Tomorrow would be a good time for C.C. to lockdown an opposing lineup.

RLYW: come for the baseball complaining, stay for the Lady GaGa music video links.

That was definitely a contract year catch by Swisher.

Let’s go Yankees

So Soriano apparently had a blister on his hand and Girardi did not want to risk injuring him (Soriano thought he could go).

I wonder what it would take to get Carlos Quentin from the Pads. Big upgrade over Jones, and between Gardner’s elbow and Quentin’s knees, I’d assume either one of them may not be exploded by September.

“Hitting on all cylinders”?

That’s a nice joke.

Kay even made a funny joke about how, when you let the Yankees load the bases, you have them right where you want them.

Why ain’t I laughing?

You know, the Yankees are now FOURTH in the American League in fewest runs allowed. That’s simply amazing. Especially considering they lost Mo and Pineda for the season and Robertson for much of the season.

They’re fifth in runs scored. Of course, they are fifth in runs scored while being second in OPS, which is irritating as all heck (as it goes to show that they’re not scoring as many runs as they should be, which we already knew but still).

[8] “That’s simply amazing. Especially considering they lost Mo and Pineda for the season and Robertson for much of the season.”

And their best fielder.

Yeah, good point.

The turnaround in the pitching has been awesome. Hopefully it keeps up!

And hopefully Kuroda’s foot and Pettitte’s hand won’t fall off in their next starts.

Well, hopefully their body parts NEVER fall off, of course.

Nova did pitch lucky (liners at people, Swisher’s catch, etc), but as you say he was due.

The offense is immensely frustrating right now.  I hope that when the dam breaks, there will be an impressive flood. 

Also: I like Cory Wade.  What a nice pickup that was.  And Boone.  When they got him, I figured he was your average LOOGY.  He’s been better than that for a while now, though.

Since Nunez got sent dowwn the team turned the season around. Not a coincidence at all.

I will be happy to have Gardner back at some point this season, I just don’t see that very likely.

The Yankees don’t have a player with an OPS of .900 or better. That’s weird for this Yankees lineup in mid june

And their best fielder.

And considering what they replaced him with.

Also: I like Cory Wade.  What a nice pickup that was.

I presume that was Hal, or Levin, or maybe Squeegee. Because we all know Cashman is a retard and couldn’t be responsible for anything positive.

[13] Yep. Not only do you avoid 1-2 errors a game, but your pitchers have to be freaking terrified with him in the field. Not a good mental state for soul eating.

If Joe Torre didn’t slag Wade’s arm when he was on the Dodgers, the Yankees probably would never have had a shot at him.  So thanks Joe!  I’m also glad the Yankees didn’t make a rash move after his lousy spring training.  He’s been a great pickup and I really like the way he pitches. 

Too many right-handed relievers are 90+ mph fastball/slider guys.  I think it’s beneficial to have a three-pitch guy with a slow curve and a great changeup to mix things up.  It’s fun to see a reliever with an 88-89 mph fastball pitching so well.  I actually think he could be a decent starter with his arsenal, although he didn’t impress in the minors in that role and the Dodgers moved him to the pen pretty early on in his career.

[15] Because we all know Cashman is a retard and couldn’t be responsible for anything positive.

Even a blind squirrel will find a nut every now and again.

Cashman is good at building a bullpen and Girardi is deft at deploying one.  However, picking some guys off the scrap heap who get an out or three every other night isn’t the best trait I’d like to see in a GM with a $200 million dollar budget.

[17] Maybe my comments are harsh.  I like some of the moves Cashman has made and hated others.  However, I don’t think he is above criticism.

Cash really is pretty good at the scrap-heap pickup thing.  Unfortunately, he has other glaring weaknesses.  I often defend him, but only against hyperbolic he’s-a-total-moron stuff.  All in all, he’s so-so.  The Yankees could probably do better (of course, they could do worse!).  Since my theory is that the Yanks should spend the money to have the best FO in the game, especially given the luxury tax and draft bonus slots constraining them on the field, I’m fine with them moving on when Cash’s contract is up.

Since Nunez got sent dowwn the team turned the season around. Not a coincidence at all.

UIF is after all the most important position in baseball.  Why do you think CAIRO is named as such?

The Yankees don’t have a player with an OPS of .900 or better. That’s weird for this Yankees lineup in mid june.

I think it’s more a reflection on where offense is right now.  Only 10 players in AL with an OPS > .900, and league average is .728.  If you go back only a few years to 2009, league OPS was .764, though still only 11 players > .900.

[19] I think Cashman is one of the better GM’s in the game.  Probably not the best.  But I believe that he often isn’t given as much credit as he deserves for dealing with some of the pressures of building a winner in NYC.  Yes, he has a lot of money.  But a number of large contracts that weren’t entirely (or at all) his doing.  ARod, Soriano, Jeter.  The farm system pre-2007 - due to Tampa controlling the draft and doing poorly - or so didn’t have much in the way of talent, either to bring up to the bigs, or trade to get anything more than stopgap pieces.  So he had to pay the $$‘s for CC, Teix, etc.

That’s not to say that EVERY move has worked out.  Of course he’s made mistakes, and of course some moves that seemed perfectly logical at the time have failed miserably.  But I’m not sure if there is another GM that is 1) as well qualifed 2) AND as media-savy with the NY media 3) AND can deal with the Steinbrenners as well.

My worry about replacing Cashman is that I have absolutely no faith in the remainder of the front office; I don’t think they would know what a better GM looks like.

[21] It’s impossible to know what was and wasn’t his doing.  Well, I think it’s pretty clear Soriano was not.  Other than that, unclear.

I generally think he’s ok. 

[22] A legit fear, IMO.  I fear that too.

It’s impossible to know what was and wasn’t his doing.  Well, I think it’s pretty clear Soriano was not.  Other than that, unclear.

Pre-2005 post-season especially yes.  Though some stuff is fairly well documented. E.g. trading for ARod was entirely Cashman, Sheffield entirely not.  Most of the stuff since then we have a pretty good idea what was Cash and what wasn’t, because it’s been much more public.  That is, Cashman normally talks about what was done above him, for better or worse.

Some stuff is definitely still unclear. E.g. did he “only” bid $26M on Soler because he misread market, because he thought Soler was only worth that, or because ownership gave him a max of $26M and he used every penny but couldn’t go higher?  Ditto with Darvish.