Saturday Night Open Thread

June 22, 2013 by Mike Axisa 68 Comments

In honor of his final season, New Era has put together a special line of caps for Mariano Rivera‘s farewell tour. Here’s a close-up of the patch. There are three versions — the two above and a standard Yankees hat (white interlocking NY logo) with the patch on the side — and they’ll all be available for sale by next week. Online, in stores, at Yankee Stadium … should have no trouble finding them. I don’t know if the Yankees will actually wear the hat on the field, but New Era made a similar hat when Derek Jeter recorded his 3,000th hit that was never worn by the team. Seems like it might be a promotional item only. Either way, still kinda cool.

Anyway, here is tonight’s open thread. The Saturday night FOX game will be the Red Sox at the Tigers (Webster vs. Scherzer) for those of you in the Tri-State Area, but there are other games on the schedule for those of you scattered elsewhere. Game Five of the Stanley Cup Finals is on a little later as well. Talk about either of those games or anything else here. Go nuts.

[h/t Mike Oz]

hogsmog

The one on the left looks more like one of those WWII Navy vet hats than a baseball cap…
Oy

Ramon Hernandez has been released by LA. When does he join the team?
- trr
  
  Probably never
jjyank

I’ll probably but the one on the right. The only two Yankee hats I have that are actually still wearable in public are my 09 championship one, and the 1912 throwback one. I could probably use a third, especially since the 09 one is getting pretty ratty itself.
- Pat D
  
  You don’t have the regular hat?
  - jjyank
    
    I did, but that’s gotten worn to hell. I’ve been using the 09 champ hat as my regular. It’s the same thing, just has the 09 champ patch on the side, I figured it was similar enough to not buy another regular.
    - Pat D
      
      Oh, I assumed the locker room hat when you said ’09 championship hat. That’s what I have and still wear now and again.
      
      I try to rotate my hats so they don’t get too worn, and to match what I wear that day.
      
      But I still wear the regular NY hat most often.
      - jjyank
        
        Yeah, the 09 hat I have is the basic hat with the patch on the side. So I didn’t feel the need to buy another regular hat. The one with the Mo patch is pretty cool for sentimental reasons though, so I think that’d be a cool addition.
        
        Pat D
        
        Yea, I’d kind of like to have both of the ones pictured.
forensic

There must be something wrong with ESPN’s boxscore for today.

It has Wells with a double and 3 RBI and Adams with 2 walks.

They must’ve skipped a row or something…
- 28 this year
  
  Cano had four walks so a lot was weird in this game
  - forensic
    
    Yeah, but in all honesty, if Cano had any semblance of plate discipline he would’ve had a million walks this season and it wouldn’t be so weird.
    - The Doctor
      
      Hopefully today made him realize that he can get on base constantly if he just takes more pitches. Doubt it, but it’s hard to argue with getting on base 5 out of 5 times.
      - forensic
        
        I’m sure he won’t learn anything from it. I think he was just too lazy today to even swing the bat. :-)
Bob Buttons

So, who lost a bigger chance to claim a job? Romine or Nunez?

Romine has chance to be starter as soon as later this year but on the flip side there’s a lot of catching prospects in our farm.

Nunez has no SS prospects in the immediate future to wrestle his job but by the time he gets a crack after Jeter he may only have as much time as Romine has right now.
- vicki
  
  musty.
- jjyank
  
  I’d say close to equal, with a slight edge to Romine. Jeter is still here, ankle injury or not. He’s not getting benched, and he’s not going to be the full time DH, regardless of what is the right decision. But Nunez still has a shot to nail down a UTIL spot and take over for Jeter.
  
  Romine is blocked only by the great Chris Stewart (though admittedly, the Yankees do seem to like him).
  
  I guess it depends on how long term you’re talking. I think Romine has the best shot right now, but Nunez might have an edge in the future, depending on how things play out. If Murphy mashes in AAA, Romine might be out of luck. He could still win a BUC job, though.
- forensic
  
  I think it’s Nunez by a mile. At the start of the season he knew SS was his for over 3 months with no competition and then he went out and shit the bed and couldn’t stay healthy seemingly for two straight days.
  
  At the start of the season Romine wasn’t going to realistically get a shot at starting at all in the Majors (contrary to what some people want to believe).
  - jjyank
    
    At the start of the season, you’re absolutely right. But at this point, how much is Nunez going to get a shot before Jeter comes back?
    - forensic
      
      Even now, there’s no chance Romine would take a job away when Cervelli gets back.
      
