On the Yankees beat

I realize opening day is a special magical day - should be a national holiday (no I'm not joking about that - work and schools should be closed so parents can take their kids to the game in the afternoon) but in the end, does it really matter who gets the ball on opening day? For teams like Tampa Bay winning on Opening Day might be their only shot at being over .500 all season long, but for the Yankees does it really make that big a difference in the grand scheme of things?

Being named the opening day starter is an honor usually bestowed on a player who's earned such a privilege. It's only weird this year cause we're gonna give it to Carla but I agree Chip it's kinda overblown. That being said since it appears he will be on the team and an important part to boot...From here on out I promise to refrain from calling him Carla until further notice. GO CARL!!!

Chip -- I think you win something being able to be the first one to post.

I think the Yankees agree with that otherwise they would have changed Mooses schedule even though Moose is sensitive to him changing his routine.

http://www.projecta13.com/choose.html

The picture of Arod in silohette is PERFECT well done who's ever responsible.

Who's pitching today against the Braves?

There are a couple of reasons Torre has yet to name Pavano his Opening Day starter. (1) Giving Pavano that "honor", (and then trading him), would be a PR disaster. (2)Torre hates starting the day by "blowing his lunch".

Roy,

There is no chance, zero, zilch, that the Yankees are going to deal Pavano in the next three days.

Roy, they are short on starters-Why on Earth would they trade Pavano now? Any chance we can get Darrell May or Tim Redding in here for the opener?

Who from BBB will be @ Opening Day?

Fifth starter candidate Darrell Rasner gets a chance to stick in the Yankees' rotation tonight, when he takes on the Astros at Legends Field at 7:15 ET.

Ruse's Mom: Whoever you are you got sh*t for brains.My mother has been dead for yrs.Hiding behind a dead woman's dress?Scumbag!

Pavano should be alright, he won't be as bad as 2 innings Jaret Wright

So -- Yanks open in 5 days and it's too soon? Can somebody flick Torre's nose or slap him on the forehead? WTF.

Joe,

This what I have been saying for months. Pavano and Igawa don't have to be Maddux and Glavine, they just have to be better than Wright and Chacon.

People here need to stop acting stupid.

One behalf of the Board Ruse
WE ALL APOLOGIZE for the idiot who named themselves after your Mom.

May god bless her soul.

Thanks Bomber.People are running other agendas that have nothing to do w/ our mutual love of the Yankees.

Bomber, I don't think they are acting.

to change the subject ever so briefly.

Rather than worrying about the MLB DirectTV deal or steroids, wouldn't it be better for Congress to get together and declare opening day a national holiday? Who would be against this?

If the Yanks can get on average 6 innings from the back of the rotation starters Igawa ,Pavano whomever.That helps save the bullpen in the long run.

Ruse

You are a class act in the face of ignorance

Chip : Sure ,the only problem is to Congress everyday is a National Holiday! But I'm all for it.

hey chip, I like the proposal you made in the Fantasy league, however i would like another bat . especailly one of those out fielders. I have a liking for that Detroit CF

I'm disappointed that the Yanks won't be throwing our #1 on Opening Day. But the completion of this game means that there are 161 left to play. So, we should not fret over Pavano being named the Opening Day pitcher.

Its unfortunate that the blog of late has gotten into some nasty name calling by alleged yankee fans or fans of baseball. If you can't say or write in a respectful manner than don't do it at all.Also, to make reference to person's mother as an ID is low.

bomber, think you have me confused with someone else, I don't have Granderson on my team

whats the name of your squad? Your "canyoucounto26" ??? if not I apologize

Larry, I care less about throwing the ace on opening day than I do about throwing him in Game 1

Nope, I'm "Team Bada Bing"

I WAS AT THE TWINS-YANKS GAME YESTERDAY. WHY CLULESS JOE HASN'T NAMED PHELPS BACKUP 1ST BASEMAN IS MIND BOGGLING. PHILLIPS 0-4, W/4 K'S. IF YOU LINE UP THE RED SOX VS YANKEES PITCHING STAFF, I DON'T THINK U CAN GIVE AN EDGE ANYWHERE TO NY, NOW THAT PAP IS BACK @ CLOSER. I'VE SEEN THE SOX IN PERSON, & THEIR STARTERS HAVE BEEN VIRTUALLY UNHITTABLE.

ok i know who's your squad let's talk -team bada bing right?

Zumaya, Delucci - I like those along with felix

Larry M

I agree with you on the state of our blog. The civility is certainly in decline.

On the rotation, it's not just a matter of Opening Day being 1 game of 162. If the rotation holds, Pavano will now be matched up with all the other teams aces. Not good.

