Freezing Our Asses Off Hot Stove

Red Sox Nearing Deal with Big Tex?

The rumors first came from a Boston TV station and now others are chiming in. Boston's front office is in the state of Texas with Mark Teixeira hammering out a deal with agent Scott Boras. That's right the Red Sox are close to signing the free agent first basemen.

What makes this particularly aggravating is that the Yankees never really jumped into the pool. They have never made an offer to Teixeira, despite a huge hole in the Yankees lineup. Perhaps the length of the contract - Teixeira has been receiving 8-year offers - has them spooked. Think Jason Giambi. Maybe they would rather go with a short-term solution like Manny Ramirez, who they think they can get with a 3-year deal.

Teixeira is a premier first baseman, both with the bat and the glove, and could provide long-term protection in the lineup for Alex Rodriguez (Nick Swisher won't do the trick). Mike Cameron certainly isnt' the answer for the Yankees lineup.


There's No Place Like Home

After reports circulated that Rafael Furcal was about to return to the Atlanta Braves, for whom he played shortstop from 2000-2005, Furcal decided to stay put with the LA Dodgers. The shortstop signed with the Dodgers prior to the 2006 season and is expected to ink a new 3-year deal. In response, the Braves have decided to stop doing business with Furcal's agents, The Wasserman Group.


News and Rumors

Trot Nixon has signed a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Jon Heyman feels the Mets and their own free agent Oliver Perez are too far apart on money to come to terms on a new deal.

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The Winter of Our Discontent

This Hot Stove season is an even bigger one for the Yankees than last year's. The team is coming off, for them, a poor season and the team's roster is currently in disarray. Mike Mussina has retired. Andy Pettitte is whoring for more money. Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu have been cast aside. Other than an offer to CC Sabathia, trade talks for Jake Peavy, and salary arbitration decisions, this has been the slowest off-season for the Yankees (and all teams) in recent years. But that should all change next week. Oops! And the acquisition of Nick Swisher..duh.

The annual general manager's meeting is set to begin Monday, Dec. 8 in Las Vegas. That means that player agents will be able to bounce back and forth between teams in a short amount of time. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A.J. Burnett are among the names that could walk away with new deals by the time the meetings end on the 11th.

The Yankees biggest focus right now is on their pitching. At the moment, the pitching staff consists of Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain. Phil Hughes is certainly not being counted on as a definite as he was last season. We won't even get into Ian Kennedy.

Sabathia is of course the grand prize. But the consensus is that he prefers to staying on the west coast and in the National League, where he thoroughly dominated after being dealt to Milwaukee at the trade deadline. Money will be no object for the Yankees when dealing with the big left-hander so it will come down to Sabathia's preference, and possible pressure from the player's union to take the most money.

Burnett is number two on the Yankees hit list, but there's a significant drop off from the the one and two spots. Burnett doesn't have the resume Sabathia has and won't make nearly as much cash. But he'll still make plenty. Burnett probably won't agree to a deal until Sabathia sets the bar. He's looking for a 5-year deal in the neighborhood of $75-$80 million. Burnett has proven he can pitch in the American League, and more importantly, in the AL East. But there are concerns about his arm and his mental toughness.

The Daily News is reporting that the Braves, who are expected to officially announce their deal for Javier Vazquez later today, are reportedly set to offer Burnett a guaranteed 5-year deal. That 5th year is something the Yankees have been reluctant to offer.

Peavy is the best signed option out there, but teams are finding that the Padres are asking for too much in return. As we previously mentioned, Peavy has already shown his distaste for playing in the Big Apple, so a deal doesn't make a lot of sense. Widespread reports say that both the Braves and Cubs have broken off talks after failing to swing a three team deal.

The Yankees can always use left-handed pitching, especially if they part ways with Pettitte. The Mets' Oliver Perez makes for an interesting case. He seems to have recaptured the ability that he had in San Diego and lost after one season in Pittsburgh, but he can still be awfully inconsistent and wild at times. He went 25-17 over the last two season for the Mets, and threw a career second best 194 innings last season. After putting up a 3.56 ERA in 2007, he saw that number rise to 4.22 in 2008. You have to wonder if his stuff would translate to the American League.

