Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Randy Johnson grazed Johnny Damon yesterday during live batting practice, but the more compelling tidbit is that 19-year old Phillip Hughes impressed the veteran Yankee hitters during his session. Jorge Posada said he hasn't seen such a live arm since Mariano Rivera was a youngster. "He reminds me of Roger Clemens; that fastball is late," Jason Giambi told the Post. Joe Torre added:
"The thing that is unusual for a kid as young as he is, the curveball is really impressive...It's one of those real tight rotation breaking balls. He is not commanding it like he is going to after more experience, but his stuff is very real."
Joel Sherman has a nice column praising Torre this morning as well:
For the 11th year, he had to deliver an introduction speech to the full Yankee squad on Wednesday. In the wrong hands, this could turn into a forum of rolled eyes and emotional disconnect. But according to the players who heard the words, Torre had not gone stale. As Mike Mussina explained, "He never says anything to give you reason to think, 'oh shut up.' When he speaks, you just realize it is a big deal.' Alex Rodriguez added, "When it is manufactured and artificial, veteran players see through that [garbage]. He has that magic in his voice. It feels as if it is coming from a higher authority."Torre said his style works because "I'm not trying to sell them anything." Players speak of feeling Torre cares about them and is honest with them...The idea that just anybody could have found the right chords to push [the 2005 team] or handle all that comes with managing the Yankees is silly. Yes, Torre gets to handle the most talent, but it comes with Steinbrenner, gigantic egos, Canyon of Heroes expectations and a media core to rival the White House. To survive, the manager better have thick skin and a soft heart, self-assurance and self-awareness.
This is nothing we don't already know, but it is well put, don't you think? Lastly, our boy Sheff was riffing some to Bob Klap yesterday. Well, what did you expect?
http://tinyurl.com/b4nhx
Did we expect it from Shef or Klap? At least one of them still does their job well.
As far as Klap - that article seemed like lazy reporting to me. Sheff feels disrespected? What a shock. What's next? A scoop on Torre's calm demeaner? That Damon is a generally happy guy? That Rivera is religious? Way to dig deep, fella. Best to keep your pencil tucked behind your ear until you can find something fresh to write about, and if you can't, cover some other team. Tell us about some of the NRI's at camp this year instead of regurgitating the same old crap and picking at old scabs.
I find the reports on batting practice much more interesting. It's as close to actual baseball as we've got at the moment. You can almost hear the pop of the mitt.
Counting the days ...
BP
If Sheff has something to say, a writer understands that is what their papers want--especially if you are talking about a tabloid. The next time you see a back page scoop on Robinson's PECOTA, or Derek Jeter's WARP will be the first. Again, I'm not saying you don't have the right to be bored silly by these kind of columns, but that is what these columnists are getting paid to write. Cut 'em a little slack.
Cano adds 10 pounds of muscle, looks like slugger in the making:
http://tinyurl.com/mmqsu
According to Newsday, Cano now weighs 205. But last season, he was listed at 170.
Numbers don't add up.
Question for the class: Could the beefed up Cano be headed for greener pastures (see the outfield - specifically, RF) in '07, to create infield vacancy for Eric Duncan?
For now, NY Post reports Larry Bowa is shaking up camp with his intensity, and sharpening Cano's double-play skills.
http://tinyurl.com/gpxym
Meanwhile, Joe Kerrigan has to be the most overqualified bullpen coach in baseball. How valuable an asset is he to the Yanks? Newsday has this:
http://tinyurl.com/synby
The Yankees campfire is crackling.
That said, don't you EVER say writing that crud is okay just so one day you can do the same "meeting of the deadline". If you have a column, do the little bit of extra work to tell a real story - no matter what the editors/public thinks. That's what separates great columnists from merely average ones - find the stories worth telling.
The "story" of which Klap writes is a big pile of dung. Analyze it for a second: here we had all these reports the other day of how happy Shef was and how he was treated right - and Klap doesn't even address the difference? Shef: "What changed?" That simple question isn't even answered in all those words he got credit for.
The real story is Shef is a complicated person - no doubt. Why give us the same disgrunted arc that's been worn way too much over the years? What's interesting is not that he's "back to his old self" - it's that we saw two radically different sides in three days. The point of a writer is to convey what's not known - Klap didn't do his job. That's fine - he just won't ever be a great journalist if he continues to give in to those tendencies (and he does).
Sheff has the eyes and demeanor of a guard dog. Unless you want to get snarled at, or worse, he should be approached with caution, and respect.
Torre and Cashman are wise to this, and understand how it helps the team if Sheff feels respected. In return, Sheff is loyal to them, and seems to trust them.
The tone of Klapisch's piece suggests he would rather stand on the other side of the fence from Sheffield, provoking the guard dog to bark and bite.
