Tag Archives: CC Sabathia

Sports-Kings: Baseball Socialism Choking Its flagship Franchise

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

With a quiet off-season coming on the heels of a very disappointing ALCS for the New York Yankees, their fans are growing more and more restless with each giant contract given out by the suddenly wild and crazy Dodgers. Used to being the headline team, New York’s austerity measures haven’t exactly been well received by fans.

I’ve taken exception to the murmurs and written a piece for Sports-Kings.com where I explain how a culmination of the rules from revenue sharing, to the 2003 introduction of a luxury tax, to the 2013 change in draft pick compensation has lead to this shift in philosophy. Most definitely, it is not a change in the New York Yankees’ drive to win World Series.

For the full story, please click here and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Rumor alert: Despite the need to reduce payroll to $189 million by 2014 (austerity is rough, huh?) rumors run amok that the Yankees are working may bring in Mike Morse from Washington who only has one-year and $6.75 million remaining on his contract. He’s evidently opposed to being a full-time DH, which may or may not be a problem, we’ll see. Surely though, Morse can provide what they lost in Nick Swisher without the extra $50 million dollars and history of playoff struggles.

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Down 0-9, Yankees Come Back To Beat Boston, Phil Humber Tosses Perfect Game

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

What a great game it is! Fox Saturday baseball could not have delivered a more enjoyable show today. After the Yankees trailed 0-9 behind another shameful start from Freddy Garcia… I started doing school work. I’ve never seen a nine run comeback, and frankly with our pitching looking the way it was, this seemed like the game the Red Sox needed to right the ship (after suffering four straight losses and sitting at 4-9), much like the Pittsburgh Penguins crazy win in game four to bring that NHL playoff series back to life.

Fox switched to the White Sox @ Mariners game to chronicle Phil Humber’s quest for the 21st perfect game in MLB history. Commentators joked before the game’s conclusion that if he completed the perfect game maybe people would start pronouncing his name correctly (pronounced Umber with a silent H). With two outs in the ninth, Humber struck out Brendan Ryan and pleaded AJ Pierzynski on as he ran to backstop to make the final assist to first base and complete the perfect game. Humber had to fight to keep his emotions in check  in the post game interview. It’s awfully easy to be happy for him, and I will be pronouncing his name properly from here forward.

After Phil Humber cemented himself in baseball history, Fox flipped back to ugly game in Fenway and had to catch the audience up. Nick Swisher connected on a grand slam off Vicente Padilla and with a run the inning before the score was now 5-9. Teixeira was just stepping up to bat with two runners on base when the commentators finished explaining the last home run, and promptly hit a three run dinger himself to make it a 8-9 game.

The seven-run seventh inning was followed by a seven-run eight inning and the Yankees’ stout bullpen held the lead making today’s game the third time the New York Yankees have overcome a nine run deficit against the Boston Red Sox. Nine runs is the largest deficit the franchise has ever surmounted, doing it on five occasions.

CC Sabathia will take the mount against Daniel Bard tomorrow (although it may be rained out) to go for the sweep. The Boston fans have turned against new manager Bobby Valentine and a sweep at the hands of their arch rivals would only ratchet up the fervor. This should be fun. New York @ Boston, 8:05 pm, 4/22/2012,  ESPN

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Andy Pettitte To Rejoin 2012 Yanks For An Encore

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

Some unexpected news came out of Yankees camp this week when retired Yankee legend, Andy Pettitte, got the “itch” for pitching and decided to come out of retirement to rejoin the already improved 2012 New York Yankees.

Pettitte said it was the Yankees or nothing, when explaining his decision to return to his old team. Despite New York’s already loaded pitching staff, they couldn’t say no to bringing another strong pitcher into the fray, especially one that has such a special relationship with the team. Now that Andy Pettitte is back, it simply feels like they should win the World Series, as was the feeling during many of his previous years with New York.

In 2009, Pettitte was a playoff hero. He won the clinching games in the ALDS (vs. Minnesota), the ALCS (vs. Los Angeles), and the World Series (vs. Philadelphia). In 2010, Andy was an All-Star, but battled injuries that limited him to just 129 innings. Likely prompted by those injuries, he retired after 2010 and hasn’t pitched since the 2010 ALCS vs. Texas. Now completely healthy, he can help a Yankees team that boasts the deepest rotation in baseball.

