Game 4 of the World Series? That was over before it was over: As you can see I called the series int he 5th inning last night. Plus who cares about a World Series game played at Coors Field? That's not even really baseball. They should come up with some other term for the game played at Coors Field and they certainly shouldn't include the stats accumulated there among Major League totals. All Rockies hitters deserve an asterisk by their statistics.

On to more interesting news:

AL MVP Alex Rodriguez Will Not Be A Yankee Next Season.

Despite the fact that the Yankees were ready to offer him huge amounts of money, Alex Rodriguez has opted out of his Yankees contract. This is a move that the Yankees have said they will not tolerate. They have made it clear they will not join the bidding on A-Rod if he opts out of his Yankees contract and yesterday Hank Steinbrenner said "It's clear he didn't want to be a Yankee. He doesn't understand the privilege of being a Yankee on a team where owners are willing to pay $200 million to put a winning product on the field. I don't want anybody on my team that doesn't want to be a Yankee."

Now the question is where will A-Rod go? Perhaps he will take over for Barry Bonds in San Francisco? The Red Sox? Cubs? Angels? Mets?

One also wonders what big names the Yankees will go after to try and replace Rodriguez. Will they finally go after pitching instead of hitting?

Labels: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

The season ended today with the New York Mets out of the playoffs and the New York Yankees in. Earlier this season such a scenario seemed next to impossible.

The Mets ended May at 34-18. They ended up going just 54-56 the rest of the season. In stark contrast the Yankees finished May at a very poor 22-29 but went on win 72 and lose just 39 the rest of the year.

The Mets lost to the Florida Marlins today 8 to 1, while the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 6 to 1 to take the NL East crown by one game.

Just 18 days ago on September 12, the Mets looked like shoe ins to make the playoffs with a 7 game lead over the Phillies.

The Phillies joined the Cubs and the Diamondbacks in the NL playoffs. The Padres and the Rockies are tied for the wild card spot with 89 wins each and will have a one game playoff to decide who gets it.

In the AL it's the Red Sox, Indians, and Angels winning their respective divisions with the Yankees taking the wild card spot (by 6 games over the Tigers and Mariners.)

Labels: New York Mets, New York Yankees

Alex Rodriguez is catching fire again. He seems to be finishing the season how he started it, red hot. At this rate he looks like he has a good shot of surpassing 60 home runs this year. If he does reach 60 then he would be only the 6th player to do so (Along with Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, & Barry Bonds.)

Last night he hit his 50th and 51st home runs of the season. And actually while I'm writing this I just found out he hit another one in the first inning of today's game in Kansas City. That's 52. And the game is only in the 2nd inning, so who knows he could be adding to that total even more today.

The Yankees are 80-62, remember back when they were well under .500? Seems like a distant memory.

Labels: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

I was going to write about the six most overpaid players in the big leagues this year but then I realized I could easily write about five grossly overpaid players on the Yankees alone.

Bobby Abreu - New York Yankees RF - $15.6 Million

While Abreu has been very good since the all star break his overall #'s as a RF making 15 million plus are not up to snuff. His OBP is only .370 (vs. his career .409) and his SLG is .449 (vs. his career .502) while he does have a lot of Runs & RBI that's more a testament of how ridiculous the Yankees lineup is than Abreu's value. It's also a good example of how misguided it is to use those types of situation based stats as a gauge of individual performance.

Roger Clemens - New York Yankees P - $18.7 Million

Over 18 million dollars for a pitcher who has been at average at best: 5-5 with a 4.34 ERA. His 6.5 SO/9 show how much Clemens has fallen off the level of the dominating pitcher he's been most of his career (8.6 SO/9 for his career.)

Johnny Damon - New York Yankees CF - $13.0 Million

13 million dollars for 8 home runs and a .264 batting average. His OPS+ is 101. In other words he's an average hitter. If he were a great fielding SS this would be acceptable but for a CF who's never won a Gold Glove? No.

Mike Mussina - New York Yankees P - $11.1 Million

11.1 million dollars for an 8-9 record and a 5.22 ERA. Mussina's .305 BAA may be the most ghastly # he's putting up this year. Mussina's been a great pitcher during his career (247 wins and a 3.69 ERA during an offense heavy era) but he's clearly not been worth near 11 million dollars this season.

