EVIL~! alkeiper

THis is silly. Miller and Ewing were both great players. Miller was great not only for his ability to shoot the three, but he also NEVER turned the ball over. Ewing was great for the reasons mentioned above. Ewing's underrated because his best years came before the Knicks' Finals run.

Here's something Bill James wrote back in 1978 that I think applies here... James was talking about the California Angels, then desperately trying to win a pennant before Gene Autry died. It applies here to the Yankees. You can acquire all the free agents you want. But most players have their best years before they reach free agency. There is actually a limit to how far you can go without a farm system, and sometimes no amount of money in the world can buy you the best players.

I caught the Scranton/Charlotte game live tonight, and took home a Gavin Floyd bobblehead.

This is an independant league, meaning the club is unaffiliated with any big league club. As for the baseball itself, the Northern League is not as bad as you might think. They are closer to AA ball than Rookie ball. Plus, looking over the rosters, the Kansas City club actually has David Segui!

Why Cashman? I don't think the failure of the team is his fault, quite honestly. I think Steinbbrenner himself is to blame.

The Yankees problem wasn't drafting college players. Honestly, I have never heard anything about their drafting strategy. The reason the draft works for Oakland and does not for the Yankees is because Oakland stocks up on compensation draft picks received for departed free agents, while the Yankees frequently lose draft picks to sign free agents. That gives the Yankees no room for error when it comes to the draft.

Another loss dropped the Yankees to 37-37 on the season, a .500 record. Every team is average once in awhile, but for a team with a $200 Million payroll, an average season is an embarassment. Yankee fans want success, and to that end change may be necessary. So what can be done to fix this beleaguered franchise? Many fans assume a problem with the Yankees is their offense. Surely Jason Giambi taking at bats and eating millions is a serious problem. While it is a problem, the Yankees have far worse issues than Giambi. Right now the Yankees rate second in the league in runs scored and twelveth in runs allowed. They are scoring enough runs to win. Jason Giambi has raised his average to .254, and his OBP is nearly .400. I am not so much of an OBP that I will deny Giambi is a problem player despite the OBP, but the point is a team can live with it for now. The major problem with the offense is Tony Womack. Womack is playing what is traditionally a power hitter's position, hitting .240/.275/.264 in the process. Believe me, there are dozens of inexpensive corner outfielders who could hit better, and a few of them play in Columbus, the Yankees' AAA farm affiliate. Mitch Jones would hit .230 and strikeout maybe 175 times in a full season, but he would slug at least .450, more than Womack is contributing. The big problem is the Yankees' pitching staff. Kevin Brown and Jaret Wright hit the disabled list, and Carl Pavano has been less than advertised. This came as a complete shock to everyone except those of us who read Baseball Prospectus. Sean Henn has bombed in the rotation and it is time to give another pitcher a shot. It is time the Yankees gave Alex Graman another shot. Graman is posting a fine strikeout rate at AAA Columbus, and he's a lefty as well. Is he the answer? I doubt it, but you never know, and it could not be worse than trotting out Sean Henn for another start. The bullpen has struggled outside of Mariano Rivera, Tom Gordon and Tanyon Sturtze. The Yankees have an excellent minor league pitcher in their system named Colter Bean. Bean sports an amazing 11.5 K/9 ratio. Will those numbers translate to the majors? Having watched Bean live, I figure if Chad Bradford made it, there is no reason Colter Bean can not do so as well. Minor league hurler Wayne Franklin, a lefty, has pitched well in Columbus, and also deserves a fair shot. The big problem with the Yankees is their defense. They lack a center fielder with range. Hideki Matsui is adequate, but when your left fielder is unfamiliar with his position, it makes for some long nights. Plus, Miracle Fielding Boy's defense is inadequate, Robinson Cano's defense was questionable through the minors, and Alex Rodriguez has lost a step at third base. The Yankees should explore adding a defensive player to their lineup at the expense of offense. If I could do ONE thing to improve the Yankees (assuming I wanted to), I would trade for a good defensive center fielder. This would improve the defense and in turn the pitching, and allow Hideki Matsui to move back to left (benching Tony Womack in the process). Any other move the Yankees can make from within, but they MUST find a defensive player for center if they hope to make a run for the pennant.

Here's one. Art Jorgens won five World Championships with the New York Yankees, in 1932 and 1936 through 1939. He played 56 games as a backup catcher in those last for years combined.

Canseco did hit well for the Yankees down the stretch. Torre just didn't want to play him.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/050622 A good piece on a game played in Fairbanks during the Summer Soltice. Midnight baseball with natural sunlight.

I have always been of the attitude that if front offices want to run themselves like idiots, let them. As for Darko, I feel it is too early to write him off. Larry Brown has not given him much of an opportunity yet. I don't know if he was a backup in Europe, but he would have been just 17 when he played there. He's just 20 years old now. If he gets significant playing time and then fails, it's another matter.