Ben Sheets has had a fine career with the Milwaukee Brewers, but the 30-yr old is perennially hurt. His 198.1 innings this past season was only the 2nd time he topped 150 innings in the last 4 years. He's coming off a 13-9, 3.09, 158 strikeout season, but had trouble with his right triceps, forearm, and elbow this past season. We would definitely stay away from him.

There could be other pitchers on the move, such as those who will become free agents after the 2009 season. Plus those who were disappointments in 2008. Erik Bedard fits both those categories.

So what do we have? The Yankees have to go all out, balls to the wall, in an effort to land Sabathia. If they don't, that doesn't mean they should blow Burnett away with money. He's had one very good season and has had arm issues (see Carl Pavano). If the Yankees do land Sabathia, they may be better off going for a secondary option that is cheaper (Perez), or dealing for someone like Bedard. That will free up more money to shore up the offense with a player like Mark Teixeira or someone of that ilk.

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The Pennant Race - 9/28

It's been an amazing final weekend of the 2008 season, with several playoff spots still up for grabs. The Phillies clinched the NL East with a win over Washington on Saturday, but the Mets victory, combined with the Brewers loss, meant the wildcard would come down the final Sunday, and possibly Monday.

The Marlins had crushed the Mets dreams in 2007, jumping all over then Met Tom Glavine in the first inning and cruised to an 8-1 victory. Johan Santana had put the Mets into position with a masterful shutout on Saturday. Sunday was a match of a pair of left-handers, Scott Olsen for the Marlins, and Oliver Perez for the Mets.

The two teams were scoreless in the sixth inning when the Marlins finally broke through. Cameron Maybin led off with a double and scored on John Baker's single for a 1-0 lead. Jorge Cantu followed with a single and both runners moved up on Mike Jacobs fly out. Jerry Manuel elected to intentionally walk Dan Uggla, but reliever Joe Smith walked Josh Willingham to force in a run. Smith wiggled out of further trouble and the Mets came right back.

Robinson Cancel started the home half of the sixth with a walk. One batter later Carlos Beltran drove the Shea crowd crazy with a game tying 2-run home run, his 27th of the season.

Meanwhile in Milwaukee, the Brewers trailed the Cubs 1-0 on an unearned run. CC Sabathia was doing everything he could to win it for the Brewers, but Milwaukee couldn't break through against an array of Cubs pitchers.

Carlos Zambrano was originally slated to start the game for Chicago, but Lou Piniella end up opting for Angel Guzman, who gave him two innings of work. Chad Gaudin, Neall Cotts, and Kevin Hart kept Milwaukee off the board through six innings.

Veteran Ray Durham greeted reliever Scott Marshall with a lead off double in the seventh. Ryan Braun's ground out moved Durham up to third, and Prince Fielder was intentionally walked to set up a potential double play. Piniella went to Mike Wuertz, who walked J.J. Hardy to load the bases. Wuertz then struck out Craig Counsell for the second out, but walked Corey Hart to force in the tying run.

The Marlins and Mets moved to the eighth inning back at Shea, still tied at 2-2. But Wes Helms connected off of Scot Schoenweis for just his fifth home run of the season and a 3-2 Marlins lead. Two batters later, Dan Uggla slugged his 32nd home run of the year off of Luis Ayala for a 4-2 Florida advantage.

With the Mets falling behind, the Brewers took it to the Cubs in the eighth. Mike Cameron singled with one out and two batters later, second year sensation Ryan Braun belted his 37th home run of the year off of Cubs set up man Bobby Howry. Braun has 71 home runs in 264 big league games.

At Shea, Jose Reyes smacked a double off of Kevin Gregg with two outs in the eighth. A Beltran walk brought up the Mets biggest hitter in the second half, Carlos Delgado. Fredi Gonzalez countered with lefty specialist Arthur Rhodes. Delgado drilled a 1-1 shot to left, but the ball stayed in the park for the third out of the inning.

