Finally we have some real Connecticut related news as Mariano Rivera Jr, son of Mariano Rivera, committed to Quinnipiac university in Hamden, Connecticut. Mariano Jr toured the campus back on December 8th and picked Quinnipiac over Fairfield University (also in CT for those of you who don't know) , South Florida and High Point.
Mariano will attempt to walk on to the schools Baseball team and he stated that
“I’m already working out every day and I’m training with my dad,” he said. “I’m going to work on my mechanics and get my speed up a little bit.”
This is pretty awesome for me because Quinnipiac plays in the Division I Northeast Conference which is where my school, Central Connecticut State University, plays and it would be pretty cool for to see Mo Jr play there, especially if his dad decided to drop by. Check out Matt Eisenberg's article in The Quinnipiac Chronicle here for more information.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
The upcoming Toronto series 4/19-4/20/11 and Notes
The Blue Jays came into the season strong with a 4-2 record, but they now stand at 7-9 with several poor performances from their starting pitching and their offense sputtered after the series opener against the Red Sox and they only managed one run in each of the three games they lost to the Red Sox. The Pitching matchup will be featuring Kyle Drabek going against A.J Burnett. Drabek is 1-0 with an 1.93 ERA in 3 starts while Burnett has a 3-0 record with a 4.67 ERA in his 3 starts. Wednesdays game will feature the very uninspring pitching duel between a Bull frog that has found his way into Pinstripes, aka Bartolo Colon who has posted a 3.97 ERA in 3 relief appearances and Brett Cecil who has a 1-1 record with a 6.19 ERA in 3 starts. There is no official word of whether or not A-Rod will play in Tuesdays game but it has been stated that he will play in Wednesdays game. A positive for the Yankees is that if they need to exhaust the bullpen they have Thursday off before heading to Baltimore for an Easter weekend series. The Blue Jays have really struggled the last 3 games and lets hope the Yankees will spoil the Blue Jays home opener.
*If you haven't heard about the J triplets tearing up the international league. Jesus Montero, Jordan Parraz and Jorge Vazquez have been absolutely destroying AAA pitching Jesus Montero is hitting .452 and Jorge Vazquez has a very impressive .340 with 7 HR and 17 RBI's in only 11 games. Jordan Parraz who I wrote about in a previous article is hitting .356 with 3 triples and 2 HR. Also if Justin Maxwell raises his BA to match his .435 OBP then I can start calling them the J Quintuplets.
*Curtis Granderson is hitting .333 against lefties and .194 against eighties. I never thought I would have to say this but Granderson you need to start hitting RHP as well as you are hitting lefties.
*Check out CC's Commercial
*If you haven't heard about the J triplets tearing up the international league. Jesus Montero, Jordan Parraz and Jorge Vazquez have been absolutely destroying AAA pitching Jesus Montero is hitting .452 and Jorge Vazquez has a very impressive .340 with 7 HR and 17 RBI's in only 11 games. Jordan Parraz who I wrote about in a previous article is hitting .356 with 3 triples and 2 HR. Also if Justin Maxwell raises his BA to match his .435 OBP then I can start calling them the J Quintuplets.
*Curtis Granderson is hitting .333 against lefties and .194 against eighties. I never thought I would have to say this but Granderson you need to start hitting RHP as well as you are hitting lefties.
*Check out CC's Commercial
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
The first "I know its April but Jesus Montero" article
Well the Yankees are getting set for game two against the Twins with CC taking the mound and Russel Martin behind the plate. In his limited action as a Yankee Martin has been pretty good offensively and defensively, but again the sample size is too small to make any real assessment of him overall. The question I really want to pose is, If Russel Martin is able to return to his old 2007 form and become a real offensive force as well as a very good defensive catcher would the Yankees decide that he will be their starting catcher of the future and what would that mean for Jesus Montero?
If Martin does return to his old form then then the Yankees have several options of what they could do with him
A) They could keep him as their starting catcher. After all he is only 28 and is much better defensively than Montero or Cervelli.
