Yankees Acquire Xavier Nady And Damaso Marte

• Yankees acquire Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte from the Pirates for Ross Ohlendorf, Jose Tabata, Phil Coke and George Kontos:

Yankees GM Brian Cashman finally used some of that "organizational depth" he constantly

refers to and filled two gaping holes. In acquiring Xavier Nady, it's hard to believe that the Yankees are under any illusions about what they're going to get out of him. He's not the .330 hitter he's been this year and he's had a history of being injury prone and/or unlucky; that being said, he's a good guy in the clubhouse; handled New York before and got some big clutch hits with the Mets; is a decent enough outfielder and can play first base; and he also hits well enough to the opposite field that the short right field porch at Yankee Stadium will be put to good use. With Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada both out or hindered for extended periods, the Yankees needed to beef up their offense and Nady is just good enough to do that. He's going to make a lot of money in arbitration this winter given the year he's having, but the Yankees have a load of money coming off the books and if Nady plays well, they're not going to blink about paying him.
Damaso Marte is a former Yankees farmhand who's bounced around and found a home with the Pirates as more than just a lefty specialist. His numbers against righties are good

enough that he's no Mike Myers/Tony Fossas where leaving him in to pitch to a righty----any righty----is done so at their own risk. He was a workhorse with the White Sox before and during their championship season and pitched well for the Pirates as a set-up man and occasional closer. He has a $6 million team option for 2009, but the Yankees won't think twice about exercising that or extending it if Marte does well for them.
The Pirates had previously been asking for the moon for both Nady and Marte, but acquitted themselves well enough in this trade. They probably wouldn't have gotten more from any other interested team, so it was smart to take the Yankees deal when it was offered. Ross Ohlendorf struggled as a long-man/mop-up man for the Yankees this year

and they projected him as a reliever, but he showed potential as a starter in the minors and may be better off in that role as a potential innings-eater at the middle-to-back-end of the rotation. He's big enough (6'4" 235) to handle a heavy workload. George Kontos is a right-handed pitcher who's also big (6'3" 215) and has put up big strikeout numbers in the minors as a starter. (Presumably both Ohlendorf and Kontos are smart as the former went to Princeton and the latter went to Northwestern.) Phil Coke sounds like more of a project than prospect since he's already 26, but he's lefty and has put up promising strikeout numbers. The big part of the trade for the Pirates, other than stockpiling some power arms, is Jose Tabata.
Tabata was one of the Yankees "untouchable" prospects that they were reluctant to

include in any trades for veteran pitchers like Johan Santana (although I think Cashman was just trying to find excuses not to trade for Santana and then have to pay him as the Mets did). Tabata is still a baby as he's only going to be twenty next month; his walk totals imply plate discipline impressive in such a young player; he can run and will develop power as he matures; he's struggled a bit at Double A this year, but not enough to raise any questions about his future. If the Yankees make the playoffs and get what they need out of Nady and Marte and the Pirates get use from at least one of the pitchers and Tabata becomes a productive big leaguer, neither team is going to regret making this trade which had to be made from both ends. The Yankees couldn't afford not to improve both their bullpen and injury-ravaged outfield and the Pirates couldn't let their demands stand in the way of clearing salary for players they probably weren't going to keep past 2009 and who weren't going to be present when the Pirates become true contenders anyway.

• Now that you mention it, the Padres should trade Jake Peavy as well:

Joe at Statistician Magician commented on my last posting that if my logic that the Padres should trade Adrian Gonzalez is accurate, then they should also deal Jake Peavy, and he's right; more so, in fact. Peavy is Tommy John-surgery waiting to happen with that motion and if

the Padres are going to replenish their organization as quickly as possible, they should take advantage of Peavy's gaudy results to hypnotize another team into surrendering a big chunk of their farm system to get him and let them worry about when his arm is going to explode. The problem is that I have no faith in the Padres hierarchy to make a Marlins-like deal to extract slabs of another organization's best, blue chip prospects and develop them into stars; so as long as they still have the current management team, it's a big risk to do anything of consequence that would haunt the organization if it doesn't work.

