14 Responses to “2009 Opening Day Roster, As It Stands Now [Update]”

1. butchie22 Says:
   December 13th, 2008 at 2:18 pm

   Their hitting is not inspiring to me either. Their defense witheJeter getting older, Cano (not that great) and Swisher(who is not Tino or Donny Ballgame) doesn’t inspire confidence. IN addition, Posada behind the plate will be another defensive challenge. Swisher is not an upgrade in the outfield defesivel and Nady was there last year as well as Damon and Matsui. So the outfield is still mediocre defensively( with Gardner and Melky who are decent defensively but bad with the bat. They lost Giambi and Abreu’s production and it seems they might equal or worsen last year’s mediocre run production.

   Some dope on the radio keeps on saying how they will have the best bullpen in baseball! Pure BS….the 8th inning should scare people as well as how Mariano will hold up. Yeah, Joba will be put in the pen( he should be in the rotation with his makeup , poise and stuff) and can backup for Mariano in case anything happens BUT the 8th scares me too.

   THe pitching is better but they need a Pettite or a Lowe because AJerk will get injured or hide down in Baltimore when he starts getting ripped by the NYC press. The infield defense(with Posada as a middling catcher at this point) doesn’t inspire confidence. And their offense is still mediocre. Verdict: third place again as currently constructed. Add Teixeira or Manram(who I loathe,but is a great hitter and clutch one at that) and they will move up in the food chain otherwise, it’s the Rays and Bosox’s division.

2. sanair Says:
   December 13th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

   @ butchie22 — “Their defense witheJeter getting older, Cano (not that great) and Swisher(who is not Tino or Donny Ballgame) doesn’t inspire confidence.”

   —

   Swisher is not Tino or Donny, but he isn’t Giambino either. I think that is a marginal defensive improvement at first base.

3. butchie22 Says:
   December 13th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

   Sanair, they are thinking of putting Swish at center ,too. He is not that great in center BTW. At first, he is just OK. He is no Doug Mienkievicz or Nick Johnson either. He is better than Giambi at first BUT then again almost anyone is. Add Teixeira and all the problems look lessened. At best Swish is a super utility player(like a Ty Wiggington or Marco Scutaro) on this team. He is not the upgrade they needed and they need more offense, period.

4. Steve Lombardi Says:
   December 13th, 2008 at 3:29 pm

   ~~Sanair, they are thinking of putting Swish at center ,too.~~

   FWIW, IIRC, I’ve heard the exact opposite…that Cashman said he’s not a CF. (And I was glad when I heard it.)

5. thenewguy Says:
   December 13th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

   At best Swish is a super utility player(like a Ty Wiggington or Marco Scutaro) on this team. He is not the upgrade they needed and they need more offense, period.
   ———————————
   No and yes. Swish is far, far superior to Ty Wigginton or Marco Scutaro. Scutaro has a career OPS+ of 86 (96 as a high,) Ty’s avg. is 105 (128 high, playing 111 games for Houston last year.)

   Swisher’s Avg. is 112, in fewer years. His OPS+ of 92 last year was his only season under 100, and no doubt was largely because he was batting lead-off, a spot that did not suit him. He will be closer to his avg. OPS+, and will provide some decent offense. He isn’t complete garbage.

6. Raf Says:
   December 13th, 2008 at 3:55 pm

   As for the 8th inning, I suppose that’ll be Marte’s domain. Coke’ll probably be your LOOGY.

   Things obviously change if the Yanks pick up another SP; that’ll move Joba to the pen & the 8th inning.

7. hallofamer2000 Says:
   December 13th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

   It’s clearly a non-issue, but I would think that they would go Bernier over Malec.

8. butchie22 Says:
   December 13th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

   Steve . I had heard on the radio that(this was from several different broadcasters, not one) Swisher might switch on both positions. He became more of a first baseman with the White Sox because he wasn’t that good in the outfield defensively. This came from Cash Man? I take a lot of what he says with a grain of salt , you know that…. If it’s true then great,but if it’s not…I don’t want to think of it.

