Bob Klapisch has a much discussed (mocked?) article today about the Yankees lack of a killer instinct. In it, he cites the bad performances by Nick Swisher, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, etc. because they lacked some critical piece of chromosomal infrastructure:

The past-era Yankees had a ferocious trait that couldn’t be quantified. It was an intangible expectation of victory – even if that very term now is politically incorrect among baseball’s intelligentsia.

Wow. And while the small sample size statistical references are not favorable, Bob’s coup de grâce is his conclusion, citing the following statistic:

That would explain why the Yankees were just 4-49 when trailing after the seventh inning, and 2-50 when down after eight. Is that all because of bad luck, or can it be traced to a killer instinct that never was honed?

That, naturally, got me thinking and when I am home from work with time on my hands, that’s a problem…

(click “view full post” to read more)

I had no intention of thinking about Joe Girardi again until Spring Training rolled around, but he held his postseason press conference yesterday and, asked about the possibility of changing his lineup for Game 5, said this:

“These are guys that have done it for us all year. I guess I could have hit Gardy fourth, stack my lefthanders? But these are guys that have done it for you, and you expect they’re going to do it.”

Brett Gardner batting clean up? Ahahahahahaha! That Girardi, such a joker! That’s a good one Joe! Goodness gracious!

(click “view full post” to continue reading)

2011 is a year Phil Hughes is going to want to forget about, ASAP. Coming off of a breakout season of sorts in 2010, Hughes was the guy everyone hoped would fill the number two starter role in the absence of Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte. It didn’t quite work out that way, to say the least.

As far as I can remember, Spring Training was pretty uneventful for Hughes up until the very last week or so, when we started hearing rumors about him losing substantial velocity on his fastball. I didn’t really believe it at the time, because it seemed like such a weird thing to have not come up earlier, but sure enough, Hughes came out of the gate with a fastball only Jamie Moyer could love. The early part of the season was not kind to Hughes, of course, as he was shelled in every outing and pushed his ERA all the way up to 13.94 on the strength of a 3.48 HR/9, before being put on the disabled list after his third start.

(click “view full post” to continue reading)

Quite the display over at The Globe today, where they seemingly delight in strafing their hometown team today. My question: Did no one see these things prior and if so, were they ignored? Or asked differently, if the team had won, would they be lauded for “good clubhouse chemistry”?

No need to retell the Globe’s story, but wow, is it a doozy. I thoroughly recommend reading all of it. We have some miserable MSM here in NY but Boston’s writers seem to take more joy out of bashing their own than ours do.

Not a good day to be a Sox fan, especially since news of Theo’s departure came out minutes ago, seemingly on its heels.

Tough day, Sox fans. Tough day.

I like Ken Davidoff. Has always been approachable and well-informed. Of course, when someone opens with a statement like that, it’s not unlike someone starting a sentence with “Bless his heart…” because little good comes after it.

So of course, I’m not exactly a huge fan of some (not all) of Ken’s 2012 Yankees thoughts put out today:

Trading A.J. Burnett to Atlanta for Derek Lowe

Why would the Yankees do it? Because enough is enough with Burnett. Because Lowe has a history of functioning well in big markets and because he should be a motivated pitcher, going in his walk year. Because while the league change has to be a significant concern with Lowe, he is a groundball pitcher, which would help especially at Yankee Stadium.

Let’s take this piece apart first.

(click “view full post” to read more)

At some point, we’re going to have to change the name of this blog to “It’s All About A-Rod,” because golly is it ever! For a number of reasons that have been covered left, right, up, and down both here and everywhere, A-Rod is the biggest lightening rod in the game today. But unlike previous polarizing players who at least enjoyed the steady support of the hometown fans (Barry Bonds comes to mind), A-Rod often seems to get it worse from Yankee fans than he does from anywhere else. And after another less than stellar performance in the ALDS, the knives are out for Alex Rodriguez once again.

(click “view full post” to continue reading)

Chad Jennings reports that the Yankees will be parting ways with three pitchers, as Aaron Laffey has been claimed off of waivers and Raul Valdes and Scott Proctor both elected free agency rather than accept being outrighted to the minors. No surprises in the bunch, really, as none of the three really figured to be back next season. The Yankees have some work to do getting their 40-man roster in order over the next month or so, and this is obviously the first step.

