Angels in 6.  The ex-Yanks Rivera and Abreu star.  Wild prediction: Andy Pettitte decides that he wants no part of Vladimir Guerrero and walks him 4 times, but throws 7 innings of shutout ball. 

Incidentally, Vlad does have a good career mark against Pettitte.  The only lefty who has owned Vlad over a significant number of PAs is Al Leiter.

ABY baby!!!

My heart says Angels and I will say in 5 because most series have been short recently.  Tori Hunter steps up, as does Joe Saunders.  Wild prediction, captain Jetes hits under .200.

Angels in six. Jeter makes a key error and Yankee fans are speechless - for several seconds. Then they realize it's someone else's fault, possibly some Iraqi.

Nah, if Jeter misses a ball it must be because A-Rod distracted him. 

I could see it now - deciding game #7, A-Rod hits 4 home runs to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead going to the 9th while all other Yankees are hitless.  Then Jeter boots a ground ball allowing someone to get on, a few more hits through the SS area occur and the Angles now having the winning run up to bat.  A pop up, A-Rod and Jeter both run for it into foul territory, at the last second both run away after Jeter calls it and then the hitter cranks a home run to win it.  A-Rod is the goat for not catching it and Jeter the poor fellow who would've put the Yanks into the WS again if A-Rod hadn't moved his head in such a way as to distract Jeter from catching that easy pop-up.

Nah, if Jeter misses a ball it must be because A-Rod distracted him.

True enough, that. And, your scenario is ALMOST correct, John. Here is the "corrected" version..

I could see it now - deciding game #7, A-Rod hits 4 home runs to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead going to the 9th while all other Yankees are hitless.  Then Jeter boots a ground ball allowing someone to get on, a few more hits through the SS area occur and the Angels now having the winning run up to bat.  A pop up, A-Rod and Jeter both run for it into foul territory. It's actually 1-2 rows into the seats, and just as Arod backs off after Jeter calls for it, Howie Clark sitting 2 rows in yells "I got it" in his best A-Rod imitation. Jeter backs off looking puzzled. Jeter goes to his grave swearing that it was Arod who called him off.

Or it may have been Ken Huckaby wearing a target T-shirt which distracted the snakebit Jeter.

Seriously, Jeter lived up to his hype for the first time in a decade or so.  It might be time to give him a break (hey, if Nate Silver can rush to the defence of Limbaugh...)

Angels in 7!  Please, Lord!  Angels in 7!  The pitcher who I will not name must lose twice and the catcher who I won't name hopefully gets plunked on a 3-0 pitch by the Angel hurler with the best fastball velocity.

The Angels put up a fight, but the Yanks take it in 7, Alex Rodriguez homers 4 times and comes through in the clutch... (Yes I hate myself)

Weather wins tonight!

On one of the greatest time wasting websites out there, Sporcle, I found a couple of fun Jays quizzes.  How well do you know your Jays?

Jays opening day lineups 1990-2009
Jays opening day lineups 1979-1989

I got 142/200 on the modern Jays and only 70/130 on the early Jays.  It was a lot tougher than I expected.  Lots of players I've tried to forget.

On one of the greatest time wasting websites out there, Sporcle, I found a couple of fun Jays quizzes.  How well do you know your Jays?

Jays opening day lineups 1990-2009
Jays opening day lineups 1979-1989

I'm so awful at that type of quiz; I only got 140 because I blanked out on such difficult questions as "who was our SS last year...the scrappy guy?" and Jack Morris' first name. Yet I remembered Chris Woodward and Junior Felix...go figure.

Now that was fun.

1977-1989 I got 107 out of 130 - everyone from 1983 on, while missing just 2 from 1982 and 1981.  Got all guys at 1B/2B/3B, missed the first two SS, and did horrid in the OF/DH for pre-1982.  There were two pitchers I could've got had I figured out how to spell the guy's last name (it was complicated).

1990-2009 only 140 out of 200 - geez did I blank out on obvious ones missing 3 from this years team and a few guys who started for years but just haven't been in mind for a long time.  Missed two on 1993 but I suspect most would as neither were starting by mid-season.  From 1990 to 1995 I only missed two starting pitchers and a catcher from 1995 as well as those 2 oddities in 1993.  Missed 6 in 2001 though (I think we all want to forget that era).  I read through who I missed and go 'how did I miss those' but figure it was largely due to being at work :)  Yup, that's my excuse.

spell the guy's last name (it was complicated).

