My Three Biggest "Times Square Momements" with Joe Girardi: Sacrifice Bunting

I like Joe Girardi as a manager. For the most part he seems to have a good handle on his team, doesn't misuse any one player, and does not try to do anything too extreme as a manager. He understands the game and he understands the perspective of an entire season over sacrificing one game--no matter who they are playing. But he certainly has his "Times Square" moments. I have given it this name after my evening commute which takes me through Times Square, an annoying, confusing, illogical and all-together frustrating experience that leaves me throwing my hands up. (Yes, please, family from out-of-town, let's all fan out, hold hands, and then decided to stop and turn around without any warning to take a picture. That sounds like a wonderful idea that's not going to bother anyone else on the street.) I'm going to start on a series of my three biggest Times Square moments with Joe Girardi with today's entry: Sacrifice Bunting

Joe Girardi needs to add a note to his binder: DON'T BUNT (NYT)

If you are warm and have a fireplace in your place of dwelling, you have two options, you can either take your cash to store and buy some firewood or you can burn that money. Sure, burning that money will keep you warm since it is flamable and it's really easy since you don't have to go outside in the cold to get it but it's a really inefficient and it's a lazy way about going about things.

Truthfully, no one would actually burn money instead of going to the store for the firewood, but in many senses, the amount of sacrifice bunting that some American League teams do is on that level. It's inefficient and it's frankly lazy managing. Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, Football, and many other sports have a clock; baseball has no finite time-frame, only a finite number of outs. They need to be protected like unobtanium in Avatar and yet they really are sometimes given away. I'm not saying that one should never bunt (more on this later), but some of the great hitters who are given the sign to lay down the sacrifice make me scratch my head.

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Belated Reaction To Yankees' Second Walkoff Win Of The Season

Photo Credit: New York Daily News

Last night, the Yankees posted their second walk-off win this season, beating the Blue Jays 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th inning.  Having still not fully recovered from their six-game losing streak, and after losing the first game of the Toronto series badly on Monday night, this impressive comeback (they were down 4-1 entering the bottom of the 8th) came at the perfect time.

Given the importance of this win, I thought I would share a few (admittedly belated) thoughts...

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Trivia Tuesday: Yankees Batting Order

Consistency is usually the mark of a championship team and such was the case with the 2009 Yankees who used their most common lineup 15 times during the season. But back in 1996, when the Jetererian Era started, the Yankees changed the lineup around quite often. So much, in fact, that they only had one lineup they used more than three times. Amazingly, they only used this lineup 4 times all season. Can you name that lineup from 1-9? This one should be really tough since they used 131 different lineups that season!

Bonus: the 1998 Yankees had one lineup they used 8 times--can you name that lineup 1-9 as well?

Bonus II: if those two are too hard for you or too long ago for you then answer this--which lineup did the 2010 Yankees use 10 times (which was the most often-used lineup)?

No cheating! Put your best guess in the comments below and I'll let you know if you are correct (or, like Mastermind, I will let you know how many of your 9 are correct). Good luck!

Reliving My Memory of the 2003 ALCS Game 7

Right now MLB Network is airing their 20 Greatest Games series with #6. The game? 2003 ALCS Game 7, the Aaron Boone walk-off game. I'm currently on a bus on my way back from--of all places--Boston so I will be watching it later on Tivo. But while any mention of that game brings a smile to my face, it's about time that I relived the memory of that game on NYaT.

Victory!

I'm not sure there was ever a game in my entire life that had the up-and-down emotion of this game. Game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals as a Rangers fan was close (and the recent comeback against the Bruins by the Rangers brought those emotions back in a bid way). But regardless of how emotional this game was, it was so much more emotional for me. I was a sophomore at Brandeis University. Brandeis is in Waltham, Massachusetts, a close suburb of Boston. Many of my school-mates were Red Sox fans and I had just started doing a radio show with Ben W and Jay which was full of Red Sox callers wanting to tell us how the Sawks were going to kick the Yankees butts all over the place.

