Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 7/18/14

They're closing down the highway into Milwaukee this weekend so they can rebuild a section of train bridge.  It's the latest in the long line of highway upgrade-related work and delays that are going to plague the state of Wisconsin for the next few years.  I've already resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to forget that it's closed every time I go to get on the highway to get to and from my girlfriend's house this weekend.  It's going to be awful.  I am not a smart man.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Mike Axisa of RAB broke down the change Brian McCann made to his swing that was returning good results before the ASB.

- SJK of NoMaas showed why the Yankees should strongly consider being sellers at the deadline.

- On Tuesday, Matt Provenzano of Pinstripe Alley investigated the strange disagreement between Jacoby Ellsbury's defensive stats and the eye test.

- On Wednesday, Dan Barbarisi of The WSJ revealed the top answers to questions from his clubhouse survey.  Lotta good categories in here.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud summed up the Yankee first half in 44 sentences.

- On Thursday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits showed how a change in Brett Gardner's approach has led to a flip-flopping of his on-base and power outputs with no negative net change in his production.

- El duque of It Is High... lamented the major letdown that Carlos Beltran has been this season.

- Delia Enriquez of Bronx Baseball Daily identified the 6 biggest storylines of the upcoming second half.

- On Friday, Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes advocated for gutting the farm in the form of a big trade if the opportunity presents itself.  I would wholeheartedly agree.

- Katie Sharp of IIATMS/TYA dug deeper into the Yankees' team-wide struggles at home this season.

Going back to a familiar and favorite well for this week's Friday jam.  Queens of the Stone Age, "A Song for the Deaf".  Seems fitting.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.  Look for that announcement on Sunday...

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 7/4/14

Happy 4th of July, everybody!  Hope you're already well into whatever activities you've got planned for this glorious holiday and not stuck inside somewhere with nothing to do but read this.  I've got a double-dip of family cookout during the day and a concert later tonight, but since I'll be traveling to Germany for week on Saturday I won't be able to do my normal Independence Day partying routine.  It's a little bit of a bummer, but what are you gonna do?  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, SJK of NoMaas begged and pleaded for a Rob Refsnyder call up.  He must have been really disappointed to get Wheeler instead.

- On Tuesday, Katie Sharp of IIATMS/TYA explained how David Price has been able to pitch so underratedly well this year, and how he's done against the Yankees as food for thought.

- Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits reviewed the progress of his top 10 Yankee prospects.

- El duque of It Is High... riffed on the "great arm" talk about Jose Ramirez and how meaningless a term it really was.

- SG of RLYW looked back at the projection numbers to see how much better or worse the Yankee offense should have been and could be in the second half.

- On Wednesday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog pointed out a historically-significant display of age from the Yankees in one of their recent lineups.  Definitely not a good thing.

- Mike Axisa of RAB shone a light on the dwindling Yankee bullpen depth and how that may push them into the market for relief help at the deadline.

- John Beck of Pinstripe Alley made a case for the Yankees targeting Adrian Beltre at the trade deadline.  That would be pretty awesome actually.

- On Thursday, Brian Heyman of LoHud discussed Derek Jeter's playing time and had The Captain's thoughts on how the team has been playing.

- Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes called for Kevin Long's firing and made a suggestion for who should be hired to replace him.

We're going with all the American classics for today.  Wouldn't have it any other way.







Enjoy your long weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 6/27/14

Did this feel like a slow week to anybody else?  Like painfully slow?  My body feels like it should be late Saturday afternoon already, and for all they did on the field, the news and coverage of the Yankees this week seemed to be lacking.  Really killed my blogging vibe, brah.  Whatever.  Onto the links!

- On Tuesday, Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes made his case for dumping Kelly Johnson and trading for Martin Prado.  Not a move I'd make, but to each his own.

- Jesse Schindler of Pinstripe Alley wondered if it was time to call up Jose Pirela.  I wouldn't hate it if it was.

- On Wednesday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog commented on the Yankees' poor team defense and how it speaks to the half-hearted attempts to build a truly contending ballclub.

- Mike Axisa of RAB broke down the potential trade targets among the Cubs pitching staff.  What the hell?  I'd make an offer for Shark.

- SJK of NoMaas made his picks for who he'd dump and who he'd call up to shake up the offense.

- William Tasker of IIATMS/TYA talked about how the advancements in baseball coverage and analysis have changed the kind of fan he is.  I think it's something a lot of us can relate to.

- On Thursday, Chad Jennings of LoHud had another big batch of Minor League news and notes.  Everything that's going on with everybody.

- Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily highlighted the prospects and MiL guys who've been hot this month.

- On Friday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits looked into the possibility that Vidal Nuno could improve and unfortunately came up empty.  Might as well get used to him, folks.

- El duque of It Is High... lamented the lost luster to this weekend's Yanks-Sawx series.  I hadn't really thought about that until now, but yeah.  Both these teams do kinda suck.

Got some "Evil Eye" by Fu Manchu as this week's Friday jam.  Yep, the vibe's back.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 6/20/14

Supposed to be going to the Milwaukee Zoo for the first time since moving out here tomorrow.  I'm pretty stoked.  I'm a big zoo guy, and I think it's a disgrace to myself and my own existence that I haven't made it to a zoo that I live 15 minutes away from in 6+ years.  If I had serious money, I would build and open my own zoo where all the animals had generic people names.  You can't try and tell me you wouldn't want to go see a hippo named Steve and a kangaroo named Walter.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes recapped all of the Derek Jeter farewell ceremonies and gifts to date.  Gotta say the Cubs' gift was the best.

- Mike Axisa of RAB identified Yangervis Solarte's expansion of the strike zone as the primary cause for this latest slump.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud had a lot of updates on every level of the farm system.

- On Tuesday, Derek Albin of Pinstripe Pundits discussed some of the biggest unexpected stories of the Yankee season thus far.

- On Wednesday, Andrew Mearns of Pinstripe Alley commented on the all-around disappointing season that Gary Sanchez is having.

- - Katie Sharp of IIATMS/TYA used what we know and the numbers we have on Chase Whitley to try to predict what we'd see from him moving forward.

- Delia Enriquez of Bronx Baseball Daily had Adam Warren's thoughts on his role in the bullpen and how open he would be to changing back to a starter.

- On Thursday, el duque of It Is High... wondered if Big Mac's big Wednesday night can be the start of his offensive breakout.

- SJK of NoMaas had a suggestion for Cash on where he should look to find the source of the team's average performance this season.

Going back to a familiar and favorite well this week with some Deftones.  Hadn't heard this song for a few years until it came up on the iPod shuffle earlier this week.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 6/13/14

I can't explain why, but I'm feeling very good about the Rangers' chances tonight.  I'm almost irrationally confident in them and it's a little scary.  Most people felt that if they played a whole 60 minutes like the played the opening periods of Games 1 and 2, they would have won.  It's now Game 5 and they've still yet to accomplish that feat.  The 3rd period the other night was hide-your-eyes scary to watch, so maybe tonight is the night that they put 3 whole periods together and bring the series back to The Garden for a final time in the 2013-2014 season.  Win tonight and they have a real chance again.  1 shift at a time, 1 period at a time, 1 game at a game.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Mike Axisa offered up some simple lineup change suggestions to help ignite the unproductive lineup.  So far, the Yankees haven't implemented any of them.

- SJK of NoMaas had a few roster shakeup ideas of his own.

- On Tuesday, William Juliano of The Captain's showed how the Yankees' good luck has been hiding the truth of their weak performance over the first 62 games.

- On Wednesday, Katie Sharp of IIATMS/TYA identified all the unseen value coming from Brian McCann this season thanks to his elite-level defensive metrics.  Guy has been an absolute stud behind the plate.

- El duque of It Is High... noticed a somewhat unsettling trend in the Yankee organization.  W-L record isn't a huge deal in the Minors, but that top-to-bottom breakdown can't make you feel good, can it?

- On Thursday, Michael Brown of Pinstripe Alley examined the Yankees' offensive performance in the clutch.  Whether you believe in the idea or not, we can all agree that ranking in the lower half of MLB in that category is not good.

- Delia Enriquez of Bronx Basebally Daily commented on Masahiro Tanaka's competitiveness and desire for perfection and how it makes him a better pitcher.

- On Friday, Chad Jennings of LoHud got some collective thoughts on Chase Whitley's start to his Major League starting career, from guys like Joe, Jeter, and Whitley himself.

- Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits used the newest scouting report on Ian Clarkin to search for accurate pitcher comparisons.

