jacksonianmarch

I dont have any stats on him, I'll keep looking

No, it is true. We had 4 going into the season. Just imagine how much bigger the deficit would have been with CMW winning 15-19 games instead of seeing Mitre, Gaudin, etc in the #5 hole for half a season.

Herein lies the problem with signing VMart long term. He isnt gonna catch for long. He's gonna be a half time player at C and will need another position. This will gum up the works for trying to acquire AdGon, who is by all accounts a far superior offensive player.

They control Wang for another 2 yrs IIRC.

Uniform number always has a correlation with the guys who they expect to make the big club. Hoffman in the 70s is not good for him

Losing CMW wasnt a major issue? How about losing ARod and Posada for a month?

You really arent very good at reading, are you? I said that VMart's injury in 2008 limited him significantly, and caused the Guardians and the Red Sox to cut into his playing time at catcher. Plus, his splits between Catcher and DH/1B show that the tools of ignorance cut into his offensive production. Add to that the fact that he isnt a good catcher to begin with, and the likelihood is that he will probably not catch more than 100 games this yr. The last time he caught 100 games was 2007, he's 31, he's a catchers whose defense is pretty pitiful, and he is coming off an arm injury which seemed to have a lingering effect on his CS%. I dont think you need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out

Piliere gave you his view. Pat Teale over at PP says that the word he's hearing is that AH has better range, but the glove and hands arent even close. I am trying to find the guy who talked about his arm. Here is another SR from Cuban Ball Players, talking about how Iglesias needed to play 2b when AH was around. http://cubanballplayers.blogspot.com/2009/11/ss-adeiny-hechevarria-is-my-seven-best.html

He will. He was on the roster when we won.

He really was the exception rather than the rule. I'll miss him, sad way for him to go out. If he never broke his foot, he probably wouldnt be out of the org. God speed. Never disliked him.

If they have "intelligence" on Beltre that would necessitate signing a lefty platoon mate then they werent very intelligent in signing him to a $10 million dollar deal.

I was struggling with that idea of the lack of a second lefty, but hear me out. Boone Logan is the most likely to take that spot since both Dunn and Coke are gone. I just think they will give Melancon every opportunity to get his s*** straight at the big league level since his ceiling is much, much higher than Logan's.

Wow, yeah, I forgot him. Remove Russo, implant Johnson, lol.

The coaching staff isnt changing. The current staff won two world series titles and has missed the playoffs once (2006). It isnt changing

Exactly why I think he leaves after 2010. For 1.5 seasons you get elite offensive production out of the catcher's spot and dont have to commit big money to him past his prime seasons. Then, you get the two draft picks and move on down the line.

Branyan makes no sense. He's a lefty power hitter who is really fit to be a DH. You already have one of those, and unless you plan on having a DH competition with Big Papi, it doesnt make sense. I think the sox are set, to be totally honest. They have Lowell as their CIF insurance and as a platoon mate with Papi. I think they should be happy with that

How's the Kool-Aid? They won a WS with 3 of the above pitchers exclusively starting and they beat your new addition to make it to the WS.