Carl Pavano - New York Yankees P - $10 Million

Pavano pitched in 2 games for his $10 Million. While it's hard to fault a guy with injury problems, he's clearly not worth this type of money anyway. He's only had one good season in his career (2004 when he was, to be fair, really good with an 18-8 record and a 3.00 ERA.)

Jason Giambi - New York Yankees DH - $23.4 Million

Giambi has been struggling with injuries and subpar (by his standards) hitting ever since the steroids storm began. He used to be one of the best hitters in the game but he's nowhere near that status now. His 2007 .859 OPS is nearly 100 points below his career .951 mark and even farther below his awesome seasons with Oakland in 2000 (1.123) & 2001 (1.137) when he was the closest thing to Barry Bonds (in production) in the majors. That's the hitter the Yanks thought they were buying when they give him his huge contract.

Labels: New York Yankees

It's now June 1st. We're two months into the season already. What are the big stories?

The New York Yankees Meltdown

At 22-29 the Yankees are 13.5 games behind the Red Sox and tied with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It's been an incredible combination of poor pitching, injuries, and bad luck that has kept the highest paid team in baseball on the ropes all year.

Although the Yanks are getting great seasons from Alex Rodriguez (19 home runs), Jorge Posada (.357), and Derek Jeter (.343) it hasn't been enough. The rest of the team's hitters are under performing in particular Bobby Abreu who is hitting just .228 and even worse he has a pathetic .289 slugging percentage.

Johnny Damon is hitting just .264 and Jason Giambi has a .436 slugging percentage. A lot of Yankees fans expected a lot from young Melky Cabrera but he has a .590 OPS thus far, which puts him below even the light hitting Doug Mientkiewicz who has a .661 OPS. Robinson Cano has been a disappointment as well best shown by his .298 OBP (last year he was at .365)

Speaking of Cano does any regular player in the big leagues walk less than this guy? 42 career walks vs 1197 career at bats. That's insane.

As much as most of their hitters have struggled (other than A Rod, Posada, and Jeter) it's their pitching that has been their real down fall. Perhaps most indicative of their problems is that only Andy Pettitte has enough innings to qualify for the ERA title as of now. The Yankees starters have been plagued by injuries and by just awful performances. Pettitte has been the only real exception with his 2.51 ERA and 9 Quality Starts in 11 games started. I'm sure that if before the season you said Pettitte would have a 2.51 ERA through 11 starts you'd expect him to have 7, 8, or even 9 wins already but he's got just 3 (his record is 3-4.)

Yankees Pitching Problems:
Much hyped rookie Phil Hughes was pitching a no hitter in his second big league start when he went down with an injury. He is expected back later this season.

Long time lights out closer Mariano Rivera has been having an awful season and currently has a 5.50 ERA.

Mike Musina has struggled with injuries and his game. He's got a 5.86 ERA and 2 QS in 7 GS.

Kei Igawa has been horrendous (ignore his 2-1 record, a great example of how meaningless W-L records are: Igawa vs Pettitte!) He has had just 1 QS in 5 GS and has a 7.63 ERA.

The Yanks are now hoping that Roger Clemens can come in to save the day. Which leads me to my next big story of the season to date.

Roger Clemens chooses the Yankees

Clemens is scheduled to pitch his first game for the Yankees on Monday, June 4th. They'll need him pitching up to his standards of his last couple of years in Houston to solidify their pitching rotation.

Looking at the records now can you imagine if Clemens has chosen the Red Sox?

I find it amazing how Clemens is so greatly respected by most baseball fans as a "living legend" of the game (which I do not argue, he is one of the greatest pitchers of all time) while a similar living legend is playing left field out in San Francisco is receiving far less respect from the media and from fans.

There's just as much circumstantial evidence against Clemens for performance enhancing drug use as their is against Bonds. Clemens was mentioned in the Grimsley affidavit (Pettitte was named too) and similarly to Bonds had a late career surge, posting some of his best seasons statistically after age 40. Clemens will be turning 45 this August. Also recall that Clemens had some pretty so-so seasons with the Yankees, in 1999 his ERA was actually higher than the league average and in 2002 he barely avoided it. Something helped him turn it around. The last few years he's put up some of the best seasons of his career all while past age 40. If you're going to claim that PEDs helped Barry Bonds hit home runs then I'm going to claim they helped (and probably still help) Roger Clemens pitch strikeouts.

