Correspondence

To: Philadelphia Bullpen
From: Pedro Martinez

Please for the love of all things holy, I gave you seven shut out innings. I made like it was 1999. Please don't blow this!


To: Pedro Martinez
From: Philadelphia Bullpen

Erm. We tried.


To: Philadelphia Bullpen
From: Pedro Martinez

...

I thought I left the Mets?

Sterling's right, you know...

So I was talking to one of you wonderful blog readers this evening, when one of you repeated a favorite Sterling-ism: "Well, Suzyn, you just can't predict baseball!"

Although Mike Blowers might disagree, on this front, Sterling is kind of right.

I got to thinking about all the games I've seen in person this season, and then thought about how improbably some of the results have been:

• I saw Chien Ming Wang, the 2009 Chien Ming Wang, outpitch Roy Halladay on July 4th. Halladay didn't get the loss, even though the Yankees won the game, but until Wang's shoulder blew up on him, he was easily the better pitcher that day.

• I saw three walk off wins, two of which included walk offs against Joe Nathan--Nathan, who is considered one of the best closers in the league--and those two walk offs involved coming from behind in the ninth inning.

• I saw Brett Gardner hit a home run. Okay, so it was an inside-the-park home run--which, depending on your view might make it more or less unexpected.

• I saw Alex Rodriguez hit a bottom of the ninth game tying home run in the postseason (!) (tongue in cheek here, folks)
  

• I also saw AJ Burnett get shelled twice and,

• I saw the Yankees lose to the Nationals, the Orioles and the Royals--the three worst teams in all of baseball, pretty much, unless one counts Pittsburgh, but I don't even know if the Pirates qualify any more.

These were just the games I saw in person, and out of a 162 game schedule, 10 games (and 2 postseason games) is not a whole lot, and yet, I still got to bear witness to some pretty incredible things.

This isn't any sort of predictor as to what's going to happen in the ALCS, but rather, just an observation.

This is baseball, after all, where crazy things happen in a way they don't--and they can't--in almost any other sport.

The Top 10 Moments of the Yankees' 2009 regular season

Some of these will not be among your traditional choices. Feel free to add your own in the comments.


10) Nick Swisher's surprise pitching appearance

This won't be a traditional choice, since it's not something that anyone is necessarily proud of, but Swisher's relief appearance in April provided a brief moment of levity in a bad loss and also gave Yankee fans an idea as to how valuable Swisher could be for the Yankees--a trade that many were wary of in the first place. One season and 30, mostly road home runs later, Swisher is easily a fan favorite. While he is not solely responsible for the 2009 Yankees shedding the image of a buttoned-up business club and adopting that of, well, a baseball team, it'd be foolish to ignore the large part he played.

9) The Francisco Cervelli Miracle

In May, both Jorge Posada and Jose Molina went down with leg injuries, almost within days of each other. The Yankees' only real option at that point became calling up Francisco Cervelli and Kevin Cash--one who was hitting .190 in AA Trenton, and the other whom was the Yanks' fourth-string catcher.

No one expected anything from Cervelli other than someone that could squat behind the plate and catch pitches.

What they got was someone hitting to a .270 clip. He didn't hit for power (then again, your number nine hitters seldom do), but he made the jump from AA to the Major Leagues without being an automatic out. What's more, like a microcosm of the 2009 team, Cervelli performed best in high leverage situations.


8) Alex Rodriguez bookends the season

When Alex Rodriguez hit the very first pitch he saw of the 2009 season for a home run at Camden Yards, many hailed it as the turning point in the Yankees' season, and it was. How many, however, thought he would hit a grand slam on the last pitch he saw of the 2009 regular season?

The thing about A-Rod's 2009 season is that it seemed, for the most part, to fly under the radar. He had his 30 home runs, his 100 RBI, and his best moment hitting a 15th inning walk-off home run against the Boston Red Sox, but what he didn't have was the New York media hounding his every move.

The steroid story broke in February, but like his teammate Andy Pettitte, Rodriguez admitted he used, and then moved on. When Selena Roberts' tell-all book came out, it fell flat and for once, surrounded by new teammates named CC, AJ and Teixeira, Rodriguez could simply be "one of the guys".

Just how valuable was A-Rod to the 2009 season? Thirty home runs over five months means 36 had he played a whole year, and 100 RBI in that time becomes 120. Thirty-six home runs and 120 RBI in any circumstance buys you some MVP votes.


7) Brian Cashman visits Atlanta

The Yankees had just won a series against the Mets on sheer luck, and then dropped series to the Nationals and Marlins. They were in danger of doing so yet again to the Braves, before Brian Cashman showed up on the road.

If anyone knows what Cashman said, they've done a good job keeping it quiet, but whatever he said seems to have worked. After that date--June 24--the Yankees went 65-27--a .706 winning percentage.

A-Rod's return helped the Yankees go from a third place team to a contender; after Cashman's visit the Yankees went from a contender to the odds-on favorite to win it all.


6)Luis Castillo walks off for the Yankees

Of all the moments of either team's respective season, perhaps nothing more exemplifies the way the seasons were for either team than this moment.

It is a testament to the number of times the Yankees won on nothing more than sheer luck in the 2009 season, but any team winning over 100 games is going to have their fair share of calls going their way or errors in their favor.

The thing about this game, though, is that when Castillo dropped the ball, there are a large number of baserunners that would have simply advanced one base and then passed the baton to Alex Rodriguez. The Yankees, though, had Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira on the basepath, and the two of the hustled around the bases--Teixeira from first--scoring and winning that game. Everyone will remember Castillo dropping that ball, but how many will remember Teixeira's hustle?


5) Phil Hughes goes to the bullpen

No, I'm not arguing that Hughes should forever more be a reliever, but in the 2009 season, putting Hughes in the bullpen at once solved the Yankees' bullpen problems (okay, helped solve would be more accurate) and may, in the end be the best thing for the development of young master Hughes.

At once the Yankees had an eighth inning guy that was simply stellar--like Joba Chamberlain in 2007, but more efficient. Not a 100 mph guy like Joel Zumaya, but a guy that came in, got three outs, and handed the ball to the great Mariano. The Hughes-Rivera tandem sparked more than a few comments about reminiscing to the dynasty years of the late 1990s.

What's more, however, is that unlike Chamberlain, Hughes had the majority of the season in the bullpen--time to get used to the everyday-ness of major league life for one, and plenty of talking time with Mariano, for another. There are quite a few who will argue that breaking a pitcher in the bullpen first, before transitioning him to the rotation in the next season, is the way to go. We'll see if it works with Hughes, but for the moment, the Yankees have gotten themselves, quite probably, the best back end of a bullpen in the 2009 playoffs.

4) Mariano Rivera nabs his 500th save and first RBI in the same game

One feat will get Rivera to the hall of fame and the other will not, but guess which one the beat reporters all said Rivera wanted to talk about more?

There's something to be said for the save statistic itself as being overrated--saves are only possible when your team has already done most of the work--but even if we were to look at save percentage, a better measurement for how successful a closer is, Rivera is still the top of the pack.

While Rivera may not have been as decent, in terms of peripherals, as he was in 2008, this is rather a statement as to how absurdly good his 2008 was than anything else--in 2009 he was still easily one of, if not the, best closer(s) in all of baseball.

He had his longest in his career streak of converted saves, still managing a K/9 ration of over nine and a WHIP under one.

Thirty nine year old closers aren't supposed to do that...


3. Jeter breaks hit record

It was an ugly, rainy night and an uglier game that resumed at 12.40 AM after a lengthy rain delay, but no one will remember that.

What they will remember, however, is Jeter breaking the all-time hits record for a Yankee. It's still sort of marvelous that Jeter did not have to get a 3,000th hit to do so (though he likely will sometime in 2011), but what Jeter did is still quite an accomplishment, especially when one considers how historically-minded the Yankee fan base can be.

Derek Jeter's 2009 was simply a renaissance; he wasn't just better with his bat, the switch to the lead off spot working wonders there, but he was also that much better in the field. Many attribute his better range to playing farther back on the infield, but whatever it was that he did, it worked.

Jeter's value has long been unquantifiable, but his breaking the hit record simply gave us another reason to celebrate it.


2. Yankees sweep Red Sox in four game series

This series seems to have been the defining moment for the 2009 season. Going into the series, the Yankees were just barely in first place and 0-8 against the Red Sox for the season. Needless to say, there was a lot riding on the results.

In front of a stadium crowd that had a relentless, playoff-like atmosphere, the Yankees thrived.