      Even when Jeter returns (which right now would still give Nunez a month if he hadn’t dropped into some black hole), Nunez would be able to have a couple days at short and maybe even take some days at 3B if he had hit enough to take some time.
      - jjyank
        
        Right, but Jeter is still under contract next year too (assuming he will take his player option). I would imagine the Yankees would be more willing to put A-Rod and Jeter in the line up at the expense of Nunez than they would Cervelli at the expense of Romine.
        
        All this said, neither Nunez or Romine has done anything this year to justify a strong feeling one way or the other. I just think Romine has a better shot at earning a job. Whether he can take advantage of it more than Nunez can is another matter entirely.
  - OhioYanks
    
    I don’t have a strong opinion either way: they’ve both blown a nice chance this season. I would say, though, that while he couldn’t open the season as the starter (Cashman said as much) at least holding his own through an admittedly tiny sample early on may have allowed him to earn more time and eventually establish himself as a long-term starter whether here or elsewhere.
    
    I do see a more chances argument against Nunez. Romine can get plenty more chances down the line whether in NY or elsewhere as this is only really his first blown opportunity. Nunez probably can too if he manages to earn them, but it has been parts of three seasons for Nunez now where he hasn’t put it all together yet for various reasons.
DERP

Don’t want to ruin DOTF, but John Ryan had another big game today.
forensic

Wow, try to post comments 7 minutes apart and it’s too fast for wordpress apparently…
- DERP
  
  lol I got that message too and I think the last comment I posted was a few days ago
- jjyank
  
  Apparently RAB has been buggy since a crash last night. I tried to post a comment earlier, which was my first comment in two days, and I was told that I was posting too quickly. One comment in two days!
  - forensic
    
    I knew it crashed last night (didn’t get to kill time here during the late hours at work), but didn’t know it was still messed up.
    - jjyank
      
      Neither did I until a couple hours ago. I’ve been busy with work for the last 2-3 days. But my…associates…tell me it’s been doing this since the crash. Seems better for me over the last hour or so, though.
      - Pat D
        
        I’m suspicious of these associates of yours. Knowing your reputation, I’m sure they can’t be trusted.
        
        jjyank
        
        Guilty! Arrest me.
        
        Pat D
        
        The NSA will be at your location shortly.
    - vicki
      
      i worried about you a little.
      - forensic
        
        heh, thanks for your concern, but I (barely) made it through the night. :-)
Eddard

Girardi has finally settled on a lineup and is sticking to it. That allows players to get in a groove. I’d trot the same lineup out there again tomorrow. And I hope he doesn’t tinker with it too much vs LHP. About the only change I’d make vs LHP is Wells as DH.
Tyrone Sharpton

lol at this, smart money grab by them. but no way im spending 38 bucks on a cap.
- pop
  
  +1
forensic

Yeah Papelbon!!!
- jjyank
  
  Who is this “Papelbon” that you speak of? I know only of a “Poopelbon”.
- vicki
  
  he earned the gagne.
Get Phelps Up

Papelbon just blew ANOTHER save. I think that’s 3 blown saves in his last 4 chances.

It would be really cool if the Yankees wore the cap on the right in the last home game of the year.
- Get Phelps Up
  
  And then the Phillies get him a win. Wins are dumb.
vicki

victor martinez: not dead yet.
- SDB
  
  I love Victor Martinez right now. Just as long as he keeps crushing Red Sox pitching.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa

Comments should be working fine now.
- vicki
  
  technologically, at least.
- Pat D
  
  Still getting a posting too quickly error.
  - Pat D
    
    Or maybe not.
Robert

When will Nuno be back ?
vicki

the fox double box ad format thing-y was pretty cool. just guys getting gatorade and warming up, but it has potential.

another note, i don’t mind fox’s obligatory inning-long verlander suck-off when they’re playing the sox. not as much anyway.
- Henry Krinkle
  
  Nothing will be worse than Verlander’s visit in the ALCS, but I still muted this one.
  - vicki
    
    another saving grace is it’s kenny and tom, not buck and mccarver. though i’m still annoyed with verducci for “co-authoring” torre’s abortion. and he’s got a squeaky voice.
- Get Phelps Up
  
  I like how they said he was the reining Cy Young and MVP winner several times and never corrected themselves.
  - vicki
    
    i caught that too. maybe they don’t know what reigning means.
Henry Krinkle

Remember when Dan Haren was good?
- Brian S.
  
