Watched it on the tube Alex. Good stuff.

Welcome to real TV Alex. Now, if you put on your OWN makeup, as I have done when doing TV, then you know you've arrived.

My God Alex... you're a suit!

You could run for political office in that suit.
Congrats!

You are the man Al! Great job! You are smooth on the telly. You look a little too republican though. :)

Dude, I haven't even watched the footage and I could see the eye relaxing. That's the key to television. I like it. How did it feel?

Will watch with Ruby in a little bit.

Wow. You're a grown-up.

Hey when can we start talking about next season / the future? I'm ready

[8] Okay, go!

The Sox are working on an extension for Beckett. For reasons I cannot quite fathom, the local media and fan base also believe they will try to land Adrian Gonzales. (Are the Padres known to be trying to unload him?)

[8] I always check in from the future here so I am READY!

Will the BoSox go all out for King Felix and will Seattle be stupid enough to give him up? That's athe big Q of the day...

great work alex - and yeah no red tie next year, too republican and it is the phillies color - next year i expect you to rock either a pinstripe suit with a blue tie or a drk suit with a pinstripe tie :}

[8] me too
let's start with the yanks free agents:
damon
matsui
pettitte
hairston
molina

i want one of matsui/damon back (and both if on reasonable deals and the yanks don't get a real lf) as well as pettitte and hairston

[9] the speculation from some is the padres are going to scrap it and they should try to get young parts - i can see it - he is a big time hitter that they could use - this is probably the last year or so they could move ugly to 3rd and then they either ditch lowell or ortiz or have them platoon at dh

How much do you figure Damon or Matsui will cost? Is Abreu's new contract the new standard?

[12] How would they juggle the DH ABs if they resign both of them? Can Matsui really never play the field?

[0] Yeah, great job AB! Don't listen to the haters, the George W, tie was awesome, you got to subvert things from the INside!

Did they announce the size of the crowd yet?

Are we talking about the Sox's future or ours?
Lets stop mincing words.
I will guess that MOST of us would take JD and/or Mastui on a ONE year deal. Vote and be heard:
1) Would you resign JD for 2 years if he won't go for one?
2) Would you resign Mtsui for 2 years if he won't go for one?

Let's assume a merket rate, which based on Abreu would be $8-10m/yr.

Wow, saw some photos from the parade. Most amazing thing was seeing Ed Koch sitting between David Dinkins and Rudy G. I thought Koch and Rudy were arch-enemies, must have been a great conversation..

The last time Matsui played the field, they had to drain his knees immediately after, and he was out a bit. Then, just playing DH, he had to have his knees drained again. You have to assume Matsui is a DH ONLY. (PS: I don't think his knees will get any better.)

Nicely done Alex!

(I slept off my red-eye flight back from SF today, so I missed the parade)

pettitte - I would resign, but AGAIN only with an incentive laden deal. This assumes they don't go out and get a different decent SP.
hairston - Why not, he's cheap. But I'm OK if they promote Pena instead.
molina - I think Brains is a better bet.

[12] matsui would have to get less since he is really just a dh regardless of what he hopes for
damon and abreu are pretty equivalent so i think abreu's contract is a good ballpark for damon:
wrc: damon = 99.5 abreu=101.0
ops+ : damon = 123; abreu = 115
uzr damon= -9.1; abreu = -11.2
ys lf is a bit tougher than wherever the angels play rf, but i doubt abreu was pulled in the middle of a game because of his arm. so they are fairly similar in the field at this point.
so yes abreu should be an equivalent for damon - but maybe boras wrings someone up more

[13] matsui doesn't have to suck up all the dh abs. damon is bad but can at least play the field. the real issue is if posada deteriorates more or can maintain this level of catching prowess for another year.

If Cashman can't make a deal with Holliday, does he persue Marlon Byrd?

[11] What about Hinske? I'd like to see him at 3rd base, so he can spell ARod.
[20] Gonna vote on [15]?

From MLB TradeRumors:
Marcus Thames became a free agent today, according to MLB.com's Jason Beck. Thames, 33 in March, hit .252/.323/.453 in 294 plate appearances while playing 125 innings in left field and spending the rest of his time at DH.

Free agent Hideki Matsui ruled out the possibility of returning to Japan, says NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman (via Twitter).

The free agent market presents options such as Jermaine Dye, Brian Giles, Vladimir Guerrero, and Xavier Nady.

Xavier Nady? The name sounds familiar...

wow, great job Alex, very insightful and knowledgeable. two features that I thought for the most part were frown upon on TV.

I can see a very bright future for you as a TV analyst.

thanks again for maintaining this site. Its like home to many yankee fans that live abroad. You always bring NY to us.

