Yankees vs. Twins

As you probably already know, the Yankees are playing the Minnesota Twins today. Joba Chamberlain is making his first appearance this spring, but don't expect the big guy to be lights out, last year it took him a few games to get his arm strength built back up to where it normally is at.

Anyway, here's today's lineup via Pete Abraham...

Damon LF
Jeter SS
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Swisher RF
Cano 2B
Molina C
Duncan DH
Cabrera CF

Pitching today: Joba Chamberlain followed by Igawa, Dunn, Veras, Giese and others.

I'll be back later with updates during the game, but how bout Brett Gardner? So far he's been blowing Melky Cabrera out of the water in every single way: hitting, fielding, base running... and i'm happy about this.

Update 1:22: Like i said, don't expect much of the lights out Joba we're accustomed to seeing, he's averaging 88 MPH on his fastball, 2-0 Twins after a double by Jason Kubel.

Update 1:31: Teixeira just crushed a fastball from Liriano to right field for a double, 2nd and 3rd with 1 out for A-rod.

Update 1:32: Alex Rodriguez hits a sac fly to deep left, seems like Michael Kay is a bit off today, he thought that was a homerun, Nick Swisher up now. 2-1 Twins.

Update 1:45: Carlos Gomez just teed off on Dan Giese, solo shot to left. 3-2 Twins.

Update 1:54: Sac fly by Jeter, and both teams are in the "21 club" ... according to Michael Kay. 3-3 tie game, going to the top of the 3rd now.

Update 2:18: Just updating the score here, appears to be 6-3 Twins, Dan Giese got roughed up in the 3rd, going to the top of the 4th now with Jose Veras on the hill.

Update 3:00: Boy, camera angles and sound affects can even make a television show about cutting down trees look mildly interesting... i promise you i will not be watching that show however (Axe men).

Update 3:09: Kei Igawa is rocking his sun glasses, as usual. 6-3 Twins top 7.

Update 3:48: Sean Henn on the hill for the Twins who just gave up an infield single to Jesus Montero, i've got to go for now, but the score is 7-3 in the bottom of the 9th, 0 outs 1 man on. A-Jax up now.

First televised game today

The first televised spring training game for the Yankees is on today. Should be exciting with a few things to watch for. One, I want to see how Cano has changed from last year, lets see if he really did reinvent his swing. Second Phil Hughes is starting so we should get to see if he really has returned to form like reports have said and can put the awfulness that was last year behind him.

Anyway should be interesting, so be sure to tune in if you get the chance. We'll have a recap of the game later for those of you who won't get a chance to watch it, hopefully the MLB can get gameday and box scores up soon.

Here's the lineup for todays game:

Damon LF
Jeter SS
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Nady RF
Posada DH
Molina C
Cabrera CF

and the expected pitchers:

Phil Hughes followed by Phil Coke, Brian Bruney, Damaso Marte, Jon Albaladejo, Mark Melancon.

Thanks to pete abraham for the lineup/pitching info...

back later with updates...

Update 1:53: heading to the bottom of the 3rd now... Cano just made a great play running to his left. I missed the first 2 innings, but looks like Phil Hughes was solid... though his control was questionable by hitting two batters... but what can you expect, it's his first start in spring training. As i was typing this... Posada crushed one over the right field stands... 1-0 Yankees.

Update 1:58: Well... Brett Gardner in his first at-bat hit a home run... Melky Cabrera... popped up...

Update 2:22: Brian Bruney on the hill now in the top of the 5th inning, he looks like he's in great shape and is bringing some filthy stuff.

Update 2:30: Jorge Posada cranked a double over Gabe Kapler's head in CF scoring Nady, 2-0 Yankees. Jorge is really looking solid in the first two at-bats i've seen him this spring.

Update 3:08: Shelley Duncan just hit a ball a mile... 3 run HR. 5-1 Yankees.

Update 3:20: Mark Melancon retires the side in order, solid stuff from him, but we didn't get to see the big hook we know he has in his arsenal. He had some nice late break on his fastball, does not look like a fun guy to face if you're a hitter.

Update 3:34: Albaladejo just retired the side in order, game over. Yanks win 5-1... here's the box score.

Baseball is almost here!!!

Finally! the first Yankees spring training game is tomorrow, though it is not televised... you can catch it on MLB.com's gameday.

Here's a video from the perspective of a Red Sox fan at a Yankee game...

God i love our fans!! Go Yankees!!!

Predictions part 2... part 2...

