Normally I'm not big on Ivy Leaguers in the Majors. But this looks like a good deal all around. Maybe Gonzales is the reserve INF?

i wish i remembered where i read this, but supposedly, johnson has already agreed to a $10M extension. they just have to cross their Ts and dot their Is.

great discussion under the last thread, by the way.

So the Yankees added the Attorney General and an economist in this deal?

Make the call, Jim; there's still time...

I posted about Ohlendorf and the NY Post "article" at COH as well. If Ohlendorf defies the rating some scouts have given him and actually becomes a good Major Leaguer this trade is without a doubt a steal. There's so much that has to happen before we know anything, but I've been a fan of Ohlendorf for a while (I like Princeton sports) and I'm going to take the overly optimistic tack on this until something convinces me to think otherwise.

Ohlendorf and Bill Bradley, New York Legends!

Glad to see the Unit go. Bet that Joe is too. More concerned about First Base.

6 Who's on first base?

7 I don't know.

1 Gehrig wasn't too shabby :-)

6 I know you were referring to the "other" Joe, but I will say this, I was never a fan of the 2002-2006 Oliver's Army Yankees. I want to root for the guys on this team because I like them, not just because they wear the Pinstripes.

7 Bud's in Milwaukee and Lou's in Chicago...

Of COURSE Lupica's got to spin this into the 'big phony' Clemens possibly sneaking his way back into the rotation.

12 You think Lupica's angling for a hummer when he retires?

9 Yeah, he was fair . . .

I was thinking more of Jim Beattie . . . although, he's a fabulous GM.

13 He has to wait till he retires to get a hummer?

8 Third base.

Hmmm...all these scouting reports on Ohlendorf make me wonder what some scouts were saying about Wang when he was in the minors. The thing that impresses me the most is his low HR rates and his GO/AO ratio. He seems to give up hits, but he rarely gets hit hard. If he can translate that to the majors, then a pitcher who gives up a few more grounder singles here and there while issuing basically no walks and no longballs could work very, very well.

We do need a C prospect, or at least a decent backup. Hopefully Cashman will focus on that now.

16 Yeah . . . I don't know about Third Base either.

BTW, Mike, we've never exchanged pleasantries, but congrats the birth of your son. I enjoy your contributions here and on COH.

17 "We do need a C prospect, or at least a decent backup. Hopefully Cashman will focus on that now."

Please, Cashman, focus on anything but bringing Doug Misspellingwicz to the Yanks.

15 It would explain a lot...

19 Thanks Joe. I appreciate it. My son, Hiroto, just signed a deal with the Royals for $8 million a year over 30 years. They wanted to get into the Japanese market long term.

12 The Malignant Dwarf is really barf inducing isn't he? He spins speculation into criticism with such pure élan that I'm tempted to believe he actually believes half the crap he writes. With all that piffle in today's poison missive he conveniently leaves out the fact that the Yankees have actually made themselves younger and given themselves greater market flexibility through the post season moves Ca$hman has orchestrated.

Criticism is useful and enlightening but the brand of half truth, exaggeration and nastiness barfed up by the puking pygmy is really laughable. I wouldn't wrap a dead fish in it. I'm done with the jerk.

22 Damn, Mike, as his agent you should have shopped Hiroto to the Yanks. Even at this early stage in his baseball development, the lad is a much more appealing 1B option for 2007 than Doug Mientkocrity.

22 Geez, Mike, did you at least get him an out somewhere? I know KC was big on deferrals at one point...

24 Jinks. You owe me a Root Beer...

26 I mean, "Jinx..."

23 matthews over at newsday wrote a similar piece. ugh. it's depressing to consider that i'll never get the 2 minutes i spent reading that back.

27 Jinxkwicz. Shasta, ok? Or is you a Muggs man? Hell, let's go top shelf, Chyll. Stewart's is my root beer of cherce, but it costs a buck an ounce.

23 Don't get me wrong - I skimmed the steaming pile of horse puck and pretty much gleaned all I needed to know about it from the headline, the first paragraph and the last few sentences.

We get it Mike, the Yankees can't do anything right in your eyes. They should just disband the team, tear up all the contracts and go play in Minnesota & Kansas City for league minimum.

Eat it, troll.

27 Jenks?

30 Word.

That is all.

Say no to McNasty, Sliced. Stewart's is the word, but I can always go with Barq's in a pinch. (Jinxkwicz, nice...) However, the bigger issue is little Hiroto... the Royals, Mike! The ROYALS!!

29 I don't even know if they still make it, but Saranac used to brew a root beer they called "Tavern 1888" that was fantastic. Best root beer I've ever had.

I wonder what the rags will say if Clemens doesn't come back to the Yanks?

Gotta tip your cap to RJ. Beat us as a Mariner. Beat us as a Dimondback. Even beat us as a Yankee.

Dude's a bona fide Yankee-Killer.

33 "Clemens to City: Drop Dead"

Tavern 1888... I'm on it...

22 That should be enough to put him through college if he can't hit a curve ball . . . ;-)

20 Here's hoping that Doug Msplat wins the "2007 Johnny Damon Surprise" award, rather than the "2007 Terrance Long What The (&$^" award.

If we gotta have him, I'm hoping he plays well and defies expectations. I said the same about Johnny Damon and he was a pleasant surprise.

Fingers and toes crossed.

I'm going to start calling Dougie, MCI.

Man Cave Itch

30 I'm going to start calling Lupica, ET.

Eat It, Troll

33 If you're looking for a quality beverage, see if you can find anything by 'Foxon Park' near you. The headquarters is up here in New Haven County, CT and they serve it at all the famous pizza places in downtown New Haven.

They make a white birch beer that is an absolute party in your mouth, as well as a top shelf root beer, cream, ginger ale, and cherry flavor as well - about the only variety that isn't worth the money is something called 'Iron Brew'. Tastes like Dr. Pepper's mutated cousin, yulk.

http://www.foxonpark.com/ - you can order it from here, but I believe it's $1.50 a bottle and they only sell the 12 oz. size online.

35 Yep, they still make it. East Coast, saranac.com, can't ship beer interstate, yadda-yadda-yadda...

38 Good thing Johnny shaved that "Caveman" image, yikes!"

38 Nice! As in:

I really hope they don't trade Melky so they can feature MCI in a platoon at 1B.