In Milwaukee, Sabathia completed his seventh game in 17 Brewers starts, Ryan Theriot singled with one away, but Sabathia got Derrek Lee to bounce into a game ending double play.

A quite Shea Stadium held their breath and heads, and prayed as Matt Lindstrom came on in the ninth for the Marlins. David Wright popped out to second base and Endy Chavez hit a comebacker for the first two outs of the inning. Damon Easley drew a walk, giving the Mets on more shot with the tying run at the plate, but Ryan Church flied out to deep center to end the ball game and another disappointing Mets season.


Over in the American League, the AL Central was coming down to the last Sunday. With a half-game separating the two teams, the White Sox needed a win in order to play their 162nd game against the Tigers on Monday. The game being a make up of an earlier rain out. The Twins held destiny in their own hands, knowing that a win would ensure them, at the very least, of a one game playoff on Tuesday.

Pitching was the name of the game for both teams. Chicago's ace Mark Buehrle pitched like one. After losing the first two games against the Indians, the White Sox needed their best to give them his best. Buerhle did just that, allowing one run over seven innings to earn his 15th win of the season. Paul Konerko's solo home run highlighted a 3-run second inning that gave the White Sox the lead for good. Jermaine Dye added some big insurance with a 2-run single in the seventh before Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks sealed the win.

Meanwhile in Minnesota, the Twins had struggled against the Royals for two days, but Scott Baker was huge on Sunday. The Twins right-hander allowed just four hits, and struck out eight over seven innings, and the Twins rolled to a 6-0 victory. Joe Mauer and Delmon Young drove in two runs each for the Twins, who won their 88th game.

Gavin Floyd will start for Chicago on Monday, while former White Sox star Freddy Garcia goes for the Tigers. Should the White Sox win, they will face the Twins in a one game showdown in Chicago on Tuesday.

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Perez Leaves Yankees Left Out

Oliver Perez has always had the ability to be a successful pitcher in the major leagues. But whether it be his head, his arm, his heart, who knows what else, he has always had trouble keeping it together. Sandy Koufax one minute, Steve Trout the next. But not when Perez pitches against the Yankees. He dominated them once again yesterday at Shea Stadium as the Mets salvaged the finale of the three games played at home.

In an attempt to offset the left-handed throwing Perez, Joe Girardi stacked the lineup with right-handers. What that meant was Jorge Posada at 1st base, .225 hitting Jose Molina behind the plate, rookie Justin Christian in right field, and Wilson Betemit (.259 against lefties) at 2nd base. Throw in a pitcher who can't hit and you can see it wasn't a strong lineup.

You would assume that the Yankees lefties struggled against Perez, but that was not true with the exception of Johnny Damon, who started in left field and was 1-8, and Bobby Abreu who sat on the bench with an o-10. However, Robinson Cano, who has been hot lately, was 4-10 against Perez, while Jason Giambi had a hit in just 2 at-bats. No matter how you slice it, things didn't work out.

Perez limited the Yankees to just 3 hits over 7 innings, while striking out 8. His lone mistake was a solo home run hit by Betemit in his final inning of work. Darrell Rasner, meanwhile, continued to struggle.

He worked out of a 2-on, 2-out jam in the 1st inning, but the Mets broke through in the 2nd. Endy Chavez and Brian Schneider put together back to back 1-out singles, and Perez sacrificed them up a base. Luis Castillo hit a slow chopper up the middle and just beat Derek Jeter's throw to 1st for a 1-0 lead. Rasner retired David Wright on a chopper to Alex Rodriguez to escape further trouble.

In the 3rd, Carlos Delgado hit a tremendous solo home run off of the scoreboard in center field for a 2-0 lead. It was Delgado's first hit since his 9 RBI outburst in the first game on Friday.

The Yankees had a chance in the 4th, when Derek Jeter single with one out and moved to 2nd base on a wild pitch. But Perez struck out A-Rod swinging and retired Posada on a ground out to Castillo at 2nd.