And to go off on a rant here a bit: How can people be so incredibly hypocritical? I live in New York and during the rare times when Yankee fans or sports radio people aren't talking about the Yankees they say very nasty things about one Mr. Barry Bonds. Yet they are ecstatic over their own PED users like Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. I just find the focus on JUST Barry Bonds to be incredibly ridiculous. It's as if baseball fans all want to blame just one player so they can pretend everyone else is a savior? So they can pretend all of the players on their team never touched the stuff? Give me a break. It's especially hilarious when this sort of BS comes from Yankees fans considering how important players like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Giambi have been to their team.

Barry Bonds Home Run Chase

Of course Barry Bonds closing in on the all time home run record has been a major story all year. Bonds has been struggling recently and this has slowed him down considerably. Before the year I predicted he would break the record in the last game before the all star game. I didn't actually check if that game was at home or not and it's not. As many have said I think the Giants would prefer Bonds breaks the record at home from a PR stand point but I don't know if they would actually go the step of sitting Bonds when he's at 755 on the road. I don't think they'd do that. Bonds is the best hitter on the team and they are trying to make the playoffs (not trying hard enough, but that's another story.)

Bonds is currently at 746 homes. He needs 9 to tie and 10 to break the record.

The St. Louis Cardinals are also 22-29

The defending champion St. Louis Cardinals have the same poor record as the Yanks at 22-29. Luckily for the Cards there is no team anywhere near as good as the Boston Red Sox in their division and they are only 6.5 games out of first.

Albert Pujols hasn't been as awesome as usual but he has shown some signs of getting it together. He hit .340 in May. While his OPS is at a career low (.876) it's still leading the Cardinals this year. That's probably the real bad news for the Cards.

The New York Mets are rolling through the NL

I thought before the year began that the Mets were the best team in the NL and they are making me look like a wizard. They are 34-18 and even more impressively they are a 18-7 on the road.

And just like the other team in New York they will be adding one of the best pitchers of all time to their team at some point this year. If Pedro Martinez can pitch at something close to his peak level the Mets will be deadly.

Labels: Barry Bonds, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Roger Clemens, St. Louis Cardinals

The Yankees lost their 3rd straight game to drop to 21-27. An absolutely unbelievably awful record considering their massive payroll and their roster full of all stars and future hall of famers. The loss puts them 12.5 games behind the Red Sox who are rolling along at 34-15.

The Yankees can't really be this bad, can they? They have scored 25 runs more than their opponents which would usually lead to a record well over .500 but the Yanks awful record in close games has them struggling.

I do think the Yankees will eventually turn things around somewhat and they'll probably finish over .500 for the year but their chances of catching the Red Sox seems extremely small right now.

Labels: New York Yankees

The career home run record is not given to a player based on whether that player is likable or arrogant or an ACCUSED "cheater." It's in fact not given to anyone at all. It's EARNED by hitting more home runs than anyone else. And WHEN Barry Bonds breaks that record he will have earned the home run king crown. The same as Hank Aaron earned it before him and Babe Ruth before Aaron.

I don't hear anyone saying that Roger Clemens records shouldn't be counted and there's just as much, if not more, circumstantial evidence pointing to Clemens having used some form of performance enhancing drug as there is indicating Bonds' guilt.

To me it's absolute nonsense to only talk about erasing someones records or giving them an "asterisk" when they are going to break some big record. You can't count some stats but not others. Baseball is not a game played in a vacuum. The numbers are what the numbers are, they merely represent what has happened on the field.

It was absolutely retarded when baseball put an asterisk by Roger Maris name in 1961 and it would be beyond ludicrous to put one by Barry Bonds name. Remember Barry Bonds has never tested positive for steroids and has never been found guilty of using steroids. And even if he does test positive in the future or is found guilty by the courts, so what?

