Zach Sanders, a good FOTB and fellow blogger*, took me up on my offer to contribute to the site during my vacation. His thoughts on Sabathia earning his money:

When the Yankees signed C.C. Sabathia for his enormous 7 year, $161 million deal, the numbers he has put up in 2009 are not exactly what Yankee fans and others expected.

First off, let’s compare this season to some of his most recent years.

WAR is “wins above replacement.” Value is calculated using WAR.

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New York headed into the rubber match against the A’s last night, with their newest pitcher , Chad Gaudin, getting the start. The Yankees got on the board early and held their lead, winning 3-2 before heading back to the east coast to get ready for their next series at Fenway.

Derek Jeter got things started with a single in his first at bat. The Captain stole second and reached third on Damon’s ground out. Teixeira grounded out to Adam Kennedy at third, scoring Jeter and giving the Yankees the 1-0 edge. Gaudin looked a little rough in the first inning, giving up a single to Kennedy and walking Davis, however, the next three batters went down in order and the Yanks retained their lead. The Bombers added some much needed insurance runs in the fourth. Johnny Damon singled to left and Mark Teixeira followed with a big homerun, putting New York up 3-0. Gaudin found himself in trouble again in the fifth, after Pennington walked, Davis reached on an error by Cano and Ellis walked to load the bases. Girardi pulled Gaudin and sent in Aceves who got out of the jam.

The Bombers’ bullpen could not keep the A’s scoreless, as Jack Cust hit a solo shot off Aceves in the sixth. Rajai Davis, who is a serious threat any time he gets on base, singled in the seventh, stole second and then scored on a single by Ellis. After another single by Kurt Suzuki, Coke came out and finished the inning. Hughes and Rivera closed out the game and the Yankees held on to the win 3-2.

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Some time ago, back at the old site, I shared the profile of switch-pitcher Pat Venditte. ESPN has a new look at him and it’s just as amazing, including some interesting discussion with his father and how he “made” a switch-pitcher:

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Is Johnny Damon an eventual Hall of Famer? Damon himselfseems to think that he’s got a chance, but I don’t think so and neither does Josh from Jorge Says No!, but he “Keltner’s” Damon’s case here anyways:

11. How many MVP-type seasons did he have? Did he ever win an MVP award? If not, how many times was he close?

-Damon has never won an MVP award and as never come close to winning one. The closest Damon has come to winning the award is 13th in 2005. There have been several seasons in Damon’s career that we could say were all star worthy, but there isn’t one that sticks out as “MVP caliber.”

The Hall of Very Good will eagerly welcome Damon once he retires.

I have no idea why Mets manager Jerry Manuel seems to think his post-game news conferences are his own personal “Night at the Improv”. I also have no idea why he chose to say the following, further embarrassing himself and the organization:

After Mets slugger David Wright was hit in the head by a pitch last weekend, causing a concussion, Manuel said Wright was a “different animal” than Church, who missed much of last season with New York following a pair of concussions.

I don’t care if Manuel claims to have meant something else. It’s embarrassing. Let me know how your shoes taste, Jerry.

Adam Dunn is a large man. A very large man. A robust 6’6″, 240 lbs of Bunyan-esque power. Now imagine another OF, as tall, but 45 lbs BIGGER than Adam Dunn. Ladies and gents, meet Kyle Blanks!

Out East here, we don’t get to see much of the West Coast games, which is a shame. Unfortunately, due to the late hour, I missed these back-to-back events involving Blanks:

1. Two nights ago, Blanks, who was called up from the minors on June 19th, hit a game winning, 3-run home run to topple the Cubs.
2. Last night, the manchild was at it again, hitting a 2 run INSIDE THE PARK HOME RUN. This guy’s 285 lbs! As the announcers called him, the #8 Train pulled headfirst into the station. As a not-so-svelte Heath Bell tried to whipcream him, he had to jump on Blanks’ back to do so and he looked like a child on his dad’s back.

This boy is big. And he can HIT.

Some scouting stuff:

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CC Sabathia took the mound at the Oakland Football Fie…Coliseum Tuesday night with one mission – to stop the Yankees losing streak at two. After being shut out the night before, the Yankee offense was rolling, with the help of an Oakland defense who seemed hellbent on giving this game to the Bombers. Four errors on Oakland, along with some wild pitches and a passed ball, gave the Yankees the extra edge they needed to take the game 7-2.

Tensions were high right from the start, when Mazzaro went inside on Alex Rodriguez and hit the Yankee third baseman in the elbow. CC protected his teammate by coming inside on Kurt Suzuki, who promptly sent the next pitch deep and put the Athletics on the board first. With two outs in the top of the second, Melky’s bat finally woke up and he drilled a double to the outfield. Jeter put the ball in play and reached safely on an error, scoring Cabrera and tying the game at 1-1. CC came out firing in the bottom of the inning, striking out two before giving up a solo shot to Everidge and then striking out Sweeney to end the inning at 2-1 Athletics. Alex got some revenge for his previous plunking, singling to right center and moving to second on Mazzaro’s wild pitch. Matsui grounded out, but moved Alex to third before Jorge Posada drove him in, tying the game again, on a ground rule double.

