Robinson Cano signs with the Mariners

Well there is a sentence I never thought I would have to type ever, or speak or even really think. But yes Robinson Cano signed a ten year $240 million deal with the Seattle Mariners and I am really expecting that there will not be any Jay-Z concerts at Yankee stadium anytime soon. The Yankees offered Cano a 7 year $175 million deal which has a higher per year pay but obviously not the years or total money and Cano took it. I never blame players for leaving in free agency and I do not blame Cano for taking the money, really I see it simply as Cano wanted money more than he wanted to be a Yankee. I am not bashing Cano with that statement or making any kind of slash at his character but it is simply that he wanted to maximize his earning potential and who are we to judge him for that? Anyways I hope that Cano is happy in Seattle and that he never gets a hit against the Yankees. Also it is really weird to be outbid by the Mariners for an elite homegrown Yankee player, I don't know the last time the Yankees were outbid trying to retain one of their own or if its really ever happened.

On another note the Mets signed Curtis Granderson to a 4-year $60 million deal and I wish Granderson all the luck in Queens. I have to bring up that I think I may have preferred Granderson 4/60 to Ellsbury 7/153 but they are different players and we will have to see what happens. The Yankees also resigned Hiroki Kuroda to a one year deal and are very likely to make several more moves as they have all of there Cano money left to use. We will have to wait and see what happens here on out and I know personally I hope the Yankees go hard after Tanaka if he is indeed posted.

Yankees make qualifying offer to Cano, Kuroda and Granderson

The Yankees have officially extended qualifying offers to Robinson Cano, Hiroki Kuroda, and Curtis Granderson, the team announced. Qualifying offers are worth $14.1M this offseason. If they reject and sign with another team, the Yankees will receive a supplemental first round pick as compensation regardless of whether their new team has a protected first rounder.Players have until next Monday to accept or decline and I expect all three to decline the offers.Apparently the Yankees were worried about offering one to Granderson because they thought he might accept, which seems like an odd worry.

Yankees Opening day Roster

Well tonight is officially opening night for Baseball and the Texas Rangers will take on the Houston Astros. I mean seriously of all the good pitching match ups that they could have put on, the MLB wanted to feature Matt Harrison versus Bud Norris. Tomorrow though there are a number of interesting games including CC Sabathia facing Jon Lester as the Red Sox take on the Yankees in the Bronx. Obviously the Yankees roster had a lot of turnover after the off season and then even more after all of the injuries so the opening day roster looks very different then it will likely look after the Disabled List clears up a little bit.

Rotation:
CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, Ivan Nova and David Phelps
one of the only places that isn't terribly different than we expected as Hughes got off to a late start and will miss his first start or two.The Yankees are going to need the top of this rotation to be outstanding if they want to survive until the wounded come back. Don't forget Pineada waits in the wings too.

Bullpen:
Mariano Rivera, David Robetson, Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan, Cody Eppley, Adam Warren and Shawn Kelley.
Its was a surprise when the Yankees DFA David Aardsma especially because of how bad Eppley has been this spring. It was an even bigger surprise when the Yankees DFA Clay Rapada and it likely means that his shoulder bursitis was very bad. Warren will get sent down when Hughes gets back and Phelps will move back to the bullpen. Eppley and Kelley both have options so either could get sent down when Rapada gets back and I would bet that if Mark Montgomery is lights out in Scranton he will be up with the big league club before too long. Girardi typically puts together great bullpens and I have no reason to suspect that this year will be any different.

Catchers:
Francisco Cervelli, Chris Stewart.
There was really no chance of not these two guys, there was some ideas that Romine could make the club but Brian Cashman said that he was going to take these two. Stewart will catch CC on opening day but I expect that Cervelli will be the primary catcher. It wont make much of a difference, the Yankees will not be getting much production out of the catching spot.

