MLB, Granderson join anti-obesity effort

As much as his million-dollar smile and his impressive combination of speed and power, new Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson is known for his active involvement in the community.

So it was no surprise when Commissioner Bud Selig said he “can think of no better MLB representative” to have been at the White House on Tuesday morning.

The reason for his latest visit to Washington, D.C.: Granderson joined first lady Michelle Obama to support the new White House Anti-Obesity Program, yet another venture that has Granderson’s full support.

The 28-year-old, a native of Illinois, was the son of a physical-education teacher, so the idea of getting kids active is especially important to Granderson.

Damn you Yankees, how dare you have such a Tzadik on your team?

Cashman: No new pacts for big three

We’re not in Sloanville any more.

When Brian Cashman looks at Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Joe Girardi, the Yankees’ GM paints his shortstop, closer and manager with the same brush.

And with spring training opening next week in Tampa, Cashman has no plans to stray from his plan of not negotiating with them. All three contracts are in the final year.

“I don’t think you can separate one from the other,” Cashman explained. “I am not saying they are the same, but the questions will come, ‘If you did one, why didn’t you do the other?’ If this was Kansas City, it would be different — but it’s not.”

...“Everybody signed those contracts and there is a lot of money being made and people are comfortable,” said Cashman, who is signed through 2011 and never lobbied for an extension when he was in the final year of a deal.

freep: Johnny Damon likes Yzerman, Tigers

Yes...but will he like Rybarczyk’s line change?

“Johnny came to me about Detroit,” Boras said in a telephone interview. “He told me, ‘If I can’t play for the Yankees, I want you to let the Tigers know I want to play for them. I can make that team a winner.’ “

Although Damon, 36, has been a free agent since November, Boras said the market for him really didn’t develop until it became clear the Yankees wouldn’t re-sign him. Then, said Boras, “We got four or five offers right away.”

Boras declined to identify which clubs made offers or how much interest they have subsequently shown.

Boras addressed one aspect of Damon’s performance last season. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Damon hit 15 of his 24 homers to a place where the ball carried notoriously well, rightfield in the new Yankee Stadium.

“It’s no secret that Johnny Damon purposely hooks the ball in Yankee Stadium and changes his swing on the road,” Boras said. He added that Damon, a left-handed hitter, is a “strong guy” whose Yankee Stadium homers would have cleared the rightfield fence at Comerica Park.

SNY: Salfino: Yanks prove money does equal winning

Yes, certainly a tom gray area.

The Yankees were really set back when the current draft rules were implemented in 1965. But free agency saved them and now many premium players (like current top Yankees prospect Jesus Montero) are not U.S. residents and therefore not subjected to the draft. These players can be signed by the Yankees in the manner that existed before 1947, de facto free agency. Inevitably, this team with even only competent management was going to rise to power—playoff appearances in 14 of the last 15 years. During this time, they’ve won “only” five championships.

So, is this the best of both worlds for baseball—having a great New York team that usually is not the champion? The ever-growing legion of Yankees haters would take satisfaction from the team either losing (sub-.500 record) or at least failing to make the playoffs (like in 2008). From 2001 to 2007, Yankees fans got to strut their stuff for six full months before being ultimately thwarted. That gave their haters a brief rush of pleasure, but then it’s on to football.

The best thing for baseball right now is that the Yankees are in the same division as the Red Sox. This means that they either have to beat Boston or the field of non-division winning teams. It’s easy for them to do this. It should be expected. But it’s not a slam dunk in the way their recent playoff streak implies.

Report: Yankees sign OF Marcus Thames

Jon Heyman of SI.com reports that the Yankees have signed outfielder Marcus Thames.

Terms of the contract are not yet known. Thames could enter a left field platoon with Randy Winn. Generally considered a poor defensive outfielder, Thames has value in his .845 career OPS against left-handed pitching. The Yankees will also benefit from having an extra right-handed bat in the outfield. Thames, originally drafted by the Yankees in 1996, batted .252/.323/.453 with 13 home runs in 258 at-bats last season.

TYU: Robinson Cano and false perceptions of speed

Bad running? Mike de la Hoziery looks on.

