Tip your cap to the Yankees... you ruined Joba Chamberlain's career

Hey! Where are all of the "Joba is going to be the ace of the Yankee staff as a starter" people now?

I am looking at YOU Chris DeLuca.

There is cause to fire Brian Cashman, the Yankees scouting and coaching department including Joe Girardi.

Why?

Because they were handed a pitcher with tremendous talent and a larger than life personality and was the clear heir apparent for Mariano Rivera. They turned him into a carefully handed middle reliever... then a mediocre starter... then an ineffective mop up man... and now is broken down and maybe be done.

I wonder if he could have been used as bait for Cliff Lee when Lee was traded three times between 2009 and 2010.

Try getting a Cliff BAR for him now.

This isn't hindsight being 20-20.

I've been saying this has been insane since the beginning of the 2008 season.

If George were still alive and he found out that the organization torpedoed the most talented pitcher the organization has developed in a generation, there would be many bodies to dump out.

And Cashman has the nerve to say he doesn't regret the Joba Rules.

He says the rules are common in the organization.

Even MORE reason to start firing people!

Think about it this way...

In 2007 the Yankees had Chein Ming Wang, who in his third year had developed into a 27 year old front line starter, winning 19 games in back to back seasons.

They had the talented Phil Hughes, a 21 year old with great stuff and of course 21 year old Joba Chamberlain who electrified the fan base and gave the bullpen unstoppable depth.

It's now 2011. All three are broken down.

The Red Sox have had young pitchers like Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon and Clay Buchholz who have had lots of injuries. (Lester had freaking CANCER!)

And somehow they were all able to not break down. And none of them are as big and strong as Joba.

Mission Accomplished, Yankees.

The Joba controversy has been solved.

Starter? Reliever?

How about neither.

Fantasy Owners... buy Chien-Ming Wang

I don't do Fantasy Baseball anymore. It is too time consuming and I am going to be spending lots of time on the internet looking up baseball things, it will be for my latest 25 man roster.

But I do offer this tip... buy Wang!

Chad Jennings at the LoHud Yankees Blog writes that the Cardinals are kicking the tires on Chien-Ming Wang.

Chad has no reason to lie to us.

This is great news for Cardinals fans. Wang is obviously talented and he's had a downfall for two seasons because of injury.

Enter pitching coach Dave Duncan.

Dave Duncan is a miracle worker. She is the Annie Sullivan to scores of Helen Kellers.

Joel Pinero? Chris Carpenter? Ryan Franklin? Kyle Loshe?
All turned things around under Duncan and that's just off the top of my head.

Wang will be cheap... and he'll win 15 games with an ERA under 3.50. You heard it here first.

Can we just create a "He's Been Sucking List"?

Dice-K has been sucking all year for the Red Sox... and now he's suddenly on the disabled list.

Granted some of this is from his shoulder problems and no doubt more of it is from his pitching in the moronic WBC.

(Hey Junior 75 and everyone else who loved that silly exhibition... how often do you think of those games during this season? I think Japan won, right? Or was it Korea? I can't remember... it was THAT MEMORABLE!)

I'm not accusing the Red Sox of pushing him back to the DL simply because he is sucking...

Actually that is EXACTLY what I am saying.

He was cleared to pitch and then threw with all the confidence of Calvin Schraldi.

And the Red Sox aren't the only ones doing this...

Brad Lidge, with Satan now collecting on his bargain, got shuttled off to the DL.

Chien Ming Wang has been horrific with the Yankees... and he's off to the DL.

Before Ortiz got hot again, there were whispers of putting HIM on the DL (and I advocated faking an injury).

In 2008 Joe Borowski was bombing with the Indians when an injury surfaced at just the right time. 

And of course there was the classic fake injury... Phil Hughes last year. No... he didn't suck. It wasn't a mistake to not trade for Johan Santana... he's hurt! Yeah... that's the ticket.

I say let's end the charade.

Give each team one "He's Been Sucking" transaction a year. No need to find an injury or fake one. Just come out and say it. "This is really bad... it would be better for all of us if we just find out what the hell is the matter with this guy."