Outfielders:
Vernon Wells, Brett Gardner, Ichiro Suzuki, Ben Francisco and Brennan Boesch.
Wells, Gardner and Ichiro will be the starters until Granderson comes back, with Francisco and Boesch being the backups. If I had to take a guess I would bet that Francisco will get some time at DH against lefties so he very well might be the opening day DH with Lester on the mound. Neither Francisco or Boesch were on the roster at the start of Spring training and its doubtful that they will last the whole year as the Yankees don't typically carry five outfielders and when Granderson comes back there likely wont be any space for either of them. Yankees are banking a lot on Francisco, Boesch, Wells and Ichiro boucing backfrom bad 2012s. I know Ichiro was good with the Yankees but his last two years in Seattle were awful.

Infielders:
Lyle Overbay, Robinson Cano, Eduardo Nunez, Kevin Youkillis, Jayson Nix, Travis Hafner.
It looked like Juan Rivera would be the everyday 1st baseman until Tex came back but the Yankees picked up Overbay just a few days ago and cut Rivera. Because Overbay is a left handed batter I expect that Nix will start at third and Youkillis at first base against lefties, but its possible Overbay will need to play against lefties. Nunez was going to need to play for Jeter quite a bit anyway, but now he will need to be the starting Shortstop until Jeter returns and we have no idea when that will be. Hafner is the DH and will not play the field at all, but even then we have to hope he will stay healthy because they are really screwed if he goes down early.

Well there you have it the Yankees opening day roster and as I said in my earlier post there will be a lot of fluidity in this roster for probably the entire season. Lets see what a new Yankee season has in store!

Cowherd, Cano and Casual racism

Thearon W. Henderson

I honestly doubt that most of the people at ESPN even watch baseball; they basically are just casual baseball fans who have a TV network and talking points. Colin Cowherd says a lot of controversial things, just like many other talking heads at ESPN, but his statement on his Wednesday radio show that: "Robinson Cano plays a lot harder in those [WBC] games than he does for the Yankees," is just flat out stupid and has been called stupid by pretty much everyone, but I also think that this issue speaks to a larger issue not just with ESPN but with sports and how we watch athletes in general.

First off that Robinson Cano is top 5 players in the MLB, plays 160 games a year and is without a doubt the best second baseman in baseball. He's been an MVP candidate in each of the last 3 years and is the best position player in the AL East. Despite all this you know what comes up when you Google "lack of hustle" memorable quotes from Heavy weights, but after that you get article after article about players lack of hustle and many of them are about Robinson Cano and his perceived lack of hustle on the base paths or in the field. Many fans have crucified Cano for this stating that he has no heart and that the Yankees should let him walk because of this perceived lack of intensity, apparently Colin Cowherd, who I doubt actually watches baseball, listens to these people because why else would he think that an MVP candidate played harder in the World Baseball Classic than he does for the New York Yankees? Don't get me wrong Cano is less than perfect and to us as fans a player needs to be perfect at all times in order to be acceptable and in that quest we can ignore how great a player like Cano really is. Cano has nearly 1500 hits, 177 Home runs and has hit .308 over his first 8 seasons in the majors; Bill James gives him a 32% chance of getting 3,000 hits. He's had over 40 doubles six times in eight seasons, just missing 50 twice and despite what some think he is one of the best defenders in the game. How much better is he supposed to do if he is apparently such a lazy bastard according to Mr. Cowherd? Cano has done everything that is expected and wanting more from a player isn't wrong, but the casual racism of Colin Cowherd and many others in this manner is wrong.