On the other hand, the rest of our rotation will all be "pushed back" so they will match up with the other teams numbers 2-5. That should be a plus for us.

I'm sure Torre will wait to the last days of springT to announce his decision...Also the Yanks have their ears open to any last minute deal...w/Wang the Yanks match up well w/the BoSox starters and have a much better bullpen.Note:RedSox optioned Delcarmen and Hansen to Pawtucket...which means they have a bullpen of Piniero,Donnelly,Romero,Snyder,Okajima,Papelbon.Outside of Papelbons upside not a pretty picture

Rick,

I think you're creating a tempest in a teapot.

With off days, rain outs, skipped starts, injuries - rotations usually are only in order the first two times through and then again in the playoffs, and I assure you, the opening day rotation and the playoff rotation are not going to be the same.

On the other side of that coin, even if the rotation did somehow hold form, that would mean that Wang would get matched up against the worst pitcher for other teams...so at worst it is a push.

Regarding Wang ,comes off the DL mid April ? Makes 2 rehab starts at Tampa and Scranton back around the 24th ? Sound about right?

I hope.

RE: projecta13.com

Phucker: I agree, perfect visual.

In addition, the accompanying article is well written.

But it seems to be based on an assumption about NY rooting behavior that might be hard to substantiate -- that is, that NYY fans should, and might be persuaded to, root for the laundry.

In my experience there are at least 4 types of rooters: they root for 1) the laundry, 2) the name, 3) the play, or 4) the game.

Young children and guests in corporate boxes often root for the LAUNDRY because they don't know enough about the players, the plays or the game to discriminate much else -- the uniform is about all they know to cheer for. More knowledgable fans have been known to fall into this type of rooting at crunch times, but it is not their routine practice.

Rooting for Rodriguez as a way to preserve his value to the team appears to be a form of rooting for the laundry.

I guess it could be argued that projrcta13 is a matter of rooting for the NAME, a slightly more sophisticated lrvel of fan behavior that involves rooting for an individual player to whom the fan is attached for some reason. Many players in MLB have some sort of personal rooting section, often with special garments and places to sit during games. Personality traits seem to determine whether this will happen at least as much as performance. Rodriguez so far has not seemed to be able to attract that sort of bond with fans. Perhaps projecta13 is meant to encourage fans to simulate a bond with AR? The underlying motive would still seem to be laundry-rooting.

Rooting for the PLAY is only possible for fans who can recognize a show of unusual or increasing skill or judgment. This level of rooting is very common at the Stadium, where there are still -- in spite of the growing prevalence of luxury boxes whose seats are given out as perks by corporations rather than being bought and occupied by actual fans -- plenty of folks who 'get it'. These are the fans who gave a standing O to Soriano for a walk, when he was a baby who up till then had never seen a pitch he didn't like. They are the ones who [as he freely admits] do cheer AR when he earns it. They don't root for shoddy, or even pedestian, play -- except derisively.

Then there are fans who will root for something that they consider GOOD FOR THE GAME. They will cheer such events even when they benefit an opponent. Records bettered in honest play, a man returning after a career-threatening injury -- the sort of thing a real fan feels privileged to see even when it involves somebody else's laundry.

I think there are all sorts of fans at all ball yards, but in different proportions in different places. I'll bet if you think it over you will recognize which ones are more prevalent in frequently televised parks. It's my notion that changing that balance in the short term is unlikely.

What other categories of rooters are there? Are any of them likely to have their behavior chaned by pleas to root for AR as a policy?

What about booers? Do they also fall into categories? Do they infest different parks in different proportions?

Ruse,

Sounds fine to me, I would rather he take his time getting back though...make sure he's 100%. The weather up here will be cold and hamstrings are tricky in the cold - he's too important to the season to rush back and re-injure himself.

Rick,

Find me the last time that a rotation stayed intact all season long and then you can panic about Pavano against other team's aces all year long. And remember, it isn't just the Yankee rotation that has to hold form, the rotations of every team that they are playing would have to hold form. So you're talking about no pitcher, on any AL team having an injury that causes him to miss a start, no rainouts, and everyone having the same off days as the Yankees.

Diane,

You make a lot of good points, but I think in this era of free agency we almost all end up rooting for the laundry. I mean if you told me in 2004 that two years later I would be rooting for Johnny Damon I would not have believed you, but here we are.

QUESTION: If you COULD choose one of the following Opening Day results, which of the following would you choose:

A. To have Pavano pitch and win.

B. To have Mussina or Wang (if healthy) pitch and lose?

That's it. There's no C. I'm curious as to your responses.

