On the Yankees beat

Karstens pitched 6 innings of 3-hit ball for SWB last night.Hughes goes tonight.

Kat you are getting sick a lot lately. Drink juice and take vitamins and rest ... we all love you!

You can't work and write and do what you love if you don't care first for your mind and body and spirit amid all the stress.

Stress wears us all down. I know this from teaching 15 courses, subbing for three others, running the school paper and redoing a house over the past 18 months or so.

Please rest ... and then everything will be good. It will be a great second half of the Yanks and you will be a big part of it!

Imagine if they come back for the Playoffs!

Ant in St. Louis (not far from KC!)

Kat: The Yankees have enough hitting to win games. What we need and our first consideration is class?..............pitching,pitching and more pitching. Tex. is fine but not at the cost of high level propects, please.

Agreed, Larry.

It's no coincidence that this team hasn't won the WS since they had quality arms starting almost every game.

They need pitching and they need to stack the rotation instead of focusing on big bats.

This is a strategy that has been proven to work over and over again. The best offense usually doesn't win those rings.

Shelley's debut does remind me a little bit of Shane Spencer's, though Spencer could at least play the field a bit as well as hit. Still, maybe Shelley will have a lifestyle advantage over Spencer who, as one writer put it, partied his way out of the Bronx. Even if so, it will be hard for the Yankees to keep Shelley around if he really is incapable of learning to play any position. I am still going to enjoy these 'Shelley moments' as long as they last.

Jim A. -- you noted that on the day you attended AR got more applause than Jeter. This weekend, Shelley got more than AR. The Stadium crowd loves to acknowledge the play that is immediately before them...

Scanning the rags:

So we finally got one of the great Molina gene-pool of catchers. Even the least of these is an upgrade over Nieves, sweet guy though he is.

Did you know? the Molinas are from Bernie's home town. Something in the water...

And our Molina played summer ball with Jorge back in the day, so they know each other.

Diane -

I hear alot of older fans telling their kids on how arod;s play is historical especailly in a Yankee Uniform.

Mike Franseca said for fans that just lived with the stories about yankee legends you are seeing it first hand with AROD , his season is almost as enegetic and exciting as Mick's '56 season run so far.

Again, we don't need 10 pitching prospects. Keep the best 3 or 4 and make a deal for Tex and Gagne.

If not get Gregg from the Marlins.

Andy Phillips is CLEARLY coming into his own. Yes in the past he did not do so well ... who can say when a player gells ... or is it jells? Remember I am not too bright.

Look again at Franklin on the Cardinals. At 34 finally "got it" I am sure Coach Duncs helped ... we never know when it will all click for a player. Guidry was what, 27? How old was Koufax?

I say, get Tex, rotate Phillips and Duncs between the bench and the lineup.

We have so many prospects we can't afford to keep all of them ... well, we could but what a waste.

We can reclaim this season and fast ...

Tex
Gregg or Gagne
With above better bench
Igawa to Pen or SWB
Farnsworth to Mars

And of course bring up Joba the Hutt for the penn and put Hughes in the rotation and if Mussina falters put him in the pen and lock it up

Go Yankees!

Final thought ... the Almighty paper non gold based Dollar just reached an all time low vs the Euro and a 26 year low vs. the Pound. We are borrowing 2 and a half billion a week from China and Japan to finance this lost war. Does that bother anyone?

Remember.......

The excitement after Chase Wrights first start

The excitement after Ty Clippards first start

The excitement after DeSalvos first start

The excitement after Phil Hughes first start

Not to mention the appearance on the roster of Edwar, Phelps, Phillips and on and on. Now its Duncan. You all get so jacked up on small successes and want to retool the team everytime some AA, AAA prospect, non-prospect, lifetime B-teamer or whatever comes in and has a game or two, only to eventually be brought back to earth when they actually prove why the weren't in the bigs to begin with.

Sure let these young guys have their day and play till you see what they really are. But dont project that out and already have them valued so high that they are displacing proven big leaguers and being valued as trade bait for proven big leaguers.

