Mitre and Gaudin combine to one-hit White Sox (Postgame Notes 29 August 2009)

You can be forgiven if, at the outset, you thought that today's Contreras-Mitre match up would be one long and non-fun game to sit through.

Jose Contreras certainly kept up his part of the bargain--unable to make it even through the fourth inning as the Yankees singled and doubled him to death.

Sergio Mitre, on the other hand, pitched well.

Not well-for-a-five-starter or well-for-someone-that-has-an-awfully-high-WHIP or passably good, but well.

Very, very well.

Through six and a third innings, Mitre gave up only one hit--a scorching double to Jim Thome (if you're going to give up a hit might as well be to a guy that's headed to Cooperstown)--and, just as importantly, walked only one.

Had he not been hit in the elbow with a come-back-line-drive-thingie, Mitre would have likely pitched the seventh, probably the eighth and possibly even the ninth--easily his best performance since 2006.

Coming on in relief, Chad Gaudin was also excellent--not allowing a single hit to the White Sox over the rest of the game.

On the flip side, the Yankees scored four runs in the second, four in the fourth, and then two more later on, and--unusual, perhaps for this team--the only home run was an Alex Rodriguez solo home run in the later innings.

Robinson Canó now has three hits with runners in scoring position since last night--a very rare feat for him this season.

Just as important, he made a stellar defensive play in the sixth inning--and he has played solid defense all season.

The Yankees have now assured themselves of their 14th straight season at .500 or better--even if they go winless the rest of the season (in which case they'd have some more serious problems).

Yankees Walk Off (Again) (Postgame Notes 28 August 2009)

If the Yankees have a "secret sauce" to winning in 2009, it's gotta be that they've figured out the recipe for the walk-off win.

When the game gets to the bottom of the ninth and it's tied, one almost expects, now, that the Yankees will win--and the only question is who will get the game winning hit (or walk, or hit by pitch, or pop up...)

It's quite a simple thing, really: decent starting pitching, good defense at key points in the game (like that seventh inning that could have been so much worse), a spotless bullpen and the offense getting the right hit at the right time.

Sabathia was great through six and kind of came apart in the seventh; Alex Rodriguez and Jose Molina sort of saved him on defense.

Phil Hughes struck out the side in the 8th, Mariano Rivera was Mariano Rivera and Brian Bruney had a delightfully decent appearance and Robinson Canó hit a bomb with a runner in scoring position (and a runner on first, too).


The Yanks had another rather bad night with runners in scoring position, but when you have the best record in the league such things seem minor concerns.

The Yankees were fairly desperate to get tonight's game in given the horrible weather forecast for Saturday; they did so without so much as a delay, which is impressive given that the heavens have now more or less completely opened.

Cabrera Hits for Cycle and Yanks Avoid Sweep (Postgame Notes 2 August 2009)

After sliding into third and being called safe, Melky Cabrera leaped up, punched his fist in the air and shouted a Spanish phrase I won't repeat here.

He had just completed the cycle, saving the hardest hit to get--the triple--for the last.

It was the first cycle for a member of the Yankees since Tony Fernandez in 1995.

So if you got caught up in the remarkable-baseball-feat-hoopla, you can perhaps be forgiven if you forget the largest context in which the cycle was hit.

The 8-5 final score is not really indicative of a well pitched game, but it's a bit misleading--while the Chicago White Sox scored four of their five runs in one inning, the Yankees scored in four different innings.

Aside from the bottom of the third, CC Sabathia was just fine, but blowing the original 3-0 lead is a little, as Michael Kay says, disconcerting. While it's great to see a pitcher get it together after struggling early, Sabathia isn't being paid to just give the Yankees a chance to win; he's being paid to pitch quality starts.

Still, the Yankees get to leave Chicago with a win heading into a very much needed off day. They come back to face Halladay, have Mitre pitch on turf in Toronto, and then have four with the Red Sox.


Good thing the Yanks are in first, eh?


Oh, and for what it's worth, Jerry Hairston Jr. has been great so far. Not great as in Albert Pujols, but great as in, Brian Cashman still knows what he's doing and he's a major upgrade over Cody Ransom.

Don't Blame This One on Andy

Andy Pettitte, since the All Star Break:

20 IP, 16 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 23 K, 3 BB (Yes, that's 23 strikeouts to three walks over twenty innings pitched).