While Keith Law is discussing Orlando Hudson here – the “Slow-Dawg” – he might as well be referring to Robinson Cano. Though Cano is not viwed as a “low-power middle infielder,” he is often mistakenly perceived as having “good speed,” although, as Law says, such a characterization just does not “bear out in reality.” I remember Joe Buck referencing Cano in this way throughout the World Series and wondered how, exactly, Buck came to that conclusion given Cano’s poor stolen base numbers – 17 steals in 38 attempts – and decidedly low speed score (3.6). To be fair to Buck, even I admit that I was surprised at how sluggish Cano was on the bases when he first arrived on the scene in 2005.

Perhaps stereotypes regarding infielders as well as stereotypes pertaining to appearance are to blame. While Cano is a powerful middle infielder, he is, still, a middle infielder. Thus, we assume that he is faster, for whatever reason, because middle infielders just are that way inherently. Plus, Cano is slim and “looks” athletic, so perhaps that visual is what makes many people think he is faster than he really is (conversely, when we look at Prince Fielder, we do not consider him to be fast, so, assuming the opposite – thin equals fast – is often the case). In addition, though I am hesitant to say this in fear of a backlash, there are longstanding ethnic and racial stereotypes which distinguish minorities as “fast runners,” so I wonder if this is also implicitly at play with guys like Robinson Cano and Orlando Hudson. This is a difficult issue to discuss, but, as many academics have noted, it is a characterization that exists.

It is a mixture of these things – sometimes one or the other, sometimes all three – that likely influence our perceptions of speed in baseball. Orlando Hudson and Robinson Cano are just two examples of players that are “surprisingly slow” because of these preconceived thoughts. It is an interesting issue to consider the next time we watch a game.

Pirates admit ‘rumblings’ about Tabata’s age

Write it down,in your book
Pennsylvania 25-OH!-OH!-OH!

His birth certificate and passport say outfielder Jose Tabata was born Aug. 12, 1988, in Anzoategui, Venezuela. Yet, during a recent radio interview, general manager Neal Huntington admitted there are “a lot of rumblings” that Tabata might actually be in his mid-20s.

In Latin America, record-keeping can be spotty, especially when it comes to youngsters with excellent baseball skills. The New York Yankees investigated Tabata’s background in 2005 and, satisfied he truly was 16, signed him as an undrafted free agent.

The Pirates are not publicly disputing Tabata’s age, and yet ...

“All of the documentation he has used to obtain his visa from the U.S. government and his passport from the Venezuelan government indicates his reported age is accurate,” Huntington said in an e-mail to the Tribune-Review. “Apart from unfounded speculation, there is nothing to indicate his age any different than reported.

My point is that while we have reason to doubt his reported age, it is a non-issue to us.”

Klapisch: Joe Girardi faces many challenges to repeat

Bah, you call this a challenge? I was once forced to give crepid Tom Metcalf 20 starts in a Challenge the Yankees season!

In fact, there are enough baseball executives who think the Bombers are set to run off another mini-dynasty. They have the AL’s most talented roster, they have a $200 million payroll and, most importantly, they’re being run more efficiently than at any time in the last 20 years.

“I think Brian [Cashman] has learned a lot about running a team,” said one rival executive. “He’s made some mistakes, but if you go around and ask people what they think of the Yankees, the answer you’ll get is that they’re intelligently run.”

The corporate IQ filters down to Girardi, who did a much better job with his players in 2009 than he did in 2008. He cleared out the anti-ARod residue he’d inherited from Torre, Mike Mussina and Jason Giambi, maximizing the infectious optimism generated by CC Sabathia, Nick Swisher and, yes, even Johnny Damon, whose what-me-worry personality will be sorely missed.

No one doubts Girardi has a killer roster, and, going into the final year of his contract, has a clear edict from ownership: Win another pennant, or else.

Report: Damon will ‘be lucky’ to sign somewhere

Twists Johnny and his Heartbreakers “All By Myself” just a bit louder.

A baseball executive says former Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon “is going to be lucky to get whatever he gets,” if he signs somewhere.

