Daily Archives: November 19, 2008

This is one of Edward Hopper’s last paintings.  He said it was “about me.”  Space, light, composition, isolation.  You never see Hopper’s people smile much.  And smiles were hard to come by with Mike Mussina too, although he’s got a dry wit and could be cutting and sly with reporters. 

Something about Moose always reminds me of Hopper’s world–private, self-contained.

My brother liked him first.  Back when Moose was pitching for Baltimore.  Then again my brother has always been drawn to pitchers, particularly guys as cerebral, fastidious and determined as Moose.  Reports tonight have it that Mussina is going to retire.  An official announcement will likely be made by the end of the week. 

This comes as no surprise.  Still, it’s rare to see an athlete walk away from the game on his own terms and there is something deeply satisfying about Moose splitting with 270 wins.  It’s neat and controlled like Mussina himself. 

Moose finally won twenty games this past year, an achievement that had eluded him during his fine career.  It wasn’t his best overall season (though it was probably in the top five) but it was impressive.  He pitched beautifully and had just the right amount of good fortune.  In fact, it was all the more admirable because he pitched so well at an advanced age after it appeared that he was all but warshed up.

270 wins.  No Cy Young awards.  No World Serious hardware, but a great winning percentage and some fine playoff performances.  Durable, reliable, stubborn.  A winner.

Is he a Hall of Famer?  (Tyler Kepner addressed the matter a few days ago in the Times.) I’d say yes.  Joe Posnanski had two posts about Moose’s Hall of Fame candidacy earlier this week:  one and two.  Check em out.

Thanks for the great memories Moose.  We’ll miss ya, but are proud to see you calling one last shot.

Over at SNY, Tom Boorstein’s got it on lock: Bring Back Bro!

You were expecting maybe these two dudes?

I’m hosting a Yankee hot stove series over at SNY and was fortunate to have Mark Lamster and Anthony McCarron kick things off. Dig…

[poll id=”2″]

Ryan Dempster signed a four-year, $52 million deal to remain a Cub, while rumor has it the Yankees plan to offer A.J. Burnett $80 million for five years (fortunately one Yankee official has already dismissed those figures as “nonsense”). I’ll take a closer look at the Yankees’ options for outside pitching help tomorrow. Today, I want to look at the Yankees in-house options and prospects in an attempt to give some perspective to the proceedings.

2008 Yankee Starting Pitchers

*Support Neutral Lineup-adjusted Value Against Replacement: a Baseball Prospectus statistic based on win expectancy and adjusted for run support and the strength of opposing lineups that essentially measures wins above replacement level.

Removing the free agents, Rasner, who was sold to Japan, and Bruney, whose lone start was actually a preemptive relief appearance as Joe Girardi attempted to out-smart an early-season rain storm in Kansas City, the 2008 starters still in the organization are:

*on Opening Day 2009

Even in that group, Giese is a career reliever, who successfully experimented with starting in triple-A last year, but is more likely to return to the bullpen, and Igawa is a three-time loser in pinstripes who is unlikely to get another chance without first having a breakthrough in the minors. Given the struggles of Kennedy and Hughes last year, the innings limits on Hughes and Chamberlain (both of whom will likely be capped at 150 frames in 2009), and questions about Hughes’ durability, it’s clear that the Yankees need outside help in the rotation for next year.

That said, in stark contrast to the first base depth chart I posted the other day, the Yankees do have pitching on the way in the minor leagues. To begin with, the only pitchers on the above list who will be in their 30s by this time next year are Giese and Igawa. Wang and Chamberlain, despite making just 15 and 12 starts respectively, were among the Yankees most valuable starters in 2008, with Chamberlain tying Andy Pettitte in SNLVAR despite making 21 fewer starts. Hughes remains the youngest pitcher on the list, and at 22 is just a year younger than top 2008 draft pick and former Stanford star Jeremy Bleich.

Hughes added a very effective cutter to his resume after returning from his rib injury last year and finished the season with a very strong eight-inning start for the big club. Still, he has been inconsistent in the Arizona Fall League (though he’s really there just to increase his innings for 2008) and the Yankees would be justified in starting him in Triple-A again in 2009 given his struggles this year and his still very young age. Still, he should ultimately make a significant number of starts for the Yankees in 2009 and be an important part of the 2010 rotation along with Wang and Chamberlain.

