Calm Down, People. Mo's Not Coming Back This Year

I hate to shart in people's celebratory ice cream sundaes, but it's the truth.  Everybody and their mother, their father, their mother's friends from book club, and their father's buddies from rec league basketball was abuzz today after Joel Sherman penned this piece in The Post quoting Mo's rehab doctor as saying he believed Mo could return to the mound in 2012.  I'm not going to bother listing his reasons why, you can find that out for yourself by reading the story, but they seem perfectly reasonable.  The reaction to this story around the Yankosphere and associated comments sections was something like this:



I get it.  I really do.  I worship at the Altar of Mo just as much as anybody.  I've probably slurped him in the pages of AB4AR more than any other individual Yankee, and with the number of times I've referred to him as a robot or inhuman, this story should be right up my alley.  But to actually expect that he is going to return to pitch in a Yankee uniform this year is just silly.

Is Boone Logan Getting The Joe Torre Treatment?

(Post-Jason Heyward HR in Atlanta. Courtesy of The AP)

Since being acquired as a throw-in part of the now infamous Javy Vazquez trade, Boone Logan has steadily risen up in reliever status from "he's not the worst in the world" in 2010 to "you know, he can be pretty good when you use him in the right spots" in 2011 to "this dude can really pitch" this season.  Logan has been productive enough in his 2+ years in pinstripes that it's almost fair to start referring to that trade as "The Boone Logan Trade" if you want to put a positive spin on it.  There was a time earlier this season when Logan was the best reliever out in the Yankee bullpen, and that, combined with the injuries/recent Cory Wade sucktitude suffered by the 'pen this year has put Logan in a bit of a precarious position.  He hasn't got off to a good start in July (5 ER, 3 BB, 2 HR allowed in just 2.2 IP), and looking at his usage rate already, it's worth questioning if old Booney (copyright: Joe Girardi) is getting overworked.

Anticipating Another Quiet Trade Deadline

(Expect stealth again from Cash this season at the deadline)

A few weeks ago, I mentioned the upcoming trade deadline as one of the reasons the Yankees will win the AL East this year.  This past offseason was another all-or-nothing one, as it usually seems to be for the Yankees, but the trade deadline is always a great opportunity for them to right some offseason wrongs or fill in-season gaps created by injuries or poor performance.  At the time of that "5 Reasons" post, CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte were still on the active roster and the Yankees held a 5-game lead in the AL East.  In the 2 weeks since they've upped that advantage to 7 games, and were it not for a HR that D-Rob allowed late in Chicago and a couple of games they absolutely gave away in Tampa, that lead could be even bigger.  That being the case and me having a chance to step back and look at the big picture right now, I think we're headed for another very quiet trade deadline season in Yankeeland.