The AL exec told MLive.com that Damon and agent Scott Boras misjudged the market for the 36-year-old outfielder.

Damon last week said he’s looking for a two-year, $22 million contract and admitted he turned down a two-year, $14 million deal to return to the Yankees.

“Sometimes, we ask for too much,” the source, requesting anonymity, told writer Steve Kornacki. “Then, the smoke clears and you ask, ‘Where am I?’ And now, I can’t believe anybody is going to offer Damon more than the $14 million and $6 million the Yankees did.

“If you turn them down for that, you deserve one year for $3 million or whatever he is going to get. In February, teams have got guys in place. My feeling is that now he is going to be lucky to get whatever he gets. It’s still supply and demand in this game. And Johnny’s arrow is in the middle or going down.”

Sabermetric Research: Birnbaum: Does it matter that the Yankees keep buying pennants?

Last week, at the Sports Economist blog, Brian Goff agreed and disagreed with Posnanski’s analysis. His agreement was that Posnanski got it right in terms of understanding why MLB did what it did with the expanded playoffs. His disagreement was that, while Posnanski thinks it’s a bad thing for the fans, Goff thinks it’s a *good* thing.

Why? Because Yankee-haters get a lot of satisfaction out of seeing the Yankees lose. And so MLB’s strategy is win-win. Yankee fans get to see their team in contention every year, which creates a lot more revenue for the league and utility for fans (since the Yankees have the largest fan base in MLB). And then, Yankee-haters get to see their least-favorite team defeated two years out of three, which makes *them* feel good and open their wallets. MLB deliberately designed the system this way to squeeze more money out of its fans.

That may be true, but I’m not so sure the strategy is still in baseball’s long-term interest. The sports economists I’ve read note that fans spend more money when their team is successful, and, from that, they conclude that it maximizes profit for the league to ensure the cities with the most fans win the most often.

I’m not convinced. That may work in the short run, when the fans still have memories of when payrolls were more even, and playoff berths were earned more by other means than money. But what happens longer term, when the Yankees make the playoffs for 28 of the next 30 years, and it becomes more and more obvious that the Pirates and Royals will seldom (if ever) be able to compete? And what happens when even Yankees fans start to get uncomfortable noticing that there’s a lot less to be proud of when your management is just buying all the best players, and a playoff berth is just being purchased every year?

Thanks to Marsh.

TYU: Jesus Montero may very well be trade bait

TYU: Trade You’ll Ululate?

There may however, be a third option. Since Jesus is only 20 years old, it gives us some wiggle room in his case. The consensus among scouts is that even if he can catch initially, he will have to move out of the position eventually. If Montero can play the position well enough while he’s still young and has some youthful athleticism (into his mid 20’s) then he can serve as a placeholder for one of our other catching options like Austin Romine, Gary Sanchez, Kyle Higashioka, JR Murphy or a number of free agent options. The fact that the Yanks keep drafting Catchers despite having a system stocked at the position might be a window into what they internally think about Montero’s future at the position. They may envision a scenario where he spends his early years at Catcher/DH and moves over to 1B when Tex’s contract expires down the road. Sounds like a long way off, and it is, but in 2016 Jesus will still only be 27 years old.

In discussing this with Mike Axisa from RAB last night, he noted that these things tend to work themselves out, and I would agree with that. But don’t dismiss the notion that Jesus could be dangled for a stud pitcher or positional need. Brian Cashman has already offered him once, for a 32 year old making 16 mil. A young stud earning less would make even more sense. Again, if he can’t stick at Catcher then he’s more valuable to someone who can play him at First Base than he is to us if he’s a only DH. And most scouts think that’s all he’ll ever be for the Yankees.

SNY: Salfino: How do Sox, Yankees stack up in 2010?

“Additions of Vazquez, Lackey make for close race”. Salfino, latest.