They won games every way possible--slugfests (Thursday), extra inning pitcher's duels (Friday), and close games that involved coming from behind in the late innings (Sunday).

The Yankees simply out-played the Red Sox in every facet of the game, and at the end of the series they were so far in first place that they cruised to a division title, their first since 2006.

That series, perhaps more than any other, was a testament to the character and resiliency of the 2009 Yankees, who started the season 0-8 against Boston and then went 9-1 the rest of the way.


1) Melky Cabrera gets pied

Okay, so this isn't so much about Melky Cabrera's getting pied--in May, against the Twins and Joe Nathan, as the Yankees came back from a 4-2 deficit in the ninth inning--as it is about the number of pies the entire team had. I think the final tally is something like:

Cabrera 3
Rodriguez 2
Damon 1
Posada 1
Swisher 1
Cervelli 1
Miranda 1
Matsui 1
Canó 2 (?)
Castillo (okay, no actual pie).


The walk off wins speak of a team that doesn't quit and a team that fans can always believe will win--a team where everyone stays through the ninth inning, even when losing because they always believe there is that chance, and the pies speak of a team that's, well, a team.

As friends and I have discussed quite often, what sets the 2009 Yankees apart from many of the recent teams is that this team is one you want to root for, a team that's good, that's fun, and that does as much good off the field--such as Hope Week--as they do on it.

In the course of the 2009 season, the Yankees only had one homestand in which they did not have a walk off win, which is quite the accomplishment. You do sort of get the feeling that the walk off magic might lead to some interesting things happening throughout the rest of this month...

Some Advice for Stephen Strasburg

I have not been offered legal advice very much in my life--though, perhaps, at this stage that's a good thing.

Still, there was one piece of advice a mock trial coach once gave me: Never, ever sign anything unless you've read it.

Since receiving this advice I have adhered to it faithfully, without question.

Until now.

Dude, Strasburg, kid, listen. If someone's offering you a record bonus to sign in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression, you sign without a second thought.

I know the Nationals aren't very good, but hey, a) you can make them better, and b) if you can't, free agency ain't too far off.

Seriously, sign the damn contract already and restore our faith in humanity.

Cheers.


*****

In other news, according to various sources, both Yankees' top picks, Slade Heathcott and JR Murphy have signed, much better than last season when Gerrit Cole bolted for UCLA.

The John Sterling Drinking Game

Based on Andrew Fletcher's Michael Kay drinking game, and with his full permission.

With some help from the followers of @rebecca_glass.


PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY I am not liable if you die of alcohol poisoning or any other alcohol-related fatality.

THE JOHN STERLING DRINKING GAME

The It Is High Cluster

Every time he says "It is high, it is far..." take a drink.

If it is "Gone," take two.

If it is "off the Wall," take three.

If it is "CAUGHT", finish the drink.

If it is "foul", you lose.


The A-Bomb Cluster

If it is "El Capitan", take a drink.

"Johnny Rocket", take a drink.

"A Tex Message" and "You're on the Mark Teixeira", take three.

"An A-Bomb from A-Rod", take a drink.

"An A-Bomb from Matsui," finish the drink.

"A Thrilla from Godzilla," take a drink.

"Jorge juiced one," take a drink.

"SWISHALICIOUS," finish the drink.

"Robbie Canó, doncha know?" take a drink. If there were men on base, finish the drink.

"The Melkman delivers", take a drink.



The I-don't-believe-what-I-just-saw cluster

"You know Suzyn, you can't predict baseball", or any variation there of, take a drink.

"Amazing", take two drinks.

Take a drink if he botches a non home-run play and then tries to make up for it by saying "from the booth" or any such that indicates that he needs glasses.

"Lined like a bullet! Base hit!" One drink for a single. "It goes into a corner", two. Any more, add a drink per base. Inside the park HR, finish the drink.

"How d'ya like that?" Two drinks.


The Win Warble Cluster

If the "theeeee" warble lasts longer than .... seconds, take .... drinks:

2 ---> 1
3 ---> 2
4 ---> 3
5+ --> Finish the darned drink already.

If it's ALCS over, finish the drink.

If it's World Series over, what the hell are you doing playing a drinking game? Go start a riot in Times Square!


The wasn't watching cluster

Take a drink if he disagrees with Suzyn.

Take a drink for every two minutes he talks without mentioning what happens during the game.

If Sterling sings, ever, finish two drinks.

Two drinks if he says "Let's build something togethaaaa" instead of "together." Three drinks if he sings at any time.

Really, the Yankees Don't Have It So Bad

Despite a six-game win streak (yes, really), some are still complaining about the Yankees.

So I thought, in the perpetual spirit of optimism (and Schadenfreude), I'd go through and list some of the other teams I've been following, and their issues, because after you do that you realize that the Yankees' not-yet-solid 8th inning and inability-to-hit-pitchers-they-don't-see are not really the biggest problems they could have.

The teams that I've picked are purposefully not bad teams--in fact some have a reasonable chance to win their division--but if they are going to October, they've got a bit of a bigger hill to climb.


Boston Red Sox: Just had the bullpen blow a 10-1 lead to the Baltimore Orioles last night. That says a lot about the bullpen, especially that the law of averages may be beginning to creep back up....Dustin Pedroia has weaker stats than Brett Gardner (no, really!) Mike Lowell just went on the DL, and Kevin Youkilis got hit hard with a pitch in the 9th last night. They still have a lot of pitching depth--Buchholz is still in the minors--and David Ortiz has begun to emerge from a black hole, so I don't think anyone in Sox nation is really all that worried...but they do have some issues.

Toronto Blue Jays: The team that started off by feasting on the weak AL Central now has a bear of a schedule, with still more than 40 games to go against the Rays, Sox and Yanks. The one time the Yanks played them, they took two of three, losing only Roy Halladay's start. As always, the rest of the starting rotation has been patched together with glue, and that awful Vernon Wells contract looks worse by the hour.


New York Mets: David Wright has less HR right now than David Ortiz, even with Ortiz's slow start. They've lost five straight and are fielding a line up that is usually only seen in Spring Training. Jerry Manuel is practically begging for Omar Minaya to get a hitter, or, well, anything, but Minaya has done nothing, yet. Ending this here would be merciful.


Philadelphia Phillies: This team is all sorts of awesome on the road, but for whatever reason can't win at home. They should have pulled away from the NL East as the Mets crashed, but they went and lost 11 of 13 instead and are pretty much only still in first because their division is that bad. If the good pitching Braves can start hitting, the Phillies will really have to watch their backs.


St. Louis Cardinals: @Matthewhleach is one of the writers I follow on Twitter. At the end of every night, he remarks that the Cardinals are on pace for __ wins. I've watch that number go from 90 down to 84. Watching Albert Pujols hit is pure joy, but there is utterly no one to protect him in the line up, so as the division races heat up, he should see less and less pitches to hit. The Cardinals overpaid for Mark DeRosa, sending Cleveland their version of Mark Melancon, and now, just three games later, DeRosa is hurt.




So there you have it. Things aren't perfect in Yankeeland, but compared to some of our other baseball compadres, they are quite rosy.

Bills of Rights

@JesseSanchezMLB asked via Twitter: what are the bills of rights for fans and players?

I've decided to take a stab at it--let me know if I've missed some or included some you haven't included in yours.


The MLB Fan's Bill of Rights

1) Freedom of Fanhood: Fans have a right to choose which team they support, the right to withdraw or change their allegiance at any time for any reasons that they so choose, and the right to attend any baseball game, home or away, regardless of affiliation so long as they acquire their ticket by legal means.

2) Freedom of Speech: Fans have a right to criticize any aspect of their team--any player, coach, support personnel or front office management--as they see fit provided it does not threaten the physical security of any of the aforementioned individuals.

3) Right to Enjoyable Game Watching: Fans who pay any legal price for Stadium admission have the right to an enjoyable game experience. This includes the right to ask stadium security/customer service to confront another fan who is disrupting his/her experience, provided such right is exercised judiciously and is not abused. (A fan should only need to exercise this right once or twice a season and NEVER in a road park).

4) Right to Enjoyable Game Watching (home version): Fans have a right to choose whichever available feed of the current game to watch or listen to, via tv, mlb.tv or radio. They have the right to criticize any broadcasters for ineptness or "blindness" --I am here pointing to John Sterling's "IT IS HIGH! IT IS FAR! IT IS....caught!" calls that have most of NYC seeing cardiologists prematurely.

5) Right to Protest: Fans have the right to assemble and demand in any peaceable way they choose (via petition, online petition, actually gathering, letter-writing campaign, etch) to campaign for a measure that they want, such as a trade or a free-agent signing.