The guy basically puts the dunce cap on and they can fill his roster spot with someone else.

And there is no limit to how long they can stay on the list. It could be the rest of the season if they suck that badly.

But they can only do it once a year and once the player is off of the "He's Been Sucking List" they can't put him back on. 

They have to figure out what is wrong and they can't shuttle him back and forth.

I'm actually 98% serious about this!

It makes perfect sense to me.

Which is why it will never happen.

Big Picture: 101

After the (say it with me) third Red Sox sweep of the Yankees this season, all of the Yankees are talking about "the big picture."

They are saying "big picture" so often that you'd think they were a bunch of art history students who came back from the Sistine Chapel.

The big picture is it is only 3 games and that there are 102 games left in the schedule and its only a 2 game deficit... blah blah blah.

Well there are some other aspects to the big picture that can't just be swept under a bumpy rug.

Yes it is early, but it isn't THAT early. The season is more than 1/3 of the way through. This isn't April... it's mid June. And before you know it it will be July.

The Yankees pitching staff is still underwhelming.

CC Sabathia has been good, but not on anyone's short list for Cy Young contenders.

A. J. Burnett has gone back and forth between mediocre and terrible.
Andy Pettite has been underwhelming.
Joba Chamberlain has shown flashes of brilliance but is a #3 starter at best now.

And Chien-Ming Wang is so terrible this year that I am sure Brian Cashman is thinking of ways to get him injured again. It's interleague! Why not have him run the bases again?

(Remember how everyone said that Wang would be back no problem because his injury wasn't pitching related? Oh well.)

It's been a year since Wang last gave the Yankees 5 innings in a game and this year his 0-4 record and 14+ ERA doesn't lie.

Meanwhile Mariano Rivera is still great but that 3.20 ERA isn't as eye popping as it used to be. And the middle relief is causing Mike Francesa to scream about Joba in the bullpen even louder.

(Losing a game in the 8th inning to the Red Sox will do that.)

And now they have Phil Hughes doing the bullpen/rotation shuffle because that worked out so well for Joba.

But would you rather have Hughes doing that or count on Aceves, Veras and Robertson?

To be fair, before last night Aceves pitched well and Robertson has been effective as well... but are the late innings of a potential pennant contender really going to be protected by Aceves and Robertson?

The big picture for this Yankee team is their depth is still in question. Besides Sabathia, their rotation depth is an issue. Besides Rivera their bullpen depth is an issue. If there is another injury in the infield, their infield depth will be an issue. Etc etc etc.

As I wrote before, it is inexcusable that Brian Cashman has an extra $65 million to throw around and has depth as an issue, but I digress.

More than a third of the season has passed and the Yankees have given their chief rival an 8 game head start on the season series. Remember that is more than a psychological edge. In 2005 the two teams finished tied but both made the playoffs. The Yankees were declared division champs based on their 10-9 head to head record against the Red Sox.

And the Yankees had every reason to believe they would win this series. Yeah Beckett has been great, but wasn't he due for a let down?

Shouldn't Wakefield have been a pinata?

Isn't Penny vs. Sabathia a mismatch?

With A-Rod and Teixeira both healthy and smacking homers, shouldn't the Yankees have done better than 3 runs total off of those three starters?

Had the Red Sox won one more game, they would have played the Angels at home to start the playoffs instead of the eventual champion White Sox on the road.

And more than a 1/3 of the way through the season, the Yankees have played 16 games against teams currently in first place and lost 12 of them.

Granted, that 4-12 record is heavily skewed because of the 0-8 record against the Sox... but a stat like that shouldn't come up for a team thinking of winning it all.

Here's a big picture.

The pitching is shaky, the line up can be subdued by good (not even great) pitching, the roster is old and more at risk for injury as the season goes on and they are playing .250 ball against division leaders... and it isn't THAT early.

And oh yeah, here's another 101.

The Magic Number for the Red Sox 101!

And they need to go 2-8 against the Yankees the rest of the way to win the season series.