B) The Yankees could trade him midway through the season for a starting pitcher.
C) They could let him go after the year and if he gets class A free agency then they would get a draft pick.
Those options are all assuming that he does return to his old form and doesn't flop in the Bronx, because if he does flop then he will be backing up Jesus Montero before you can say oh' Canada.
Jesus Montero is the Yankees top prospect and probable the must hyped prospect since Derek Jeter, but Montero's key chip is his bat because his defense behind the plate is poor despite his strong arm and most scouts do not think that he will be able to stay behind the plate. Would the Yankees trade Montero or would they move him somewhere else? Unfortunately the most likely place to move him would be 1st base or right field and both those places are currently taken by Mark Teixiera and Nick Swisher and I doubt that the Yankees would cut either loose even for a prospect like Montero. Montero has been a big trade chip that teams have asked the Yankees for and he was almost traded for Cliff Lee last season and despite loosing out on the backup spot this spring his status as the systems top prospect remains intact. If the Yankees did decide to trade Montero who would they trade him for? I can't see them trading him for anything but a starting pitcher but who? Obviously if the Mariners made Felix available the Yankees would trade Montero for him but other than that who else would they be willing to part with Montero for?
I think that these pitchers are the only ones that the Yankees would be willing to trade Montero for:
If Martin does return to his old form then then the Yankees have several options of what they could do with him
A) They could keep him as their starting catcher. After all he is only 28 and is much better defensively than Montero or Cervelli.
B) The Yankees could trade him midway through the season for a starting pitcher.
C) They could let him go after the year and if he gets class A free agency then they would get a draft pick.
Those options are all assuming that he does return to his old form and doesn't flop in the Bronx, because if he does flop then he will be backing up Jesus Montero before you can say oh' Canada.
Jesus Montero is the Yankees top prospect and probable the must hyped prospect since Derek Jeter, but Montero's key chip is his bat because his defense behind the plate is poor despite his strong arm and most scouts do not think that he will be able to stay behind the plate. Would the Yankees trade Montero or would they move him somewhere else? Unfortunately the most likely place to move him would be 1st base or right field and both those places are currently taken by Mark Teixiera and Nick Swisher and I doubt that the Yankees would cut either loose even for a prospect like Montero. Montero has been a big trade chip that teams have asked the Yankees for and he was almost traded for Cliff Lee last season and despite loosing out on the backup spot this spring his status as the systems top prospect remains intact. If the Yankees did decide to trade Montero who would they trade him for? I can't see them trading him for anything but a starting pitcher but who? Obviously if the Mariners made Felix available the Yankees would trade Montero for him but other than that who else would they be willing to part with Montero for?
I think that these pitchers are the only ones that the Yankees would be willing to trade Montero for:
- Clayton Kershaw (23, lefty and has a sub 3 ERA and over 200 innings pitched)
- Trevor Cahil (same as Kershaw but a righty and just under 200 innings pitched)
- Josh Johnson ( had a 2.30 ERA last year in the NL east with 28 starts)
Sunday, April 3, 2011
4/3 Yankees and other notes
The Yankees failed to sweep the tigers as Hughes and Colon both got roughed up by the Tigers 10-7. The two teams combined for 14 HR, with 7 of those coming in today's loss. Here are some notes on the Yankees:
- Burnett looked okay, but he was apparently sick during the game so hopefully that means he will be even better next time around as he should likely be facing off against Francisco Liriano and the Twins.
- This first series was utterly forgettable for Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter as both combined for 4 hits and those all came in Saturdays game. But it is only 3 games so should be nothing to worry about.
- After Eduardo Nunez's error in Saturdays game I already want Ramiro Pena back.
- Russel Martin is hitting .455, A-Rod .400 and slow start Tex has 3 HR and 7 RBI's after 3 games. (He had 9 RBI's all last April) check it out
- I know its one start and its one start against one of the best offenses in baseball, but I am really concerned about Phil Hughes. He looks like he did last year after the all-star break and his velocity is still down. He gave up 5 runs on 5 hits in 4 innings. He could not put batters away racking up 1 K in 90 pitches.He needs to make a change NOW because his next start is against the Sox in Fenway.
