Hey, the Royals did their part so no dumping on us this year (13-5) ;)

SI

I nodded off for a bit and then right when I awoke, the AL just scored the winning run.. ahhhhh... just another MLB AS game. :(

The only way I'll be happy this year is if the Cubs make it to the World Series. ;)

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sp...pton_0717.html

Published on: 07/16/08

Mike Hampton left his minor-league rehabilitation start with Class AA Mississippi on Wednesday night after only two innings, having tweaked his groin.

"He didn't want to take any chances with it," said Nick Skinner, PR director for the Mississippi Braves. "He said his arm felt great."

Hampton injured his groin during the first inning and gave up a solo home run in the second inning against the Carolina Mudcats. He walked one, struck out two and threw 29 pitches, including 15 for strikes.

Hampton was making the sixth start of this rehabilitation assignment, having already built up to as many as five innings. He has been aiming to return to action after the All-Star break from a strained pectoral muscle that has delayed his comeback by 3 1/2 months and counting.

Hampton, who hasn't pitched in a major-league game since August 2005 because of multiple elbow surgeries, injured his pectoral muscle warming up in the bullpen for his first scheduled start in early April.

Wait, Hampton is injured? No way - next thing you'll be telling me that Carl Pavano is too. :D

Tony Clark on the DBacks again.

Wasn't there something last year in one of these threads that mentioned he has the record for longest time in between stolen bases?

Dola,

I'm looking at Lou Gehrig's stats on Baseball Reference... and it lists his nickname as "Biscuit Pants." Can someone explain this to me? I've never heard him referred to as ol' Biscuit Pants.

sounds like that excites you

Oh yeah, ol' Biscuit Pants Gehrig is a big turn on.

would be nice if Rivera came out and told them to STFU

One step closer to abandoning the Yankees. I have been a fan of this team for almost 30 years, and what I have seen the last 2-3 seasons makes me want to puke. Brian Cashman is a moron and a tool. Another Steinbrenner running the team now is just fantastic, Hank knows about as much about baseball as his father - which is nothing. Keeping Carl "bench splinters in his ass" Pavano is absurd. I deal with it. Keeping Jason "crybaby and overpaid" Giambi is a travesty, but I deal with it. Even re-signing drama queen Alex Rodriguez is something I, as a fan, deal with. Today they signed Richie Sexson. WTF???? Exactly what we need. Another fucking DH. :banghead: Even worse, he is another DH that can't hit a wiffleball off a tee.

If the rumors turn into reality, and the Yankees indeed sign Barry Bonds, I am officially withdrawing my allegiance to this fucked up franchise. :rant:

Abandoning the Yankees? What the hell is wrong with you? You think you're gonna have it better as a fan of any other team? Pardon every other fan in the universe for thinking that this rant is a bunch of tripe.

Poor baby. a bazillion championships. A 200 million dollar payroll. Cry me a fucking river.

Darkiller's 49ers' rant still takes the cake.

Being a Yanks fan does not mean I like or have liked the way they do things. Teams like Arizona and Florida have shown that you can win without being a complete moron and making an embarassment of yourself and your once proud franchise. I have been tired of the spending spree that is the Yankees for a long time. I miss the days of Paul O'Neil and Tino Martinez. The late 90's was a time when the Yankees actually were a coherent team that knew how to play real baseball, not this fucked up mess that we have now. I am embarassed to even wear a Yankees hat out of my house anymore.

I do, however, appreciate your tears. :)

If Sexson gets regular playing time he could quite possibly finish with the worst B.A. of the modern era.

I don't know how you can abandon them either. They signed Sexson for the league minimum because it looks like Hideki Matsui will be done for the year.

You do realize that many of those high priced contracts that you talked about come off the books after this year don't you? Pavano, Giambi, Pettitte, Mussina, Abreu are all in the last years of their contracts so the Yankees will have plenty of money to go after big FAs after this season. And how can you be against them re-signing the best player in baseball?

Quite silly. Sexson is batting .344 vs. LHP with an OPS of 1.045. Giambi on the other hand is hitting .229 vs LHP. Is it really so bad?

You've really been a fan for 30 years? Even during the Stump Merrill/Dallas Green days? They've been in the playoffs 13 straight years, and are a good run away from being back again this year.

