Mussina has been our co-MVP, along with Mo'.

2 yuck.

ARod adrift from his wife and kids.

The 'stache scorned.

Here's hoping a little adversity and strife awakens these bats... and soon!

Time's a wastin'.

While TB's pitching is better then ours, a lot of the 0.50 runs in ERA (that they are better) can probably be attributed to our poor D.

Posada gave up an (earned) run last night, Jeter gave up one the night before. It would be interesting to go through our games and see how many 'earned' runs our defense has given up.

While TB leads Boston by 1.5 games, their RS/RA is only 58 compared to Boston's 91. Ours is at 27.

So.... it looks like TB has played well/clutch/lucky in terms of their pathag. Boston looks like they SHOULD win the division, and that TB has played a bit 'over their head', while we have lost a number of games with both poor D and terrible RISP.

Boston has 6 MORE home games remaining.
TB has 9 LESS home games remaining.
We have 6 LESS home games remaining.

We have 9 games remaining with Boston, 6 with TB. Both teams are catchable, but TB looks like the team that we are in competition with for the WC.

I don't expect Wang back this year. JD should be back. I don't know about Mats. He has a bum knee which seems like it could flair up at anytime.

It seems nuts, but considering our injuries, especially to Wang (Geise/Razner combined are 5 and 10), having Molina's bat in the lineup because Po can't throw, and an underperforming offense (especially in RIPS), we aren't actually in as bad a shape as we could be.

I expect some upgrades from the Farm in the 2nd half. I don't know who, but I have to believe Cashman will do something in terms of an impact player. It's been a very frustrating year so far, we we are FAR from out of it.

Traber:

4 G, 2.67 INN, .12 INN/G (one batter every three games)

Moeller:

5 G, 2 PA, .09 PA/G

Jason Bay, 29, LFer, bats R, $7.5m in 2009 (contract year), 0.894 career OPS. He is not only a great fit now, but for our future, as we probably need 2 impact OFers by 2010.

Bay for Melky, IPK, Betances + PBNL.
Pay Melky's and IPKs salary through 2009 (cheap).
In 2009, Bay is 15% of Pittsburg's payroll. He is a FA after 2009, so he is probably gone, one way or the other.

We have a LOT of pitching talent on the farm. We are VERY short of impact position players. Bay is a guy for BOTH the present and future.

CC is a FA after this year. Cash only. He is ours if we want him. God knows if Mats will ever play the OF again. JD has been great and is signed for another year. Abreu will NOT be worth signing for more then 1 year, and I don't think he will sign for one year. 2009 will be Bobby's LAST contract. He's a very nice player, but poor on D, and makes $16m. We can (maybe) get Tex. We CAN have Giambi at 1B for one more year if we want him. It's only money... and at $17m, not a horrible deal.

BUT LOOK AT OUR OUTFIELD!!!!!!!!!
IT MIGHT BE WORSE IN 2009!!!!!!

Cashman loves a steal, but can we count on a steal appearing for THIS year? I say MAKE SOMETHING happen. Target Bay, or a guy like Bay who will probably be lost as a FA in 2009 anyway.

The fans may cry, but Pittsburg doesn't need a star this/next year. They are going nowhere. 4 players, all cheap, all with potential, is much netter for their future then ONE MORE YEAR of Jason Bay.

Beckett/Lowell, Satana, Bedard, Miggy Cabrera... these guys all cost farm talent. It is time for US to make a trade to upgrade our team.

I say Cashman.... MAKE IT HAPPEN

What are the odds of that happening when 6 out of the 9 key components of the offense are 34 or older?

Too much improvement is needed from too many places, and I don't see where it will come from. Even signing Bonds - assuming he could be ready in 10 days and will hit like Barry Bonds - is probably not be enough.

(BTW, try not to retch when you see just what the "bench" (i.e., everyone outside of the 9 regulars) has "hit" so far this year, collectively, in over 600 PA. Add in Melky and Cano, and I feel grateful the Yanks' offense hasn't been worse.)