In those starts, he's also received a grand total of three runs of support.


The Yankees have scored more runs than any other team in baseball, but apparently Pettitte did some sort of voodoo curse on the bats because they are very much not scoring for him.

It's a shame, because Pettitte has been stellar since the break, and even if he isn't exactly the Andy Pettitte of the late 1990s, he's certainly pitching well enough to be 3-0 in his last three starts, and not 0-0, with the Yankees having lost two of those games.

*****

It's tempting to blame the loss on Phil Coke, but Coke didn't put that runner on second, Hughes did. To be fair, Hughes was probably a bit gasses, and Girardi remains afraid to use Rivera in a tie game on a road.

At any rate, if you're going to blame anyone for this game, blame the offense that struck out seven times looking.

If the home plate umpire has a strike zone the size of a small state, you should probably at least swing at anything remotely close.



Some of you will consider this loss more grating than the game Sabathia recently lost; I disagree. Most nights if you get an effort from your starting pitcher like Pettitte gave, your team will win.

Congratulations Mark Buerhle!

Congratulations to Mark Buerhle of the Chicago White Sox, who today pitched a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Buerhle has consistently been one of the best--albeit underrated--pitchers in the game for the recent few years. He had previously pitched a no-hitter in 2007.


Congratulations, and hey, thanks for beating the Rays!

Yankees vs Orioles, 21 May 2009: A Liveblog

4.35 PM: Some really interesting going-ons today

1) The White Sox and Padres had worked out a Jake Peavy deal, but it looks like Peavy didn't like the idea and used his NTC to get out of it.

2) The Brewers and Padres pulled off a Tony Gwynn Jr-for-Jody Gerut trade.

3) The Minnesota Twins are currently up on the ChiSox 20-0 and there's still another inning to play.

4) Yankees lineup, from @Yesnetwork:
Jeter SS
Canó 2B
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Swisher RF
Cabrera LF
Cervelli C
Gardner CF


I'm not entirely sure why Canó is batting second, but I am assuming Johnny D is just getting a night off.


4.50 PM: I'm always wrong. From LoHud:

Josh reports that Phil Hughes will get another start. Hughes will start Monday in Texas. Chien-Ming Wang will pitch a minor league game tomorrow.

“We just want to see him have the stuff he had in the bullpen,” Girardi said.

Johnny Damon wrenched his neck jumping for Adam Jones home run yesterday. He is sore but Girardi hopes its only one day. “He’s a little sore.”

It doesn't seem like Damon's hurt too bad, but even so there's no being too cautious, especially with a neck.


5.40 PM: There's a rumor going around that Phil Hughes has asked to go to the bullpen when Wang returns to the rotation. If/when I get this from an official source I'll say so. For now, it might just be pointless rumblings.

5.42 PM: Now I'm hearing it was Girardi per WFAN.

5.57 PM: Phil Coke is a game time decision after getting hit on the shoulder yesterday.

7.03 PM: Yeah, old news now, but Peavy officially rejected the trade.

7.17 PM: Joba kind of couldn't get out of the way of an Adam Jones liner; he's in the game now, but we'll see if there are any effects.

7.19 PM: It looks like the Yankees are going to go to the bullpen. We have to hope that Joba's injury is not serious. And that the Yankees can piece this together with the bullpen.

7.31 PM: Guess Robbie's okay hitting second out of the line up.

7.41 PM: Melky is so clutch. Even lets the runs score before getting tagged out. 4-0 Yankees and Aceves and co. have some breathing room.

7.48 PM: I don't know which of the Yankees scouts signed Aceves, but he deserves a huge bonus check.

7.57 PM: Robinson Canó has three RBI and it's only the second inning. That ball probably doesn't get out at the old park, but it is at least a gapper.

8.11 PM: Ken Singleton asked Michael Kay if he remembered Ramiro Mendoza and then corrected that to Mario Mendoza, but an Aceves/Ramiro Mendoza comparison here seems more apt.

I'm not sure how much longer the Yanks let Mendoza Aceves go, but that might depend on what the Yanks do in the bottom of the inning.

8.14 PM: The longer we go without hearing about Joba, the more I worry.

8.27 PM: Can we give Aceves a medal here? And how the heck did this team go so long without a long man, given what Aceves has done? It's like Ramiro Mendoza spawned.

