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Is it unfair to draw conclusions from one game?  Absolutely, but when the opponent is South Florida giving up a grand slam and walking two guys is not a great way to make people forget about 2007. 

I know the Yankees didn't want to trade Igawa in the offseason because his value was almost nothing, but they should act right away if he does something to reestablish his value this spring.  Last year they got burned by keeping Carl Pavano when the season started instead of trading him away in the spring (amazingly there was some rumored interest)  Igawa "only" makes $4-million a year so they would probably not need to eat too much in salary, just admit that the $26-million posting fee was a waste. 

In more serious news, Bobby Murcer is scheduled to have a biopsy next week because the doctors working on him found something in his last MRI.  it could simply be scar tissue, it could be something worse.  Bobby is one of the true gentlemen of the game and I hope everyone will extend their thoughts and prayers to him and his family. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 03:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thank you Derek Jeter for taking a stance on the drug issue in baseball.  In an interview with Bloomberg News, Jeter appears to have supported blood testing for baseball players. I don't absolve the owners in any of the mess baseball is in, but the Players' Union has been a much bigger anchor on progress.  Maybe having a player of Jeter's magnitude make these comments will put some pressure on Union leadership to get something done.  Hopefully, at the very least some repoters are going to other stars and asking if they agree with Jeter.  Better yet, maybe the stars of the game won't wait and will stand up and announce their agreement, but I wouldn't hold your breath. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 05:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I have to say, as exciting as the concept of pitchers and catchers is, the reality can be pretty boring.  How excited can you get about the 87th injury update on Hideki Matsui's knee or Hankensteins 200th proclamation of the spring? I feel somewhat sorry for the newspaper guys who have to fill up a set space every day, I can just not write for a week.  Then again, they are in Florida where the weather is usually pretty nice this time of year.

But, we are finally getting out of the tedium of spring and into the best part, actual games.   We still have to wait until Friday for baseball, but we know that Chien-Ming Wang will open the exhibition season for the Yankees and that means he is on track to open the season for real.  Not really a shock and the interesting thing will be to see who lines up behind him, but some concrete news.  

Some other interesting tidbits that have come out of camp so far are:

1- Joe Girardi has no plans to play Matsui at first at all and he might look at Damon there occasionally.  But, he thinks Giambi could play there a lot.  It's really too bad about Matsui not getting a look there, it would give the team more options.  But, expecting Giambi to play a lot in the field is a foolish bet.  Jason made it out to first 18 times last year and I wouldn't expect much more from him this year.  I know he lost 20 pounds and it is a contract year, but the guy is 37 and hasn't played more than 140 games since 2003.  

2- The bullpen is really as open a competition as you could have.  Rivera, Hawkins and Farnsworth are the only guys definitely going North and Joba may or may not start in the pen.  I suspect Joba's role will be definied by how comfortable the Yankees are with their other options more than anything.  That means guys like Veras, Ohlendorf, Jackson, Horne, etc., have a HUGE opportunity this camp.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 06:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Some notes from the hearings, I will add on as something interesting happens.

I am reminded of the old Henny Youngman act while watching the steroid hearing today.  Youngman used to go on stage and tell jokes with his wife as the punch line and then implore the audience to take her off his hands.  I get the feeling Roger Clemens is familiar with Youngman's work.

Debbie used the HGH seems to be the crux of Clemens' defense.  The three times he denied ever talking about HGH with McNamee in his sworn deposition went out the window when he admitted talking to McNamee about HGH, but only in the context of Debbie's usage.  

Roger has also expressed "shock" at learning that Andy Pettitte used HGH.  And, when confronted with Pettitte's asssertion that he discussed HGH with Clemens, Roger claimed that Andy must have "misunderstood" him and any discussion they had would have been about Debbie.  Of course, Pettitte recalls the conversations occuring in 1999 and Debbie supposedly didn't use HGH until 2002.

Dan Burton is clearly hoping to head up Clemens' fan club when he retires from Congress because he keeps hammering McNamee for lying.  He's right, McNamee did lie, but McNamee's lies were about not telling the whole truth to investigators from the start. McNamee said he did this because he was trying to protect his clients, you be the judge.

Is there anything more appetizing that hearing about "a palpable mass on Mr. Clemens' buttocks"? McNamee claims that this was from McNamee not correctly injecting Winstrol (kids don't click this) while Clemens claims it was from a bad B12 shot.  Dr's differ in opinion on this issue and Clemens' attorney tried to address it but was not allowed to speak. 

But, the Blue Jays' trainer and Dr. don't seem to recall this injury. 

Good question from Davis, "Mr. McNamee as a former policeofficer why did you inject professional athletes with substances you knew to be illegal?" 

And now we know who the third guy at the table is, Charles Scheeler, the guy who oversaw the evidence gathering of the Mitchell Report.   

McNamee claims that he never injected Clemens with B12 and that he only heard of the B12 injections when Clemens mentioned it on "60 Minutes"

Just asking, but what do you think the over'under on the number of reporters in Tampa tomorrow is when pitchers and catchers report tomorrow?   

Congresswoman Maloney sucked up to Clemens praising him for his work with children, but did ask why he was inconsistent in his answers as to why he didn't talk to Senator Mitchell before the report came out. And Roger blames his agents for hiding the inquiry from him. 