Before I get into the issue of Casual Racism in baseball let me making a short statement. This is not simply an issue relating to just baseball it’s in all sports and it’s in all sports because it’s in our society as a whole. Also I am a White male living in Connecticut and so I have never experienced racism directed toward myself, but we all know "that guy" (and for all I know you could be that guy) who has said some less than nice things about another person based on their race and we have all probably made an unfair judgment about someone based on it as well. This does not make any of those statements any less wrong and when media figures do it they should be called out for it, which is what I am doing here. There is a problem in baseball that many people have called out in which Hispanic and Black players are often called lazy or lacking hustle and it’s not cherry picking answers, I mean watch a game of baseball or just talking heads talk about baseball they always find time to call out some kid who didn't hustle on ground ball and chances are that that player is Black or Latino. I wasn't joking when I said that I googled lack of hustle, here are some of the black and Latino players who came up when I did this:

Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, ROBINSON CANO, Edwin Encarnacion, Starlin Castro, Alex Rios, Domonic Brown, Justin Upton, BJ Upton, Alfonso Soriano.

How about White players: David Wright (article from 2009) and Lucas Duda. That's its nobody else, I seriously doubt that all white players are 100% focused all the time during a 162 game season and while we as fans may hope for that not to be the case it is. There were also several articles about the racism of this situation, but we still do it I mean Kevin Towers has gutted a team that won 94 games two years ago because his players were not GRITTY enough, so he traded Chris Young and Justin Upton and replaced them with Cody Ross and Adam Eaton because they are gritty and have fire. I am going to say that Kevin Towers is a complete moron if he believes that Cody Ross is better than Justin Upton. Trading Justin Upton because he isn’t “intense” or “fierce” like Cody Ross, or that he isn’t a leader, or that he makes the game look too easy, is another way of saying he’s black. And that in lies the problem, Gritty players are what everyone loves and you know what players described as gritty are, white. Does this mean that the Arizona Diamondbacks’ front office and everyone who thinks like them are racist? No. But our social constructs influence the way we evaluate players and that's why people like Colin Cowherd buy into the idea that Robinson Cano is lazy and doesn't try because he isn't diving head first into first base at every ground ball. Does Robinson Cano make every play that he should, no and you know what nobody does including great players like Ichiro Suzuki or Joey Votto and most of the time it’s not because of a lack of effort. John Harper, of New York Daily News, said it best last September after Cano was blasted for not getting a ball in a game against Tampa "Cano’s history of nonchalance, most of which he has overcome, still gets him unfairly labeled as lazy. The real issue is that he’s the best defensive second baseman in the majors, and as a result, he thinks he can make any play at any time....He made a costly mistake on Monday (referring to the in game mistake) — a mistake in judgment, not effort." Unfortunately this isn't an issue that will go away any time soon and undoubtedly someone will blast Cano, or any other Black or Hispanic player, the second he doesn't make a play that somebody think he should have.

P.S: I just want to point out that players who play really hardnosed ball "gritty baseball" hurt themselves all the time and as much as it’s fun to see Brett Gardner dive head first into first base or lunge at a ball it’s not fun when they hurt themselves and most of the time the injury is not worth the results.

A True Yankee Podcast 2/12

A New Podcast for pitchers and catchers reporting! Brooke returns from her hiatus and we talk about the World Baseball classic, the A-Rod PED accusations and the Yankees offseason. Focusing on the Youkillis signing, the Ichiro deal, the catching situation and a potential new deal for Cano. We also examine the competition in the AL East and what to watch for in Yankee spring training.

The Yankees like this September so far

I know its only been 5 days but what a September the Yankees have had so far especially compared to  September 2010 when the Yankees went 12-15 and scored 5 fewer runs than they allowed. Lets hope we continue the winning because last year we won the first 4 games and so we really went 8-15 after September 4th. The Yankees looked like they were trying to lose this game with Garcia giving up a season high 7 runs in just 2.2 innings as Garcia himself said "I got my ass whooped". The Yankees would have been really screwed if the Orioles pitching wasn't equally terrible with Matusz giving up five before Buck yanked him but then Jakubauskas came in and gave up Cano's grand slam Eyre, Johnson and Patton pitched the rest of the game with Johnson giving up two Home runs to Montero and nobody gave up anything else but the Yankees needed all 11 runs. After Garcia Scott Procter came in and pitched 2 innings giving up a game tying home run in the 5th to Robert Andino and Laffey actually did a decent job and got the two lefties out but walked hardy before Ayala came in and despite giving up a walk and a hbp he pitched 1.2 scoreless innings. Logan i guess retired the two lefties when he got Hudson to ground out and the Yankees got Nick Markakis out trying to advance to third on Dickerson's error. Rivera came in and had a very interesting 9th with two singles a HBP and 3 I don't give a fuck despite it being a one run game Stolen bases before striking out JJ Hardy. Mo is only 3 saves away from 600 and there is a decent possibility that he breaks the all time saves record this year.