8.35 PM: Looks like Aceves is coming back out to start the fifth. I can't say I'm entirely fond of this idea. He's thrown 50 pitches so far. I know he's a starter, but he threw two innings last night

8.37 PM: And I am wrong yet again. Albaladejo is in. And he promptly serves one up to Brian Roberts. Now 6-1 Yanks.

8.40 PM: Only an eight pitch inning there. I can live with Roberts' solo HR, especially if the Yankees can tack on. Also, it means Albaladejo should be okay for the sixth, too. And then would you go Veras-Bruney-Mo? Or Veras-Bruney-Bruney? Or Veras-Bruney-Tomko? Or any combination thereof in which you can stay away from Phil Coke who is slightly injured?

8.49 PM: I know it's a bandbox, but as long as the Yanks keep hitting absolute bombs like that, I'm okay with it.

9.02 PM: And now it's a 7-3 game as Wigginton has a PH double. Albaladejo really needs to get the last out here before Baltimore gets any closer.

9.04 PM: That works. Yanks head to the bottom of the sixth with a four run lead. This would not have happened if the Yanks needed 8 innings from the pullpen as recently as three weeks ago.

9.11 PM: Word from YES is Joba X-rays are negative and he has a bruised right knee. That could have been so much worse.

9.15 PM



You see where that "I" is supposed to be in the big Mac sign?

Pujols took that out.


And A-Rod grounds out with the bases loaded. So unclutch.

(Photo credit Matthew H Leach/St Louis Cardinals)

9.20 PM: Markakis with a solo shot and now 7-4 Yankees. Albaladejo is likely gassed, but I'm not sure you can trust Veras with a three run lead. Guess we're gonna find out.

9.32 PM: Yankees could have used a run there but it was not to be. Somehow they have to fashion six outs out of the remaining relievers and I don't know if they go to Mo after a four out save last night, albeit a 14 pitch only appearance.

9.41 PM: Veras worked into and out of trouble there. The Yanks will go to the ninth with a three run lead.

9.48 PM: George Sherrill looked good there. It is now up to Mo. We'll see if there's any effects from last night.

SWISH

The Yankees have acquired Nick Swisher and a pitcher, Kanekoa Texeira from the White Sox in exchange for Wilson Betemit, Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nuñez.

Thoughts:

1) Swisher might not be a great player, but we got him cheap.

2) The funny thing is that the pitcher we acquired in the deal is named....Texeira. So we can't complain about not getting Texeira, even if it's not the one we originally wanted.

3) I have no idea if this means we aren't going after that *other* Teixeira, but hey, you never know. At the very least it seems to say that Cashman and co., are serious about tightening up that roster...and possibly making more room for CC.

4) What the hell were the White Sox thinking/smoking? They got Betemit! Okay, so just because of that, he's going to win the AL MVP next year...




Anyway, I need 35 sources on women and work and late medieval Nottingham. Oh, this is going to be so much fun...

Fearless Playoff Predictions, 2008

Brief LDS previews--I'll do LCS previews at the appropriate times.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Angels over Red Sox

To me it comes down to pitching--the Angels have the better rotation and the better bullpen. I can see this series going five games, because October is funny like that, but the Angels are a better constructed team, and unlike last year, they're not nearly as banged up.

Rays over White Sox.

While Bobby Jenks is the best pitcher in either bullpen, I think Tampa as a whole has a better team. The Sox barely scraped into the playoffs; they have momentum on their side, but let's see how that momentum carries away from the South Side.


NATIONAL LEAGUE

Phillies over Brewers

I like the Brewers well enough, and Ryan Braun is amazing, but outside of CC, what starters do they have? As much as the Brew Crew might want to, they can't pitch CC every day. The Phillies do have to worry, though, about putting Brad Lidge out there in a close game in the ninth--Albert Pujols still has a resonance.

Cubs over Dodgers

The Cubs are easily the best team in the National League. Whether or not this translates to postseason glory is yet to be seen, but if the Cubs can figure out how to pitch to Manny, they'll walk all over the Dodgers

The Moose is Loose and the Win Sinks In (Postgame Notes 19 September 08)

So I'm watching the Yankees tonight, watching Mike Mussina leave the mound and getting his ovation, possibly the last Yankee Stadium ovation he will ever receive, almost certainly the last at this Stadium, anyway.

And it hits me.

It hits me that this is it.

