Here’s a fun little story that trickled into my Inbox via Google News last night: T-shirt sales for CC Sabathia are far exceeding the usual demand for player t-shirts. According to Crain’s New York, local stores including Modell’s and the Yankee Clubhouse stores have sold out Sabathia shirts three times over. I don’t have a CC shirt yet. I think I’m going to wait for the Teixeira 25 ones to hit.
Metro-North sets pricing for Yankee Stadium stop
When the new Yankee Stadium Metro-North station opens in a few weeks, thousands of Yankee fans will eschew the pleasures of parking, traffic jams, gas prices and toll fares for the relative comfort of commuter rail cars. Recently, the MTA unveiled the pricing schemes for game-day service to and from the new station stop. While schedule information is not yet available, Second Ave. Sagas has the latest on the fares. Briefly, tickets will cost a dollar more than regular service to Grand Central. That’s not too bad.
Filling the starting void with a familiar face
By most accounts, the Yankees could use a back-end starter who can eat innings in 2009. While they have CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Ching-Ming Wang up front, having two of Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Al Aceves, Ian Kenned, Phil Coke, Chase Wright and any other youngster the Yanks trot out there fill up 70 starts while pitching the Yanks toward a playoff berth may be a tall order.
To that end, there’s a certainly a reason to bring Andy Pettitte back into the fold this year, but that soap opera has seemingly reached a stalemate. Pettitte doesn’t want to take a $6-million pay cut, and the Yanks don’t want to sign a pitcher turning 37-year-old in June and coming off his worst season of his career to a lofty contract. I don’t blame them.
In the meantime, the Yanks have alternatives. Derek Lowe remains unsigned. He, however, wants a few years and $15 million per before affixing his John Hancock to a contract. Ben Sheets is still unsigned as well, but teams have concerns about his health.
There is another pitcher out there, also 37 and coming off his worst season. As John Garica notes, Pedro Martinez could be an intriguing option for the Yanks. It’s not as outlandish as it sounds.
Last season was not one of Pedro’s finest. He was coming off of major arm surgery and got lit up. He threw 109 innings in the NL and gave up 127 hits, 19 of which were home runs. He walked 44 and struck out 87, his worst K/BB ratio since 1993. Over his final 40 innings of 2008, opponents hit .321/.379/.500 off of the former Cy Younger winner (while striking out 38 times). No matter how you slice or dice it, those are ugly numbers.
So Pedro is looking to rebound in 2008. Maybe he’s the guy the Yankees need in the back end. He could be their John Smoltz, a low-risk, high-reward type of signing. Considering that the only Pedro rumors this off-season were either his own desire to return to New York and some quickly quashed Marlins rumors, I would think that the Yanks could swoop in and sign Pedro for a low base salary with incentives.
It might not be the answer to the innings gap, but the Yanks don’t have much — other than money — to lose. Pedro could make some starts, and if he’s healthy, he’ll fill that 4/5 whole in the rotation. If not, the Yanks seem ready to rely on the kids anyway. And, hey, then maybe we could all go back to wearing these shirts again. Crazier things have happened.
Checking in on Brackman, Cox, Sanchez, Melancon
If you keep up with the Yanks minor league system, you’re probably up to date on the group of pitchers coming off elbow surgery. In case you’re not, Lisa Winston has an update at the official site on Andrew Brackman, Humberto Sanchez, Mark Melancon, and J.B. Cox.
First up, Mark Newman talks up Brackman and Cox.
On Brackman:
“His velocity was between 94-97 [mph], so he had no problems and he’s ready to go for Major League camp,” said Mark Newman, the Yankees’ senior vice president of baseball operations. “His stuff is outstanding, and he’s getting a feel for his delivery and throwing strikes. But first and foremost, he was healthy and, at times, dominant.”
…
“The benefits are the power and deception because the ball is released closer to the plate,” Newman explained. “But the downside is you have long levers to manage, and it takes time. There aren’t many of those guys in the environment to use as test cases, but most people believe that taller guys take a little longer to get their command.”
I’m stoked to watch Brackman work through the season. He hasn’t pitched a season nearly as long as that of High-A Tampa, which is where Mike thinks he’ll start out. I’m guessing he’ll throw something around 100 innings before shutting it down.
Bonus: The Yanks beat some long odds in drafting Brackman.