Its already July 23rd and the entire parade of youth has amounted to a first base platoon of guys you have to really dig to make a case for playing time even on a team that has no options at 1B.

Let em play and then let em go!

Good points, Nudge -- although I think the excitement over Hughes is legit.

This kind of thing happens all the time and Yankee fans think they are watching the next Jeter, Pettitte, or Mo in action.

There are reasons why these guys are career minor leaguers.

Clippard might be able to help this team down the road but DeSalvo and Wright won't be successful major league ballplayers.

Bomber,

I didn't mention the other day how I appreciate hearing from you about any little details regarding the new Stadium! I was too busy going on about Skippy. But thanks!! It always makes me feel we are somehow represented over there...

I agree that we are watching another Yankee legend take shape -- IF Alex stays (and maybe buys that mansion the tabs are showing as his future home???)... If not, he'll be someone else's legend.

Hopefully he'll stick around and we'll be able to tell the young'uns we were here for the Rodriguez days, as well as the Torre/Jeter/etc. dynasty. Maybe we'll visit the new monument park when they're all in place out there and a few more numbers are retired. Nice, huh?

Larry and Viper my erudite friends ...

I was wondering ... can you rank all of our pitching prospects in order PLEASE and then tell me which ones you would trade for Tex, Gagne or someone like Gregg (whom I would assume Larry in Fla. has seen.)

Let's say just to start ...

Hughes
Joba
Ian
Clippard
Smith
Ohlendorf
Sanchez
Brackman
Carptener

(I am not sure of the order because remember always I am not too bright.)

Do we really need all of them when you add in ... ?

Mother Henn
ER
(Others I may have missed)

It's like we have 10 QB's and no linemen.

We need balance, like Mr. Miagi said. Wax on, wax off.

Viper keeps on lamenting the Oh the Humanity of all the prospects ... well can't we put together a package? What's the asking price? Do you know exactly? I've heard only speculation. Which is all we can do.

Didn't Ruse, Ca. write once that all of us wish we were managers, players or GM's?

It should be fun to speculate. Yes?

Go Yankees!

Boo for the Euro! (I would assume we all care about the value of the Dollar in spite of our politics and spiritual views on this world and the next.)

And where is Uber Lucy? She's totally uber!

Nudge -

(Blows on WS rings)

How many rings your favorite team have?

I know it is old news

(Blows WS ring Again) how many of these lovely rings . commere lemme show you some of these diamonds, come closer Nudge look at these rocks , ahh don;t move back , what ? your blinded by the bling ?

Obviously you and many others on here Don't know my history, I am a small ball small player manager. Ilove the underdog. I love players that was nothing when they came to me and I turned them into stars. now leave my office.

Sips green tea

Viper,

The Yankees have been notorious for overstating the abilities and expectations of their youth. Seems thats rubbed off on the fans.

I have nothing negative to say at this point about Hughes. But most on this blog have him penciled in as a starting, all-star, hall of famer based on ......7 innings in Texas. A last place no hitting Texas to be more accurate.

Add the 2 injuries this year and I have to have a HUGE caution sign about bringing him back as they are intent on doing. He is truly their only legit prospect near term and they seem intent on screwing him up every chance they get. I agree that Clippard has a shot to be a bullpen help or 5th starter on a weak pitching team (#2 on Tampa). Next year this team is shaping up to qualify for him as a #5 guy for them.

Don't answer Viper Answer me Son how many rings does your favorite team has.

And IF they have some Jewels how many under the radar players helped them.

Sips Green tea and awaits ...

Nudge,

You are being an electron. (*)

Yes we remember the excitement of Ty Clip and Chase(d) Wrong, and Weanie and Beanie and whomever let us down in ensuing appearances ... remember when Bill Clinton told off Bush's father about Tiananmen Square and trade with China? (Then what'd he turn around and do? Even worse!) In life we will often be let down by promising words and deeds at first glance. But that's how it goes. Sports are no exception ...

