jacksonianmarch

Like I said before, this could be nothing, or it could be serious. The Sox and Beckett have every reason to figure this out now.

Looks like Moose didnt get the "give up" message that the rest of the team got. Moose is pitching for a contract now.

See, when reason shoots down Gom's idiotic theories, he resorts to the same old s***** lines.

this is a good move for both sides. The Braves werent gonna resign him and likely wouldnt be offering him arb. So they get a project with some tools. better than nothing, while also getting out of the last few mil of his contract. The sox OTOH, can afford to play him while JD is out and then offer him arb, with him knowing he wont have a spot. That way, the sox could get a supp pick for him, as I believe he's a type B. To be honest with you, I wouldnt be surprised if Kotsay is in pinstripes next yr.

The Bonds idea has come and gone. We arent talking about a 25 yr old in peak physical condition who is working out day in and day out for a comeback. We are talking about a 45 yr old who can barely move and requires DH duties because of his gimpy knees. The move makes no sense for the sox, none.

he is better than Cora IMO, so keeping him around as a bench player isnt a bad idea. He can play all 3 non 1b infield positions and can also play the OF. So he could carve out about 80-100 games in relief of a bunch of guys. Plus his speed would be nice off the bench. I dunno if he'd be cool with that, though and theo seems to like to deal away potential problems. One team that kinda fits is Minnesota, but the sox would have to eat a lot of salary in order to get anything in return.

It still bears out. Pedroia doesnt have any one skill that jumps out at you. But the entire package plus his intensity makes him an all star talent. And for those of you who jump on rookie struggles and then lavish pedroia in praise, you are being hypocritical. Remember when Pedroia was getting killed on these boards? He was being called Duddy, cause everyone thought he was a dud? This is why you need to give rookies some time.

What are you gonna do with Lugo once the season ends. He's owed another 16 mil over the next 2 yrs.

The compensation picks are not. So those picks will have some leverage, but so be it. But all other picks in the first 2 rounds are. And when you consider the amount of players leaving, we will have multiple other protected picks around the unprotected ones. This means, we could potentially choose a bit more conservative in those picks, or just snag guys and pay them top dollar. Regardless, I expect our draft budget to be ridiculous next yr just to be able to sign the players we'll get in the first round.

And yes, Gom. The Yankees get an extra first and second rounder because Cole and Bittle did not sign. And these are guaranteed. No matter who we sign, those picks will be there. This is why letting Bittle fly was a good move. If the pick wasnt guaranteed, then you gotta take him. But as of right now, we have 2 first rounders and 2 second rounders in 2009. That is before all of the free agents fly the coop

He has to put something into the major league level next yr that is exogenous, that much is for sure. If he doesnt sign a big time FA, then he is putting his neck on the chopping block one yr earlier than is intended. This is why I think he signs some big time free agents. 2009 is another transition yr IMO. 2010 is the goal. If he doesnt sign someone big and the yankees dont make it to the playoffs in 2009, he wont be employed to enjoy the fruits of his labors

my thoughts exactly

Just to reiterate the point, take a look at these prospects added since the beginning of 2006... 2008 Gian Carlo Arias Jackson Valera Anderson Felix Ramon Flores Yicok Calderon Alfredo Aceves Manuel Banuelos Jeremy Bleich David Adams Corban Joseph Chris Smith Brett Marshall Mikey O'Brien Kyle Higashioka Will Mitchell Matt Richardson Garrison Lassiter David Phelps Nik Turley 2007 Kelvin De Leon Eduardo Sosa Andrew Brackman Ryan Pope Austin Romine Arodys Vizcaino Bradley Suttle Damon Sublett Carmen Angelini Manny Barreda Justin Snyder Brandon Laird 2006 Jesus Montero Jairo Heredia Carlos Urena Ian Kennedy Joba Chamberlain Zach McAllister George Kontos Dellin Betances Mark Melancon Mitch Hilligoss Tim Norton (steal if he didnt blow out his shoulder) Humberto Sanchez Kevin Whelan Daniel McCutchen David Robertson Chris Malec As you can see, the lists get a bit smaller as the yrs go on as guys go down with injury and ineffectiveness. But all of these players above project to be major league ballplayers. Some with all star caliber talent. Some with starter talent. Some with utility/relief talent. But all with big league talent. This is new to the organization when we had maybe 2-3 prospects per draft and 47 fillers. Now, we are seeing 7-8 prospects per draft and a bunch of signability guys who dont sign. IE, we arent drafting to fill. We are drafting to win.

