jacksonianmarch

Matsui needed surgery for the whole yr. I expect him to be placed in the DH role and put up his customary .290 25 100 next yr. Posada is expected to be pencilled in as a C next yr which is a massive improvement. Cano will be much better next yr. Jeter and Damon are right about where I could hope they are. Nady should do better than he did for us and a bit worse than he did for Pitt. If Tex comes, he is a massive upgrade over Giambi. The only ?? would be CF and if Posada can handle catching 120 games (which Cashman said he's being counted on for). I expect the yankees will get a stopgap CFer until AJax is ready. A lineup of Damon LF Jeter SS Teixeira 1B Rodriguez 3B Matsui DH Nady RF Posada C Cano 2B Cameron?? CF is a lineup that will put up over 900 runs easy if they all stay on the field.

The fact is, your offensive injuries left your offense in second in runs and barely under 900. Our injuries took our offense from a potential 1000 run offense to a sub 800 run offense, good for 7th in the AL. Our pitching injuries took us from a team with 3 guys capable of throwing 200+IP to 2 guys with 3 massive ?'s. And it is illustrated by our IP from the starters. We got 100 less innings from our starters than you guys did and our starters ERA was about a half run worse. That is a ton of innings for the pen to pick up and with the diminished offense and poor performance of the starters, the pen could only do so much. The team needs to improve, but if Moose retires, like he is said to be leaning towards doing, then we have a lot of room to improve to be back in the playoffs. Is that from within with Hughes and Joba slotting in behind Wang and maybe Pettitte? Is that with CC, Burnett, Sheets, Peavy, Lowe??? We'll see. This is gonna be an exciting off season, IMO.

I already showed you how, even with the degree of injury you guys had, that your rotation for the most part wasnt as hard hit as ours was.

a700, I was pointing out how the alternatives went down before the bigger guys did. The injuries at all levels are what really killed us. We lost our top MiLB pitchers and our best catching option from the minors before Hughes' rib went snap. One error that we can retrospectively assess, though, is the fact that the yankee rookies and young kids didnt step to the dish when they were asked to carry the team. Its a sign of immaturity. Kinda like how the sox would have been f***ed last yr had they lost Schill for the entire yr. But that extra yr of Lester's dev't allowed him to learn and become the ace he is now.

a700 makes a good point. Jeter did seem to improve his range this yr just from watching him, which he attributed to agility training in the offseason. That being said, the man turns 35 next yr and has already lost about a step and a half from his prime. Its time for him to move to CF, 2B, or 1B. Looking at our staff, Wang and Pettitte are two extreme GB pitchers and having them on the mound 40% of the time (hopefully) means a lot of balls getting past Jeter. That being said, I think the entire package with his offense still has him as a top 5 SS in all of baseball. But if he moved to 2b, he'd be even more valuable and less of a defensive liability. One thing I can always say about Jeter is that he fields very well when the ball is hit within 2 steps of him in either direction. So he doesnt kill us. But the range outside of that will affect us once or twice a week, which is enough to put the thought in your head.

SEASON TEAM G GS CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB SO W L SV HLD BLSV ERA 2002 SD 17 17 0 0 97.2 106 54 49 11 33 90 6 7 0 0 -- 4.52 2003 SD 32 32 0 0 194.2 173 94 89 33 82 156 12 11 0 0 -- 4.12 2004 SD 27 27 0 0 166.1 146 49 42 13 53 173 15 6 0 0 -- 2.27 2005 SD 30 30 3 3 203.0 162 70 65 18 50 216 13 7 0 0 -- 2.88 2006 SD 32 32 2 0 202.1 187 93 92 23 62 215 11 14 0 0 -- 4.09 2007 SD 34 34 0 0 223.1 169 67 63 13 68 240 19 6 0 0 -- 2.54 2008 SD 27 27 1 0 173.2 146 57 55 17 59 166 10 11 0 0 -- 2.85 Total -- 199 199 6 3 1261.0 1089 484 455 128 407 1256 86 62 0 0 -- 3.25 Those are pretty nice stats. I like the idea of Peavy mostly because he's 27 and is under contract for 4 more yrs. Granted at a high price, BUT, whomever gets him will get him with a lot of prime left without having to invest into the down yrs like the mets had to do with Johan and anyone will have to do for Burnett and CC. But what will it take to get him? Figure the NLW is out. The Cardinals need pitching. The Cubs wont and the Reds and Brewers will be rebuilding. The Stros gutted their farm for Tejada. The Pirates, Marlins, and Nats are out. The Mutts will be looking for relief help and dont have the prospects since they gutted their farm too. Philly would put their hat in the ring, but their system is marginal. Atlanta wont pay that coin. TB wont pay that coin. The sox would kick the tires, but with a three headed monster of Becks, DiceK, and Lester, they dont need to make a big splash. Toronto doesnt have the payroll flexibility. CWS and DET will be in on it. KC and Minny, no. CLE, no. ANA doesnt need him, OAK doesnt have the money. Texas will be in on it no doubt and Seattle will likely be rebuilding and they have other problems. So from just looking at where teams sit, I see the Cardinals, Phillies, Red Sox (peripherally), White Sox, Tigers, and Rangers in the mix with the Yankees. The Red Sox have the best overall system and trade chips because of their youth at the MLB level (this includes Pedroia, Papelbon, Youkilis, etc guys they wont deal). The Tigers have a couple of big prospects, but any deal with Detroit would start with Porcello. The Cardinals have Rasmus and a few others. The Rangers have Salty and a good offensive/catching farm. The White Sox and Phillies would have to literally gut their top 5. For us, we'd likely have to part with Hughes or Cano as the centerpiece of the deal with a lot of prospects behind them. It will be interesting to see where we go with this.

