So today I had a couple of extra hours of free time due to the fact that a car slammed into the power pole outside of my office, snapping it in half, and taking the power out. With that free time I was browsing baseball-reference, and came upon Robinson Cano’s page. While browsing through the same numbers that I’ve already read countless times this offseason, I noticed something I hadn’t before. One of Robinson Cano’s comps happens to be Hall of Famer Rod Carew. Upon deeper inspection, I realized that not only is Carew a good comp for Cano, he’s actually been outperformed by Cano.

Check it out: [Cano] [Carew]

Through their age 26 season, Cano bests Carew in most of the major offensive categories including hits (of which Carew would end up with 3053). Cano lacks the speed Carew had, and would definitly not ever be able to steal 41 bags in a season. Carew, however, didn’t have the power that Cano posses and also didn’t have the short porch in right for 81 games. Should we start looking at Cano as a possible future Hall of Famer?

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Consider the following two statistical performances over the same time period by two different former Yankee outfielders:

Player A
187 G
703 AB
802 PA
179 H
36 2B
3 3B
15 HR
75 RBI
88 BB
4 HBP
.255/.338/.378/.716

Player B
201 G
701 AB
796 PA
192 H
33 2B
8 3B
11 HR
73 RBI
64 BB
6 HBP
.274/.329/.391/.720

As an experiment of sorts, in your head right now choose which player you would pick if you were forced to do so (I realize ideally you wouldn’t want either of these outputs from your offense). Got it? Click more to find out who the players are.
(more…)

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ESPN has the story:

“It became clear to us in our recent negotiations that the money that we were offering was not going to be good enough for Johnny at this time,” White Sox general manager Kenny Williams told ESPNChicago.com. “At this particular point, we feel it’s necessary to withdraw our offer.”

Call me Ronald, because I’m lovin’ it. The music will stop soon, Johnny. Will there be a chair left?

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With a H/T to MLBTradeRumors.com, Jon “Yoda” Heyman tweets :

Yankees sign marcus thames, si.com has learned.

I’ve always liked Thames and, for this price (reportedly $900k), it sounds like a good deal to me. I could envision Thames and Gardner splitting time in left, with Gardner spelling the other two outfielders from time to time. With plus power, the only issue with Thames is whether or not he can stay healthy (he has never had more than 350 AB’s in a single season).

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If you check any Yankees players baseball-reference page, under their post season stats section it will list the 2009 World Series stats for that player. Under the result column, it will say W (for win). Sure, it doesn’t mean anything, but it’s pretty awesome.

Here’s A-Rod’s for example.

- Posted By Corey

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Lohud’s Sam Borden has the news :

It’s believed Cabrera could have suffered a full hamstring tear during Game 4

This shortens the line-up that much more in an NL ballpark.

- Posted By Corey

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In a decision that could impact the results of the World Series, the Phillies have elected to start Joe Blanton over Cliff Lee in game 4.  ESPN has the story.

Personally, I’m very shocked by this news. You’d think with the ball game that Lee tossed in game 1, it would be a no brainer to trot him out again on Sunday against Sabathia. Apparently Manuel is afraid that Lee would not be that strong on 3 days rest, as he hasn’t done it before in his career. I’m glad.

- Posted By Corey

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Bob Brenly had this gem during the 2nd inning of Game 2 of the Dodgers-Cardinals ALDS:

[Adam Wainright] really speaks highly of the experience he had closing for the Cardinals back then [2006]. He says he takes the same mentality into his start. He said early in his career he tried to pace himself too much, trying to work deep into the ballgame; but his experience that he had in the bullpen where you just go after every hitter and every out is huge; he’s taken that same mentality to the mound as a starting pitcher.

Sound like someone we know? Maybe he’ll be better than a set-up man after all? Maybe all that hoopla about Joba’s mound celebration’s being too wild has caused Joba to change his pitching mentality while starting? Perhaps putting him back in the ‘pen for the playoffs is the best thing for his starting career moving into 2010.

- Posted By Corey

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Josh Thomson Of the Lohud Yankees Blog Wrote:

Both Teixeira and Girardi were a bit short in answering the question, but they said the pitch from David Price was NOT intentional.

If I were Evan Longoria, I’d wear an extra few pads on April 9th, 10th and 11th. Sounds, to me, like they are downplaying it for next year.

- Posted By Corey

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Last night, Ian Kennedy made another nice stride toward his recovery from an annyurism, as he tossed 3 pefect innings against AAA Durham, striking out 6 in the process. The reason he was pulled after 3 innings was that he was on a 50 pitch limit. Kennedy will now head to the Arizona Fall League to continue his rehab. He will definitely get a look next year, so hopefully all goes well with his rehab.

As for the rest of the game, unfortunately for Scranton, Kei Igawa came in relief of Kennedy and took the loss as he gave up 3 runs in 4 innings, leading to their second loss of the International League Championship Series. It’s a best-of-five series, so we may be looking at some more call-ups in the very near future.