On Cox:
“He’s fine,” Newman said. “He’s just been out for a year and got to the point in terms of his innings where we didn’t want to overload him. We consider those guys ‘rehabs’ for a full year.”
What I find strangest about Cox is that no team took him in the Rule 5 draft. The Padres took freaking Ian Nova. He’s two years out of elbow surgery, so there aren’t any excuses this year. Here’s to a healthy 2008 for J. Brent.
Humberto Sanchez on himself:
“I feel pretty good, but honestly, I forgot what 100 percent feels like,” he joked from Arizona, where he was enjoying a few hours off watching his beloved New York Giants. “I feel as good as I can going into Spring Training, and being out here has helped a lot. Along with the conditioning and fitness work, we’ve also been doing what we call ‘prehab’ to try to prevent injuries.”
Humberto was pretty damn terrible in the AzFL. He issued 11 walks, gave up 21 hits, and allowed 16 earned runs in just 12 innings. Oh yeah, and just four strikeouts. He has plenty to prove this year. It looks like the Yanks have already moved him to the bullpen, but I think you have to give him this one last chance to head into the season as a starter.
On Melancon:
Winston provided no quotes on Mark Melancon, but she paid him a higher compliment. After rattling off his ridiculously awesome 2008 stats, she says this of the righty reliever:
But whether he starts the spring in New York or in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Melancon is probably the Yankees’ most promising heir to the throne of Mariano Rivera, both thanks to his stuff and his mound makeup.
Damn. Most promising heir to Mo. Talk about setting expectations high. Not that she’s wrong. Of all the relievers on the farm, Melancon is the most poised to make an impact. But the heir to Mo? Damn. Is that even possible to live up to?
Straight from the horse’s mouth
As the Andy Pettitte stalemate continues, YanksBlog.com checks in with a damning quote from the lefty. In a Sept. 10 Times article, Pettitte had some interesting things to say about his then-impending free agency. “Obviously anyone else would say, ‘I’ll go wherever I want to,’ because people want to try to get the most money,” Pettitte said to Tyler Kepner. “But, I mean, I’m not going anywhere, you know what I’m saying? The Yankees know me enough, it’s not like I’m going to hold out. I guess if I had spent all my money or whatever, it might be different. But it’s not about that, really, anymore.” Those words and his actions this winter speak for themselves.
Open Thread: Startin’ hot (or cold)
Last week during his press conference Mark Teixeira said something that caught my attention. He said that as a switch hitter, it takes him longer to get going because he basically has two swings to find during Spring Training, and has to put twice as much work in. It makes perfect sense, but I had never really thought about it like that.
Anyway, that got to me wondering how other players on the team have hit in April compared to the rest of the season during their careers. So, without further adieu…
Jorge Posada, C
April: .280-.371-.502
Rest of Season: .276-.381-.472
Mark Teixeira, 1B
April: .256-.346-.442
Rest of Season: .295-.383-.558
Robinson Cano, 2B
April: .237-.282-.328 (not so funny now, huh Robbie?)
Rest of Season: .311-.341-.488
Derek Jeter, SS
April: .306-.386-.441
Rest of Season: .318-.383-.461
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
April: .311-.391-.611
Rest of Season: .305-.388-.572
Johnny Damon, OF
April: .273-.344-.410
Rest of Season: .291-.354-.439
Xavier Nady, OF
April: .285-.341-.493
Rest of Season: .279-.332-.450
Nick Swisher, OF
April: .253-.370-.481
Rest of Season: .242-.351-.446
Hideki Matsui, DH
April: .268-.363-.416
Rest of Season: .300-.372-.491
I went with Swisher over Brett Gardner/Melky Cabrera in the third outfield spot just because he has a much bigger data sample, that’s all. Feel free to draw your own conclusions from this, there’s not really much of a point to it. Just FYI, I suppose.
Oh, and use this as your open thread for tonight. The Steelers are leading the Bolts, and all local teams are off except the Devils, who are out on the west coast. The season premiere of 24 starts at 8pm, don’t miss it. Talk about whatever, just be nice to each other.
RAB at Newsday: Nady or Swisher?
Newsday beat writer Kat O’Brien is headed out on vacation, getting in some R&R before the start of Spring Training. The crew at Newsday invited us to take over her blog for the next two weeks, and we’re honored to do so again. Today I took at how Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady matchup, concluding that if the Yanks do decide to deal one of their extra outfielders, Nady should be one packing his bags. Check it out.