The Yankees have started winning again (playing the AAA Mets helps).  Today, they acquired Erik Hinske from the Pittsburgh Pirates.  I’ve never been a Hinske fan, but I think it’s a good move.  It gives some punch off of the bench, and with Nady not coming back, they need that.  Plus they only gave up two marginal prospects for him.  Besides, the fact that they traded with Pittsburgh, the Pirates only take on crappy prospects in return so what the hell.  Hopefully this will be the final bell for Cody Ransom. 

The Joba to the pen debate has died down with Phil Hughes doing as well as he has.  That said I’d still rather have Joba in the pen and Hughes in the starting rotation.  I understand that in the long run both guys are projected to be starters, and sooner or later if you want them to be, you have to put them there.  And yeah, I see that Joba’s stats (mainly his ERA) seem to imply that he belongs in the rotation moreso than Hughes does at this point.  But Joba’s WHIP isn’t great (he gives up way too many hits), he doesn’t go deep in games (he averages just over 5 IP per start), and if you believe his IP limit is 150 for the season, he’s already half there, which means by the end of August or mid-September he’ll be in the bullpen anyway, so you may as well put him there now.  They’re not going to take off the bib they put on him when they called him up a couple years back, and it’s not like he would sniff a start in the playoffs anyway, so why not do it now?  Sure, the arguement has got harder since Hughes has turned unhittable in the pen, but really, that’s the point.  I think Hughes is the better longterm prospect anyway, and Hughes doesn’t come with as short a leash as Joba does.  Any sign of trouble with Joba and he’s always pulled from the game.  He’s only pitched beyond 7 innings twice this season, and you may as well save his arm as much as possible for the games that are important in September, and hopefully October and beyond.  I guaruntee you’d see his velocity go back up as well.  Quickly.

I have to admit, as much as I like what Johnny Damon offers, and what Hideki Matsui and Andy Pettitte have done for the Yankees in their careers, I can’t wait until their contracts are up after this season.  This year has proved how important youth is to a team full of veterans.  It’ll be nice to (hopefully) see Austin Jackson in RF next year.  And Nick Swisher on the bench.  He’s a likeable player.  But man he sucks something fierce in the field.  They may as well had signed Adam Dunn in the offseason instead of acquiring Swisher.  Their BA suck about equally, neither one of them can field, but can you imagine how many HRs Dunn would hit in the new Yankee stadium?  And how fun would it be to watch a back-to-back fireworks show of ARod, Tex, and Dunn?

That’s enough for now.  It’s almost game time.

What I found particularly funny was this:

“Charlie Morton
is a power right-handed starting pitcher with upside, who should be
ready to help us this year in Pittsburgh. In fact, in his first outing
for our Triple-A affiliate, he tossed seven scoreless innings, giving
up only four hits while striking out seven. Jeff Locke
is an intriguing young left handed starter with the frame, athleticism
and stuff to become a quality major league starting pitcher. Gorkys Hernandez
is a dynamic athlete who has the speed and potential to become an above
average everyday major league outfielder. It is worth noting that these
three players were rumored to be sought by the Padres when they were
talking to the Braves about trading former Cy Young award winner Jake
Peavy.”

The phrases that immediately stand out to me are upside, intriguing, quality, and above average.  They stand out to me because they don’t fit in; all of them are qualifiers, and pretty much every time you hear them come from the mouth of a sports General Manager they’re trying to sell you on something that isn’t worth buying.  When you trade an All-Star, a 5-tool player who, aside from being your best player, is the backbone of your team, you shouldn’t have to use such tangible hypotheticals to try and sell your fans on once again trading away their star.  But he (Huntington) saves the best (err, worst) part of the paragraph for last when he tries to convince you that the three players he just got, they were good enough to land a Cy Young winner in Jake Peavy, but the Braves couldn’t bring themselves to give them away in that trade; that they were waiting on this one like this to come around instead.  Yeah.  Sure.  Do you think it’s closer to the truth that the Padres laughed at the offer/deal question, at any offer the Braves sent them without the inclusion of Tommy Hanson in it, and that’s why Jake Peavy is still a Padres pitcher and not on the Braves?  Huntington reminds me of that guy from the movie Office Space who came up with the “Jump To Conclusions” mat, and despite being told “That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard” is still convinced its the greatest thing ever; his million dollar moneymaking idea.  Three horrible trades within the past year later, Huntington is still trying to sell the idea that taking the ugly girl to the prom is the way to go.  “It’s not what she looks like; it’s what she could look like with a little work.”  Yeah.  Sure.  That old saying, “If it looks like (insert word here), and smells like (insert word here), then chances are it’s (insert word here)”, that about sums Huntington’s actions the way I see it.  That dude from Office Space, he got “lucky”; while backing out of his driveway, seconds after trying to kill himself, he gets railed by a speeding driver and receives a fat insurance settlement because of it.  He was able to make his “Jump To Conclusions” prototype, and of course, it was just as stupid as it sounded to everyone but him; no, to him it’s the greatest thing ever.  It’s too bad that Pirates fans have grown so accustomed to buying that every time their team sells off anything worth keeping, they’re left with yet another “Jump To Conclusions” mat as their reward.  

