Curtis Granderson's Bat And Glove Propel Yankees To Opening Day Win

Happy Opening Day Yankees fans! I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say that today was a truly awesome day. Baseball is back. The Yankees won. All is right with the world.

As I do every year I took time off from work to watch the opener. I got together with a couple of buddies at a local watering hole for the game. You can't go wrong with beer, burgers and baseball.

The Yankees didn't play their best baseball today and quite frankly I didn't expect them to. I was pleased with what I saw and what I saw was good enough for the win. CC Sabathia was far from mid-season form but he was effective. Things could have got real bad real fast there in the 2nd inning when CC loaded the bases with no outs. But like a good pitcher does he got out of the jam with little damage. Overall a very solid 1st outing for CC. The big man usually gets better as the weather gets better. If that holds true, based on today's start he's going to have one heck of a year.

Great job by the Yankee bullpen. I guess we know now how Girardi is going to play it. It looks like the blueprint is Joba or David Robertson in the 6th/7th, Soriano in the 8th, and the great one to bring it home. My buddies and I were a little nervous when Joba took the mound. He kind of looks like a fat Sergio Mitre, doesn't he? Am I the only one who thinks that? Anyway, he had a solid inning. Half of us were expecting a meltdown. Joba has a lot of work to do to earn back our faith in him. Today was a step in that direction. I think Rafael Soriano is going to have a lights out year. He looked pretty sharp today. He could represent the most solid bridge to Mariano Rivera that we've seen in awhile. Speaking of the great one he's still the man. As if there was any doubt. I can't think of a better way to end the home opener than with Mo picking up the save.

It was good to see Mark Teixeira get off to a good start. Hopefully he can keep it up. I'm cautiously optimistic that he can. Pretty good day for A-Rod. On base 3 of 4 times and he came a few feet from going to deep. You know things are working for Alex when he hits the ball with power to right CF. I thought for sure that ball was gone and on a better day weather-wise it probably would have been. My only criticism of A-Rod is that he should have been busting it out of the box on that shot. He should have been standing on 3rd.

I think the biggest surprise today was the play of Russell Martin. I was shocked when he stole 3rd. I was more shocked when he scored from 3rd on a shallow sac fly. Who knew the dude had such wheels? He was quite the catalyst today.

Player of the game honors goes to Curtis Granderson. He came through with the big swing and picked up $20 for his charity. Allow me to explain: like I did last year with Nick Swisher's charity, I'm donating $ to Granderson's Grand Kids Foundation every time he goes deep. $15 per HR. Others have joined in to donate as well. You can check our progress in the upper left and if you want to chip in you're more than welcome. CG was also pretty slick in the field too. I thought there was no way that he was getting that ball that was hit over his head. He definitely had the best day in my opinion. Looks like his oblique is fine. Thank God and knock on wood.

Overall a great day. A great win. 1 down, 161 to go. I really wish there was a game tomorrow. I'm kind of bummed there's not. Oh well. There's a lot more baseball left to be played. Giggedy giggedy giggedy.

Did I just write my 3rd post in 3 days? Yeah, I think I did. Wow.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Opening Day Is Finally Here

Hey hey what do you say? I'm so happy it's Opening Day! It's been a long offseason. Made even longer because I didn't pay much attention to the offseason, or to Spring Training for that matter. I don't know why but I just couldn't get into it. I think I saw or listened to about 2 games worth of baseball. I feel so far removed from the Yankees right now. Starting the season is just what the doctor ordered. Or so I hope. Having 3 kids at home all under the age of 4 makes paying attention to anything hard.

Like I do every year I took half the day off from work. This is going to post at 10:30 so roughly t-minus 1.5 hours before I'm out of here. (Hey boss - if you're reading this I wrote it on Wednesday with a scheduled post time of Thursday. I would never blog on the clock.) I can't wait to get together with a few buddies and watch the game at a local watering hole. I'm really jealous of everyone in NYC right now. Attending a Yankees home opener is definitely on my bucket list. I envy you all.

