Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Masahiro Tanaka Officially In Yankees Pinstripes


You wanted it, I made it happen on Twitter last night, and Hal Steinbrenner paid for it. Masahiro Tanaka in Yankees pinstripes! Today is a good day.

31 comments:

  1. BY SIGNING TANAKA....the Yankees can begin to dream again.
    You can feel it, the Yankee base is alive again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Totally agree. The offseason was not really complete and still considered a failure in my eyes until we got Tanaka.

      Delete
  2. Common Sense....without Rose Colored Glasses!

    "Tank" signed...ok, we now have 4 starting pitchers with question marks!
    Where or who is our #1, #2, #3 and #4 pitchers? We have the Names, but, one has never pitched in the Big Show, one is coming off a super bad year, one was great for the first half and one was up and down. That is not a combination for great success is it?
    "Tank" seems to have the balls to come to the largest showcase in baseball to show he can do the job!
    CC...will he bounce back?
    If CC comes through, we will have competitors for the #1 and #2 spot then what?
    Kudro and Nova both have questions, although they both have the talent to do the job and do it well...IF handled right!

    It seems some have realized that we also need BP shut down people for the 7th and 8th along with the 9th. You know, like it once was! I think someone wrote about that a week ago!
    D-Rob, Balfour and whomever can do the job...make it a 6 inning game!

    Rose colored glasses don't win games..."The truth shall set ye free"!

    See, there is much to be done...yet! Hal/Cash have started well, the big thing is, can they finish it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The good thing is now though we have a ton of guys competing for that 5th starter job. If one of the four question marks you mentioned falters we will have an advanced look to help us make the decisions on who comes up, that goes for injuries as well.

      I have a plan to help handle Kuroda in 2014 but it won't be posted until Friday so you will just have to wait. Speaking of weight, CC skinny scares me and he has dropped even more weight lately. Nova though, on paper, has the ability to be the best #4 starter in the world.

      Delete
    2. Good job, as usual Daniel...
      Nice to have "The Tank" on our side!
      The point of my post was to point-out the facts...not to denigrate any of them at all. We must be honest about it...no one has a good track record from last year!
      We have (as you pointed out) on paper, 4 very good pitchers....IF...they pitch as they can and, have in the past.
      "Tank" and CC are the keys to the year, as they go so does the pitching staff! Both of them are innings eaters and have to show up, if they don't...the pressure is on Kuroda and Nova. Both K and N need to be watched and babied (to some extent) and so do the rookies!

      There is no doubt in my mind we have good guys...on paper, but we live in the real world, not on paper.

      As for your plain to handle Kuroda, thinking outside the box is always good!

      Delete
    3. I think it is quite interesting that our four starting pitchers are as such:

      cc sabathiA
      masahiro tanakA
      hiroki kurodA
      ivan novA

      seems like michael pinedA is the front runner for the 5th spot

      Delete
    4. Rocket Reed, you're awake ! Is the Geritol staring to act like Red Bull ?

      Seriously...did you get much snow ?...did you catch your wife ? ...do you remember ?
      Seriously...please send me your e-mail address. I have been looking for you.
      I have a question about a flying insect. Duh ?
      Hope to it, man from Hell's Kitchen.
      Talk soon.

      Delete
    5. Red Bull? That is too strong a drink for me!
      Snow...so, so!
      Wife...what for?
      Remember,what?

      Delete
  3. FERNANDO'S HIDEAWAY !.......While lighting candles at St. Francis Church last night, A priest. Father Jimmy, came over to me......"patrick, you look so bummed out, what is wrong ? Did your wife run off with a landscaper ? Again ? "
    I said no, father....I am upset, that the Yankees will not sign Grant Balfour. That is why I light these expensive candles.
    Father Jimmy just laughed at me. What a fool you are, patrick. You Irish, drink too much !
    "The Lord works in mysterious ways", he says. " Balfour would be fine, but you need to light
    another candle for....................Fernando Rodney" !!
    " The side-ways base ball cap, and shooting imaginary arrows into the air after every save, you
    can't top that"....he had a point. I had forgotten about Rodney.

    Five candles later, I wait for Fernando Rodney's name to begin to scroll across my screen.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice article Patrick I really enjoyed the humor. I would be more then willing to subsidize your candle money to help bring Balfour here. Rodney doesn't fir the Yankee mold with the hat sideways so he would be a wing and a prayer by my standards. I still can't put a hold or grasp the idea of Robertson as a closer

    ReplyDelete
  5. This day...has become Pearl Harbor like.
    Grant Balfour....signs with Tampa. Now he can tell us to shut up / sit down, for 19 games.
    Fernando Rodney...the arrowsmith...set to sign with Baltimore.