Sabathia and Kuroda still headline the Yankee rotation, but with most expecting a mild regression from Ivan Nova, newcomer Michael Pineda struggling with his velocity in Spring Training (throwing around 88-92 mph compared to the 94-96 mph he was throwing last year early in camp), Garcia injured, and Hughes working to bounce back from a sub-par season (I think Hughes can break through if given the opportunity this season) Pettitte can be of much more than sentimental value.

He gives the Yankees seven, that’s right, seven capable starters for 2012. It appears that GM Brian Cashman saw the team’s weakness and made a big point to fix it. This is the deepest rotation I can remember dating back to the 2005 Chicago White Sox. At the risk of jinxing the Yankees, I don’t see any way they’re unable to put together a reliable five-man rotation with their current roster.

So how does this affect the rest of the rotation? Garcia was likely headed to the bullpen before this news broke. Now that’s almost certain and he could potentially be traded, though it may not come right away, as Pettitte won’t be ready for the start of the reason.    Michael Pineda has struggled this Spring and while we hope he picks up steam in the new few weeks, if he flops out of the gate this gives him an opportunity to get a little more seasoning in the minors. If not, Hughes will be the odd-man out and that I think is unfortunate. Hughes is having a strong Spring, he finished last year better than the way he started it, and I fear the Yankee brass will move him around the way they did Joba Chamberlain and wreck his still promising career. I hope they can find a way to keep Hughes in the rotation if he is pitching well. I’d love to see another 18 wins come from Phil Hughes this year.

Regardless of how it all plays out, I believe I speak for almost all Yankee fans when I say Andy Pettitte is always welcome, and we’re glad to have him. He’s in a select group of beloved Yankees with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. With fingers crossed, I must mention that MLB’s all-time postseason win leader now has an opportunity to go out a champ with his sixth ring as proof that this comeback was no Michael Jordan effort.

For thoughts and reaction on the signing, check out MLBTradeRumors.com.

Yankee Hero, Andy Pettitte, is back after sitting out 2011.

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Yankees Add Final Piece To The Puzzle: Raul Ibanez To Join New York

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

Just days after clearing $13 million off the books by sending beleaguered right-hander, AJ Burnett, to the Pittsburgh Pirates the Yankees have filled their last critical need by signing a power hitting DH. Raul Ibanez is set to join the Bronx Bombers on a $1.1 million contract that maxes out at $4 million with incentives. This is welcome news as the Yankees had been looking for a reliable, veteran lefty after they created the hole in the DH slot by trading C/DH Jesus Montero for Michael Pineda.

The Yankees remained patient during the first half of the off-season, while the Angels were signing Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson, the Red Sox were finding new management, and the Marlins were making headlines every week. That patience has paid off. They resigned CC Sabathia early on and then added Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda while subtracting AJ Burnett to strengthen a weak pitching staff. They lost star prospect, Jesus Montero, in the process but plugged the DH hole with Raul Ibanez while prospects like Austin Romine and Gary Sanchez prepare to take over the catching duties. Alex Rodriguez will likely transition into a primary DH role in the coming years, so using a veteran to fill that role in the immediate short-term may have been a plus.

The only priority the Yankees have not checked off their list was signing a lefty specialist for the bullpen and that is of no fault of their own. They came to terms with Hideki Okajima, but the contract fell through when he failed his physical.

The Yankees now have arguably the deepest lineup in baseball. They also have the maybe the deepest rotation outside of Los Angeles–where the Angels boast Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, CJ Wilson, Ervin Santana, and Jerome Williams–and they’ll return one of the baseball’s best bullpens. Personal reasons have made this one of the toughest off-seasons for Brian Cashman, but he has made this one of his most wildly successful baseball off-seasons.

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AJ Burnett Will Have New Faces To Pie In 2012

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

258 walks later, AJ Burnett may be looking at his last day as a New York Yankee. After three up-and-down years in New York (mostly down) and the additions of Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda, the Yankee front office is looking to shed some payroll by finding someone to take Burnett’s plump contract off their hands (yes, the Yankees need to cut payroll).