Props to Congressman Clay who jabbed Palmeiro, Sosa and McGwire for their performances in front of Congress in 2005.  Then he blows it all by saying that a colleague of his wants to know, "what uniform you are going to wear to the Hall of Fame".

Clay went on to hammer McNamee about whether or not he has a deal with prosecutors in exchange for his testimony.  McNamee swore that there was no deal.   

Fascinating exchange near the end of the morning session.  Congressman Waxman asked Clemens why when Congress asked for the contact information of a nanny who worked for him in 1998 it took time for Clemens to provide it (a couple of days) and then Clemens actually met with her before he turned the information over.  Clemens' lawyers tried to deflect it, but as Waxman said, "it looked terrible". 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Andy Pettitte has admitted in his deposition that he used HGH in 2004.  As you may recall, Pettite apologized in December for using HGH in 2002.  At the time (December) he said:

"In 2002 I was injured. I had heard that human growth hormone could promote faster healing for my elbow. I felt an obligation to get back to my team as soon as possible. For this reason, and only this reason, for two days I tried human growth hormone."

Well, two days have now become three and his credibility has gone down the toilet.  Why he apologized in December and didn't tell the full truth is mystifying, but he went with partial truths and now we cannot believe anything he says.  

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

The Post is reporting that the Yankees have decided to start Joba in the bullpen this season with a plan to send him to the minors in June and then back into the rotation after that. 

The thinking behind the move is that Joba can only pitch about 140 innings this year and if you use him as a starter from the get go, you burn out those innings by mid-August.  If he starts in the bullpen for the first two months and they use the same rules as last year he is only going to throw about 4-5 innings a week, putting him around 40 innings by the time he gets sent down to the minors versus the ten starts he probably would have made.  You then send him to the minors he makes four or five starts (probably another 25-30 innings) and you recall him for the second half of the season with 75 innings or so left in the tank. 

As an added benefit, you don't enter the season with a hole in the bullpen behind Rivera.  You get the chance to see if one of the young arms can step up and take Joba's place in the pen and you give Mark Melancon and Humberto Sanchez (this year's most likely candidates to become Jobaesque) time to get back in shape.  

Those are good reasons, but I see a couple of problems with this move.

First, you are putting a lot of pressure on Joba.  He has to change mid-season again and then jump into the rotation in the second half of the season when the Yankees are hopefully in the pennant race.  Granted, this kid appears to be impervious to everything except flies, but it is a risk.

Next, what happens if Joba repeats his performance of last year and absolutely dominates baseball for two months while no other viable replacements show up?  What if Mariano gets hurt and Joba becomes the closer?  The Yankees are putting themselves in a very tough position with this choice.

And, if 140 is the "magic number" how will this prevent you from exceeding it?  With Joba back in the rotation at the halfway point, you probably can expect him to make 14 starts and that means a minimum of 70 innings, unless you shut him down in September.

I suggested in a previous entry that the Yankees try a six-man rotation, but I built that on the assumption that Joba could throw 160 innings. If the number is truly only 140 the Yankees have a bigger problem than I thought. None of the other kids are going to throw 200 innings and I have serious doubts about Mike Mussina's ability to be effective for an entire season. Karstens, Rasner and Igawa are probably options A,B+C for the rotation right now, does that make anyone feel great? Would it kill the Yankees to make a phone call to sign an innings-eating type of guy right now? There are a lot of "names" still out there, Benson, Colon, Garcia and Lohse to name a few. Yes, they are either hurt or not that good, but the Yankees need to at least see if they would sign incentive-loaded deals. Maybe you get a repeat of Jon Leiber in 2004, nothing flashy, but solid league-average pitching. A lack of starting pitching depth put the Yankees into a hole they couldn't climb out of in 2007, let's hope they plan better in 2008.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Sad news at the bottom of this link, Bob Sheppard is "struggling to recover his health".

There is simply nothing better than walking out of the tunnels in Yankee Stadium on a day game and coming into the sunlight as Sheppard announces the Yankees' batting order, repeating the player's number at the end. He has been "The Voice of God" at Yankee Stadium since 1951 which means he has announced the names of almost every great Yankee not named Ruth or Gehrig.

While the report doesn't specify what exactly is wrong it only offers that the team "hopes he can return to the booth." I know all of us certainly hope so.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 02:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 04:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I know this blog is about baseball, but as I have mentioned before I am a Giants fan which means I had a wonderful night last night. I admit that I felt the Giants were going to get creamed last night and that combined with the fact that the Patriots were 18-0 made it an especially sweet win.

The reason I mention this is not to antagonize any Patriots fans but to point out what the Yankees have been missing this century. At some point the bar was set so high that nothing less than a title would be acceptable. Remember 2003 and how empty that felt when the Yankees "only" go to the World Series? From 1998-2006 the Yankees won the AL East every year, how many of those did people celebrate? Other than the 1996 titles how many did you just enjoy versus Somewhere along the way we lost the pure joy of rooting for our team. Maybe it was seeing the countless "next big free agent" come in, maybe all the previous success made us jaded.

Whatever it was, I think they are heading back in the right direction. Not trading for Santana helps, bringing up the kids helps. Maybe we will never get back to that point where anything less than a World Series title is a failure, but I hope not because last night was a lot of fun.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 06:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)