Can you name the highest total strikeout games in Yankees history?
Vidal Nuno fanned three batters in two innings today. To celebrate, take the Sporcle quiz of the evening! /forced/
In Yankees history, there have been 37 known instances of a pitcher recording at least 13 strikeouts. Can you name all the pitchers to have performed this feat? While some of the names on there are expected, some are rather surprising. Read the comments at your own risk if you haven't taken the quiz yet--you don't have to use the spoiler tag to discuss the quiz.
Additionally, if you have any tweetbag questions for us to answer on the podcast this evening, feel free to post 'em. Enjoy your evenings.
Earlier today, Johan Santana held a throwing session for seven teams at a high school in Fort Myers. In spite of it being more of a public showing of the progress in his rehabilitation process, Santana allegedly wasn't in mid-season form.
"The fastball just had no zing," said one American League scout, who apparently forgot that Santana had only been throwing off of a mound for two-and-a-half weeks after not throwing a Major League pitch since 2012 and wanted to remain anonymous. "There was no pop in the glove," he added, ignoring the fact that Santana is recovering from a torn capsule in his throwing shoulder just over ten months ago.
More damning to Santana's bid to sign a Major League contract today (probably) was a lack of what has been dubbed "Major League velocity". Teddy Feldman, a scout in attendance for the Yankees, was eager to spin a narrative. "He barely cracked 80mph!" he scoffed, apparently believing that even healthy pitchers throw at full velocity in their first regular season game, much less a spring training game or a throwing session in February.
When asked what kind of velocity Santana was expected to show on February 25, a date which scouts and journalists alike pretended was irrelevant, one media member responded: "I remember when he had that 94 mph fastball! Man, those days are long gone if he can barely crack 80." It was ignored when it was mentioned that Santana's top speed of 81mph was only six and a half miles per hour slower than his average fastball in 2012.
Kevin Hasbargen, a Twins fan from Cloquet, Minnesota, who didn't read the report that also called Santana's changeup "impressive" but nevertheless followed the narrative on Santana's velocity that was building on Twitter, told reporters that he didn't think the former two-time Cy Young award winner's "heart was in it" and that the southpaw "really missed out on a big opportunity."
"I know that not even healthy big league pitchers are throwing full strength right now," Hasbargen said, "but this guy used to be the best left-handed pitcher in baseball and now he's not. I mean, it's February 25, man. I don't feel good about it, but...yeah...yeah, I'm gonna write him off." As of press time, Hasbargen hadn't changed his mind.
A General Manager from the National League who asked to have his name omitted from this article admitted that, based on today's throwing session, Santana's career was pretty much over. "I mean, forget that he didn't throw a single slider," he laughed incredulously, "there wasn't even a batter in the box! No defense! What kind of trick was Santana trying to pull, anyway?" The GM looked into the middle distance and chuckled, apparently willing to extend his meaningless judgment of Santana's throwing session into outright fantasy.
Santana, meanwhile, seems happy with the results of today's session.
Today was a very good day off the mound, getting better!!!
One can only imagine that, upon realizing his velocity wasn't in mid-season form, Santana will retract his tweet, possibly delete his Twitter account altogether, and retire.
If this were a list of the 100 Coolest Angels, G.A. - Garret Anderson - would be the runaway number one winner. As it is, he is a Top Ten Angel with an enviable resume.
Drafted in the fourth round in 1990 out of Kennedy high school in Granada Hills, He got a cup of coffee in the summer of 1994 before being handed the keys to the kingdom and playing 100 games in Left Field the following season. He had 120 hits in 400 PA and that was all it took to etch his name into the lineup for the next decade plus. His second place finish for AL rookie of the year in 1995 behind Marty Cordova was robbery - both men had 19 first place votes and finished 99 to 105 points. Andy Pettite finished third and Troy Percival fourth.
His easy demeanor was no indicator of the passion with which he played the game. He never appeared to hustle enough for some fans and yet he rarely made a miscue in the field or a baserunning blunder. But he did turn in many league average seasons. Of his fifteen total seasons as an Angel, seven featured an OPS+ of 100 or below. 100 is the baseline of the league average. His best two years were 2002 and 2003 with an OPS+ of 127 and 131 respectively. His other two great years were that 1995 campaign where he delivered an OPS+ of 120 and 3.0 Wins Above Replacement and his Age-35 season of 2007, where he contributed greatly to getting the Angels back to the playoffs after having missed them the previous year. That year his 114 OPS+ only amounted to 1.8 WAR but G.A. turned on the afterburners that year and had his legendary 10-RBI game on August 21 at home against the Yankees.
