2012 AB4AR Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Bench*)

(No ALCS without this guy.  Courtesy of the AP)

With starting pitching always being the top priority every offseason, taking care of internal player contracts second, looking to address the lineup through trades or the free agent market third, and the bullpen fourth, the Yankee bench has been a bit of a forgotten element the last few years.  Not forgotten in the sense that the Yankees don't focus on building a quality bench, but in the sense that the strategy to build has become very simple; see what money is left and see what older veteran players out there fit the Yankee hitting formula and need a job.  It's a strategy that's served them well, but one that was questioned a bit more before this season, especially by me in my "Known/Unknown" bench preview, as Cash really looked towards some guys who were pretty long in the tooth at the expense of younger internal options.

The Handy, Helpful AB4AR Guide To Qualifying Offers

The World Series ended last night, which means Tim Lincecum is probably smoking a lot of celebratory weed right now.  It also means that the clock officially starts ticking on all the major offseason milestones, the first one being the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers to their pending free agents.  If you aren't familiar with the new free agent system, here's a quick rundown of how it works now.

There are no more Type A or Type B free agents; there is now a level set every year based on the average value of the 125 biggest contracts in MLB that teams can offer to any pending free agent who spent the entire previous season on their roster.  This year that value is $13.3 million.  Teams have until 5 days after the World Series to offer a qualifying deal to any pending free agent on their team who fits the criteria and then that player has 7 days to accept or decline the offer.  If they accept, they return to their team on a 1-year deal for the qualifying amount; if they decline, they are free to sign with any team and their former team is given a compensatory pick at the end of the first round of the next MLB draft.  Whatever new team the player ends up with does not have to surrender a pick, just the money that they are signing the free agent to.

The Yankees have a fair share of pending free agents this season, but only a few who are really worthy of having a qualifying offer extended to them.  As a helpful guide for the next 5 days, here is an all encompassing list of who should and should not receive an offer.

Kiley McDaniel's Yankee Prospect Scouting Reports

Kiley McDaniel has taken his prospect scouting gig from ESPN to FanGraphs, and he's come out firing with a boatload of scouting reports from the instructional leagues on many a Yankee farmhand.  He's been releasing the reports in parts for a little over a week now, and he finally concluded them with Part IV earlier this week.  In case you haven't already, you can check out all four parts of McDaniel's report right here and I strongly suggest that you do.  If you aren't familiar with McDaniel's work, get familiar.  His reports are very detailed and insightful, but presented in a straightforward, easy-to-understand way that leaves you with a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses that McDaniel saw in a player.  Highlights of McDaniel's reports and my personal takes after the jump.

Yanks And Royals As Potential Trade Partners?

(Anybody who says they wouldn't want this guy is a liar.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

Yesterday Chad Jennings of LoHud brought up the possibility of the Yankees getting involved with the Kansas City Royals this offseason, expanding on a report from Buster Olney that said the Royals would be in the market for starting pitching and would be willing to trade from their nucleus of good young position players to add that pitching.  Chad pointed out that the Yankees have a small cadre of young pitchers in Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova, and David Phelps that could get talks started, and that the Royals have players who could fill positions of need for the Yankees in Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas, making a deal between the 2 teams a mutually beneficial possibility.

2012 AB4AR Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Bullpen)

(Gotta love Untuck Time.  Courtesy of the AP)

While the starting rotation has been an up-and-down affair recently, a strong bullpen has been a staple of this extended era of success for the Yankees, going all the way back to the '96 World Series.  Mo has been the fixture at closer since then, and has had a cycle of solid setup guys in front of him each and every year.  D-Rob and Sour Puss set that table heading into 2012, with a group of familiar faces from the season before surrounding them, so this season was expected to be another successful one for the Yankee 'pen.  The depth was there, the roles were already known, and the future was being built during the present.  But as was the case with the rest of the team this year, it was a season to expect the unexpected.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 10/26

The big yearly trade show for my company's industry is next week, so I get to put on the monkey suit and go hobknob with customers next Monday and Tuesday.  It's back in Chicago this year, so while there aren't quite as many weird entertainment options as there were in Vegas last year, like a completely strung out homeless dude following us down the sidewalk for 5 blocks going, "weed, coke, weed, coke, weed, coke" as his sales pitch to try to get us to buy drugs from him, it should still be a good time.  One of my favorite things about trade shows is watching the number of people who will walk into my company's booth just to eat the food and drink the drinks at our hospitality area.  Dudes don't care who we are, what we're selling, or what we can sell it to them for, they just need a free half a sandwich and they need it RIGHT NOW!  It's these kinds of people that make other countries hate America.  Now onto the links!