It's been all rock so far this year, so let's change it up with a little hip-hop this week and an underrated classic from Blackstar, "Redefinition".  Most people know and prefer "Definition", but this song is just as tight and deserves some recognition.  Too bad Mos Def went all religious psycho and got on the outs with the US government.  A Blackstar reunion would be sweet.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 6/6/14

Going up late today because of the draft coverage.  Rangers need a win big time in Game 2 tomorrow.  More of the first 10 minutes and less of the last 2 periods, please.  A full game of that first 10 minutes in Game 1 and they would have blown the Kings out of their own building.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, SJK of NoMaas called for Alfonso Soriano to be straight up released.  I wouldn't make that move just yet, but I wouldn't hate it if the Yankees did.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa looked back at the 2009 draft class to see how the Yankees did with their 5-year evaluation period.  A couple of good roster pieces and a few remaining possibilities isn't awful, right?

- Delia Enriquez of Bronx Baseball Daily pointed out all the holes in the Yankees' organizational depth that have been exposed by their injury problems.

- On Wednesday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits finished re-ranking and analyzing his top 30 prospects after the first 2 months of the MiL season.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud had Alfonso Soriano's thoughts on his season-long struggles.

- On Thursday, Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA explained, in a much more rational and fair way than I would have, how Derek Jeter was hurting the team right now and why something had to change.

- Matt Provenzano of Pinstripe Alley examined Chase Whitley's first handful of starts to find some trends that project him positively going forward.

- Michael Pawluk of The Greedy Pinstripes shared a personal story about meeting and spending time with the late Don Zimmer.

- On Friday, el duque of It Is High... imagined how the call between the Yanks and Scott Boras about Morales waiting to sign would have gone.

More new Mastodon this week, a song called "Chimes At Midnight".  Definitely a better song than "High Road".  My expectations for this new album are starting to go up.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 5/30/14

Is it a foregone conclusion that Henrik Lundqvist will win the Conn Smythe if the Rangers win the Cup?  I feel like that's the way the media will push it as the series progresses, and in fairness Hank has been dynamite this postseason, but I think Ryan McDonagh could swoop in and steal it with another 10+ point performance in the finals.  The guy was money in the ECF, absolutely the best defenseman on the ice every game of the series and the best player period on the ice for stretches.  If he finishes the playoffs with 25-ish points, a positive plus/minus, and helps shut down what will be a very deep and dangerous offensive opponent no matter who comes out of the West, he's at least got to be in the discussion, no?  Guess we'll find oot.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, SJK of NoMaas pointed out the illogical bullpen decisions by both managers in the Yankees' Memorial Day extra-inning victory over the Cards.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB mused on how John Ryan Murphy is helping the Yankees in the now and in the future with how he's played since coming up.

- Matt Provenzano of Pinstripe Alley laid out the organizational relief pitching depth for the full-season MiL teams in preparation for the upcoming MLB draft.

- On Wednesday, Derek Albin of Pinstripe Pundits analyzed the numbers and their similarities to the last 2 seasons to show why we shouldn't be as concerned about Hiroki Kuroda as most are.

- El duque of It Is High... set this Sunday as the deadline for knowing where Beltran and Teix stand with respects to their health so that the Yanks can start making alternate plans quickly.

- Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA noticed some new trends in pitcher approach that may be factoring into Yangervis Solarte's recent regression.  Way more useful than me pointing out that he's slumping.

- On Thursday, Chad Jennings of LoHud took a lineup spot-by-lineup spot look at the offense to see where the Yanks are getting the most and least.

- Delia Enriquez of Bronx Baseball Daily identified the biggest Yankee disappointments through 2 months.

- John Balas of The Greedy Pinstripes touched on the things that have stood out to him over the first third of the season.

- On Friday, SG of RLYW summed up my feelings about the Nunez-Hughes reunions this weekend better than I ever could.

Going with a little "Cheap Sunglasses" for this week's jam.  The Sword actually does a pretty sweet cover of this song, but you gotta stick with the original.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 5/23/14

It's strange to not be traveling somewhere for Memorial Day weekend for once.  No D-1 lacrosse tournament, no Coke 600 in Charlotte.  Just 3 days with nothing to do in the greater Milwaukee area.  Don't even know how I'm going to handle it (probably by day drinking and watching playoff hockey).  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Chad Jennings of LoHud dissected the pitching staff through the first quarter of the season to pick out who's exceeding expectations and who is not.

- Mike Axisa of RAB profiled Cali prep pitcher Grant Hockin as a potential Yankee draft target.  I've been reading more of these this year to try to be a tiny bit knowledgeable heading into the draft, and this is the first one where I've really liked the guy Mike profiled.

- On Tuesday, Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes proposed an intriguing bullpen swap option.

- On Wednesday, SJK of NoMaas pointed out the combined underwhelming performance of the 3 big position player offseason signings.  Fair criticism, but too early to make a big deal out of it.

