Just When Things Are Turning Around……

1 year ago today, Bobby Abreu was entering spring training for the Philadelphia Phillies, and once again expectations were high for him to be the team leader that would finally get them into the postseason after a long absence.  It would only be a few months later that Abreu would be sent to the New York Yankees for next to nothing and finally not have to be the top dog with all eyes on him.

Abreu succeeded with flying colors, batting .330 with a .419 OBP and slugged over .500 in 58 games with the Yanks, including being an intergral part of a 5-game sweep of rival Boston Red Sox in August and leading them to another AL East Title.  Despite an embarassing loss to the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS, Abreu still managed a .333 AVG and .412 OBP in 5 games, better than what most of his teammates could claim.

Look at that picture above, Abreu doesn’t have to worry about being top dog and look how happy he appears!  He even mentioned it a couple of days ago.

Now after all that Abreu has strained his right oblique and will miss 2-3 weeks, in all likelihood putting him out of action for most of spring training.  Damn.  Just when he was getting used to his teammates and atmosphere.  I mean, losing Carl Pavano is one thing, because its not like anyone enjoyed his company (or lack thereof) anyway, but losing Bobby to injury is not something to ignore, even if it is only February.

Here’s to a speedy recovery so I can see more of this come April:

“Pavano Is Iron Man”

I could just imagine the riff the famous Black Sabbath song, replacing “I” at the beginning with “Pavano.”  It would only make sense.

After an entire season off due to injuries, Yankees starting pitcher Carl Pavano has found himself in familiar territory after injuring his foot during batting practice while in spring training.  I wonder if Torre hit Pavano in the foot on purpose after all the years of suffering and annoyance he’s caused the franchise.  I would.

I like to think that Mr. Pavano is the modern-day Iron Man, seen above flying above the New York City skyline, laughing as he collects his $39.95 million contract.  The guy hasn’t had to do anything for over a year now to the dismay of his teammates, and he doesn’t even care.  Though I guess I wouldn’t if I slept on top of a pile of money with Alyssa Milano either.

And hey, look on the bright side, Pavano led the Yankees last season with a 0.00 ERA and 0 walks and 0 home runs.  Sure he had trouble striking out batters with 0 strikeouts, but in the end he did get every batter he faced out, all zero of them!

Kudos to Pavano, when its all said and done his name will be synonomous with the likes of Gehrig and Ripken, because he’ll always be brought up in the conversation that asks “who was the opposite of those two legends?”

If I Were Derek Jeter, I would kill Arod right now….

…after a quick makeout session with Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, or any of the other fine ladies the captain has been linked too.  Unfortunately all the celeb hook-ups in the world will not be able to undo the damage left by Alex Rodriguez’s quote:

“The reality is there’s been a change in the relationship of 14 years and, hopefully, we can just put it behind us. You go from sleeping over at somebody’s house five days a week, and now you don’t sleep over. It’s just not that big of a deal.”

Ugh, how embarassing.  Now all the Yankee-haters once again have a leg to stand on.  Just because Alex Rodriguez isn’t a good public speaker.  Sleep overs?  Come on now, seriously, who has sleep overs.  Such a comment is ripe for parody, I still can’t get over it.  Arod might have well had said that he and Derek’s relationship wasn’t the same after he professed his love to him and in turn it was rejected.  I mean, that’s the same reason that rift was caused in Mike Piazza’s and Fred Wilpon’s relationship (ouch)!

Derek responded basically saying he doesn’t care and they root for each other when on the field and that’s all that matters.  He is 100% correct.  This is your job, you don’t have to like everyone, but you should all share a common goal and strive to achieve it.  Should you fail, for whatever the reason (like being a crybaby), you get fired.  Simple as that.

At least Arod does have his moments, like this Grand Slam off the Mets.

arod hitting a grand slam off the Mets…pffft!

Bernie Is Moving out for This?

That of course is the now famous picture of Melky Cabrera robbing Manny Ramirez of what would have been a sure thing home run.  They say every Yankee has that moment when they become a “true Yankee”, well for Melky, less than a season under his belt in pinstripes, that may have been it.

With no room for the 5th outfielder, the Yankees have elected to use the 4th spot on Cabrera instead of Yankee legend Bernie Williams, once again leaving us with the adage “out with the old, in with the new.”  Yet, there are still some naysayers on Melky and I’d like to prove that there could be a very good left fielder brewing here.

