Wednesday Linkage

Did the Twins beat reporter actually devote a story on MLB.com to the squirrel that ran on the field last night? Yes she did. Watch the clip embedded on that page and hear one of the Twins' announcers rip a squirrel he supposedly saw at Yankee Stadium 15 years ago. Not kidding.

When last night's game resumes at 5:00 today, it will be on YES.

Old Hoss Radbourn can't believe it was suspended in the first place.

Over at Big League Stew, Curtis Granderson fielded some questions from fans about his conditioning during the offseason, life in New York, what he thought of the Yankees as a player for another team and his opinions on some of the more advanced stats being used today.

Granderson's rehab stint rolled on last night in Scranton as he went 0-3 with a strikeout. So far he's 4-14 (all singles) with one walk. He's going to take tomorrow off, play one last AAA game on Thursday and then join up with the Big League team on Friday back in New York.

Javy Vazquez's finger felt fine during his bullpen session yesterday and as of now, he's scheduled to make his start on Thursday.

Alfredo Aceves' rehab is not going as smoothly. He suffered a setback while throwing off flat ground yesterday and will be flying back to New York to be evaluated by team doctors.

A.J. Burnett is into acupuncture? According to Marc Carig, Burnett thinks it's helped him stay healthy and part of the process of him signing with the Yankees involved Brian Cashman hiring an acupuncture specialist to work for the team.

Hideki Irabu's downward spiral continues. Two years ago he drank 20 beers and assaulted a bartender when his credit card got rejected this time he got a DUI after he nearly hit a parked car.

The WSJ talked to Yanks' VP of Operations, Mark Newman about the state of the farm system.

The Red Sox have taken the first two games of their series against Tampa, the one last night by shutout, allowing just one hit (but 6 walks). The good news is that it brings Tampa back down to earth a bit, but the bad news is that the Sawx are creeping up on the Yanks, now just a game and a half back.

Larry from Wezen-Ball has had his eye on David Ortiz's glacial home run trots all year long and one of Papi's leisurely strolls around the bases finally broke the unprecedented 30 second barrier. By comparison, Adam Rosales, owner of the fastest trot of the season had already gotten back to home plate in the time that it took Ortiz to get to second. Rays players were questioned about the amazing anti-feat but no word on whether or not Papi knows how historically slow he is.

The New York Times cited a study about pairs of brothers that played in the Majors and found that 90% of the time, the younger one tried to steal more bases.

Loyal commenter Matt on Earth conducted a mock interview with Michael Kay.

At Baseball Analysts Jeremy Greenhouse examined the differences between a 90mph fastball and a 95mph one. According to Jeremy's findings, David Robertson actually has one of the very best 90mph heaters in the game, even if it hasn't helped him pitch respectably this year.

The Fightins comes through with some prime Youkenfreude.

Remember how U2 made Major League Baseball juggle their schedule because apparently it takes 10 fucking days to set up their stage? Oh, well Bono's having back surgery so it was all for naught. This makes me like U2 even less (if that's possible).

The Super Bowl is officially coming to New York in 2014. It took the full four ballots for the Meadowlands to secure the vote over Miami and Tampa Bay, which pretty much never happens. Joe Posnanski calls it a "Real Super Bowl" while Matt Ufford from Kissing Suzy Kolber gives the pussies who are complaining about the weather a stern talkin' to. I hope it snows two feet.

Wrapping Up The Weekend

Good morning, Fackers. After Friday night's game, it really seemed as if the Yankees had righted the ship. Javier Vazquez came up with a terrific performance and covered up the offense's difficulties cashing in all the baserunners they had accumulated. A narrow 2-1 victory seemed like it was a step towards taking the first installment of the 2010 Subway Series and an escape from the malaise that they had spent the last two weeks in. To boot, both the Red Sox and Rays had lost against the Phillies and Astros, respectively.

However, Saturday and Sunday did not go according to that plan. The Mets got excellent performances from Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana and although their bullpen gave the Yankees a glimmer of hope in the late innings, the final two games of the series went to the team from Queens.

Outside of the two pitchers that picked up wins against the Bombers, the Mets rotation is in a state of disarray. Oliver Perez has been moved to the bullpen due to his ineffectiveness while John Maine and Jon Niese are both sidelined with injuries. It just so happened that the Yanks drew both of the Mets healthy and effective starters in a three game series and were on the losing end of two strong performances. It just seems like that's the way things are going for the Yanks as of late.

The Bombers have now dropped five of their last seven games and ten of the last 15. Even the excitement surrounding weekend's most notable bright spot, Vazquez, has to be tempered because he had to be taken from the game with an injury to his right index finger that he got while attempting to lay down a bunt. The Yankees pushed his bullpen session back until Tuesday and he is expected to make his regularly scheduled start against the Twins on Thursday. Still, there should be concern that the injury could affect his stuff when he takes the mound again.

While the Yankees were getting beaten by the Mets, the Red Sox and Rays both salvaged the last two games of their respective series, moving Tampa six games ahead of the Yankees and Boston just two and a half games back. Down in Philadelphia, the Sawx got eight shutout innings both from Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield in the final two games of the series to eek out a victory. The Rays did what they should have and came up with consecutive victories of 4-2 and 10-6 against the Astros.

