jacksonianmarch

I have said before that I think Felix is moved prior to the beginning of next season. I doubt he becomes a mid season move since most mid season moves are rushed and dont benefit the selling team. But Felix's contract escalates DRAMATICALLY this offseason and if the Mariners suffer another season of 90-100 losses, then selling him now gets them their biggest payload. Felix will cost a lot, but looking around at other deals for aces, makes me think all three B's and Montero would be overpaying by a lot... Santana was dealt because he had one yr left on his contract and was subsequently signed for $22.9 mil per season. Minnesota got a top tier OF in Carlos Gomez (who bombed), a MLB ready pitcher in Humber (who bombed), and two high ceilinged prospects in Mulvey (who bombed) and Deolis Guerra (who is sucking in the Minny system). The problem with the Santana trade was that the Twins went for a quantity of "good" prospects without securing a top tier prospect. Zach Greinke was just traded to the Brewers with two years of control under his belt. He was dealt for 2 prospects of note in Odorizzi (#69 this yr in BA top 100) and Alcides Escobar, a potential starting shortstop for years to come. They also got a reliever in Jeffress and a probable 4th OFer long term in Cain. Felix' contract escalated to a 3yr $58 million contract after this season. That's better than Lackey and Burnett money, which is something I am sure Seattle would probably not wish to pay while going through active rebuilding. Felix is better than Greinke and doesnt have the whole head case thing hanging over his head, so you should expect a better haul in his case. If I had to guess.... Montero would be player #1 in the deal. He's got the bat of Cabrera at a prime position, although he doesnt play that position well. Brackman would be player #2 in the deal. He'll be in AAA this yr and is out of options after this season, so the Yanks would want to move him more than Betances and Banuelos. But he also throws mid 90s at 6"11" and has 2 plus offspeed offerings. He's the potential ace in return. Player #3 is most likely another pitcher who is a bit further off with a high ceiling, like a Graham Stoneburner or a Brett Marshall Player #4 is most likely a position player who safely grades out as at least a big league bench player with the ceiling of an above average big leaguer. A guy like David Adams or Brandon Laird. I can tell you for a fact that they will not put Banuelos AND Montero into a deal.

I dont think his velocity will be an issue, and I dont think his velocity was an issue today. He was sitting 90-92mph, after sitting 87-89 in ST. The velocity is almost there. Last yr he sat 91-94, which is 1-2mph off from where he was today. His problem today was location. The second homer to Cabrera was actually a good pitch, I cannot fault him from there. But he consistently missed up in the zone in other at bats (especially Cabrera's first homer) and continued to show a lack of a killer instinct. His 0-2 to 3-2 counts are almost standard these days. Regardless, it was start #1 and having no fastball command in April isnt a unique thing, but it definitely bears watching. I was surprised at Colon's velocity. 92-94mph with sink, he also showed a lack of location. I missed Joba cause I left after Posada's second homer to drive back to MA, but he sounded like he was throwing ched but was missing location as well. I am not fooled by Cano's homer, he didnt look too good at the plate today. Tex continues to absolutely sting the ball. ARod hit another ball that looked gone off the bat only to be caught on the warning track. It was good to see Posada and Swish break out. And Gardner needs to be moved to #9 until he gets his head out of his ass. He doesnt seem to have the ability to catch up to the heat right now. Maybe he's off mechanically or the day games are playing tricks with his eyes, who knows. He didnt have that trouble last yr, but this yr, he looks overmatched. Granderson seemed right on the ball today and either stung it just foul or into the mitt. The 0-5 with 2K is deceiving for how he actually looked in the box. Jeter looked like same old 2010 Jeter as well in the box, still late on good heat with that short jab step.

