a700hitter

Damon hasn't played the field, because the Yankees have the luxury of having Cabrera who is a much better fielder than Crisp.

So, you are concluding that he will suck for the next two years? His injured wheels have no chance of heeling in the offseason? In case you haven't noticed, a healthy Crisp has not been tearing it up this year. In fact, he's been so bad most of the year that he has been batting 7th or lower in the lineup. Like I said. A healthy Damon buries this guy. Coco looked good today with the bat though. Hopefully, it will continue. However, for all the ballyhooing about his improved fielding, he got a horrible jump today on Konerko's pop fly. Absolutely horrible. He leaned back and then froze before he took off. This is the first time that I have seen him live since April. I don't know if his bad jump was picked up on TV.

Crisp is demonstrably better. Is he the leadoff hitter? Is the healthy Crisp demonstrably better than the injured Damon with his lower OBP (a hallmark for a leadoff hitter). As of yesterday, they had the same number of runs scored and HRs. Crisp had one more Stolen Base, but he was caught 4 more times. He's demonstrably better? A healthy Damon runs circles around this guy. An injured Damon is his equal. Theo, thanks for replacing the aging declining player with the younger player that is only as good as the declining player that walked away. Thanks alot. Losing his 2006 productivity is really paying off in the long run.

Are games scored in OPS these days? I think runs still matter. Run production fell when Damon left and it is still down. The FO has not adequately replaced him. Who is our leadoff hitter? I forgot. We don't have one.

Just responding to your crack disparaging the stat that someone else posted on the boards about the .750 winning % when Damon scores a run. The facft is that when he is healthy and playing well, he makes his teams go. He wasn't partly responsible for the record breaking offenses from 2003-05. He had a major role. After '03 we lost Nomar as a productive player and the runs kept coming in '04 and '05. After '05 we lost Millar, Mueller, and Damon. Youkilis matched Millar's 2005 production and Lowell did a good job of replacing Mueller, but the production was markedly off. No one replaced the leadoff catalyst role in '06. Our production continues to be down in '07, because we have still not found a suitable replacement. Maybe Damon is not producing due to injury this year, but he produced big time in 2006. His injury this year doesn't mean that he is through and done. He could rebound. In 2006, he gave the Yankees way more for $13 million than we are getting out of Drew for $14 million. BTW an injured Damon is not being outperformed by very much by a healthy Drew. They are performing fairly comparably except in Stolen Bases where Damon has 16 and Drew has 1.

if he's injured, he should be DL'ed. Other than that, it's an excuse for the ups and downs of the season. I can remember Yaz taping his hand to the bat because his wrist was so sore that he couldn't hold the bat. His manger didn't whine or make excuses for him. They all get knicked up and it does indeed affect their performance, but even with a strained quad, he should have more than 1 HR in 123 ABs.

Could he have been worse than jason 'the Ultimate Loser" Johnson? Probably not, especially in light of the fact that he lost every time he pitched. Corey Lidle might have won a few of those games...no?

a little Yankee fan bias at work here? I think so. You'd be hard pressed to find any baseball experts that would agree. Where was Wang during the All Star break.

There's no denying his talent. The high talent level was quite evident to me during ST. He makes it look almost effortless, which may be part of his problem. When he is not going well, it looks like he is not trying. He needs to prove himself in some big spots. Right now, I am very disappointed in his lack of power production.

Before I turn in for the night, I'll be driving up with my son for the games tomorrow and Sunday. If any of my fellow posters will be at the games, I'd like to say hello and buy you a beer (if you are legal drinking age). Just drop me a PM if you will be at one of the games.

Let's remember that we are fans of the same team. I want to see him succeed as much as you do...maybe more because I am older and the years are going by fast, but honestly, do you think this guy is having or will have the impact of a 5 year/$70 million player? are you relly seeing that in him. None of the Cardinal or Dodger fans that i know saw that in him, and I am not talking about the ******* Dodger blue fans that visit here.

...and how movable is the high performing Vagina that currently occupies RF? At least Abreu only had a one-year commitment attached. Drew has 5 years for big, big money and he bring's with him a bad shoulder.

The prospects were agreed upon. The money was not. That is what was being reported at the time. If they weren't interested in or negotiating to get Abreu, then why did they have to explain why they were unable to get him? Their attempt to get him was never in question.

This is a fallacious argument. Did anyone consider the prospects traded by the Yankees to be top prospects? No. Being drafted #1 means very little after draft day unless it is backed up by performance. The Yankees with a depleted farm system were able to keep their top prospects and still get ABreu. BTW the prospects that we offered for Abreu were reportedly better than what they got from the Yanks. Our FO tried to quibble over $6 million. The Yankees didn't quibble. I resent that the FO blew that deal for a mere $6 million. We now know that they have the money. After all they spent $4million on Piniero.

Helton is healthy this year. He was injured last year and the prior year, so his numbers were down. You didn't consider that his numbers were down due to injury. You concluded that he was in a precipitous decline. He's healthy now, and his numbers are good and improving as the season moves along. BTW in a few short days he has closed the gap on road OPS .855 Helton .856 Youk. The only reason Youk is still ahead is because the Sox are at home right now.

I heard it, but I resented the fact that they refused to reinforce the team which was making a worthy run and holding first place with the heroics of Manny, Ortiz, Schilling and Papelbon. Abreu and Lidle would not have cost any good prospects, nor would have Craig Wilson or Gregg Maddox. They did nothing and fed the papers the BS story about the expense for Abreu being prohibitive. That was shown to be major league BS after the offseason spending spree. I didn't want them to sell the farm but they didn't have to. The Yankees didn't.

Losing Damon in 2006 hurt the team in 2006. Getting Drew in 2007 has so far added very little. As of right now, we would have gotten one good year out of Damon. Instead, we got one terrible year from Crisp in 2006 and so far a non-impact year from Drew for 2007. Damon may be aging and flopping this year and the FO may have seen it coming, but they have done little to replace guys from the 2003 team like Damon, Millar, Mueller, Nixon, and Nomar as they have left or declined. They have done a very poor job replacing those guys. Manny and Ortiz are all we have left.

I agree with you, but I also feel that the FO abandoned last years' team, and the guys in the clubhouse felt that way too. I am not the only one with this opinion. I heard this numerous times last year echoed by several sports analysts and writers. THe reason they will not let it happen again is because they spent way too much to turn things around this year. They can't sit on their hands this year. If 2007 goes down in flames, Theo could be shown the door, maybe others too.