Bye bye Bobby.

And good riddance, frankly.

Story HERE

That's an encouraging sign, imo. The only issue it brings up is Girardi's relationship with Cashman -- is it perhaps a bit tenuous? Girardi was quite adamant at the end of the season that he saw no reason to make changes to the coaching staff -- and lo and behold we have one.

I don't see the Bowa or Randolph moves happening either, as PeteA points out. Anyone got thoughts on whether Pena's a legit candidate?

frontpaged by jscape

"I'm not writing off this season," the team's co-chairman said Tuesday. "They're trying hard to win. There's only so much you can do. They're not supermen."

..."I think it's very simple, we've been devastated by injuries. No team I've ever seen in baseball has been decimated like this. It would kill any team," Steinbrenner said."

Read it here

Last year we lost 3/5ths of the opening day starting rotation. Made the playoffs.

This year we lost 3/5ths of the opening day starting rotation. Probably not going to make the playoffs.

Strange to hear a Steinbrenner make such statements, though, isn't it? Felt like the twilight zone when I read it.

""You grab hold of Richie to play first base a little bit and I know he was struggling, but it puts a right-handed bat in our lineup against a left-handed pitcher," Mussina said. "Just that small tweak in the lineup is a big deal. He plays a great first base. Obviously when you're 6-foot-12, you can catch a lot of baseballs."

"Obviously when you're 6-foot-12,...." (way to go Mikey)

source:  Lohud

1. Wang has been undergoing a fairly dramatic change in his pitching this year. Some days he has it, some days he doesn't. It happens. Live with it. Die with it.

2. Andy always sucks in the middle of the season, but when he 'needs' a good game, somehow he manages to pull one out. But if you had to start ONE guy from this staff in a pressure game...would you still choose AP? (I would take my chances with him)

3. Rasner (I think this is correct) has been victimized more by the offense failing him and not his pitching failing him (uh, Oakland start notwithstanding, but even that was a clinic in hitting to the op field and THAT was the catcher's fault moreso than the pitcher's fault)

4. Mike Mussina is currently the "ace" of the staff...isn't that a laugh (was it jscape or anaconda who called Moose's return to form? I forget, but one of them called it last year).

5. Joba is doing just fine as a starter, and, all things considered, the bullpen has held up just fine since his transition.

6. We've got exciting young kids who can come up later in the season and make a difference both in the lineup and in the pen.

7. We have tradeable assets for midseason moves should they be absolutely necessary.

We STILL do not have our healthy stable starting rotation. We STILL do not have a healthy productive offense.

and yet, we're only 6 games back.

In the last week, we've had more come from behind wins than we had in all of April and May.

The funniest, strangest statistic I'm seeing --

Take a look around the AL, specifically, look at home/away records -- do you see that only ONE team has a winning record on the road (LA) and, who's that tied for second best road record? NY (and here's a laugh -- they have second best road win percentage in the  AL at .486)

Things aren't YET the disaster so many are making them out to be.

They are on a 7/10 run. They are only 6 games back. Boston is not unbeatable (unless they're home). Tampa is playing above their heads (but they are a good club, better than the press gave them credit for).

We're still in that stretch of more home games than away games up until the AS break.

Given that Boston is running at .600 for the season so far, here are win totals and win percentage projections for the remainder of the season that the Yanks need to achieve to compete for the AL East or the Wild Card:

90 (.585)
92 (.606)
95 (.638)
97 (.660)

Of those numbers, 90 and 92 wins is not unrealistic -- this team CAN play .600 ball the rest of the season -- the question is, Will they or won't they.

The scary part is that, if they can maintain some stability in the rotation and bullpen, .660 the rest of the way is not impossible (not unlike last season).

I think they make their move now, with a good swing versus the NL, do the NY grudge match smackdown, hit Boston up for a 3 spot on 4th of July weeknd and they're atop the division two days later beating Tampa at home on July the 8th.

(So, IF it actually happens that way...now there's a record of it and if it doesn't I can simply point to the smoking mushrooms next to my computer and blame them).

is to start giving up on this team.