- Posted By Corey

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Pete Abe has the news :

He could start throwing around Sept. 14 and that would give him ample time to get ready for the playoffs.

Glad to see Robertson’s not going under the knife. He could potentially be a big piece to our playoff puzzle, so hopefully all he needs is to shut it down for a little bit.

- Posted By Corey

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So, does anyone else think they are stretching out Joba and Aceves at the same time?

I do, and if they aren’t I would. This would be my plan:

Sept  11 – andy
Sept 12 – aj
Sept 13 – cc
Sept 14 – scrub (mitre/gaudin)
Sept 15 – joba/ace + 1 extra day rest
Sept 16 – andy
Sept 18 – aj + 1 extra day rest
Sept 19 – cc + 1 extra day rest
Sept 20 – ace
Sept 21 – joba + 1 extra day rest
Sept 22 – andy
Sept 23 – aj + 1 extra day rest
Sept 25 – cc + 2 extra days rest
Sept 26 – ace
Sept 27 – joba + 1 extra day rest
Sept 28 – andy
Sept 29 – aj
Sept 30 – cc
Oct 2 – ace
Oct 3 – joba
Oct 4 – scrub/prospect

I figure Joba has 3-4 more starts this year, depending on how the Yankees use their off days. For his next start, I would again have Aceves piggy back him, coming in after Joba has reached his pitch count limit. For the final 2-3 starts, I say place Aceves in the rotation (making it a 6 man for 2 or 3 go-arounds). Now you have 6 pitchers (5 i’d give the ball to) stretched out for the playoffs, and you have it set up so that if Joba comes out of the gate walking the park (or AJ since he’s suseptible also), you can have him on a short leash with Aceves there to clean up the rest.

But, Aceves is already the long man you say? Yes, he can go 3 innings if need be, but then that kills the rest of the pen cause you still have innings to make up after that. My method allows the Yankees to have an extremely short leash with the rotation and, in the event you don’t need to use Aceves, he can come in for short relief on consecutive days, for multiple innings, since his arm is stretched out. i figure this way, the starters get extra days off right before the last week, that way they are in line for the playoffs.

Plus, it’s better than seeing Mitre or Gaudin come in during the 4th inning after Joba has thrown 100 pitches right?

- Posted By Corey

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To continue a thought that I had yesterday : Joel Sherman has this gem:

Phil Coke is now tied with Ron Mahay for the most homers allowed by lefty who has pitched exclusively in relief this year. And Mahay was designated for assignment recently by the lowly Royals. More problematic is that Coke has permitted six homers to lefties, which is the most by a southpaw who has pitched exclusively in relief this season.

With the abundance of left handed relievers (Zack Kroenke, Wilkins DeLaRosa, Mike Dunn) in the Yankees farm system, Coke may very well end up losing his job next season if he doesn’t turn it around soon.  Heck, he could lose it this season to Damaso Marte if he’s not careful.

- Posted By Corey

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It doesn’t take Ron Burgundy to figure this out.  Since May 25th, Melky Cabrera has fashioned the following slash rates: .234/.305/.373. This is over a span of 78 games, and 284 plate appearances. During this stretch, Melky has 6 homers and just 28 RBI. In the field, he hasn’t been any better either. His UZR/150 currently stands at -7.9 for the season at CF,  -4.3 overall.  We’ve also seen him have brain farts out there in center, throwing the ball to the wrong base.

But, if you look at the numbers from the beginning of the year till May 24th, Melky looks like the hitter we’ve been hoping he’d turn into.  In 42 games, spanning 141 plate appearances, Melky had the following slash rates: .328/.374/.492 with 5 homers and 20 RBI. 20 RBI in 141 PA, for a bottom of the order hitter, is pretty damn good. This is also the time when Melky seemed to be getting walk off hits on a daily basis.

What is it about this guy that he decides to stop playing after April/May?

- Posted By Corey

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The headline says it all: Coke Spills. This one was a must-win for the Texas Rangers. Unfortunatly for us, they came through and have proved that they are for real.

The Yankees offense killed me today…putting together only 2 runs off of 7 walks and 4 hits within the first 3 and 2/3 innings is flat out pathetic. Cano and A-Rod each left 5 men stranded while Swisher and Matsui each left 4 men stranded.

On the pitching side, while Burnett tossed a quality start striking out an impressive 12 batters, he is still susceptible to the consequences of walking too many batters.  The league leader in bases on balls was up to his usual tricks, surrending 3 walks in his 6 innings. Want an interesting/frustrating stat about Burnett? Take a guess when the last time AJ Burnett started a game and didn’t give up a walk this year. Can’t think of it? That’s because he hasn’t. In fact, the last time Burnett failed to surrender a walk in an outing was on July 23rd, 2008. This is nothing new for AJ, in fact, as in his entire career he’s had 14 starts where he hasn’t surrended a walk out of 236 career starts. I realize he tossed a pretty good game, but there’s nothing that bothers me more then surrendering a walk.