Marlon Byrd, 32 career 100 OPS+, 115 OPS+ over the last 3 years with Texas, made $3m last year.

[15] I vote...3) Need more information.

It depends what the Yankees plan to do with Montero and/or LF. If they target a FA for the outfield, then I would let Johnny walk and try to resign Matsui. If they plan on using Montero as early as next year either to C or DH, then Matsui suddenly has less utility.

A couple of months ago I would have said to go after Johny without a doubt, and I still feel that he is a more rounded player. And no, I have not been seduced by Matsui's WS performance. Rather, I think that the very things that make Johnny attractive will also make him more expensive. At the same time, Matsui was a perfectly fine DH and he handled LHP and RHP well. He might be the easier to get for short term/less expensive deal.

[22] probably no on both, but it is tough - might not be the best decision for next year, but is probably the right decision for the following year

Another point in Matsui's favor is that having him on the team may still make a difference in Japanese revenues. That in effect makes him cheaper than his dollar salary.

I would definitely resign Pettitte. He was able to get it done in the PS on short rest this year. He is a stud and knows how to win important games.

Thanks for playing, Molina. Here's a WS ring as a lovely parting gift. Cervelli will be the new number 2.

I'm still too giddy to think about next year.

So when's the next game? Tomorrow? Sunday?

Um, wow this is strange:
http://thedugoutdoctors.com/2009/11/korean-hbp-reaction-seeing-is-believing/

It may need its own thread. Anyone speak Korean?

[29] They were paying homage to Chin Ming Wang, the most successful Korean baeball player ever.

Okay. I think the questions that I ponder most are not the Matsui/Damon/OF FA issue - fascinating though it is - but the pitching. Is Pettitte coming back? Is Wang going to be viable? Would they consider starting Hughes and Joba? If not, what do they do with the one who's not in the rotation? Might they go after Lackey if Pettitte or Wang isn't going to make the cut? Might they go after him even if they do? Will they trade for someone else, pursue that young Cuban (I forget his name).

And CC. We know he's coming back but as I've wondered before - does this championship make it more likely that he's going to opt out? I can picture him going into a kind of quasi-retirement somewhere in Cali, just taking it easy for the last four or five years of his career.

I'd love to see Cervelli as a regular back up for a season. He showed promise, I thought. Plus he and a pool tournament delivered a 27th championship to the Yankees

[31] Would they consider starting Hughes and Joba?

I would think that they would at least consider it...given that they have already put both in the rotation.

[29]Wow..very odd!
[30] You mean Chan-Ho Park, right? CMW is from Taiwan!

[29] That's some weird shite. I don't know what to make of it.

[34] Indeed, yes!

[35] I did a quick web search, and I think that it may have been some sort of celebrity/comedy put on.

I wonder if Alex might create a thread to address each specific Hot Stove issue. Maybe we can discuss then define each issue we Banterers have, and then have a runnung thread created for each.

[29]

If only Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza had reacted this way ...

[38] Japanese high-school baseball players bow to each other after a hit's batsman, with the pitcher removing his cap to show "remorse". Managers, however, often slap or kick players for mistakes..things often upside down over here..

What the flick couldn't show was that the reason for the leg up-knee bent-hopping manuver.... was that were farting on one another. I won't discuss what the pregame spread looked like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7D8aDp3RUs

If the comments are to be believed, this happened during a celebrity baseball game.

But I still think they're tapping into their inner pelican.

lot of yanks at the knicks game tonight

so funny how people can watch/listen to something and come to such vastly different conclusions - i just read some various takes on how fox did with the serious, and there were many criticisms of how pro-yankee they were and how positive they were in their coverage of arod

[41] Inner pelican. I like that.

Next year's rotation, for me:

CC
AJ
Andy
Joba
CMW/Hughes.

I heard that Mo wants to pitch for five more years (may it be 500 more years) but would it make any sense to have either Joba or Hughes spend a year or two as Mo's apprentice & eventual heir? They are both too good to leave as 7th/8th inning guys, and as the conventional wisdom is you need to have a good closer, I'd rather spend one of the two as a closer rather than a set up guy.

[41] Pelicans don't stand on one leg. You're thinking of storks.

[42] A couple of times I took a peek over at Beer Leaguer, and they thought it was obvious that McCarver had a huge Yankee bias.
I think it's easy to find a bias against yourself when you experience particularly foolish chatter. There's a columnist in the Providence Journal who I always thought of as moronically conservative; then I met someone who had always thought of him as moronically liberal. We each gave examples, and we pretty quickly came to the conclusion that the columns are just moronic. Vapid.

[33] Not at the same time, hence the question.

more! more!