hahaha

I did not call him a bust. I said he may be a bust. After seeing guys like Austin Jackson on our end struggle in his first yr and a half, then explode, I think Dent has some time. But the early returns are not good.

So you're gonna go by the 42% EBH percentage when he hit .154 in short season? The only reason why he had 42% EBH was because he didnt have that many hits to begin with.

For 2007 Yankees picks and signees. Oh, and BTW, guys with ??? after their ETA either have been injured too often to evaluate or havent progressed well enough to predict their ETA Andrew Brackman- returned from TJ, just started throwing in games. Will be in Tampa in 09. ETA-??? Austin Romine- solid C, finished very strong in A ball. Will be in Tampa in 09. ETA- 2011 Ryan Pope- solid 1st half, then injured and sucked second half. Will be in Tampa in 09. ETA- 2011 Bradley Suttle- solid season, tapered late due to labrum injury. Will be in Tampa in 09. ETA- 2011 Adam Olbrychowski- poor finish to 08 likely has him in the pen for good. Needs to rebound. ETA- ??? Chase Weems- injured, repeated the GCL with limited success. Should be in SAL in 09. ETA- ??? Damon Sublett- poor start, got hot then injured. Will be in Trenton in 09. ETA- 2011 Taylor Grote- poor season in SI. Regressing. ETA- ??? Austin Krum- solid yr in SAL, will be in Tampa in 09. ETA- 2011 Carmen Angelini- bad yr in the SAL, will repeat in 09. ETA- ??? Justin Snyder- good yr in SAL, will be in Tampa in 09. ETA- 2011 Brandon Laird- good power esp late in long season, will be in Tampa in 09. ETA- 2011 Manny Barreda- TJS in 2008, will miss all of 09. ETA- ??? Kelvin De Leon- dominated the DSL, will be stateside likely in long season. ETA- 2012 Eduardo Sosa- dominated the DSL, will be stateside in long season. ETA- 2012 Arodys Vizcaino- dominated the GCL. Will be in long season for 09. ETA- 2012 Red Sox- Nick Hagadone- TJS June 08, will likely miss most of 09. ETA- ??? Ryan Dent- below Mendoza line in Lowell. Looking like a bust. ETA- ??? Hunter Morris did not sign Brock Huntzinger- was terrible in Greenville. ETA- ??? Chris Province- started well in A ball, but was rocked in A+. ETA- ??? Will Middlebrooks- was terrible in Lowell in 08. ETA- ??? Anthony Rizzo- developed Hodgkin's lymphoma, will rehab and should be back in 09. ETA- ??? David Mailman- struggled in A ball and in Lowell. ETA- ??? Adam Mills- hit very hard between Lancaster and Portland. Will need to miss bats to progress. ETA- ??? Kade Keowen- struggled mightily in A abd Lowell. ETA- ??? Ryan Pressly- pitched adequately in the GCL, has a long way to go. ETA- 2012 Austin Bailey- injured his labrum, rehab instead of surgery, should be back in 2009. ETA- ??? Hunter Strickland- pitched very well in Lowell. ETA- 2012 Drake Britton- adequate in Lowell in 08, needs to improve to move. ETA- ??? Michael Almanzar- hit well in the GCL, struggled on promotion to A. ETA- 2012 Che-Hsuan Lin- hit under .250 and barely made .700OPS. Should be in A+ for 09. ETA- 2012 Once again, the two best draftees had TJS. Brackman is back already and Hagadone will miss significant time in 09. The DSL signees have promise. Vizcaino was the best INTL pitching prospect for 07, De Leon and Almanzar the best power prospects. Sosa is a better all around player than both of them. Our draft has guys on the rise, while the sox draft (while extremely talented) universally struggled in their first full yr in the minor leagues. Again, I thought the sox were just unlucky in 2007, they drafted good talent, but a lot of projects that to this point havent put it together. I would write any of them off, though. The Yankees drafted a lot of talent too, and to this point, most of it is producing.

