jacksonianmarch

Last yr he won allowing 1ER in 5IP. The three yrs prior, he was 1-1 with a 2.63ERA and 23K in 24IP.

Drew's clause specified that the Dodgers could not offer him arbitration, therefore not allowing the Dodgers to get a pick for him. That clause is NOT in ARod's contract. Also, in terms of Hank, he listens to Cashman. Consider the Girardi potential hire. The only guy on the Girardi bandwagon was Cashman, now everyone is. Also, Cashman was the one who made the edict of dont opt out or else you are gone. Now Hank is adopting that too. I think Hank gets it. See, George made it pretty obvious that he wanted to win while he was still functioning and it hurt the club. Hank has a long ways before he gets to where George is.

it isnt perfect, we know that. At the same time, scouting seems to have gotten a whole lot better. And in the current scheme, the yankees can flex their financial muscle in the draft, something they didnt do back in the old days. If we get 13 picks before round 3, you can bet a good amount of those guys turn out to be major leaguers. Just take a look at our drafts from the past few yrs... 2004- 1st- Hughes 1st-comp- Poterson 1st-comp- Marquez 2nd- Brett Smith 3rd- Christian Garcia Poterson is out of the yankee system. Brett Smith struggled in A+ and AA ball and looks like he wont make the bigs. Garcia had TJ surgery but is still a top yankee prospect. Marquez pitched well in AA and should be in AAA next yr. Hughes is a major leaguer. Other picks of note in 2004: Michael Dunn, pick #999- the only other guy on the list still considered a prospect (now a lefty starting pitcher) Of those top 5 picks, 1 was a great pick, and 2 of them are still considered good picks. 2005- 1st round- CJ Henry 2nd Round- JB Cox 3rd Round- Brent Gardner Henry was a bust, but it got us Bobby Abreu, so that is kinda moot. JB Cox would have been in our bullpen this yr had he not had TJ surgery. I expect him to be a major leaguer this upcoming yr. Brett Gardner is a small speedster who will start in AAA this yr. Of the top 3, 2 have a solid chance of making the majors this upcoming yr, with one (Cox) having the potential to be a reliable player. Other notables- Austin Jackson (8th round), and Alan Horne (11th). Both of these guys are consider top prospects in their respective positions. Horne could be a Yankee in 08 and Jackson has the potential to be as well. 2006 1st round- Ian Kennedy 1st round comp- Joba Chamberlain 3rd round- Zach McCallister Kennedy and Chamberlain are in the bigs and McCallister is considered one of the best lower level pitching prospects in our system (even though he struggled with fatigue late). Other notables: Betances, Kontos, Melancon, McCutchen, Patterson, Robertson. Once again, of the top 3 picks, no strikeouts yet. And the depth of that draft was pretty astounding. This isnt as much the crapshoot of old when the best players got taken in the order of their ability. Just look above for the examples. Betances was considered a top 10 pick, but fell to the 8th round due to salary demands. Melancon was considered 1st round talent, but fell due to injury concerns and salary demands. Robertson was a top 2 round pick but fell because he was a draft eligible sophomore with 2 yrs of college to bargain with. Other guys like Kontos and McCutchen were nabbed by shrewd scouting.

Austin Jackson is probably the fastest rising prospect in baseball right now. The guy was drafted out of HS in the 8th round of the 2005 draft. He had a scholarship for basketball at GT, so the yankees paid him handsomely to pursue baseball. At first, it looked like the wrong decision. He struggled with his raw tools in 2006 in long season A ball, hitting a paltry .258 with only 4HR. This past season, he started out slow again in long season SAL league baseball, hitting .260 with 3HR in 60 games. The Yankees, even though he was struggling decided to promote him to Tampa, where he took off. In 67 games, he hit .345 with 10HR. His OPS was .964 and he stole a total of 32 bases on the season. Now, he is just tearing up the AFL. He is top 10 in H, HR, 2B, 3B, RBI, TB, OBP and BB. He currently is 7/7 in SB attempts and is OPSing an impressive .960. His only drawback is his penchant for the K. Either way, Callis was quoted earlier this yr as saying Austin Jackson is the fastest rising OF prospect in the game. And there is a darn good chance that his star is rising even farther this fall season. And at only 20 yrs old, he has a lot of projection left to go. In 2008, he will be destined for AA and could see the majors as soon as August this upcoming yr. Either way, he is someone who definitely surprised and could be something special.

