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Larry Mahnken and SG's | ||
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| Replacement Level Yankees Weblog |
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Featuring: Larry Mahnken SG sjohnny TVerik Sean McNally Fabian McNally John Brattain  
The New York Yankees Vintage World Series Films DVD Set, available from A&E. Yankees Tickets World Series Tickets MLB All Star Tickets NFL Tickets Purchase your Onlineseats.com is your #1 source for MLB tickets, NY Mets Tickets, Cubs Tickets, Yankees Tickets, Red Sox Tickets, Giants Tickets, Astros Tickets, Angels Tickets, Phillies Tickets.
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04/01/2003 - 04/30/2003 05/01/2003 - 05/31/2003 06/01/2003 - 06/30/2003 07/01/2003 - 07/31/2003 08/01/2003 - 08/31/2003 09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003 10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003 11/01/2003 - 11/30/2003 12/01/2003 - 12/31/2003 01/01/2004 - 01/31/2004 02/01/2004 - 02/29/2004 03/01/2004 - 03/31/2004 04/01/2004 - 04/30/2004 05/01/2004 - 05/31/2004 06/01/2004 - 06/30/2004 07/01/2004 - 07/31/2004 08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004 09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004 10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004 11/01/2004 - 11/30/2004 12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004 01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005 02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005 03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005 04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005 05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005 06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005 07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005 08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005 09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005 10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005 11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005 12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005 01/01/2006 - 01/31/2006 02/01/2006 - 02/28/2006 03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006 04/01/2006 - 04/30/2006 05/01/2006 - 05/31/2006 06/01/2006 - 06/30/2006 07/01/2006 - 07/31/2006 08/01/2006 - 08/31/2006 09/01/2006 - 09/30/2006 10/01/2006 - 10/31/2006 LINKS Yankees Sites and Columnists Nomaas.org General Baseball Sites & Columnists Rotoauthority.com The Book Blog - Playing the Percentages in Baseball(Tango, MGL, Dolphin) Yankees Blogs Almost Perfect Baby Bombers Baseball Mania Bronx Banter Dugout News Eephus Pitch Fire Joe Torre Blog Here Comes Number 27 High and Tight Lohud Yankees Blog No Sense Worrying Soft Hands The Sporting Brews The Stat Boy of the Empire Was Watching Yankees Chick Yankees Fans in Foreign Lands Yanks Blog Look what people have to say about Larry Mahnken's commentary! "Larry, can you be any more of a Yankee apologist?.... Just look past your Yankee myopia and try some objectivity." "Mr. Mahnken is enlightened."
"Wow, Larry. You've produced 25% of the comments on this thread and
said nothing meaningful. That's impressive, even for you."
"After reading all your postings and daily weblog...I believe you have truly become the Phil Pepe of this generation. Now this is not necessarily a good thing."
"you blog sucks, it reeds as it was written by the queer son of mike lupica and roids clemens. i could write a better column by letting a monkey fuk a typewriter. i dont need no 181 million dollar team to write a blog fukkk the spankeees"
"i think his followers have a different sexual preference than most men"
"Boring and predictable."
"Are you the biggest idiot ever?"
"I'm not qualified to write for online media, let alone mainstream
media."
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Disclaimer: If you think this is the official website of the New York Yankees, you're an idiot. Go away. Sunday, July 31, 2005
July, a good month by SG
The Yankees came back strong from a Friday night loss to the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles to win the next two games of the series. Particularly satisfying was the way they took advantage of a fatigued Angels bullpento rally late in both games, which was the mark of last year's team.
Friday, July 29, 2005
by Larry Mahnken
The Yankees are only 1½ games out of first place (one in the loss column), but I'm not feeling very confident in their chances right now. Their rotation, the Thin Gray Line, is very precariously balanced on the edge of doom. They're not entirely dependent on Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina -- yet -- but they're close.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
A Yankee Book Review by SG
The Yankees blew a chance to steal a win last night, as a shaky Al Leiter somehow held the Twins to one run over five innings where he allowed 13 baserunners and threw 115 pitches. Johan Santana was not particularly sharp, but managed to hold the Yankees scoreless over seven innings. The Yankee bullpen blew any chance at a comeback by allowing 6 runs over 4 innings. It was just one of those games where the team never really had a chance to win. With a day game scheduled to start at 1:05, the Yankees will hope to do better against Joe Mays. They'll have to, because odds are that Aaron Small will give up a few runs.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
That was what we paid for by SG
Randy Johnson's disappointing tenure in pinstripes has been well-chronicled, both here and in other, more prestigious places. Coming off a season where he struck out 290 batters and pitched to a 2.60 ERA, Yankee fans were looking forward to having a true ace to front the pitching staff.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Road Trip Blues by SG
Coming out of the All Star Break was a road trip that had the potential to make or break the Yankees' season. 11 games against teams that had a combined record of 148-116. The Yankees entered the road trip with a record of
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Small Sample by Larry Mahnken
Tuesday, the Yankees gave the game away. They should have won it easily, but they did a horrible job against Chan Ho Park and came away with only one run. Still, they should have won, because Mike Mussina had held the Rangers scoreless and they went into the bottom of the eighth leading 1-0.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Aaron who? by SG
Tonight, the Yankees turned to their 12th different starting pitcher of the season. Aaron Small, who's been in nine different organizations and made a total of three starts in the majors, none since 1996. To put that in perspective, Mariano Rivera was still apprenticing under John Wetteland the last time Aaron Small started a game in the majors.
