My email/blog that goes out. Last year when everyone else was jumping off the cliff, I said the numbers showed that they were just unlucky and the wins would start to happen and they should make the playoffs. I also defended Abreu when everyone thought he was done...
Anyway, let me know if you would rather me post these in another thread?
Blog #1
I hope everyone enjoyed the off-season and had as much fun as I did watching the NY Giants take home the Super Bowl Trophy.
Here is hoping the Yankees get a taste this year!
A couple of housekeeping items. I would like to blind copy everyone so please make sure you can receive emails form me, otherwise I will have to post your email for all to see. That may be fine with you but sometimes people respond to all and I know some of you don't want excess emails. Be considerate to others if you are responding to all. I would recommend responding to me and I will try and incorporate any questions in upcoming blogs.
Remember, this is a casual format where a stream of consciousness is more the way I write...I usually don't even proof read so if my grammar is off somewhere, tough, I am more concerned with getting my thoughts down in between my incredibly busy schedule.
To kick things off, I wanted to forward an article about Don Mattingly. The main take away for me was that Mattingly would have kept playing if he didn't feel the need to be a larger part of his kids lives. Something tells me his wife being a little loco made him feel he needed to be part of their upbringing otherwise they might lean that way as well. Here's to you Donnie baseball!
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball..._hopeful-2.html
A bunch of topics as we look forward to March 31st when the games mean something.
Johan Santana - should we have pulled the trigger on him?
Not to take a copout here (and most of you know that I rarely do), but I don't have enough information to make a good decision. My take was that if you are the Yankees you go out and get the best at a position and prior to last year Santana was just that. My first impression was to do the deal (Obviously I would have tried to do it without Hughes) and send Hughes, Melky and a minor leaguer for Santana. However, I softened after reading reports that Hughes was not 100% after his hamstring injury and it took 4-5 MPH off his fastball. If this is true (and I am not sure what Hughes normally throws) and Hughes hits 94-95 rather than 90 then I would NOT have done the deal. Hughes has excellent other pitches to go along with the good fastball and in this case, I would have kept Hughes. Also, Santana did have a tough 2nd half last year with an ERA of 4.04. I would think that was an aberration, but it does give you pause. Overall, I am fine with the Yankees holding onto Hughes if he can throw 94. After seeing what the Mets gave up, I am shocked the Yanks couldn't have cut the deal with Kennedy though. The Mets did great and Santana will do extremely well there.
Chip off the old block
Isn't it amazing how many quotes are coming out of Hank Steinbrenner? I wish he would just shut the heck up. All his yapping only put the Yanks in a worse position in any trade attempt with Santana and his stupid ultimatums did the same. Just shut the heck up and be professional. On top of that, he obviously doesn't know how to negotiate at all (see next bullet point)
Did the Yankees overpay for ARod
Without question YES. As many of you know, I am a big ARod fan and he is the type of player (best at his position) the Yanks should acquire and then fill in with home grown talent. But, after the entire issue where ARod came to the Yanks, Hank had a HUGE negotiating advantage. You know that ARod wanted to play for the Yanks and he knew the Yanks could pay him at least as much as anyone else. The Yanks held all the cards and after losing the $21 mil that Texas would have paid that number should have come off the top after a deal was negotiated. If you remember last year I said that there was NO way he would be getting $32 mil a year as most people had predicted. As it turned out the Yanks gave him about $27 mil a year plus the incentives for breaking the HR record. IMO, the Yanks could have easily paid him $27 mil a year INCLUDING the incentives. There was no other team who would have given him that much so it really made no sense. Yeah, I know it is not money, but I believe that any money wasted could always be used to get another useful player on the team. The Yanks don't spend on every guy who is better so money DOES matter. Yankees got their man but blew a lot of money in the process.
What are your thoughts about Clemens?
I have a similar view of Clemens as I had with Bill Clinton. I have no idea why either of them had to testify and why people made a big deal about things that don't mean very much. I mean, if the President needs to "get off" to do his job better then let him do what he wants and let his wife deal with any issues. If Clemens was cheating, along with MANY other guys, it is in the past and baseball and the players union are as much to blame as anyone else as they simply looked the other way. I would focus only on moving forward and making the testing and the penalties heavy and severe. BTW, once under oath, both Clemens and Clinton (or anyone else) should tell the truth and if they don't they should be punished.
What will happen this upcoming year?
I think the Yankees will be slightly better than last year. I think their starting pitching should be better and the lineup should be about the same. 93-96 wins seems in line even if they are a better team. Baltimore should be worse, Toronto about the same and TB should be better (most improved team in wins IMO). Boston, should be solid once again. As you know I am a huge fan, but I am not a homer when it comes to my predictions, but I think the Yanks should be the favorite to win the division. Last year, I was one of the only people I could find telling everyone that the Yanks were much better than their record indicated. I stood behind Abreu when everyone thought he was shot and I gave reasons why the yanks would turn it around...it all happened. Of course, once you get to the playoffs, having dominant 1-2 starters is huge plus and it is a crap shoot in a short series.
Here are my views of the Yankee starting players for this year compared to last: I am assuming normal health and looking at OPS to decide better or worse.
Posada - at 35 Posada had perhaps his best year so while I would not expect him to have the same year (in fact he should have the largest drop off of any Yankee) the fact that guys are having great years at an older age does make age a little less of a concern, but, a catcher rarely does this well this late in his career. LY 969 OPS, I would hope he keeps his OPS above 869 and that would be good.
Abreu - had a very solid 2nd half and my money is that his overall numbers will be better next year. LY 814 OPS, but a 918 2nd half bodes well for him to have an increase in his OPS of about 50 points
Matsui - had a bad start as well, but overall I would expect him to be similar in numbers.
Jeter - Was banged up all year long (he said the most little injuries he ever had) and I would expect his numbers to be about the same
Giambi - Not much of a factor, but numbers slightly worse is a reasonable expectation. I would not be surprised if Giambi did better though.
ARod - Have to assume a drop off from the great year, but not significant.
Cano - I see Cano having a better year. If his discipline gets better he could be amazing. I am real excited to see what Cano's ceiling is. LY 841 OPS, 2nd half .953 OPS shows what he is capable of. I really think he could put up a 900 OPS.
Melky - I would expect an uptick in power to make his overall numbers a little better. His weakness from the right side of the plate is discouraging. I soured on Melky as the year went on, but I hope he can take the next step. If he can it would be a huge plus for the Yanks. Unfortunately, I don't see the upside anywhere close to Cano's. I also don't think he has the speed to be a solid defensive CF'r...even with his strong and accurate arm (that he takes too long to release)...
Damon - had a big drop off last year, but I don't see him getting worse this year, in fact I would say a slight uptick would make sense
Shelly Duncan can help the team against lefties off the bench, along with Ensberg and maybe Betemit.
The major weakness I see the Yankees have is no lefty specialist in the pen. The rest of the pen I am OK with. I think on top of Rivera, Joba (for now) and Farnsworth, I think there are some good arms between Hawkins (unsure), Brian Bruney (liked his stuff and felt like Torre misused him last year if you remember), Ross Ohlendorf, Chris Britton, Jose Veras and "Starvin Marvin" (Edwar Ramirez). Hopefully Eiland can harness them and they can throw strikes. BTW, I am not sure if Hawkins will be better than some of these guys or not. He has not pitched well of late, but they said they found a mechanical issue in his motion? As I see more I will give you my thoughts.
That is enough for now.
Take care!
I couldnt believe he said that.
What has he done wrong?
Girardi made it Moose's decision on whether or not to face Manny. That's a cardinal sin for a manager. Torre never would have given Mussina the option.
