The Bronx View

Yesterday, the soon-to-be-deposed Peter Abraham was riffing on the Yankees’ playoff roster possibilities.

His look at the pitching staff possibilities shapes up like this:

PITCHERS (10)
LHP CC Sabathia
RHP A.J. Burnett
LHP Andy Pettitte
RHP Mariano Rivera
RHP Phil Hughes
LHP Phil Coke
RHP Alfredo Aceves
RHP Joba Chamberlain

In assuming he’s healthy
RHP David Robertson

Three choices for one spot
RHP Brian Bruney
RHP Chad Gaudin
LHP Damaso Marte

Those 10 “locks” look pretty solid, particularly if the Yankees, as anticipated, choose the series format with the extra day off on October 8^th.  This enables them to carry only 3 starters and avoid the crapshoot of handing the ball to Joba with the series potentially in the balance.

A lot of Girardi’s decision making should come down to the offenses of the Yankees two possible ALDS opponents – Minnesota, as of “press time”, had taken game 1 of a crucial doubleheader in Detroit to leave them just 1 game behind.  At this point, the smart money is still on Detroit if we look at playoff odds (63.3% for the Tigers vs. 36.7% for Minnesota) but those pesky Twins have to be considered as well, at least pending the outcome of tonight’s second game.

The Tigers are 10^th out of 14 teams in the American League in OPS vs. left-handers (.761).  The Twins are a fair sight better, posting a .775 OPS against southpaws, good for 7^th in the AL.  Taking a look at the Tigers lineup, they have just two left-handed hitters that play with any regularity: Curtis Granderson and Aubrey Huff.  Clete Thomas is their token left-handed bench bat but he’s at .243/.327/.390 overall, so we’re not worried about him.  I suppose Jim Leyland could bring Jeff Larish along if he finds room on his roster, and the left-handed hitter has shown some thunder against righties – .255/.354/.485 with 4 HR and 13 BBs in 68 ABs.

Granderson is an absolute disaster against left-handed pitchers; an automatic out if there ever was one (.178/.243/.237).  If Leyland had anyone else on the roster capable of playing a passable center field, he’d likely sit Granderson against Sabathia and Pettitte.  As it stands, however, Leyland has no such option, and the Tigers are stuck with a sinkhole at the top of their order with a lefty on the mound.  The fact that the Yankees have two lefty starters out of 3 probables bodes well for their ability to neutralize Grandy’s threat.  As for Aubrey Huff, he’s hit just .239/.294/.356 against lefties.

I’d be remiss not to mention Carlos Guillen, a switch-hitter who has come on for the Tigers lately after struggling with injury early on.  Guillen is a guy you want to make hit from the right side.  He’s hit .261/.347/.454 vs. righties and .255/.340/.444 vs. lefties.  Not a huge split, but over the last three years he has an .872 OPS vs righties, an .855 OPS against lefties.  Particularly in Yankee Stadium, with that ever-enticing short porch, you’d want to take advantage of that split and turn him around with a lefty.

Were the Yankees liable to use 4 starters – 2 lefty, 2 righty – I’d probably recommend carrying Damaso Marte in addition to Phil Coke.  As it stands, though, the longer schedule means that of a possible 5 games, the Yankees could potentially get 4 lefty starts – 2 from CC, 2 from Pettitte.  If we’re facing the Tigers, I’m taking Brian Bruney over Chad Gaudin, because Joba is stretched out enough at this point to act as a long man should the need arise.  Add in the fact that Phil Hughes and Alfredo Aceves are both capable of going multiple innings, and Gaudin’s role in the ALDS seems to disappear.

Turning our eyes to the Twins, it’s all about Joe Mauer.  Mauer will kill you.  It doesn’t matter which hand you throw with.  But for the record, he has a .909 OPS against lefties.  The Twins’ loss is the Yankees’ gain however, as Justin Morneau is out for the remainder of the season, so that’s one less lefty bat to worry about matching up against.

The Twins do have a number of hitters who seem to do just fine against lefties, however.  Denard Span, the Twins’ speedy leadoff hitter, has a reverse platoon split.  Despite hitting left-handed, he hits for an .867 OPS against lefties, more than 80 points higher than against righties.  Righties Brendan Harris, Michael Cuddyer, and Orlando Cabrera hit over .300 vs. lefties in 2009.  Cuddyer especially made his living off them – .302/.356/.636 for a .992 OPS.  Jason Kubel is the only lefty in the lineup with a significant platoon split – his .642 OPS against lefties is more than .300 points lower than the .982 mark he posted against righties.

