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Thoughts on the Yankees/Red Sox Rivalry

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:41:45 EDT

Am I the only one who finds the idea that Red Sox fans are done with Theo Epstein absurd? The man not only changed the Red Sox from lovable losers to obnoxious winners, but he changed the entire game and the way teams manage their prospects and rosters. If I'm running any team in the league (including the Yankees), I'd jump at the chance to hire him.

Some fans of both teams are such poor sports it's disgusting. How many times do we really need to read the "I'm right and you're wrong" arguments on these boards.

Yankees fans are incredibly fortunate to have beat writer Peter Abraham blogging. He's the best baseball blogger I've seen. Check him out at http://yankees.lhblogs.com/ whether you're a Yankee fan or not -- you'll appreciate the type of coverage he provides.

2008 MLB Mock Draft Version 2

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 4:09:15 EDT

This is my second look at the 2008 MLB mock draft. A few more rumors are circulating, and there have been a few changes. Also, I've added in who I think the #1 alternate would be for each selection. There are two teams without picks: the Atlanta Braves (due to the Tom Glavine signing) and the Los Angeles Angels (due to the Torii Hunter signing).

Note: The alternate picks will always be a player that hasn't been taken in my mock draft. You can assume that if players already selected for teams are still available, they are options.

1. Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays are the first team to pick #1 back-to-back. They're loaded in the farm system. They have a bunch of top pitching prospects. The only spot their farm system may not produce a player (Jaso hasn't done well thus far this season) is catcher, although not everyone is sold on SS Reid Brignac. That's why Buster Posey, the catcher from FSU makes so much sense. He went into this weekend leading the NCAA in batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. And he plays catcher. his stock rose hugely during this season.

2008 MLB Mock Draft Version 1

Mon, 26 May 2008 22:40:07 EDT

With the MLB first year player draft taking place in less than two weeks, it's time to take a look at who each MLB team might take in the first round. There are two teams without picks: the Atlanta Braves (due to the Tom Glavine signing) and the Los Angeles Angels (due to the Torii Hunter signing).

1. Tampa Bay Rays

Charleston RiverDogs move to 18-3

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:40:50 EDT

Ok, so it's a minor league team, and well, you should never get too excited one way or another with the record of a minor league team. However, this isn't a team made up of a bunch of overage players, this is a team that's loooooaaaaded with young prospects. 18-3? Are you kidding me?

I'm going to do a report on how all the Yankees' prospects are doing shortly, but I'll start with the RiverDogs, as their performance has been phenominal.

Position players:

C2: Austin Romine: .351/.367/.439 (Currently on the DL), 19 years old

Yankees 2008 Compared to Yankees 2007

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 7:09:03 EDT

In this season opening breakdown, we'll review where the Yankees stood at this time last year, compared to where they are now.

Catcher: 2007 Jorge Posada; 2008 Same

Outlook: Worse

Posada's another year older, and he had a career year last year at the plate. He was also much worse than his career numbers at throwing runners out. Will the upward trend remain up and the downward trend reverse? I'd say both are long shots. As a result, I expect the Yankees to be worse at catcher in 2008 than in 2007, both offensively and defensively.

Yankees Opening Day Roster

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:59:40 EDT

Today, the Yankees added LHRP Billy Traber to the 40-man roster. As a result, I believe he will end up on the opening day roster as the lefty specialist out of the pen. While he still could end up in AAA, that seems unlikely at this point. He's pitched well, and seems to have earned the spot.

Melky Cabrera's suspension may end up causing the Yankees to make a couple roster moves to start the season. With Melky out, the Yankees only have Damon who can play CF (and Damon's below average at this point). They'll want to keep up another player, as Matsui's knee isn't healthy enough for him to be a backup there, and an outfield of Duncan/Abreu/Matsui would be too awful to imagine if something happened to Damon.

Yankees Sign Billy Crystal

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:22:44 EDT

Yankees TO SIGN BILLY CRYSTAL, STAR OF STAGE AND SCREEN,

AND INVITE HIM TO MAJOR LEAGUE SPRING TRAINING

The New York Yankees today announced that they will sign Billy Crystal, star of movies, television and Broadway to a one-day contract and invited him to Major League spring training.