As I mentioned above I paid very little attention to spring training. I caught a little bit here and there, read some stories and/or blogs every now and then, so I know a little of what's going on and how people are doing. Is it enough to write a pre-season blog post on, not even close. Here's all I'll say: I'm very pleased with this year's team. I like how the scrap heap pitchers have performed. I think A-Rod is going to have a MONSTER year. I think Teixeira won't slump in April. I think the Captain will bounce back. I'm glad they dealt Sergio Mitre. I miss Andy Pettitte. I think we'll see good A.J. much more than bad A.J.. Mo is, was, and will always be God on the field. Nice summary? I think so.

So there you have it everyone. My "the season is starting" blog post. I give it a C-, C at best. I'm a little rusty. I need to go through a few "minor league starts" to shake it off. It's my full intent to be an active blogger this season. I make no promises as it's tough to with 3 little ones taking up so much time but I'm sure as hell going to try.

I hope everyone had a great offseason and is ready for what I think will be a season for the ages. It's almost go-time. The march to #28 is officially underway. Make us proud boys.

Enjoy the opener.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

2011 Predictions & 2010 Predictions Revisited

It's that time of year again. Time to make some predictions for the upcoming season. I'm not really sure why I make these. I'm never right. First, let's take a look back at last year's predictions: I predicted that the Yankees, White Sox, Rangers, Phillies, Cardinals and Dodgers would win their respective divisions with the Red Sox and Braves winning the wild card. I hit on 3 of the 8 and correctly picked 4 of the 8 playoff teams. I also predicted each team's win/loss record. I got exactly none right. Of the 30 teams I correctly placed the Tigers, Indians, Royals, Rangers, Brewers, Astros, and the entire NL East. 11 out of 30. That's bad. I correctly put the Yankees and Rangers in the ALCS though I had the Yankees winning that series as well as the World Series. I didn't pick any of the major award winners either. I think the best prediction I made was that Robinson Cano would win the AL MVP. So close. So as you can see my success rate with these predictions isn't that good. But who cares, right? Why let that stop me? So here goes, minus the win/loss records. AL East:

1. Boston Red Sox*


2. New York Yankees**


3. Toronto Blue Jays


4. Tampa Bay Rays


5. Baltimore Orioles

AL Central

1. Detroit Tigers


2. Minnesota Twins


3. Chicago White Sox


4. Kansas City Royals


5. Cleveland Indians

AL West

1. Oakland A's


2. LA Angels


3. Texas Rangers


4. Seattle Mariners

NL East

1. Philadelphia Phillies*


2. Atlanta Braves**


3. Florida Marlins


4. New York Mets


5. Washington Nationals

NL Central

1. Cincinnati Reds


2. Milwaukee Brewers


3. St. Louis Cardinals


4. Chicago Cubs


5. Houston Astros


6. Pittsburgh Pirates

NL West

1. San Francisco Giants


2. Colorado Rockies


3. Los Angeles Dodgers


4. San Diego Padres


5. Arizona Diamondbacks

* = best record

** = wild card

Playoffs

1. ALDS: Yankees over Tigers, A's over Red Sox


2. NLDS: Braves over Giants, Phillies over Reds


3. ALCS: Yankees over A's


4. NLCS: Braves over Phillies


5. World Series: do you have to ask?

Awards

1. AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez


2. NL MVP: Albert Pujols


3. AL Cy Young: Jon Lester


4. NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay


5. AL ROY: Mike Moustakas


6. NL ROY: Freddy Freeman


7. AL Manager of Year: Bob Geren


8. NL Manager of Year: Fredi Gonzalez

There you go. Maybe this year I'll have a better success rate with these. As long as I'm right on the World Series winner, I'm happy.

Feel free to share your own predictions. If you offer up some criticism all I ask is you bring something other than telling me I'm stupid. Put some thought into it.

14.5 hours til the 1st pitch of 2011!! Let's do this.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Doing It For The "Grand Kids"

Hey everyone. We're less than 2 days away from the start of the 2011 MLB season. I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday the 2010 season ended. Time certainly does fly. Thank God for that. I must again apologize for my long absence. I'm finding it very tough to find the time to blog with 3 little ones at home. It's very tough. Now that the season is starting I hope to ramp it up a little more. Which brings me to this.....


Some of you may remember from last year that I tried to organize a Yankee fan fundraiser to benefit Nick Swisher's charity, Swishes Wishes. In short, every time Nick hit a home run, we added money to his total. 12 of us combined to donate $41 for every HR, with a little extra thrown in. If everyone lived up to their pledge and sent in their donation (it was on the honor system) then his charity received $1249. Not too shabby. I want to do the same thing this year for Curtis Granderson's Grand Kids Foundation.