If the Yankees end up battling the Twins for a trip to the ALCS, I’m again taking Bruney over Marte.  Overall, the Tigers appear to be the more favorable match up for the Yankees because of how left-handed dominant the Yanks’ three-man rotation would be.  Yes, the Yankees have a storied recent history of success against the Twins…but be careful what you wish for.

On to the hitters:

POSITION PLAYERS (15)
1B Mark Teixeira
2B Robinson Cano
SS Derek Jeter
3B Alex Rodriguez
C Jorge Posada
LF Johnny Damon
CF Melky Cabrera
RF Nick Swisher
DH Hideki Matsui
OF Brett Gardner
C Jose Molina

In assuming he’s healthy
INF-OF Jerry Hairston

Four choices for three spots
C Francisco Cervelli
OF-3B Eric Hinske
INF Ramiro Pena
OF Freddy Guzman

Abraham seems to think the Yanks plan to carry 3 catchers in the ALDS, a thought I hadn’t much considered.  He states that this might be preferable so that the Yankees can squeeze Posada in at DH against a lefty and sit Matsui.  Sorry, but I’m not benching a guy who hit .285/.361/.623 against lefties, conventional wisdom be damned.  Especially with the extra day off, Posada ought to be relied upon to catch every game in that series.  The lineup, though still potent, just isn’t the same when you substitute Molina for Posada.  In the playoffs, especially in a short series, you need to stack your offense to have the best chance to score the most runs every night.  A lineup with Posada/Matsui is geared to do just that.

That’s not to say Girardi won’t choose to carry three catchers – he’s likely choosing to carry two pinch-runners – but I think it would be more in the event that he’d like to pinch-hit for Molina late in a game and be able to replace him with Posada.  This also assumes he plans to start Molina at all, which would be a mistake.

Pena appears to be the odd man out, but should he be?  Hairston is being carried as much because he was acquired in a midseason trade as because he’s a valuable contributor.  His positional flexibility I would imagine is also very appealing, as he can passably play 6 positions.  When Pena was demoted this summer after beginning the season with the team, he was asked to play some center field as well as the infield in an effort to improve his versatility.  The Yanks never tried him there upon his return, so I doubt they’d go into the postseason feeling comfortable with him as an emergency option.  Hinske we know can contribute – he’s got some power, has pinch-hitting experience, and can play all 4 corners (he did start at third on Monday).

But Freddy Guzman?  We don’t know much about him.  He’s obviously a burner, as anyone who has seen him steal two bases can attest.  He’s stolen as many as 90 bases (across three levels in 2003).  But his career line in the minors is an underwhelming .270/.344/.360.  In 97 career ML plate appearances, he’s at .211/.258/.278.  Obviously there’s no one in the Yankees regular lineup that really needs to be pinch-hit for (Molina excepted) so Guzman’s hitting is largely irrelevant; he’ll never be asked to do it anyway.  But I guess the question just begs to be asked: does this squad really need two pinch-runners?  Theoretically I see just one way – that’s if Gardner starts over Melky in center.  Girardi hasn’t tipped his hand either way on this subject.  Just know that if Guzman is indeed the Last Man Selected, it’s likely because Brett Gardner will see a start or two in the ALDS.

Jack Curry, commenting on an official scoring debate that has been swirling the last few weeks:

Defensive indifference is exactly what it connotes: a situation when a team was unconcerned about preventing the runner from advancing. After official scorers consider the score and the inning, if the pitcher made pickoff attempts and if the first baseman was positioned behind the runner, they determine if the dash was a steal or defensive indifference.

“It’s an old rule and a very good rule,” said Bill Shannon, who has been a scorer for 31 seasons. “I’m loath to give away statistical achievements.”

But what about the runner who has successfully scooted the 90 feet? Some players contend they should be credited with a stolen base. If the team’s defensive strategy was to give away the base, should the runner be rewarded for taking what was available?

“I feel like you should get something for doing it,” said Nate McLouth, a center fielder for the Atlanta Braves. “It’s the only way to advance that doesn’t show up in the stat column.”

Of course Nate McLouth wants credit.  Stolen bases are part of his game.