That after Sunday, watching a Yankee game will never be the same.

This has not been the best season for the Yankees. It's not been the worst, not by a long shot, but it also hasn't been anything close to what many of us were hoping for after the way we finished last year.

The mediocrity, however, has been exaggerated because of what this season means in the history, the lore, the psyche that goes into being a Yankee or being a Yankee fan.

So it's perhaps a bit of a surprise that it's taken this long for it to sink in--it did a little at the All Star game--but not, at least for me, like it did tonight.

I have to believe the ghosts were there tonight.

It wasn't an exceptionally dramatic game, but there were moments that were...well, they gave me goosebumps.

Like when the oldest living ball-player, at 102, Emilio Navarro, threw the first pitch, and if that wasn't chilling enough, if you catch the video, just as he's doing it, there's a squirrel--perhaps Scooter, perhaps not--running across the mound.

Like when Mike Mussina came out of the ballgame to a huge ovation, tipping his cap and entering the dugout with a giant smile, wearing, if just briefly, his heart on his sleeve. Oh, and the quest for 20 is still alive.

Like when Humberto Sanchez and Francesco Cervelli made their major league debuts and I realized, that might be the last time anyone makes their major league, Yankee debuts, at the Stadium. Juan Miranda, too. The three of them might be the very last to get those chills--hey, kid, you're in the game--at Yankee Stadium. There are three games left, but I'm not sure there's anyone left that the Yankees have called up that haven't already debuted.

This game probably won't be one we remember three years from now, unless our name is Humberto Sanchez, Juan Miranda or Francesco Cervelli (and maybe Mike Mussina), but it may have gotten to me much more than the game on Sunday will.

Because it's not when nostalgia is shoved down your throat, but when it comes naturally and almost by accident, amidst the chatter of the crowd and the jokes from the announcing crew about the answer to the night's trivia question, that you realize how much it means.

Postgame Notes 24 April 2008

Phil Hughes can't seem to buy a win.

When tonight's game got under way, 45 minutes after the scheduled start time, Phil Hughes looked great. His pitches were working and his pitch count was kept down, and then the Yankees went to get him a three run lead.

Had the rain held off then, the Yankees may have well been on their way to a sweep of the White Sox.

Alas, the weather and baseball deities had another fate in store.

It is becoming exceedingly clear that Ross Ohlendorf really can't go more than one inning. The more he is used, the more that analogies to Scott Proctor are going to start to come up, and that's not really fair--Ohlendorf has good stuff, much better than say, Farnsworth or Bruney, but overuse will kill any arm.

To the Yankees' credit, they did not say 'die', and despite falling behind 6-3, they managed to tie the game on a Melky Cabrera home run and Morgan Ensberg single, though they could not get the break through hit to give them a lead.

While no loss is fun, losing in nine innings may have been a blessing in disguise--the Yankees were playing with a short bullpen, without the use of Brian Bruney (sprained foot), and, given Mariano Rivera's five out save yesterday, one has to think that Girardi ould have done all he could to avoid using him.

That said, the Yankees may need to keep Joba Chamberlain from pitching a second inning of work in close games in the midwest.

OPTIMIST TAKE: Phil Hughes looked great in the two innings he was allowed to pitch. Bobby Abreu had his 1000th RBI. Melky Cabrera crushed another home run, and is quickly turning into one of the best players on the Yankees' offense this year. Kyle Farnsworth had a good outing.

Pregame Notes 24 April 2008

The Yankees will go for the you-know-what of the Chicago White Sox tonight, but to do it, Phil Hughes will have to pitch much better than his stat line--though that would be very welcome, not just for the Yankees, but for the sake of my fantasy team as well.

Jorge Posada is out of the lineup for a day off, with Jose Molina getting the nod. Johnny Damon will DH so Hideki Matsui can play in left, while Morgan Ensberg will still play at third. Alex Rodriguez is back with the team, but not playing tonight.

The Yankees offense has had a decent showing the past three games, though the bullpen has left a lot to be desired. Given that Hughes likely won't go more than six full innings (maybe into the seventh), one has to hope that the bullpen can do what is asked of it today.

On a more personal welcome-to-my-life note, My law professor today made a remark about the Yankees getting off to a bad start.

He is clearly not a very big baseball fan, or, at least, greatly unfamiliar with the way the team started last year and is structured this year.