Let this be a lesson and comfort to the small market fans in the thread - expecations are the great equalizer. Seriously, how does a Yankee fan have any right to be threatening abandonment?

Exactly, Sexson is there to take at bats vs. lefties from Giambi. Given the numbers, how can you blame the Yanks for signing him?

Yes I have been a fan for nearly 30 years. And I have every right to feel however I want to feel about any team in any sport at any time of my choosing. My expectations are not that they should win the WS every year, rather that they are competent in the running of the organization and do things with class, which they do not anymore.

Cashman has already shown that he is incompetent as a GM. Why did the keep Pavano this entire time? They will more than likely re-sign Giambi, Pettite, Mussina, and Abreu, or some combination of those players. The only one I could remotely see keeping is Abreu.

As for the signing the best player in baseball, A-Rod is the best player in baseball when it doesn't matter. What the need is decent pitching, and Cashman just doesn't get it.

IIRC RomaGoth is a fan of about 15 other teams as well :D

What difference does it make whether they keep him or release him? At least being on the DL, they can keep him on the 40 man in the hopes he can recover. It's not like the contract will be voided if they release him or that there is a salary cap that they need to be under

And supposedly ARod left early at the all star game. Just shows why he will never be half the Yankee Jeter is. ( i am the biggest Jeter hater in the world but you can't deny what he is)

Nah, only a few others and really none in baseball.

Heh, and none of the Yankees even showed up at his post-game party. :lol:

You certainly have a right to feel and act however you want and to follow any team you want. But to abandon your team after 30 years when they've had a bad 1st half (though 5 games over ,500) after 13 consecutive playoff seasons? We've been down this road before with them, TB will fade and the Spanks will get a Wild Card at least. Hopefully you don't jump right back on the bandwaggon then.

This isn't some spur of the moment decision. This is a lot of frustration with a team that, yes, has had a lot of playoff appearances in the last decade. Is that a good thing? Of course it is. However, I do not like the path they are currently headed down. I can put up with a lot of nonsense from them, but what I was originally referring to is that if they sign that a-hole Bonds, I am done with them as a fan. Barry Bonds does not represent the type of team that I enjoy following, and if he signs with the Yankees that shows me the diretion that they are going in. This is not a bandwagon type of decision. No Bonds = fan. Bonds = no fan. Regardless of how they do this season or next.

The Yankees are not signing Barry Bonds. Nobody is. Cashman wouldn't completely rule it out so the NY Press blew it out of proportion like they do everything.

And Cashman has been stocking up the pitching prospects unlike in the past so how can you not like the path they're headed down? They kept Hughes, Kennedy, and Melky Cabrerra instead of trading them away. Why are they more than likely to re-sign Pavano, Giambi, Pettitte, Mussina, and Abreu? Pavano is done. Pettitte might retire. Mussina has had a resurgance so who knows about him. I could see them bringing Abreu back and maybe Giambi but certainly not for what they're making now. Giambi's OBP is almost .400 so he's not completely worthless. You just know they're gonna go after Sheets or Sabathia to put with Wang and Joba and create a strong 1-2-3 in the rotation for years to come. The Yankees do this every year. They play mediocre baseball for the 1st half and come on strong the 2nd half. I think you're overracting.

That could be, I am a Yankees fan after all. :D



The jury is out on Hughes and Kennedy. Chamberlain should NOT be a starter, he is better suited out of the bullpen in the late innings to set up Rivera (or whoever is next in line for the closer role after he retires). I like Cabrera so I am glad they kept him. Someone in an earlier post mentioned why get rid of Pavano. Get rid of him because he stinks and has been hurt the entire time he has been a Yankee. I know that if I was hurt/didn't perform at my job I would be let go in a heartbeat. Giambi was overpaid in the first place, and he is a rather odd personality as well. I hope they don't go after Sheets (always hurt) or Sabathia (overweight and not getting any younger). I am just tired of seeing them sign these old guys all the time for too much money.

I strongly disagree with you about Chamberlain. His value as a starter is much greater than in the bullpen. Veras, Farnsworth, Edwar, and Rivera have been great since Joba became a starter so they haven't been the problem.