Per the site, donations to the Grand Kids Foundation will go towards grants to schools nationwide to help fund educational field trips, art initiatives, science initiatives and the increasing need for foreign language software. The foundation also supports inner city baseball programs through equipment donations. Seems like a great cause.


If you want to contribute, please let me know. I'm going to again track the overall amount on the blog and I'd love to add all pledge amounts to the total (see upper left of blog). I encourage you to participate as it's for a good cause, but no one should feel as if they have to. the more the merrier. I also have no part in collecting any money. It's on the honor system. I am just spreading the word and drumming up support.


My pledge is this: For every HR Curtis hits I will donate $15 to his charity.


I'm looking to donate about $300-400 to his charity. He hit 24 bombs last year so that would have resulted in a $360 donation. Nobody should feel they have to match me. Last year we had people pledge $3 per HR. No amount is too small. If anyone wants to make a pledge, which again you'll be responsible for sending in, please let me know. Just drop me a comment, a tweet, or shoot me an e-mail (see upper left). Again, the more the merrier and no amount is too small.


Thanks in advance. I appreciate it.


Peace, love & Pinstripes,


J-Boogie

Thank You #46

I wrote a post yesterday about Andy Pettitte's retirement. In the post I talked a lot about how I thought it affected the Yankees. I also added some commentary about Andy himself and I wanted to repost that part as I'm afraid it got lost within the rest of the post as it was at the bottom. If you read that post, much of this will be the same. If you haven't, I hope you enjoy it. But first......

I'm sure by now you've all either seen today's retirement press conference, or you've read quotes from it, or you've seen the highlights. I got to catch the first part of it on a break at work and I finished it up this evening. The whole time I was watching the PC I was thinking to myself that, wow, I really am going to miss Andy Pettitte. I thought he came off as incredibly genuine in the PC and what we saw today is exactly why Andy Pettitte is so highly thought of by Yankee fans. He's just a good guy. I had the pleasure of "meeting" Andy a few times and he was always gracious, polite and treated everyone with respect. (Definition of meeting: getting his autograph 5-6 times while in Toronto) He was always nice and didn't mind exchanging pleasantries with everyone. There are a lot of guys who I've encountered who would never say word to you. Andy was one of the good ones. I was really hoping I'd get to see him in person a few more times. Had I really thought he'd retire I would have probably told him thanks in person. Since I didn't get the opportunity to do that I'm going to use this blog to serve that purpose.

I'll always remember his trademark stare to the plate.
I'll always remember 2009, when he pitched the 3 clinchers.
I'll always remember that slick pickoff move.
I'll always remember the home opener in 1996 against the Royals when Andy took the mound while it was snowing.
I'll never forget the several times I got his autograph in Toronto. He was always so nice.
I'll never forget how crappy I felt when he left in 2004 and how great I felt when he came back in 2007.
I'll never forget when he beat John Smoltz in game 5 of the 1996 World Series.
I'll never forget the 19 postseason wins and the 5 World Series titles he helped win.
I'll never forget how he would say the word "y'all."
I'll never forget and I'll always remember Andy Pettitte.

Thank you Andy. It was an honor and a pleasure to follow your career every step of the way. Thank you for everything you've done for the Yankees, for the game of baseball, and for me as a fan. I wish you the best of luck and I hope we'll see you again soon. I look forward to seeing you pitch at an Old Timer's day. I look forward to seeing the Yankees rightfully retire your number. With a little luck, I hope to see you in Cooperstown.

Thanks #46. Thanks for everything.

Peace, love and thank you Andy,

J-Boogie

Goodbye Andy Pettitte, Hello Officially Crappy Offseason

Ladies and gentleman, the dookie has hit the fan. I didn't think this day was coming but it has and I am totally bummed out. Andy Pettitte, aka one of the greatest Yankee pitchers ever, aka one of the greatest Yankees ever, aka one of the Core Four, aka one of if not the best big game pitchers EVER, is hanging up his spikes and calling it a career. And now a moment of silence.....





