Off Night Links: Monday, Monday

Here we are on another off night, the first in 17 days. There will be another 16 games before another break for the Yanks and at least as far as the starting rotation is concerned, this one is a welcome relief.

While Joba Chamberlain was originally supposed to start tomorrow night against Roy Halladay, he will now be pushed back to Thursday for the first game against the Red Sox and oppose John Smoltz. This means Andy Pettitte and Sergio Mitre will pitch against the Blue Jays and Mitre will be the only starter the Sox don't get to see, which is obviously the best case scenario. The extra two days will also help to keep Chamberlain's innings total down, a factor that will make for some tough decisions as the season wears on.

Meanwhile, here are a batch of links to keep you busy on this relatively quiet night in the MLB. See you tomorrow morning. Enjoy.

-----

Oh, you thought the price for Roy Halladay was high? Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times says that the Red Sox offered the Mariners 5 of the following seven players for Felix Hernandez and they turned the offer down: RHPs Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard, Justin Masterson & Michael Bowden, LHPs Nick Hagadone & Felix Doubront, OF Josh Reddick or SS Yamaico Navarro. As Matt said earlier over GChat, "That means the Yankees would have had to exhume Ruth and Mantle for King Felix". Click through to see the alternate 3 team deal that almost happened including the Padres and Adrian Gonzalez.

This guy? Steroids? GTFO! The man to the left, son of Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy, was one of two former security guards fired by the Red Sox for connections with steroids. Remy and Alex Cyr (a part time assistant of Manny Ramirez) had connections with a paid employee of David Ortiz and openly discussed steroid use with him. Once again, how about a round of applause for George Mitchell, ladies and gentlemen? Boston had it's own Kirk Radomski and Brain McNamee right under their noses and mysteriously had no idea. But then again, who would have ever thought the man pictured in a fucking Gold's Gym man-tank, looking like a body builder might have been taking steroids?

Well, bully for Youk. It appears that the our anti-namesake had himself quite the weekend down in Baltimore and has emerged from a two month long slump that saw his OPS drop as low as .952, but is now back over 1.000.

Here is a raffle for a good cause. The prize is 10 seats atop the Green Monstah for the August 20th game between the Yanks and Sawx. It benefits the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation, started in honor of a former BC Hockey player and NHL Assistant who was killed aboard Flight 175 on 9/11. Tickets are $2 and there is a minimum purchase of 5. If you win, don't forget who told you about it.

This is a pretty sad sight. (h/t NSI, who alternatively called today "Moldy Monday")

Will Leitch makes the case for Billy Beane as the next GM of the Mets over at New York Magazine. My favorite quote:

If every general manager in baseball thought like Minaya, Beane would still be in top form; as it is, he had to forage for newer, more elusive inefficiencies.

John Heyman also weighs in with his thoughts on GM candidates from around the league.

-----

In New York Football Giants news, it appears that Antionio Pierce will not be indicted by the Grand Jury for his involvement in the Plaxico Burress fiasco. Perhaps this fucking mess will finally start to go away?

-----

If you've got anything else, leave it in the comments.

Are The Mets The New Knicks?

[Here is a guest post I did for River Ave. Blues last week, and figured the off day would be a good time to re-post it here.]

The similarities go beyond just the blue and orange. Both teams are owned by father/son duos and have been plagued by recent failures despite having payrolls near or at the top of their respective sports. Each franchise has only two championships in their history and has made the playoffs exactly one out of the past eight seasons. They both have had their front offices' dirty laundry aired in the New York tabloids in recent years.

Not that Jose Reyes ever asked a Mets intern if she was going to "get in the truck" or Omar Minaya sexually harassed a fellow member of the front office, but there is a big distinction between having an unsuccessful franchise and having the details of why your organization is a disaster printed for the world to see. At the center of these two debacles are two executives who have/had close relationships with the owners of their teams but terrible ones with the media.

While serving as President of Basketball Operations for the Knicks, Isiah Thomas spoke with the placid monotone of someone who was heavily medicated, spouting off cliches and dropping wincers such as "To me, it’s win or die. And I literally mean death. I don’t mean walk away. I mean death. That’s how I approach it". Omar, on the other hand has a penchant for mixing metaphors, inaccurate tensing ("He has lobby myself") and verbal tics, you know what I'm saying?

