So, where’s the silver lining here?

I hope at least Bill Smith gets more pieces from Boston from their farm weakening them in the long term…or that Santana sits till July.

If the yanks pull the WC we won’t face boston until the LCS. That helps.

The silver lining is that the Yankees will very likely reach the playoffs with (84%) or without (75% in scenario 2, 80% in 3, and 80% in the baseline) Santana. The random chaotic nature of baseball (who gets injured and for how long, who slumps, who outperforms, lucky hits, etc) will have a much bigger impact on the Yankees’ fortunes than Santana’s destination.

Thanks a lot, SG!

Sorta depressing, but quite interesting!!

By the by, with the poor performance in the playoffs last year, I think we as fans have (and I KNOW the media has) sorta overlooked how excellent the Yankees played in the second half of last season.

This should be a very good team next year, and that’s withOUT Joba and Hughes doing what they very well COULD do (which is be awesomerageous).

Ever since A-Rod resigned, I have been quite pleased with looking forward to the 2008 season.

Final point!

Did anyone see the Josh Hamilton deal?

Volquez is a nice pick-up for Hamilton, I think.

Hi lads.
No funny stuff tonight.
I’ve got a aunt and unck enroute to St.Paul Mn. from Belfast to claim the remains of my recently departed cousin. It gets worse.
He’d been here illegally because after 9/11 the clampdown on lads like himself ensured his deportation posthaste.
I am on looking for some advice on what federal agency I can steer them towards to help expidite the the release of his remains and his eventual return to Northern Ireland.
I know a lotta you fellas are well versed in law and I cant tell you how much I would appreciate any help you could give me.If you have any help click on my user name and send me an e-mail.
Thanks lads. Sorry for the holiday downer. real sorry.
                                      old thurman fan

Terribly sorry, thurm.

I sent you an e-mail with some info. The link I sent has a phone number for you to call.

Thank you again BC.

sorry thurm, that sounds really intense. condolences.

Thurm, condolences to you and your family.

Thurm, I’ll hoist one tonight in your cousin’s honor.

Thanks Guys.
Things to be working out as well as can be expected. It seems my cuz was feeling lousy for a while,failed to seek help and by the time his girlfriend got him to go to the hospital some infection felled him.
Thanks to all. Love your familys cause ya never know.
Please someone write about baseball,books, movies, beer or food.

I’ll oblige you, thurm.

Has anyone seen the Times article about Guidry?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/sports/baseball/23guidry.html

Poor guy - he is just waiting for the Yankees to call him about some sort of job. Meanwhile, Torre is totally screwing him over (granted, Honeycutt is clearly a better pitching coach, but still!), and Guidry is totally cool in the article about Torre, too.

I loved the line, “Joe explained some things, and I said: ‘Hey, that’s fine. I didn’t call to see if I can get a job. I just called to see how you were doing.’”

Poor Gator.

BC,

Yeah, I laughed at that line from Gator too.

I wonder whether he was overmatched as p. coach or if that’s just perception. At any rate, now that he’s coached one team, he’ll undoubtably be afforded old-boy status and pick up work somewhere.

i’m a gator fan but i always considered him more of a figurehead than an actual nitty gritty coach. he was such a balanced, graceful, awesome pitcher in his own right. with his very own slider of doom. stuff you can’t neccesarily teach (unless you’re sparky lyle apparently). if randy johnson was a pitching coach he’d slap everyone on the rack to stretch em out real good, pass out Joe Dirt mullet wigs and use doves as target practice.

there’s a great bit in moneyball where i forget who says you’re probably better off having a coach who was bad/marginal in his playing days, because he doesn’t try to turn you into himself. kevin long might be able to help you with a specific hitch in your swing whereas eddie murray may just laugh at you and flick you in the nads.

i suppose with a staff of veteran aces a guy like gid can instill confidence and calm and not have to worry about mechanics all of the time. but we’ve got a bunch of youngins and a bullpen full of shmoes, and on top of that some aging dudes who may need to rethink their approach.

Thurm, I have nothing specific to offer except suggest that you try the offices of your senators of representatives.  They can help cut through red tape.  And of course my condolences.

To all of you, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and a belated Hannukah!

Indeed! Merry Christmas, everybody!

Happy Holidays everyone! Condolences, Thurm. SG, this is really interesting. I’ve been curious about this for some time. Something else that I think would be interesting is to see how the Yankees would be affected if they traded Hughes, Melky, and IPK. I guess that would make a rotation of Santana/Wang/Pettitte/Mussina/Joba.

Thank you everyone for making me laugh and smile through this entire Yankee year!  Even my Red Sox friends (I lived in New England for five years) think you guys are great!
-A Queens Interloper

Just wanted to drop in and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Yes, I’m on RLYW on Christmas.  But everyone else is napping in my house.

SG/others, I’m wondering about Melky vs Ellsbury.  I did some tooling around the site but couldn’t find Ellsbury #s, though I thought there was a RS CAIRO projection somewhere.

Anyway, aren’t they kind of the same player, only Ellsbury has more hype because he did well in small sample size last year?

I’m wondering about Melky vs Ellsbury.  I did some tooling around the site but couldn’t find Ellsbury #s, though I thought there was a RS CAIRO projection somewhere.

Anyway, aren’t they kind of the same player, only Ellsbury has more hype because he did well in small sample size last year?

Sorry, just saw this.

I wouldn’t say they are the same kind of player, but they could possibly have similar value.  I’ll write a post about it.