Besides these four stellar seasons, though, Anderson consistently gave league average numbers (1999-2001 OPS+: 104, 103, 104 respectively with an OPS+ of 107 in 2004) and so most of his contributions to the Angels record books are counting stats. Sure, he has the most games played as an Angel, the most runs, the most hits. And that is because nobody else comes close. HE is the only to have 1,000 runs scored, and play in more than 2,000 games. He had more than 6,000 At Bats and over 8,000 Plate Appearances with the club. And yet many Halo batters did more in the fewer times up allotted them. Tim Salmon has 27 more home runs in 1,400 fewer Plate Appearances. The list could go on but there is little to take away from G.A. - he is, simply, one of the greatest Angels to ever put on the uniform and staying healthy to play that many games and remaining amenable to the team to continually sign to play for them do count in making a Top 100 list.
And then there is Game Seven of the World Series. Sure, Spiezio had the miracle home run in Game Six and Glaus had put the team ahead for good. But Game Seven was tied in the third inning when Anderson hit a bases-loaded double to put the team ahead for good. It was a huge hit overshadowed by the historic comeback the night before but that doesn't make it any less bright a moment in Angels lore. The only world championship the team has won so far was a team effort and G.A. was a solid link in that chain and a solid presence in the lineup for a decade and a half.
Tune in Saturday to see 3/5 of the rotation pitch, including Masahiro Tanaka as he makes his spring training debut.
Spring training games have started, and that means we finally get to see some highly anticipated players play in live games. Chief among them is Masahiro Tanaka, who is set to make his pitching debut during Saturday's game.
Joe Girardi has said that CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda and Tanaka will all be pitching during Saturday's game, with CC expected to begin the game. Kuroda and Tanaka will come out of the bullpen, with each player starting a clean inning so that it has the feeling of starting a fresh game. All three are expected to pitch two innings. So if you tune into this game, you'll get to see 3/5 of the rotation.
Brian McCann and Austin Rominespoke earlier in the week about how well Tanaka pitched during his first live batting practice. Tanaka was supposedly only throwing at about 70% yet they both sounded very impressed. Of course, those are the kinds of things they're expected to say, so it will be nice to be able to judge that for ourselves. It will also be interesting to see CC pitch, if not based solely on the fact that he dropped so much weight over the offseason, and is hopefully going to bring his better stuff this season.
The Yankees will be playing against the Phillies with a 1 PM start time. If you're a fellow non-New Yorker, you're in luck; the game is going to be broadcast on MLBN. The game also looks like it will be available on MLB.tv. Are you going to tune in, or do you have other, far less exciting Saturday plans?
The podcast is back and the Yankees are actually playing baseball! Not meaningful baseball, but it's baseball anyway. We discuss the Brett Gardner extension, the Andrew Bailey signing, whatever happened with Aledmys Diaz, Hawk Harrelson (for whatever reason), and the good ol' tweetbag. Jason's Internet cut out just before the podcast began, but he fought a valiant battle to return about 23 1/2 minutes in.
[1:18] Some guy named Brett Gardner received a new contract; was it a good deal? Will the Yankees be able to maintain lineup power? [7:16] The ripple effect of Gardner's extension on the outfield prospects [9:31] What happened to the Aledmys Diaz sweepstakes? [11:40] YES Network makes us uneasy about Eduardo Nunez [13:50] Greg proposes a pact to never discuss 2013 again, then promptly talk about 2013 again... also Hawk [20:52] Andrew Bailey/Joel Hanrahan interest: 2012 David Aardsma or something better? [23:05] Requiem for a Cohen [24:21] Jason's thoughts on the Gardner, Bailey, and Diaz [27:00] Tweetbag: Under-the-radar position player prospects, horrifying infield backup, who gets hurt first: Roberts/Grady, how to use Phelps/Warren, Nuno's potential, and limiting Pineda's innings [48:05] Yankee/Mitre of the Week, and pondering what exactly Jesus Montero consumed (and where he learned to run)
The team defeated the Florida State Seminoles in their first spring training game yesterday and today they'll get a crack at the Pittsburgh Pirates and Francisco Lirano in their first true Grapefruit League matchup. Ivan Nova will start the game for the Yankees. It will be your first chance to check out a trio of new Yankees, as Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Carlos Beltran are all expected to make the trip. Joe Girardi expects them to play four or five innings each.
No MLB.tv coverage of the game today, so you'll have to follow along on Gameday or in the comments section below.
As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.
Uncharacteristically, the Yankees just signed Brett Gardner to a four-year, $52 million extension.
Chance the Gardener, AKA Chauncey Gardiner, stumbled into celebrity for being a pleasant imbecile.