- Bartolo Colon was a mixed bag with 5K's in 4 innings, but he gave up 4 runs and 6 hits in 4 innings. Mitre did better than that. However its only April, but I still would prefer Aceves.(who is in Sox AAA to start the season)
- The Sox got swept by the Rangers and while both teams offense's looked good the Red Sox pitching was very poor and their $142 million dollar man got bumped down to 7th today. Dropping Crawford in the order from 3rd to 7th really surprised me as its the 3rd game and they just payed him 142 million small market scrappy dollars and i wouldn't want to start off 7 years by dropping him down after two games.
- Bad news for the Rays as Evan Longoria was put on the DL for an oblique strain and he will miss at least 3 weeks according to Joe Madden. Also Manny and Damon have combined for a grand total of 1 hit and Damon was scratched today due to calf tightness.
- O's are in first, Toronto and the Yankees are both tied for second and the Sox and rays are on pace for 0-162 seasons.
- All that confidence that Brewers fans about this season was crushed by the Big Red Machine. Its only April, but the Brewers looked really bad in Cinncinati and so does my pick of them to win the NL Central.
- Matt Holiday had an appendectomy. Could the Yankees try and trade for Chris Carpenter?
- The Astros look awful. Is Brett Myers as good as that one start suggests and could the Yankees target him?
- The Yankees play the Twins for the teams only meeting in the Bronx this season. Lets hope the Yankees take over from where they left off in the ALDS.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
2011 Prediction
I decided that the day before the Season began was the best time to do a prediction of the Division Winners and wild card team for each league.
NL East: Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies are going to suffer from injuries all year long and like last year the healthy parts of the lineup will struggle to try and provide all the offense for the team just as they did last year. However in the end the teams pitching staff will allow them to win the NL East despite a valiant attempt by the Atlanta Braves. Even if Chase Utley misses the whole year the Phillies rotationis good enough that they will still be able to win the NL East. The only move i can see the Phillie making is if Brad lidge continues to struggle or remain healthy then you could see the Phillies try and trade for someone who can fill in, much like the Twins did with Matt Capps last year.
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers
Most people seem to be thinking the Reds right now but Prince Fielder is in a contract year and the Brewers have their first legitimate rotation since Sabathia was one all by himself in 2008. I know that Greinke and Hart will start the season on the DL but if the Brewers can wait for these guys to get healthy then they could take advantage of a weakened NL Centrall and take the division away from the Reds. Plus this is an all or nothing year for the Brewers as Fielder will walk after this year and they have emptied their farm system to try and win now.
NL West: San Francisco Giants
This one is actually pretty hard as the Rockies will give the Giants a run for their money, but the Giants Rotation is arguably the the best in baseball . That being said their offense needs to step up and the Giants are probably going to have to look for a better solution at Shortstop than Miguel Tejada. If the Giants offense struggles then the Pitching staff can carry them, but only for so long and Buster Posey can't do it all.
NL Wild-card: Atlanta Braves
If it were not for the Phillies reacquisition of Cliff Lee then I think the Braves would be able to dethrone the Phillies and claim the NL East for themselves. The Braves took their already strong offense and added Dan Uggla for a utility infielder and a reliever because Jeff Loria (owner of the Marlins) is trying to see if he can completely destroy any chance of their being a fan base for the Marlins. The Braves rotation led by Derek Lowe is formidable, but not to the same level as the the Phillies and because of that they will fall short of the Division title, but they will capture the wild-card.
