Today’s news is powered by new music from DEVO! (Yeah yeah, I know . . . they’re not cool like Stevie or Miles, but hey . . .)
“DON’T SHOOT” – DEVO from DEVO Channel on Vimeo.
- Tyler Kepner applies something akin to “six degrees of separation” to get us from having Ruben Rivera on the roster to acquiring Nick Swisher.
- Sticking with Swisher, MLB.com profiles the hot-hitting Yankee:
“I’m absolutely loving it,” Swisher said. “It’s like I almost don’t want to wake up. I don’t want to soak it in right now. I want to keep that fire, keep that passion and keep that attitude going right now.
“When I come to the ballpark, I feel confident. I know in this game, you’re going to go through ups and downs, but right now, things seem to be going pretty well.”. . .
“He’s playing well, he really is,” Girardi said. “He’s swinging the bat well, played a nice first base [Saturday] and had some tough throws that he had to dig out. Left-handed or right-handed, he’s always a tough at-bat.”
- The Times’ Vincent Mazzolli wonders how one could better spend the $10,600 it costs for four of the best seats at the new Stadium:
Autograph collectors like me can take $10,600 and buy a dozen baseballs signed by Alex Rodriguez (about $350 per ball), a dozen signed by Derek Jeter (about $300 a ball), and still have enough cash to get every other player on the 25-man roster to autograph an individual ball.
Last month, I really let the wrong pitch go by. Rather than invest $10,600 in three hours of baseball, I could have bought 10,600 shares of Citigroup stock on March 6. The share price has tripled.
There are a great many other ways to spend $10,600. You can spring for 14 Frederic Fekkai haircuts at $750 a pop, or treat yourself and 85 of your closest friends to orchestra tickets for “The Lion King” on Broadway ($121.50 per ticket on Broadway.com).
Maybe one day, someone will make a movie about the skyrocketing costs of raising a baseball family, especially in Ruth’s old neighborhood. They could call it “The Bronx Is Burning a Hole in Our Wallets.”
- PeteAbe offers his opinion on Girardi’s decision-making late in Sunday’s game:
. . . I can’t fault Joe Girardi for not using Mariano Rivera in the 8th inning. Mo is a 39-year-old coming off shoulder surgery and did not throw more than one inning all spring training. Oh, and it was raining and 40 degrees. Part of a manager’s job is making sure his players stay healthy.
- Pete also has some definite opinions on the class system implied in the layout of the new Stadium:
The Yankees will allow fans through the gates three hours before the game to watch batting practice, a welcome change from the old rules. But fans will not be allowed on the field level unless they have a ticket for that section. If you want to snap a photo of your favorite player, it will be from a distance unless you want to spring for tickets that cost $95 to $375.
The array of restaurants and bars is impressive. But so are the security forces aligned to keep you out unless you have membership or an expensive ticket. . . .
The now infamous Legends Seats close to the field are protected from regular folks by a large concrete wall, and security guards stationed every few feet. The Mohegan Sun Sports Bar sits smack in the middle of the bleachers, ruining the view from hundreds of seats.
While it’s part of modern baseball to provide exclusivity to patrons willing to spend large sums of money, do the Yankees really need so many areas where the average fan isn’t allowed? In some cases, they rub your nose in it with huge windows showing you what’s inside as you walk by.
- Alert the authorities . . .Alex Rodriguez is on the move!:
Alex Rodriguez will report Monday to the New York Yankees’ spring training complex in Tampa, Fla., to continue his rehabilitation from right hip surgery.
Rodriguez had surgery March 9 in Vail, Colo., to remove an impingement in the joint and drain a cyst in the hip. “I’m very encouraged,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said before Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Royals. “To have a labrum surgery and be doing what he is doing already is very encouraging.”
- Bernie Williams discusses his new CD, being released Tuesday.
- One man was at the 1st home opener in the old stadium, and he’s going to be at the home opener in the new Stadium too!:
Watching the Home Opener at a brand-new Yankee Stadium is a once-in-a-lifetime experience – unless you’re Harry Heller.
Heller was 13 years old when his brother took him, as a bar mitzvah gift, to the inaugural game in the House That Ruth Built on April 18, 1923.
