Normally I'm not big on Ivy Leaguers in the Majors. But this looks like a good deal all around. Maybe Gonzales is the reserve INF?

i wish i remembered where i read this, but supposedly, johnson has already agreed to a $10M extension. they just have to cross their Ts and dot their Is.

great discussion under the last thread, by the way.

So the Yankees added the Attorney General and an economist in this deal?

Make the call, Jim; there's still time...

I posted about Ohlendorf and the NY Post "article" at COH as well. If Ohlendorf defies the rating some scouts have given him and actually becomes a good Major Leaguer this trade is without a doubt a steal. There's so much that has to happen before we know anything, but I've been a fan of Ohlendorf for a while (I like Princeton sports) and I'm going to take the overly optimistic tack on this until something convinces me to think otherwise.

Ohlendorf and Bill Bradley, New York Legends!

Glad to see the Unit go. Bet that Joe is too. More concerned about First Base.

6 Who's on first base?

7 I don't know.

1 Gehrig wasn't too shabby :-)

6 I know you were referring to the "other" Joe, but I will say this, I was never a fan of the 2002-2006 Oliver's Army Yankees. I want to root for the guys on this team because I like them, not just because they wear the Pinstripes.

7 Bud's in Milwaukee and Lou's in Chicago...

Of COURSE Lupica's got to spin this into the 'big phony' Clemens possibly sneaking his way back into the rotation.

12 You think Lupica's angling for a hummer when he retires?

9 Yeah, he was fair . . .

I was thinking more of Jim Beattie . . . although, he's a fabulous GM.

13 He has to wait till he retires to get a hummer?

8 Third base.

Hmmm...all these scouting reports on Ohlendorf make me wonder what some scouts were saying about Wang when he was in the minors. The thing that impresses me the most is his low HR rates and his GO/AO ratio. He seems to give up hits, but he rarely gets hit hard. If he can translate that to the majors, then a pitcher who gives up a few more grounder singles here and there while issuing basically no walks and no longballs could work very, very well.

We do need a C prospect, or at least a decent backup. Hopefully Cashman will focus on that now.

16 Yeah . . . I don't know about Third Base either.

BTW, Mike, we've never exchanged pleasantries, but congrats the birth of your son. I enjoy your contributions here and on COH.

17 "We do need a C prospect, or at least a decent backup. Hopefully Cashman will focus on that now."

Please, Cashman, focus on anything but bringing Doug Misspellingwicz to the Yanks.

15 It would explain a lot...

19 Thanks Joe. I appreciate it. My son, Hiroto, just signed a deal with the Royals for $8 million a year over 30 years. They wanted to get into the Japanese market long term.

12 The Malignant Dwarf is really barf inducing isn't he? He spins speculation into criticism with such pure élan that I'm tempted to believe he actually believes half the crap he writes. With all that piffle in today's poison missive he conveniently leaves out the fact that the Yankees have actually made themselves younger and given themselves greater market flexibility through the post season moves Ca$hman has orchestrated.

Criticism is useful and enlightening but the brand of half truth, exaggeration and nastiness barfed up by the puking pygmy is really laughable. I wouldn't wrap a dead fish in it. I'm done with the jerk.

22 Damn, Mike, as his agent you should have shopped Hiroto to the Yanks. Even at this early stage in his baseball development, the lad is a much more appealing 1B option for 2007 than Doug Mientkocrity.

22 Geez, Mike, did you at least get him an out somewhere? I know KC was big on deferrals at one point...

24 Jinks. You owe me a Root Beer...

26 I mean, "Jinx..."

23 matthews over at newsday wrote a similar piece. ugh. it's depressing to consider that i'll never get the 2 minutes i spent reading that back.

27 Jinxkwicz. Shasta, ok? Or is you a Muggs man? Hell, let's go top shelf, Chyll. Stewart's is my root beer of cherce, but it costs a buck an ounce.

23 Don't get me wrong - I skimmed the steaming pile of horse puck and pretty much gleaned all I needed to know about it from the headline, the first paragraph and the last few sentences.