So you want the Yankees to get more pitching, but you don't want them to go after the 2 best pitchers available. I'm not sure what you want them to do.

you DO realize they have to wait until a guy gets to a certain age before they become a free agent.

they just gave a great stat about Jose Reyes on the Reds broadcast of the Mets-Reds game.

He is the first player in the history of baseball to have 20 doubles, 10 homers, 10 triples and 30 steals before the all star break

38? :eek: (aka Randy Johnson....)

Dola

Phillies get Blanton from the A's for 3 minor leaguers.

but you said Sheets and Sabathia.

Andd since no one in baseball will trade with them their only option is to wait for a guy to hit free agency

man, Johnny Cueto looks nasty.

5 up 5K's

The Royals run their franchise with class. Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be.

But, but, the Yankees players don't have beards. That defines class.

A Steinbrenner's run the team for 30+ years. There's a lot of ways I'd describe the Yankees, some of them complimentary, but classy certainly is the weirdest notion NY fans cling to.


(On-topic, Sexson's a fantastic signing as long as they just platoon him and he gets a hit or two early. And the only way they'll scare me the rest of the year is if they sign Barry Bonds.)

Yes, both of those teams have a long, proud history. And, in particular, Florida has always run things the right way and has never done anything to embarass the organization. Twice.

SI

:lol:

I read this, and then went to look at scores. Heh, guess you jinxed him.

I guess so, he was filthy early on.

Great win by the Mets though.

Heh, perhaps not the best examples, especially Florida. With that being said, you never hear about any of their players getting divorced and going into a trance when listening to Madonna music. :(

So that's why you want to abandon the winningest franchise in sports for the last 15 years, because the best player in baseball who plays for said team gets divorced and goes with Madonna?

What, Jeter gets a pass because you like Mariah's signing better?!

Jeez... talk about jumping off the bandwagon. I'll echo the chorus, no Yankees fan is getting any sympathy from anyone about their team not doing as well as they thought.

You guys are all completely missing the point here. I am not jumping off the bandwagon as you all put it so gently. First of all, is it really a bandwagon if I have been a fan for 30 years? I think not. My point is that I do not like the way they are running the organization. In the past, we put up with George's stupid crap because the Yanks had some class even when he was making an ass out of himself. Guys like Don Mattingly and Paul O'Neill did things with class. It is not that way anymore. Instead, they throw money around like it is meaningless, and the guys they bring in are almost always worthless and way overpaid. I do not really see this changing in the near future, so yes I am somewhat on the fence right now as to whether I should keep following them or if I should take a break.

As for Jeter, he is not the media circus that A-Rod is. Ever since A-Rod came to the Yankees it has been one thing after another, and none of it good. When is the last time anything positive was mentioned in connection to his name.

Will I stop being a fan? I am not sure right now. A friend of mine who has been a Yankee fan for much longer than I have says who cares what they do anymore, it is all embarrassing. All he wants is for them to beat Boston. Maybe I should just take that approach instead and be like the other millions of brainless fans that don't care what their team does as long as they win, right?

Like said, this "class" thing is the wierdest thing I've ever heard about coming from the Yankees. Was Roger Clemens classy? But it was ok because World Series were being won, right?

And Hell, Thurmon Munson was never "classy".


Oh, I dunno, those two AL MVP awards?!

Did you think you'd make the playoffs last year without him?

And the only things that have been negative are him running around with women... *gasp* same thing Jeter does! But it's ok for him because he's "Mr. Yankee". Blech. Let's also forget that Jeter is basically an average player at the plate this year, while A-Rod is the best bat by a good deal on the team.

Romagoth...please stop talking

Cool - why are you stopping there in naming non-classy ex-Yankees, this could be fun:

Babe Ruth: Not Classy
Billy Martin: Not Classy
Reggie Jackson: Not Classy
Micky Mantle: Not Classy
Casey Stengel: Not Classy

:D

Wasn't Steve Howe on those Yankee teams with Mattingly and played a couple years into the O'Neil era?

Don't forget the Yankees had this guy:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/strawda01.shtml

From 1996-1999 as well. Cokeheads and class!

I was wondering when those 2 would come up.

They had gooden as well

Dude, you and your 30 teams that you're a "die hard fan of" - I'm sure you'll claim to be a lifelong Red Sox fan by the end of this year.

