Here are a few interesting links that have been sitting open on my browser all day.
1) Driveline Mechanics has been going through all of the rotations in baseball according to Wins Above Replacement, and the Yankees come in at #1 with 22.3. They have a comfortable margin over their division rivals, with Boston having 17.7 and the Rays at 14.1. Statistically, the Yankees have the best starting rotation in baseball, a welcome change from previous years in which the likes of Kei Igawa and Carl Pavano opened the season in the starting 5.
2) Jorge Posada is finally a believer in Joba Chamberlain the starter. Posada was of the more vocal people who believed Joba belongs in the pen, but this spring training has apparently changed his mind. Now that Jorge has left the ranks, Mike Francesa and George King have begun the search for a new leader.
3) Speaking about Joba, AJ Burnett has apparently taken the young right hander under his wing. This aspect of Burnett’s personality has come as a welcome surprise to myself and the Yankees. AJ is fitting right in and taking a leadership role. It seems that his claim of having matured has some substance.
4) Peter Gammons wrote another article on the importance of young players, and had this to say:
Of course CC Sabathia will be a major contributor to the Yankees this season, but one NL scout said, “for the $158 million difference, [22-year-old] Junichi Tazawa might have been the most important long-term signing of this offseason. Seven years from now, Tazawa will be 29, have four prime years of his career performed for less than one year for Sabathia. CC will be 36 [in 2016].”
Yeah. A national writer of great renown just said that. It may be time to hang up the old typewriter, Petey. When your bias shines through that badly, its pretty much over in terms of being a credible journalist.
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11 Responses to Links: Yankees Rotation Excellence, Burnett, Joba, Gammons
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TIQ IQ
The wonderful thing about idiotic posts like Gammons’s is that (1) he can claim he was only quoting the scout, not expressing his own views; and (2) when the comment proves false, no one will remember it! For the .0002% chance that it is correct, on the other hand, Gammons can say “I told you so.” Who remembers all the dumb things Gammons and other writers spew out? It is designed to stir conversation and controversy and thus build his readership.
For such a great writer, its amazing how little of a filter Gammons has for Red Sox bias.
Gammons sucks big time. I respected him a decade ago but every year he gets worst. I have a friend who is a Royals fan and even he goes on about how bad his bias is for the Sox.
Isn’t Tazawa projected to start in High A or AA? Can’t anyone say that about any young starting pitcher in the minors? “For a hell of a lot less than CC they could have had so and so through the draft, blah, blah, blah.” Such an open ended statement.
“”"”and while they have huge future commitments to players in their 30s like Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Jorge Posada”"”"”
Last time I looked, both Tex and C.C. were under 30.
Almost any reasonably long term contract will take a player into their 30′s sort of like Big Fatty and Manny were.
Yankees have a pretty good mix right now of young Vets, Older vets and some beginners.
All I can do is shake my head when I read that quote from Gammons. However he lost any respect he had left for me when he took his cheat shot at Mark Teixeira’s wife back in December. That was about as unprofessional as you can get.
Who is Junichi Tazawa?
Japanese pitcher, skipped the NPB draft to sign with an MLB club. There was an unwritten agreement not to touch those players (which is why Yanks were not involved), but the Sox ignored it. If the Yankees had done that, I could only imagine what Peter would be saying.
Haha thanks. Gammons, and ESPN for the most part, have become annoyingly biased against the Yankees.
I love ESPN, it’s one of the few things I watch on television, but most of their baseball coverage I have to take with a grain of salt at this point.
By the way, in 7 years when CC is 36 as the quote says, won’t CC no longer be a Yankee? Didn’t he sign a 6 year deal? So why would the Yankees even care then?
It was a 7 year deal with an opt out after 3.