Posted by Bonn1997:
Posted by Finestrg:
A few impressions from last night's game and looking toward next year:
Phil Hughes - 100% healthy now so I guess the velocity is never gonna be what we all thought --- I think we can put it to bed now - he's 88-92 with the straight fastball, touched 93 only once last night from what I saw --- but that's not bad. That's above average. That's enough to be successful. Bottom line for me though is that if he threw 95-96 like we were led to believe he wouldn't have to throw 89 pitches in 4 innings but it is what it is at this point.... What I loved was the new cutter. IMO he's got to feature that a lot now esp. to lefties a la Mariano. That one pitch alone went from a slider that he rarely used to a cutter that I-Rod keep calling for. Still has a ways to go (I really enjoyed listening to John Flaherty and Al Leiter discuss his performance during the game - Flaherty in particular was hard on him but fair). Overall I was impressed with Phil last night. He labored but that was a very good lineup he went up against there. That cutter might really help bring him to the next level. Funny how he said after the game that he thought he threw it too much - I thought that was interesting. To me it was his most effective pitch. Just has to gain confidence using it regularly I guess. I wonder who came up with that for him? Dave Eiland? Girardi? Whoever, I think that one little adjustment might very well have saved this kid's bacon.
Speaking of Girardi, I know we won the game, but did anyone else have a problem with Joe leaving Melky in the game to run the bases after he singled to lead off bottom 8? I know Damon and A-Rod homered and we put up a nice inning but come on man, that's only a 2-1 game there. Gardner's gotta come in and pinch run there. What makes it even weirded is that he eventually put in Gardner for defense in the top of the 9th anyway. Strange. I remember him doing something just as strange with I-Rod once - Ivan gets a single in a tight game, I'm screaming for Gardner to pinch run, and he waits about 5 pitches or even a full 2 batters later before he replaces him with Gardner. May have been against the Angels at the Stadium in that big back and forth game where Teixeira hits a grand slam but we eventually pulled it out anyway. Stuff like that can't happen. He's a good manager but stuff like that has got to be automatic next year. No hesitation.
Phil Coke - Very impressed. Throws pretty hard (93-94 mph) with a good slider that just disappears late in the zone. Facing him looks like a very uncomfortable at bat. Funny how we went from not having a lefty in the pen for long stretches during the season to now having two of the best lefty middle relievers in the game. Coke and Marte are big pluses heading into next year. Now instead of going after a Mark Texiera or Big Papi with Edwar Ramirez you've got options. Much better options. That'll be huge next year....
Brett Gardner - I want this kid in center next year. Runs like the wind, great fielder, decent arm. They've got to work on his approach at the plate though (you can't have a guy like that popping the ball up the way he does) but that element of speed is flat out awesome. Hit the ball on the ground, bunt your way on, take your walks etc... He could be really effective for them next year. If he can get on base like he did in the minors he just brings that one more dimension to the game. Just brings more to the table than Melky IMHO. Would love to see him as the everyday CF next year in the 9 hole. If he excelled there then we could be looking at our future lead-off man after Damon moves on. I wanna hear how he's working hard during the off-season preparing for next year. Girardi likes him and to me, that's a plus. Might be looking at a very similar player to Jacoby Ellsbury here...
I'd bring back Abreu, everyone else who's a FA walks. Even Mussina, who's coming off the good year. Have a feeling he's gonna want way too much money now off the good year. I like Robbie Cano but if there's an option out there to trade Cano for a young frontline starting pitcher (Zach Greinke, Chad Billingsley, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez - someone like that) don't hesitate. I'd be OK with Wilson Betemit until we got something better. Cano hits 7th or 8th anyway - Betemit can do that.
Free agents I'd target:
1 - Mark Teixeira - Gives A-Rod better protection than Giambi in the lineup. Much better glove too. We're gonna need his bat. About a decade younger than Giambi - only 29 to start the season next year. Giambi's gonna want a decent amount of cash coming off a decent year. Makes a lot more sense to pay this guy.
1A - CC Sabathia - Gonna need a lefty after Pettitte moves on. His heavy frame scare me a little but he's been very durable so far. Throws a lot of innings. Only 29 next year to start.
2 - AJ Burnett - If he opts out they've got to grab him. Hope past injuries don't scare the Yanks away. Looks to be 100% healthy now. Just has filthy stuff. Usually effective against Boston and Tampa too - a big plus.