   New Guy, Wiggy, Scoot and Swish (Scoot and Wiggy play more positions and are better defenders BTW) are nice players, none of them are superstars. They play the game hard and that is what I like about those three. Swish only hit something in the low .200s last year didn’t he? BUT Swish is not the answer offensively or defensively. He’s no Teixeira or Manny offensively and is certainly no Teixeira in the field. The addition of Swisher is nothing to excited about when their primary problem was hitting. Once again , if they get Teixeira or Manram talk to me about OPS and the such because those two will remedy some if not the majority of the Yankee problems.

9. MJ Says:
   December 13th, 2008 at 5:53 pm

   Things obviously change if the Yanks pick up another SP; that’ll move Joba to the pen & the 8th inning.
   ————–
   This idiotic insistence on moving Joba to the bullpen makes no sense. He was drafted as a starter and he’s thrived as a starter. Although it was helpful at the time, the 2007 bullpen success of Joba Chamberlain may have become the worst thing to ever happen to the guy. Now enough people think that’s the ONLY place for him.

   The rotation should be Sabathia-Wang-Burnett-Pettitte-Joba with Hughes waiting in the wings. Hughes will get his chance to start in 2010 once Pettitte retires (or, frankly, sooner — once Burnett bruises his butt-cheek like Pavano did).

10. Raf Says:
    December 13th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    This idiotic insistence on moving Joba to the bullpen makes no sense. He was drafted as a starter and he’s thrived as a starter.
    ———————-
    I know that, and you know that, but how much are you willing to bet that if Pettitte comes back for another year that Chamberlain will be back in the pen?

    I’d be willing to wager that due to innings limits Chamberlain’ll pitch out the pen at some point during the season.

11. Evan3457 Says:
    December 13th, 2008 at 6:32 pm

    Yanks defense will improve somewhat this season, even if they don’t sign Teixiera.

    Nady in RF will be about 10 runs better than Abreu. Swisher at 1st will be about 5-10 runs better than Giambi.

    Cano was terrible last year, according to the BIS +/- and DP numbers, but he ranked high on those very same lists in 2007. Assuming a bounceback year, He will probably be league average at both, and that will be a 10 run improvement.

    Minor age related declines can be expected from Jeter, A-rod, Damon, and if he plays, Matsui.

    The major defensive decline will be from Molina to Posada, probably 20 runs worth, maybe more. This will be offset by the fact that typical Posada (NOT 2007 Posada) will be 40-50 runs of offense better than Molina.

    So the Yanks will be perhaps 10-20 runs on defense than they were last season, when they were bad.

    Offensively, they will decline at 1st and in RF, probably about 40 runs altogether. They will be much better in CF (whether Damon or Cameron vs. Melky or Gardner), at C, and at 2nd, somewhat better at short, and probably significantly better at 3rd.

    The bench will start with an excellent defensive catcher in Molina, and an excellent pinch-runner defensive replacement in Gardner. If they carry 12 pitchers, they’ll have room for two bench guys, a hitter, and an infielder who’ll have to be able to handle 2nd, short and 3rd, just in case. When Gardenr starts, that’ll put a 2nd good hitter on the bench, as it will when Molina gets his 30 starts or so. I might just give Molina to Burnett.

12. hallofamer2000 Says:
    December 14th, 2008 at 12:18 am

    “I know that, and you know that, but how much are you willing to bet that if Pettitte comes back for another year that Chamberlain will be back in the pen?”

    Zero dollars and zero cents.

13. Raf Says:
    December 14th, 2008 at 1:30 am

    deal! you’re on!

14. 2009 Opening Day Roster, As It Stands Now [Update] : WasWatching.com Says:
    January 8th, 2009 at 10:17 pm

    [...] recent changes to the Yankees projected 2009 Opening Day roster (based on the players they reportedly have under contract [...]

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