Chip; I wanted to return to a subject you brought up yesterday.Pitching prospects.The Yankees last great righthanded starter who came up thru their system and wasn't traded away was Mel Stottlemyre 1964-1974.BTW only 1 of 2 pitchers to ever beat Gibson in a WS game...Guidry and Pettitte the only 2 lefty starters...the Yanks traded away Doug Drabek who went on to have a good career...so it would be something of a major feat if one of these current prospects "hung on" ,the turn over of pitching prospects greatly outnumbers the successful ones.

Lucy,

I'll take A.

I'm rooting for him to go 6 1/3 give up 2 runs and have Joe take him out - he'll get a standing ovation and the Yankees will be off and running.

Interesting quote by Pettitte, he was saying that he would take the ball for opening day, and that in Houston he would have been given the ball, but in NY the doctors make the call.

Mike and Mad Dog with a good call - if Josh Phelps doesn't make the Yankee roster then they should have told him that the position was not open in the first place, because if he doesn't make this roster all he has done is assured himself of making the Orioles' roster.

"A"

Exactly chip!!!

This 1b case is pure BS, what has ANDY done to ASSURE himself of even the mention of taking over 1b the fact that he was even in the equation was based on favoritism or whatever crap. Phelps do all he can do and if he is dropped i will route for him AGAINST the Yankees. As a former player, fan I hate to see stuff like this. protecting a 240 7 hr guy is pathetic!! Andy was given every chance last year to produce and he failed. give him a minor league contract.

Ruse,

You're absolutely right. And what's more, the last pitcher to come through the Yankee organization to stick in the majors (before Wang) is Eric Milton.

Pitching in general is so fragile and hard to predict, that's why I don't think there's anyway that all these guys in the minors will make it to the majors for more than a cup of coffee. Certainly I hope at least 2 of the big 3 starters in Scranton make it and join Wang, but I'm not counting on it.

Again, if you look at Baseball America's top 10 Yankee prospect list one of the guys on there, Chris Garica, is said to have better stuff than Hughes, be more dominant, and possibly be a better pitcher - all great to hear, but he's out for the year with TJ surgery so who knows what that means.

Of course I say that now but I got annoyed when the Yankees traded prospects like Rivera and Medina for Irabu, when they traded Claussen for Boone and when they traded Drews in part of the deal for Cecil - none of those guys ever amounted to anything so what do I know.

Chip: It doesn't guarantee a spot on the roster w/Millar ,Huff and Gibbons ahead of him.Certainly would add to their depth chart...It would be a total PR disaster for NY.

Thanks, Guys. I chose A, also. It's good food for thought concerning the Yankees' priorities.

Ruse,

Well if nothing else, coming off this spring, if the Yankees had to return Phelps to the O's, I'm sure Baltimore would find several teams would be interested in making a trade for him (Atlanta, Cincy, Angels just to name a few)

Diane, that was an interesting article. I think short term we root for the players and the present team. But long term, we root for the New York Yankees, period (call it the name or laundry, doesn't matter). I love Mariano dearly, but if he were to leave us for another team, I would NOT root for him in the 9th if he were pitching against us.

Hypothetically speaking, if all our present Yankees went over to Boston and if all the Red Sox became New York Yankees, I would root for the New York Yankees (Manny, Ortiz and all). After all, 20 years from now, we will more than likely see all totally different players, and I think most people will continue rooting for the Yankees and not abandon them when Jeter and company retire.

all i'm saying is this , if Torre chooses phillips and the first base offense is null and the defense is avg on part of phillips then torre should bear all blame and be let go, that;s it just let him go. let Mattingly intern the rest of the season and if he sucks ..goodbye bring down Joe G and that's it. remember Joe's "POSSE "is getting older we have a whole new generation coming up and the last they need is politics. of course Joe wants to manage in 08. he wants to be there for RUdy.

AND DID"nt I TELL you all LONG AGO that RUDY will USE the Yankees as his political booster and Joe torre will ride along

Lucy,

A. I think it will give him a big spiritual boost and confidence that hopefully will continue through the year. Like him or not he's ours so while it was fun beating him up and I do think he deserved it, I think it's time now to embrace him.

Oh yeah and cause he's part of my starting rotation against Roy and he's got Bonderman hah!! He's gonna kill me in the pitching stats this week.

Lucy,

I think you have it exactly right. Are there certain players I would find it hard to root for, sure - Manny, Varitek, Schilling, Bonds. But I also found it hard to root for Sheffield, Johnson, Rogers, Gooden, Clemens and Boggs - it didn't stop me from doing it.