• Mets 7-Cardinals 2:

Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen is going to get the credit for the development of Mike Pelfrey, but the hot streak started well before Warthen arrived and while Rick Peterson was

still there. Peterson's departure probably helped guys like Oliver Perez (who's a head case), but it doesn't diminish the good work he did with the Mets. I don't think anyone could've expected Pelfrey to mature and develop this fast and he has a chance to win 16 or 17 games if he keeps it up, and who would've predicted that?
I had to look back into my previous postings to make sure I never said anything too derogatory about Carlos Delgado and I didn't. While guys like Mike Francesa and the other "experts" at WFAN and in other places were saying that Delgado should be dumped or released----released!----my view was that as a veteran player who has lost bat speed, Delgado can't catch up to the fastballs of top-notch pitchers anymore, but since they had other holes and few alternatives, the Mets had little choice but to keep writing Delgado's name in the lineup and hope for a resurgence. Well, that hope has come true (for awhile at least) as Delgado has carried the Mets during this hot streak.
Looking at it objectively, Delgado's lack of production was considered age-related when it

may have been just a slump. If he were ten years younger, no one would've said a word about releasing him; they would have come up with other suggestions, but releasing him and saying that he's "finished" wouldn't have entered the conversation (or PEDs might have been suggested); but with a struggling veteran at age 36, in the age of testing for PEDs and, possibly more importantly, amphetamines, it's harder for such a veteran to regain the public confidence without a sustained streak like Delgado has had. That he's had it has made people like Francesa look foolish. And this isn't an indictment for the statements that were made; Delgado did look finished for much of the first half; my problem with these critics is that they have to come up with a justification for their statements and still try to weasel away from making the credibility-accruing admission: I was wrong. And if Delgado continues this hot streak, they still won't admit they were wrong; and I don't think they realize how such an attitude damages credibility, but if they haven't figured it out yet...

• Rockies 7-Reds 2; Dodgers 3-Nationals 2:

Don't look now, but the Rockies are only six games out of first place. Their position is so precarious that the next few days will determine whether they aggressively try to trade Matt Holliday, but after last year's comeback it's starting to look like they'll hang onto him at least

into the winter to see if they can come up with another hot streak.
I'm going to maintain my belief in Joe Torre and the Dodgers. They've been lucky that the Diamondbacks haven't taken control of the division and, with all their injuries and horrendous performances (see Jones, Andruw), they're still right there at the top of the division. By late August, they're going to start getting their injured veterans back; the cooling weather will rejuvenate guys like Jeff Kent and Nomar Garciaparra and they'll have a characteristic Torre-run to make the playoffs. The Wild Card, though unlikely, isn't completely out of the question for any of the three teams either.

• Braves 8-Phillies 2:

It doesn't look like that comeback against the Mets on Tuesday spurred anything in the

Phillies other than Jimmy Rollins's mouth and the benching of Rollins and his attitude could eventually become a problem within that clubhouse. Nor does it help that Brad Lidge got lit up for the first time this season last night against the Braves; it also came at a characteristically inopportune time for Lidge, who looked like he was returning to his Astros, "Lights Out" Lidge glory, but in important games, there has to be concern about his mental state and resulting performance.

Bobby Murcer (1946-2008)

Bobby Murcer died today at the age of 62 due to complications from brain cancer. Murcer

was a clutch power hitter and solid all around player on the field

who was a five time All Star, a Gold Glove winner and hit 252 career homers; he was liked and respected by teammates and opponents on and off the field as a leader and overall nice man. As a broadcaster, Murcer didn't need to make a name for himself by being controversial or downright mean as many broadcasters do today; he used a down-home country accent and great sense of humor to make his points without attacking anyone personally; Murcer courageously battled his disease with strength and wit and wrote a book about his ordeal----Yankee For Life: My 40-Year Journey in Pinstripes; his presence around baseball will be missed.

