Sheff....DONE!!!

[TonyStarks]

Sheff's going to have wrist surgery and he's out until September.
So we've lost another OFer!

I don't see reason to panic right now.
We're still winning and it's the pitching that's been doing most of the heavy lifting!


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2475897


First one to call for an Abreu or Soriano trade gets tarred then feathered!!! :)

[Mattingly]

Where is Bobby Abreu when we need him? Me, I'll pass on Soriano.

*tries on the tar & feathers out for size* :D ;) :p

How logn do these things take to heal, anyway? Oh well, so much for his 2007 option. Hope he doesn't rush back too quickly, as he may be overly concerned about either helping his teammates or the option.

In either case, we'll have to see what he's able to do in September. If he can help us later on, I'm fine. :)

[DoubleX]

No need to panic at all. The new look Yanks are getting it done and they are more fun to watch. This will be vital experience for Cabrera and I'd like to see Kevin Thompson given some opportunities as well.

[TonyStarks]

So DX....what happens when Bubba Crosby comes back??

[Yankee Legend]

If Cabrera can play the way he has the last few weeks consistently, I think we will be fine if not better off. We still have one of the best lineups in the league (With White Sox, Indians and Tigers also at the top).

[farmsystem]

Here's to Sheff getting well. His bat is going to be missed over the long haul. Hopefully the Yankees can find ways to win. I would not want the Yankees to trade away their good young players despite losing so much production. Pitching is always the name of the game and more so now.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

So DX....what happens when Bubba Crosby comes back??

So far Melky Cabrera is the better hitter. I have a soft spot for Bubba, but I think he should be sent to Columbus when his injury is healed. His hitting is much worse than Melky's.

[NYYDerekJeter]

So far Melky Cabrera is the better hitter. I have a soft spot for Bubba, but I think he should be sent to Columbus when his injury is healed. His hitting is much worse than Melky's.

Crosby is a good 4th-5th outfielder. I would keep him with the team. His defence is above average and he can be a real good late innings defensive remplacent.

[Mattingly]

So DX....what happens when Bubba Crosby comes back??
To my knowledge, he's the only guy amongst the ex-minor leaguers who plays CF. Given that Damon has some bone in his right foot that's been giving him problems, I'd say he may be able to play CF.

If it's against a light-hitting team, I can see him starting. I wouldn't start him against Boston, Chicago or Anaheim, but his hitting would have to continue.

I'd keep Melky and Kevin in the corner OF, with Damon and Bernie hitting CF.

I'll have to check the box scores, but if the newbies can hold their own, perhaps the farm will get a chance. If we need a single or a double, I'm not overly picky about who gets it, so saying that Player X is unavailable doesn't automatically mean that a game or series is lost.

If Bubba returns, he, along with Melky Cabrera, Kevin Thompson and Andy Phillips will be great difference makers. I'm not holding out much hope for Kelly Stinnett, who hasn't fared too well when hitting anything but Royals pitching.

[CiforTheKing]

u dont want soriano??? are u guys watching the same player i am? soriano is top 5 offensive players in the game today... forget the 23 HRs... when the team is missing rbi machines like matsui and sheffield.. posada will not be at full strength the rest of the year.. sorianos speed could prove very valuable manufacturing runs.. u see jeter has run more this yr because he knows the big guys are down... to me i want 2 see soriano with any combination of bernie melky and damon the rest of the yr in the OF.. as for bubba i LOVE his defense but the guy is below average hitting... and with damons injury and bernies age bubba should stay on the roster even if we had sori.. man i cant wait 2 see sheffield gone after this season anyways.. hes more about himself than the team.. and matsui is a dam joke in the outfield and overrated hitting.. i would much rather have gotten brian giles or soriano for that matter

[DoubleX]

u dont want soriano??? are u guys watching the same player i am? soriano is top 5 offensive players in the game today... forget the 23 HRs... when the team is missing rbi machines like matsui and sheffield.. posada will not be at full strength the rest of the year.. sorianos speed could prove very valuable manufacturing runs.. u see jeter has run more this yr because he knows the big guys are down... to me i want 2 see soriano with any combination of bernie melky and damon the rest of the yr in the OF.. as for bubba i LOVE his defense but the guy is below average hitting... and with damons injury and bernies age bubba should stay on the roster even if we had sori.. man i cant wait 2 see sheffield gone after this season anyways.. hes more about himself than the team.. and matsui is a dam joke in the outfield and overrated hitting.. i would much rather have gotten brian giles or soriano for that matter