The real goat of the game, however, was Phil Coke. Once Philthy, Coke is now just pitiphil. Since July 11th, Coke has appeared in 18 games, hurling 14 and 1/3 innings, surrending 13 runs on 18 hits, 5 walks and 1 hits batsman. His ERA in that time is 10.05. How long do the Yankees keep sending him out for?

- Posted By Corey

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The Post has the story.

He’s having, perhaps, the best year of his life huh?

- Posted By Corey

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I have to admit, I got a little scared during the 1st inning of this game. Pettitte getting out of that bases loaded jam was huge, and set him up to toss another gem. With this latest outing, Andy improves to 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA in 51.2 innings since the All Star Break. He looks as good as I’ve ever seem him lately and, with him pitching like this, it’s a no-brainer to pencil him in the 3rd spot of the playoff rotation.

As for the offense, they got the better of young Derek Holland roughing him up for 6 earned runs in 6 innings. The offense was pretty much running on all cylinders, with even Hairston getting in the mix with a solo jack. Speaking of Hairston, what a pick up for the Yanks huh? This guy has played almost every position on the field and has not embarassed the team with his bat. While with the Yanks so far this year, he has hit to the following slash rates :  .314/.415/.543. While it’s obvious that he won’t continue to hit at such a high level, he is, right now, exactly what the yankees want Ramiro Pena to become.

Lastly, did anyone else cringe when Posada’s glove hand got clipped with the foul tip? I was afraid that maybe he actually broke it this time.  Luckily, it’s relatively fine and the Yankees are in a position where they can give Jorge a few days off to let his finger heal a little bit.

When it’s all said and done, after a tough loss the Yankees came firing right back with a nice victory against a playoff caliber team. Is it just me, or does it feel like this team, this year, is playing out a Yankeeography?

- Posted By Corey

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Wow, that one got close in the 9th huh? I thought the Yanks were going to pull off the come back there for a minute. Regardless, there’s a lot of fight in this team day in and day out and they never seem to be completely out of it.

And now, for Joba. Last night featured the same old, same old from Joba. I think it’s time for Posada (if he has already, do it again) to sit Joba down and tell him that he’s going to throw whatever pitch Posada tells him to throw. Everytime Joba shakes off Posada, it makes his pitches become predictable. How many times with 2 strikes did Joba shake Posada off to throw the slider? At this point, I don’t think I want to see him get the ball in October. Line up CC, AJ, and Andy and let’s roll.

Lastly, another 2 hits and a walk for the captain. It tells you a lot about your season when it’s been 114 PA since your last walk and your OBP is still .390+. If he continues to hit and get on base at this clip, and steal bases like he has been, he may give Tex and Mauer a run for their money for that MVP award.

- Posted By Corey

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Slade Heathcott made his yanks debut (albeit the Gulf Coast League Yankees) going 1-3 with his first professional base hit,  a single.

Here’s a link to the box score.

He batted lead off, and played center field…two things we could definitely use in the future. So here’s to you, Slade, we hope you have a very bright career in the Bronx.

- Posted By Corey

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As an addendum to my comment in the water cooler yesterday,  here is the article from ESPN. If you do the math, there’s only 1 player in the Hall of Fame that was in the bigs during the 2003 test and was a former teammate of Canseco’s…

- Posted By Corey

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According to Fox Sports Jarrod Washburn is now a Tiger. Either the Yankees are going to make a big splash or they are going to stay put, because I certainly think they could have parted with a better pitching prospect than Luke French.

- Posted By Corey

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Peter Abraham writes :

UPDATE, 5:46 p.m.: Brett Tomko was released.

To think, 1 day he might get a world series ring.

- Posted by Corey

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ESPN Sources: Lee to the Phillies

h/t to G.I. Joey

With this, the Red Sox become favorites in the Doc Halladay sweepstakes and the Yankees lose yet another potential trade partner today to fill the void vacated by Chien-Ming Wang. With news of Wang’s need for surgery and that he might miss a good portion of next season, Cashman has to at least kick the tires on Halladay, if for nothing else, to drive the Red Sox cost up.

- Posted By Corey

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ESPN – Snell, Wilson headed to M’s

The Mariners would not make this trade if they were not going to try and make a playoff run. How does this affect the Yanks? Well for one, this means that Washburn is no longer a trade option. Also, the Yanks had been scouting Snell as another possible option for a trade and now that’s also out. So, with those 2 options out, how do you fill the hole vacated by Wang? And what about Joba and his innings limit?

- Posted By Corey

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ESPN: Sources: Holliday deal is done.

with a hat tip to bfriley76

Gotta like the Yankees chances to extend this winning streak to 10 games now…

-Posted by Corey

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