Cringing at Sabathia's attempted barehand plays

The Yankees need to talk to C.C. Sabathia about barehanding balls hit back at the mound. He was extraordinarily good again tonight in Cleveland, allowing three runs in seven innings while striking out eight. But twice during the game, he reached for batted balls hit at him with his pitching hand. The last thing the newly-gelled Yankees need is a silly injury to their ace.

Sabathia is pitching like himself now, though. Over his last five starts Sabathia is 4-0, bringing his record to 5-3. Over that stretch, he has gone 39 innings, allowing nine runs (2.08 ERA) while striking out 32. He has allowed 26 hits and nine walks in those starts for a WHIP of 0.90. His ERA for the season now stands at 3.46, and he has 56 strikeouts in 78 innings pitched. He has started to appear in the top-10 of many of the American League pitching categories.

That is why it is so alarming to see C.C. trying to grab the ball with those valuable fingers. The first time he went for the ball, he was 4.1 innings into no-hitting his old team, so I understand the impulse to preserve the game. But the second time, it appeared that he was simply frustrated because he had run into a little trouble. Joe Girardi needs to tell him that it is best for the team if Sabathia uses his glove or lets his infielders go for the ball.

Besides that snipe, the Yanks are looking pretty solid at 29-20. They sit 1.5 games up on the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays atop the AL East leader board. They are two games up in the loss column on Boston, and three games up on Toronto.

GAME NOTES 5/31...Jorge Posada homered in the Yankees 10-5 victory over Cleveland, and looked comfortable at the plate for the second straight day since he came off the disabled list...Nick Swisher also hit a long home run to center field, putting his season total at 10...Jose Veras gave up two runs in an inning of relief, pushing his season ERA to 6.97. He threw 14 strikes out of his 23 pitches and gave up a home run to Shin-Soo Choo. Veras continues not to look like the confident late inning reliever he was last year. The Yankees have to hope that Alfredo Aceves is truly an answer for them at setup man...Michael Kay said that the Yankees were unlikely to keep three catchers when Jose Molina returns to the club shortly. That spells an end to Francisco Cervelli's productive stint with the club. The kid definitely earned a closer look in the coming seasons.

Wieters' arrival a date to mark on your calendar

We saw last season what an influx of young talent can do to a solid team. Evan Longoria's arrival in Tampa Bay turned a solid team into a great one. David Price didn't hurt either, en route to the American League pennant. While the expectations should be slightly lower for the Baltimore Orioles this year, Matt Wieters' debut tonight is no less important for the future of the AL East.

The Joe Mauer comparisons are inevitable. The kid is a four-tool player (minus speed) who plays one of the most critical (and talent weak) positions in the sport. Expect Wieters, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis and Brian Roberts to cause headaches as the pennant race heats up. The Orioles may not yet be in position to challenge for the title, but once the crop of young pitchers the O's are training in the minor leagues hit, the AL East will be completely up for grabs.

At no point in my baseball viewing career have I seen a division as stocked with talent as the East has the potential to be in two years. If the Rays can hold onto their players, and the Jays add a reliable power bat and an arm or two around Roy Halladay that they can truly rely on, the division could end up with any team that plays there for years. The competition promises tons of drama, and a lot of hurt feelings. Buckle your seatbelts. One Oriole jokingly called him the "switch-hitting Jesus."

But the first step towards this supreme East will occur tonight, when the 23-year-old switch-hitter steps in against Detroit for his first Major League at-bat. We'll all get to see what he can do over the next chunk of time. He hit .400 in spring training, but his competition is certainly going to raise a level here in the regular season.

Yankees Starting to Click

The Yankees currently find themselves in the middle of a five-game winning streak, and the last three against the Minnesota Twins have been worthy of writing home about.

Friday night: Melky Cabrera hits a two-run single to tie the game and then walk off with a victory in the ninth.

Saturday night: Alex Rodriguez hits a two-run shot to win the game in extra innings.

Sunday night: Johnny Damon takes one to right to win the game 3-2 in the 10th.

The Yankees finally seem to be clicking. The pitching has been solid, the offense timely, and the team is starting to rally around one another. The mobs at home plate have been predictably boisterous, and A.J. Burnett has started a trend of hitting the walk-off hero in the face with a whipped cream pie.

This is looking promising. I wonder what they have in store for tomorrow. But the most important part of all of this dramatic baseball is that you get the sense that the Yanks are starting to feel like they are never out of a ballgame. It is that kind of swagger that wins divisions, and yes, wins championships.

A-Rod also went deep again today, and although Paul O'Neill pointed out that his upper and lower body aren't really in full sync yet, you have to feel like he is getting there. Once he gets going, we can expect Mark Teixeira to wake up a bit, and that's when the real fun begins.

Steroids, Manny and A-Rod

This whole situation stinks. A lot.

As a child at Little League camp in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, I used to collect baseball cards to trade with the other kids and place in card books. The time: the mid to late 1990s.

I believe that the cards we used to buy at the camp shop were Upper Deck cards, and one of the various special inserts that happened to show up regularly were stickers of the game's best.