I guess Alex has perhaps a better appreciation of the pressures on a professional columnist (who has to reach out to a wider audience rather than catering to a very specialized audience in a blog format) than most of us, and perhaps a more balanced take on this.
Keeping on topic, or perhaps a bit of a continuation from the previous topic, does anyone know the extent of seriousness of Hughes' injury woes? From what I understand, that is the driving force behind the conservative late-thrity mid-forty ranking that he is receiving in all prospect lists. It would be great if Cliff has or anyone else can share some info (perhaps via Will Carroll, if he knows about it).
So far, the camp seems to have a better feel this year, perhaps because the core group of guys went through adversity together last year and came out on tops (well, in the regular season anyway), and can look forward to build on that.
I could see the bulked up Cano moving down in the order if, say, Bubba, or Phillips is in the lineup, but not Bernie.
All I can say is that if this team of heavy hitters is focusing on the smaller aspects of the game, first to third, smart leads, situational stuff... watch out world.
The Boston Globe is reporting that Red Sox pitching coach Dave Wallace is out for the year after having hip replacement surgery.
Please, please, please George do everything possible to make sure that the Sox don't woo Kerrigan back to Boston as their pictching coach. Beside the fact that he'd be very successful again in Boston, we'd be losing a huge asset that has also just spent the last week working with OUR pitchers and could provide the Sox with some valuable "inside" info.
I doubt the Sox would try for Kerrigan, given his rocky tenure (i.e. his miserable experience as an interim manager after Jimy Williams left the team), but you never know with that FO up in Boston.
Doesn't mean I have to enjoy reading it. Maybe "laziness" was too harsh, but I got the same sense as Sliced (13). Seemed to me Klap was trying as hard to create news as he was trying to report it. If that wasn't the case - my bad.
BP
Its also worth noting that, in the division at least, the only team with an 'accomplished' lefty reliever is Toronto (they actually have two). Boston may not even carry a lefty in the pen.
Also note that the depth of righty relievers in the AL East re-inforce Cliff's point of a few days ago: having a strong lefty to come off the bench would be huge for the Yanks.
As for the various baserunning skills on the team. I don't know what evidence Ben 18 has to the contrary, but Alex Rodriguez steals about 20 bases a year at an 80% clip. That could be just smart baserunning (like Paul O'Neill), but I wouldn't say he's not fast.
As for Bernie, he's no Jorge, and he has a nice long stride that gets him from point to point quickly, even despite all his knee problems over the years. I wouldn't worry about him clogging the bases. Cano isn't exactly Vince Coleman out there you know.
Cliff, that sounds so sweet. I don't care if it is just meaningless preseason games.
Hopefully, the Yanks are paying him enough, and making him feel valued enough to not entertain an offer from Yawkey Way.
Of course you never know what can happen between these two clubs.
You're right on, I have no evidence per se. Just an impression of watching him run. He lands on his heels a bit too much, and most likely due to his size, just doesn't appear fast. So taking that with his success stealing, I figured it was because of smarts, a la Paulie O, and not because he's very fast. I may be wrong.
And to summarize G. Bush. Evidence? What is actually meant by 'evidence'. In other words, you want proof!!
Was it a subtle tribute to Maris? Was it the number of reporters he mowed down this week?
Today, the Yankees reporter's blog at the Bergen Record's website has this development:
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Big wheels
February 24, 2006
As if you couldn't tell from the prime parking space outside of Max's Cafe, and the driver patiently waiting next to it, George Steinbrenner's ride has been affixed with a pinstriped sticker with navy blue lettering proclaiming: "No. 1. Boss's Cart."
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Sweet! George is pimpin' his ride. The smokin' chrome rims are next.
Sheffield is a like some kind of Frankenstein's monster built out of the body parts of Paul O'Neil, Reggie, Daryl Strawberry and Billy Martin. I like his predictable outbursts and sour demeanor. It contrasts nicely to the left side of the infield. Sheffield's probably going to the Hall of Fame as well - why should he play second fiddle to anyone? And he's got one more ring than Giambi, Mussina, and A-Rod combined.
Don't think Cashman doesn't like Shef's outbursts either. Nobody wants to start 2006 with 11-19. I think Ca$hmoney will happily extend Sheffield with the Yanks 5 games in front after the Yanks go 22-8 in April.
The Yanks score 6.1 runs a game using the simpler online tool w/Bernie at DH. I got 6.4 runs with M. Bradley and Luis Castillo in the lineup for Damon and Cano, and 6.5 for Castillo, Bradley, and F. Thomas at DH. I'm not sure why scoring 60 fewer runs over a season for $10 million additional dollars is a good thing but it was still an above average offseason.
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