Fire Girardi

There I said - 3 games in, I'm of the mindset that if the Yanks are serious about 2012, then they should fire Girardi right now, and replace him with Tony Pena.

Girardi was over-managed in game 1 for the sake of looking like he was managing. Ordering two of the games most dominant pitchers to IBB average at best hitters only to put them in a no room for error situation??!!! Anybody who knows pitching, knows that IBBs are a blow psychologically and physically to pitchers (for those not in the know it says 1) you don't have confidence to get them out, and 2) it is hard to find the strike zone after that). Yet Girardi opted to do it to his two best.

Seriously, if you look at Girardi's body of work, there's no reason to keep him. In '09, the Yanks won the title in spite of, not because of Girardi - it was Pena who lit the fuse.

The team was flat in opening weekend - let's see if Nova can stop the slide.

Random Thoughts

Melkey Sucks? - The last three or so years, Crash and I must have sent that text to one another, maybe 2 to 3 hundred times. Well guess what? He doesn't suck any longer. Getting sent to the minors last year might have saved this kid's career. He got his wake up call, and is now playing with an intensity on a daily basis that in the past we only saw glimpses of. His batting line: .321, 4HRs, 10 RBIs, OBP .397 (Gardner: .222, 0HRs, 4 RBIs, OBP .286)

Matsui is back - last 7 games he's hitting .333 and running what appears to be full bore.

Ramiro Pena is the real deal - if he keeps developing, what are the implications for DJ when his contract is up in a few?

Tex is feeling the pressure - while his batting average is a Crash-like .189, his OBP is still solid at .354. It's like we have a younger version of Giambi that can actually field. He'll turn it around.

Old Prof is Older. - birthday at the end of April

Concerned about CC - not his recent performance, but Girardi keeping in him for long outings - makes me wonder if he'll have any gas left down the stretch.

BullPen Beatings - I"m glad the lumps are coming now and not in September. Phil Coke seems to have found his way, I think I like what I see out of Melancon. Edwar and Marte are a waste in my view, and would like to see a trade engineered to add to some help in this area.

.500 - If we can be above .500 by the time A-Rod and Wang come back, I'll consider it a huge positive.


Non-Yankees

Triple Crown - Outside of injury, it is happening this year, and it is happening in the NL. Albert Pujols (projected at: 58 HRs, 187 RBI, .356) leads the NL in HRs and RBIs and is 4th in Avg - those above him avg will fade (Beltran, Votto, and Ibanez). He is the best - period end of story.

Dodgers - Joe Torre has that club playing ball. At 18-8, they have the best record in the league with a +41 run differential. I remember there were times I was screaming to have him fired - multiple times, when he was the skipper for us. However, this is turning out to be a case of not knowing what you have until it is gone. I want him back!!!

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An opportunity to make some hay in the division this week. Upcoming schedule: A pair of two game series, first the Sox, then Rays, then a 3 gamer in Baltimore.


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Week 1 Review

Record for week ending 4/12: 3-3

Week 1 Grade: B-
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Random Player Evals:

Cody Ransom - batting .050 after 20 ABs. Girardi says he's the third baseman. I say, give him one more game then maybe consider giving Pena a shot.

Jose Veras - mgmt continues to give this guy ample opportunity to shine and earn his way to be the the reliable set up man for Mo. However, Veras continues to give them ample evidence that he just doesn't have the goods.

Brian Bruney - looks good, worried he might get over worked.

Hideki Matsui - Knees not fully recovered, and doesn't appear to be ready for the regular season as just a DH. Perhaps they should consider resting him.

Joba - "quality" start against the Royals. Top shelf for two innings, then becomes fairly mediocre from that point on. I still believe he's better use coming out of the pen.

Tex - wondering if the wrist thing is a one off situation, or if fragility will be the mark of the season.

Cano - better ABs, still perfunctory on the defensive side of things.

Nick Swisher - taking advantage of every opportunity.

Burnett & Pettitte - look solid.

Girardi - missed several opportunities during the week for "small ball" type calls, instead he sat idle while Damon and Gardner flied out, and Cabrera bounced in double plays. Still has to figure out an equation to get to Mo. I think it could be Bruney followed by Marte for a full inning. Hopefully Joe will figure it out this week.

Stadium opener this Thursday. Set the DVR's coverage starts at noon on YES.