I’m a 30-year old Yankees fan.  With saying that, if anyone reads this and ever chooses to respond, I expect the usual “$200 million dollars blah blah crap” that comes with being a Yankees fan.  It’s what those who don’t know anything about baseball, or are jealous that the team I choose to root for has more money than the team you choose to root for does, says.  Always.  The argument is tired.  Useless even.  So lets get that out of the way before we even start.

Moreover than being a Yankees fan I’m a fan of baseball.  I love the game.  Everything about it.  And no, I don’t give one–let alone two–craps about steroids, P.E.D.’s, or any suggested compromise of “the integrity of the game.”  That argument too is tired.  And useless even.  So lets get that out of the way before we even start.

I want this to be about baseball.  The game.  The players.  The fans.  That’s it.  Nothing more.  So let’s start.

My first thought here is about the recent trade the Pirates made with the Braves.  How, as a self-respecting Pittsburgh Pirates fan, can you continually except your team forcing the “Let’s be patient with this” Kool-Aid down your throat whilst they trade away anybody who is anybody worth rooting for?  Have they at least changed the flavor in the past 20 years?  I won’t regress beyond that current GM’s tenure because that isn’t, neccesarily, fair, but in the past year they’ve traded away 3 All-Stars and a top-tier lefty specialist and got what exactly in return?  A steaming pile of fillers to, well, fill out their 40-man roster, and “rebuild” their farm system.  Well, that’s not exactly true either; they’ve already, less than a year since the trade, removed Craig Hansen from the 40-man roster.  But let’s take a look at the names they’ve received in the three trades in question: Andy LaRoche, Bryan Morris, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen (Bay to Red Sux trade), Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens, Dan McCutchen, Jose Tabata (Nady/Marte to Yankees trade), Jeff Locke, Charlie Morton, Gorkys Hernandez (McLouth to Braves trade).  That’s 12 players.  And, as a Pirates fan, how many of them had you heard of?  Maybe three, and that’s assuming that one of them is LaRoche, and only because his brother was already on the team.  Jose Tabata and Gorkys Hernandez, the other two names I’m assuming you might have known, were the two “best”, or most highly touted prospects in the bunch.  And both had quickly fallen from untouchable status within the Yankees and Braves organizations to tradable to the Pirates.  There’s a reason for that.  In total the Pirates received a bunch of pitchers (Karstens, Ohlendorf, McCutchen, Morton, Locke), who on a bad team in a bad division, are, at best, #4 or #5 starters, a light hitting corner infielder (LaRoche), a flop reliever (Hansen), and three non-power hitting OFs (Tabata, Hernandez, Moss) from four teams (Yankees, Red Sux, Dodgers, Braves) who are stacked with high-end prospects and/or already-contributing-on-the-MLB-level youngsters.  And these are household names.  Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Melky Cabrera, Austin Jackson, Justin Masterson, Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, Daniel Bard, Tommy Hanson, Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, James Loney, etc.  In three seperate trades, where the Pirates held the position of power (i.e. teams coming to them for their All-Star players), the Pirates couldn’t even get one of those mentioned names?  Wow.  The Cleveland Indians make a trade and get Grady Sizemore AND Cliff Lee in the same deal.  The Minnesota Twins make a trade and receive Francisco Liriano, Boof Bosner, AND Joe Nathan in return.  The Marlins make a trade and get Anibal Sanchez AND Hanley Ramirez in return.  The common theme(s) here.  In all three cases All-Star players were traded to contending teams for prospects.  And in all three cases, those prospects turned into All-Stars who turned their teams into contenders, if not Playoff teams, within a few years.  As for the Pirates, well, they did what they do best; sell high-end commodities at Blue-Light special rates.  And to their fans they continue to say, “You have to bear with us here; be patient.”  Yeah, right.  They’ll get right on that.  You know it’s bad when your team sells you that reaching .500 is a good thing.  Especially when they do it for like 20 years.  If I were a Pirates fan I’d call Shenanigans.  And demand that Mark Cuban buys my team.

That’s enough for now.  Until next time…