Jason Giambi used steroids, he admitted to it, are we going to go back and take away his MVP award? It's just stupid the way baseball fans seem to have latched onto Barry Bonds when so many other players have been (and certainly many still are) involved with performance enhancing drugs. You can't root for the Yankees and then say Barry Bonds should be kicked out of the league or have an asterisk and not be a complete 100% hypocrite. The Yankees (just like every other team in the bigs, I'm sure) have many players who have been involved with PEDs. Why is it OK to still root them on but then to throw syringes at Barry Bonds? Doesn't make no sense. Thus it is, my good friends, nonsense.

Labels: Barry Bonds, New York Yankees, Roger Clemens

Yup. It's official!

A-Rod has now gone 12 games without a home run. In those 12 games he is 12 for 45 for a .267 batting average. He also only has 3 walks which gives him a pathetic .313 OBP over the past dozen games which is still a couple of points higher than his even more pathetic .311 slugging percentage over the period.

It is duly noted of course that due to his hot start Rodriguez is still leading the majors in home runs with his 14 and is still on pace for 76 homers and 200 RBI but those "on pace" numbers are dropping fast...

Labels: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

Roger Clemens announced at today's Yankees game vs the Seattle Mariners that he will indeed be coming back to pitch for the New York Yankees this season. He is expected to take a few weeks getting in shape and could be pitching for the Yankees by June.

The Yankees pitching has been awful thus far this year but now with Clemens coming back and Chien Ming-Mang's recent near perfect game things are starting to look up for the Yanks. Factor in Phil Hughes promising debut (and assuming he comes back this year 100% healthy from his untimely injury) and the Yankees could have a very good rotation in place for the stretch run and the playoffs. Quite a turn of events from just recently when Andy Pettitte seemed to be the only pitcher they could count on.

The Yankees also got an excellent day from today's starting pitcher Darrel Rasner who threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings for his first win of the season. He now has a 2.75 ERA for the year. The Yanks won the game 5 to 0.

Discuss Roger's return at the New York Yankees Baseball Forum.

Labels: New York Yankees

Who is the greatest Yankee of all time at each position?

Well first let's set the criteria. I'm only going to consider what a player did with the Yankees. For example Alex Rodriguez's seasons with the Mariners and the Rangers don't come into play when considering his place among the all time great Yankees.

The New York Yankees All Time Team (With Stats As A Yankee)

First Base - Lou Gehrig (.340 AVG, 493 HR, 1995 RBI, .447 OBP, 632 SLG)

This is no a brainer. Gehrig is arguably the greatest first baseman to ever play the game. He played his entire career with the Yankees. He was nicknamed the "Iron Horse" because of playing in 2,130 consecutive games. This was the major league record for over 50 years until Cal Ripkin broke it in the 1990s.

Choosing Gehrig's greatest season is difficult because he had so many great years but I have to go with 1927 as Gehrig's greatest. In 1927 he won the MVP over Babe Ruth with a .373 batting average and a .765 slugging percentage.

Gehrig was a Yankee from 1923 to 1939. 17 Seasons. He won 6 World Series with the Yankees. In 34 World Series games he hit .361 with 10 home runs and a .731 slugging percentage.

Second Base - Tony Lazzeri (.293 AVG, 169 HR, 1154 RBI, .379 OBP, .467 SLG)

Lazzeri had his best season in 1929 when he hit .354 with 18 home runs. Lazzeri was a Yankee from 1926 to 1937. 12 Seasons. He won 5 World Series with the Yankees.

I also considered Willie Randolph for this position. Randolph had a .275 batting average for the Yankees while playing in the 10th most games in Yankees history with 1694. Randolph is also second in Yankees history with 251 stolen bases.

Shortstop - Derek Jeter (.317 AVG, 183 HR, 863 RBI, .388 OBP, .462 SLG)

Jeter has become a modern legend of Yankees baseball. He is rapidly climbing the all time Yankee leader board in multiple categories. His greatest season so far was 1999 when he hit .349 with 24 home runs and a .552 slugging percentage.

Jeter has been a Yankee his entire career which began with a short stint in 1995. This year is his 13th in the major leagues. He's won 4 World Series titles with the Yankees. He's hit .302 in the 6 World Series he has been a part of.