We get it Mike, the Yankees can't do anything right in your eyes. They should just disband the team, tear up all the contracts and go play in Minnesota & Kansas City for league minimum.

Eat it, troll.

27 Jenks?

30 Word.

That is all.

Say no to McNasty, Sliced. Stewart's is the word, but I can always go with Barq's in a pinch. (Jinxkwicz, nice...) However, the bigger issue is little Hiroto... the Royals, Mike! The ROYALS!!

29 I don't even know if they still make it, but Saranac used to brew a root beer they called "Tavern 1888" that was fantastic. Best root beer I've ever had.

I wonder what the rags will say if Clemens doesn't come back to the Yanks?

Gotta tip your cap to RJ. Beat us as a Mariner. Beat us as a Dimondback. Even beat us as a Yankee.

Dude's a bona fide Yankee-Killer.

33 "Clemens to City: Drop Dead"

Tavern 1888... I'm on it...

22 That should be enough to put him through college if he can't hit a curve ball . . . ;-)

20 Here's hoping that Doug Msplat wins the "2007 Johnny Damon Surprise" award, rather than the "2007 Terrance Long What The (&$^" award.

If we gotta have him, I'm hoping he plays well and defies expectations. I said the same about Johnny Damon and he was a pleasant surprise.

Fingers and toes crossed.

I'm going to start calling Dougie, MCI.

Man Cave Itch

30 I'm going to start calling Lupica, ET.

Eat It, Troll

33 If you're looking for a quality beverage, see if you can find anything by 'Foxon Park' near you. The headquarters is up here in New Haven County, CT and they serve it at all the famous pizza places in downtown New Haven.

They make a white birch beer that is an absolute party in your mouth, as well as a top shelf root beer, cream, ginger ale, and cherry flavor as well - about the only variety that isn't worth the money is something called 'Iron Brew'. Tastes like Dr. Pepper's mutated cousin, yulk.

http://www.foxonpark.com/ - you can order it from here, but I believe it's $1.50 a bottle and they only sell the 12 oz. size online.

35 Yep, they still make it. East Coast, saranac.com, can't ship beer interstate, yadda-yadda-yadda...

38 Good thing Johnny shaved that "Caveman" image, yikes!"

38 Nice! As in:

I really hope they don't trade Melky so they can feature MCI in a platoon at 1B.

40 Thanks for the tip! I wish I had time to go hunt that stuff down (ummm, cherry-flavored soda), or a Saranac root beer. They (Saranac) made a ginger beer too that was also excellent.

38 Unless there's a Firefox macro extension, MCI sounds like a good moniker to me!

41 Thanks, Chyll - I might have to go order a case (root beer can be shipped anywhere)! Or ask my folks to bring me some the next time they come to visit.

41 You could always get Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed to help you with that interstate beer shipment...

I have an Ohlendorf/Wang comparison that shows how similar they were at the same age in AA, and how Ohlendorf could become a similar pitcher. It's at yanksandmore.blogspot.com

45 We got a long way to go...and a short time to get there...we gonna do what they say can't be done..

Damn it, now I'm going to have to go and watch it again.

46 Good stuff on the blog, Eric.

Here's hoping Ohlendorf can burn the worms like CM Wang.

45 Miss USA would be cheaper...

46 Not that I mind reading more quality posts about the Yankees and their doings, but I'd almost like to see some sort of consolidation of a lot of these blogs...

Or at least can someone make a page with nothing but links or feeds from all the Yankee blogs out there?

50 Isn't that what RSS is all about?

I also liked what Pinto had to say about the idea of bringing Clemens back. He's basically like, "the Yanks are stockpiling young pitchers, see how it goes with them before you blow a wad of cash on another old expensive dude." Amen.

50 Most of the decent ones are to the right under Bronx Bloggers. There is an awful lot out there. One that I like that has just changed around is now called "Pinstripe Potentials". The guy does a nice job summarizing a lot of the written materials on Yankees prospects. It's well written and the owner is a pleasant knowledgeable guy. I think Alex and Cliff should consider adding it to the list.