My favorite players ended up on a white Ikea cubby that sat next to my bed. Scrawled in pencil next to the faces of Manny Ramirez, Ivan Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Manny Ramirez, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and others were Derek Jeter's career home runs, year by year, and the running count of the Yankees' World Championships.

I ran into that cubby in storage a few months ago, and I stopped and looked at the faces, next to the stickers with their names and their team banners. Almost all of the players that I grew up idolizing will never be in the Hall of Fame. Adding Manny and A-Rod to this list is painful, so my first reaction was to give both guys the benefit of the doubt.

But Jayson Stark gave me the information I didn't seek out on my own about Manny's claim that he had a health issue and a doctor gave him a banned medication.

"It wasn't as if he had a toothache here, and he needed a prescription for a painkiller. It wasn't as if he had a sinus infection, and he needed a prescription for an antibiotic.

He was taking a -- what? -- a female fertility drug? Why? Maybe he just wanted to marry the octo-mom. Ya got me.

I've read through all the prescribed uses I could find online for human chorionic gonadotropin (similar to Clomid), which ESPN.com is reporting is the drug in question. And let me tell you -- I'm almost 100 percent certain that Manny wasn't suffering from an inability to ovulate. Or polycystic ovarian syndrome. And if he was, there's a lot more he hasn't been telling us than what really went on in those bizarre final days in Boston.

If you read more extensively about this drug, though, you'll learn that it IS occasionally used to address male infertility. Except if you read the small print, you'll also learn that, according to sharedjourney.com:

"The FDA has not approved the use of Clomid in men, nor has it been found to be especially effective."

Great. So why would a doctor be prescribing it for a guy like Manny, then?

Good question, huh?

A truly upstanding male-fertility doctor wouldn't be likely to do that, right? And a truly upstanding doctor treating a professional athlete would also be likely to know it could cause him to set off a major drug-testing alarm, right?

So where's the logical explanation here? That's a question all rational Americans should be asking right now."

You can read the rest of that article here, and it is a very good one.

The point is, Manny's claim that he had a personal health issue is ludicrous. This is a medicine associated with female fertility issues that is virtually off-limits to men. Manny cheated. On purpose.

The guy I grew up in awe of (because I was a right-handed hitter), the Ted Williams of my childhood will never be in the Hall of Fame. I will never be able to take my son there to look at his plaque and tell him stories about Manny's feats against my Yankees. I will never be able to talk about his magnificent plate vision, easy stroke and flare for the dramatic. Or about the quirky personality of the enigmatic kid from New York. My kid won't be able to look at him as an example of a guy from his area that made it big. Because from here on out, Manny Ramirez is a baseball ghost like Shoeless Joe Jackson. And so are the rest of the baseball stories that I witnessed as a child.

Meanwhile, Jason Whitlock is giving me pause about the Alex Rodriguez book's claims:

"Not long ago, sports writer Selena Roberts compared the Duke lacrosse players to gang members and career criminals.

She claimed that the players’ unwillingness to confess to or snitch about a rape (that did not happen) was the equivalent of drug dealers and gang members promoting antisnitching campaigns.

When since-disgraced district attorney Mike Nifong whipped up a media posse to rain justice on the drunken, male college students, Roberts jumped on the fastest, most influential horse, using her New York Times column to convict the players and the culture of privilege that created them.

Proven inaccurate, Roberts never wrote a retraction for the columns that contributed to the public lynching of Reade Seligmann, Colin Finnerty and David Evans.

Instead, she moved on to Sports Illustrated, a seat on ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters” and a new target, baseball slugger Alex Rodriguez.

Last week, the New York Daily News and The New York Times acquired “leaked” copies of Roberts’ soon-to-be-released biography, “A-Rod.” In it, according to the two New York newspapers, Roberts paints a highly unflattering picture of Rodriguez as a human being and, among other things, speculates that Rodriguez used steroids in high school.

Roberts’ speculative opinions are deemed as so credible by ESPN and others that the Worldwide Leader ran all-day updates stating that Selena Roberts believes that it’s “irrefutable” that Rodriguez used performance-enhancing drugs while a teenager.

At no point did ESPN’s TV anchors or radio broadcasters mention that Roberts was the same person who led the media charge against the Duke lacrosse players. I listened to Roberts’ interview on Dan Patrick’s radio show. Patrick never asked her about Duke lacrosse or why we should trust her reporting.

In its news story about her book, The New York Times failed to allude to her position on the Duke lacrosse case. I’ll give the Times credit for including one sentence of clarification in its news story:

“Some of the accusations in the book are based on anonymous sources, and others are simply presented as knowledge the author has without an explanation of how the information was obtained.”

Translation: the majority of the stuff written in her book is information the National Enquirer might reject."

That article can be read here. It is also very good.

The bottom line is that Roberts is a crusader. Whitlock basically claimed she had a chip on her shoulder and would say anything to further her perspective, which is apparently that athletes encourage chauvinism. Both Whitlock and myself agree with her stance. But we don't agree with her methods.

Anyone who is using news to push an agenda should make 100 percent certain that any claims they are printing are backed up by credible people. Moral backruptcy plus an agenda leads to Fox News. The people on that channel are so intent on getting people on their side that they feel comfortable fabricating, exaggerating and using questionable sources in their quest. The worst part is that these extrapolations are also presented as pure fact frequently. Roberts sounds like she is cut from the same cloth, but coming from a more liberal, feminist framework. Shoddy journalism is shoddy journalism, no matter what political views they are espousing.