Yesterday myself and Ace predicted what we thought the AL standings would look like by the end of the 09 season, today we're going to predict the NL... plus the playoffs:

Alex's predictions

NL East-

Mets- 94-68-Y
Phillies- 93-69-W
Marlins- 81-81
Braves- 79-83
Nationals- 69-93

NL Central-

Cubs- 93-69-Y
Cardinals- 89-73
Brewers- 85-77
Astros- 81-81
Reds- 77-85
Pirates- 67-95

NL West-

Dodgers- 94-68-Y
Diamondbacks- 88-74
Giants- 81-81
Rockies- 80-82
Padres- 78-84

Playoffs-

Divisional round AL:

Twins vs. Yankees- Yankees win 3-1
Red Sox vs. Angels- Red Sox win 3-0

ALCS:

Yankees vs. Red Sox- Yankees win 4-3

Divisional round NL:

Mets vs. Cubs- Mets win 3-1
Phillies vs. Dodgers- Phillies win 3-1

NLCS:

Mets vs. Phillies- Mets win 4-2

World Series:

Yankees vs. Mets- Yankees win 4-1

Ace's predictions

NL East-

Mets- 94-68-Y
Phillies- 93-69-W
Marlins- 79-83
Braves- 78-84
Nationals- 74-82

NL Central-

Cubs- 100-62-Y
Cardinals- 87-75
Brewers- 86-76
Astros- 85-87
Reds- 73-89
Pirates- 67-95

NL West-

Dodgers- 85-77-Y
Diamondbacks- 82-80
Giants- 81-81
Padres- 80-82
Rockies- 77-85

Playoffs-

Divisional round AL:

Twins vs. Yankees- Yankees win 3-2
Rays vs. Angels- Rays win 3-2

ALCS:

Yankees vs. Rays- Yankees win 4-2

Divisional round NL:

Mets vs. Cubs- Mets win 3-1
Phillies vs. Dodgers- Dodgers win 3-2

NLCS:

Mets vs. Dodgers- Mets win 4-2

World Series:

Yankees vs. Mets- Yankees win 4-3

-

Well, that does it for our seasons predictions... probably not even close, but hey... both included a subway series with a Yanks win... niceee.

For all of you dying for baseball...

Here are the games televised on YES this spring... the others you can sit and watch on gameday... here are the dates:

February 26 vs. TB 1:15 PM
February 28 vs. MIN 1:15 PM

March 3 vs. USA 1:15 PM
March 7 vs. ATL 1:15 PM
March 10 vs. CIN 7:15 PM
March 14 vs. HOU 1:15 PM
March 17 vs. PIT 7:15 PM
March 19 vs. TOR 7:15 PM
March 24 vs. BOS 7:15 PM
March 26 @ PHI 1:15 PM

April 1 vs. PHI 1:15 PM
April 3 vs. CHI 7:05 PM @ new stadium
April 4 vs. CHI 1:05 PM @ new stadium

...time to mark them on your calender! ... i'll be back later with the NL and playoff predictions...

Predictions part 2... part 1...

Here are myself and Ace's predictions for the American League... tomorrow will be the National league and the playoffs...

Alex's predictions-


AL East:

Yankees- 101-61-Y
Red Sox- 97-65-W
Rays- 89-73
Orioles- 73-89
Blue Jays- 69-93

AL Central:

Twins- 93-69-Y
Indians- 90-72
White Sox- 81-81
Tigers- 81-81
Royals- 75-87

AL West:

Angels- 92-70-Y
Athletics- 88-74
Rangers- 80-82
Mariners- 62-100

Ace's predictions

AL East:

Yankees- 99-63-Y
Rays- 97-65-W
Red Sox- 95-67
Orioles- 81-81
Blue Jays- 70-92


AL Central:


Indians- 90-72- Y
Twins- 88-74
Royals- 83-79
White Sox- 81-81
Tigers- 81-81


AL West:

Rangers- 90-72-Y
Athletics- 88-74
Angels- 85-77
Mariners- 81-81

we're both probably not right with most of our predictions, but we'll look back at them after the 09 season...

Here's Nancy Grace at her finest...

He got the death stare...

Juuust a bit outside...

Well, right as the world series ended... myself and Ace made our predictions on a few players, and where we thought they would end up... let's just say... we weren't exactly correct with most of them.


