Mo was placed on the 15—why exactly wouldn’t they immediately place him on the 60? Other than the fact that robots don’t typically take that long to be repaired?

No reason to put him on the 60 day until they want to make a 40 man roster move.

They did have to make a 40-man move. That’s why they transferred Pineda. I’m just curious what the rationale is for one player over another, or if it really even matters at all.

No clue then.  In case of alien healing technology then.

When I saw the clip the other day of Mo hitting the ground and when the news came back, I felt like a member of my family just passed away.  Not hyperbole… this is coming from someone old enough to have experienced such losses.  Obviously, a day to get over it has softened the blow.  But I am still heartbroken.  Just had to get this out.

Heartbroken…

Mo, I am sure, will defy logic and come back to pitch some more.  He will most certainly get his proper send off, with the Stadium crowd chanting his name at the end of some future baseball season.  But it still hurts right now. 

Somewhere out there, upon hearing the news, I would bet that even Chuck Norris shed a tear…

I just don’t want to watch baseball right now.  Is that wrong?

Campos headed for an MRI-elbow.  The trade may end up being worse then the Buhner deal, just ask George’s dad.

I have refused to watch the video of the incident.  I want to know what happen (I’m assuming freak accident), but I can’t bring myself to watch it.

Chuck Norris is a Rangers fan.

I don’t get the 15-day DL either.  I mean, why wasn’t Pineda already on the 60?  I don’t have an example but I’ve noticed in the past that players stay on the 15.  There must be some arcane rules, perhaps having to do with the 40-man…maybe teams have limits on the lower bounds of the 40, or the amount of time they can have fewer than 40 slots filled, so they don’t use the 60 unless necessary.  Oh wait, it must be a service-time thing, right?  But if so, the team must still have some limits on the lower size of the 40.  Else Pineda would have gone straight to the 60 and they would not have worried about having only 39.

(6) especially when you consider that Campos tripped Mo in the outfield.

For those who still have not seen the video, it was just a typical accident where Mo’s cleats got stuck (I believe in the spot where the grass meets the warning track) while backing up and it twisted his knee, tearing his ACL. It happens all the time. It happened to my Uncle when he was walking his dog and he got his foot stuck in a divot in his lawn and the dog pulled and his ACL tore.

5. I think that incident spoke volumes about the random chance element of life. Steve Young had a great quote where he said athletes are like “living metaphors,” or something to that extent. Mariano getting injured has a literal impact on him, and the season. But for fans who really care about baseball and the Yankees, it’s not a big stretch to consider his injury, and how it happened, within the broader concept of life itself.

Oh, and nice win tonight.

As for Campos, at least he likely wasn’t making the MLB squad this year anyways. But yes, let us hope the MRI is negative.

I don’t mind splitting Soriano and Robertson if it is because they want to maximize Robertson’s effectiveness, but it sure as hell better because of that and not because Soriano has “closing experience.”

9 but Jason Nix hit the fly ball and if TSBG or Swish or Chavez were not hurt or if we had an actual 4th or 5th ML quality OF in AAA then .....

What is the deal with Nix and Wise?  Are they nothingburger AAAA types or could they be good?  Paging Mike K!!!

[15] I thought they were both MLB journeymen? The type of guys you stash at AAA if you don’t have any real near big league ready prospects and have a couple injuries/Iganez on your team. Unless I am confusing them with other players. Isn’t this the same Wise that made that crazy catch to save Buerhle’s perfecto?

Yeah, journeyman. And yes, Wide made that amazing catch in the perfecto.

Is it too much to hope that if Soriano puts up 35 saves he’ll opt out for a multi year deal? We can’t be that lucky can we?

We can’t be that lucky can we?

With the yang we’ve accumulated from all this yin (or is it the other way around?), this is the least we can expect.

[18] If Soriano can put up 35 saves, why would we want him to opt out ? So we have salary space to sign another 7th inning guy for $8M a year ?

Honestly, it’s a terrible contract for giving him all the options and the money, but they were paying for Mo insurance. Hells bells, if he performs, especially if Mo is done now or after next year (with who knows what effectiveness) we’ll be happy to have him.

The problem is he isn’t getting opportunities as a closer and hasn’t pitched up to his usual standard in NY.

That said, I hope Robertson gets the chance, and Soriano remains the insurance closer.

