Wednesday Night Open Thread

July 31, 2013 by Mike Axisa 112 Comments

The Yankees have another late night game out on the West Coast, so here is an open thread to hold you over until then. The Mets are playing the Marlins (Mejia vs. Alvarez) and ESPN will air the huge Cardinals-Pirates game (Wainwright vs. Locke). It’s July 31st and Pittsburgh has the best record in baseball (64-42), and they’re the only team with a .600+ winning percentage (.604). St. Louis is one back in the loss column. That should be fun. Talk about either of those or anything else right here until the regular game thread comes along.

trr

I guess the trade deadline is the big topic for now.
I’m pretty much over it already. I would expect some minor waiver wire deals in August, otherwise what you see is what you get.
Increasingly looking like a 83 – 85 win season (at best). Not nearly enough to make the playoffs. So be it. I’ll still be watching. I’m hoping for a rational, effective plan for 2014, one that starts shedding some age and focuses on building the farm system in every way possible.
- The Big City of Dreams
  
  I’m hoping for a rational, effective plan for 2014,
  
  —————-
  
  The plan is let some of the old guys walks, sign some 1yr deals, use the young guys that are ready, and hope some of the others are ready as well.
- dalelama
  
  USA Today reporting Aroid to be banned for life. Another Dal E prediction may come true. If true this is the best news since Damon and Matsui left.
RetroRob

So if the reports are to be believed, in addition to A-Rod, eight other players will be suspended this week. Melky and Colon will not be among the eight as they previously served suspensions.

So who are the eight? I’m wondering if there are any other surprise names to come out.
- radnom
  
  -Everth Cabrera
  -Fernando Martinez
  -Jordan Norberto
  -Fautino De Los Santos
  -Jesus Montero
  -Nelson Cruz
  -Cervelli
  -Jhonny Paralta
  - radnom
    
    Makes the most sense. Out of the 10 major leauge players named (also a Mets prospect), I excluded Gio and Cano because their connection was reported to be incidental early on.
    
    Given how public this is, I don’t see a huge Cano-level bombshell.
    - The Big City of Dreams
      
      Given how public this is, I don’t see a huge Cano-level bombshell.
      
      ———–
      
      True I mean anything is possible but if he was in it I think it would have been out by now.
    - RetroRob
      
      The Cano one did cross my mind. There is an A-Rod connection to a few of these, meaning Melky, Cervelli and Jesus, who he supposedly was mentoring. He’s also friends with Cano and there was that odd connection to Biogensis, so…
Eddard

It’s always a sad day in baseball when a franchise as proud as the Yankees wave the white flag with 2 months to go in the season. Mariano’s last year, one of Jeter’s last years, possibly Robbie Cano’s last year as a Yankee and this is how they choose to honor those HOF ballplayers? I’m ashamed, I’m appalled, I’m astonished, words cannot describe how I feel right now.

When my kids are old enough to watch baseball and they ask me about the 2013 Yankees ballclub I’ll tell them that when the going got tough management quit and threw up.
- Bo Knows
  
  I’ll be shocked to know you found a woman could spend the 60 seconds with you to get pregnant.
  - Wheels
    
    That’s pretty cold man.
    - Bo Knows
      
      Cold, maybe, but I’m not going to apologize, this idiotic overreacting has gotten on my last nerve, people are acting like the team has been bad for 10 damn years, instead of 3 months and even with the bad play they are above .500 with a record that would have them in 2nd if not 1st in most of the other divisions.
      - BFDeal
        
        +1
      - Wheels
        
        Oh his comment was ridiculous. It didn’t deserve a response
        
        nycsportzfan
        
        Our best pitcher gets to face Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale over his next 2 starts. Kinda stinks, that he could pitch gems both games and we could lose both 1-0…lol
- Steve (different one)
  
  Dude, I know this is your schtick and it isn’t real, i do get that, but you posted this on Sunday:
  
  “Eddard says:
  July 27, 2013 at 4:01 pm
  The question isn’t whether Michael Young is available, but whether Robbie Cano, Hiroki Kuroda, Curtis Granderson and Phil Hughes are available. The answer is they should be and the Yankees should be looking to move them for young prospects and building for the future. The season is lost and it’s time to realize that.”
  
  It’s fine to troll if that’s what gets you off, but you have to raise your game a little.
  - BFDeal
    
    LOL
Elton Cod

Brian Cashman’s failure to make a trade at the deadline is the greatest outrage in the history of the New York Yankees and perhaps all of professional sports.

I think Mr. Cashman should be fired for his failure forthwith.

