THE BASELINE

Wang

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:03:30 -0600

Yeah the line is "he won 19 games two years in a row". Well, lets not forget that even his 2007 season ended rather unevenly--balls up in the zone, then the disastrous playoffs. Wang has one post-season win and that was against the Tigers, but even in that game he gave up 8 hits and 3 runs in 6+ innings.

He got off to a great start in 2008, but starting on May 10th he had 4 disastrous starts in a row-giving up 5 to 7 runs in each. He did have one good start before the debacle in Houston, but that was against the hapless Athletics. . Anyway, the guy has had two shoulder surgeries. Time to say goodbye.

He never was able to develop any good secondary pitches. And when the sinker wasn't working- and lets face it...it was becoming less and less effective. When he couldn't keep the ball down he was getting pounded and when he wasn’t getting it over for strikes, guys were laying off it. His BB/9 rate climbed every single year from a 2.1 in 2006 to 3.3 in 08. I won’t even bother with the 2009 rate. It's as bad as you might guess.

I wish him well in the future, but I predict he is done as a major leaguer. At least as a valuable one. If the Yankees work out a minor league deal with him, fine with me, but I suspect Brian Cashman feels the same way I do.

Mighty Mite on the move

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 12:22:03 -0600

After all this time they had just what they needed right under their nose. The Mighty Mite is moving to SS. On the face of it, it’s brilliant. Since Nomar was run out of town on a rail the Red Sox have had a revolving door or mediocrity or worse playing shortstop. I know you’re going to remind me that Coco Crisp was “the greatest center fielder Francona’s ever seen”, but I'm not talking about their former problem in the outfield, I’m talking about the Renterias and Lugos of the world with some Alex Gonzalez thrown in for a little defense every now and then. Then there was the highly touted( by Gammons )prodigal son, Jed Lowrie. Maybe the kid could have been a contender, but wrist injuries may have completely derailed his chances of making it in the big leagues. Perhaps he will find a chance with another team. I wish him nothing but the best. From 2005 the BA as well as OBP for the Sox at SS has steadily decreased as well as defensive prowess except for the tours of duty by A-Gon. Nick Green played better as a Red Sock ( is it sock or sox in the singular?) than he did as a Yankee, but that really isn’t saying very much. I saw him make some spectacular plays this year but I also saw him make some hideous gaffes. They have paid an average of a bit less than 8 million a year at SS and haven’t gotten a whole lot to show for it, so it was time to really find a solution.

From what I read today at Fangraphs.com Pedroia played more minor league games at short than he did at 2nd. And with a tremendous amount of success. As they wisely point out though he may be rusty in the beginning his natural instincts should take over rather quickly. If you’re a red sox fan you have to love this move, Pedroia is a franchise type player playing with a very reasonable contract for the next few years. The fellows at Fangraphs blithely predict that he will play out as an average defender at short, but I'm willing to hazard a guess that he will be better than average. He has a strong and accurate arm and he still has the vacuum known as Youkilis scooping up throws at first base.

So now all the Sox must do is find a second baseman. Compared to finding a short stop this is a piece of cake. The obvious pick would be Orlando Hudson. He’s only 32, plays amazing defense, great clubhouse guy and has consistently posted an above average and rising OPS+ since 2006. They could trade for Brandon Phillips but to be honest he really hasn’t lived up to the hype. One guy that might really suit them is Mark DeRosa. yes, he is older than the O-Dog, but his versatility could be just what the Red Sox need. If they fail to get rid of Mike Lowell-and we all know that Theo is doing everything he can to dispose of the former fan favorite- if this “albatross” ( according to the loyal fans at SOSH) is still on the team next year he is going to need a day or two off per week to keep his crumbling hip together. One way or another they are going to have a utility guy playing some games at 3rd base next year but it probably will shake down that when Beckett pitches Varitek will catch him, Youk will play 3rd and V-Mart will be at 1st.

All in all I don’t think they could have made a better decision than this. As a Yankee fan I hate it, so that must mean it’s a good move, right?

EDIT: since this is a Red Sox oriented post you might want to read what Sox owner John henry has up his sleeve in his futile battle to destroy the Yankees. From WasWatching

in his closing remarks he misses what The Boss would have had to say about this. I have to say I would too.

Opening Day 1951

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:30:31 -0600

I’m sure most yankee fans have already heard that Bob Sheppard officially announced his retirement this weekend. It came as no surprise, considering that he had been unable to come to the new stadium even for Old Timer’s Day this year. I wrote a piece on The Voice Of God earlier this year and Mike Sommer just wrote an excellent article on Opening Day in 1951 which you can check out here. As many of my friends know, Terry Sherman and I were at the last game Bob Sheppard announced at Yankee Stadium. The date was september 17th 2007. Phil Hughes won the game 8-5. f-worthless gave up 2 runs in the ninth and Mariano had to come in to save his bacon. He was chased off the mound to a hail of booooooos ( including my own)

We came back the next day and i remember saying to Terry that this guy (Jim Hall) sounded quite a bit like Mr. Sheppard but I was sure it wasn’t him. A few minutes later it was announced that Bob wasn’t there due to a case of laryngitis and that, as they say, was that…

I must say that Mr. Sheppard’s replacement is very dignified and understated and from what I read he has the full backing of the grand old man. Still, no one could supersede his dulcet tones and perfect diction. He will continue to be heard announcing Derek Jeter until the captain retires.

the lineup on September 17th 2007 was Torre’s usual: Damon Jeter Abreu A-Rod Matsui Posada Giambi ( shelley pinch ran later) Canó Mientkiewicz

Below is a clip from YES with “The Voice of God” recreating his game call of Opening day for the 1951 New York Yankees.