Granderson replaces Damon and has tremendous power upside in Yankee Stadium, where Damon hit 17 of his 24 homers last year. Granderson hit 20 homers on the road, so it’s not crazy to expect him to hit 40 this year with 30 as the floor. He will drive you crazy with the strikeouts (141 last year, 174 in 2006). Also, he wasn’t close to Damon last year on the bases. According to the Bill James Handbook, Damon was plus-18 mostly due to his great stolen base efficiency (12-for-12) while Granderson was just plus-four (he took only 10 bases on hits vs. 20 for Damon).

Winn replaces Cabrera as an extra outfielder, but could be thrust into a bigger role if/when Johnson gets hurt. Winn’s decline at the plate last year (he’s 36 in June) was alarming, with a .671 OPS and just two homers in 538 at-bats.

Vazquez is the key addition, coming off a dominant season in the National League (238 strikeouts vs. 44 walks). He can be lights out when he’s on and, in a testament to New York’s depth, opens the year as the Yankees’ No. 4 starter. Yes, he spit the bit before in New York, but there are all kinds of sample-size problems in the bad second half way back in 2004.

Figure that the Yankees gain an expected win or two from last year and conservatively assume the baseline is their Pythagorean total (95). So that’s 96.5 wins as an over/under. The Red Sox seem much better off but are taking on a lot more risk. Their offense will also be hurt by having to play Victor Martinez at catcher (he hits much better as a first baseman), which also subtracts from their defensive gains elsewhere. Boston at the plate loses most of what Lackey gives them on the mound. So the Red Sox are only plus one or two expected wins, too, and—using their Pythagorean total from last year—get only to an expected win total of 94.5. Close, yes, but no cigar.

Billboards tout the 61 in ‘61 clubbed by Roger Maris

until some punk wiseass tags “0 SB, 0 IBB in ‘61...and Bobby Richardson sucked!” over it.

A North Dakota billboard company has erected a pair of signs in Fargo honoring local hero Roger Maris, whose record 61 home runs in 1961 have long been clouded with an asterisk.

Because he clubbed the homers in more games than Babe Ruth’s record 60, the baseball Hall of Fame has never recognized his feat, much less admitted him to Cooperstown.

And the “61 in ‘61” (his epitaph in a Fargo cemetery) accomplishment was eclipsed in 1998 when McGwire hit 70 dingers.

Owners of Newman Outdoor Advertising decided to rectify what they see as a historical disservice to Maris, a Hibbing native who died in 1985.

“He’s our boy—Fargo’s golden boy,” said company executive Russ Newman, who got to know Maris in the early 1980s “and became really enamored of him. He was such a gentleman.”

The billboards feature a picture of Maris during his days as a New York Yankee and the slogan, “Fargo’s Maris ‘Legitimate’ Home Run King.”

Newman said he decided to erect the billboards in the wake of McGwire’s recent admission that he used steroids during his home run binge. “With all these players coming out of the closet about steroids, when McGwire admitted it, it really pushed me over the edge to do this,” he said.

Remington: Can Granderson solve his lefty pitcher problems?

Future Waldling: “100 Granderson Bar now has 48 HR’s this season at Yankee Stadium! Isn’t that amazing, Suzyn!?”

Granderson will be 29 in a month, and is in his physical prime. The odds are good that he’ll have a field day with that short right field wall. He wasn’t overly lucky last year, according to Hit Tracker Online, which means that he’s not due for the kind of rude awakening Jimmy Rollins received after he hit 30 homers. He has legitimate 25-30 homer power in his bat and he’s moving to a park that will make it easier for him to hit them.

The Forecast for 2010: Last year, Granderson showed two things: he could murder right-handers and hit a ton of homers off them, and he couldn’t hit lefties if you gave him a bat the size of John Kruk. The new Yankee Stadium likely won’t help him hit lefties — the short porch in right field will only help him if he can pull the ball, and he can’t get around on lefties. What’s more, the Yankees have a homegrown solution to the problem: Brett Gardner is defensively similar to Granderson, and has an OPS over .700 against southpaws in the majors and in the minors. Any time a lefty’s on the mound, they can rest Granderson and let him lurk as a potent pinch-hitting weapon any time a right-handed reliever comes in. Granderson doesn’t seem like a platoon player, but the more often the Yankees realize it, the better.