First Point: According to The Bill James Handbook, Melky was the 20th best baserunner in the MLB, in front of popular choice Derek Jeter.  This was based on his ability to get to

1. First from third on a single

2.Scoring from second on a single

3.Scoring from first on a double

4.Bases taken (usually from defensive lapses)

5.Baserunning outs

6.Runs scored as a percentage of times on base

Second Point: That same book (done by the expert of experts) ranked Melky the 4th best left-fielder in the MLB as well.  Not only did Melky tie for the AL lead in outfield assists with one heck of an arm, but he has decent range as well.

So Melky can run and field, but can he play solid offense?  You tell me:

.280 AVG .360 OBP and had 13 win shares last season, on par with players such as Hank Blalock, Milton Bradley, and Moises Alou.  Not bad for a 22-year old that was never a highly touted prospect.

Melky should see more playing time this season and hopefull will provide the Yankees with some of that spark that helped lead them to the AL East crown.  Side note: that same spark was later removed with the return of Gary Sheffield and the benching of Cabrera, leading to the disaster that was the 2006 ALDS 

Arod Acts Like a Big Boy

Alex Rodriguez finally, after years and years of speculation, commented on his flailing relationship with Yankee captain Derek Jeter.

“People start assuming that things are a lot worse than what they are, which they’re not. But they’re obviously not as great as they used to be. We were like blood brothers,” Rodriguez said.

Well, I’m glad Alex Rodriguez stopped acting like a crybaby.  All his struggles during the regular season and especially in the postseason where he has gone 4 for 41 without an RBI in his last 12 postseason games, that also includes an error as well.  The New York media assumed that Arod’s struggles were in part contributed to a tense relationship with Jeter, and many criticized the captain for not intervening to help Arod along.  Finall Alex has realized that he’s a grown man and doesn’t have to rely on the help of others to do what he is paid to, which is put up great numbers and win a world series.

“I’m a big boy. I’m 31 years old now, so I should be able to help myself out there,” he said. “I care about what he thinks about me on the field. I think it’s important for us to be on the right page. And we are. We’re here to win a championship together.”

This is a huge relief to a Yankee fan such as myself.  These 2 guys getting along, or at least dealing with one another at a respectful level, is imperative for the success of the team.  Whether I’d like to admit or not, the Yankees will not win a world series unless Arod plays at his full potential.

Read the ESPN Article Here 

Here Today, Gone to”MO”rrow

Looks like Yankees pitcher and the greatest closer of all time Mariano Rivera is starting to get a little unhappy.  And why not?  Over a decade of service and Mo might be repaid with an impending free agency at the end of the season.

Mo had another excellent season last year, the Cy Young runner up in 2005 posted a 1.80 ERA with 5:1 K:BB ratio and only giving up 3 home runs while posting 34 saves in 37 chances.  Rivera is currently fourth on the all-time saves list with 413 and is most likely to pass John Franco for third on the list by the end of the 2007 season, the only problem is, it may be his last in Yankee pinstripes.

Rivera wanted a contract extension to be done before the end of spring training, which began on Tuesday for the reliever. Yankees GM Brian Cashman has refused to address the issue as of yet, leaving Mo under the impression that he may have to test the free agent waters at season’s end.

Rivera claims that as a free agent: “Everybody has the same shot. The Yankees will not have an advantage. Everyone will have the same shot.”

It’s early so as a Yankee fan I don’t want to get too worried, but with the closest prospects that could be considered closers a few years away (Kevin Whelan and Mark Melancon fit the closer profile better than prospect JB Cox, which is a whole other post all together) and impending free agent Francisco Rodriguez in all likelihood not coming cheap, there should be no reason why the Yanks should not have Rivera signed up for another 2 seasons, and let him break the all-time saves record in the new Yankee Stadium due to open in 2009.

Here is the link to the Newsday story on Rivera’s situation

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

w  Anyways, the sad yet inevitable news in Yankee land is the departure of long-time Center Fielder and excellent classical guitarist Bernie Williams.

Bernie posted legit numbers in limited time with the Yanks, batting .281 with 12 home runs proving that he can be a legitimate fourth outfielder on most baseball teams.  Unfortunantly, the success of youngster Melky Cabrera has thrust Bernie into the fifth outfielder slot, leaving him in an unfamiliar situation: Either accept a minor league contract or retire.  Bernie insists that he will wait for a garunteed offer from the Yankees, but #51’s days in pinstripes appear to be coming to a close.