I decided to go watch Game 7 with a mixed group of people. Mixed as in some Yankees fans, some Red Sox fans and some agnostics. I stayed about 30 minutes as the Yankees early hole left the Red Sox fans arrogant and ready to celebrate. If the Yankees were going to do go down in 2003, I was going to be sitting in Jay and my room watching it sans "Red Sox Nation".

As soon as Jay and I got back to our room, the tide starting turning. I paced around the room as the Yankees slowly ate away at the Red Sox lead and when Grady Little left Pedro Martinez in, Jay and I were hopeful for the first time all night. There was a chance. We couldn't sit, we couldn't stand still...we could hardly even watch.

And then Jorge Posada's hit fell and we went nuts. Like nuts-nuts. Like the type of nuts that make your college neighbors really mad at you.

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UConn-Yankees Ticket Offer @ Yankee Stadium

On Wednesday, April 13, the Yankees will be honoring the 2011 NCAA Basketball Champion UConn Huskies.  There will be an on-the-field pregame ceremony, and Kemba Walker will throw out the first pitch.  The actual Yankees game against the Baltimore Orioles will begin at 7:05 p.m.

Here's the kicker for all the fans: use the promo code "UCONN" and get $5 tickets in the Main Level Outfield, Terrace Level Outfield, Grandstand Level and Bleachers seats.  Not a bad deal.

So come on, UConn Country, show up to cheer on your Huskies.  Besides, the sagging attendance figures at Yankee Stadium could use your help!

Almost Opening Day...

The weather outside in New York doesn't show it but we're really, really close to opening day. I love this time of year when rosters are finalized, teams leave Florida and the anticipation of the season is right around the corner. The greatest part about opening day is that every team starts with the same chance to win the World Series. Sure, I don't think the Pirates or the Royals really have any shot, but as the Giants proved last year, you never really know. So here's to hope, optimism, Spring and Opening Day!

And now a baseball joke for you (H/T Lauren): A Yankees fan, a Mets fan, and a Red Sox fan are climbing a mountain and arguing about who loves his team more. The Mets fan insists he is the most loyal. ''This is for the Mets'', he yells, and jumps off the mountain. Not to be outdone, the Yankees fan is next to profess his love for his team. He yells "This is for the Yankees!!!"...and pushes the Red Sox fan off the mountain.

Hot Stove Coal: Retreads Are Never the Answer

I'm sorry that my blogging has been so sporadic. I started a new day job and its duties have had me neglecting my blogging duties. And I was going to be okay with that until I heard this clip of Mike Francesca blowing up at a caller and then saw Michael Kay sitting in full Rangers gear at Madison Square Garden last night. If there was ever a signal that I needed to get back into the blogging game it would be seeing the two New York sports talk blowhards back in my life.

Colon shouldn't be more than a stop-gap for the Yanks(LoHud)

I also wanted to talk about the 2011 Yankees--a rag-tag bunch of characters if I ever saw one. Sure there's the Core Three and A-Rod and CC. But as Spring has gone on, I've seen Yankee fans get excited by the likes of Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, and Mark Prior. It's as American as apple pie to root for comeback stories. We love the guy who rises out of the ashes for one more shot at glory. It's why we go to the theaters to see so many Rocky movies. It's why we the best sports stories always seems to be ones of redemption.

The problem is that we try too hard at times to make something out of nothing, especially when it has to do with baseball retreads (AKA has-beens, washed up, and finished). Sure, there's the odd guy who can have a huge rebound and find his way back to his glory days. But with steroid testing in place, those guys seem to be one in a million. I'm not talking about guys who just needed a change of venue to realize their true potential like David Ortiz, Paul O'Neill, Tim Wakefield or Shane Victorino. And I'm not talking about guys who had a down year or an injury and found a way back the next year. I'm talking about guys whose careers were shot only to find success again. It's just not happening as much as people think.