- On Thursday, Rob Abruzzese of Bronx Baseball Daily put together an updated scouting report on Chase Whitley for those who weren't familiar with him during his MiL days.

- Matt Bove of IIATMS/TYA made a case for Kendrys Morales and why he makes sense for the Yankees to pursue now.

Michael Brown of Pinstripe Alley touched on the Yankees' high team K rate and the help that it's provided in overcoming their weak team defense.

- El duque of It Is High... pointed out all the good that a group of the unsung homegrown players has done so far this year to get the Yankees where they are.

- SG of RLYW brought up the topic of next year's shortstop in response to Jeter's struggles and Stephen Drew re-signing with the Red Sox.

- On Friday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits mused on Peter O'Brien's true prospect status and Major League potential in the context of his below-average defense and lack of defined position.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog compared the Yankees' offensive output so far to their past history to see if we should feel confident or pessimistic about it.

Little Cars action for this Friday.  I'm sure some of that day drinking will take place outdoors this weekend, and The Cars fit pretty nicely in the day drinking mix for me.



Enjoy your long weekend, everybody.  Go Yankees!

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 5/16/14

I've kept pretty quiet on the Rangers since the NHL playoffs started, mainly because I admittedly didn't have a whole lot of faith in them heading in and would not have been surprised if they lost to Philly in the opening round.  They didn't do that and they didn't crumble and fall after going down 3-1 to Pittsburgh, and now they find themselves 4 wins away from the Cup finals.  Having watched them more regularly in the postseason than I did in the regular, I'm much happier with the Canadiens matchup instead of the Bruins.  Montreal plays a similar style and I think the Rangers are a tick more talented, which should give them the on-ice advantage.  Nash and Stepan are due to wake up offensively to help the Brassard-Zuke-Pouliot line and that needs to happen this series.  Official AB4AR prediction: Rangers in 6.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits looked at how Brian McCann has battled hitting against the shift to gauge the level of concern we should have about McCann's sad offensive numbers.

- On Tuesday, Matt Bove of IIATMS/TYA asked if the Yankees have become too old again thanks to the combination of roster construction and recent injuries.

Mike Axisa of RAB discussed the decrease in usage of David Robertson as a result of his change in role and hinted at the potential for future bullpen problems if Joe continues to limit D-Rob.

- On Wednesday, Chad Jennings of LoHud got Joe's thoughts on the team's 4-game losing streak and recent injury problems, before they headed to Citi Field and halted the skid.

- On Thursday, Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily ran through his list of who's been hot in the Minors over the first 6 weeks.

- SG of RLYW examined the statistical legitimacy to Yangervis Solarte's production through the a comparison to his projected wOBA variances.

- On Friday, el duque of It Is High... uncharacteristically searched for some glimmers of hope in the current injury-plagued mess that is the Yankee roster.

- Andrew Mearns of Pinstripe Alley compiled the position-by-position list of worst draft picks in Yankee history.

- Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes pointed out some troubling parallels between last season and this season.

Going with a little Maiden for this Friday's jam because why not?



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 5/9/14

So here's the deal for this weekend.  The family is in town, we're going to all 3 Yanks-Brewers games at Miller Park, and in between the games I'll be spending the bulk of my time entertaining them.  As a result, the content on the site will be pretty light this weekend, possibly nothing more than game recaps.  If I have time to post anything more than that, I will, but expect it to be a slow weekend at AB4AR and things to get back to normal on Monday.  As for tonight, I couldn't be more excited to see Tanaka pitch live.  Tonight's tickets are the best ones I got, so hopefully he gives me my money's worth.  I'm setting the over/under for strikeouts at 12.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog put the Yankees' early negative run differential through the historical ringer to see what it can tell us about their chances for success going forward this season.

- On Tuesday, Vizzini of NoMaas discussed the team-wide decrease in walks as a possible contributing factor to the uninspiring early offensive production.

- Mike Axisa of RAB mused on how Joe will fit Brendan Ryan into the infield rotation and whether or not he'll utilize Ryan as a late-game defensive caddy for The Captain.

- On Wednesday, Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes commented on a recent victorious Yankee trade that doesn't get the ink it probably should.

- Andrew Mearns of Pinstripe Alley broke down the SSS numbers to show how the Yankee infield  has been limited by the hot-and-cold production of Brian Roberts and Yangervis Solarte.

- El duque of It Is High... pondered the possible outcomes for Derek Jeter's final season based on how he looked in the first month.

- On Thursday, Chad Jennings of LoHud got the scoop on the organizational plan for Manny Banuelos' comeback season from TJS.

- Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA proposed a rotation switch with Vidal Nuno and Alfredo Aceves and explained why it could give Joe a greater bullpen advantage.

- Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits explained why the Yankees should move Derek Jeter off of shortstop and suggested an outfield platoon option that could make it possible.  It will never happen, but I would support the move if Joe made it.

I'm going back to the QOTSA well for this Friday's jam and with good reason.  Went to see them at the Riverside Theater on Wednesday night with the girlfriend and they absolutely brought the house down.  Only thing that would have made it better would have been them playing "In The Fade", which was originally on the setlist.  Here's a taste of the show with the opener, "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire".



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.  I know I will.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 5/2/14

Going to a big Derby party tomorrow.  Love the Derby.  Sneaky one of the best sporting events of the year if for no other reason than it kickstarts the annual buzz for a potential Triple Crown winner.  Not to brag or anything, but I am the guy that brought home a cool $96 from the final weekend at Arlington last year.  If you're a Derby fan too and are waiting to make your bets, here's some free advice.  I absolutely love Ride on Curlin at 15-1 and love General A Rod at 15-1 slightly less.  Take one of those and thank me on Sunday morning.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Mike Axisa of RAB pinpointed slider problems as the major cause for Hiroki Kuroda's slow start.

- El duque of It Is High... mused on the importance of Teix in the middle of the lineup in reaction to his timely home run last Sunday night.

- SG of RLYW presented a pretty sweet historical stat to put Masahiro Tanaka's Major League start in perspective.

- On Wednesday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits explained why there should be no concern about Tanaka's high early home run rate.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud discussed Dellin Betances' hot start and got Betances' thoughts on what he's done well to get off to such a good start.

- Jason Cohen of Pinstripe Alley took a stab at predicting the SS Staten Island roster.  Definitely more interesting names on the pitching staff than in the lineup.

- Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes expressed his disdain for the way Yankee fans treated Robinson Cano on his first night back to The Stadium.

- On Thursday, William Tasker of IIATMS/TYA examined the impact the cold early-season weather could be having on the Yankee bats.

- Delia Enriquez of Bronx Baseball Daily pondered the biggest questions facing the rotation after the first month of the regular season.

- On Friday, Martin Riggs of NoMaas broke down the high and low offensive producers in April and touched on what needs to happen for each in May.

This week's jam is "Colossal" by Wolfmother.  About time this band put another album out, even if they really never are getting back together and even if I've yet to check it out.  If they really are back together, I'd pay money to go see them.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 4/25/14

I got nothing this week.  Just looking forward to a Sunday sports day of Rangers, Blackhawks, Lamarcus Aldridge, and Yanks-Halos.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Caitlin Rogers of Pinstripe Alley pondered what the Yankees could do with Brian Roberts if he continues to not perform offensively.

- Mike Axisa of RAB looked to the early pitch type percentage breakdowns to see what major changes CC Sabathia was making to his pitching approach.

- On Wednesday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits examined the shift in Brett Gardner's BB rate and the resulting shift in his overall offensive performance.

- SJK of NoMaas stressed the importance of Derek Jeter maintaining a strong BB rate if his power is going to stay as low as it is early on.

- On Thursday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog commented on the problems with MLB's rule book and inconsistencies in the enforcement of those rules that the Michael Pineda situation exposed.

- Matt Bove of IIATMS/TYA pointed out the downtrend in the production of Kelly Johnson and Yangervis Solarte, another sign that the Yankees should look for more infield depth.

- Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily dished a heaping helping of observations from a few MiL games he's taking in early in the season.

- On Friday, John M of It Is High... put today's offensive numbers into historical perspective to give the appropriate amount of context to all the talk about the game becoming too "pitcher dominated" today.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud looked back at the eventful road trip that was.  When you stop and think about it, there really was a lot that happened in the last week.  Damn.

- SG of RLYW summed up the problem with Mark Teixeira's production in one definitive graph.

New Mastodon is out!  It got leaked early last week, formally released late last week, and I finally caught up to it this week.



It's definitely catchy but I'm hoping the rest of the album isn't as linear as this.  I bet it won't be.  You always have to have one song that will be a good fit for radio play.  This is most likely that song.

Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 4/18/14

Doing Easter Sunday with the girlfriend's family this weekend.  It'll gives me the chance to meet her aunt who hooked me up with all my presale tickets for the Yanks-Brewers series next month (and pay her for said tickets), but it also poses a possible playoff hockey dilemma.  Rangers-Flyers Game 2 is Sunday at 11 AM Central, so I'm trying to figure out how to balance the necessary social interaction with the fam while still getting my Rangers fix in.  Now that Time Warner has eliminated CNBC from their basic cable package, I wasn't able to watch Game 1.  It's all terrible vexing.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Chad Jennings of LoHud pondered the second base situation in light of Brian Roberts' back injury and slow start.

- On Tuesday, el duque of It Is High... looked at the organizational depth at first base to see what the Yankees next move would be if both Teix and Kelly Johnson got hurt.

- Matt Bove of IIATMS/TYA broke down Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury's solid starts and how they're both living up to their new contracts early on.

- On Wednesday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits examined the downside to Kelly Johnson having to sub at first base.

- Joe Vitulli of Yanks Go Yard commented on Ichiro's hot start and how well he seems to be handling his new limited bench role.

- On Thursday, Vizzini of NoMaas provided plenty of valid reasons for why people should not freak out about CC Sabathia's start to the season.

- Mike Axisa of RAB analyzed the the Yankees' new shift strategy and how it's impacted their defensive effectiveness and their opponents' hitting performance against them.

- On Friday, Daniel Burch wondered what the Yankees will do with their infield when Brendan Ryan returns from the DL.  He's tagged Dean Anna as the odd man out.

It came to my attention that there has been a glaring lack of female artists on the Friday Jam mix.  In fact, I haven't had a chick on for the Friday Jam since June of 2012.  Let's rectify that, shall we?  Boom!  Little "Magic Man" right in your grillmix.  2 chicks at the same time.



Enjoy your Easter weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 4/11/14

Since I blew the Yanks-Sawx ST live blog, I'm thinking it's time to break that seal  for 2014 and make up for it this Sunday night.  Don't mark it on your calendars yet, but be on the lookout for confirmation sometime this weekend.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits rifled through the last 20 years of bad, small sample size offensive seasons to find the 5 worst in team history.  No surprise that 2 of them came from last season.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB pointed out the great job the Yankee rotation has done commanding the strike zone so far.

- Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA put Masahiro Tanaka and his first MLB start under the PITCHf/x microscope to see what it could teach us about his approach going forward.

- Matt Mirro of Yanks Go Yard mused on ways to keep Yangervis Solarte's bat in the lineup when Teix returns.  If he keeps hitting like he has been, that's something Joe will have to figure out.

- On Thursday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Alley proposed the idea of trading Gary Sanchez for a useful Major League piece and looked for some previous trade comparisons to establish a baseline for return value.

- SJK of NoMaas broke down the Yankees' first 9 games to find their strengths, weaknesses, and explanations for the sub-.500 start.

- On Friday, Chad Jennings of LoHud had more on the budding relationship between Brian McCann and the pitching staff.

- El duque of It Is High... commented on the change in John Sterling's HR call agenda and how his calls have started to lose their luster as a result.

This Friday's jam is "Slacken" by Truckfighters.  These dudes couldn't sound more like they're from Cali if they tried, but they're actually Swedish.  They're swinging through Milwaukee in mid-May and I intend to see them when they do.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 4/4/14

Big sports weekend this weekend.  HYYYUUUUUUUGE weekend.  Tanaka's debut tonight, Pineda's tomorrow, Final Four on Saturday night featuring my alma mater and the biggest school in the state I'm currently living in, full slates of MLB games on Saturday and Sunday, Blackhawks-Blues Sunday afternoon, and WrestleMania Sunday night.  Hope everybody's cleared their schedules accordingly.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Chad Jennings of LoHud got some early insights on Joe's bullpen management strategy for this season.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog dished out his predictions for 2014.

- On Tuesday, Andrew Mearns of Pinstripe Alley took a look back at some of the big Opening Day debuts in Yankee history.  Too bad none of the new guys this year added to the list.

- On Wednesday, Derek Albin of Pinstripe Pundits tried to put this year's starting infield in the right perspective by examining where their projected output would rank them in Yankee history.

- Nick Peruffo of Minor Matters had all the highlights from Double-A Trenton's media day.

- On Thursday, Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA analyzed the differences in Mark Teixeira's swing during Spring Training and Opening Day to see if he was compensating for his wrist.

- Mike Axisa of RAB broke down CC Sabathia's Opening Day pitch location plot to try to find the cause of his turnaround from the first 2 innings.

- On Friday, SJK of NoMaas reminded everyone of who Masahiro Tanaka is replacing in the rotation and what standards he has to live up to.