Initially credited with making the Mets an attractive destination and recruiting players like Pedro Martinez, Carlos Delgado and Billy Wagner, Omar's track record is tainted by severely overpaying for Luis Castillo, giving Moises Alou $15M for 414 plate appearances and locking up Oliver Perez, (who is currently humming along to the tune of a 7.42 ERA) for three years and $36M. The Johan Santana trade alone puts Minaya ahead of Thomas in terms of transactions that turned out favorably for their team, but the number of playoff appearances and dollars each team has spent speak for themselves.

Back on March 12th, 2007, with Knicks holding a record of 29-34 and sitting at 8th place in the Eastern Conference, James Dolan singed Isiah Thomas to a three year extension. Nine months earlier, Dolan had issued an ultimatum, saying the Knicks would have to make "evident progress" in order to Isiah to return as coach the following year.

The team had gone 23-59 under Larry Brown the year before, so they did improve, but the timing was curious. Dolan could have waited to see how the season turned out, but instead said "the improvement needs to be recognized now and not wait". The team responded with a horrid 4-14 stretch and finished 7 games out of the playoffs. Thirteen months later, Thomas was "reassigned" and banned from having any contact with the team, effectively ending his tenure as Knicks GM and coach.

Immediately following the conclusion of the 2008 season, the second one in a row which concluded by the Mets getting nudged out of October on the last day of the season after holding a significant lead with less than three weeks to go, Jeff Wilpon extended a three year contract extension to Omar Minaya. The timing again was questionable, as the GM had a full year left on his current deal, but Wilpon said "we think he deserves another chance to keep getting us to where we want to be".

The Mets are currently in 4th place in the NL East and behind 7 other teams in contention for the Wild Card, 5.5 games back. Unfortunately for Minaya, the on-the-field performance can be largely explained away by injuries, but the power structure of the Mets organization has come under fire as of late. First with the clumsy axing of Willie Randolph last year but most recently the zany antics of Tony Bernazard and the ensuing unsuccessful attempted public sacrifice of beat writer Adam Rubin's journalistic integrity, the team has become a punching bag for the New York Media. Rubin wondered aloud how he could continue his duties as a reporter covering theMets after the incident, but one has to question whether Omar can continue running them.

Even since they hired Donnie Walsh to head their basketball operations back in April of last year, the Knicks have had an air of credibility around them, even though their play on the floor was still sub-par. A well-respected veteran of the Pacers' front office, Walsh is candid with the media and his Wikipedia page doesn't have to have a separate section for "Controversy". Could the Mets benefit from a similar move?

It's quite unlikely that the Mets leapfrog 7 teams (or three in the NL East) and sneak into the playoffs this year. Since Minaya's new contract doesn't even start until the end of this season and won't end until 2012, keeping him around would be a prudent financial move. Rob Neyer doesn't think that will play a role in the decision, though.

Has Omar passed the point of no return?

I personally don't think so and don't feel certain that his successor would necessarily bring a new direction to the franchise, other than the symbolic overture of axing Minaya. That said, public perception and fan placation is a big part of being a successful sports team in New York, and theWilpon's have to be prepared to deal with a lot of backlash if they stand by their man.

Slam Duncan

[Image via The Sports Hernia]

Chad Jennings, who does a fantastic job of keeping tabs on the goings on down in Scranton has a great feature story on Shelley Duncan for the Scranton Times-Tribune.

Everyone seems to know Shelley. Or they think they do. They think they know him because he arrived in New York two years ago hitting home runs and bashing the forearms of his teammates with something bordering on recklessness.

That's not even the tip of the iceberg, so if you've got some time, click through and give the whole thing a read.

I was hoping to see Shelley get some at bats this weekend against the Sox, but the trade for Jerry Hairston, Jr. sent him back down to the minors. With his brother Chris now in the Red Sox system, Shelley returned to the SWB Yankees just in time to play against him on Sunday, something that hasn't happened since they were both in A-Ball.

