Results tagged ‘ Chien-Ming Wang ’
MERRY TEX-MAS!!
Oh my god, what an offseason. I mean, wow. We’ve got Mark Teixeira!
Just amazing. The Yankees of old are back and wiser. Sure, we thought we were all set with Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright, but this is CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, and Mark Teixeira (and almost surely another pitcher) we’re talking about! They have real track records. Well, Burnett not so much, but we seem to be convinced he’s healthy. Back to Teixeira. It’s an 8 year contract worth up to $180 million with a no-trade clause (something that he surely required after being traded out of both Texas and Atlanta). What a strange offseason it was for Teixeira. He started out asking for 10 years and a destination by Christmas. 10 years was not going to happen, and it started out with the Nationals, Orioles, and Angels in the running for him. Then the Red Sox jumped in, and were very close to a deal, then suddenly “not a factor”. Then the Angels drew out. Just yesterday, the Nationals seemed to be the frontrunners. Then the Yanks swooped in and grabbed him, culminating his offseason, and he got his wish, same as many many Yankee fans.
I’m now looking forward to a roster that looks something like this:
ROTATION
or 
or 
or 
in the 4-5 spots.
BULLPEN
LINEUP
LF 
SS 
1B 
3B 
RF 
C 
DH 
2B 
CF 
or 
or someone better…
BENCH
Something like that… Of course, A-Rod could hit third and Tex cleanup, but yeah. You get my point. One move has made our roster MUCH MUCH deeper. If we don’t make the playoffs now, I’m gonna be pissed…. But we shouldn’t have to worry about that, I think. It would seem that we’re going all out for Number 27 in ’09. We have now signed 2 of the 4 super free agents (Sabathia, K-Rod, Tex, Manny). We could still make it 3, even though now I don’t think it’s a requirement to sign Manny. It’d be a nice bonus, but it’s not vital. We do have another pitcher coming, though.
The Angels are reportedly out of the Manny race, leaving the Dodgers and Yankees as his only serious pursuers at this point. Without much competition, if the Yankees sign Manny and another pitcher, it could go down as the best offseason in history and give us a Murderer’s Row and, in the words of Vanessa, a Murderer’s Row-tation.
In the first two games in Yankee Stadium, exhibition contests versus the Cubs, bleacher seats will be sold at 25 cents, same as Opening Day 1923. Sadly, I will not be able to join in these festivities, but I would snatch up a couple of those tickets if I were you.
Thank you and goodnight.
Nathan, Mauer, Morneau and Co. Come To Town
So, we have quite the matchup, the legendary
Sidney Ponson and the immortal Nick Blackburn. Ponson has a
10-2 career record versus los Twins. I don’t know a whole lot
about Blackburn. Just like I associate Ponson with being a
knight and drunk driving rather than pitching, I think of
black forest ham rather than Nick Blackburn usually. Anyway,
food-pitcher associations aside, my fellow blogger, el hombre
de Nueva York, the KidFromNewYork, or
yankeesquad.mlblogs.com, made a very valid point about the
Yankees this year. That the offense can be subpar at times,
but we can still win. He said look at the A’s, look at the
Twins, look at the ’69 Mets! And that really struck a chord
with me, because he was right. The Yankees are supposed to be
this huge offensive powerhouse with subpar pitching, but just
look at the rotation by pure stuff and ability. Joba
Chamberlain has some of the best pure stuff in the major
leagues, and Sidney Ponson, this year and in 2003, showed the
world he could really pitch, when his being arrested,
attitude, or control didn’t get in the way. Andy Pettitte
falls under this category as well, even though admittedly not
as much. In the bullpen, we still have LaTroy Hawkins, who
has done badly this season, but remember, we’re just looking
at stuff. We have Kyle Farnsworth, who hits 97 on the radar
gun regularly. We have Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, and David
Robertson. Plus of course Mo. Coming off the DL someday will
be Phil Hughes and Chien-Ming Wang. And that’s just stuff
wise. Falling under control and craftiness, we have Mike
Mussina headlining and Darrell Rasner, Dan Giese, and
Pettitte also going on that shelf. And we have that man who
has been forgotten in the minor leagues and on the DL, Ian
Kennedy, also going in the control and craftiness category.
That is a really great pitching staff, talent-wise. So if
they pitch to their full abilities, the Yankees won’t need to
live up to their powerhouse offensive team reputation. Just
look at the men from Minnesota who are coming to
town.
mlblogsnewmexicanyanksfan
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