In his first year, AJ was a blessing for a stodgy Yankee clubhouse, bringing a much needed lightheartedness and his signature shaving cream pie face-plants. In the two subsequent seasons, that would unfortunately devolve into self-inflicted injuries and arguments with Jorge Posada. After those two poor seasons, both with ERAs above 5.14, AJ Burnett has become the Yankees seventh best starter and will still command $16.5 million in each of the next two seasons.

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports:

Deal needs MLB approval. Yankees will pay $20M of $30M left on Burnett’s contract, receive two low-level minor leaguers from Pirates.

When we signed AJ Burnett prior to the 2009 season, I was not pleased. I had always rooted against the tattooed, Greenday fan during his years with the Marlins and Blue Jays. Always seeming more like a talented thrower than a thoughtful pitcher, I put Burnett in the group with Josh Beckett and Carlos Zambrano as pitchers to root against while I cheered for the Mike Mussinas and Greg Madduxs of the world.

I quickly had to get on board with AJ Burnett in pinstripes as he was a part of the Yankees strong 2009 off-season that included CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, and his success would be paramount to the Yankees. In his first year, he made this easy to do. His playfulness and on-field success made him a crucial piece to a championship team. He threw 207 innings with respectable 4.04 ERA, and his game 2 performance in the 2009 World Series will be remembered by Yankee fans for years to come. Unfortunately, that would be the climax of his career in New York. He was shelled in game 5 of the 2009 World Series allowing six earned runs in two innings and followed that with an ERA of 5.24 in 2010.

While I thought it was a poor contract at the time, it was largely justified by the results in 2009, when Burnett played a big role in the Yankees’ World Series Championship. Even his back-to-back 5+ ERA seasons haven’t made me forget his contributions. So while I’m far from an AJ Burnett fan, I’m thankful for his contributions to the Yankees 27th World Series Championship. It is time for the Yankees to move forward without Burnett on the roster, and he’d probably benefit from a fresh start and respite from the AL East and the pressures of New York. So, I hope the Yankees are able to complete a trade, but I also thank AJ Burnett for his time in pinstripes and wish him success in Pittsburgh (assuming this trade is finalized) where I (and Jeff Nelson) think he’ll rediscover some of his past glory.

Related Articles

AJ Burnett: Why His Contract Was Not A Mistake For The New York Yankees

AJ Burnett: Cutting Off The Nose To Spite The Face

As always, please subscribe to this blog by clicking the “Follow” button at the top of the right sidebar. If you don’t have a WordPress account, you’ll have to enter your email address. You can share your opinions in the comment section below or by tweeting to @Ryan_Kantor. Thanks for reading! 

With Sabathia Staying In Pinstripes, What’s In Store For The New York Yankees?

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

With the recent news that Sabathia will remain in pinstripes for at least the next five seasons, Brian Cashman who also just signed an extension (for three years) can turn his attention to other offseason priorities, but those priorities will continue to revolve around the starting rotation (you like that pun there?).

With Nova, Hughes, and Burnett lined up behind Sabathia there is still a lot of uncertainty. Will Burnett be effective in 2012? Will he even return to the Yankees or will they be able to move him over the offseason? Who fills out the fifth spot–Garcia, Betances, Colon, or someone new? Will Hughes bounce back? Will Nova build on a great rookie campaign? The questions are bountiful. Signing Sabathia isn’t a final solution, it merely avoids total disaster.

CJ Wilson will command the top dollar out of this offseason’s crop of pitchers, but is he the best bet? He posted an ERA under three with 16 wins last year, some very impressive numbers. He’s been great in his two seasons in the starting rotation, but before that he was in the bullpen, never exceeding 73 2/3 IP. There are questions about how the IP increase will impact him moving forward. He’s also 31, despite seeming much younger, and is asking for a $100 million contract. The Yankees are not expected to pony up, which is probably the prudent move.

We’ve also learned that Roy Oswalt, probably the biggest name on the market is also unlikely to play for New York, due to back problems that have progressively gotten worse with age (he’s now 34).

Edwin Jackson will definitely get a look, but after the Yankees experience with a highly talented, inconsistent right-hander with shoddy control (AJ Burnett), I can’t imagine they’d take another similar risk. The bleacher report points out his high ERA in his years pitching in the AL East for the Rays. In the same vein, Yu Darvish, the 25 year old Japanese phenom may skip over the pond and play in the big leagues next season. He’s expected to command at least $100 million including posting fee, but I would be extremely surprised to see the Yankees make another large commitment to a Japanese pitcher after the Kei Igawa failure. Evidently they have scouted Darvish though.