Roberts' anonymous sources could be knowledgeable. Or they could be her next door neighbor's grandfather with Alzheimer's. She doesn't strike me as trustworthy.

For Rodriguez's legacy, it really doesn't matter whether the allegations are true. He is already out of the Hall of Fame, and he is already viewed as a cheater. Most fans probably already see him as a lifelong steroid user. His plaque has been burned. I hope he helps the Yankees win another World Series or two. My cubby could use a couple more notches on it.

And in my mind's eye, my view shifts from the glut of dirty players to the final two untarnished stickers. Ken Griffey Jr., as a Seattle Mariner, poses after a home run. Derek Jeter dives across home plate and hits a ball to the opposite field. The rest of the cluster seems to be beckoning to them, but the last centimeter of youthful hope refuses to let me see them as part of the overall picture. As long as these two remain clean, there will be plenty for me to tell my children.

I check ESPN.com to see where Derek Jeter stands on his current home run total. He is currently at 210. As a child, I desperately wanted to see him reach 300. He almost certainly never will. And if in fact he is as clean as I believe he is (and I wouldn't be too surprised if he took amphetamines. I think almost everyone since Joe DiMaggio has, and hey, it's a really long season) I really, really respect that he will barely miss that important milestone. In the steroids era, he didn't have to. But he may just have had the integrity to present his case to the voters fairly.

The Final Chimp Rodeo Count...And I'm back to Suicide Squeeze

Hey there loyal non-readers!
I have officially finished my stint with the Chimpanzee Rodeo blog for Kevin Blackistone's sports journalism class at the University of Maryland. This blog now has my undivided attention again. Here are some links with recent work of mine.

1) On Nick Swisher's hot start...link here.

2) On the new Yankee Stadium...link here.

3) On Xavier Nady's injury...link here.

4) On Johnny Damon's choice words for Chien-Ming Wang...link here.

5) On Jed Lowrie's injury and the Boston shortstop situation...link here.

6) On Wang's demotion to the minors and Phil Hughes' callup...link here.

7) On Carlos Pena's prowess...link here.

8) On Hughes' debut...link here.

9) On Robinson Cano's resurgence...link here.

Hope you enjoy the last of my blogs from that wonderful experience. I look forward to devoting my time to this site once again.
All the best,
Nick Ruggia

Rookie Pitcher Adenhart's Death a Tragedy

Right before the Orioles/Yankees game started this afternoon, I was perplexed to see Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart receive a moment of silence. A large image of his face and name, and his birth and death years, filled the screen. I got to ESPN.com and sure enough, the 22-year old stud was killed in a car crash. My sincerest condolences go out to his friends, family and fans, and I am outraged.

Check out my plea for common courtesy on Chimpanzee Rodeo. And America, drive safely. Not just for yourself, but for the sake of everyone else on the road.

Around the AL East--Chimpanzee Style

I did a summary of today's studs and duds in the AL East for Chimpanzee Rodeo. Thought I'd share the link with you guys as is quickly becoming my custom.

Read it here.

Yankees Lose on Opening Day...and I See Reasons to Smile

Hey folks...
I know it's obnoxious that my posts are currently appearing on a different site, but I wrote a pretty good analysis of the Yankees' Opening Day loss to the Orioles over at Chimpanzee Rodeo, so I'm going to link over. Oh, and don't be fooled. There aren't two writers on this blog. I just added my GMail account because blogger is lunching out about non-Google accounts...

Check out the piece here

Chimpanzee Rodeo...it's been a wild ride!

Hey there loyal fans...sike!

I've been on a hiatus from this account because of issues with my account. But in the meanwhile, I have been keeping an AL East blog for a class I am taking with Kevin Blackistone at the University of Maryland. Some of the topics I've covered recently:

1) The Yankees third base battle (read here)

2) Appreciating the World Baseball Classic (here)

3) Curt Schilling's retirement (here)

4) David Price being sent to the minors (here)

5) Boston's depth (here)

and my most recent one:

6) Jeter and Damon being switched in the batting order for the Yankees (here)

Hope you guys enjoy and I will keep linking to Chimpanzee Rodeo while I am writing there...

All the best,

       Nick

Posada Crushes the Ball in Home Debut

Jorge Posada looked sharp yesterday in the Yankees home debut, which they won 5-1 over Tampa Bay to improve to 2-0 this spring. In the third inning, the temporary designated hitter mashed a monster shot off Chad Orvella to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. His swing looked fantastic. He followed that with an RBI ground-rule double in the fifth, finishing 2-2 with a pair of RBI.

Mark Teixeira hit a single in two trips in his debut, and Xavier Nady had a ground-rule double of his own prior to Posada's second hit. The other starters didn't fare as well. Johnny Damon, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera and Jose Molina were all 0-2, and Derek Jeter was 0-3. Rodriguez struck out and grounded into a double play.

Shelley Duncan provided the rest of the Yankee offense with a 3-run home run in the seventh.