Schedule for the week: Mon-Wed a three game set At TB, followed by a four gamer at the stadium vs. the tribe.


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Number of the week: 81.00 - Carl Pavano's ERA.
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A Look at the New House

Day 1 - Game 1

Opening day has arrived (even though we have the threat of it being ppd due to rain) - and so it begins with the same question I've been asking every April since the decade started - is this the year of 27?

There are a lot of positives heading into this season - about the only thing I am uncomfortable with would be the bullpen. I wish Sanchez would have been ready to go, and at this point, I'm still a believer that Joba belongs in the pen - but why bring that argument up again. Time will tell - regardless, outside of Karstens, Joba will likely turn out to be the best No. 5 starter in the league (C'mon you didn't think I was going to pass up an opening day post without mentioning my man did you!!)

I think the Yanks will win 100 plus games this season - and yes, I think (again) it is the year of 27.

While much focus on the AL East has been on the Rays, Sox, and Yanks - the team that has a chance to surprise are the Jays in my opinion. Not because of any player they have on their roster - but because of who their manager is - Simply put, Cito knows how to win.


Misc. Things I want to see in '09: Griffey go out with a bang, Pujols win the triple crown, Torre beating the Mets in the NLCS, Cincy to win the NL Central, KC to make the Wild Card, Karstens to win 20, Jeter to hit .340, Rivera to save 50, Tex to hit .300 and 35, Wang to win 24, Sabathia and AJ to win 19 each, and the Yanks to start the stadium off with a WS Championship.

Murphy's Law: Pavano wins the CY Young.


Anyway - baseball is back, and not a moment too soon.

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Hughes Heads For SWB

I don't think it is too surprising that Hughes was reassigned to SWB. He had a good spring - we'll see him again when the inevitable arm is needed due to injury.

For me, the most disappointing Spring thus far has been Humberto Sanchez. He didn't throw much due to soreness (not an injury), and now finds himself starting the year in Trenton. When you can't play because of "soreness" - you are saying you can't play because you weren't in shape.

Igawa has thrown 12 scoreless innings. I can't help it, I just cringe at the thought of him running onto the field from the bullpen at a key moment in a game.


The WBC has been pretty good ball - U.S.A in the Semi's against formidable Japan - the story had to compete for time on Sportscenter with Klitschko knocking out some game named Mo in Germany - is baseball still America's game?

WBC - The Good and Bad

The WBC is imperfect but is a net positive, and certainly more entertaining than pre-season baseball.

The Bad - the DR's loss to the Netherlands is only going to fuel the increasingly accurate stereotype that players from that island have a lot of talent - but low on desire and work ethic.

The Good - enthusiastic crowds. The crowd for the Cananada v. USA game at the Sky Dome was probably the biggest it had seen in several years for a game - and would dare say they were playoff lively. The Asian games have a lot of enthusiasm in them as well. Bernie Williams had a walk in PR's win on Saturday.

The USA lineup is hard not to watch. David Wright, Chipper Jones, Jeter, Youkilis, Rollins, Pedroia to name a few. It is a good team - and hope they beat the living hell out of the field.

The DVR is set, and plan on watching a bit more of these games.
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Bombers Bits:

A-Rod to have surgery and will be out for at least two months. Probably won't be ready to join the club until late May or June. This could be a blessing in disguise. Perhaps this can be an opening for Cano to become a Yankee. With A-Rod out, it may mean a higher profile spot in the lineup for him, and if he can pick up some of the slack as a result of A-Rod being out, he can show us that he is ready to be a dependable MLBer and championship quality player.

I happened to catch both games Wang has thrown in so far. He appears to be the Wang that we knew before his season ending injury. . . at least that's what the 3 innings I saw would suggest.

Aceves appears to throwing just as good as he was last year. If Joba doesn't get his control down, perhaps he could be inserted as the #5 and Joba back to the pen - any odds takers on that?

15 Questions

1. Will Melkey or Gardner be the CF?
2. Is Xavier Nady the odd man out?
3. Will Wang be able to bounce back from his injury shortened season?
4. Will Posada be able to bound back from his injury shortened season?
5. How well will Bernie Williams do in the WBC?
6. Will Robinson Cano put forth the effort for the entire season that we saw toward the end of last season?
7. What will Jeter's season look like?
8. Can we expect Tex to give us 30 HRs, .300, and 100 RBIs?
9. How well will CC and AJ do with the burden of playing in NY and a prime time contract?
   