Baseball Musings: Fewer Pitchers

I thought this was an interesting take on the Joba-Hughes in the bullpen discussion. From David Pinto:

It strikes me that both in the pen could radically alter the Yankees roster. The Yankees would only need nine pitchers, maybe ten. The starting staff is more than capable of going six or seven innings, and in the case of Sabathia, eight. Joba and Hughes take turns going two innings when needed, so they build up a decent amount of innings during the season (both getting over 100). They’re not one-inning setup men, they’re in for however long it takes to get to the ninth. New York can then afford to carry a third catcher and a two slick fielding infielders to rest A-Rod and Jeter late in games. It would take some guts to rework a pen like that, but if the Yankees did, I’d be all for both young men pitching out of the bullpen.

Schmuck: Bisciotti takes a swing at the Yankees

Major ventricina served from Bisciotti!

Clearly, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti is a proponent of the NFL salary cap, and took a light-hearted shot at the Yankees during today’s big news conference for their inability to totally dominate Major League Baseball with their huge revenue and payroll advantage over the other 29 teams.

“It certainly doesn’t show up in the standings,” Bisciotti said. “If I’m a Yankees fan, I’m upset we’re not winning 130 games with the roster that they have and the money that they pay out. I think it’s a disgrace they only beat the average team by 10 games in the standings with three times the money. I’d fire that GM. You don’t need a GM. All you have to do is buy the last Cy Young Award winner every year.”

That left me with no choice but to ask him afterward if he thought baseball should impose an NFL-style salary cap, something the baseball owners have wanted to do for decades, but have never been able to overcome union opposition.

“I think the genie’s out of the bottle,’’ Bisciotti said, pointing out that the huge value of the Yankees franchise is based on the current economic system and nobody is going to impose a new system that might damage the value of the top revenue-producing teams. “There’s just no way of solving it.”

Sherman: Joba’s bullpen call

Less innings for better pitchers...the new market unmentionable?

This is not easy for the Yanks. They truly have believed Chamberlain’s pitch inventory was that of a starter. Plus, they have endured the criticism of the Joba Rules to navigate to this moment when he would have few restrictions as a starter.

But by morphing back into a confident, dart-throwing reliever in the postseason, Chamberlain has pushed the Yanks to more seriously consider that he might not have been suffering rotation growing pains and, instead, simply is more temperamentally built to work out of the pen.

And, really, the bigger question the Yanks might want to ask in spring is not Joba vs. Hughes as much as 2010 vs. the future.

Because aren’t the 2010 Yanks much better if both Joba and Hughes are in the bullpen? Think about it.

As long as they have health with their main veteran starters—Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte and Javier Vazquez—the importance of a No. 5 man dims.

The LoHud Yankees Blog: Pinch hitting: Chris and Trevor Kaftan

Derek Jeter is the best Yankee that ever lived.

Yes. Better than Ruth or Gehrig. Better than DiMaggio or Mantle. Not to trivialize their stats or their abilities, despite the records that Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio set, Jeter has had to deal with things that the Babe and the Iron Horse didn’t. Jeter has cemented himself in pinstripe history.

...

His heart and passion for the game can be found in his spectacular defensive plays and clutch hits. Derek Jeter is the most clutch player ever to put on the pinstripes. There are no specific statistics for clutch situations but his play when the game on the line is incomparable that he has earned the nickname “Captain Clutch.” Jeter also gets credit for one thing that Gehrig, Ruth, DiMaggio or Mantle had to deal with: playing for George Steinbrenner.

I just couldn’t resist.

ESPN: Nick Swisher shines on “How I Met Your Mother”

Outside of the dynamite Dino & Cheryl Kartsonakis show, I rarely watch TV...was this grub any good? (hits head with studded Saget-stick)

Nick Swisher just gave us another reason to dislike the New York Yankees.

They’ll snake your girl.

That’s exactly what the Yanks outfielder will do—unwittingly, anyway—Monday night on “How I Met Your Mother.” In the episode airing on CBS, Barney’s (Neil Patrick Harris) pursuit of “the perfect week”—seven girls in seven days—is disrupted when Swisher, playing himself at a New York City bar, catches the eye of Barney’s latest prey.