I’d love to see Kuroda don pinstripes. He posted ERAs of 3.76, 3.39, and 3.07 over the last three years (a attractive decline). Unfortunately for New York, it seems he is intent on staying in Los Angeles and is likely an unrealistic target.

That leads us to Mark Buehrle. He just won his third straight gold glove, with just one error in 2011. Since 2001, Buehrle has the most pickoffs in baseball (81)– second on the list is Andy Pettitte (50). He made $14 million last year, so he won’t come cheap, but despite being just 32 years old, he only plans on pitching for two or three more seasons so the Yankees should get a good deal regarding contract length (Pettitte also had no plans on sticking around for a long tail end to his career). In the last 11 seasons, Buehrle has only had one poor season (2006) when he went 12-13 with an ERA of 4.99 (career stats). He’s been extremely durable over that period of time, in fact he’s never had fewer than 30 starts in any of his full major league seasons! He’s a former world series champ, and quite the playoff performer. He’s not a sexy high strikeout guy, but he goes out posts solid numbers and with the Yankees offense behind him would likely post 16 wins with ease. He’s consistent and reliable unlike Burnett, Hughes, or any of our youngsters. Even the bleacher report agrees.

I’d like to see the Yanks lure the trust lefty from the White Sox, where he’s spent his entire career. The Yankees don’t need someone with an ERA below 3, they just need someone who can consistently keep them in games and let their offense do work. Mark Buerhle is the man for the Yankees. Who do you think the Yankees should target?

SURPRISING NOTE: RHP Andrew Brackman has been released by the New York Yankees, four years after signing a contract for a $3.35 million bonus. He walked 7 per 9 IP coming out of the bullpen in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

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The Yankee’s CC Conundrum

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

Big news from RotoWorld.com

“CC Sabathia is planning to opt out of his contract by Monday night’s deadline, according to SI.com’s Jon Heyman.

Sabathia will forgo the remaining four years and $92 million left on his contract and hit free agency. Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York estimated last week that Sabathia will want a six-year deal in the $150 million range. Such a deal would surpass Cliff Lee for the highest average annual value ($24 million) for a pitcher. Lee was offered $148 million over seven years by New York last winter and Sabathia is two years younger today than Lee was then. Opinions around baseball are pretty unanimous that Sabathia will remain a Yankee.”

This is bad, but not totally unexpected news for the Yankees. Sabathia, who is 31 years old and according to Y! Sports weighs in at 290 lbs, wants about what the Yankees had offered Cliff Lee. The situation is a bit different now though. Cliff Lee would have joined a team primed to win another World Series title. CC Will rejoin a team with a lot of senior players and a few ugly contracts that would strangle any other team (Rodriguez, Burnett, Jeter). Rivera will probably be gone after 2012, making a World Series run all the less likely. Cano will be in for a huge pay day after the 2013 season, and the Yankees need to be certain they’ll have the resources to bring back the best 2B in baseball (yes, he’s clearly better than Dustin Pedroia).

The Yankees also just picked up the 2012 option on Nick Swisher, and will be paying him $10.5 million next season. Like Swisher, CC didn’t have himself a very impressive 2011 postseason — although some may be because of poor umpiring.

All that said, behind CC the Yankees rotation boasts Nova, Hughes, Burnett, Betances, Garcia, and Colon. No real #1 or even #2 starters in that bunch (Although Nova is promising, and I’m not ready to give up on Hughes quite yet). The free agent market for starting pitchers is pretty shallow this year. Mark Buehrle, Edwin Jackson, and CJ Wilson headline this year’s free agent class. Jon Garland is out there and could “pull a Bartolo” in 2012, and Oswalt might be a free agent depending on what Phillie does with his contract.  So the Yankees are somewhat stuck without another ace on the market. Do they Pay big bucks and potentially mortgage the team’s future, or start 2012 with one of the absolute worst rotation’s in the AL.