To prove my point, the Yankees have to look no further than Boston where the Red Sox draw optimisim each Spring from their fans on the retreads they try to revive the careers of. Yankee fans bemoan that their General Manager is no Theo Epstein only to find out that there was a reason these guys were available for so cheap. How much did we hear about Jeremy Hermida, Rocco Baldelli, Brad Penny, John Smoltz, Paul Byrd, Eric Gagne and Wade Miller and how much did they produce? Did you remember that the Red Sox had Bartolo Colon in 2008 or that Freddy Garcia was on the Mets Spring roster before being released? David Wells and David Cone both wore the Red Sox jerseys at some point towards the end of their careers.

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Two Yankee Prospect Busts From the Last Regime

A few weeks back Ben wrote a guest post on LoHud about Yankee prospects and how Brian Cashman made the right decision on so many of them with when to keep them and when to trade them away. I have always thought this was a combination of dumb luck (how many times did guys almost get traded but by sheer luck didn't) and good internal prospect evaluation. Cashman is hoping to use that combination to make the right decisions with all the young pitchers and catchers the Yankees are trying to develop in their minor league system.

Source: Baseball Almanac

But before Brian Cashman arrived on the scene, the Yankees had a few guys who were flat out busts. There are famous ones like Brien Taylor, but there are a ton of other guys who just never made the cut after the Yankees hype machine touted them as top prospects. Two of those guys made Steven Goldman's Baseball Prospectus post of the worst prospect busts in baseball. Let's take a look at what he had to say about Hensley "Bam-Bam" Meulens and Ruben Rivera:

Hensley Meulens, 3B, Yankees
Free Agent, 1985
Now the Giants hitting coach, “Bam-Bam” was once going to be a star in the Big Apple. the right-handed-hitting third baseman had tremendous power at a very young age, hitting approximately .300/.377/.558 with 28 home runs in the Carolina League at age 20, but he had problems making contact and couldn’t field. Despite these flaws, the Yankees pushed him hard and fast, not really noticing that he didn’t hit or field as they pushed him up the ladder. Finally, after a failed major-league audition in 1989, he got back on the prospect track at Triple-A, hitting .285/.376/.510 with 26 home runs as a 23-year-old while primarily playing left field. This was the first positive thing he had done in some time, and it earned him both a recall (successful) and a full season in the majors in 1991 (not). Back in Columbus in 1992, the now-25-year-old hit .275/.352/.481 with 26 home runs, but also struck out 168 times. The Yankees were largely done with him, and he had just 44 major-league plate appearances remaining. He finished his career at .220/.288/.353 in 182 games. For more, see my profile of Meulens from last fall.

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Alfredo Aceves Continues To Do His Best Ramiro Mendoza Impression

The hope among Yankee fans was that Alfredo Aceves would turn into what Ramiro Mendoza was for the Yankees--a jack-of-all-trades swingman who could excel at any part of the game from starter to closer and every place in between. Mendoza has a certain place in Yankee lore from the late 90s as "El Brujo" worked his magic for four championship teams. For about 2 years, that's exactly what Aceves was as he went 14-1 with a 3.21 ERA (142 ERA+) in 59 games. Those 59 games spanned 126 innings and included 5 starts and 2 saves. His only full season was 2009 and he was certainly one of the reasons the Yankees won the World Series as his 4.31 SO/BB ratio helped to solidify the bullpen for the Yankees.

Yankees fans are hoping that Alfredo Aceves is the new Mole in Boston

But after getting shut down in early May due to back pain and then breaking his collarbone in a bicycle accident during the off-season, the Yankees decided to non-tender Aceves and take a chance that they could resign him on a minor-league contract due to his injury timetable. But instead the Boston Red Sox swept in yesterday and signed Aceves to a major-league contract with the desire to make him a starter--and with an improved injury timetable. At first glance, many wondered whether the Yankees had made a mistake non-tendering Aceves, especially judging by the gaping holes at the back of their rotation.

The Yankees have to hope that Aceves turns into Mendoza one more time, but this time for the Red Sox. The toll on Mendoza's arm from the workload the Yankees gave him worried the Yankees and in 2003 Mendoza signed with the Red Sox. The 31-year-old Mendoza stuck up the join in 2003 with a 6.75 ERA and 1.770 WHIP. When the Red Sox lost to the Yankees in that year's ALCS, Mendoza became known in Boston (especially on sports talk radio station, WEEI) as "The Mole".