I don't know if that is art... but I like it

The Pepitone - Sullivan connection

I am friends with the brilliant comic actor Eddie Pepitone. He is a rabid Yankees fan… possibly as big a Yankees fan as I have ever met in my life.

I am a Red Sox fan in case you are new to the blog.

And since the late 1990s we have had an e mail exchange regarding the two teams that if you read them, you would assume that two seven year olds were sending e mails back and forth.

We also call each other constantly during Red Sox/Yankees games, but after 2003 we had to institute a new rule… no calling during the playoffs. It was too much.

Well last night Chien Ming Wang seemed to ensure that he will not give the Yankees a 5 inning out for at least a calendar year. Nick Swisher decided to screw up in the field AND the basepaths, Phil Hughes threw in a balk for good measure and the Yankees fell out of first and lost their first 7 meetings with the Red Sox.

And yet this still didn’t keep Pepitone (no relation to Joe) from trying to taunt me.

“You know even though you are 7-0 against the Yankees, you are only 1 game up on them.” He said.

I paused.

“So let me get this straight” I asked. “What you are saying is My team kills your team head to head and are better in the standings. Where is the taunt?”

Sabathia goes tonight against Penny. And if EVERYTHING goes the Yankees way and Sabathia throws a perfect game and A-Rod hits 5 homers and Youkilis makes 6 errors allowing a run to score every inning… the Yankees will still be 1-7 against the Red Sox.

Even Pepitone has to admit that hurts.

Question for Yankee Fans

Let's say at the beginning of the year I told you this:



You would be starting the season WITHOUT Alex Rodriguez.



He replacement, Cody Ranson, would play like a career minor leaguer.



The pitching staff would let up several embarrassing blowouts, including the 9-1 Stadium opening debacle and a 22-4 drubbing on National TV.



The Yankees would be swept by the Red Sox, including a game where Mariano Rivera coughed up the lead in the ninth and another game where an early 6-0 lead turned into a 16-11 loss.



The Red Sox would win 12 of 13, including the three from the Yankees.



Wang would be so bad his first three starts that they had to pretend he was hurt.



Big free agent pick up Mark Teixera would be hitting .189.



Literally big free agent pick up CC Sabathia would have a losing record and a 4.73 ERA.



Other free agent pick up A. J. Burnett would also look like a money pit with a 5.40 ERA.



The middle relief of Jonathan Albaladejo, Jose Veras and Damaso Marte would be so bad that the "Joba to the pen" debate would be reignited.



There would be empty seats... LOTS of them... at the new Yankee Stadium.



The season rests on Phil Hughes' arm.







Now I told you all of that...

And then I told you on May 2, the Yankees would be 1 game back of the Red Sox and 2 games out of first place... I have a feeling you would ALL take it.



This is why I picked the Yankees to win the Division.



It pains me to say it. I hate giving the Yankees credit... but they actually weathered this storm well.



Thanks for the help, Brian Fuentes!

Wang Hurt

So wait a second...

Chien Ming Wang stunk for three starts and all we heard is "He's not hurt!"

They send him down to Tampa... not on assignment because he'd have to go through waivers to do that... but to check him out.

He throws a bunch of pitches. Everyone says he's healthy.

NOW all of a sudden with the Yankees bullpen a mess, they found an injury.

Doesn't this sound like last years "Phil Hughes isn't a bust... he's hurt" fake injury?

Just a bit?

I know it is early but...

2/3 of the games played at New Yankee Stadium have been embarrassing "Head for the exits early" blowouts.

2/3 of the games played at New Yankee Stadium have had the fans calling in earnest for Nick Swisher to pitch.

Three starts into the season, Chien-Ming Wang has a 34.50 ERA.

If he isn't hurt, then the Yankees will make up something.

"Wang is on the 60 day DL with a zit."

And three games into the season, balls are FLYING out of the pseudo House that Ruth Belt.

Yes, the pitching has been horrific by the Yankees. But what if they built a launching pad in the Bronx? What if this is Coors Field East?