- A solid pair from my TYA teammates on Monday.  Mike Eder hit all the Swish haters with a dose of perspective, showing how it's not going to be easy to replace him this offseason.

- Mike Jaggers-Radolf followed that up with an argument against trading Curtis Granderson this offseason.  Curtis dropped a lot in my book this year, but Mike's right about trading 4-WAR players and Curtis is still that kind of talent.

- Mark Feinsand of The Daily News had an early report connecting the Yankees to 18-year-old Japanese high school pitcher Shohei Otani, who made waves this week by announcing he plans to jump directly to the MLB draft.

- Rob Abruzzese of Bronx Baseball Daily listed his personal top 10 free agent outfielders for this coming offseason for people who wanted to get a head start on finding their ideal Swish replacement.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB looked back at the biggest hits of the 2012 season.  Strange how 1 name kept popping up on that list...

- Brien Jackson of IIATMS wondered if Brian McCann was going to become available this offseason and what kind of fit he would be for the Yankees.

- On Wednesday, Matt Hunter of Yanks Go Yard broke down the numbers and the spray charts to show why Mark Teixeira should continue to try to pull the ball.  Tough to argue against it.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud had all the important details from Joe's end-of-season press conference, in case you missed anything.

- Steve Lombardi of Was Watching asked if Joe's contract situation should be looked at right now.

- Steve Goldman of Pinstriped Bible argued that Joe and the Yankees aren't being smart if they truly expect A-Rod to be their everyday third baseman next season, and hinted that they need to be aggressive in finding another option this offseason.

- On Thursday, fishjam25 of Yankees Fans Unite laid out his reasons for why Cash should try to trade Alex Rodriguez.

- SJK of NoMaas also laid out a very logical, detailed plan for what the Yankees should do with A-Rod.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog examined Justin Verlander's rough World Series outing and the history of similar bad WS showings by former Cy Young winners.

- On Friday, el duque of It Is High... stated that he thinks Mo deciding to not come back is the right move and that the Yankees should start making plans for life without Mo now.

- Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes started to change his feelings on bringing back Swish, and looked at some potential replacement options.

For this Friday's jam, I'm going back to an old standby.  I know I've used Mastodon here before, but I know it hasn't been this song and it really doesn't get much more badass of an under-3-minute song than "Where Strides The Behemoth."  Even the name of the song is badass.  If I was a closer, I would seriously consider using the 10-second guitar riff at the end of this song on constant loop as my entrance music.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

2012 AB4AR Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Rotation)

("Whaddaya mean I'm the 7th starter?  Don't you know who I am?" Courtesy of the AP)

Starting pitching has been a tricky thing for the New York Yankees over the last 5-10 years.  Despite their best efforts, they haven't built rotations good enough to truly compete for World Series championships.  In 2009 they had just enough to get by, but for the most part the constant theme has been that when push comes to shove, the quality of the Yankee starting pitching wasn't on the same level as the quality of their offense.  Improving the rotation was right at the top of the priority list heading into this season, and great steps were taken to try to build up a better staff capable of being good over the long haul of a regular season and postseason.

In previewing what was known and unknown about this group, there was cause for optimism as it appeared the Yankees' plans to build depth and depth of talent were carried out successfully.  But as we've all learned at various times in our own lives, sometimes even the best-laid plans don't work out.

Mo Unsure About His Comeback

Via Andrew Marchand:

"Cashman told ESPN New York that on Tuesday he and Rivera had a conversation in which Rivera said he does not know yet if he will return for a 19th season.

'He wasn't certain on what he is going to do,' Cashman said."

Alright, who changed the program on RoboMo to let it think it could actually retire?  Not cool, guys.  Not cool.

At first I thought this was just another classic exercise of Marchand pot stirring for pageviews, but the quote directly from Cash does make this a little more legitimate.  That being said, I wouldn't get too concerned yet until we hear something directly from Mo's mouth.  He's had this three-act offseason play after the last few seasons where he's up in the air on whether he wants to keep playing.  Act 1 is the uncertainty and desire to stay home and spend more time with his family, act 2 is the actual spending of time with said family, and act 3 is Mo getting the itch to pitch again and coming back.  Rinse, repeat.

Besides, what the hell is he really going to do at home with his family with all that extra free time?  There's nobody at his home who he can teach the cutter to.  Don't worry about the G.O.A.T.  My money's still on him coming back.