..."That’s a myth,” said Swisher, who is dating Gossip Girl’s Joanna Garcia. “We’re normal, man. The only difference between us and everybody else is we work at Yankee Stadium, and our job just happens to be on TV. We put our pants on one leg at a time, too. The same rules apply to everybody.”

Does Nick Swisher ever get shot down?

“Oh, yeah. Absolutely!”

A losing record?

“No,” he laughed. “I don’t have a losing record.”

Henning: Agent: Damon wants to play for Tigers

Yeah...and I want to play for Pill Wonder. So what of it?

Johnny Damon, the free-agent outfielder who helped the Yankees to a world championship in 2009, would be happy to talk with the Tigers.

“Johnny believes the addition of him to Detroit’s lineup would make the Tigers a winner,” Scott Boras, Damon’s agent, said during a Monday phone conversation.

“He’s batted .363 at Comerica Park, he has a .412 on-base percentage at Comerica,” Boras said.

Boras added, quoting Damon before Damon signed earlier contracts with the Yankees and Boston Red Sox: “I told you I could make the Yankees a winner, and I told you before I left Oakland (where he played in 2001) I could make a Boston a winner.”

Boras says Damon has the same disposition toward the Tigers in 2010: “I can make the Detroit Tigers a winner,” Boras said, citing Damon’s words to him in December.

Damon, 36, has a career .288 batting average, 207 home runs, and needs only four more RBIs to reach the 1,000 mark. His career on-base average is a robust .355.

YESNetwork: Goldman: What to do with Robbie Cano

Robbie Cano, Don’t You...OH ####### NO!

hat same description applies to Cano, albeit for different reasons. A career .306/.339/.480 hitter, Cano freezes up with runners on base. This was clearly demonstrated last season, when he batted only .255/.288/.415 with men on and .207/.242/.332 with runners in scoring position. Conversely, leading off an inning he hit an incredible .441/.459/.797. Batting with the bases empty, he hit .376/.407/.609. While Cano hasn’t been this extreme every year, he has been fairly consistent in this regard. He’s a career .256/.291/.398 hitter with runners in scoring position, .280/.312/.425 with men on, and .331/363/.528 with the bases empty.

This doesn’t mean that Cano isn’t a good hitter, but that he simply has limitations. To get the most out of Cano, a manager might keep him out of RBI spots. Now, when you have one of the best offenses in baseball, your whole batting order is an RBI spot. That’s why the second spot in the order is a place he might prosper. Even if the Yankees get another .400 OBP from their leadoff man, Cano would be batting with the bases empty 60 percent of the time, do his best hitting, and be on base for Mark Teixeira, A-Rod, et al. The downside is that you might get a few extra Cano double-play specials when the leadoff man does reach base.

One other advantage to moving Cano up in the order is that it would get him away from Nick Swisher, who also struggles to hit with runners on. The two spent a good part of last season batting back to back, which meant a lot of dead rallies as the Yankees could count on consecutive outs when a runner got on. Add in that the runner in question was quite often Jorge Posada, who couldn’t navigate the bases with alacrity if you strapped an outboard motor on him, and you had a dysfunctional situation in the aft section of the lineup. Cano batted second back in 2005 and did not hit well, but the mature Cano has rarely been listed there.

Eskenazi: Say It Ain’t So, Joe: Chron Story Defames DiMaggio’s Style

This is what’s commonly known in the biz as..."Bad Barney press, man”

Don’t get us wrong, we enjoyed the hell out of Aaron Britt’s Sunday Chronicle story about Giants ace Tim Lincecum’s sense of style (or lack thereof). Britt made a lot of phone calls and it’s an entertaining read. But we were left open-mouthed by a king hell bastard of a mistake right in the opening paragraph: “Though DiMaggio may have covered center field with grace, in his street clothes he was just an average Joe,” wrote Britt, hoping to make the point that baseball players, on the whole, are schlubs.

