What’s a blog-writing outsider like me doing at Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings? That was a question I couldn’t adequately answer, not even after Alex Belth and I entered the lobby of the New Orleans Marriott and cut through a swarm of baseball executives, agents and writers in search of the Baseball Prospectus contingent who …
Continue reading ‘Working the Room in a Winter Wonderland’ »
If you’re a baseball fan attuned to the Hot Stove League, you’ve probably wondered what happens at the annual Winter Meetings. This year, at the encouragement of Baseball Prospectus’ Will Carroll and Bronx Banter’s Alex Belth, I came down to New Orleans to get a firsthand look. The trades and signings you can read about …
The epic saga of the post-Jeff Nelson Yankee bullpen is one which I’ve been rehashing here for three seasons. By now, I could write an opera. Nelson’s departure after the 2000 World Series created a void — reliable righty setup reliever — that the three-time World Champions have struggled to fill ever since. They tried …
Continue reading ‘Remaking the Yankees for 2004, Part II: The Bullpen’ »
As you might expect, the New York papers are abuzz with Thursday’s Yankee activity — both the loss of Andy Pettitte and the tentative deal of Dodger ace Kevin Brown for Jeff Weaver and two prospects. Everybody and their paperboy is weighing in; New York Daily News alone has a dozen links to the story. …
The news this morning is not good for Yankee fans. According to ESPN, the Houston Astros have called a noontime press conference to announce the signing of pitcher Andy Pettitte to three-year deal believed to be worth $32-$34 million. The Yanks, who had said signing Pettitte this offseason was their top priority, had a funny …
My Internet connection has been down for the past 24 hours, preventing me from doing any blogging here. Oh well, it does provide an excuse for me to get along with my DIPS evaluation of relievers, which hopefully I can finish before I head to New Orleans this weekend for baseball’s Winter Meetings. Don’t bet …
No sooner had I put the finishing touches on yesterday’s piece than I got a phone call from my pal Nick. He sounded so somber as he asked, “Did you hear the news?” that I was bracing myself to learn of some tragic death. In that context, the Javier Vazquez/Nick Johnson deal was a relief …
You can never be too rich or have too much pitching, as the adage goes, and so the New York Yankees entered the 2003 season as they had the previous one, with a surplus of starters and no shortage of controversy surrounding manager Joe Torre’s options. After jerking him around in the second half of …
Continue reading ‘Remaking the Yankees for 2004, Part I: The Rotation’ »
I’m working on the first of my Remaking the Yankees articles, which will be up either today or tomorrow. Right now I just wanted to update the Yanks’ contract page in the wake of their signings of Aaron Boone, reliever Tom Gordon and futility infielder Enrique Wilson. I don’t have the exact breakdown of the …
A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everybody; I hope your Turkey Day was as good as mine. Andra and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner in our small East Village apartment, with her mother visiting us from Milwaukee and my brother and his girlfriend joining us as well. Andra did a superb job on the bird and all …