On the mound, Phil Hughes pitched two innings of shutout, no-hit ball with two strikeouts. He was wild, however, walking one and hitting two batters. Phil Coke got the win, pitching two scoreless innings while allowing one hit and fanning one batter. Brian Bruney, Mark Melancon, and Jonathan Albaladejo all pitched perfect innings, and Bruney and Melancon each struck out a batter. Damaso Marte allowed one hit in his inning, but didn't surrender any runs, and J. Brent Cox gave up a run on three hits in his inning of work.

The World Baseball Classic is fast approaching...and I hope this year's MLB games have a Classic mode...

Back From Catatonic State

Hey Yankees fans,
I have been on a bit of a vacation from posting here ever since Alex Rodriguez and PEDs hit the news cycle. I apologize for that, but I simply didn't know what side to come down on. On one hand, I felt like I should keep supporting him, because he is my second favorite player and the greatest player I have ever seen. On the other hand, with the steroid situation, I feel like he deceived us all and will likely earn the career home run title via dishonesty. I still don't have an answer, but I considered not watching the Yanks this year. I considered shutting down this blog. I can't do either. Spring Training has officially begun, and Alex Rodriguez hit his first home run in his first official at-bat, and that allows me the opportunity to do what I love, analyze baseball, and not the moral fiber of the people who play it. Welcome to 2009.

The final thing I will say about steroids is that if Derek Jeter ever tests positive, or is credibly linked to them, I don't think I will ever root for the Yankees again.

PS- I just bought MLB.TV Premium package and it is looking considerably better than last year...it stinks being out of New York, but at least I can watch the games!

Orioles add Hill, Wigginton

The Baltimore Orioles have managed to add Former Cubs' left-hander Rich Hill to their starting rotation mix, for a player to be named. Hill is an extremely talented youngster who struggled with his control in the majors, minors and winter ball recently after going 11-8 with a 3.92 ERA in 2007. This is the second time in recent weeks that Baltimore has benefitted from the Cubs being overstocked following the trade for Felix Pie.

Hill is being reunited with his AA and AAA coaches Alan Dunn and Rick Kranitz, who worked him through similar problems during his time there. It probably won't hurt to have them, but Camden Yards strikes me as a place where a guy can become scared to throw strikes because, as the French say, it is le launching pad. He is already used to that, however, because he pitched well in Wrigley Field.

Nonetheless, Hill is a guy who could benefit from a regular spot in a starting rotation. The Orioles seem intent on giving him every opportunity to do that.  He is also 29 years old, so his best seasons should theoretically be hitting right now. The O's frankly need more upside in their rotation, and Hill could provide that if he can find the strike zone. They had to wave goodbye to Brandon Burres to make room for Hill on the roster, but that probably wasn't too painful.

Baltimore also signed Ty Wigginton to a two year contract, adding some versatile pop to back up Aubrey Huff, Brian Roberts and Melvin Mora in the infield. It appears that Kevin Millar is done with the team in the wake of this signing.

Wigginton is an upgrade, and he hit 23 home runs in 386 at-bats last season. The Orioles have a nice enough hitting team, but their pitching is still a serious question mark. Now would be the time to check in with the White Sox and see if the rumored Roberts for Gavin Floyd is still of interest. Wigginton could step in capably, albeit worse than Roberts, at second base. A front three of Jeremy Guthrie, Floyd and Hill could make them a serious club. But that is extraordinarily unlikely.

Bad Day for '90s Yankees Class Perception

The '90s Yankees, loved and hated as they were, were perceived to be classy around the league. They played the game the right way. A sacrifice fly in a key situation was valued as much as a big home run. They played the game with one goal: to win. So anything that devalues that perception of class and determination affects everyone's perception of that dynasty, and two new stories have emerged that threaten that glamor.

Much of the respect the organization received emanated from manager Joe Torre. He is seen in baseball as a player's manager, a calming presence that managed to shut down the sensationalism of the New York media market. But apparently Torre has forgotten that important part of his image and has opted to publish a tell-all book about his time with the Yankees. While the book isn't viewed as a smear campaign, he tells some hard secrets about Alex Rodriguez and vents about his relationship with General Manager Brian Cashman.

Apparently A-Fraud, as the book claims the Yankees called Rodriguez in the clubhouse, is unfazed by Torre's going public. I, on the other hand, am fazed. I am up and down on A-Rod myself, and frequently have referred to him as "Sally Girl" when he strikes out or grounds into a double play in a clutch situation, but that doesn't make it okay for his former manager to tear him a new one for trying to fit in in New York. The guy isn't Pacman Jones. He may be phony, and he may be sleeping with a woman almost twice his age who peaked in the 1980s and early '90s, but I never got the sense that he was a particularly bad guy.

This book should undermine Torre's credibility throughout the game, particularly with former Yankees players and his current Dodgers' roster. You don't want to be Jose Canseco, and this move feels more like something he would be more likely to do than Torre. Nobody likes a snitch, especially one who has built a reputation as a trustworthy authority figure. There was simply no reason for him to go "Deep Throat" on this issue.

As for the players, well Dwight Gooden and David Justice have both been accused by former Mets' clubhouse assistant and George Mitchell darling Kirk Radomski of taking steroids. They both have refuted his claims. I don't mean to cast doubt on either of them, and we should wait for more information before we assume anything, but it definitely has been the case that this type of accusation has usually turned out to be true so far.