Yet remember the excitment when ...

Dan Marino replaced David Woodley in the MNF game so long ago?

Gooden made his debut for the Mets?

Spencer did so well as a rookie!

Cano threw the ball off his shoe? (just kidding)

We've all seen the real thing. But with the Yanks it doesn't come around very often. So let us have our lil' party ... Woo Hoo! Maybe in Red Sox nation you are excited for your own things ... like Jon Lester beat cancer. As did Lowell. That's good news. Let's be happy for the little things we can be happy for.

Yes we get over-excited and again, yes, we should wait for Duncan to homer off Santana or Lackey before annointing him ... but the season has been so down and so depressing ... it's good to have some light ...

And ER, can we judge him after not pitching for a fortnight? (**)

Nudge my Lindenhurst guru, there must be some good news, yes?

(*) They are negatively charged!

(**) That's two semanas!

The better question is how many doctors are you currently seeing?

Nudge and Viper,

We NYY fans do love to have a new generation of pinstripe babies to OOH and AHH over. Don't you, when and if your team has the same? It's a pretty universal response. No one thinks that each and every one of them is going to morph into Babe Ruth. But hope for the new wave is a pleasure to enjoy, and we feel pretty sure at least some of them will reward our hopes by helping out the team in the future -- when we will still be NYY fans, and still, I hope, supplied with more new babies to admire and encourage...

It's hard to say the exact order of legit prospects and I bet the Yanks don't know themselves.

I would hoold onto as many of those plus arms as possible because major prospects don't always work out.

The Yanks would be lucky if 3 of their top 10 prospects actually made the big club and have successful careers.

You can't really keep the top 3 guys and trade the rest because a lower-tier guy might make it while the top prospect doesn't.

Remember Brien Taylor?

ACL,

I am encouraging you guys to enjoy watching the yungins. Just dont try to make them players they are not. Let them be the players they are. To have unrealistic expectations makes it harder on those players as well as the fans when these guys cant live up to the hype.

Viper,

Yeah he was penciled in to the all-star lineup before he throw a pitch in the Bigs too.

Interesting bio!

Brien Taylor (born December 26, 1971) was a baseball pitcher best known for being just the second amateur baseball player to be picked first overall in the Major League Baseball Draft and never make the major leagues. (The first was Steve Chilcott, in 1966.)

Taylor was born in Beaufort, North Carolina and drafted by the New York Yankees in 1991. He was offered about $350,000 to sign a minor league contract, the typical amount given to #1 draft choices at that time. However, agent Scott Boras (acting as an "advisor" because unsigned players were not allowed to have an agent at that time) advised the Taylor family that last year's top-rated high school pitcher, Todd Van Poppel, was given more than $1.2 million dollars to sign with the Oakland Athletics, giving up a scholarship to Stanford University in the process. The Taylors held out for "Van Poppel money" even though they had less leverage due to the fact that Brien's poor grades at East Carteret High School in North Carolina prevented him from getting a college scholarship anywhere. They then used a local community college as leverage to get the Yankees to agree to pay Van Poppel money. The Yankees were without the official services of George Steinbrenner who was serving a suspension at the time but through the media, Steinbrenner said that if the Yankees let Taylor get away, they should be "shot." Taylor was signed for $1.55 million the day before his classes were set to begin. Further delay would have meant the deal could not be signed until after the school year ended, which coincided with the following year's draft.

While quickly ascending up the minor league ranks in 1993, Taylor suffered a torn labrum while defending his brother in a fistfight. Unfortunately, Taylor was never the same pitcher again. He was at Double-A before the incident but spent the bulk of the remainder of his professional baseball career struggling at Single-A.

He was released by the Yankees at the end of the 1998 season and pitched for minor league affiliates of the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians until retiring in 2000.

Diane,

Nothing wrong with getting excited over "Yankee babies."

The point I made is that there are just a few legit prospects and a lot of flashes in the pan.

We need to understand the difference.

