On this date in 2007, the Yankees signed Roger Clemens as a free agent. Clemens would pitch 99 innings for the Yankees with a 4.18 ERA, 6.2 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 before calling it a career. The Yankees made the playoffs that year before losing to the Indians in the Division Series. Here are today's links:
- As Alex Speier of WEEI.com points out, investing heavily in relief pitching is risky. Though it's early, Boston's expensive, revamped bullpen has struggled and Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler are now on the DL.
- Twins GM Bill Smith told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that Joe Mauer, now on the DL with bilateral leg weakness, will “get back to being Joe Mauer.”
- Bobby Abreu told Enrique Rojas of ESPNdeportes.com that he plans to play three or four more years (link in Spanish). Abreu would like to reach 300 homers (he has 277), 400 steals (he has 376) and 600 doubles (he has 532) to boost his Cooperstown credentials.
- Brandon Boggs accepted his Triple-A assignment and was recalled to take the place of Nyjer Morgan, who is on the DL, the team announced.
Goodness Gracious!!!… Roger Clemens is going to jail!!
I wonder what Bill Smith means by that. Who is the real Mauer, basically? Is he the MVP from ’09, or the other one who’s consistently been a doubles/line drive hitter year after year? Bascisally, we know he was lucky in ’09, but it’s interesting to know what Smith thinks.
In other news, speaking of Twins catchers, Paul Bargar, whom the Twins acquired for Jose Morales has brain cancer, which is absolutely terrible.
Bobby Abreu… nice player but IMO NOT a hall of famer……
I agree, but he has a very strong case. He was one of the better all around players for more than a decade. Power, Speed, Average,Ridiculous OBP and he can still take a walk.
If he reaches those milestones then he’s likely going to get in at some point. I would put him in the same class as Johnny Damon if Damon reaches 3000 hits, No sustained period of greatness but consistant and has numbers that hold “face value”.
Abreu has been a significantly better hitter than Johnny Damon. He leads in OBP .400 to .355 and SLG .486 to .436.
A better comparison is Dwight Evans – Evans had more power and much better defense, Abreu hit for a higher average and had a lot more speed, but their cases line up about the same. Very good player over a long period of time, based on their very patient approaches and willingness to take walks. Both had a couple excellent seasons, but in the end probably short of a Hall of Famer. I probably take Evans’ peak over Abreu’s, but I’m biased.
I’m not going to try to make a case for him to be in the hall because in my opinion he shouldn’t be, but he actually did have a sustained period of greatness. From 1998-2004 he never posted a WAR below 5.5, and from 1998-2006 he never posted a wOBA below .380.
So typical of Bobby. He wants to set records yet no desire to ever win anything.
Watched him play for several years in Philly. One of the keys to our current success, imho, was trading him.
Why you got absolutely nothing in return for him? Are you implying he was selfish or that Ibanez was a better player?
He was traded to the Yankees for 4 players that’ll never appear in a major league game. He was traded because the feeling was he didn’t care and didn’t motivate any players with his veteran leadership. Same reason why the they let him walk to the Halos.
Actually, the Yanks let him walk to the Halos and I’m sure most would say he performed very well with the Yanks. Maybe the circumstances were different because the Yanks didn’t need veteran leadership. Still, he would’ve been a moster hitting in front of Utley and Howard providing tons of scoring opps.
I miss discussing baseball with you, Yanksfansince78. Hope things are well.
Why I’m sure its just a statistical anomaly related to the cycles of moon, Chilean Buddhism, or what have you, the Phillies are 428-302 (.586 winning %) since Abreu was traded. I got to believe thats close to the best record in baseball over that time period.
So I have to conclude that Bobby Abreu is a secret communist robot ninja sent back in time to sabotage the brave Philadelphia Phillies. And he would have succeeded too, if not for that meddling Gillick.
Plus, the year after he left the Yankees via free agency, they won the World Series. I don’t need any more proof that he hates to win.
And by that logic, Don Mattingly prevented the Yankees from reaching and/or winning the World Series as well. The year before he began his career with the Yankees, they played the Dodgers in the WS…the year after he retired, they beat the Braves in the WS. I guess it was because of Donnie Baseball that the Yankees never reached that plateau?! I have never been the biggest proponent of Bobby Abreu, but…to say that he hates to win is beyond idiotic!
Time-traveling communist robot ninjas care not for your winning. They care only for the alcohol that fuels their mighty power cells. And shrinky-dinks. They care only for alcohol and shrinky-dinks.
whatever you are drinking/smoking, bro…please give me some!!! Luv the shrinky-dink reference.
The only thing I’m on high on is life. And PCP.
Mattingly was a case of jinx
Given Abreu’s level of production over the past 180+ games it can be argued that he could actually hurt his case if he holds on to long.
“As Alex Speier points out, investing heavily in relief pitching is risky. Though it’s early, Boston’s expensive, revamped bullpen has struggled and Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler are now on the DL.”
Well, anything is better than having Manny Delcarmen or Ramon Ramirez on the roster, so I’m not complaining.
I wonder what the difference is between Jenks/Wheeler and Delcarmen/Ramirez…
Wow. I have nothing against Abreu. He’s a very likeable guy. But if
Abreu gets admitted into the Hall of Fame, MLB can just save time and
admit EVERYBODY to the Hall of Fame five years after they retire.
They’ve already set the bar way lower than Abreu by letting Jim Rice in.
And they set the bar low enough for Rice by allowing Orlando Cepeda in.
You’re point stands though – letting Abreu in would hardly lower the minimum standard. He’d be a far shot from the worst Hall of Famer.