A tip of the ol’ RAB hat goes out to longtime reader Joey H. on this one. Make sure you check out his radio show, which you can find here.
I so can not wait to get in that place. You can check out a CitiField version here.
by Mike 15 Comments
Over at The Hardball Times, John Walsh analyzed the outfield arms across baseball. He uses a rigorous methodology which you can read about at THT to come up with a metric that “represent[s] the number of runs that an average fielder would save playing half his games in [his team’s home] park.” The numbers for the 2008 Yanks were not pretty. Bobby Abreu and Johnny Damon cost the Yanks -9.7 below average, and while Melky’s center field contributions were positive, his 3.0 runs saved above average mark couldn’t counteract the corners. Xavier Nady, splitting time between two teams, put up a 4.4 positive contribution. It will be interesting to see how the seemingly revamped Yankee outfield does in 2009, and these numbers don’t make a strong case for Damon in the outfield.
by Mike 136 Comments
Via MLBTR, Freddy Garcia chose to sign with the Mets over the Yanks. It’s a minor league deal apparently, but he could earn up to $9M in incentives. I can understand why Garcia made the decision he did, he’ll have a much better chance of sticking with the big league club with the boys in Queens.
Oh, to be in Tom Kaminski’s chopper as he flies past Yankee Stadium. (Photo courtesy of WCBS 880 AM)
Tomorrow is moving day for the Yankees. As the AP reported earlier today, the Yanks are, after 86 seasons, packing up and heading to a new ballpark.
On Friday, all but a few Front Office departments will begin the task of setting up new offices and a new home on the north side of 161st St. Except for the clubhouse staff, IT, the ticket office and the main switchboard, the rest of the Yankee crew will be start life in New York Stadium. Everyone else will join them on Feb. 27.
Meanwhile, in Queens, Shea Stadium seems to be mostly demolished with just half of the donut left. We’re still awaiting word from the Yanks about stadium memorabilia sales. Meanwhile, some of the Shea faithful want to see the Mets sign Andy Pettitte.
Anyway, this is your open thread for the evening. You know the drill. Play nice.
For the folks who think MLB’s own steroid investigation was about as ethical as the players’ alleged drug use, comes this tale of fishing, courtesy of Ken Davidoff. On more than one occasion, it seems as though George Mitchell and his team of investigators tried to catch a big fish by feeding subjects some names. While this hardly clears anyone named in the Mitchell Report, it certainly casts further doubts on the validity of this entire exercise. Maybe Mark McGwire was right after all when he told Congress he wasn’t there to talk about the past. It’s all just very murky water under the bridge.
About an hour after I asked which teams can afford to sign a free agent, Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated provided his own take on the situation. Except his is a bit more inclusive. The only team which shows up on my list but not his is the White Sox, though I think he underestimates Ken Williams’s penchant for sneaking in a deal. All told, he thinks half the teams in baseball can afford another “big deal or two”: Dodgers, Giants, Mets, Brewers, Braves, A’s, Cubs, Red Sox, Angels, Nationals, Orioles, Yankees, Twins, Rangers, Mariners.
I guess “big deal” is a relative term. I’m still skeptical that the Mariners, Rangers, Twins, or Orioles will add more than $5 million in 2009 payroll. The Nats might be willing to add more, but will it really help them compete in the stacked NL East? Still, I think most of these teams are out on the guys we ran down in today’s RAB Radio Show.
A couple of other Yankee-related notes from Heyman:
I apologize in advance for some audio issues about 2/3 of the way into the show. We’re working to get these issues resolved, but a big part of it is Time Warner. Bear with us, and we’ll certainly improve on that aspect.
Arbitration is the big story. Like Ben, we lament Melky Cabrera’s settlement. How could his agent have thought he was worth $1.7 million? I don’t see the argument here. The Yankees caved, though, and that’s all that matters. Here’s to hoping for bigger things from the Melk Man in 2009.
The subject quickly changes to free agency, as we note that there are many free agents remaining for just a few teams. Where are guys like Orlando Hudson and Adam Dunn going to land? Mike and I run down the Type As and bigger-name Type Bs remaining. We have a few guesses for most, but one has us stumped.
Then it’s onto reader Q & A. We got some good ones this week. Hopefully next week we’ll be able to take some live callers.
Onto the podcast. It is available in a number of formats. You can download it here by right clicking on that link and selecting Save As. If you want to play it in your browser, just left click the link. You can also subscribe to the podcast feed, which will send it to you every Thursday. You can also subscribe in iTunes. Finally, we have the embedded audio player below.
[audio:http://riveraveblues.com/podcasts/RABRadioShow12209.mp3]We appreciate any feedback. You can leave it in the comments or email either of us.