TheRivernator

I am not doubting that he had a great career and will give you OBP, which he even did in his worst statistical year. I just doubt that a team hurting for offense such as the padres would part with a key cog to their lineup for a backup catcher if something wasnt up. Knowing a guy personally doesnt all of a sudden make him good. I knew Rico Brogna, and I played with Lance Niekro and I'll tell ya what, they were cool and all, but I dont think me knowing them will make them stellar. It is up to them.....

we have both, that is why the villone trade was good. he can be a 7th inning setup man until Dotel gets back and he can get righties and lefties out at the same time. His seattle numbers last yr were great, but he tanked in florida, so I hope he can get the magic back. He is a hard throwing lefty who gets a lot of K's, but his control is not ideal for a reliever....

I expected so much from you. I see the remedial classes let you out early. Those with miniature mental capacities usually respond with frank vulgar without a logical explanation to follow it....

Septic arthritis could be a very bad problem indeed. His past history of hip replacement makes him have a spot for infection to start. It is nasty, but it can be treated, he should be okay. Schaap's was different because it was post-op....

Not always. Colorado does some bad things to pitchers. It not only cuts down their arsenal, but it cuts down their confidence in their pitches. His curveball is one of the best from a righty that I have seen in a long time, but it is his only plus pitch. You take that from him and he is a FB/changeup guy without a fast fastball and with a mediocre change. If he was cutting his curve out of his arsenal because it wasnt breaking then he would be a pedestrian pitcher even when he played on the road. Once he resumed using it regularly, he had success. We'll see, I am not 100% convinced on him, but last yrs playoffs and his performances under pressure really impressed me....

the ball will still carry the same....

in spite of recent evidence, you keep holding onto the past. We can twist this any way you like. Maybe you just have an adjustment disorder...

I never made a prediction on small. He'll be a long reliever. Chacon on the other hand was an allstar in colorado, then was moved to reliever in 04. Last yr he had a good era for colorado before he was dealt. That's the thing, you never know what you will get from a pitcher when they leave the high altitude. Chacon gained inches on his curveball and I must say it is a devastating pitch....

keep up the delusions son, soon the truth will come out. You can rip me all you want if you are right....

okay, sorry for the outbursts I am at work again..... Okay, the yankees previous MO has been to deal away rookies for marginal MLBers. I think this offseason proved that we wont do it for marginal players. It might get harder to deal with us for awhile, but so be it. The yankees used to take anybody who could play for every rookie in the system, but cashman stopped that this offseason. We could have had hunter for cano or hughes and we didnt pull the trigger....

I understand your point, but the yankees tried that the past few yrs and it blew up. The righty gets the average lefties out, but the high profile, stud lefties will handle the righty with high frequency. Trust me, I watched Papi crush many relievers who were right handed but got lefties out. It is better to have a lefty in those late game situations....

another symptom of serious stupidity is the inability to have abstract thought, rather sticking with one theory and not being able to think around it. So the yankee farm system is no good because they will trade them all away anyway?? That makes no sense. Might they trade them, good possibility, does that really matter when assessing the farm system that they have right now, NO. BTW, Cashman had commodities that many teams wanted and he held onto them. I think the power struggle that he won vs George will ultimately make the yankees a better team in the long run. Our farm system had guys that could have been traded this offseason, but he held off because he wants to grow the system...

keep laughing. If you are too low functioning to understand the farm system philosophy of the yankees, then you should keep on laughing. That is what dumb people usually do when they are put in situations where their lack of brain capacity causes them disability. It's ok, why dont you sit this one out son. As I have said many times, the yankee philosophy per cashman is to build from within with young guys, high school guys. They dont mature as fast as the college guys as evidence by the list I posted in the general forum. So a high school guy has about 7 years to make it to the bigs before he is labelled a bust, whereas the typical college kid has 2-3 yrs to really make his hay. The college kids are usually thrust quickly through the system, most of them starting in high A or AA whereas high school players stay in rookie ball and work their way up one league at a time. Unfortunately, after 2002 the yankees farm system was completely barren. Our top picks from previous yrs were either traded or fizzled and we were left with nothing. That is when the yankees started the high school drafting philosophy. So this is now 3 full drafts after that time and their low A and this yr their high A level will be stacked. 2 guys from those drafts moved past the pack and are in AAA (Duncan) and AA (Hughes) respectively. The rest are right about on target. Also, high school kids generally have less of a guarantee of making the bigs, but the best MLBers are mostly former high school picks, so the gamble can payoff huge. The red sox had a barren system at that time too, but they went the college route. Those kids should be ready in the next yr or so and all of the big namers are in AA or above. They are older, more mature, and better players at this junction, but their ceiling, as evidenced by the espn article on hs draftees vs college draftees, is lower than the high schooll guys. Overall, the sox and yankees have different philosophies, and if you do not know the philosophy and you blatantly look at the wrong levels, you wont be able to assess the farm system propoerly. Is the yankee farm system good, yeah overall. Is it ready to produce any MLB talent this yr, NO. Will it be ready to produce MLB talent next yr, possibly...

