On the Yankees beat

ABREU SHOULD HAVE TO WEAR A PIN STRIPED SKIRT

Looks like all the people who have been vilified of late came through today: Giambi, Cano and Betemit. That's cool....I hope they get going.

Giambi's HRs have come off these 3 pitchers

Byrd-3
Timlin-2
Contreras-1
accounting for 8 RBI.Just sayin.

With today's win Moose passed Jack Morris on the all-time wins list now I believe at 255.

Di: I didn't see Joba pitch, but someone posted during the live chat that he was shaking off pitches again today. I guess that dispells your theory that he's learned from that. Has anyone heard if he's been asked about shaking off the catcher?

Girardi is condoning Joba's enthusiasm, but Mike and the Mad Dog are talking smack; saying that he's too enthusiastic. I for one, LOVE the enthusiasm.

So much for my hopes of doing a where-are-they-now Oscar Gamble!

But, if you guys are interested, I did a former Yankee fan favorite for this week's where-are-they-now. The story goes online, but I posted some hints here:

http://blogs.trb.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/05/guess_this_weeks_wherearetheyn_3.html

Since I don't read or post on the comments for Pete Abe's blog, but I liked the idea for this as a discussion since it ties to the talk around Abreu (which is sure to heat up since his defense is atrocious), I wanted us to discuss here:

Ken Griffey Jr. said he wanted to be traded earlier this week. The going-nowhere Reds might as well deal him. There are going to be other players out there, too. Many of the usual suspects (Kevin Millar, Xavier Nady) but maybe some new names will pop up.

Would you want the Yankees to obtain a veteran player and plug him into the lineup to aid the cause? Alex Rodriguez will be back soon but Jorge Posada remains a month away. Jason Giambi looked better today, but it was one day.

Or do you stay the course, suffer the growing pains and battle through it?

Another name to consider on that list would be Jason Bay. I'm assuming that the Pirates will trade either Bay or Nady, not both though. They've got a nice CF prospect that's just chomping at the bit ready to crack the MLB team, Andrew McCutchen. No relation to our McCutchen.

I've wanted to see Griffey in pinstripes my whole life it feels like. Granted, this isn't the same Griffey, but there's a part of me that still wants to see him out there. There's just something about him. The problem is, where on earth do we put yet another OF? If there was a good 1b trade option, it would seem like an easy decision to take a chance, but with most of the available players OFs, it doesn't seem to make much sense unless there were another trade in line to get rid of one of our curent OFs. What I'm saying there is, don't touch Millar.

Maybe Ken G. can play first?

I think that taking a flyer on a guy that gets cut is one thing, but trading away players for a veteran that doesn't really have a place in the lineup doesn' t sound like a good idea to me. Unless of course Giambi is somehow involved in a trade, but the odds of that happening are somewhere in the neighborhood of one in a gazillion. On Joba I love the enthusiasm. I find it very funny that when guys don't show anything we call them dead but when they do we criticize them. I also would like to remind everyone that when Randy Johnson first came here most people were very upset that he didn't display the kind of fire that he was known for.

Chip: Pope pitched 6 scoreless for Tampa last night.

HYD, re joba,

i didn't see him shaking off to often, but i can tell one thing he already changed: hw was throwing exclusively fastballs, i would say pretty much all his offerings until the last slider that k'd delluci.
he was dialing it up to 99, both sides of the plate, worked very quickly (he tends to pace around when he gets buffled), and got the results.

p.s. i'm all for showing emotions, but a double fist pump + 360 spin for striking out a guy with no one on and a 3 run lead... i think it's way over the top. what is he going to do if he gets the last out of an 8th inning play off game with the bases loaded? back flip???

Establish the fastball.Establish the fastball.Then go off speed.

JIM BAUBACH

Many of your bloggers weren't even born when Oscar Gamble played.I remember him quite well enough sporting the most massive unmanagable Afro and how his batting helmut sort of floated on his hair .And an explosive bat.Great platoon player.Had a good OBP and Slugging Percentage.

Heyman is reporting that Boras will be looking for a 10 year $200 million deal for Tex. If that's the market for him, I say pass. I don't think that will be the market though.

Just got home from the game. Got to watch it from a luxury suite - very cool experience. Life is much better when the hot dogs and beer are free.

Mussina vultured the win. I wasn't at all impressed with his performance. I was, however, impressed with the performance of the Yankee pen.

