Beware of Over Bidding

The Yankees have the chance to get into a big bidding war with the Red Sox this winter for A.J. Burnett's services. Let the buyer beware! The Yankees have not fared well in recent years when they face off with the Red Sox over a player. Yes, the Yankees have prevailed in getting the player, but it has backfired.

Case in point, Carl Pavano. Burnett, like Pavano, is coming off a career year, winning 18 games, the same figure Pavano won in 2004 with Florida. Burnett had a sub .500 winning percentage prior to this season. Granted he has much nastier stuff than Pavano, but he's oft-injured and has a rep, fair or unfair, of being soft. He's also 32 years old.

Prior to Pavano, there was the Cuban fiasco, Jose Contreras whom the Yankees locked up before the 2003 season. The Yankees ticked off Sox' president Larry Luccino with their tactics and we all laughed with glee as Contreras signed a 4-year, $32 million deal despite the fact that most of what the Yankees knew about him was hearsay. He was also reportedly 31 years old, but who knows how old he really was/is. Think El Duque.

Contreras hated the cold weather, sweated his balls off in hot weather and rarely showed flashes of promise. He blamed much of his troubles on missing his family, but he didn't get much better when they finally arrived in the US. He was 15-7 in his short time in Pinstripes, pitching 18 games in 2003, and 18 more in 2004 before being traded to the White Sox for Estaban Loaiza. (In Chicago he's had mild success, including being part of the 2005 World Series champions, but injuries effected him over the last 1 and 1/2 seasons.)

It wasn't a free agent deal, per se, but Alex Rodriguez also pitted Boston against New York. The Red Sox thought they had a deal done prior to the 2004 season, only to have it shot down by the league office. The Yankees swooped in and though he's won 2 MVP awards, the Yankees may have been better off without A-Rod. He's a drama queen and it won't get any better now that he's hooked up with Madonna.

The Yankees also have a poor history in dealing with players that have been on the Marlins. Pavano was a bust, Ivan Rodriguez didn't pan out in his short stint this past season. The Yankees dealt Mike Lowell, who became a star in Florida, for a bunch of garbage. (Granted, the Yankees have had success with pitcher's coming out of Toronto - David Cone, Roger Clemens).

A.J. Burnett would be a nice pick up, but a guaranteed 5 years? For $75-80 million. Let the buyer beware.

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Around the Horn - 6/11

From the injury front:

Braves pitcher John Smoltz's shoulder surgery revealed a torn labrum. It will be a long road back if he decides to return. The Braves got more bad news when starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens stumbled on a stairway and sprained his ankle. He's been scratched from his start today. And Tom Glavine has been put on the 15-day DL with a sore left elbow.

Mariners closers J.J. Putz had to leave this afternoon's game with the Blue Jays in the 9th inning due to a sore arm. Putz missed significant time earlier this season with a rib cage injury.

Blue Jays outfielder Shannon Stewart will be out at least a couple of weeks with a high ankle sprain.

The Padres will get Jake Peavy back from the DL tomorrow.

The Dodgers will be without Rafael Furcal for all of June due to a bad back.

Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki is set to begin rehab at Single-A as part of his recovery from a torn quad muscle.

Game News

Hideki Okajima had a pretty easy time of it in his 2007 rookie campaign, but that has not been the case this year. Okajima lost his 2nd game of the season last night in a 10-6 Orioles win. More importantly he was credited with his 6th blown save of the season and 2nd in his last 4 games.

Orioles veteran pitcher Steve Trachsel was designated for assignment. It could spell the end of his 17-year career.

White Sox starter Jose Contreras was on the losing end of a 6-4 game with the Tigers last night. It was the first time in 8 starts that Contreras allowed more than 2 earned runs.

The Royals bullpen was at it again last night. This time they blew a 5-1 lead against the Rangers, who eventually won 6-5. Josh Hamilton drove in his major league leading 70th RBI in the game.

Willie Randolph could only watch in horror as his awful Mets pitching staff got pounded by the Diamondacks, 9-5. Four different Dbacks went deep in the game.

C.C. Sabathia moved down the Twins last evening with a complete game 5-hit shutout. After posting a 7.88 ERA in April, he's put up a 2.42 ERA since.

With the Rockies playing so poorly this year, Aaron Cook's season has gone mostly unnoticed. The right-hander improved to 9-3 last night in the Rockies 10-5 win over the Giants. Cook, who has a 3.21 ERA, has more than one-third of the team's 25 wins.

Hanley Ramirez continued his torrid June with a solo home run in the Marlins 5-4 win over the Phillies. In 10 games this month, Ramirez has slugged 6 home runs, drive in 9 runs, scored 11 runs, and stolen 3 bases. He's also hitting .350 for the month.

Lance Berkman's been on a tear all season, though he entered last night's game in a 2-14 skid that dropped his average to .372, the lowest it's been since May 8. He responded with 3 hits, including a home run, and drove in 5 runs. He's 3rd in the NL with 53 ribbies for the season.

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Around the Horn - 5/21

Whatever good feelings the Mets and their fans may have had after the weekend sweep of the Yankees went out the window yesterday when the Braves took both ends of a doubleheader from the Flushing crew.

