Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Cano In Top 5 Of MVP Votes


In order to build up more interest in the it's year end awards, the Baseball Writers Association of America have announced five finalists for each of their major awards. Yankee fans will be happy to hear, but not surprised, that Robinson Cano is among those five in American League MVP voting.

Robbie finished with 2nd in fWAR, 5th in wOBA, and 5th in wRC+ in the AL. I fully expect Miguel Cabrera to win the award, while Mike Trout finishes second, leaving Robbie to finish somewhere between 3rd and 5th (Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton are the other two finalists). 

The Yankees didn't have any other finalists in the awards, however you can view them all here.

Andy Pettitte Still Undecided On 2013


About three weeks ago the Yankees 2012 season ended prematurely with a sweep at the hands of the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series. Shortly there after Andy Pettitte announced that he did not want to drag out this retirement decision and stated that he would need no more then a month to make up his mind... the clock is ticking Andy. We heard our first bit of news today since these announcements were made but the problem is that Andy announced that he was still undecided.

No news is good news? Let's hope so because I was looking forward to more Andy in 2013.

Yankees Set To Offer Mariano Rivera A Pay Cut


Not that we should file this kind of news anywhere but in the "expected" section but the Yankees announced that they are planning on giving Mariano Rivera a pay cut this season to close for the Yankees. Mariano Rivera cannot and should not expect to make as much or more then he did in 2012 after missing most of it with an injury and entering his age 43 season. This is much like when Andy Pettitte re signed here for an incentive laden contract that, with the escalators, brought him up to a respectable salary. I expect and I hope for some of the same for Mo because if anyone deserves a little wiggle room with these negotiations it is him.

Orioles May Be Pretty Scary In 2013


The Orioles have announced today that they plan on going after the top free agent, offensively speaking, in this years class in Josh Hamilton. This is a huge risk/reward type of signing with the off the field issues and the durability issues on the field but this could make Baltimore a scary kind of lineup for a long time if this signing happens. The outfield would be Josh Hamilton in left field, Adam Jones in center field, and Nick Markakis in right field. Add on Matt Weiters, Manny Machado, Chris Davis, etc and you have a young potent lineup for years to come. If you expected the Orioles to just go away after a one year wonder type of season we may all be in for a rude awakening.

Annual GM Meetings In California Start Today


The annual GM meetings in California start this morning and will run all the way through Friday although I do not expect much activity to go down this week. These meetings are usually centered around issues pertaining to the league and not so much the free agency aspect but agents and General Managers do meet up as well. Brian Cashman has already said that he plans to meet with the agent of Torii Hunter this week so that is encouraging and I am sure Brian has a few tricks up his sleeve so we will just have to wait and see. Patiently I will sit here waiting for Ninja Cash to show his face.

TGP Yankees Awards Biggest Bounce Back Season

The TGP Yankees Award for Biggest Bounce Back Season goes to none other then Joba Chamberlain!!


Who else could this really go to? I guess you could make a case for Ichiro if you look at his Sea/NYY splits or you could make a case for Andy Pettitte after coming back from retirement and then coming back AGAIN from a fractured ankle but no one came back quite like Joba Chamberlain did. Joba not only had Tommy John surgery but also had a freak ankle dislocation injury that was once considered life threatening. His season was ultimately deemed over immediately until Joba continued to work hard and give 120% in his rehab to get back to the majors. He blew threw the minors leagues, showed a little rust in the Majors, and ultimately settled in to have a great last month + of the season and really solidified a shaky and match up heavy bullpen for the Yankees. Let's look at Joba's small sample size of a 2012 season.

Joba came into his age 27 season a lot later then expected after the aforementioned ankle injury that delayed the Tommy John surgery rehab and the rust showed. His numbers do not reflect in any manner just how he looked from late August through the end of the season. Joba's final line looked like a 1-0 W/L record, 4.35 ERA (which got over a 10 point ERA at one point in the season), 20.2 IP,  22 K's to 6 Walks, 1.548 WHIP, and a 9.6 K/9 ratio. He was able to accumulate exactly a 0.0 WAR but it is generally hard to have a positive WAR as a reliever, let alone in 20 IP. At the end of the season he was challenging hitters, locating pitches, getting out both righties and lefties, going multiple innings, and overall he just stayed healthy. Cannot ask for much more then that at this point.

Congratulations to Joba Chamberlain for being the Yankees biggest bounce back player in 2012!