Perhaps Duncan is the perfect example of a AAAA player, a guy who mashes in Scranton but whose power doesn't quite translate to the MLB. He's the kind of player that should be frustrating to watch, with a giant cut that far too often produces pop ups and strike outs, but he's not. Chad's article does a great job of unpacking exactly what it is that makes Shelley the likable character he is. Read it.

A Triple For The Ages

In a sport with a boatload of arbitrary stats and quirky accomplishments, the cycle stands out as perhaps the most contrived of them all. It's not like a perfect game/no-hitter, where the end goal is the best possible outcome. If Melky Cabrera had hit two homers, a double and walked once it would have equal or greater value but wouldn't have met the narrow definition of a cycle and therefore would been remembered as a great individual game, but not recorded in the annals of baseball history.

As Mike from RAB pointed out last night, cycles occur about as often as no-hitters, but are in fact much rarer considering only one pitcher per team has a chance to throw a no-hitter in each game, whereas nine batters per team have a chance at a cycle. Coincidentally, there have been roughly the same amount of "natural" cycles, which is achieved by hitting 1B, 2B, 3B, HR in order (14), as there have been perfect games (18). Only three players have ever hit for more than two cycles, Babe Herman, Bob Meusel and John Reilly, with three apiece.

Despite the fact that a cycle doesn't have a perfect correlation to value within the context of the game, Melky's triple in the 9th inning was one of the most exciting moments of the season, in my eyes. So often, we hear the announcers point out that a player is "only a triple short of the cycle" when of course even a great triples hitter would only have maybe a 1 in 50 or 60 chance to hit one in that specific plate appearance. The odds were considerably longer for Melky, who hadn't hit a triple in over a year and before that not since August 25, 2007. That's one three-bagger in over 850 PAs... you do the math.

Just last week it appeared that Robinson Cano had a pretty good chance at a cycle, when he had notched a triple and a home run by the sixth inning. Alas, he did get two more plate appearances but only managed to walk and fly out to center. For him, walking twice in the same game was quite rare, but Tony Fernandez's 14 year old achievement still stood.

Until yesterday. Over the 289 cycles that have been recorded I'm guessing that Melky's .381 WPA would rank pretty high up on that list. The Yankees' offense as a whole only contributed .457. He drove in four runs and scored three, directly contributing to the 6 of the Yankees' 8 runs. He put them up 3-0 with a 3 run homer in the second, scored the tying run in the 4th after Sabathia gave back the lead, put the Yanks ahead 5-4 in the 5th with a single and scored a big insurance run in the 9th, stretching the lead from 2 to 3.

Michael Kay said that the game was "too close to take a chance" in reference to going for a triple on a ball hit into the gap when Melky was up in the 9th, but the Melk Man motored into third and beat the throw by the slimmest of margins.

Baseball has a lot of quiet moments in between pitches, innings and at bats. There are a lot of lopsided games where the outcomes are seemingly already determined in the ninth inning. It's not often that a play in baseball reaches such an extended crescendo, with a 270 foot sprint, capped by a slide successful by only a split second. Remember this one because they might be mentioning it during Yankees games for a long, long time.

Wrapping Up The Weekend

Good morning Fackers. I don't know about you, but the weekend came and went far too fast for my liking. It was a mixed bag for me. Saturday's Gov't Mule concert was a great one - featuring a nice birthday tribute to Jerry Garcia in the second set. The night was not without its casualties though, as I somehow managed to lose my beloved Yankee hat over the course of the night, leading me to retrace my steps repeatedly in a futile effort to find it. The dirty hippy jamband show claims another innocent victim. Oh, and my cousin somehow managed to score stage seating while I watched from the lawn with the rest of the massess. Then I managed to zonk out in the middle of the after party I was hosting. Not my finest hour.

Sunday involved a hungover trip to Old Sturbridge Village for a Revolutionary War reenacment. Dorky, I know. But it was fun to harass the Red Coats, telling those limey bastards they were going down. Finished the night with a victory in my hockey playoff game, so all's well that ends well. Besides, it beats last week's non-existent weekend for me.

For the Yanks, it was a bit of mixed bag as well. After ugly, ugg-lee losses on Friday and Saturday, they managed to avoid a four game sweep by winning Sunday. But that was about the only good news. Sergio Mitre continued to show he's not the answer for the fifth starter spot.