HYD - yeah that's wishful thinking. He's also looking for 6 years 15 mil per for Oliver Perez. You know my feeling on an alternative though - move Cano to first, play Gonzalez at 2nd.

Another option - Send Kennedy, Marquez, and another prospect to the Nationals for Lastings and Nick Johnson.

I LOVE Nick Johnson. I was at a card show years back when he had first come up and I was walking around with my father. I wasn't all that informed at the time, but i remember talking about how he was looking like a future superstar. My father turned to me and said, "son, don't say that too loudly, everyone will raise their prices and you'll pay more for the cards you want."

I'd take that trade if we could.

You have to wonder though Chip. Texas offered 8 years $140 million. I think he'll get something closer to the Miguel Cabrera deal at 7 years for $141 million. Note though that that deal was discounted based on Cabrera being 2 years from FA. So, if you adjust and maybe throw in an extra year, you say he's at 8 years for $170 million.

Heed these words...

Texeira will be traded mid season to the Redsox.

The Redsox will win another World Series.

Texiera with a shiny new ring gives Boston a 10% discount and signs for 8 yrs 17per...

Hank loses his mind and we get CC Sabathia for 12 yrs 300 million to front the 09 Rotation.

CC eats himself into a degenerative knee injury and becomes a perennial DL problem.

Heed these words...

Texeira will be traded mid season to the Redsox.

The Redsox will win another World Series.

Texiera with a shiny new ring gives Boston a 10% discount and signs for 8 yrs 17per...

Hank loses his mind and we get CC Sabathia for 12 yrs 300 million to front the 09 Rotation.

CC eats himself into a degenerative knee injury and becomes a perennial DL problem.

VERY doubtful PTRS.

Some of you will love this bit from Heyman as well:
" Jorge Posada is supposed to be back in six weeks after suffering shoulder pain four separate doctors told him wouldn't require surgery. The Yankees hope he can catch, but if he has to play first base, Giambi could eventually become a candidate for release."

HYD - I think given he's a little older than Cabrera, and not quite as good as him, I think Tex would probably get closer to the deal that Hunter got from the Angels. 6 years 15 mil per...still a nice chunk of change

DRU: Gardner stole 3b last night as a pinch runner in the 11th inning. Matt Carson (performing well since his recent call up from Trenton) took second with Gardner's steal. With 1b open, there was an intentional walk and then an unintentional walk that won the ball game for SWB. Gotta love what he offers. It was not a double steal and it wasn't a sign from the bench. Before putting him in, they green lighted him if he saw an opening. He went and Carson noticed and went too!

Chip: The younger thing helps, but I think the 2 years from Free Agency more than covers that. Throw in the Miggy weight issues and the character difference (not saying Miggy is a detriment or a cancer, but he's not a model citizen like Tex has generally been considered) not to mention that Tex is a switch hitter and plays gold glove defense compared to "am I supposed to play defense?" and you have a lot closer set of players than you think. Now add in that the Mets, Yanks, and Mariners will be replacing Delgado, Giambi, and Sexson respectively and the known desire for Tex to play in his hometown Baltimore (Angelos isn't afraid to spend either) and Tex will get a lot of money and will 100% go over $150 million. Think about it, he turned down 8 years and $140 million, do you really think the market has dropped?

Personally though, I would be happy with the trade I proposed (of course I would or else I wouldn't have brought it up)

We put Johnson at first, and, much as I like him, replace Abreu in RF with Lastings. It would mean the team would need to fill three spots in the rotation instead of two (assuming departures of Andy and Moose) but we also assume Joba gets one of those spots. One could be filled by a Horne/Rasner type deal, and the third would be the veteran starter the team needs anyway (Derek Lowe? Randy Wolf?)

So you're looking at (potentially)
Damon - LF
Jeter - SS
Johnson - 1b
A-Rod - 3b
Matsui - DH
Posada - C
Cano - 2b
Melky - CF
Millege - RF

Wang, Lowe, Joba, Hughes, Horne/Rasner

CHIP

are you on drugs or did you have to much to drink at the game today?

Dont worry about BorASS, he said Arod would get 300M last year. Its just Boras being Boras. I think he's gonna get paid tons of money since the Mets and Yanks will be biding for him.

8 @ 160 - 20 per

Why is everyone still upset about Joba getting pumped up? I love it every single time! The Yanks and all of baseball needs stuff like that. Its not like he's showing anyone up, he's just pumping the fans and the team up.....non issue. Please stop listening to Mike and the Mad Dog, its bad for your health.