A few factors to consider when forming your own opinion on this:

• The defense may show some indifference to Brett Gardner because he’s a tough out on a stolen base attempt.  Would they be more likely to throw through if, say… Hideki Matsui were trying to run?
• How does defensive indifference equate to intentional walks?
• If the advancing runner scores, should the pitcher not be charged with an earned run because he doesn’t care?  Where do you draw the line?

From a philosophical perspective, I have a difficult time giving credit to a player for a feat unearned.

That begs the bigger question: with defensive indifference, is it a stolen base truly unearned?

Where did this practice come from?  At what point in a baseball game does a team stop caring about getting outs?  What creates the mindset that it’s not worth throwing down to second?  Is it because the ball might go into the outfield?  Big deal.  If the run is inconsequential, who cares if the runner is on second or third?

The practice itself just comes across as lazy and counter to some of the other tenets of the game.

Teams get mad in a blowout game if the winner appears to be padding the score.  That’s rude.  However, the winning team should let down their defense and give the losing team some freebies.  That’s the consolation for getting your butt kicked one afternoon.

Or how about all of the flap around certain players possibly tipping pitchers to the opposition in blowout games.  Isn’t that the same thing?  You’re giving the opposition a chance to score an extra run in a blowout game.  Either way, the pitcher would be charged with a run.  In one instance, it’s a player doing it.  In the other, it’s the norms of the game dictating it.

When Nick Swisher pitched in a blowout game at the beginning of the year because Joe Girardi didn’t want to waste the bullpen, should BJ Upton have gotten credit for a walk or Willy Aybar a hit?  Clearly, Swisher being in the game was defensive indifference on the part of Joe Girardi.

I really don’t understand why defensive indifference is a practice in the first place.  The concept is stupid to me.  If a team is lazy enough to employ it, then yes, I do think the runner deserves to get credit for the stolen base.

If a batter is intentionally walked, they are credited with a walk as if they worked a 3-2 count.  Shouldn’t an intentional walk be defensive indifference?  The defense is making a choice not to pitch to a batter.

The difference is the perceived value of that base within the game being played.  A pitcher intentionally walks a batter because he is afraid that batter will cause more damage at the plate than the hitter after him.  Therefore, the threat of that intentionally walked batter has some value.  For being threatening, you get credit for a walk.

In the case of the intentional walk, then, the pitcher and/or manager is actually trying to neutralize that threat.  The intentional walk itself has greater value to the defense in that strategy than it does to the batter.  Say what you will about the strategy (I think it’s overused personally), but we don’t hear people clamoring to change how that is scored.

I don’t like looking at a game that plays with one philosophy for eight innings and then suddenly turns that philosophy on it’s ear.  The point of the offense in a game is to score runs.  In order to score runs, you need to get on base and advance bases.  The defense’s job is to prevent runs.  That’s it.

If a team is too lazy to thrown down to second base because they’re winning 13 – 2, that’s their prerogative.  The runner should be credited for doing his job even if the defense is being lazy.  The catcher could probably do his battery-mate a favor by saving him a few pitches and throwing out the runner.  How often do you hear about teams allowing their pitchers to throw more pitches?

I guess the catcher’s arm is more important.

Scott Ham blogs about the Yankees here and at TheBronxView.com. He also hosts The Bronx View Yankee Podcast.  He can be reached at feedback@thebronxview.com.

The Yankees entered their three game series with the Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim California with more than a rally monkey on their back.

The team had been on a tear for the better part of six weeks, rattling off winning streaks of seven and eight games with ease.

Then they lost two out of three to the AL East punching bags, the Baltimore Orioles, and split a pair with the Blue Jays and panic kicked in.  Losing three out of five?  These Yankees?

Please.  The Yankees followed their little lull with a .500 road trip through Seattle and Anaheim, a mark that you and Joe Girardi should happily accept eight days a week.  Their lead over the Red Sox in the AL East is back to six games, which has actually been about their average despite the high water mark of nine games two weeks ago.

In fact, despite the incessant Michael Kay putting fear into the hearts of Yankee fans like some kind of KGB propaganda wizard, the Yankees haven’t been on a terrible stretch, especially for a team who’s manager is playing Russian roulette with the bullpen, spinning the barrel in hopes of finding extra bullets for the postseason.