Rasner was gone after 5 and Dave Robertson came on for his major league debut. He became the 3rd Yankee, along with Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy, to reach the majors after being drafted in 2006. He struck out his first batter, Perez, but gave up back to back singles to Reyes and Castillo and wild pitched them into scoring position. Wright delivered Reyes with a sac fly before Robertson retired Beltran on an inning ending fly out.

Pedro Feliciano retired the Yankees in order in the 8th and then it was up to Billy Wagner to close things out. Jeter lead off with a single and moved to 2nd base on a wild pitch, but he would be left there. A-Rod just missed one, hitting a deep fly that Chavez caught at the edge of the warning track in left-center, well short of the 358-ft sign. Posada then grounded out and Betemit struck out looking to seal the deal.


News and Notes

Oliver Perez is now 5-1, 2.61 in 6 career starts against the Yankees. He's struck out 31 batters in 41.1 innings pitched.

Jose Reyes had a tantrum when Carlos Delgado couldn't handle his throw on a Melky Cabrera ground out. The ball should have been caught, but Reyes was charged with the error. In a great act of immaturity, Reyes slammed his glove down. Anyone else think Reyes may be elsewhere next year?

It's sounding more and more like Hideki Matsui may need knee surgery.


June 29, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		1	4	0
NY Mets	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	X		3	12	1

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	0	1	0	0	3	0	.316
Jeter, SS	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	.284
Rodriguez, 3B	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.322
Posada, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.287
Betemit, 2B	4	1	1	1	0	2	1	.266
Cabrera, CF	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.246
Molina, C	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.225
Christian, RF	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.200
Rasner, P	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
a-Moeller, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.254
Robertson, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
b-Giambi, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.262
Ramirez, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	32	1	4	1	0	10	7
a-Flied out for Rasner in the 6th. b-Flied out for Robertson in the 8th.
BATTING HR: Betemit (4, 7th inning off Perez, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Damon; Jeter 2; Betemit 4. RBI: Betemit (12). 2-out RBI: Betemit. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Posada; Molina; Betemit. Team LOB: 4. FIELDING PB: Molina (6). DP: (Betemit-Jeter-Posada).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rasner (L, 4-6)	5.0	8	2	2	3	3	1	4.42
Robertson	2.0	4	1	1	0	1	0	4.50
Ramirez	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3.46

NY Mets	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Reyes, SS	4	1	2	0	1	0	0	.296
Castillo, 2B	5	0	3	1	0	1	1	.260
Wright, 3B	3	0	0	1	0	0	5	.285
Beltran, CF	3	0	0	0	1	1	2	.270
Delgado, 1B	4	1	1	1	0	0	2	.231
Tatis, 1B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.256
Church, RF	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	.304
Chavez, LF	4	1	3	0	0	0	1	.242
Schneider, C	3	0	1	0	1	0	3	.260
Perez, P	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	.182
Feliciano, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a-Anderson, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.198
Wagner, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	33	3	12	3	3	4	16
a-Flied out for Feliciano in the 8th.
BATTING HR: Delgado (14, 3rd inning off Rasner, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Reyes 2; Castillo 3; Delgado 4; Church 2; Chavez 3; Schneider. RBI: Castillo (26), Delgado (45), Wright (64). 2-out RBI: Castillo. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Delgado; Wright 2; Perez; Beltran. S: Perez. SF: Wright. GIDP: Schneider. Team LOB: 11. FIELDING E: Reyes (11, throw).

NY Mets IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Perez (W, 6-5) 7.0 3 1 1 0 8 1 4.98 Feliciano (H, 8) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.78 Wagner (S, 18) 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.91

WP: Robertson, Perez, Wagner. IBB: Schneider (by Rasner). Pitches-strikes: Rasner 102-59, Robertson 33-22, Ramirez 13-9, Perez 106-72, Feliciano 17-13, Wagner 14-9. Ground outs-fly outs: Rasner 5-7, Robertson 2-3, Ramirez 0-3, Perez 4-9, Feliciano 0-2, Wagner 1-1. Batters faced: Rasner 26, Robertson 9, Ramirez 3, Perez 25, Feliciano 3, Wagner 4. Umpires: HP: Mike DiMuro. 1B: Mike Estabrook. 2B: Larry Vanover. 3B: Mike Everitt. Weather: 88 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 11 mph, R to L. T: 3:00. Att: 56,277.

