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I don't care what Jorge Posada says, but his shoulder really worries me.  It may be described as "minor soreness" and the Yankees are only being smart by shutting him down for a couple of days, but the fact remains that Posada is a huge question mark hanging over the season. 

The Yankees have done nothing to prepare in the event that Posada cannot catch this season.  Molina is the backup and his .576 OPS last season cost the Yankees a couple of wins.  That wasn't a huge deal in 2008 as that Yankee team finished six games out of a playoff spot.  But, the 2009 Yankees clearly are built to make the playoffs and with Boston and Tampa in the division, every win is vital.  

You can talk up Austin Romine and Jesus Montero all you want, but neither one of them will be showing up in the Bronx until 2011 at the earliest.  Francisco Cervelli has 73 AB's above A ball, Kevin Cash can't hit a lick. If Posada can't catch this season the Yankees are royally screwed.  Brian Cashman has about a month to find some sort of insurance and I can only hope he acts.  Leaving this position as is could destroy the entire season. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I am trying to figure out why Joel Sherman spoke to David Segui about A-Rod and steroids.  Now Sherman is a wonderful reporter so I imagine he called a ton of people to talk about A-Rod and only Segui was willing to go on the record, but his headline "EX-MATE SEGUI: ALEX 'ROIDLESS IN SEATTLE" is laughable. 

After all, David Segui was all over the Mitchell Report, so he is hardly someone who has a lot of credibility on this issue.  Maybe some people will look at this and say that since Segui cheated he would know if A-Rod had as well, but I am not buying it.  

The problem is it is now Saturday and the stories are still being written.  A-Rod has been linked to a trainer who has a very bad reputation and his mystery cousin has been found, but won't talk.  We have also learned that "boli" was illegal without a prescription in the Dominican Republic when Alex was taking it.  I keep trying to figure out how this goes away and for the life of me I can't see it- at least until the season starts.  Once the Yankees start playing A-Rod can make this go away by repeating his April of 2007.  But that is still a long way away and the Yankees don't want this hanging over them for the next month.

They will get a break when Alex heads to the WBC and the story follows him to wherever the Dominican Team is training.  (On a side note, David Ortiz is going to have some fun times when all the reporters ask him about his stance on steroids and how it applies to his WBC teammate A-Rod.  I totally agree with what Ortiz said, I just hope he realizes what is going to happen in a week.)  But that break is only temporary and there is a bigger problem hanging over them- April 14th 2009.

That's when Selena Roberts', the person who broke the original story, book comes out.  The title is "The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez" so you can expect that it won't be a tribute to him.  I have to hope that A-Rod was smart enough (or his PR firm was) to realize he needed to be 100% sure that the story he gave about using steroids only from 2001-2003 and never using other PED's could not be questioned, but with Alex you just don't know.  If Roberts has something new or one of the many reporters all over this story find something new, Alex is in big trouble.  We are a peculiar nation in that we seem to enjoy seeing the rich and powerful humbled and Alex certainly fits those categories.  The Germans call it schdenfreude and we have a big case of it.  With the suffering over the economy only going up, people will really enjoy seeing the richest man in baseball getting his ass handed to him.  The bullseye is on A-Rod's back, can he survive?

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 08:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

The good news is that this one isn't their fault. 

I guess the really good news is that they are in the right clubhouse if they need to hit up a teammate for a loan. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 03:31 PM | Permalink

I came away from that press conference still completely lost on this issue.  I can't rationalize how A-Rod took a drug for three years that he didn't know what it was and wasn't sure if it worked or not.  The whole "I was young and stupid" line doesn't work for me at all either.

But, I am also really sick of this whole thing and if Alex steps up and tries to speak out against steroid use and supports the Tyler Hooten Foundation then I will move on too.  Alex asked to be judged from this point forward and the ball is in his court on that.  If he goes from here and becomes an example, I have a feeling people will forgive him. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 02:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

The Mariners DFA'ed Tug Hulett today.  Nothing remarkable about him, but the Yankees should get him into camp and give him a look. 

Hulett is a left-handed infielder who has a career OBP of .394 in almost 2,000 AB's in the minors.  He is about to turn 26 and had 49 lousy AB's in the majors last season where he hit .224/.309/.306.  Still he played second, short and third and that OBP is worth a look. (He also put up a nice .380 OBP in AAA last season.)  At the very least, I think he offers a more upside than Angel Berroa.  

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 07:04 PM | Permalink

Let's do a quick review of what the Yankees accomplished this offseason....

