2011 MLB Season

[JSngry]

OGANDO!

Elvis Andrus homers off of Jared Weaver = life is good. Or better. Ian Kinsler is getting his stroke back too, which in the long haul makes it even more better.

I watched Brooks Robinson play often enough when I was a kid, and I'm seeing Adrian Beltre make some Brooks-worthy plays over there, tonight included. It is a joy, I tell you.

OGANDO!

Julio Bourbon tweaked a hamstring, might be going on the DL. If so, the entire Rangers starting OF will be on the DL at the same time. Nothing left to do but show up and play baseball.

I'm thinking I should maybe drive over to Frisco (up the street and 'round the corner, pretty much) and check out Leonys Martin. Who knows?

OGANDO!

[Matthew]

Bummer: No night game for the West Coast, latest game today starts at 4:30 PST. Dodgers look like they are slowly moving closer to the top, they're only 2.5 out. Since McCourt was kicked out, I'm actually enjoying Dodger baseball again; the Giants return to Dodger Stadium this week for a quick two-game series, should be interesting.

[papsrus]

With the BoSox and Rays both playing the Yankees and O's this weekend and into next week, the AL East standings could look quite different a short week from now.

If the Yankees don't right the ship, and fast (3-7 over their last 10; three-game losing streak) they could easily sink from first just a few days ago to third (or worse) very quickly.

Imagine the Red Sox sweep the Yankees, then take care of the O's, and then the Yankees come to Tampa Bay and get hot against the Rays. Suddenly Boston is right there.

Stay tuned.

[Dan Gould]

All I am interested in is keeping the Yankees slide going so that hopefully the Rays beat on them next week.

[papsrus]

I can go along with that.

[Dave James]

Here's what I'm interested in. How is it that a team with a $200 million payroll stands at 20-16, while Kansas City, a team with a payroll that's just 18% of that, has a record of 20-18? Talk about getting zero bang for your buck. The Yanks have screwed themselves into the ground paying unproductive players and unproductive pitchers salaries that are completely out of line with what they bring to the table. And with an aging team, it's only going to get worse. I'm afraid if you're a Yankee fan, you'd better start laying in enough provisions to survive the kind of extended nuclear winter you've not experienced since the 1980's. I don't think I've been this pessimistic about my team in a long, long time.

[papsrus]

[JSngry]

I'm glad he finally found his hat!

[Dan Gould]

I hope that girl realizes she owes her life to him.

[JSngry]

It's a fake.

[Dan Gould]

then its really well done.

[JSngry]

Indeed it is, but...if this was real, it would've made all the sports shows by now, and...the commentary for the clip on YT pretty n=much breaks it down in a convincing (for me) manner, including something about Gilette. But yeh, my first response was HOLY SHOT! Called LTB into the room to look at it and everything.

[BERIGAN]

I'm glad he finally found his hat!

[JSngry]

Glad some body got it.

In the meantime, Dammit Darren Oliver (that's his real first name, check his birth certificate) is old enough to know better, and, increasingly, too old to do it. Q wasted 8th inning comeback (first time this year that we've mustered one that late) wasted by some old fucker who can't shut the door any more except every so every once in a while. You need more than every so every once in a while out of that role. Dammit.

Oh well, CJ Wilson returns tomorrow & he's not had two bad outings in a row yet this year. Plus, a 3-2 loss against a very on Dan Heren would ordinarily be an "oh well" type game. Just not this time.

Dammit Darren Oliver. Either get younger, get better, or else sell your soul to the devil until a deal or two can be made on the free market.

[Matthew]

Guess Posada threw a hissy fit when he found out he was batting ninth, was insulted -- sad when players can't see they're done. Press conference after the game should be interesting.

[Chalupa]

What's wrong with Buck's voice?

[Matthew]

What's wrong with Buck's voice?

We have the Dodger / DBack game out here, in an empty Dodger Stadium *Yawn*

[Neal Pomea]

DC can't beat Florida to save their weary souls! Back to back one-run decisions: a thriller Friday night in 10 innings that ended with the Florida runner outsmarting our catcher at home plate with a brilliant slide, and a borer Saturday won by a solo home run in the seventh. Gonna be another long season for DC (District of Columbia), SM (State of Maryland), and CV (Commonwealth of Virginia).

Edited May 15, 2011 by Neal Pomea

[ghost of miles]

What's wrong with Buck's voice?

Something was wrong with his voice several weeks ago, and Fox said he was fighting off a virus. That's a long-running virus at this point, though, but evidently it's really the case.