40 Thanks for the tip! I wish I had time to go hunt that stuff down (ummm, cherry-flavored soda), or a Saranac root beer. They (Saranac) made a ginger beer too that was also excellent.

38 Unless there's a Firefox macro extension, MCI sounds like a good moniker to me!

41 Thanks, Chyll - I might have to go order a case (root beer can be shipped anywhere)! Or ask my folks to bring me some the next time they come to visit.

41 You could always get Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed to help you with that interstate beer shipment...

I have an Ohlendorf/Wang comparison that shows how similar they were at the same age in AA, and how Ohlendorf could become a similar pitcher. It's at yanksandmore.blogspot.com

45 We got a long way to go...and a short time to get there...we gonna do what they say can't be done..

Damn it, now I'm going to have to go and watch it again.

46 Good stuff on the blog, Eric.

Here's hoping Ohlendorf can burn the worms like CM Wang.

45 Miss USA would be cheaper...

46 Not that I mind reading more quality posts about the Yankees and their doings, but I'd almost like to see some sort of consolidation of a lot of these blogs...

Or at least can someone make a page with nothing but links or feeds from all the Yankee blogs out there?

50 Isn't that what RSS is all about?

I also liked what Pinto had to say about the idea of bringing Clemens back. He's basically like, "the Yanks are stockpiling young pitchers, see how it goes with them before you blow a wad of cash on another old expensive dude." Amen.

50 Most of the decent ones are to the right under Bronx Bloggers. There is an awful lot out there. One that I like that has just changed around is now called "Pinstripe Potentials". The guy does a nice job summarizing a lot of the written materials on Yankees prospects. It's well written and the owner is a pleasant knowledgeable guy. I think Alex and Cliff should consider adding it to the list.

Vizcaino looks remarkably similar to Farnsworth, i.e. an every-other-day, 1-inning-only guy. The similarities do not stop there:

Farns: 72G, 66.0 IP, 8 HR, 28 BB, 75 K
Viz: 70G, 65.1 IP, 8 HR, 29 BB, 72 K

After that, we see a bit of a deviation:

Farns: 0.56 GO/AO, 1.36 WHIP, .376 SLG, .318 OBA, .243 AVG, 2.68 K/BB, 3.82 BB/9, 10.23 K/9, 8.45 H/9, 1.922 WXRL

Viz: 1.19 GO/AO, 1.22 WHIP, .397 SLG, .311 OBA, .215 AVG, 2.48 K/BB, 3.99 BB/9, 9.92 K/9, 7.03 H/9, 2.173 WXRL

Farnsworth has the slight edge in strikeouts, has slightly better control and gives up fewer extra base hits. Vizcaino gave up way fewer hits last year, but for a ground-ball pitcher this number can vary. Vizcaino's relatively high SLG-against with his high GO/AO suggests that he's got a sinker that occasionally decides not to sink. Overall, Vizcaino had a slightly better 2006, though Farnsworth has been more impressive in the past.

Eric Schultz's blog links to one I hadn't seen called Bronx Liaison, which had a link to this interview with Ohlendorf:

http://tinyurl.com/w39v9

Our new worm killer's favorite player? Clemens.
At the time of the Oct. 2004 interview Ohlendorf was looking forward to meeting Randy Johnson at Spring Training.

53 that looks pretty informative. thanks.

55 "At the time of the Oct. 2004 interview Ohlendorf was looking forward to meeting Randy Johnson at Spring Training."

that's just funny.

On another topic entirely: I saw Josh Phelps' name listed among arbritation-eligibles. Does this make sense? The Orioles signed Phelps as a minor league free agent, so they presumably gave him a minor league contract. Shouldn't the Yankees just pick up this contract and pay him the major league minimum prorated for each day he spends on the 25-man roster (i.e. either the entire season or until they return him to sender)? Arbitration assures that a player is fairly compensated when a single team holds exclusive rights to his services. Once a player is on the open market, the market determines his pre-season value (which, in Phelps' case, was virtually nothing).

I just wanted to point out after the Johnson trade that the Yankee payroll is $176.84M with 4 spots to fill (I didn't include Doug Magthroahe because I'm not positive how much he will get).

This is in actual dollars (as opposed to AAV used in luxury tax) and includes $4M for Wright and $2M for Johnson as that is how much money is spent in trades. It assumes Wang and Cano will make $.4M each, which is probably off by a few 100K but I took a low ball guestimate for now.

The Red Sox payroll is $144.0725. This is without Donnolly because I can't find how much he makes, but it does include Pineiro and Drew (I'm not sure either are official).

The difference between the two payrolls now being $32.7675M.

If you want to include posting fees:

Yankees: 176.84 + 26 = 202.84
Red Sox: 144.0725 + 51.1 = 195.1725
Difference: 7.6675

I'm not really sure why I care other than it is an interesting topic, but I love that the gap is closing.

2007 Potential Bullpen Candidates

Mo (obviously)
Farnsworth
Myers
Bruney
Britton
Vizcaino
Lefty-To-Be-Named-Later (Schoenweiss, Henn)
Karstens
Rasner
Sanchez
Veras

. . . gettin' mighty crowded

58 Yeah, but the Yankees Suck!

47 pistolpete, if you like that movie check out this picture (it is a lot funnier to me now that he is not our coach):

http://tinyurl.com/yghte7

To sum up our offseason so far, I will quote PeteAbes blog:
The Yankees have dropped $30 million in payroll and added eight players, seven of them pitchers, since the end of the season.

58 I'm not sure if it gets factored in, but the Yanks are sending the D'backs 5 million (2 in this deal, and 3 from the last one).

57 Phelps isn't on the open market. the Rule 5 draft doesn't affect his status under the reserve clause at all.

I'll say again: I really hate the Mxyzptlk signing. But maybe if we can get him to say his name backwards, he'll be returned back to the fifth dimension...

65 or Boston, plus $8-10 million...

Sliced Bread Presents
"When Ross Met Kyle"

February 15, 2007.
Newly acquired Yankees pitching prospect Ross Ohlendorf reports to Spring Training, where he meets Kyle Farnsworth.

Farnswacker introduces himself, snapping a towel at Ohlendorf.