There isn't really much of a connection short of the last name, but the Yankees did make something of an exception in their decision to extend their speedy outfielder. They decided to strengthen their roots, so to speak -- something they haven't been quick to do in the recent past.
New York typically allows their free agents to test the open market, presumably because they can compete with anyone on the open market and their primary method of acquiring talent -- at least recently -- has been adding players through free agency, thus alleviating them of the need to sully their hands with the small potatoes of extensions and the like.
So why did they make an exception for Gardner?
Well, he's certainly a good player. From 2010 to 2011, he stole 96 bases, posted a .364 on-base percentage, and put up eye-popping defensive numbers -- 58 defensive runs saved and a UZR/150 of 37.5! The next best UZR/150 for any player over that span was Evan Longoria's 16.5 at third base. Second best in the outfield was Franklin Gutierrez' 13.9. Gardner's DRS was also tops in the game during those two seasons. He was a borderline top-10 player in 2010 and 2011 if you give any credence to FanGraphs' interpretation on WAR -- he was worth nearly 11 wins, good enough for 12th in the league.
So, yes. He was a good great player, but is he now?
Maybe, but he'll be 31 this summer -- meaning that he'll be 35 years old for the last few months of his extension. Since his game is built on speed, almost exclusively, the temporal drag of aging could take its toll on him. A watered-down version of Gardner took the field in 2013, perhaps due to the residual effects of the elbow injury that caused him miss a majority of the 2012 season. That injury wouldn't have caused Gardner to lose a step on the base paths or in the outfield, but the missed time -- and his general submission to the icy grasp of time -- could have played a part in his diminished production.
Last year, Gardner still put up a solid .273/.344/.416 batting line, but he only stole 24 bases -- good, but not great by his standards -- and more importantly, his UZR withered down to -0.5 (-0.3 UZR/150). Maybe he'll bounce back to his 2010-11 form and post the numbers he did in his prime, simultaneously parrying Father Time's judo-grapple on his very soul ... or maybe he'll continue to age, as a normal human being, and become less and less valuable as his new contract lingers on the Yankees' ever-billowing payroll. 2014 will be a good litmus test.
As far as the Yankees are concerned, they might have taken a look at the 2015 free agent market and their less-than-spectacular farm system, and decided that they couldn't do much better than Gardner in the near future. Then again, they won't be paying a luxury tax penalty because of the new deal since Gardner's 20114 salary was already set, so maybe general manager Brian Cashman just couldn't help but spend even more money as soon as it was possible without penalty.
No matter what the impetus was for their decision, it's nice to see the Yanks make an effort to stick with their own players rather than simply buying up every player they can on the open market -- which pretty much means every player on the open market.
In extending their Gardner, New York has returned -- at least in a small way -- to the homegrown ethos that spawned their early-millennium dynasty.
The Yankees locked up Brett Gardner as their left fielder for the foreseeable future. Gardner is not the typical left fielder, as he provides value with speed and defense rather than big power. Here is a look at this contract extension.
On Sunday, the Yankees signed Brett Gardner to a four year, $52 million extension. The contract does not start until after this season, so the Yankees have essentially given Gardner a free agent deal before he reached the free agent market. Include his 2014 salary of $5.6M, and the contract can be thought of as five years at $57.6 million. All told, the average annual value (AAV) of the contract is $11.5M, which is certainly reasonable for a player like Gardner.
The 30-year old Gardner will be the Yankees everyday left fielder, alongside new center field teammate Jacoby Ellsbury. Gardner is not your prototypical left fielder (hits in the middle of the lineup, hits home runs, with mediocre to poor defense). He is more of a well-rounded player with excellent speed and defense. He has 10 more career triples than home runs (33 to 23, respectively) and career 73.2 ultimate zone rating (UZR) as an outfielder. This is not to say that he is a poor hitter. Gardner has been an average contributor at the plate for his career, averaging 101 wRC+ and .329 wOBA.
Gardner is coming off a solid 2013 season, where he produced 3.2 fWAR in 145 games, which ranked him as the 20th best outfielder in the game, placing him amongst a group of excellent outfielders such as Denard Span, Alex Gordon, Desmond Jennings, Justin Upton and Austin Jackson. For 2014, ZiPS projects this group to produce at similar levels again:
Name
PA
AVG
OBP
SLG
wOBA
Fld
BsR
WAR
A. Gordon
691
0.267
0.339
0.432
0.337
9.6
-0.3
3.6
D. Jennings
633
0.249
0.326
0.403
0.322
-2.2
2.6
3.1
J. Upton
655
0.259
0.349
0.445
0.347
-0.7
0.1
3.0
A. Jackson
662
0.262
0.335
0.412
0.329
-0.2
-0.3
3.0
D. Span
590
0.272
0.320
0.376
0.308
7.9
0.8
2.6
B. Gardner
463
0.259
0.339
0.388
0.323
3.4
1.5
2.4
By WAR, Gardner is expected to produce the least of the group, but this is driven by large discrepancies in playing time; Gardner is projected to get ~130-230 fewer PAs than these outfield counterparts. Yet, even at this projected production level, he would be slightly outperforming the market value of his contract, at ~$6M per win.