No story of the Yankees current struggles would be complete without talking about the injuries they've suffered and for a while the bullpen was blowing every lead they got their hands on, but over the past week, their starting pitching has been the real culprit. The last time through the rotation, Burnett, Hughes, Pettitte and Sabathia have combined to give up 22 runs in 22 1/3 innings pitched.

Couple that with the fact that the Yanks are a combined 19-76 (.250) with runners in scoring position over the last seven games and went the entire series in Flushing without hitting a home run and you've got a recipe for a tough stretch of baseball.

As a frame of reference, the Yankees are still tied with the Twins for the second best record in the American League and have as many wins as any team in the NL, a testament mostly to how well they were playing early in the season. But between the bullpen implosions, the constant flow of injuries, the RISP struggles and the late inning comeback teases the last 15 games have been really tough to watch. Luckily, we know that none of those problems are going to last forever. It's just hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now.

Today is the team's first scheduled off day in two and a half weeks and hopefully they can collect themselves before they head out to Minnesota for yet another tough series against the Twins.

Carl Crawford: 2010

Last week, my esteemed GMail Chat compatriot and future Fack Youk contributor, Cliff and I were debating whether the Rays would pick up Carl Crawford's $10M option for the 2010 season.

Today, Tim Dierkes at MLBTR put together a list of players with Club Options for 2010 and listed Carl Crawford under "Likely To Be Exercised", which is what Cliff had been saying last week.

Looking Cot's MLB Contracts, my argument is that there are several other players with escalating salaries that the Rays can not get out of paying, via an option. Carlos Pena is making $10.125M in 2010, Scott Kazmir is owed $8M, Dan Wheeler $3.5, and being that they are a young team, they are going to be facing some arbitration-forced raises. The Rays had a payroll of a little under $44M this year and if they include Crawford along with the guys above, they will be paying $31.625M for four players.

There are other factors at play here. The Rays have back loaded most of their long term contracts, all of which were signed before the breadth of the current economic downturn was apparent. Much hinges on the Rays ability as an organization to leverage their postseason success last year into a larger and more profitable fan base. Also, Florida has been hit specifically hard by the sub-prime crisis, and it would not surprise me to see the familiar site of an empty Tropicana Dome this year partially as a result of that. If the Rays can pull themselves up from the one of the very lowest grossing teams in the MLB to something closer to a mid-market team, they will be able to retain some of their relatively expensive players.

Like Thurgood Jenkins said in Half Baked, "Samson Simpson, ah stick bah my storiee. (If I wasn't Jamaican, den why would ah be wearin dis hat?)".

Dilemma

Watching the two ALDS unfold last night, I was hoping against hope that at least one of the non-AL East teams would extend the series to a decisive fifth game. After Reggie Willits (VP of the Bubba Crosby Society) got busted on the now infamous failed suicide squeeze, Yanks fans had to come to terms with this horrific scenario. One of our division rivals is going to the World Series where they'll take on a weaker National League opponent with home field advantage (won at Yankee Stadium). The question is, since you have to see one of them win, which would you rather it was?

The Rays:
If the Rays make it to, and win the World Series, it will legitimize them as a franchise. They inevitably will draw more fans and come closer to a new greater-revenue-generating ballpark. Unless they go the way of the Marlins and firebomb their franchise immediately after winning a championship (which they won’t) they will be, at the very least, a thorn in the Yankees side for years to come. They have a solid core of young players, and more developing in their farm system. Nothing breeds winning like winning, and the confidence of hoisting that World Series Trophy would ripple down throughout a franchise that has typically been an embarrassment ever since its inception.

The Red Sox:
If the Red Sox win another World Series, it would be the 3rd in 5 years, beginning to challenge the Yankees dynastic run of the late 1990's and 2000. Could you stomach seeing Jonathan Pappelsmear, Varitek, Kevin "Fack" Youkilis, Ellsbury, Pedroia and all the other fucktastic prickfaces on the Red Sox in another champagne soaked celebration? With every success, 2004 hurts more and more, wondering where these two franchises would be if the Yanks could have closed the door on one of those 4 games.


The Verdict:
Emotionally, the Rays victory would be easier to swallow. They are slightly more likeable and it would give me perverse pleasure to see The Trop’ filled with the opposing team’s fans in the World Series and read articles about how it was the lowest rated World Series of all time. I can’t root for the Red Sox, regardless of the situation.

However, thinking about the big picture, the Red Sox would be the better representative of the AL East in the Yankees eyes. Let’s face it., the Red Sox aren’t going anywhere. They are an excellent team with a solid farm system. They have a great mix of veterans and youngsters, solid pitching and a great front office. The Rays could be a fluke.

The Yankees have become comfortable with the power structure that has existed in the AL East for the past decade or so. The Yanks and Sox are king, while some other team puts up a half-assed effort and never really challenges for the Division Title. This leaves the weaker of the Big Two to back into the Wild Card and take a crack at a Postseason run. If the Rays win, this dynamic could be in serious jeopardy, with three teams having a great shot to make the Postseason. I’d bet Brain Cashman is rooting for the Red Sox.