In recent months I have discussed the dangers of long-term deals, specifically when it came to the Mets signing Jose Reyes. The years, more than the dollars, is usually the problem. Long-term contracts lead to teams paying premium dollars for players past their prime. The average annual value is often skewed because you have situations (see […]
Bobby Abreu beat his old teammates last night with two homers, including a ninth inning shot off the great Mariano Rivera. We will get to Rivera’s recent struggles later on, but this hit was ironic since Abreu was the topic of a Hall of Fame debate with the beat writers on Twitter. Back in 2009 I wrote this […]
Terry Collins return to the bench has been, to quote Freddie Mercury, “no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise.” He’s lost his corner infielders for significant portions of the season, Carlos Beltran, Daniel Murphy, and Jose Reyes will wind up missing a month of games. There have been five points of the season where you waited for this […]
During the winter of 2007-2008 the Yankees passed up on Johan Santana because they didn’t want to part with Phil Hughes. That deal didn’t haunt them in the long run as CC Sabathia has proven to be a better investment, and cost just an expensive free agent contract. Hughes was a big part of the 2009 championship team as he […]
A couple of interesting tweets that may give us a clue as to where the Yankees focus is at the trading deadline #Yankees, like all teams, have scouts everywhere, but who is where is always key, and trusted Bill Livesey is watching #Padres relieversless than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplyJoel ShermanJoelsherman1 Sherman […]
I love hearing reports about how teams “refuse” to give up a certain prospects for Carlos Beltran. Reporters, blogs, and fans talk about the fact that Beltran is a two month rental and will yield no draft picks (contract dictates the team can’t offer him arbitration) in free agency after the season. Earlier today, Jayson Stark of […]
One of my Yankees concerns is overworking the bullpen. David Robertson has been great, but the injury to Mariano Rivera shouldn’t be taken lightly. Yes, they probably made a big deal about it to justify Mo bowing out of the All Star Game, but Joe Girardi has been using both Rivera and Robertson heavily this season. […]
Josh Norris of the Trentonian wonders if Derek Jeter will be the first unanimous Hall of Fame selection in the history of the game. To date, Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan garnered the highest percentage of the vote at 98.8%. As Norris points out, both Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson will test to the voters before […]
I spoke to a Yankees scout about the recent fan furor over Jesus Montero‘s performance, who told me that Montero is not only behind Gary Sanchez in the catching depth charts, but some feel Austin Romine has moved ahead as well. I was told that Montero would more likely be the center of a deal […]
A member of the Kansas City media reached out to me yesterday, asking if we had heard anything about the Yankees making another run at Royals closer Joakim Soria. Last summer, we reported Yankees interest in Soria, but the demands of Kansas City GM Dayton Moore were excessive. Bill Madden later reported the Yankees made overtures […]
Last weekend, I was listening to WFAN one evening and one specific caller caused me to take note, as I could not believe what I was hearing. Now, normally one oddball call to the FAN wouldn’t cause me to react with perplexed bewilderment, especially one during the overnight, when the oddities of New York society […]
Over the weekend I mused about whether there needs to be a better way to evaluate the effectiveness of closers. Marty Noble suggested a point system, while Tom Tango of “Inside the Book” pointed me to a piece of his that used Leverage Index to weigh performance. Yesterday, NYBD reader Birtelcom recommended Baseball Reference’s WPA […]
There may be no area where Mike and I disagree more on the radio than over the subject of Joba Chamberlain. He has regularly questioned Chamberlain’s abilities, both as a starter and a reliever. I am convinced he will be a terrific reliever, and a far greater asset as a starter. Yet it would seem […]
Howard discussed the Mets decision to call up Omir Santos over Nick Evans yesterday. Although I think it’s a temporary move until Henry Blanco is healthy, it does show you how far Evans has fallen on the depth chart. It was the last day of 2008 that Evans started in left field against the Marlins […]
Everyone forgets that Royce Ring was the big name in the trade that sent Roberto Alomar to Chicago back in 2003. The Mets viewed Ring as a future closer, but things never quite worked out in Queens and he was traded, along with Heath Bell, to San Diego for Jon Adkins. Earlier this spring Chad […]