Farnswacker: Waaz-zup! Looks like we's neighbors. I'm Kyle but alls the pretty ladies call me Lord Farnstantinople.

Ohlendorf: Ross Ohlendorf. (they shake hands) Good to meet you.

Farnswacker: (laughs) You said 'dorf,' dude. Fuckin' hilarious! The Dorf is in da house! Olen-DORF. Olen-DORF. DORF, DORF, DORF.

Ohlendorf: You could just call me, you know, Ross.

Farnswacker: No prob, Ross-a-Roni! Yo, Gator says you was a I.V. Leaguer.

Ohlendorf: Yeah, couple years at Princeton.

Farnswacker: Youse a prince?!

Ohlendorf: Heh (nervous laugh), um, no.

Farnswacker (scratching his head): How's that I.V. League work?

Ohlendorf: How does it work?

Farnswacker: Yeah, I got one of them I.V's in my arm once, and last thing I wanted do was play ball, man.
So how's that work? Buncha guys playin' ball with all them needles and tubes stuck in them arms?

Ohlendorf (perplexed): Are you talking about intravenous therapy?

Farnswacker: Fucks no! I'ma talkin' I.V. League baseball, bro! Shit's wack if you ask me.

Ohlendorf: I guess it was, uh, wack.

Farnswacker: Youse a big feller. Whaddaya throw? Guzzoline?

Ohlendorf: Nah, not so much, gasoline. Sinkers mostly.

Farnswacker: Sinkers. Hell, I throwed a sinker once. Almost killed my damn dawg. Throwed a fridger once, too, and them bitches real heavy.

Ohlendorf: Yeah, well, great to meet you, man. Hey, you know if Mike Mussina is here yet.

Farnswacker: Ain't seen him yet, but you'll like Moose. Smart feller. Real smart. Always doing them puzzle books, with them whatchu call 'em?

Ohlendorf: Words?

Farnswacker: Yeah, words! See, I knew you was smart. I don't go fer them puzzle books much. I do like to color sometimes though. Gots me a box with like 12 different shades of blue, and all kinds a yellers, too. You wanna see that shit?

Ohlendorf: Uh, definitely later.

Farnswacker: Well, lemme know if you need help figurin' things out around here. You ain't in no I.V. League no more, bro.

As is evidenced from this and the past few threads, it bcomes apparent that we need to establish an agreed upon Bronx Banter Nickname (BBNN) for Dougie Mauzer.

Not that all of his references haven't been both thoughtful and amusing, but if we have a new visitor here, they will think we have 7 shitty LH hitting 1st baseman.

For those who care to participate, please post your BBNN official entry. Hopefully, Cliff/Alex can post the best 5, and we can have a runoff. It's manlaw time folks. Just what do we call this putz?

(However, all entries, when said backwards, should indeed send this guy to some non-Yankee dimension).

The Dback fans love this trade, it seems:
http://www.azsnakepit.com/story/2007/1/5/22938/35906

Key excerpt: "Of course, the phrase "Minor League prospects" bears a little closer examination, since the crucial part of the deal was what we'd have to give back to the Yankees. The good news is, nothing of stunning significance, or so it appears thus far. The names which are apparently being mentioned are Ross Ohlendorf, right-hand pitcher Steven Jackson (a 2.65 ERA in 24 Double-A starts, but got torched in the AFL) and Alberto Gonzalez, a shortstop better reputed for his glove-work than his bat: According to John Sickels list at Major League Ball, none of them are ranked higher than #18 as far as Arizona is concerned. Curiously, the three players were consecutive on Sickel's list, from #18-20.

AlGon was the highest-ranked shortstop in the Arizona system, but really, with Drew looking set to be there through 2011, do we need anyone else? Especially someone named Gonzalez. :-) His line in Tennessee last year was .290/.356/.392, for a .748 OPS, and had a quick cup of coffee in Tucson with the Sidewinders. Jackson was originally hoped to have a Webb-like sinker, but the reality seemed less than the advance promotion, and those who saw him during the Arizona Fall League were largely unimpressed. There, he threw 19 innings, giving up 15 earned runs on 24 hits and nine walks.

And then there's Ohlendorf, whom the Yankees are regarding as the jewel in the trade and who perhaps does have the highest potential upside. But, really, what are we talking here? Apart from the usual caveat that there's no such thing as a pitching prospect, he was only a fourth-round pick, and his 2006 year was a lot better than the previous one, so that could be an aberration. I am slightly sorry to see him go, but as terrors go, I think I can handle it, and should be able to sleep [though the heavy, ongoing doses of NyQuil will probably help there!] "

So for RJ, we got three prospects who rank #18, #19, #20 from the Dbacks system.

Here is Sickels' ranks:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/main/3

Couldn't we have better quality than 18-20?

I know there is risk of RJ sucking next year. But is that risk greater than any of these three not panning out? How often do pitching prospects this low pan out?

The only way Cashman makes this trade acceptable to me is if he can flip these chips he got into someone more useful. Like a real 1st baseman or a legit catching prospect.

63 I factored in $2M for Johnson being traded. I believe the rest of the money from Vazquez's contract has already been paid out.

67 i hope farnsworth has a better sense of humor than tim purpura.

http://tinyurl.com/t5e22

my entry for the mientkiewicz BBNN: meat II

67 Now THAT is freaking hilarious. Bravo, Sliced. Bravo. (sound of clapping hands and chuckling in the background)

68 I've always liked "eye chart"

doug jumble

eye chart is a good one.

It's just a matter of time before I start calling him Doug Out.

Man-Cave Itch = MCI

77 I think you may actually need an 'MRI' for the MCI (Man-Cave Itch), but I can't say for sure.

Consult your physician.

69AlGon????

I thought "D-Mat" was the new low. This madness has to stop.

Either that, or we should go entirely to the dark side: it should now be required that all players be referred to by initial and syllable. J-Po. B-Ab. M-Cab (either one). D-Ort. A particular favorite would be A-Pu, first baseman extraodinaire and owner of the Kwik-E-Mart.

Dougie Baseball. The Anti-Mattingly.

75 I second 'Eye Chart'.

77 Be careful. This is a family friendly hangout ;-)

Doogie Stench
Mint-K-suck
Stinkawicz

73 "Eye Chart" is already called for - it's a stolen nickname. It properly belongs to the immortal Doug Gwosdz.