AL East: Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox were already a formidable team that contends every year, but then they went out and traded for Adrian Gonzalez who if healthy will be an absolute beast in Fenway park. The Red Sox, being the scrappy small market team that they are, were able to scrounge up some change and pay free agent Carl Crawford $142 million over 7 years. Last year the Boston bullpen struggled so the Sox acquired Dan Wheeler and Bobby Jenks to bolster their pen and possibly take over for Pappelbon if he proves to be unreliable. The Red sox have a great rotation, but after Lester every one of them has question marks as Beckett and Dice-K have had recent injury problems, Lacky suffered from being mediocre and over hyped and Buchholz stats suggest he will regress this year.Even if the Rotation has problems the Red Sox have good rotation depth and their offense should be able to overcome any pitching problems and win them games.
AL Central: Chicago White Sox
The White Sox will finally be able to beat the twins and capture the Central division title. The White Sox upgraded their offense considerably by adding Adam Dunn to their lineup who will crush the ball in U.S cellular park. The White Sox also have probably the best rotation in the AL central and I believe that the race will end up being between them and the Twins as the Tigers lack the necessary starting pitching depth to compete and will fade early. The biggest concern for the White Sox is their bullpen as the Sox were unable to bolster their bullpen and they will need to either hope it gets better on its own or they bolster it through trade if they want to be sure to get the division this year.
AL West: Texas Rangers
This is probably my most uncertain pick as i was trying to decide between the Rangers with their offense and almost no starting pitching versus the A's with their starting pitching and almost no offense. I was starting to lean toward the A's who went from no offense to almost no offense this off-season with their acquisition of Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham and a great group of young pitchers. However I was swayed by Rangers owner Nolan Ryan who stated that the Rangers will upgrade their starting pitching and will not be afraid to make a trade like last years for Cliff Lee. The Ryan ownership group wants to win, while the Athletics want to move, the Mariners stink and the Angels are just trying to confuse people. The Rangers also improved an already potent offense by adding Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli and the Rangers lineup should be able to produce enough runs to keep themselves in games and the acquisition of a top of the rotation starter will enable them win the AL west again in 2011.
Al Wild-card: New York Yankees
The Yankees will look to stay in contention until they are able to acquire another starting pitcher to bolster their rotation and their offense and bullpen should be able to keep them close to the Sox and ahead of the Rays. The Yankees will have to fight off the Rays, the Jays and the Fighting Showalter to keep themselves in second, but I have a feeling that the Yankees offense is going to keep pace with the Red Sox and their ability to score runs will hold off the non-Sox teams in the division.There is also the fact that besides the Rays I don't see any other team in the American League that could possibly beat the Yankees the wild-card and not win their own division. When the Yankees acquire a starting pitcher they will likely give the Sox a run for the Division but I doubt that they will be able to capture the Division.
NL East: Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies are going to suffer from injuries all year long and like last year the healthy parts of the lineup will struggle to try and provide all the offense for the team just as they did last year. However in the end the teams pitching staff will allow them to win the NL East despite a valiant attempt by the Atlanta Braves. Even if Chase Utley misses the whole year the Phillies rotationis good enough that they will still be able to win the NL East. The only move i can see the Phillie making is if Brad lidge continues to struggle or remain healthy then you could see the Phillies try and trade for someone who can fill in, much like the Twins did with Matt Capps last year.
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers
Most people seem to be thinking the Reds right now but Prince Fielder is in a contract year and the Brewers have their first legitimate rotation since Sabathia was one all by himself in 2008. I know that Greinke and Hart will start the season on the DL but if the Brewers can wait for these guys to get healthy then they could take advantage of a weakened NL Centrall and take the division away from the Reds. Plus this is an all or nothing year for the Brewers as Fielder will walk after this year and they have emptied their farm system to try and win now.
NL West: San Francisco Giants
This one is actually pretty hard as the Rockies will give the Giants a run for their money, but the Giants Rotation is arguably the the best in baseball . That being said their offense needs to step up and the Giants are probably going to have to look for a better solution at Shortstop than Miguel Tejada. If the Giants offense struggles then the Pitching staff can carry them, but only for so long and Buster Posey can't do it all.