The Good: Snagging the best starting pitcher and Mark Teixeira was a major coup.  Both are still young and should greatly improve the club.  In Sabathia the Yankees have the ace they have lacked for years.  Beyond that, the guy is an absolute gamer, demanding the ball on three-days rest in Milwaukee, even though an injury would have killed his free agent chances.  Teixeira is a great bat and glove and he should really improve the defense and offense.  

Exchanging Betemit for Swisher is another savy move as Betemit wasn't doing much and Swisher should get a a chance to contribute on a regular basis (assuming he isn't traded.)

The Bad: It's hard to harp on it, but the bench is still a major concern.  If Swisher and Nady are both kept, it is much better, but the backup catching and infielder situations are poor at best.  Why does Cashman never focus on a bench?

The Unknown: Which A.J. Burnett is coming to New York?  The guy who struck out 231 hitters in the AL last year or the guy who was hurt most of his career?  It is impossible to say, but the Yankees had better hope the former after spending over $80 million on him.  

Strengths: The Yankees have a number.  From a very good rotation to a strong lineup, there are plenty of reasons to like this team.  And with Hughes and Kennedy slotted for AAA and a number of power relief arms joining them there, the Yankees should be able to survive pitching injuries

Weaknesses: They have no depth behind the position players beyond the loser of the Swisher/Nady competition.  An injury to a player like Jeter, or a slow return by Posada would be a serious blow.

What's Next? Clearly the expectations are a return to the playoffs and more.  If the team struggles early, expect Joe Girardi to get the axe quickly and a new manager brought in.  Anything less than a playoff spot will be a huge failure for this team.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 05:18 PM | Permalink

It's here!  Our long wait is over, we have baseball back again and not a moment too soon.  Pitchers and catchers are down in Tampa and starting their first workouts.  For the Yankees there are a number of things to watch, but the biggest thing on my mind is a number- 110.

That's the maximum number of games that Joe Girardi says Jorge Posada will catch this year for the Yankees.  (This of course assumes that Posada's shoulder is healthy.) That means we have at least 52 games of Jose Molina to look forward to and over 200 AB's. 

That is simply too much Molina and it is going to cost the Yankees.  I have said it before, but now that we know Girardi's plans it becomes even more vital, the Yankees have to get a better backup.  Brian Cashman is making a huge mistake here by leaving this position so vulnerable.

In other news, Bobby Abreu signed for $5 miilion with the Angels, a good deal for them.  And there are still quite a few free agents out there.  Sooner or later these guys are going to go somewhere, the only question is when.  I hope the Yankees are keeping their eyes on them, because there is a lot of talent on those lists. 

Anyway, enjoy the first day of spring! 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Want a good laugh in the midst of all the A-Rod stuff?  Check out Letterman's Top-10 from last night.

I am not sure which is my favorite because #10, #8, #6, #4 and #1 are brilliant.   

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I caught almost all of the A-Rod interview and alternated between amazement and empathy.

I would start with the empathy.  There was something incredibly sad about this interview.  It was like you could see A-Rod realizes what this means for his future and would do anything in the world to change it, but he also knows he can't.  

I found the section where he accused Selena Roberts of breaking into his house fascinating.  He claims to have a police report and if he does then she should be fired from Sports Illustrated.  Now, if he doesn't have a police report, what the hell is he thinking because that will only make him look worse?

I wish Alex didn't say things like the stuff he said about Washington Heights.  A-Rod talked about he was born in Washington Heights and would really like to get involved with the kids there.  When I hear that I wonder, why haven't you before this?  A-Rod could probably throw a baseball from Yankee Stadium to Washington Heights and he has spent five years in the Bronx.  If he wanted to help those kids, he could have long before this, don't pretend to care now to make your image look better.

I find the whole concept of forgiveness odd.  Does A-Rod owe us as fans an apology?  I don't think so, I think it goes beyond a singular player to the entire sport.  The owners and the players defrauded us for years.  If anyone is going to apologize, I would like to hear it from Selig and Fehr. 

That being said, I find it very hard to reconcile A-Rod's statements today with his Katie Couric interview from December 2007.  That was conducted after the Mitchell Report dropped and included A-Rod denying ever using any PED's.  Why did he agree to that interview in the first place if he was going to lie?  To me, the only answer is that he did it because he assumed he would get away with the lie.   

How do you handle his admission of steroid use in years other than 2003?  On one hand, he didn't have to do that because he is only accused of failing a test in 2003.  On the other hand, by saying he did it while at Texas he is almost like a doctor taking a diseased limb off a patient.  It's basically, look at my record from 1995-2000 and then 2004-present and I am clean.  Throw the other stuff out, 158 home runs, etc., and A-Rod is betting he has enough to be a Hall of Famer someday. It's a pretty smart approach because it gives voters some wiggle rooom.  If A-Rod hits 800 home runs and voters believe his story they can say I am voting for a guy who hit over 600 home runs while clean. 