I'd rather get the picks. Let em go, offer them arbitration and get the draft picks. If we are gonna do this thing the right way, we might as well let em all go. With them, we make the playoffs and fail early. Without them, we fail in the regular season but build a self sustaining farm system that will benefit us greatly in the future.

i think this is the harbinger of things to come for us and I am okay with it. We have seen that the all star mercenary mentality did nothing for us. Shrewd moves coupled with great pitching and a very good farms system made us damn near unbeatable in the late 90s. It wasnt about an All-Star at every position. It was about a team that could outpitch you, get the clutch hits and then shut you down at the end of a game. They had a method to the madness and that method died in 04 when we went for offense and let pitching go by the wayside. Signing ARod was the cherry on top of that shitdick cake. We have a chance to get back to our roots, and we should now take it. Let all the FAs go, outclass other teams in the draft like we have for 2 yrs running and then pay through the nose for top tier pitching. No big deals for back end starters. Get the real deal or develop it yourself.

elsr. The numbers will fade VERY quickly. Trust me. We are going through it right now.

No article, no spectacularly biased analysis. Just me, saying that Jon Lester is an inspiration to us all, baseball fans, non baseball fans, yankee fans, red sox fans, devil rays fans etc. The guy showed what true human determination was. He didnt get a bad form of cancer, we knew this. He didnt get VERY ill. We know that too. But we also know that he didnt have to work as hard as he did. He didnt have to fight as hard as he did. And he sure as hell didnt have to make it back this yr. But his determination, his fight, his battle was an inspiration for everyone around. Jon Lester, a 22 yr old kid, faced with the most frightening 6 letter word in the English Language, said f*** cancer, here goes. He went through many rounds of chemo. He lost a ton of weight. He probably had days where he didnt feel like going on (all cancer patients do). But now, about 14 months after diagnosis and after playing essentially a full season of professional baseball, was the winner of the World Series clincher. Good for him. And even though he is a red sox, I am proud of him and wish him well. Thanks for the inspiration Jon.

Congrats sox fans. And congrats Jon Lester. I am kinda frustrated with the fact that the sox won the WS, but I am genuinely happy for this kid. From cancer to WS clinching victory.

It had nothing to do with a PR thing. It had everything to do with his reasoning. He said he was unsure of who would be where and blah blah blah. I think Hank was pointing out that this team pays its players and goes out to get the very best that money can buy. So his reasoning of who will be where doesnt really hold much water.

SPOILER ALERT****** Sox are still gonna win the world series. BTW, come on over to my house, drink my beer, eat my food and kick me in the nuts on your way out. It would be a nice finish to a GOD AWFUL day.

Want to hear something ironic? ARod's first yr in a Yankee uniform- Red Sox win a WS ARod's last yr in a Yankee uniform- Red Sox win a WS You guys should hope we resign him.

today, yeah. No doubt. But hope springs eternal every april. Except in 2008 that is. When we'll watch you guys battle Toronto for the division while we fight off the O's and hard charging rays for the coveted 3rd place trophy. Time to rebuild.

the yankees sites are GRILLING him. WOW. I havent seen this much animosity for a player...well, ever.

Sometimes it is good to have selected a name of a type of seizure.

I tend to agree with the other poster. ARod isnt a SS anymore. 4 yrs at 3rd with more weight on his frame and 4 more yrs toll on his body. I dont think you can rely on him at that position anymore.

we havent officially re-upped Abreu. I'd think long and hard about declining that option and getting the picks.

if he goes to Boston, I dont think that is the case. Boston was the perfect storm that Theo waited for. Pitching came into its own just as some key offensive pieces developed and now they are set for a few yrs (until Papi and Manny fade away). If ARod signs on with them, he may hit 60 homers a season with that fence and make the transition from Manny's here and there attitude to a team of sustained brilliance. Him going to Boston would be bad. Although, I think Boston treated him worse than anyone else, and if his feelings are that easily hurt, then my money is on the west coast somewhere.

Now is the right time to rebuild. The Yankee team, even with the rookies, would rely a whole lot on its offense in 2008. Without ARod, we go from a great offense to a good offense. And a good offense wont be able to sustain the inconsistencies we will face in our rotation. No rookie has an unscathed first full season. Even a guy like Verlander hit some bumps in the road. The only way we could contribute next yr would have been to bash our way through the regular season and see how the kids develop towards the end. If Joba becomes the lights out ace by the end of the yr, then he starts the playoffs, etc. But there will be bad starts, injuries, fatigue, etc with 2-3 rookies in the rotation. Nothing is a given and there will be huge variance from start to start. Like I said, we would have had a chance in the postseason should one of them emerge as a reliable starter come the postseason, but we now dont have the luxury to wait for that with our offense leading the way. It should be official now. Close out all negotiations. Let them all go. Watch the kids develop, draft hugely and see how we fare. Then go balls out for Santana in negotiations, fill what needs to be filled and move on. This is a unique opportunity for us. We should take it.

http://confessionalpoet.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/arodisawittlescaredgirl_1.jpg

Boras confirmed it on ESPN. He said that he didnt want to lock himself in without knowing who the catcher, closer and #2 pitcher would be. Does he know that he was on the Yankees? You know, the team that pays its players? Not Seattle or Texas? What a f***ing *******. We all know he opted out because he hated NY. f*** him. He should get a shower of debris the next time he comes to NY.