I love the news on Gardner, cant wait to see him settting the table. We havnt had a leadoff hitter like that in a looooong time, speed kills!

Dont want Griffey, Bay may be an idea, but not for the price tag he's going to command. I see him breaking out in a big way soon, already has this month.

HYD - one more thing. I just spoke with a friend at work. He lives 10 min from the Scranton stadium. He's been asking me to go out there for the past 2 season. I told him that next month might be good since Im pretty booked up this month. I got his number and he said he can get us great seats a couple rows from the field. After Memorial Day, lets see where Phil's at and try to setup seeing him on a Sat or Sun.

Marquez Kennedy and a prospect for a 30 yr old brittle injury prone 1B bat him 3rd ? Lastings in RF .LOL

Cashman would be laughed out of town.

that horne/rasner spot could also potentially be filled by Yu Darvish if he gets posted.

Ruse - I did have a good deal to drink - just out of curiosity which part are you thinking is alcohol related?

In the trade Washington would get a ML ready starter (Kennedy) and one who probably will be ML ready by the end of the year (Marquez) they would give the Yankees a 1st Baseman while they have another (Dimitri Young) and an OF while they have three others (Pena, Kearns, Dukes)

D-Lowe knows how to pitch in the AL East. He's a bulldog and wouldn't require a long term deal.

Pavano is saying he could pitch shortly after the All Star break. This could be interesting, lol. It'd be funny to see him in Trenton. He was once VERY good there for the Red Sox, lol. You know, back when it was their team.

Chip - I hate your trade idea, sorry. Im usually on board with your ideas, but I think the beer is talking.

DRU
Thanks I tried breaking it to him gently!

DRU: Sounds great on the SWB stuff. I might go next Saturday (5/17) because they're running the 4 tickets, hats and a value meal deal for $30. IPK is on schedule to pitch this Sunday and if he gets a third game it would be next Friday (5/16), but who knows who will be where by then. Looks like that game on 5/17 will be Steven White pitching. I'm not a Steven White fan at all. I met him the same night I met Chase Wright and Dan McCutchen. Chase and Dan were all talkative, but Steven was hiding in his green hoodie. He signed an autograph, but I couldn't get another word out of him.

If we miss out on CC, I would rather roll the dice and get Ben Sheets. Who knows, before Curt Schilling turned 30 he was always getting hurt. Only had 2 years of over 200 in before 30. He could be a late bloomer, he definitely has the skills and would come at a huge discount.

Tabata has batted .294 over his last 10 games (10/34) and even more impressive and hopefully a good sign for a turn in his season is that he is 10/21. Looks like the suspension woke him up!

Especially encouraging is that he's batting .389 on the season against lefties.

HYD...did you happen to catch Coke's start?

Phil Coke had the complete game shutout, striking out 7 and not walking a batter. Coke has 32 strikeouts over his last 25 innings. Maybe we’ve got a lefty relief candidate down the line?

Sorry, just read your response to the Coke question on the other thread.

As you guys talk about prospective trades, I could go for Cano at first and Gonzales at second. this would free up money for starting pitching, unfortunately Cano might take a hit mentally with the change.
I'm not sold on C.C. but I like lefties in the stadium. Abreu's fielding near the wall as you all know has been poor the last couple of games but moves defensively with Abreu hurt us offensively. Giambi's release would be acceptable if he doesn't turn it around but emotionally, I believe the team loves this guy.

I would love to see Gardner in CF, Melky in RF and Damon in LF but Abreu would have to go as Matsui is doing well as DH. Moves cannot just be made on paper. There is much emotion in moving Abreu and Giambi with the players during the season. Abreu is cherished by the younger Latin players.

I am mildly impressed with our younger pitchers in the bullpen. They should round out into a nice group by the July and August time frame. Now, if Kennedy and hughes can turn it around. Just thing Joba and the two starters are 21,22, and 23 years old. plus the other young guys.

Patience we could have something brewing in the Bronx toward the end of the year.

Why do we insist on talking about freeing up money for other players? Folks, the Yankees have a printing press in the basement of Yankee Stadium that prints their own currency, money is never a problem, even when Ant tells us the economy is crashing, the Yanks are fine.
When you talk about contracts with FA's you should not care about the dollars, care about the years instead. If Mark Tiexeira wants 10 yeas, $180M, the Yanks could tell him they don't want to give him 10 years, but they'll give him a lot more per year on a shorter deal than anyone else.