Ruse and Chip:

Remember we traded a rookie Al Leiter for a washed up Jesse Barfield. How did that work out for us?

he would jump over millar, if his hitting continues.

the mere fact though is that he would be returned to a DIVISION rival!!!!!!!!!!!

Add more fuel to the fire is that he PHelps would have more motivation and anger from feeling dissed against the yankees.

Imagine him saying how you dump me for a man who made two errors in a game plus struck out 4 times in a game

I agree, Phucktheredsox, and I embrace your sentiment.

Comparing the 7-8-9
Toronto
Zaun
Aaron Hill
Royce Clayton

Boston
Lowell
Crisp
Pedroia

NYY
Cano
Posada
Meint/Phelps

Chip, it's funny how our allegiance changes. I never thought in 2004 that I'd be rooting for Damon a short time later. I used to call him Demon, but now he's Johnny D to me, and I love him.

Zander: Don't remind me ! Drabek and Leiter.Combined they won over 300 games.

Lucy - I used to call him much worse than that.

I'm a firm believer that the name on the front of the uniform is a lot more important than the one on the back.

I'm 28, when Mike Stanley was here, I rooted for him, he was one of my favorites, I was in the stadium for his return to NY with the Red Sox, I was part of the group that gave him an ovation, and as soon as I sat down I said, "Now strike out you son of a ....."

Prognosticators talk about how much Toronto improved this off season,outside of the "BigHurt" signing I just don't see it.They'll definitely score runs .Why would any team sign a 37 yr old shortstop whose name isn't Visquel? After Halliday who do they have?

Hey, Guys, how would you feel about requesting that Kat dedicate a sticky thread for your Fantasy Baseball? I don't mind it at all, I think it's great, but it's a bit confusing at times when trying to distinguish between the Fantasy and reality. It just takes time to read, only to discover it's not meant for everyone. I think it helps you guys as well, because it keeps all your comments together in one thread. The stickiness will keep it intact for the entire season and your hard work can be saved. Anybody for it? Anybody object? Kat did ask for suggestions and I think this might be a good one.

Zander,

I prefer to think of it this way:

If the Yankees had not traded Leiter to Toronto he would not have gone to the Marlins and then they would not have traded him to the Mets and Bobby Valentine would not have left him in too long and Luis Sojo would not have hit a million hopper up the middle and the Yankees may not have won the 2000 World Series. So you see, the trade did work out for the Yankees, it just took 15 years.

Lucy, sounds good to me.

Ruse,

If Burnett and Chacin stay healthy then that's a good threesome, but that's the trick, Roy, AJ and Gustavo have not shown that they can stay healthy all year long so it's a crap shoot. Their defense up the middle is terrible with Clayton and Hill - Zaun is not a good defensive catcher and Troy Glaus should be playing first base or DH due to his knees but with Overbay and Thomas there he's stuck at third

There is no easy division in baseball it seems. 3 competitive teams in each division and each can win their respective divisions.

Great line on Pettitte from Russo - a caller was basically ripping Andy, gives up too many hits, doesn't have great stuff...all that...Francessa defends Andy by saying he's a battler - said Mussina probably has better stuff but Pettitte is the better big game pitcher and Russo chimed in with a very true statement:
"People who like Pettitte tend to overrate him, people who don't tend to underrate him, but he's very tough to look at objectively"

Chip : Without Leiter the Mets don't make the WS in 2000 ,having said that ,the 5th game 2000 WS was one of the more memorable in recent Yankee history

Joe,

NL Central and NL West both stink - but they stink equally so there will be a lot of competition for those divisions.

Ruse,

Exactly, if the Mets don't make the Series in 2000 who knows what happens in the series for the Yankees.

Doug is batting a whopping .137 This spring...

Carlos Zambrano has a lifetime BA of .230

Just a thought

Chip I agree w/ your Toronto assessment,Halliday also has a history of arm problems."BigHurt" is a yr older .Not sure he can maintain it for another yr.Defense is lacking.Middle relief ? But I like this kid Rios in RF.

Phucker,

I'm listening to Russo and Francessa whine about him on the radio...if I could get through to them I would tell them the same thing that I'll tell you.

With this lineup, if this season comes down to the bat of Doug Meintkeiwtz lots of other things would have had to go horribly wrong first.

With four ground ball pitchers in the rotation and shaky arms at short and third, all he has to do to make me happy is pull in the throws that Tino used to in his prime.

Lucy, Chip, -- re: cheering the laundry...

Stadium crowd is often stubborn about cheering beloved players even when they go on to wear someone else's laundry. Remember the huge cheers for Tino every time he came to the plate for St. L against the Yankees, even going so far as to cheer a hit he made against us? Old Yankees usually get a decent welcome, even if not quite like Tino's, and rarely a storm of boos no matter who they go on to play for.