    And we have ?....drum roll, please....the son of Bambi. Jesus.
    Nunez ?...will he be asked to pitch the eight ? Can he close ?
    This comes as no surprise, after learning that all those candles I lit, were made in New Jersey,

    The only thing worse today, would be if Obama named 'Yankee Fans Unite' as the American
    Achievement Award winners. ( speaking of junk made in New Jersey.)
    When Robertson says he can't pitch against Boston because he wants his mother, don't
    go putting up sobby girl like posts into all hours of the night. You beat the drum for him.

    *** Thank you...KEN HANS. Have a question to ask you later.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will continue to beat the Robertson drum, good bad or indifferent.

      Delete
    2. Dude I feel your pain, major mistake but the Yanks, they have some starters now that need a proven closer that has been doing it for a while and now we throw our hands up in the air and get cheap all of a sudden. I just don't understand their logic. Is the 12 million really going to put them in a different tax bracket? I understand adding another $45 mill or so but $12mill come on. The Coupon Clipper is now back

      Delete
    3. It's funny how the coupon clipper has spent like $500 million this offseason... lol.

      I can understand the want for a sure thing, I want it too, that's why I wanted someone to pitch the 8th with closer experience. I want to give Robertson the ball in the 9th but if he falters, and I admit that he could, you can plug in Plan B. Right now Plan B is Shawn Kelley and that scares me.

      Delete
  6. LOOK DEEP INTO THE...REFLECTING POOL. This is meant to scare you.

    When ex-Yankee Mariano Rivera fell in pain, on that warning track a few years ago, the Yankees
    handed the closer role to Soriano. Who went on to put up 40 plus saves.
    Because he was there, he could do it, and he was proven.

    Keep looking into the reflecting pool...because here it comes.
    IF ? IF ? If Robertson gets a bad elbow, or runs out of the stadium crying....then who
    is the closer ? Kelley ? Thorton ? Nunez ?...you get the picture.
    This bullpen, as constructed, could be the demise of the 2014 squad. Very quickly.

    To spend $440 million is fantastic. But, this bullpen is the lynch pin. This pin breaks, and
    they will be chasing Boston, and Tampa in September.
    I did not mean to point out any one individual, when I used " beat the drum ". It's just that the
    bullpen must be addressed, and assets are moving off the table. Very fast.
    Why the Yankee Nation is not standing on high ground, and screaming this, is beyond
    my comprehension.
    Now closing for New York...# 52...Eduardo Nunez ( don't be rough on him, he's new at this. )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Yankees have built their bullpens under Joe Girardi from within. If Shawn Kelley falters then enter Preston Claiborne. If Claiborne falters then enter Dellin Betances. Enter Adam Warren, enter Mark Montgomery, enter Cesar Cabral. Enter a whole US Army chow line of capable pitchers in the minor leagues.

      Nobody is better than mixing, matching, and constructing a bullpen on the fly. This may be Girardi's hardest feat of them all but until he proves he can't do it I believe that he can.

      Delete
  7. The Yankees, until now, had built their bullpen around Mariano Rivera.
    Joe Girardi, lined up the ducks behind Rivera. That ship has sailed. Game over.

    There is no proven closer. Only someone who may be able to do the job.
    Numbers will go out the window, when the load / responsibility, is put on Robertson's shoulders.

    To have the remaining cast of characters faltering, and being thrown under the bus...is nuts.
    You will have a chow line of pitchers. Do you see Boston, and the Rays smiling ?
    Don't forget Baltimore.
    I am a big Girardi fan. But this time, he has no Rivera, or Soriano, to build around.
    Only a chow line of lost souls. Step it up, men. Keep this line moving !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey I agree that it is easy to build a bullpen when you have Mariano River at the end of it, I'm under no illusion of that. Then again, since we're using Mariano, we had no proven closer in 1997 just a guy that dominated in the 8th inning. Sound familiar?

      Not comparing the two but it's hard not to see some similarities. Not saying Robertson will replicate what Rivera did, no one will, but the "no proven closer" is being overblown in my opinion.