Okay dumbass, I have told you time and time and time again that Cashman was able to pump money into the draft in 2006. He also replaced the scouting director at that time and put Damon Oppenheimer in place. Lets look at it since THAT ONE CHANGE. You ask him to change his philosophy, he does, and you dont acknowledge it. Yankees 06 notable draft picks/signings- (Bold made it to bigs) Joba Chamberlain Beast with A+ talent Ian Kennedy has a future in the back end of a big league rotation Zach McAllister- skipped to AA this yr and was absolutely dominant- ETA mid 2010 Mitch Hilligoss- dominated SAL in 07, sucked in FSL in 08. ETA- ??? George Kontos- high K rate, good ERA, moderate WHIP in AA- ETA late 2009 Colin Curtis- struggled in AA but finished well. Needs to put it together to make bigs ETA- ??? Dellin Betances- started off with bad control in first half, put it together in second. ETA- 2011 Mark Melancon- TJ surgery then dominated A+/AA/AAA. A beast. ETA- 2009 Dan McCutchen- traded to Pitt David Robertson- ran through the system in a yr and a half, good stuff and will be in MR this yr Jesus Montero- dominated the SAL. If moved from catcher, he could be in the bigs next yr. ETA- 2011 Jairo Heredia- pitched well in the SAL as a 19 yr old with high K rate. ETA 2012 Carlos Urena- shot in the DSL this yr. Recovered fully, was hitting well when shot. ETA ??? Red Sox 2006 draft picks Jason Place- A+ ball, finally hitting for power at a young age, high K rate will hinder him. ETA 2011 Daniel Bard- AA ball, converted to relief, unhittable, but high BB rate. ETA late 2009 Kris Johnson- AA ball, good ERA, mod K rate, high WHIP (1.5). ETA ??? Caleb Clay- 2 games into return from TJ. Likely to start in the SAL. ETA- ??? Justin Masterson- likely in the pen for good, struggles vs lefties. Solid pen arm if progresses Aaron Bates- regressed in AA this yr. Might be stalling. ETA- ??? Bryce Cox- got tattoed for a 2nd yr in a row in A ball. ETA- ??? John Still- showed power in A+ ball, but old for league and tons of Ks ETA- 2010 Dustin Richardson- highly touted by Gammons in ST, sucked in AA this yr. ETA- ??? Zach Daeges- moved to CF, showed good patience and EBH in AA. ETA- late 2009 Kris Negron- sucked in A, moved to A+ and played well. Will see if he is any good in 09. ETA- ??? Ryan Kalish- good avg and eye in SAL, power slow to develop. Has long way to go- ETA-??? Ty Weeden- high bonus, low production. ETA- ??? Josh Redick- dominated both A leagues in 08, struggled in AA. ETA- 2011 Lars Anderson- Total package at 1b, dominated A+ and AA. ETA- late 2009 Yamaico Navarro- played well in A ball. ETA- 2012 Oscar Tejeda- poor season in the SAL. ETA- ??? Engel Beltre- traded to TEX for Gagne. So looking over the 2006 draft and signing period, both teams did well. We have seen three of our players make the majors in a yr and a half since being drafted/signed. Not bad at all. The sox have seen one. We have two others with ETA's of this upcoming yr, while the sox have 3. Of the guys we signed, Montero, Chamberlain, Heredia, Betances and Melancon are all players with top tier talent who are producing. For the sox, Anderson, Reddick, Place and Bard are in the same category. I think we came away with the most talent and this class has been very solid since signing. The sox draft was good once again. But from about 02-05 the sox have had better drafts. 06 was the start of something new.