Jesus is Loose

 The Yankees called up Noesi and George Kontos who has been very good out of the bullpen this year, Ramiro Pena and Greg Golson also got called up today. Brackman, Garrison and Whelan also have a possibility of getting the call but garrison or Whelan will likely get DFA for Kontos and apparently Cashman wants to get Betances up.
The Yankees started off the month with not a lot of hope, we were facing the Red Sox and John Lester and were sending out A.J Burnett who had not inspired confidence with an ERA over 11 in August and was looking like he would be the odd man out in the rotation. Russel Martin hit a double to put the Yankees ahead in the 7th and Mariano Rivera struck out Adrian Gonzalez with the bases loaded in the to save the game. Come from behind wins would be a theme of this first week as only CC Sabathia's  Sunday start wasn't  a come from behind victory. Ivan Nova started the Series against the Jays with giving up two runs in the first and was only limited to two thanks to two big defensive plays from Brett Gardner. Gardner also tied the game with one of his rare home runs and Robinson Cano hitting a go ahead single in the 5th. On Saturday the Yankees knocked around the very good Rickey Romero behind a shaky Colon and Robbie Cano put the Yankees ahead in the 7th with a clutch double, but we got another clutch home run from Francisco Cervelli. Cervelli doesn't get cheated on his home runs as all three of his this year have been absolute bombs. On Sunday Carston Charles Sabathia went 7.1 and gave up just two to earn his 19th win of the season. Soriano tried to make it interesting in the 8th by giving up a home run to Bautisa but the Yankees scored 4 in the 8th with a 2 runs Swisher bomb and a captain 2 run single.
The Yankees have three more games against the Orioles with the Friday game being at Camden to make up the rain out from Hurricane Irene and then they head off to a west coast trip against the Angels and Mariners. The pitching rotation for this week will be Phil Hughes, A.J Burnett, Ivan Nova facing the Orioles and then Colon, Sabathia and Garcia. Hopefully the only bad start of this week was Garcias because the offense, especially Robinson Cano, have been great and we will need that when we play the Angels this weekend.

I think he knew

Remember how awesome the Red sox rotation was going to be? Well Josh Beckett sprained his ankle in his start against the Jays today and so now their next time through the rotation will be Lester, Wakefield, Miller, Lackey and somebody for Beckett. The Yankees need to pad the lead right now and with a great week they could get several games up. The Yankees need to keep their foot on the gas because they could pick the Red Sox in the rear view this week.

Groans, Facepalms and Everything that has Yankee fans Wondering "What the Hell?"

So first off, for any regular readers, I am not Nick. I am his girlfriend and he has asked me to write a piece here because I, as he is, am an enormous yankee fan.

One would be hard pressed to find a Yankee fan who hasn't, for a greater part of this season, been on the edge of their seat (and not in the positive "THESE GAMES ARE SO CLOSE BUT WILL PROBABLY END IN OUR FAVOR" kind of way.) Between sometimes shaky pitching from the back end of the lineup, barring Bartolo Colon, to offense who has seemingly forgotten that if you have a runner on third with less than 2 outs, just about any in play ball will bring in a run, Yankee fans are finding themselves scouring scouting reports of their own to see what our chances are to win a game or series. However, one may wonder who is at fault here; is it the management? the players? pitching? defense? offense? Why is it that with a team of heavy hitting, strong players are we having such issues? Here is my breakdown.