Thanks But No Thanks, Ichiro

As mentioned earlier today on the AB4AR Page, Joel Sherman reported that Ichiro Suzuki enjoyed his time as a Yankee after the trade this season and that Ichiro "strongly wants to stay" with New York next season.  Without delving too deeply into this, allow me to make my case against this idea.

Average age of Yankee postseason roster- 33.08 years

Current Age of Ichiro- 39 years

It just doesn't make any sense to make an already old team with a ton of money tied up in its oldest players any older.  Ichiro did exactly what the Yankees wanted him to do and exactly what a lot of people thought he would do after the Yankees traded for him.  But that still doesn't change the fact that he has deteriorated significantly as a player himself in the past 2 seasons, and the odds of him replicating what he did in his short time with the Yankees over a full season next year are incredibly low.  Let him be what he was and go out on a positive as a Yankee and focus efforts on finding a younger, more versatile outfield solution.

2012 AB4AR Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Outfield)

(Not pictured: Brett Gardner and his elbow.  Courtesy of the AP)

The start of the AB4AR 2012 Season Review officially kicked off yesterday with the review of what we learned about the 2012 infield.  It continues today with that same review for the outfield.  The starting outfield for the 2012 New York Yankees was an interesting mix.  3 guys with very different but equally important skill sets who combined to be one of the most productive and underappreciated units in baseball in 2011, and 3 guys whose futures with the club were all potentially up in the air in the near future.  As with the infield, it was a big up-and-down year for this crew, so let's dive right in and see what 2012 taught us about them.

What's The Deal With Eduardo Nunez?

(Hey! Nunez in the outfield was fun, huh?  Courtesy of the AP)

Eduardo Nunez is a strange case.  He reminds me of a joke that Patrice O'Neal told about Jeff Ross at one of the Comedy Central Roasts, where he called Ross a legend and then corrected himself by saying Ross was more like a myth because everybody had heard stories about how funny he is, "but nobody's ever really seen it."  That's Eduardo Nunez to me; he's been talked about as the next big homegrown position player piece for the future for what seems like the last 3-4 years, and he always ends up not being that.  I bring this up today because Cash and Joe each mentioned Nunez in their recent year-end addresses, but not in a way that makes his current or future standing within the organization any more clear than it's ever been.  To me, it almost seems like the Yankees have no clue what to do with Nunez anymore, and if that's the case then it might be time to trade him.

2012 AB4AR Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Infield)

(Photo used courtesy of Keith Allison)

For the second straight year I kicked off the official AB4AR Season Preview series with the "What We Know & What We Don't Know" sub-series.  It's a nice little way to make some assessments and quasi-predictions about the season to come while everything is still unofficial and unannounced at the end of Spring Training.  It only seems fitting to keep with that theme to start the official AB4AR Season Review series, and we'll start with the infield just like we did way back in late March.

After an up-and-down 2011 season, 2012 was expected to be a bounce-back year for the Yankee infield.  Robinson Cano was at the top of his game, and there was hope that a healthy A-Rod and more balanced Teix would help re-establish the middle of the Yankee lineup as the most feared in baseball.  The Captain was supposed to be the wild card of the group, but as it turned out he ended up being the most pleasant surprise of the bunch.  All in all, it's hard to say 2012 was a successful one for this crew, but it's also difficult to call it a complete failure.

Did Having To Play All The Way Through The Regular Season Hurt The Yankees?

(Ain't no lineup changes that fix tired.  Courtesy of the AP)

Yesterday I made a comment on our daily TYA email chain that it seemed like most of the blogopshere was caught in a no man's land when it came to Yankee coverage now that the season was over.  The combination of such a one-sided postseason exit with what was otherwise a very strong season seems to have put everybody in a situation where they aren't quite ready to go back and fully review 2012 and also aren't quite ready to let it go and start looking towards this offseason and 2013.  Well if that's the case then I'm just as guilty as everybody else, because I've had this idea jotted down for a couple weeks, even going back to the start of the postseason against Baltimore.

The general consensus was that playing hard through the end of the regular season would benefit the Yankees because they would still mentally locked in and would not lose any momentum by having guys sit and rest down the stretch like they would if the division was already locked up.  But for an older team like the Yankees, a team that was even more banged up than the poor Fraud Sawx and Blue Jays, did having to go all out for all 162 actually end up hurting them?