6) Right to Information: Fans have the right to be able to access any and all statistical information about any player they choose, and the right to analyze this information in any way they see fit, even if it makes them look like a complete idiot.

7) Right to Shelter: Paying fans have the right to a baseball park that is clean (as clean as a park can be), secure and fan-friendly. I would further go on to say that fans have a right to a park that can provide shelter in the event of a severe weather event, such as a tornadic storm, when otherwise escaping to a car would be more dangerous than safe. I would further argue that teams should consider a hand-stamping policy wherein one gate is a designated re-entry gate, provided patrons get their hands stamped...this would allow for smoking breaks (you shouldn't smoke, and all that) or perhaps a chance to make a cell-phone call if need be without having to compete with the noise of a ballpark. Before you get all up in arms, I used to go to Nets basketball and Devils' hockey games where Gate B was a designated smoking area; you got your hand stamped, did your thing and came back in. Never seemed to be much of an issue.

8) Right to Players at the Park: At the ballpark, fans have the right to seek autographs from players, as stadium and team policies allow for. This generally means being able to watch BP. Any ticket-holding fan, regardless of where seated, is afforded this right.

9) Right to Be an Idiot: Fans have a right to be idiots, whether by dancing awfully on the DiamondVision, making ridiculous trade suggestions or wearing ridiculous get up to a game. This right ends only when one of the other discussed rights are violated.

10) Right to the Integrity of the Game: Fans have a right to watch a game wherein both teams have the goal of winning the baseball game (ie, NOT doing as the Black Sox and Pete Rose did).



The MLB Player's Bill of Rights

1) Right to security: First and foremost, MLB players have the right to security at the ballpark so their person is not physically threatened. MLB players also have the right, should they choose so, to employ a bodyguard or guards outside the stadium, in which ever manner they see fit. Players, of course, also have the right to use self-defense if they are in clear and imminent danger of physical harm. Which goes for everyone, actually.

1a) Right to family privacy and safety: Players have the right to refuse any and all interaction in which they feel the privacy and/or security of family members may be threatened.

2) Right to eat in peace: Players have the right to eat out, visit museums/galleries/shows/movies/etc and otherwise partake in normal public life without having to be interrupted by a fan. Players have the right to refuse dealing with fans in these situations, provided the physical security of the fan is never threatened (unless there's the clear and imminent danger thing). Players should be at least reasonably civil (I'm not even saying polite or courteous here), but they, as anyone else living in the US, are protected by the real first amendment and may say whatever they so choose.

3) Right to get dressed before postgame interviews. This includes the right to dress horribly 'Nuff said. Yes, I'm looking at you, Nick Swisher.

4) Right to exercise a normal degree of emotion in a 'big moment' during a course of the game. Yes, Joba can pump his fist and K-Rod can go into convulsions and Papelbon can do an Irish jib, provided these things happen at the end of an inning when the said pitcher/player has victoriously emerged from his troubles. Emotion is a part of the game. It makes the game FUN and teams fun to root for. Get over it.

5) Right to say what they want to coaches, managers and management, provided again that physical security is not threatened. Players should be warned that while they have the right to say "Hey you're a purple monkey" to their manager or "trade me" to their GM, they may not enjoy the consequences of these actions.

6) Right to interact with fans via social networking such as Twitter. Right now, I have to say, @Dougiebaseball is totally the best at this.

7) Right to rookie hazing. Tradition is tradition. Players have the right to engage in any legitimate baseball tradition they so choose. If they want to chew tobacco, they have that right. Even if they shouldn't.

8) Right to integrity of the game: Like fans, players have a right to a game played with integrity on the part of both teams. If a player knows of his team conspiring to throw a game or otherwise undermine the ultimate goal, the player not only has the right but has the obligation to come forward with this information.

9) Right to Music: Players have the right to choose their at-bat music, no matter how awful said music may be. The first player to demarcate a song for his at bat has the theoretical right to call out another player for 'copying' him.

10) Right to well-practiced, efficient and otherwise excellent team medical staff. For members of the Mets, Rays, and others, this right is sacred, above all others.





These are what my addled neurons came up with late at night--so please, if there's one I missed, let me know!

Travelling Back to the Year 2000

As a history student, I have a thing for nostalgia. So I'm busy looking at my official MLB guide to the 2000 season.

It's got nuggets such as:

Millennium Men (p 28): Who will be the stars of the new millennium? Their predictions:

C: Michael Barrett, Expos (uh, who?)
1b: Paul Konerko, White Sox (he always ends up on at least one fantasy team of mine. Always.)
2B: Carlos Febles, Royals (again, who?)
SS: Alex Gonzalez, Marlins
3B: Adrain Beltre (you'll find his picture next to "contract year")
RF: Richard Hidalgo, Astros (Wasn't Hidalgo a horse?)
CF: Carlos Beltran, Royals (okay, this one's legit)
LF: JD Drew, Cardinals (no comment)
P: Freddy Garcia (no, I'm not making this up)


Long at Short:

"Young superstars Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have led a three-headed revolution of the shortstop position during the past few seasons...there are, however, other upstarts who could soon challenge that talented trinity..."

Miguel Tejada 23 (sure), Athletics (Young? Tejada? I feel an Angel Berroa joke coming on...)
Alex Gonzalez, Marlins (what ever happened to him?)
Tony Batista, Blue Jays (see above)
Neifi Perez, Rockies (Not to be confused with the Rangers' young pitching prospect)
Edgar Renteria, Cardinals (he got old fast, didn't he?)
Alfonso Soriano, Yankees (well, he didn't stick at short, but dude can hit)
Rafael Furcal, Braves (I used to confuse him and Albert Pujols. Not so much any more.)


Players that were candidates for 2000 Rookie of the Year (selection copied here to save you space) (31):

AL

1B: Nick Johnson, Yankees
2B: D'Angelo Jimenez, Yankees (was in a nasty car wreck not long after)
3B: Mike Lamb, Rangers
Carlos Guillen, Mariners
SS: Alfonso Soriano, Yankees
OF: Vernon Wells, Blue Jays (he's really been around that long?!)
Michael Coleman, Red Sox
P: Kip Wells, White Sox
Danys Baez, Indians
Kazuhiro Sasaki, Mariners
J.C. Romero, Twins
Ed Yarnell, Yankees (I don't think that really worked)
Dan Wheeler, Devil Rays (Dude, isn't he the Yanks' favorite whippin' boy?)
Mike Mulder, Athletics
Dan Reichart, Royals


NL

1B: Adam Kennedy, Cardinals
SS: Adam Everett, Astros
Rafael Furcal, Braves
OF: Pat Burrell, Phillies
Corey Patterson, Cubs
Lance Berkman, Astros
P: Rick Ankiel, Cardinals (yes, that Rick Ankiel)
A.J. Burnett, Marlins
Eric Gagné, Dodgers (remember him?)
Tony Armas Jr., Expos
Brad Penny, Marlins (Can you imagine if Beckett, Burnett, Penny and Pavano were still in the same rotation? The Marlins would have been the team of the early 2000s. Maybe.)
Ted Lilly, Expos


New ballparks (41-42):

Safeco Field, Seattle:

"Fans can get "caught up" in a giant bronzed baseball mitt that sits just outside the left-field entrance...Safeco Field has an 11,000-ton retractable roof that can move as fast as six inches per second"


Enron Field, Houston:

"Another 'throw back', Enron Field will be the only ballpark in the Major Leagues with a flagpole sitting in the field of play"


Pacific Bell Park, San Francisco:

"The park's short right-field wall will mean that home runs will make even more of a splash--a well-hit dinger could actually drop into San Francisco Bay"

Comerica Park, Detroit:

"A 200-300 seat theater will give fans a chance to catch a flick at the ballpark. The theater will show films documenting Tigers history...boasts the largest scoreboard in baseball"

2010: A Base Odyssey (105-122; my edition seems to be missing the last few pages)

"Take a journey through the next decade of milestones that could be reached by today's biggest stars"

September 2000: Boston's Pedro Martinez becomes the first pitcher to win 30 games in one season since 1968 (no).

October 2000: Randy Johnson fans his 384th batter, the most strikeouts recorded since the 1800s (I don't think so, but maybe I'm wrong).

September 2001: Slugger Mark McGwire blasts a ball completely out of Shea Stadium for home run 71 (Uh, no.)

May 2002: Barry Bonds becomes the first player to reach 500 in both home runs and stolen bases (Bonds stole bases? Where was I?)

