jacksonianmarch

Helluva game from Cain. Wilson coming in to close this thing out, the Giants are about to defend their home turf.

Cain is becoming the next big game pitcher. He's been dominant. If the Giants take the first 2, then I dont think the Rangers can recover vs their top 3.

Lets go Giants!

Why? Because controlling SOMETHING is better than controlling nothing. Mazzone preached owning the outside corner of the plate, which is something a good pitcher must do. Take a look at his list of reclamation projects as well.

I would ABSOLUTELY love this move

The Royals have the #1 farm in the game and will soon show their strength. The reason for dealing Greinke is that most of the kids wont have blossomed in the bigs by the time he is a FA.

Texas not giving up

Not with the depth in our system. I'd probably put him in the 30s for now and see if he lives up to the hype

I agree. I like the Tamarez signing, as in Instructs he looks like a ballplayer, although raw. Romero is the best get thus far as he has the now power and the body for future improvement that scouts rave about. DePaula has the best arm in the FA class, and IIRC, Odor was the #2 ranked SS in the rankings. I hope beyond hope that we can get the last 2 and close out an incredible signing period

The Yankees declined their options on Wood, Johnson, and Berkman today

I should have clarified. The sox dont have one prospect that would headline a deal for a top notch ace like other teams do. So, a deal for Greinke would gut the sox of their top prospects, something Theo has shown an unwillingness to do

I am also not sure if the Sox have the parts to get Greinke right now. Casey Kelly would have to be leading the charge, but right now, he is not looking like a guy who should head a package for a Cy Young capable pitcher who is under contract and 27yrs old. You might have to put together Lowrie, Kelly, and probably Rizzo to make that work, and Theo has been reticent to package a bunch of talent together, especially when that talent is atop their minor league rankings.

And I stand by that. Think about how many players who hit the open market sign for less money than is offered to them by another contender. I cannot think of any. I know of some players who shirk offers from rebuilding clubs like Baltimore or Washington in Tex's case. But when it comes between contenders, you typically see them go to the highest bidder

5 tool player, 6'3" 188lbs with light tower power and above average speed. He has to be in the 7 figure range. Great signing at this point, lets see how he pans out

I think what happens in the wallet is going to be a bigger determinant. If the Yankees pony up what I expect them to, then he'll be a Yankee with a 95% certainty

The problem is that you cannot release that info during the playoffs and afterwards you look like it is CYA. The only way Girardi can win is if he wins the WS and then reveals it. That being said, he is still a moron and we are still gonna keep him

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&id=2021 Interesting. Pettitte was dealing with leg and back issues prior to the ALCS and had to cut short a pen session prior to his start in NY. This might have been the reason for starting Hughes in game 2. Pettitte may not have been ready. Such is life when your #2 starter is 38 yrs old and coming off a 2 month layoff for a groin injury. It is time to move on.

I doubt it. My guess is that they go internal again with this one. There is a wave of prospects coming through and having worked with them in the minors will be important

No reason was given for his firing, but performance during the season and in the playoffs was not the reason, per Cashman. It was considered "private." Would have to assume it had to do with his month long absence during which AJ Burnett took a nosedive and the Yankee pitching performance spiralled down. And a sick kid or an accident or something typically hits the news. My guess is it had something to either do with substance abuse or a spousal problem, as those are two reasons for month long absences from work. Regardless, hopefully Eiland gets his life back together and gets a job somewhere. He's a good pitching coach and really seemed to form a relationship with the younger guys.

I liked him as a prospect. I knew we needed to move him, and we had to sell low unfortunately. Yeah, those guys listed have more power potential or actually more now power. But I think Tabata is going to be a hell of an OFer, and his debut in 100 games as essentially a 21 yr old was impressive.

So in 2008, the Yankees dealt Jose Tabata, Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens and Daniel McCutchen to the Pirates for Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte. At the time, a lot of people one here thought this was an absolute fleecing by the Yankees. And at the time, it looked like that could be the case. But the two guys I was not very keen on letting go have turned this trade into a steal for the Pirates. In terms of Nady, the Yankees got a .794OPS to close out a non-playoff run in 2008. He blew out his arm in 2009 and left via FA the following offseason In terms of Marte, he never was healthy after we got him. In 2008, he got shelled and had some shoulder soreness. After that season, he was signed to a 3yr $12 million contract. In 2009, he was on the shelf most of the season, but appeared in 8 games a postseason that culminated in a WS victory and was crucial to that run. In 2010, he started out wild and ended up on the shelf again. Now comes word that he needs surgery and will be out until the ASB in 2011. Needless to say, aside from 8 brilliant appearances in the 2009 post-season, he's been a major bust. Now, onto the 4 guys the Pirates got. We can start with the 2 duds. Karstens has barely been a #5 level starter and looks like a AAAA player. McCutchen was terrible this season and is very likely on his way to being DFAd. But the two I was concerned about dealing away have proven themselves rather effective. Ohlendorf has gone a misleading 12-21 in his 2 seasons with the Pirates, and this season culminated with a liner off his skull. But his peripherals have seen a WHIP around 1.30 in his 2 seasons with the Pirates as well as a solid GB rate. He looks like he could be an effective innings eater out of the back of their rotation And onto the hottest ticket we dealt away, Jose Tabata. Tabata just turned 22 in August and made his MLB debut. Well he hit .299, had an OPS in the mid .700s and stole 19 bases in 102 games. He is very likely to be their leadoff hitter next yr with McCutchen moving into a more traditional RBI role. And at his young age, he should develop some power along the way. So all in all, the Yankees got two guys whose arms gave out and in total only received 8 games worth of LH specialist relief appearances in a playoff run. And in return, gave away one of the best looking young OFers in the NL not named Heyward and a blossoming innings eater with a solid sinker. While many on here were looking at this as a fleecing, it appears we are the ones who got fleeced

Yes, it is truly embarrassing to get to the ALCS and get eliminated in a 7 game series. Truly embarrassing and yes, we have nothing to look forward to for 2011. Seeing as our outlook is pretty poor, how's yours?