The Yankees are 10 – 6 in their last sixteen games, with a run differential of 80-66.  Cherry picking?  Okay, their 5-5 in their last ten, which included six on the west coast and a run differential of 51 – 43, which actually plays a bit better than .500.

Sometimes you score the runs at the right time, sometimes you blow people out.  This team is still hitting.

I’m going to contradict myself for a moment and give Joe Girardi credit.  I’m not the biggest fan of some of his bullpen moves (which really, for a team with this lineup is the only managing he has to manage), but he has approached the last month of this season the right way.

• He basically have ARod two days off by giving him one at-bat and one innings in the field.
• He’s been getting Brett Gardner meaningful at-bats and putting him in position to flex his leg muscles on the field in key situations.
• He’s using all of his bullpen resources to find out who has it right now, rather than just rely on the guys who have pitched well to this point.

That last point is really the key.  I’ve beat the drum a ton, but relieving is a volatile industry where most guys fluctuate or flat out collapse from year to year.  During a season, you can see guys fluctuate pretty severely from very good to very bad.

Girardi isn’t taking any chances.  The expanded roster has given him the opportunity to see more arms and test more stomachs in preparation for his postseason roster.  He may find a diamond in the rough that will help the Yankees clamp down the late innings come October.

And somehow, through all this hunting and packing, this team is still very much afloat atop the AL East.  It’s been quite a tap dance by Girardi and a testament to the depth of talent in the Yankee system.

Remember way back in June?  The air was getting warm, the Yankees were getting a bit warmer, and suddenly the bullpen seemed to right itself.

Part of the reason the bullpen began to solidify was the emergence of Phil Hughes.

There was a second part to that equation: Alfredo Aceves.

Aceves stormed through June with a 1.32 ERA, striking out 10 and walking 4 over 13.2 innings.  It was a good month for Ace.

Suddenly, the Yankees had their ironclad bullpen.  Hughes and Aceves in the 7th and 8th, Rivera in the 9th, ballgame over.

Except it didn’t really work out that way.  The Yankees never carried a long reliever, even though Wang was combustible the first month and Joba was supposed to be on a short leash.  Aceves began the season in Scranton as a starter, so naturally he could eat up some of those long relief innings.  Right?

It hasn’t been that consistent.  Aceves has pitched in 38 games for a total of 75 innings.  A little short division will tell you that’s an average of 2 innings per appearance, not quite the average of a long reliever.

Broken down even further, here is Aceves number of appearances for four different innings totals:

Does that look like the breakdown of a long reliever?  Not particularly.  It doesn’t look like the breakdown of a short reliever, either.  Ace has 16 appearances of less than 2 innings.  He has 22 appearances of 2 innings or more.

This doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense to me.  As I said earlier, Aceves started the season in AAA, where he started four games and essentially averaged 6 innings a game (23.2 IP).  Upon arriving at the big club, Aceves made his first appearance on May 4th, pitching 4.1 innings.  His usage in May:

Maybe I’m a little too sensitive to the notion that a pitcher’s arm needs to be handled in a different manner than you would use a position player.  Looking at that breakdown of Aceves first month alone, I think the back and forth of long outings versus short outings has to, at the very least, diminish Aceves ability to handle a longer relief role.  I don’t think one can equate the number of innings thrown over a five day period to what a starter would throw per appearance.

Remove May from our previous chart and the spread of Ace’s innings from June until now gets a little narrower:

From the beginning of June, Ace has 13 appearances of less than 2 innings.  He has 16 appearances of 2 innings or more.

Let’s look at August through now:

Aceves has been Joba’s caddy for a bit, which has raised his innings per appearance significantly.  While he has averaged just under 2 IP per appearance for the season, from August through September, he’s been averaging somewhere between 2.1 and 2.2 innings.

Looking at our first chart on last time, now that we’ve removed May, September and August, we see what Aceves threw in the middle months of June and July:

Now he definitely doesn’t look like a long reliever as his shorter outings clearly outnumber his longer outings 11 – 8.

So the majority of Aceves’ workload has been May and August/September:

* The other item of note is that Aceves’ last appearance in September was on September 14th.  The last game as of this writing was September 21st, meaning Aceves hasn’t pitched in a week.

What’s the point of all this?

Aceves has been a starting pitcher for most of his short professional career.  The Yankees moved him to the bullpen this year for much of the same reasons they moved Hughes: he was a strong arm in AAA that had value for them on the major league level.