BTW,

Chilcott was the first round pick of the team across town and was selected one ahead of Reggie Jackson.

ok and your point about brain taylor so he was a bust. want me to list the Von pOppels and Gabe Kaplan's or what ever that has failed , Like I told you earlier yankee fans haven't had a Youth excitement in a long time . Was you doubting Jeter when he first came up. S o I guess Pedoria is the truth right

The Quiz: I honestly cannot rank the prospects according to order of value to the team. These are minor leaguers who have little or no exposure to the major league fan. My comment and thats all it is. Is not to trade away our chips by over paying for alleged stars. I'm know brighter than the next guy but have watched the Yankees since George's ownership trade some very good players who would have given years of service for limited use older players. Most major league teams you can't seperate them by their positional players but by the pitching in their SP and bullpens. Thus, hold on to pitching unless the other team would except a prospect on a lower level of minor league ball. We are here to share our opinions.

On another note, I appreciate the compliment but have not been considered scholarly.

BB,

I have no idea what the Pedroia hype was or is since I live here and dont follow boston. No I never had ANY preconceived opinion of Jeter when he arrived, I let him prove what he was, hype or no hype. The hype didn't make him better I'll gaurentee that.

Viper,

You're right, it would be unprecedented if they all 'panned out'. But no one knows which is which until the scrubbing process is complete. Only then does it become possible to 'understand the difference' between those who turn out to be 'flashes in the pan' and those whose gleam is that of a real nuggest of Yankee gold.

Meantime we cheer on all that glitters. With hope, but without delusion.

Sorry, NUGGET not nuggest!

Oh my God ...

For once Diane and I are in total agreeme ...

(Ant passes out!)

Diane,

I got excited for a second ont he "nuggest" typo. I thought you meant nudgest but then figured out it was nuggets!

Viper niether has Moose proven anything he is a Failure now too , and since he is gone why not give up his spot. Chase wright had what 3 starts in pressure situations he won a game and was touched by bOston but Still had composure and left the game actually winning or tied he did'nt lose that game MO DID

Nudge,

That typo also reminded me of you! Now if I could only think quickly of a way to use "nudgest" -- it makes a great word...

Okay, everybody. Enough fun for me. Back to the salt mines. See you later at the game.

That's true for the most part, Diane.

However, I would argue that since Duncan and Phillips are both career minor leaguers -- that is a pretty good indicator that these guys won't be around for the long haul.

Phillips should continue to play for now simply because he has outplayed every other 1B this season.

Duncan can be a nice bat off the bench but shouldn't be starting over Damon.

Damon is starting to come out of it. You can tell because he's running the bases a lot better and he's slamming his body around in the outfield.

Torre isn't going to bench a guy like Damon (except for an occasional breather) when Damon has a lot more weapons in his arsenal than Duncan to help this team win.

NUDGE:

The difference between the Yankees and your team...which you are ashamed or afraid to admit who they are...we get excited about wins and optimistic about our future and have faith in our players, but you are always negative and faithless and skeptical, and you are always looking for the bad luck to sneak up on you and that can only lead to failure and depression...and that's why you are always negative here about everything. Poor Nudge. I kinda sorta feel bad for ya, fella.

BB,

As bad as Mussina has been, there is no one better to take his spot. Also remember that new contract he just signed? That kinda says he starts. Also Mussina isn't even the worst starter they have in their own rotation.

Nudgest: (Verb)"To upset Yankee fans. (Noun) Good guy.

Dont feel bad for me. I have a great life and am the eternal optimist! No one has it better than the Nudge, trust me. By the way the proper descriptive term would be REALISTIC. See I am the true Libra, providing the balance to the argument that others dont wish to consider. No Blind Faith here!

hahaaha your right on that one Nudge he is'nt the worse, but so what if he signed a new pact . what I'm saying is this When EL DUque struggled they placed him in the PEN and this is El Duque we talking about. The Stanford Boy thinks his sh*t don't stink.

too me no one is safe in that rotation except Rocket and Wang and Sometimes Pettite.