Of course that isnt optimal. But sometimes, s*** happens. The good thing is, we have both of those picks guaranteed for next yr. Once again, the GM does not run the draft. You have to understand this. He is way too busy with the big club to be able to pour over thousands of scouting reports and put a master list together. He is way too busy to make all the calls to kid prior to the draft to assess their signability. He does not have the time to fly to the dominican to see how the players in their baseball academy look. He doesnt have the time to assess the big ticket Japanese and dominican signees that may be outside his academy. That is a MASSIVE job. This is the job of the scouting director and his many people below him. The fact that Cashman relieved the other guy of this job and named Oppenheimer is a boon, since the draft and IFA's since his appointment have been very, very good. Once he made a commitment to change the organizational philosophy and used his employment as leverage to gain this change, he earned a ton of respect from me. Albeit, he will have to deliver. But his plan is not a one yr fix, it is a 4 yr plan. This is yr 2 IMO. You still arent understanding the change in direction this franchise took when Cashman essentially got the Tampa faction disbanded. Are you that f***ing stupid? Do you seriously think that things are run in the same fashion as they were in the late 90s? Cashman made an organizational change in 2006 and it is working. You just need to give it time. Hughes was the consensus #1 pitching prospect in 2007. The fact that he cannot stay healthy is not on Cashman. Kennedy was drafted in 2006 and has already pitched in major league games in 2 different seasons. Calling that a bust is dumb. Tabata was a solid signing and essentially got massive return on that investment. Brackman, once again, was the second best talent in the entire draft, and we got him at the slot we did because of the surgery. We didnt get our man this yr, but if we did, he would have been a top 5 talent. Do you really understand what I am saying? 3 yrs in a row, he gets a top 5 talent (Joba in 2006 was considered a top 10 talent but injury moved him to the supp round) while picking in the last 3-5 spots. Are you that numb? Think. The fact that the kid didnt sign this yr is the risk you take when you draft these kids. And like I have said a thousand times, the scouting was not done by Cash, but by Oppenheimer. And when judging a system that has significantly improved from top to bottom in the past 2 yrs, you wont see the results yet. Trying to yield results now is dumb. This is why you should go back to being a fan and stop spouting about something you know nothing about. They all wont. Thats the thing. It is all about bringing in as much talent as possible and seeing what pans out This is his biggest flaw. He didnt build a bridge to the future very well. And that is something you can burn him for. Mark my words, we'll see a better glimpse of the future next yr and come 2010, the system will shine. That is yr 4 of the 4 yr plan IMO.

The Twins and Marlins routinely had 1st round draft picks and routinely picked higher. So yes. Also, the Twins and Marlins spent more money than the yankees did on their drafts in the early part of this decade. They did do poorly in the scouting and dev't realm. But that is not all Cashman. Actually, that is more the previous scouting director's fault, and he is no longer in that position. You have to go by what the current regime is doing. They (Oppenheimer and Cashman) started together in 2006. No he hasnt The haul from the INTL realm is phenomenal when you figure that getting a regular every 3 yrs from the INTL realm is above average. But what you dont get is that Cashman has very little to do with the draft except try and wrangle the boss for a draft budget. The guy who oversees the draft is Damon Oppenheimer. All of the post draft interviews are through Damon Oppenheimer. He is the director of scouting and he is the one who has to take all of the hard work, whittle it down to a pick and then convince the higher ups to pay up. You dont even know how it is done. Damon Oppenheimer started in 2006. Look at the draft from 2006, it was brilliant. You are looking for a fall guy when that fall guy has already fallen. George and his cronies went for 2002 and 2003 and 2004 and 2005 and 2006 without giving a rats ass about 2008, 2009, 2010. If Cashman didnt hire Oppenheimer and didnt get a budget to ensure that some later picks could get overslot money, then we'd be really f***ed right now. As it is, look at our top 50. A huge amount of them were signed after Oppenheimer came on board. He's the architect behind the farm system. Cashman is the architect behind bringing them along and when to promote/demote/cut and more importantly, he is the direct line between the money and the farm. Put more money in, you get a better farm. But as with all farms, they take time to grow. They didnt know this at the time. You arent allowed to examine a player prior to the draft. His stuff was ridiculous and his numbers were insane, but when a doctor tells you they detect damage, are you really gonna go out there and spend the dough on this kid? I would have if the pick wasnt guaranteed, but there is no way you sign this kid, knowing his arm may explode when you can get the same pick the following yr. No way. THAT is a good move. It looks like Bleich's injury was overblown. And in regards to Cole, every single news outlet and yankee outlet is reporting that the kid did a 180. When you draft players who are known signability cases, you will get burned no matter how much you are willing to pay. It happens. They drafted well for awhile now. And we actually had a higher rated farm in 2007, think about that. The luck they had with all these kids is ridiculous and that isnt likely to continue. Kids typically struggle when they come up. They dont usually come up as seamlessly as theirs have. You are still being extremely impatient, demanding that these kids produce from day 1. It doesnt happen that way. But someone with your intellectual fortitude already knew that, right? ERA for a reliever is a stupid stat to follow. His BAA is good and his K/9 is very very good. It is the walks, and for a brand new rookie, this happens. Also, to be down on a kid who is 2 yrs removed from being drafted is stupid. Again, note the trend, a lot of your thoughts are stupid. A guy drafted in 2006 shouldnt see the bigs until 2009 at the earliest. This kid didnt play in 2006 since he was a late sign. He started in long season A ball and jumped 4 leagues and is in his fifth in a yr and a half. That is insane. I am not saying that I like the team we field in the Bronx in 2008. But I know what is coming and we have seen flashes of what to expect. The organization is in a much, much better shape since Cashman took the reigns in 2006. Unfortunately for most new yorkers and yankee fans, we will have to wait until that future comes upon us.