Manny Ramirez (37):
Alex- Mets
Ace- Dodgers
Actual- Unsigned

Bobby Abreu (35):
Alex- Dodgers
Ace- No prediction... good job Mike...
Actual- Angels

Mark Teixeira (29):
Alex- Angels
Ace- Angels
Actual- Yankees

C.C. Sabathia (28):
Alex- Yankees
Ace- Brewers
Actual- Yankees

A.J. Burnett (32):
Alex- Orioles
Ace- Yankees
Actual- Yankees

Derek Lowe (36):
Alex- Yankees
Ace- Yankees
Actual- Braves

Rafael Furcal (31):
Alex- Royals
Ace- No prediction...
Actual- Dodgers

Oliver Perez (27):
Alex- Mets
Ace- Mets
Actual- Mets

Francisco Rodriguez (27):
Alex- Mets
Ace- Undecided?
Actual- Mets

Damaso Marte (34):
Alex- Yankees
Ace- No prediction...
Actual- Yankees

Mike Mussina (40):
Alex- Retirement
Ace- Retirement
Actual- Retirement

Jason Giambi (38):
Alex- Athletics
Ace- No prediction...
Actual- Athletics

Jason Varitek (37):
Alex- Red Sox
Ace- No prediction...
Actual- Red Sox

Ben Sheets (30):
Alex- Dodgers
Ace- No prediction...
Actual- Unsigned

Orlando Hudson (31):
Alex- Mets
Ace- Mets
Actual- Dodgers

Ken Griffey Jr. (39):
Alex- Marlins
Ace- Mariners
Actual- Mariners

Yea... so Ace didn't get around to doing all of his predictions... slacker! Tomorrow we'll both be predicting division winners -> playoffs -> world series.

-

Check out this cool Q&A that 'The Voice of Yankees Universe' did with Phil Hughes' high school baseball coach.

Not much going on today..

George Steinbrenner makes an appearence and Bernie Williams practices with the major league sqaud. Aside from that not much going on in the Yankee world today. Heres a funny video to help you get through the boring times.

Who wants pop-ups?

So this morning i was checking out Peter Abraham's blog over at LoHud, where i noticed he started a poll.

'Melky or Brett in CF?' was the name of the poll, but can i just get something out there? Unless... Melky Cabrera hits 600. with 15 HR and 30 RBI in Spring Training, i don't want him being anywhere close to the starting lineup on Opening Day.

Melky Cabrera's time has come and passed, the only thing we can get from him now is the occasional bloop single and the ever so constant pop-up. However; if Melky does somehow make it to the starting lineup, and in his first at-bat he comes up with a runner on... and pops-up... you will never see Melky Cabrera again, because i am going to kidnap him.

Brett Gardner has a much greater upside to Melky Cabrera, though his golden arm does appeal to me in some way. But Brett has the speed, the defense, the same power as melky... minus the pop-ups. He's basically a better version of Melky, because... besides the golden arm that Melky Cabrera owns, i can't think of one thing that he has, that Brett doesn't.

You may think Melky has great range in the outfield, with all of his running catches and then tumbling 20 feet... but really, he's barely making it to the ball. I learned this when i saw Brett Gardner rock the CF slot last year destroying Melky in the 'range' department.

Guys, the answer is simple... give Brett Gardner the CF role, he's just all around better. Melky Cabrera... well... i still remember the days where you would occasionally be clutch...(mainly defensively, i.e that catch robbing Manny, i was there) so i'll let them leave you in AAA.

108 minus 85 does not equal 19

For those of you who don't know today a Nationals minor leaguer Esmailyn Gonzalez was found to have falsified his age and identity. It turns out his actual name is Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo and he's 23 not 19. Apparently this was not some simple scheme but some elaborate plot involving bribes, falsified hospital and school documents, as well as other family members changing their identities. For more information you can go to http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2009/02/stan_kasten_and_the_player_to.html which has quotes from Nationals president Stan Karsten on the issue.

Now this got me thinking how deep of a problem could this potentially be in baseball? Would it really shock you to hear that foreign players such as Albert Pujols or even our very own Alfredo Aceves were a few years older than they claim to be (I'm not accusing here just using them as examples). Perhaps even A-rod is a few years older than he claims, there goes his young and stupid excuse, ok I kid I kid. In all seriousness, I expect teams will do much more thorough background checks in the future in order to prevent this from happening in the future.

On a lighter note the first spring training game is only 7 days away! Go Yankees!!

Attention Readers!

Our fellow friend around the blogging world, Jane Heller has a book coming out! Conveniently the book is the same name as her great blog... Confessions of a She-Fan.

Listen to her explain the book here.

Pre order your copy now! ... or die...

People please...

Can we please stop taking photos from A-rods press conferences with him having funny expressions on his face. Have you never been caught in an awkward face when people were taking pictures of you? come on now...


Stop trying to make something out of nothing...

Gone until Saturday...

