Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Over at BP, Joe Sheehan thinks the Red Sox are being smart in giving some of their starting players a breather:
It would behoove Joe Torre to start doing this as well. The Yankees are up five games in the loss column on the Tigers, with a magic number of seven for the wild card. If form holds through the weekend and the Yankees' magic number reaches three or so, Torre needs to worry less about seeding and more about making sure his aging team is ready to go on October 2. Alex Rodriguez has missed two games all year, and none since August 8. Robinson Cano hasn't missed a game since May 6. Jorge Posada has played his usual 130-odd games behind the plate; a couple of extra days off next week couldn't hurt. I can't quantify the effects of rest on a player's performance, but I can say that the cost of doing so—possibly ending up as the wild card versus winning the division—is essentially zero.
At ESPN, Buster Olney thinks that Alex Rodriguez could find a good home with the L.A. Dodgers:
Rodriguez might be a perfect addition at the perfect time for the Dodgers. He would give them the power they need, in home run production and in marketing; they could build their business plan around his pursuit of Barry Bonds' home run record.Friends of A-Rod don't think he would be interested in playing in the National League. We'll see. Some within the Yankees' organization wonder if any team will be willing to pay A-Rod as much as the Yankees can pay him; others think that it's all but a lock that A-Rod will leave the Yanks.
If he does go, the Dodgers would be a perfect landing spot for him, if the team is ready to spend big.
Finally, in the Times, Goose Gossage says he likes Joba. That's not a shocker. Neither is this:
"I really don't see how they can think about making him a starter after what we've seen," Gossage said in a telephone interview. "You can find starters — I know they have other young kids — but how are you going to find another character like him? How are you going to replace him? Before he came up, those setup guys were killing them."
Goose, we love ya, but um, got to disagree with on this one. However, this quote is more like it:
"I saw him throw those two pitchers over Kevin Youkilis's head when they played Boston," he said. "I loved it. The same thing used to happen with me when I tried to get it inside. When I missed, my body would get out front, my arm would lag and the ball would fly."And guess what? It was a great purpose pitch, only now they're protecting these hitters every chance they get. It makes me sick. I went crazy when they tossed the kid that day. I screamed, 'What the heck is this game coming to?' "
Back when I played...
AS for resting the starters, all i can say is, home field advantage means a lot to the yanks, just look at Wang's home vs road splits...
"Bud Selig doesn't care about real fans."
As to the warning pitch issue I never saw Goose have to throw more than one! When he threw it everybody backed off the plate, including Mickey Rivers.
Are you Kanye East? ;-)
I'm not smart enough to figure this out for sure (Wang's numbers on just turf may skew his home-road splits - you could look it up), but my thinking goes like this:
The Yanks' best pitcher is Wang. The Yanks want their best pitcher to be able to pitch twice in the ALDS if it goes to 5 games. Wang pitches much better at home. The only way Wang pitches two games at home if the ALDS goes to 5 is for the Yanks to have homefield advantage. The only way for the Yanks to have homefield is to win the division. Thus, winning the division is a good thing.
Although I wouldn't be too unhappy with Pettitte pitching twice in a five game series, I have to say.
But then you have to look at what the extra day did for Rocket & Moose, and it suddenly becomes a better idea to rest the regulars as well.
I think the next series is going to decide that for Joe Torre anyway - if we take 2 or 3 and the Tigers tank a few more games, we're up 7 or 8 on the WC by next Tuesday.
Then let's forget this silly division stuff and get the old men some rest.
14 Home field is overrated. The Marlins won two- count 'em, TWO!- World Series without it. Therefore the Yankees should not try for it.*
*Sarcasm
http://tinyurl.com/yr9vyp
http://tinyurl.com/yv8aue
Of course, either one of those guys would be much too dangerous to stand close to for any length of time (if the knife don't getcha, then the line drive will)...
Phil Rizzuto Tribute
(at Yankee Stadium, of course)
Pre-game ceremony starts at 12:30 pm, on Sun., Sept. 23
oh, how i'd love to be there for that.
tickets are still available.