"Doc" Gooden was the redemption story of the 1996 Yankees. He came back from a well-publicized addiction to crack cocaine to win 11 games for that World Series team. He pitched a no-hitter along the way. That Radomski claims to have taken urine tests for him is an upsetting blow. It isn't specified when this occurred, just that it was 1990s.

As for Justice, he was a midseason acquisition for the 2000 Yankees who carried the left-handed power hitting role for that team. He hit 41 home runs for Cleveland and the Yankees that season, on the way to 305 dingers for his career. And Radomski claims to have sold him steroids.

Justice was mentioned in the Mitchell Report. He claimed he received HGH from Brian McNamee, not knowing what it was, after McNamee told him it would help him recover from an injury. Once he saw that the drug was administered by needle, he claims, he could not do it. He admitted that he probably would have done it if it were a pill.

These new allegations by Radomski make that version of the story seem less credible. The fact that he claimed his transaction with Justice happened right after the 2000 World Series puts his whole season in doubt. No one likes to think that one of the Yankees' key players was juicing in a historic season that saw the Yankees beat the Mets in the Fall Classic.

The fact that Justice has popped up twice like this leads me to doubt his version of events. I feel a little more sympathy for Gooden because he has been so forthright about his addiction to crack. It seems to me that he has already owned up to his mistakes, and he may be more likely to be honest in this type of scenario. Either way, it hurts the reputation of the entire organization and that of the gritty teams that won four championships in five years to end the last decade.

Between this and Joe Torre's bush league, kick 'em where it hurts book, the '90s Yankees lost some luster today.

Pettitte Back for One More Year

Andy Pettitte and the Yankees have agreed on an incentive-laden one-year contract that will make him their fifth starter next year.

The contract will pay him $5.5 million in base salary, but offers an additional $6.5 million in bonuses based on innings pitched and days spent on the active roster. If he doesn't spend time on the disabled list and pitches 210+ innings this year, he will earn the full $12 million.

Earlier this offseason, Pettitte rejected a $10 million proposal from the Yankees, but he clearly wanted to pitch in the New Yankee Stadium. As a Yankee from 1995-2003 and from 2007 up until the present, Pettitte, along with Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera, is one of the last bridges to the '90s Yankees dynasty. While the current deal guarantees less money, the incentives are relatively easy to attain.

The 2009 Yankees rotation should look something like this: C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Chien-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain and Pettitte. Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Alfredo Aceves, Sergio Mitre and the other youngsters will have to wait in the wings unless someone gets injured or Joba Chamberlain moves back to the bullpen (which, for the record, I am dead set against).

While I am against this signing on the grounds that Pettitte is old, and was very ineffective in the second half last season, I will never really get tired of watching him. David Cone and him were my two favorite pitchers growing up, so I hope he pulls a Mike Mussina and reinvents himself this season and makes idiots like me feel bad for doubting him. In reality, as a fifth starter, Pettitte should be just fine. It's just a shame to let Phil Hughes waste away in the minors when he clearly needs big league experience at this point to step forward.

Pettitte admitted to using HGH after being mentioned in the Mitchell Report last spring. With the distraction of that likely to be considerably smaller this season, I would not be surprised to see him bounce back somewhere between his 2007 numbers of 15-9 and a 4.05 and 2008 stats of 14-14 with a 4.54.

WBC Provisionals Star-Studded, Irrelevant, or Cuban

The World Baseball Classic provides Major League Baseball fans with a new periodic reminder of the status of baseball around the globe. Some teams, like the Dominican Republic and the United States, are comparable to All-Star teams in overall big name talent. Japan mixes stars from MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball. Others, like the Netherlands, Australia and Italy have a few familiar names, but simply don't have the talent to compete with the top class of the world's teams. And then there are the surprises...like Cuba, Taiwan and Korea, who use mainly unknown players, but come from rich baseball-playing cultures.

Here are my breakdowns of the familiar names, by position:

USA

SP- Jake Peavy, Roy Oswalt, Scott Kazmir, Justin Verlander, John Danks

RP- Jonathan Broxton, Scot Shields, Brian Fuentes, J.P. Howell, Joe Nathan, J.J. Putz, B.J. Ryan

C- Brian McCann, Chris Iannetta, A.J. Pierzynski

1B- Kevin Youkilis, Derrek Lee

2B- Dustin Pedroia, Brian Roberts

3B- Chipper Jones, Evan Longoria, David Wright

SS- Derek Jeter, Jimmy Rollins

OF- Grady Sizemore, Ryan Braun, Carlos Quentin, Curtis Granderson, Ryan Ludwick, Vernon Wells

My take: Solid all around. One of the best two bullpens in the Classic. Disappointing rotation given the depth of American starters, but there is less patriotism with American pitchers than with other countries. Salary is the primary concern, so why play for free and risk injury? And I thought that John Lackey was on this roster. What happened? He would really help. Another question is who will get the lion's share at third? If it's Chipper, can you honestly say he's the best out of the group? They could use one of those guys at another position, if someone played one. Rollins is better than Jeter at this point, but won't play as much supposedly. Great hitting outfield. They will undoubtedly be good. But come on, boys, win this one for Obama.