I tried to figure out why the stadium crowd was different from crowds that virulently boo the return of departed heros in new clothes. All I could come up with was the hypothesis that Yankee fans deep down believe that the player would have preferred to stay but didn't get to, while virulently booing crowds assume the player wanted to get away and so feel betrayed.

Ruse, to chime in on your point on Thomas, I think it's going to be a lot harder for him to mimic his production against the AL East pitchers than it was against the AL West. Not counting his teammates the best pitchers in that division were Colon - out all year, Millwood, Gil Meche, Jared Weaver and Felix Hernandez. Going to be a little different facing Schilling, Beckett, Matsuzaka, Wang, Mussina, Pettitte, Bedard, Loewen and Cabrera

Lucy, A:

Gene: Starting pitchers in ST should be fairly unhittable but its a long season.Left Field at Fenway is mighty close.

I understand Chip. I just don't like having a virtual NL lineup in the AL. I'm watching M&M Dog as well.

Chip : That's true ,although I remember a game last yr Mussina had a 3-1 count on him with a runner on 2 out and instead of walking the BigHurt he challenged him w/a fastball and Thomas tomahawked it for a line drive HR.Yanks lost 4-3 ?

Phucker,

Granted he hit 27 HR's but Detroit won the AL hitting .253 with a .313 OBP and 153 k's.

We always hear that pitching and defense win championships. Well, given this pitching staff the best thing they can have for them is a quality infield defense. Doug provides that. Any runs his bat may cost the team I believe his glove will make up for.

Ruse,

You know how I feel about Mussina - I can't argue with signing him for what the Yankees did, and given the lack of pitching available it was a good move - but I have never trusted him in a big spot.

Phucker, sorry - those stats I gave belonged to Brandon Inge, he hit 9th for the Tigers last season.

It's cool I know what you're getting at. Truth be told I'm not all that concerned about MINT if anybody in the AL can make up for having ONE weak Bat HAH most have 2 and 3 then I believe it would be the yanks.

If Phelps hasn't earned a spot on this team then there should be a congressional investigation!

Rick - if there is then I'm going to have to insist on my taxes being lowered.

Rick: What about Basak over Cairo? Joe T. probably stick with Cairo and his track record but Basak except for the error yesterday plyed well this ST.

I think the Yanks have made up their minds to keep Phelps. However, they respect Phillips enough to try to play him a little longer so he can maybe make a good play or two and prove to some team out there that he is worthy of a bench spot. Phelps is the one who will go north, I'm certain of it. He gives the Yanks what they are lacking, and that's another RH power threat. They don't care what kind of defense he gives them, he's better than Giambi at 1b and Doug M. can come in later if needed.
People act like this is the "make or break" decision for the Yankees season, this means absolutely nothing to me, I don't really care who they pick because it could all change by July anyway.

Cairo will stay on the team because:
a. He can play all the infield positions and is more than capable at most of them.
b. He can play OF too, although not great.
c. He's a "good clubhouse guy" who looks like Shrek so he gives the guys a good laugh and keeps them loose.
c. He almost never strikes out and when you need someone to push a runner over later in the game, he can make contact and get it done, I mean git'r done (right Rick?).

Jim A: there is one decision that haunts me. Its the backup catcher. Not the 25 games or so that he 'll play. Its if Posada goes down. You can than see the Yanks srambling and paying a very high price to fix the issue. I believe Cashman has been lax with this spot on the roster.

chip the 9th slot is important becasue it's pivital spot in the lineup.

A good hitter would make melky's at bats easier as well as damon. who is going to be the regular #8

Anonymous

Posada is 8th I think.

Larry,

I don't think Cashman has been lax with the spot so much as there just aren't any good options at that spot. Look around the majors, there are what 10 quality catchers? Guys who would be quality back -ups are getting starting jobs for other teams so the guys who are settling for back-up jobs are mostly guys who shouldn't be in the league in the first place.

The only legit catcher who is serving a back-up role (and this is stretching the definition of 'legit') is Toby Hall and he's backing up AJ in Chicago because they promised it would be a lefty righty platoon.

Larry M and Jim A:

Pretty sure Cairo has a one year guaranteed contract, so Basak will go to Scranton. Miggy DOES look like Shrek.

Who knows what the Yanks are going to do w/ regards to the backup catching position...I still think a Ryan Doumit or a Chris Coste could be had for a relief pitcher or 2 .Britton and/or Bean

We have a very shrewd GM who will improve this team whenever he can. Casual Observer must be getting his nails done today.