I wouldn't mind having Soriano back. I was a big fan of his while he was here (though I was very disturbed by all the terrible breaking pitches he was striking out on in the 2003 postseason). That being said, I think the Yankees need to get away from signing players on the wrongside of 30 to 15 million a year contracts. That's what would happen if Soriano came back.

[Mattingly]

u dont want soriano??? are u guys watching the same player i am? soriano is top 5 offensive players in the game today... forget the 23 HRs... when the team is missing rbi machines like matsui and sheffield.. posada will not be at full strength the rest of the year.. sorianos speed could prove very valuable manufacturing runs.. u see jeter has run more this yr because he knows the big guys are down... to me i want 2 see soriano with any combination of bernie melky and damon the rest of the yr in the OF.. as for bubba i LOVE his defense but the guy is below average hitting... and with damons injury and bernies age bubba should stay on the roster even if we had sori.. man i cant wait 2 see sheffield gone after this season anyways.. hes more about himself than the team.. and matsui is a dam joke in the outfield and overrated hitting.. i would much rather have gotten brian giles or soriano for that matter
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=3993

To me, he's a better hitting version of the same player. His OBP isn't much better than his BA (.303 and .364), but it was much worse before. Back then, he'd had about 15-20 walks all season up to this point, but he's got more walks now.

His BB:K ratio is still pretty bad (22:55, which is 1:2.5), but not at the horrid nearly 1:7 ratio as in 2002 (23:157).

If his defense is good, I'm fine. I'm not going ga-ga over someone who swings away at every pitch in the dirt though. After he'd golfed one in 2001 off Curt Schilling that was in the dirt, he was doomed. Then around 2002, which I think was YES' inaugural season, Suzyn Waldman, now the radio color commentary, was the TV play-by-play person, and she'd had some "one pitch, one swing, one-nothing" about his seeming propensity for 1st-pitch jacks when leading off. He'd hit about 6 of them, then tried repeating this. It's as if he'd bought into his own hype. I dreaded that commercial re it's effect on the player, though it was very popular at the time.

Lenny Dykstra had gotten on Sori's case for lack of discipline in one article, but some said it was jealousy. I'd felt that way at the time also, but Soriano needs to take some walks. If he can contribute offensively, fine, but we need him to get on base more often. He should have a .400 OBP, not .364.

If he's any good in LF, that's fine. I don't see the Yanks platooning a pair of switch-hitting Melky Cabrera and a righty-hitting Kevin Thompson, lest both of them learn bad habits early by riding the pine too much. I figured that Thompson would be sent down.

Now who would we trade to get Soriano?

Oh, and please remind him not to stop at 2B when he puts on a glove, as that's already spoken for with Robinson Cano. :)

[TonyStarks]

Wait!

So if you get Soriano..umm....where are you gonna put him?
DH? Nope...Giambi and anyone kinda hurt fill that slot.
2B? Over Cano, no way!!!
LF? Umm...(Long Term) what about when Matsui comes back? What do you do with Melky (Short term) who's really benefiting from all the exposure?

Do you "give" the Nationals Melky? I definately would not!!
I like Melky and could see him being a RF fixture for the immediate future and he could be, SHOULD BE, the beginning of the Yankee Generation "A.J." (Thats After Jeter..btw).

Thanks, but no thanks. I loved Soriano during his time in the Bronx. But currently, Soriano is not a good fit for this team. Besides, the team does not needs more Offense. It needs better Starting Pitching.