Millwood is signed through 2010 at 11 mil a yr. And, over the past 2 yrs, his WHIP is 1.65, which is abysmal. The sox likely could have him for free if they eat his contract. Padilla is signed through 2009 at 11 mil a yr with a team option. He's been a bit better (1.48WHIP this season) but has struggled to stay on the field. After throwing 200+IP in his first two full seasons, he has done it only once more in 5 tries. He was the talk of the trading deadline until teams realized he just isnt worth much in return. I am sure the sox will be forced to deal something of value, but I dont see this happening this yr anyway

I would love this move.

Joba Chamberlain? Dave Robertson? Jose Veras? One point that Bill does make is that a lot of our youth underachieved in their first taste of the big show. Well, that is what rookies do. To throw a tantrum that 22 and 23 yr olds struggle in their initial steps to the bigs is, well, stupid. Oh, and Bill missed a few guys... So Arod is the primary culprit for this team being bad? I know ARod is having another one of those strange statistical yrs when it comes to RISP (he seems to do that every other yr), but he's still an MVP candidate and to say he is the sole reason for our offense being worse is stupid. When you lose two players who have solid OBP and SLG, you will struggle. When you compound that with another reliable player playing under his talent (Cano) and another guy just totally bombing out (Melky) it magnifies things. This is a team that is older, this is true. But this has more to do with signing big time players to big time deals and not developing during the early 2000s. Cashman and Oppenheimer have little to do with that. This is an insanely stupid quote. Evans and Murphy are Shelley Duncan clones. They arent perennial MVP candidates like Simmons makes them look. Idiot. Juan Miranda says hi. He's only got an OBP near .400 and an OPS in the mid .800s. Austin Jackson, the likely #1 yankee prospect who will be in AAA next yr says hi This is something they have been working on for awhile now. Eduardo Nunez was the big INTL signee a few yrs back who was supposed to replace Jetes, but he has been average at best. In recent yrs, we have paid through the nose for Carmen Angelini and Garrison Lassiter. I would say that one of those two are likely Jeter replacements. But back to the point. This is one area that has been attempted to be rectified, but hasnt, so Bill has a point here. Damon Sublett will be in AA next yr, David Adams in A+, Corban Joseph in A. Our depth at 2b seems to continue to improve. If you notice, all 3 of those guys were drafted in the past 2 drafts, I have a feeling a Cano move has been mulled for awhile now. So while he complains, he doesnt even know that what he is complaining about has been going on for 2 yrs. This is another Bill Madden beauty. We werent outspending everyone in Latin America until 2005. We shelled out big bucks that yr to sign Jose Tabata. That signing got us Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte, which to be honest with you, wasnt too bad of a deal. In 2005, we also drafted and signed Austin Jackson, who happens to be our #1 prospect. Go figure. This is exactly the problem with Madden and people who think like him. They dont understand the business of minor league baseball. They dont know who pulls the strings and what goes down. But they make assumptions and then use their voice to make people think like idiots. Here's the god's honest truth from one of the higher ups at scout.com and from just doing a lit search. We all know the Cashman story. He was an intern here and rose all the way to GM. What we dont know is who was actually pulling the strings for the organization. The presumption is that George was still telling Cash to make the big moves while handcuffing him in the S&D department. Do you find it interesting that since Cashman resigned and made his edict about full power that we have drafted significantly better and have put more money into the draft? This only started happening in 2006. Our draft budget tripled. We signed an INTL kid for a 2 million dollar bonus, then nabbed a bunch of high 6 figure guys in the INTL market too. Our 07 INTL and Draft budgets increased as well. And our 08 INTL budget was a top 5 once again, while the draft didnt go as hoped. And not coincidently, Damon Oppenheimer was promoted prior to 2006 to be the head of scouting and development. This is why our farm went from #28 in baseball, to a peak of anywhere from #2-#6 last yr (depending on who you read). Now, what people like Bill and Gom and some of the more impatient, less intellectually gifted people do not realize is that