Dominican Republic

SP- Edinson Volquez, Ervin Santana, Francisco Liriano, Fausto Carmona, Pedro Martinez

RP- Juan Cruz, Damaso Marte, Rafael Perez, Jose Arredondo, Carlos Marmol, Fernando Rodney, Jose Valverde, Francisco Cordero

C- Miguel Olivo

1B- Albert Pujols, Carlos Pena

2B- Robinson Cano, Placido Polanco

3B- Alex Rodriguez, Aramis Ramirez

SS- Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes

OF- Vladimir Guerrero, Alfonso Soriano, Jose Guillen, Willy Taveras

My take: Scary-high potential in that rotation. Better bullpen than the USA. Weaker at catcher, outfield and at second, probably better everywhere else. This is my favorite team in the Classic, but then again, they were last time, too.

Puerto Rico

SP- Javier Vazquez, Ian Snell, Jonathan Sanchez, Joel Pineiro

RP- Kiko Calero, Javier Lopez, Pedro Feliciano, J.C. Romero

C- Geovany Soto, Bengie Molina, Ivan Rodriguez, Yadier Molina

1B- Carlos Delgado

2B- Felipe Lopez

3B- Mike Lowell, Ramon Vazquez

SS- Mike Aviles

OF- Carlos  Beltran, Alex Rios, Bernie Williams

My Take: Solid players everywhere, but not top-flight on the world stage.

Venezuela

SP- Johan Santana, Carlos Zambrano, Felix Hernandez, Anibal Sanchez, Armando Galarraga

RP- Cesar Jimenez, Renyel Pinto, Rafael Betancourt, Jorge Julio, Francisco Rodriguez

C- Dioner Navarro, Ramon Hernandez, Max Ramirez

1B- Miguel Cabrera

2B- Jose Lopez

3B- Carlos Guillen, Melvin Mora

SS- Omar Vizquel, Cesar Izturis

OF- Magglio Ordonez, Bobby Abreu, Juan Rivera, Carlos Gonzalez

My take: That rotation is filthy. Besides Rodriguez, the bullpen is short. Weak at shortstop, and slightly weak in the outfield. This team is a contender. They would probably win it all if the pitch limits were not so strict strictly due to the presence of Johan, Zambrano and King Felix. 

Mexico

SP- Matt Garza, Yovani Gallardo, Oliver Perez, Alfredo Aceves, Jorge De La Rosa

RP- Dennys Reyes, Oscar Villarreal, Eddie Guardado, Joakim Soria

C- Rod Barajas

1B- Adrian Gonzalez

2B- Edgar Gonzalez

3B- Jorge Cantu

SS- Jerry Hairston, Jr.

OF- Scott Hairston, Karim Garcia, Alfredo Amezaga

My Take: This team is not a joke, but they aren't going to go that far either.

Canada

SP- Rich Harden, Jeff Francis

RP- Jesse Crain, Eric Gagne

C- Russell Martin

Infield- Justin Morneau, Joey Votto

Outfield- Jason Bay, Mark Teahen, Matt Stairs

My take: Some really solid players have crossed the border to the South to play in the bigs. Unfortunately, some of the best ones they have seem to be concentrated in redundant positions. 

Japan

SP- Daisuke Matsuzaka

RP- Masa Kobayashi, Hideki Okajima

C- Kenji Johjima

Infield- Akinori Iwamura

Outfield- Ichiro Suzuki, Kosuke Fukudome

My take: This list may look short, but don't let it fool you. At least not again. It is no fluke that Japan won the last WBC. Okay, maybe it was a fluke, because they didn't look like the best team to me. But the Japan League is very good, and some unknowns (at least for us) will definitely shine a la Dice-K in '06. Everyone seems to be betting it's Yu Darvish this time.

Panama

Manny Corpas, Carlos Ruiz, Carlos Lee

My take: No Mariano Rivera, no chance. In fact, no chance anyway.

Korea

Jae Seo, Byung-Hyun Kim

My take: Boring. But they will probably win some games, because they were strong last time with a similarly snore-inducing squad.

Taiwan

Zilch

My take: They need to clone Chien-Ming Wang and teach some of his clones how to hit. And I don't care how many times you call it Taipei. It's Taiwan to me, because that's what the products I love say.

Italy

Lenny Dinardo, Jason Grilli, Mike Napoli, Frank Catalonotto, Robert Fick, Nick Punto, Chris Denorfia.

My take: Ragtag assortment of never-weres and Mike Napoli. Not promising.

Australia

Grant Balfour.

They aren't winning the World Baseball Classic. But I bet they'd have a pretty good shot in a drinking contest.

Netherlands

Jair Jurrjens.

My take: When colonialism ends, so too does the Dutch baseball enterprise. Well, it's not all that alive anymore now that Andruw Jones can't hit a moose with a Jeep.

Cuba

Nobody who made it to the USA...guaranteed.

My take: Cuba is fascinating. When they play in international tourneys, we get a glimpse of some very talented players who would otherwise likely not be known to us. Well, barring a succesful defection and a minor league contract.

South Africa

Yuck.