Mendoza would improve his numbers greatly in 2004 and got a World Series ring for his efforts but the Red Sox fans would never forgive him. When he came out of the dugout to get his World Series ring on opening day of 2005, he was the only player to get booed. Some of that probably had to do with the fact he had resigned with the Yankees, but the memory of the Yankees dropping off damaged goods in Beantown has not been lost on Red Sox fans.

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Hot Stove Coal: Let's Debate Joba Some More

Our own Jay Hyne became the second writer from NYaT to be featured in the LoHud Yankees Blog Pitch Hitter series when he wrote his blog post this morning. He wrote about Joba Chamberlain and Jay believes he should stay in the bullpen. It may all be a moot point at this juncture since Brian Cashman agrees with Jay, but I've stated more than once on this blog I think the Yankees have been making a huge mistake by pigeon-holing Joba into the 'pen. And since Jay did reference our WBRS arguments in his bio, I figured that it was more than appropriate to give some contradiction to his post.

Joba's role has been a debate on NYaT from the beginning (Star-Ledger)

The issue is that while the Yankees seemed to have handled Phil Hughes' transisition to the Majors well (though the jury is still out on that--we'll see after an increased workload this year), they totally bungled Joba. I don't think Jay or anyone would disagree with me on that. He was a reliever, then a starter, then they had him start the first 3 innings of a game, then the shut him down, then he was a reliever, and now he's sort of in limbo. It's tough to be that age and be jerked around like that. I also think that people look poorly upon the season Joba was truly given a chance to start because of how the season ended. Look at his starts before they started skipping him and he was a different pitcher.

Unfortunately, it looks like we'll never know if Joba could have been another Roy Halladay, Zack Greinke or Johan Santana--three pitchers who started as relievers and after a rough start in the rotation, made the transition work. I don't know if it's truly that arm injury or just an organizational-wide mental block against Joba after he burst onto the scene as a dominant bullpen arm. Maybe he'll have to be traded to realize that potential or maybe he's just another Aaron Heilman.

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Random Thoughts: Super Bowl, 'Melo, Yankees' Signings, and Cano

I had my first experience taking transportation other than a car to or from Boston this weekend and I can tell you it's not so much fun. But while I flew there, I'm taking Megabus on my way back and being blessed with spotty WiFi, I felt it a good time to blog. I know I've been absent from the blog for a while but I've been transitioning to a new [day] job and haven't had the time I would like to pump out great blog posts for the NYaT audience. So here's a bunch of random sports thoughts as I figure out how to get this guy's job as a ticket broker (H/T Zack):

I'm rooting with the rest of the Cheeseheads for Aaron Rodgers (NYP)

My Super Bowl Team

I don't think I'm alone rooting for the Packers tonight in the Super Bowl. I think while most of the time people root for a team, this battle is a battle of quarterback personalities. While Big Ben has become a hard-to-root-for quarterback with his off-the-field issues, Aaron Rodgers is about as easy to root for as a QB can be. He sat on the bench and didn't complain while Brett Favre did his annual retirement dance and the year that Favre had his personal downfall as a person and player, Rodgers is about to assert himself among the best QBs in the NFL. And if you look at the past 5 Super Bowls, the better story always won, though none will top the Drew Brees taking the post-Katrina Saints all the way last year. I think the Packers are going to win but I'm truly just rooting for an entertaining game.

Carmelo Anthony

I've been pretty adamantly against the Knicks double paying for 'Melo (in prospects and then in money) knowing that he's probably going to sign with the Knicks no matter what in the off-season. But after the Cliff Lee saga, I know that something like that is never certain and if the latest rumored offer (Knicks only giving up Wilson Chandler, Anthony Randolph, and Eddy Curry's obese corpse) is really true, I say go for it. They could go small and have a starting 5 of Amare, Raymond Felton, Landry Fields, Gallo, and 'Melo or move Fields to a super 6th man and start Ronny Turiaf or The Mozgov Cocktail in his place. Carmelo may not make the Knicks that much better (he plays even less defense), but for three players who won't be here next year, I think it's a steal. 'Melo has used his leverage and now the Knickerbockers need to take advantage of it.

