And it's Bernie and Fasano in today...

Damon DH
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
A-Rod 3B
Cano 2B
Bernie CF
Wilson 1B
Fasano C
Cabrera RF

http://img416.imageshack.us/img416/8301/stachent7.jpg

where do you get all this up-to-the minute news?

13 Cliff reported the Dotel story. Here on this very page. (Look up.)

Here's a link, if you need one:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2551619

The Yanks are in the midst of a brutal consecutive games stretch and Torre needs to rest some of his guys before the 5-game series in Beantown.

here are his options:

A) rest some guys tonight and tomorrow night against a team that the Yanks have a good chance of beating even without all the regulars in the lineup,

or

b) play all the regulars tonight, tomorrow night, and then 5 straight, tense, games in the Fenway Zoo and thus risk injury/exhaustions right smack in the middle of a crucial series?

And let's also not forget that after Boston the Yanks embark on a West Coast trip.

I ask you all, if not now, then WHEN will Torre have a chance to rest his regulars in the next week plus? huh?

Finally Dotel is here. Things are looking extremely positive.

Usually, breaking news like that appears on blogs and message boards before it appears at MSM sites like ESPN.

If you rest Damon, then Cabrera, or maybe Abreu, or Bubba or Thompson (I know they are not on the roster) should play CF.

Unless Torre is resting three starters tomorrow, today's moves could have been spread over two or three days.

The real issue, short and long term, is Torre's obsession with Bernie in CF.

Oh, and playing the backup catcher is not a travesty either. By no means is this tantamount to forfeit, as seen in 5. I seriously wonder what many of the people here talked about in August 1998, with nothing to "worry" about. This is much worse than the people who wrote off the game last night- writing off a game before it starts. Let's watch the game and root for the Yankees, shall we?

You heard it hear first, Bernie's gonna come out mashing tonight. We all know that he is a faithful reader of the Banter and he is ready to prove some people wrong...

Torre and mehmattski seem to feel that Bernie's experience is a better option than Melky's youth and speed. Perhaps. Of course, another solution would be to replace increasingly marginalized Phillips with already marginalized Bubba.

Not that it matters now, but what is the solution next year? Resign Bernie? More Bubba? Melky finaly trusted to play back-up CF? Typical Yankee solution--sign washed-up back-up CF like Terence Long? You make the call!

Torre said something about using Melky as a rotating OFer next year. Rest one of the vets every night, so Melky gets to play every night.

Sounds great in theory. In practice, I'm afraid it'll end up like Torre's various "platoon" schemes for RF this season. When push comes to shove, he'll be unable to sit the veteran, so Melky will end up glued to the bench.

25 Giambi at 1B is consistently better for the team, even with his below average defense:

1995-2005 (AB AVG OBP SLG OPS):
DH: 1103 .252 .393 .475 .868
1B: 3377 .312 .432 .576 1.008

2006:
DH: 191 .230 .371 .586 .957
1B: 160 .288 .455 .600 1.055

Bernie in CF is problematic but unfortunately, he's the 4th OF now. If you want to rest any of the other guys he has to play the field - however ugly it looks. A night against a lefty isn't a bad way to do it.

But really, if you all want to bitch about anything, direct it toward the presence of Fasano on the team. Jorge is spiraling toward his annual blackhole of productivity, and the best the Yanks can do for four years at backup C is John Flaherty, Kelly Stinnett, and Sal Fasano? Glad we can't expect much from Jorge for the next two months...

A-Rod hits 4 HRs tonight, you heard it here first. Adios amigos.

(And oh yeah, we'll win big-time.)

Second,you actually try out a young C instead of some retread. The Yankees are, of course, usually less willing to take this approach.

And even if they did, Giambi's future is as a DH - might as well get him to learn how (from your perspective).

