EVIL~! alkeiper

Has there ever been consideration of playing Bernie at 1B? The Yankees are so good up the middle with A-Rod, Jeter and possibly Beltran that they don't need a big bat at first base. Anyone who can play the bag at first is fine, since offense is a low priority for this club.

Hinske's not a deadweight though, and there is a likelihood that he rebounds.

Saves are entirely meaningless. Foulke had a better year. He had a higher ERA, but pitched more innings. Foulke had more strikeouts and less walks, meaning his defense helped him less than they helped Rivera. And Foulke pitched in a much tougher ballpark.

Marlon Anderson is your Cardinals' DH tonight. .311 career OBP. Its amazing that a team can win 105 games and make the World Series without any kind of hitting depth. Well, there's John Mabry, but apparently he doesn't exist at the moment.

He's making $15 Million. They'd have to eat a healthy chunk of that to get rid of him.

The preseason games are meaningless, and the Giants and Jets are regular season. There's got to be another one somewhere. Javy's salvageable. But there is NO CHANCE the Yankees will get rid of Jason Giambi, without eating 80-90% of his contract.

Live chat tonight.... aim:gochat?roomname=tsmbaseballchat

Of course, those really good baseball players that struck out alot tended to bring SOMETHING else to the table. You can kind of accept it if he's a big power hitter, bringing in 40 homeruns a year. Striking out 175 times and only getting 17 homeruns out of it is absurd, no matter how many times the guy walks. It simply does not matter how many times a player strikes out. A strikeout is no different than any other out. Teams that have high totals of strikeouts are no less capable of scoring runs, and teams that don't strikeout are no more likely to score runs. On Base Percentage measures two events, success (reaching base), and failure (making an out). Among second basemen, Mark Bellhorn made less outs than all but one second baseman in the majors (Mark Loretta). It doesn't matter what KIND of outs they are when he does make them.

Jesus. Mark Bellhorn had a .377 OBP this year. He hit 27 home runs two years ago. HE IS NOT A BAD HITTER.

Vazquez gave up 33 home runs. That's alot, but not insane. He gave up 28 last year, and posted a 3.28 ERA along the way. His component ERA was 4.26, so bad luck makes his season look even worse. His peripherals aren't bad, outside of the home run rate. He's not an ace, but I think he will bounce back and be a serviceable 2-3 starter next season.

The Yankees featured poor center field defense all year. I have to think part of Javy's problem were fly balls that landed in the outfield. Picking up Beltran would really pick up his stats.

I saw Jack Cust live. He looked completely lost at the plate.

You shouldn't look for a walk. The idea is that you are waiting for your pitch. Not swinging at something you can't get a good shot at. Some hitters take it too far, which is why Jack Cust is languishing at AAA. Derek Jeter actually is a good example of the moneyball approach to hitting.

Brown and Vazquez arrived via trades.

Jared Fernandez has a hard knuckler. He bounces between AAA and the majors. Red Sox "prospect" Charlie Zink throws a knuckler, but he's in AA and a long way from the majors.

People talk about gutting the team. They CAN'T. Giambi, A-Rod, Jeter, Kevin Brown, and a few others are completely untradeable.

Another thing, about rebuilding. Rebuilding doesn't take 5-10 years. That's a line badly managed teams use to pacify their fans, while clamering for publicly funded stadiums and paying Roberto Hernandez $6 Million a year. The key to building up the farm system is not giving up a draft pick for a free agent unless the player is worth it. There's no reason to give up draft picks for a Steve Karsay type. But Carlos Beltran is well worth it. If the Yankees work smart, there's no reason they can't build the farm system AND keep winning.

To borrow an Anglesault line, success is not outperforming a single west coast team. Its winning the big prize. And the Yankees haven't done that. It's disgusting how some people will take any opportunity to bash moneyball. It's not crap. And I have news for you. The Yankees are almost as much a Moneyball team as the A's and Sox. They work the count, which is statute number one of a smart offensive unit. Hmm. You'd think the Atlanta Braves would've won more titles. Or maybe those Oakland A's, whose three best players were their three pitchers. And if you can find a way to accurately predict clutch hitting, you really should publish it. There are 30 baseball teams who would love to have that information. Look. The key to scoring runs is reaching base and not making outs. It's so blindingly obvious that I'm amazed so many people rally against it. As for the Yankees and their farm system. Its not that you build your players with homegrown players. But you need depth on your team. What would've happened to the Yankees if A-Rod suffered a freak injury in September? They would have been forced to play Enrique Wilson every day. You need a strong farm system to cover your ass in case something goes wrong. And sometimes it produces a star player to whom you pay a pittance for six years. Remember the Twins are barely paying anything for Johan Santana.

Believe me, LaRussa has more stats at his disposal than he knows what to do with.

Sorry to break the knuckleball mystique. The Cardinals faced Steve Sparks twice this season.

Are you saying this as going into the series? Because DBacks/Yankees was hell of a exciting series. Obviously you can't predict the quality of the games. But the anticipation for the series is as great as any series I've seen in a long, long time.

This team won 100+ games the last three years. The previous Yankee teams coasted in the postseason due to a little luck, and the fact that the competition wasn't as great. There is a reason some of those guys cost half as much. Jose Lima surrendered 33 home runs in 170.3 IP, in Dodger Stadium. You think Home Run Javy was bad? Kris Benson is league average, as is Kevin Millwood. Russ Ortiz walks almost as many guys as he strikes out. Rodriguez is under contract to the Phillies. Actually, I believe they can improve their pitching by signing Beltran. Pitching is not the only thing that effects a defense. The Yankees were third in K:BB ratio, but they finished 6th in runs allowed because they had a large amount of hits allowed. Why? Perhaps because Bernie Williams patrolled center field past his expiration date. Sign Beltran, and alot of those hits become FlyOut-8. Alomar's done. He'd be a worse idea than Nomar, because at least Nomar can hit. Bret Boone's value flucuates with his batting average, and the M's are stuck with him for $8 Million anyway. This notion that star players are undesireable is insane. They are stars for the very reason that they are better than role players. One must remember, however, that there is a difference between a star and a name. Many of those mid-level pitchers are guys I would pay no more than $2 Million for. Look at that list of pitchers again. Matt Morris and his 4.72 ERA? Eric Milton had a 4.75 ERA. Cory Lidle had a 4.90 ERA. Millwood had a 4.85 ERA. Paul Wilson has pitched four full seasons, and has yet to post a league average ERA in any of them. These are not role players for a championship team. They are scrubs. We have a term for teams which spend millions on these types of pitchers. They're called the Mets.

It means they're cursed. If their cursed, it only in the manner that they keep running into REALLY good Cardinals teams.

I'd just like to point out now that there is a difference between choking and losing to a better team. The Sox may not win. There is a 105 win team standing in their way. Not beating them doesn't mean they choked. If they piss away a late game 6/7 lead, then we'll talk.

I think Hammond may have struggled against lefties with us. Just from memory, I recall Hammond being miscast as a lefty killer. Just because he was aging and left-handed, the Yankees assumed he was a LOOGY type pitcher. He's not. Hammond is one of those rare pitchers who is equally adept at facing both righties and lefties.