If we get home field and the "normal" ALDS schedule, would you (or Joe) start Andy Pettitte game 3?
Wang and Roger are much better at home. Pettitte is slightly better on the road, hughes is much better on the road. Torre likes to put a big starter for game three.
I might do it.
Any likely candidates pop to mind?
That way (with Pettitte third), you still definitely get one start each out of your top three. With home field advantage, it's plainly better to have Wang twice at home than Pettitte twice at home. So as I see it, there is no cost to moving Pettitte to the third spot.
Oh, well, there's the way your rotation is set up for the ALCS assuming you win the DS, but that's going to be have a big random element anyway.
I'd take him.
The only rub would be if he was looking for (and getting elsewhere) a long contract. I think I'd give him up to three years.
One thing to keep in mind is that Tejada should be available this winter and many accounts have him on the verge of moving to 3B due to decreased mobility. He could emerge as an option too, but that would be a mistake, IMHO.
But I'd certainly take Miguel Cabrera.
he's said that he'd rather not play for the yankees, citing the "rules" he'd have to abide by.
plus he probably won't play 3rd much longer.
i don't have any other suggestions, though.
Lowell's H/A splits:
Home 71 267 48 101 13 1 13 63 155 23 32 3 0 .424 .581 .378
Away 73 284 23 79 22 1 6 46 121 28 31 0 2 .342 .426 .278
Yeah his OPS+ is ok but my lying eyes are still trying to tell me something.
48 Miggy could also be the 1b of the future
...oh... you meant... gotcha...
Actually, that might be a good reason to get him... that guy has killed us this year. Also, where would Boston be without him this year?
Yikes.
Let's just say it's the best reason bringing up Hughes, Kennedy and Joba this year was a great idea.
http://tinyurl.com/34t5c9
2 (= rank of Engel Beltre among prospects in the Arizona League, http://tinyurl.com/34deaz)
I love Eric Gagne.
On the bright side, there's an 8% discount for buying a whole page, so it would really cost only about $120,000.
She probably requires more convincing to stick around than him.
Is it too late to schedule a Cynthia Rodriguez Day at the Stadium where Alex and Cliff could present her with a big fat Bronx Banter check?
i'm very much hoping for that november back page ad that would read: STAY-ROD!
i definitely don't want lowell...
just to chime in from the last thread that i had missed -- i have to side w/ vockins: "Run To The Hills" by Iron Maiden would be a perfect entrance song for Joba...
The problem is, I don't think anyone here is really willing to pay the price. You'd have to start with either Hughes or Chamberlain, and it wouldn't end there.
here's all i could find for the daily news:
http://tinyurl.com/2ueof9
it is considered "retail rates", but a rag-tag bunch of knuckleheads putting an open letter out there asking a guy who generates headlines for this paper might be able to catch a price break.
...especially if the story behind the ad is spread, generating talk about the ad in said paper...
any negotiation experts here?
A-Rod could always click on the link himself if he wanted to know what people are saying, or we can bind it into a commemorative book and present the postings to him as a first edition love letter of sorts. The ad would call much more attention to the petition, the site and the fact that we really want him to stay. I don't doubt he knows that, but i think some smart people could put it in a way that it would actually mean something for him to stay, and not just because he's having a hot year.
Just brainstorming >;)
hand me an electronic quill and i shall place my herbie hancock on the dotted line.
That's brillitant. Way to "Rockit", YFiB (BTW, would you use an extremely large font?)
SC over LSU as well, you heard it here first.
I hope you're right (on both accounts). I just hope the Arkansas game didn't take too much out of my boys. I'll be sure to give you credit if (and when) SC pulls the upset. Maybe Spurrier and Saban can both earn that big money that they are getting with big wins tomorrow...
Anything to shut Lee Corso up. "Spurrier could coach at South Carolina for one hundred years and he'll never win the SEC" Hmm, we shall see about that.
As for shutting Corso up... that'll probably never happen. Sometimes he makes Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver look like Rhodes Scholars...
I think I'd mentioned "Future Shock" on Banter long ago, but nobody got it then...
Go Yankees!
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