The Real Impact Of Derek Jeter's Ankle Injury

(How's that ankle going to respond the first time Jeter has to make a similar play to his left next year?  Courtesy of Getty Images)

The immediate impact of Derek Jeter’s ankle injury was major and painfully obvious to anybody who watched the ALCS. Without him in the lineup or on the field, the Yankees managed to score just 2 runs in the final 3 games while giving up more than that and committing 3 official defensive errors, 5 if you want to be a stickler like me and give Chavez and Teix Es for their stay-back botches in Game 4.  Even deeper than the on-field results, the entire attitude and morale of the team seemed to drop without the presence of The Captain. Say what you want about his robotic repetition of nothing comments to the media, but the tired, lifeless nature of the Yankees’ play in the final 3 games should stand as an example of just what kind of behind-the-scenes leader Jeter is in the clubhouse and how important he still is to the Yankees’ success. Losing Jeter for this year’s ALCS was a big enough blow to the Yankees, but the impact this injury has on next season could be even greater.

Pineda Still A Long While Away



Hey, remember that big trade the Yankees made in January?  They sent their best prospect to Seattle for a couple of young pitchers.  One of them was supposed to be this 22-year-old stud who the Yanks could pair up with CC Sabathia to form a top flight 1-2 punch for the next 4-5 years.  I think his name was Pineda?  Michael Pineda?  That's him, right?  Yeah, well if you remember him you probably also remember that he had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder and missed the entire 2012 season.  Reports from Brian Cashman this past weekend have Pineda missing at least the first couple months of next season as well, so don't expect to see him as an option for the 2013 rotation, at least not right off the bat.

10 Years And "Top-Of-The-Market" Money, Huh Robbie?

(Talking big-money contract desires after a historically bad postseason.  Interesting strategy.  Courtes of the AP

While most of the Yankee-related news to come across the wire this past weekend was related to injuries and guys getting their options picked up or not picked up, a small bit that may have flown under the radar was Joel Sherman's Saturday piece in The Post about the upcoming Robinson Cano contract situation.  In it, Sherman made reference to Cano's reported desire to seek a 10-year deal worth "top-of-the-market dollars," phrasing that sounds all too familiar when talking about premiere infielders in pinstripes.  It's almost certain that this declaration is Scott Boras-driven, as Boras is notorious for never wanting his clients to negotiate before their deals are up and always seeking top dollar.  But if Boras, or Cano for that matter, really think they are going to get that deal from the Yankees, or anybody, they might want to start drinking some of that reality potion that Cash wanted Jeter to sip on a few years ago.

What He Said/What He Meant: "Cash On A-Rod" Edition

It's been a while since we've had the opportunity to dissect the subtext of some Cash commentary, so I was pretty excited to see he had plenty to say on ESPN Radio this past weekend.  Naturally, the topic was Alex Rodriguez, because that's all the guys at ESPN NY care about, and while he tried not to give in to their craving for cheap ratings and pageviews, Cash did set the stage pretty well for what the Yankees intend to do with Alex this offseason and what their mindset is when it comes to keeping or moving him.  If there was still any doubt in anybody's mind about how this organization views A-Rod these days, that was certainly cleared up in this interview.

What Cash said, Via ESPN:

"It's not like I'm going to hang phones up on anybody who wants to make any overtures about anything.  You're talking about realistic stuff and unrealistic stuff. I don't think it's realistic at all for us to be moving forward with anything but Alex Rodriguez at third base.

He's still an above-average third baseman. ... That means despite the contract that we had committed to him, that he's an asset at this stage still. I don't see us doing anything there. I don't anticipate it. If someone wants to make phone calls, we're more than willing to do all that stuff with any of our players, and that's fine. You can run into something that way."

What he meant:

Looking Ahead To The AB4AR Offseason

(Best believe we're going to keep the Horse talk to a minimum this offseason)

The players may be well on their way to cleaning out their lockers, making their golf plans, and setting the rest of their offseason schedules.  But at AB4AR, we aren't doing any of that, because...

/obvious sports cliche coming

THERE IS NO OFFSEASON AT AB4AR, MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!  WE'RE COVERING YANKEE BASEBALL 25 HOURS A DAY, 8 DAYS A WEEK UP IN THIS PIECE!!!!

Now that we got that out of the way, let me expound upon that idea a bit.  Yes, it's true, there won't be any big offseason breaks for me during the MLB offseason, at least none that I'm planning.  The baseball may be done but there's plenty left to talk and write about over the next 5 months, and I don't plan on missing any of it (unless I end up going to another wedding and miss something really exciting).