October 2002: Sweet-swinging Larry Walker strokes his way to baseball's first Triple Crown since 1967 (pretty sure this didn't happen, but Walker was a fun player to root for).

June 2003: Ivan Rodriguez nails nine baserunners in a game to break a 105-year-old record (don't remember this ever happening but my memory is shot)

October 2004: Switch hitter Chipper Jones goes deep twice from each side of the plate during an NLCS game (fairly certain the Braves didn't make the 2004 NLCS)

October 2005: Derek Jeter becomes the first player to win a batting title, MVP, Gold Glove and World Series in one year (if only...)

September 2007: Sammy Sosa becomes the first basher to launch 50 or more homers in 10 straight seasons (BAHAHAHAHAHAH)



And lastly, the 2000 season NY Yankees roster as of 1/6/00:

Pitchers

59 Bradley, Ryan
41 Buddie, Mike
22 Clemens, Roger
36 Cone, David
64 DeLosSantos, Luis
Dingman, Craig
67 Einerston, Darrell
58 Erdos, Todd
Ford, Ben
38 Grimsley, Jason
26 Hernandez, Orlando
57 Juden, Jeff
55 Mendoza, Ramiro
43 Nelson, Jeff
Noel, Todd
46 Pettitte, Andy
42 Rivera, Mariano
29 Stanton, Mike
62 Tessner, Jay
27 Watson, Alan
Westbrook, Jake
52 Yarnell, Ed

Catcher

20 Posada, Jorge

Infielders

35 Bellinger, Clay
18 Brosius, Scott
2 Jeter, Derke
59 Jimenez, D'Angelo
Johnson, Nick
11 Knoblauch, Chuck
13 Leyritz, Jim
24 Martinez, Tino
58 Soriano, Alfonso

Outfielders

17 Ledee, Ricky
84 McDonald, Donzell
21 O'Neill, Paul
Pena, Wily
47 Spencer, Shane
39 Strawberry, Darrell
51 Williams, Bernie


(Of that roster, only Posada, Jeter and Rivera are still in pinstripes. Soriano, Johnson and Westbrook are active with different teams; I'm not sure about any of the other guys; if Wily Peña is the same as Wily Mo Peña then there's another...)





Credit to: Major League Baseball 2000: The Official Guide to the 2000 Season, published by Corporate Sports Marketing Group, (c) 2000

Looking at the Yankees on an Off Day

Now that the season is over a month old, there are some judgments that can be made. Although it's too early to know for sure what will hold out and what won't, there are some general trends:

• Whatever the team's problem, it's not the offense.
• The starting pitching can show flashes of brilliance, but has mostly been pretty average.
• The bullpen has two reliable pitchers and the rest are firestarters.

Let's take a more in-depth look, shall we?

The Starting Pitching

Joba strikes out 12. CC pitches a four-hit complete game. Yankee pitching of late has shown flashes of brilliance. Yet, for ever four hit complete game shutout, there's a pitcher that can't get out of the second inning.

The starting pitching was supposed to be the Yankees' strong suit, but it's been mediocre for the most part. While CC looks like all it took was a flip of the calendar page, others in the rotation look decidedly human.

• CC Sabathia: Yankee fans hope the four-hit complete game shut out of the Orioles is a sign of better things to come. That stopper performance is what the Yankees paid to get. Don't pay too much attention to CC's record here; the bullpen has been more than responsible for keeping CC from some more wins.

• AJ Burnett: Started off as the Yankees' stopper, but has faltered a bit since then. The match up on Tuesday against Halladay should be telling. His ERA is skewed because of the eight runs allowed in the one Boston start; other than that he's allowed, going backwards 3, 4, 3, 2 and 2--certainly enough to give his team a chance to win. The Yankees are 4-2 in his starts.

• Andy Pettitte: The Yankees are 4-2 in his starts as well, but his ER total has gone up: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 5. Not entirely surprisingly, the Yanks are 1-2 in his last three starts. Granted, Pettitte is supposed to be the fifth starter, so the Yanks aren't quite looking for utter domination here, but the rising ER totals are not a trend the Yankees would like to see continue.

• Joba Chamberlain: Opponents hit .480 off of him in the first inning, but after that, they're lucky if they reach base. The Yanks are only 3-3 in his starts, but this may perhaps be more the fault of a lack of run support (and, uh, that bullpen) than it is Joba's--he has not allowed more than five runs in a game, and when he did, the Yankees won that game. In the future, he'll probably be the pitcher more like the pitcher that pitched innings two through six against Boston as opposed to the first inning.

• Phil Hughes: Holy small sample size, Batman! Phil Hughes has looked progressively worse each start. It's only three starts, so you can't make much of it, but it's probably not much of a coincidence that Chien Ming Wang will make a rehab start for Scranton tomorrow.

• Chien Ming Wang: Told you it was the foot.

The Starting Line Up

The offense has been working quite nicely here. They've been held to less than four runs no more than five times over the course of nearly thirty games and have not yet been shut out. What's interesting here, though, is while guys like Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira are struggling, others such as Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera have picked up the slack.

• Derek Jeter: Only hitting in the .270s, and this is a little concerning. His OBP is helped by his walks, but his OPS is nearly a hundred points lower than his career average. It's still early in the season, and Jeter struggled early last year, but it's getting to a point where Jeter's offense can no longer mask his not-very-good defense. If this was anyone else, you'd probably see a team trying to trade him while he still has residual value, but this is Derek Jeter. And you don't trade Derek Jeter.

• Johnny Damon: En Fuego. Not only does this guy have a hitting streak, but he has an extra base hit in seven straight games. Yesterday, it won the Yankees the game. Yes, there's a caveat that it's a contract year and he's playing for a contract, but if it helps the Yankees win, how much of a caveat can it be? I'm not sure we'll see 40 home runs from him, but whatever he's eating for breakfast, it's working.
  

• Mark Teixeira: Struggling as all struggling has ever struggled before. Hovering around the Mendoza line is not how he wanted to start out in pinstripes, but perhaps he's beginning to come out of it. The double in the rain to tie the game against Tampa would have been a seminal moment had the Yankees found a way to win the game.

• Alex Rodriguez: One pitch, one home run, and Alex Rodriguez has more home runs than David Ortiz, who did not miss the first 28 games of the season. Alex only has one other hit and has swung at a bunch of pitches out of the strike zone, but no matter how much you rehab, there's nothing quite the same as facing ML starters who have already had a few weeks in real game situations to practice. He might not run well, but he should hit just fine once he's had a few more games.

• Hideki Matsui: Was the Yankees' hottest hitter while A-Rod was still rehabbing. He's cooled down some, but he no longer looks awkward and lost like he did at the beginning of the season. Godzilla's always been fairly streaky; when he's right and protecting Teixeira and A-Rod, there should be some interesting offensive games.

• Nick Swisher: Doesn't like hitting at the New Yankee Stadium. His numbers overall have come way down, more in line with his career numbers as opposed to deity-like. He still seems to work the count every at bat, and guess what? On this team, working the count seems to be contangious. And as long as he keeps being a bon vivant, campaigns such as VoteSwisher.com will continue to have an actual shot at working.

• Robinson Canó: Has cooled off after a torrid April. As per most of his career thus far, he's hitting much better on the road than at home, which may partly be why the Yankees don't seem to have much luck at the new Stadium. Still, if your number 7 hitter hits .300 or better for the most part of the season, you can't find too much to complain about.

• Melky Cabrera: It's too early to call this a breakout season, but it seems to be how this is shaping up. Melky was given a second chance when Gardner couldn't, well, hack it, and he's taken every advantage. It's a small sample size galore thing here, but if he keeps taking pitches like he's taking, the likelihood he'll regress will grow slimmer and slimmer.

• Francisco Cervelli: He's not in there for his bat, and yet, if he doesn't beat out an infield hit yesterday, the Yankees don't win that game. Every time he's interviewed in the clubhouse, he is positively beaming. If only he hadn't missed so much of last season with that wrist injury...

• José Molina: Has a grand slam. Which is cool. And a strained quad. Which is not.

• Jorge Posada: Never injured before the big, bad contract of doom, and now injured twice in two years. At least this is his hamstring and not his shoulder, so he should not be gone for too long. When the Yanks get his bat back, with A-Rod, it's going to be one heck of a line up.

• Brett Gardner: Seems to have gone MIA except for late inning defense. That's what happens when you are given a chance and you can't take advantage. It's also why spring training stats mean nothing.

• Ramiro Peña: Was good enough as a fill in for A-Rod to still be on the ML roster. Didn't hit much but wasn't necessarily an automatic out, and played doable defense. Wouldn't be surprised to see him spell A-Rod or perhaps even Jeter every once in a while.