I'm going away today; however, you will still be entertained by Ace for the week. Anyway, i'm a big fantasy baseball fan, and i drafted 3 teams with Yahoo over the last 3 days... here's how they turned out...

team 1- 16 man H2H w/ Holds
C Brian McCann (Atl - C)
1B Derrek Lee (ChC - 1B)
2B Brandon Phillips (Cin - 2B)
3B Carlos Guillén (Det - 1B,3B)
SS Cristian Guzmán (Was - SS)
OF Magglio Ordóñez (Det - OF)
OF Denard Span (Min - OF)
OF Eric Byrnes (Ari - OF) DL
Util Miguel Cabrera (Det - 1B,3B)
SP Joba Chamberlain (NYY - SP,RP)
SP Carlos Zambrano (ChC - SP)
RP Joakim Soria (KC - RP)
RP Brian Fuentes (LAA - RP)
P Brad Ziegler (Oak - RP)
P Jose Arredondo (LAA - RP)
P J.J. Putz (NYM - RP)
BN Ryan Sweeney (Oak - OF)
BN Aaron Rowand (SF - OF)
BN Justin Verlander (Det - SP)
BN Fausto Carmona (Cle - SP)
BN Kenshin Kawakami (Atl - SP)

team 2- 12 man H2H
C Brian McCann (Atl - C)
1B Derrek Lee (ChC - 1B)
2B Robinson Canó (NYY - 2B)
3B Chipper Jones (Atl - 3B)
SS Derek Jeter (NYY - SS)
OF Josh Hamilton (Tex - OF)
OF B.J. Upton (TB - OF)
OF Magglio Ordóñez (Det - OF)
Util Carlos Guillén (Det - 1B,3B)
SP Carlos Zambrano (ChC - SP)
SP Justin Verlander (Det - SP)
RP Heath Bell (SD - RP)
RP Trevor Hoffman (Mil - RP)
P Derek Lowe (Atl - SP)
P Chien-Ming Wang (NYY - SP)
P Justin Duchscherer (Oak - SP)
BN Jorge Posada (NYY - C)
BN Cameron Maybin (Fla - OF)
BN Brandon Lyon (Det - RP)
BN Joe Saunders (LAA - SP)
BN Andy Pettitte (NYY - SP)

team 3- 12 man H2H
C Jorge Posada (NYY - C)
1B Adrián González (SD - 1B)
2B Robinson Canó (NYY - 2B)
3B Aramis Ramírez (ChC - 3B)
SS Jimmy Rollins (Phi - SS)
OF Carlos Lee (Hou - OF)
OF Magglio Ordóñez (Det - OF)
OF Jermaine Dye (CWS - OF)
Util Carlos Guillén (Det - 1B,3B)
SP Félix Hernández (Sea - SP)
SP Roy Oswalt (Hou - SP)
RP Brad Lidge (Phi - RP)
RP Matt Capps (Pit - RP)
P Mike González (Atl - RP)
P Chien-Ming Wang (NYY - SP)
P Justin Duchscherer (Oak - SP)
BN Ryan Sweeney (Oak - OF)
BN Joe Saunders (LAA - SP)
BN Brad Ziegler (Oak - RP)
BN Andy Pettitte (NYY - SP)
BN Aaron Laffey (Cle - SP)

I have one rule when drafting teams, no Red Sox allowed... unless to piss off another Red Sox fan, and use them as trade bait.

Ok, well i'm out for the week, you didn't think i would leave you without a funny video did you?

I posted this a long time ago, but it's no longer there, and many of our current viewers probably have never seen it.. so enjoy!

Cracks me up every time, sorry about the shitty quality, see you on saturday!

Fun with statistics: Pitching and defense part 2

Continuing from last time I am going to take a look at the Red Sox top 4 starters.

FIP's from last year

Josh Beckett-3.24
Jon Lester- 3.64
Dice K- 4.03
Tim Wakefield- 4.84

(I'm sure Brad Penny and Smoltz will factor in somewhere, but because exactly how they will is currently unknown I've decided not to include them)

Projected FIP's by Bill James for 2009

Josh Beckett-3.70
Jon Lester- 4.07
Dice K- 3.81
Tim Wakefield- 4.70


Then the pitcher ERA's from last year

Josh Beckett-4.03
Jon Lester- 3.21
Dice K- 2.90
Tim Wakefield- 4.13

And the projected ERA's for next year again by Bill James

Josh Beckett-3.57
Jon Lester- 4.02
Dice K- 3.58
Tim Wakefield- 3.91

So a few things stick out from these stats. First Josh Beckett pitched better than his ERA from last year seems to suggest. I'm going to hazard a guess there was a decent amount of bad luck involved in that. Second, Dice-K was possibly the luckiest pitcher in the MLB last year, with his ERA ending up over a full point less than what his FIP suggested. Lester and Wakefield also performed better than there FIP suggested I'm sure the defense played a pretty large role in this. Looking ahead to next year Beckett should get better as he comes off an injury ridden season and Wakefield also looks to improve a little, while Jon Lester and Dice K look to regress quite a bit.

