A brief one heading into the holiday weekend:
. . . although (Joe) Girardi said the Yankees have not yet begun discussing what to do with (Francisco) Cervelli once (Jose) Molina returns, it’s unlikely that they would carry three catchers.
“We’ll cross that bridge when it comes,” Girardi said. “Our roster has one infielder and has a couple extra outfielders, but we’ll cross that bridge when it comes.”
Though Cervelli has shown extraordinary growth in his first extended stint in the big leagues, he is still just 23 years old and would presumably benefit more from playing every day in Triple-A than from catching sporadically in the Majors. The Yankees, meanwhile, are paying Molina well — more than $2 million this season — to be their backup.
- PeteAbe has a nice appreciation of Ken Griffey, Jr.:
If you’re a fan of baseball history, you had to appreciate watching Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run at Yankee Stadium last night.
It was No. 621 in his career, 39 shy of Willie Mays. The new Stadium also became the 44th park he has homered in, one short of the record held by Sammy Sosa . . .
It’s hard to believe, but Griffey has received only one vote in the MVP balloting in the last 11 years and has been an All-Star twice in the last decade. He’s like a cameo of his greatness.
Griffey is a guy that the young players in the clubhouse were thrilled to see, much like Chipper Jones. In a game lacking heroes, those are two players you can respect.
- Speaking of appreciations, SI’s Joe Posnanski reflects on Mariano Rivera:
How about number of seasons with an ERA under 2.00? Walter Johnson did it 11 times — all in the Deadball Era. Mariano Rivera did it eight times during the biggest explosion of offense since the 1930s. Of course, you can’t compare Rivera to Walter Johnson or any other starter; Rivera has not even thrown 85 innings in a season since he became a closer in 1997.
Then again, you cannot compare Walter Johnson or any other starter to Rivera either because of the 1,055 innings the man has pitched, about 900 of them were eighth inning, ninth inning or later, with the game on the line, with the crowd freaking out, with the metropolis tabloid editors holding the back pages (How’s this for the headline: “Cry Me A Rivera?” Or “Oh no Mariano!”), with the opposing team, as it says in Casey at the Bat, clinging to the hope which springs eternal in the human breast.
And with Rivera on the mound, Mighty Casey did strike out time and time and time again. Rivera struck them out and busted their bats on that same pitch over and over and over, one pitch, a low-to-mid-90s cut fastball. One pitch. It seems impossible.
- “This Week in Baseball” (Saturday, 3:30 PM on FOX) will feature the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” speech.
- Christian Parker turns 34 today. Parker was part of one of the more memorable trades of the past ten years. He was sent (along with Ted Lilly) by the Expos to the New York Yankees to complete an earlier deal made on December 22, 1999. The Montreal Expos originally sent Jake Westbrook to the New York Yankees for players to be named later . . . and Hideki Irabu.
- GM Brian Cashman turns 42 today.
- Frank Tanana turns 56 today. Tanana spent the last two weeks of his long career as a Yankee in September 1993, making three starts.
- On this date in 1950, with rookie Joe Collins not hitting and Tommy Henrich still injured, Casey Stengel asks Joe DiMaggio to play 1B in an experiment. In the 7 – 2 loss he handles 13 chances cleanly but is clearly not happy with the move. After this one-game experiment, Joe returns to the outfield.
- On this date in 1980, the major’s largest crowd in seven years (73,096) watches Wayne Garland 2-hit the Yankees 7 – 0 at Cleveland Stadium.
[My take: Exhibit 1 in the “worst contracts ever handed out” . . . The Indians give Wayne Garland a 10-year free agent deal signed after going 20-7 for the Orioles in 1976. Garland proceeds to go 28-48 with a 4.50 ERA for the Indians, before getting released prior to the 1982 season.]
- On this date in 1996, the Yankees sign Venezuelan Jackson Melian, just turned 16, to a contract for $1.6 million. His bonus is a record for Latino ballplayers. Melian will fail to make the majors.
Have a great weekend!
Via David Pinto, Fangraphs shows that Bobby Abreu has already produced $7.8 million in value for the Angels this year. His salary is $5 million.
Not saying the Yankees should have signed him. The $5M is too much for a bench bat, and obviously he wouldn't be producing nearly so much in that role. Using Swisher as a bench bat would have meant a similar problem.
Still, although I'm kind of glad to see Bobby having such a good year, it also gives me a twinge of regret.
In any case, it seems to me this kind of performance means we shouldn't be worrying much about how we're roing to replace our aging free agent corner OFs next year.
[0] Interesting statement by Grardi:
Perhaps I am reading too much into this, but does this statement suggest that Hinske is *not* viewed as an extra infielder?
Christian Parker pitched in just one game in the major leagues. I was at that game. The Yankees lost.
Sending Pena down was a terrible decision. I'm sure it will be followed with another boner, sending Cervelli down.
If I were the manager, the veteran worship would end. Damon would be the fourth outfielder and Gardy would start in CF everyday (and would lead the league in SBs, as you can when you hit .300 with that speed). Matsui would have been traded or released. Pena would be a late-inning defensive replacement for Jeter when he wasn't playing 3B to rest ARod. And Cervelli would catch 40% of the games. Perhaps most importantly, Joba would be the 97-mph throwing lock-down set-up guy we have seen, and not the 92-mph throwing, 5-inning mediocre starter he is now.
Oh, and CC would not stay in the damn game after he was clearly done, as he has repeatedly this year.
Ahh, feels better to get that off my chest.
[4] Damon's OPS+ is 133. Benching him for Gardner is nuts.
@ 2
I think they've come around to the obvious. Hinske can play third in an emergency but he's a butcher there. So yes. They went two months with Berroa on the roster only to replace the one bright light with another outfielder. And yet they screwed that up because they went for lefty veteraness rather than righty AAAA.
[6] I figured you'd respond! We'll see how it plays out. I stick by my prediction that we see Hinske start at 3B...but you may be right on this.
Commenting on PeteAbe's piece on Griffey, are we really to believe that today's young players look at Chipper Jones the same way they look at Griffey? I've accepted that Chipper's a Hall of Famer, but I'm not ready to put him in the same sentence with Griffey. The problem, I guess, is that I'm almost forty years old, and most of these young kids might not remember how absolutely brilliant Junior once was. Such a shame.
@ #5: Unless you've actually seen Johnny Damon's girlie arm and ball-dropping LF play. And unless you would rather watch Johnny swing for the fences in his contract year than develop an outstanding talent who can leadoff for the club for years to come.
[1] i love - and miss - boBBy. i've always been a BIG fan of his, even thru all his years in Philly. i'm sad his power has dissipated b/c he was on the fast track to the 300-300 club, which is my favorite "exclusive" baseball club for milestones. he is doing well this year and i hope - somehow - his power returns (though i full realize that's unlikely...) he's stealing lotsa bags though!
hope he gets a contract for the next coupla/few years...
Perhaps most importantly, Joba would be the 97-mph throwing lock-down set-up guy we have seen, and not the 92-mph throwing, 5-inning mediocre starter he is now.
Since you've obviously asked Santa for a new shoulder for Joba, perhaps you could put in a good word for me, I've always wanted a pony that shat skittles.
Meanwhile, perhaps you should ponder the meaning of this