Yankees' Latest Signings

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Andy Won't Be Dandy in 2011

In the last hour, reports have surfaced that Andy Pettitte will officially announce his retirement tomorrow at Yankee Stadium.  The loss of Pettitte now officially adds more serious question marks to the Yankees' starting rotation entering the 2010 season.  As The LoHud Yankee Blog reports, here is the rotation entering the season:

CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett and pick two from Sergio Mitre/Bartolo Colon/Freddy Garcia/Ivan Nova/Anyone Else You Can Think Of.

Despite the fact that Cashman had stated he was already under the impression that Pettitte was set to retire, I think it is fair to say that when Cashman stated that he had to be patient, part of that had to do with waiting for an official decision from Pettitte.  Now that it is going to be official, Cashman's options have certainly been made clearer.  It doesn't mean that he's going to start scrambling to make a deal, but it will certainly make it easier to evaluate his options.

As for Pettitte retiring, it will mark the end of a great Yankee career.  A product of Gene Michael's strong scouting and farm system put in place during the early 1990's, Pettitte was as consistent of a pitcher that there could be.  From 1995-2010, Pettitte compiled a 240-138 record, making for a .638 winning percentage.  That's better than Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Curt Schilling.  It is often thought that wins and losses are a relatively meaningless statistic, especially on a good offensive team.  Yet somehow, he stands out for his reliable and ability to pitch a big game.

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Brian Cashman: Master of his Domain

Lately this blog has become the mouthpiece of “In Cashman We Trust.” And when Ben and I got a chance to meet Brian Cashman in person last week, I think that increased my feeling that Cashman is truly the man for the job. We lamented that things would never be the same after Cashman left for greener pastures and worried that time would come after this season was over. But the more I’ve thought about the situation this past week, I realized that not only is Cashman not going anyplace, but this off-season has provided the greatest example of how much of a master he truly is in his own domain of negotiation and people management.

My grainy pic of Cashman doing his best as barkeep at Foley's last week

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” you’re probably saying. “What about all that Jeter garbage and his public blowups and his talk of leaving after this season and not getting Cliff Lee and walking off the company line and, come on, CARL PAVANO!?”

I think that it has all been part of Cashman’s master plan. I don’t think he wanted to see Cliff Lee spurn the Yankees for the City of Brotherly Love, but I think it allows Cashman to actually build the team in his image; home-grown talent supplemented by smartly acquired free agents and reclamation trade targets. Think about the current team: it’s an equal amount high-priced free agents (CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira), buy-low trade targets (Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson), and young home-grown players built from smart international and domestic drafting (Robinson Cano and Phil Hughes).

I don’t think Cashman would have minded trading prize prospects for Lee, but after seeing him escape in July and again this winter, Cashman has the luxury of watching some of those prospects like Jesus Montero and The Killer B’s (I hate giving them a nickname and dooming them to that fate, but it works so well) develop in the system. Would Cashman’s life be easier if Andy Pettitte would come back and he would have only one rotations spot to worry about between the likes of Ivan Nova or Manny Banuelos or Sergio Mitre or *gulp* Bartolo Colon? Would he like A.J. Burnett to "pull a Gil Meche" if he doesn't produce this next year? Of course. But with a farm system greatly improved and stacked with some top prospects, Cashman has the assets to either find the candidate within or go out in July and acquire that arm.

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Hot Stove Coal: Former All-Star Acquisitions Aplenty in AL East

There have been a lot of former All-Stars acquired by the five teams in the American League East. Here's a look at all those All Stars with one player per team I was surprised wasn't in the Summer Classic (or at least the best player acquired not to make an All-Star Team).