Team Meetings Work Brilliantly...If The Next Day's Starter Is Any Good

Smart managers tend to try and coincide a team meeting/explosion with when their best

pitcher is scheduled to start the next day to present the illusion that the meeting "sparked" something. The Yankees had their team meeting last night in which it was reported that not only manager Joe Girardi spoke, but the coaches and Johnny Damon and team captain Derek Jeter did as well. If the Yankees had won today, it would have been perceived that the meeting made a difference. That was undone because they had a journeyman pitcher starting the game and proving why he's a journeyman; why he's a pitcher who makes a living at Triple A and is a useful fill-in starter, but not someone a team with designs on a championship wants to count on to stop a losing streak.
This isn't to denigrate Rasner in any way because the man gives everything he has; it's just

that what he has is so limited when facing a lineup like that of the Red Sox that it's unlikely he's going to be able to hold them down unless he's nearly perfect. The homer by Mike Lowell was a prime example of a good idea for a pitch, a decent location for that pitch, but an inability to execute that pitch. In the fifth inning with the score tied at three and two runners on base, Rasner threw an inside fastball to Lowell; Lowell, the experienced hitter that he is, knows that Rasner's fastball doesn't have enough velocity to blow the ball by him on the inside part of the plate, so he has full coverage of the outside corner and is able to adjust to that inside fastball

by collapsing his forearms and still has enough power to get the ball out of the park. This is the problem a guy with limited ability like Rasner has; he must be perfect and when he's not, he gets pounded.
When he was recalled in early May, the Yankees pitching staff was in shambles; both Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes had fallen on their faces and they were desperate for someone, anyone who could give them some innings. Rasner was exactly what they needed in five of his first six starts; since then, the big league hitters have caught up to him and are raking him all over the place. He's one of those pitchers who will always have a job because he's a professional and knows how to pitch, but won't be an important member of a pitching staff or even a full-time big leaguer because he doesn't have the tools. The team meeting will be seen not to have worked, but that has nothing to do with anything; the Yankees lost because they didn't have a pitcher on the mound who was able to fulfill his end of the bargain and keep the team in the game. Team meeting or not, a lack of ability is not something a pep talk will be able to fix.

Decision Time Is Looming For The Yankees

• Red Sox 7-Yankees 0:

Even the most hardcore, ardent and irrationally arrogant Yankee fan has to be concerned

by what he's seeing from this team. The argument will naturally be that they're still within striking distance of the Red Sox and the Rays are a young and inexperienced challenger without the pennant race experience of a team like the Yankees. The major concern right now should be that they're not doing the little things to win games. The Rangers beat them two out of three and would have swept them if Rangers manager Ron Washington hadn't put an ill-equipped and inexperienced rookie to pitch in relief; the Red Sox came into Yankee Stadium reeling from a sweep at the hands of the Rays and five straight losses overall and manhandled the Yankees "big game" pitcher in Andy Pettitte as Jon Lester dominated them easily. They're in serious trouble if this continues.There will also be references to the Yankees teams of years past that came back from stunning deficits because of their experience fortitude and...their manager. That's one of the keys that will determine whether or not the team is going to go on a run to the playoffs.
Joe Torre and his calm, confident and historically successful demeanor is no longer there;

Joe Girardi is and despite Girardi's impressive managerial attributes, he's still very inexperienced with only a year and a half as a manager at any level and no real success other than a surprising 78-84 with a Marlins team that was expected to lose 100 games. (With each passing day that a similar Marlins team plays well under Fredi Gonzalez, Girardi's accomplishment becomes less

and less impressive.) Torre always had his veteran cachet and championships to fall back on; Girardi doesn't. Another important thing that Torre had that Girardi may not have is even more important to a team trying to rebound from a slow start----personnel.
This is quite possibly the weakest Yankee team in recent memory top-to-bottom. Their starting rotation is short due to the injury to Chien-Ming Wang and even when Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy were pitching, both looked like they were inches away from being sent back to the minors. Their bench is atrocious and their bullpen, other than Mariano Rivera, is filled with journeymen and youngsters. Players they were counting on like Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera haven't done their part and

