M. Rivera
BN- R. Romero
So I have a dl slot open because of Greinke does anyone have suggestions in what I should go or suggestions in general?? Thanks!!
Michael Pineda.
5th starter for the Mariners. Young guy (only 22 yrs old), electric arm. Pitches in safeco with a pretty good defense behind him. Won’t get you a ton of wins because of the deplorable offense, but worth taking a shot on.
man just saw something that made me sad
Compared Jeter an Ripken in fangraphs (war), and the compared the two on baseball reference.
Ripken by a landslide.