Gardner's best season came in 2010 (his age 26 season), when he produced 6.0 fWAR in 150 games as the Yankees primary left fielder. He followed that up with 4.9 fWAR in 159 games in 2011. His 2012 season was derailed because of an elbow injury, limiting him to only 16 games. His performance in 2013 (outlined above) suggests that he has returned strong from the injury. This new contract runs through Gardner's age 30 - 35 seasons, a period during which players typically decline significantly, a trend that is often thought to be even more dramatic for speed-and-defense players. This idea is predicated upon the thought that speed will decline quickly with age and once the speed is gone, these types of players become entirely ineffective. Therefore, questioning Gardner's ability to produce throughout the contract is relevant. The good news is that, as Jeff Zimmerman demonstrated, ‘fast guys' (i.e., those that had 25 or more stolen bases, and 8 or more triples; like Gardner) tend to decline differently from the average player, with their decline in runs above average (RAA) coming much later in the aging curve:
Given this informative trend, the Yankees can be reasonably confident that they will not be paying for years of negative performance from Gardner.
Overall, this looks like a solid contract for the Yankees and for Gardner. He is a player who will produce in multiple ways, improved as a hitter last year and as shown should age reasonably well. With him and Ellsbury under contract, two-thirds of the Yankee outfield is set for the next five years. Coupling Gardner with Ellsbury (another above average fielder: career 43.7 UZR) should be a formidable defensive force. Maybe this will give the Yankees front office time to focus on fixing the remarkable problems looming in their infield.
The final score wasn't in their favor, but the Yankees got some nice production out of their newest additions.
The Yankees traveled to Bradenton, Florida, to kick off Grapefruit League action against the Pittsburgh Pirates. A couple of the newest members of the Yankees got the team out to an early lead, but a bullpen implosion in the seventh inning led to New York dropping their first real spring training game to the Bucs, 6-5.
It started well enough with the Yankees jumping out to an early 2-0 lead after one inning, thanks to a lead off walk by Jacoby Ellsbury who was driven in by a single off the bat of Brian McCann. It was good to see the new additions to the team making an impact immediately. Edinson Volquez replaced Francisco Liriano in the second inning, but another walk by Ellsbury and a two-run homer off the bat of Yangervis Solarte got the Yankees out to a nice lead with Ivan Nova on the mound. Nova pitched 1.2 innings, allowing two hits and two walks before leaving in favor of Bruce Billings after putting two on in the inning. Billings proceeded to allow both of the inherited runners to score to cut the lead in half.
The majority of the Pirates' damage came in the seventh inning off Chase Whitley, who put two runners on via a single and a hit by pitch before serving up a three-run homer to Tony Sanchez. That homer tied the game at 5-5 before Chris McGuinness singled to drive in the go-ahead run for Pittsburgh in a four-run inning.
Impressive performances on the pitching side included Dellin Betances working two scoreless innings and Preston Claiborne and Cesar Cabral each tossing a scoreless inning to close out the game. Yangervis Solarte, who is battling for a spot in the infield, had two hits including his home run. He made a sparkling play in the field that drew plenty of praise from the beat writers on Twitter, but he also committed a fielding error by booting a routine grounder. Still, his day was much more good than bad. Mason Williams drove in the Yankees' final run with an RBI double that scored Francisco Arcia. Williams' 2013 season was incredibly disappointing, so a nice showing in spring training from him would go a long way toward restoring hope in him for the coming year.
The Yankees will have a chance to even the score against the Pirates tomorrow when Pittsburgh visits Steinbrenner Field at 1:05 pm. It will be the first televised game of the spring, which you can catch on MLB.tv or YES. Derek Jeter is expected to make his spring training debut in the game tomorrow, playing shortstop for about five innings. David Phelps gets the start against Charlie Morton.
The 38-year-old had been hoping to make a comeback and was planning on throwing off a mound for MLB teams in February after rehabbing a ruptured spleen. But, according to Sherman's report, Pavano has decided to hang them up instead, putting an end to his major league career.