by SG
Learning nothing from Mike Stanton's last pitch as a Yankee, Joe Torre blew another one tonight. I'm too annoyed to write anything more about the terrible decision to pitch Wayne Franklin in the 8th inning of a 1-0 game in Texas.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
What Can Brown Do For Us? by Larry Mahnken
Okay, okay, let's not get too excited yet. Yeah, the Yankees are finally back in first place, but it might not be for long.
First place by SG
With yesterday's slugfest victory over the Texas Rangers, and Boston's loss to the Tampa Devil Rays, the Yankees have finally moved into first place in the AL East, for the first time since the second game of the season. With the wild streaks and inconsistent play so far this season, this certainly seems improbable.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Thin Gray Line by Larry Mahnken
Four times this season the Yankees appeared to be dead. And 11-19 start was salvaged by a 16-2 run, but a 3-11 stretch against the Red Sox, Royals, Twins, Brewers and Cardinals left them on the brink again. They won 6 straight, but went 1-5 against the Devil Rays and Mets to fall to 37-37.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Al's well that ends well by SG
16 years ago, the Yankees traded their top prospect, a young lefty who threw in the mid to high 90s and had struck out more than a batter an inning in his 18 starts as a Yankee. They got Jesse Barfield in the deal, who was past his prime and would last about 3 more seasons in New York before finally shutting it down. I was a prospect nut at the time, and it broke my heart to see Al Leiter go.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Newsday: Pitching-starved Yanks deal for Leiter by SG
The Yankees and Marlins have an agreement in principle on a deal that will make Al Leiter a Yankee again, Newsday has learned.
Friday, July 15, 2005
The Only Thing They Can Do by Larry Mahnken
The Yankees had a terrible day on Thursday, apparently losing rookie starter Chien-Ming Wang for the rest of the season. With Carl Pavano, Kevin Brown and Jaret Wright on the disabled list, that leaves the Yankees relying on two proven starters -- Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina -- and three empty spots. Tanyon Sturtze could fill one of those spots, but he's never had success in the rotation, and it will still leave two gaping holes even if he pitches at the start of the game like he's pitched late in games recently.
A well-managed game by TVerik
Everyone gives Torre occasional grief for his in-game managing, and much of it is deserved. But in last night's Boston game, he consistently made good decisions, and put the Yankees in position to win the game.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Get used to it by Sean McNally
Eight runs given up. Fourteen hits. Six runs given up. Six runs. One Yankee win. Hope you all enjoyed that, because the Yankees are probably going to have to play a lot of these games going forward to stay in the race for the AL East. Before the game, Chien-Ming Wang was place on the 15-day DL with an inflamed shoulder. Word out of Yankee camp, particularly out of Michael Kay (who relayed a story from Ruben Sierra), is that Wang may have hurt his rotator cuff during a side session Sunday. Wang is supposedly on his way to see Dr. James Andrews, who incidentally stitched Wang’s shoulder together four years ago, for a second opinion on the shoulder. But the word doesn’t seem encouraging for a return any time soon. The Wang injury leaves the Yankees with just two healthy starters that could be described as “major league quality” in Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson to start an 11-day, 11-game, three-time zone road trip. So with recently acquired and called up Tim Redding going on Friday, Johnson on Saturday and perhaps Mahnken on Sunday the Yanks desperately needed Mussina to go deep into the game and give the pen a rest. Mussina gave up four runs in the first. Thanks Moose! The Yankees halved the lead on the strength of two solo homers by Jason Giambi and Bernie Williams in the second. Not bad for a couple of dead guys, eh? Moose gave that run back on a Jason Varitek RBI ground out, but the Yankees would ultimately knot the game at 5-5 in the sixth after a fifth inning Sheffield homer and a throwing error in the sixth by Bill Mueller. Tanyon Sturtze came on in the seventh, and did alright, save for a David Ortiz homer giving Boston a 6-5 lead. In the eighth and afterward, Joe Torre did something he hasn’t done in a long time: made great tactical decisions. Jorge Posada doubled and was promptly pinch run for by Tony Womack. Bernie grounded out to second, moving the most expensive pinch runner in baseball over to third with one out and bringing Melky Cabrera. Melky was pinch hit for by investigative reporter Ruben Sierra who drove a ball just inside the bag at first to tie the game. Tom Gordon pitched a solid night then everyone's favorite Red Sock Curt Schilling came out to close. For all of the offseason and spring training, Schilling and other Boston players took shots at ARod. He was a dirty player. He was a deadbeat dad. He wasn't a "real" Yankee. Real Yankee this. On Schilling's first pitch, ARod blasted a pitch to straightaway center. 8-6 Yankees. Given a lead, Torre turned the ball over to Mariano Rivera, who was set on showing the Sox that April was April, and the calendar says July. Thirteen pitches. Three swinging strikeouts. Game over and New York pulled within a game-and-a-half of Boston.