On a blog note note, I do feel I should make a brief mention of upcoming days when I will be unable to update this, so you will likely either get a guest post from Brent Nycz or someone else I annoy enough to do it, or no update at all. They are:

This Friday, I'll be at the Rochester Red Wings/Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs game in Rochester.

This Saturday, I'll be watching the Scranton Yankees up here in Syracuse; I should get back early enough to do some sort of post, but then again, last time I got lost and ended up where you don't want to be after dark.


May 9th and 10th is Graduation Weekend, so, for obvious reasons, I will not be around, and then, 21-29 May I will be "across the pond", doing it Italian style.

Moose Call (Postgame Notes 23 April 2008)

Performances from Mike Mussina like the one the Yankees got tonight reminds you why the Yankees signed him in the first place.

Mussina pitched a gem--seven innings, two runs (each on a solo HR) and four hits. That's the kind of start the Yankees expect from Wang and Pettitte; to get that from Mussina has to be very reassuring.

He's not quite the burnt toast that everyone seems to think he is.

The bullpen, however, is another story. A 6-2 lead in the eighth should not necessitate a five-out save from Mariano Rivera, but with the Yankees, it invariably does.

This is going to become the elephant in the room, if the bullpen can't hide behind a poor effort from a starter, and they will be able to do that less and less as the season goes on and the starters (hopefully) get stronger. The frustration is that one day the bullpen will be lights out, unhittable, but then, in a game like today's, the set up men can not get the job done.

That said, had Jason Giambi slightly more range, he would have likely gotten to the grounder off of Traber, and Rivera may have not had to come in in the eighth.

The offense had a good game tonight--scratching out their first run and getting the next five on solid hitting without any home runs. It finally seems like the offense is beginning to come around--Damon had another good game, and Posada, with three doubles, may have had his best game of the season.

OPTIMIST TAKE: The Yankees have won three straight and are now two games over .500. After losing the series to Baltimore, they can go for the sweep against Chicago tomorrow. They are now above .500 on the second half of the ROAD TRIP OF DOOM. As said above, the Yankee bats are beginning to pick it up.

Joba Like It's Hot (and some 23 April pregame notes)

So I've just come back from my lone class of the day, Transnational Politics. At the beginning of class, I tend to talk to a couple of students in the class that happen to be big baseball fans--one a Yankees fan, one a Red Sox fan.

Let's call the Red Sox fan "T".

T and I stand on opposing lines, of course, but we usually manage to have reasonable conversations, like talking about how Jacoby Ellsbury is insanely fast and Jason Giambi is leaving a little something to be desired.

Today, however, our conversation was sparked by my shirt--my Joba t-shirt. On the front of the shirt, it says "JOBA THE HUT", while on the back it says "IN A BULLPEN FAR, FAR AWAY", to which T remarked, "where he belongs."

Now, of course, being the Yankee fan that I am, I felt somewhat violated by that comment.

"He's a starter," I said.

"If you take him out of the bullpen, you lose the best 1-2 punch in all of baseball," T remarked, "and you have no one to pitch the 8th inning."

This is so not right, I thought, it makes no sense.

"What good is the 8th inning," I said, "if you're already down 7-0 because you had no starting pitching?"

We preceded to argue in a fairly friendly manner for such divided loyalties as we have. He remarked that it would end up like Papelbon, who failed as a starter and now excels as the Red Sox closer. I said it wouldn't be, because unlike Papelbon, Joba has four pitches he can use.

The argument continue until T's friend and Yankees fan, we'll call him W, walked into the classroom and I posed the question, should Joba start or relieve? W responded,

"Are you kidding me? He has to start!"

***

There is some truth to the notion that Joba will likely get lit up as a starter--it's happened to Phil and it's happened to Ian, and it's happened to every great pitcher, every average pitcher and every failed pitcher.

Joba will not have a 0.38 ERA as a starter, and he will, in all likelihood, have a much lower K/BB ratio.

That does not mean he should not start.

When you have a talent such as Joba--someone with two amazing pitches, a plus curve and a serviceable change--it'd be high crime not to have him start at least a few games.

If it doesn't work, it doesn't work--but the far greater crime is not to try.

***

The question of when to make the move is a much harder one to answer. Ideally, the Yankees will find someone (at this point, anyone) capable of getting three outs in the eighth without surrendering the lead. However, despite an overall okay performance from the bullpen thus far, there is no one name that inspires enough confidence.

