Thursday, February 2, 2012

Hiroki Kuroda Or Edwin Jackson?

 
                                This Man                                                                         Or This Man?

Today the Washington Nationals, in my opinion, stole Edwin Jackson for a 1 year deal "around" $10 million. That is basically the same exact contract that Hiroki Kuroda signed with the New York Yankees a couple weeks ago. Kuroda has a No Trade Clause (NTC) and we are not sure if Jackson has one yet or not but still they signed the same contract. I would like to hear from the fans of The Greedy Pinstripes, if we have any lol, on who YOU would rather sign knowing that we could have , in a perfect world, signed either on a 1 year deal at $10 million. Leave your comments!!

Teixeira: To Bunt Or Not To Bunt

Less Of THIS and more... bunting?

As we all heard on various Yankees blogs and ESPN/MLB Network Mark Teixeira was asked what he could do to improve on his 2011 season, specifically left handed and his answer was simple.... "bunt". As we all know teams have been pulling the shift while Mark bats left handed and have been using it to a great success. What is funny was when I tried to find a picture to post with this post I searched google images and typed in "Mark Teixeira bunting" and I got "did you mean Mark Teixeira batting"? What is most funny about it is that Mark Teixeira has never bunted for a base hit in his career. I have a better idea for Mark Texeira if he wants to beat the left handed shift, because I think that bunting is a terrible idea, and that is to simply STOP BATTING LEFT HANDED.

If you look at the average number of plate appearances with runners on per spot in the order the least number of PA's with runners on is naturally the lead off spot, increasing to the clean up spot where it plateau's. The 5th spot gets less opportunities with runners on then say the 3rd spot in the order, where he batted much of the season last year. It is simple, bat Mark Texeira 5th and have him stop batting left handed. As you can see here, per Baseball Reference, his left handed splits are FAR worse then his right handed splits. We do not need a 20 million dollar player in the heart of the order bunting... money ball loving on base percentage or not. 

Mark Teixeira... DO NOT BUNT.

Trading Ivan Nova

"I look good in pinstripes" - Ivan Nova


ESPN.com's SportsNation has regular chats with Wally Matthews. Wally has worked with Newsday, the NY Post, the NY Sun, 1050 ESPN radio, and is currently a beat writer for ESPNNewYork.com. I read his chats, but I have to admit that the vast majority of things discussed make it more of a time killer than a good reference for Yankee fans. I mean, with places like River Avenue Blues, The LoHud Yankees Blog, The Yankee Analysts, etc (see the right side for a list of other great Yankee blogs), I see no big reason to check in with ESPN and Mr. Matthews each week.

There was a question posed that made me think of a longer answer, and what better place to express that bigger answer than here at The Greedy Pinstripes?

Anthony (NYC) - Ivan Nova's trade value will never be higher. I wouldnt mind mind seeeing him dealt for a good young player

Wallace Matthews - Like who? The Yankees don;t really need a bat and I think they believe he can be an imprtant part of their rotation for a long time. Maybe not a 1 or 2, but certainly a No. 3. and those aren;t alwasy so easy to find. And besides, he has shown something that the Killer B's have not so far -- the ability to handle big.-league pressure. I could be very wrong on this but I don;t think he;s goin anywhere

I agree with Matthews on this one. If the Yankees had a clear hole in the lineup then I could get on board with this idea, but that's not the case. And before you start talking about the DH... no, that's not a clear hole. Jorge Posada was the primary DH last season, and he batted 7th or lower in 75% of his plate appearances. So Tony here is saying the Yankees should trade a guy that was their #2 pitcher last season for a DH that'll hit at the bottom of the order? That makes no sense.

Other than a clear lineup hole, I suppose the Yankees would like somebody to possibly replace Swisher in RF for 2013, or an heir to SS or 3B for Jeter and ARod. But it makes less sense to trade a key piece of the rotation for a minor leaguer, who won't have any affect on the 2012 Yankees, than trading for a DH that hits 7th. How does it make sense to make the 2012 Yankees worse?

What do you think? Does Anthony have a point? You can comment below, or go here to discuss.