moving runners has an element of power to it. Your leadoff guy is meant to be a singles, OBP, and speed guy. Your 2 hitter should be a high AVG guy with doubles potential, because your ideal situation is to get a man into scoring position, and if the leadoff man fails to get on base, you would ideally like to have a guy who can get into scoring position by himself. Loretta is actually built more like a leadoff guy without the speed....

Eric Duncan Phil Hughes Tyler Clippard CJ Henry Jose Tabata Marcos Vecchionacchi Christian Garcia just off the top of my head. They had 4 of the top 11 prospects in low A last yr and they were all under 20. Like I said, they are taking the long way, but so far it is working. And you laugh at Cano and Wang. Hmmmm, a pitcher who handled being a starter rather well and will be in our rotation. He also handled the pressure of the playoffs rather well. Damn, sucks to have him. And Cano, well we have already talked about him ad nauseum and the moronic peons on the site who cannot carry on an intelligent conversation see that he is a yankee, so he must not be good.....

Loretta will get on base, but his injury to his hand and then his complete lack of power afterwards scared the padres. A 2 hitter needs to be able to drive home runs and move runners, loretta is a good contact guy so he should be able to move runners, but I dont see him as the rbi type....

Riske is not the type of guy you bring in to get a tough lefty out though. He could get the lefty out, dont get me wrong, but in the 8th inning with Giambi at the plate and 2 men on in a tie ball game, do you bring in David Riske or would you rather have a lefty to bring in seeing as Giambi is much worse against lefties?

Defense is an issue, but Cano gets to more balls than Loretta does (as evidenced by a much higher RF and ZR). Seriously, some of you guys make me laugh. Cano will be our 9 hitter after having 8 consecutive guys who get on base. He will be a second yr player after having a solid yr 1. He got better as the season came to a close last yr. He has high power potential and started to show the ability to drive home runs last yr and he was a reliable RBI guy in the last month and in the playoffs. Seriously, those who want to say that they would take Loretta over him are crazy, even for one yr. Teams were salivating over Cano and we could have gotten Torii Hunter, Beckett, or Crisp for him, while Loretta was obtained for a backup catcher. Cano is worth more now than Loretta is, period....

I enjoy the fact that the yankees finally have some guys on the bench who will not be a total waste when the stars need says off. I like Cairo as a backup IF and I like Bernie and Crosby as backup OFers. I think our bench is underestimated, but then again nobody really cares about bench...

he has only once had an average as high as .270. You are looking more at a player with a .250-.260 average at his best, but his power remains a complete mystery....

he is not a great yankee. He had one really good season for his position and his age and he has the potential to be a great yankee. Are you blind or are you just plain dumb?...

whoa whoa whoa. I never said that Cano would have a better career. I only said that I would take Cano now. Loretta has had a solid career, I just think that what he has now vs what cano currently has and the potential that he has makes cano the better pick. I would definiteyl take it if Cano could have a .300+ career BA....

Loretta 2005 .280/.360/.347.707 34 yrs old coming off career low and injury Cano 2005 .297/.320/.458/.778 22 yrs old, .380+ september average I'll take Cano...

I NEVER said that he was going a hall of famer, where's my post on that one dumpy. I thought that his numbers would classify him in the elite status, which to me is the top 5 in the game at his position. I went back, looked at the numbers and he was around top 8 or 9, so I rescinded my statement. He is 22 and had a great yr in the Bronx, not something that you see every day. Will the ballpark help him, yeah, but lets not be calling the kettle black Mr Pot, many of your righty hitters have enjoyed playing in the friendly confines of the monster. Fact is, your "speculation" that Cano will only get worse and be a light hitting backup by the time he is through is nothing but hatred and lack of realism. Or is it lack of intellect. Hmmmmmmmmmmm......

I wouldnt mind seeing clemens don the pinstripes for one more go round....