Saturday News: The Tools of Ignorance

by jscape2000 on Feb 27, 2010 7:18 AM EST in New York Yankees News

The semi-dormant NYTimes' Bats Blog is churning out posts again, a sure sign that summer is coming (even if Jersey looks suited for the Winter Games.

First, they took a look at 9 of Jeter's upcoming milestones. The big ones for me:

Games Played (pass Gehrig early 2010, Mickey for 1st in 2011)

Hits (a 200 hit season puts him 30th all-time and the active leader)

Runs Scored (104 runs to pass Mantle for first as a Yank means a great season for Jeter and the hitters behind him)

Stolen Bases (22 to pass Rickey Henderson for 1st as a Yank)

The NYTimes also gives a little more insight into just what the competition between Joba and Hughes could come down to:

Hughes’s priority this spring is refining his changeup, and he recently changed his grip — the 29th grip, by his count. He now throws a circle change and said the pitch feels good rolling off his fingers.

Joba "wants to get better at throwing inside."

Brandon has done a nice series of interviews with some Yankee minor leaguers (Grant Duff yesterday and PJ Pilettere Thursday). That copy cat over at LoHud Chad Jennings has an interview with often-injured but lightning-armed Christian Garcia.

Must read stuff by both writers if you follow the minors.

Finally, NoMaas reminds us to make fun of the Red Sox for playing the gritty underdog card with their $170M payroll. Does MLB have financial imbalance problems? Hell, yes. Which end of the problem are the Red Sox on? Ours.

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Comments

If Jeter

has a year anything close to last year I’d expect him to score 120+. An average season should produce this many runs for him especially since A-Rod will be there the entire season. Hopefully his presence will help get Tex out of his early season doldrums, which should also produce more runs for Jeter.

by david d on Feb 27, 2010 10:13 AM EST reply actions

120 is an incredible year

He’s topped that 4 times in his career: ’98, ’99, ’02 and ’05. He came close in ’97 (116), ’00 (119), and ’06 (118).

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Feb 27, 2010 10:43 AM EST up reply actions

Honestly I’ve lost so much interest in the Joba vs. Hughes deal, at this point I’m just gonna wait until the season starts.

The Red Sox “gritty” deal has always been a riot.

by Gelatin on Feb 27, 2010 10:33 AM EST via mobile reply actions

I am so excited

to see how the kids develop. Pena Gardener Robinson

to watch the pitching sort itself out. If Joba and or Hughes is to become a front end starter this is a big spring.

To find out where our seats are this year. A couple more days for the Yanks to get to our seniority date.

Spring is coming, just don’t look out the window!

"You don't realize how easy this game is until you get up in that broadcasting booth." Mickey

by Cbeck3 on Feb 27, 2010 12:42 PM EST reply actions

don't you know

the Red Sox don’t actually pay their players. They’re so honored to be part of such an esteemed organization that they play only for the love of the game and the fans. and they win on grission and hustle.

by Travis G on Feb 27, 2010 1:40 PM EST reply actions

its all part of “cowboying up”

by blindmole on Feb 27, 2010 1:50 PM EST up reply actions

The Pissants are the little $170mil engine that could

so cute.

Master of the squeegee

by FreeBradshaw on Feb 27, 2010 3:30 PM EST reply actions

The Sox are just as bad as the Yankees

and this year, they gained a ton of payroll, while the Yankees dropped payroll. If that becomes a trend, could it be possible that the Sox could be number one in the future?

That would be great. The Sox be number one in payroll, just once. Then we can see what those fans who say, “we’re gritty, and we win on ‘heart’, and the Yankees just buy championships”, say then.

Anybody know the exact number for the Yankees payroll this year? Is it below 200 million or not?

by nyyrocks29 on Feb 27, 2010 4:20 PM EST reply actions

212 mil give or take

Cot’s Baseball contracts has their 2010 committments at 212 mil right now. That doesn’t include 4 or 5 guys who will make the league minimum but it does include a couple of guys who won’t be on the big league roster (Mitre, Igawa) so it’ll be somewhere between 210 and 215.

by Let's Talk About Tex Baby on Feb 27, 2010 5:47 PM EST up reply actions

All I had was a pair of Red Sox with holes and a broke down Philly to get to work on

Thats funny, I was thinking the exact same thing when I was brushing through this earlier. The Phillies are the ‘new’ gritty, working mans, ‘heart’ inspired, peoples team with their 135+ million payroll (and rising). This is some seriously pathetic fan promoting. I mean do these guys really need to act like a couple of Armani suit wearing billionare politicians claiming to be champions of the poor and middle class? The funny thing is their fans that claim this are OBLIVIOUS to the real facts.

Global domination, bizarre experiments on youth, our best player squatting in buildings drinking Bacardi, what you call the Evil Empire, I CALL HOME!!!!

by SteveBalboniHOF on Feb 27, 2010 6:14 PM EST up reply actions