Nomar had two HR's in yesterdays game. Who would have thought...?

How have the Yankees not dealt for him yet?

Rumors flying that Durham is going to the Brewers for long-shot speedy OF prospect Darren Ford. If the Brew Crew is willing to cover Sugar Ray's contract, I'm quite ok with that.

There's only about $3 million left on Durham's contract this year (if I'm not mistaken) so I don't see it as a problem picking up his contract given Brewers owner Mark Attanasio's comments on how they are going for it this year and already have a $90 million payroll with the addition of CC Sabathia. Durham ought to provide nice insurance for Rickie Weeks and perhaps some kind of soft platoon will take place. I like Durham's OBP, which has been a weakness of the Crew.

I've also heard the rumors of a larger deal involving Jack Taschner going to the Brewers. Taschner is a Racine, WI native, and given the Brewers infatuation with Wisconsin natives, it doesn't surprise me.

The Brewers would be tacking AAA first baseman Brad Nelson onto the deal. He is the former top Brewers prospect (many moons ago) that stalled out due to injuries and such. He is having a resurgent year in AAA, and he's not too old at 25.

His line at Nashville is .300/.406/.481.

Ford is probably a 5th outfielder at best. He's by far the best runner in the Brewers system but hasn't hit a lick above low-A. He did show marginal power in low-A so he's shown he can be just more than a singles hitter.

Yeah, Ford is absolutely useless. ON the other hand, if that $2.5M is for signing another Dominican prospect, I'm all for it. Otherwise, I would have taken my shots with draft picks (though I guess the Giants did not want to offer Arb).

Looking like it's Durham for Darren Ford and Steve Hammond.

We've talked about Ford, so I'll give ya the scoop on Hammond. He was old (24 when he was drafted out of college) so he is 27 now. Dominated the low minors and has struggled at AAA. Projects as a reliever at best, IMO.

All in all, the Brewers didn't give up much, and got somebody with a decent OBP. Not too worried about picking up Durham's salary, as the Brewers are already over budget this year, so what's another few million?

Yeah that was funny the first 47 times, not so much now.

Jack Taschner to the Brewers would be a cool thing to see. Considering I've practiced with him in college. Neato. I've got $80 to spend on the Brewers(gift card), and that would be sweet to have him there.

What a great weekend for the Cardinals!!!

Bring on Milwaukee!!!!!!

What a great weekend for the Brewers!!!

Bring on St. Louis!!!!!!!

Should be a good series.

Giants pick up about half of Durham's remaining $3 million.

Twins general manager Bill Smith, on Livan Hernandez, who improved to 10-6 with a 5.29 earned-run average with Saturday's victory over Texas: "I'll take the (10) wins. Who do you want, a guy who's 10-15 with a 2.80 ERA or a guy who's 16-8 with a 7.00 ERA? I'll take the 16-8."

Oh please no. Fuck you Bill Smith. Any baseball GM who says something like that should be forced to resign in embarressment.

why?

I think he is trying to make the point that the only stat that matters is wins

It seems like he was trying to make that case for pitchers the onlly stat that matters is wins because he's brining it up with questions if Hernandez should stay in the the rotation the rest of the year. If he does indeed believe that, he should probably not be a GM.

While I hear what y'all are saying, I am reading that quote from a post-stat perspective. Meaning, the 16 wins or 10 wins are in the bag. For the here and now, dern straight I take the 16 wins over the 10 wins.

Now as for whether the 16 win guy is still on my team next year, that's something else...

Oh, c'mon. It's not Joe Morgan where you know the guy believes it. It's just a GM sticking up for his player. It sounds like a response to a pedantic postgame guy asking about how Livan's ERA isn't that good but he just keeps winning.

What's he going to do? Throw his 47.. uh, 33 year old player with 300 innings per year under the bus in the middle of a pennant race because his ERA could be better? ;)

SI

Well, it's like this.

Take a guy with a start pattern that looks kind of like:

7 IP, 2 ER
6.2 IP, 2 ER
2.2 IP, 10 ER
8 IP, 2 ER
5 IP, 2 ER
6.1 IP, 3 ER
7 IP, 3 ER
7 IP, 2 ER
4 IP, 5 ER
7.1 IP, 3 ER
7.1 IP, 4 ER

That's just about exactly a 5.00 ERA in 68.1 IP over 11 starts.