Moreover, I think Bud Selig should force the Steinbrenners to give up the team. Their austerity policies ($189m) mixed with their dumb choices (yes to Ichiro, Vernon Wells, and Youkilis; no to Martin and Swisher) are an insult to the legacy of the New York Yankees.

The New York Yankees make up a major part of baseball’s legacy (approximately 11%, according to Ken Burns). So, in order to preserve the virgin honor of Major League Baseball, Bud Selig should pry the Yankees from the Steinbrenner’s cold heartless profiteering hands.

He can then transfer ownership to somebody who will preserve the nobility of the Yankees and therefore baseball and therefore all of America. I’m thinking Don Mattingly, he seems like a good guy and a true Yankee.
- radnom
  
  This isn’t clever, funny or insightful.
  
  The ratio of pseudo trolls to trolls on this forum is way out of balance.
- W.B. Mason Williams
  
  Listen man, I get the outrage. But this isn’t exactly the worst thing to ever happen, not even to the Yankees. The 1980’s, Thurman Munson’s death, 2004 all strike me as much worse for the fans and the team as a whole.
  
  This team has been held together with duct tape for the past several years and it’s pretty clear that the next 3 years or so are going to be a transition period where the Yankees don’t sniff the playoffs.
  
  Until some of our prospects start paying dividends (I’m pulling for Sanchez, Banuelos, Ramirez Williams, Heathcott and Austin in 2015 with De Paula and Jagielo following in 2016) this team is going to be old, overpaid and bad. Having A-Rod banned would be a giant thorn out of our sides, but he’s only 1 of 3 albatross-style contracts currently weighing on the Yankees (CC and Tex) with another one very possibly on the way in Cano.
  
  I don’t think this decade is going to be 1980’s style bad, but the next couple years will be.
  
  The worst part for me is the fact that ownership is spouting this garbage about contention when it’s very clear that’s not the reality. Just tell me that it’s not our year and that we need a change. I’m a big boy I can handle it.
  - Wheels
    
    They weren’t THAT awful in the 1980s, the early 90s were worse.
  - Former ACE MannyGeee
    
    ‘The 1980?s, Thurman Munson’s death, 2004 all strike me as much worse for the fans and the team as a whole.’
    
    You forgot Javy… Never forget Javy.
    - nycsportzfan
      
      The Boss being suspended for spying on Dave Winfield trying to dig up dirt on the slugger was pretty embaressing also.
      
      javy is only tied with Ed Whitson, Terry Mullholland, Hideki Irabu, Jose Contreras, and Jack McDowell in my opinion. Maybe ones not quite as bad as the other, but they are all pretty big blunders. Kevin Brown and Denny Neagle would be on there had they spent more time sucking for us. Randy Johnson is not good either.
- Red Forman
  
  Dumbass.
- Robinson Tilapia
  
  oaktag
- vicki
  
  i thought it was pretty funny, actually.
CashmanSuxShit

I can’t recall hating a roster more than I hate this giant pile of shit!

That Brian Cashman and Phil Hughes are both still employed by this franchise is both still employed by this franchise (not to mention all the dumpster shit Cashman spent the last two years accumulating) is nothing short of disgusting.
- BFDeal
  
  I hope you receive a Harbrace Handbook as a Christmas gift.
gerald williams

I’m not the world’s biggest Ca$hman guy, but honestly I don’t see what he did wrong this year. The market was awful. Yea, I would have liked Young, but at what cost for two months on a team that looks shaky to make the playoffs at best. I would’ve been happy if he got something for Hughes and anything for Joba. Otherwise, whatever… it is what it is.

Let’s hope the plan for 2014 makes us all a lot happier.
- The Big City of Dreams
  
  Let’s hope the plan for 2014 makes us all a lot happier.
  
  ————
  
  Don’t see how. Guys getting older, prospects not ready, more one yr deals, etc.
- CashmanSuxShit
  
  Leading the Yankees to this point is what Cashman did wrong.
  - BFDeal
    
    Have you considered therapy?
- Bo Knows
  
  People just want to bitch
gerald williams

and that it includes STANTON!
Vern Sneaker

At the end of ST many if not most of the commenters here predicted season of 82-90 wins depending if how effective the starting pitching would turn out to be. That was before anyone knew Tex would be out and Grandy and Jeter not back until late July and nobody foresaw CC being so ordinary. It’s highly unlikely upgrades were available of the kind that would have netted another 5-7 wins to this point — what was out there to be had wasn’t that special. With the weaknesses at 3B, C, and RF that we started with the hill was too steep to climb adding in the injuries. Still, we might sneak into the second wild card. It could be a lot worse.
- dalelama
  