Well, one a them gots to be Dave Lemanchik. Who else?

Lemanczyk was the guy I had issues with (geez that is a tough one eh?). Also with Scutaro for some reason.

Interesting to note that one guy on the Jays right now is the franchise leader for his position in opening day's played in. Another guy will be on opening day 2010 assuming he is still here. The all time lead is at catcher with 9 opening days (Whitt). DH has a leader with just 3 starts - a tie actually - can anyone guess who those two are?

"Lemanczyk was the guy I had issues with (geez that is a tough one eh?). Also with Scutaro for some reason."

The one that got me was Manuel Lee. I had typed in Manny Lee and it didn't come up. Should have thought of that, but still!

That catcher from 1995 got me too.  To be honest, I have no recollection of him being on the Jays.

DH has a leader with just 3 starts - a tie actually - can anyone guess who those two are?

Molly has to be one ... the other, thinking early Jays. Maybe Rico Carty?

Molly is right. The other was an opening day starter - Otto the swatto Velez. I was surprised Cliff Johnson didn't make it, 1989's is the oddest DH though - a backup infielder (Jimy Williams did a lot of odd things). 22 different guys have been the opening day DH's and next year could easily be yet another new guy (Lind was it this year).

3 positions have leaders who did it 8 times, 4 more had 7 time starters. CF has had just 9 players, the fewest of any position (Moseby, White, Wells combine for 21 of the 33 opening days while Cruz Jr was opening day CF more often than anyone was opening day DH).

Did we really start Homer Bush 3 years straight on opening day?

I thought I did pretty well, around 150, until I looked at the correct answers and realized that I missed John Olerud.  I was pleased that I remembered Lance Parrish and Tony Batista though, in the latter's case beacuse of possibly the worst 40 homer season of all time. 

I'm really impressed with Giradi, saved the game with Rivera and then took him out for a pinch hitter.  He wasn't afraid to lose the DH or not be a slave to the save.

I hate the yankees as much as the next guy, but the way the angels are playing it's making it harder and harder to cheer for them.

Earlier this season, Michael Kay said Yankee fans were falling in love with Derek Jeter again. I have to admit I'm falling in love with Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia.

The Yankees have put on a clinic on how to build a winning baseball team. Draft and develop your own players (Jeter,Posada, Hughes,Robertson), make smart trades (A-Rod, Swisher), dip into the international market (Matsui, Rivera, Cano), sign good free agents (Sabathia, Damon, Teixeria, Burnett), and have an ownership that is committed to winning.

Fox has to be thrilled the Yankees are up 3-1 and closing in on another World Series appearance.

Draft and develop your own players (Jeter,Posada, Hughes,Robertson)

Posada (1990), Jeter (1992), Hughes (2004), Robertson (2006).

There's a little issue of that block of geological time between Jeter and Hughes.

And spend $200M.

I realize Rodriguez was technically a trade, but it seemed a lot more like a free-agent bidding war at the time, just in a strange situation where it was a team bidding against an already known cost (his contract) and a team trying to get rid of as much as possible (Texas). Trade yes, but it's not like the Yankees showered the Rangers with prospects (Soriano yes, but that's hardly a straight up trade). The Yankees were willing and able to spend $16 million/year on Rodriguez, so they got him. And then they re-upped his contract anyway.

And yes, the Yankees have some good free agents, but they have some awful ones too. When you are bidding on upper-level talent, your success rate is naturally higher, even if the mistakes are bigger (Pavano).

Did anyone have "batter will be called safe despite standing still, off the base, while being tagged with the ball, which was live and in play at the time" as an outlandish prediction? Bizarre. A call so baffling, so terrible, it barely qualified as wrong. Hard to believe another ump wouldn't step in and correct it, "united front" be damned.

The Yankees have put on a clinic on how to build a winning baseball team. Draft and develop your own players (Jeter,Posada, Hughes,Robertson), make smart trades (A-Rod, Swisher), dip into the international market (Matsui, Rivera, Cano), sign good free agents (Sabathia, Damon, Teixeria, Burnett), and have an ownership that is committed to winning.

Honestly, Ron, your fan-boi-ism is starting to show through. I'd say their method was more:
-have an owner willing/able to spend $100M more than just about anyone else in baseball
Using all that extra cash:
-keep your true all-star homegrown talent (Jeter, maybe Posada) by paying them at or above their market value
-take salary dumps from other teams and hope some stick
-outbid teams for good free agents.