[45] Oh, they certainly wouldn't think of starting Hughes and Joba at the same time. That's against the rules.

[47] Would you want them to? I don't. I do want both of the to start (I'm off the Joba as reliever thing since he didn't look as dominant as he once was - might as well keep rolling the dice as a starter), but I don't think it's a good idea to try both at once. They're too unpredictable and unreliable. They Yanks can and should get away with an apprentice fifth starter. If they're trying to repeat, I don't think they should try the same with the fourth.

[44] and ostriches. and flamingoes. right?

[43] I had the same starting rotation written down earlier today. It'll be a tough desicion for the Yanks if Pettitte does re-sign and then CMW is pitching well and effective in June/July--but a great hard spot to be in, if ya konw what I mean. I guess they'd have to just evaluate Joba and Phil and go from there.

Of course, if they release CMW, then he'll most likely get scooped up. I dunno.

With Wang, I feel like if he had the same career on another team and suddenly became available, would the Yankees pursue him? I'm pretty sure they would. Of course I don't know the specifics of his health situation.

[49] Oh, you're right, I bet she was thinking of flamingos.

[52]
Yes, I was ..... I even googled "Flamingoes" to make sure of which bird I was referring to, and I STILL typed "pelicans"

(I'm gonna blame it on the red-eye flight 'hangover') ... sigh

[52] Sure, blame it on jet lag. Can't blame it on A-Rod anymore!

Diane, have you seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbkNxYaULBw

[53]

Awesome ....

[48] I want them both to start, because good starters are more valuable than good relievers. I don't buy the argument that it's too risky to have them both in the rotation. First, at some point they both MUST be in the rotation, unless one is to be converted permanently into a reliever, which would be a waste of talent. And it doesn't fly to say that they should establish one in teh rotation before trying the other: by the time Joba (e.g.) is trustworthy, Hughes' will have spent years in the pen and it will be nearly impossible to convert him back before he hits free agency. They have already lost on year of Hughes (whom I believe will be the better starter over the long term) by using him in the pen and suppressing his innings.

Second, this year the team had something like 8 starting pitchers st the start of the season and ended up giving 9 starts to Unlucky™ and without a trustworthy 4th starter in the playoffs, in part because they were so quick to swap starters into the pen.

Third, I cannot possibly magine why using Hughes and Joba in the rotation would be any more risky than trolling the depths and starting Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre instead. I'd rather take my chances with highly rated prospects/young pitchers with good stuff, than the "less risky" (i.e., know crappy pitchers) that they will end up with every five days.

In short, I have no more fear about using Joba and Highes than I do about using Mitre, or handing the ball to a 38 y.o. Andy Pettitte and hoping he doesn't breakdown, or handing the ball to multiply injured Wang, etc.

[55] I will add, not only do I want them both in the rotation next year...I wanted them both in the rotation THIS year. As fun as it was watching him in his 50 innings of dominant relief work, I will go to my grave believing that the Yankees would have gotten more of value from Hughes had they left him the rotation. It all worked out this year, and that's great. Now, let him start, which is why they have invested so much time and effort and care in his handling.

[55] [56] I have to admit that I am right now having a very hard time believing that a very good starter is more valuable than a great reliever. I'm sure I don't have to explain why. We know who the most valuable post-season player in the past fifteen years is, right? Maybe the most valuable post-season player of all time.

Has anyone ever seen a WARP-like valuation of relievers that takes into account the leverage of the innings they pitch?

[55] Absolutely. Starting pitching is too valuable to waste, and it's time to stop fucking around with these two, and give them the best environment possible to succeed. A successful Hughes and Joba is very important to this team. And is IPK is the mix sometime in 2010?

[57] I'll take a very good starter over a great closer any day. Now, your comparison to Mo is a bit unfair. Even if we accept that his few innings are worth *that* much (and he gets extra credit for the post season), he is only, like, the BEST OF ALL TIME at his position.

So maybe...maybe...I would THE GREATEST CLOSER OF ALL TIME over a very good starter. But otherwise, I would just about always take a very a good starter. Moreover, since the odds are highly against Hughes or Joba equaling the GREATEST CLOSER OF ALL TIME, I'd rather give them every chance to make it as starters.

Has anyone ever seen a WARP-like valuation of relievers that takes into account the leverage of the innings they pitch

Good question...that I do not know.

[58] Uh-oh, is it that time of the year when we start agreeing???

regardless of which is more valuable, it seems to me we still have closer covered for at least a couple years. joba and hughes should both start. and if they can't do it, relieving is a fallback.