• Angel Berroa: He's on the Yankees? Since when?

• Xavier Nady: Will attempt some light throwing to see if he can start rehab or if he will need a second Tommy John surgery. The injury didn't seem like a big blow to the Yankees at the time, but depth is only nice when you don't have to use it.

• Kevin Cash: Has yet to make appearance as a Yankee.

The Blow Bullpen

Somehow, someone in the bullpen thought it was a good idea to watch footage of the 2008 Mets and try to emulate them as best as possible. Mariano Rivera and Phil Coke decided that wasn't for them, but they haven't been spotless, either.

• Mariano Rivera: Gave up back to back HRs for the first time in his career to Tampa Bay. He's not injured, apparently, since his command's okay, but his velocity's a bit down. This is probably a repercussion of the shoulder surgery and he should be okay, but it doesn't help that he was, well, so darned good last year.

• Phil Coke: The only other reliable reliever. He's not flashy and he struggled in the beginning of the year, but he has calmed down a lot since then and (generally) gets the job done. In the absence of Bruney, the 8th inning is his.

• Jonathan Albaledejo: Occasionally pitches a bunch of scoreless innings, and occasionally gets tagged. Flip a coin; that's basically what it comes down to.

• Edwar Ramirez: See above.

• José Veras: Last year's seventh inning guy has utterly no command this year. Aside from one good performance against Oakland, has shown absolutley nothing to suggest he can get batters out. What's even more frustrating is that he's out of options, so the Yankees are basically stuck.

• Dámaso Marte: Why did the Yanks wait so long before DLing him? Such things continue to blow my mind.

• David Robertson: Good when throwing strikes. Doesn't always throw them, however.

• Mark Melancon: Needs more time at AAA, believe it or not. Kid's still young and coming off of TJ surgery. He'll be fine, but just not yet. Right now, it's about building the confidence so he's not afraid to throw strikes.

• Brett Tomko: Heard the debut didn't go so well, but was dealing with an awful migraine at the time so I missed it.

• Alfredo Aceves: the Mexican Gangsta may yet save the bullpen. The reason he didn't pitch in Hughes' debacle was because the Yanks weren't sure if Joba could start. Since Joba could and did start, Aceves should be raring to go the next time a starter fails.

• Bruney, Bruney, o where art thou Brian Bruney?
  

I Don't Know is on third: A modest proposal

With the news that Alex Rodríguez has an injury that could require up to four months of rehabilitation, should he opt for surgery, the proposals for temporary third base replacements have been coming fast and furious from all corners of the Yankee, and indeed, baseball universe.

Now, while it's important to remember that if Rodríguez opts to go the rest and rehab route that worked oh so well for Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui, he needn't actually miss much, if any time.

The caveat is, however, that Rodríguez's injury will likely need surgery, so, at some point in time, the Yankees will have to address the issue as to who should play third base.

I have a modest proposal, and I beg you all to read it through before thinking holy deity in a handbasket, this girl's insane: The Yankees should trade for Aaron Boone.

Think about it.

After etching himself firmly in Yankee lore for all time to come in 2003 by ensuring Boston one more hard winter of misery, Boone decided to play a pick-up basketball game.

Normally, such things don't matter, except this time Boone did something that wasn't very smart from his perspective: he tore his ACL.

Torn ACLs in the world of sports are ubiquitous, and so are the lost seasons and months of rehabilitation that they entail.

The Yankees knew right away that they'd need a third baseman for the 2004 season.

Someone, and I can't tell you who, aware of the issue, must have shared a thought with the rest of the Yankees management: hey, you know, this Alex Rodríguez guy, I hear he's supposed to be pretty good, and hey, Texas doesn't want to pay the rest of his contract because they aren't winning, and hey, we don't really need Alfonso Soriano anyway...

I'm not sure what said person had been thinking, drinking, or smoking, but lo-and-behold, Alex Rodríguez became a Yankee.

And here their troubles began.

Since Alex Rodríguez became a Yankee:

• The Yankees suffered the biggest postseason choke in all of baseball history and have not been back to the League Championship Series since, and the Red Sox have won the World Series twice in that span
  
• The issue of steroids in baseball went from a 'dirty-little-open-secret' to full blown Congressional hearings
• Andy Pettitte and Alex Rodríguez have both admitted to juicing/doing HGH/using banned substances; Roger Clemens has sued for libel, but most everyone thinks he's guilty as well.
  
• The Yankees decided to build a new stadium, which isn't a bad thing until you consider that it's 4,000 seats smaller and has seats with obstructed views
• Joe Torre wrote a book trashing the Yankees
• Bob Sheppard, the legendary PA announcer at Yankee Stadium, missed all of last season due to illness
• The Tampa Rays exorcised the word 'Devil' from their name and stopped being the Yankees' favorite doormat
• Minor one here: The American economy has completely collapsed
  

So, as you see, there's a little mess that the Yankees have gotten themselves, and heck, most of the free world, into, and they need to get themselves, and the free world, out of it.

In most circumstances, proper decorum as well as coming-of-age stories all tell us that if you get someone or something into a mess, you have to get the said someone or something out of said mess.

Aaron Boone got the Yankees into their mess. It'd be nice of him to get them out of it.

It's Never Too Early for Some Spring Training Power Rankings

One of my favorite articles to read every week for every sport, especially when my team is performing well, is the weekly Power Rankings. ESPN, Sports Illustrated, CBS, Fox Sports, and others all offer their takes. The results of the poll are (usually) not based on standings or any formula, but simply are the author's own take on where each team ranks in the league.

So, since I'm having little luck doing my other work, I thought I'd offer a start-of-Spring-Training Power Poll, because, well, I can.

For the record, I totally make no effort to hide my biases.


30. Washington Nationals

As easy as it would be to lambast a team whose brightest prospects include Elijah Dukes, ex-GM Bowden has a few other illegalDominicansigningscandal-type worries on his mind.


29. Pittsburgh Pirates

They've been bad for most of my life, and that's saying something, since I can now imbibe legally and go to the big person's jail. There are some bright spots—Andrew McCutchen comes to mind—but it'll probably be a season or two before there are any tangible results.


28. Toronto Blue Jays

What happens when you take a team with no offense and blow up the starting rotation? What also happens when you add in the fact that the AAA affiliate of this team had 10 errors in a game I was lucky enough to attend? Yeah, you won't want to put that on your resume.


27. San Diego Padres

It seems like the 2007 team that came up one game short of a playoff spot is a distant memory. The pitching staff will always seem better than it is because of PetCo, and if you finish last in the NL West in 2008—a division where the winner had all of 84 wins—dude, that don't look good.


26. Baltimore Orioles

So the reason the Birds are here instead of back there is that unlike the other birds, the O's have already seen rock bottom. Are they going to be good in 2009? No, probably not. However, Matt Wieters might be the best prospect in all of baseball, Nick Markakis is a solid player, and Adam Jones could become a mainstay in center field. You won't see results this year, but with some legitimate pitching help, the resurgence of the O's is on the horizon. That is, until Angelos gets in the way again...


25. Seattle Mariners

Well, the good news is that Bavasi is gone. The bad news is that the good news kind of ends there. You could consider Felix Hernandez, but a starting pitcher can only win you one game out of every five.


24. San Francisco Giants

The Giants probably shouldn't be this high, but it's hard to root against Tim Lincecum (and, for kicks, Matt Cain). While much of the lineup can be described in one word ("old"), there is some really young talent buried in the farm system, like Angel Villalona, who was born in 1990.


23. Cincinnati Reds

Perhaps the Reds should be higher—with names like Cueto, Volquez, Bruce, and Votto, there's certainly talent—but in a six-team division, it won't be enough. The team's got a lot of youth and waved good bye to Griffey (so now they can find themselves a center fielder who doesn't spend most of the season on the DL), but with youth also comes inexperience. It took the Rays a couple years to be good once they figured out what they were doing, and it'll be the same here.


22. Kansas City Royals

Some are saying that the '09 Royals could be the league's Rays of '08. There's lots of young talent here and if the pitching staff can keep it together, there's certainly an upward trend to look forward to, but this is also the team that thought Jose Guillen was a good idea. Proceed with caution.


21. Houston Astros

Don't be fooled by the 2008 attempt at a miracle run to the playoffs...remember, this is the team that signed LaTroy Hawkins (then again...). Anyway, the point is, in a division with contenders like the Cubs, Cardinals, and perhaps even the Brewers, the Astros don't have a whole lot of upside outside of Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman, and, the team happens to be the oldest in the National League (caveat: the Yankees were the oldest AL team in 2008, so take that as you will).


