River Avenue Blues

Jays’ Glaus received anabolic steroids

by 13 Comments

Man, when this steroid news comes, it comes in waves. I woke up this morning to hear that Rick Ankiel was connected to HGH. The news saddened me, as it did much of the baseball world. Ankiel’s story is unique, and save for Cubs fans, nearly everyone has wished him the best in his comeback. I’m not quite sure how this will affect his future, but since the drug wasn’t banned at the time Ankiel was linked to it, he could walk away with little or no penalty.

Troy Glaus surely won’t get off that easy. The Blue Jays slugger has been linked to performance enhancing drugs. This wasn’t HGH like Ankiel — which, incidentally, might not enhance one’s ability to play baseball much. Rather, Glaus has been linked to nandrolone and testosterone, both anabolic steroids, both banned by baseball at the time they were shipped to Glaus: September 2003 and May 2004.

Glaus’s 2003 campaign ended in late July as he suffered from shoulder woes. He came back for the beginning of the 2004 season and tore the cover off the ball, keeping his OPS healthily above 1.000 until he went down again in mid-May, missing most of the next three and a half months, returning in late August.

So let’s recap. Glaus has season-ending surgery in July ’03. So you figure he started rehabbing in, oh, I don’t know, September. Then he suffers another injury in May of ’04. What were those shipment dates again?

Now, the Sports Illustrated article assures us that they can only confirm that the steroids were shipped to Glaus’s home, not that he actually took them. Whew! Sigh of relief. You know, because I know plenty of meatheads who buy steroids all the time and don’t use them. The syringes make great wall decorations, and the drugs themselves are great for training your Doberman to kill on command.

So it appears that Glaus was likely on the juice during the Angels’ 2002 World Series run. You know, the one where he knocked three homers against the Yanks? Then again, we have little room to talk. No doubt our resident Juicer shot himself up before knocking two homers off Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.

I’m willing to bet that Selig jumps on this opportunity and attempts to levy a 50-game suspension on Glaus. And we sure as shit know that the players’ union will have a thing or two to say about that.

NoMaas on Brackman

by 4 Comments

NoMaas’ Lane Meyer lays the smack down on all the Brackman haters. His last paragraph sums up everything I’ve been trying to say since he was drafted:

The truth is, none of us know what’s going to happen, and in a vacuum there is every reason to cast doubt on his signing. In reality though, the Yankees weren’t taking Andrew Brackman as the foundation upon which to construct the future, and then building atop and around him with subsequent draft picks. The foundation had already been built, and despite his status as the “first-round pick” Brackman was actually the last addition to the plan; the new wing to a well-built mansion. He is going to be the single most fun prospect to follow in the coming months, regardless of the ultimate outcome of his career. If he fails it’s not because the Yankees made a terrible decision, it is because the flaws that every prospect has prevented him from developing. It is for the same reasons that the majority of first-round picks never amount to anything significant. However if he succeeds…oh man if he succeeds…

Word.

Yanks, with assist from A-Rod, to enjoy record-setting attendance

by 10 Comments

As hard as it is to believe, the Yankees have just one more homestand left in 2007. Only seven games lie between the Yankees and the end of their 81-game home schedule.

We can wax poetic as much as we want about the end of the season and the tight race for a spot in October. But for the Yankees, business is booming. For the seventh year in a row, the Yankees are going to break their single-season attendance record. And they owe it all to Alex Rodriguez.

[Read more…]

How do you make playoff baseball better? Tack on some extra innings of course!

by 8 Comments

Make sure you check out Ben’s post on the team’s ridiculous attendance numbers. Ben’s post on record-setting attendance will go live in a few hours. Check it out then.

Triple-A Scranton (6-4 win over Richmond in 10 innings) best-of-five series is now tied 1-1
Brett Gardner: 0 for 4, 1 R, 1 BB
Jose Cruz Jr. & Angel Chavez: both 2 for 5, 1 K – Cruz Jr. doubled, scored a run & committed a fielding error…Chavez swiped a bag
Bronson Sardinha & Eric Duncan: both 1 for 5, 1 RBI – Sardinha scored a run & K’ed…three times!
Mike Kinkade: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 BB, 2 K
Juan Francia: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
The Ghost of Kei Igawa: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 WP – 57 of 83 pitches were strikes (68.7%)…you know what, he’s pitched pretty damn good for Scranton
Ross Ohlendorf: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 E (throwing) – 20 of 28 pitches were strikes (71.4%)
Ben Kozlowski: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
TJ Beam: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K – no Brower, no Britton, no Edwar, no Veras…say hello to your postseason closer

[Read more…]

Hughes not as good as we believed?

by 25 Comments

RAB favorite Keith Law has a new blog post today. And guess what? It has to do with Phil Hughes!

It’s not what you think, though. He wasn’t as impressed as us, claiming that the 21-year-old’s curveball didn’t have much bite, that he didn’t use his slider enough, and that his 89-93 mph fastball just isn’t going to cut it. He does make one concession:

Why is Hughes’ stuff down? One possibility is that his left leg is still causing him trouble…it looked like he was babying that leg rather than landing firmly and pushing off that leg as he drives through his delivery.

I always wondered why some guys don’t use their plant leg to generate more force on the ball. I guess it’s what works for them, but if what works for Hughes is the use of his plant leg, it could certainly explain his disappointing outings. I’d love to verify this through video, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to find a third-base-side shot from last year. The MLB.tv archives probably have a side-view shot of him during the Texas game, so if I come upon some time I’ll take a look.

Update by Ben: I want to add something here. I watched last night’s game from the third base side of the Tier Boxes, and I tried to pay attention to Hughes’ leg kick and delivery. He definitely has shortened his stride since the Texas outing, and I don’t think he’s generating enough power from his legs as he should.

As for the “why” bit of this, I think he’s tentative. He’s still concerned that he’ll pop his hamstring if he takes a long stride and really drives forward on his legs. As Joe said to me earlier today, what 21 year old hasn’t had some confidence issues? We can all relate.

For Hughes, I would expect a few more good starts and an eventual off-season of rest and healing to restore his confidence. I liked what I saw yesterday; he went about establishing the location on his fastball in the best fashion I’ve seen since the Texas game. But he is 21, and he will struggle. It may be the leg kick; it may be growing pains. But he’s still Phil Hughes, and he’s going to be huge.

2007 Minor League Awards

by 19 Comments

So there we have it, another riveting season of minor league baseball is in the books. It’s great to look at the affiliate rosters and see the number of older, non-prospect roster-filler types going down, especially in the pitching department. The number of guys that exceeded expectations this year is far greater than the number of guys that underperformed, the polar opposite of recent years.

Yankee farmhands were named the Eastern League & Florida State League Pitchers of the Year, Scranton manager Dave Miley took home International League Manager of Year honors, and countless Yankee prospects were named to their league’s year end All-Star club. Eleven total players have made their Major League debut for the Yankees this year (so far), 9 of which were direct products of the farm system.

Keep in mind that this isn’t some kind of best prospect list, it’s a recognition of the guys who had great years, regardless of prospect status. In an effort to keep things fresh, I deemed the guy who won the Player of the Year Award ineligible for the Pitcher/Hitter of the Year Awards.

[Read more…]