Is there any freaking way they even win 80 games with the Jays payroll, for example?

Now, I'm not saying they haven't been decently smart about the way they use their $$. But, come on.
Give JP an extra $80-100M to spend. That's 3 ueber-all-stars at the Halladay level, or 4-5 very good players.

I don't know the salaries exactly, but for $100M, I'm betting we could have added:
-Sabbathia
-Posada
-Teixera
-Burnett


Assuming they stay healthy, is there ANY team in history that this team couldn't have beaten?
SP:
Halladay
Burnett
Sabbathia
Romero
Zep/Richmond/whoever

C - Posada
1B - Overbay/Ruiz
2B - Hill
SS - Scutaro
3B - Rolen
LF - Lind
CF - Rios
RF - Snider/Wells
DH - Teixera

Sure, the bullpen might have been a little suspect at times, but it would rarely matter..

$100M buys a heck of a lot of quality baseball players...

Looking it up quickly, for $100M we could have had (in 2009):
Damon
Teixera
ARod
Posada
Swisher

I imagine those would plug a few holes on the current Jays, and still not hit $200M in payroll.

The Yankees' success is not the result of a clinic.  When they develop good talent like Jeter, Posada, Bernie Williams and Rivera (v.1) or perhaps Chamberlain, Hughes, Cano and Robertson (v.2) and spend like drunken sailors, they have a great team.  When they spend like drunken sailors but don't develop new talent, they have a very good team.  It should be noted that the talent in v.1 was considerably more impressive than that in v.2, but the new stadium has led to them spending like congressmen/women rather than drunken sailors.

Posada (1990), Jeter (1992), Hughes (2004), Robertson (2006).

There's a little issue of that block of geological time between Jeter and Hughes.

In terms of drafting and developing their own players, I left out Chamberlain, Cabrera, and Gardner. The Yanks obtained A-Rod for Soriano (international rookie signing) and got Swisher for Jeff Marquez (drafted by the Yankees/main prospect in the trade), Wilson Betemit, and Jhonny Nunez.

I’m not crazy enough to argue the Yankees drafted well between 1993-2003 because they didn’t

vw_fan17

Your description of the Yankees method is basically the same as mine minus a few other factors. They draft and develop good players, dip into the international market, they retain their good players, signed high calibre free agents, make good trades, and have committed ownership willing to spend.

Ownership could have easily drastically reduced the payroll the last decade but they didn’t. Isn’t it nice to have an Ownership that is committed to winning and is willing to spend money to back up that claim? The Yankees take full advantage of playing in the biggest market to maximize their revenues and than to reinvest a significant portion of it back into the ballclub. And yes this includes covering free agents mistakes such as Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright.

Part of it is ownership being committed to winning, but there is also the simple market size issue.  In the 40s and 50s, there were 3 New York teams.  The New York market has not gotten smaller since then, but now there are but two teams in a market that could easily support four teams (the Village Vanguard and the Westchester Doughboys would be a couple of options for new clubs...)

Part of it is ownership being committed to winning, but there is also the simple market size issue.  In the 40s and 50s, there were 3 New York teams.  The New York market has not gotten smaller since then, but now there are but two teams in a market that could easily support four teams (the Village Vanguard and the Westchester Doughboys would be a couple of options for new clubs...)

If there was another team added to the New York market, I don't see the Yankees becoming cheapskates. They would probably continue down the same path they are on right now.

On the issue of market size, despite having a whole country to market to, the Jays do a lousy job of it. Sportsnet and TSN is available in almost every household in Canada that has cable. The Jays have no markering in the Vancouver area. You don't hear radio ads about the team, there's nothing in the local newspapers, etc...

The Jays also obtained the Canadian license to the MLB Network and have done nothing with it.  Outside of having Ownership that doesn't care about the ballclub, there's no reason why the Jays can't spend in the area as the Red Sox if not the Yankees.

No, the Yankees would not become cheapskates if there were three or four teams in the market.  But, their payroll might sink to $150 million a year.  With that size payroll, they would have to do a better job of development than they have done to date to consistently make the playoffs. 

As you know, I agree that there is no reason in the medium term that the Jay payroll could not be similar to that of the Red Sox.  A better job of taking advantage of the team's market needs to be at the top of the agenda.