Dave James: looks like the mediocre Yankee season we were expecting has finally arrived, just a few weeks late. With Lester going up against Garcia tomorrow, NY could easily be swept at home by the Bosox (thus elevating them to .500 at last, about to pass us on the way up as we head down to that level). Throw the Posada situation into the mix (his wife's latebreaking tweet about "back stiffness" is a lame attempt at damage control IMO) and it's made for a pretty miserable weekend so far.

Still really looking forward to seeing the Scranton farm team in Indy on June 2.

Edited May 15, 2011 by ghost of miles

[Dave James]

[PHILLYQ]

Still really looking forward to seeing the Scranton farm team in Indy on June 2.

You might get to see one of the Killer Bs, who I hope are not further away than next year(please please please)

Posada is not hitting and now he's pouting, Swisher is not hitting, A-Rod is not hitting, Jeter too, thanks much for Granderson and lately Gardner and Cano. Add to that a much tougher schedule after the easy start and this could get ugly fast.

[Dave James]

Posada is not hitting and now he's pouting, Swisher is not hitting, A-Rod is not hitting, Jeter too, thanks much for Granderson and lately Gardner and Cano. Add to that a much tougher schedule after the easy start and this could get ugly fast.

Hey, don't sell Mark Texiera short. He's just as lame as the rest of these bozos.

[Dave James]

Lonesome Dave speaks to what the Yankees need to do. It's probably best that you not read beyond this point if you believe everything will be fine and no changes are necessary.

GM: FIre Cashman and make an offer he can't refuse to someone with a proven track record of success in building a farm system and developing and acquiring talent. Someone like Larry Beinfest from Tampa Bay or Andrew Friedman from Florida.

Managerial: Fire Joe Girardi and bring in Bobby Valentine. Valentine has already shown that he can handle the 500-watt light bulb that is New York baseball. He's also an ass kicker and that's precisely what this team needs.

Position players: Buy out Jeter and A-Rod. Release Posada. Promote Jesus Montero, let him DH and, on occasion, catch a game.

Pitching: Garcia, Colon, Nova, Chamberlain: all gone. Bring up Brackman, Betances and Banuelos and let them pitch at this level. Either for purposes of developing them as future starters or as an enticement to other teams as a trade option.

The most important thing the Yankees need to acknowledge is that they are in the opening throes of a death spiral. I say, chuck it all and start from scratch. You've had a nice run. Time to restock, use the tremendous resources available to you more wisely and get ready to get back in the game in 2-3 years.

That's it. Easy. Really.

[BERIGAN]

Lonesome Dave speaks to what the Yankees need to do. It's probably best that you not read beyond this point if you believe everything will be fine and no changes are necessary.

GM: FIre Cashman and make an offer he can't refuse to someone with a proven track record of success in building a farm system and developing and acquiring talent. Someone like Larry Beinfest from Tampa Bay or Andrew Friedman from Florida.

Managerial: Fire Joe Girardi and bring in Bobby Valentine. Valentine has already shown that he can handle the 500-watt light bulb that is New York baseball. He's also an ass kicker and that's precisely what this team needs.

Position players: Buy out Jeter and A-Rod. Release Posada. Promote Jesus Montero, let him DH and, on occasion, catch a game.

Pitching: Garcia, Colon, Nova, Chamberlain: all gone. Bring up Brackman, Betances and Banuelos and let them pitch at this level. Either for purposes of developing them as future starters or as an enticement to other teams as a trade option.

The most important thing the Yankees need to acknowledge is that they are in the opening throes of a death spiral. I say, chuck it all and start from scratch. You've had a nice run. Time to restock, use the tremendous resources available to you more wisely and get ready to get back in the game in 2-3 years.

That's it. Easy. Really.

Dave, Dave, Dave! You have reached whiney ass Yankee fan level of DEFCON 6, a level never before reached...at least not this early in the season!!!

Dave, and all other Yankees fans...are you really scared of the Rays??? Great freaking starting staff, but that bullpen, you really think Kyle Farnesworth = Rafael Soriano of 2010 ??? Think Matt Joyce is a .360 hitter???? Casey Kotchman is going to keep hitting .333??? Team B.A. is still only .247

Red Sox. Great potential offense, but not exactly firing on all cylinders. Does the thought of Daisuke Matsuzaka and John Lackey starting against the Yankees make you piss in your pants??? Much more likely Red Sox fans do that when they start!

Fire Cashman and make an offer he can't refuse to someone with a proven track record of success in building a farm system and developing and acquiring talent.