Toronto Blue Jays: Chad Cordero
Surprise: Octavio Dotel

Tampa Bay Rays: Manny Ramriez and Johnny Damon
Surprise: Kyle Farnsworth

Baltimore Orioles: Derrek Lee and J.J. Hardy
Surprise: Mark Reynolds

Boston Red Sox: Bobby Jenks, Carl Crawford, and Adrian Gonzalez
Surprise: Dan Wheeler

New York Yankees: Andruw Jones, Rafael Soriano, Russell Martin, and Mark Prior
Surprise: Pedro Feliciano

The Yankees have the most former All Stars acquired but the Red Sox have the players who have been All Stars most recently. It doesn't really say anything about the teams' offseasons but just a general overview of the starpower assembled this off-season in the American League East.

Hot Stove Coal: Is This Brian Cashman's Swan Song in the Bronx?

A quick post for this morning, but as I sat there watching football yesterday, I wondered if this could be Brian Cashman's final season as the General Manager of the New York Yankees. We've had this discussion a few times previously only to have Cashman return to the only team he calls home. We've seen his name in the newspapers linked to dozens of teams, especially when the stress of George Steinbrenner's reign seemed to rob him of every one of his remaining hairs. There's a whole section in Buster Olney's "Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty" that is dedicated to Cashman's stress level. But with The Boss having passed, Cashman in control, and a seemingly gentler regime in charge, it seemed like the days of Cashman leaving were well into the future. After the last few weeks of the Yankees' off-season, I'm beginning to think they're closer than we think.

Is this Cashman's final year answering that question in NY?

Brian Cashman has an odd sort of off-season as General Manager. He and the rest of the Yankees management had a very public negotiation (spat?) with the Yankees' captain, Derek Jeter. They put all their eggs into signing Cliff Lee and then watched him make them his third choice in the process. They signed Russell Martin and all seemed to be quiet except for rumors of a possible Rafael Soriano signing. But many of us thought that Cashman wouldn't make a move like that and when he came out and blatantly said he wouldn't give up a first round draft pick for Soriano, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

And then news of the Soriano signing broke. We all wondered what had happened and figured that we would never know if this was a move done by Cashman or by ownership. We figured that Cashman would toe the company line and talk about building that beautiful mythological "Bridge to Mariano" and we would just continue to push out the motto of "In Cashman We Trust".

That didn't happen either. Cashman didn't totally go all Peter Gibbons from Office Space and try to get himself fired, but he did make sure to let everyone know that he wasn't the one pulling the strings of the Soriano signing--even doing so at the press conference with Soriano sitting there. He went so far as to admit to a confused Yankee fan base that he had actually tried to bring back Carl Pavano--the American Idle himself--for another run in Pinstripes. At a time when the fruits of Cashman's drafting and developing labor are starting to ripen, we have to wonder whether he will be around to see the results.

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Hot Stove Coal: Yankees Reportedly Close to Andruw Jones Signing

Yahoo!'s Tim Brown is reporting that the Yankees and outfielder Andruw Jones are "nearing a one-year deal." Previously the Yankees were said to be looking for an outfielder who can play all three outfield positions, but were off on salary according to MLBTradeRumors. For the right price, Jones would certainly be a good fit for the Yankees' fourth outfielder, filling in vs. lefties and providing a good defensive and offensive player for the bench. If it isn't a lot of money, I think that Jones is certainly worth the gamble.

Andruw Jones may be heading to the Bronx for 2011 (AJC)

Finding a value for Andruw Jones may be tough, though judging from the fact he signed a $500K deal last off-season with incentives, it doesn't seem to be much of an outlay from the outlook. Even if he gets a raise on guaranteed money from that deal, he's still worth it for the Yankees.

Jones burst on to the scene in 1996 at 19 and killed the Yankees in that year's World Series. From 1998 to 2004, Jones averaged over 30 HR and almost 100 RBI per season while winning a Gold Glove every year. Then Jones really took off. He led the majors in HR (51) and the NL in RBI (128) and a .922 OPS in 2005 when he finished second in the MVP voting (with an 8.3 fWAR) and followed it up the next season with 41 HR and 129 RBI. That was at age 29 and he looked prime to continue on that path. 2007 was a down season for Jones as he hit .222/.311/.413 for the Braves and was scooped up by the Dodgers in the off-season. The Dodgers season was a disaster for Jones and the contract was a bust for the Dodgers as Jones hit an awful .158/.256/.249 before being released. He's been slowly building up his value with the Rangers and White Sox in the American League the past two seasons.