Offense:
This is an obvious problem; they're not hitting when they need to be. It seems that we can get all the hits in the world when we're winning 15-0 but if the game is close and we're not scoring via long ball, our offense stands at the plate and perverbially scratches their asses waiting for the pitcher whose on the mound to do something (also known as throwing a pitch they can hit). Unfortunately, when we're down or up by only a run or two, we can't see the ball or are focusing too much on "we can't lose again" and end up making rookie mistakes.

One huge culprit of this is Robby Cano. Robby is a fantastic player, don't get me wrong, but for whatever reason he cannot seem to get his swing together as of late. Although he carries one of the teams highest batting averages at .273, he keeps swinging at pitches out of the zone, using a long lazy swing that has developed into a lot of groundouts or high pop-ups or just not swinging at the type of pitches he can hit for contact. All batters slump and he certainly isn't the only one in the line up that is doing it right now, but for a guy who is considered to be our best hitter, he isn't showing his stuff right now and instead of being a difficult out at the plate, he has become the exact opposite in the last few games.

It is also difficult to build a solid offense when certain members of the line up are going several games without a hit. These members are Jorge Posada and Nick Swisher. I have been a huge Posada fan for the entire time I've liked the Yankees and I have come to really like Swisher. However, these are two holes in the batting order that are causing some serious problems. With Posada hitting only .178 and Swisher plummeting from .270 last season to .206 this season there are basically two guaranteed outs when they come to bat. This is obviously a problem. Although one would immediately think to either bench them for a while or move them down in the line up, that has proven to be more difficult than it seems. With Posada being a long time Yankee and already irked that he had to give up his position as catcher, moving to 9th in the line up was not something that thrilled him. Although after the "Posadagate" incident in May Posada admitted that he was not hitting the way he should be and that he wasn't contributing much to the team offensively (which is all he can do, because he's the DH!) he still said that he felt disrespected by the Yankees. With ego's like that at work, it is difficult to make any moves or changes. Swisher, on the other hand, has not spoken much about his slump other than to say that he is working with Kevin Long and hopes to improve soon.

Basically, we need a new line up order. The one that we have right now is coming to bite us in the ass. Although Derek Jeter is improving (and then not improving, and the improving again) he is no longer effective in the lead off spot. We should have someone like Gardner batting lead off, Granderson following, Teixeira, Cano, Roderiguez, Martin, Jeter, Swisher, Posada. With a line up like this we would have a better shot at producing runs early and keeping leads. Unforunately, the management is afraid of hurting the feelings of integral Yankee players such as Jeter and Posada. Although Jeter is certainly far from useless, he is no longer (as I said before) effective where he is and until/when/if he improves he should be moved to a part of the line up that reflects his offensive contribution, not his time vested in the team. As far as Posada goes, he needs to take an enormous chill-pill and realize that if he wants to benefit the team he loves so much, he needs to take one for the team and bat 9th. Changes can always be made as players stats change, but for right now, a line up change would help incredibly. Other teams have had no problems moving strong players to lower batting slots in they weren't performing well. For example (and as much as it pains me to say it), Francona and the Red Sox had no problem moving Carl Crawford from the 3rd slot to the bottom of the order when he wasn't performing as he should. Again, I hate to say it, but that is good management. Although loyalty to players is something of a Yankee tradition, Joe Girardi needs to pull his head out of his ass and instead of babying the bullpen and starting pitchers do something about his fledgling offense.

Furthermore, the offense needs to learn the power of contact hitting. Although home runs are great, and they are certainly not a cheap way of scoring runs but they are not the ONLY way. Everyone wants to be the hero so when we have runners in scoring position, instead of taking the sacrifice (in a tight game just to tie the score or gain insurance runs) or trying to just loop the ball into the outfield, everyone starts swinging for the fences. In the process, they miss pitches, get out and we strand our runners. Working on manufacturing runs and playing small-ball will increase our chances of winning more games and make us a more solid team.

