We're Talking Baseball

Starting 9 (6/17/09)

1. Should Francisco Cervelli be the starting catcher? As with Derek Jeter at SS it's hard to knock the guy off his position he's been playing well for a decade. But I don't think there's a doubt the Yankees would be better defensively with Cervelli catching and Pena playing short. Dugout Central concludes as much and the New York Times' Tyler Kepner goes into this as well. I think that the Yankees should carry 3 catchers for a while when Jose Molina comes back and give Jorge Posada more time at DH. And next year they should work Posada into the DH mix at least 1/3 of the time (probably more like 1/2). But right now, we need to see if these pitchers really do need to pitch to Cervelli/Molina and I have to agree with this quote from Brian Cashman in the NYT article (quoted by Rob Neyer as well): "Jorge is obviously that rare combination of being a catcher and an offensive player," Cashman said Monday. "Cervelli and Molina are more one-sided, to the defensive side. I can't really say why there's a difference. It could be sample size. It could be that the other guys are just better defensive players."
2. Who is the Most Valuable [position] Player in baseball right now? Well, according to FanGraphs, by pure dollar value it's Ben Zobrist. Who would have thunk it? His value is 3.8 wins above replacement so far this season and his line is 318/.429/.694. Those are all WAY above his career average of .247/.321/.455 as would be his projected numbers of 37 HRs, 104 RBIs and 85 XBHs to go along with 88 BB. Although I don't expect him to continue on this pace for an entire season (could come down on his .331 BAbip), he should be an All Star this year for how he's performed so far as well as his teammate Jason Bartlett which would be an unlikely Tampa duo to join the likes of Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford in St. Louis.
3. Here's to the Joba-to-the-'pen people from both Tyler Kepner and Steven Goldman: "We’re halfway through June, and this is what Aceves, Coke, Hughes and Robertson have done this month: in 23 innings, they have combined to allow 16 hits, nine walks and just five earned runs, with 26 strikeouts. That’s a 1.96 E.R.A. spread across four setup men, with Bruney now added to the mix." And Ken Rosenthal adds: "Among the Yankees' starters, only CC Sabathia has a lower ERA than Chamberlain. A.J. Burnett has a higher ERA, and so do the Red Sox's Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. Chamberlain ranks 22nd in ERA among AL starters overall. 'He's a four-pitch pitcher. He can be dominant. How many guys can you say that about?' Girardi said." One thing Joba does need to work on? Putting away batters, which according to River Ave Blues is a problem shared by a few other starters.
4. Mets fans have a lot to grind about. Ken Rosenthal talks about Manuel's ridiculous tendency to throw his guys under the bus. As Mets Police says, they have a need at SS (or just Reyes returning soon), starting pitching, a big bat, and probably in the bullpen as well. Yet Omar Minaya has sat still. But I think this bit from Ken Rosenthal takes the prize: "Some within the Mets' organization have speculated that shortstop Jose Reyes' right-calf injury might have resulted from his switch in shoe companies, from Nike to Under Armour, at the start of spring training." Nevermind, it's this one, also from Rosenthal:  "Rays lefty Scott Kazmir has enlisted the help of Rick Peterson, his former pitching coach with the Mets — and who allegedly said that he could fix Victor Zambrano, the pitcher the Mets acquired for Kazmir, 'in 10 minutes.'"
5. After the Castillo drop on Friday night of the Subway Series game, I was asked what other times in baseball history has a batter whose team was losing with two outs reached on an error to win the game. Well Baseball-Reference took up the challenge before I did and found out that it's a happened a few times, mostly recently in 1998 against the Chicago Cubs and 2000 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The picture leading off the article was being sent around my office so I figured I'd include it. 
6. Two Yankees whose names you should remember? For later on this season it's Sergio Mitre who, according to Joel Sherman, allowed two runs in seven innings pitching in Triple-A with no walks and 5 Ks. Always good to have more arms. And for a few years down the line, according to SI's Jon Heyman, it's Slade Heathcott (a great baseball name but only the third most marketable according to CNBC's Darren Rovell): "The Yankees probably did a smart thing by taking a flyer on Slade Heathcott, a five-tool high school outfielder, with their first pick in last week's draft. His father's in jail for drugs, his mother's out of the picture and Slade was academically ineligible for a short period. However, he was considered to have very high upside."
7. I was trying to describe to a non-basketball fan about Kobe Bryant and I used A-Rod as an example: everyone seems to dislike, private life scrutinized, one huge mistake (the "rape" and the "steroids"), odd personalities, odd marriages, success at a young age, and, up until the other day, unable to put away the critics by winning the big one on their own. Now I feel like A-Rod should look at the fact Kobe at least altered his public image to the point everyone was talking about it, read this Bill Simmons column about Kobe's "changing" and take it to heart. As Deadspin writes, Alex's off-the-field image rehabilitation has began and little gestures like this certainly do help. But he will need be like Kobe and deliver that championship to put all the rest behind him.
8. I feel like Boston has a very large inferiority complex when it comes to Mark Teixeira. Before owner John Henry tweeted about the "MT Curse", Boston Herald's Gerry Callahan writes about the Yankees trying to buy first place "and perhaps a title". Um, what? Isn't that pot calling the kettle black? The Red Sox championship teams were built on bringing in high priced free agents: Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, Keith Foulke, and JD Drew and trading for guys that small market teams couldn't afford like Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, and Mike Lowell. And the Red Sox tried to get both Teixeira and A-Rod at different points. If they had gotten them, would they be buying a championship as well? It's not like the Yankees blew either team out of the water, so the questions isn't so far-fetched.
9. The serious: I joked around about it before, but Aramark is now in REAL trouble according to Shysterball. The humorous: The Sports Hernia has this hilarious bit on Suzyn Waldman (H/T Jay). Can't believe I missed that for so long. Too funny.

A few misc:

-I saw so swept up with the Rangers at the time, I totally forgot all the names that were involved with the New York Knicks in 1994 as Newsday recaps: Hubert Davis, Hue Hollins, Reggie Miller, and, of course O.J. Simpson.

-New York Times on Jeff Van Gundy's inner comedian is well worth a read (H/T Jenn)

-MSNBC on the Orthodox Jews "kosher" search engine (gotta love it)

-And the very strange story that I saw the headline for this morning passing by a paper stand about the guy who posed as his dead mom to collect benefits. Very, very weird.