Joba Chamberlain out of the rotation???

In order to keep with the new 2008 “Joba Rules” (140 innings) the Yankees have decided to start Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen this year. The bizarre plan has Joba in the bullpen for April and May, and returning to the minors in June to prepare for a starter role late in the season.

I am completely baffled by this plan. Joba belongs in the bullpen, period. Lets hope that the plan changes yet again, and Joba stays where he has proven himself time and time again last season. As a long time Yankee fan, I’d rather see Joba every other day than once every 6 days. He can make the most difference in the very thin bullpen…….

Pitchers and catchers report in less than 48 hours!

Feature on Girardi

With the rest of the baseball media fixated on Roger Clemens, The New York Times produced an interesting writeup on Joe Girardi and his relationship with his ailing father. He seems completely sure of himself, which is a good thing. Joe Torre was a legend, and there were still knee-jerk reactionists who wanted to run him out of town anytime anything went wrong. These vultures will be very impatient with an inexperienced skipper. This job is not for the thin-skinned.

Potential X-Factor: Juan Miranda

The Yankees are a star-studded team, but a lot of their 2008 success will depend on how a number of lesser known players develop. Before the season begins, this blog will profile some of these players and discuss how the team will need them to develop. Today’s player is Juan Miranda.

Miranda is a 24 year old Cuban defector, although some claim to have proof that his age is closer to 26. The first baseman signed a 4 year, $2 million contract in December 2006. He started the year with A Tampa and finished with AA Trenton. In 446 combined at bats, Miranda hit .265 with 16 homers, 96 RBI’s, a .350 on base percentage, and a .471 slugging percentage. This is pretty impressive when one considers his .238/.292/.321 April. As the season went on, he got better. The slow start was likely a result of rust as Miranda had a 2 year layoff while settling immigration issues. As he got back into the swing of things, he began to look more and more like the player the Yanks thought they were getting. He went on to post a .975 OPS in the Arizona Fall League, indicating he could be close to ready for the Majors.

Miranda has a terrific eye at the plate and power to all fields. He hit over .300 in his time in Cuba. As he gets more acclimated to American pitching, his batting average could rise. At this point, he is comparable to a lefty hitting Shelley Duncan. His lack of defensive skills at first base suggests that his best position is DH. Like Duncan, he appears to be a platoon option right now. He hit under .200 against lefty pitching in 2007 and over .270 against righties. His slugging was also 50 points better against righties. Miranda is a difficult player to project for the future. There is a chance that as he gets his timing back after his long layoff, he will improve across the board and become a viable everyday player. There is also the chance that he is really 26 and his development is finished. Any success under this scenario would be the result of beating up against younger and less experienced competition on the minor league level.

Miranda will have a chance to win the first base job out of Spring Training. Although his fielding leaves much to be desired, he will be one of the few natural first basemen in camp. At this point, his competition will come from a pair of third basemen in Morgan Ensberg and Wilson Betemit and a pair of designated hitters in Jason Giambi and Shelley Duncan. With the position in a state of flux, the Yanks would love for Miranda to emerge as an everyday solution. If he does not make the team, Miranda will remain on speed dial and likely will get a chance if the starters do not perform early. With Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui both injury-prone, Juan also could get a callup as either a bat off the bench or a potential platoon partner with Duncan at DH. Miranda is likely to play some role in this team’s season. He might be an unlikely hero in 2008.

Congratulations

Although both writers of this blog are Jets fans, we all can enjoy a New York team handing Boston a catastrophic loss. Congratulations to the World Champion New York Giants. May this game swing the New York-Boston rivalry back onto the side of the good guys for a long time.

Yankees Sign Ensberg

The Yankees have agreed to terms with Morgan Ensberg on a minor league deal. The veteran third baseman will now compete to back up Alex Rodriguez and to potentially be the righty half of a first base platoon. Ensberg has only played a single game at first base in his career so he likely will not alleviate concerns of defense at the position. This is still an excellent signing. Morgan is only three years removed from a 36 homers, 101 RBI season in Houston. His career .366 on base percentage and .476 slugging percentage are well above average. Even as the 32 year old’s numbers have fallen off in recent seasons, he still has had great success against lefty pitching. He had an .831 OPS against lefties last season and is at .950 since 2005. This is a terrific guy to bring in to a nonguaranteed deal to challenge Shelley Duncan for a roster spot off the bench and in a platoon.