20. Atlanta Braves

I guess with the departure of John Smoltz for Beantown things won't be quite the same in Atlanta any more. It's not really possible to replace the jackpot the Braves hit with the Smoltz/Maddox/Glavine combo, but they've got some great young talent in Brian McCann and Jair Jurrjens. If they develop the young talent correctly (and it's hard to believe they won't), the latter half of the 2000s will probably, in the grand scheme of things, just look like a fluke.


19. Detroit Tigers

The very first thing I ever learned about baseball, courtesy of my older brother in 1998, was that good pitching will always, in the long run, beat good hitting. The strength of the 2008 Tigers was supposed to be an offense capable of 1000 runs. Well, that's fine and dandy, but when you can't pitch worth a damn, that's not really a good thing, and if your offense doesn't produce like it's supposed to...yeah, you end up in the basement. Some of the Tigers' poor 2008 was simply luck; they should be better in 2009, but it seems more and more like the AL champion of 2006 was a fluke. Especially worrying is the year that supposed ace Justin Verlander had last season—if he can get back on track, things need not look so bleak.


18. Arizona Diamondbacks

It's been argued that the Yankees' faults the past few years all rest on an inability to get off to a fast start. The Diamondbacks, uh, don't really have that problem. They dominated all throughout April and May of last year and seemed a shoo-in for the NL West, but ended up only two games over .500. The easiest argument to make for this is simply that the Snakes are young. Like babies, almost.

There is talent galore in the lineup (I'm looking at you, Justin Upton), but it hasn't quite matured yet. Give it time—when the lineup does mature, no one's going to want to go to the desert.


17. Colorado Rockies

Well, you know, the 2007 Rockies really did come out of nowhere, and pretty much got lucky enough to have one of those seasons where everything went right. Are the 2009 Rockies necessarily a bad team or out of the running in the anyone-can-win-it-except-the-Padres-and-the-Giants NL West? Nope. Seasons where everything goes exactly to plan do happen on occasion, but you can't count on those happening often, if at all.


16. Cleveland Indians

In 2007, the Cleveland Indians rode Sabathia and Carmona to within one game of the World Series. In 2008, Carmona was...well, let's just say his ERA rose by two and a half points, and Sabathia found himself a Brewer by the deadline. If Carmona can rebound and Cliff Lee not have a drastic fall off, there's enough offensive talent to give the Indians a chance. Don't write them off just yet.


15. Texas Rangers

The team had 2008's best offense, and there's no real reason to suspect 2009 will be much different. They have perhaps the best farm system in the Majors and...the curse of not having the pitching to match. When this team figures out how to not lead the Majors in relief innings, they're gonna be scary good. LA and Oakland, watch your backs.


14. LA Dodgers

It might seem low to drop a division winner...well, this low, but one has to remember that the Dodgers won all of 84 games last year, basically rode Manny Ramirez—whom they haven't (yet) resigned—to the division title, and, oh yeah, Torre's book where he betrayed the confidences of a heck of a lot of people in the Yankees clubhouse. You can't believe that's going to sit well with a lot of the Dodgers.


13. Milwaukee Brewers

Again, it feels kind of weird having the Brewers this low, but they lost Sabathia and even if they were to resign Ben Sheets, he will miss much (if not all) of the year with elbow surgery. Granted, Sheets is never exactly healthy and the Brewers were already competitive before they got Sabathia...the issue here might simply be that the Cardinals and the Cubs are the better teams, unless Yovani Gallardo can bring a can of whoop-ass like Baseball Prospectus 2008 had predicted.


12. Florida Marlins

Hanley Ramirez. It's possible to add Jorge Cantu and Dan Uggla here, for sure, but, dude, Hanley. Honestly, if he isn't your pre-ranked No. 1 player, you probably shouldn't be playing fantasy baseball (unless you're me and...well, not very good at fantasy sports). Nevermind that the 2008 Marlins showed some panache and finished with 13 more wins than 2007, and with their youth things are only looking up...dude, Hanley!


11. St. Louis Cardinals

If the pitching staff could just hold it together...I mean, you know Pujols will produce, assuming the elbow doesn't blow up, and if Ludwick is anywhere close to his 2008, and the Cardinals did manage to snag the Molina that can both hit AND catch...


10. Oakland Athletics

I've been reading posts that the Oakland A's could contend for the 2009 AL West, but outside of Giambi and Gonzalez, I have a hard time naming anyone on the roster. Then again, Billy Beane generally seems to know what he's doing. Who knows, enough things go right here, enough things go wrong in LA, and anything's possible, really, and just because I don't know anyone on the roster doesn't necessarily mean a team is good or bad—heck, I could probably give you the O's starting nine from memory (Roberts-Markakis-Millar-Jones-Huff-Mora...eh, 6/9), and the O's aren't exactly supposed to compete...


9. Minnesota Twins

I'll do my best to refrain from posting that now that Carl Pohlad has departed us, perhaps the Twins management won't be afraid to spend a penny, since such a thing would be inappropriate. Then again, if you fall one game short of the playoffs the year after you lose Johan Santana, you might not really need to open the wallet after all...


8. Chicago White Sox: These guys kind of baffle me. I mean, they were competing for the cellar in 2007 and last year made the LDS? Was that because the Sox were good or because they got lucky that the Indians and Tigers were, uh, not very good? It is possible to argue, after all, that the Twins should have won that one-game playoff and been the real AL Central champions, but what's done is done. The simple truth is that I don't know what to expect out of these guys, and there really isn't anywhere else to put them.


7. NY Mets

The 2008 Mets can be summed up in the pun-nish phrase "blow-pen." Knowing this, Minaya went and got not one but two elite closers in K-Rod and J.J. Putz. Assuming the bullpen can now, you know, do their job, this team should (hopefully) be able to avoid the September collapses of late. Caveat: Santana's recent elbow troubles should not be taken lightly.


6. LA Angels

We know this team can and will win in the regular season. We know that they'll always manage to kill the Yankees, especially in LA. We know that they can do all the little things right when needed. What the Angels haven't been able to do, however, is win in the playoffs, at least since 2002. They're still one of the better teams in baseball, and should have no problem at least contending for the AL West title, but Oakland and Texas aren't write-offs as they have been in years past, and the Halos, age-wise, are in their prime. It won't be long before it's now or never with this group.


5. Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies, the easiest way to put this, are a team where the sum is way, way greater than the parts. That's really good for this thing called team chemistry, and, well, the winning that goes along with it. Now, chemistry doesn't necessarily mean everyone loves each other (think "Bronx is Burning" here), but just that, when and where it matters, every part works seamlessly within the whole. That's what the Phillies had in 2008.

Phillies fans I know don't tend to think a repeat is likely—how much longer can Jaime Moyer keep disobeying the laws of human aging? How will the departure of Burrell hurt? However, I'd still consider them the favorites to win the NL East. Even if they don't repeat, they should still be lots of fun to watch.


4. Boston Red Sox

I know, I know, the Red Sox are better than the Yankees...well, they were in 2008...but, dude, the thing about a new season is that it's a new season. The Yankees went out and, to the dismay of the economies of most moderately sized nations, signed Sabathia and Burnett AND Teixeira.

The Red Sox signed John Smoltz and Brad Penny. Now, if and when they're healthy, those signings will be well worth it, but the Sox have some questions that I can't recall them actually addressing in the offseason. Like, for instance, the fact that Daisuke Matsuzaka walks pretty much everything in sight is going to come back and bite him. Anyway, despite their flaws, the Sox do have one of the best farm systems in the league. If the prospects produce anywhere near their full potential, this is a team that *gulp* could be a dynasty to contend with for years to come. Like I said, *gulp*.


3. NY Yankees

Most teams, most years, if they win 89 games with their Opening Day lineup and rotation, well, they've got a very legitimate chance at sneaking in with the Wild Card and thus no one will complain. When the Yankees win 89 games, the world is ending.

However, if you consider that the Yankees won 89 games last year WITHOUT Jorge Posada or Hideki Matsui for most of the year, without a single win from the Opening Day No. 3 and No. 4 starters (hell, the No. 5 starter, Mussina, LED the team in wins), with the No. 1 starter's season coming to an end in June with a freak foot injury, with nearly one-third of starts from Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson, with a team so hurt that Carl Pavano made pitching appearances, with Jose Molina in an every day lineup that included a Melky Cabrera who regressed badly enough to be sent to AAA, a Cano who really came and played for about a week in July and a week in September, and a Giambi that had two mustache-fueled good months amidst being more or less a lump in the lineup the rest of the time...yeah, when you consider that despite all that the Yankees still won 89 games, and then you consider that this winter they've added Nick Swisher, AJ Burnett, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia...