Now let’s take a look at the Yankees projected rotation against the Red Sox projected rotation.

Yankees projected ERA's for next year

CC Sabathia- 3.48
AJ Burnett- 3.62
Chien-Ming Wang- 3.70
Andy Pettite-3.90

Red Sox projected ERA's for next year

Josh Beckett-3.57
Jon Lester- 4.02
Dice K- 3.58
Tim Wakefield- 3.91

Wow, as you can see that is about as close your going to get. The Yankees appear to have a slight advantage though, and I do have my doubts that Wakefield will actually be able to put up an era under 4, as the last time he did that was SEVEN years ago.

Now to examine the Red Sox defense from last year. Again I am going to use the fielding bible by Bill James and John Dewan. The Red Sox had strong infield defense last year with Kevin Youkilis making 6 more plays than the average first baseman, Dustin Pedroira, making 15 more plays than the average second baseman, Jed Lowrie making 8 more plays than the average shortstop and third baseman Mike Lowell not being found in the top 10 or the bottom 6. The outfield is tricky to analyze as Manny and Mark Kotsay were both minus defenders, but were only with the team for half a year. The other Red Sox outfielders can not be found in the top 10 or bottom 6of their respective positions, putting them at about average.

After looking through and analyzing all this information it appears that next year every single game will matter. The Yankees rotation looks to be neck and neck with the Red Sox rotation thanks to the addition of AJ and CC, while the Yankees defense should be on par with the Red Sox thanks to the addition of Teixeira, as well as Bobby Abreu and his fear of walls no longer being with the Yankees.

Yankee video...

So i was really bored last night, and i decided it would be fun to make a Yankees tribute video, it's my first one... so tell me what you think.

Hope you enjoyed it, go Yankees!

Fun with statistics: pitching and defense

With some time on my hands I though it would be fun to take a look at some of the stats for the yankees rotation and defense this upcoming season. Here are the FIP's (Fielding Independent Pitching, a measure of all those things for which a pitcher is specifically responsible) from last season.


FIP's

CC Sabathia- 2.91
AJ Burnett- 3.45
Chien-Ming Wang- 3.74
Andy Pettite-3.71

I decided to not include any other pitchers due to numbers that may have been skewed by time in the bullpen/lack of sample size.

Now here are the 4 pitchers projected FIP's for next year by Bill James


CC Sabathia- 3.53
AJ Burnett- 3.73
Chien-Ming Wang- 3.89
Andy Pettite-3.66

And then here are the picthers ERA's this past year

CC Sabathia- 2.70
AJ Burnett- 4.07
Chien-Ming Wang- 4.07
Andy Pettite-4.54

And finally here are the prjoected ERA's for next year

CC Sabathia- 3.48
AJ Burnett- 3.62
Chien-Ming Wang- 3.70
Andy Pettite-3.90


A few things jump out at me from these stats. First off the FIP's and the ERA's from last year for both Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettite don't match up at all. Was the Yankees defense really that bad (I'll get to this later). The second thing, why does CC project to regress that badly? Is the move to the AL East going to hurt him that badly? I don't think it will as its not like he has no experience pitching in the AL. Perhaps his numbers really are that inflated by his mid year move to the NL central last year. Will just have to wait and tell on this one.

Anyway, back to the Yankees defense from last year. I'm sure we've all heard the phrases like Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi have as much range as my grandmother at their respective positions, But really just how bad can there defense be? To answer this question I visisted http://www.fieldingbible.com/ by Bill James and John Dewan. Really an amazing site and a good read, I definently suggest you check out.

None of the Yankees outfielders appeared in the top 10 best fielders or worst 10, aside from Bobby Abreu who made 24 less plays than the average right fielder. So I guess that puts them at a little blow average. The Yankees infield on the other hand was horrific. Arod didn't rank in the top 10 or bottom 10, but from there it goes down hill. Jason Giambi made 18 less plays than the average firstbaseman, Jeter made 12 less, and Cano 16 less. So yes it really was that bad, on the bright side though Giambi's -18 has been replaced by Teixera's +24. Also, I expect Cano to rebound completely, it looked as if he was playing out of position all last year in order to try and make up for Giambi's complete lack of range (I don't think that worked top well). Keep in mind Cano made 17 more plays than the average second baseman in 2007. Unlike Jeter who made 34 less than the average shortstop.

After doing this research a few things have really stood out

1. The Mark Teixeira signing really was that important, without it the Yankees defense would be comparable to last year.

2. Andy Pettite may be one of the best deals of the offseason with an FIP projected to rank as the Yankee's second best

3. With Jeter’s defense declining like it is, what is going to happen to him once his contract is up?

Next time I am going to take a look at the Red Sox rotation and defense and see just how well it matches up against the Yankees.