  I disagree most were in the 88 to 92 range. I predicted .500 and was ridiculed.
- Former ACE MannyGeee
  
  Same people predicted the first World Series game played in Toronto in two decades. Also, same people had the 2011 Red Sox fighting the ghost of the ’27 Yankees. Fuck Joel Ortiz and “those people”. That’s why we play the games.
Kilfeather

USA Today is claiming breaking news: Confirmation that Arod will receive lifetime ban from baseball, sounds like official announcement will be tomorrow. Not yet on ESPN.com, so maybe super breaking news, maybe USA today blowing things out of proportion?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/07/31/alex-rodriguez-suspended-lifetime-suspension-biogenesis/2606319/
- Dan in Athens
  
  This would end any austerity complaints, since 189 would effectively be 214 (with Wells counting for 0 and Soriano only 5 mil) if Arod is gone for next year.
  - Robinson Tilapia
    
    And there’s some mighty nice ways to reasonably spend that money this off-season.
    
    I must admit I’ve fitted James Shields in pinstripes in my head already.
    - Tom
      
      So you want the Yankees to trade for James Shields?
      - Robinson Tilapia
        
        Team option. I agree with forensic that it’ll probably be exercised. Like I said, this exists in my head, which is not a bad place to be sometimes.
        
        Tom
        
        “probably be exercised”
        
        Yeah, KC traded Wil Myers with the intention not to exercise the team option. It’s OK to just say you forgot about the option.
        
        Robinson Tilapia
        
        Keep on trying to make a name off of me, asshole. It still won’t do you any good when you turn off your PC tonight and have to face the real world.
    - forensic
      
      I’d be absolutely shocked if the Royals didn’t exercise their team option on Shields for next year.
CashmanSuxShit

There’s only one thing that can salvage this season, as far as I’m concerned… To find out that Brian Cashman and Phil Hughes were beaten to death by Dodgers fans while leaving the stadium this evening.
- Oy
  
  Geez, what did Hughes do to you? Recorded Cashman killing your firstborn?
- Steve (different one)
  
  I am not faint of heart, but if this isn’t ban worthy, I don’t really see what is.
  
  Grow up.
- BFDeal
  
  You have officially broke loose from reality.
- SeventhAce
  
  I can’t seem to fathom why anyone would be THIS spiteful towards those two…
  
  This is the only conclusion I can come to… Did the two of them tie you down and defile your fudge factory with their buddies?
- jjyank
  
  I’m sorry, are you addressing me? Because your authority is not recognized in Fort Kickass.
- Robinson Tilapia
  
  I was pondering if this shtick would be funnier if you changed your name to “Brian Cashman’s Biggest Fan” but, nah, there’s nothing saving this.
  
  You’re like a poor man’s ExitCashman.
- jim p
  
  Ugly ugly things pour out of you. Please seek professional help. It appears you have some unsettlement in your emotional life, and have somehow tied that to baseball.
  
  Seeking attention in a baseball chat room will not relieve you. Just ignoring you from hereon in, is likely the best service anyone here could give you. After encouraging you to seek help.
  - CashmanSuxShit
    
    Not as ugly as the pile of shit Brian Cashman runs out on the field every night.
Al

From the team 690 am Montreal is that A-rod is to get a Court order injunction. That will allow him to continue to play due to unfair labor practice. For the sole purpose of turning all evidence over to the court to A-Rod and for public consumption. Which means all names associated with all documents will become public. Also the word is A-Rod is also preparing for a monumental lawsuit which will entail with names of individuals in baseball management and commission Office In other words he is prepared to basically go nuclear versus nuclear
- RetroRob
  
  I hope all of this is true.
  - Kilfeather
    
    That was the perfect response. I could not agree more.
    - vin
      
      Agreed.
- Dan in Athens
  
  This is going to be epic.
  - Robinson Tilapia
    
    Prediction: Alex will forget that the Yankees can simply write “VOID” in big letters on his paycheck and there’s nothing he can do about it then.
    
    Think Alex has Direct Deposit?
    - Former ACE MannyGeee
      
      Alex has no concept of money. Things just sort of come to him… He’s like a less-likable Manny Ramirez.
      
      Shit, can you believe that would even be. A thing? Someone less likable than Manny Ramirez? Like, Mussolini, or that Boston Marathon bomber kid yeah… But of the non-mass murderer variety?
- SeventhAce
  
  If you need to go out, go out with a bang…bigger the better.
Steinbrenner’s Ghost

ARod and Riley Cooper are trending world wide, side-by-side on Twitter.

