11/9 Winter Ball Report

post from Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog on 08 November 2008 10:56:00 PM. © Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog

In the AFL the Peoria Javelinas lost to the Surprise Rafters 9-6: Box Score - Recap - Game Story

Phil Hughes started for the Javelinas and continued his inconsistent winter. After having a great outing his last time out he followed it with a very unimpressive 2.1 innings today. He allowed 2 runs on 4 hits, walked 4 and struck out 3. He threw 72 pitches, 40 for strikes.

Kevin Whelan pitched 1.2 innings in relief. He didn't allow a run, he walked 2 and struck out 2. He threw 32 pitches, 15 for strikes.

Humberto Sanchez pitched one third of an inning and gave up 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks. He threw 23 pitches, 11 for strikes.

Kevin Russo went 1-for-5 with a double and a run scored.

Austin Jackson went 3-for-4, with a double and three runs scored. He was also hit by a pitch.

In HWB the Waikiki BeachBoys lost to the Honolulu Sharks 4-1: Box Score - Recap

Austin Romine went 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

Damon Sublett went 0-for-3 with a walk.

Other Yankees are playing in the Venezuelan, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Dominican winter leagues. Here's a run down of the players in each league:

Venezuelan League: Francisco Cervelli is playing for Cardenales de Lara. Reegie Corona is on Navegantes del Magallanes.

Puerto Rican League: Ian Kennedy and Jonathan Albaladejo are on Indios de Mayaguez. Jose Molina is on Leones de Ponce.

Dominican League: Matt Carson and Wilkins Arias are playing for Aguilas Cibaenas. And Jhonny Nunez and Amaury Sanit are playing for Tigres del Licey.

Mexican League: Justin Christian is playing for Caneros de los Mochis. And Walter Ibarra is on Naranjeros de Hermosillo.

You can check out all of their Winter Ball stats here.

Last week the Yankees cut these players from their minor league rosters:

RHP: Oneli Perez (AAA), Scott Strickland (AAA), Jose Valdez (AA), Victor Zambrano (AAA)
LHP: Eric Milton (AAA), Edgar Soto (Hi A)
C: Ben Blumenthal (Lo A), Jason Brown (AAA), Chris Stewart (AAA)
1B: Ben Broussard (AAA), Josh Kreuzer (Hi A)
2B: Bernie Castro (AAA), Nick Green (AAA)
3B: Carlos Mendoza (AA)
SS: Chris Basak (AAA)
OF: Matt Carson (AAA), Edwar Gonzalez (AA), , C.J. Henry (Hi A)

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SlidingIntoHome/~3/447258454/119-winter-ball-repor
t.html

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Destinations Unknown: The Latest on Peavy to the
Cubs and Other Rumors

post from ChicagoCubsOnline.com on 08 November 2008 10:05:27 PM. © ChicagoCubsOnline.com

The first full week of baseball's off-season is in the books and to say the Hot Stove is in full swing would be an understatement. Players that have filed for free agency have until Thursday at midnight eastern to resign with their current organization, so at 12:01am on Friday, an already busy rumor mill should kick into overdrive.

Jim Hendry spent his week on the West Coast in discussion with the Padres over Jake Peavy as well as gauging what dollar figure it will take to resign both Ryan Dempster and Kerry Wood....but was that all?

Here is the rest on Jake Peavy along with other rumors, plus....a possible, realistic number for the Cubs' payroll in 2009, Wood doubled his 2008 base salary, Nate McLouth, Jeremy Hermida and Scott Olsen and is Derrek Lee staying put?