Another option?

I have been thinking long and hard about this upcoming season, and a few things dawned on me. The Yankees have great depth in their lineup and 4 solid pitchers set in stone for their rotation. The only possible problem i saw, was in the bullpen.

I'm not saying the Yankees' bullpen is not good, because it's great, but there are a few question marks, and you don't want to get caught off guard if players like Edwar Ramirez or Jose Veras don't perform up to expectations. Now, the Yankees have a great oppurtunity, most every Yankee fan who hears what i have to say here, will disagree.

If you want a definite World Series winning team, you may need Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen. The Yankees have a few guys who are capable of filling in the role of the 5th starter, i.e Phil Hughes, Alfredo Aceves, Ian Kennedy and Phil Coke.

Joba has nasty stuff, he could be a great number 1 guy within the next few years, but he has a history of shoulder problems that may say otherwise. We Yankee fans want to believe Joba's shoulder wont cave in, but he could be just another shoulder injury away from becoming the next Mark Prior, Kerry Wood etc...

We saw last year that Joba fit into the starting role very well, perhaps with the propper conditioning for the job, we won't see him suffer anymore freak injuries.

Again, i'm NOT saying put Joba in the bullpen. What i am saying is the Yankees do have the option to put him in the bullpen and succeed just as well, maybe even more than had they kept him as a starter.

The main risk with having Joba in the bullpen, would take away from him improving as a starter, and maybe eliminate starting from his future entirely.

The Yankees may have the bullpen with the greatest potential in the majors, Brian Bruney, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez and Mark Melancon each have nasty stuff, but we've only seen how succesfull they can be briefly. Putting Joba in the 8th inning role would give the Yankees the best bullpen in the majors, with a top 3 starting rotation. Ofcourse their lineup, when healthy... speaks for itself.

Even with the whole A-Rod, Joe Torre and DUI situations as possible distractions for the players, i still see the Yankees having one of their best seasons since the beginning of the new century.

Grizzly Adams on the Late Show! ... wait...

-

In other news! The first spring training game is only 13 days away!

-

Also...A-Rod may need to buy one of these tapes...

Just a Few Thoughts: Bobby Abreu, Spring Training

As you may have already heard, Bobby Abreu is close to signing a deal with the Angels... no more "El Comedulce" homerun chants from John Sterling anymore... not sure how Bobby earned the nickname, which means 'candy eater,' I get it now! it's because he's fat... o.k.

The Yankees would face the Angels 7 times in 09, which is 3 less times than they did in 08 (thank god). PECOTA projects them to stink it up in 09.... but no matter how bad the Halos may be, they still pound the Yankees.

With the departure of "El Comedulce," i began thinking... newest homerun chants for players such as, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher... and i came up with nothing good... maybe "Teix Marks the spot!" for Teixeira, or "Swish Smash!" for Swisher... terrible... i know...

here's some current Yankee Sterling Mannerisms:

Melky Cabrera: "The Melkman delivers!"
Robinson Canó: "(Robbie) Cano! Don't you know?", "Cano can do!", and "A Ribbie for Robbie!"
Johnny Damon: "Positively Damonic!" and "Johnny on the Spot!" and "It's A Johnny's Rocket!"
Xavier Nady: "X marks the spot!"
Derek Jeter: "El Capitan!", "a Jeterian swing...", "a Jeter jolt", and "Oh captain my captain"
Hideki Matsui: "A thrilla from Godzilla!", "Hideki, lower-decki!", and "An Upper-Decki by Hideki!"
Jorge Posada: "Jorgie juiced one!" and "Jorgie jacks one!"
Alex Rodriguez: "An A-Bomb from A-Rod!" and "Alexander the Great conquers again!"

-

Pitchers and Catchers are supposed to report within the next few days... but what excites me the most...

The first Spring Training game is on February 25th!

14 days to go!

-

I would also like to announce that Coast to Coast baseball will be covering all 162 Yankee games this year, some via live-blogging.. most via updates, but nonetheless, if you want Yankee coverage and for some reason you can't access a TV... or MLB.com... or any other baseball source... you can come here and check out how dem' Yanks be doin.

-

David Ortiz is unsure if he's taken steroids... hmmm.

PECOTA projections

Hey guy's I know the posting has been kind of sparatic lately as we've been busy with a lot of stuff. Anyway we should be back to posting on a daily basis.