[56] Phil and Joa have the potentail to be better then very good. And comparing a SP to Mo is unfair. Mo is Godlike and one of a kind. Would you rather have a very good SP or Lidge? Or Papsmear? If Phil and/or Joba can't make it as a SP, then they will be moved to the BP. But they should be given every opportunity, and the support they need to succeed. As MP said, do you want to play the RJ, Vasquez, Pavano, Wright merry-go-round some more?

[62] i don't think it's fair to include vazquez there. we should never have traded him.

well we can cross manny off any fa list (he exercised his $2m option with the dodgers)

[64] left off the 0 - should be $20m

[55] Gaudin and Mitre are the epitome of straw men in this case. Child please!

[65] haha alright alright alright. I almost spit my spaghetti all over the computer monitor. hehe

2m... if only is agent accidentially left off a zero. haha

[59] I wonder what the chances are of Chamberlain or Hughes becoming a very good starter. I guess we need to establish some examples of very good starters. I figure not an ace, but a number two, or number three?

Anyway why don't you give some examples otherwise I'll start guessing.

[66] Why a straw man? They did pitch this year for the Yankees, a significant number of starts. Maybe this year was unusual? Ok, what about last year? Sidney Ponson (15 starts) and Darrell Rasner (24 stars). I'm not at all confident that by mid season, after inevitable injuries, we won't see similar crappy starters in the rotation, so I would rather have the highly rated prospects groomed and given every opportunity first, rather than stick them in the BP and hasten the road to Sidney Ponson.

[68] I wonder what the chances are of Chamberlain or Hughes becoming a very good starter.

I don't know the odds. Probably pretty low, which is just another way of saying jow very valuable starting pitching is. Hence, it is in the interests of the team to give both every opportunity to succeed as starters.

[69] A straw man because no suggested they are a better choice, nor would anyone, I don't think. If you're arguing against an easy (in this case realllly easy) target that no-one else brought up,that's a straw man.

If the Yankees want to put Hughes and Chamberlain in the rotation that's fine but I don't think it's in the best interest of winning a championship in 2010. If they're willing to make that considerable gamble, more power to them. If not, they better get a solid #4 and figure something out between those two young men.

[70] Well, you may call the argument a straw man if you wish (I am pretty certain that is a misapplication of the term), but it seems to me very likely that a Gaudin-quality pitcher will be in the rotation next year, because that is the sort of pitcher that has tended to end up in the rotation the last couple of years. I think that it a reasonable prediction on my part.

Meanwhile, last season the Yankees had plenty of options not to use the likes of Rasner/Gaudin/Mitre/Ponson, but chose to consign at least two of those options to the BP. I thought it was a bad move then, and I still think it was a bad move. To avoid this situation next year, Hughes and Joba must be groomed as starters. Otherwise they will end up back in the pen, where the same arguments will be used to keep them there, and by mid season we have Unlucky™ pitching in the rotation again.

Most importantly, I really don't see how using two highly rated prospects in the #4 and #5 spot in the rotation is such a gamble, which you seem to think that it is. Joba's ERA as a starter is about 4.20; Hughes' ERA as a starter is about 5.20. Assuming no improvement from either of them, those are #4 and #5 numbers right there. I see positively no reason to go out looking to sign FA's (most likely at an inflated price) when the solutions are in house, cost controlled, and could yield an even greater payoff down the road. Finally, given the likelihood that the FA(s) they sign will be no more "solid", I don't see how having both in the rotation next year will hurt their championship chances measurably.

[71] From Merriam-Webster: a weak or imaginary opposition (as an argument or adversary) set up only to be easily confuted

Again since no-one offered up Mitre and Gaudin as better choices than Hughes or Chamberlain, I'm certain it is not a misapplication of the term.

It isn't so much that they were presented as better choices, it's that they were options, and pitchers of those types (ilk?) have found their way on Yankee pitching staffs. Not to say that they won't in the future, every year has featured some sort of retread, which predates Watson, Michael and Cashman.

[73] I'm talking about in this thread, not from the organization. When I said I would feel uneasy about Chamberlain and Hughes in the rotation at the same time, I didn't say "but Mitre or Gaudin would be acceptable" ... And again, if the Yankees are willing to take some risks and semi-rebuild, at least in the rotation, then Hughes and Chamberlain are fine choices.

[74] No one said "Mitre or Gaudin would be acceptable." What was said was "Hughes and Joba in the rotation would be any more risky than trolling the depths and starting Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre instead. I’d rather take my chances with highly rated prospects/young pitchers with good stuff, than the “less risky” (i.e., know crappy pitchers) that they will end up with every five days."

[75] LOL, now wait a second - now you're telling me that no one said Mitre or Gaudin would be acceptable??? I just told you that! This is getting strange.