Some of you posters "buried" Duncan several days ago. The "egg" on your faces looks simply "marvelous". Fess up, and eat your "crow". We have all had to do it a time or two.

"Sometimes Pettitte"???

Okay, you've clearly gone off the deep end.

It makes more sense to pound my head against a brick wall.

Torre isn't going to put Moose in the pen -- get over it.

I have a great life too! I just like to tease you at times ...

I always enjoy your posts!

Go Nudge!

Pity,

But if feeling bad for me is your vehicle of stating some sense of superiority, knock yourself out. Whatever float your boat and all. What are you gonna do tomorrow to reinflate yourself?

HA HA HA HA. Please stop. My sides are killing me. HA HA HA HA.......

BB,

They still have to have someone who will pitch better as a starter before they remove him from the rotation. I dont see that guy in their organization.

Nudgest: (Verb)"To upset himself over Yankees envy and jealousy. (Noun) Pitiful guy.

Strange how much effort we all put into this Blog and the Yanks ... is there something wrong all of us us? Or right?

Strange how much effort we all put into this Blog and the Yanks ... is there something wrong with all of us us? Or right?

Dont make eye contact!

The Yanks are catching lightning in a bottle with Duncan and nothing more.

Egg on our faces?

Yeah, Tuffy Rhodes once had 3 homers in a game, but never stuck around in the states because he wasn't very good.

NUDGE:

Optimism, faith, confidence, excitement do not equal superiority...but you can't relate to any of these things so you don't understand.

You can't understand that because you are more concerned about the Yankees than your own mysterious team who you can't even admit to rooting for. I see where your negative feelings come from

I said dont make eye contact!

Someone has a Nudge obsession! He must be trying to be nudgest I guess.

Feel free to shower me with your attention, but really I dont need it. I have a healthy psyche and dont need daily reinforcement as others do. I get all the attention I need and more actually.

I know though that when you have so little to offer of your own you like to latch onto someone elses aura. True sign of tempermental short-tempered Fantasy League types.

NUDGE:

Feel free to shower the Yankees with your attention, but really they don't need it. Yankees have a healthy psyche and dont need daily reinforcement as other teams like yours do. Yankees get all the attention they need and actually more...than your team

Nudge does bring us back to reality from time to time, as does Viper.

But I am with Diane on this one. (And ONLY this one, ha ha) ... let's just be excited we beat Tampa Bay 42 - 3 and enjoy the happy times while they last.

Other than Schilling, Beckett and Mice K, we don't hit the good pitchers, including Santana, Halladay, Lackey, Bedard and others

We asked for youth, asked to see the kids and they are here for now ... let them enjoy their time in the sun! We can always look back and lament things later ... or celebrate them.

Remember Generation K? Izzy turned out great for the Cardinals in spite of hip problems and a broken hand ... some things work out! There was a time when the Mets had pitchers on the DL with TB and depression ... you never know what's going to happen I suppose.

So as Bronx Bomber is saying ... sit back and have fun, let the horses run till they run out of steam ...

Still can see why you can't hold onto Horne, Ian, Joba the Hutt and Hughes and Brackman and Carp. and trade the rest of them for Tex, Gagne and Colby Rasmus ...

Just don't see it.

And we can't afford to be sanguine about any of this ...

Especially when we don't know what sanguine means!

Go Yankees!

Go U.S. Dollar!

Go Nudge!

NUDGE:

The bottom line is that your constant negativity about everything related to the Yankees is annoying...as you just look for the negative in everything...so I'm tired of reading your biased opinion based on your dedication to some phantom team

Don't forget that Duncan was facing pitchers probably worse than the ones he faced in Triple-A. Remember Frank Fernandez. He had power too.

You guy's made me cry....Big Poppy please hold me.....ooh Big Poppy a little tighter..oh yes right there!

Who said Yankees fans are in the cloud and not realistic? We enjoy a few wins and that means we are acting like we're the greatest team? No, that's not it. You can be optimistic and still have both feet on the ground. Yankee haters, get a damn life, please and go hate on your own team.