We'll start out taking a week or 2 to look back on the 2012 season and all its participants, the good, the bad, and the ugly, before handing out some Major League and Minor League end-of-year awards and putting 2012 to bed.  Then we'll really move the focus towards the offseason; free agent profiles, potential trade targets, payroll talk, building a lineup for 2013, etc..  There will be a few non-serious Offseason Space Filler posts sprinkled in for days when there really isn't anything of value to talk about, and there will be AB4AR Prospect Week and the unveiling of the 2012-2013 edition of the AB4AR Top 30 Prospects list sometime in late December-early January.

And believe me when I say that I'm going to cover the Alex Rodriguez saga only as much as I absolutely need to.  There are some things that will be worth discussing, and if some serious trade possibilities come up those definitely fit the bill, but if you're looking for a place to drag A-Rod through the mud for the next 5 months I suggest you look elsewhere.  There's plenty more to talk about than just how much A-Rod sucks and how the Yankees need to get rid of him, and I intend to make all of that stuff my primary focus this offseason.

Checking In On The Yankees' AZFL Contingent

The Major League guys are done for 2012, but there's still plenty of fall and winter league play worth covering for the MiL boys.  The Arizona Fall League has been underway for a few weeks now, and with the Yankees sending the full 7-man compliment of prospects there, including 5 of the AB4AR Top 30, that definitely warrants catching up on now that there isn't 100% focus on the postseason.  After the jump, check out how this group has been doing so far.

Nobody Panic, Sounds Like CC's Elbow Is Fine

One of the updates in yesterday's news roundup was a disconcerting one from Marc Carig, who reported that CC Sabathia was going to be heading to see Dr. James Andrews for his left elbow after admitting that it bothered him between his final 2 postseason starts and also for the majority of the season.  The name "Dr. James Andrews" in connection with the word "elbow" is never a good thing in Major League circles.

Yesterday, the story became more clear with Jon Heyman's report that CC is not going for any kind of ligament-related issues but rather a bone spur in his left elbow that Andrews will look at later this week and most likely remove in a minor surgery.

There's the obligatory grain of salt that comes with any Heyman report that's Yankee-related, but when it comes to just news like this he's usually pretty reliable.  A bone spur would certainly explain the discomfort the CC felt earlier in the year when he hit the DL for his elbow, and that discomfort that he was feeling again in the postseason would certainly explain his pitch selection in Game 4, when he went heavier on the changeup to cut down on stress on his elbow.  Bone spur surgery would be simple and not cause CC to miss the start of next season, which is a good thing.  As long as that's all Dr. Andrews' review turns up, the big fella should be just fine.

Playing The ALCS Blame Game

While the NY tabloids and the endless stream of talking heads at ESPN want to brainwash you into thinking that everything wrong that happened with the Yankees this postseason was Alex Rodriguez's fault, the fact remains that, like the team's successes, it was a true group effort to accomplish getting swept by the Detroit Tigers.  It's been a somewhat subliminal staging of The Blame Game taking place in the coverage of the Yanks' ALCS struggles, even within the blogosphere.  So being the fair, reasonable, even-keeled blogger that I am, I decided to take it upon myself to definitively state for everyone how the blame for what happened should be divvied up.  It took many hours of brain wracking to come up with this, so I hope you appreciate it.  Because I did it for you, Yankee fans.

End Of Season News Roundup

(The Cash does not abide.  Courtesy of the AP)

With the shock and disappointment of the Yankees being swept out of the ALCS still fresh, there has been a fair amount of updates, stories, and rumors already coming out relating to this team.  Who's staying, who's going, who's on the hot seat?  Almost any question you could ask has already started to be answered in the last day and a half since the final out of Game 4 fell into Prince Fielder's glove.  Before we finish up looking back on the ALCS and the season that was, and start looking ahead to what the 2012-2013 offseason has in store, let's quickly reset what's happened in the last few days.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 10/19

Truth be told, there's a small part of me that's glad the Yankees' season is over and glad that the inevitable didn't get delayed for one more game last night.  I've been a walking zombie for the better part of the last 3-4 weeks with all that's been going on in my life, and the really late nights and really early mornings of writing weren't helping.  And then there's the whole part where my apartment has devolved into the first stage of a future episode of "Hoarders."  I've got assorted empty beer containers everywhere, pizza boxes everywhere, piles of mail sitting around, a bathroom that I'm almost afraid to go into because it's so gross, and a litany of other chores and assorted daily tasks that normal human beings keep up with regularly that have been dying on the back burner for the last month.  So at least now that I don't have to stay up late drinking, cursing, writing, and getting 4 hours of angry sleep I have the opportunity to get reacquainted with the rest of my life.  That's a good thing, I think.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Michael P. of Yankees Fans Unite expressed a passionate take on the first 2 games of the ALCS.  I remember being that pissed after Game 2 too, so I can relate.