(The standard response - sort have honed it thorugh the years - Jim it was as James and Jimmy were sorta taken)

31 Welcome to the site, and thanks for your comment. I'm not sure I entirely buy the pre-2005 numbers for Giambi at DH. He was the full time 1B with the Athletics, and its likely that he only would be the DH when he was tired or slightly injured, which could explain the depressed numbers. Though his numbers the past two seasons indicate a bigger impact on offense while playing 1B. However, the gap is not very big in this sample, and his negative defense probably nullifies this benefit.

I guess you get the "Rebel Without a Cause" stuff all the time too...

35 I don't know - that's a pretty big difference. But my point was just that he's definitely not worse for the team at 1B, and probably a little better. I mean, let's do the math (based on 500 AB's in the season and my very rudimentary skills).

.58 in AVG = about two extra hits a week?
.24 in isolated OBP = about one extra walk a week?
Call the SLG a wash, but only this year?

Would he really give up 3-4 bases (errors) a week on defense? That seems more like Ortiz. If not, then he's more valuable in the field.

Unless, of course he 'learns' to DH. But even with more AB's there this year, it doesn't look good. ANd I thought he was looking better at 1B with his idol, Donnie B, showing him the way.

His defense is dropping off a cliff. Last year, he had twice as many errors as he'd previously averaged. This year, he was on pace to double his errors yet again.

Worse, he tends to hurt himself trying to play defense, diving for balls and stretching for bad throws.

He's 35. It's only going to get worse from here on. Like Rilkefan said, he has to get used to DHing.

That's what I'd rather have.

Even claiming Giambi's starts at 1b don't correlate health this year, or to pitcher quality, or whatever, the sample size is still pretty small - the error on his BA differential for example is be about 0.04 says the back of an envelope.

Phillips: 495 Innings, 6 errors
Giambi: 373 Innings, 7 errors

And what if he never 'gets used' to the DH role. He's not this year. You want to give up about 50 extra bases for him on the year, because he might give back 20, or even 30, on defense?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp?playerId=3645

I know it's a small sample size, but after that first inning, I'm not exactly reassured...

Bad play by Melky in LF or not, Bernie should not be in CF.

Bubba's heating up down in Columbus. His first game, he struck out three times. Then he started drawing walks. Then he started hitting singles. Now he's getting extra-base hits.

Started out tonight with a triple, and came home on an Aaron Guiel groundout. Would have been an RBI triple, except KT got picked off 1B while Bubba was batting. Thompson is really, really fast, but somehow not a great baserunner.

Bernie has reportedly been complaining about his playing time. Or lack thereof.

"Yeah, I think a lot of people are complaining about your playing ti....OHHHH you meant when you're NOT playing."

Love,

me

I mean, this guy is throwing a perfect game...

That's a fine way to treat your old teammate, Kevin...

.... and the Melkman Delivers!

On another note...since Myers has pitched in about 6 games since the all-star break and tossed about 24 pitches....can we not leave him in Columbus and call him up for Red Sox series ? That is the only reason he is here ?

I'm not sure the Yankees can expect Posada to catch 130+ games any more, and they sure don't want Christ Turner, er Fasano/Stinnett/Flaherty starting 40 or 50 games.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/turnech01.shtml

Jim Leyritz was on the team briefly, before being traded to the Dodgers for Jose Vizcaino at the end of June.

Who the hell is (my new favorite non-Yankee player) Brent Clevlen???

http://tinyurl.com/pmjs5

So whoever asked if Torre would leave Fasano off the PS roster this season (monkeypants, I believe), dream on... if Turner made it, so will Big Sal.

a) Boggles my mind

and

b) Proves how almost worthless BA is.

Mike Myers continues to not exist for the Yankees...

Cripes. I should just pick up Jaret Wright and be done with it.

How come we couldn't do that to the bleepin' Halos?

So now it's Wright tomorrow.