Vizcaino looks remarkably similar to Farnsworth, i.e. an every-other-day, 1-inning-only guy. The similarities do not stop there:

Farns: 72G, 66.0 IP, 8 HR, 28 BB, 75 K
Viz: 70G, 65.1 IP, 8 HR, 29 BB, 72 K

After that, we see a bit of a deviation:

Farns: 0.56 GO/AO, 1.36 WHIP, .376 SLG, .318 OBA, .243 AVG, 2.68 K/BB, 3.82 BB/9, 10.23 K/9, 8.45 H/9, 1.922 WXRL

Viz: 1.19 GO/AO, 1.22 WHIP, .397 SLG, .311 OBA, .215 AVG, 2.48 K/BB, 3.99 BB/9, 9.92 K/9, 7.03 H/9, 2.173 WXRL

Farnsworth has the slight edge in strikeouts, has slightly better control and gives up fewer extra base hits. Vizcaino gave up way fewer hits last year, but for a ground-ball pitcher this number can vary. Vizcaino's relatively high SLG-against with his high GO/AO suggests that he's got a sinker that occasionally decides not to sink. Overall, Vizcaino had a slightly better 2006, though Farnsworth has been more impressive in the past.

Eric Schultz's blog links to one I hadn't seen called Bronx Liaison, which had a link to this interview with Ohlendorf:

http://tinyurl.com/w39v9

Our new worm killer's favorite player? Clemens.
At the time of the Oct. 2004 interview Ohlendorf was looking forward to meeting Randy Johnson at Spring Training.

53 that looks pretty informative. thanks.

55 "At the time of the Oct. 2004 interview Ohlendorf was looking forward to meeting Randy Johnson at Spring Training."

that's just funny.

On another topic entirely: I saw Josh Phelps' name listed among arbritation-eligibles. Does this make sense? The Orioles signed Phelps as a minor league free agent, so they presumably gave him a minor league contract. Shouldn't the Yankees just pick up this contract and pay him the major league minimum prorated for each day he spends on the 25-man roster (i.e. either the entire season or until they return him to sender)? Arbitration assures that a player is fairly compensated when a single team holds exclusive rights to his services. Once a player is on the open market, the market determines his pre-season value (which, in Phelps' case, was virtually nothing).

I just wanted to point out after the Johnson trade that the Yankee payroll is $176.84M with 4 spots to fill (I didn't include Doug Magthroahe because I'm not positive how much he will get).

This is in actual dollars (as opposed to AAV used in luxury tax) and includes $4M for Wright and $2M for Johnson as that is how much money is spent in trades. It assumes Wang and Cano will make $.4M each, which is probably off by a few 100K but I took a low ball guestimate for now.

The Red Sox payroll is $144.0725. This is without Donnolly because I can't find how much he makes, but it does include Pineiro and Drew (I'm not sure either are official).

The difference between the two payrolls now being $32.7675M.

If you want to include posting fees:

Yankees: 176.84 + 26 = 202.84
Red Sox: 144.0725 + 51.1 = 195.1725
Difference: 7.6675

I'm not really sure why I care other than it is an interesting topic, but I love that the gap is closing.

2007 Potential Bullpen Candidates

Mo (obviously)
Farnsworth
Myers
Bruney
Britton
Vizcaino
Lefty-To-Be-Named-Later (Schoenweiss, Henn)
Karstens
Rasner
Sanchez
Veras

. . . gettin' mighty crowded

58 Yeah, but the Yankees Suck!

47 pistolpete, if you like that movie check out this picture (it is a lot funnier to me now that he is not our coach):

http://tinyurl.com/yghte7

To sum up our offseason so far, I will quote PeteAbes blog:
The Yankees have dropped $30 million in payroll and added eight players, seven of them pitchers, since the end of the season.

58 I'm not sure if it gets factored in, but the Yanks are sending the D'backs 5 million (2 in this deal, and 3 from the last one).

