You aren’t factoring in his value as a pitcher.  I remember he pitched a perfect inning in a blow out for the Red Sox last year.

I don’t think he projects better than Swisher on the mound.  But he does project better than Soriano.

I’ve always liked Bill Hall.  I remember a highlight of him in RF a while back - he took out a piece of paper from his back pocket before certain batters came up to the plate and adjusted his position based on some sort of research written down.

[3] That’s what you think. He was actually trying to memorize the stage positions to perform “Memories” from Cats.

[3] That’s what you think. He was actually trying to memorize the stage positions to perform “Memories” from Cats.

Thus begins the Bill Hall - Mr. Mistoffelees meme.

[5] I am 100% happy with that.

CAIRO is not a fan of his.

Set “TEAM” = “NYA” and rerun it. Should make a huge difference.

You know, Derrek Lee actually hit right-handers a lot better than he hit lefties last year and his career split between the two is pretty tiny (97 OPS+ against righties and 109 OPS+ against lefties), so why not Derrek Lee for the open DH spot?

Did you do projections for Lee before, SG?

[8] Derrek Lee says he’ll retire unless he finds the right fit at the right price.  Does that sound like a match for the Yankees?

I get the sense Lee wants a starting job as a 1B somewhere, so I never did projections for him.  Looks like his baseline in DNYS is .270/.354/.457 which would effectively replace Montero’s baseline projection. 

He stunk for Baltimore but hit pretty well for Pittsburgh last year, and I can’t help but wonder if part of that is the talent disparity between the leagues. 

You could do worse, I guess.  Probably more bat than any of the other available DH candidates aside from Branyan.  Can only play 1B, but plays it pretty well, and being a switch-hitter means you don’t have to pinch-hit for him when the opposing team tries to go for a platoon advantage.

Can we help Hall’s projection by paying him more money so that TWN pitchers exceed the HBP projections ? I mean, there are 19 games or something like that. 3.5 PA’s per, that’s a potential 70 HBP swing to the upside and should be good for at least 2 wins.

He “works out” with Kevin Long?

[12]
Does that mean that Kevin see something and can make him a good hitter again?

...or does that mean he’s already absorbed all of Kevin’s hitting wisdom and is now as good a hitter as he’s going to be?

...or does that mean he’s already absorbed all of Kevin’s hitting wisdom and is now as good a hitter as he’s going to be?

I am pretty sure we have decided that is impossible. No mere mortal can absorb all of KLong’s knowledge.

and being a switch-hitter means

Lee’s a switch hitter? Thought he was a righty.

[3]  Really?  I was at a Brewers/Mets game and I saw Corey Hart doing the same thing.  He had a little piece of paper in his back pocket and he kept writing something on it.  Never could figure out what he was doing.

Lee’s a switch hitter? Thought he was a righty.

You’re right.  I’m not sure who I’m confusing him with.

Eddie Murray?

Mickey Mantle

[3]  Really?  I was at a Brewers/Mets game and I saw Corey Hart doing the same thing.  He had a little piece of paper in his back pocket and he kept writing something on it.  Never could figure out what he was doing.

Maybe Hart got that from Hall.  I remember Hall doing it while on the Brewers.

Or maybe they were just passing notes back and forth to each other during the game.

Kevin Long may be a great hitting coach, but I don’t really think of him as the ideal workout buddy.

Eddie Murray?

No, it’s someone more recent.  Or it could be early on-set dementia.

[22]
Probably someone else named Lee.  Like Travis Lee or Lee May or Lee Maye.

In a Bill Hall thread… Bill Lee, of course.

Mark Texeira.  They were about equally valuable last season.

Lee Harvey Oswalt

Tenacious D?

Will Lee seriously retire if a good team is specifically looking to pay him $2-3 million dollars?

I sure hope he is not that prideful.

My brother came up with the theory that acquiring Morales from L.A.A. could be a solid move, what say you, gents?

[29] - Who would they give up?

I still like the J.D. Drew idea.

I still like the J.D. Drew idea.

Drew’s not a bad idea.  If he doesn’t decide to retire of course.  Drew also has the upside - if he plays well - of embarassing the Sox.

Here’s my spring wish; that if the Yankees DON’T sign anyone else for the team, we don’t let the disappointment for not getting a 1 WAR backup DH, cloud what the Yankees have done this off-season.

Mel - now, if you gave us Alvin Lee with the Yankee hat…
 
Don’t be mad at Mike: [33] is actually itself a metacomplaint.

34 Is A.L. Coming Home? That would be nice.

Look at what I started.

One of the great Yankees.

Here’s my spring wish; that if the Yankees DON’T sign anyone else for the team, we don’t let the disappointment for not getting a 1 WAR backup DH, cloud what the Yankees have done this off-season.

That doesn’t sound like complaining.

I don’t believe [37] would consider the Yankees to be a good fit.

Yankees hire Jimi Hendry!

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/01/yankees-hire-jim-hendry.html

[39] It’s a complaint about our complaining. Layers.

[39, 43] see [34].
Slackers.

[42] I’m pinning all future no-trade clauses on Hendry. Out in Illinois, we know Hendry is a nice guy and he’s been in baseball for a long time so he should be a good fit as long as they keep the keys to the car out of his hands.

[45] I will continue to blame Joba.

[45] “Hendry ... should be a good fit as long as they keep the keys to the car out of his hands.”

especially if there’s crosstown traffic and he’s going to shoot his old lady cuz he caught her messin round with another man

[47] I think that’s Lee-Roy Brown. Badest man in…well, you know.

[39] Yes pre-complaining about future complaining.  Also wish-casting. 

