Author Archive
CC Sabathia: Will His “Out” Years Drag »
Saturday's duel between the Tampa Bay Rays' ace, David Price, and the Yankees' ace, CC Sabathia was basically a microcosm of the season-long fact that the Ray's ace is decidedly better than the Yankees' ace. And that 's in spite of the fact that the low-budget Rays pay Price less than half of what the Yankees pay Sabathia. Which is one reason why [...]
New York Yankees: Did Fear of a Bad Call Cost Them the »
The Yankees were "not guilty as charged" in Saturday's game. Or maybe one should say that this was true for a particular Yankee. But they paid the price, not only within the game itself, but probably for the rest of the season.The "charge" was that Mark Teixiera made the third out at first in the bottom of the ninth inning. An instant replay [...]
Steve Pearce: The Strange Saga of the New York Yankees »
Steve Pearce has played for three different teams this season; four, if you count the fact that he was a Yankee for two separate stretches.He was a cast-off from the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2011, easily his worst season. But even in his better years, he never distinguished himself in black and gold.Pearce was signed as a minor-league free agent at [...]
New York Yankees: Do They Need to Rebuild, and Can »
"Rebuilding" is not a word that is typically used to describe the New York Yankees. In most years, or more like most decades, they have a bevy of stars that have come up through the system. They also have baseball's largest payroll, which is to say that they can hire the additional stars that they need.The result is that the Yankees win a [...]
New York Yankees: Why They Can’t Win (Even When »
The New York Yankees have been winning uncharacteristically few games since the All-Star Break. Why might that be?The answer is because the "Yankees" aren't playing.Yesterday's game against Baltimore was a case in point. On paper, it was a 4-3 victory. But the Orioles were leading 3-1 going into the bottom of the seventh. Matt Wieters and Robinson [...]
Yankees’ Andy Pettitte: A Modest Proposal to »
"Aging" Andy Pettitte wasn't too old to pitch a brilliant eight-inning shutout game Friday night against a formidable Cincinnati Reds team. This gave him his first win in 2012, and it made up for a weakish previous start against the Seattle MarinersHis skills are still what they used to be. That is not unexpected for an older player, even a [...]
New York Yankees: Earlier ‘Courtship’ of »
One of the telltale signs that your spouse or significant other may be planning to leave you is when that person loses weight. In the case of the New York Yankees, that "spouse" may be CC Sabathia. To carry the "marriage" analogy further, most marriages are made "for life," a construct honored more in the breach than the observance. But some [...]
New York Yankees: How Do You Solve A Problem Like »
Would Derek Jeter be underpaid at $10 million a year for the next three years? Could he be worth as much as $20 million a year over that time span. Does the Yankees' offer of $15 million per adequately cover both possible contingencies? The answer is that it's hard to know for sure because Jeter is something of a wildcard. According to Fan Graphs, [...]
New York Yankees and ALCS Loss: Blame the Batters, Not »
Yankee pitchers did not exactly distinguish themselves in the recent ALCS. But that may not be the main reason that they lost. To understand why, let's look at what happened in individual games. The Bronx Bombers won only the two games that their ace, CC Sabathia, started. The first game was in spite of Sabathia, and due to the big five-run [...]
ALCS 2010: New York Yankees Named The Wrong Fourth »
The New York Yankees need a fourth starter for the ALCS. But the one they named was wrong. It should not have been A.J. Burnett, but rather Ivan Nova. Nova, whom the Yankees refused to trade, was a major reason that they didn't get Cliff Lee from the Mariners midseason. He has since justified their retaining him. Except for one very bad start that [...]