My take: No. There will not be a South Africa in the second round this year.

China

No one you would know.

My take: Do I need to write about this one?

Remember, these rosters will be cut down to 28 by the time the Classic starts. And some big names will likely be barred by their employers.

Jeter, A-Rod headline Yankees' WBC Provisionals

The 45-man provisional rosters for the teams that will compete in the World Baseball Classic have been announced.

Derek Jeter, also known as Captain America, will indeed be just that this spring when the games kick off. As the veteran captain and starting shortstop for the U.S. squad, Jeter carries the weight of the team's success on his back even though he is nowhere near the best player.

Alex Rodriguez will play Benedict Arnold to Derek Jeter's George Washington in the 2009 Classic. Rodriguez will be playing for the Dominican Republic this season, despite playing for the States in the '06 tournament and spending much of his childhood on our shores.

The provisional rosters will be pared down before the start of play.

Other Yankees listed on the provisional rosters included: Pitcher Alfredo Aceves (Mexico), outfielder Melky Cabrera, second baseman Robinson Cano and pitchers Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras and Damaso Marte (Dominican Republic) and catcher Francisco Cervelli (Italy).

Former Yankees on the list include: catcher Dioner Navarro and outfielders Juan Rivera and Bobby Abreu (Venezuela), pitcher Octavio Dotel (Dominican Republic), catcher Sal Fasano (Italy), outfielder Karim Garcia (Mexico), pitcher Ted Lilly (USA), third baseman Mike Lowell, outfielder Bernie Williams, pitcher Javier Vazquez and catcher Ivan Rodriguez (Puerto Rico), pitcher Ramiro Mendoza and outfielder Ruben Rivera (Panama) and pitcher Sidney Ponson (Netherlands).

O's Acquire Pie from Cubs

The Baltimore Orioles have acquired former top outfield prospect Felix Pie from the Chicago Cubs for left-handed starter Garrett Olson and minor league right-hander Henry Williamson.

Olson has looked pretty bad in his first 33 Major League starts. He has posted a 6.87 ERA, going 10-13 with 111 strikeouts in 165 innings and a 1.82 WHIP for his career. This season, he was a hair better, going 9-10 with a 6.65 ERA with 83 Ks in 132.2 IP and a 1.73 WHIP in 26 starts. But, I guess the Cubs are reasoning that 25-year-old lefties don't grow on trees.

Williamson is not one of the top-10 prospects in the Baltimore organization, and none of his tools merited mention as top level in the 2008 report by Baseball America. He's essentially an organizational depth-minded throw-in. Olson will compete with Sean Marshall for the fifth starter job in Chicago. Ouch. Not a lot there...I wonder if they would prefer to have Jake Peavy?

Pie, who turns 24 in February, is definitely the most interesting piece in this trade. He is extremely athletic, a true center fielder, and paired with Nick Markakis and Adam Jones, the Orioles look to be very good in outfield run prevention (unless all of the balls land in the stands.)

Although Baltimore seems to have not taken my advice and traded Brian Roberts for Gavin Floyd, this deal is a smart move for them. Their pitching is very weak, and losing Olson doesn't help. Mark Hendrickson and Koji Uehara don't strike fear in my heart, especially at Camden Yards. They are not constructed to contend this season, and won't be a threat until some of their minor league starters (read uber-prospect Brian Matusz) have found their footing at the big league level to support Jeremy Guthrie and give the team a chance to win. They hope that at least one out of the group of Chris Waters, Matt Albers and Radhames Liz will emerge as a solid starter this season. Albers had a good season as a reliever last year, and Liz has good stuff. Then again, so did Daniel Cabrera.

Pie still has a chance to emerge as a solid Major Leaguer. He desperately needed a change of scenery, and the O's seem like a good fit. It's a young, smaller market non-contender with much less pressure, the perfect place for a young stud to develop his game through logging significant playing time. He strikes out too much, and doesn't hit for a high enough average right now, but he has double-digit home run and stolen base potential, even this season. His numbers in the minors have been consistently good. 

Luke Scott will likely move to designated hitter and Aubrey Huff to first base if Pie gets the starting center field gig coming out of spring training, which is likely because he is out of options and clearly needs a crack at the majors if he is going to approach or reach his high ceiling.

I like any move that makes the Orioles younger and more talented. They were able to accomplish that in this trade because the Cubs weren't willing to commit to Pie spending this season in the majors. Good move for now and for the future. A Markakis/Jones/Pie outfield has an extraordinarily high ceiling for years to come. Now to get cracking on that starting rotation...

Yankees in on Garcia

Apparently signing injury-prone former stars to low-cost deals is the trend of the falling economy.

ESPN.com is reporting that the Yankees are one of four teams competing for the services of Freddy Garcia, most recently of the Detroit Tigers, but a star with the Mariners earlier this decade.

He started three games late in the season with Motown, each for five innings, and had two good starts against the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers, allowing two hits in each. He also gave up five runs against the Kansas City Royals.

The Mets, White Sox and Rangers apparently have interest in him as well.

The ChiSox and Rangers must have liked what they saw in September, but Detroit is not thought to be interested in bringing Garcia back.

