YFSF

Have You Seen My Baseball?

Why is this not surprising? 

A Metaphor

Right now it looks bleak here in Yankeeland. What with the best player in baseball leaving; Joe Torre and Don Mattingly in LA; and Mo, Jorge and Andy all possibly departing; it seems unlikely Cashman will turn around this sinking ship. And then you think of miracles and unlikely events. Two seconds left, 60 yards to go. What does it take? It takes creativy. It takes little things like laterals and finding parts of your roster that you can improve. It takes a trade that leads to another trade. Does Cashman have what it takes? Is he the Trinity University of general managers?

I posted this mainly because it's one of the craziest football plays I've ever seen. Thanks to my friend for emailing it.

An Early Look at Adrian Beltre

Brian Cashman is going to have an interesting off-season. In all likelihood, barring a last second George Steinbrenner intervention, A-Rod is gone. Wilson Betemit, at the moment, is the Yanks' option at third. He's an interesting player, who has some upside and was once a very big prospect. So, maybe the Yanks go with him next season and try to make up for A-Rod's loss by improving other positions. But there have been early reports  or suggestions or rumors or random musings (I guess I don't know what to call them) that the Yanks are looking at Adrian Beltre as a possible replacement. When I have brought this up to fellow Yanks fans, I get this response: Pass. Isn't he the contract year poster boy who is grossly overpaid now? Doesn't he have a .330 OBP? (I'm making up this response. I don't have any friends.)

I have to say I don't know much about Beltre. My general impressions have been that he's not so good. But I have been wrong in the past. So I did some research. And one of the best things about this thing we call blogs is that you can find out from some pretty smart and informed people about players and teams you don't ordinarily pay much attention to.

One of the best, if not the best, Mariners blogs going is U.S.S. Mariner. So I figured they would have something insightful to say about Beltre. And lo and behold, I was surprised at what they wrote in September of this year:

Conceptual Challenge of the Day: Joe vs. Curt

Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling filed for free agency yesterday, after telling a radio audience that "there's a very realistic chance I won't ever play" for the team again.

Schilling is probably correct, a club source said yesterday, unless he is willing to accept a low base salary loaded with incentive bonuses.

What is the difference between Joe Torre and Curt Schilling? Discuss.

2008 Yankees Coaching Staff

Joe Girardi's (unofficial) 2008 coaching staff (according to Peter Abraham over over at LoHud) has been released.

Pitching Coach: Dave Eiland

Hitting Coach: Kevin Long

Bench Coach: Rob Thomson

Third base Coach: Bobby Meacham

First base Coach/Catchers Coach: Tony Pena

Bullpen Coach: Mike Harkey

   

Why I Don't Gamble (or run a baseball team, or write professionally, or...)

Theo needs to consider a new manager in the offseason. Tito's handling of the pen tonight was beyond awful. Again. Not having Paps warming with Gagne imploding? MDC for ONE out? Incompetent. In the last week he's singlehandedly created a pennant race. 

-Posted by: SF | Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 09:51 PM

...This team, as I have been saying for WEEKS, even when they had a ten game lead, is troubled, big time. It's finally somehwat redeeming that someone else might be seeing what I saw long ago...

-Posted by: SF | Sunday, August 12, 2007 at 07:29 PM

There's more in the archives, but I couldn't subject myself to the search.  On the other hand, I did stick by JD Drew for the entire year, and also picked the Sox to go to the World Series way back in March.  Game threads turn even the most empirical fans into raving lunatics, I guess.  Lesson learned.

A Short Note on a Busy Week

There's a lot to discuss in Yankeeland these days. A great deal of turnover and change, with more to come. Like many Yankee fans, I was sorry to see Joe Torre go, and especially in such sloppy fashion. Now the team seems to have bungled contract negotiations with his replacement, Joe Girardi, but this might just have been unavoidable, and a deal will surely be completed. Girardi was a gamer as a player, he had the respect of his teammates, and had his moments of genuine Pinstripe glory. Most of us are familiar with the resume. It's said that he understands baseball's New Math but has not thrown out the lessons of the Old School. That makes him, in theory, an ideal skipper. I worry a bit about his NL pedigree; I hope the Yankees, now having lost their biggest bat, aren't transformed into some kind of more-patient Angels. But we shall see. Girardi has yet to sign on the dotted line, and once he does he'll have to remake the Yankee coaching staff (look for Dave Eiland as the new pitching coach). Given the circumstances, I suspect he will be given considerable leeway on the field as he eases into his job—obviously, he and Cashman have a healthy rapport. Even the tabs might cut him some slack. A manager is only as good as his players, and we really don't know what the Yankee roster is going to look like right now. As for Joe Torre, I'm surprised at the rumors he'll be moving all the way across country to take over the Dodgers, but it's not the first time a Brooklyn-bred baseball operation has headed out to Los Angeles. Don Mattingly's son is in the Dodger system; perhaps he will become the heir apparent there, and maybe, in the end, it will be a better situation for him. More on Mattingly later.

What Next?

The Boston Red Sox are in what one assumes is an enviable position. Unlike after 2004, when an aging, veteran team was largely broken up within two years thanks to free agency, the Red Sox have few major free agents and won largely because of their young players, who are all locked up long-term.

That's exciting for the upcoming years, but there's still some work that needs to be done in the offseason. Rest assured, the other AL contenders won't stay pat -- the Tigers have already brought Edgar Renteria back to the better junior division.

Here are the Red Sox' free agents this offseason, according to the Associated Press:

• Mike Lowell
• Royce Clayton
• Eric Hinske
• Doug Mirabelli
• Bobby Kielty
• Tim Wakefield*
• Curt Schilling
• Julian Tavarez*
• Mike Timlin
• Eric Gagne
• Matt Clement

The Bronx Zoo Returns

I think our YF brethren are a bit shell-shocked by the events of the past 24 to 48 hours. A lot of news has come through, so allow me to consolidate into one handy post:

• Yankees to Joe Torre: "Screw you."
• Joe Torre to Yankees: "Screw you."
• Alex Rodriguez to Yankees: "Screw you."
• Scott Boras to baseball: "Screw you."
• Baseball to Scott Boras and Alex Rodriguez: "Screw you."
• Dodgers to Grady Little: "Screw you."
• Don Mattingly to Yankees: "Screw you."

I think that about covers it.

Jeter releases statement on A-Rod

Derek Jeter just released this statement on Alex Rodriguez;

"The truth is I couldn't stand the f*cker."