      Delete
  8. IS THERE ANY...meaningful reason, that I am not aware of, of why there is no proven veteran,
    seasoned, successful reliever on this Yankee staff........that Robertson can lean on, or pass
    the baton to, if he falters?
    There is none. Only a pitcher that has been anointed to be the closer, by the owner.

    " Sound familiar ?" Does last years results sound familiar ?
    This is playing with fire. This is dangerous. This must be addressed !
    Your whole season is hinged on a page, from 16 years ago. Nuts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If Robertson could replicate his results from last year I would jump for joy and be ecstatic. The Yankees didn't suck last season because of the bullpen, it was because of the offense. The offense has been addressed, the pitching in the rotation has been addressed.

      Also, to note, it's not like there won't be a closer from a terrible team available at the trading deadline. Surely the Yankees and Robertson, worst case scenario of course, could hold on until June no?

      Delete
  9. I understand the WANT of a proven closer but, I don't see the NEED of one! Most of the closers that were out there had question marks allover themselves.
    Unless one has a closer somewhat as close to Mo as Sory was for one year...News Flash, we don't have anyone other than D-Rob.
    Joe will use the right guy for each situation and the job will get done...that is, if D-Rob falters! In any case, one goes down...another steps up!
    We have an army of young pitchers, all of whom think they can close for the Yankees as well as anyone else so I for one, am not worried whatsoever!
    We have other BP guys that could be tried out as closer in ST as well as D-Rob...by the end of spring training we may have D-Rob and someone else split time as closers...who really knows!

    Side Note: If Joba had learned to pitch up and down as well as side to side he may still be here.

    Relax people, a closer is in there somewhere, Mo was a starter (and failed) until he was moved to the BP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ROCKET....Joe Nathan. The Tigers jumped at him.
      As in .....Nathan, followed by Robertson....or Robertson, followed by Nathan.
      Your army of young pitchers...would of been cannon fodder at Gettysburg.

      Delete
    2. Come on Patrick, talent is talent...one has it or not, with it, one can go as far as ones mined will allow them too!
      The only cannon fodder is one without talent and the "will" to go with it. One without the other is Cannon Fodder.
      D-Rob didn't lower his bad numbers the last year or two without the Talent/will! He will be fine!

      Delete
  10. THIS IS WEARING ME OUT....and, you are a smart guy. So, to conclude :

    In the past 15 years, the Yankees have gone into a campaign with a proven closer for 15 years !
    Now today, it is OK to go into a campaign with a unproven closer, and no real back-up.
    You keep using the word...IF !...No one knows what will happen. Be prepared, or face doom.

    One can write the word 'IF'..on the hull of a sunken ship.
    If one waits until the end of June / July to find a replacement....it's over.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe you need the red bull, lol.

      I did not say I wanted to go into the season without a proven closer, if you remember right I wanted Balfour on the team. I am merely saying we can do it and survive or even flourish, we have done it before.

      Closing out games in April May and June is a lot different then in September and October. I don't think it would be over if he faltered a little, not by a long shot. Not with this offense.

      Delete
  11. Patrick, relax!
    One thing you can be assured of Patrick, I am always prepared...I can't speak for the Yankees but, I have faith in Cashman/Joe to get it right!

    Mo was unproven in his first year, so is D-Rob!
    Why is it I write..."I hate the word IF" so many times in many of my comments? Well, let me tell you!

    When making a plan of operations, one must take into account any and all variables in said plan. It is always..."IF" this happens, we do this etc.!
    "Everything is perfect until the first shot then, it goes into survivor mode"! The mighty "IF"!
    In other words...we do what we can, with what we have or (in my world) adapt, improvise and win!
    I hate the word IF, it ruled my life for way to many years, and to my surprise...still dose!

    Relax Patrick, this is the last year...I have seen the Raven Fly and no one is left!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Rocket....what the F--- is that last sentence ?
    @ "Relax Patrick, this is the last year...I have seen the Raven Fly and no one is left! "

    Don't go writing that kind of stuff ! Screw the raven.
    Do me a favor, before you meet Jesus.....send me an up dated e-mail. I have four different ones.
    And I have to ask you a question.

    No more of that Raven / last year .....crap.
    Are you snow bound ? Cabin fever ? Fallen, and can't get up ?
    Do you want my phone # ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am sure my wife thinks I am a nut for laughing so hysterically at 6 am but these posts are always so funny, lol.

      Delete
    2. That's the idea, having fun is the name of this game...what we learn in the "fun time" is great.

      Delete

Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)