Derek Jeter is starting to show the age in a player who is in his mid-thirties and plays clean. Even with that, their lineup is formidable, but not formidable enough to make up for guys like Darrell Rasner and Dan Giese being part of the starting rotation; or for Joba Chamberlain's strict pitch count that precludes him from pitching longer that five or six innings in most of his games. It's always been dangerous to count out the Yankees when they've had mid-season struggles and large deficits to overcome, but this might be the year that they finally do miss the playoffs because not only are they short on talent, but there's a hungry Rays team that isn't going away.
The Yankees still have their financial advantage and they're lucky in that the Wild Card is there for the taking if they have a hot streak. Teams that were expected to be in contention----the Indians, Mariners and Blue Jays----have fallen back, so the Yankees still have that possibility very available to them; but what are they going to do? GM Brian Cashman was reluctant to deal any of his young prospects to try and get Johan Santana, so how's it going to look if he reverses course and gets a lesser pitcher for an equal or greater package than what the Mets gave up to get Santana?
There will be pitching available. The Mariners will likely be perfectly willing to move Les Miserables, Erik Bedard, but will Cashman want to bring Bedard (standoffish and nasty with

the media and even teammates; let's see him try his attitude with the New York media) into his clubhouse? Bedard is starting to appear to be the epitome of the old football term, "coach killer". Would he be worth what it would take to get him? Presumably the likes of Melky Cabrera and a young pitcher or two? How about the reeling Braves and Tim Hudson? Would Cabrera and Robinson Cano get that done?

Would Cashman be willing to do it? Or possibly Roy Oswalt? Then there are the massive risks like Rich Harden; would Cashman ante up to get the ultra-talented and ultra-fragile righty who's going to be traded? Or maybe a guy who'll go out there and leave his guts on the mound like Joe Blanton; perhaps even the Reds would be willing to deal Aaron Harang for a massive package of youngsters.
The Yankees are smart enough to have known that this was going to be a year in transition for them and that the young pitchers were going to experience growing pains. I saw Kennedy last season and wasn't impressed even with all the propaganda; I felt Hughes would contribute

his 12 wins and Chamberlain would be solid in whatever role he was placed; but Wang was going to have to win his 17-19 games; Pettitte was going to have to come up big in games like tonight; and Wang's injury and Pettitte's loss tonight leaves the Yankees wondering what to do next. Mike Mussina can't possibly be expected to pitch as well in the second half as he did in his surprising and resurgent first half; what are they going to do? Will they bite the bullet and surrender a package similar to that they refused to part with to get Santana on a lesser pitcher? Or will they take the heat; sleep in the bed they made and hope everything works out? That's a question they're going to have to answer within the next few weeks because as the calender turns, there's not the guaranteed spot in the playoffs, nor the weak teams in their division to brutalize. There are deals to be made for immediate help; will they make them?

• Does anyone care about Roger Clemens's DNA at this point?

I get the impression that people had completely forgotten the whole Roger Clemens fiasco and moved onto the actual doings on the field, but now there's the story asserting that Clemens's DNA will be found on drug paraphernalia provided by trainer Brian McNamee. Does anyone even

care at this point? Does the point have to be proven that Clemens was lying in front of congress? To Mike Wallace? To everyone? All this will do is dig Clemens's baseball grave another foot deeper; any further and he'll almost have completed a journey to the center of the earth. Maybe the Mole People or the C.H.U.D. will believe him because no one up here does anymore.

It's July And It's Enough Already

• Rangers 3-Yankees 2:

The Yankees can't continue to play the "new regime/young players" card forever. The Red Sox are going to have their 95 wins at the end of the season and the Rays aren't going away, so the time for the Yankees to continually put their hands up and say, "patience, patience" to

their increasingly unruly and disenchanted fans is about up.
The differences between the Yankees teams in years past and this one is stark. Joe Girardi, despite all of his seriousness, commitment, impressive vocabulary and history as a winner is still a manager in his second big league season; he has a lot to prove. The young pitching that was supposed to be the hallmark of the new Yankees is either on the disabled list (Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy) or being nursed along (Joba Chamberlain); the lineup, which was supposed to make up for