NL Wild-card: Atlanta Braves
If it were not for the Phillies reacquisition of Cliff Lee then I think the Braves would be able to dethrone the Phillies and claim the NL East for themselves. The Braves took their already strong offense and added Dan Uggla for a utility infielder and a reliever because Jeff Loria (owner of the Marlins) is trying to see if he can completely destroy any chance of their being a fan base for the Marlins. The Braves rotation led by Derek Lowe is formidable, but not to the same level as the the Phillies and because of that they will fall short of the Division title, but they will capture the wild-card.
AL East: Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox were already a formidable team that contends every year, but then they went out and traded for Adrian Gonzalez who if healthy will be an absolute beast in Fenway park. The Red Sox, being the scrappy small market team that they are, were able to scrounge up some change and pay free agent Carl Crawford $142 million over 7 years. Last year the Boston bullpen struggled so the Sox acquired Dan Wheeler and Bobby Jenks to bolster their pen and possibly take over for Pappelbon if he proves to be unreliable. The Red sox have a great rotation, but after Lester every one of them has question marks as Beckett and Dice-K have had recent injury problems, Lacky suffered from being mediocre and over hyped and Buchholz stats suggest he will regress this year.Even if the Rotation has problems the Red Sox have good rotation depth and their offense should be able to overcome any pitching problems and win them games.
AL Central: Chicago White Sox
The White Sox will finally be able to beat the twins and capture the Central division title. The White Sox upgraded their offense considerably by adding Adam Dunn to their lineup who will crush the ball in U.S cellular park. The White Sox also have probably the best rotation in the AL central and I believe that the race will end up being between them and the Twins as the Tigers lack the necessary starting pitching depth to compete and will fade early. The biggest concern for the White Sox is their bullpen as the Sox were unable to bolster their bullpen and they will need to either hope it gets better on its own or they bolster it through trade if they want to be sure to get the division this year.
AL West: Texas Rangers
This is probably my most uncertain pick as i was trying to decide between the Rangers with their offense and almost no starting pitching versus the A's with their starting pitching and almost no offense. I was starting to lean toward the A's who went from no offense to almost no offense this off-season with their acquisition of Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham and a great group of young pitchers. However I was swayed by Rangers owner Nolan Ryan who stated that the Rangers will upgrade their starting pitching and will not be afraid to make a trade like last years for Cliff Lee. The Ryan ownership group wants to win, while the Athletics want to move, the Mariners stink and the Angels are just trying to confuse people. The Rangers also improved an already potent offense by adding Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli and the Rangers lineup should be able to produce enough runs to keep themselves in games and the acquisition of a top of the rotation starter will enable them win the AL west again in 2011.
Al Wild-card: New York Yankees
The Yankees will look to stay in contention until they are able to acquire another starting pitcher to bolster their rotation and their offense and bullpen should be able to keep them close to the Sox and ahead of the Rays. The Yankees will have to fight off the Rays, the Jays and the Fighting Showalter to keep themselves in second, but I have a feeling that the Yankees offense is going to keep pace with the Red Sox and their ability to score runs will hold off the non-Sox teams in the division.There is also the fact that besides the Rays I don't see any other team in the American League that could possibly beat the Yankees the wild-card and not win their own division. When the Yankees acquire a starting pitcher they will likely give the Sox a run for the Division but I doubt that they will be able to capture the Division.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Good and Bad News 3/30/11
Today is the last day before Opening day and the Yankees have announced some good news and some bad news.
Good news:
For one baseball will start tomorrow at 1:05 pm at Yankee stadium and that is great news. Curtis Granderson is not only ok but he will be starting tomorrow, this is great news and I’m sure that he is fully healthy as I doubt the Yankees would start him tomorrow if he was not. Also the Yankees have been able to add Luis Ayala, Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia to the 40-man roster without releasing anyone which leads to the bad news.
Bad news:
Colin Curtis, Reggie Corona and Damaso Marte are all starting the season on the 60 day disabled list and Francisco Cervelli and Pedro Feliciano will start the season on the 15 day disabled list. Cervelli is recovering from his broken foot so that was expected. Feliciano on the other hand went from a sore tricep to being diagnosed with a rotator cuff strain. That’s very unfortunate especially since Feliciano was signed due to his ability to be a workhorse and he has never been on the disabled list before. Hopefully Feliciano recovers soon he has been shut down for at least 10 days.
