The rain certainly warshed away some of the euphoria of the first two games of this series.

Gingerly navigating the puddles of Times Square this morning on my sprained ankle, I was thinking about how banged up this team is.

Damon, Jeter, and Posada will be playing in pain perhaps for the rest of the season.

Also, in light of the Melky Mania there's this sobering assessment of the Yanks farm system in the Daily News today:

http://tinyurl.com/o2l96

Jim Callis stands by Baseball America's curbed enthusiasm over the Yankee farm product.

"They needed a pitcher and they brought Scott Erickson up."

Ouch, indeed.

I'm still happy about those two wins, but the Jason Grimsley story has put a serious damper on the entire sport.

Yep, the Grimsley case pisses on baseball parades past and present -- but the Yanks seem determined to soldier through it.

Posada in the Daily News: "It's not going to change anything around here, my way of coming to the field and getting ready."

Mussina: "It can't be more of a distraction than it already has been."

2 Every time one of these reports come out, I whisper a silent prayer that nobody on the Yankees will be exposed (who hasn't been exposed already - you know what I mean).

(sigh)

Looks like Milledge and Melky will be competing for the title of "Rookie of New York" this season, eh? Imagine being 21 and on the roster of one of these ballclubs. Sitting next to you on the dugout is a future hall of famer. The whole world is yours for the taking. No wonder some guys run themselves off the road like Doc Gooden. It's gotta be heady stuff. Some things you gotta learn on your own via mistakes, but I hope someone takes these youngsters under their wing and at least keeps them from some of the more serious problems possible.

I was sorta hoping for a Unit vs Schilling game tonight. I think everyone has been waiting for one of those since last year. If they both were on their games, it would be something. Even so - the pre game buzz would be off the charts. Fun.

BP

1 Slice, I read that remark from Callis and it struck me that he was playing a little fast and loose with perception. The Yankees brought up Erickson in the belief that his experience would allow him give them some valuable innings and that he would be able to handle pressure situations early in the season. The move however was not a commentary on the talent level of pitchers in the system. It was a comment on the Yankees belief in those young pitchers ability to come up to the majors and compete and potentially give them quality innings right now. BBA takes a great deal of pains to tell us each year that ranking a minor league system does not really concern a consideration of what the players they are ranking could do at the major league level "right now".

As is the usual practice at BBA they continue to ignore and obfuscate the issue. Erickson pitching at the majors represents a bad choice on management's part, it does not represent a commentary on the depth of the system as a whole. There are pitchers there who are moving into the upper levels of the system and who will give us innings before the year is over.

Let's take BBA at their word and assume that Melky is not a top ten Yankee prospect. Look at his performance at the Major League Level. Shouldn't that fill us with confidence in the abilities of the guys who they think are top 10. I find it amusing that they never seem able to look at the other side of the issue. With the success of Cano, Wang, Melky and others perhaps the Yankees will place a little more faith in the ability of youngsters such as Smith, Beam, White, Veras, Cox, Kennard and others at Trenton or Columbus. I wouldn't get too wrapped around the axel about those comments. We're getting better; we made some nice picks in the draft. If we can sign some of them we'll be even better.

5 Thanks for the insights and perspective, wsporter.

My axel's unwrapped.

I'd like to add a comment about BBA:
What's their accuracy historically? Has anyone compared their success rate against anyone else (like Bill James MLE)?
I ask that because they seem to be extremely innaccurate, and (as has been demonstrated by many) when properly analyzed, minor league stats are just as useful for predictions as major league stats.

Man I hope they get the game in today and give The Mouthpiece a very unpleasant broom-ride out of town.

I dunno, I don't have any fearless predictions but I imagine that Schilling will pitch well tonight.

7 I remember reading a study about a year ago that compared the major prospect sites and their accuracy giving scores based on where they ranked a player, and how that player did in the majors. I forget exactly how it worked, but it turned out that Baseball Prospectus was actually the most accurate of the prospect sites. BBA, I think was 3rd, though I can't remember who was 2. However, while BP was, I want to say, 99% accurate, BBA was still something like 95% accurate.

Do people in the New York area say "warsh" in place of "wash"?

My mother did, but she was from St. Louis.

Alex or Cliff, you might want to change to pitching probables on the right. Rich Harden has been placed on the DL again (strained elbow ligament), so Moose is pitching against TBD.

I'm 95% sure Brad Halsey will take Harden's spot in the rotation.

Bob, it isn't a New York thing at all. I picked it up when I was working for the Coen brothers. One day Ethan used the expression, I thought it was great, and have used it myself ever since.

http://www.nomaas.org/sportsguydecline.html

That's a must read.

14
So you're an honorary Midwesterner?

15 absolutely

i hope a million ppl read it... this has too much effort and sanity to go unnoticed