-

To get away from the 300 pound gorilla also known as A-rod I figured it would be fun to take a look at the PECOTA projections which came out today. For those of you who do not know, the PECOTA projections are predictions of what the final standings will be in the regular season based upon the saber metric information we have now. (You can skip to the bottom if you’re only interested in the AL East)

To start off with the NL

West W-L
Arizona Diamondbacks 90-72
Los Angeles Dodgers 84-78
San Francisco Giants 79-83
Colorado Rockies 78-84
San Diego Padres 74-88

Keep in mind that this information is based on the teams right now, so no Manny Ramirez on the Dodgers. Anyway, I don't think this is all that accurate especially the Diamondbacks winning 90 games. Yes they might be a young team that is going to get better as they develop but they only won 82 games last year and that was with the help of Orland Hudson (until he got injured) Adam Dunn for half the year and Randy Johnson. I see the Dodgers taking down this division again as long as they resign Manny but then again who knows. This is definitely one of the more wide open divisions in baseball at the moment.

Central W-L
Chicago Cubs 95-67
Milwaukee Brewers 83-79
St. Louis Cardinals 80-82
Cincinnati Reds 79-83
Houston Astros 66-96
Pittsburgh Pirates 65-97

I agree that the cubs will win the division, and that margin looks about right. I'm pretty surprised to see the Astros only winning 66 games though considering they are coming off an 86 win season, I guess the loss of Randy Wolf and Ty Wigginton has a bigger impact on the team than I thought it would. There pitching is pretty mediocre with little to speak of after Roy Oswalt.

East W-L
New York Mets 93-69
Atlanta Braves 88-74
Philadelphia Phillies 88-74
Washington Nationals 77-85
Florida Marlins 74-88

I find a few things here pretty surprising. I can definitely see the Mets winning the division, but I do not expect them to win by more than 2 games. K-rod is overrated in my opinion and Putz seemed to regress last year, there are rumors going around though that Bill Wagner’s rehab is ahead of schedule and he will be back around the all star break, we’ll just have to wait and see. Far more surprising though is the Nationals being projected to win 77 games and even doing better than the Marlins. I do not really see where all this improvement is coming from, aside from adding Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham they have not done much of anything this offseason and even manage to rival the Pirates for worst starting rotation in all of baseball

Next up the AL

West W-L
Oakland Athletics 82-80
Los Angeles Angels 79-83
Texas Rangers 73-89
Seattle Mariners 70-92

These don't seem that far fetched as the A's have had a pretty good offseason so far adding Matt Holliday and Jason Giambi to make a horrible offense decent all of a sudden. The Angels on the other hand have had an offseason that is worth forgetting, after losing out on Mark Teixeira they have done zero to improve their team from last year. It should be interesting to see if Oakland’s young pitching staff can keep up the pace the entire year though.

Central W-L
Cleveland Indians 84-78
Minnesota Twins 79-83
Detroit Tigers 78-84
Kansas City Royals 75-87
Chicago White Sox 74-88

Talk about a wide open division. I can see it ending up as projected above, but honestly I would not be surprised if any of the teams won the division even the Royals. I do have to say though the Indians have had one of the best off-season this year adding Mark Derosa and Kerry Wood for very little. Oh they signed Carl Pavano also, that should keep there medical staff busy for sure.

And finally we arrive at the Al East

East W-L
Boston Red Sox 98-64
New York Yankees 97-65
Tampa Bay Rays 92-70
Toronto Blue Jays 81-81
Baltimore Orioles 76-86

I'm pretty surprised to see the Red Sox on top of the Yankees and the Rays that far behind. I don't really understand this, as the Red Sox haven't done much this season aside from adding some depth and a bunch of reclamation projects. The Yankees of course had an amazing off season adding Burnett, CC, Teixeira and Swisher. In addition they have Phil Hughes, Posada, and Matsui coming back from injury as well as full years of Marte and Nady. Even if the Yankees pitching some how falls apart like last year, there will be some good mid year bargains with both Paul Byrd and Ben Sheets available. The Rays should also be better after signing Pat Burrell and reliever Brian Shouse, as well as some there younger players like David Price gaining more experience. You can also look for Carl Crawford to bounce back from what was a blow average year for him. Aside from that, the Jay’s projection looks about right, while the Orioles looks a bit low. I expect them to break the .500 mark after adding Ty Wigginton, Rich Hill, Felix Pie, and Koji Uehara, as well having top prospect Matt Wieters most likely making a mid year appearance. I haven’t heard of a prospect being as highly touted as him in a very long time

This year looks to be one of the more exciting years in baseball in a very long time. It will be interesting to see just how much of an impact the economy has on baseball. Most importantly though this looks to be the best Yankee team I have seen in a very long time going into spring training.

Alex speaks

Sadly, today Alex Rodriguez has admitted to using a banned substance durring the time periods of 2001-03. Yankee fans should be dissapointed, yet at the same time... relieved and grateful that Alex had come forward and admitted what he had done.

