New York Yankees News: Linsanity, Girardi Counting on A-Rod and a Thinner CC
by Travis G on Feb 21, 2012 6:01 AM EST
in New York Yankees News
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PrintMark Feinsand posed five questions heading into Spring Training, starting with: Who'll be the 5th starter?
- Brian Cashman used Jeremy Lin to inspire some of the Yankees' farm hands (specifically David Phelps, Adam Warren and D.J. Mitchell), telling them anyone could turn into a sensation overnight in New York.
- Joe Girardi is counting on A-Rod to have a comeback season. 2011 was the worst of his career since 1995 (when he only played 48 games).
- CC Sabathia reported to camp at "only" 290 lbs., which he said was 10-15 lbs. less than at the end of last year.
- Hiroki Kuroda showed up early to camp and is happy to be wearing pinstripes -
It's obviously one of the prominent teams, not just in baseball but in all of sports worldwide. This is a team of tradition and a lot of heritage, and a lot of players came out of it. I wanted to be on a team with a lot of pride, and I wanted to be able to win a championship. This has been my goal since I came from Japan, and I thought this would be the chance that I would get, and that's why I joined the Yankees.
We're all there with you, Hiroki.
- A.J. Burnett said part of his Yankee problems stemmed from letting "a few too many people tinker with me." And that in 2009, "nobody messed with me." He also said going back to the NL would "get the joy back into the game." I guess that World Series title was no fun at all, huh A.J.?
- Manny Ramirez is back in baseball. He agreed to a $500K minor league deal with Oakland yesterday. But since he never served his 50-game PED suspension last year, he won't be eligible to join the A's until at least May 30.
- RHP Koji Uehara rejected a trade to Toronto because "the weather is an issue."
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C'mon AJ.....
….people wouldn’t have had to “tinker” with you if you’d been effective. They didn’t tinker with you in ’09…because you were effective.
When you start posting a close to 5 ERA, with no injuries….what do you expect people to do? Go along for the ride? Yeah…great idea.
Don’t let the door hit you where the good lord split you. Those kinds of comments are EXACTLY why you needed to find a new place to play.
“I’m fine. Leave me alone. I don’t need to do any work. It’s all your fault”.
Agreed
- I’m just glad he is gone. This is clearly an Addition by subtraction getting rid of AJ. Again, Cashman did a great job with this move. 2 months ago, nobody thought Cashman would ever get 13 mill paid. Or the day after the Carlos Zambrano trade.
In fairness to AJ
I don’t know that he really had a reputation for “those kinds of comments” as you put it. I’m not defending what he said (hell, I didn’t bother to read what he said, because I don’t care now that he’s gone) but it seems like he said a lot of the right things while he was here. He just didn’t get results. If he feels the need to point the finger now, who cares? Whatever helps him sleep at night – we’ll always have 2009, and so will he.
He was a decent teammate while he was a Yankee, and I believe he did his best. He put in the innings, and didn’t miss games due to injuries (or stupidity) like some other big free agent pitchers we all could name. I will just wave goodbye and move on – it’s best for both parties.
I'm not saying
…he had a reputation for them. I saying the comments, themselves, are indicative of WHY he had to go. They put into perspective his overall attitude.
Sure..he said the right things while he was here…and then showed that it was all lip service the minute he walked away. SAYING the right things and DOING the right things (or believing what you’re saying) are two different animals.
Telling, no?
I don't get it...
Why can’t you admit that these comments are indicative of an attitude problem as CalinCT said, or that AJ was a failure, did not earn his millions, and let people point all this out?
Because I give more weight to three years of behavior than I do to one interview?
And when did I say AJ was successful in New York, or earned his millions?
And I think...
…it’s easy to turn a blind eye when you don’t want to see what’s in front of you.
It’s not like AJ was an angel, in the attitude department, during his tenure. We saw the disrespectful moments leaving the mound. We saw (or heard about) the punching of various doors and walls. We saw the still unexplained black eye.
There were OTHER indicators, over the past couple of years. Sure, he talked the talk when the Yanks were cutting his paycheck…and as soon as he was out the door, his tune changed. Funny how, when ON the Yanks…it was them working with him trying to make him better and successful. The minute he’s out the door, it’s “too many people tinkering with him”.
Give him a pass if you feel you need to. But don’t pretend the comments don’t mean anything…or that they’re the ONLY indication we’ve seen.
Not sure how...
…you can “read into” this:
"I think I just started buying in and listening to the wrong things," Burnett said when asked why things went south. "I’m not gonna be the guy that’s not coachable and the guy that doesn’t wanna get better and doesn’t wanna learn. So when you’re surrounded by Hall of Famers like that that wanna help you, you’re gonna listen. And I think I got away from a lot. I don’t think my velocity’s dropped down. I think the way I changed my delivery made my velocity drop down. … I never felt like I did in 2009 as a Yankee."
Asked who changed him, Burnett replied, "It wasn’t exactly a change. I think maybe reactions here or there from the crowd if I walked a couple guys or got in bad counts early, it’s like it’s over. But it’s not over, I still got six or seven innings left to pitch, so ease up.
"At the same time, I turned a lot [in my delivery in the past]. I had deception in my delivery in 2009 that made me successful. It wasn’t anybody. They didn’t like the turn. They wanted me to be more of a strike thrower and try to get more consistent in the strike zone because I was wild in that delivery — but then again I was more powerful and dominant in that delivery."
Taken from http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/yankees/post/_/id/27616/burnett-new-delivery-changed-velocity
I read that article
All he does is praise his teammates and the organization, take ownership of the fact that his results were not where they needed to be, and say that last bit about them wanting him to be more of a strike thrower. I honestly don’t see the disrespect you are seeing. You want to believe the worst, go for it. Like I said, he is not our problem any more, so I don’t care.
Took responsibility...
…how?
By blaming his innefectiveness on changes to his delivery?
Yeah..that’s not making excuses and pointing fingers.
He says he liked Joe…and then backhands him by complaining about being taken out of games “early” because he think he can turn it around.
Maybe you need to read the article a couple more times.
Yes, took responsibility
He said the results were not there. He said he understood why Joe had to take him out even though he felt he could turn it around. What’s the big deal?
I don’t need or want to read this any more. I’m done arguing what he did or did not mean by any of this. As I keep saying – he’s not our problem any more, so I don’t care. If you want to keep beating a dead horse, then by all means do so. Clearly you have some sort of axe to grind here.
its official, billy beane is an idiot
The 2011-2012 New York Giants are World Champions!
by NewYork! on Feb 21, 2012 10:49 AM EST via Android app reply actions
I think the last two years stick out more in AJ's mind than 2009
let him step back and have some perspective before reading into his comments. He had two rough seasons in which the media and everyone else tried to crucify him – this is probably a huge sigh of relief for him. He let his guard down and talked too much to the Pittsburgh media.
Boone Logan is a good boy. So is David Robertson. Team A.J.
From Feinsand's article:
23-year-old Austin Romine was impressive during his brief September call-up.
Was he really? I seriously don’t remember it this way, though I’ll admit to being dazzled by the glow from Jesus’ halo last September, so anything is possible. It was small sample size, of course, but B-R shows him as getting all of 20 ABs in 9 games, with a less than impressive .158/200/.158 line, and 5 Ks vs. 3 singles and 1 BB. But, I’m sure he called a great game…
I should also point out
that i didn’t think it was possible to have a negative OPS+ until I saw Romine’s listed at -3. Seriously, -3 (where 100 would be league average)? Definitely SSS, but not the sort of impressive we were hoping to see.
Gotta keep pushing the narrative that he’s a top prospect. The power of Michael Kay and John Flaherty compels all.
The general attitude of the preceding comment is frowned upon by upper management.
#JEDI4PSA
by Jedi Master A-Rod on Feb 21, 2012 11:49 AM EST up reply actions
I love Romine. I think he’s going to be a great ML catcher in the Girardi-style – great defensively and calling a game. He’s got some pop in his bat too and was right in the heart of the order in Trenton. He just got sent up to the majors too quick due to injury and the refusal to play two catchers on the ML roster down the stretch (Posada & Montero). He probably needs a year or two in SWB to develop his offense, but I do expect to see him in the majors for a long time. Just not sure it will end up being with the Yanks…
I was watching. Roming definitely wasn’t impressive. I guess you could say he was impressive because of his maturity/demeanor or maybe that he could catch some innings without standing out as a poor defender. Other than that, not impressive…at all. But I wasn’t really expecting him to be.
I mean Montero didn't exactly stand out as a poor defender in his limited action either
But…
"Don't you think it's strange that you'll make more money than President Hoover this year?"
"Why not? I had a better year than he did." - G.H. Ruth
i dunno...
before we signed him, I always got the feeling that Kuroda didn’t want to pitch for us. What changed?
new offer of prostitutes
or he realized this might be his last chance to win a world series.
Boone Logan is a good boy. So is David Robertson. Team A.J.
Romine could be an average ML catcher
which wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. It is just that us as yankee fans have been spoiled with Posada’s abnormal catcher production for years, than then teased with a potential replacement for Posadas production in Montero. Take a look at other teams starting catchers minus the stars; you will generally see good defense and pretty poor hitting.
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