As a Yankee fan it is truly ashame, but Bernie’s departure, as with Gerhig, Ruth, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, O’Neill, and soon enough Rivera and Jeter was going to happen whether we like it or not.  Room needs to be made for youngsters such as Cabrera and highly touted prospect Jose Tabata and the older players are the ones who will suffer.

Despite Bernie’s ability to still hit, his power has simply dwindled and his ability to walk and get on-base is not as good as it once was.  His range has also suffered over the years, and he may be the only outfielder in Major League Baseball who has a weaker arm than Yanks current center fielder Johnny Damon.  I’m not knocking Bernie at all, simply acknowledging what is fact.

Bernie will always be remembered as the 4-time world series champion who graced the Yankees center field for the better part of the time period of 1990-2006.  No doubt will the former batting champion be honored in the Yankees hall of fame in Monument Park, and perhaps a Bernie Williams day will be all set for the new stadium opening in 2009 where he will be lined up with all the other greats of the team.

My only hope is he doesn’t end up like many of the other great sporting legends by retiring for a team that doesn’t define who he is.  One such example would be Willie Mays retiring as a New York Met….yuck. 

And besides, he can always go back to playing his guitar

Here is the New York Times Article on the Bernie Williams-Yankees situation

Chien-Ming Wang: Real Deal

Firstly, before I begin my post, I must express some personal disappointment.  Now I as much as anyone else understands that when you are assigned to do something, you either do it, or you will pay the penalty.  That’s life and that’s the way things work.  With that said, I do not appreciate it when someone alludes to laziness and apathy when difficulties arise while attempting to do your work.  And I quote:

“I assigned this almost two weeks ago. I warned not to wait too long to get the interviews done, specifically for this reason.”

Whoever said we waited long to get the interviews done?  We waited long for a response from the athletics department in regards to our inquiry about scheduling interviews.  Feel free to contact Michael Kobylanski and ask him when he was first initially contacted by our group.  If any answer is different than Wednesday, January 31, i’d be very surprised.  So I beg for future reference not to rush to judgment.

Speaking of rushing to judgment, that’s what a lot of people had done with Yankees started Chien-Ming Wang.

After going 8-5 as a rookie in 2005 with an ERA of 4.02, most experts had Wang pegged as a one-year wonder, whose heavy sinker and ground-ball prowess would eventually fail under the weak-ranged defense of the New York Yankees infield (The Yankees ranked 11th in the American League in fielding percentage last season).  But as the 2006 season came to a close, nothing could have been further from the truth.

Wang went 19-6 for the Yanks finishing second in the Cy Young Award voting and tying Cy Young winner Johan Santana for the league lead in wins.  Wang also posted a 3.63 ERA and only gave up 12 home runs in 218.0 innings pitched.  But still Wang gets knocked around for not being a true strikeout pitcher.  But things even out, and I’ll prove it.

1. Wang’s lack of strikeouts are made up for by lack of walks and home runs.  One of my favorite statistics is something called DIPS which stands for Defensive Independent Pitching Statistics.  This stat only focuses on the three stats for a pitcher that has absolutely nothing to do with the players behind them: Strikeouts, Walks, and Home Runs.  Now, Wang does not strikeout many batters, he’s a contact pitcher that relies on groundballs.  DIPS usually favors strikeout pitchers, yet because of Wang’s low walk-rate of 2.15 bb/9 IP and even lower home run rate of .5 hr/9 IP were able to allow him to finish 30th in all of baseball in DIPS with 4.04 (average is 5.00) in a stat he should not even be relevant in.  Impressive.

2. Wang has an inhuman grounball ability.  He had the highest Groundball/Flyball ratio in the AL with 4.10 gb/fb.  He was 2nd in the AL with 33 induced double play groundouts and with 1.36 GIDP per 9 IP.  Wang’s ability to keep leadoff men from getting on is also extremely impressive in preventing runs allowing only a .273 OPB (on base percentage) against them.  Even with a crummy defense behind him, Wang continually allows the opportunities for them to make outs.

There is so much more that we can get into.  Component ERA is a way to guage what a pitchers ERA should be, because ERA is known to be fluctuous and not a valuable gauge of a pitchers true ability.  For example, 6 bad games could outshine 12 great ones and leave a good pitchers ERA above the 4.00 mark (which is considered equivalent to a Number 2-3 starter).  Wang’s component ERA was 3.62, meaning Wang’s 3.63 was actually a product of a smidge of bad luck, for he should have been .01 earned runs better. 