...Uh oh.

(Dude, this is a Yankees blog. Were you expecting objectivity?)


2. Chicago Cubs

After last season's horrid October (for the Cubs, anyway), I've come to believe that there probably is something to the curse of the Billy Goat. Ignoring that, however, this team has talent galore and it's not raw, non-matured talent, either. The team finally has seemed to realize that they will break the curse one of these days. All that's left now is to do it.


1. Tampa Bay Rays

Hands down the best team in the AL last year, there's no reason to think they'll be any worse this year. They've got it all: youth, good offense, good defense, good pitching, a great farm system, and now you can add in playoff experience as well. I don't think I ever really thought I'd be saying this, but you would have to consider the Rays one of the favorites to win the 2009 World Series, assuming they stay healthy and all that. If you think Joba is good, wait till you get a load of Price.

Welcome to Spring Training 2009!

Welcome to Spring Training 2009, here to help you recover from Winteritis and Lackofbaseballitis, not to mention HotStoveLeague-coli and WhereWillTheySign-fluenza.

Please note that while all treatments are voluntary, there are some side effects. These side effects include:

1) Reading about your baseball team in a non-competitive scenario
2) Discovering more than you ever want to know about some players (like Joba and Brackman's nipple rings, for starters...)
3) Reading writing from sportswriters marooned for two months in Florida and Arizona.
4) Occasionally forgetting that in NY it might still be in the 30s
5) Compulsive comparison to see who bulked up and who slimmed down
6) Compulsive temptation to start a blog

The owners of SpringTrainingCure assume no liability should you suffer from any of these conditions.

You know you've been sports blogging too much when...

[it's 11.27 PM, so as long as I get this done in the next half hour I won't have broken my New Year's resolution!]

You know you've been baseball blogging too much when...

10) You hear "spreadsheet" and think baseball reference

09) Your best friend apologizes for only reading once a month...even though she doesn't watch baseball and hates the Yankees.

08) You hear that George Mitchell has been named US Mideast envoy and begin to think that 'Roid Rage would go a long way to explaining the endemic violence.

07) You look forward to the end of the second week of February not for Valentine's Day but for Spring Training...

06) You feel out of the loop because your phone won't let you mobile update.

05) You have, at any point in time, uttered the sentence "it's on my blog."

04) You have, at any point in time, ever live-blogged and had people follow the post through some or the entirety of the event.

03) You feel slightly bad for the fact that you will be unable to live-blog the Super Bowl because you'll actually be at a Super Bowl Party (what is this life and how do you have one?).

02) You've ever looked at your Technorati ranking.

01) You're so determined to make your New Year's blogging resolution stand that you come up with something like this.

Analyzing the All-Free Agent Teams

Buster Olney, Peter Abraham and the folks at River Ave Blues have all had some fun putting together an All-Free Agent team, composed of the Free Agents that have yet to sign contracts.

Some of the players are quite good, so I figured I'd have my own fun and do a little analysis of the teams that have been proposed.

First of all though, there's something every team has in common: A good defensive infield, horrible defensive outfield and very shorthanded bullpen!

Buster Olney's Team

Some future Hall of Famers signed this week, but Bobby Abreu is still out of work, and so are Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hudson. With a little more than a month to go until spring training begins, you could start a 31st team with the available free agents and might have a shot at a respectable record:

Lineup
SS Orlando Cabrera
2B Orlando Hudson
RF Bobby Abreu
DH Manny Ramirez
LF Adam Dunn
3B Joe Crede
CF Jim Edmonds
1B Sean Casey
C Jason Varitek

Rotation: Ben Sheets, Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez, Jon Garland, Paul Byrd, Randy Wolf, Mark Mulder

Bullpen: Brandon Lyon, Juan Cruz, Dennys Reyes, Will Ohman

Bench: Garret Anderson, OF; Brad Ausmus, C; Eric Hinske, 1B/3B; Kevin Millar, 1B

The biggest here is Olney's proposed infield. While it won't score you much fantasy points, going Crede-Cabrera-Hudson-Casey, aside from being a tongue twister, would be the defensive infield par excellence.

Olney has, however, done a good job putting a theoretical line-up together (if we ignore how all those guys would mesh in a clubhouse). He has a legitimate 1-2 punch in Cabrera and Hudson; Abreu is an effective three hitter if he remembers how to walk and Manny is theoretically the perfect clean up man. Dunn is a little shaky as a five hitter given his all-or-nothing approach, but he's a better option there than the others in the line up. Varitek is a veritable hole in the nine spot, which would be a tremendous weakness in an AL lineup, but between him and Brad Ausmus, there's not much choice.

With a seven man rotation, Olney is playing with fire, but given that Sheets is not likely to make it past April without a DL stint, a six man rotation seems more do-able, especially when you consider that there's no other really #1 type-starter listed. Lowe and Perez are hit-or-miss, and the others are best used as back-end guys.

I don't know much about the guys in the bullpen, except that Olney will probably need to trade for another reliever--four-deep bullpens don't generally get very far.

Anderson and Ausmus are weak on the bench, but Millar is a weapon to use against the Yankees (since this is an AL line up) and Hinske had a bit of a renaissance in Tampa.




Pete Abraham's Team

First base: Kevin Millar
Second base: Orlando Hudson
Shortstop: Orlando Cabrera
Third base: Ty Wigginton
Left field: Adam Dunn
Center field: Ken Griffey Jr.
Right field: Bobby Abreu
Catcher: Jason Varitek
DH: Manny Ramirez
No. 1 starter: Ben Sheets
No. 2 starter: Derek Lowe
No. 3 starter: Andy Pettitte
No. 4 starter: Jon Garland
No. 5 starter: Oliver Perez
Closer: Brandon Lyon
Set-up man: Will Ohman
Set-up man: Juan Cruz

Unlike Olney, PeteAbe didn't order his line up, so let's do some basic managing here:

Like Olney, the top four should be Hudson, Cabrera, Abreu and Ramirez. With the rest of the options, I'd personally go Dunn-Griffey-Millar-Wigginton-Varitek. Griffey has, unfortunately become injury prone and given that this team seems to have no bench at all, hitting him fifth would create an issue when there's an empty hole in the line-up! Anyway, the only hard decision here is the Millar-Wigginton order since Varitek is certainly the nine hitter.

I tend to like PeteAbe's rotation better than Olney's because of the inclusion of Andy Pettitte over Paul Byrd, but, again, there's likely only so long Sheets can go without getting hurt. Can Lowe still be a #1-type? I don't know, and Pettitte, as we all know, is not a power pitcher.

As with Olney, PeteAbe's bullpen is massively shorthanded--how long can a team effectively run on three in the bullpen?


River Ave Blue's Team:

C: Gregg Zaun - the best of a bad lot, Zaun’s the only legit starting catcher option that posted an OBP north of .321 last year (he was at .340)
1B: Doug Mientkiewicz - I’ll take Minky’s avg offense and Gold Glove defense over Kevin Millar’s & Sean Casey’s mediocre bat/no glove offerings
2B: Orlando Hudson - no brainer, my specialty
SS: Orlando Cabrera - another avg bat/GG defense guy, he’s easily the best of a terrifying SS crop
3B: Joe Crede - not going to offer much OBP, but he might run into 25 homers … another stud glove guy
LF: Adam Dunn - it’s okay Adam, I love your perennial .900+ OPS
CF: Jacque Jones - might have a little offensive rebound in him, but more importantly I need a guy with a ton of range between these two corner OFers
RF: Bobby Abreu - what, were you expecting Brad Wilkerson?
DH: Manny Ramirez - no explanation needed

Rotation: Derek Lowe, Andy Pettitte, Ben Sheets, Braden Looper, John Garland - with above average defense all-around the infield, give me the ground ball guys … and Ben Sheets

Bullpen: Juan Cruz, Aquilino Lopez, Brandon Lyon, Will Ohman, Brian Shouse, Russ Springer, Matt Wise - it’s a collection of above avg K guys who throw strikes for the most part

Bench: Pudge Rodriguez (C), Gape Kapler (OF), Damien Easley (IF/OF), Ty Wigginton (IF) - outside of Pudge, everyone on the bench can play multiple positions adequately and hit the ball out of the park … only problem is no lefty hitter

RAB does a very nice job analyzing their own team here, so I'll keep my analysis fairly simple.