Today's jam is "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart" by STP.  Hadn't heard this in a long time and I caught the end of it on the radio the other day.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 3/28/14

I'll be attending Brewers Opening Day on Monday and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't equally as excited for that as I am for the Yankees the next day.  I've never been to a season opener for any team in any sport before, unless you count UConn football and I don't.  As a diehard sports fan, it's an experience I'm very much looking forward to taking in and for once I'll be the one trying to herd everybody into the stadium to see the Star Spangled Banner and first pitch.  Lots open up at 10 AM officially and somewhere between 8:30 and 9 unofficially, so it's going to be quite the day of drinking and merriment.  Needless to say, Monday won't be a very active day for the blog, but I'll make sure to get a few things scheduled before cracking the first beer.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Chad Jennings of LoHud dished a whole crapload of Minor League updates, on everything from injuries to team assignments.

- Vizzini of NoMaas discussed the efficiency with which the Yankees spend their money, and correctly pointed out that their organizational expectations provide a different context for spending efficiency/inefficiency than most other teams.

- Mike Axisa of RAB put a bow on his 2014 season preview series with a personal preview of Derek Jeter's final season.

- On Tuesday, Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA identified a pair of potential trade partners for Ichiro if the Yanks are really trying to move him.

- On Wednesday, Jason Evans of Yanks Go Yard kicked around the idea of bringing a 2nd lefty in the bullpen and weighed the remaining options.

- On Thursday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits examined how much of a hit the Yankees will take defensively without Brendan Ryan available at shortstop to open the season.

- Scott Davis of Pinstripe Alley mused on Alfonso Soriano and the added versatility he'll bring to the lineup this year.

- SG of RLYW compiled his 2014 projections into an all-encompassing look at what to expect from the team this season.  He's got the Yanks at about a mid-80s win team, so take that however you want.

- On Friday, Alphonso of It Is High... creatively vented his frustration with the Yankees for sending Zoilo down to the Minors again.

Going old school with some Queen for this week's Friday Jam.  Gonna be a helluva time on Monday.  Such a good time.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 3/21/14

To hell with mentally checking out, I didn't even bother checking in today.  Still trying to get all my hearing back after the Lo-Pan show in Milwaukee last night and took the whole day off today for a March Madness/day drinking marathon.  If you're stuck at work, you have my condolences.  #ThoughtsandPrayers.  Not really though.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Jesse Schindler of Pinstripe Alley broke down the backup depth at second base, a position that's probably going to need a lot of backup help this season.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB previewed the defensive areas of weakness for 2014.  There's the ones you knew about and 1 or 2 you might not have thought about.

- Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA made another case for why Stephen Drew could end up a Yankee before the start of the season.

- On Wednesday, el duque of It Is High..., in a rare display of optimism, spoke highly of the Yankees' current abundance of quality starting pitching depth.  Hard to disagree with the guy.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog proposed a very interesting idea for the bullpen strategy should the Yankees elect to take all 4 of the 5th starter competitors with them on the Opening Day roster.

- Vizzini of NoMaas offered up his win total prediction for 2014 and rationale for the number.

- Billy Brost of Yanks Go Yard mused on the decision Joe faces with Jeter's spot in the batting order.

- On Thursday, Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes looked at what statistical milestones could have been in reach for A-Rod were he allowed to play this season.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud got Mick Kelleher's thoughts on each of his projected starting infielders.

This week's jam is a little taste of live Lo-Pan from a show they did last July.  Absolutely killer set last night and really cool dudes to talk to afterwards.  If you like good hard rock and roll and beards, definitely check these guys out.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 3/14/14

Just a quick note, the final post in the "2014 Storylines" series was supposed to be this afternoon, but I've been getting my ass kicked by a cold for the last few days.  I'll try to get it written sometime tomorrow, so check back for that.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, SJK of NoMaas commented on the Ichiro situation and advised against trading him in a salary dump only move.  As little use as I have for Ichiro, I'm inclined to agree.  Move him only if you can get something of equal value back.

- On Tuesday, el duque of It Is High... predicted the inevitable Spring Training trade and didn't sound too optimistic about the possible return.

- SG of RLYW broke down the numbers to project Brian Roberts' 2014 season.  Not a lot of value there, as you'd probably expect.

- On Wednesday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog elaborated on the idea of Francisco Cervelli becoming a legit trade chip and used some historical comps to see what the future might hold for him elsewhere.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud talked to Slade Heathcott about his rehab from knee surgery and the changes he's trying to make to his approach.  Real good insight into Heathcott's mindset for this season.

