The Real Problem with the Edinson Volquez Suspension

I'm sure everyone heard about a mystery player who was going to be suspended for PEDs. Then it was a New York player. Then definitely not a New York player. Then an NL player. Then a pitcher. And finally it was revealed by SI's Jon Heyman as Reds injured pitcher Edinson Volquez (picture from the article). So he's caught, he's suspended 50 games, he learns his lesson, and all's good (well, except for the children who lose a role model)...well not quite. Why? Craig Calcaterra of HarballTalk explains why the suspension starting immediately doesn't work in this instance:

[Volquez] cannot pitch and would not be able to until at least July, due to recovery from Tommy John surgery.  The suspension, in contrast, will be over in June.  Sure, his pay will be docked, but he will miss exactly zero games that he otherwise wouldn't have missed...Volquez will essentially have no change whatsoever in his recovery and return...

Not that his fine will be insubstantial -- he'll be docked roughly $137K of his $445K contract this year, plus some fines I imagine -- but his baseball life will not be altered one bit by the suspension.

Think anyone is going to have a problem with this?  Oh, yes. Yes they will.

I certainly do. Volquez is basically getting off because of "time served". He's getting a free pass because he's injured now. If Volquez was suspended for hitting a guy with a pitch, the suspension would start once he comes off the disabled list (unless he was Cliff Lee, of course). But because of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, it starts right now.

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Why We Hate the 2010 Red Sox

Jason over at IIATMS was tasked with a challenge: rebut a Red Sox post about why they hate the 2010 Yankees. So Jason--with the help of his readers--has helped to come up with "The Top 10 Reasons to Hate the 2010 Red Sox." But I think we can find some reasons to add to the list. I'll post Jason's list below (one of my suggestions made the list at #6) and then I'm reaching out to all of you to add your suggestions in the comments as we all watch the great ESPN Red Sox/Yankees opening night promo and think about the 3 days until we start this season for real:

What are “The Top 10 Reasons to Hate the 2010 RedSox”?

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The Good, Bad and Ugly of Jason Giambi's Time In Pinstripes

It usually takes a few years past the time a player is on a team to determine if a free agent signing was positive or negative. Some are very easy (Carl Pavano, Kei Igawa, etc.) but many more aren't quite so clear-cut. I feel like Jason Giambi is one of those players. There were ups and downs, steroid allegations, apologies (without ever saying what he was apologizing for), lucky thongs, and many other activities. Giambi was brought in to slug, and he did just that, but he also had two very poor years and his defense hurt the team at 1st. So was Giambi a good or bad signing? He wasn't worth $120 million, but Giambi did bring a lot of value to the Yankees with his bat--let's take a look at the numbers.

The picture to the right is from Bronx Baseball Daily and is a look at what Giambi looks like now, which is quite different that he looked like with the Yankees (even with the mustache as shown by the New York Daily News picture on the right). But throughout his image changes, one thing remained about Giambi: the man could rake. Courtesy of Baseball-Reference, here's a look at what Giambi did in his time with the Yankees on offense:

Year	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	GDP	HBP	SF	IBB	Awards
2002	31	155	689	560	120	176	34	41	122	109	112	.314	.435	.598	1.034	172	18	15	5	4	AS,MVP-5,SS
2003	32	156	690	535	97	134	25	41	107	129	140	.250	.412	.527	.939	148	9	21	5	9	AS,MVP-13
2004	33	80	322	264	33	55	9	12	40	47	62	.208	.342	.379	.720	90	5	8	3	1	AS
2005	34	139	545	417	74	113	14	32	87	108	109	.271	.440	.535	.975	161	7	19	1	5	MVP-18
2006	35	139	579	446	92	113	25	37	113	110	106	.253	.413	.558	.971	148	10	16	7	12	MVP-14
2007	36	83	303	254	31	60	8	14	39	40	66	.236	.356	.433	.790	107	1	8	1	2
2008	37	145	565	458	68	113	19	32	96	76	111	.247	.373	.502	.876	128	6	22	9	5
NYY (7 yrs)		897	3693	2934	515	764	134	209	604	619	706	.260	.404	.521	.925	143	56	109	31	38

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/5/2010.

His first year was pretty ridiculous with .314/.435/.598 slashes, 120 runs, 34 doubles, 41 homers, 122 RBI. Amazingly, that was only good for 5th in the MVP race behind Miguel Tejada, Alex Rodriguez, teammate Alfonso Soriano, and Garret Anderson. He would be an All-Star in 2003 and led the league in walks and hit-by-pitches and would hit two very important solo home runs in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series that year to lead the Yankees over the Red Sox in that dramatic series. 2004 was not just a bad year for the Yankees, but also a bad year for Giambi who missed significant time with an internal parasite and a benign tumor in his pituitary gland. When the Yankees failed in the ALCS that year and Giambi's BALCO profile grew, so did public discontent with the Giambino. The Yankees also looked into ways to void the rest of the contract.

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16 Games Without An Error

I think one of the most impressive things the Yankees have done this season so far has been this streak of 16 games without an error. Granted, you can't get charged with an error if you never get to a ball (paging Derek Jeter) and an error is still a decision made by the official scorer...but this is quite impressive. They're one game away from tying the major league record set by the 2006 Red Sox--which is amazing to me...there's been many good defensive teams and many years of baseball and the fact that 17 games without an error is a record is a shock to me.

The most impressive part of this is that the Yankees have been tremendously subpar defensively in past seasons. By the end of last year they had a starting lineup with Xavier Nady in LF (average at best), Johnny Damon in CF (speedy but poor defender and extremely poor arm), Bobby Abreu in RF (decent arm, but subpar fielder), Jason Giambi at 1B (subpar), Robinson Cano at 2B (below average to above average depending on how he felt), Derek Jeter (poor defender), A-Rod (average, but good arm), and Jorge Posada (average at best).

This year Brian Cashman wanted to improve the defense of his team and he certainly did so. Swisher is an upgrade in RF, Melky/Gardner in CF (and Gardner is one of the top 3 defensive CFs in the league), Teixeira at 1B (who could win some Gold while with the Yanks and saves errors from the other infielders), and an improved bench of plus defenders in whoever is not starting in CF (who can play all 3 OF positions) and Ramiro Pena (who can play all infield positions).

The problem with errors is that not only do they sometimes end up in unearned runs, but they also make your pitcher throw more pitches. And when you make your starters throw more pitches, it hurts your team in ways not shown in the boxscore. This is especially important in the Yankees bandbox in the Bronx because extra pitches means greater chances someone will hit the ball out of the park.

I'm not taking anything away from what the Yankees starters have done the past few weeks, but the starting pitching looks better because of the good defense. I'm not sure how long this errorless streak is going to last, but it's because of increased focus on improving the defense this year that it was even possible.