the callow pitching staff, has been hamstrung by the slumping Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera, and the injured Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada. The bullpen has been untrustworthy and the Yankees aura is missing. Teams don't seem intimidated when they're walking into Yankee Stadium; they don't seem impressed by the Yankees financial power; they're not panicking in the late innings and blowing games; and it's enough already.
Those that are counting on a similar blazing hot streak as the team experienced under Joe Torre following slow starts in the past may be in for a rude awakening. Girardi still has to prove that he can right the ship when the leaks are springing up all over; the young pitchers have to prove they belong and can pick up for their injured ace in Chien-Ming Wang; and they have to start beating teams that they've consistently fattened their record upon----but they're

not. They're losing pitcher's duels to teams like the Rangers who don't have any pitching; they're seen to be turning the corner when they're beating teams that are slumping (the Astros) or are just plain bad (the Padres), but then they fall back into the mediocre bunch they've been all season and we still hear the apologists stating with more desperation than confidence, "the Yankees are gonna be in the playoffs" as if it's their divine right. It's not. They have to win some games.
It's July; their reputation for overcoming adversity may have flown to Los Angeles along with Torre and if that's the case, then they'd better make some moves fast to improve their current roster because believe it or not, there's not an unlimited amount of time for the team to right themselves; more importantly, they might not have the personnel to do it either.

• Rays 3-Red Sox 1:

There's been talk that the Rays may jump into the sweepstakes to try and get a starting pitcher for the stretch run and C.C. Sabathia's name has been the most prominently mentioned. They have the prospects to do it, but a young team like the Rays that seems to have a chemistry and some magic working (who could possibly have expected the heretofore

automatic out Gabe Gross to show up and provide so many clutch hits?) doesn't want to start moving too fast without weighing all of the pros and cons of such a move.
Sabathia is a rental because the Rays aren't going to shell out the money he's going to want to keep him; they'd have to give up a chunk of prospects to get him and they might be better suited to make smaller, more intangible maneuvers (Kevin Millar and Chad Bradford for example) rather than making the big splash. Their young pitching has adapted well to the attention their receiving; their veteran relievers have performed up to their best-case scenario expectations and they score plenty of runs. Instead of getting Sabathia, they might be better served to bring up Jeff Niemann or David Price to slot into the rotation rather than an impending free agent like Sabathia.
Their offense isn't going to be their problem----Carlos Pena has a hot streak due any day now----and they've done pretty well so far with their young starters; if they're going to make a

bold move, they'd probably be better off supplementing their bullpen because Troy Percival is about to turn 39 and one wrong move away from being out for the season given his injury history. Huston Street is probably available for the right price; or they could go to a team like the Padres and see if they'd be willing to move Trevor Hoffman (he's been atrocious this season, but a pennant race and change of scenery might give him an adrenaline boost); there are better and cheaper options available than Sabathia; and more importantly, they don't want to start messing around when they're playing so well, plus the starting rotation isn't in need of a desperation rental who hasn't been that great in the playoffs anyway.

• Phillies demote Brett Myers:

I probably wouldn't have accepted this assignment if I were Myers for a few reasons; most prominently, he took one for the team last season by moving to the bullpen and potentially sacrificed his own career to help carry the Phillies to the division title; then the Phillies found a closer in Brad Lidge and moved Myers back into the starting rotation. Pitching coach Rich

Dubee is blaming the 3-9 record and overall terrible performance on a lack of confidence and out of whack delivery, but it could be that the switch from the rotation to the bullpen and back has affected Myers more than anyone realizes or wants to admit. Starting requires stamina like running a marathon; pitching out of the bullpen requires resilience and something similar to a quick-burst sprint.
Now they're sending Myers to Triple A when it might be more appropriate and less embarrassing if they took the course other teams have taken with struggling veteran pitchers and sent them to extended spring training to work out the kinks without having to endure the mental stigma involved with a demotion. What makes it worse is that Myers did what he was asked to help the team and they're treating him as if the 3-9 record is his fault and his fault alone, but the Phillies are just as, if not more, responsible because of the way they've jerked Myers around. Sending him to Triple A may help, but there were better ways to handle the situation and the individual.