Who's not clutch? by SG
Soldiering on after the disheartening news of Chien-Ming Wang going on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation, the Yankees had one of their most satisfying wins of the season tonight.
The Importance of Taking Care of Business by Sean McNally
Three wins and 10 losses. If the Yankees fall short of the playoffs, they'll only have themselves and their play against the dregs of baseball to blame. In the first half, Similarly, the team went 1-5 versus Going into tonight's game against Boston, the Yankees stand 2.5 games back from the Red Sox and just two in the loss column, but their miserable record against the most miserable in the league will leave them and their fans to wonder what might have been. Last year, Where’s the difference? It's in a 7-16 vs. If the Yanks had played up to expectations versus the weaker teams, which is what teams that fancy themselves contenders do, then essentially 2005 would look a lot like 2004 did. Consider this, the Yankees finished 15-4 against Hypothetically, that adds 10 wins to the Yankees record placing it at 56-30: one game better than last year! A 56-30 mark that would be good for a 7.5 game lead in the East, eight games in the loss column and second-best in the majors behind the scalding hot Chicago White Sox. What's this all mean? Well, it proves that the Yankees should have listened to Washington Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan. In basketball's version of the dog days of winter, "We have to be like squirrels. We have to harvest our nuts right now, build up some wins for when things get thin later." - January 12, 2005 Well, things are looking thin coming up for Between now and Sept. 1, the Yankees play 47 games - of which 31 are against teams that are over .500. These are the thin times, and the Yanks may not have the nuts to get through them. If they stumble in the next month and a half and fall short of the playoffs, they only have themselves to blame.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
2½ back by SG
Today's Yankee victory over Cleveland coupled with Boston's loss to Baltimore has pulled the Yankees with 2½ games of first place in the AL East. Heading into the All Star Break, it's been a harrowing first half for the Yankees and their fans.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Why Joe, why? by SG
The Yankees won their fifth in a row last night, behind a solid outing by Mike Mussina and some homerun hitting by Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, and Derek Jeter. This was a nice win against a solid team, but came at a possibly heavy price.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Cabrera to start for NY Yankees tonight by SG
(Trenton, NJ)- The Trenton Thunder, the Double-A Affiliate of the New York Yankees, have announced that Melky Cabrera, who began the 2005 season with the Thunder, has been promoted to the New York Yankees and is scheduled to start tonight against Cleveland.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Half-season Yankee report cards - Pitching by SG
Today, I'll grade the Yankee pitching staff. The pitching staff has probably been the biggest problem on the team. I will grant that they are not helped by their defense, but that's not the only problem. The FIP that I reference here is a Fielding Independent Pitching metric developed by Tango Tiger similar to DIPS that is a better predictor of ERA going forward than current ERA. Eyeballing this # with the pitcher's actual ERA can tell you if a pitcher has been lucky or unlucky this year. VORP is value over replacment player. For starters, I will list SNVA, which is support neutral value added, and for relievers I will add WXR, a reliever's expected wins added. (Once again, thanks to Baseball Prospectus for these stats)
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Half-season Yankee report cards - Offense by SG
Yesterday's 13-8 win over Baltimore was the Yankees' 81st game of the year. WIth the season now officially half over, I thought it would be a good time to run down what the Yankee players have done so far this year. I'll look at the position players today, and the pitchers tomorrow, hopefully. In addition the the rate stats for AVG, OBP, and SLG, I'll list their EQA, VORP, FRAR, and WARP1.(Thanks to Baseball Prospectus for these stats)
Friday, July 01, 2005
Back With A Rant by Fabian