Other news:
The Yankees made it official and Gustavo Molina will start the year as the backup catcher for the Yankees until Cervelli comes back. Also if you haven’t heard Brett Gardner will bat leadoff tomorrow with Jeter in the 2 hole and I guarantee you that Michael Kay will talk about Jeter in the 2nd spot for the entire game tomorrow.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Yankees update 3/26/11
The Yankees wasted no time and announced that Ivan "super" Nova and Freddy Garcia will get the 4th and 5th Starter jobs out of spring training and the Yankees will try and use Bartolo Colon as the long man. Girardi has says that Colon will fill the role that Alfredo Aceves did in 2009 and early 2010, where he will spot start, do long relief work and work as a regular reliever as well, personally I still think Alfredo Aceves could have filled the role of Alfredo Aceves very well.
Also the Yankees decided to mess with my prediction for 5th outfielder by not only acquiring two more potential back up outfielders but also by likely going without a 5th outfielder for the season. However Curtis Granderson's Injury has thrown a wrench into their plans and if they start the year without him then they will bring one of the Outfielders with them to opening day. In addition to the potential backup outfielders I discussed in my article the Yankees acquired Justin Maxwell from the Nationals and Chris Dickerson from the Brewers. In addition to that Colin Curtis, Greg Golson and Chris Dickerson have all decided to hurt themselves in varying degrees, Curtis jammed his shoulder, Golson had an oblique injury and today Dickerson pulled a hamstring (possibly just cramping) in the game after going 3-3. If Dickerson does have a hamstring injury, then the most likely candidate is Justin Maxwell, because the Yankees still seem hesitant about Greg Golson and they seem to not want to rush him back from his oblique injury.
Also on the topic of injuries Pedro Feliciano is still battling a sore tricep and for the first time in his career he may end up on the Disabled list. If he does the Yankees do have some good bullpen depth options and another lefty in the pen. In my mind the most likely candidate for the bullpen in place of Felliciano is probably Romulo Sanchez who is already on the 40 man roster and is out of minor league option so the Yankees could get some use out of him before putting him on wavers. If not Romulo Sanchez then the likeliest candidate is Luis Ayala who has been very good this spring; Mark Prior also is still an option, but he will likely need to get more work in AAA before he is MLB ready despite a great spring.
Also the Yankees decided to mess with my prediction for 5th outfielder by not only acquiring two more potential back up outfielders but also by likely going without a 5th outfielder for the season. However Curtis Granderson's Injury has thrown a wrench into their plans and if they start the year without him then they will bring one of the Outfielders with them to opening day. In addition to the potential backup outfielders I discussed in my article the Yankees acquired Justin Maxwell from the Nationals and Chris Dickerson from the Brewers. In addition to that Colin Curtis, Greg Golson and Chris Dickerson have all decided to hurt themselves in varying degrees, Curtis jammed his shoulder, Golson had an oblique injury and today Dickerson pulled a hamstring (possibly just cramping) in the game after going 3-3. If Dickerson does have a hamstring injury, then the most likely candidate is Justin Maxwell, because the Yankees still seem hesitant about Greg Golson and they seem to not want to rush him back from his oblique injury.
Also on the topic of injuries Pedro Feliciano is still battling a sore tricep and for the first time in his career he may end up on the Disabled list. If he does the Yankees do have some good bullpen depth options and another lefty in the pen. In my mind the most likely candidate for the bullpen in place of Felliciano is probably Romulo Sanchez who is already on the 40 man roster and is out of minor league option so the Yankees could get some use out of him before putting him on wavers. If not Romulo Sanchez then the likeliest candidate is Luis Ayala who has been very good this spring; Mark Prior also is still an option, but he will likely need to get more work in AAA before he is MLB ready despite a great spring.
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