"Boomer" Wells may have been able to get away with stealing a nickname, but that should be kept to a minimum.

80 Prolly more like the anti-Giambi.

77 If you're going with Man-Cave Itch, can't we just call him "Gold Bond"?

Dougie Vowelmovement
Dougie Spellcheck
A-Rod's Friend

Nah, I'm stickin with Doug Out.

At least Doug Out doesn't hit home runs, which spares us the excruciatingly inevitable "It's a 2 run dinky for Minky!" call by John Sterling.

86 Slice, I still can't get passed "vowelmovement" - a linguistic enema.

67 ROFL. That was a classic.
BTW, where are you from Sliced? You nailed the North Georgia dialect (that is where they filmed the movie Deliverance, you know). The only thing you could have added was the phrase "fixin' to" as in "Hey Dorf, I'm fixin' to go try me some of that Jeter cologne... you want a swig?"

I've always liked ManCaveItch for our new 1B.

87 - eeeeeeeew. I can hear it now.

88 "Vowel Movement" would make a nifty title for a Vanna White bio.

86 'Doug Out' rocks.

Topic brings to mind Jim Rome's classic: CP3-O-lerud, and his goof interviews with him, where Olerud's answers were complete silence. Funny stuff, I thought...

89 Thanks, Bama. Fixin'. I like that.

I was born in Hells Kitchen, NYC but now live in northwest NJ out near in Pennsyltucky. Not sure if we have any Deliverance types out my way, but the Pocono Mt radio stations play banjo music.

I think that No. Georgia dialect can be found outside every city in America.

92 C3P-Olerud. That's great!

67 I tip my cap to you .... bravo

Being a rather obsessed tournament Scrabble player, I often complain of racks needing "vowel movements", or of them being "consonated"

Remember folks, I patented "Pavanomas"

As for Minky ... I propose "DMZ".
As in Demilitarized Zone (an area from which military forces, operations, and installations are prohibited) ... in other words ... the area is defenseless.

Ooo, a nickname discussion, count me in! Man-Cave-Itch sounds like it could stick, and represents how most of us feel about him: the kind of icky thing we get after going home with the last girl left in the bar or something...

One nickname that has to happen, though, is for Kei Igawa, based on his hilarious SI interview:

SI: What's the coolest part of your job?
Igawa: Pitching complete games.

SI: And your motto?
Igawa: Quest.

"Quest" it is.

"Monkeyfish"

Or, "Krzyzewski".

Of the ones posted so far, I like "Doug out", though a lot of them are good.

67 As usual, I bow to Caesar. Much better than JD's Crank Call to Cashman at 1 in the Morning... (99 on last thread)
(sound of one hand clapping in the back)

"Doug Manwhogivzafoug"

Hey Sliced, I'm from NW NJ (Hardyston, near Sparta and Vernon)... isn't it great that there's this rural part of New Jersey no one's ever heard of, or been to (other than possibly for skiing)? I love the looks I get when I tell people I'm from the rural part of New Jersey. It's like this fantasy place where "What Exit" doesn't apply and no one has the Joe Pesci accent. And lots and lots of cows. Ah, nostalgia.

How about Dice-K-wicz... ;-)

Seriously, my vote is for Man-Cave-Itch (mainly so it can be shortened to MCI).

Igawa's motto is "Quest"? Is that like, really deep? And more important: does Farnswacker have a motto?

98 Chyll, that Jim Dean call was not bad. It had me laughing.

At least your attempt at humor did not totally crash a thread like my "Gambler" parody song that I posted the other day...

101 Yes, but it's unprintable. Sliced alluded to it last year with the "failure to get the ball to burst into flames" description...

101 I'm pretty sure it's "Istanbul, Not Farnstantinople." Or maybe that's just his theme song.

101 How about these:
Git-R-Done
Throwing Gas and Takin' Names
Farnstanbul not Farnstantinople

104 & 105 Duke beats Bama by five seconds...

I predict Diane will have a weird dream about playing "Mientkiewicz" on two triple word score squares, only to have Ross Ohlendorf challenge her.

102 If only AOL didn't crash every five minutes last night, I would have caught him while he was still logged in. Anybody got a suggestion service? I'm not in the Optimum Online affordability range just yet...

108 By Suggestion Service I mean Service Suggestion, of course...

P. Abraham reports Doug Out passed his physical and press conference is at 5pm EST...

109 You mean like they show on the front of cereal boxes?

96 Quest is awesome for Igawa. We could call him:

Tribe Called Quest or
Kei-Tip
or
Ali Shaheed Igawa
or uh...
Phife?

I think 'Shaggy' would work for Igawa. That is until Big Stein sends him to the barber.

105 That's nobody's business but the jerks . . .

sorry

70 Word is they pay that money in yearly installments (9 million over three). So they still owe three million this year.

69 See yesterday's thread. And no, these "prospects" aren't goood enough to flip for anybody, unless they include someone better that they already had, like Sanchez or Clippard.

110 Now we need a press conference for the fucktard? Actually, how about that for the nickname - fucktard?

112 and so, we make that inevitable 360 degree return to Alex's second favorite subject, old skewl hip-hop.

God I love this site!!!!

Why have a press conf? Oh right, so the NYC press can try and reel him in. Hey, maybe they're bringing him in to throw under the bus?

111 Phooey. I never go by suggested servings. It's Tony the Tiger all day, my friend; "I See My Blood Sugar Risin'..."

117 Can they even throw that far?

118 Good man.
Though I was actually talking about the note "Serving Suggestion" that prevents you from suing them when you find that there are no actual strawberries in the box.

114 Was that meant for my 105?

121 I think he meant to put quotations around that.

I'm off to have a couple of bowls right now. Take care, all >;)

120 no such thing as a free lunch. Sigh...

On the nickname tip, here's a quick read on Yankee monikers, most well known by the hardcore, others a bit obscure (by Harvey Frommer):

http://tinyurl.com/ycehx8

Among a handful, this one made me laugh:

"Donnie Baseball — Don Mattingly was the only player in any sport to have a nickname with the actual name of his or her sport in it. Some say it was coined by Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay; others say it came from Kirby Pucket. Kay takes the credit; Mattingly gives the credit to Puckett."

