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Quiet Tuesday for Trade Rumors

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 3:00 pm 3 Responses »
Jul 282010

Yesterday was a relatively quiet day for the Yankees in terms of trade rumors, with just a few notes.

First on the Joakim Soria front, we see that Soria’s contract has the Yankees listed as a team to which he would reject a trade. Before learning this, I’d say the chances of a deal getting done were pretty low and this makes those chances essentially non-existent. Soria would look nice setting up for Mariano Rivera, but for now it looks to be a pipe dream.

The next piece is much more interesting. It tells us that the Phillies were going to try to move Jayson Werth to the Yankees in a three team deal for Dan Haren. Of course, Verducci makes a more or less glancing pass at this notion. Still, it would’ve been interesting to see what kind of deal would have been worked out to get Werth in Pinstripes. That’s a deal, though, I don’t see the Yankees making unless another outfielder gets shipped off somewhere else as well. If they’re going to continue to use Jorge Posada as a relatively frequent DH, then there’s no point in having a rotating DH/OF situation. After examining this “rumor,” I think Verducci was just tossing the Yankees’ name out there to stir the pot.

Lastly, we have the interest that just won’t die. Fox Sports has the Yankees as still maintaining interest in Adam Dunn. Unless the price comes down wildly, it’s not going to happen. Obviously, the Yankees are likely just doing their diligence on Dunn, but it’s nothing more than white noise at this point.

Trade pieces we should monitor over the next few days:
–The price on Scott Downs
–If anyone expresses any interest in Chan Ho Park
–If anyone expresses any interest in Joba Chamberlain

Pedroia, Francona and Media Narratives

Posted by Stephen R. at 1:00 pm 12 Responses »
Jul 282010

The story about Dustin Pedroia and his injured foot is hardly new ground, but yesterday readers were treated to a new bit of information about his timetable for recovery, and the risks he has been running by attempting to play.  In the Boston Globe’s Red Sox notebook yesterday we read the following:

Dr. Lewis Yocum examined the injured Red Sox second baseman yesterday and informed him that the broken medial navicular bone in his left foot will need at least six weeks to heal, not the five weeks Pedroia was hoping for.

“He kind of scared me a little bit,’’ Pedroia said last night before the Sox played the Angels. “There’s nothing really that I can do. Just time’s got to heal me. He kind of told me I can’t play unless I feel no pain, which isn’t good.

“I didn’t realize how serious it was and how long it’s going to take.’’

Today marks 33 days since Pedroia was injured, well short of six weeks. He is scheduled for a CT scan in Boston Friday, which should give doctors a better idea of how well the bone has healed. Until then, Pedroia will be shut down from throwing, taking grounders or batting practice to give his foot some rest.

“I think the message has been pretty consistent,’’ manager Terry Francona said. “I think today maybe Pedey heard it a little bit better.’’

–snip–

Pedroia said his foot “felt weird’’ Monday when he tried jogging for the first time. “Any time my foot pounds on that ground, it didn’t really feel good,’’ Pedroia said. “[Yocum] said you have to be smart, man. It can definitely hurt you in the long run.’’

Pedroia had been under the impression he could play through some pain. But Yocum said that wasn’t an option. If Pedroia fractures that bone again, he would be looking at surgery that could keep him out for parts of next season.

Let’s recap what happened.  34 days ago Pedroia fouled a ball off his foot and broke it.  Doctors said that he would miss six weeks, but he promised to return ahead of schedule, apparently thinking that he had the ability to heal bones faster than other similar athletes.  Sure, OK.  Athletes say stuff like that all the time.  A week later, Pedroia used his crutches to get out on the field and took grounders from his knees.  When asked to explain himself, Pedroia said “I’m just keeping my [expletive] ready…That’s all I’ve got for you. I’ve just got to keep my arm in shape.’’  It’s hard to tell if Francona respected this display of bravado, saying, ”He’s a maniac…He knows he can’t put any weight on that foot, or he’ll slow himself down.”

Pedroia is now probably two weeks away from returning and attempts to jog but says that it “felt weird”, no doubt sending terror throughout Red Sox Village.   The doctor scolds him, warning him that he’s risking the rest of this season, as well as part of next year, if he doesn’t cut it out and let the bone heal.  Pedroia acted as if this was news to him, but Francona isn’t buying it, saying “I think the message has been pretty consistent…I think today maybe Pedey heard it a little bit better.”