- EJ Fagan of TYA had a slightly more positive take on the first 2 games of the ALCS, commenting on the nature of being a Yankee fan and a offering a reminder to be happy that they made the playoffs again and passionate even if they lose.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB, almost always the voice of reason with the 'pen, reiterated the importance of Joe leaning on his best relievers in the ALCS.  Whoops, guess that didn't happen!

- William Tasker of IIATMS listed the reasons Nick Swisher won't be back next season, and the unfortunate role his postseason struggles are playing in making his departure more likely.

- On Wednesday, Marc Normandin of Pinstriped Bible rehashed Phil Hughes' checkered injury history and the role it may be playing in his Major League failure to live up to his Minor League hype.

- SJK of NoMaas was convinced that Joe benching A-Rod for Games 3 and 4 of the ALCS was a personal decision and not a baseball one.

- Alex Pugliese of Yanks Go Yard used the lessons currently being learned from the A-Rod contract as a foundation for an argument against re-signing Robbie Cano to a big deal.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog compared the shenanigans that sprung up in this year's postseason to the old Bronx Zoo teams of the 70s, ultimately concluding that they were still nowhere close to Billy's boys.

- On Thursday, Steve Lombardi of Was Watching asked, when the rumor mill was really swirling, if the Alex Rodriguez Era in pinstripes was worth it.  Even if he doesn't get traded, which he won't, that's a question that is still worth asking.

- Jamie Insalaco of Bomber Banter took a more clever approach than I in pointing out the ridiculousness of the A-Rod media storm this week.

- Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes attempted to put a bit of a positive spin on the ALCS sweep by pointing out that the Tiger bats didn't exactly blow the Yankees' doors off.  A small consolation to such a one-sided series outcome.

- On Friday, Alphonso of It Is High... weighed in with his personal choices for who should stay and who should go for next season.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud discussed the Yankees' postseason shortcomings and had some statements from Brian Cashman regarding the direction the Yanks will take this coming offseason.

For this week's Friday Jam I'm going with "Rays On Pinion" by Baroness.  This song has such a quietly kickass intro.  It came on my iPod the other night when I was driving home and it made me feel like I was acting out some kind of opening scene of an action movie.  An action movie starring me driving around in a green Honda CR-V, pretty sure nobody would watch that.  Whatever, this song still kicks ass.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

How's That Trade REALLY Looking Now?

(Another strikeout??  I'm shocked.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

A long while back in the summer of 2011 I wrote a short post gloating about the outcome of the '09 3-team trade that netted the Yankees Curtis Granderson.  At the time, Jackson was struggling through a tough second season in the big leagues and Granderson was one of the top offensive players in baseball.  That post, short as it was, is one of the top 10 most viewed posts in AB4AR history, and if you scroll down far enough on the page to see the "Greatest Hits" section, you'll still see it there, in all its glory.  It's one of the most popular posts I've written, and I imagine it's only going to get more popular now that I've used this post to out my stupidity in writing that one.  After last night, there's no doubt who the winner and loser of that trade really was.

2012 ALCS Game 4 Thoughts & Afterthoughts: DET 8 NYY 1

(Courtesy of the AP)

The odds were already stacked way against the Yankees going into yesterday's Game 4.  The likelihood of them winning the ALCS was incredibly low, and the reality of the situation was that even with CC Sabathia on the mound for them in Game 4 the chances of them getting a win to keep the series alive were incredibly low given the way they were playing.  This was a team on its last legs, a team that had nothing left, and yesterday they played like it.  They continued to not hit, setting the stage for all kinds of offseason talk around bringing in new players and re-evaluating their formula for building a lineup, and also added bad fielding and bad pitching to the mix to really make sure there would be no Game 5.

I hate to ever bring up effort in a discussion about a professional sporting event; I always assume that these guys are out there giving it everything they have.  But that Yankee team on the field last night didn't look like a group of guys who even wanted to be there.  The Yankees laid down and died in Game 4, and they probably would have been better off not even showing up.