This is too priceless.
OK, Wang hurts his hamstring. As only the Yankees can do, this hamstring injury means Wang is out until after the All-Star break. (I used to make fun of the Mets' handling of Jose Reyes' hamstring injury until Cano missed a zillion games with his hamstring last season.)
So, no Wang. Mussina? Ummmm, no, t-y-v-f-m. Can't mess with Mike's routine. The cosmic waves that originate in the Andromeda Galaxy and enable Mike to pitch would be disrupted if he pitches Opening Day.
Pettitte? Hmmmm, not so much, the back is a little balky, still. Pencil him in for Late June, sorry, I mean the second time through the rotation.
Igawa? No. Pressure, you know. He's new.
Karstens? Well, the closer Karstens gets to making the team the worse he pitches. His last two outings he's looked godawful.
That leaves Carl "Ow! " Pavano.
In government, this would be the equivalent of 12 people suddenly dying and the Postmaster General becoming President.
What a country. Pavano will manage to hurt himself before the opener, no worries. So Opening Day, look for:
Henn for 3.
Villone for 3.
Proctor for 2/3.
Meyers for 0 (faces one lefty and walks him).
Farnsworth for 1-1/3.
Mariano for 1 . . . Yankees win it bottom nine on Cano's RBI double.
Welcome to 2007. Our record is 1-0. And the bullpen is officially shot.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Forget You Ever Heard It
It's been a fun off-season. I've been remiss in not updating this blog, basically at all, so let's catch up.
1. The owners did in fact throw common sense to the wind. The new TV and labor peace somehow combined to make Gil Meche appear to be an $11 million a year pitcher.
Back in November, I wrote: "What's Barry Zito going to get -- $16 million a year? $17 million?" I was low by a million there. $18 million a year . . . for seven years.Here are some more numbers to bear in mind re Barry Zito:
Zito's career mark is 102-63, 39 games over .500. Not bad. But . . . 30 of those 39 games over .500 happened in his first three years in baseball. Since 2002, he's 55-46. OK, maybe Oakland isn't as good since then.
Zito gives you innings -- he's pitched more than 200 innings every year since 2000 -- just not a lot at once. ZERO complete games since 2003. But OK, he averages 6+ innings per start.
His other numbers are pretty solid. And that, overall, describes Barry Zito the last 4 years. Pretty solid.
"Pretty solid" gets you $18 million per? Amazing what the Giants are willing to pay to have Barry Bonds not be the biggest story on the team, at least for a while.
2. Pete Rose admits he bet on baseball, a lot, but that isn't apparently what he was supposed to do. For years, everyone's problem with Rose was that he wouldn't admit he bet on baseball. So now he has.
But wait. It's not enough. The way he admitted it, I guess, is the problem. Apparently Pete did not arrange to have himself nailed to a cross before making his admission.
The Rose-haters need to face it: He's never going to feel as bad about what he did as think he should. But when you're given what you claimed you wanted and still you turn your nose up at it, well, you look stupid.
3. Surprise! A-Rod wasn't traded!
I started to get sick hearing every goon on ESPN, FoxSports.com, Michael Kay (who really should've known better) and every other so-called expert call for/demand/predict a trade of A-Rod. But A-Rod, Scott Boras, Joe Torre, Brian Cashman, and every fan who was paying attention knew that A-Rod was no way leaving. This is going to come as a shock to many, but A-ROD ACTUALLY LIKES IT IN NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honest. The talking heads and sportswriters said it so often, starting around August of last season, that they had to keep pumping it, so that they didn't look bad. Chris Russo went so far as to describe the Yankees' off-season as "not a success" because they didn't trade A-Rod. But A-Rod, while he reads all the papers (too much, really) . . . overall is having a great time here and sometimes, and I know this is difficult to accept, sometimes athletes actually mean what they say. A-Rod wants to excel and win, in New York. Honest.