Crystal will join the Yankees on Wednesday, March 12 to work out with the club at Legends Field in Tampa, Fla., and then play in the Yankees’ game on Thursday, March 13 vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates at Legends Field. Commissioner Selig approved the Yankees’ extension of the contract to Crystal.

The Worst Outfield Money Can Buy

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:06:22 EST

Interesting article in The Hardball Times today, www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/thee-worst-outfield-for-the-dough/

The results were somewhat surprising to me. Here were their outfielders:

Scott Podsednik, White Sox

.243/.299/.369

Brewers Fans, get off the ledge

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:51:56 EST

Ok, so Yovani Gallardo's having knee surgery. Yes, it sounds bad at first, but it's really not so bad once you hear the details.

First, it's torn cartilage. Ok, nobody's happy about that, but it's not the end of the world. He'll have arthroscopic knee surgery next week (two small holes just under and on each side of the kneecap) on Tuesday assuming the swelling's down enough, then he should be walking again without crutches around Friday or Saturday. It takes about 3-4 weeks to be truly safe from re-damaging the cartilage, but after that he should be fine. The rehab should be pretty easy. The only concern would be if he falls too far behind in spring training, and he might miss a week or two of the season as a result of not being ready.

Josh Beckett vs Nick Johnson and D'Angelo Jimenez

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:29:06 EST

Win Shares, a Bill James invention, is his own compilation of "net worth" of a player. So, why did I choose this title? Recently, John Sickels posted the win shares of all of the top prospects in 2000 and 2001. There were some surprising entries. In particular, I was surprised by the three guys in the title: Nick Johnson, Josh Beckett, and D'Angelo Jimenez. I figured Beckett would come out on top. He didn't.

Nick Johnson: 80 win shares

Josh Beckett: 73 win shares

D'Angelo Jimenez: 67 win shares

Best Post by a Football Player. Ever.

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 3:30:20 EST

This was in Blog Day Afternoon yesterday, so many of you have already read this. But it kicks so much ass that it should be reposted in any venue possible.

Ethan Albright's letter to EA Sports and John Madden rocks. www.thephatphree.com/features.asp Given the lowest player rating in Madden, he talks about some of the more humorous aspects of their ratings system. I laughed out loud repeatedly throughout the entire reading of it.

Pro Bowl retribution, baby!

Imperfect QB + Imperfect team = Perfect Win

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 7:51:21 EST

This football season has been somewhat painful to watch. The playoffs even more so as the top teams that ought to have knocked the Patriots off kept falling before getting the chance. Between the Cowboys, Packers, and Colts, the Patriots didn't face any of the other three top four teams during the playoffs. On top of that, the Chargers faced the Patriots without their two biggest weapons being at full strength.

Knowing that we'd face the second most obnoxious fan base in sports talking about their two titles in MLB and football back-to-back for the next 9 months if the Giants didn't knock them off, I was rooting hard for the Giants, despite not being a Giants fan.

How nice it is to see this team go on to victory, or more importantly, to see Tom Brady and the Patriots lose. I don't often root for other teams to lose, but in this case, I did. And am I ever glad they won.

Top Shortstops Under 23

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:33:01 EST

Unfortunately, Troy Tulowitzki turned 23 in October, which is a bit of a bummer. He'd clearly be #1. Regardless, there are some good prospects at this premium defensive position. There's even a Royal here!

1. Reid Brignac, Rays, 1/16/1986

Brignac has most everything you'd want from a shortstop prospect. He hasn't shown the plate discipline he had in the low minors though since he moved up to AA. He may need another couple years in the minors to complete his development, but his power and speed is already present.

527 AB, .260/.328/.433 17 HR, 15 SB, 5 CS

Top Third Basemen Under 23

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 2:02:36 EST

After the last two positions where pickings were slim, we get some good choices here--and that's despite the fact that we just miss out on a bunch of very nice players. Here are the young players and prospects that are just out of reach: Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals; Alex Gordon, Royals; Brandon Wood, Angels; Chase Headley, Padres; Andy LaRoche, Dodgers; Ryan Braun, Brewers.

That said, the position is still deep in prospects. There are two ML-ready players under 23, and two very, very strong prospects that are extremely young still.