10. Will Damon or Matsui surprise on the upside?
11. How well and how many starts can we expect from Joba?
12. How much will we see of Phil Hughes?
13. Will the new stadium be a distraction or the ultimate in home field advantage?
14. Will Mo continue to be Mo?
15. Can A-Rod put this behind him and finally carry this team to the promise land?
    

Update

Anyone else notice that Kei Igawa was not on the active 40-man roster? Another year in SWB for him - another few million down the drain for the club. Memo To GM: stay away from pitchers in Japan!

Our bullpen has potential: Bruney, Coke, Marte, Sanchez, Ramirez, Robertson and Veras.

There's a handful of names on the roster that I've never heard of before: Claggett, De La Rosa, and Hacker.


Anybody have an idea what these guys can offer?



Yankee Fact:

- The oldest Yankee with 200 hits in a season was Lou Gehrig at the age of 34.

With just over 2,500 hits to his credit, and at age 34, I sometimes wonder if Jeter has a shot at the all-time hits record. He averages 207 per season (last season he had 179). Which means to get there, he'd have to continue that level of output for the next 8 1/2 seasons and at which time he'd be 42 . - Not likely . . . (but still possible I guess)

Looking Forward

The A-Rod story is what it is. We'll a hear a little bit more about it after Jeter does his annual meet and greet with the press today, then things will calm down for a while. I think pressure will build on MLB to release the other names and then make a decision on what to do with the stats generated during the doping era of a player's career.

I"m putting this aside for now and wanting to look forward to different issues.
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I took a look at the depth chart for the starting pitchers - assuming no health issues, 4 spots are guaranteed in my view:

Sabathia, Burnett, Wang, and Pettitte.

We then have: Chamberlain, Hughes, Aceves, Ian Kennedy, and Old Prof's long time fave, J.B. Cox.

At this stage, I liked it better with Joba coming out of the pen and his ability to affect more games. I'm curious to see if Hughes can bounce back from his disappointing season last year. I liked what I saw out of Aceves limited action last season. I have no idea what to expect from Kennedy or Cox other than planning on seeing them in SWB.

Who would you guys rather see in the 5th slot? And what are you expecting for the others?

Jose Was Right (again)

Remember back to the circus that was the Mitchell Report?

While everyone else was focused on Clemens, Fox Business did a little noticed interview with Jose Conseco at the Bulls & Bears bar in Manhattan. When asked about the report Jose said that no report on steroids in baseball is complete without Alex Rodriguez in it.

Yesterday, SI releasing a report that A-Rod tested positive in 2003. What a surprise.

Any thoughts?

3 for 3!

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Just a quick note on the obvious:

Cashman and the Steinbrenners have put the league on notice:

the Hot Stove is in their kitchen.

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Locked and Loaded?

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So, approximately 72 hours after I was speculating that we weren't going to get anything done at the Winter meetings, Cashman promptly sticks that idea in my face and goes on to nab the top two pitching prizes on the market.

I like the focus. When the team went on its WS binge the last time it was built on pitching - not hitting (although from a hitting standpoint, it truly is not all that bad as it still is a lineup that has names like A-Rod, Jeter, Nady, Cano, and Posada)

From where I stand, this is how I'm seeing the pitching situation for '09:

Starting Rotation: Sabathia, Wang, Burnett, Aceves/Chamberlain/Hughes

Bullpen: Rivera, Sanchez, Marte, Coke, Bruney, Albaladjedo

Expendable or Minor League Reserves: Kennedy, Wright, Milton, Cox, Ramirez, Robertson, and Veras


Will Chamberlain be a starter or back to being the the monster set up guy? What do you see differently?



..

Set to Pre-Heat

Who's worth a shot?

Yanks:
Giambi, Pavano, Mussina, Pettitte, Abreu,

Pitchers:
CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Francisco Rodriguez, Kerry Wood,

Kyle Farnsworth, Brad Penny, Ben Sheets, John Smoltz,

Mark Prior, Jason Isinghausen, Bartolo Colon


Everyone Else:
Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, Ken Griffey Jr., Sean Casey, Rich Aurilla,

Milton Bradley, Adam Dunn, Rafael Furcal, Faul Ibanez, Frank Thomas, Kevin Millar,

Pat Burrell, Garet Anderson


..