seems like a realistic possibility.

For any other team, certainly.

For the Yankees, this just means Joba will get to the minor league rehab assignment and discover inexplicable arm fatigue.

In all seriousness, though, it’d be amazing to get Joba back this season.

It delights me how hard Joba is working to come back.

“Joba Chamberlain is just dying” - oh great.

[0] I’m hoping his stuff looks good enough that the Yankees would re-visit the notion of him as a starting pitcher in 2013

I thought we went over all this stuff already.

I would love to see Joba back as a starter.  I think he has much better pure stuff than any Yankee not named Sabathia.  He just needs the innings to realize his true potential and learn how to pitch to major league hitters.

I thought we went over all this stuff already.

No, I don’t think there’s been a discussion yet of whether Joba could be a starter rather than a reliever. Why don’t we start one?
/uggh

“Math is just crazy like that,” Granderson said.  h/t Lohud

Anyone care to comment?  SG?  rilke?  anyone?

[6]
I imagine he was thinking of quaternions turning out to reflect actual physical phenomena.

Mickey Mantle- great baseball name
Dan Uggla- not so much

Got to think this will be a tough weekend series. New ballpark that to my knowledge no Yankees have played in.  Crazy wild crowd rightfully excited about their young team which has played lights out in AL east of late. Something has to give. I would think the new environment favors the home team, but it will still be very interesting, one would think.  Maybe Bryce will like getting close to those Yankee uniforms.

Looking at stats for the Nats for this upcoming series, led to me looking at Harper’s numbers, which led me to looking back at the 2009 draft.

No. 25 Mike Trout (Angels-1) - Pick from Yankees as compensation for Free Agent Mark Teixeira
...
No. 28 Slade Heathcott (Yankees-1s) - Supplemental pick for failure to sign 2008 1st round choice Gerrit Cole

Ugh.  Three picks apart ...

[5] I’m for Joba as starter.  God knows that next year Kuroder will be under the knife, Pettitte back to green pastures, and Nova will be traded for an outfielder.

Trout was supposedly #2 on the Yankees draft board after Strasburg.

“Math is just crazy like that,” Granderson said.  h/t Lohud

Anyone care to comment?

It is.

The Yankees have a great record acquiring players named Trout. (That’s a statistic, right?)

Wait, so signing Teixeira cost them Trout?  Wonderful…

I presume that translates just as these sentences would, for the younger generation:
“Wait, so signing Teixeira cost them Farns?  Wonderful…”
or
“Wait, so signing Teixeira cost them Veras?  Wonderful…”

[2] This doesn’t sound sarcastic.  You okay?

[13] Flags fly forever…

[16] I hope so, because that’s how long Teix will be on the team.

[13] Maybe.  The Angels’ east coast scout was, I think, close friends with Trout’s dad.  So they were pretty familiar with him.  The Angels also had the 24th pick.  So if the Yankees hadn’t signed Teixeira, they would have had the 25th pick and the Angels could have still grabbed Trout with the 24th.

This line of thinking is self-defeating and irrelevant. Does anyone here honestly think Trout becomes Trout if he goes through the Yankees system? If you want to see what his likely fate would have been you’re looking at it in Heathcott.

Seriously. Would it be possible to trade for a young prospect with the caveat that the prospect has to be brought up through the other team’s minor leagues and even the ML until he’s pretty established? Something that gives NY the chance to demand his transfer at a later date of NY’s choosing?
They should seriously consider that kind of creative contract work.

What about Austin Jackson?  We’d be happy enough to have him, and he was developed by the Yankees.

So if the Yankees hadn’t signed Teixeira, they would have had the 25th pick and the Angels could have still grabbed Trout with the 24th.

Yeah, sounds like he was an Angel regardless.  I was just taking the opportunity to complain about Teixeira again.

Would it be possible to trade for a young prospect with the caveat that the prospect has to be brought up through the other team’s minor leagues and even the ML until he’s pretty established?

It’s not only possible.  It’s been done.  This past offseason.  Michael Pineda.

[21] and traded because he wasn’t going to be useful for another 2-3 seasons.  If he stayed with the Yankees he’d still be rehabbing from his appendectomy.

What do you mean by “useful”?  He’s been puttin’ up the WAR.  If Granderson didn’t exist, he’d be the center fielder, or maybe left fielder.

As much as we dislike Tex these days, had he not been in the lineup in 2009, Girardi would likely still be wearing 27. Winning world series is the name of the game.  I loved Don Mattingly’s years and particularly the first five when it seemed only a matter of time that he would be playing on the big stage.  Until it happens with Trout and the Angels, I am still glad we got #27 even if it took away the chance to draft him.

I read that Derek Jeter had the highest VOR of any major league player in 99. Could that be right? Still not good enough for a MVP.

I read that Derek Jeter had the highest VOR of any major league player in 99. Could that be right? Still not good enough for a MVP.

VORP?  Yes, Baseball Prospectus has Jeter at 92.2 BVORP (pretty sure that’s just old VORP), and Chipper Jones is second with 84.  Nearest AL player is Garciappara with 78.7.  Old VORP didn’t include anything for fielding, IDK if BVORP does.  Ivan Rodriguez was 40 back in 25th place…that’s position players only.