Down on the farm, uber prospect Jesus Montero broke his finger on Saturday, which will cost him the remainder of the minor league season. Not 20 until November, Montero absolutely crushed it this year, hitting .356/.406/.583 in High A and .317/.370/.539 in AA. Those are insane numbers. He's 19 years old. He's in his second full season. The Florida State League is a notorious pitcher's league. Trenton's park is a notorious pitcher's park. This guy raked all summer long, and bashed 17 home runs against competition a few years older than him. Hopefully this injury is just a bump in the road and won't have any long term effects.

In other injury news, single A pitcher Brett Marshall, last year's sixth round pick, needs Tommy John Surgery. He hadn't been doing especially well down in Charleston, throwing 87 1/3 innings of 5.67 ERA ball, but perhaps the injury was the cause of his poor performance. Marshall was drafted out of Sterling High School, just outside of Houston. He's 6' 0", 190 lbs and there were some concerns about his mechanics and in turn his durability. In addition, his high school coaches probably weren't looking out for his future when they left him in to throw 146 pitches in the State Championship game in his last outing as an amateur. The good news is that he's only 19 years old and even if his rehab takes more than a full year, he'll have plenty of time left to develop.

So, in all, not the best weekend you could draw up. But hey, it's the dawn of a new week. Maybe this one will be a bit better. We've got an off day today, but we'll be back with more stuff later on.

Yanks Salvage Series Finale

The Yankees played the Texas Tornado to the White Sox Mr. Perfect on Sunday, touching up Mark Buehrle for 12 hits and 7 runs over 4.1 IP.

CC Sabathia wasn't particularly sharp, giving up four runs through the first three innings, leave the Yanks down a run. But he settled in from there, and finished the day scattering 1o hits over 7+ innings, giving up 5 runs, fanning five and walking none.

The story of the game however is Melky Cabrera, who homered in the first, doubled in the fourth, singled in the fifth, and tripled in the ninth, becoming the first Yankee to hit for the cycle in nearly 14 years.


Hey fans! Did you know that Tony Fernandez was the last Yankee to hit for the cycle, doing so on 9/3/95? Of course you did, YES only brings it up about once a week. Much like Derek Jeter's previous grand slam drought, this little nugget had become my pet peeve meaningless historical reference that the announcers beat into the ground. So as I texted to Jay, and he put up on our Twitter feed, the best part about Melky's cycle is that we never have to hear about Tony Fernandez again. I can only imagine what the next stat-to-beat-into-the-ground will be.

Melky finished at 4 for 5 with 3 runs scored and 4 RBI. He also made a nice diving catch. I've been critical of him as he cooled off considerably after his torrid April, but I have to say, since Gardner has gone down, Melky has really stepped it up, going 14 of his last 35 (.400), with 8 extra base hits and six walks. Now if he would just throw to the right base.

Nick Swisher also had a nice game against his former team, 2 for 3 with 2 BB and 2 runs scored. Jerry Hairston Jr started at third, giving A-Rod a half day off, and went 2 for 3 to raise his Yankee batting average to .500.

Phil Hughes and Mo closed it out. I don't quite understand Joe Girardi's rationale as to why Mo can nail down a four out save, but not a five out save, nor do I understand the rationale behind yanking Hughes mid inning at all. Maybe he'll tell us straight on WB Mason presents the Joe Girardi Show only on YES. It worked though, even if Mo had to sit through a 25 minute top of the ninth before getting back to work.

In all it was a nice to end an otherwise brutal series. The Yanks are still in first by a half game and I'm sure the Monday off day will be far more enjoyable having avoided a sweep - even if they do have to spend it in Canada.

(Photo from AP/ESPN)

Game 105: Perfect Day

CC Sabathia remains the Yankees last hope to scoop the last game of this series, leave Chicago with a portion of their dignity intact and guarantee that they will still have a share of the lead in the AL East when play ends today. The Red Sox are just a half of a game back now and begin play in Baltimore at 1:35, so you can expect some scoreboard watching.