Way to go, ARod. Well done.
- Dan in Athens
  
  I googled Riley Cooper as I didn’t know what a 3rd string WR could have done.
  
  Wow. He’s a dead man.
Steinbrenner’s Ghost

NBC Nightly News ?@nbcnightlynews 3h

If Alex Rodriguez doesn’t settle with @MLB, he will be given a lifetime suspension, source tells @NBCSports http://nbcnews.to/19y0pAc
RetroRob

ESPN, way to not even show the umpires’ ruling on the non-HR ball.
Steinbrenner’s Ghost

Cecil Hurt ?@CecilHurt 54m

Pete Rose just bet me that A-Rod won’t get a lifetime ban.
- Former ACE MannyGeee
  
  Hehehe… Clever
nycsportzfan

If the Yanks can get Granderson back this weekend and Jeter and Soriano stay healthy, then they have enough fire power to get to the postseason. Adding Jeter, Granderson, and Soriano is no small feat. Sure, i’d of loved to added Michael Morse to those 3, but its still a solid 3 to add. I’d continue to play Romine, and i’d also put Nunez at 3rd base fulltime, because i think his bat is potentially the most potent outta the other guys. Nunez can smack it to the gaps and has blazing speed on the bases. Given AB’s, he can hit 280ba with some speed, and spray linedrives all over the place. Give Romine and Nunez some AB’s, and see what they can do with em, on top of the other guys.
- Former ACE MannyGeee
  
  I will agree that while Nunez’ bat has been suspect this season, he has shown signs of life lately. And also, he is a terror on the base paths. I can sign off on Nunie being the guy until they dig up Youk’s corpse
Steinbrenner’s Ghost

AUGUST 24, 1989

“The banishment for life of Pete Rose from baseball is the sad end of a sorry episode. One of the game’s greatest players has engaged in a variety of acts which have stained the game, and he must now live with the consequences of those acts.”

“Let no one think that it did not hurt baseball. That hurt will pass, however, as the great glory of the game asserts itself and a resilient institution goes forward. Let it also be clear that no individual is superior to the game.”

Bart Giamatti
Now Batting

Eric Chavez and Raul Ibanez. Heh.
Commenter From Only the Immediate Future

It’s a purely procedural move. Everyone gets put through waivers. Relax.
Eddard

And Alex won’t be able to appeal that lifetime ban. Win win for the Yanks as they’ll get to recoup that contract. The only option at 3rd for the rest of this season is Eduardo Nuney. He’s played there before, his bat is wasting away on the bench. They need offense and Nix isn’t going to do anything.
Commenter From Only the Immediate Future

That’s not how waiver claims work.
EndlessJose

Carlos Pena released. The Yankees should sign him right?Getting tired of seeing Nix’s and Well’s in the lineup.
- AC
  
  I agree just posted after you. I say sign him to replace Hafner. Nothing to lose.
  - Former ACE MannyGeee
    
    Could use a 1B/DH with pop. that said, some would tell you that he would complete the ‘2004 All Star Team Collector Set’… But fuck it. See if he’s got anything left in the tank.
    - OldYanksFan
      
      Carlos Pena:
      2012: .197 .330 .354 .684
      2013: .209 .324 .350 .674
      Tank….. empty!
      - CashmanSuxShit
        
        And that’s significantly better than most of Cashman’s dumpster shit lineup.
AC

Carlos Pena has been DFA by Astros. How about him to replace Hafner. Hafner is injury and looks shot. Pena can play 1b even though we need a rt handed 1b to spell Overbay against lefties. Might be worth a look though. Kevin Long knows Pena from years back in minor leagues. Maybe it’s worth a flyer. Nothing to lose.
Commenter From Only the Immediate Future

And you were the one clamoring for the Yanks to sign Carlos Pena, Eddard. How’s your boy doing now?
Hall and Nokes

If only we could go back in time and tell the 2012 Yankee front office that they wouldn’t have to pay Alex a dime in 2014 or possibly thereafter.
- Oy
  
  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves…https://twitter.com/TJQuinnESPN/status/362734327978659841
  
  I’m guessing that they’ll compromise on the rest of this year and 2014.
  - Robinson Tilapia
    
    Just make it stooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooopppppp
    - Oy
      
      It won’t stop. I heard there’ll be a one hour special on 9 PM this Friday on ESPN, regarding Selig’s decision. Then, we’ll have A-Rod’s team make their statements on CNN.
      