Jonathan Papelbon spoketh the words, history will show if he’s an honest guy or not:

“It really truly isn’t all about the money. It’s just not,” he said from his Mississippi home. “I’m going to a place where I know I’m going to succeed. I’m going to a place where I know I have a chance to win a championship. I’m going to a place where I know that my family is going to be safe, my family is going to like the environment, and everything else that goes along with off-field stuff. That’s what I’m looking at.

“If it was all about the money I would have said starting six years ago. If it was all about the money, I would have stayed starting, gone out, pitched my six innings, got a quality start and called it a day. For me it’s more about going to a place I can thrive, have fun and enjoy what I’m doing, and win. That’s it really.”

Maybe he’ll take a hometown discount and stay with the Sox. But if he winds up in Houston, well, we know the answer.

Russell Martin‘s first experience with the Yankees was one of very poor timing. Signed just after Cliff Lee spurned the Bombers in favor of the Philadelphia Phillies, many fans responded to the announcement of Martin’s signing with outright outrage. It was as though they thought this was the mythical “Plan B,” or supposed to be some sort of response to losing Lee, and the unwashed masses were not happy about it.

Of course, that was completely ridiculous. Martin wasn’t signed as some sort of backup plan to signing Lee, he was signed because the Yankees had a need at catcher, and he presented the best option the team saw on the market. Heck, they even had to beat out the Red Sox to secure his services! And sure enough, he was penciled in as the team’s starting catcher heading into Spring Training, which wasn’t exactly the most comforting thought in the world, but given his reputation for playing good defense and being superb at working with pitchers, it wasn’t the worst thing you could ask for either.

(click “view full post” to continue reading)

Brett Gardner entered the 2011 season as one of the biggest question marks in the Yankees’ lineup, albeit in a good way. Having hit .277/.383/.379 in a shockingly good 2010 campaign, most of us wondered if he could maintain those on base skills. We knew his defense and base running ability were superb, so if Gardner could keep his batting average and OBP around that level, you’d pretty much have to say he was one of the best all-around players on the Yankees, and one of the best outfielders in baseball.

Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. Gardner wasn’t terrible or anything, but he saw a decline in all of his slash numbers, hitting .259/.345/.369. That was good for a wRC+ of 103, or just above league average. He was still an elite defender and base runner though, so adding it all up he was one of the most valuable players on the roster this year (5.1 fWAR, 4.4 rWAR), so even average offensive production makes Gardner an extremely useful everyday player.

(click “view full post” to continue reading)

Over the weekend, ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that contract talks between Brian Cashman and the Yankees were going “smoothly.” Yesterday, Cashman told Mark Feinsand of the Daily News that there had been no talks at all yet. So less than a week removed from the Yankees being eliminated, we’ve already got conflicting reports. Awesome!

(click “view full post” to continue reading)

2011 was a bit of a rough year for Mark Teixeira. He took a beating from Yankee fans in a lot of quarters for his plummeting batting average, impeccable ability to hit a popup in a big situation, and once again turning in a subpar performance in the postseason. I’ve heard more calls to trade Teixeira in the last three days than I can remember hearing about anyone, save for maybe the whimsical pining for a GM dumb enough to trade for A.J. Burnett. All in all, I think it’s safe to say you can pretty much assume this is a low point in Tex’s career.

So would you believe me if I told you he wasn’t that bad this year?

(click “view full post” to continue reading)

With the Yankees out of the playoffs, I confess that the most interesting aspect of October to me is the myriad of people who come out of the woodwork to profess how awful and broken baseball is and how it’s only a matter of time before it’s dead. Nevermind that the sport’s making more money than it ever has or anything, it gets trounced by the NFL in national television ratings! Obviously it can’t survive if the World Series doesn’t do a better overnight than Monday Night Football! This is America for crying out loud, obviously the market isn’t big enough to support more than one professional sport in the long run.

Craig Calcaterra finds another good example today and…I just don’t get it. I guess my title question is wrong. I can understand why people hate baseball; because everyone has different tastes. I guess what I don’t get is why people, football triumphalists especially, have to broadcast their dislike of baseball so loudly. I’m more or less indifferent to hockey and actively dislike college basketball, but you don’t see me talk about that constantly. That’s just the way it works, isn’t it? I don’t like them, so I don’t pay much attention to them or talk about them. Seems pretty simple to me.

But so many people who don’t like baseball have such a compelling need to drone on endlessly about it, and constantly talk about how awful baseball is, mostly in ways that make it clear they haven’t paid much attention to baseball in a very long time. It’s just…weird. And it’s also probably as good a counterargument as anything else. If baseball is so irrelevant, why are the haters so obsessed with it?