Mets fans are still mad at Tom Glavine's horrid performance in the season finale last year and are probably pissed off even more now after Glavine retired the last 17 men he faced in beating the Mets in game 1, 6-1. Jorge Campillo earned his 1st major league win in the nightcap when the Bravs won again, this time 6-2.

The Phillies and Nationals hooked up in a scoreless pitching duel until Greg Dobbs' pinch-hit RBI double gave the Phillies a 1-0 win in the 9th. Tom Gordon got the win after Cole Hamels struck out 11 in 7 innings.

The Brewers bounced back from their awful weekend in Boston with a 7-2 pasting of the Pirates. Mike Cameron and Corey Hart homered to help Manny Parra win his 2nd of the season. Eric Gagne had to leave the game in the 9th with shoulder stiffness.

Tim Lincecum improve to 6-1 after the Giants edged the Rockies 6-5. Lincecum has a road best ERA of 0.39. Rich Aurilia and Fred Lewis each homered. Rockies injured shortstop Troy Tulowitzki took fielding practice for the first time since ripping a quad muscle at the end of April.

The Cardinals' Joel Pineiro was shutting down the Padres into the 6th when Kevin Kouzmanoff belted a go-ahead 428-ft, 3-run home run. The blast held up in the Padres 3-2 win. Greg Maddux got no decision after giving up 2 runs in 5 innings.

Dan Uggla belted his 14th home run and Mark Hendrickson struck out 7 in 5-plus innings as the Marlins edged the Diamondbacks 3-2. Micah Owings was solid, thought he went hitless, for Arizona, allowing 3 runs in 7 innings while striking out 10.

Chad Billingsley tossed 7 scoreless innings in the Dodgers 4-1 over the Reds. Adam Dunn has his (shared) team record of 5 straight games with a home run stopped, and also had an 8-game RBI streak ended. Ken Griffey Jr. has gone 86 at-bats without a home run.

Hunter Pence belted a 4th inning grand slam in the Astros 4-2 win over the Cubs. Miguel Tejada doubled in the game for his 1,800th career hit to help Chris Sampson even his record at 3-3.

There was no no-hitter for the Red Sox last night, but the KC Royals went down just as meekly. Justin Masterson won his first major league game as he and the Sox bullpen limited the punchless Royals to 5 hits. Sox reliever/spot starterJulian Tavarez passed through waivers and expected an assignment to Pawtucket.

Justin Verlander finally won his 2nd game as the Tigers out scored the Mariners 12-8. Edger Renteria enjoyed a 4-hit, 5 RBI night, as he, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen, and Curtis Granderson all went deep.

Left fielder Emil Brown lost Dionner Navarro's 8th inning line drive in the lights enabling 3 runs to score to give the Rays a 3-2 win over the A's. Navarro was credited with a 3-run double after the play was initially ruled an error. It ruined a great effort from Greg Smith who was tagged with the loss. Frank Thomas hit his 518th career home run.

John Lackey won his first game of the year with 7 stellar innings in the Angels 3-1 win over the Blue Jays. Francisco Rodriguez walked the bases loaded in the 9th, but escaped with his 18th save. Angels shortstop Erick Aybar dislocated his pinky during the game. X-Rays were negative, but he may miss some time.

The Twins pounded the Rangers 11-4 to earn Glen Perkins his first major league win. Texas expects to activate Hank Blalock this weekend. He'll be starting at his new position, 1st Base.

Jose Contreras won for the 3rd straight time out in the White Sox 4-1 win over the Indians. He lowered his ERA to 3.17 in the process of beating C.C. Sabathia. Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome (#515) homered for the Chisox.

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Yankees vs. White Sox - April 22

First off, congrats to Mrs. and Mrs. A-Rod on the birth of their, as yet, unnamed daughter. She was born in Miami last night. She was 7 lbs, 2 oz.. And more good news, Jorge Posada is back behind the dish tonight after testing out his arm earlier today.

Here's tonight's lineup courtesy of Peter Abraham:

Yankees
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Giambi 1B
Ensberg 3B
Cabrera CF
Wang RHP

News and Notes

Derek Jeter needs one more double to tie Joe DiMaggio for 5th place on the all-time Yankees list.

If the Wanger wins tonight, he'll be the fastest to 50 victories since Doc Gooden.

With A-Rod's baby birth and quad injury, no Yankee has now played in every single game this season.

No pitch counts - On this day in Yankees history, Whitey Ford went the distance in a 1-0, 14-inning shutout of the Washington Senators. He struck out 15, while issuing 7 hits and 7 walks.

Among those happy to be facing Contreras tonight are, Bobby Abreu .444 (4-19), Derek Jeter .294 (5-17), and Jorge Posada .333 (3-9). Conversely, the already slumping Jason Giambi is 0-6, though he has drawn 4 walks and has 4 RBI. Melky Cabrera is just 1-9.

Joe Crede .400 (2-5), Jim Thome .333 (2-6) and Juan Uribe .333 (2-6) have had the best success against Wang. Jermaine Dye .222 (2-9), Paul Konerko .143 (1-7) and A.J. Pierzynksi .000 (0-5) have struggled.

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