96 I like it... but propose a slight upgrade to "I-Quest"

Looks to be between "Doug Out" and "ManCaveItch (MCI)"

Actually, I was trying to come up with something creative to celebrate his statement, after swiping the ball of the Red Sox WS win (D-LastOut?), that was something to the effect that the ball represented the money he needed to send his kids to college (DougieCollege?, Cleptowicz?).

I will assume the 5-10 million he's made over his baseball career was spent on whores and booze.

Lots of player stink. How many swipe the ball from the final out of a WS?

So far, so good:

"Murcer, 60, has been relaxing and enjoying everyday activities, and hasn't had any setbacks since the surgery, the Yankees said. He is scheduled to return to Houston next week to consult with doctors at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, one of the top cancer facilities in the nation."

124 Good call, OYF — "the ball represented the money he needed to send his kids to college"

Which conjures up:

• SpreeAgentMan
• BallHawk
• Doug 'I take care of my kids' Out^

^ too wordy, and apologies to Chris Rock.

Personally, I like "Krzyzewski" as a nickname for Mientkiewicz. Or "HiLBUC".

Thats "Hits Like a Backup Catcher."

I also like "A-Rod's Wide Out" or "Mientsuckwicz".

"A utility infielder will come from outside the organization with Miguel Cairo a possibility to return." - PeteAbe

Brilliant!

{Actually, just saw Children of Men - well worth the price of admission, and a must see on the big screen. Anyone with a keen eye for filming techniques will be equally amazed. Brilliant all around).

129 There's such a divide among Yankee fans about Miguel Cairo. I can't stand the sight of him, and wish he'd become a Himalayan Sherpa or something. The idea of having him back is not like closing my eyes and imagining a meadow at dawn with a little doe nibbling the dewy grass. It's more like imagining a root canal.

What I'd love to see the Yankees do is hold a big ol' wide open Spring Training tryout. Invite everyone under the sun and let them win the bench jobs. We need a utility infielder, backup catcher, and possibly a 5th starter. We could also open first base to the best left/right platoon in camp. If that's Mientkiewicz and Phelps, great. If it's Miranda and Cookie Monster, fine. (I hear Cookie also plays a mean backup catcher. After all "C" is for cookie.)

We have a lot of young guys who would kill to join the big boys, even on the bench. Some of the prospects are already at that age that they will either get a bench job with the Bombers now, or they'll wither away in the minors. Best man wins.

"I can do the dirty work," Mientkiewicz said, "the stuff that goes unnoticed. ... I know it helps to have infielders know they don't have to be perfect on every throw."

Dirty deeds
Doug Dirtcheap
Dirty deeds done by Doug Dirtcheap

Uff

124 Lots of players keep the ball. Shortly after the Malphabet ordeal, USA Today came wrote an article about final out balls.

It has never been an issue before, because a team never made it an issue before.

Bernie Williams has the final out to the 2000 world series. He also retrieved and gave the winning hit ball to Luis Gonzalez after the 2001 world series--who in return gave it to the owner of the Diamondbacks the next day, not because he was asked, but becuase he felt he deserved it.

As far as the Malphabet signing, I didn't really like it when I first saw it, but I decided it doesn't bother me at all--especially at a 1-year $1.5M contract.

Also, I suggest people read No Doubt About It's entry regarding Meintkienwicz.

http://tinyurl.com/ybtz4l

Cairo also signed for $750K, which, I decided, I also don't mind.

I liked "Jumble" and for 112 "Johnny Quest"?

While I think the Yanks can do better, I don't mind Cairo as the backup infielder. It bugged to me to no end last year when Cairo was starting at 1b instead of Phillips. If he doesn't DH or 1B, the signing is OK with me, especially for less than $1M.

I didn't realize that Cashman had such a sense of humor: "I happen to believe Carl (Pavano) is going to be an effective and contributing member of this club."

Man, that's hilarious!

With Spelling Bee and Cairo, it looks like bye-bye Bernie. Better for the team, but good lord is it gonna be sad...

I missed all of yesterday's posts due to work. Sounded like fun...

I'm a Barq's Root Beer guy myself. It's got the "Bite." Only root beer w/ caffeine...

Sliced, the Farns bit was hysterical. Yeah, they all say "fixin'" down here. When I moved south 10.5 years ago, I thought everything was broken! They also say "itself," instead of "himself/herself." It truly makes my skin crawl. Most folks here in the city proper and Metro Atlanta, are actually transplanted Northerners, like me, so it's not that bad. I actually like some of the colloquialisms here, like "Might should," etc...

I'm not a big fan of the sobriquet "Doug Out," but I'll live with it if that's what "y'all" decide on. If "eyechart" is taken, I'd go with "spellcheck" <--- that names cracks me up. "Jumble" ain't bad, either... Oh, Johnette from Concrete Blonde had a side project called "Vowel Movement."

Someone did mention sending Farns back to the Atl. I'm sure we'd be on the hook for some salary, but I would be down with that, as long as Salty was sent our way as a catching prospect...

136 My wife is from NY, I'm from rural Washington State and she hates it when I say that I'm fixin to do something.

As far as the root beer goes, you can't beat Henry Weinhard's. And their orange cream soda? Holy crap! I swear that stuff has heroin in it or something. It is tasty beyond belief. Their real beer ain't too bad neither.

yeah, i've NEVER gotten used to the "fixin" thing. can't do it.

i would like to try all these fancy root beers mentioned in this thread.

with all this first base talk, jason's still gonna have to take the field at some point during interleague play. right?!

130 I agree completely. I can't believe anyone would be okay with Cairo - the man was way, way, way, way, below average last year (56 OPS+) and any random AAA player would provide that production and defense.

I just threw up again.

130 it's true. there's GOTTA be a kid (or more likely, a few kids...) at AAA who can certainly be a backup/utility guy. they'd come in with energy and a need to prove themselves, make the minimum and show their talent. AND they'd have room to improve, plus possibly even help become a trade chip. no need to commit to cairo...again.

I love how Cashman has a knack for signing guys that would be out of baseball otherwise -

Last year Stinnett, Fasano, Erickson, and Long

MCI was dumped by the Royals and who was going to sign Cairo?