The score would hold at two a piece until the top of the sixth, when the Yankees broke it open. Swisher started things with a double and reached third on a passed ball. Melky was then hit by a pitch and landed on his butt as Suzuki was on all fours behind him. It looked reminiscent of the type of prank you see at camp (and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, clearly you did not get in enough trouble as a child). Jeter’s single to left gave the Yankees their first lead of the game, and a looper to left by Damon added another run as Melky crossed the plate. Teixeira was intentionally walked, loading the bases for A-Rod. Alex worked the count and was also walked, scoring Jeter and giving the Yankees the 5-2 edge. Matsui followed with an RBI single and a deep sacrifice fly by Posada scored Teixeira, giving the Yankees the 7-2 lead at the end of the inning.

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John Manuel, draft/minor-league guru, in his Draft Winners and Losers column, beautifully and succinctly sums up the Mets and their farm system woes (emphasis mine):

While the cross-town Yankees spend money like nobody’s business in the draft, the Mets toe the line. Sure, they paid top pick Steve Matz an above-slot bonus, as he got $895,000, almost $400,000 more than the recommended slot. That’s a Mets rarity, and with no first-rounder (lost for signing free agent Francisco Rodriguez), Matz basically got a first-round bonus. The Mets failed to sign their fifth- and sixth-rounders, and only had two players Matz and 13th-round pick Zach Dotson, a Georgia prep lefty signed for $500,000 who signed for as much as the Yankees gave their 44th-round pick. No large-revenue team uses its money less in the draft than the Mets.

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OK, it was inevitable, mostly. Why MLB puts such a long courtship period in front of the signing deadline is beyond me. Why not simply shorten the period by moving the deadline to July 31st, or even a few weeks earlier. The draft is in early June, for Pete’s sake. All this long wait does is keep players out of a developmental environment. There are some who will always go to the deadline before signing, so just bump the deadline up two weeks, or even a month. There has to be a reason, so if you know of it, please let me know.

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Perhaps it was the faded football lines that covered the field that had the Yankees perplexed last night, as they were held scoreless by the Brett Tomko and the Oakland Athletics. It was just the fourth time all season that the Pinstripes have failed to score, though there were opportunities as the Yankees hit the ball hard – often right into the gloves of the A’s. AJ Burnett pitched a complete game, however, a bad fourth inning did him in and he picked up the 3-0 loss.

Tomko and Burnett controlled the first three innings of the game. Tomko pitched like a man on a mission, perhaps still feeding off his anger at his release from New York a few weeks ago. After a couple innings without either team threatening, the Yankees looked like they were going to break through in the third. Pena and Jeter both singled and Teixeira walked to load the bases with one out. The Bombers had been hitting the ball hard, and with Alex Rodriguez at the plate the Yanks looked poised to score. Instead, A-Rod tapped the ball back to Tomko who started the 1-2-3 double-play to end the inning.

In the fourth inning, Rajai Davis hit the ball to the gap in right center and showed off his wheels as he safely cruised into second. With Suzuki at bat, Davis flashed his speed again, stealing third on a play where Posada did not even attempt a throw. Suzuki then sent a grounder up the middle for an RBI single and the A’s had the first run of the game. Hairston (Jerry’s brother, Scott) then singled to left. AJ got Sweeney to ground out to Teixeira, but with runners on second and third and two outs AJ balked, sending Suzuki home for the A’s second run of the game. An RBI double by Ellis would score Hairston and the A’s would hold the 3-0 lead for the rest of the game.

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Oakland Athletics- 52-65, last in the AL West

Hitting:

Team wOBA: .316, 24th in the Majors, 12th in the American League

The Oakland Athletics offense is basically of the same poor quality as the Yankees last opponent, the Seattle Mariners. Though Matt Holliday was having a disappointing season in Oakland, he was the A’s best hitter this season. Without him, the A’s have a punchless attack, weaker than their wOBA would indicate. Rajai Davis has been a pleasant surprise, hitting .300/.371/.430 to go along with twenty-four steals. Jack Cust will go deep occasionally. Scott Hairston, Mark Ellis and Adam Kennedy won’t embarrass themselves. Other than that, Oakland’s lineup is loaded with powerless, easy outs.

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I wanted to introduce a new blog to you guys. It’s not exactly new, but it’s new-ish, and new to me. And if you like a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor that mocks some of the inner workings of the Yanks, please go check out:

The Inner Workings of Lonn Trost
I invented $2500 box seats. What did YOU invent?

So today’s the day. By 12:01am tomorrow, uber-phenom Stephen Strasburg will either be a National or being led to the Independent League by his agent Scott Boras like a misbehaving kid to detention. Either you love Rob Dibble or hate him, but you have to appreciate his raw honesty and I think he’s spot on here (even with the run-ons).

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