MY MVP

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:22:10 -0600

In a year when Nick Adenhart wrecked any chance Ron Gardenhire might have had to win BEST MANAGER OF THE YEAR my MVP of the last several years got shafted yet again.

Nick Punto. Yeah he’s the man. Listen I know a Twin is supposed to win every year but I’m tired of the wrong Twinkie taking home the trophy. I know what they are trying to do- resurrect the whole M&M boys thing but honestly I don’t know if either Mauer or Morneau could come close or anywhere near drinking Mickey Mantle under the table. Or Maris...And as far as whoring around town, well Minneapolis just doesn’t come close to New York City as far as providing motive and opportunity. Anyway back to my boy Punto. Yeah I know he only played in 125 games, but man were they a special one and a quarter. You might say wait a minute he only hit .228 but c’mon any idiot who read Moneyball knows BA doesn’t matter. Nick’s OBP started with a .3 -- thats all you need to know. I have invented a new metric. it’s called DSLG. what you do is take somebody, Nick Punto for example, and you double his slugging %. You get a whopping .568 !!
This metric is far more accurate than his actual SLG of .284 because it shows what might have been. Punto is a really tough guy; he once got hit by a pitch this season! Not only is he tough, but he’s modest. He rarely talked about his single home run this year in interviews.

Ok so much for the tangibles. they are boring anyway--how about that unquantifiable anti-UZR xbOBA Bap7zip etc stuff. You know, the IN-tangibles that over-rated short stops ( I don’t want to name names here ) have. Well Nick Punto has tons of those too- I once saw him levitate sideways to throw out Matsui who was making a mad dash down the first base line. I don’t think any other guy could have gotten Godzilla out. His leadership qualities alone can turn double plays…
He also saved Christmas. Well I don’t want to exaggerate, he helped save Christmas one year.

Ok Just Kidding. Congrats to The Amazing Man from Minn- Joe Mauer!

EDIT--Here are my pictures from Game Two of the ALDS

Empty Parking Spot

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:30:29 -0600

There has been much talk on the internet and sports radio that the Yankees “need” to “free up” their DH spot for guys like Posada, A-Rod, Jeter and other aging guys that might need a rest from playing in the field. While I agree that some of these guys definitely need a day off now and then, last year Girardi managed to do that while still having Matsui play 118 games as the primary DH. What these advocates fail to realize is the loss of production that would occur if they simply turned the DH spot into an empty parking space. They seem to forget that whenever a guy like Alex or Damon or Jorge are the DH you are running out guys like Cody Ransom or Jose Molina. Now I realize that even the youngest of catchers do not play every day. The Yankees will be lucky if Jorge catches 110 games or so. But no AL teams use their DH spot for their primary catcher on his off day except for Napoli sometimes with the Angels, so that would, as Jason would say, be a specious argument. The Yankees did vastly improve their bench by mid-season with Hairston and Hinske but calling Hinske a butcher in RF would be a compliment. He hit a few bombs but that was about it. Jerry was much better than Ransom, but almost anyone would have been. Some might bring up Alex’s hip injury and suggest that he of all people should be treated with kid gloves. Well last year he played only 9 games as DH. In fact no one played more than 9 games as DH last year. I was surprised to see that Damon only played 4 games and by the way, in that small sample size he only hit .200 so don’t let anyone convince you that he would make an ideal designated hitter. On the other hand maybe he would. Some guys do not respond well to it. They lose their focus. Even Giambi was a much better hitter when he was playing first base ( shudder). Alex in his small sample size of 38 PA thrived there. Again-key word -small sample size.

I have two points I’d like to emphasize. The Yankees need a full time DH and they also need a guy who can keep his head in the game without playing in the field. I’m sure you can guess where this is going. Matsui. OK here is his line from 2009: He had 502 PAs with an OBP of .361 and he slugged .506. 27 home runs, 86 RBI and he struck out a not too shabby 71 times. His knees are a concern and he is a baseclogger but hey, Jim Thome isn’t exactly fleet of foot. None of the potential DH’s out there are even remotely fast. One might make the argument for Damon next year as DH. I’m not opposed to it, but we already know that Matsui makes for a very good one. Yes you do lose the versatility that Damon might bring since he can still play the field but this post is not about whether JD should be a yankee next year, it’s that I believe that Matsui may be better suited as DH. The other issue is revenue coming from Japan. NHK, the main Japanese broadcasting company shows every Yankee game and that brings in a tremendous amount of money to the team. There is no doubt that those broadcasts will follow him wherever he goes. Then there is all the Japanese signage in the stadium. That will disappear as well. I have read that the Yankees pull in about 15 million a year from these sources. Matsui is paying for himself without even swinging a bat. 15 million isn’t a ton of money to the Yankees but it sure would be to many teams that might well snap him up for that reason alone. Godzilla has said he wants to continue rampaging in The Bronx and i’m all for it.