The Big CCheese hasn't been especially good as of late, and the offense hasn't been particularly productive behind him all year. Over his past 7 starts, he's been mixing in some solid performances (three games with 7IP and one or fewer runs) with some stinkers (three starts with more than 5 runs allowed). He's allowed more than a hit per inning over that time in addition to 12 walks while striking out 39. The Yanks need their man to step up in order to get their first win against a team with "Sox" in their name this year.

The White Stockings will counter with their own lefty ace. Mark Buerhle has been pitching in some rarefied air as of late, following up his perfect game against the Rays by retiring the first 17 batters he faced in his next start against the Twins. Dating back to his previous start against the Orioles, Buerhle had retired a Major League record 45 batters in a row without allowing a walk, hit, hit by pitch or having an error committed behind him. Pretty remarkable stuff.

Of course, the wheels came off for the lefty and he ended up getting tagged for 5 runs and the loss against the Twins. But such is the delicate balance of being a pitcher. For all of the efforts to reduce it down to mechanics and execution, it remains incredibly difficult to have extended runs of dominance and when they do occur, they can vanish instantly. It's not like golf where the ball is stationary. It's not like basketball where the hoop is. It's not like football where the person you are throwing it to shares a common goal. As evidenced by the at bat I detailed last night, a batter can intervene at any time and spoil the hurler's plan.

As a reminder of how rare elusive perfection can be, before Buerhle, the last perfect game thrown by a Pale Hose pitcher was by Charlie Roberston in 1922. It was followed by a league-wide perfect game drought that lasted over 34 years and ended with Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

It's yet another rainy shitshow on the East Coast, but it could scarcely be nicer out in Chicago. Great day for some baseball. Some might even say it's a...

Just a perfect day,
Problems are left to know,
Weekenders all night long,
It's such fun.

Just a perfect day,
You make me forget myself,
I thought I was someone else,
Someone good.

The Good And The Bad (But Mostly The Bad)

Since that game was unbearable and it's Saturday night, we are going with an abbreviated recap.

The Good:

• Jeter, A-Rod and Mark Teixeira combined to go 7-13 with 3 RBIs.
  
  
• Jerry Hairston, Jr. had a solid debut, driving in a run on one hit (although it should have been two when he dropped a single into leftfield in the 6th and Jorge Posada was forced out at 3rd).
  
  
• David Robertson and Mark Melancon each threw scoreless 2/3's of an inning.
  
  
• Seriously, that's it.
  

Okay, and The Bad:

• Cody Ransom started at first base. Did Eric Hinske have something better to do?
  
  
• A.J Burnett's great streak is now officially over. It was basically over when he allowed six runs in the 2nd inning. To start, he got Paul Konerko to fly out but then the Sox went: single, single, single, walk (to the #9 hitter), single, double, single before Burnett got the final two outs of the inning. His line for the day: 4 2/3 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 2BB, 4K.
  
  
• Phil Coke's ERA went from 3.77 to 4.58 in 1/3 of an inning. 4 hits, three walks and six runs will do that to you. To be fair, two of those walks were called for by Joe Girardi, but they still count.
  
  
• The team went 2-13 w/RISP, leaving 8 runners on base. The White Sox were 8-19.

If I had to choose just one play to boil this game down into, it would be the at-bat between Phil Coke and A.J. Pierzynski in the 8th. Coke got him to swing over a slider on the first pitch, and then Peierizynykksssiki fouled off two more tough ones. On his second 0-2 pitch, Piersznik the catcher on the White Sox swung at a pitch that was a good foot off the plate and well below his knees, but fully extended his arms and just got enough of the bat on the ball to send it into left field and drive in a run. Tim McCarver called this a "great piece of hitting" which of course is complete bullshit because he swing at a terrible pitch and got unimaginably lucky.

Anyhow, this series has evolved into quite the disaster, hasn't it? One loss by walk-off followed by two blowouts. And tommorrow the Sox send Mark Buehrle to the mound who is about as hot as an pitcher could be against CC Sabathia who is 1-8 against teams over .500.

Here's my plan for tonight.

Game 104: Game Face

If the Yanks are going to salvage a split of this four game set against the White Sox, they'll need to win these next two. Luckily for them they'll have their two best pitchers taking to the hill this weekend, starting with A.J. Burnett this afternoon.

