a700hitter

Will it be televised?

There is no room in our OF for a strictly platoon guy. Injuries force them to play against righties and lefties. Nava just doesn't do enough to make the cut next year.

Nava has only one useful tool at the major league level. He has a good OBP. That's a big plus and I don't minimize it. The rest of his game is substandard. The part that galls me is his baserunning judgment. For a guy who made it to the majors on hard work and little talent, I would think that his base running instincts would be a lot better. He pulls major rocks on the bases on a regular basis. He runs the bases like a blind man that doesn't understand the rules of the game. In 2013, his OBP was .385 over the full season, plus he hit 12 HRs and slugged .445. This year his OBP is down 50 pts, slugging is down 100 pts and he has only 3 HRs. 2013 was a career year, and I doubt that he can repeat those stats. At his current levels, he just doesn't do enough to warrant a roster spot next season. It is possible that he is a 4th OFer next season, but he will not take time from Cespedes or Castillo. He may pick up time from Victorino, but where does that leave Holt and Betts. Among Betts, Holt and Nava, Nava draws the short straw IMO.

I throw my fair share of rocks at Farrell, but I really can't fault him when his closer blows a save, except for the one time when he left him in to finish the inning after blowing the save and his pitch count went to 30. That probably contributed to his tired arm. I will criticize a mange for going to the bullpen if a top line starter like Lester or Scherzer has cruised through 8 innings with a reasonable pitch count and puts in the closer solely because it is a save situation. That was not the case last night. I do share your suspicion of Farrell's managerial abilities for a host of other reasons. People are repeatedly talking about shutting down Koji so that he is fresh for next season. Do we have him under contract for next season, and I just missed that fact? If he is going to be a free agent, how can Farrell just shut him down and prevent him from earning his payday for next season? Some one needs to explain how we could justify shutting him down to Koji and his agent>

Wow. LOL!! Okay so you are older. The jury is still out on the dumb f*** thing.;) How long ago were you banned?

I see that the last place Rangers cut Mike Carp. He is one of many examples of how fortunate we were as a team in 2013. Carp is at best a scrap heap type journeyman, yet he was very useful for the 2013 team. The same goes for Nava. This year our scrap heap guys performed like scrap and our kids performed like kids. Surptrise surprise!! The 2014 team was s***.

After seeing the names bandied aboit as bait for Stanton, it is pretty clear that we don't have the chips to acquire him. It is a pipe dream for Red Sox fans. We might have had the chips if XB, Bradley and Middlebrooks had stayed in the minors and had good seasons. Instead, Ben brought thme all to the majors and destroyed their value.

I think that you have aptly described Ben's strategy in a nutshell. He dumped half the team in 2012, acquired half of the 2013 championship team in the off season after 2012. Now, again he has dumped half of the team during the 2014 season. I guess we should expect a bunch of acquisitions in the off season. He has already acquired Kelly, Craig, Cespedes and Castillo. He's well on his way.

He's a free agent at the end of the season. His agent will not let them shut him down. He wants to build stats to get a bigger contract.

It's hard to get by year after year with 88 mph heat.

Papelbon remains excellent-- having a better season that Koji. I'm not looking for an argument about the worth of his contract, but the facts and stats are the facts and stats. Papelbon does the job every year with a couple of minor clunkers. That year in and year out consistency is a huge plus for a team. The Yankees road Mo;s consistency for almost 20 years of playoff baseball. Without him, playoff appearances will be somewhat sporadic. We got very lucky to have Uehara during his one dream season.

And it just goes to prove how difficult it is to be an excellent closer year after year. Koji has turned into a pumpkin.

Uehara coughs up a lead off Home Run for the tie. Jeesh.

Another 90+ loss season and last place finish in 2015 would turn those leashes into nooses for Ben and Farrell.

If Ben loads him up with talent in 2015 and they go sub .500 again, he is a goner.

The Yankees hitting, pitching and run differential is not appreciably better than that of the Red Sox, but they are 12 games better. The difference is in large part the manager. The one run games that are decided late should be a crap shoot that favors us, because we have a very solid end of the game bullpen -- better than most of our opponents. The one run games should have tilted in our favor for that reason. That advantage has been neutralized because lantern jawed Farrell's team is not fundamentally sound and he doesn't have a clue as to tactics to manufacture runs.

We have a huge hole at 3B. He can fill that.

I agree. The guy is a winner. He was key to the 2013 success and his absence was a big reason for the 2014 flop. I want him back.

Good point.

The theorem is basically useless: He loses too many one run games for a manager with a solid end of the game bullpen. His team is not fundamentally sound and it has no proficiency at manufacturing a run in tight game. That is on the manager. Bill James needs to stick to strat-o-matic. That was his sweet spot.

Who will want him for $13 million? Are you proposing that they eat most of his salary --- around say $10 million?

We don't do so great with our first round picks.

If you sit Koji down, his agent might have a grievance. He is a free agent after the season so he will want to accumulate stats. If we want to sit him, we will have to sign him now.

Victorino is slated to make $13 million in 2015. He will be in the OF if healthy. Odd man out will be Nava. Betts will be moved to 3rd is my guess. I don't know what happens to Craig.

He's clumsy in the field and he will give you a heart attack on a line drive, but he has a great arm and he pulverizes a baseball with the bat.