Mets Acquire Santana

Johan Santana is coming to New York, but he will not call the Bronx home. The two-time Cy Young winner is heading to the Mets after Omar Minaya pulled the trigger on a deal sending Carlos Gomez, Phillip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra to Minnesota in return. This brings a the Yankees’ long pursuit of the elite lefty to a close. This team still lacks a proven shutdown starter at the top of the rotation. It is time to take a look at how all relevant parties fared in this deal.

Winners

Johan Santana: The lefty is going to get the big contract he covets, play in the world’s biggest media market, and go to the weaker hitting league.

New York Mets: The Mets somehow landed the game’s best pitcher without giving up their top hitting prospect, Fernando Martinez, or their top pitching prospect, Mike Pelfrey. They gained the dominant ace they had lacked and added an anchor to a thin pitching staff. This move is the big splash that will finally allow the fans and media to start looking forward and forget their dramatic 2007 collapse. In one move, Omar Minaya has made the Mets the team to beat in the National League in 2008.

Boston Red Sox: They would have loved a Beckett-Santana combination to top their rotation, but their starting pitching looks great as currently constructed. They did not need Santana. Their only concern was the Yankees using him to counter Beckett. Now the Yankees did not get Santana, and they get to hold onto their prized prospects.

Yankees Fans: Fans of the Yankees have grown tired with the marquee acquisitions. Over the past three years, it has been deeply satisfying for them to watch their young, homegrown stars develop. Now they will get to see Phil Hughes turn into one of the game’s top pitchers instead of buying up an established star who made the leap years ago.

Losers

Bill Smith: The Minnesota general manager has to top this list. He could have had the game’s next great young pitcher in Phil Hughes to pair with Francisco Liriano for the next five years at the top of his rotation. He also could have had an adequate young centerfielder in Melky Cabrera to compensate for the loss of Torii Hunter. He could have replaced Hunter with Jacoby Ellsbury, a future All-Star in centerfield, or received a future 2 or 3 starter who has won a World Series clincher in Jon Lester. He could have topped off a deal with the Red Sox by acquiring an above average shortstop prospect in Jed Lowrie. Instead, Smith ended up with a couple of middle of the rotation starters, a project pitcher, and an overrated centerfielder prospect with great speed but no power or discipline at the plate. Smith deserves to be tarred and feathered by his fanbase. This was awful evaluation. He picked the worst package.

Hank Steinbrenner: Hank lost out on the pitcher he coveted. He has nobody but himself to blame. His pompous negotiations and through the media, unprofessional public complaints about the Twins’ front office, and setting of fake deadlines helped to torpedo any chance the Yankees and the Twins could sit down and amicably negotiate a way to get Santana to the Bronx.

New York Yankees: The Yankees still do not have a shutdown starter at the top of their rotation. It would have been foolish to trade a future ace like Phil Hughes for a guy that much older and more expensive. It still made no sense as to why the Yanks were willing to give up Hughes but not make Robinson Cano the centerpiece instead. Cano has firmly established himself as an elite second baseman at a young age. The hitting challenged Twins gladly would have listened had the Yanks put Robbie in the package in place of Phil. Cano is a terrific hitter, but the Yankees have plenty of offense. Giving him up for a shutdown starter should have at least been considered. Their refusal to do so might have cost them Santana. Second basemen are easier to find than pitchers of Santana’s caliber. It is more important to have an ace in October than it is to have a .300 hitter at second base.

Major League Baseball: The fact that the small payroll Twins could not afford to keep a player so important to their franchise speaks volumes about the problems Major League Baseball has. One cannot blame teams like the Mets, Red Sox, and Yankees. They are using a flawed system to their advantage just like any other business would. Baseball needs to get more equitable rules because this is awful for fans of the Twins.