1. Evan Longoria, Rays, 10/7/85, 22

He's the #1 prospect in the #1 farm system. Do I really need to say more? Longoria looks to be a .300/30/100 player when he matures. Note: that would put him in hall of fame territory, if he stays healthy. He's really that good. He's not fast, but he has great footwork, hands and good arm strength, and therefore should be above average defensively.

Top Second Basemen Under 23

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:15:48 EST

Like first base, second base is often manned by former shortstop prospects converted late in their minor league careers over to second base. Usually, the ones moved there have weaker arms that play better at second than at short. As such, you'll very rarely see the very best prospects at second until they're close to the majors, or the player gets moved after a couple of years where they start to struggle with their range.

Given this, there's a remarkable lack of upper level second base prospects out there right now, after having seen Dustin Pedroia graduate to the majors last year. Most of the other prospects are older, such as new Royal Alberto Callaspo.

1. Asdrubal Cabrera, Indians, 11/13/1985, 22

The first choice is not difficult at all. If I had to pick between Dustin Pedroia and Asdrubal Cabrera before the 2007 season, I'd have taken Cabrera. Pedroia's 2007 stats with Boston were not projected at all. He performed better in the majors with Boston than he did in AAA Pawtucket the year prior. Ah, the joys of the green monster (Pedroia had a .912 ops at home, .729 ops on the road -- largely due to the 11 extra doubles hit at Fenway which would be fly outs elsewhere). Assuming I'm building a team that will play its games outside of a park with a giant formerly green monster in left field, I'd still pick Cabrera over Pedroia.

2012: Biggest Free Agent Pitcher Contract Ever?

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:50:11 EST

Look ahead a few years to the winter of 2011-12. Johan Santana's contract, which was a monster, is still in effect for a number of years. Having been signed as a 30 year old pitcher, the team is now somewhat regretting its length, as he's shown some injury troubles over the last couple years that might make him unlikely to make good on the last years of the contract.

Unfortunately, that's the way it works with free agent pitchers. They're inevitably older when they hit free agency the first time.

Not this player. In this instance, the player and the team have been fighting ever since winter/spring 2007, when he was the last player on the team to sign his agreement and watching the team sign middling talent to multi-year $12 million/year contracts while refusing to pay him an extra $200k on his contract--which was the team's right.

Top fastballers that I'd most like on my team

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:25:10 EST

Taking a brief break before getting back to my "Top under 23" lists, Baseball America's article today inspired me to indicate which of the top fastballers I'd like to see on my team. It's a subscribers only article, so I'm not going to take much from it, but it's great stuff.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=705

1. Joba Chamberlain, Yankees

Not only does Joba have the #2 fastball in the minors, he's also got the best control of anyone in the top 25 (best fastballs).

Get rid of the DH!

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:31:48 EST

Here's yet another reason to get rid of the DH--league disparity, and part of the large advantage the AL enjoys over the NL. You may ask why it gives the AL an advantage over the NL when the teams play with the same rules. The answer is: personnel. The NL teams don't carry that extra slugger that the AL teams do. As a result, when they face one another, you see teams like the Marlins playing a player like Jason Wood when they require a DH. That's not to say Jason Wood was the DH--on the contrary, that task was left to Miguel Cabrera. Aaron Boone played third, and Jason Wood and his .239/.286/.368 line spent the game at first.

Overall in Interleague games, despite players like Miguel Cabrera being at the DH spot and counting in this statistic, here are the stats:

Top First Basemen Under 23

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 8:28:27 EST

The list starts to get a bit odd here. First base has become the place to put players who can't really move. Very few players are actually first base prospects, they just end up there when they can't handle third, catcher, left, etc. Take Albert Pujols. He came up as a third baseman, but was eventually moved over to first. At first, he's actually one of the better athletes playing the position. At third, he was a liability. Ryan Braun would be a first baseman right now if not for Prince Fielder. Matt LaPorta would be one of the top first base prospects in the majors, if he wasn't a Brewers prospect and going to be forced to play right (most likely) or get traded.

The top 1b prospect under 23 fits this same profile. I mentioned him in my catchers entry, because he's a converted catcher who couldn't quite cut it at the position.