  2011 Yankee kryptonite.
Ken

Had not RAB written off Ichiro earlier this season, essentially treating him as a waste of roster space? Have apologies been made, or is this still the viewpoint?
- jjyank
  
  Uh. His recent success is nice, but even including that, he’s still sitting on a .287 wOBA and a 76 wRC+. So…maybe an apology would be dumb.
  - LeapingLedee
    
    Good Call Ken. Ichiro has been proclaimed dead by the prognosticators so many times on this site, does it surprise anyone how silent they are now? Axisa will just wait out this “fluke” stretch until he struggles again and then he reopen the channel of mockery.
    
    Keep hating jj, Ichiro, like Jeter before him, will continue to disprove the arrogance of stubborn folks like you with his Legendary hitting acumen that is above such petty statistical formulas.
    - WhittakerWalt
      
      What are you, his agent?
  - WhittakerWalt
    
    Ichiro supporters don’t math so good. They sure get pretty smug with the “so when are you going to apologize” stuff, though. As if Ichiro has somehow been wronged if we notice that he’s not very productive anymore.
    - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
      
      The Ichiro supporters are the worst. They don’t get many opportunities to gloat, so I guess they have to make sure it counts.
      - forensic
        
        It’s nice to see so many superior people here paint such absurd, broad strokes about a ‘group’ of people.
        
        At least no one needs to address the ‘smugness’ of the ‘Ichiro haters’ as they make it pretty obvious on their own…
        
        WhittakerWalt
        
        That’s ludicrous. I don’t hate Ichiro. I just don’t think he’s very good anymore. If he was still great I’d be thrilled. The best we can hope for is that he’ll go through a hot streak where he hits a soft .300 for a few weeks. He’s in the middle of one such stretch, sure, but he can go cold again just as easily. You’ve been one of his more vocal supporters, but even you jumped off the bandwagon a few weeks ago. Guess you’re back on board now. You’re not of the ones demanding an apology, though.
        Even if he hits like this for the rest of the season, let’s not pretend this is acceptable production from a corner outfielder.
        
        forensic
        
        Ludicrous Speed, GO!!! (sorry, always flashback to Spaceballs with that word)
        
        Anyway, there’s no bandwagon that I’ve jumped onto or off of. Yes, I’ve certainly supported him, but given the alternatives it’s not like there’s anything better. His overall game puts him far above such guys as Boesch and Wells.
        
        I’ve always tempered my support of him and NEVER claimed that he would be patient or powerful. But, rather that his BA hitting (when it appears, which is far more often than any solitary homer that someone like Wells or Boesch may hit) is more valuable to play everyday when you also take into consideration his defense and baserunning.
        
        I feel I’ve always been pretty realistic with him, which is probably when you think I ‘jumped off the bandwagon’. I’ll admit when he’s painful to watch offensively, which can happen with his type of game. I’ve certainly never been smug about it. When he was 0-22, I was realistic and said at that point there are others who should be playing. Now that he’s been one of their better/consistent players in the OF for about a month now, there’s no question he should be playing everyday.
        
        And frankly, given what this offense has been producing, and what they have available, any offense from any position is acceptable.
        
        OhioYanks
        
        While I don’t completely disagree with you on Ichiro and don’t think that you necessarily “hate” Ichiro, I do think you’re being a smug dick.
        
        First, you are painting a whole group with a single brush stroke and then getting all indignant when someone else does the same to you.
        
        Mostly, though, people who haven’t bothered to learn about statistics as a science think that they can know what is going to happen going forward based on what has happened in the recent past (Axisa appears to be the worst at this). That’s not actually how it works. You can put probabilities on it and say what is likely to happen, but that’s a lot different from saying “The best we can hope for is that he’ll go through a hot streak where he hits a soft .300 for a few weeks.” What you’ve done there is try to be a psychic. Not apply any statistical insight. Ichiro is not likely to suddenly revert to his prime form, but that doesn’t mean he definitely will not. Just last season we saw a prolonged stretch where he did a hell of a lot more than hit a soft .300. If you have some explanation for why he is incapable of finishing this season the same way he did last season, I would love to hear it.
      - OhioYanks
        
        Way to be an asshole
        
        WhittakerWalt
        
        You’re welcome to think that. I was just responding to the weird demand for an apology. In my opinion that’s the dickish thing to do, ask for an apology just because objective analysis reveals that a player isn’t very good anymore. It’s not like I really dog Ichiro when he’s doing bad. I didn’t demand an apology from anyone when he went through an 0-22 stretch. “See, I told you he stunk!”
        
        Whatevs.
- vicki
  
  still the viewpoint.