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Mets Sink Wang and Yankees 11-2

Chien-Ming Wang set the first 9 Mets down in order last night as if he were toying with them. One ground out after another. Even when Jose Reyes lead off the 4th inning with a double it seemed like no big deal. Wang got Marlon Anderson to hit a comebacker and Reyes was nailed trying to go to 3rd Base. If Yankee Stadium had a roof over it, it would have collapsed at that moment. The Mets jumped all over Wang (6-2) en route to an 11-2 blow out that sent the Yankees to their 8th loss in the last 11 games.

The Yankees bats continued to make every pitcher, especially left-handers, look like hall of fame candidates. They managed just 3 hits against Oliver Perez (4-3), who channels Sandy Koufax every time he faces the Yankees (4-1, 2.88).

So back to the 4th inning we go, Marlon Anderson on 1st with one out. David Wright singled and Carlos Beltran walked to the load the bases. Inning ending double play coming up, right? Very wrong. Jason Giambi made a beautiful diving stop of Ryan Church's grounder to the right side, but instead of getting the sure out at 1st he made an off-balance, on one knee, throw to 2nd. And we all know how he throws. Derek Jeter's diving stop kept the ball from going into the outfield, but everyone was safe and the Mets were on the board.

Moises Alou tried to check his swing on a hanging Wang pitch, and got an oops punch hit into right field for a 2-run single and a 3-0 Mets lead. The umpires then gave Wang and the Yankees a temporary break. Carlos Delgado drilled a shot to left field that hit the base of the foul pole and ricocheted in the seats in foul territory. 3rd Base ump Mike Reilly wasn't sure what he saw and consulted with the other umpires who ruled a foul ball. Willie Randolph vehemently argued to no avail, and eventually bench Jerry Manuel was tossed from the game by home plate ump Bob Davidson. Delgado ended up singling to right for a 4-0 lead before Wang finally wangled out of the inning.

The Yankees took advantage of the break and got right back in the ball game on Hideki Matsui's 2-run home run in the bottom of the 4th, his 6th of the season. But the Yankees would manage just 1 hit the rest of the game and Wang and reliever Ross Ohlendorf would continue the pitching implosion.

Church extended the lead to 5-2 with a solo home run in the 6th and then the Mets busted the game open in the 8th. Having thrown only 94 pitches after 7 innings, Joe Girardi decided to stick with his starter. It was a mistake. Wright lead off the 8th with a double, moved to 3rd on a ground out and scored on Alou's sacrifice fly after an intentional walk to Church. Girardi finally gave Wang the hook, but Ohlendorf provided no relief. Before the inning was over Brian Schneider and Luis Castillo had stroked RBI singles and Reyes hammered the final nail in the coffin with a 3-run home run.

News and Notes

The Yankees had another Oh-fer with men in scoring position, not that they had many in scoring position last night.

Both Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano stole their first bases of the season.

Chien-Ming Wang is 0-2 with one no decision after starting 6-0. Of course his first loss and the no decision were due to lack of run support.

Jeter and Hideki Matsui were the only Yankees in the lineup with a batting average above .200.

After a very good start, Melky Cabrera is 11-58 (.190); his averaged has dropped 44 points to .255.

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Yankees vs. Mets - May 18

Tonight's Lineups as Oliver Perez faces Chien-Ming Wang. Hopefully Joe Morgan doesn't say too many dumb things.

Mets

J. Reyes ss
M. Anderson lf
D. Wright 3b
C. Beltran cf
R. Church rf
M. Alou dh
C. Delgado 1b
B. Schneider c
L. Castillo 2b

Yankees

J. Damon lf
B. Abreu rf
D. Jeter ss
H. Matsui dh
J. Giambi 1b
R. Cano 2b
M. Cabrera cf
A. Gonzalez 3b
J. Molina c

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