- Jonathan Aron of Yanks Go Yard released Part I of his top 10 base stealers in Yankee history list.

- On Thursday, Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA analyzed CC Sabathia's early mechanical struggles, complete with awesome layered gif showing the resulting command inconsistencies.

- Mike Axisa of RAB previewed his breakout prospect candidates for 2014.

- On Friday, Andrew Mearns of Pinstripe Alley explained why trading Francisco Cervelli for Gordon Beckham would be a bad idea.

- Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits attempted to put the Dellin Betances hype in the proper perspective and reminded everyone that there are better options available.

This week's jam is "Armatage Shanks" by Green Day.  Hadn't heard this one in a long time until it popped up on my iPod earlier this week.  Green Day wasn't half bad back in the day before they got too into wearing eyeliner.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 3/7/14

If you haven't already, I cannot stress enough how much you should be watching "True Detective" on HBO.  I don't have HBO myself, and I was planning on catching up on the first season once it ended after hearing some really positive early reviews, but the internet coverage and discussion of the show has blown up so much over the last few weeks that I couldn't wait anymore.  I finally found some reliable links online to stream previous episodes without virusing my computer up the ass and I caught up on the first 7 episodes this week in preparation for Sunday's season finale.  Phenomenal show.  Phenomenal.  Best new show I've watched since "Mad Men" first debuted and I can't recommend it enough.  Now onto the links!

- On Tuesday, Chad Jennings of LoHud unloaded his first batch of early spring musings.  He likes what he's seen from Mason Williams so far and he's optimistic about Kelly Johnson.

- Mike Axisa of RAB previewed CC Sabathia's 2014 season.  He thinks CC is due for a rebound and I'm inclined to agree.

- Jason Cohen of Pinstripe Alley looked back at the Yankees' history of above-average pitch framing and what that means going forward with one of the best in the biz in Brian McCann behind the plate.

- El duque of It Is High... tried to talk the Mariners into taking Ichiro back now that he's declared that he wants to play for "many more years".

- On Wednesday, Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA floated Oliver Perez as a possibility to increase the bullpen depth.   I know his name doesn't bring up great memories for New Yorkers, but I'd be open to it.

- SG of RLYW projected Brett Gardner's 2014 season in response to the recent contract extension.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog reviewed historical ST home attendance numbers and the effect last season's down year could be having on this spring's attendance.

- On Thursday, Derek Albin reviewed the Yankees' 2008 top prospects, the last time they ranked as a top 5 organization, and what that class has turned into for the organization over the last 5 seasons.

- On Friday, Grant Graulich of Yanks Go Yard issued his 5 bold predictions for 2014.  To be honest, one of them is so un-bold that it's almost comical.  The other 4 are pretty bold though.

I'm sticking with the "True Detective" theme for this week's Friday Jam and going with "A History of Bad Men" by The Melvins.  Pretty sure this was the song playing during the scene when Rust walks into the biker bar in episode 4.  If I had full creative control over every aspect of my life, I'd go into slo-mo and have this song play every time I entered a room.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 2/28/14

I got nothing today.  I'm just looking forward to hanging out on the couch in my sweatpants all day tomorrow watching college basketball and the Blackhawks-Penguins outdoor game.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Mike Axisa of RAB previewed the Yankees' power guys and laid some groundwork for their expected power outputs this season.

- On Tuesday, Andrew Mearns of Pinstripe Alley looked for comparisons to gauge how much bang for their buck the Yankees should expect to get from the Brett Gardner extension.

- Michael Montrone of Yanks Go Yard dished his 10 bold predictions for the 2014 Yankee season.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud got Joe and Brian McCann's takes on MLB's new collision rules.  Love anything that serves to keep McCann from getting more dinged up.

- El duque of It Is High... wondered if Tuesday's ST opener lineup could have beaten one of last year's regular season lineups.  That could actually be a really fun game to play this spring.

- On Wednesday, Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits searched for accurate comps to J.R. Murphy.

- On Thursday, Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily unveiled his top 50 Yankee prospects list for 2014.

- Vizzini of NoMaas liked the idea of pursuing a Rickie Weeks trade if Milwaukee is interested.

- Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA examined the Diamondbacks' young infield players to see if they match up as potential trade partners.

Going with a little Nirvana for this Friday's jam.  I listened to "In Utero" beginning to end the other night and I had forgotten how great that album was.  "Nevermind" gets all the glory because it's what made them big and ushered grunge into the mainstream, but IU is the better album and anybody who knows grunge and music in general would tell you that.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.