While it is impossible unlikely that the Yankees will find another Joba, they don't need a Joba--a Jeff Nelson or Mike Stanton would be exceptional, but right now, the Yankees just need someone to do the job.

Then, of course, there's the issue of how to stretch Joba out--you can't just give him the ball five days after his last appearance and say "Okay, now give us seven innings."

One idea might be to gradually increase the length of his relief appearances, if the Yankees wanted to resist sending him to the minors, but this would mean he would also need increased time off between appearances.

It's far more likely, however, that the Yankees would send Joba back to the minors, which, by virtue of a (temporarily) free roster spot have interesting consequences for the team.

***

It will be interesting to see how the Joba saga plays out, not just from the Yankees point of view, but from points of view around the league as well.

I have to wonder if what T thinks is peculiar to him, or if his is the prevailing opinion of Red Sox nation, and I have to wonder what fans of, say, National League teams like the Padres, who don't have longstanding rivalries with the Yankees, think.

***

Yankees will play the second of three in Chicago tonight, with Mike Mussina on the mound. Mussina has got to feel the pressure--the longer he struggles, the more likely Joba is brought up sooner. The Yankees need him to give them innings to spare the bullpen, something he was not able to do in his last start.

And Moose, for the love of everything holy, don't pitch to Jim Thome...

Just Another Day at the Office (Postgame Notes 22 April 2008)

If Sunday's game from Andy Pettitte was a clinic on how to pitch, tonight's game from Chien Ming Wang as a clinic on how to grind it out and battle when you don't have your best "stuff".

Though he gave up ten hits in six innings, Wang was able to keep the White Sox to three runs, hich shows true grit among the starter.

As for the offense, tonight was the type of night you hope you see more often--hitting from Johnny Damon and even Jason Giambi, and Bobby Abreu with a clutch grand slam in the seventh.

It looks like the Yankees may be coming out of their offensive funk; Johnny Damon especially had a great day including a double in the top of the first, an infield hit in the seventh to set up the Abreu grand slam, and, as if for good measure, a three run home run in the eighth.

The bullpen was shaky--Billy Traber walked the only man he faced, Brian Bruney walked a man and gave up an infield hit, Joba walked in a run, and Kyle Farnsworth gave up a solo HR in the ninth--but, in the end, the Yankees did not have to go to Mariano.

OPTIMIST TAKE: The way Wang battled through the game shows a mature pitcher--young pitchers might give in and fold, but Wang pulled a Pettitte with his ability to get out of jams with men on base with only minor damage. Jason Giambi had a home run, though for those thinking Giambi should be benched, I guess it wouldn't be a good thing. Johnny Damon had an excellent night, and, of course, Bobby Abreu's four run home run was kind of cool, too.

A Preview A Day Keeps the Winter Away, #29

For the month of March I will be doing a season preview, with a new team each day, going in alphabetical order by team so I can save the Yankees for last, because I am, in fact, that devious.

As this is a Yankees' blog, the previews for AL East teams will be more detailed than those of AL Central and AL West teams, and any AL team previews will be more detailed than NL team previews, save maybe for the Mets. Each preview will involve consideration of how much 'threat' a team is to the Yankees, for fairly obvious reasons.

Up today: The Chicago White Sox

It's hard to believe this team won the World Series in 2005; last year they had to fight off the Kansas City Royals just to stay out of the AL Central basement. In one series in July, the Yankees had a game in which they hit a barrage of home runs, and, in another game, when the White Sox had an eight run top-of-the-second, the Yankees repeated the feat in the bottom of the inning.

There's no denying that manager Ozzie Guillen is a colorful character, but that alone does not a playoff team make.

They've got some pitching talent in Javier Vazquez and Mark Buerhle, but when you still have Jose Contreras in your rotation, you know something is very, very lacking.

Paul Konerko at first base is an underrated player. I end up with him on my fantasy team every year, so I'm partial.

Bobby Jenks is great when the team needs him, but when you have a season like the White Sox did last year, being the closer is probably not too much fun.

Threat to the Yankees: Green, proceed normally.

The White Sox don't instill a whole lot of confidence. That said, some of the bats can do some big damage, but in a division with the Indians and the Tigers, they aren't likely to be much of a threat.




All right, just one more left--I'll bring you all a Season Preview of the Yankees tomorrow!