And, on the whole, he’s probably right. But, without exaggeration, it is not possible to be more wrong, more off the mark, when writing any sentence on any subject, than Britt was when writing about Joe DiMaggio’s sartorial sense. In fact, DiMaggio was a legendarily stylish and imposing man who made infinite demands of his clothiers and sycophants that his expensive wardrobe should look just so. In short, he made Willie Brown look like a Men’s Wearhouse customer.

...More specifically, it wasn’t just Joe DiMaggio’s prodigious talent that elevated him from a baseball superstar to an internationally known cultural figure. It was his distinctive sense of style—and a large part of that had to do with his impeccable suits and jealously maintained image.

The Daily Something: Your 1985 AL MVP

No, it’s not a look into the Damaso Garcia vote...it’s the Mattingly-Brett angle.

Got into a discussion the other day about this award. There was some pretty strenuous arguing over whether the winner should’ve been Don Mattingly (who actually won it in a landslide, with 23 first-place votes) or George Brett (who got the other five).

It’s a pretty interesting discussion on a lot of levels. Both played corner infield positions (though Brett played the more challenging and more valuable one) and were given Gold Gloves.

I say it’s interesting mostly because of how our perceptions have changed. It’s easy to see why Mattingly would have won in 1985. He led the league in doubles and RBI, way ahead of Brett and 21 ahead of second place Eddie Murray. The only category Brett led the league in that actually existed back then was slugging percentage, and I doubt anybody even looked at that. The Royals did go on to win the Series while the Yanks missed the playoffs, but the Yanks still won 97 games, thanks in large part to Donnie Baseball.

But you can guess where I’d come out as between these two guys. The advanced metrics* show Brett as a much, much better hitter. Driven mostly by the OBP advantage (Brett walked a career-high 103 times in ‘85, almost twice Mattingly’s total, though 30 of Brett’s were intentional), Brett blows Mattingly out of the water across the board in all but the 2B, HR, R and RBI categories. Throw in that Total Zone wasn’t as impressed with Mattingly’s fielding this year as most observers were, and the positional adjustment for Mattingly’s playing the easiest position on the diamond, and the Wins Above Replacement is a rout too: Brett 8.0, Donnie 6.4.

Harper: Aging core and injuries rank as biggest concerns for New York Yankees moving forward

Who gives a Solaita-sized clumpus...so long as they have karma, chemistry, and bulletproof bravado!

Mariano Rivera turned 40 in November. He had another brilliant season in ‘09, but he can’t go on like this forever, can he? He’s been so great for so long that any significant decline could have a devastating effect on the ballclub.

Jorge Posada turns 39 in August. His defense, always something of an issue, became a major story when he clashed with A.J. Burnett, leading Joe Girardi to sit him in the righthander’s postseason starts. With Johnson signed as a full-time DH, Posada’s health and performance behind the plate are critical.

Andy Pettitte turns 38 in June and has a history of elbow and shoulder problems. What if it all catches up with him this year?

Derek Jeter turns 36 in June, and while he enjoyed something of a renaissance season in 2009, there’s no denying he’s old for a shortstop.

Alex Rodriguez turns 35 in July, and his hip surely will continue to be a concern, if not an issue.

The point here is that, although they lost Chien-Ming Wang for the season and A-Rod for a month due to hip surgery, the Yankees were very lucky with injuries last season. Even Burnett, forever an arm injury waiting to happen, survived his first year as a Yankee without missing a start.

Yanks to bring World Series trophy East

The Yankees have announced plans to bring the 2009 World Series championship trophy on a six-day tour of Tokyo, Beijing and Hong Kong, beginning on Sunday.

In which the Yankees renew their unholy alliance with the Yomiuri Giants, and then visit one of their fellow totalitarian-capitalist regimes.

NESN: Canty: Rays Moving to Southern CT or NJ?

The Tampa Bay Rays may not be able to afford staying in Florida much longer. NESN baseball analyst Peter Gammons reports on MLB.com that the Rays eventually could be forced to move to a more profitable market.

With spring training drawing closer and teams putting the finishing touches on rosters, Tampa Bay faces a bigger challenge than filling in its second-base hole. While the Rays have enjoyed success against big-market teams such as New York (Yankees), Philadelphia and Boston, their on-field success has not translated into revenue.