While the Yankees have long been enamored of Garcia, a cog in the trade that brought Randy Johnson to the Astros long ago, I can't see what he provides that Ben Sheets doesn't.

Garcia has been on the field substantially less than Sheets the last three years, making 47 total starts for the White Sox, Phillies and Tigers. He is 19-15 over that period with ERAs of 4.54, 5.90 and 4.20. And that's counting his fluky 17-9 record in 2006 over 33 starts. Sheets has made 72 starts over the same period, going 31-21 with ERAs of 3.82, 3.82, and 3.09.

The numbers don't add up. Sheets is available at an extraordinarily reasonable price for his talent level. If you want to scrape the bargain bin, he is the diamond in the rough.

UPDATE: The New York Mets have signed Freddy Garcia to a minor league contract for next season and he will compete for a spot at the back of their rotation.

It was reported earlier that the Yankees and Mets were the two finalists in the hunt for the 33-year-old righty reclamation project. Him, Santana, Mike Pelfrey and John Maine look pretty good if Garcia can show some resemblance to his old self in the spacious new ballpark in Queens.

Personally, I'm glad that the Yankees didn't sign him. I would rather see a gamble taken on Phil Hughes than on a 33-year-old. Let him take his lumps and learn how to pitch at the highest level if he has to. Just let him pitch. And Hughes ceiling, at this point, has to be higher than Garcia's. He is out of the 28-32 peak years, although not by much, but is also recovering from serious injuries. He isn't likely to be the guy he was before. And Hughes' ceiling may be higher than Garcia's anyway. He is still young.

Red Sox Bolster Outfield, Continue Signing Injured Players

The Boston Red Sox have continued their offseason spree of signing injured players to bolster their squad with the addition of former Dodgers closer Takashi Saito.

Saito, when healthy, has impressed in the weak NL West since his arrival in the United States. He will join fellow Japanese pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and bullpen mate Hideki Okajima. The Red Sox also added prospect Junichi Tazawa this offseason.

Saito, similar to Sox newcomers Rocco Baldelli, Brad Penny and John Smoltz, is an All-Star caliber talent who is coming off of injury problems.

Possibly because of the injury history of outfielders J.D. Drew and Baldelli, the Red Sox re-signed midseason acquisition Mark Kotsay.

Saito, when healthy, is a very solid bullpen arm who will help stabilize the Red Sox late-inning pitching along with Okajima and right-handed closer Jonathan Papelbon.

Out of the pool of four injured former stars, the Red Sox have to figure someone will get injured, but they are starting to have the kind of star depth that makes it almost irrelevant who plays. If Baldelli goes down, Kotsay steps in. If Penny and Smoltz get hurt, Clay Buchholz and Justin Masterson are available for use. If Saito goes down, Manny Del Carmen or the newly acquired Ramon Ramirez comes in. This team is going to be tough, and they are gambling on very valuable chips, but have a lot of backup in case of trouble. I guess they learned from Ortiz's injury.

BERROA VERSUS RANSOM: BATTLE OF THE SPRING!!! sike...

The Yankees have filled the most glaring void on their team: a weak-hitting shortstop with a lower fielding percentage than Derek Jeter last season. The man: Angel Berroa. A player so good, the Kansas City Royals outclassed him, and the Dodgers picked him up for a poopsicle, a washing machine, an autographed copy of George W. Bush's autobiography and a dead parrot.

Berroa, a former Rookie of the Year who has become one of the worst players in Major League Baseball, will compete with fellow fringe-man Cody Ransom for the backup infield job created when we traded Wilson Betemit for the now irrelevant and apparently on-the-market Nick Swisher.

Im rooting for Ransom! He is less disappointing because he hasn't done anything of note at the big league level to hope for.

As for Swisher being on the market, apparently the Yankees are trying to move either him or Xavier Nady to thin out their corner outfield/first base surplus.

I was going to write a post imploring the Yanks to keep Nady, but Rob Neyer beat me to the punch again, so it seemed I was stuck to writing about Berroa until I read what he wrote.

Nady is a fourth outfielder in Neyer's opinion. And for once I strongly disagree with him. The guy hit .305 with 25 homers and 97 RBI last season, which he played much of for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I am very confused what about those numbers says fourth outfielder. To me, that says number 5 hitter on most teams. He doesn't walk enough. Which is a big deal, but come on. The rest of the stats are there and he is a good enough all-around player to warrant time on the field. That being said, I bet he hits closer to the .268 he hit after the trade last season, and his OBP might be too low next year if it does happen that way, but he deserves a shot after the flashes of brilliance he showed in '08. I don't feel comfortable with what Swisher and Hideki Matsui will produce next season. They both have serious question marks, based on performance and health, respectively. He is not expendable, especially with Melky Cabrera or Brett Gardner in center field. It's frustrating that Neyer thinks he would be worth trading for a decent reliever, especially considering the strength our bullpen showed last season without an effective Damaso Marte.

I view Professor X as one of the keys to next year's squad. Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada and Nady will determine how good the lineup really is. Unless we acquire a Jorge Julio-type for him, in which case the Yanks may not be as good as advertised. If we could get someone near Carlos Marmol's level of setup effectiveness, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I don't think that that many Major League GMs take LSD as a performance enhancer.