As we've pointed out the last several times through the rotation, A.J. has been on fire of late, 6-1 with a 1.68 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP over his last eight starts, with opponents batting just .193/.295/.271. In five career starts against the White Sox, Burnett is just 2-2, but with a 2.78 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. The Yanks will need him to stay hot today to stop this mini slide.

He'll be opposed by John Danks. Danks had rough start to the year, with a 5.10 ERA through 11 starts. Over his last eight though, he's pitched to a 2.53 ERA and 1.07 WHIP while holding opponents to a .199/.276/.311 batting line. Danks has faced the Yanks twice in his career, going 1-1 with a 6.10 ERA and a 1.65 WHIP.

In roster news, Jerry Hairston Jr. is in the house, with Big Ugly Duncan getting optioned back to Scranton. Some will be upset with Cody Ransom's continued presence on the roster, but Ransom has to stick around at least until Brett Gardner returns. Hairston's main function right now is as the back-up CFer, meaning Ransom is still necessary as a utility infielder, particularly with A-Rod still requiring weekly rest. Shelley's righty bat would have been nice to have with southpaws going the next two days, but the Yanks will have little reason to pinch hit anyway, so it shouldn't be a huge loss. Hairston is in the lineup today in left, with Ransom at first and Teix DHing. Johnny Damon and Godzilla get the day off against the southpaw.

The Yanks have lost three of four. While they were firing on all cylinders in Wendesday's win over Tampa, they've looked awfully sloppy in the three losses. That's gonna happen now and again, but it's time to snap out of it. They're facing good pitching the rest of the weekend and need to be on top of their game. Time to put on the game face.

I'll suffer through the first couple innings on Fox this afternoon, then it's off to the beautiful Ives Concert Park in Danbury, CT for the dirty hippy jamband show, as Gov't Mule comes to town. As such, here's "Game Face" from 12/30/06 at the Beacon - another show I attended. It's broken in two parts (part two here), but it's well worth it for the sweet jam that includes "Birdland", "Norwegian Wood", and "Mountain Jam" teases, as well as the start of "Smokestack Lightning" with the Dickinson brothers from the North Mississippi Allstars.

/end music tangent

Enjoy the game.



To be at one with your weakness
Is your greatest strength
Guess you should be proud of your game face

Guess it always was your hallelujah
Guess it was your saving grace

All You Need Is Just A Little Patience

Last night provided the perfect storm for the more paranoid portions of the fanbase, particularly those who are quick to criticize Brian Cashman. As the non-waiver trade deadline passed at four o'clock, the Yankees had not added another starter or bullpen arm while our friends in Bahstahn added Victor Martinez, and inexplicably, Casey Kotchman.

Shortly after eight o'clock, Sergio Mitre - the man who would be replaced by a new starter - took to the bump for his third start as a Yankee. He had already been given a 3-0 lead, but it wouldn't be enough. Mitre's third start was worse than his second, which was worse than his first, which wasn't all that good to begin with.

Compounding matters, the Yankees played a sloppy game around him, resembling the Bad News Bears in the bottom of the seventh, and the bullpen wasn't all that great either. Of chief concern was Alfredo Aceves, who in his first appearance since missing five games with a sore shoulder, did not look good at all - allowing five baserunners and four runs in an inning and two thirds. What's more, the ChiSox were tatooing the ball. Without consulting pitch fx, Alf didn't appear to have much bite on his pitches, and of the five outs he recorded, four were on deep flyballs to the warning track, including Johnny Damon's circus catch.

It's just a couple bad outings, but I'm concerned about Alf. His last two outings, bookending his sore shoulder down time, have covered two innings to the tune of 6 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, and 0 K. That's raised his ERA by a full run. His ERA has increased by a run and a half since spot start just before the All-Star break. Maybe it's just the law of averages catching up with him. Maybe it's just a bad stretch. Maybe it is an injury. Maybe it's from his near Proctorization at the hands of Girardi earlier this season. Regardless, an ineffective Alf is a big problem for the Yanks as he's both a very reliable bullpen arm as well as a potential rotation option.

Jay already linked to some of the tabloid stories this morning and I can only imagine the gnashing of teeth going on in the comments section at LoHud. I slept in on this wonderful Saturday, so Mike at RAB has already beaten me to the punch on this, but the moral of the story is let's just calm down for a second here.