Jones will turn 34 in April and has now been relegated for 4th OF duty. For the Yankees, that may be a perfect place for him. The Yankees have left-handed hitting outfielders in center and left and can use a Marcus Thames-like righty bat for the bench. Thames was a lefty masher last season, and Jones is not too shabby himself hitting .261/.361/.501 vs. lefties in his career and .256/.373/.558 last season. He also had a great second half last season hitting .272/.380/.565 and providing some hope that maybe he has gotten that Hall of Fame swing back.

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Hot Stove Coal: With Money to Burn Yankees Reportedly Sign Rafael Soriano

Sometimes the New York Yankees are reported to make moves that make you hope that it's a mistake and it's not real. That was certainly the case when I heard they had signed Jaret Wright and again was the case when the Yankees re-signed Damaso Marte. The latest report that the Yankees have signed Rafael Soriano to a three-year, $35 million deal leaves me feeling the same way.

Rafael Soriano is thanking the heavens for the Yankees' deal (Newsday)

And judging by the reaction of the rest of the blogosphere, I ain't the only one. According to the New York Times' Tyler Kepner if Soriano opts out after 1 year, he gets $11.5M. If he opts out after year 2, he gets $21.5M total. If he stays all 3 years, he gets $35M. To make this contract worse, after Brian Cashman says that he won't give up his first-round pick for any pitcher on the market, well, he does just that for Type A free agent Soriano. Maybe the money that Cashman didn't give to Cliff Lee was burning a hole in his pocket? Maybe he was getting bored? Maybe Scott Boras and Cash hadn't done much business lately?

Is it the draft pick, the years, the money or Soriano a friend asked? How about all four of those. I don't particularly love Soriano, the draft pick is an extremely high cost for a middle reliever, the years (and opt-out clause) are not friendly to the team, and the money is ridiculous for a non-starter not named Mariano Rivera.

Joe Pawlikowski of River Ave Blues put it best: "The draft pick doesn’t bother me as much as the contract. The Yanks get an expensive setup man for two years before he possibly slides into the closer role after Mariano Rivera‘s contract expires. Though, as we know, you can never count on Mo to call it quits."

The last thing Joe adds is the most intriguing of this all: "The one thing I will add right now: I dislike this move less if it moves Joba back to the rotation."

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Who Was Better? Mattingly vs Posada vs O'Neill vs Bernie

It's a slow Tuesday so I thought I'd throw this up here. I wanted to start a winter series of "Who Was Better?", a look at a few baseball players and trying to figure out who was better. The first one is Don Mattingly vs. Jorge Posada vs. Paul O'Neill vs. Bernie Williams. All four of these will probably be together in Monument Park someday but it's interesting to debate who was the best out of the 4. Below is their WAR graphs from FanGraphs and I'll talk about each candidacy briefly below. But I'm going to put up a poll on the right side and I would like you to let us know who you voted for and why in the comments below. Let's get started:

Click to expand. Original graph here

So which one was the best? Let's examine:

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Hot Stove Coal: Soria Would Make Sense...If He's Available

You can't always get what you want. Or so the song goes. The Yankees wanted starting pitching and wanted Cliff Lee. They looked at Zack Greinke. They'll always have an invitation for Andy Pettitte. Now that both of them have gone over to the National League, the free agent and trade market for starting pitchers is looking pretty bleak (at least if you're not a Fausto Carmona fan or a Carlos Zambrano fan as I'm not). The Yankees have money to burn and prospects to trade and, seemingly, nowhere to turn (well, besides Russell Nathan Coltrane Jeanson Martin or extending CC Sabathia). But after trading away Zack Greinke to prepare for the future, it would certainly behoove the Yankees to relook at acquiring Kansas City Royals closer Joakim Soria as a Plan B upgrade to the team.

