Yankees @ White Sox 8/22/12

UPDATE:

Skip Bayless must be right Jeter must be on steroids after hitting his 3rd home run in as many days to bring the Yankees within a run at 2-1 Sox #Sarcasm

Yankees lose 2-1

The Yankees will look to avoid a sweep at the hands of the AL Central leading first place Chicago White Sox tonight at US Cellular Field in Chicago. On the mound for the Yankees will be Phil Hughes and he will be facing off against a nasty left handed starter in Chris Sale. The game will be televised at 8:10 pm ET on YES and ESPN 2.

Lineups

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Andruw Jones DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Russell Martin C
Casey McGehee 3B
Ichiro Suzuki LF

Go Yankees!!

Nova May End Up On DL With Shoulder Tightness

Can you say blessing in disguise? I know that sounds terrible but it is kind of true. Nova is being sent back to New York to get tests done on his throwing shoulder after feeling tightness against the last batter he faced last night. Nova is already expected to miss at least one start and could be placed on the DL , which would not be the worst thing in the world. Let him get his mechanics right and more importantly his confidence built back up before the Rays series and the playoffs.

Joba May Be On Way To AAA

With CC Sabathia all but assured of coming back to the Yankees this Friday, 8/24, to start against the Indians the Yankees will need to make a roster move. The local blogesphere has been blown up with reports that the Yankees may make that move being Joba Chamberlain back to the minors, presumably AAA Empire State, to get some work (and confidence) in before the playoffs. He is on the active roster and will still be playoff roster eligible so I personally do not see a problem with it. I just want Joba to get his head back on straight so we can get another ring.

Former Yankees Update : Bartolo Colon

And another moron bites the dust. Much like Melky Cabrera not a few days ago another former New York Yankee has tested positive and received a 50 game suspension for testosterone. The Athletics, his current team, are in the middle of a fight for the wild card and this can only hurt their chances unless Brett Anderson pitches his behind off after a two year lay off. Bartolo, again much like Melky, did admit that he was using the banned substance knowingly so there's always that.

In this day and age why not just do it the right way? I mean come on people...

Andy Pettitte NOT Ruling Out 2013 Return

But he is not saying that he will, for sure, be back either. In the time filling news article of the day Andy was asked if a 2013 return was possible and he did not rule it out. I am assuming that he did not expect to pitch this little this season and still has that fire inside of him to pitch. I can only assume that if he did return next season it would be with the Yankees (or the Astros but the Astros suck.. just saying) and I do not see why the Yankees would deny him the possibility.

I personally would love to welcome Andy back for next season.

Looking Around The AL West Disabled Lists

My post about the Yankees 2012 Disabled list, seen HERE, got me thinking on how this injury riddled season stacks up against everyone else. Now granted that post took me a very long time to do and I do not plan on doing one that detailed for every team but rather I am going to look at all the teams CURRENT disabled lists and compare them.

Today we're going to start with the AL West. Here is an up to date look at the standings.

These are the disabled list and salaries of every team in the AL West.

Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim

3 Players Currently On DL

$1.48 Million On DL of $154,485,166

0.95% of Total Payroll

Jordan Walden - 495 K

Michael Kohn - 482 K

Jeremy Moore - 480 K

Oakland Athletics

9 Players Currently On DL

$14.28 Million On DL of $55,372,500

25.77% of Total Payroll

Brandon Inge - 5.5 Million

Eric Sogard - 483 K

AJ Griffin - 400 K

Seth Smith - 2.415 Million

Andrew Carignan - 480 K

Dallas Braden - 3.35 Million

Joey Devine - 738 K

Brett Anderson - 3 Million

Scott Sizemore - 485 K

Seattle Mariners

3 Players Currently On DL

 $6.6 Million On DL of $81,978,100

8.05% of Total Payroll

Mike Carp - 489 K

Franklin Gutierrez - 5.5 Million

George Sherrill - 1.1 Million

Texas Rangers

4 Players Currently On DL

$16.65 Million On DL of  $120,510,974

13.82% of Total Payroll

Mike Napoli - 9.4 Million

Colby Lewis - 3.25 Million

Koji Uehara - 4 Million

Neftali Feliz - 502 K

Is there any correlation between the injuries and the standings? I do not know so you be the judge. Leave me a comment in the comment box because I am always down for baseball debate and banter.

Feliciano W/ Another Scoreless Inning In Rehab

Pedro Feliciano is still on his way back from a shoulder injury and surgery that has basically kept him out of baseball for the better parts of two seasons. He took one step closer to returning and throwing his first real pitch in pinstripes today for the GCL Yankees today when he pitched a perfect inning. Two ground balls and one fly ball was the damage against Feliciano.

Jeter Exactly 1000 Hits Behind Rose

The countdown has officially begun after Jeter hit a home run last night to pull exactly 1000 hits away from all time hit leader Pete Rose. Derek Jeter now sits at 3256 hits and now has 168 hits this season, leading all of Major League Baseball. All of this at age 38 which puts him ahead of Pete Rose's record by his pace which, at this rate, may never slow down.

Yankees @ White Sox 8/21/12

Jeter leads off the game with a home run 1-0 Yankees

Yankees lose 7-3

The Yankees bullpen got beat and bruised last night by Chicago White Sox hitting and these same two teams will go at it tonight at US Cellular Field in Chicago. On the mound for the Yankees will be Ivan Nova who needs another good start more then anybody in the Yankees rotation right now. On the other side of the field for the White Sox will be Francisco Liriano for the Sox. The game will be televised at 8:10 pm ET on YES Network and MLB Network.

Lineups

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Andruw Jones LF
Curtis Granderson CF
Jayson Nix 3B
Casey McGehee DH
Russell Martin C

Go Yankees!!

Swisher Wants The Yankees To See His Werth

"Thank You Jesus For Jayson Werth"

No that is not a typo in the heading that is what Nick Swisher wants the Yankees to show him, his Werth. His Werth meaning Jayson Werth who had a seven year $126 million contract signed just a couple seasons ago to play right field for the Washington Nationals. Jayson Werth, in my opinion, went from extremely underrated to entirely overrated in a matter of seconds when he signed that contract. It is well documented through out my Yankees forum postings and such that I was a big Jayson Werth supporter in the couple of years before the contract and it is also well documented that I am a big Nick Swisher supporter.. for now.

To think that Nick could get that much money via free agency is kind of ridiculous and way off base , in my opinion, but I am not the player nor am I the agent. I would guess this is just a starting negotiation and he will take less but how much less will decide whether he takes it from the Yankees or not.

Here is some of what John Heyman had to say about it when he interviewed Swisher :

Swisher initially gave the usual player-speak answer, "I haven't thought about it,'' when asked if he sees the Werth deal as a fair comp for him. I tried to lighten the mood by asking if he had ever "heard'' of the Werth contract, and Swisher characteristically responded by laughing uproariously. We both know, of course, that any corner outfielder who's a very good player having a very good year (but is a bit short of being a cornerstone player) has to have thought long and hard about the Werth deal.

Eventually, he did say about Werth's Nationals contract, "It's a great deal for him.'' And then Swisher did challenge me to look at the record.

"Check it out,'' Swisher implored me. "See what it says.''

So I did. And statistically speaking, it's pretty darned close between the two corner outfielders.
Werth was 31 when he went into his free-agent offseason, Swisher will be, too. Werth had a 19.2 WAR, Swisher has a 19.0 WAR now. I'm no WAR expert, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Swisher's WAR will be somewhere in the range of Werth's 19.2 by season's end, and in fact, perhaps even exactly Werth's 19.2.

A case could be made that Werth is more versatile (he can play center field, and he can steal a base or two), and maybe a bit more valuable over his career. Though both made one All-Star team, Werth twice received MVP votes.

But looking at some basic stats, their careers don't differ all that much. Werth had 120 home runs, 406 RBI and a .272 batting average heading into his free agency; Swisher has 203 home runs, 649 RBI and a .255 batting average now. Werth once hit 36 home runs; Swisher's seasonal high is 35 (Swisher actually has more 20-homer seasons, six to four).

In terms of OPS, it's darned close. Swisher's career OPS is .826, Werth's is .827 (but was a couple points higher before he got to Washington).

I am sure that this is just posturing by an agent but this may back fire if the Yankees just simply let him walk. The days of Nick Swisher in a Yankees uniform may be drawing ever closer to the end and for that kind of money.. it should. Especially if the Yankees are serious about the 2014 luxury tax threshold and keeping their payroll down this free agency.