Game 2 reflections.... AJ actually looked very good. 6 baserunners and K's in 5 innings was solid. His fifth was annoying more than anything because of a few bleeders, but so be it. His stuff was dominant. Hope he can keep it up. Arod looks like he did 3 yrs ago. His swing looks much more fluid. Jeter changed his stride down to a Bagwell-esque stride, which will help him avoid rolling over, but may sap some pop. Tex is looking gooooood. He was about 3 feet from having a third tater in two games. And Russell Martin looks solid. Big homer, pest at the plate, and a solid first tier defensive catcher. The Yankee staff is gonna love him

Game 2 NYY vs DET AJ Burnett (NR) vs Brad Penny (NR) It's April, so we'll probably see good AJ. Hope we've had enough with bad AJ for now. Brad Penny rejuvenated his career in StL after being released by the sox. He had an injury plagued season last yr with SF. Now, he's back in the AL. I have a feeling the Yankees bats should get to him. Go Yanks!

I am fine with him bunting. He didnt actually give himself up either time, they were drag bunts and both were very close plays at 1st. If he can continue getting his drag bunts down, he'll be a weapon

I absolutely loved seeing the Guardians down by 14. The White Sox essentially gave up from there. If suns wants to take a moral victory about throwing a few punches after getting assraped with a 2X4 then so be it. The Guardians may end up being the worst team in all of baseball this year.

Jason Place was also released yesterday

The sox lost because Lester and Bard sucked. I doubt that continues for the entire season.

The tribe should be conquered and assimilated into the rest of the bigs a la the real Guardians

15-12. Superteams take a little while to gel

Gammons might be entering into the first stages of dementia.

Enjoy the game ladies. I'll be working

Bryce Cox, Aaron Bates, and Ryan Khoury were let go yesterday. Does anyone remember back in 2008, when there was a push for Cox to close for the sox, assuming Paps moved to the rotation?

Yep, about 40% of the time

BTW, Napoli is starting at 1b tomorrow for the Rangers. Which means he's a good play for a homer

Spud. I yo-yo onto the Atkins quite often. A really, really tasty way to eat fried food is to make a tempura batter with eggs, grated parmesan cheese, and some spices. Batter the chicken then immediately drop it into a deep frier. It is absolutely sinful and carb free

Coke isnt awful. Granderson's splits the past 3 yrs vs lefties were terrible and Coke had been an effective lefty reliever. He had Perry warming as well, who was also a solid middle reliever last season. Benoit is the Tigers' 8th inning guy, a la Soriano for us. I doubt the Yankees would go out and use Soriano in the 7th inning of a tie game just as I would doubt the Tigers would do the same. Leyland played the percentages, but he just didnt account for the fact that Granderson has been solid since the last 6 weeks of last yr vs lefties.

Benoit is their setup man. Leyland went to Coke, who is their #5 starter but pretty effective against lefties, to face Granderson. Didnt go as planned. You dont use your setup man when down.

88-91 for Mo, but movement as usual. I love that guy. YANKEES WIN!!!

He actually wasnt going to second. He just saw that Cabrera got in behind him. It was a dumb play, but on first glance, I thought he was going to second all the way

A few things... Cano looks a little bit off in terms of his stride. He was dropping his back shoulder which is why he fouled off good pitches from Verlander and couldnt touch the ball belt high or above. He also had a bad error that cost us a run. Hope he isnt starting off the yr out in the weeds, something he did frequently prior to last season CC had his changeup for 2 innings and his slider for about an inning and a half. To go against this lineup without a secondary pitch for 3 innings and still put up a QS is a great effort ARod looks a little bit thinner and moved around at third a little better. But he absolutely squared up on a ball and couldnt drive it out. I hope it is attributable to the wind and not to a sudden lack of roids. Martin scored 2 runs, is a much better catcher than Posada (not saying much), and looks a lot faster than I thought he would after hip surgery. If he is truly healthy, then he's gonna be a gem Gardner got 2 bunts down today, something he had a LOT of trouble with last season. Joba looked good, Soriano as well. We'll see about Mo.

The umps are definitely off their games today

Battle of the pens now. A little nervous about Joba facing the middle of the order...

Pour out some Presidente...RIP Gomer