Yes, the Yankees could use another pitcher. Sergio Mitre, dubious to begin with, is looking more and more like he's not going to cut it. But consider the alternatives. Would you have surrendered Austin Jackson to bring flyball machine Jarrod Washburn to the bandbox in the Bronx for two months? Would you have surrendered Joba or Hughes and a boatload more to bring in Roy Halladay? Would you have mortgaged the farm for Cliff Lee? Could you have managed not to pull your hair out if the rumored Bronson Arroyo deal went down Monday? How much would you have been willing to surrender for Brian Bannister?

But just because the July 31st deadline has passed doesn't mean that all is lost. We're talking about a back end starter here. Cashman still has another month to add an arm (or two), and I'd be willing to be that he will. The economic climate has changed the landscape for Major League Baseball as well, and Cashman has indicated that he thinks there will be more waiver movement than usual this year. Cash is a pretty smart guy, and that's about as close he'll ever get to tipping his hand. In Cash speak, I'd take those comments as a near guarantee that there's a move coming before August 31st. If not, maybe Zach McAllister or Ivan Nova gets a shot.

In the meantime, yesterday wasn't a total wash for the Yanks. In the morning, we identified what we thought were the three needs the Yanks had going into the deadline. While the biggest one remains unfulfilled for the moment, with one minor and painless move, Cash took care of the other two. Jerry Hairston Jr. is a supersub. He's not going to light the world on fire with his bat, but he can capably six positions. He'll serve as the back-up CFer until Brett Gardner returns and then will likely replace Cody Ransom. That should satisfy those that obsess over the weakness at the utlity infielder position. All Hairston cost was Chase Weems, a catcher at low-A Charleston who was no better than fifth on the organizational depth chart. Not a bad deal.

In short, don't call for Cashman's head until September 1st rolls around. Back shortly with the preview.

Battle Of The Bullpens Ends In KO

Going into last night, we knew it wasn't going to be a pitcher's duel. A game with last second spot starter facing a guy making his third Major League start just one year off of Tommy John Surgery (who wasn't all that great to begin with) had "slugfest" written all over it. D.J. Carrasco and Sergio Mitre didn't waste any time delaying the inevitable.

The Yanks went up 3-0 in the first but Mitre had coughed up the lead before he recorded his fifth out of the game. He allowed another run in the third and was summarily yanked, having thrown 75 pitches in three innings and giving up 5 runs on 7 hits. Carrasco was only a little bit better, blowing a lead of his own in the fourth and finishing with a line of 4.0IP, 9H, 5R.

With the starters out of the picture, it became a battle of the bullpens, one which the ChiSox won by 7th inning KO. David Robertson pitched fairly well, going two innings and giving up one run, and then handed the ball to Alfredo Aceves to start the sixth.

Alf worked a scoreless frame but gave up a walk and a single to start the 7th. Johnny Damon temporarily stemmed the tide by making a spectacular catch on a liner by Carlos Quentin, which carried him into the wall, head/shoulder first. On TV, it looked like Damon had lost the ball, but in fact it was the interlocking NY logo his hat which had been forcefully ejected from his head.

Undeterred, Damon leaped to his feet and made a strong throw back to the infield, holding the runners. Quentin couldn't believe it, but he still had an excellent night, with a double, a deep homer off of Mitre, 2RBIs and a walk.

Aceves got Mark Kotsay to fly out for the second out of the inning, but the thread by which he has hanging snapped shortly thereafter. He gave up a walk and two singles all in a row, four runs came to the plate and he was lifted from the game before he got another out.

It's hard to tell what to make of Alf at the moment. On one hand, you have the news of his sore shoulder, an increasing FB%, and his back to back awful performances. On the other, he was just one out away from getting out of both of the outings without giving up a run.

The Yanks, meanwhile, were held scoreless by the Sox pen over the final five innings. The fact that they were 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position probably didn't help.

It's was a poor time to lose a game in this fashion. Now everyone can say the Yankees should have picked up a starter at the deadline. But Mitre's poor showing doesn't mean the Yanks should have made a deal any more than a solid performance would have meant they were right to stand pat. It's one game. More on his later.