7-Year worth 120M-

he receives a 17M Signing bonus that is paid 3M in 2002, 4M in '03 and '04, 4.5M in '05, 1M in '06 and 0.5M in '07-

he will make in 2002-8M, in 2003-9M, in 2004- 10M, in 2005- 11M, i 2006- 18M and in 2007 and 08- 21M and in 2009- Team Option 22M or 5M buyout

Giambi will be a scary thought in 2009 unless he finds another pharmacist and "cuts out junk food again"

No, no, its the Yankees fault that A-Rod makes $25 mil/yr... how bad for baseball that team is... That said, Giambi's contract is going to be a huuuuuuge slowly dying albatross in a couple of years.

Sheesh. It wasn't a three-pitch count, but it was close.

Oh, yeah. The A-Rod deal was highway robbery by the Yanks, but it's couched by the airheads in Bristol and beyond as 'just more greed' from the Evil Empire.

Giambi's contact is huge, but that's been the MO. Pay for the chance to win now with big backended money. See RJ's deal, and Damon's for that matter. Pay for 'em beyond what we'll expect to get that value for in those years, just to have 'em now. Hey, if we have the $$, spend it!

325 That just seem like forever ago.

Did the fragile Farnsworth pitch this week ?

Did anyone see Myers at Old Timers Day, is he still pitching?

Or send Fasano back to Brooklyn and use Wilson to back up Jorgie

Man I double hated that guy, played for Auburn and the Red Sox... still can't believe we signed him.

:)

In other news, I'm glad that ball was hit to Derek and not you know where.

BUT NO....had to spend the money and get Randy Johnson from the lobby in Cooperstown to replace Kevin Browns big money deal and keep the affirmative action programme for surly red necks intact

BUT NO....had to spend the money and get Randy Johnson from the lobby in Cooperstown to replace Kevin Browns big money deal and keep the affirmative action programme for surly red necks intact

BUT NO....had to spend the money and get Randy Johnson from the lobby in Cooperstown to replace Kevin Browns big money deal and keep the affirmative action programme for surly red necks intact

Had it been a weak ground ball, I would have been just as disgusted as the rest of you...

He looked pretty good to me. His slider is vicious and his velocity high.

Anyone know what his history of control is?

And why did Joe bring him in at all if he wasn't prepared to forfeit the game?

He brought him in and then yanked him when he got into trouble.

But it was too late then.

Joed relied on Proctor to bail the team out of a situation they shouldn't have been in in the first place.

Doesn't make sense.

And since when does a catcher tag up to go to second base on a fly ball to left in a ONE RUN GAME?

That's some pretty stupid base running - sheesh!

Almost as bad as Giambi running through the stop sign the other day.

414 I think you're right. Myers is supposed to be the Ortiz-killer.

But given how often our starters struggle to go five innings, I'm not sure it's worth it. Carrying 13 pitchers would be just ridiculous, but I'm half-expecting them to do it, if only for this weekend.

Awesome Green steal.

my guess is that you think Bonds is a dirtbag and a cheat ?

You can be a Yankee fan for life like myself and not care for certain Yankees like Gooden, Strawberry, Steve Howe, etc...

It is just a matter of calling a spade a spade and not overdosing on YES commentary

We can't say we aren't getting our share of the breaks tonight.

Nice take out slide by Nick. He may not be fast, but he's fearless.

I didn't like Straw, Gooden, or Howe as people either, but I still rooted for them as Yankees. Straw's 3 homer game and Doc's no hitter are some of my favorite Yankee memories.

Those are my thoughts, and you have the right to express yours. Just realize you are in the minority on your Giambi feelings, at least here.

Send a text message that says "Yankees" to 466-45 (googl)

Within a few seconds Google will text you back the score. The service is free and it's pretty frickin neat.

We're still 3 games up in the loss column against the RS because they've been even worse. Our pitching seems OK to very good (with the occasional hiccup), but the offense has been supremely frustrating.

437 KYF, you've made some great posts tonight, can't we let it go now about Giambi and steroids?

By all accounts he is a likeable and fun loving guy...

All that said...that contract in 2009 is going to be like Kevin Brown or Randy next year....large money for not much