So how do we interpret this?  Do you interpret it like a hater like me would and say that Pedroia is a selfish, attention-seeking diva who is putting the club’s welfare at risk in order to beat a timeline and make himself look like a hero?  Do you interpret it like a homer would and say that Pedroia is just trying to get back as quickly as possible so he can help a struggling club get into the playoffs?  If it was Alex Rodriguez with the stress fracture and the details of the story were the same, would you feel the same way? Does it matter?  Finally, if those quotes were from Girardi about Rodriguez, would we all be hearing that Girardi is angry with Rodriguez, and that there is a schism in the clubhouse?  Does that illustrate any difference in approach between the New York and Boston media?  I’m not exactly sure where I come down on it, but I think it’s an interesting test case in light of our conversation about media narratives about Joba Chamberlain and Alex Rodriguez.

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My Brief Take on the Eighth Inning

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 11:00 am 3 Responses »
Jul 282010

Alright, so it appears that Joba Chamberlain has lost the ever important eighth inning role. Frankly, it’s about time…but not for the reasons you’d think.

Obviously, Chamberlain hasn’t performed well as of late and taking him out of high leverage situations is a good idea. Until he proves different, Joba shouldn’t be used in high leverage situations. David Robertson is, apparently, getting a shot as the set up guy. I’ve always been a big fan of Robertson and I hope he flourishes in this role. However, I’d be just as fine if he didn’t get an extended shot. But, then again, I don’t know if Joba should keep getting the ball handed to him, Damaso Marte is hurt, and while Boone Logan is pitching well, I think we’re all waiting for the other shoe to drop. Trading for bullpen help is always a risky proposition and the only reliable piece–Joakim Soria–seems to cost way too much.

So, what should Joe Girardi do? The first thing he should do is not announce anyone as the eighth inning guy. There doesn’t need to be a special pitcher to do this since most middle relievers are volatile and just because a guy is named the eighth inning guy doesn’t mean he will escape this fate; Joba is an easy example of this.

Girardi needs to do something that seems rather intuitive and something he’s seemed to be good at lately: he needs to just play the hot hand. If that’s D-Rob, go with D-Rob. If it’s Joba, go with Joba. Hell, if it’s somehow Chan Ho Park, go with CHoP. If you have to mix and match with some of those guys and Boone Logan, do it. If it means using Mo for a greater than three out save every so often, do it. The role of the eighth inning is so incredibly overrated and if the Yankees can simply avoid falling into the silly cliche of having a defined set-up guy, they could gain a little bullpen success and save us all a giant headache.

Perhaps that’s what’s wrong with bullpen usage in today’s game. While I guess we can say the pitchers like having “defined roles”, current bullpen usage is relatively inefficient. Maybe if the Yankees can un-anoint the eighth inning, a little ball will get rolling (I seriously doubt this, but a guy can dream, right?).

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AJ Burnett-You'll pry that pie from my cold, dead hand!

Posted by Steve S. at 7:36 am 1 Response »
Jul 282010

Boy, do I ever love this picture.

Mark Fiensand of the NY Daily News caught up with AJ Burnett before last night’s game and asked him if he plans on curbing his pie-throwing antics in light of a recent mishap with the Florida Marlins. Here’s the story:

CLEVELAND – Celebrating has become dangerous in baseball, but don’t expect A.J. Burnett to curb his pie throwing.

Florida‘s Chris Coghlan tore the meniscus in his left knee on Sunday as he jumped to deliver a celebratory pie in the face of Wes Helms following his walk-off single. Coghlan, the 2009 NL Rookie of the Year, might require surgery that would sideline him for the next 6-8 weeks.

“I feel sorry for him,” Burnett said. “You cant take the fun out of the game, but you have to do it right, I guess. It’s an unfortunate incident, but I’m still going to throw pies.”

Burnett has delivered about 20 pies since joining the Yankees.

“I don’t exactly go full-sprint at somebody with a pie,” Burnett said. “Stuff happens, I guess. I always try to somewhat think safety first – unless I’m snapping – even when I’m pie-ing.”

Coghlan is the second player to suffer a serious injury this season following a walk-off win. Kendry Morales of the Angels suffered a broken leg after jumping on home plate in May.

“It’s a shame that it happened that way,” Joe Girardi said of Coghlan’s injury. “A.J. has had a lot of practice at it and seems pretty efficient at it. It’s a fine line that you walk, but I have not said anything to our players about taking it away.”

We’ve taken an already silly situation and managed to make it even sillier. I haven’t heard any calls to end walk-off celebrations after Kendry Morales’ broke his ankle earlier this year. Maybe AJ should wear an army helmet and tape himself in bubble wrap as he runs on the field. These things fall into the category of “Freak Injury” the kind of thing that can happen in a million different ways, and trying to prevent them would be a fool’s errand. The logic behind banning these things reminds me of an old joke by comedian George Carlin-

"A man shot six people on the downtown bus today, then asked for a
transfer and shot six people on the crosstown bus.  In order to
prevent this from happening in the future, authorities are
discontinuing the transfer system."

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