The top of the line-up, through the five hitter, is no different than the other two above, but the bottom half is a bit different.

Jacque Jones in Center means that defensively, RAB's team has the best outfield (though, that doesn't necessarily make it a good defensive infield), but that also means that there's a weaker bat there as well. However, RAB sort of makes up for that by including Gregg Zaun as a catcher; unlike Varitek he is not necessarily an automatic out.

Anyway, to order it into a lineup: Hudson, Cabrera, Abreu, Ramirez, Dunn, Jones, Mienty, Zaun, Crede.

RAB's is the only rotation to use Looper, and I like him over Wolf, Byrd or Perez.

RAB's bullpen is also the closest to what an actual ML bullpen would need, although Olney's bench is, IMO, better constructed--RAB's is heavily aged and can't, outside of Wigginton (actually I have no idea if Wigginton can run or not) steal.



Conclusion

If I were to rank these teams as to how I predict they'd due, I would have to say that Olney's team is best constructed to weather an injury to Sheets, while RAB's team is better poised to make up for that loss with offense and mostly solid defense.

I would have to say that RAB's would be most likely to end up in not-in-last-place, and, if everything goes right, possibly contend for a Wild Card. Olney's is second, and PeteAbe's, I'm sorry to say, needs a bit of help.

A Few New Years' Resolutions

I, Rebecca, hereby resolve for the year 2009:

1) To watch every Yankee game I am able, and not to turn the game off, even if it is a loss--even if it is a blowout loss.

2) To update this blog at least once a day and not twice a month, even if I don't have much to write about.

3) To make my way to the new Stadium at least once (and preferably more than that)

4) To do all of this and still (somehow) complete my MA thesis.

5) Voy a estudiar màs español porque tengo que tomar un examen.

6) To attempt to see another major league baseball park besides Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium/CitiField and Fenway Park.


Have a happy and healthy new year, and please stay safe!

Something About a Small Sample Size

So I haven't posted much of late because grad school keeps whooping my behind, and, well, there's not a whole lot that medieval history and baseball do seem to have in common.

However, the other day, my professor did bring up a very interesting point:

In medieval history, statistics are often based on a small sample size (or what we baseball peoples would consider a small sample size), simply because it is the only sample available.

For example, during the Black Death of 1348-1350, the mortality rtes are got at by looking at monastic records, because they're the only such records that we can trust. The problem, obviously, is that monasteries are not representative of the population as a whole, especially given their living conditions and the proximity they would likely have had near plague victims.

It would be similar to looking at A-Rod's stats while facing pitchers like Santana and Sabathia, to the exclusion of all other pitchers.

Small sample size is the bane to stats geeks everywhere. How do you define a small sample size? When do you cross the line from small sample size to this is what a player really is? As with anything to do with statistics, sample sizes can be melded to fit whatever purpose a writer, blogger or analyst has in mind.

Yet in history--medieval history, especially--there is no choice but to use the small sample.

It will drive you crazy if you think about it too much (I know from experience), but it's still an interesting juxtaposition. In baseball, half the time we take only the stats we need to make our point...and in medieval history, we only wish there were more available.

The Ludicrous Trade Proposal Contest Entries

Please vote, in a comment or via email @ rebecca@puristbleedspinstripes.com , as to which entry you think would make for the craziest, wackiest, the omg-what-was-he-smoking-and-where-can-I-get-some trade this off-season!

1) "The entire Mets bullpen (Wagner included) just for the rights for Omar to haggle with the "all-magnificent" K-Rod on what will be his 2009 salary price."

2) "Yanks "package" Darrell Rasner, Chris Britton, Wilson Betemit and Justin Christian, wrap it in a pretty box and ship to San Francisco for Tim Lincicum and Aaron Rowand.

The Giants would get FOUR (!) GUYS, how could they turn that down? If they insisted, Yanks add Shelley Duncan or Chase Wright..."

3) "Madonna for Anna Benson?"

4) "Kei Igawa, Hideki Irabu, Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano

for

My precious time back that i spent watching them start games for the Yankees :("


Voting will remain open until...oh why not...12.01 AM November 5th!

Contest Reminder

Just a reminder to get your entries in to the LUDICROUS TRADE PROPOSAL CONTEST, which will close after the last out of the World Series.

We've got some great entries so far, so keep them coming!

***

Sarah Palin is apparently a curse--she dropped the puck at a Flyers game and it took last night for the Flyers to garner their first win (stupid Devils, you disappoint me!) and then last night, she dropped a puck at the St. Louis Blues game, where goalie Manny Legace promptly tripped over the carpet and injured her hip.

Are we sure we really want her touching those nuclear codes?

I kid, I kid.

Just make sure you vote. It's only 10 days from now.

2008 World Series Preview

Think back to April 1, and all the baseball predictions you read.

Could you honestly tell me that you found somewhere that predicted the 2008 World Series would be the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies?

No?

Don't worry, me either.

Still, this is what the end of October holds for us baseball fans, and despite the historical legacies of both teams, this series looks like it'll be a good one.

Both teams are scrappy, feisty--getting the hits and the pitches when they need to, but making you bite your nails the rest of the time. Both teams have an unquestionable hunger--Philadelphia hasn't won a major sports championship since the early 1980s (and the times they've come close, outside of baseball, defeat seems to come at the hands of Tampa, who knew?), and Tampa, to some, still has to prove that the Rays are for real.

So, what to look for? Who will win?

Let's start with pitching.

Philadelphia has an unquestionable ace in Cole Hamels, but outside of that, in Myers, Blanton and Moyer, you're looking at pitchers that can be very...well...hittable. There's no question the pitching staff can get it done, or else they wouldn't be here, but they'll make you sweat for it. In terms of the bullpen, Brad Lidge has a ridiculous saves streak going, but like the rest of the pitching staff, he'll make you sweat before getting the final out.

Tampa's "ace", Scott Kazmir, has not emerged as the number one starter for the Rays in the postseason. Instead, James Shields has emerged as their "big game" starter, and it was Matt Garza that pitched a gem in Game Seven of the ALCS. As for the Rays' bullpen...well, you remember Game Five well enough, right? Tampa has David Price. They shouldn't be shy about using him.


As for hitting...

Philadelphia's hitters have, on the whole, been around longer than Tampa's and are thus more veteran, although this doesn't necesarily imply better. Chase Utley, Pat Burrell and Ryan Howard can all hit the ball a mile, but none of them are averse to striking out--especially not Howard. In the NLCS, Shane Victorino emerged as a somewhat unlikely hero, it will be interesting to see if the "Flyin' Hawaiian" can keep the juices flowing in the World Series.

Tampa's gotten to the point it his on the back and long fly balls of BJ Upton and Evan Longoria. Okay, so the others have helped as well, but the amount of home runs that have come off the bat of those two this month is insane, and, I believe, record-setting. Against Philadelphia pitching, with the exception of Cole Hamels, you have to imagine that this could be a powder (power?) keg type of situation.


So, while I will be rooting for the Phillies--I've got at least three friends who are admitted Phillies fans--my prediction, like everyone else's so far, will be the Rays in six.

In which case, we'd better start preparing for the apocalypse.

The Grand Trade Proposal Contest

It's that time of year now, where all the ridiculous trade proposals come flying out the wazoo. Melky Cabrera for Albert Pujols. Julio Lugo for Tim Lincecum. So on and so forth.

YOUR TASK, should you choose to accept, and you should because the off season can get boring otherwise, is to come up with the most ludicrous trade proposal you can imagine...but, since that in itself is fairly easy, I'll throw in a few of the following parameters:

1) Players involved must be current, active players
2) Players must have seen at least AA action in 2008
3) Any deals that include prospects MUST include at least one play who saw Major League service time in 2008
4) Teams can't trade within their own division, or with cross-town rivals (no Yankees/Mets, no Sox/Cubs, no Dodgers/Angels, no Giants/Athletics)
5) Players must not have full NTC clauses. If a player has a partial NTC clause, he may only be traded to a team that is listed as exempt from his NTC clause.
6) Propose as many trades as you like, but each player can only be traded once.

Judging:

Entries will be judged via a supersecret methodology, in the form of some sort of poll open to the general voting public, because we all need to practice our voting skills!

Prizes:

The winner shall recieve some form of inexpensive Yankee memorabilia. Should the number of entries exceed five, the second place person will recieve a prize, and should there be more than ten entries, third place will recieve a prize as well.


DEADLINE

The Deadline for Submissions shall be the Last Out of the World Series, so get your entries in now because we don't know for sure how many games the World Series is going to go!