Here’s my thought. He wants six years. That would take the behemoth past his 37th birthday. I’m not so sure that’s the wisest move in the world. The Yankees brought him to New York with cash (remember he wanted to play in the Bay area, but we blew their offers out of the water). To keep in in New York we’ll need plenty more. AJ Burnett’s $82.5 million contract and Jeter’s $51 million contract will expire after the 2013 season, freeing up payroll for Cano. Sabathia was great in the 2009 postseason when we won the World Series, he’s averaging nearly 20 wins a season and hasn’t posted an ERA over 3.37 since joining the team. He’s been great for us thus far. It’s worth noting though, his BAA has increased each of the last four years. Frankly that’s very alarming.

So, knowing only what I know (I assume and hope Cashman knows a lot more) it seems like an extra year and a modest pay raise may be in order, but too much more than the 5 years, $120 million Cliff Lee received from Philadelphia might be over the top. I think the Yankees will find a way to bring him back, but I fear they’ll hamstring themselves with an injury prone third baseman who they have to pay $31 million a year and a 35 year old 300 lb starting pitcher making $26 million annually.

I think and hope they can work out a win-win deal. What do you think?

Ohh, and by the way. Imagine if the Yankees didn’t resign Jeter last year and could add Jose Reyes this year…

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A First Look at The Hot Stove Season Ahead for The New York Yankees

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

Beloved Yankee Jorge Posada has likely played his last game in pinstripes. They simply can’t afford to block the DH slot with him and his defense has regressed beyond the point where he can play catcher. Sadly, they’ll have to let the great Yankee walk. As hard to swallow as that might be (made a bit easier by a lousy season), it’s objectively the the right call for the Yankees. Not as sad, Demaso Marte, the lefty who played a large role in the 2009 World Series run, is on the way out and a more effective lefty is likely (hopefully) on the way in. Boone Logan, had almost identical BBA and OBPA vs lefties and righties in 2011, and the Yanks could use a true lefty out of the bullpen like Mike Gonzalez (.214 BAA vs lefties compared to Boone Logan’s .260 BAA vs. lefties).

All the buzz I’ve heard makes me think CC Sabathia may opt out of his contract and look for more years than the four years he has remaining. Four more years take him until he’s 35 years old. Are you ready to pay him top dollar until the hefty pitcher is 37? I don’t know how good I feel about that.

The rotation still has question marks and if CC leaves it could get ugly. Sure, Cashman could hit another home run with genius signings in 2012 like Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon of last year (Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland come to mind), but at some point it’s going to come down to Phillip Hughes stepping up, Nova building on a strong campaign, and another youngster like Dellin Betances making a name for himself.

The Phillies hold an option on Roy Oswalt, and based on the strength of their rotation and Oswalt’s mounting injuries I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think they could pass on the option. Roy would look damn good in pinstripes, although he would have a little mending to with Alex Rodriguez who he bashed pretty hard when A-Rod came clean about not playing clean. That would certainly make for an interesting story.

Speaking of A-Rod, is he going to be able to stay healthy for a full season and hit 30 home runs? I’m not so sure the Yankees can handle another down year from A-Rod. I don’t see Curtis Granderson being quite as exceptional next year, especially with his late season swoon (I use that word lightly), and they’ll really need a strong performance from their clean up hitter. They’ll likely DH him and use Nunez at 3B on occassion.

Russell Martin may be back, meaning Jesus Montero will probably DH the majority of the time, but I really hope he gets some time behind the plate so he can be ready to take the position over full time when Martin leaves.

Nick Swisher is credited for changing the stodgy culture of the team for the better when he was first brought in, and for intagible reasons you really hate to see him leave, but it’s hard to justify paying a .260 hitter with slightly above average power (23 HR) $10.5 million. That said, I think the Yankees will either pay up and take the option or work something out to keep him.  There aren’t a ton of better outfielders on the market. Rutgers product, David DeJesus, will be on the market and the Yanks have expressed interest in him in the past. Josh Willingham, Grady Sizemore, Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay, Jason Kubel, and Michael Cuddyer are also hitting the market. The soft market may be enough to justify bringing Swisher back for one more year.

Rafael Soriano has an opt-out clause, but he is being over-paid so vastly he’d be foolish to opt out. All that said, here’s the bottom line for New York.