It's clear he has made the right choice in this situation, he chose to spare any dignity he had left, be a man and confess the biggest secret of his life. In some ways, maybe we should thank Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Raphael Palmiero for lying about taking steroids, because maybe Alex wouldn't have come forward. Of course Alex's admitting of his usage is the beginning of a long journey for him, but it's a step in the right direction.

Here's Alex's interview with Peter Gammons...

you can tell by his movements that he deeply regrets what he did, yet there are still some unanswered questions... he doesn't know what he took? that sounds a little flaky to me.

If you're interested, here's the interview he did with Katie Couric...

Interesting how he supports Barry Bonds in the end...

very intense interviews all around...

... I would just like to note, now that A-Rod has admitted to taking the illegal substance, i am fully prepared to support him in any way possible... that is until he starts to go 0-5 with 2 DP and 2 strikeouts with 7 men LoB against the Red Sox in late August (i.e the 2008 season... i was at this game)

This is the last thing i will be posting on the A-rod steroids situation... i don't feel like overwhelming all you Yankee fans with the same thing you're reading everywhere, just thought i'd give my opinion on the matter.

-

...here...maybe this will take your mind off one scandal... and put it on another... Man Vs. Wild! ... god i love that show.

-

The guys over at 3:10 to Joba are throwing a contest, you can win a New Era 59fifty Yankees hat... or well... whatever team you want on the hat, but check out the contest.

What's going to happen?

Sportscenter has teased me over the past few years, presenting me with false rumors/news... last year for example, i woke up to see a breaking news report...

"Sad day for Yankee fans... New York Yankees starting pitcher Joba Chamberlain....(Oh shit, Joba is dead!) will be in Nevada for the next week to be with his father who is ill."

Thankyou for the heart attack you just gave me Sportscenter.

Then there was yesterday morning...

"Breaking News here on Sportscenter, Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids."

'hahaha... very funny... A-Rod on steroids? blasphemy! he'd denied the allogations made by Jose Canseco last spring training like it was nothing, this can't be true, stupid sportscenter...'

Unfortunately for me, Sportscenter was telling the truth... A-Rod has in fact tested positive for steroids, according to 4 sources, one including Sports Illustrated.

But what does this all mean now, last year Alex dealt with the Jose Conseco situation so suave no one thought anything of it, even calling Canseco a bafoon for making such crazy allogations. He went on to play the 08 season poorly and extremely un-clutch with his biggest problem being.... Madonna?

We are now about to enter the 09 season with the news of our best hitter taking steroids. If he wants to set things straight for this upcoming season, he needs to really take things under his wing and admit to anything he had done. Lie about it and you can end up looking like a dumbass, i.e Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Raphael Palmeiro; however, tell the truth and things will certainly turn out better for you, just look at Andy Pettite and Jason Giambi.

This then leads me to wonder, what's going to happen? Is A-Rod going to be suspended? Will he deny the reports? Will he confess to using steroids? Will Yankee fans support him if he confesses? Will the Organization support him if he confesses?

...and we all thought our biggest problem was from a book Joe Torre wrote... ha!

But in all seriousness, i will stand by A-Rod if he confesses to taking steroids, if he doesn't... well... we'll see.

To put into perspective how screwed A-Rod is right now... Alex is more fucked than this guy.

Ouch...

and this guy...

Yes, Alex is more fucked than this man who no longer has both of his testicles.

A-Rod tested positive for steroids....

Kill me now...

Looks like another offseason surrounded by drama...

Goodbye Mr. Wright...

As you've probably already heard, the Yankees traded LHP Chase Wright to the Brewers for a promising young position player named Eric Fryer who hit 335. in single-A last year (he plays catcher/outfield).

But that was not the purpose of this post, the purpose was to bid farewell to our friend Chase Wright. Good ol' Chase will always have a place in the Yankees... not necesserally a nice place, but a place none the less.

As all of you know... or most of you, Chase Wright had done what no other man could do. Chase Wright had given up 4 homeruns... consecutively... and one of those players happened to be Jason Varitek... yes the Jason Varitek who hit 220. last year, just 4 points above the Yankees "star" backup Jose Molina.

You SHOULD be ashamed Chase... but we will never forget you, how could we.

Goodbye Mr. Wright, you will probably end up succeeding over in Milwaukee, you're a good pitcher... but you would never be able to show your face in Fenway again, the Yankees did you a favor.

It is now that point of the offseason...

If you're a baseball/football fan like me, there is one month every year i despise... February, it's the month where nothing happens... it's just after the superbowl and just before spring training...

all i have to say regarding this month is...

Joba like it's hot!