I actually believe the opposite. You CAN properly translate the statistics and find good NBA caliber players in Europe. Tony Parker, Vladomir Radmanovich, Pau Gasol, Jiri Welsch, Hido Turkoglu, Andrei Kirilenko have all experienced success in the NBA. Europe does not produces as many stars, but many very capable players come from there. I think the trend of drafting high school players was more troubling. I'm on record saying 18 year old players should play if they are good enough. The problem is that rather than drafting a college player who has established a ceiling, the teams were starting to gamble on high schoolers. What's the sense of drafting a project when you only have three guaranteed years? High schoolers are easier to scout than Europeans and I think it is easier to judge their true level of ability. But if you know what to look for, you can find some gems in Europe. For teams that draft Europeans based on height, I think you will find height-based busts at every level of NBA talent, regardless of whether they are European, High School (Desagana Diop anyone?) or college.

There is nothing in RBIs that I can not learn from reading more relevant statistics. And they're particularly bothersome when someone who wishes to hype an undeserving candidate hides behind them yelling "RBIs! RBIs!". Especially when there are NINE outfielders hitting better. Brian Giles has a better OPS while hitting in the worst hitters' park in the majors. He's more deserving. Jim Edmonds has a better OPS while playing excellent defense in center field. Carlos Lee probably deserves an All-Star slot. He's not a deserving starter. And on top of that, I would be surprised if he actually leads the league in RBIs at the All-Star break. And then his presence in the lineup would look quite awful.

Might as well get some mileage out of it now. Lee would have to hit BETTER than he's hitting now to reach .400, and even the most ardent Cubs supporters likely don't expect that to happen. Except the Superfans of course.

Hasn't Gatti always been notorious for boxing at weights far below his walking rate? I remember reading about the same thing years ago.

You are ten years behind in your statistics. There are several reasons the league RBI leader should not start in the All-Star game... 1. There is no guarantee Carlos Lee will be the league RBI leader by the time the All-Star game rolls around. 2. RBIs are a situation-dependant statistic. Carlos Lee hits behind two batters (Brady Clark and Lyle Overbay) sporting .390 OBPs. That amounts to MANY RBI opportunities. How many batters enjoy the same number of baserunners? 3. RBIs are not a direct indication of hitting skill. Batting average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, runs created, win shares, etc. are all better statistics for judging a player's overall ability. 4. Carlos Lee benefits from hitting in a good hitters' environment. Among NL outfielders, Lee is 19th in batting average, 20th in OBP, 4th in slugging percentage, 10th in OPS, 7th in hits, 13th in runs scored, 10th in RC/27 (runs created per 27 outs), and 7th in Win Shares. On top of that, he enjoys an average defensive reputation. But because he's first in RBIs, he's an All-Star? That's stupid. I'm sorry, but there's no other way of saying it. RBIs are a virtually worthless statistic. It is bad enough players win MVP awards because of them.

Yeah, because all baseball fans filled out their All-Star ballots at the exact moment Carlos Lee led the league in home runs (while playing in a favorable hitting park of course). Carlos Lee ranks about 14th in eligible outfielders in on base percentage. I haven't voted for him, since he is not a top three outfielder. And if I haven't voted for him, having read the statistics and understood them, what makes it such a travesty that no one else has?

The Giants claimed Alex Sanchez off waivers from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Tomorrow actually.

Vicente Padilla. His start has been pushed back a few days.

Best line I've heard all season.

The 1994 Club included Olajuwon, Otis Thorpe, Vernon Maxwell, Kenny Smith, Sam Cassell, Mario Elie, Robert Horry, Scott Brooks, Matt Bullard, and Carl Herrera. The 1995 Club included much the same personnel, except for Clyde Drexler who was acquired in a mid-season trade. I think that era had no dominant NBA teams, and that helped the Rockets. They did have a complete team, much like the Pistons of today.

Al's Minor League Baseball Odyssey continues tonight in Augusta, New Jersey for a game between the New Jersey Cardinals and the Williamsport Crosscutters of the Single A New York-Penn League.

Mark Teixeira is closing the gap. It's funny. Earlier in the thread I expressed my usual preference for taking more than the current year into account. Meanwhile, everyone voted for the hot hand in May, who is now hitting .226. Some "All-Star."

The defense is absolutely terrible. Derek Jeter is not a good defensive shortstop, no matter what the New York media says. The Yankees lack any player with the depth to cover center field, Tony Womack is barely adequate in left field, and there is not one outstanding defensive player on the field (maybe Tino, but he's aging as well). And yes, I fully believe the Yankees lack the talent. Again, you look at players like Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter and think they will win because they have stars. But their bench is one of the worst in baseball, they only have three relievers pitching with any kind of effectiveness, and they are playing THE WORST LEFT FIELDER IN BASEBALL HISTORY. You look at the Yankees' roster and tell me where the improvement is coming from that will make them a good team. The truth is, players start to decline after age 30. Coming into this season, they had not one player in the upswing of his career. Now they have Robinson Cano, who's walked six times in 158 at bats, and Chien-Ming Wang, who sports a gaudy 3.5 K/9 ratio. The problem with the Yankees is that George Steinbrenner does not know how to build a winning team. The Yankees along with their stars are playing bad, bad players every day. Tony Womack, Robinson Cano, Tino Martinez, Jason Giambi, Bernie Williams. All are below average, and four out of the five play every day. The Yankees also have just three starters getting the job done. They still pitch two others every five days. And when the starters last less than seven innings, they get bad relievers as well.