drafting and scouting and signing is a long term process. You dont see results right away. So while Bill is clamoring for Cashman to take some blame, he has no idea what Cashman has done since he hasnt actually seen the fruits of his labors. Pitchers vary, but college pitchers typically take a minimum of 2-3 yrs to make it to the bigs. HS pitchers, typically 3-4. College position players, assuming they arent obvious stars (Mike Moustakis comes to mind) typically jump one level at a time and then split AAA/MLB in their final yr, usually taking 3 yrs. HS position players take 4-5. If that is the case, and the budgets were finally opened in 2006, how can we even make a judgement yet? Here is what I think happened, and this is where I blame Cashman. We saw the fruit of his labor a bit early. Hughes was right on track, but seeing Kennedy and Joba in 07 was surreal. Having Melky and Cano producing at the same time with Wang in the rotation was surreal. But that meteoric rise led Cashman into thinking these kids werent going to fall into what every rookie does. Injury, inconsistency, doubt, etc. He didnt have the contingency plans available to make up for rookie mistakes. This is where I blame Cashman. But to make a blanket statement that his scouting and development team is inept is just foolish and actually flat out wrong. I have said my piece about this draft. I liked it a lot more with Cole at the top. But from the sounds of it, the kid really and truly did a 180. If he signed, the yankees would have had a top 5 talent in their system. Now that he didnt, they'll go out and sign another top prospect with the same pick. As for Bittle, I am glad they didnt sign him. His shoulder sounds like a ticking time bomb and the option to take another pick next yr sounds like a good one. Before the 07 draft, people were wondering who would be selected first. Price or Brackman. At the worst, Brackman was considered the #2 talent in the entire draft. So getting him in the 30th slot with the caveat of having a procedure that is 88-92% effective sounds like a good use of the pick. Complaining about this pick right now is just dumb. Its called doing your homework. Humberto is in the GCL rehabbing his elbow. Regardless, the Sheff deal was a salary dump and at the time, the return was solid. Humberto and Whelan have had injury problems ever since and it looks like the only useful piece will be Sanchez. He'll be ready come next ST out of the pen. This is what kids do. Rookie pitchers have a high rate of injury. So stockpiling is the way to go. The franchise has spent the better part of a decade trying to find an ace to no avail. So they tried to develop one. And they might have one in Joba. We've gone over this one. This is grossly inaccurate The Rays "bang for their buck" took 3-4 yrs to develop. If given the same amount of time, the yankees will be mopping the floor with everyone just like the Rays are.

He had 4 consecutive starts, 28.1IP 9ER prior to his implosion in Toronto

they initially reported this as an ACL tear.

Also, it looks like Sosa didnt make it to the states because his Visa didnt get through in time, so he had to stay in the DSL. De Leon OTOH was sent to the DSL partly because of the logjam, but also because he is a horrendous OFer to this point. He singlehandedly ended CJ Henry's spring training and the first 2 months of his season. Henry was in CF, he called for the ball, and De Leon (who is the size of a linebacker) just plowed him down, spraining CJ's neck.

He's 3-3 with a 5.46ERA and a 1.6WHIP in 10 games for the yankees. He hasnt been good for us. He hasnt even been serviceable. He's been below average

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/comments/jd-drew-not-healing-nicely-08-25-2008.html JD Drew not healing nicely is the title. Looks like he may hit the DL. I cannot imagine a team being allowed to be so hamstrung at a critical point in the season. Casey strained his neck and may or may not be available come game time Tuesday. Drew has been out for over a week now and may end up being DL'd. Funny thing is, if he gets DL'd he'd be eligible for activation on Sept 2nd, which is only 8 days from today. And Beckett has been pushed back a few times too. If he hit the DL, he'd be eligible Sept 1st. Why do the sox continue to let themselves be hamstrung. They are playing with 22 men on the active roster, and if Jacoby needs a day or two to clear the cobwebs (and the imprint of the chain fence from his face) then who do they turn to?

I did. I am saying management and players. When our rotation includes Rasner, Ponson, and Pavano as well as a 5 game deficit with 30 or so games to play, the towel is in.