Pavano last pitched in the majors for the Twins in 2012, posting a 6.00 ERA in 11 starts. Originally drafted by the Red Sox in the 1994 draft, the right-hander played for five different MLB teams, including the Expos, Marlins, Yankees, Indians, and Twins. Pavano finished his career with a 108-107 record, a 4.39 ERA, and 1,091 strikeouts in 1,788.2 innings pitched.
His best years came with the Marlins from 2002-2004. The Connecticut native compiled a career-best ERA in 2004 when he finished with a 3.00 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 222.1 innings. Pavano was named to the AL All-Star team that season, his only All-Star selection, and also came in sixth in the AL Cy Young voting.
That offseason Pavano memorably signed a four-year, $39.95 million contract with the Yankees in free agency, a deal that didn't work out well due to the bevy of injuries Pavano suffered over the next few seasons. He only ended up making 26 starts in pinstripes after missing the entire 2006 campaign and starting just nine games for the Yankees in the final two seasons of his contract.
Pavano would move onto Cleveland and ultimately Minnesota, where he pitched for four seasons. The right-hander had a resurgent campaign in 2010, posting a 3.75 ERA in 32 starts, and even pitched effectively in 2011, but was shut down in June last season with a sore right shoulder.
The Yankees need to realize their winter hibernation is over and start playing well.
I know a lot of Yankees fans are probably just excited to have baseball back, so they might be more inclined to be blinded to all the problems already plaguing their favorite team. I hate to be the bearer of bad news at this time of optimism, but this team does not look ready to compete with the elite in the American League. After an offseason of fat contracts and self-satisfaction, it's clear that the Yankees have been resting on their laurels during their time off.
Now I know what you're going to say: "Spring Training is meaningless!". You could not be more wrong. Spring Training sets the tone for the entire season. It is a known fact that the teams that perform the best in Spring Training end up performing the best in the regular season. You can't win the marathon after falling on your face before you even get past the starting line. Momentum is everything.
Just look at the performance of the "Feeble Empire" against the Florida State Seminoles on Tuesday. That's right, the mighty Yankees put a college team on their schedule. How are they supposed to get ready for the season by scheduling cupcakes? Even worse, all they managed was an unremarkable 8-3 victory. A major league team beating a bunch of college kids by less than twenty is nothing short of an embarrassment. It was a disgrace to the Yankees' hallowed history and a disappointing start to Derek Jeter's farewell tour.
If you're searching for someone to point the finger at, look no further than the Yankees' fancy new free agents who logged a total of zero at bats during the game. You read that right: zero. It seems getting a paycheck is all they're concerned with at the moment. And Brett Gardner, who used to be the tough, gritty sort of player your kids could model themselves after decided to take the day off after one at-bat. Money changes everything, apparently. It seems Vidal Nuno and a bunch of rookies were the only ones who were particularly concerned about winning that day. Now add in today's 6-5 choke-job against the Pittsburgh Pirates (a team that hasn't won a championship in over thirty years) and it's clear that all that talent won't make up for this team's lack of heart.
The Yankees don't have the luxury of waiting to turn things around. With the Boston Red Sox lording their championship over them and the rest of the division looking to be quite competitive, this team needs to get off to a good start. Anything short of a winning record in Spring Training would be disastrous. A performance worse than that should make the seats that Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi are sitting in even warmer than the Florida weather they're currently relaxing in.
You may think that there's a secret society that believes otherwise, but you'd be WRONG WRONG WRONG.
When Matthew Kory wrote on Tuesday on this very site that the Red Sox were likely due for regression after their 97-win regular season, there was a strong argument to be made that he merely said what we were all thinking. Not only was last year a magical season, it is rare that any team will win 97 games in a given year, given the considerable forces of attrition in baseball. Even defending champions have to fight their way to that type of record, and the best of the best don’t usually get there.
So there’s nothing untrue about what Kory said. The difference between Matthew and us is that he dared say it aloud, violating each spring’s implicit code that the Red Sox will go 162-0. This is a code of a society to which we don’t belong and doesn’t have strict reeducation procedures. We hope Kory’s rehabilitation, should he be caught, is as painless as possible.
Just kidding. There is no secret society of Red Sox fans, beholden to former pitcher Alfredo Aceves or otherwise, that reeducates "bad" fans of the team and pledges they conform to their bizarre opinions, namely, that the Red Sox will make it through the 2014 baseball season without losing a game. If that’s what you came here looking for, you’re in the wrong place. Don’t come back here Tuesday night at 7 p.m. for the meeting. Don’t bring donuts – I know, it’s stereotypical, but don’t do it anyway, because everyone won’t love it. Don’t forget that there is no password, despite what Marc tells you.
There is no Aceves signal.