[14] If it was Swish or Chavez the ball would have been hit way over the wall and he doesn’t bother chasing it. TSBG and the ball would have been on the ground halfway to the outfield, save issue.

Campos is going for his regularly scheduled TJS.

I just don’t want to watch baseball right now.  Is that wrong?

Yes. Mo didn’t want to leave the team. He isn’t giving up. We owe it to Mo to hang in there.

I guess ERA isn’t the best way to judge a reliever, but Robertson’s ERA+ last year was 407. In Mo’s best year, his was 316. That is crazy.

So far this year, D-Rob has upped his strikeouts and cut his BB rate in half. Wow.

Nix has a career OPS+ of 71 and limited experience playing the OF so at least as an OF not even sure that he qualifies to be a journeyman.

[22] and yet he is less terrifying than Iguana or Nunez. Or Jones, for that matter, on balls not hit within 30’ of him.

(20) My assumption is that saves are inherently over valued. If Rivera is back in 2013, I’m thinking they’d much rather use Soriano’s money towards a position player/bat. For example, I think Carlos Pena makes about half of what Soriano is scheduled to make next year.

[24] Right. You are coming from a payroll efficiency point of view. And that’s fine, and probably right about the smartest use of the money. I dunno.

I’m just tired of the carping about the player option, and thoughts of humiliating him so he’ll opt out, or that he’ll play so well that he’ll opt out.

We went out to acquire an elite closer because we expected ours was winding down. Insurance closer. Overpay. Standard NYY plan, nothing to be surprised about. The scenario he was acquired for has come to pass. If we didn’t already have him, we’d be evaluating trade partners for Soriano or someone like him.

And we don’t know if Mo will return, or how effective he’ll be. He could come back and be a shadow and retire mid-year (or make us wish he would).

Right about now, we should be glad we have Soriano. Unless he sucks wind. Then it’s back to carping.

[21] Check out JOBA!2k7!!‘s ERA+ and be ready to have your mind blown.

Anyways, I might be wrong but it seems like Robertson has K’d like the last 8 guys he has faced.

[24] I like the idea of using Soriano’s money to find a LHH 1B to platoon with Teix.

I like the idea of using Teix’s money to find a LHH 1B to replace Teix.

[25] Really, the Soriano contract, while horrendously stupid, is off the books after 2013. So, it’s not going to cause any damage to any plans to be under $189M by 2014.

Also, assuming Mo plays next season, we can figure that is in all likelihood his last. So, they can really pay him whatever they want on a one year deal.

All of their flat ground LOOGY’s are off the payroll by 2014 too.

So, other than maybe retaining Logan when he gets to FA and Robertson being in his 3rd year of arbitration, they could at least have a cheap, young BP during the dark days of 2014.

[28] Good point. But we should stop pissing and moaning about Soriano’s cost in 2012 and 2013. As you say, it has nothing to do with Austerity2014, and we may well need him in 2013.

Unless he sucks. Then we should piss and moan.

[29] Agreed. No reason to piss and moan about anything other than performance to do with Soriano (or anyone who isn’t on the books past 2013.) That said, I am sure he will suck and blow several saves.

For the record, those on the books past 2013 are: Centaur, the lifeless unzombifiable corpse of Mark Teixeira, and CC. Plus, that’s the Jeter option year.

We have already agreed how the Centaur contract was amazingly stupid, but at least he tries to give them everything he can on the field and will likely be a highly overpaid but probably productive DH by that point.

CC is CC. They have to pay premium for an ace since they are incapable of developing for one or even trading for one without an already ruined shoulder and/or elbow.

We all like Jeter again. His player option is only for $8M. The other option seems to be Nunez. Please stay around, Jeter, please.

Teix sucks.

For others they MIGHT keep around, Granderson and Cano each have options next season so they can let those two addition for a who should be kept around role. Fun fact - Granderson upped his 2013 option from $13M to $15M by finishing top 5 in the MVP voting last season.

Everyone else is hitting FA (Fuse and ChamberReam) or in arb years (Garnder and Robertson.)

Honestly, Austerity2k14 wouldn’t be so bad if Teix weren’t on the books. Wonder if there is any GM dumb enough to trade for him. Oh wait, he has a full no trade clause.

Arbitration for Gardner is a no-brainer.