As I tweeted earlier today this sucks balls. I thought for sure Andy was coming back for one more tour of duty. When I heard he was working out I was further convinced. When the news broke today I felt I got punched in the head, slugged in the stomach and kicked in the balls all at the same time. It was not a good feeling and it hurts on many different levels.

For starters, it pretty much makes this a terrible offseason. I had blogged after Cliff Lee signed with the Phillies that it wasn't a big deal that the Yankees didn't land him. I stated that the real key to the offseason was the return of Andy Pettitte. Had Andy returned the Yankees would have pretty much had the same team as last year. A team that won 95 games and made it to the ALCS. They would have gone into 2011 with the same squad and same chance for success in my opinion. Pettitte's retirement coupled with the offseason moves by the Yankees, or better yet lack of offseason moves, might make for a pretty rocky 2011. The starting rotation right now is the biggest weakness. After Sabathia and Hughes there are a lot of question marks. Which A.J. Burnett will show up? Who will fill out the back end of the rotation and will they be serviceable? Right now none of the candidates (Sergio Mitre, Ivan Nova, Mark Prior, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and possibly Joba Chamberlain) instill a lot of confidence. I saw a tweet today that read, "CC and Hughes and then we lose." Confidence levels aren't high on starters 3-5 that's for sure.

I think the Yankees will still be competitive. Their offense is stacked. The bullpen is rock solid. They will win their fair share of games. Hopefully they'll win enough. Hopefully Brian Cashman has a trick or two up his sleeve and can bring in a starter via trade before the season starts. The Yankees do have a highly thought-of farm system that can certainly be used to land a top-flight starter. Fingers are crossed because I'm not liking what they've got after Burnett. I don't though think it will be as bad as "CC, Hughes and then we lose." Burnett will bounce back in my opinion. I don't think it's all doom and gloom. At least I hope it's not.

I'm really going to miss watching Andy Pettitte pitch. I was fortunate enough to see him pitch several times in person in Toronto. It was always a treat, whether it was in-person or on TV. I have a lot of fond memories.

I'll always remember his trademark stare to the plate. I'll always remember 2009, when he pitched the clinchers. I'll always remember the home opener in 1996 against the Royals when Andy took the mound while it was snowing. I'll never forget the several times I got his autograph in Toronto. He was always so nice. I'll never forget how crappy I felt when he left in 2004 and how great I felt when he came back in 2007. I'll never forget when he beat John Smoltz in game 5 of the 1996 World Series. I'll never forget the 19 postseason wins and the 5 World Series titles he helped win. I'll never forget how he would say the word "y'all." I'll always remember Andy Pettitte.

There is a press conference scheduled tomorrow for 10:30am, which I believe is going to be broadcast on both the YES Network and the MLB Network. I have the DVR set up to tape both channels. I would love nothing more to have Pettitte pull a fast one on everybody and say something like, "I'm here to announce that I'm retiring from baseball........after this season. Let me sign the contract." Doubt it will happen but I'm holding out hope. I also wouldn't mind if he at some point pulls a Brett Favre and unretires. There's no doubt in my mind he could still pitch at a high level.

I'll miss you Andy Pettitte. Hopefully I'll see you (thought I doubt I will) see you in Cooperstown. Take care and best of luck to you. Thanks for everything.

Peace, love and thank you Andy,

J-Boogie

Nine More Outs Invades Pittsburgh

Some of you may remember way back when, April 3, 2009 to be exact, I shared with you a hilarious video from Nine More Outs. Quick recap: 3 friends go to a baseball game and pretend to be super-fans of the home team. They videotape their shenanigans and hilarity ensues. They refer to it as their Stadium Schmadium tour. Their first stop was Toronto. The 2nd leg of the tour took them to PNC Park in Pittsburgh. They say sequels aren't normally better than the originals. With these guys, the 2nd go around is better than the first.

My favorite part of this stop is the introduction of a new Pirates mascot, Pierre Belligerent Buccaneer. He's a , well, you'll have to see for yourself. Any mascot that drinks booze, grans butts, and picks fights with the other mascots is good in my book. I don't want to spoil any more of the video. You'll have to check it out for yourself.

Here's the clip, a link to it on YouTube, a link to their YouTube page, and a link to their Facebook page. FYI: It looks like their next stop is Fenway Park. Can't wait for that.



Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Running Low On Cash, Man

I've got to admit it. I am beyond baffled at the number of Brian Cashman haters that seem to be out there. No matter what he does Brian Cashman can do no right. I don't get it. Message to the haters: I don't think you get it. If any of you happen across the post, I'd love to hear some sound logical arguments for the anti-Cashman perspective. Again, I just don't get it. I'm a BC supporter and will continue to be one despite the backlash.

Here's the bottom line: Brian Cashman puts together a winning ballclub year after year after year. The Yankees are 1272-830 under his watch and only twice have they won less than 94 games (hat tip to River Ave Blues via Twitter for the stat). They've missed the playoffs once and have won 4 WS titles. If not for the greatest closer of all-time blowing the save in game 7 in the 2001 WS it might be 5 titles. If not for the ALCS choke in 2004, again at the hands of the GOAT (sort-of), it might be 6 titles. The GM's job is to put together a team that can win. It's up to the guys to play their parts and execute. As we all know it often doesn't work out that way. But again, bottom line, and this really can't be disputed, the guy puts winning teams on the field every year. If you want to dispute that, be my guest. You'll fail miserably.

I think a lot of people are jumping on the Bash Cash Bandwagon because this offseason hasn't been the greatest for the Yankees. I'd argue that the offseason has been fine and the over-reaction has more to do with Yankee fans being spoiled than anything else. If you really think that the Yankees are going to sign all the top free agents, like they did in 2009 when they signed Sabathia, Burnett, and Teixeira, then you don't know baseball. I think the expectations this offseason was that the Yankees were going to sign Cliff Lee and/or Carl Crawford. As nice as that would have been, it didn't happen. And if you're blaming Cashman for those guys signing with Texas and Boston respectively, you're nuts.

If you paid any attention to the Hot Stove this offseason then you'd know that Cliff Lee was never coming to New York. There was nothing Brian Cashman could have done to make that happen. The Yankees offered him the most $$ and Cliff took less to sign with the Phillies. As for Crawford the Yankees really didn't have any interest in him. Should they have? Maybe. Do they need him? No. Cashman somehow got ripped for those guys going elsewhere. In my opinion, not his fault.

Cashman took a little heat for Kerry Wood signing with the Cubs. Like with Cliff Lee, there wasn't anything Cashman could have done to get him to sign with the Yankees. Wood took a huge pay cut and turned down more money from several other clubs to go back to the Cubbies. Cashman took a little heat for that. I don't quite get why.

Cashman's latest move, signing Bartolo Colon, has also come with a little heat. If you're down on this move then I don't think you get baseball. It's a minor league deal. It's not meant to solve the Yankees problems. It's a no-risk signing. You hope for the best and if it doesn't work out it's no skin off their back. Think of the Red Sox signing John Smoltz a few years ago. It's a reclamation project. It's better to sign the guy and see what he has then to not even take a look.

It's apparently Brian Cashman's fault that the Yankees rotation is in shambles. It's not his fault that Andy Pettitte still hasn't decided if he's going to play or not. If he comes back then the Yankees virtually have the same rotation that took them to the ALCS last year. If Pettitte retires then there's a problem. But if you consider the 2011 free agent market there wasn't exactly a lot out there other than Cliff Lee. They reportedly made an offer to Carl Pavano for crying out loud. That's how bad it was. The only other option is to explore the trade market.

If you think Brian Cashman hasn't checked in with other teams on their top quality starting pitchers than I don't think you get it. Making trades in real-life is not like making trades on a video game. It's not as easy as that. Cashman has been smart not to mortgage the farm and overpay for major league ready talent. Listen, I'm all for trading prospects for proven talent, but only in a fair deal. It's not a wise baseball move to trade all of your top prospects for 1 guy. It's all about giving up fair value. I think people are quick to bash Cashman for some of the deals he hasn't made. Sometimes though, those are the best moves a GM makes. Just think, if Cash made all the moves people have wanted him to, the Yankees wouldn't currently have Phil Hughes or Robbie Cano. They'd also have Johan Santana instead of CC Sabathia. In hindsight, great job by Brian for not making those deals. And yes, not every move works out. That's how it is for every team though.