Aceves, not teaching manager John Farrell the signal that does not exist. Photo credit: J. Meric
All of this is fact, but if there was such a society, if this was true, and the members of this believed the Red Sox would go 162-0, Kory would have violated said code, had he been aware of it. Given his spirited but ultimately fruitless campaign for vice president of this organization (it would have gone), it would seem he could not feign ignorance of its bylaws, the second amendment to would have said, in plain olde English:
The Red Sox are flawless in concept and execution by definition, and should never be expected to lose.
Don’t think about it.
It’s ridiculous, right? But it’s a good representation of how we look at sports. In sports we want domination, at all times, when our teams are involved. When other teams are involved, we prefer drama, everything else aside. The idea that we want our teams to win each game and the idea that we want them to win every game have remained separate; the idea that we want the Sox to win each game and that they have somehow failed if they do not succeed has not, to this point, matured to the point that we believe should never, in fact, lose, even if one is a logical extension of the other.
Hail Aceves!
Forgive me. I spent too much time outside on one of those recent warm-ish days, and I’ve caught a spot of a cold. I’m just a normal person sneezing, and not a member of the cult of Alfredo Aceves, from which Matthew Kory is now banished. I’m a totally normal Red Sox fan and believe all the exact same things you do. My wearing a Red Sox hat means the same thing as your wearing the Red Sox hat.
I like the same players you do, for the same reasons. Of course Dustin Pedroia is the most important player on the team. Of course they’ll win 94 games, or 89, or 101. Of course A.J. Pierzynski isn’t the right type of clubhouse guy. Of course Jacoby Ellsbury is overrated. And a traitor. Of course the Rays suck. Of course we’re still the underdogs.
This isn’t a place for disagreement, after all. We’re all in the same boat, so to speak. We're here to take the Red Sox seriously. The idea that they could go 162-0 is ludicrous, and we don't waste our time on silly matters. To that end, we never act like a simple loss is an invitation to panic or a string of four of them is crime against mankind. We always keep our heads. We're just normal Red Sox fans, dammit. The smartest and best fans on the planet. Isn't that good enough?
Plus: The rumor mill connects the White Sox and Yankees, Adam Eaton's energy is appreciated, and Matt Davidson says "awesome" a couple of times
A number of factors -- security concerns chiefly among them -- prevented Jose Abreu from sharing about his support system in the United States when the White Sox signed him in October.
His extreme reticence was understandable, and over the following months, he's been able to reveal a little bit more about his personality and personal life. For instance, we knew he was married, but information you'd take for granted took a little longer to come in.
"Happy? I don’t know if I’m happy right now, but I’m content with where I am," Abreu said in Spanish. "I’ll be happy when my family gets to the United States, when my son gets here, and we are all together. I’m definitely not satisfied just being here. I know this is the next chapter for all of us, and I’m going to keep working hard to make it a good one."
As with many Cuban players in the big leagues, the details of Abreu’s escape from his island remain mostly unknown and mysterious. He and his wife, Yusmary, are believed to have left Cuba in the middle of the night sometime last summer and made their way to Haiti to begin Abreu’s process of becoming eligible to sign with a Major League club. Abreu was courted by several teams, but he eventually signed a six-year, $68 million deal with the White Sox in October. He is expected to be the successor to Paul Konerko at first base.
"For me, I had just one thought: I wanted to provide my mom, sister, my kid, my dad with things I couldn’t provide them in Cuba," said Abreu, who is from Cienfuegos. "Especially, I thank mom for my life, so now it’s the time for me to work for her. So I keep on working every day, and I don’t get tired of it. Working every day, every hour, every minute is the best way for me to have God provide me with the things I can hope for and I deserve."
I highly recommend reading the article, as well as the 11-minute video below. It certainly fills out his persona a bit more, but it also supplies a reason why he focuses on baseball even when he's not supposed to.
And before we leave the topic of Abreu and the medium of video, the White Sox posted a view of Abreu's infield single from Daryl Boston's GoPro camera.
White Sox scouts were on hand in Tampa to take in the Yankees game against Florida State, leading the New York Post to speculate on interest from Chicago in one of New York's young catchers. Rick Hahn downplayed the rumor, saying scouts are everywhere doing homework this time of year.
Before Abreu, there was Jose Contreras and Orlando Hernandez. Both of them were able to get settled in Chicago with some help from Maria Xiques-Lepko, a hair stylist who died on Feb. 16 at the age of 56 due to complications from cancer.
Adam Eaton says he wishes he knew the reason behind a couple of reports from Arizona kicked him out the door, but by all accounts, it isn't a problem with the White Sox so far. Doug Padilla even mentions ... you-know-who:
For some, the situation has recalled Nick Swisher's short stint with the White Sox and how the outgoing outfielder started to wear out his welcome. Eaton admits he doesn't know what kind of teammate Swisher is, but he does know that Swisher has delivered a productive career and in that sense he appreciated the comparison.
