All Yankees all the time

Even though that team from the north won the World Series, it's been the Yankees making all the headlines this off-season:

- The end of the Torre Era

- The start of the Girardi Era

- Hank's shenanigans

- The Arod Opt-out Saga

- Is Santana on the way?

- Roger Clemens vs. Andy Pettitte vs. Brain McNamee (aka the Mitchell Report)

- Eliot Johnson/Frankie Cervelli/Shelley Duncan/Jonny Gomes

- A certain comedian fulfilling his lifelong dream of playing for the Yankees

- A heart-warming visit and exhibition game in Blacksburg, Virginia

- Joba the starter vs. Joba the reliever

- Jose Canseco vs. Arod


So finally we get to actual baseball. That was a long off-season, but fortunately it was made much, much shorter by the New York football Giants.

Q&A with Cash

The most interesting part of the interview:

"I thought, ‘All right, David Wells was running around that winter [98-99] partying and enjoying himself and he was going to come in out of shape.’ I was like, ‘We’re going to move Roger, bring him in. Bring new life, bring new energy and we won in ’99 and went forward."

Also enjoy knowing how he keeps track of 'bullshitting' agents:

"I write everything down and I crosscheck that information after and I keep a list of who tells the truth and who doesn’t tell the truth and here are the examples. I’ll call out the agents on it. I’ll say, ‘I found out you lied to me. I talked to Joe Blow and they said that’s not true and you said it was and I’m just letting you know I take notes to this stuff. Now I know that you’re a bullshitter.’ Or it builds your credibility. If somebody says they got this and for five years every time I crosscheck the guy’s never been wrong, he’s always told the truth, then he goes up the credibility scale. He’ll be more believable down the line to me when we’re negotiating."

Quick hits

- Phil Hughes pitched a solid last game before the season starts Monday: 5 ip, 3 h, 1 er, 1 bb, 4 k. Only wish it was on TV.

- Scott Patterson is (rightfully) upset he didn't earn a spot on the 25-man roster. Rest assured though, he'll be the first reliever called up when the inevitable injury/ineptitude strikes. In some ways, the move is better for Patterson in the long run. It's better he gets regular work in Scranton than occasional work in the crowded Bronx bullpen. Instead of an Edwar-esque two week layoff, he'll be working continually in Triple-A (albeit against lesser hitters), which will give him a better shot of succeeding and staying with the big league team long term.

This is OUR team

Pettitte starts the season on the 15-day DL (he'll rejoin the team a week from Saturday, just in time to make a start), no long reliever - eight relievers in fact (only four starters), and an abundance of corner-infielders.

Patterson deserved a spot over Albaladejo (and Bruney), but seeing as he's pitched just three innings above Double-A, it's understandable. When Pettitte comes back, Alby most likely gets sent down.

The other surprise is the absence of Brett Gardner, but again, he needs to prove himself a bit more in Triple-A before being given a roster spot. I do expect him to be an important reserve in the second half as a defensive replacement and pinch-runner.

I applaud Girardi for going against his previously stated desire to carry a long-reliever. All three candidates (Igawa, Rasner and Karstens) were outperformed by most, if not all the short-relievers.


- Excellent season preview over at THT.


The season starts in roughly 60 hours...

Looking ahead

I know it's a year from now, but the 2009 bullpen has a chance to be dominant (and cheap). Humberto Sanchez, Mark Melancon, Chris Garcia and JB Cox are all returning from serious injuries this year. All have outside chances of a Joba-like rise this year, but more likely they'll have a realistic shot a making the Bigs in 2009. With Farnsworth and Hawkins coming off the books next year, the pen competition will be wide open; the only lock is Mo Rivera. Joba will hopefully be starting full time next year, leaving six open spots. It's quite possible we could see a 100% non-free agent bullpen, featuring the likes of Alan Horne, Jeff Marquez, JB Cox, Mark Melancon, Dan McCutchen, Chris Garcia, Humberto Sanchez and Kevin Whelan, as well as current bullpen candidates such as Ross Ohlendorf, Scott Patterson, Edwar Ramirez and Brian Bruney. Unfortunately, there's not a single lefty in the group (Billy Traber is not a long term option).


- The World Champion Giants will open the 2008 season at 7 p.m. on the night of Thursday, Sept. 4, against Washington.

Three questions

1. Were the Yankee hitters even trying today?

2. How can Patterson and Ohlendorf not make this team?

3. Why does Girardi insist on a long-man?


I'm giving one of the three undecided bullpen spots to Traber. And we know Girardi wants a long-man - now with Karstens tweaked groin, it's down to Rasner vs. Igawa. The last spot is down to three candidates: Bruney, Patterson and Ohlendorf.

Ohlendorf was a starter throughout college and the minors: he started 74 minor league games and 28 at Princeton. It's only since mid-way through last season that he was converted into a reliever (because of the glut of solid Yankee minor league starting pitching and a bullpen need at the major league level). He can be both a long-man and one-inning reliever.

So with the two open spots, who makes the most sense out of Igawa, Rasner, Bruney, Patterson and Ohlendorf? It's pretty clear: the last two, who've done nothing this spring but throw strikes and get outs, which is a lot more than the others can say.

What about Brett Gardner?

His biggest criticism is his lack of power - his career minor league slugging percentage is a measly .374, lower than his on-base percentage (.381). He's hit six homers in over 1100 at-bats.

But his best attribute is his plus-plus speed, and proponents point to this as a reason he can be a ML regular, perhaps the Yanks everyday centerfielder. But again, his lack of power might hold him back.

How can we take speed into account when calculating a hitter's value? Perhaps adding in one total base for every steal, and subtracting one for every caught stealing. This increases Gardner's (and other weak speedster's) slugging percentage into very respectable territory.

Instead of a .374 SLG, Gardner's slugging percentage would look like such:

161 xbh (4 x HR + 3 x 3b + 2 x 2b) + 256 1b = 417 TB
116 SB - 22 CS = 94 SB
511 TB/1115 AB = .458 SLG

That's roughly the same as Derek Jeter last year, who, using the same SLG equation, had a .463 SLG. It's also the same as Adam Laroche, and better than Kevin Youkilis, Nick Swisher and Travis Hafner (in 2007). (Bear in mind, of course, that I'm using Gardner minor league numbers.)

Admittedly, a steal of 2nd is not as valuable as a double, because a double (like all extra-base hits) has a chance to score a baserunner. But speed doesn't show up in a player's ability to tag up, it causes throwing errors, and beats out GIDPs. So perhaps they are somewhat akin, and there is something to be said for adding steals into SLG.