I just threw up again. Ok, maybe I have an eating disorder (you know, to keep my svelt computer-using, baseball-watching figure) but still, that's disgusting.

123 So, how's this for worst nickname ever: "Gay Reliever" - Joe Page for his night owl activity.

Wasn't that gonna be Sturtze's nickname also?

Anyone see Fire Joe Morgan's commentary about a recent Michael Kay rant?

I can't believe that there is no one in the minors that can do what Cairo does...or rather, doesn't do. Maybe he will be sacrificed in spring training, but knowing Joe, Cairo will become part of the 1B platoon because of that all important belly full of guts, or because he once got a hit of Santana..

143 Conceivably the most moronic baseball interview/statements I've ever heard. Shameful. I'm embarassed he's on the Yankees team.

143 I love how people can look statistics and simple math (A-B=C) dead in the face and say that it is wrong because they have a feeling.

Randy Johnson is a 43 year old power pitcher with a bad back, bad knees, and bad attitude that is scheduled to make $16 million dollars per year. But it was a bad deal because Michael Kay says it is because he knows he's right and math is wrong.

Statistics aren't the be all end all, but I rarely - if ever - hear sabremetricians express this view, in fact it's usually people trying to discredit sabremetrics that bring that strawman into the argument.

From USS Mariner comments:

"As many have speculated, it means that the business side (George) isn't running the show as much, and the baseball people have more free rein to remake the team. But they still have a massive budget. Crap."

It's funny, my favorite RJ memories are Mike Stanley taking him out to left for a grand slam and Marcus Thames teeing off for his first major league hit, on the first pitch he sees - a shot to left-center.

My favorite (well, I guess "favorite" is the word) part is that Michael Kay feels the need to "discredit" Mike Mussina in order to make Randy Johnson look better.

Kay's hatred for Mussina is simply comical at this point.

And on a side note, I wonder if he actually used "we" when he said "but we still resigned him to a two year contract."

147 I'm pretty sure that Cashman checked with Kay before making the decision to bring Moose back.

HELLO...hello..lo...lo...

hmmm....guest everyone left.

150 GUESS everyone left.

151 screw it, I'm the only one here.

Guest everyone is gone.

67 that was great! loved it!
136 thelarmis- hey there. I was so shocked/thrilled to see a mention of Johnette and Concrete Blonde. Definitely something I never dreamed I'd see mentioned here. So are you a CB fan? Hope to hear from you, it would be great to chat with a fellow Yankee/Concrete Blonde fan (smiles)
I miss baseball so very much during the winter season. I'm so glad to have this site to help me through it.

hey kyle! i'm back, but only for a minute. i have tons to do before i go to work for the night...

hey batgirl! yeah, i miss bb like crazy too, and the banter is such a wonderful community. a savior, actually! you see sooo much cool stuff here that you would never expect. never ceases to amaze me...

i'm not a huge johnette/CB fan, but i certainly liked Bloodletting back in the day and had lotsa friends into them in NY. so i don't know a ton about them, (like i do on the Zappa thread i started the other day...). i might have an extra cd of Vowel Movement here somewhere. if i find it and you want/need it, it's yours...

153 Great to hear back from you. Thanks so much for your kind offer but I actually have that cd, I have all of her stuff pretty much. If you knew NY'rs that were into them then I'm sure we know some of the same people. It's a pretty small world when it comes to somewhat obscure bands.

And you are so right, this place continues to amaze me as well..ya just never know what will pop up next.

good, glad you have the disc, as i cannot find mine! : ~

i used to work at a record store in long island, and we sold a good amount of CB. i was generally the Jazz snob amongst my friends...

you a Jawbox fan?

sorry for all the OT stuff, everyone...

I was crusing around one of my favorite Yankees prospects site yankeesprospects.com. It's a great site because it shows the potential rosters at each level, MLB, AAA, AA, A, etc. in an intuitive, easy to read manner. It also has links to each players career stats all the way back to high school. It's not 100% up to date in that it doesn't reflect recent signings, but it's pretty good.

Check out Phil Hughes.

http://yankeesprospects.com/player.php?id=75&pos=100

He has never had a WHIP above 1.00. He has never had a k/9 rate below 9.00. He's only once had an ERA above 2.50, in single A.

Those numbers are phenomenal. I am not expecting him to maintain them in the majors, but think of this comparison if he were to do so:

HOF Pitcher #1 career stats:

ERA: 3.24
WHIP: 1.20
k/9: 10.7

HOF Pitcher #2 career stats:

ERA: 2.31
WHIP: 1.04
k/9: 8.0

HOF Pitcher #3 career stats:

ERA: 3.10
WHIP: 1.17
k/9: 8.6

Phil Hughes career stats:

ERA: 2.12
WHIP: 0.86
k/9: 10.2

To show you how stunning his minor league stats are, HOF Pitcher #1 is Randy Johnson. HOF Pitcher #2 is Mariano Rivera. HOF Pitcher #3 is Roger Clemens.

I am not saying that Phil Hughes will be Randy, Mo or Roger, they are special in terms of baseball because they were so durable and consistent. But those are some striking numbers and some striking consistency from Phil Hughes at each level in baseball.

I look forward to seeing him in the Bigs this year.

155 How ironic you should mention Jazz (listening to Billie Holiday at the moment). I love Big Band, Swing, Jazz..
I'm not sure who Jawbox is.

Yes, I feel awful about the OT stuff also, I don't want to anger my fellow Yankee fans, perhaps we can move our chat somewhere else before we get things thrown at us. lol
(although if it helps any, I'm currently checking out the yankeesprospects site so I hope to have something baseball related to contribute soon)

batgirl - you can reach me at my screen AT bellsouth DOT com. but i'm headed to work now. ironcially enough, going to play a jazz gig! i'm sure we'll do at least one billie holiday tune. have a nice nite...

156 let's hope he gets the chance soon and stays healthy and that his #'s somewhat transfer to the Bigs. they are astounding. can't wait for Philip "The Future" Hughes!

Sound down and music on is the only way to watch the NFL as far as I'm concerned. Gershwin at the plate, Copland on deck and Marley in the hole. I may get to Evelyn, A Modified Dog later.