On the bright side, it's Saturday!

Game 103: After The Gold Rush

The trade deadline came and went for the Yankees without much action. They traded for Eric Hinkse a while back, Jason Hirsh a couple days ago and picked up Jerry Hairston, Jr. today. But I think most fans were holding out hope that they could snag a solid reliever or back end starter as 4:00 came and went. Alas, they did not and will have to see who passes through waivers before they made a deal.

The White Sox on the other hand, came up with what was easily the most surprising deal of the trade deadline. They once again dealt for Jake Peavy, but this time he approved it. He is currently on the DL, but as long as both teams are okay with that and he passes a physical, it's fair game. Peavy is rehabbing an ankle injury and apparently won't be back until August 15th at the very earliest.

It came at a fairly significant cost, however. Part of the package was tonight's starter for the Sox, Clayton Richard. The 25 year old lefty had a 5.14 ERA in 136 2/3 Big Leauge IP, but his minor league numbers are pretty solid. In addition, his last two starts were phenomenal, both consisting of 8 innings of one run ball. Perhaps the Padres were intrigued by his recent dominance and that's what sparked the negotiations?

Instead of Richard, D.J. Carrasco will go for the Sox. He's made 34 appearances this year, none of them starts, and the longest was 3 2/3 innings on July 19 against the Orioles in mop-up duty. He made 20 starts for the Royals in 2005 and pitched to an ERA slightly below league average (92 OPS+). The Sox are throwing him out there for lack of a better option and the fact he pitched three nights ago means that he's probably on a fairly limited pitch count. It would seem their underbelly is exposed and it would be a good time for the Yanks' bats to strike.

The Bombers send their own liability to the mound tonight. Sergio Mitre has been fairly serviceable so far in his two starts, lasting 5 2/3 and giving up 3R in his first, while following a 4 run first inning in his second outing with 4 scoreless ones. Both of those gamed ended up in the win column, so I guess that means he was good enough, right?

Barring the acquisition of a player who passes through waivers, this is the team that the Yankees are working with for the rest of the year. Mark Teixeira thinks that's good enough to win with. A lot of that hinges on Mitre's ability to put together respectable starts. If he can hold a spot in the rotation, it will greatly temper the need for the Yanks to start pulling their bullpen apart to patch up the rotation.

Here we are, Fackers, coming around the back stretch. The Yanks struck it rich in July, going 18-8 so far. Let's close out the best month of the season in style.

I was lying in a burned out basement,
With the full moon in my eyes.
I was hoping for replacement,
When the sun burst through the sky.

It's Something... Yanks Acquire Jerry Hairston, Jr.

According to Joel Sherman, the Yanks have acquired Jerry Hairston, Jr. from the Reds. No word on who or what is going back. [Update: The return for the Reds is Chase Weems, a Single A catcher.]

Knee jerk time!

• Hairston can play every position on the field except for catcher (he presumably could play first but never does). With most players that would be hyperbole, but this year he has played one game in RF, 3 in CF and 8 or more at LF, 2B, 3B, and SS. [Update: He appears to be roughly average or better at every position.]

• He's 33 years old and is making $2M this year. No word on whether Hal Steinbrenner is going to be a dick and make the Reds pay some of his salary. [Update: He also has performance bonuses that could escalate his salary up to $2M more]
  
  
• His 8 HR this year already tie a career high set in 2001. He's made 340 PA's, his second most since 2003.

• He had a tremendous half-season in 2008, hitting .326/.384/.487 (124 OPS+), but aside from that has never really been even a league average hitter.
  
  
• [Update: Okay... there is no way this can be true, but some dude is saying the Yanks traded Austin Jackson for Hairston... Up-Update: Nevermind he's already backing off. Officially debunked]

Given that Weems was the 4th or 5th catcher in the system at best, the trade seems to work on both ends. The Reds likely weren't asking for a lot, considering they are out of the race, Hairston would have been gone at the end of the year and wasn't going to net them any draft picks. They probably didn't mind picking up a halfway decent prospect and saving a little money in the process.

Versatility is key with Brett Gardner out right now. He's like a super Cody Ransom - old, good at defense, can play a lot of positions, etc.

I'll update this post with more as it comes.