Dissed by reality but undaunted, the "experts" have dumped the trade talk (mostly, as you'll see below) and have taken up a new pet theory: A-Rod will opt out of the last three years of his contract. Ohhhhhhhhhh, ok! In this, they are technically correct . . . A-Rod WILL opt out . . . so that he can sign an extension with the Yankees. You read it here first.
One last bit of idiocy along these lines. Some sportswriter reported via his source (a blogger, no less!) that the Yankees were close to a deal with Anaheim for A-Rod, with New York getting Jared Weaver, Molina, and another young player. This is the same Anaheim GM who regards all his young players as the next Walter Johnson or Babe Ruth; he never trades any young player or prospect. That a "sportswriter" would actually repeat this rumor in print . . . is unprofessional, even by the already-low standards of sports journalism.
4. The Roger Clemens circus. At one point, Mike Greenberg described the annual Clemens retirement/unretirement thing as "a cottage industry." A good line, but now I'm just sick of it. A couple months ago Clemens was quoted as saying there was only a 20% chance that he was coming back. What does that mean? How did Roger arrive at the figure of 20%? I understand that the Yankees have the inside track, since Clemens buddy Andy Pettitte has returned to the Bronx, but as a fan . . . much as I root for the laundry, I honestly don't want Clemens back. To Me, he epitomizes just about everything that is wrong with the modern athlete. Since "retiring" after 2003, has Clemens pitched for ANY reason other than money? It certainly doesn't feel like it. And if Clemens does end up with Yankees, there goes the "I really wanted to play in the same organization as my son" argument.
Let whoever wants Clemens have him.
There's so much more to write about, but it will have to wait.
1. The owners did in fact throw common sense to the wind. The new TV and labor peace somehow combined to make Gil Meche appear to be an $11 million a year pitcher.
Back in November, I wrote: "What's Barry Zito going to get -- $16 million a year? $17 million?" I was low by a million there. $18 million a year . . . for seven years.Here are some more numbers to bear in mind re Barry Zito:
Zito's career mark is 102-63, 39 games over .500. Not bad. But . . . 30 of those 39 games over .500 happened in his first three years in baseball. Since 2002, he's 55-46. OK, maybe Oakland isn't as good since then.
Zito gives you innings -- he's pitched more than 200 innings every year since 2000 -- just not a lot at once. ZERO complete games since 2003. But OK, he averages 6+ innings per start.
His other numbers are pretty solid. And that, overall, describes Barry Zito the last 4 years. Pretty solid.
"Pretty solid" gets you $18 million per? Amazing what the Giants are willing to pay to have Barry Bonds not be the biggest story on the team, at least for a while.
2. Pete Rose admits he bet on baseball, a lot, but that isn't apparently what he was supposed to do. For years, everyone's problem with Rose was that he wouldn't admit he bet on baseball. So now he has.
But wait. It's not enough. The way he admitted it, I guess, is the problem. Apparently Pete did not arrange to have himself nailed to a cross before making his admission.
The Rose-haters need to face it: He's never going to feel as bad about what he did as think he should. But when you're given what you claimed you wanted and still you turn your nose up at it, well, you look stupid.
3. Surprise! A-Rod wasn't traded!
I started to get sick hearing every goon on ESPN, FoxSports.com, Michael Kay (who really should've known better) and every other so-called expert call for/demand/predict a trade of A-Rod. But A-Rod, Scott Boras, Joe Torre, Brian Cashman, and every fan who was paying attention knew that A-Rod was no way leaving. This is going to come as a shock to many, but A-ROD ACTUALLY LIKES IT IN NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honest. The talking heads and sportswriters said it so often, starting around August of last season, that they had to keep pumping it, so that they didn't look bad. Chris Russo went so far as to describe the Yankees' off-season as "not a success" because they didn't trade A-Rod. But A-Rod, while he reads all the papers (too much, really) . . . overall is having a great time here and sometimes, and I know this is difficult to accept, sometimes athletes actually mean what they say. A-Rod wants to excel and win, in New York. Honest.