Not too bad for a sinkerballer who only has one full season of major league experience, eh?  Just because he doesn’t strikeout 150 batters a season, does not mean he’s any less valuable a pitcher.  And with first baseman/human vacuum Doug Mientkiewicz scooping up at best 1/4 of Arod’s 24 expected errors, Wang may even be ready to break the 3.50 ERA mark, and be the first Yankee to reach 20 wins since Roger Clemens in his Cy Young Award season of 2001.

It’s Yankee Time: Prospect vs. Prospect

  Alright, I would never normally write an article like this because a question like this is a no brainer. But I have been dealing with some Met fans lately who believe that Mike Pelfrey of the New York Mets farm system is better than Philip Hughes of the New York Yankees. Some of their arguments include:1:Mike Pelfrey already pitched in the Majors and did well2:Philip Hughes has an injury history while Pelfrey has a clean bill of health3:“Yankees suck”

The third argument is no surprise, seeing how though it is usually the best argument a Met fan can come up with while trying to belittle the New York Yankees. But the fact is that Phil Hughes is the number 1 pitching prospect in all of baseball, and when the Baseball America top 100 prospects list is released in about a month, he figures to be in the 5-6 vicinity overall, while your Pelfrey will be in the high teens to low 20’s. Now, this does not take into account Daisuke Matsuzaka, who counts as a prospect and therefore may be the best in baseball, and Cincinatti Reds prospect Homer Bailey, who is near even in nearly every statistic with Hughes except has better stuff with worse command. Still, Hughes ranks on top.

Now don’t get me wrong, to an extent they are equals, but do the research. Compareable AA stats show Hughes at a 10.71 k/9 while pelfrey has a 10.45 k/9. Hughes also has a 4.31 k/bb ratio while Pelfrey has a 2.96 k/bb. Hughes has the advantage, Hughes gave up three more home runs in about double the amount of innings pitched…Hughes outperformed Pelfrey in AA, while being 2 years younger than him.

Let’s not forget that Pelfrey has average at best control of his secondary pitches while Hughes has already mastered them. Pelfrey was also rushed and did average at best in the majors. While pitching in New York, Pelfrey was one walk away from having as many walks as strikeouts. He has good stuff, but if he can’t have good control of his secondary pitches then he will walk people, not a good thing to do by the way. I don’t care if his record was 2-1, because according to you “no-knowledge” fans you think that means in 30 starts he would go 20-10. Don’t think so.

As for all the talk about injuries stunting Hughes growth, to paraphrase Jim Callis of BA when asked about Hughes and how he would do in 2007 ‘i’ve never seen anyone as dialed in down the stretch as he was in 2006.’ Hmmm, completely dominant for an entire summer without any injuries bothering him? It doesn’t sound like whatever injuries he had flared up at inopportune times. This is not Carl Pavano, there will be no buttocks injuries or Porsche crashes here.                                                

Pelfrey is a good pitcher, but Hughes is better. His minor league track record shows that he has completely dominated every level he has played in. Still, he has some work to do in Triple A before getting called to the show, but so does Pelfrey. It should be interesting in 2009 when Phil Hughes, the ace of the New York Yankees, is facing the Mets #2 starter Mike Pelfrey during the Subway Series. Till then, we can only wait.

Phil Hughes’ Baseball Stats

Mike Pelfrey’s Baseball Stats

ESPN Ranks Yanks Farm System and Phil Hughes Among the Tops In Baseball

Report Shows Citizen Media Growing

Sorry for the lack of updates during the week, but i’ve been in a pretty crummy work situation, so bear with me folks (aka Professor Hancock).

A report from the institute of interactive journalism has released information showing that citizen journalism websites that provide its demographics with extremely local news as well as information based on those who experienced what they deem as news.  These websites for smaller communities are a really good thing considering that these communities cannot get local news from television, radio, or even in some cases newspapers. 

 I don’t see how such websites can be a bad thing to other news mediums.  These local sites are created because the other news mediums are not providing these communities with the news they seek, but trying to accomodate smaller demographics would be too difficult and costly a task for large news providers.  It’s great that people are showing the will to pick up the slack and provide communities with news. 

Click here to see the article

Click here to see the full report