Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
It is a cold, rainy spring day in New York. The skies are dark and the Yankees and their fans are going to continue feeling anxious until their is more definitive word on the extent of Jorge Posada's injury. If he needs surgery, he could be lost from 4-6 months. According to Tyler Kepner in the Times:
Posada will return to New York with the Yankees after Monday's game, and he said he wanted to visit Dr. James Andrews, the orthopedic surgeon in Birmingham, Ala., who operated on his labrum in 2001.Andrews has read the M.R.I. results, and Posada has said that surgery will not be necessary. But the problem has not improved as Posada hoped, raising the specter of an operation.
After the initial M.R.I., the Yankees said the injury was a strained shoulder. But a strain is a euphemism for a tear, and Posada seemed concerned about the extent of it.
"It's not getting any better, so we've got to find out what it really is," Posada said. "The M.R.I. showed a strained muscle, and I think it's more than that."
..."It's early, and we've got to be smart about it," Posada said.
..."But it's really disappointing to work really hard and not feel good. I worked really hard to be back at it. I'm even apologizing to the Yankees, because I signed a good contract."
Meanwhile, it's an election year, so here is a pefect twist in the Roger Clemens saga.
Book it, Pluto
Terry Pluto, the veteran Cleveland newspaperman, is also the author of several entertaining books, including The Curse of Rocky Colavito and Loose Balls. His latest effort, Dealing, is covers the Indians from their Gashouse Gorilla days in the 90s through the Dolans, up to the current team. Over at the Plain-Dealer, five chapters of Pluto's book are excerpted. Check 'em out.
50% chance of Good Moose, 50% the other shows up.
Feeling lucky? Yeah, why not?
There's even something ludicrous about the way it was explained in that snippet piece Alex links. His defamation case gets undermined by previously unknown transgressions that NOW come out and thereby show he did not have a previously good character?
I find it shabby, though I suppose if McNamee's previous alleged sexual transgression is in play someone might say it is fair to balance this ... but I think it just serves to wildly deflect attention from the real issues. I know that in law if Clemens' lawyers try to paint him as a pilar of virtue against a scumbag, they do open themselves up to 'what pillar of virtue?' but it takes the whole thing SO far afield.
Yes, the election year comment is a smart one ... everything becomes in-play?
And yes, everyone in Yankeeland will be waiting for Posada's results. It seems obvious to me the Yanks weren't playing games with his injury as they released their #3 catcher! You don't DO that if you have any slight worries about your #1.
Man, the fact that the boys are a game over 500 and 1.5 out of first with all the goings on so far is a minor miracle.
We'll see what these guys are made of now. They survived without the Captain a few years ago for a good length of time, but something tells me Eric Almonte does not catch.
I still don't see what others see in Ohlendorf. He throws hard, but his command is suspect and he's hittable. Bad combo.
Granted, Girardi probably shouldn't have put Saturday's game on him like that (paging Mariano...) and the offense spit the bit (Jeter's DP was sooooo painful, especially since I had just said, right out loud "like to see a squeeze here").
I'm terrified of losing Posada for an extended period. Ack.
''I'm not playing first base,'' he said. ''I'm a catcher. We've got seven first basemen.''
Here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/45w7ez
1997: Yanks primary C: 433 PA, .222 EqA, -6.1 VORP
We've been spoiled by Posada for years, and Mike Stanley from '93'-95, but the Yanks have won with crappy hitting catchers before. It can be done. The Angels did it in 2002 (primary C: 459 PA, 0.206 EqA, -7.9 VORP). The White Sox did it in 2005 (primary C: 497 PA, 0.243 EqA, 11.9 VORP). The Cards did it in 2006 (461 PA, 0.204 EqA, -19.7 VORP).
(The Diamondbacks kinda did it in 2001. But don't look at how the D'backs offense performed in 2001 by advanced metrics. Seriously. You'll thank me later.)
If Giambi can post a .850+ OPS, JD continues to hit as he has of late, and Cano, Jeter and Abreu hit like they should, I think we will be fine. After all, a little less O and a little more D is not a horrible idea for our team as curently constructed.
No, we are not a better team with Molina instead of with Po, but we may not be that much worse. I guess a real question is can Molina hold up as a regular catcher. Good thing Girardi hit the ice cream!
I don't think he can maintain it. But if he's close, that's a huge upgrade over last year.
Posada has a torn rotator cuff, the same muscle (the subscapularis) that has Rich Harden on the shelf. Posada will head to Birmingham for an examination and consultation with Jim Andrews. After the announcement, Posada seemed very emotional, which could indicate that he knows this is a longer-term injury or could just be a reaction to being placed on the DL for the first time. A subscapular tear is a bad thing for a catcher, and it isn't something that one can come back from quickly, though surgery doesn't look like an option. I'm setting Posada's DXL at 30, but remember that he could come back as a DH more quickly than that.
Posada has a torn rotator cuff, the same muscle (the subscapularis) that has Rich Harden on the shelf. Posada will head to Birmingham for an examination and consultation with Jim Andrews. After the announcement, Posada seemed very emotional, which could indicate that he knows this is a longer-term injury or could just be a reaction to being placed on the DL for the first time. A subscapular tear is a bad thing for a catcher, and it isn't something that one can come back from quickly, though surgery doesn't look like an option. I'm setting Posada's DXL at 30, but remember that he could come back as a DH more quickly than that.
nice touch .... 2008 IS the 25th anniversary of "WarGames" :-)
My bet: with a bunter like Jeter, you score the run squeezing about as often as you do letting him swing, and of course the chance of a better result than the successful sac is much higher when Jeter swings.
Damon is a good runner, but that decreases the chance of a DP, so I think it makes the squeeze look worse.
The reason we differ on which is better, though, is probably mainly that I am skeptical about the success rate of suicide squeezes. My guess is that with a bunter like Jeter it's around 50%. Most people would guess higher. Without data, of course, it's all just guessing.
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