Throw out the two horrendous days in there, and you've got a 3.38 ERA in the remaining 9 starts. That's a guy who's going out there and *mostly* giving his team a decent chance to win (3.38 in the AL is not that bad), but occasionally stinking the joint up horrifically. If he's 10-6 with an ERA like that, but that's what his start pattern looks like (and not 5 IP, 3 ER every time out), then looks are deceiving. It's easy to get seduced by wins, but it's easy to get turned off by a freakishly high ERA, too. It takes one bad start to balloon an ERA from 3.84 to a 5. To go back from the 5 I detailed to a 3.84 would take three starts of 7+ innings with 0 ER. If he goes 7+ per start with 2 ER each time out, he'd need just about 8 starts just to get back where he was.

Easy to make the mess, harder to clean it up.

That's not to say Hernandez is the greatest pitcher ever, just an ERA can be the result of one or two bad outings OR consistent suckitude. A guy who's three wins off the major league lead with a 5+ ERA either consistently gets picked up by his teammates (the higher the ERA, the more likely a pitcher is to leave as either the pitcher of record on the losing side, or have nothing to do with it), or has been better than his ERA would imply, but had a couple real hard-luck outings.

Now, granted, I'm not trying to say you leave the 2.80 ERA guy on the table. Just that the 5.00 ERA doesn't necessarily torpedo a guy. Looking at Livan, it looks like he's roughly a 3.80 ERA-type guy who's had a couple real bad outings.

Problem is, a 3.80 ERA guy with a couple of bad outings is going to have a more difficult time recovering than a 2.80 guy with a couple of bad outings. When you can pitch seven shutout innings in any given night, you don't have to worry about your stats, but when you're a consistent 6-and-2 or 7-and-3 guy, it makes you look worse.

What he's doing is trying to justify why he keeps a relatively ineffective Livan in the rotation while Liriano posts a microscopic ERA in AAA so the union doesn't get him. Livan is the AL RHP version of Tom Glavine.

And now, two weeks later, let's see what's happening shall we?
8 games, 31 AB, 7 hits, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 5 K's, 1 BB

That's a .226 avg since the recall, actually dropping his overall AVG by one point since coming back. But hey, his OBP is up ... from .287 to .288

Yep, that trip to AA did him a world of good.

I think we've reached the point where Wins are actually an underrated stat, at least as measured over the course of an entire season or longer.

A pitcher might pitch differently when he has a big lead, giving up some hits and runs he might not have otherwise. And Wins, as least over a period of time, can reflect a pitcher's ability to stay in a game later. A 5-inning starter is going to have less opportunities for wins than an 8-inning starter.

As a heads up for anyone that might be interested, most of BP's content is free from now until the 27th. Details are posted here:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=950

Thanks, I might have missed this without your post.

The Dodgers are currently winning 11-1 and Andruw Jones is the only player on the team without a hit or run (actually, the pitcher doesn't have a hit, but he does have a run). Jones is 0-2 with 2K. He wanted 20M from the Braves??

We're just not going to talk about the Royals game last night. Tony Pena Jr was their best pitcher. :(

SI

Wow...The Mets are falling apart against the Phillies.

Since we've spent a lot of time talking about the "state of the game" in this thread and in the media, especially over the recent all-star break, does anyone else think that MLB's refusal to allow clips on Youtube hurt them?

It's just my opinion, but I find navigating MLB.com's own video clips site to be very frustrating. I am a MLB.tv subscriber and think MLB generally does a pretty good job with that (blackout issues aside).

However, if I want to watch a clip of Royals SS Tony Pena, Jr. striking out Ivan Rodriguez in a game the other night, I better race over to Youtube quickly before MLB takes the clip down. Perhaps I would feel differently if MLB.com's video site were more user friendly but now I just wish I could watch clips on Youtube.