I am 100% certain that any future complaining will be Joba’s fault, and THAT wouldn’t have happened if Jeter had moved to 3rd instead of ARod.

[49]
Very nice, Mike.  Except that 100% is pretty lukewarm for this context.

Is anyone else concerned about the Hendry hiring?  I mean the guy sucked as a GM.  I’m sure he does some things well but I’d kind of like to know what they hired him to do, because if he ever took over for Cashman…

[51] No.

I think Cashman has a philosophy that the Yankees have enough money that they can keep out-of-work GMs on the payroll so that it might help their relationships when said GM gets a job again.

To wit, the Yankees paid Kevin Towers for a year and then he became a GM again. The Yankees have got to have a nice relationship with him, right?

And the Red Sox have shown us that having close ties with other team’s GMs can come in handy.

[53] And it paid off because the Yankees traded Juan Miranda for Scott Allen!

[52] - You’re just stilled pissed I don’t like Captain Crunch.

Hendry was not a great general manager but Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez for Jose Hernandez and other stuff was one of the greatest robberies of all time. And Hendry gave up basically nothing for Garciaparra, but caught a bad break when he broke down physically. He had a decent run there in ‘03-04, also did quite well in the Derrek Lee trade, which was panned by many at the time who totally overrated Hee Seop Choi.

The Cubs’ were working with an unfavorable playoff draw in 2008, when their right-handed heavy lineup was pitted against the Dodgers’ power right-handed starting pitching. The Soriano contract has been a nightmare pretty much, Milton Bradley was a disaster, too. He overpaid Dempster after getting great production out of him off the scrap heap, which is common mistake most general managers make (Dan Duquette did this all the time in Boston, even Billy Beane gave a nutty contract to Hatteberg)

Overall, the guy wasn’t a bad general manger. Was he excellent? No. Did he do a poor job evaluating at certain times? Absolutely.(Jacque Jones, Juan Pierre as everyday players) But he’s not the massive incompetent that people are making him out to be. Genius Theo has that team poised for over 90 losses this season. Blame Hendry if you want, but we’ll see how relying so completely on player development pays off for Chicago. There was some primetime talent available this offseason that won’t be in the winters to come.

[55] I’m not sure I’ev ever had Captain Crunch. It sounds disgusting though.

[56] Also, all of that.

I’m not sure I’ev ever had Captain Crunch.

You can make it at home.

1) Chew up some granola until smooth and creamy. DO NOT SWALLOW.

2) Spit into bowl. Repeat until you have several cups of semi-digested, fully masticated mush.

3) Add table sugar at 1:1 ratio.

4) Stir in corn syrup until stiff.

5) 2-3 drops yellow food color per cup.

6) Let dry until firm. Kneed into rods 3/4” round.

7) Using sharp knife, slice into 1/2” nuggets. (If you’ve ever made gnocchi you have this down).

8) Arrange nuggets on cookie sheet. You might want to put parchment paper down.

9) Bake 30 minutes at 250 to dry out and make crunchy.

Enjoy. Let me know if you need instructions on the crunchberries.

[58] I think I’ll stick to fresh fruit and oatmeal.

Food snob.

“He overpaid Dempster after getting great production out of him off the scrap heap”

If he were a Yankee we’d call him “Dumpster”

Food snob.

Damn right.

Found dry-aged rib eye last night for 5 dollars off a pound: best meal since I was in CT.

Pin, how do you make Count Chocula?
[glutton for punishment]

[62] I am interested in the horrifyingness of the answer to this.

Also of interest Reeses Cocoa Puffs.

[63] I’ll be brief.

No. I’ll be circumspect. In the interests of the family oriented nature of this site.

First you’ll need a whole bag of tootsie rolls, a tongue depressor, and access to a friend who’s sick. Really sick, because after they eat the tootsie rolls, you need them to…be productive…from both ends of the alimentary canal. You get the picture. Mix the…we’ll just call it “blowback”, with the…“throughput”. Add aformentioned corn syrup and cut in a quart bottle of yoohoo (Yogi’s favorite !) until you have a soupy emulsion.

Fold in a bag of rice crispies until coated. Spread out on cookie sheet to dry.

This site is turning into quite the diet aid.
By which I mean that I may never eat again.

[65] If you’re going to be like that, you can just forget about the Cocoa Puffs. [sniff]

[66] If the recipe calls for partial digestion by Crisp, I’m afraid that’s going to be out of the price range for any but the most affluent gourmands.

[66]
Don’t do that. Curiousity… I can see how it killed the cat…

[59] Hope you are getting your oatmeal steel cut and from the bulk bin. I’m assuming so.

Also, I made some granola the other day. Surprisingly easy.

I apologize for not referring to any of my recipe ingredients as “Veras”. This will be corrected….nah, let’s just let it pass. (See what I did there ?)

[69]  Naturally, although I’ve been getting quick oats recently, because it’s so easy to turn on my hot water heater and have a cup of tea and my oatmeal in about 90 seconds.

Can you believe a professional Major League player was actually traded for Jose Veras this offseason? Madness, I say, MADNESS!!

Found dry-aged rib eye last night for 5 dollars off a pound:

Be wary of discounted meat.

[73] One of the few good things about Texas: Central Market. It’s like a non-terrible, slightly more reasonably priced version of Whole Foods.

[58] “If you’ve ever made gnocchi you have this down”

My younger son requests gnocchi for dinner by asking for Pinocchio.

Re [64], y’all have heard of kopi luwak, right?

[75] Is that the shit-coffee Marc Maron was recently going on about?

I can see how it killed the cat

That’s because the cat is one of the ingredients.