I don't care if the Yanks have a $400M payroll, as long as they don't have players signed for contracts that are way too long (unless of course the player's name is A-Rod).

HYD...
Yes Joba was shaking off the signs, but it was only for effect. Evidently, the word got around the league that he would shake off a FB to get the slider. So they changed and shook off and still came with heat. If you could have seen the game, you would have seen Molina give the sign, then waggle the fingers. Joba would then shake off, then come in with heat. Good thinking!
Gil...
Joba just got beat the other night, I too would have done the same thing. Showing that you are not afraid to pitch your game, and coming through when it counts...pump all you want to kid.

Chip aka (Packleader)

Will wake on the morrow with a sobering realization...

Nick Johnson is GARBAGE

You WERE DRUNK CHIP HAH

It's all good but I'm with my ALBA, Jim on this one.

HANK WRITE THE CHECK AND GET US TEX CC AND YU

THAT'S RIGHT CHIP I KNOW WHO YU IS !!!!

HHAHAHA

NOW I'M DRUNK!!

HERE'S YOUR PROJECTED LINEUP

Damon
"Captain DP" aka DOUBLEPLAY (Home Run count 08...O)
Barbara Abreu
Alexander the Great
TEX
Robby
La Leche
Jorge
Sizemore

Yeah that's right!!! YOU HEARD ME!@!!!!!

In a career highlight Cashman strikes a BLOCKBUSTER FOR NUMBER 28!!

Grady Sizemore for J. Marquez, Austin Jackson, Ian Kennedy, Allen Horne, Mark Melancon, Somebody Coke, Jose Veras, Ross Olhendorf, That big fella who sometimes mops up the 6th,
Kei Igawa, Tabata and McTuchuchenuchen....

O9 ROTATION

JOBA (YES HE'S THE ACE!!)
CC
WANG
YU DARVISH (LOOK HIM UP HE'S BETTER THAN DICE K AND YOUNGER!!!!!)
HUGHES(if he doesn't suck)

I'll go to war with that.

WHERE iS DIANE!!!!! DAMNIT!@!!

JIM A.

I agree folks seem to forget the Yankee franchise is presently worth 1.2 billion. 15-20 mil per is chump change to them.Only fragile franchises like Florida and Tampa etc. need to worry about "freeing up money".
It's great NY will finally be out from under Giambi's and 2 or 3 others contracts.The Yanks need to get younger.
Signing Tex might be a priority this off season.I don't think it prudent to chase after FA starting pitchers.

Michael,

Playing catchup is where I am -- busy morning, just when suddenly there are posts to read on this blog!

Barry,

You're right, people carp at the stoics for being 'asleep', and carp at the animated for being 'bush'. People who are looking for something to carp at, I mean.

HYD/Old Ranger,

Watching the game I saw the same thing Old Ranger did, that there was not a real shake-off in the bunch. They seemed to be on the same page the whole inning. A couple reporters said Girardi mentioned he 'had a little talk' with Joba about shaking off the catcher. So again I say 'hopefully' (guess you missed that word in my original post on this) he's learned. Even if pubolic humiliation didn't work (and Joba seems to care a lot about the public's response to him), Girardi's 'little talk' will probably do the trick.

Jim A.,

As always we are of one mind on this particular topic -- THROW MONEY AT THEM, NOT YEARS! Sorry to shout, but it never seems to get through. And for some reason there are still fans who think NYY must economize, a non-issue for the Empire.

Phucker,

You're right about Nick Johnson. Nice guy, though...

HYD again,

See aboe. Nice-guy-ness doesn't cut it for me. When evaluating pitchers, I will not care a fig for whether Chase Wright catted you up while Steven White only gave you an autograph.

If the Yanks are going to bring anybody in I'd rather it be, GULP,

Barry Bonds.

There, I said it.

I was at the Game ! there was no extra coming from joba in fact the crowd was reminding him of who is at bat his excitement stems from being able to excerise or put aside his past issue by k'ng the very same man who defeated him a couple of days ago , Joba's energy was basically rejevenating himself from his flaw. there was nothing towards Dave at all and from where i was sitting (1st row between third and Home plate) i could see the whole play.

JIM A , Chip . Rick

check your emails later on i have something for your viewing

Bomber,
Nice pics! Thanks for sending them along, I really appreciate it.

no problem Jim Ifigured i can share those.