Matt Davidson says that he's outworking his reputation as a poor defensive third baseman. The Diamondbacks drafted him as a pitcher, so defensive mechanics like diving were alien to him. At this point, he says, "I feel like if people really look at what I am now, just say if I got drafted now, I don’t think that label would necessarily be on me."
While he's never been to Chicago, but he's heard it's "awesome." He did get a look at the 1983-inspired uniforms, and he said those are also "awesome."
It would appear that the Yankees have somewhat of an abundance of catchers at the moment. Brian McCann and one of Francisco Cervelli, Austin Romine, or J.R. Murphy will be on the big league team, but with Gary Sanchez in Double-A, there's only room for one player in Triple-A. Unfortunately, while they have wealth at one position, they also have a dearth in several others. Derek Jeter is retiring and Brian Roberts is going to break, so they could use an infielder or two.
Cervelli is the likely candidate to win the backup job, so if the Yankees want to trade what they have for what they need, they might look to deal one of Romine or Murphy. If that's what they have to give, then the Diamondbacks might be a perfect fit. They are said to be looking for a young MLB-ready catcher to play behind starter Miguel Montero and that they would be willing to trade one of their shortstops, Didi Gregorius or Chris Owings, to get what they want.
It's like the Diamondbacks are specifically talking to them because I can't think of another team who has what they are looking for and also needs what they have. Gregorius, 24, hit .252/.332/.373 while playing just slightly under league-average defense at short in his first full season. Owings, 22, one of Arizona's top prospects, hit .291/.361/.382 in his first taste of the majors, splitting time between short and second base in just 20 games. While Gregorius might be had in a one-for-one swap for Murphy, Owings would take a little more to pry free. It's believed that either one would fill in at second base until Derek Jeter retires and then could replace the Captain in 2015.
The Chicago White Sox have previously scouted J.R. Murphy as well, so it's clear that the Yankees have what teams want. Now that Robinson Cano has gone, Jeter is retiring, and no one seems ready to replace them, it would make a lot of sense for the Yankees to try and find a young player who can fit in as a longterm option.
Even if Ivan Nova hasn't been getting much attention so far, his 2014 season is an important one for him.
There have been several story lines thus far in Yankee camp, especially when it comes to the starting rotation. How will Masahiro Tanaka fare in his first season in New York? How will CC Sabathia bounce back from his nightmare 2013 season? Who among Michael Pineda, David Phelps, Adam Warren, and Vidal Nuno will win the number five spot in the rotation? One storyline that hasn't gotten much publicity so far, however, is Ivan Nova and if he'll be able to build off his strong 2013 campaign.
Despite the lack of talk so far in camp, Nova comes into 2014 a year after leading Yankee starters in ERA (3.10) and FIP (3.47). This comes thanks to a strong 17-game run from late-June through the end of the season, where he pitched to a solid 2.70 ERA with some solid peripheral numbers mixed in, namely in the home run department. Nova allowed just eight homers in 116 2/3 innings (0.62 HR/9) through his final 17 outings, whereas he allowed a 1.5 HR/9 in 2012. Because he was able to rebound from his rough 2012 with a strong second half in 2013, Nova has given the fans, and even the team that employs him, some confidence that he'll continue to keep the momentum going in 2014.
At the same time, we've seen this sort of thing from Nova before. In the second half of 2011, Nova pitched to a 3.09 ERA with solid peripheral numbers, namely a 0.45 HR/9, in his final 12 starts of the season. He followed that up, as you know, with a dud of a 2012, especially in the second half, where he pitched to an ugly 7.05 ERA and saw his home run rate spike up to 1.65-per-nine during that span.
Even if we are a little skeptical of what Nova will do in 2014, I think there are signs pointing toward the pitcher he was in 2011 and 2013 (mainly 2013). Along with the statistical improvements, he ditched the slider in the second half of last season in favor of his bread-and-butter curveball. He also added a sinker, which helped him generate a ton of grounders as well. It would be nice if he continued to incorporate the slider at least here and there, though, since it wasn't that bad of a pitch for him in 2012 (102 wRC+ against). We saw a few times (namely against the Red Sox) last season where he got into some trouble when he had problems locating his curve, so perhaps him going to a slider in that spot could have softened the damage just a bit.
The 2014 season happens to be first of three arbitration years for Nova, so he could get a nice raise next winter, or perhaps even an extension, if he picks up where he left off in 2013. Nova is also out of minor league options, so there isn't the luxury of being able to send him down to the minors for a wake-up call; he'll have to grind through his struggles on his own at the big league level. Just because it isn't getting much attention right now, Nova attempting to take the next step from up-and-down starter to front-line starter is a pretty big story for the 2014 Yankees.