Soria would look great in Pinstripes (SI)

It's great to want a guy like Felix Hernandez (I mean he is the King), but the reality is that he is (and should be) untouchable. And the Yankees have worked to improve their bullpen signing Pedro Feliciano but Cliff Corcoran of Pinstriped Bible (and others) are right to question how much of an improvement he truly will be. And while a guy like Rafael Soriano would be nice, it seems the Yankees (smartly) don't want to give up a first-round draft pick for him. But while middle relievers are making ridiculous amounts of money (again), the Yankees should look into acquiring Soria, one of the best relievers in baseball--and also someone who is signed to a team-friendly contract. According to Cot's Contracts, Soria will make $4 M in 2011 and has team options of $6 M in 2012, $8 M in 2013, and $8.75 M in 2013 (with a $0.75 M buyout each time and escalators and vesting built in).

This makes him cheap in today's market but the second-most expensive player behind Gil Meche on the Royals roster. And since Meche is untradeable, a team that has conceded they won't be able to compete for a few more years (hence the Greinke deal), Mike Axisa of MLBTradeRumors opined that maybe Soria would be the next out the door. While $4.75 M guaranteed may not be a big burden, a team going no place in 2011 seems to have less need for a ~2 fWAR closer than a team that is trying to win a World Series. That doesn't mean that the Royals will trade him, but they certainly should look into it if it can improve their team when they actually will have a chance to compete.

Now this isn't an unfamiliar target for the Yankees. In July the Yankees reportedly made "a big proposal" for Soria but were shot down. But the Yankees should probably try again. Although the effect of set-up men are quite overrated, Soria has been one of the best (if not the best) reliever over the past 4 seasons. Baseball-Reference lists him as having the highest WAR among relievers while FanGraphs puts him fourth (Mariano Rivera is first). And all this before he turns 27. And with Mariano Rivera signed for two more years, Soria would seem to be a ready-made replacement when Mo decides to finally hang it up*.

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Hot Stove Coal: Reviewing Yankees Worst Case Scenarios from 2010

I figured today was a good day to revisit a depressing topic. Last winter we launched into a series looking at the Yankees worst-case scenarios for the 2010 season. I didn't expect it to be as popular as it was but it was copied on Yankees blogs, national baseball blogs and even Red Sox blogs. Our three-part series went into what it would look like if everything went wrong. Well, despite winning the Wild Card and making the American League Championship Series, some of these worst-case scenarios actually came to fruition. Let's look at each of them again and see how close we go to predicting the worst-case scenario, starting with Part 1, "The Starting Lineup":

Jeter smiles but the Cold War was predicted back in February (CBC)

Jorge Posada 
What I said worst-case would look like: "Basically 2008 redux. He played in only 51 games, garnering a measly 195 PAs. The Yankees don't need him to get 545 (a number he reached from 2000-2007) but they need him to hit the mid 400s...Jorgie can't get hurt"

What actually happened: Posada played in 120 games and got 451 PAs which was more than he had logged since 2007. The problem was that he hit like 2008 when he played, putting up a .248/.357/.454 line. He also had injury issues like 2008 with a fractured foot in mid-May and a Baker Cyst behind his knee which kept him from crouching. Worse than his offense was his defense which was so bad the Yankees have informed him he is a designated hitter in 2011. 

Mark Teixeira 
What I said worst-case would look like: "The beginning of [2009]. He can't hit and he's killing the team out there..on May 2nd of [2009], Tex was hitting .182/.354/.338 through 99 PAs"

What actually happened: Well, through 99 PAs in 2010 Tex hit .136/.300/.259 and it took him longer to get out of his slump. He still finished with very good numbers but he didn't come close to hitting his 2009 totals. And an injury during the ALCS ended his playoffs and seemed to deflate the entire Yankees' offense. Teixeira still played great defense and got on base during his slump but it took a while for him to come around while he killed the Yankees from the #3 slot.

Robinson Cano

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