“There are smart people in the Major League Baseball offices wondering if there’s hope of even discussing a potential move of the Rays to New Jersey or Southern Connecticut over certain protests from the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Phillies,” writes Gammons on MLB.com.

Keith Law: Top 100 prospects

NO.  PLAYER
1 Jason Heyward, OF, ATL
2 Stephen Strasburg, RHP, WAS
3 Carlos Santana, C, CLE
4 Buster Posey, C, SFO
5 Mike Stanton, OF, FLA
6 Desmond Jennings, OF, TAM
7 Martin Perez, LHP, TEX
8 Dustin Ackley, CF, SEA
9 Justin Smoak, 1B, TEX
10 Jesus Montero, C, NYY
11 Brian Matusz, LHP, BAL
12 Starlin Castro, SS, CHC
13 Neftali Feliz, RHP, TEX
14 Domonic Brown, RF, PHI
15 Wade Davis, RHP, TAM
16 Aroldis Chapman, LHP, CIN
17 Jeremy Hellickson, RHP, TAM
18 Casey Kelly, RHP, BOS
19 Aaron Hicks, RHP, MIN
20 Brett Wallace, 1B, TOR
21 Logan Morrison, 1B, FLA
22 Tyler Matzek, LHP, COL
23 Jenrry Mejia, RHP, NYM
24 Michael Taylor, OF, OAK
25 Zach Britton, LHP, BAL

Scouting reports for the top 25 should be free, I think.

Sources: Yankees, (Randy) Winn agree to deal

Will “Winn” be one of those Ryan Church type of names, or one of those Frank White type of names?…

The New York Yankees have agreed to terms with free agent outfielder Randy Winn on a one-year contract, pending a physical, sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.

The contract is worth in the neighborhood of $2 million.

The deal, in all likelihood, ends any chance that Johnny Damon will return to the Yankees… Damon and his agent Scott Boras are trying to engage the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds as possible alternatives, a baseball source told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick.

Baseball Image of the Day: Caption Derek Jeter’s Argument with an Ump

Well, it’s 22 days until Pitchers and Catchers.

Today’s image comes from Keith Allison’s Flickr page, one of the best on FLICKR as far as Sports go.

Caption that image.

Creative Commons:

Tomorrow: Overseas Ball

S.I.: Reiter: Why Damon is still available

I’m tellin’ ya, Rat, if these teams can’t smell my qualifications, then who needs them, right?

Boras, when reached by SI.com on Monday, deemed it to be “a little bit premature” to discuss a possible result for Damon. “We’re moving through the marketplace,” Boras said. “I’ll probably know more as the week goes on… I’d say his performance speaks for itself. It’s hard to find many left fielders who hit 24 home runs and score 107 runs from the top of the lineup.”

Yet it isn’t Damon’s offense that has teams wary of him. In this recently begun era of financial restraint and advanced defensive statistics, baseball’s general managers like to bolster their rosters with strong fielders (see the Red Sox’ signings of defensive wizards Adrian Beltre and Mike Cameron; see almost every non-pitching acquisition Jack Zduriencik has made in his 15 months as the Mariners’ GM), not only because fielding represents a newly focused-upon way to win, but also because the salaries commanded by top defensive players have yet to catch up with those of sluggers or staff aces.

Two other factors are playing a role in the lack of demand for Damon’s services, points out one general manager who does not plan to bid for him. One is that Damon turned 36 in November, and might be on the cusp of a precipitous decline. “I think there’s a greater awareness in the game of age,” the GM said. “It’s like a hot potato thing with an older player. There’s a fear that you’ll be left holding an older player at the wrong time.” The second is that Damon hit the market during a winter in which there is a glut of comparable players from which clubs can choose. “In every free-agent market there will be some soft underbelly,” he said. “The underbelly is probably in corner-type players this year. Russell Branyan’s still out there, Jermaine Dye is still out there. Damon is not the only guy that is getting overlooked, but he’s a guy that was playing for the Yankees in New York.”