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Chicagocubsonlinecom/~3/447067868/cubsrumors11808.
php

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SBN Awards: The AL Round-Up

post from The Crawfish Boxes on 08 November 2008 09:51:23 PM. © The Crawfish Boxes

Manager of the Year

American League 1st 2nd 3rd PointsJoe Maddon161-83Ron Gardenhire-7425Mike Scioscia-4517Terry Francona-3211Ozzie Guillen1-27Cito Gaston--33Trey Hillman-1-3

MVP

American League 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th PointsDustin Pedroia53421--2--155Joe Mauer23222111--109Grady Sizemore52--11-12-106Kevin Youkilis2-2314-12-98Alex Rodriguez214-4---1196Josh Hamilton11-3311-1-73Justin Morneau1311-1---263Carlos Quentin--22-2222-58Carlos Pena-1---311--31Cliff Lee-1--2--1--24Milton Bradley---1--122223Aubrey Huff---1-1-1-217Roy Halladay--1----11-13Miguel Cabrera------21-112Evan Longoria----1---1210B. J. Upton-1--------9Ian Kinsler------1-2-8Francisco Rodriguez-------11-5Alexei Ramirez------1---4Brian Roberts------1---4Vladimir Guerrero------1---4Jim Thome------1---4Nick Markakis---------22Joe Nathan---------11Jermaine Dye---------11

Cy Young

American League 1st 2nd 3rd PointsCliff Lee135-80Roy Halladay510156Jon Lester-158Francisco Rodriguez-125Mike Mussina-125Daisuke Matsuzaka--44Ervin Santana--22Justin Duchscherer--11Joe Nathan--11

Rookie of the Year

American League 1st 2nd 3rd PointsEvan Longoria151-78Mike Aviles15424Alexei Ramirez12314Armando Galarraga-3312Joba Chamberlain-3110Jacoby Ellsbury-125Brad Ziegler-114? Murphy-1-3Denard Span-2-2Chris Davis--11

Read The Full Article:
http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2008/11/8/656947/sbn-awards-the-al-round-up

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2008-09 Game 6: Wolves at Blazers

post from The WGOM on 08 November 2008 09:00:45 PM. © The WGOM

<GreekHouse>The Wolves kinda sucked last night, losing in a blowout to the Kings. However, I'm not quite as down about it as a lot of the other Wolves fans. Yeah, the Wolves defense wasn't great and there were quite a few easy baskets, but there were also tons of difficult jumpers that kept [...]

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http://stickandballguy.com/blog/2008/11/08/2008-09-game-6-wolves-at-blazers/

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Casey Blake Is NOT The Answer At Third Base

post from The WGOM on 08 November 2008 07:50:17 PM. © The WGOM

If I keep hearing rumors like this, I am going to have no choice but to come out of retirement. There are three main reasons that I'm against signing Casey Blake as a free agent.1) Blake is barely better than a platoon of Harris and Buscher would be, and might be worse.2) The Twins [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://stickandballguy.com/blog/2008/11/08/casey-blake-is-not-the-answer-at-third
-base/

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Huber Will Play!

post from Royals Review on 08 November 2008 07:37:20 PM. © Royals Review

Huber Will Play!

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http://www.royalsreview.com/2008/11/8/656891/huber-will-play

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Baseball America's Top 10 Yankees Prospects

post from Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog on 08 November 2008 07:32:00 PM. © Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog

From Steve Lombardi who received the print edition of the Nov 17th-30th issue of Baseball America today:

1. Austin Jackson OF
2. Jesus Montero, C
3. Andrew Brackman, RHP
4. Austin Romine, C
5. Dellin Betances, RHP
6. Zach McAllister, RHP
7. Alfredo Aceves, RHP
8. Phil Coke, LHP
9. Mark Melancon, RHP
10. Bradley Suttle, 3B

You could make arguments that some people should have cracked the list, but all in all I don't have a problem with the list as it is. Do you?

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SlidingIntoHome/~3/447133448/baseball-americas-top
-10-yankees.html

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Yanks Move Home Plate and Pitching Rubber to New
Stadium

post from Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog on 08 November 2008 07:05:00 PM. © Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog

Today Paul O'Neill, David Cone, Scott Brosius, Jeff Nelson, Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal, and nearly 60 local high school kids helped move home plate, the pitchers mound, along with some dirt, from the old Yankee Stadium to the new stadium. Here's more from MLB.com:

Paul O'Neill strode down a flight of concourse stairs at the new Yankee Stadium on Saturday, set his feet on the warning track -- a rough, dirt expanse, still studded with rocks and a few small puddles -- and took an exhaustive look around.
"Look at this joint, huh?" he said.
Out before him lay a baseball field, albeit an incomplete one, properly proportioned to match the dimensions of the old Yankee Stadium. Sod, with seams still showing, filled much of the area, and a large blue sign shouted the words "YANKEE STADIUM" from above center field. Waves of dark blue seats down the left-field line dumped into a still-unfinished section behind home plate, where metal supports hinted at where more seats are still to come.
And on the mound, roughly 60 area children helped cram some dirt from the old Yankee Stadium into the new one.
"You know that the Yankees are going to do everything in a first-class manner, and this is a pretty impressive place," said former third baseman Scott Brosius. "It's kind of cool to see it now, and it will be really cool to see it when it's all completed and ready to go."
That, of course, coming from a man who had already soaked in some of the best of what the old Yankee Stadium had to offer. So imagine how the children of local youth groups in the Bronx felt when the Yankees invited them to a symbolic ceremony on Saturday to transfer home plate, the pitching rubber and buckets of dirt from the old Yankee Stadium to the new one.
Brosius, O'Neill, David Cone and Jeff Nelson joined members of Youth Force 2020 and the ACE Mentor Program in the ceremony, using shovels to dig up dirt and then set it back down across the street -- all in the midst of a driving rain.

"It means a lot," Cone said. "It's a great symbolic gesture to be able to take the actual home plate and pitcher's rubber from the old Yankee Stadium and bring it over here. It was a great gesture, and to actually get kids in the Bronx involved with it, I thought was a really good thing to do."
Cone, like Brosius, spent a fair amount of time gazing up at the new stadium, which at once looks quite similar to and strikingly different from the old one. Set to open when the new baseball season begins in April, the structure has been rising up in the shadow of its predecessor for more than two years.

"There's a little twinge of jealousy, that's for sure, when you see this facility and how beautiful it's going to be," Cone said. "But then again, I was at the right place at the right time."

"This new Yankee Stadium has got a lot to live up to," Cone said, lounging in a concrete lean-to that will soon become the home dugout. "There are so many great memories, so many championships across the street, that anything you can bring over here -- any sort of memories you can bring with you -- it's a good thing to do to get this place off to the right start."

And here are some pictures of the ceremony from MLB.com:

Nice ceremony, but where was Jeter, Posada, Mo, and Pettitte?

And then there was this from Kat O'Brien:

Torre said he had been invited by the Yankees to a Saturday event at which Bronx high schoolers and a few members of the '98 team will transfer dirt from the home plate area at the old Yankee Stadium to the new Yankee Stadium. He's not going to make it due to a scheduling conflict with a brunch for his foundation, but it seemed like an olive branch of sorts.

Nice of the Yanks to at least invite Torre to help with the ceremony, and like O'Brien says, it does seem like an olive branch. It's a shame he couldn't make it.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SlidingIntoHome/~3/447125812/yanks-move-home-plate
-and-pitching.html

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Probabilistic Model of Range, Centerfielders,
2008

The third position presented in this year's Probabilistic Model of Range study belongs to centerfielders. First, the overall team numbers: Team Centerfielders PMR, 2008, Visit Smooth Distance Model, 2008 data only Team In Play Actual Outs Predicted Outs DER Predicted...

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http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/030095.php

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Jeter talks to lefty

From Ed Price:

Derek Jeter Friday revealed he had spoken to Sabathia -- the Yankees' top target in free agency -- in recent weeks about playing in pinstripes.

Many believe Sabathia prefers to stay in the National League, where he helped pitch the Milwaukee Brewers into the playoffs after being traded from the Cleveland Indians. But the fact that Sabathia picked Jeter's brain should give the Yankees hope of landing the ace lefty.

"He's asked questions, yeah, about it," said Jeter, who got to know Sabathia as an opponent and All-Star Game teammate. "I'll leave it at that.

"I'm not trying to sell anyone on New York. I don't think you have to sell people on playing in this organization. People have questions, but it's not like I have a sales pitch."

Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com told SNY.tv today that Sabathia will likely been signed quickly, and could be the first big name to be signed. Sabathia apparently doesn't want this process to be dragged out.

Pinstripes it'll be then C.C.

Read The Full Article:
http://adiehardyankeesfan.blogspot.com/2008/11/jeter-talks-to-lefty.html

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