Jeter also lead AL position players in bWAR, and tied with Manny in fWAR.  If you discount Pedro (who lead in every value stat, often by a lot), Jeter should have won the MVP that year.  At the least, finishing 6th was a travesty.

[24] Nope. Cashman would have traded him for Javy Vazquez during Jackson’s disappointing 2011.

I read that Derek Jeter had the highest VOR of any major league player in 99.

I’m assuming you mean VORP?  VORP adjusts for position but ignores defense, and by whatever measure, Jeter probably wasn’t as valuable as Pedro Martinez was in 1999.  Most valuable position player, probably, depending on defense. 

But I don’t get as upset about Jeter not winning the MVP because he probably didn’t deserve it over Martinez.

[24] Jackson was traded by the Yankees because they wanted an .800+ OPS CF that season, not in 2-3, which is what Jackson’s trajectory was going to be.  The Yankees didn’t want to gamble on Ajax not becoming a 2-4 WAR player when they knew they could trade him for a GG CF that was already a 3+ WAR player.

Had they known he would have been “useful”, putting up 2-3 WAR out of the gate, I’m sure Cashman would have kept him and IPK.

I see no point at all in worrying about the Granderson trade.  Granderson has been excellent.  At the time, which is crucial, it was entirely unclear that Austin Jackson was going to hit his weight at the major-league level (given his K-rate and lack of power), and it was an open question as to whether IPK was really going to develop into a “number 3” as opposed to a #5 rotation filler guy.

It’s really worked out spectacularly well for all concerned.  Everybody won.

We’ve wasted too much time on this. I propose we halt the Teixeira-Trout-AJax argument at once and move immediately to a full discussion of Joba Chamberlain’s proper role on this ballclub.

I’m not worried about the trade at all.  I love Granderson.  I’m just pointing out that a really good player came out of the Yankees farm system, one who contributed right away at the major league level.

I’m just pointing out that a really good player came out of the Yankees farm system, one who contributed right away at the major league level.

I’ve read this a few times and I can’t discern the complaint.

Seriously though, I’m not sure Jackson was an MLB player when the Tigers got him.  He had a good rookie year, but it seemed to be propped up by quite a few unsustainable things.  Now, to his credit he appears to have fixed those things (like his strikeout rate and his lack of power), but I don’t know if that’s something Detroit should get credit for, or if it’s something Jackson should get credit for, and I also don’t know if it’s something that would have taken place if he was a Yankee.

A lot of people are upset that the Yankees let Melky go after his 2011 and 2012 seasons, but I’d be shocked if the Yankees would have kept him after his 2010 if he’d had it with them.  I look at Jackson’s 2011 in the same way.

And yeah, I love Granderson.  I think he’s one of my favorite Yankees ever.

I agree, I’m amazed by Melky and happy he’s doing well, but I wasn’t that upset to see him go and 2010 seemed to confirm that.  I was a Melky booster but I would never have wanted him after 2010.

Of course maybe 2010 happened because he was so upset about being traded.  Maybe he’d have had his 2012 year (equivalent) in 2010 if he’d stayed in pinstripes.

Grandy’s great- save he k’s a lot and can’t seem to hit over .270.  But yeah, I’m fine with the acquisition- except the contract matter… most convential thinking is that he will leave via free agency in order to resign Cano.  I guess a three or four year run was worth it though, depending on how you measure a season’s success. I do have to agree with SG that Austin J. may have been not given the rope to struggle over one season with Yanks as compared to Tigers.  Would he have been an instant success staying with Yanks? Hard to say but I kind of doubt it too.

Why so much debate in media about who has to go to make room for D Robby?
Cut Garcia and send Cody down and you have two slots. Leave Phelps up but give him some innings.  Despite Epply’s doubleplay he was pretty lucky. I don’t see what the management sees in the guy’s stuff.

Kay didn’t even broach the subject of waiving or trading Fredo.

Garcia is not going anywhere.  Phelps should go down to get innings.

Isn’t the obvious move to send Phelps down and let him pitch regularly in AAA?

Why? If he pitches this often in the ML, Phelps will never give up another run.
I mean - how valuable is that?

Robertson back. Phelps to A ball to build arm strength then to AAA.  Gardner got PRP therapy on elbow, only a strain/inflammation.  Elbow brace for 3/4 weeks.

Why so much debate in media about who has to go to make room for D Robby?

Yeah, like I mentioned last night there is basically a 1% chance that it is someone other than Phelps. They don’t pitch Phelps, he is young, he has options and he might even be better served pitching regularly as a starter in the Minors. It is a no-brainer. I mean, don’t get me wrong, on strictly a “let us send down the worst pitcher” standard, it wouldn’t be Phelps. But that’s not what is being decided. It is a mixture of who has options and who is Girardi planning on using going forward. And Girardi obviously likes Eppley and Garcia doesn’t have options, so Garcia will be the long man and Eppley the last of the situational relievers.

EDITED TO ADD: And since keith just posted, I guess it is a 0% chance.

You see the Mets are appealing to try to get Upton’s hit last night turned to an error on David Wright so that Dickey could get a no-hitter? Seems like an extremely difficult (near impossible, really) shot. I mean, hard hit ball from a fast runner that Wright would have had to bare hand to have a shot of throwing him out and he couldn’t bare hand it? That sure sounds like a hit.