I haven’t posted in a while, partially because I’m working two jobs and devote about 80-100 hours a week just being at work so free time is not plentiful, partially because…I don’t know. That said, something I read today forced me to write. Whenever Baseball America does their chat sessions I always submit tons of Yankee questions if I’m at a computer, hoping some of them get answered. I don’t do this because I take BA as the be all end all of prospect evaluators, but rather because prospects are something no one has down to a science and making it very important to get as many views and opinions as possible. Since I DO value BA’s higher than the average prospect rating service or entity, I was QUITE disappointed with today’s chat. Due to lack of Internet access around the time of the chat, I was limited to reading over the questions that were asked after the chat was closed and could not rebut anything said by Chris Kline. So, because I need a public forum to vent, I’m writing this blog entry. The first Yankee related question was a straightforward one, as someone just wanted to know the injury timetable for Phil Hughes. After that…down the hill we went: Ben Delbanco from New York, NY asks: Chris Kline: Hey Ben, I think it's getting better, but it's not something I'm getting overly excited about I like Hughes a lot, but I don't think I'd rank him in the Top 10 righthanded prospects in the game Pass. Clippard is having a lot of success this year in the Florida State League with solid secondary numbers and has improved his stock, although he's given up a lot of long balls Grudgingly agree. Word is he's gained some velocity on his 87-91 mmph fastball This already happened last season, but if you only want to report it now, sure, go ahead. Ben Delbanco from New York, NY asks: Chris Kline: Come on! Sure! Hanley deserves the love and there is no way Duncan is having a better year …no, seriously…there is no way Duncan is having a better year…I mean, I guess it kind of depends on how you define “having a better year”. If you define it by pure statistical performance then, Duncan at .250/.348/.399 in a pitcher’s park is actually better than Ramirez’s .268/.328/.393 in a hitter’s park. If you define it by statistical performance within the adjustment for age…Duncan is still ahead, since he is about a full year younger. If you define it by work on the base paths I’m not so sure I WOULDN’T take Duncan’s 7 for 8 on steals over Ramirez’s 15 for 21. In fact, the only way I can currently think of someone saying that Ramirez is in fact having a better year than Duncan is if they feel Duncan’s offensive superiority in addition to equivalent or better base stealing ability demonstrated this year in addition to being younger doesn’t make up for Ramirez having 9 errors in 60 games while Duncan has 20 in 80 games. So, I guess it depends on how you define “no way”. Ramirez hit a funk lately, but started off very hot whereas Duncan has only been lukewarm all season …no, seriously…Ramirez hit a funk lately whereas Duncan has only been lukewarm all season. Well, since Duncan has only been lukewarm all season and his offensive numbers are actually better than Ramirez’s Ramirez must have actually hit one hell of a funk or just not started out that hot. Perhaps he started off warm. That’s if you want to believe Duncan has been lukewarm all season because in my experience following baseball, having a month where you hit .287/.412/.553 at the age of 20 in AA in a pitcher’s park would be considered something more than lukewarm, and that’s what Duncan did in June) When we were putting together Futures Game rosters, Hanley was easily the highest-profile guy on that team (I respect the work that most every person puts out, but either Kline is lying or something really stupid is going on or there are just way too many Red Sox fans in the world or, and I hope/think this is what it is, he was only referring to the World Team. Because in any game that features Delmon Young and B.J. Upton, there is no way Hanley Ramirez is or should be the highest profile guy. Actually, even on the World Team alone there is some guy who is about a year younger than Hanley who, while playing in the same league, hit .267/.310/.410, which is better than Hanley’s performance in case you forgot. In addition, the performance gap is widened considering the mystery player also played in a pitcher’s gap. Apparently, the mystery guy also projects as a solid defender in CF with Jose Vidro offensive ability, which would coincidentally make him one of the game’s better CF. Thy mystery guy is Melky Cabrera, but calm down because you probably shouldn’t think too much of him.
Churn, churn, churn by SG
With the designating for assignment of Mike Stanton and Paul Quantrill, I realized that the Yankees' 25 man roster has been extremely volatile this year. With the yo-yoing of people like Bubba Crosby, Kevin Reese, and Andy Phillips, I thought I'd look at the current roster and what we may expect through the rest of the year.
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