If you build champions around pitching, what if you are forced to do it in a bandbox? A multi billion dollar bandbox?

It's early... but it is still ugly.

Aces low

First of all, so much for that whole "Tampa Bay will not be able to hold their own with the Red Sox and Yankees" theory.

After tonight's asswhuppin', the Rays are 3-1 against the two bullies on the block.

But what is really disturbing for the Yankees and the Red Sox is how lousy both Chien-Ming Wang and Jon Lester have looked.

Yeah yeah yeah it's early.

But Wang's 3 2/3 inning 7 run monstrosity in Baltimore was a solid performance compared to today's shelling in Tampa.

And Lester has taken the Red Sox out of the game early in back to back games. 

What I am saying is... for all of you people who don't want the Red Sox and Yankees in the playoffs... if they can't count on Lester or Wang, you might get your wish.

I have NO CLUE what the Yankees should do

I want to thank Aziz at Pride of the Yankees and Nate at Chuck Knoblog for addressing my Mike Mussina trade proposal.

Their thoughts were well written and thought out but the argument is moot since Wang's injury has probably ended his season.


I am CLUELESS of what the Yankees should do.

They physically need 5 starting pitchers. At this point it is Mussina, Pettite, Joba, Giese... and... um... is Denny Neagle available?

The fact that previous Yankee busts like Jeff Weaver and Sidney Ponson can be floated by with a straight face really makes this interesting.

Sabathia isn't coming.
First of all, Cashman knows that if he packages off Kennedy in the Sabathia trade he will be admitting that he was wrong in the Santana deal. Which one would you rather have?

Secondly other teams have better trade chips to offer (the Yankees prime chips, Kennedy and Hughes, are hurt after flopping in the show). Both Los Angeles teams have more major league talent to deal

Rich Harden makes Phil Hughes look as durable as Cal Ripken by comparison

Joe Blanton isn't the answer.

It reminds me of the 2006 Red Sox when the rotation was in such tatters that when the kid from the Make a Wish foundation threw out the first pitch, Francona would ask him "Um could you stay on the mound and give us 4 or 5 innings?"

But of course in 2006 I was angry that Theo didn't get reinforcements and kept these worthless minor leaguers like Clay Buchholz, Dustin Pedroia, Manny DelCarmen and Jacoby Ellsbury.

One step back... a few forward in 2007

But the AL Wild Card race is wide open.
Does anyone think the Rays are going to keep this up?
Or that the Tigers pitching will turn around?
Or the A's will play at this level?

The Yankees could still make the post season... with the team in its current state

It's all very interesting.

I hate losses like last night...

The Red Sox bomb Chein Ming Wang out of the game and pound out 9 runs without hitting a single homer... and lose by 6.

Ugh.

As I said before, I'd rather lose 10-0 or 1-0.

If only our pitching was MEDIOCRE!

But then again, when you are facing Chad Moeller... how can you ever hope to contain him?

Beckett tonight.
Win tonight and leave with a split. We'd all take that.

Round 1 goes to the Yankees...

Tip your cap to Wang.

He shut down the Sox and it just wasn't our night.
And did you notice something odd about the game?
I did.

Wang was kicking butt and the Red Sox couldn't get a hit in a relatively close game.
And instead of taking Wang out in the 8th for Joba and the 9th for Mariano... Girardi did a very strange thing:

He let Wang pitch the whole game.
My GOD! Have you ever heard of such a thing? A complete game? Has that ever happened before?

Why not match up lefty against lefty while the guy is throwing a 1 hitter?
What a maverick that Girardi is.

Beckett up tomorrow...
Time to be an ace.

I am going to start an irresponsible rumor...

Gamblers paid off Chien-Ming Wang to lose game 1 of the Division Series.

He looked terrible in the first, letting up 3 runs and blowing a 1-0 lead.
But what did he do with the first batter?
HE HIT HIM!
Come on! You saw Eight Men Out!
That was the signal to the gamblers that the fix was it... hit the first batter!

Say it Ain't So, Chien-Ming! Say it Ain't So!