158 Just tried to send an email, it bounced back. Hopefully we can chat again soon, have a good night and a good gig.

156 I agree about Hughes. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing him pitch as well..consistency is something we have needed for a long time that's for sure.

The Unit is Dead, Long Live the Rajah.
Time to talk Clemens (after of course, Batgirl reaches thelarmis)

Clemens went 77-36 with a 3.99 ERA with the Yankees, 3 years ago. How will that translate to 2007, where Boston and Toronto are signigicantly better them in 2004?

He will get around 20$m/pro-rated.
How much above league average will he be?
How many innings is he good for?
Are we going back to the old grove: big name, big dollars, big age.... avg peformance.? Is this Unit-Redux?

FWIW: See what 17,000 people think abou the RJ deal.
http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/polling?event_id=2724

Pete Abraham reports at LoHud that Unit has agreed to an extension - physical on Monday.

Glad the guy can go home and that we got something for him.

152153 You'd be suprised at how much baseball you can find on youtube. I go there when I need my fix. :)

163 That will likely be construed in a very naughty matter (now that I've mentioned it...)

165 wait for it...

165 Not many people around right now, but I just caught that one. In the midst of this very entertaining thread (even more than usual) that was the post to top all posts.

I just have one question, how long did Mrs. Unit have to beg for one before he went for the procedure?

home from gig and just doing the math to find out how recent the last posts from will were. army time PLUS left coast time. yeesh, i was told there'd be no math!

mike, i loved your mention of the sherpa earlier. Yeti's abound at the banter!

batgirl - hmmm on the email addy. sorry 'bout that. post yours and i'll get to you from there.

you opened a can of, um, something with {165}...

164 i can't watch youtube on my little laptop. it overheats so fast and stutters and freezes. highly annoying!!!

159 great lineup of artists to listen to!

i can go either way on Rocket. it might be worthwhile to try it though. supposedly William Roger felt "bad" about post-2003, plus we have Andy back. the other thing is this: Clemens hates RJ (supposedly). he is such a competitor, he might feel the fire to come back to NY, pitch his tail off in October and show the Big Eunuch how it's done in Da Bronx come the playoffs. there's not much left for Clemens to do to cement his legacy (what, reach 350 wins?); winning another championship with the Yanks after Randy couldn't would be something that is talked about in pretty astonishing terms, methinks...

165 rim shot

99 mehmattski, I'm in Sparta. We moved out here in Aug. '05 from Livingston.
50 mile commute to (but especially from) NYC is a bitch, but man, the weekends on Lake Mohawk make it worth the shlep. It's beautiful here, and my wife and sons are loving it.

re: another topic earlier in this thread: the local pub/microbrewery makes a kickass root beer, too.

Just thinking about Bernie this morning. Looks like this is finally the end for our friend.
We all know good ol' Bernie doesn't have much to offer the team at this point, but it kind of bums me out that he's being squeezed out of pinstripes by the likes of Dougie Deadwood, and Miguel K-row.

I'm not saying Bernie belongs on the 2007 Yanks, but I'd rather see him on the roster/bench than Mientcairo.

Bernie's imminent retirement would probably be easier for him to accept, and for his fans to celebrate if he was being replaced on the roster by young players with potential -- rather than medicore retreads who aren't much better than him, if at all.

Ah, best to not dwell on Mientcairo for now. Today is a glorious football day in metro NY.
Go Jints & Jets! - (especially Jints)

170 Fifty miles to NYC every day? Yikes. I hated going the 25 miles to Parsippany one summer. It certainly is a beautiful place to live, even if it's getting a little too suburbanized for my tastes. But then I just head up to High Point to make myself feel better. I'm down in Durham, NC now, and I do miss our pseudo-mountains a bit. That, and Italian Subs and Bagels. I'd recommend some places to check out from my town, but it's really kind of forgettable... Swing In Deli on Route 94 makes a killer Italian Sub, but there's no shortage of good delis in Sparta.

As for the Yanks, there's going to be a day next year when Torre has to write K-Row, MCI, and Raul Chavez into the same lineup. It will be a sad day, and I'm glad I will have the Banter as a support group.

And yes, this is a glorious day to be a Jets fan, and to stick it to all the doubters who had us losing 12 games or more this season. J! E! T! S! JETS! JETS! JETS!

Could anyone clue me in on when the new stadium opens or which year will be the last for the current Yankee Stadium. Thanks!
vr, Xei

171 It's going to be a very sad day indeed, esp if we see any of those turds for more than 30 games.

Anyone still think Cashman is a "genius"?

He aced the mid-term, but bombed the final. He gets a C+ for the off-season.

If you think otherwise, here's the bench:

Phelps or Phillips
Nieves or Chavez
MCI
Cairo
Melky

But hey, it's not too late to trade Melky! Then Bernie could play 131 games again. After all, there's still time left in this off-season.

172 Yankee Stadium at Macombs Dam Park's opening day is in 2009

173 Cashman turned a farm system that was supposidly dead into a top 5 farm in under a year, all the while shedding 30 mill in payroll by getting rid of old, creaky jerks AND keeping the team on an at least equal talent level from last season with far far better prospects for the future, so no, don't him a "genius," I call him "Cash-MONEY!"

173 Im sorry Jim, you just don't get it. There is no off-season... only a continuum. Cash isn't done. The final is given in September. Lots of studying still to be done.

As as fan, you have the luxury of having a 10 degree field of vision. Cashman must see 360. You are not seeing the forest for the trees.

Read post 175 again. This one 'test' is worth far more points then the "current, the season is still 2 months away" bench.

I for one, do not seek perfection. The Yankee team, and how Cashman puts it together need not be perfect. I have very simple, small goals. A dynasty and many, many rings.

Look at the last 4 years. Cashman has singlehandly taken us out of free-fall.

170 A year ago it was clear that the Yankee outfield was set, but that there might be a need at 1B. If Bernie had chosen to learn to play 1B at that time, he might have be our regular first baseman for 2007.

176 I'm sure all the scouts and Gene Michael would disagree with your "single-handed" assessment. Sure, Cashman gets credit for listening to those guys, but let's not go crazy.

And sorry, what you see is what you get. It's the same GM as last year who thought the job was done when they signed Stinnett and Cairo. Their mid-season upgrades? Nick Green and Sal Fasano. Now, I'll be very happy if proved wrong.