Ray takes a look at the recent average draft position (ADP) data from NFBC for outfielders, and advises to not buy into the Billy Hamilton hype, and consider the injury risk with Jacoby Ellsbury.
Today we take a look at the average draft position data for outfielders according to the ADP data from the NFBC (National Fantasy Baseball Championship) courtesy of NESN.com.
Unlike the last few weeks, I am not including the Max and Min Pick data, as I had a real problem converting the table from the NESN site into Word, then into Excel then back into Word. There is probably an easier way to get their data into a clean table, but I have yet to find it.
In addition, I did not include the Fake Teams rankings for each player.
As you can see from the table below, the players names are in two different columns. I usually manually typed them in, but felt it would be too time consuming to type in 75 player names, so please accept my apologies for the looks of the table below.
Quick Thoughts
A few years ago, Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie reeled in the love of fantasy owners across the internet, only to disappoint them in 2012. Well, I think we have another one of those hyped up players on our hands heading into fantasy drafts this season. His name: Billy Hamilton.
Hamilton is being drafted as the 23rd ranked outfielder this season, ahead of Jason Heyward, Carlos Beltran, Jayson Werth, Josh Hamilton, and many others who I would draft before Hamilton. Hamilton's ADP indicates he is being drafted in FIFTH round of fantasy drafts. That's just insane! At that price, people are drafting him assuming he will play 150 games and will steal 60+ bases. He very well could, but that comes with plenty of risk.
Another player I think is being drafted way too early is Yankees outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury. His NFBC ADP is 11.52, which is just too high for an injury-prone outfielder. Ellsbury, when healthy, is very valuable, but not first round worthy. Sorry, I just don't see it. He is being drafted ahead of Bryce Harper, Giacarlo Stanton, Yasiel Puig, Carlos Gomez, Jay Bruce, and several others who I would draft ahead of him.
The same can be said about Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, as he is being drafted in the second round of most drafts I have participated in or reviewed. He has just over 100 games of major league experience and could be a bust candidate this season. While I hope that is not the case, as I am a Dodgers fan and own him at $2 in an NL only keeper league, it is a possibility.
Puig's teammate Matt Kemp is also a big risk this season. He will start the season on the disabled list, but is still being drafted in the early fourth round of most drafts, which might be too much risk for many to take. I see his ADP falling as the season approaches.
If you are looking for more position rankings, or plain old fantasy baseball goodness, make sure you check out Fantasy Rundown, your one place to get all things fantasy.
The Yankees take on the Pirates in their home opener.
Today's game is the Yankees spring training home opener, and it's also the first televised game! I don't know about you, but it's been far too long since I've seen live baseball.
David Phelps is set to take the mound against the Pirates, facing off against Charlie Morton. Derek Jeter will be making his (last ever) spring training debut, and it should be the healthiest we've seen him in at least a year and a half, so that's exciting. He should be in the game for four or five innings.
The game starts at 1:05 PM, and will be available on YES, MLB Network and MLB.tv (for free!), so you can finally watch Yankee baseball and join us in the comments below.
Union chief Tony Clark is concerned that the new rules could change the game too much.
The rule banning home plate collisions is in an "experimental" phase at the moment, but Tony Clark, the director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, is keeping a watchful eye over the impact of the new rule, according to ESPN's Jayson Stark.
Clark's concerns are predominantly based around player safety, specifically baserunners. He also expresses concern with the phrasing of the press release regarding the rule.
"If players see something, or, heaven forbid, we've got guys getting injured who otherwise, before the rule, wouldn't have gotten injured, those are things we've got to address sooner rather than later. That's why this is a one-year consideration. That's why you saw 'experimental' in the headline."
The rule states that a catcher can still block the plate if he catches the ball before the runner arrives, leaving some of the details up for interpretation. Clark mentioned a few scenarios that could be affected by the change, but at this point, all the MLBPA can do is keep an eye on the situation as it unfolds. Players have been asked to report any negative outcomes. The rule's purpose, avoiding injuries to catchers as they attempt to make plays at the plate, has not been brought into question, but the duplicitous nature of trying to enforce the rule change could still result in dangerous situations, even if they are slightly different dangerous situations.
Clark summed the situation up rather well, calling the situation "muddy."
"We obviously don't want to put something in place that's going to get more guys hurt. But we don't want to go so far down the road that you've got a runner standing and staring at the catcher, and the catcher's standing there looking at his feet, and it changes everything. So we want to be very careful here about what we do."