Yankee fans are spoiled. It's all about winning now and worrying about the problems next year. Who cares about the farm system? Trade them all and sign the big free agents. As we've learned this offseason you don't always get to sign the best players on the market. Uh oh. What do we do now? Turn to the farm and hope you either have guys that can fill in or guys that you can possibly deal for someone without overpaying. The Yankees farm system was just ranked the 11th best by Keith Law @ ESPN and 5th best by CBS Sports. Remember when the Yankees farm system was one of the worst? It wasn't long ago. Cashman gets no love for building that up while continuing to put a winning big league team on the field. Kudos to you BC.

Continuing to strengthen the minors is one of the reasons why he wasn't in favor of signing Rafael Soriano. Personally, I'm glad the team signed Soriano but I get why Cashman didn't want to. He wasn't signed to what I would call a very smart contract. There were a lot of RPs that signed for less and would have been equally as serviceable. This might be the one area I'd give Cashman a little heat for.

Recently, Cash has also taken a little heat for some comments he made at a radio-sponsored "breakfast" regarding Derek Jeter. Cashman basically said he'd be surprised if Jeter lasted the four years of his contract at shortstop and a move to the OF was possible. Personally, I see nothing wrong with the comments. Everybody complains that Jeter is the worst defensive SS in the game. Is it safe to assume that four years from now he's going to be even worse? Absolutely. It's logical thinking, from a baseball perspective, that a move to the OF is possible (see Robin Yount). I don't think Cashman was saying anything derogatory about the Captain and I think this is a non-story that became a story when it shouldn't have. I think a lot of it is open to interpretation and I question the reading comprehension skills of people that took it as a slam. That's my take on it.

Cashman has also gotten some heat from people for some off-the-field events he took part in. People bashed him for rappelling down the side of a building while dressed like an elf as part of a holiday event. Really? Why should that matter to anyone? What really blows my mind is that he gets trashed for tending bar at a charity event. Let me get this straight. The guy gives up his free time, for charity, and that's a bad thing? What the eff. That's a little ridiculous. I could go on and on about this but I'm going to let one of my tweeps, Chris aka SimplySmoov, do the talking for me over at his blog, The Gospel of Smoov. You can read his rant here. For another good pro-Cashman read, you can also check out a post that another tweep of mine, NYYEric, wrote as a guest post on a blog of another tweep, The Stace. Twitter. If you're not using it you're missing out.

Wow, that took a while to write. I think that this will hit home with the logical and smart baseball fans. The ones that get it. Brian Cashman has done a pretty damn good job as the GM of the Yankee in my opinion. I have 100% confidence that he is going to do everything in his power to build a winner. He does it every year.

Peace, love & Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Baseball & The Boogie Down Turns 5

It's really hard to believe that 5 years ago today I started writing this Yankee blog. My how the time flies. It certainly hasn't felt like five years that's for sure. It still boggles my mind that anyone wants to read my thoughts and opinions. Over the 5 years I've had visitors from 125 countries/territories. Unreal. There are a lot of Yankees fans out there to say the least.

What I find to be one of the craziest things is that when I started writing this blog I didn't have any kids and none were on the way. Now I have 3. Needless to say they consume a lot of my time and they're definitely the biggest reason I have such high periods of inactivity. I almost hung up my spikes a few times but I've kept plugging along. And that's what I plan to keep doing. I may not fire off post after post. But you can sure bet that if I have something to say about the Yankees, I'll say it.

I've said several times throughout the years that the one thing I don't want this blog to be is a source for news. You guys can get that anywhere. I typically won't post something unless I have opinions to go with it. I've see many a blog over the years that just mention something that happened, like a free agent signing, and that's it. There's nothing behind the post. Not that there is anything wrong with it but it won't happen here. I don't blog for the purpose of picking up page hits.

This blog may not be the best. It may not be the biggest. It may not be the most active. I have to think though that I'm one of the older, and still (somewhat) active, Yankee blogs out there. From what I remember, there weren't a lot of us 5 years ago. There was a decent amount but a lot of them have moved on. I have no plans to do that. Where was I going with that? Lost my train of thought. Anyway.....

