Last season, I took a bit of an issue with the collective issue that A.J. Burnett struggles on the mound because of “mental issues.” As I see it, Burnett has trouble throwing strikes consistently, especially with his curveball, and the ability to throw strikes consistently is primarily a physical skill. A lot of people didn’t agree at the time, but it seems that new pitching coach Larry Rothschild is thinking along the same lines:

Cashman was encouraged by the fact Burnett immediately reached out to Rothschild in the way Robinson Cano once reached out to Larry Bowa. “Help make me better,” was Burnett’s simple plea to Rothschild, who, among other things, worked on tempering the pitcher’s swinging front leg.

Wednesday, Burnett succeeded in eliminating what he called a “karate kick.” He kept the extraneous movement to a minimum, stayed on line with his target, and had better luck repeating his delivery.

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Minor league guru John Sickels was able to speak with Mark Newman, Yankees Vice President for Baseball Operations (aka VP of Prospect Hugging).  The interview is very well done with a handful of tasty morsels. Read on:

SICKELS: Let’s move to the pitching. You mentioned the depth you have in high ceiling arms that are close to the majors. Let’s run down the list. Dellin Betances. He seems recovered from injuries now, and looked good in his first outing. Is he a starter or closer, and what level does he begin at?

NEWMAN: Definitely a starter. Three-pitch guy, plus curveball, plus changeup, hit 96-97 in first game. There are some concerns about his durability until he proves otherwise, but we think he’ll be fine. He has a great work ethic, I love the physique, his mechanics are consistent. His walk rates have gotten better. With the injury behind him we think he’ll be durable now. He will start off in Double-A.

SICKELS: Manny Banuelos opened lots of eyes in the Arizona Fall League. I saw him down there and he’s just incredibly smooth.

NEWMAN: Yeah, he is a smaller guy but wow, great stuff. It is hard to fathom how a guy his size, throwing that easy with the ball coming out of his hand the way it does, can throw so hard. He was at 93-95 yesterday. I have no worries about his arm. His delivery and athleticism scream durability.  He’s going to Double-A with Betances.

There’s a lot more in this interview so have at it.

I’m playing a bit of catch-up as I was off-grid for most of the day yesterday. My apologies.

One of the tidbits that we didn’t discuss much here was the news that Mark Teixeira has fired his agent, Scott Boras. The headline reads rather bold, but the truth is, this is largely cosmetic. Boras will still be paid his commission every year of Teixeira’s contract, so shed no tears for Big Bad Scotty B.

“Sometimes, business relationships just run their course,” said Teixeira, who has been represented by Boras throughout his major league career.

“Now that the contract is over with, I don’t want to be ‘Scott Boras client,’” he said. “I want to be Mark Teixeira, baseball player, helping this team win championships.”

“Scott did a great job getting me my contract,” Teixeira said. “I wanted to be in New York from the beginning, and everything that I’ve asked for has come through so far. And from here on out, there’s no reason to worry about the contract. It’s all about winning championships and helping out the community.”

So what does it mean to be a “Scott Boras client”?

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Full disclosure: I’m a Yankees fan. As a Yankees fan, I consider the Boston Red Sox to be something more than a rival in the American League East. I consider the Red Sox to be my mortal enemy. The principal owner of the Red Sox is John Henry, so of course I hate and despise John Henry and everything he stands for.

But today, for purposes of this post, I’m going to put my hatred aside. You see, during an interview yesterday on Boston radio station WEEI, Red Sox principal owner John Henry revealed that he was fined $500,000 by Major League Baseball for comments he made in 2009 about baseball’s system of revenue sharing. Let’s be clear. When we say that baseball fined Henry, what we really mean is that Bud Selig fined John Henry. What we mean is that Bud Selig disliked what John Henry had to say, to the tune of $500,000.

We’ll dive into John Henry’s 2009 comments in a moment. But first, let’s consider: this is a fine of half a million dollars. That’s some serious fining. A $500,000 fine is equal to the largest fine ever given to the most fined person in the history of sport, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Cuban got fined $500,000 when he insulted the NBA’s Director of Officiating (“I wouldn’t hire him to manage a Dairy Queen”).

$500,000 is twice what former Reds’ owner Marge Schott was fined for making a series of racist comments and praising Adolf Hitler. What in the world could John Henry have said that’s twice as bad as praising Hitler?

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Yesterday, writing on the mother-blog, Fired Brand of the American League contributor Darryl Johnston set forth to rank the American League East teams in terms of organizational soundness. His conclusion was that the Red Sox are number one, and the post has generated a pretty sharp response both in the comment section and on Twitter. Does it deserve it?

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(To see the rest of this series, click here.)

2010 record: 88-74 (2nd place, A.L. Central)

2010 run differential: +48 (752 runs scored, 704 runs allowed)

Key additions: Adam Dunn 1b/DH

Key losses: J.J. Putz RHP, Bobby Jenks RHP

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These were taken by my former neighbor and softball teammate and now Baseball/Sports Photographer, MetsBlog.com writer Michael Baron. Michael was at the Pirates-Yankees game today. His entire photo stream could be seen here and he’s allowed me to put some of them up on the site. Almost makes you feel like you were there…

Click on any to enlarge.

More pics after the jump!