The problem is that I see the Yanks having only 2 guys right now who fit those criteria: Hughes and Austin Jackson. (If you think there's someone else, please tell me who. Of course there's also Montero, but he's farther away. And the only big bat the Yanks have in the system right now.) How, exactly, are the Yanks supposed to give one of those guys up?

admittedly this won't be easy as well - but it looks like the cubs and brewers and maybe a few others are going all out this year (hopefully there is something in these two systems or the others who feel this year is their best chance to make some noise)- IF a trade can be struck with one of these teams for a good bat (prefferably rh; corner of/1b) for someone like abreu say i would do it.
i think we see what the yankee offense will be like as the older guys continue to decline and there are no impact bats in the system that will be ready next year.
this offense will have to be rebuilt via trade and/or free agency.

i am well aware that the yanks can come back and win the divsion or more realistically the wild card - my preference is a great team in the next few years rather than a good team this year and next (i realize that the sacrifice may not pay off - but to me it is worth it to try)

Abreu is likely gone next year, especially if he continues to be a .700 OPS RFer with no defense. Cashman's hands, I think, are kinda tied with regards to this year's payroll and I think they've been targeting 2009 as the year while paying lip service to this year.

There needs to be some changes though. Ajax isn't saving anything for another couple of years, if at all.

Melky's three good games last week gave some hope that he might be setting off on a hot streak. No such luck; he's 2-for-16 since then.

I don't think they'd pay much, but they'd be happy to take him.

IPK, I think has a lot of value, still. People here are awfully quick to write off young prospects. Especially ones with a little more than a full year of professional baseball under their belt.

16 "they will go all out on the FA market."

I think the only other statement that would scare me more is that the Yankees are looking to abandon a youth movement and trade for quality gritty veterans.

C JoPo, who should be healthier
1B ? Tex? Dunn?
2B Cano, who should bounce back some
SS Jeter, who will decline from this year
3B ARod
LF Damon, who will decline from this year
CF ? Melky? Then AJax?
RF ?
DH Matsui, who will decline from this year

Expecting Damon to be an average LF is probably reasonable, so that's a tough looking OF.

Giambi and Abreu look like the most tradable assets, due to the injuries to Mats and JD, sadly. I just don't see the FA market as salvation, even if you get CC and Dunn/Tex.

I don't think the problem in the 2000's has been signing FAs, the problem was ignoring the draft and farm. The two poster boys for FA contracts, Giambi and Musina actually ended up pretty reasonable. Only one guy traded for a vet (Navaro) ended up a regret. Lets not swing too far to the 'build only from within' side.

Go get him Cash. He's free, even cheaper than a Millar, and fills a gaping hole.

18 Giambi has a full no-trade clause. Abreu might too; he had one in Philly and had to waive it to come to NY, I'm guessing he still has it since that contract isn't done yet.

Given how reluctant most teams are to trade anything of value for older, overpriced 3-month rentals, the Yanks might be better off with the draft picks they'll get from letting Giambi and Abreu go next year.

The best part would be if Farnsworth was a Type A, because while there's a chance Abreu and Giambi both come back, there's no way Kyle does.

Any of these guys leaving as Type A free agents would offset the pick the Yanks would lose for signing CC.

19 That depends on what the length of the deal and the money look like. The other problem, of course, is that other teams with cash to spend will be going after CC (everyone) and Tex (Baltimore, Mets, Angels maybe, Dodgers maybe, perhaps Boston and Atlanta, and who knows what Toronto will do when JP gets canned).

Gamelog:
http://tinyurl.com/latroy

RLYW showed Melky at jusssssst slightly below average in dRS/oRS. This from a guy who:
... is still 23.
... is cheap, cheap, cheap.
... is having his WORST year
I mention him in the 'Bay Trade' because Pittsburg would be losing an OFer, so Melky could plug that gap immediately.

We watch Melky everyday. We are tremendously frustrated with him. But that doesn't mean he has NO value. By definition, anyone who is league average and getting paid league minimum is valuable, especially to a small market team.

Looking at it, Melky is very much the type of guy you want to to take a chance on.
... undervalued because of a poor year
... odds are he will get better
... young, cheap, healthy

And with IPK, while he has been very bad this year, is STILL a decent prospect. He was rushed to the major too soon. He HAS had some very good outings mixed in with the poor. Most of his runs were given up in a big inning. The majors is loaded with good pitchers who struggled in their first year. A league average #5 who gets paid the league minimum has value.

With Melky and IPK, we Banterers are TOO CLOSE. We had expectations they would help us win. But I don't think our disappointment renders them with 'hardly any value' to professionals outside of our circle.

If they were a decent catch 3 months ago, they may be slightly diminished, but they still have value.

How about
Melky/Chauncey/Tabata
IPK/Horne
Betances/Cox/Sanchez
Pick one from a list.

Whatever Bay is worth, we can supply it.

My question to you Banterers is:
1) Is Bay the type of guy we want?
(4 yrs of 5 over .900 OPS, less then .100 pts difference between LHP/RHP, has posted BETTER numbers away [last 3 years])
2) Are YOU WILLING to trade equitable talent from the farm?

In 71 PA this season he is .344/.423/.623 with an OPS of 1.045 vs. lefties. Yes he kills and is a RH bat that could be rather useful in that respect.

The risk is whether he will adapt to being a platoon/bench player who will see very little playing time batting strictly against lefties. He didn't want to do that in Seattle (he was replaced as a starter by Miggy Cairo!) and sulked the whole time, so they released him and are eating $6+ million. Does any of that change when he hits the Bronx, especially for a team that doesn't have a soothsayer managing anymore? How does this compare to trading for Dunn (or do you do both?)

The other thing is, do you trust Girardi and the health of the starting lineup to be able to keep him on the bench for strict lefty platoons?
(vs. RH: 191 PA, .178/.281/.304 OPS - .584)

I'm not saying no to picking him up, but only under strict conditions.

I think Girardi would use Sexson appropriately. I hope.

Dunn has a limited no-trade clause, BTW, so take that into account. One of the many problems with him (another lefty bat who can't play the field well!) is he's a rental, unless the Yanks get a window to work out an extension with him.

Wouldn't it be better to wait until the offseason to sign Dunn, when it only costs money (and maybe draft picks)?

he's -11 pBRAA, only carlos gonzalez and joey gathright are worse.

he's got about as much value as a flaming paper bag of dogshit.

And the odds of him getting substantially better diminish with every year that he fails to improve. In 3 major league seasons, his OPS+ has gone from 95 to 89 to 77.

It's not a question of being too close. I always thought he was going to be a nice little fourth outfielder, nothing more. He hasn't shown a single thing that suggests otherwise.

Merely being young and bad doesn't constitute potential.

It would be perfectly splendid if a stellar CF showed up in the off-season (Angels thought they GOT one ... any of you want Torii's -2 rating for what they pay him? Or Vernon Well's -4?)

I'm going glass half full. Excellent CF being played by a #9 batter dirt cheap and only 23 with room to get better. The $90 million men are offering not a hell of a lot more. To repeat (and I haven't heard anyone deny this) if the rest of the offense performs adequately, and is healthy, the Yankees can easily carry a defensively focused CF. Frankly, they can even (though perhaps not ALSO) do it at C, as well.

1. Sixto Lezcano (974)
2. Max Carey (973) *
3. Tim Raines (969)
4. Harry Heilmann (967) *
5. Roberto Clemente (966) *
6. Chet Lemon (964)
7. Rick Manning (964)
8. Cliff Heathcote (963)
9. Les Mann (962)
10. Jimmy Sebring (961)

--three HOF (four w/Raines), three other very good players....but at the end of this season, his comps after age-23 will be a LOT less impressive, unless he starts hitting like a madman after the break....

"Scott Boras has already sent signals that the free-agent asking price on Teixeira this winter will start at $23 million a year (theoretically for eight to 10 years)."

Lezcano, Raines and Lemon all had breakout years at age 23.

That leaves Clemente, who Melky definitely is not, and Rick Manning, who maybe Melky might turn into, if he's lucky. Rick Manning wasn't very good at all.