Thank you to everyone who's taken the time to stop by and check the site out, send me an e-mail, or even follow me on Twitter. I appreciate, and will continue to appreciate, your time. Comments are always appreciated as well as any feedback on the blog itself. If you have thoughts on what you think could make the blog better, by all means please share. Your feedback and comments (unless it's spam) are always welcomed.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Reportedly Sign Rafael Soriano, Call Me A Fan Of That

Greetings and salutations everyone. As usual, it's been awhile since my last post. It's been a pretty quiet offseason so I've been spending it with the fam. There are some things I could have blogged about but I don't want my blog to be a news source. There are enough of those sites around and I don't need to be one of those that just blogs what someone else reported on. If I have opinions and whatnot about the news, you can count on me to pop in and blog about it. Blogs, specifically fan blogs, in my opinion, should be much more than reporting news. Leave that to the pros. Having said that....

SI's Jon Heyman is reporting that the Yankees and Rafael Soriano have agreed to a 3 year deal with a reported $35 million. Based on my Twitter timeline (follow me here if you'd like) the signing comes with mixed feelings from Yankee fans. Some like the signing and some don't. I'm not overly crazy about it but I have no complaints.

Soriano gives the Yankees arguably the best back of the bullpen in baseball. Last year, Soriano and Mariano, or the "Iano Brothers" as someone, I forget who, dubbed them on Twitter, combined for 78 saves and a 1.77 ERA. Their combined line was 122.1 IP, 75 hits, 25 BB, 102 K, 0.82 WHIP and an opponents batting average around .170. Add that up and it equals lights out. If the Yankees take a lead into the late 7th/early 8th inning the game is over. It's kind of reminiscent of the Rivera/Wetteland tandem from back in the day.

They were each pretty darn good in 2009 also: 71 saves on 142 IP, 101 hits, 39 walks, 0.99 whip, OBA around .195, and an ERA of 2.41. The Yankees basically have two top of the line closers, one being the greatest of all-time, closing out their games. How could anyone dislike that?

As of now the Yankees need their bullpen to be a huge strength. Their starting rotation is in shambles and will be in shambles if Sergio Mitre is penciled in as the 4th starter. The Yanks are going to need all the help they can get in closing out games and strengthening the pen was the right move.

One of the biggest gripes I saw was about the money and the loss of the Yankees 1st round draft pick, which would have been pick #31. I have no idea why any Yankee fan would ever complain about the team spending money. It's been their M.O. for quite some time now. How can you complain about your team doing everything they can to win, including losing money year after year? And it's not like the team is broke or strapped for cash. According to a tweet from Heyman they still have about $20 million or so left in the budget. That's quite a bit to have left to spend this late in the game. Did they Yankees overpay for Soriano? Probably. But for the reasons stated above, no big deal to me.

As for the draft pick, I see the value in having it, but let's be real, a lot of first round draft picks are complete busts. Soriano is a proven talent. The undrafted prospect at #31 is just that, a prospect. It could turn out to be some bum that never sees the majors. It's been known to happen. I'll always go with the proven talent over the picks.

The most perplexing thing about this deal is the comments Brian Cashman made earlier this month about not losing the draft pick. That comment basically meant the team wasn't interested in Soriano. So the question is what happened and why did the story change? Was it a ruse by Cashman as to not tip his hand? Was he pressured into making the deal happen by Hal Steinbrenner or another high ranking official? Did Cashman finally awake from a long winter's nap and realize it was time to make a move? I'm not sure we'll ever now but I'm sure someone in the media is going to ask that question. Perhaps will know more about that in the coming days.

Another back-and-forth going on in the Twitterverse as a result of this signing is what to do with Joba Chamberlain? Some are advocating a return to the rotation. Others want him left where he is as a middle reliever. Some want him traded. I kind of fall across all 3 of those. If you read my blog frequently, and why would you when I post something once every 4-5 weeks, you know I'm not a Joba fan at all. But I'll take him over Sergio Mitre. I'm all for them swapping roles if that's the only option. If Mitre somehow gets squeezed out of the rotation by someone else (please Andy, come back) I'm all for leaving him as a middle RP or dealing him for someone with a better track record. If I had to pick one of the options I'd try and trade him. I'm just not a fan.

I'm really hoping that Andy Pettitte doesn't retire. My gut tells me he's not going to. If Heyman is right, and the Yankees really do have $20 million left to spend, who better to give it to the Andy? Come on Andy. It's yours for the taking. Please reach out and grab it. The team needs you.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie