Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Alex Rodriguez: The $21 Million Backup First Baseman


Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees are preparing for the 2015 season without getting regular at bats or playing time in the field from Alex Rodriguez, and they should, but the latest blurbs have me scratching my head. The team has announced that Alex will work out at first base this spring in hopes of him being a viable backup option for Mark Teixeira. This news essentially makes A Rod a $21 million bench player with no real position if it's true and comes to fruition since the team is also looking at third base help to keep Alex off the left side of the infield.

Here's a quote from Cashman himself when talking to Ken Davidoff:

“We’re going to get him exposed to [first base]. It doesn’t mean he’ll be a viable option. But we just want to test the waters on it,” said the GM. “I think there was an area of vulnerability for us last year that was really predicated because of the outfield alignment that we had. We had more outfielders than necessary because the guaranteed commitments that we had kicked in, so I couldn’t get a backup first baseman situation. But hopefully we can alleviate that this year.” 

Either Bubba Crosby is going to be our every day center fielder or this team is really that scared to eat a very necessary $61 million crap sandwich. One would surprise me more than the other. 


Major League Players Born on November, 18

It’s a slow news day so let’s take a look at all the Major League Baseball players that were born on this day, November 18. Maybe the hot stove will pick up soon and we won’t have to fill the blog with these types of posts. Have I mentioned how I hate the winter (baseball wise anyway).

Rk Name Born Yrs From To ASG H HR RBI BB BA OBP SLG W L ERA WHIP IP SO
1 Bruce Billings 1985 2 2011 2014 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9.82 2.182 11.0 14
2 Travis Buck 1983 6 2007 2012 0 197 20 95 78 .243 .316 .399
3 Brent Leach 1982 1 2009 2009 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 5.75 1.377 20.1 19
4 C.J. Wilson 1980 10 2005 2014 2 2 0 0 3 .087 .192 .174 86 62 3.72 1.329 1298.1 1149
5 Steve Bechler 1979 1 2002 2002 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13.50 2.143 4.2 3
6 Wilkin Ruan 1978 2 2002 2003 0 12 0 5 0 .231 .231 .327
7 Tim Hummel 1978 2 2003 2004 0 43 3 17 16 .222 .285 .314
8 David Ortiz 1975 18 1997 2014 9 2159 466 1533 1162 .285 .379 .547
9 Matt Wise 1975 8 2000 2008 0 2 0 1 0 .286 .286 .286 17 22 4.23 1.274 317.0 244
10 Shawn Camp 1975 11 2004 2014 0 1 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 29 33 4.41 1.449 592.1 403
11 Allen Watson 1970 8 1993 2000 0 45 0 19 9 .257 .293 .343 51 55 5.03 1.491 892.0 589
12 Darrell Whitmore 1968 3 1993 1995 0 67 5 21 18 .203 .254 .294
13 Phil Stidham 1968 1 1994 1994 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24.92 3.692 4.1 4
14 Gary Sheffield 1968 22 1988 2009 9 2689 509 1676 1475 .292 .393 .514
15 Clay Bellinger 1968 4 1999 2002 0 60 12 35 22 .193 .257 .363
16 Tom Gordon 1967 21 1988 2009 3 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 138 126 3.96 1.360 2108.0 1928
17 Eddie Tucker 1966 3 1992 1995 0 13 1 7 10 .126 .224 .175
18 Ron Coomer 1966 9 1995 2003 1 827 92 449 177 .274 .313 .421
19 Howard Farmer 1966 1 1990 1990 0 2 0 0 0 .400 .400 .400 0 3 7.04 1.565 23.0 14
20 Scott Hemond 1965 7 1989 1995 0 132 12 58 65 .217 .295 .326
21 Mark Petkovsek 1965 9 1991 2001 0 14 0 3 7 .161 .229 .172 46 28 4.74 1.435 710.0 358
22 Chris Howard 1965 3 1993 1995 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.13 1.217 46.0 25
23 Dante Bichette 1963 14 1988 2001 4 1906 274 1141 355 .299 .336 .499
24 Jamie Moyer 1962 25 1986 2012 1 51 0 15 35 .128 .199 .140 269 209 4.25 1.322 4074.0 2441
25 Mike Felder 1961 10 1985 1994 0 564 14 173 168 .249 .301 .322
26 Jeff Heathcock 1959 4 1983 1988 0 1 0 0 4 .029 .128 .029 9 9 3.76 1.190 158.0 64
27 Cliff Pastornicky 1958 1 1983 1983 0 4 2 5 0 .125 .125 .313
28 Luis Pujols 1955 9 1977 1985 0 164 6 81 52 .193 .240 .260
29 Craig Stimac 1954 2 1980 1981 0 12 0 7 1 .203 .206 .237
30 Gil Rondon 1953 2 1976 1979 0 4 0 1 0 .286 .286 .286 2 2 5.40 1.989 63.1 24
31 Dan Briggs 1952 7 1975 1982 0 134 12 53 45 .195 .249 .294
32 Steve Henderson 1952 12 1977 1988 0 976 68 428 386 .280 .352 .413
33 Dick Joyce 1943 1 1965 1965 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 1 2.77 1.231 13.0 7
34 Jim Shellenback 1943 9 1966 1977 0 14 0 7 3 .135 .159 .154 16 30 3.81 1.416 454.0 222
35 Sterling Slaughter 1941 1 1964 1964 0 1 0 0 1 .083 .154 .083 2 4 5.75 1.858 51.2 32
36 Cal Koonce 1940 10 1962 1971 0 24 0 8 17 .100 .166 .113 47 49 3.78 1.380 971.0 504
37 Bud Zipfel 1938 2 1961 1962 0 78 10 39 32 .220 .285 .370
38 Jay Hook 1936 8 1957 1964 0 34 0 10 18 .151 .213 .156 29 62 5.23 1.439 752.2 394
39 Curt Raydon 1933 1 1958 1958 0 1 0 1 6 .026 .159 .026 8 4 3.62 1.333 134.1 85
40 Danny McDevitt 1932 6 1957 1962 0 17 0 7 6 .138 .183 .154 21 27 4.40 1.590 456.0 303
41 Lou Lombardo 1928 1 1948 1948 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 6.75 1.875 5.1 0
42 Roy Sievers 1926 17 1949 1965 5 1703 318 1147 841 .267 .354 .475
43 Gene Mauch 1925 9 1944 1957 0 176 5 62 104 .239 .333 .312
44 Rocky Nelson 1924 9 1949 1961 0 347 31 173 130 .249 .317 .379
45 Roy Wise 1923 1 1944 1944 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9.00 2.333 3.0 1
46 Kermit Wahl 1922 5 1944 1951 0 145 3 50 68 .226 .302 .294
47 Les Layton 1921 1 1948 1948 0 21 2 12 6 .231 .286 .429
48 Ken Burkhart 1916 5 1945 1949 0 27 1 11 6 .180 .222 .240 27 20 3.84 1.368 519.2 181
49 Charlie Fuchs 1913 3 1942 1944 0 3 0 2 1 .070 .091 .070 6 10 4.89 1.563 165.2 41
50 Joe Cicero 1910 3 1929 1945 0 18 0 8 2 .222 .250 .358
51 Dykes Potter 1910 1 1938 1938 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.50 2.000 2.0 1
52 Spike Merena 1909 1 1934 1934 0 1 0 0 1 .143 .250 .143 1 2 2.92 1.459 24.2 7
53 Joe Coscarart 1909 2 1935 1936 0 157 3 73 35 .241 .285 .301
54 George Blackerby 1903 1 1928 1928 0 21 0 12 4 .253 .287 .253
55 Jim Marquis 1900 1 1925 1925 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 9.82 2.455 7.1 0
56 Vince Shields 1900 1 1924 1924 0 2 0 1 0 .400 .400 .400 1 1 3.00 1.083 12.0 4
57 Ren Kelly 1899 1 1923 1923 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 2.57 1.571 7.0 1
58 Dutch Ulrich 1899 3 1925 1927 0 23 0 4 8 .167 .212 .188 19 27 3.48 1.333 406.0 123
59 Bill Hughes 1896 1 1921 1921 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.50 2.000 2.0 2
60 Sam Covington 1894 3 1913 1918 0 23 1 14 9 .178 .237 .233
61 Pedro Dibut 1892 2 1924 1925 0 3 0 3 2 .273 .385 .455 3 0 2.70 1.064 36.2 15
62 Les Mann 1892 16 1913 1928 0 1332 44 503 324 .282 .332 .398
63 Harry Trekell 1892 1 1913 1913 0 1 0 0 1 .111 .200 .111 0 1 4.50 1.100 30.0 15
64 Arthur Hauger 1891 1 1912 1912 0 1 0 0 1 .056 .105 .056
65 Ray Shook 1889 1 1916 1916 0 0 0 0 0
66 Howie Gregory 1886 1 1911 1911 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 1 5.14 2.143 7.0 1
67 Rip Vowinkel 1884 1 1905 1905 0 1 0 0 3 .071 .235 .071 3 3 4.17 1.368 45.1 7
68 Bill Shipke 1882 4 1906 1909 0 110 1 29 55 .199 .280 .261
69 Jack Coombs 1882 14 1906 1920 0 261 4 100 59 .235 .278 .295 158 110 2.78 1.239 2320.0 1052
70 Frank Griffith 1872 2 1892 1894 0 8 0 9 1 .320 .346 .560 1 3 10.10 2.374 46.1 18
71 Lou Johnson 1869 1 1894 1894 0 3 0 3 1 .188 .235 .188 1 1 6.06 1.806 32.2 10
72 Deacon McGuire 1863 26 1884 1912 0 1750 45 840 515 .278 .341 .372 0 0 6.75 2.750 4.0 1
73 Jim McLaughlin 1860 1 1884 1884 0 5 0 0 .227 .227 .364 1 2 3.68 1.727 22.0 8
74 John Munce 1857 1 1884 1884 0 4 0 1 .190 .227 .190
As you can see by the list former Yankees Bruce Billings, Allen Watson, Gary Sheffield, Tom Gordon, Ron Coomer, Danny McDevitt, Clay Bellinger, Deacon McGuire and Jim Marquis were born on this day. Other notable players included David Ortiz, Dante Bichette, Jamie Moyer, and CJ Wilson.