Let's be fair: Three of the guys who got big raises aren't performing (Arod, Cano, Posada (even when he was healthy)).

But it's also still April. And April has rarely ever been a Yankee month (why, I don't know, but it hasn't).

Let's also be patient with Hughes and Kennedy -- I did think Ian would be more consistent than this, but he hasn't yet. Both are suffering from trusting their stuff I would guess. Either way, they aren't getting any help from the offense either -- and when your team scores runs, that takes pressure of the SP. But in close games, or games where they're trailing (which seems to be everyday now), that's added pressure these two don't need.

If you thought the season would be a cakewalk, you were misinformed. Joe G has some decisions to make though - specifically with certain 1b players who simply aren't producing. What bothers me most, is the number of bases loaded opportunities (and subsequent failures) they've had -- though I would hope that the law of averages would even that out.

On a sidenote, those 'frothing' at the mouth should consider the record of Justin Verlander here in Detroit -- an Ace, #1 starter, top gun -- whatever you want to call him, he's currently sporting a nifty 7.03 ERA and an 0-3 record -- and CC Sabathia, 0-3 and a sparkling 13+ ERA.

http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2008/03/19/breaking-news-joba-to-the-bullpen/

We all expected this to be the likely move, so it isn't much of a surprise. My only question is with Joba having worked all spring on his full bag of pitches, will this move affect him in the latter half of the season should he move to the rotation?

Any experts on the subject?

Confirmed committee: Mo, Farns, Joba, Hawk

That leaves 3 spots to fill.

Traber, imo, has earned a shot at the pen. Igawa has earned a shot at the drive-thru of dunkin donuts.

Albadelejo, Patterson, Ramirez, Veras, Ohlendorf, Bruney, Phillips, Karstens, Rasner...

Of those, I'd really like to see if Alba, Traber and either Edwar or Veras can solidify the pen.

Ohlendorf should go to AAA to continue working on his pitches imo. Having him make the team then sit frequently does him no good. He's a longer term project I think.

Bruney has not shown consistency of command this spring.  Not sure that Britton has really impressed anyone and Ramirez and Veras are a toss-up I think.

Anyone had any read on Patterson (who has had a good spring training)? Or is he on the outside looking in?

Also brings the questions: Rasner, imo, has had a horrid spring and should go AAA'ing (or become trade bait).  Karstens has been inconsistent -- but he can be valuable, especially early season as a long man.

Girardi has some difficult decisions to make.

From your last post to the Time to cut Bait discussion on Kei Igawa...you said:

"For what it's worth, I'd think Zito's outting for the Giants is even more embrassing. when's the last time you saw a SP not being able to finish even 1 IP in ST?"

well, (chuckle), CMW yesterday!

(thought you'd get a kick out of that)

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Yankees 9 Phillies 3

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frontpaged by jscape

Is there any way for the Yanks to part ways with Kei Igawa? Can we get someone from Japan to kidnap him back?

The Pitching Line Score from today's USF game:

 J Chamberlain 2 IP, 0 ER
 I Kennedy 2 IP, 0 ER
 P Hughes 1 IP, 0 ER
 K Igawa 1 IP, 4 ER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
 J Marquez 1 IP, 0 ER
 A Horne 1 IP, 0 ER
 C Wright 1 IP, 0 ER

Only one guy gives up runs to the college team -- isn't this telling the Yankees what they already know? Igawa is, at best, a dishwasher at Denny's? Or is that Lenny's? I forget...

I can understand first time out against live hitters, but to be THAT bad?

It's seriously time to cut bait, isn't it?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2920107

Focus on the last sentence: ""At the same time, [Steinbrenner] doesn't want to give up those young guys either," Cashman said. "But that could always change, too.""

And it wouldn't surprise me one bit if it did change.

Whether Torre's or Cashman's jobs are in jeopardy or not doesn't matter in my mind.

I can only hope they don't get stupid and deal out what few future prospects they do have to be competitive this year with a team that should have been (but isn't) competitive.