You are once again a class A moron. The 05 draft was a bust at the top. But Cox, Jackson and Gardner all have big league futures or have made it already. AND ITS TOO EARLY STILL TO EVALUATE THESE THREE PLAYERS YOU f***ING MORON. When will you learn this. Its like teaching sign language to a blind guy. It just doesnt get through You need to learn how to evaluate talent or at least understand the process. You are hyping Hansen and Lowrie, while one is sucking ass in Pittsburgh and the other is a guy who hit .258 as a defensive downgrade at SS and projects to be a light hitting corner IFer with a good eye. Then you are hyping Bard when he was a college draftee in 06 as a starter and needed two seasons to get his act straight as a reliever, and still cannot locate in AA. That is better than a lower ceiling starter who made it to the bigs? You're f***ing dumb. And then you discount the rest of the draft and INTL signees BEFORE THE MEAT OF IT MAKES IT TO THE BIGS. Arguing this with you is pointless. You have an agenda and when that happens, objectivity and intellect goes right out the window. But this is kinda status quo with you. One day, when you leave this site, we might be able to talk yankees baseball in reality without some idiot with no education spouting about drafts being busts 2 yrs after they were made.

The question is, do you expect Ells to rebound. He did well enough in Sept to make the line respectable, but having a CFer whose best attribute is speed, yet he didnt reach base, makes you kinda wonder. I could care less about OPS and SLG in Ellsbury's case. If he's on base, he puts pressure on the pitcher and can score or put himself into scoring position readily. A .332OBP isnt gonna cut it. He needs to be above .350 to be effective. OTOH, Coco is a better defender (although its close), reached base at a higher clip and showed good EBH capability. The numbers were close, but Crisp's were better and the D was better, so I gotta go with him. To be honest with you, I'd float both out there on the wire and see what you can get. If you could nab a lights out reliever for one of them, then I'd do it. (Like Huston Street maybe?)

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If Beckett isnt full speed come game 3, then the sox are done. I think Lackey wins game 1 and DMats wins game 2. If Becks is in gear, the sox will have the chance to close it out in their park. If he isnt, and this thing goes back to ANA for a game 5, then its over, IMO.

Wait, this is an old team, so you want to get older by adding manny and keeping abreu? That makes no sense. To be honest with you, this team has so much in flux right now and the FA market is so good that predictions and wants will change daily. Again on Nady, he finished the yr at a line of .305 25HR 97RBI. He hit .268 12HR 40RBI in 59 games for us and only because he slumped for us in Sept, when we were out of it. Over the past 2 yrs, Nady has hit in the .320 range with RISP and RISP with 2 outs, something this team has badly needed. 3 of the last 4 seasons have seen him at a .800+OPS and the only season that wasnt was a yr he missed a lot of time with injury. He finally became a full time player in 2007 and since then he's been well over the .800OPS mark, based mostly on the SLG. He reminds me a lot of some of the players we had during our champioship run. Good RBI guy, good doubles guy, can hit it out, is versatile, etc. And, with Cashman returing, you better believe we didnt give up Tabata and McCutchen for half yr rentals. Both are staying, so deal with it. Overall, a lot of things will be floated. One of them will be a potential deal with SF. They need young offense, we need starting pitching, and a Matt Cain for Robby Cano deal has been on the rumor wire for a long time now. We'll kick the tires on Manny and on Pat Burrell. We'll make a good run at Tex. We will destroy the competition for CC, and the only way he isnt in pinstripes is if he doesnt want to come here. We'll kick the tires on Dunn, although I think we pass ultimately. Giambi will be in the fracas, and he will be our fallback option should Tex leave. Burnett is a wild card and should be considered mostly because he has stayed healthy for consecutive yrs and finally showed he can avoid the free pass. But all in all, I think our team will get better. Adding Wang and a healthy Joba will help. Having Posada behind the dish while moving Molina to backup will help a ton. Getting Cano off to a normal start should have him in the .300 range for 09. A lot of bad things need to happen again to keep this team from being very competitive next yr.

BTW, I am not defending Hanks point. I like divisional races. I dont know what the best thing would be. I love the wild card, since some teams just are stacked against because of their division. Someone actually had an idea that I liked last yr. Move back to 2 divisions, give out 4 wild cards and have the WC's play a 3 game series for the right to play the division winners. It wont happen as baseball is the most conservative sport. But it would be nice. The more races the better.

With a front 3 of Zambrano, Harden and Dempster, I'd be afraid of the cubbies. Philly is a one man pitching show with Hamels. LA has Billingsley and Lowe, two guys I think are beatable. MIL will be in it too with Sheets and Sabathia. Rumor has it, Gallardo may be back to help out too. Regardless, I think the cubbies have this thing in the bag so long as another Bartman doesnt hinder their chances. In the AL, the Angels are stacked. Good D, good speed, a great manager, good rotation and phenomenal pen. If Becks can go, then I like the sox 3 man rotation over the Halos. If Becks cannot, then it was a good yr for you guys.