[CiforTheKing]

364 is a fine on base percentage when you take into account his slugging.. when more typical leadoff hitters (johnny damon) get on base its often via walk/single... i saw in sports illustrated they had an article when sori was a yankee and ichiro was getting 200 some odd hits.. they had a stat called on 2nd base percentage... sorianos was around 200 the next highest was about 130 for ichiro.. i think thats what make jose reyes so effective despite his ugly OBP and BA.. the guy knows how 2 run the bases and knows how 2 score runs... soriano very likely to score once on base... the yankees really miss that speed and excitement he brought to the game... that said yeah i love robbie cano at 2nd.. i would put sori in left and melky in right.. next year when sheffield is gone (hopefully), sori LF, melky CF, matsui RF, damon DH... alternate any combination of those positions.. 4 guys 3 positions and a DH... seems 2 make sense to me.. we are basically wasting our DH position this season.. i mean come on.. all a DH has to do is hit.. we cant find a better hitter than bernie (tho i love him) or andy phillips (who i like also) compared to idk the red sox DH or indians DH who basically carry their teams more often than not

[Mattingly]

364 is a fine on base percentage when you take into account his slugging.. when more typical leadoff hitters (johnny damon) get on base its often via walk/single... i saw in sports illustrated they had an article when sori was a yankee and ichiro was getting 200 some odd hits.. they had a stat called on 2nd base percentage... sorianos was around 200 the next highest was about 130 for ichiro.. i think thats what make jose reyes so effective despite his ugly OBP and BA..
What exactly are "2nd base percentages"? The percentage of times they reach 2B? Or would that only be during the 1st inning?

As to Jose Reyes, he's 6' tall, only 160 lbs, so he's pretty light. He runs like a madman to 1B, so I think that's how he gets on base. I'm not sure about his hit placement, but in Ichiro, he was usually an infield hitter, often to 3B, I believe.

the guy knows how 2 run the bases and knows how 2 score runs... soriano very likely to score once on base... the yankees really miss that speed and excitement he brought to the game... that said yeah i love robbie cano at 2nd.. i would put sori in left and melky in right..
Soriano's a good runner. Had he not struck out so much more often than he'd walked, he could've scored quite a few more times.

I liked Soriano's speed, but since in tonight's game he's still leading off, I think he'd be a #6 hitter after Rodriguez. If he improves his patience and thus his OBP, I believe that Rodriguez-Soriano would be a much better tandem. Or if Rodriguez is still hitting in the high .200s, perhaps Sori could hit #5. Either case, his speed is something important, but that's only important if he safely reaches 1B. When Don Mattingly became our hit coach, his main jobs were to be Nick Johnson and Alfonso Soriano.

2004 was supposed to be Sori's breakout year, one in which he'd proven his potential, that he'd fan less, walk more, not chase balls so much in the dirt.

With Matsui's return uncertain, I can't factor him in. When he's better, that's a different story. One more thing about these guaranteed contracts that I'm not too crazy about. I don't expect a guy to have to buy food stamps or pump gas, but who else in regular jobs could sign a 4-year deal, get hurt in the first year, and if they're disabled for the remainder, so long as they don't officially retire, will collect 100% of this?

As to defensive alignment, I'd have to see more of Melky in RF to begin with. I have no idea what Bernie's doing in RF, since if Melky is expected to replace Sheffield, then RF would be his. If he excels in LF, then what happens when Matsui returns? I'd rather see Melky in RF, Kevin Thompson in LF, then keep Bernie cemented to the bench until the late innings.

next year when sheffield is gone (hopefully), sori LF, melky CF, matsui RF, damon DH... alternate any combination of those positions.. 4 guys 3 positions and a DH... seems 2 make sense to me.. we are basically wasting our DH position this season.. i mean come on.. all a DH has to do is hit.. we cant find a better hitter than bernie (tho i love him) or andy phillips (who i like also) compared to idk the red sox DH or indians DH who basically carry their teams more often than not
I'll admit that Sori would be a much better option to play every day than rookie Kevin Thompson, who's merely sipping a cup of java, but it's like he's another DH type of player. He can swing, he can run, but can he field? I'd also worry about whether or not he'd be willing to continue playing LF, rather than demanding to return to 2B. If that happens, I'll pass.

BTW, only in an NL park would weak-hitting Kelly Stinnett get an IBB to put a man on 1B (Bernie just doubled), as Jaret Wright is up, and they're hoping for a DP. Jaret should just bunt and see what happens.

[tripledup22]

Bubba may be a bad batter but he helps the team a lot. he OWNS!!!!