OK Big Poopy that is tight enough....wait that's not a baseball bat......

It's BS that Yankees don't hit good pitchers. When the Yankees were in a slump, they weren't hitting any pitchers...good or bad. When they are hitting, they are hitting them all. Remember Yankees lost many games by one run.

Tonight will be a good look at how the Yanks fare with Duncan and Phillips in the lineup vs. a lefty\Perez. Hopefully, they will "balance" our lineup.

The bats are alive....

Hughes will solidify the rotation....

Karstens, Britton, DeSalvo, and some of the other young guns should be tested in the bullpen....

Giambi/Phillips make a great Offensive/Defensive combo at 1st

Shelley is a great bat to have in late game situations when u need a home run

Cairo could be upgraded if we trade farnsworth and some other low level minor league players

Proctor should not be traded unless we are getting a big bat in his place. He has proven himself two years in a row now.

A big bat for Proctor?

Good luck with that.

Nudge,

What's the matter? Can't handle the heat? You must take after your favorite team!

Viper

It would obviously take more than just Proctor to get a big bat but it sounds like you under value proctor

He ate up 102 innings last year and had an 3.5 ERA. He is on a similar pace this year. A lot of teams would like to have someone like that.

Ok let's start acting like adults now. Does anybody want to talk about tonight’s game? Which Clemens will we see tonight?

Remember Yankee "babies" Ron Guidry and Dave Righetti? No wonder we have such high expectations of our rookies!

Some jackass wants to impersonate me.

That last post wasn't me.

viper-

clemens has not had much run support as of late...can yanks pound out 7 runs tonight?...let alone 21!

if i remember from the last 10-15 NYY / KC games, KC pitchers have pitched relatively well and kept yank hitters off-balanced -could be wrong

I have watched just about every one of Clemens's starts and he really only has had one bad outing.

No run support and the bullpen has not held leads.

Clemens has actually been able to get deeper into games than most people thought.

Yankees have needed depth on the bench and bullpen all year-

Duncan and Molina- a big improvement on Thompson and Nieves.

Igawa- out after this Thursday's start- replaced by Karstens. Next week- Henn out and Hughes back in rotation- Karstens the long man in the bullpen.

Things are looking better- but the Yankees will be for real when they get over .500 on the road (they are 7 games under right now). And three of their supposed "aces" get over .500 (Pettite at .500, Mussina and Clemens below)

McCarthy: I have been pleasantly surprised with Roger's performances. Thou, no one is worth the money that he's recceiving. He's beter in our camp than the guys to the North of us.

I see the Nudge obsessor has been busy while I was gone. Still can't get the simple point that I am not a Red Sox fan although thats the way he justifies the fact that I smack down Yankisms so regularly and easily. To him it cant be right because it comes from a Boston fan. That way he can feel better about his feeble thoughts and violent outbursts. He almost thinks that people admire him for his lack of originality and nonsensical tirades. Basically his mental output is wired into one thought BOSTON SUCKS. Everything else he says is really the same.

Small minded as he is after 4 months he doesnt realize that I dont root for the Red Sox, dont like the american league and its collection of fatso's in the DH spots and don't care what Fantasy League dreamers say about me. I here get over it. Make your own private board where you can talk to yourself in your 180 different monikers and you will all agree with one another. I am sure one of your monikers on your own site will be NUDGE so that you can try to win an argument about something.

Viper,

Not to worry its the same crazy that flies off the handle here once in awhile when he doesn't make his anger management workshop or misses his meds for a day. The intelligent among us know the real from the fraud pretty easily.

BTW,

I love it that my appearance here drives him into these fits every few days or so. Just part of the free entertainment you can get off the world wide web these days.

LARRY:

Thou art correct...I agree with Thee..Thy Yankees shalt inherit the Earth...
Just kidding with ye.

NUDGE:

Ye art from Lindenhurst and an NL lover? Then ye art a Mets fan no doubtest.