Yankees sign Cano to a four year deal

The New York Yankees locked up their second baseman, Robinson Cano with a four year deal worth more than $30 million dollars. The deal includes two option years that could add another $25 million to the pot. This is a great sign from the new Yankee regime. In recent years, the Yankees shyed away from giving multi-year deals to their young players, and instead, went with aging stars and flash-in-the-pans (too many names to mention here…you all know ‘em). The Yankees seem to be planning for the future, banking on the success of the home-grown players that the fans simply love. Chien Ming Wang is up next, with guys like Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, and one Joba Chamberlain also to hopefully be locked in for years to come.

We really don’t know what to expect from the Hank Steinbrenner era, but this is most definitely a step in the right direction.

On an even brighter note. pitchers and catchers report in 19 days……

Yankees Set Payroll Record

The New York Daily News reports that the Yankees set a Major League record last season with a $218 million payroll.

While its streak of AL East titles ended at nine, the Yanks wound up with a record payroll of $218.3 million.

The World Series champion Boston Red Sox were a distant second at $155.4 million, according to information received by clubs from the commissioner’s office.

In addition to the largest payroll, the Yankees have the highest revenue in the majors. The Bombers took in $415 million last year, giving about $100 million of it away in the sport’s revenue-sharing plan.

To summarize, even though the Yankees did not even win their own division in 2007, their spending is destroying all competitive balance in baseball. Small market teams do not have the financial resources to compete even though the Yanks gave them around $100 million, much of which was pocketed by cheap owners.

Potential X-Factor: Brett Gardner

The Yankees are a star-studded team, but a lot of their 2008 success will depend on how a number of lesser known players develop. Before the season begins, this blog will profile some of these players and discuss how the team will need them to develop. Today’s player is Brett Gardner.

Brett Gardner figures to begin 2008 playing centerfield for Scranton. While his utter lack of power keeps him from being mentioned in the same light as Jose Tabata or Austin Jackson, Gardner is a legitimate prospect. At worst, he will probably be a useful bench player. At his best, he will be a decent leadoff hitter and centerfielder.

Gardner has a .288 career batting average and a .381 on base percentage in the minors. Those numbers were .300 and .392 respectively last season in 203 at bats at AA Trenton and a pedestrian .260 and .343 in 181 at bats for AAA Scranton. He proceeded to tear up the Arizona Fall League with a .343 average and a .433 on base percentage, suggesting he is close to being ready for the Majors. With a minor league slugging percentage of .374, he has little pop, but his eye could make him a useful bench player or even a cheap centerfield option if Melky Cabrera gets traded for Johan Santana. There are concerns over holes in his swing as he has 211 strikeouts in 1,107 at bats. How much his contact rates improve will probably determine how good he becomes.

Gardner has terrific speed, which translates really well on defense. His range in center is second to none within the organization. He also has used this speed to steal 114 bases in his minor league career in 136 attempts. This is where his primary value will probably lie for the Yankees at least in 2008.

Gardner probably will spend most of the season in Scranton. The Yankees already have four high quality outfielders, and Shelley Duncan can play there in an emergency. Brett might not be a major prospect, but it would be best for his development if he got to play on an everyday basis. During critical games in September and October, he could become a factor.

It has been a while since this team had a legitimate stolen base threat off the bench.  It is a big weapon to have in tight games. Dave Roberts in the 2004 ALCS is the most famous example. The ability to get a runner into scoring position without giving up an out can be the difference between winning and losing. With a lineup as powerful as the Yankees have, an extra hitter to the plate with somebody in scoring position means an good chance to score. Gardner’s work as a pinch runner could give this team that extra opportunity in a big game.

Mattingly steps down as hitting coach for LA Dodgers

Citing family reasons, Don Mattingly stepped down as hitting coach for the LA Dodgers today. He will stay on with the LA Dodgers as an advisor, but has been replaced as hitting coach with Mike Easler (Triple A Dodgers). Pinstripes will remain the only uniform he has ever worn….