That brings me to our next problem, Management:
I do not like Joe Girardi. I feel I need to clear this up now, because I don't think I have many nice things to say about him.
A manager should listen to his players, which Girardi does so I give him that, but he is also supposed to make tactical decisions about problems that players may be biased on. That is what a manager does and that's what they're paying him for. Instead, he over or undermanages different aspects of the team to the point where they become ineffective. Although he does well with the bullpen and makes sure that they stay fresh and ready, he needs to understand what to do with a starting pitcher. Someone like CC Sabathia is easy to manage; he's a workhorse and rarely falters beyond his ability to fix so there aren't too many problems there. Unfortunately, not every pitcher is CC Sabathia. Guys like AJ Burnett are more difficult. Last season I was ready to overthrow the Yankee higher-ups and fire him myself because he was useless, but despite everything, Burnett has come back this season as a reliable pitcher. However, someone needs to deliver the message to Girardi that when he starts to lose the plate in the 6th inning and he has an upwards of 80-90 pitches, he rarely comes back from it without letting a run or two go. It's not entirely his fault, he's not 25 anymore and when he gets tired, as with any pitcher, he gets sloppy. Even though this has been shown time after time, Girardi chooses to rest on his laurels and wait for the score to be tied or give the other team he go-ahead-run before he makes the call to the bullpen. I don't know if he is just trying to give the bullpen time to warm or if he is waiting to see if Burnett will discover the plate again but he waits way too long (not just with Burnett, but with just about every starting pitcher) and it costs the team runs and games. Furthermore, he also has the opposite problem which consists of taking a starter out too early when they're dealing. For example, on April 24, Freddy Garcia was pitching against the Orioles and he was dealing. Of course, Girardi decides to take him out a little early. You could even seen Garcia saying that he was fine and wanted to go back out, but Girardi insisted. The bullpen came in and ended up blowing the lead and tying the game forcing it into extra innings. Although we won, it is possible that if Garcia had come back out it wouldn't have gone on that long. This is an example of his over/undermanaging style. He either makes too many or too few moves and it can render the team in a losing position.

To remedy this situation, Girardi really just needs to pay more attention and take his head out of his special little binder and watch the damned game. He seems to misread signs from the pitchers and overall just waits way too long to make a move when needed and sometimes moves to early when things are "too good to be true". Maybe he should take a him from himself and listen to his pitchers, if they say their tired than it may be time to do something, but if a guy is showing no signs of slowing down and says he can pitch, give him a shot. You can always bring someone in from the bullpen if they prove to be unable to make the outs. Or, there is another option (my personal favorite), fire Girardi's ass and employ Billy Martin's corpse to do the managing.

Finally, we have magically adapted a problem with our defense:
One thing you could always say about the Yankees was that they were solid defensvively, until recently. For some unknown reason (therefore I'm calling in laziness) we have adopted errors, and lots of them.
Robby Cano (sorry to pick on him again, but it's true), a former gold glove second basemen is losing track of the ball and making more errors through this part of this season (5) than he had all of last season (3). He wasn't always a great fielder, but you expect when someone makes advances that they will stick with them instead of regressing.
That coupled with some sloppy infield playing at times is causing some problems for us defensively. Hopefully this is just a phase and they'll come out of it.

This is just a matter of better communication among the infield. They need to decide where to play, how shallow/deep and they need to pay better attention to their signs. Also, our gold glove, silver slugger second basemen needs to wake the fuck up and smell the baseball. It's time to stop playing lazy like you're in little league and play to your full extent. We have the talent and potential to overtake and pull away in the AL East, but if we keep doing nothing with RISP, experiencing shit management and dealing with a sloppy defense, we'll be waiting and watching come post season.