Dissed by reality but undaunted, the "experts" have dumped the trade talk (mostly, as you'll see below) and have taken up a new pet theory: A-Rod will opt out of the last three years of his contract. Ohhhhhhhhhh, ok! In this, they are technically correct . . . A-Rod WILL opt out . . . so that he can sign an extension with the Yankees. You read it here first.
One last bit of idiocy along these lines. Some sportswriter reported via his source (a blogger, no less!) that the Yankees were close to a deal with Anaheim for A-Rod, with New York getting Jared Weaver, Molina, and another young player. This is the same Anaheim GM who regards all his young players as the next Walter Johnson or Babe Ruth; he never trades any young player or prospect. That a "sportswriter" would actually repeat this rumor in print . . . is unprofessional, even by the already-low standards of sports journalism.
4. The Roger Clemens circus. At one point, Mike Greenberg described the annual Clemens retirement/unretirement thing as "a cottage industry." A good line, but now I'm just sick of it. A couple months ago Clemens was quoted as saying there was only a 20% chance that he was coming back. What does that mean? How did Roger arrive at the figure of 20%? I understand that the Yankees have the inside track, since Clemens buddy Andy Pettitte has returned to the Bronx, but as a fan . . . much as I root for the laundry, I honestly don't want Clemens back. To Me, he epitomizes just about everything that is wrong with the modern athlete. Since "retiring" after 2003, has Clemens pitched for ANY reason other than money? It certainly doesn't feel like it. And if Clemens does end up with Yankees, there goes the "I really wanted to play in the same organization as my son" argument.
Let whoever wants Clemens have him.
There's so much more to write about, but it will have to wait.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Spin City
OK, I get the concept. Namely, that the fact that Carl Pavano is acutally pitching in competitive, it not meaningful, games, is such a gigantic thing that any and all comments about his pitching must be totally, unfailingly, relentlessly, positive.
Joe Torre was asked about Pavano's most recent outing.
Star-Ledger: Joe, a shaky outing for Pavano today . . . any thoughts on what might've caused that?
Joe Torre: Careful now, I wouldn't call it "shaky." I saw a lot of good things out there today.
Daily News: Err, Joe . . . 2.1 innings, 19 hits, 14 runs, all earned . . .
Joe: Well, you can't just look at the box score. 13 of those hits were ground balls. His stuff is down, that's all we're looking for.
New Haven Register: . . . 4 wild pitches, 2 home runs . . .
Joe: . . . and he wasn't walking people! that's important!
St. Regis High School Bugle: Mr. Torre, did I see Pavano wince a little after he threw his last pitch? Given his history--
Yankees PR Director: That concludes the press conference, guys . . thanks a lot for coming . . . there's cold cuts out there for you all . . . oh, and hats . . . grab a hat on your way out . . . and a ball! I had Donnie sign a couple hundred baseballs this morning -- grab some of those . . .
Joe Torre was asked about Pavano's most recent outing.
Star-Ledger: Joe, a shaky outing for Pavano today . . . any thoughts on what might've caused that?
Joe Torre: Careful now, I wouldn't call it "shaky." I saw a lot of good things out there today.
Daily News: Err, Joe . . . 2.1 innings, 19 hits, 14 runs, all earned . . .
Joe: Well, you can't just look at the box score. 13 of those hits were ground balls. His stuff is down, that's all we're looking for.
New Haven Register: . . . 4 wild pitches, 2 home runs . . .
Joe: . . . and he wasn't walking people! that's important!
St. Regis High School Bugle: Mr. Torre, did I see Pavano wince a little after he threw his last pitch? Given his history--
Yankees PR Director: That concludes the press conference, guys . . thanks a lot for coming . . . there's cold cuts out there for you all . . . oh, and hats . . . grab a hat on your way out . . . and a ball! I had Donnie sign a couple hundred baseballs this morning -- grab some of those . . .
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