You know, Imperial kinda prompted me to put this out there, so why not. The 2010 season is upon us and aside from some position battles in spring training the roster seems pretty set. Projected Roster 1. Posada C 2. Cervelli C 3. Teixeira 1B 4. Cano 2B 5. Jeter SS 6. Rodriguez 3B 7. Pena SS 8. Gardner OF 9. Granderson OF 10. Swisher OF 11. Winn OF 12. Thames OF 13. Johnson DH 14. Sabathia SP 15. Burnett SP 16. Pettitte SP 17. Vazquez SP 18. Chamberlain SP 19. Hughes SU 20. Rivera CL 21. Robertson MR 22. Marte MR 23. Aceves MR 24. Gaudin LR 25. Melancon MR I'll break it down position by position later in the thread, but for right now, here is the prediction. The Yankee offense will score 900+ runs for a second season in a row. Their offense will carry them through rough starts by the starters and allow them to win games that they had no right winning in the first place. They should also be able to battle good pitchers and absolutely work over the mediocre to bad ones. The big changes to the offense being three-fold. Brett Gardner replaces Melky at the bottom of the lineup, which actually has the probability of being an upgrade due to Gardner's eye and lightning speed. Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui leave and we add Nick Johnson and Curtis Granderson. Johnson in the #2 hole will be an improvement over Damon solely based on OBP as long as he can remain healthy. But as a full time DH, that shouldnt be too much to ask. The big story will be Granderson. Coming off an off season where he still hit 30 homers, the big question will be which Grandy will be showing up? The one that swooned towards the back half of 2009 and couldnt hit lefties? Or the dynamic hitter from 2007-2008 who went for the quad 20 (20 homers, 20 triples, 20 doubles, 20SBs). If he can regain some of that spark, he'll be a dynamic player and might supplant Johnson in the #2 hole. Regardless, even if they perform exactly like they did last yr, it's only a mild downgrade overall. But if they improve upon their down seasons, they have a chance to be major upgrades in youth and dynamic capability. The rotation will be vastly improved. Joba will be in season 2 of his starting pitching transformation which should lend to a bit more consistency and a bit more length. Javy Vazquez replaces the shitstorm we had in the #5 hole from last yr after Wang went down. Adding a perennial 200K and 200IP starter to replace a slot in the rotation that had a near 6ERA and averaged under 5IP is absolutely huge. He could pitch like he did with the CWS and still be immensely valuable. But last season shows that Javy may have turned a corner, so we shall see. Pettitte in the rotation might end up being a great addition or a critical weakness. He revamped himself last yr improving his K rates and proving to be ever durable. The question is, will he be able to consistently get outs as the velocity tumbles further or will be falter. We'll see. I actually expect improvements over Burnett and Sabathia. Sabathia started off horribly in April then put up CY numbers after that, including the playoffs where he was magnificent. Burnett had runs where he looked like a CY winner and then runs where you had to scratch your head. Overall a mediocre season for him, will a second yr in pinstripes lend more consistency to this guy a la his time in Toronto. Regardless, this rotation is loaded to bear. 4 strikeout pitchers and 4 pitchers who have shown the ability to consistently reach the 200IP mark (well, the last 2 yrs with Burnett, but the comment remains for the rest). Couple that with the offense and this team should be able to sustain significant winning streaks against some of the weaker teams in the bigs. And some teams really did get weaker. On to the pen, last yr for one month they were record setting in their badness. After a complete overhaul, their youth matured into a pretty dominant bullpen. Anchored by old reliable, Mariano Rivera, what time has taken away in velocity, he has added to with baseball IQ, improved location and even more bite. Everyone wonders when he'll fall, but after putting up another career season for the future HOFer, predicting his demise might be a fool's job. The good thing is, he has help coming into a season for once. Phil Hughes should be his primary assistant after a successful campaign as the most dominant regular season setup man in 2009. He was absolutely dominant in that role and should slide back in for 2010. Adding to the riches in the back end, Damaso Marte looks to be back to his typical form after a very strong playoff run. If he's healthy, NY will be able to feature a 1-2-3 punch at the back end of the pen that few teams will have. To complement the crew is Alfredo Aceves, the guy who throws middle of the road stuff out there but gets outs and doesnt make stupid mistakes. He's the swing guy. David Robertson will try to work his way into the setup role after a very promising 2009 campaign. And the new guy, Mark Melancon should be ready to start ascending to the back of the pen as well (he's my sleeper pick for future Yankee closer). Overall, this pen should be primed to be one of the best and the great part about it is that its almost entirely home grown (Marte was an original Yankee prospect who we traded for Enrique Wilson). So, after a quick rundown, I think the Yankees run away with the division and probably ease off the brake at the end to make the finish respectable. My guess is anywhere from 98-103 wins. As for the playoffs, its anyone's game and it really depends on how the rotation gels together. If Vazquez shows up and moves into a highly respected and counted upon role, then this rotation could go up against anyone's. The hope is that we wont have to go to the 3 man rotation again for the playoffs. But we definitely will be back in the playoffs in 2010.

Imp, you are way too defensive. He was injured one yr, yes, and it was a significant elbow injury which caused him to miss a lot of time. He eventually had surgery on that arm and came back a bit weaker. The problem is, he was a marginal defensive catcher to begin with, and now he's less than marginal. The other issue is that he wears down like Dipre said over the course of a season and as a catcher, that gets accelerated. Plus, he's now 31 yrs old which really is about the time that most full time catchers start to show some wear and tear. Also, his arm has taken a major step back. I know you use the Posada reference, but Posada had a lower PB/game ratio than VMart and threw out 28% of base-stealers in 2009, while VMart threw out only 14%. Plus, Posada's career mark is 28% while VMart's is 24%. From a catcher's defensive metric standpoint, you really can't go that much farther than that in evaluating them. They both are slow back there, but Posada's arm sets the two apart, even after having his shoulder reconstructed. I am glad Dipre isnt having trouble seeing the truth here. VMart is getting auditioned. If his arm is back to pre-2008 levels and he shows he doesnt get worn down out there, then they will resign him. If he doesnt and needs a bunch of time at DH or at 1b, then he isnt useful since the sox have a major hard on for Adrian Gonzalez.

Thats about what I got. And for Imperial, no you cannot cut and paste from PP. Right click is disabled. They dont f*** around.

The race is always fun

In 2008, he missed a lot of time due to an elbow injury, only catching 55 games. In 2009, after said elbow injury, he started only 82 times at catcher, even though he started a total of 148 games. Prior to 2008, he was a very durable catcher. But after the injury and now heading into his 30s as a catcher, he's probably due for a position change. Especially since defensively, he is not very strong. This is why I think the sox arent talking to him about an extension. They are giving him an audition as a full time catcher in 2010. If he handles it admirably, then they'll talk to him about an extension. If he needs a bunch of time at DH or 1b, then they let him go since he'll jam up the works.

the only link I can offer is one to the pinstripesplus forum. Its subscriber only. You'll have to take my word for it. But I'm not really breaking any ground here. Once he officially signs, you'll see a lot more about him.

I have a feeling VMart is in Boston through 2010 then finds another club. He isnt a good catcher, he isnt durable when he catches and his bat doesnt carry as well to another position. I think the sox go deeper into their new defense oriented organizational philosophy next yr. They'll let VMart go, take the 2 draft picks and watch him sign a 4 yr deal for a team that sees him play 80% of his games as a DH or a 1b over the life of the new contract. They'll be in on Mauer if he hits FA, but it sounds like that may be unreasonable. They'll let Papi go and sign another all offense basher to solidify that spot. They'll take the offensive upgrade from that move and counter it with the offensive downgrade of carrying a primarily defensive catcher. A guy like Gerald Laird. Is a master in calling games and at the craft of catching, leaving lots to be desired offensively.

One of my colleagues' brothers was in the downhill. Didnt medal, but I met the kid. Kinda cool.