      Finally, A&E has already booked two seasons of “Keeping up with Rodriguez Dynasty”.
Frank

Nice pitching matchup Sunday- Hughes vs. Kennedy.
- forensic
  
  Very unhappy that one of the games I’m going to ends up having Hughes pitching it.
- Former ACE MannyGeee
  
  And Joba will come out of the stands with a mask and a folding chair….
Steinbrenner’s Ghost

ARod makes the cover of SI and it ain’t pretty

http://sports.cbsimg.net/images/visual/whatshot/A-Rod-cover-SI-073013.jpg
- Former ACE MannyGeee
  
  Seems dramatic, no?
  - The Big City of Dreams
    
    Word is he dying
Brian Cashman

Michael Young for Claiborne and Mason Williams.

Would you have done that trade?

No?

Well, shut the fuck up because that’s what Amaro wanted.

That was after I talked him down from Claiborne, Williams AND Sanchez.

Seriously, people, you have no idea what’s going on. Yes, I would have liked to get a bat, but no I’m not going to mortgage the future. It has nothing to do with waving the white flag. You have to do a deal that you think is reasonable. There were none out there.

I’m not done trying.
- CashmanSuxShit
  
  F*ck off, “Brian,” you worthless pile of dog shit!
  
  That the Yankees are even in this situation is more than enough reason for your incompetent ass to have been fired! Nevermind all the pathetic contract “mistakes” you’ve made.
  
  Just be happy Hal doesn’t give a shit and go on back to your busy schedule of writing blackmail checks and lining up fake ID’s for all those back-alley abortions for you psycho hooker “girlfriends.”
- CashmanSuxShit
  
  PS. Hey Brian, you worthless shitbag! Kei Igawa just called and would like you to give him another $46 million!
  - jjyank
    
    Somebody needs a nap.
  - fat jeter
    
    I hate to ruin your fun, but I don’t think its really Cashman.
    - CashmanSuxShit
      
      No kidding? Why do u think I put “Brian” in quotation marks?
Giddyup

What is it with Girardi and Nix? He loves that guy for some crazy reason
- CashmanSuxShit
  
  What choice does he have? Most of the roster is shit Brian Cashman scraped out of the bottom of a dumpster.
Joe Girardi

When I see Jayson Nix out there, I see myself.
nycsportzfan

So if AROD is suspended the rest of this yr and next, will we be bigger players in FA’cy? That would give us what, 30million extra bucks, so to speak? Actually, i’ll add what if we don’t resign cano also?

What kinda crop of players could we come away with in FA’cy? I’d love to see if we could get Garza on a 5yr type deal, and maybe Tim Hudson on a 1or2 yr deal and bring Kuroda back for a season.
- Oy
  
  Yes. We’ll get Placido Polanco. Maybe Juan Uribe if Cano leaves too.
nycsportzfan

Why in the world would joe not go with Nunez and Romine tonight? Against a lefty, go with a couple younger kids who in romines case, has gotten somewhat hot hitting ex base hits lately(when in there), and Nunez, who has hit 280BA before, and can spray linedrives, and has amazing speed on the bases?? I’d much rather go Nunez and Romine over Stewart and Nix.
- SeventhAce
  
  Because saying “Stewie” and “Nixie” is cuter than saying “Nunie” and whatever the hell he calls Romine.
JLC 776

Hey everybody, Buck Showalter is really pissed off!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/07/31/buck-showalter-alex-rodriguez-lifetime-ban-biogenesis/2606313/
- Bo Knows
  
  Buck can seriously fo guck himself.
- jim p
  
  If only he’d put this in writing, make a real guarantee.
  
  “If they can reset, they can spend again and I guarantee you in two years Matt Wieters is in New York.”
  - fat jeter
    
    Way to get behind the front office in Baltimore, Buck!
    - BFDeal
      
      This means Baltimore’s front office is fractured!
      
      Cashman failed.
forensic

Screw you, Oliver Perez!

That is all.
jedua

acording to @Enrique_Rojas1 there will be a 100 game suspension to A-rod.

Con 100 juegos, MLB mandará mensaje que quiere y evita arbitraje que NO HAY FORMA DE GANAR. A-Rod volvería en junio ´14

With 100 games, MLB will send a message, that it wants to avoid the arbiter. THE IS NO WAY OF WINNING. A-Rod will return in June ’14

i really don’t trust Enrique Rojas in fact i dislike him very much but he is the first one with this information