Third Base - Alex Rodriguez (.301 AVG, 127 HR, 378 RBI, .398 OBP, .560 SLG)

Yes this is based on the three years (and the helluva start he's had this year) A-Rod has played for the Yankees. 3B has not been a very strong position for the Yankees compared to the other positions. In fact if it wasn't A-Rod I might have gone with Wade Boggs here who is of course much more known for his work with the Red Sox. Boggs did hit .313 in 2600 plate appearances for the Yankees.

Rodriguez's best season with the Yankees so far has been 2005 when won the MVP hitting .321 with 48 home runs. Although many Yankees fans seemed to immediately forget how good he was all year due to his poor post season.

This is Rodriguez's 4th year with the Yankees, as is well known among New Yorkers he has yet to appear in the World Series. Although he is well known for his post season failures, his career post season batting average of .280 isn't that bad. It's his recent lack of success going 3 for 29 combined in the '05 and '06 postseasons that has hurt his reputation.

Outfield - Babe Ruth (.349 AVG, 659 HR, 1975 RBI, .484 OBP, .711 SLG)

Well this was a really difficult selection? Babe Ruth's numbers speak for themselves. He holds many Yankees records and as you probably know he even "built" Yankee Stadium.

Ruth's best year stat wise was probably his first with the Yankees in 1920. He took advantage of Polo Grounds with an .849 slugging percentage which stood as the single season record for 81 years until Barry Bonds broke it in 2001. He also broke his own record for home runs in a season with 54, this record would only last until next season when he would break it again with 59 home runs. Finally in 1927 he would break the record again with 60 home runs. This record stood until another Yankee Roger Maris broke it in 1961 with 61.

Just to add to his ridiculous resume he also won 5 games without a loss as a pitcher with the Yankees.

Ruth played 15 seasons with the Yankees from 1920 to 1934. He won 4 World Series with the Yankees. He hit .344 with 15 home runs in the 7 World Series he played in for the Yankees. (He also won three World Series with Boston in 1915, 1916, and 1918 before the Red Sox wisely sold him to the Yankees.)

Outfield - Mickey Mantle (.298 AVG, 536 HR, 1509 RBI, .421 OBP, .557 SLG)

Mantle played his entire career with the Yankees. He won 3 MVP awards with his best seasons coming in 1956 & '57. '61 was a really good one too although that year he finished second in the MVP voting to his teammate Roger Maris.

Mantle played 18 seasons from 1951 to 1968. Mantle played in 12 World Series for the Yankees and won 7. He hit 18 World Series home runs.

Outfield - Joe DiMaggio (.325 AVG, 361 HR, 1537 RBI, .398 OBP, .579 SLG)

DiMaggio also played his entire career for the Yankees. His best year statistically was probably 1939 when he hit .381 with 30 home runs but his most famous season is 1941 when he hit safely in 56 consecutive games which is of course still the record today for longest hitting streak.

DiMaggio was out of action from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II. He was in the prime of his career at the time.

DiMaggio won an astounding 9 World Series championships in his 13 seasons with the Yankees.

Catcher - Yogi Berra (.285 AVG, 358 HR, 1430 RBI, .348 OBP, .483 SLG)

Berra won 3 MVP awards but his best offensive season came in 1950 when he finished 3rd in the voting. In 1950 he hit .322 with 28 home runs and 124 RBI.

Berra played all but 4 games of his career for the Yankees. In '65 he played 4 games for the Mets. His career for the Yankees spanned from 1946 to 1963 for a total of 18 seasons. During that period he played in an incredible 14 World Series and won 10. He hit 12 World Series home runs during his career.

DH - Don Mattingly (.307 AVG, 222 HR, 1099 RBI, .358 OBP, .471 SLG)

Mattingly only played 76 games as a DH, I am including him at this position because I think he's the most deserving Yankee hitter that I was not able to include among the "regular" positions.

Mattingly played his entire career for the Yankees. His best year was either 1985 when he hit 35 home runs and had 145 RBI or 1986 when he hit .352 with 31 home runs. He won the MVP in '85 and finished second in '86.

Mattingly played 14 seasons from 1982 to 1995. The Yankees did not make it to the World Series during these years.