Now Heller, who turns 99 today, plans to attend Opening Day at the new Yankee Stadium on Thursday – “if I’m still around,” he said playfully.
Poll time:
[poll id=”29″]
Hopefully, Joe G learns from his mistake here...over-managing his bullpen. But, more ominous is the performance of Gardner in center. He doesn't get good breaks on the ball, uses his speed to compensate, and, arm strength aside, is rarely in a good position to make a strong throw. What's the point of always playing shallow if you can't get to bloopers? And, going back on the deep ball? Oy.
Can someone explain for me a definition of "over-managing" that's not dependent on outcomes?
Otherwise all I see is:
IF lots of relievers OR lots of decisions made AND:
win the game, THEN: "pushes all the right buttons" or "skillfully navigates the opposing lineup"
OTHERWISE
lose the game, THEN: "over-managed the bullpen" or "Tony Larussa impression"
And what's the point of any of that?
My problem with Joe Girardi's over management is that often it has nothing to do with the situation at hand. He just makes a move because he hasn't made a move in a while and he thinks its time. How many times did he put an awful defender in for late inning defense last year because he determined it was time to make a move?
I don't like managers that think that handedness trumps ability in a reliever. Torre was overly reliant on handedness, but I had hoped that Girardi viewed relievers in a more context neutral way.
There are few things that annoy me more than "journalists" who cite an anonymous scout to support a nonsensical contention:
Joel Sherman is a repeat offender:
Tex has a 134 career OPS+. In 2008 it was 151. In 2007 it was 150. That may not be A-Rodian, but it constitutes a threat to any reasonable person.
[2] Overmanaging to me is when a manager reverses a course that is working to make a less than obvious move. In yesterday's game, Marte retired the first two batters, so what's the point of taking him out for someone like Veras? Not only is Marte close to Veras in terms of ability to get right handers out, but he also has more experience and a lower walk rate. Once you bring Veras in, however, the question becomes what's the point of bringing in Coke to essentially face four righties? Why not just leave Veras in at that point? There really wasn't a strong argument for either pitching change, so why not just roll with the guy who retired the first two batters of the inning (esp. if you only envisioned the righty pitching to one batter anyway). If you cycle through a bullpen, you'll eventually find the guy who is due for a bad day.
[4] Nonsense is being kind the idea that Teixeira isn't a threat, not to mention Posada, Swisher, Jeter, Damon, Matsui and Cano. If Arod is the level one needs to attain in order to be considered a threat, I guess only Pujols and Manny deserve to be in that class. If that's the level of exclusivity intended by the unnamed scout, well, then I guess he is right.
Devo are through being cool.
[5] Ya know what, I like that definition. Fair enough
[3] That is just nonsense, He makes moves just to make moves? I guess this viewpoint allows you to be critical of everythong Girardi does.
In my armchair manager stint yesterday, I pegged the error as bringing in Veras at all. I would've kept Marte for the last out of the inning, and then gone to Eddie Ramirez.
JG was excellent last year in bullpen use; there was no good reason to Veras-out two days in a row.
Oh, btw: [6] Are not!
R.I.P. Harry Kalas...hell of a first week we're having this year.
Benvolio, I think you missed the reference.
Are we not men?
Devo transcends time by design and definition, like the Beastie Boys...
[8] I have no other explanation for half the shit he does. I hate to keep beating this particular drum, but last year he REPEATEDLY put Wilson Betemit in as a late inning defender. Among the many things Wilson Betemit sucks at is fielding. Putting that man in as a late inning defender is making a move for no logical reason.
He's also big on putting in a pinch runner and then having the man stand there. Not a steal, not a hit and run, nothing. If you put in a pinch runner and then don't put on a play of some sort, you've made a move for the sake of making a move. This idea that you need someone speedy to score from first on a gapper is stupid. I could score from first on a frigging two out gapper.
Harry Heller = that kicks ass!
i wish Todd Drew was going to be at Opening Day...
I agree with William, too.
Whatever you think about handedness (and I'm also on the side of ability > handedness), when you have a reliever who looks effective, and he isn't tiring or at an obvious tiring point, you should just leave him in. If you keep trying more relievers, your chances of finding one who's going to have a bad day and blow the game start getting really high.
When Girardi left Phil Coke in the game too long last week, that to me was much more forgiveable.