Twins fans, you’re going to have to sit down. Jay Jaffe explains why a Francisco Liriano – Joba Chamberlain trade makes sense for both sides:

With their respective teams more focused on the blots on their permanent records than the promise of their baseball records, it’s apparent that both pitchers would benefit from a change of scenery, a clean slate and new voices in their ears. Either one could burn the team acquiring them by failing to live up to their limitless potential or succumbing to worse injuries, but then, that’s the nature of every single pitcher on the planet; staggering towards entropy is what they do. Either could burn the team they leave behind by blossoming in their new environment. Liriano could become a frontline pitcher in a major market and put himself in line for a handsome payday when he reaches free agency. Chamberlain could thrive with a move back to the rotation, armed with stuff that’s still more than decent and a pitching philosophy that doesn’t involve attempting to blow it by every hitter.

So there’s that, which is fine by me. As Brien discussed the other day, if the Yanks can get Liriano while keeping the Killer B’s and their highly regarding catching trio of prospects, that’s a great move for the Yanks. Jaffe agrees:

So count me as somebody who says that if Brian Cashman can swing a deal for Liriano without touching the core of the Yankees’ vaunted system, he absolutely should, because the lefty is the type of risk the Yankees can afford, and the best pitcher the Yankees are likely to acquire until just before the July 31 trading deadline, if not longer. And if Twins general manager Bill Smith can find something within the Yankees’ system which fills additional needs — middle infield insurance, another near-ready arm — he could reap the benefit of unlocking the full potential of a pitcher who’s been misused, and fortifying a contending club both in the near-term and the longer one.

Sorry my Twins-supporters.

The Yankees will hit the road for the third straight day, traveling to Bradenton to play the Pirates at 1:05 P.M. Again, the game isn’t televised, so you’ll have to catch it on the radio. Lineups, pitchers, and notes after the jump.

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Baseball players have long served as pitchmen for seemingly every product possible, from cereal to booze to tobacco. The American Express commercial from the Major League movie is among my most favorite, even if it’s not real:

[Dressed in tuxedos, every team member, except Willie, stands behind Home Plate and looks at us]

Everybody: Hello. Do you know us?

[Everybody, except Rick, puts on their caps]

Everybody: We’re a Major League Baseball team.

Jake Taylor: But since we haven’t won a pennant in over 30 years, nobody recognizes us – not even in our own home town.

Eddie Harris: That’s why we carry the American Express card.

Rick Vaughn: No matter how far out of first we are, it’s cool. You know, it keeps us from getting shut out at our favorite hotels and restaurant-type places.

Pedro Cerrano: [pointing to us] So if you’re looking for some Big-League clout, apply for that little green home-run hitter.

Roger Dorn: Look what it’s done for US. People still DON’T recognize us but…[Roger snaps his fingers]

Lou Brown: We’re contenders now.

[Also dressed in a tuxedo, Willie slides into home plate and holds up a green credit card]

Willie Mays Hayes: The American Express card: Don’t steal home without it.

Why bring this up? Because we have a video of Red Sox outtakes today that’s wonderfully awesome and clumsy and awkward. Click “view full post” for the video.

You don’t get excited about spring training games. You definitely don’t get excited about the first week of spring training games. And you absolutely, positively, don’t get excited about one inning in the first week of spring play. We all know that, we all remind ourselves of that, and yet, we’re being pleasantly reminded why that’s so hard to do sometimes.

And in our defense, it’s not hard to see why. After hearing rave reviews about Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances for the past year or so, and knowing that the starting rotation needs help, you can hardly blame us if we start dreaming of ways to get them into the big league rotation, especially when one of the alternatives is going to be Sergio Mitre, Freddy Garcia, or Bartolo Colon. But alas, in our more sober moments we remember that, no matter how good they looked in their respective outings, it was just one inning apiece in the second and third games of spring. Still, is there a chance that one or two of these hotshot prospects might make some contribution to the big club this year? WilliamNYY23 of The Captain’s Blog and TYA sums this scenario up neatly:

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Aside from the “competition” for the final two spots in the starting rotation, the most meaningful battle for the Yankees this spring is the competition for the starting catcher’s spot. Ostensibly, Russell Martin, Francisco Cervelli, Jesus Montero, and Austin Romine all have a chance to win the job, but most “competitions” in spring training are far from truly open, as the club generally has a direction they prefer to go and stick with that unless someone forces their hand.

So how legitimate is this competition? I very much doubt it’s as open as the club is claiming. First and foremost, it should be pretty obvious that Romine has basically no chance of being the Yankees’ catcher out of camp. He’s got just one full season of AA under his belt, and the general consensus is that he wore down over the course of his first full season as a catcher. He’s generally touted as the best defender of the Yankees group of catching prospects, but most prospect evaluators say he actually needs to improve behind the plate as well. On the whole, Romine clearly needs more seasoning in the minors, and I think the brass is probably just talking him up for the sake of appearances.

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Bud Selig has an amazing autonomy as Lord of MLB. As Brien noted and discussed the other day, Selig floated the Mets $25m to cover operating expenses and the team is again looking for more money. Some people unabashedly hate Selig; I’m not one of those. I think he’s done more than enough good for the game to help balance out some of the things I do not like. Most of what I know and think about Selig has to do with his impacts on the on-field activities of this great game. It’s what goes on behind the scenes that can go unreported and unnoticed.

Crusty ol’ Murray Chass is back doing what he does best: reporting. Chass discusses Selig’s contradictions within his own office, notably with regards to MLB’s hiring practices:

The sense that I got from an official in the commissioner’s office was that Selig believes the rules he established for clubs’ hiring practices don’t apply to the commissioner, that he has to be free to hire the people he believes are best for executive positions and that he feels his office has a very good record in minority hiring.

That is the Park Avenue office itself. [...]

Selig, who is trying to revive interest in baseball among black youngsters, interviewed no black candidates for the job he handed Torre. Message sent.

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