3 - Jon Garland - Always liked him. Still fairly young. Will give you innings. Not a big strikeout guy but has a sneaky fastball and he throws groundballs. Will be a cheaper option than Ben Sheets and a good alternative if Burnett stays with Toronto.
4 - Juan Cruz - Electric arm. Best arm among all the relievers on the FA market. Coming off two very effective years for Arizona out of their bullpen. Converted starter. Cruz, Bruney and Veras would be more than enough from the right side to get to Mo. Getting this guy would allow Joba Chamberlain to start where, despite what Posada thinks, he'll be effective. Joba's shown he can do it as a starter (how 'bout those starts in Houston and the one in Boston when he beat Beckett. That was enough to convince me). Plus, there are quite a few "max effort" types out there that throw a lot of innings and are highly effective. Just look at Sabathia for example. He's more max effort that Chamberlain pitch to pitch and has a less favorably body type yet he's been one of the more effective starting pitchers in the game the past few seasons. Joba belongs in the rotation and should be there to start the season. End of story. Back to Cruz - he could close eventually, he's that good. You can never acquire enough pitching and this guy's a good one. As a middle reliever shouldn't be too costly.
5 - Mike Sweeney - He's probably done. Has two bad knees - doctors are telling him he needs microfracture surgery on both. But what if we made a minor investment in this guy like we did in Jon Lieber a few years ago. We see if he's still got the itch at the end of the season and if he does (you figure playing for the Yankees on a better team next year in a new ballpark might be enough to get his juices flowing again), we pick him up hurt on an incentive-laden deal like Lieber's and let him rehab. Was always a dynamite hitter. If he made it back he'd be good against lefties and would help balance our lineup a little better facing lefthanded starters. If healthy, he'd make for a nice platoon situation with Matsui next year at DH. Our lineup would still be a little too lefthanded next year, even if we added Teixeira (big Tex has always been a better lefthanded hitter). He might make some sense if he's willing to give it a shot. Low risk high reward scenario that I'd at least look into.
[Edited by - finestrg on 09-18-2008 12:29 PM]
If you're letting Mussina walk, then we need four new starting pitchers. That's insane. I wouldn't expect this kind of season from Mussina next year but I think it's reasonable to expect something around a 4.00 ERA, which is pretty good in the AL. We need a lot of starting pitching help. CC Sabathia is by far the highest need of this team. I don't have a lot of faith in Cashman but if he misses out on Santana and Sabathia in consecutive years, I will have lost every once of faith in him.
How's that insane Bonn? The guy's gonna be 40 YEARS OLD next year dude. And he'll be coming off an 18-20 win season. You know Mussina has proved to himself that he can still pitch at a high level - he's gonna want a nice payday and I doubt he'll come cheap - say he wants 2 yrs/25 mil. or 2 yrs./30 mil., maybe more. Perfect world you'd like to get him for 1 yr./under 10 mil. but after the nice year he had and after Pettitte's two consecutive 1 yr./16 million dollar deals, Moose is gonna want his. We might have competition to keep him too which might drive the price up this high. I don't know. Do you give him that kind of money? I'm not sure. I'd like to just close the book on all of these elder statesmen to be honest. Hey he was effective though so if the price is right I guess you bring him back. If we decide to keep him that might mean no secondary FA pitcher besides Sabathia (no Burnett, Garland or Sheets) and if it came down to that, I'd rather go that direction instead. We're talkin' guys a decade younger here.
In any event, I think that's why it's important to bring Joba back as a starter next year right from the beginning. I read in the papers this morning that Joba might pitch in the Arizona Fall League along with Hughes. Joba said he hadn't been approached about it yet but sounded like he wouldn't mind the idea. That'd be big. You get his total innings up and build up the arm strength to the point where starting him right out of the gate next year won't be an issue. Then if they're worried about losing the quality arm in the pen, that's where FA Juan Cruz comes into play. I'd definitely get this guy on board...
Dying to see Humberto Sanchez pitch btw. He's been up with the big club for a couple of days now - maybe we finally see him tonight in relief of Moose. Curious to see what kind of stuff he has and where he could fit in eventually. Also want to see Francisco Cervelli catch and Juan Miranda take some hacks and play some 1B. Weird how Mark Melancon hasn't gotten called up. I wonder why? A lot of us were looking forward to seeing him.
[Edited by - finestrg on 09-18-2008 6:51 PM]
9/8/2008 6:20 AM