Other Yankee hitters I considered for this position include Earle Combs, Bill Dickey, Bob Meusel, Paul O'Neil, Bernie Williams, Ricky Henderson, and Reggie Jackson.

Starting Pitcher - Whitey Ford (236 Wins, 2.75 ERA)

Ford's best years came in 1963 (24-7, 2.74) & 1964 (17-6, 2.14) or perhaps 1958 when he had a 2.01 ERA. Maybe most impressive is that he won his only Cy Young award in 1961 when he had one of his highest single season ERAs at 3.21, in fact the only year he was higher than that was his last full season in the majors in 1965 when he had a 3.24 ERA. When your career worst single season ERA is 3.24 you know you are a good pitcher. He has the 3rd highest career winning % of any pitcher in the modern era with at least 100 wins at .690.

Ford was a Yankee for his entire 16 year career from 1950 to 1967. He missed two seasons in '51 and '52 due to military service in Korea.

Ford pitched in 11 World Series, the Yankees winning 6 of them. He went 10-8 with a 2.71 ERA in his World Series career.

Starting Pitcher - Lefty Gomez (189 Wins, 3.34 ERA)

Gomez's best year came in 1934 when he went 26-5 with a 2.33 ERA.

He spent his entire career except for one game he started for Washington in 1943 with the Yankees. He pitched for the Yankees for 13 seasons from 1930 to 1942.

He won 5 World Series with the Yankees and went 6-0 with a 2.86 ERA in 7 World Series starts.

Starting Pitcher - Red Ruffing (231 Wins, 3.47 ERA)

Ruffing was with the Yankees from 1930 to 1946. He had four 20+ win seasons and they were right in a row from 1936 to 1939. His best season coming in 1939 when he went 21-7 with a 2.93 ERA.

He won 6 World Series with the Yankees and went 7-2 with a 2.63 ERA in 10 World Series starts. Had 8 complete games in those 10 starts.

Starting Pitcher - Mel Stottlemyre (164 Wins, 2.97 ERA)

Stottlemyre's best year came in 1968 when he went 21-12 with a 2.45 ERA along with 19 complete games and 6 shutouts.

Stottlemyre pitched his entire 11 year career with the Yankees. He played from 1964 to 1974. The Yankees only went to the World Series one time during that period, his rookie season in 1964. The Yankees lost that World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. Stottlemyre was 1-1 with a 3.15 ERA in 3 World Series starts.

Starting Pitcher - Spud Chandler (109 wins, 2.84 ERA)

Chandler won the MVP (the only Yankee pitcher to ever do so) in 1943 with a 20-4 record and a 1.64 ERA

Chandler was with the Yankees for his entire career which was from 1937 to 1947. Chandler turned 30 years old during his rookie season because he went to college and then spent 5 years in the minor leagues. He missed most of 1944 and 1945 due to joining the army to fight in World War II. His best three seasons were '42, '43 and '46 so one has to wonder what great years he missed in '44 and '45. Those missed seasons along with his very late start makes Chandler an interesting "What If?" As he seemingly could have had a hall of fame career if things had worked out a little differently.

Chandler holds the record for the highest career winning percentage of all time for any pitcher with more than 100 wins.

He won three World Series with the Yankees. He had a 2-2 record with a 1.61 ERA in World Series play.

Relief Pitcher - Mariano Rivera (413 Saves, 2.31 ERA)

Rivera has spent his entire 13 year career with the Yankees from 1995 to present day. His best year so far was in 2005 when he had a minuscule 1.38 ERA to go along with 43 saves. His high year for saves came in 2004 with 53. Rivera has been one of the few relief pitchers in the history of baseball who has been able to perform consistently over a long period.

He's won 4 World Series with the Yankees and his overall post season stats are incredible. He has 34 post season saves with a 0.80 post season ERA.

Labels: All Time Team, New York Yankees

What will the Yankees do without Damon? Well it's nothing serious, he may not even have to go on the DL.

Melky Cabrera is taking his place for now. Cabrera is one of the few players on the Yankees who wasn't purchased for some ridiculous amount of money in the free agent market.

He's an actual home grown Yankee!

In other words, he's not that good.

The Yankees will surely be trying to buy another all star if Damon can't come back healthy.

Labels: New York Yankees