Key Offseason Points

  • Will CC Sabathia opt out? If he does, how many years are we willing to give him? Do we exceed 5 years for the 31 year old? I vote no. (See Alex Rodriguez)
  • Who plays the Bartolo Colon role in 2012? Can Colon and Garcia do it again? Does someone like Jon Garland come in or do we rely on youngsters Nova, Hughes, and Betances for a full year?
  • Who will the Yankees bring in to fill the role Pedro Feliciano was supposed to fill as the lefty specialist out of the bullpen?
  • Does Nick Swisher return, or do the Yankees bring in a cheaper free agent like Cuddyer/DeJesus/Kubel to fill the short term void.
  • Is Montero or Romine ready for a full season behind the plate? If so, do we need to bring back Martin? If not, we better bring back Martin!

For further analysis, here’s a great breakdown of the Yankees offseason I found.

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Moneyball Works, but Wins and RBI Are Not Meaningless!

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

I’ve blogged about Moneyball both on this blog and on LenNYsYankees.com, and for the most part I’ve discussed its merits, and its statistical strength in determining how much a single player is worth on the free agent market. While I stand by my original position, I recently had a conversation on Twitter with some folks who are ready to totally throw traditional stats out the window. See below:

From: @keithlaw keithlaw
Zero weight. It’s meaningless. RT @theunzippedfly: @keithlaw you really put weight in a pitchers record when evaluating them individually?

From: ryan_kantor Ryan Kantor
Verlander has 21 wins. If he had 15 he wouldn’t be a lock for the Cy and top 3 for MVP. @keithlaw@theunzippedfly

From: theunzippedfly The Unzipped Fly
@ryan_kantor yes, yes he would be a lock for the Cy with 15 wins if his numbers were identical. See: Hernandez, Felix, you uneducated fool.

From: ryan_kantor Ryan Kantor

@theunzippedfly A) Let’s take the vitriol down a notch. B) No, it’s a relatively close race with Jared Weaver.
The conversation then shifted to Curtis Granderson’s MVP chances (he gets my vote), which was when he told me Granderson’s league leading runs scored (and it’s not close) and RBI (tied with A. Gonzalez) totals are “disgracegul” arguments for his MVP candidacy.

First let’s discuss the validity of wins for evaluating pitchers. In a recent Yankees vs. Red Sox game Curt Schilling was in the booth along with Nomar Garciaparra (Funny how ESPN puts two Red Sox in the booth). Schilling explained that when he was pitching, he knew he wasn’t being paid to have a low ERA, he was simply being paid to win games. With that in mind, he took special care to tell his position players where to stand on defense, and pitched according to the flow of the game.

With wins being the primary goal of an ace starting pitcher, let’s look at the top three pitchers in baseball without their wins displayed.

 AL
Justin Verlander: 2.34 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 224K, 49BB
Jared Weaver: 2.49 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 176K, 51BB
CC Sabathia: 2.97 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 211K, 51BB

NL
Roy Halladay: 2.47 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 191K, 25BB

As you can see, Verlander’s stats are the most dominant; however without the ridiculous amount of wins you don’t see the level of differentiation between him and the other great pitchers. It’s still a race if we hide Verlander’s 21 wins (Weaver and Halladay each have 16 wins, Sabathia: 19). While wins are not a worthwhile stat for a GM to look at when trying to evaluate free agents, it’s extremely relevant for individual awards like the Cy Young and MVP. After all, isn’t the amount of wins a pitcher earns directly related to how valuable he is to the team, and isn’t that the criteria for the MVP?

As for Curtis Granderson’s whopping run and RBI totals, well they’re MVP worthy. Again, RBI and runs scored are not worthwhile for a GM evaluating talent, but when we’re looking at seasonal awards, certainly the amount of runs Granderson contributes to the Yankees are absolutely relevant to how valuable he is to the Yankees. It would be illogical to say otherwise.

What I’m getting at is that Moneyball stats like OBP, Slugging %, and the whole theory in general are legitimate, totally legit and backed up with real stats. It’s not a bunch of bunk as Joe Morgan would argue, but it doesn’t mean we totally forget about the traditional stats that have been around forever. They may not be the best tools to use when evaluating free agents, but they’re especially relevant this time of year.

For more on my take of the MVP Races, visit the links below.
AL MVP Race
NL MVP Race