But, wasn't everyone and their brother wanting the Yankees to trade the TOP Yankee prospect, Jesus Montero, for a few months of Cliff Lee last year???

Do you really want me to dig into last years baseball thread and see what you thought about Mr Montero?

Why would you dump Colon, err, release, get rid, purge..what have you, him, your 3rd best starter??? Even lousy teams can't run out 5 rookies, can they??? When you say all gone, including

Joba Chamberlain, do you mean by trade??? Or just flat out release? Did you know he is still only 25??? And has been handled horribly??? Perhaps Cashman should be dumped! Just checked,

Ivan Nova is only 24! I am sure some team will take him off your hands...

As for Jeter and ARod. Jeter should be dumped after a so-so start? Sorry dude, .267 doesn't cut it here, get your 3000th with some other team that cares.

ARod drove in 125 runs last year! Even with a blah start, he's still on pace for 26 HRs and 96 RBI's. Think it will be better for the Yankees to pay him to drive in 100 runs for some other team, say Toronto? I just don't get it.

Any one of the 3 teams mentioned above have issues, and yet could still win the division, or at least the wild card.

See, this is why they don't let fans become GM's.

I will haunt you about this post, when the Yankees are in the playoffs come October! And won't you be sorry then!

Edited May 15, 2011 by BERIGAN

[Matthew]

Lonesome Dave speaks to what the Yankees need to do. It's probably best that you not read beyond this point if you believe everything will be fine and no changes are necessary.

GM: FIre Cashman and make an offer he can't refuse to someone with a proven track record of success in building a farm system and developing and acquiring talent. Someone like Larry Beinfest from Tampa Bay or Andrew Friedman from Florida.

Managerial: Fire Joe Girardi and bring in Bobby Valentine. Valentine has already shown that he can handle the 500-watt light bulb that is New York baseball. He's also an ass kicker and that's precisely what this team needs.

Position players: Buy out Jeter and A-Rod. Release Posada. Promote Jesus Montero, let him DH and, on occasion, catch a game.

Pitching: Garcia, Colon, Nova, Chamberlain: all gone. Bring up Brackman, Betances and Banuelos and let them pitch at this level. Either for purposes of developing them as future starters or as an enticement to other teams as a trade option.

The most important thing the Yankees need to acknowledge is that they are in the opening throes of a death spiral. I say, chuck it all and start from scratch. You've had a nice run. Time to restock, use the tremendous resources available to you more wisely and get ready to get back in the game in 2-3 years.

That's it. Easy. Really.

The Yankees are in bad shape, it doesn't look that anything is going to improve this season -- just my 2cents on your list:

Managerial: I don't think anyone can do a better job than Girardi for the Yankees right now, I don't see how an ass kicker is going to improve anything, and on a veteran team, it usually counter productive; plus, I'm not a Valentine fan, at all.

Position players: I don't see how ARod or Jeter can be bought out, the money for that would be staggering. It's obvious that Jeter has lost it, but still, let him get his 3,000 hit, and hope for a graceful retirement announcement at the end of the season. I agree that Jesus Montero needs to be called, the minors can do nothing for him now, so bring him up and see what he can do.

Pitching: Agree on that. I don't see Garcia, Colon, Nova, or Chamberlin being in any future plans for the Yankees. Bite the bullet now, and get the younger pitchers some experience.

As to the other aspects of your post: I would say it's obvious at this point that Cashman is out after this year, especially now that Posada basically said that Cashman threw him under the bus yesterday by making a statement during the game. In this, I would agree with Posada -- GM's should not do that to players, especially someone like Posada. There are two issues about the furture of the Yankees that will hold them back. First, the Steinbrenner's do not look like they're going to be patient about building up the Yankees through a farm system approach, and it will be interesting to see who they hire for a GM; whether it will be some puppet, or someone who will actually take charge of the origination. Secondly, and this might be the biggest problem for the Yankees, is that the practice now is for teams is to lock up their younger players for the last arbitration-years, and a for couple of years past. So, there will be less younger players that the Yankees can grab up in the next couple of years because the better players will be signed past their initial years.

Still , money can cover up a multitude of mistakes, and with Pujols becoming a free agent next year, you just never know. It's clear that while Teixeira is a nice player, he's not one a team can hitch their wagon to, but if the Yankees could get him, you'd have an Pujols, Teixeira, ARod, batting order, and that might be very effective. How the Yankees will address their pitching problem is anyone's guess, but they're not going anywhere until they do.