A friend and I were talking about Grady Sizemore's improbable steal of home in a game several years ago. Sizemore stole home off of a right-handed pitcher with a left-handed hitter at the place which is quite an accomplishment. I wanted to show this clip to my friend. It took me a good five minutes on Google to find a link to the original Indians.com story which linked to the MLB.com video player. I could have watched the clip three times on Youtube in the amount of time it took me to locate it on MLB.com. It's a very frustrating system to say the least. :banghead:

Oh boy, we just traded for RANDY WOLF! Now we're fucking serious contenders!!!1!1!

Jeebs.. at least your team is doing SOMETHING. Lohse pitches a gem tonight, but with zero confidence in the bullpen, he gives up 2 runs in the 8th to let the Brewers back into the game and BOOM! just like that we lose it in the 9th on a guy who's hitting like .230.. sweet!

Now we have to face CC and Sheets....

Yay! Carlos Gomez didn't lead off tonight. Hopefully a trip to Rochester is in store for him next.

Considerng where we are in the standings, we should be in sell mode, not buy mode. Fucking Drayton...

This is one of the many problems with MLB. Personally, I give thanks to Bud Selig everytime something goes wrong in baseball.

The Yankees are now 6-0 since RomaGoth's tirade. They completed the sweep of the Twins today behind 39 year old Mike Mussina's 8 shutout innings as Moose improved to 13-6 on the season. Next up is a big series at Boston. It'll be interesting to see if they make any big moves before the deadline now that they're back within 2 of Boston and 4 of Tampa. They could use a big bat with Matsui and Posada probably lost for the season and another starting pitcher.

But are they doing it with class???

Stros are screwed for a while. The farm system has nothing but tumbleweeds blowing through it.

This is the argument that often gets used, but I'm not buying it. Sure, if your team is up 9-0, then you're probably not going to be as focused as usual, but if a guy has a much higher ERA over the course of the season, I don't think you can attribute it to having huge leads the whole year, unless he's pitching for the reincarnation of the 27 Yankees.


Can't this be measured by, I don't know, Innings Pitched? I mean, there are lots of reasons a pitcher could get a win or loss, many of them having nothing to do with how he actually pitched, much less how long he pitched.

My plan worked. They still need to dump Pavano though.

May CC Sabathia lose tonight!

That would be a no..

Now the Cubs just need to lose tonight and we'll be all tied up at the top.

It was a joy to watch him pitch though.. wow. :(

As a Brewers fan, that was the first time in a very very very long time that I could remember thinking, 'Just get one run and that should win it..'

so is there ANY chance the Brewers resign him?

When did homefield advantage become such a big deal? People in Boston have been talking about the Red Sox huge split (36-11 +25 at Fenway, 24-32 -8 on the road) but looking at the standings, it's almost league wide. The only exceptions are the Angels (+10 H, +13 A) Mariners and Royals, who are equally bad Home/Away. TB is +24/-6, NY comes closest at +11/0 (and are the only other AL team not under .500 away from home) Toronto and Baltimore are +7/-9 and +9/-12 respectively. Chicago and Minnesota in the Central have huge disparities too, with +19/-5, +15/-6.

Oh, and if you're a betting person on the AL East race, it's worth noting TB has a 56/44 split of home/away games thus far, NY is 55/46 and Boston has played 47/56. Record in 1-run games is 19-11 for TB, 18-11 for NY and 14-16 for Boston.

My guess is no, but not because the Brewers won't try to resign him. I think he just want too much money for the Brewers to have a chance.

I think there is a better chance they could sign him than Sheets. Sheets, Mota, Cameron and Gagne come off the books next year (around $30M of salary) so from a financial standpoint if they stick around the 85M range for payroll, they would have the money. I think it would have to be more in the 4 yrs, 80M range rather though rather than the 6 yr 130M range that I believe I've heard he wants just because they will have to pay alot of guys $ in 2-3 years (Hart, Hardy, Fielder). If they did 4 yrs then by the time he is done, that money could go to Parra/Gallardo when their time is due.

In the end, I see Sabathia in a Dodger's uniform next year.

Pretty good Q&A on a Cardinals blog about prospects and trade scenarios. I thought it was pretty good.

Q&A with Erik from Future Redbirds | Pitchers Hit Eighth

Depends on how Fielder finishes the year. I'm not sure he will hit $10M, probably $7.5M. Hart/Fielder combined will probably be in the $12-15M range so, ya, much of that will go back in.

I wouldn't doubt if Fielder was traded either.