Along those lines, A-Rod needs to do a little more prep.  It's probably not the best idea to hold up being 20-years old and finishing 2nd to Juan Gonzalez in the MVP race as evidence that you were clean.  

Why did Gammons start asking questions about Torre's book when he didn't follow up on half the steroids questions? And A-Rod handled those brilliantly. 

You know the only thing I think someone like A-Rod could do here is say to the interviewer, "Take a blood sample right here.  I will pee in a cup right here.  Test it for whatever you want, save the samples and keep testing them over the years as the science gets better.  You will not find anything illegal in my samples."  That is about the only way you could ever give him the benefit of the doubt.  And that's the problem with all of this.  Is there anything you can see right now that you can honestly say is naturally done on a baseball diamond?  I think that is where Curt Schilling is dead right, there are 103 names out there.  There is HGH and other crap out there, until we know that those are being tested how do we know the game is clean? 

And this is a baseball-wide problem.  100 years from now someone is going to open the record books and wonder why all these guys near the top of these lists are also not in the Hall of Fame.  Somebody in the game needs to think about that and come up with an answer.  Maybe we create a wing of the Hall of Fame for players from say 1988 and on?  I don't have any great ideas, but I know that baseball is damaging its history by ignoring the problem.  

And finally, where is Gene Orza right now?  The allegation that he was tipping off players about steroids tests now moves front and center.  A-Rod said his peace, you can choose to believe him or not believe him, but Orza is next and he needs to speak up. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 07:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

You may not have noticed, but I haven't had anything to say about the Torre book in a couple of days.  The reason for that is because the A-Rod chapter really bothered me.  It bothered me so much that I put the book down for a day and then went and read it again last night.  I wanted to take my time with my thoughts. 

What I was going to say about it seems almost silly in light of today's A-Rod news, but here it goes.  It is clear that Torre and Verducci don't like A-Rod very much.  In the book they blame him for just about everything except cancer.  Is it true the Yankees have sucked in the postseason since A-Rod arrived?  Yes, it is.  Is it true A-Rod has sucked in the postseason since he arrived?  Yes, it is.  But, I think you need to dig a little deeper than that.  Start with the pitching.  Since 2003, the Yankees have had mediocre pitching.  Look back at the teams that won and they all had deep pitching staffs.  Do you think not having that pitching matters in the playoffs?  I would say absolutely.  

Anyway, I was going to go on like that for awhile, but luckily I have a new topic to vent on.  Apparently, A-Rod failed a steroids test in 2003.  (BTW- if anyone is reading the book and doesn't think it goes out of its way to bash Alex, please speak up)  Here are a bunch of thoughts on this in no particular order.

1- This is a six-year old test that is just coming to light now?  And, there are 103 other players who also failed.  When are those names going to start leaking out?  This would be a wonderful time for baseball and the players' union to come clean and provide all the names.  It will never happen, but it would be a nice thing right now.

2- I have no doubt the story is true.  Four sources confirmed it and that seems more than enough to me.  But, I also have a major problem with "unnamed sources" hiding in the shadows and destroying people.  

3- Who knew about this list and more specifically, did the Yankees know about it?  If so, why did they trade for A-Rod in the first place?  It would seem to me that the only reason the Yankees would have traded for A-Rod if they had known about this was because they knew everyone was juicing.

4- How scary is it that the most credible person in regards to this topic is Jose Canseco?

5- I was really looking forward to seeing A-Rod break the home run record as a "clean" player.  That's pretty much gone now.

6- However, A-Rod was tested the past few years and for the WBC, which has Olympic-level testing and he didn't fail once.  How do we reconcile that with this?

7- This just proves what a bad job the Mitchell Report did.  This garbage is everywhere and I am sick of hearing Bud Selig crow about how good a job baseball has done to curb steroid use.  Bud, you and the other owners and players were running an athletic pharmacy for years.  Cut the crap and admit it.

8- Alex absolutely needs to get in front of a camera in the next 24 hours and address this.  Admit it or deny it (be careful if you deny it Alex, think of Clemens) but he has to address it.

9- Along the lines of #3, do the Yankees have a way to get out of his deal now?  Maybe not his contract, but the whole "milestone home run" thing?  It would seem to me that marketing home runs clouded by steroids is a losing proposition.

10- I am depressed now. 

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 06:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)