Top Catchers Under 23

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:25:13 EST

On we go to the position prospects! I plan to post these blogs in position order (1 - starting pitcher, 2 - catcher, 3 - first base, 4 - second base, 5 - third base, 6 - shortstop, 7 - left field, 8 - center field, 9 - right field), followed by relief pitchers.

Catchers

The choices here, under 23, become very limited if I'd like anyone with any major league service time to start for me. Catchers are notoriously slow to develop, because they have so much to learn behind the plate. Their bat tends to lag in comparison.

1. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Rangers, May 2, 1985 (22)

Top Starting Pitchers under 23

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 9:27:23 EST

My next series of blog entries are going to be about composing a "dream team" of the best players under the age of 23 (meaning, under 23, not 23 and under). The cutoff date for 23 is April 1, 2008. If the player turns 23 prior to April 1, 2008, he is ineligible for this team. Why 23? It allows me to focus mostly on prospects, and almost entirely on those players with the highest ceilings who haven't established themselves as major league stars, with a few notable exceptions.

Without further ado, here are my starting pitchers! I will be taking 8 starting pitchers, since their notoriously injured, and I'd use three of them as relievers if all were healthy.

1. Felix Hernandez, Mariners, rhp, April 8, 1986 (21)

Surfing the Yankee Websphere - 1/18/2007

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:44:18 EST

Here are the best articles of the day:

River Avenue Blues has an awesome article on: Rehab Guys: What can we expect? riveraveblues.com/2008/01/18/rehab-guys-what-can-we-expect-1590/

LoHud Blogs guest Writer SJ44 has an interesting article on four prospects he expects to have an impact on the Yankees in 2008:

yankees.lhblogs.com/2008/01/18/pinch-hitting-our-own-sj44/

Top Outfield Prospects

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:17:04 EST

The following outfield prospect rankings are based on two factors: 1) their potential, and 2) the likelihood that they'll reach that potential. Of these two factors, though, I'll take the potential. In other words, the 4th outfield prospect that's ready for the majors isn't going to be taken ahead of a likely future all-star that's currently 19.

By the way, despite his rather iffy major league debut, I'd still take Justin Upton over anyone on this list.

Reds' Outfield Prospect Jay Bruce (CF or RF), 20 yo (will turn 21 around opening day 2008)

Jay Bruce is amazing, there's no other way to look at it. He's not supposed to be ready for the majors yet--but he is. He can play an adequate center field, but likely will end up in right. His power's still developing, but he hit over .300 with 26 HR at three levels last year. He may start the season off in AAA, but when he's called up, he's going to be a valuable contributor from day one. By the age of 23, he should be an all-star.

Prospect Questions

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:55:02 EST

Now that we have blogs, we have a good vehicle for this. If anyone has any questions about any prospects, post them as a comment. Depending on the question, I'll either reply to the comment, or post a new blog entry about it!

My 8 baseball america prospect handbooks should arrive this week. I'll have some fun new material to review, to see how people thought about various prospects on their way up.

Save Phil Hughes

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:55:31 EST

Phil Hughes was the consensus #1 pitching prospect in the game this time last year (excluding Matsuzaka, who shouldn't have been considered a prospect, but I digress). Other than pulling a hamstring, he's done nothing that should change our opinion on him.

Concerns: Hughes appeared to change his arm angle this year. It caused him to lose 1-3 mph on his fastball. That turns him from a guy throwing 95 to a guy throwing 92. That's a huge difference. 95 mph is a plus fastball. 92 is an average fastball. Hughes has the control to do well regardless, but without that velocity, he turns from an ace to a #2 to #3 starter.

Signs of Hope: After recovering from the hamstring injury, his stats in September and October were excellent: 3-0, 2.73 ERA, 29.2 IP, 1.18 WHIP, 18 Ks. He has the makings of an ace, and could be one as early as this year. Don't forget that he was on his way to his own no-hitter prior to pulling his hamstring.

A Ray of Hope

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:46:26 EST

I originally posted this in the MLB forum, but wanted to repeat it here, now that we have Blogs!

The Rays are so loaded in the minor leagues it's just sickening. Here's a "what if their prospects were all ready right now, and they actually kept some of the good players already in the majors".

Here's their team.

1. Desmond Jennings, CF, (LoA, 21)