Yankees: Objects in Mirror are Closer then they Appear

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Ming
At least the Cubs are beating Milwaukee 5 - 0 in the Fifth

Speaking of the Cubs, that was complete bull**** against the Astros. Kerry Wood got 3 chances, Oswalt got one. That is 7 Astros that got hit in the past two Oswalt starts and Oswalt is the only pitcher who is getting suspended. If the Astros only had a decent defense, they would have won that series easily too. What made the situation more retarded is that Bagwell called Oswalt out just because Bagwell's best friend is on the Cubs. This season sucks.

[Vlad Antlerkov]

Originally posted by Arrian
He's a switch hitter who can (supposedly) play all over the infield. Thus, Joe Torre loves him. Joe's a good manager, but he has his faults.

I'd prefer it if Miguel Cairo got 99% of the 2nd base playing time. But Joe will run Enrique out there occasionally and there isn't a thing to be done about it.

About Enrique Wilson, I was under the impression that the Yankees kept him for his flukish ability to hit Pedro (11-for-25 with 4 doubles, no other XBH). That, or incriminating pictures of Torre and a goat. Pedro's probably leaving Boston after this year; the only teams that I can think of that would both want him and afford him are both NY teams, and probably LA and Anaheim. In any of those cases, Wilson's gone.

[Arrian]

His flukish ability to hit Pedro hasn't worked this year, IIRC.

Great Beck quote. I miss Boomer. Fat and silly he may have been, but he can pitch.

-Arrian

[OldWarrior_42]

Red Sox fans are quite humorous.

Speak after the 3 series vs. Texas, Anaheim and Oakland....

[Lawrence of Arabia]

Pedro's probably leaving Boston after this year; the only teams that I can think of that would both want him and afford him are both NY teams, and probably LA and Anaheim. In any of those cases, Wilson's gone.

pedro is NOT gone after this year - he said he is willing to take a $4milliion pay cut nextx year, plus he's good friends with manny and ortiz. luchinno and co said they wont pay luxery tax next year, and the payroll would drop to $110 million. that prolly means either lowe or varitek are gone.

[Arrian]

Lowe is as good as gone. They will keep Varitek. They will try to keep Pedro. I'd say they've got a 50/50 shot of pulling that off.

You know Steinbrenner is going to dangle a big 'ole contract in front of Pedro and try to tempt him away (or at least drive Boston's costs up).

-Arrian

[Lawrence of Arabia]

You know Steinbrenner is going to dangle a big 'ole contract in front of Pedro and try to tempt him away (or at least drive Boston's costs up).

i dont know if he can afford that - if he keeps all big name contracts that would put him over $200 million a year, and he'll be making only around $40 million in profits. not to mention the luxery tax, which I know he hates to pay. i dont think steiny has a chance. pedro knows theres been a market correction and hes willing to take up to a $4 million a year cut to stay in boston. so instead of the 17 million hes making now he could potentially be making 13 million, the extra 4 million we can either pocket or invest in some bullpen arms (foulke, mendoza are fine, but timlin is old, embree ineffective)

not to mention all the money that lowe would have had (scott boras is such a snake) we can prolly get a quality pitcher for less.
we have a cheap 3rd basemen (kevin youkilis) and a good SS prospect in AA (Hanley Ramirez,) so we can resign cabrera for say 2 or 3 years on the cheap then upgrade hanley. we also have another prospect, Shoppach, who plays catcher. hes in AA i think, but he might be in AAA not sure. he should be ready by 06 prolly.

[Arrian]

Haven't you heard? The Yankees are going to have some fun with the luxury tax. See, "stadium operations" can offset against payroll for the purposes of the tax. The Yankees are gearing up to build a new stadium. Originally, they were going to seek lots of money from NYC to do it. Now, though, they're going to pay for a large part of the project themselves and use that to reduce their luxury tax payments.

I wouldn't worry about the Yankees' ability to toss money around.

Personally, I don't want him. I think investing in him now is a mistake, and I'll be happy if the Red Sox do re-sign him.

-Arrian

[Lawrence of Arabia]

how old is $teiny? isnt he going to kick the bucket soon?

[Arrian]

Nope, he's pulling a Castro.

-Arrian

[Lawrence of Arabia]

yeah it always seems that the good die young, and the evil die old.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

he sure went the 'extra mile' for the fans and acquired a $28 million/yr SS whos batting like a $3 million a year SS.

[Arrian]

3b, LoA, 3b. All things considered (transition to NYC), A-Rod's doing ok.

-Arrian

[Lawrence of Arabia]

jeter's out, thats a good sign - i guess payrod will play SS now until he gets back. i feel a SS controversy comig on

[Vlad Antlerkov]

Shoppach is in Pawtucket, and hitting 225/314/448. He showed at lower levels that he could hit for a higher BA than that, so he has a damn good chance of working out. Hanley's been hitting 277/326/482 at Portland (in 83 AB), and was hitting 310/364/389 at Sarasota before that.

Shoppach does create an interesting situation wrt Varitek. Varitek's likely to ask for 3-4 years, while Shoppach will be MLB-ready by 2006. Filling the catcher's job with Mirabelli and a placeholder (Andy Dominique?) for 2005 would be workable, IMHO. For 2006, just scrap the placeholder and replace him with Shoppach, with Mirabelli going back to his current duty of catching Wakefied's starts.

(...and if A-Rod keeps the SS job, what will Jeter do? Or will Torre just play Enrique Wilson at SS instead?)