57 Phelps isn't on the open market. the Rule 5 draft doesn't affect his status under the reserve clause at all.

I'll say again: I really hate the Mxyzptlk signing. But maybe if we can get him to say his name backwards, he'll be returned back to the fifth dimension...

65 or Boston, plus $8-10 million...

Sliced Bread Presents
"When Ross Met Kyle"

February 15, 2007.
Newly acquired Yankees pitching prospect Ross Ohlendorf reports to Spring Training, where he meets Kyle Farnsworth.

Farnswacker introduces himself, snapping a towel at Ohlendorf.

Farnswacker: Waaz-zup! Looks like we's neighbors. I'm Kyle but alls the pretty ladies call me Lord Farnstantinople.

Ohlendorf: Ross Ohlendorf. (they shake hands) Good to meet you.

Farnswacker: (laughs) You said 'dorf,' dude. Fuckin' hilarious! The Dorf is in da house! Olen-DORF. Olen-DORF. DORF, DORF, DORF.

Ohlendorf: You could just call me, you know, Ross.

Farnswacker: No prob, Ross-a-Roni! Yo, Gator says you was a I.V. Leaguer.

Ohlendorf: Yeah, couple years at Princeton.

Farnswacker: Youse a prince?!

Ohlendorf: Heh (nervous laugh), um, no.

Farnswacker (scratching his head): How's that I.V. League work?

Ohlendorf: How does it work?

Farnswacker: Yeah, I got one of them I.V's in my arm once, and last thing I wanted do was play ball, man.
So how's that work? Buncha guys playin' ball with all them needles and tubes stuck in them arms?

Ohlendorf (perplexed): Are you talking about intravenous therapy?

Farnswacker: Fucks no! I'ma talkin' I.V. League baseball, bro! Shit's wack if you ask me.

Ohlendorf: I guess it was, uh, wack.

Farnswacker: Youse a big feller. Whaddaya throw? Guzzoline?

Ohlendorf: Nah, not so much, gasoline. Sinkers mostly.

Farnswacker: Sinkers. Hell, I throwed a sinker once. Almost killed my damn dawg. Throwed a fridger once, too, and them bitches real heavy.

Ohlendorf: Yeah, well, great to meet you, man. Hey, you know if Mike Mussina is here yet.

Farnswacker: Ain't seen him yet, but you'll like Moose. Smart feller. Real smart. Always doing them puzzle books, with them whatchu call 'em?

Ohlendorf: Words?

Farnswacker: Yeah, words! See, I knew you was smart. I don't go fer them puzzle books much. I do like to color sometimes though. Gots me a box with like 12 different shades of blue, and all kinds a yellers, too. You wanna see that shit?

Ohlendorf: Uh, definitely later.

Farnswacker: Well, lemme know if you need help figurin' things out around here. You ain't in no I.V. League no more, bro.

As is evidenced from this and the past few threads, it bcomes apparent that we need to establish an agreed upon Bronx Banter Nickname (BBNN) for Dougie Mauzer.

Not that all of his references haven't been both thoughtful and amusing, but if we have a new visitor here, they will think we have 7 shitty LH hitting 1st baseman.

For those who care to participate, please post your BBNN official entry. Hopefully, Cliff/Alex can post the best 5, and we can have a runoff. It's manlaw time folks. Just what do we call this putz?

(However, all entries, when said backwards, should indeed send this guy to some non-Yankee dimension).

The Dback fans love this trade, it seems:
http://www.azsnakepit.com/story/2007/1/5/22938/35906

Key excerpt: "Of course, the phrase "Minor League prospects" bears a little closer examination, since the crucial part of the deal was what we'd have to give back to the Yankees. The good news is, nothing of stunning significance, or so it appears thus far. The names which are apparently being mentioned are Ross Ohlendorf, right-hand pitcher Steven Jackson (a 2.65 ERA in 24 Double-A starts, but got torched in the AFL) and Alberto Gonzalez, a shortstop better reputed for his glove-work than his bat: According to John Sickels list at Major League Ball, none of them are ranked higher than #18 as far as Arizona is concerned. Curiously, the three players were c