Links for Thursday…
- Slate's Dan Morrell discusses the influx of Cuban talent into the Majors, as well as the many quality players who have not defected.
- Outfielder Terry Evans cleared waivers and was sent to the Angels Triple A club to clear a spot for Scott Kazmir, reports Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times. Evans, 28, hit .291/.341/.520 at Triple A last year, his third stint at that level.
- Gary Sheffield has "something on the table" to look at after he returns from vacation, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports suggested a few weeks ago that Sheffield is talking to an NL club (not the Nationals).
- Kevin Slowey said he wouldn't mind a contract similar to Nick Blackburn's four-year, $14MM deal, according to Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Slowey will be arbitration-eligible for the first time after the season.
- Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star tweets a correction to something he wrote yesterday, explaining that Adeiny Hechavarria does indeed qualify for a fourth option.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes that the Yankees essentially chose Javier Vazquez over Joel Pineiro. Sherman feels that Vazquez has "re-opened the wounds from 2004" with his two subpar starts.
What a shock, a New York sportswriter has already declared Javier Vazquez to be dead and buried, and has pulled the name of another pitcher that the Yankees should have pursued out of his ass.
It’s an easy job, target one of your best players, find another player who has performed better in a very very small sample size that you could have had instead, and bam an article.
As a Yankee fan I was disgusted by the fans who booed Javy.
i don’t remember a single thread/article/post/anything that said the yankees were interested in joel pineiro.
Neither do I. But you forget that New York sports journalism does not require opinions to be based on evidence or fact.
Because no such article/thread/post exists, good sir =).
Classic case of a New York reporter getting way ahead of himself. There’s a reason I stopped reading any and all sports sections in these papers.
HA! Too funny. Another jerkoff NY “sports” writer re-writing history.
BTW: Vasquez does suck…he’s an NL pitcher.
Sheff’s new team? I’m guessing the giants, or maybe the reds.
Does no one else remember his first half with the Yanks in ’04?
10 wins, 3.56 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 95 K’s, and just 32 BB’s in 118.6 IP
He is capable of being an effective pitcher–even on the Yankees. Give him at least ten starts to prove himself.
It’s forgotten because he hurt his arm and ended up pitching through pain, thus making himself ineffective.
Now that there is the fact that many have long since forgotten. He didn’t choke up. He was pitching hurt. If anything, he took a major risk of ruining the rest of his career for the sake of the Yankees (at the time, I don’t believe they had anyone who could fill in as a starter effectively or for a long period of time). Fans should be grateful.
Vazquez will be fine.
Even though its still too early in the season I knew Javy wouldn’t be as good as he was for the Yankees as he was with the Braves.The AL East is the toughest division to play in and I don’t think Vasquez is an AL pitcher ,more of an NL pitcher.But I gotta say thank you Vasquez for pitching so well as a Brave .Too bad we didn’t give you more run support or otherwise your record would be even better.
no one was really asking for him to be as good as he was last year, because he isn’t facing all those pitchers and 8-hole defensive specialists. I think we’ll be satisfied with an ERA around 3.90-4.20, to be honest.
I’d love to see Slowey get a Blackburn-style contract. Wait a few starts to make sure his wrist isn’t affecting his pitching, but don’t wait until he wins 10/12 again and he commands 20+ for those 4 years.
Also, I seem to recall several people on here, primarily Braves and Yankees fans, raving about Javy before the season. The rest of us (i.e., “thinking people”) saw this coming a mile away. He’ll certainly do better than he has, but he’s not going to be any better than AL-average #4 starters.
@ second paragraph,
Thanks Joel Sherman!
I don’t think Joel Sherman can be classified as a “thinking” person.
True, but you know that in Joel’s world, he is the epitome of “thinking” person.
Everytime I see the name Joel Sherman on here I should probably stop reading. Anger can only follow.
More importantly, I hate my fellow Yankee fanbase with a passion. It’s been two starts, and his last one was actually good. Pineiro was just better yesterday. That’s it, move on.
Well he was more decent than he was good. I’m not condemning him yet either, since it’s far too early to scream bloody murder. Teix up until tonight’s game only has 3 hits which all came in the same game, but there’s nothing being screamed about him. Slow starts happen.
The difference is Tex has proven consistency and is in the prime of his hitting career. Javy is in the wane of his career, has struggled mightily in the AL East before, and has an up and down career.
Of course people are going to give Tex a bigger benefit-of-the-doubt.
And yet, the reason Javy struggled that year was because of injury.
So…
Ah, Terry Evans. I still root for the guy, but I’m glad the Cardinals didn’t lose as much as I thought they were when they dealt him for Jeff Weaver back in ’06. I was penciling him in as a 20-20 RF in ’07. Mirage…
I pointed out w/ facts & statistics again & again on this board, not pie in the sky fantasies/gut feelings/sentiments, that Vazquez is an every other year pitcher & would flounder this season. Has it only been two starts & too early to declare him officially a failure & unable to live up to the lofty expectations of those posting on here? Perhaps. So far so good though. That being said, if he turns it around I’ll be the first to admit I’m mistaken.