[32] For sure. Gardner, Robertson, Pineda, Nova, and Wade are all arb guys they keep around in 2014.

Stewarto, Cervello, NunE, and Pena are also arb guys. I’d imagine one of Cervello and Stewarto is kept around. Much to our chagrin, NunE is probably handed a starting job by then.

NunE can’t start for a big league team, I think he should not play one more inning at the MLB, but that’s just me. The guy can’t hit and is the worst fielder I ever seen

[34] Except for the triple last night. As far as worst fielder ever, Ladies and Gentlemen I present “The Human Iguana”. Nunez is not as heinous as he, and he can provide merely bad defense at 5 positions, not just two, so he’s more versatile.

But I shudder at the idea of him as The Starter. I’d rather have Pena or Laird.

[34] No matter what we think and how right we are, the Yankees seem dead set on making NunE into a regular. Whether that be at SS (doubtful with Jeter reaching zombie status), 3B (more likely with ARod headed to fulltime DH sooner rather than later), or RF (with them apparently having already decided to let Swisher walk as part of Austerity2k14), they will turn a starting position over to him maybe as soon as next season.

He could be a league average bat, which would be useful if he provided anything above night-terror inducing defense at any position.

Personally, I would rather just throw Laird in the fire right now and find out if he can handle the games at 3B when ARod is DH and play a passable corner OF (and the bar for that is mighty low with Iganez and Andruuuu setting the standard.)

Really, we’re at what this year ? $198m ? So we need to shed $9m to make $189m.

Jones is $2m. Garcia is $4m. Iguana is $ 1m. We’re at $7m already. Need 2 more.

Mo is at $15m. Does he give us the discount rate for next year ? Maybe he goes for $10m. We’re there, with room to spare for a few middling raises. Backfill the 5th outfielder just like we’re doing now with Wise or Almonte or someone like him.

I don’t see that we can’t keep Swisher unless he wants a big raise. That puts us under $189 for 2013. Then you have Soriano and Mo coming off to the tune of another $20m+.

Don’t even talk to me about Hughes getting a raise. He shouldn’t be buying green bananas.

We can keep Swish, Grandy and Gardner. We just can’t do another Teix/A-Rod/Soriano level mistake.

Now, if you think you can get better than Swish for less money, I’m all ears.

[25, 28, 29]  I don’t see my singular comment about Soriano constituting ‘bitching and moaning’ but OK.

Soriano was worth 2.1 WAR in his 45 save season with TBR in 2010. He’s owed $14M in 2013. That’s a bit pricey per WAR. And it’s just not just from a payroll efficiency perspective.

They’re at $166M for 2013 if you figure 10% across the board arbitration raises (which is usually a decent middle of the road estimate.) That team has Rivera at $15M, Soriano at $14M, no starting catcher, no starting RF, no 4th OF, no DH, and a rotation of Sabathia, Nova, Pineda, Hughes and Phelps.

Granted, they’re locked in pretty tight so it’s not cut and dry to use money to upgrade, but this team looks like it will need to figure out a replacement for Swisher, an impact bat, and at least one and maybe likely 2 SP’s in 2013. Not spending $14M on ~2 WAR from Soriano (potentially) would be a big deal.

[37] Really, we’re at what this year ? $198m ? So we need to shed $9m to make $189m.

No, they’re at $209M this year, per Cot’s. And they need to shed more than that because (1) the $189M CBT uses AAV and (2) you’re not accounting for the arbitration raises several players are owed.

[37] Swisher is making $10.25M this year. Now it MIGHT be possible to get him at that AAV, although I bet he gets more, and that’s before getting into committing to him for his age 32 through 34/35/36 seasons.

Granderson and Cano will be up to $15M per next season and will likely take a higher AAV than that to retain each one, and somewhere between a 4 and 7 year commitment.

We all whine and complain about Teix’s contract, but handing out new multi-year contracts to Swisher, Cano, and/or Granderson (all players on the wrong side of 30) have the potential to end the same exact way.

If they really want to be below $189M in 2014, it’s actually about assembling a 37 man roster below $111.5M once you take out the $77.5M already allocated to CC/ARod/Teix.

I don’t see my singular comment about Soriano constituting ‘bitching and moaning’ but OK.

No, it doesn’t. I’m flashing back some months to the “how do we get him to opt out” meme that irked me.