That already leaves just two more spots in the 2010 rotation, with many more arms on the way. Kennedy, a lesser prospect to begin with, was worse than Hughes in the majors this year, but better than him in Triple-A. Kennedy may need at least a half season if not more in Triple-A to regain both his game and the team’s confidence in his abilities, but he remains a potential mid-rotation starter, and pitched well for the Yankees in three starts at the end of the 2007 season. There’s a very real chance that he could be an important part of the 2010 rotation as well, leaving just one spot.

Enter Alfredo Aceves, a Mexican League product who raced through the Yankees system last year and profiles as a back-of-the rotation starter. Like Jorge Campillo, another Mexican League product who emerged as a reliable starter for the Braves this year, Aceves has no dominant pitch, doesn’t throw especially hard, and is unlikely to ever really dominate anyone, but throws strikes, does an excellent job of mixing his wide variety of pitches, and can keep opponents off balance. At worst, he’s an improvement on the Sidney Ponsons of the world. At best, he could be a solid number four or a very strong number five in a rotation led by Chamberlain, Wang, Hughes, and Kennedy and/or one of this winter’s free agents.

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Two men sat on a curb and ate breakfast this morning. A friend who works at a restaurant on the corner made them egg sandwiches and gave them paper cups filled with coffee. The owner doesn’t mind because the men help with dishes and deliveries and even haul the trash to the curb at night.

So they can stop every day on their way to work at a downtown construction site and grab a bite as long as they don’t take a seat from a paying customer.

“It’s a good deal,” one man said. “It’s quiet out here and we can talk about baseball.”

They smiled and ate and drank their coffee.

“I heard the Yankees really want CC,” the man said. “You knew that, right?”

“Yeah,” the other man said, “but I don’t mind hearing it again. It’s cold today and I need something to keep me warm.”

The man stood up and wadded his paper cup. He stepped on the curb and came set – a righty pitching left handed – and then threw toward the corner trash can.

“Strike three!” he yelled as the cup went in. “Now finish your breakfast so we can get to work.”

More things that keep me up at night: Will the Hard Rock restaurant at the new stadium offer a dessert called “Robinson Canoli” (and would people sense some indifference in my seemingly not making much of an effort to reach for it on my plate)?

Back to the news:

• Newsday’s Kat O’Brien gives us the latest on the Yanks’ interest in Lowe and Burnett.  She states that a source said the Yankees had reached out to Lowe via his agent, Scott Boras.  As for Burnett, his agent, Darek Braunecker, said they had not received a formal offer from the Yankees. He wrote in a text message: “We’re strictly discussing parameters.”

• O’Brien also has a quote from a conference call with newly-acquired Nick Swisher:

“Last year obviously, statistically I didn’t have the year that I wanted to,” Swisher said, “but you know what, this is a different year. This is ’09, not ’08. I know in my mind that I’ve grown not only as a player, but as a man. Last year was a very humbling year for me and I learned a lot from it.”

• More from O’Brien on Swisher: “Swisher said the season had humbled him and that he is working hard this offseason to turn things around. While Swisher did not make excuses for his poor performance, he did say he had not adjusted well to some new challenges. He began the 2008 season batting leadoff and playing centerfield, neither of which are his natural spots.”

• Ben Shpigel of the Times states that Swisher has “already received encouragement from Kevin Long, the Yankees’ hitting coach, and from Alex Rodriguez”.

• Tyler Kepner has a nice piece on Mike Mussina’s decision for 2009 and his thoughts about the Hall, over at the Times.  Here’s an excerpt:

… A graduate of Stanford, he has always brought an intellectual’s sensibility to his craft and his career.

In an interview in August, Mussina spoke at length about his personal standards for Cooperstown. To him, a Hall of Fame career should be defined by excellent seasons, not lackluster ones that serve only to compile statistics.

“I don’t agree that when evaluating a career you should look at the total numbers, because the last two or three years, the guy might just be hanging around to add up numbers,” Mussina said.

“Five one year, seven the next year, five the next year. O.K., you just won 17 games, but he was 5-10 and 7-12 and 5-13,” Mussina said. “Those are terrible years. They’re not Hall of Fame years. But someone looks at the total and says, ‘Well, how many did he win?’ ”

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