As for "taken us out of free-fall" in the last four years. Last I checked, four years ago they were at least in the Serious. Three years ago they lost in the ALCS. Two years ago they lost in the ALDS. This past year they lost in the ALDS. If anything history shows them to be getting worse in your "dynasty, and manny, many rings" goal.

And me, I don't seek perfection either. A decent bench, or redundancy in the farm, that would be be a good start. 360 degree vision doesn't miss that, as a fan or as a GM. Right now, he's on a young RH pitching addiction even when they were already strong in that department. If anything's a 10 degree field of view - it's that.

Whatever grade Cashman gets, he should be penalized a full letter grade for signing Cairo and Minky.

178 You might recall another mid season upgrade by the name of Bobby Abreu. But that doesn't fit into your "Cashman sucks" platform so I guess it wasn't worth mentioning?

177 Why is it that so many people think that the solution for Bernie, Damon, Matsui, et al is to park them at First Base???????

I've seen posts this offseason that basically suggest that all of those guys should be the 1b man, it's retarded. Should players never retire, just play 1b in perpetuity???

What should have happened, is that the Yankees should have gotten Beltran a few years ago, and shown Bernie the door at that point. Because even back then it was clear that Giambi needed to DH. But that non move, and sentimentalism is what keeps Bernie around at least 2 full seasons past his Yankee expiration date.

And seriously, the next time suggests that so-and so Yankee outfielder should be moved to first base, I'm going to light myself on fire.

181 Since we all know that someone's gonna make that OF to 1B suggestion in the not so distant future and we would really like to keep you around maybe instead of a Schteeve-torch you could try something like this:
http://tinyurl.com/y9f9v3

181 (Warps back to 1966) I think it's time Mickey Mantle moves to first base. Thoughts?

182 where do you find this stuff, bama? wait, better yet, don't tell! ; )

keep matches away from schteeve! i hear ya though, even though 1B might be the 'easiest' position to play on the diamond, it still has many features that need to learned and is quite important. it's not for everyone. see: sheffield, gary amongst others...

according to mlbtraderumors, there's life back into the laroche/gonzo trade between pitt & atl. melky appears to be safe from the rumor this time around. we shall see...

181 First base is at the far-left end of the Bill James defensive spectrum, which goes, IIRC:

1B-LF-RF-3B-CF-2B-SS-C

I think the BP version reverses 3B and CF, but they are essentially the same. The rationale behind the spectrum is that defensive positions become easier as you move along the spectrum to the left. Look at the careers of Craig Biggio, who moved from C to 2B to CF, Pete Rose, who went from 2B to 3B to 1B (with a lot of stops in between), or Paul Molitor, who came up as a shortstop, then moved to second base when Robin Yount came back, then to CF to make way for Jim Gantner, then to 3B when he was hurt and Gorman Thomas took his old position back, then finally to DH (there may have been a stop at 1B I am forgetting. I'm omitting his brief stay in RF because he was basically an emergency stopgap, not the "RF of the future."). That was a long sentence.

It's fairly often that you see players move to the left, but it's relatively rare to see someone move to the right along the spectrum and have success. Often, those moves seem like common sense: fans have been calling for Ichiro to move to CF for a while now. Other times, it's based on team composition. To go back to the Mariners, at one time they started three CF-quality outfielders. Someone had to play LF and it ended up being Randy Winn.

Because we have four good outfielders but are short a 1B, it makes sense for us to convert one of those outfielders into a 1B rather than trading for one or signing Pick-A-Name (MCI? Malphabet Soup? Mr. Suck?) There's no doubt in my mind that Melky would be a better choice, offensively and defensively, than Pick-A-Name. I'd even rather have Old-erud back.

Sheffield is elderly and cranky. He was also given a relatively short time to adjust to his new position. Melky is both younger and less prickly. Given the whole of spring training and the season, I have no doubt that he'd be one of the better defensive first basemen in the AL by the All-Star break.

182 the BEE THING???!!!

Wowzers, Bama, your alma mater's really catching a critical beatdown by the press over the whole Saban thing. Seems that they're more inclined to give Nick a pass on the whole issue about him "lying" and say "the devil made him do it" and "does anyone in Alabama know right from wrong?"

Damn. It's not like he sold weapons to Iran to fund the Sandinistas or told everyone where to find a major stash of WMDs. If the man felt like he could make a positive difference in peoples' lives and get paid a bundle in the process, let him do it. Or if he just said aw tha Hell with these entitlement-complex millionaire losers, vaya con Dios! Or if he IS an entitlement-complex millionaire loser, "go do ya' thang"...

Sorry haters, aka the Daily Rues and any other sports rag that models itself the moral gatekeepers of professional sports, this is not like performing surgery or teaching your children to read and do math, or rescuing people or arresting dangerous criminals or picking up garbage for that matter. Get over it, get a life; do anything but write or talk on TV, because it's obviously doing nothing for you and may God or Whomever you choose to believe in have mercy on your, uh... spleens?

Just ranting for ya, man, cuz I knew you'd do it for me >;)

180 What, are we going to to have to hear about Abreu for the next five years to justify Cashman's genius? Sure, it was a excellent trade, being a salary dump and all. And, yup he gets props for the Moose and Pettitte contracts. That's the acing the mid-term bit. After that, he's been binging on RHP prospects like a drunken frat boy at a Tijuana whore house. He forgot there was still studying to be done, which is a bit hard to do while fighting multiple venereal diseases (MCI and Cairo).

186 I was with you 100%, and glad to have learned the James/BP defensive values, until the Melky to 1B suggestion (Steeeeeeeve - you still with us?). Melky's speed is lost at 1B. Me, I'm fine with leaving him as the 4th OF to rotate in when the others DH or rest. A decent RH 1B would have done the trick. There weren't many to choose from, but that's why Cashman is paid well.

187 I enjoyed the Zimblast "Keeping Score" column in the Times. If universities are going to compete financially with professional teams for talent, then they should:

a) Lose their non-profit status and pay taxes
b) Pay the players that create the value
c) Stop pretending that education is the goal

I have no problem with them paying the money. It's the bit about being a university, and a public one at that, that irks me.