In a few outings last fall, Aceves showed good promise as a starting pitcher in the majors, going 1-0 over four starts with a 2.47 ERA.  This season, despite being bounced around, he’s posted a 1.027 WHIP (walks + hits per inning).

Aceves has had success as a starter and the Yankees have made little attempt to prepare him for that role.  With both Aceves and Hughes in the bullpen, the Yankees have trotted out Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre for the last two months, hoping that one of them would stick as a fifth starter.

The problem is, five starters are never enough.  Before the season, the Yankees broke camp with very good starter depth.  The major league rotation had Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte, Wang, and Joba.  In the minors, the Yankees had Aceves, Hughes, and Ian Kennedy to fall back on, plus Mitre rehabbing until the summer.

Things changed quickly.  In the midst of the Wang meltdown, Aceves was converted to a reliever.  Toward the end of the Wang meltdown, Hughes was converted to a reliever.  And on May 9th, Ian Kennedy discovered he had an aneurysm and was lost for most of the season.

Within a two month span, the Yankees had either re-purposed or lost to injury four of the nine starters on their depth chart, all the while knowing that Joba Chamberlain needed to be handled with kid gloves.  The Yankees had whittled their starters down from 9 to 5, with the only late addition being Chad Gaudin.

Fast forward to September, where Joba Chamberlain appears to have hit a wall and possibly should be shutdown for the season.  Andy Pettitte had to push back a start due to shoulder fatigue and the Yankees can’t hit squat.  What looked like an easy walk into October is slowing giving Yankee fans the Fear as a big series with the Red Sox approaches this weekend.  Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin continue to get starts and innings despite mediocre results while the Yankees try to figure out whether Joba can be a fourth starter in the playoffs.

If not Joba, then who?

Would you rather see Phil Hughes or Sergio Mitre?  Would you rather see Chad Gaudin or Alfredo Aceves?

I think the answer to both of those questions is obvious.

It is one thing for a team to lose their starter depth due to injuries.  In the case of Chien-Ming Wang and Ian Kennedy, that is certainly what happened.  The problem is, while Kennedy went down and Wang proved to be ineffective, the Yankees knowingly dismantled the rest of their depth.  Brian Cashman must have known in May and June that come the trading deadline, he wouldn’t give up any major pieces of his farm system to create more starter depth or, at the very least, pickup a fifth starter who could handle some innings.  The Yankees were 62-41 at the deadline, only 1.5 games up on the Red Sox.  They needed something.

Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi have had a few weeks to prepare someone like Alfredo Aceves to step into the rotation if needed come late September.  The rosters expanded to 40 on September 1st and the bullpen has been a bit more populated, relieving some of the overall workload.

Instead, they’ve let Aceves go for a week without pitching.

Now, if the Yankees need a fourth starter in the playoffs, regardless of whether Joba is pitching well or not, he’s going to make that start because there is no one else available.  It could have been Phil Hughes.  It could have been Alfredo Aceves.

Apparently, the Yankees don’t believe in starting pitching depth anymore.

Scott Ham blogs about the Yankees here and at TheBronxView.com. He also hosts The Bronx View Yankee Podcast.  He can be reached at feedback@thebronxview.com.

It’s not entirely implausible.  Chad Jennings had this to say about Kennedy’s start in the International League playoffs:

Ian Kennedy could hardly have pitched any better. Making his first Triple-A start since April, he pitched three scoreless, hitless innings and struck out six, including the five of the first six batters he faced. Two of his strikeouts came on fastballs — he was 89-91 — and four came on changeups.[...]

“He might even have been a little better today (than in April),” catcher Chris Stewart said. “I don’t know if it’s because his arm was rested throughout the year or what, but he was throwing everything for strikes. It was coming out of his arm good, exactly the way he wanted it. He was getting ahead and putting guys away.”

Kennedy has been a great story this season in that he has been able to overcome an aneurysm and return to the mound so quickly.   And he must look excellent, because the Yankees opted to alter their plans.  It was reported on September 8th, after Kennedy’s first simulated game, that

The right-hander said it remains doubtful he will make an appearance in a minor league playoff this season, but he is set to pitch in the instructional league later this month and the Arizona Fall League.

Well, a mere 8 days removed from that report, Kennedy did make an appearance.  The Yankees are obviously going to be very careful with a player coming off any type of surgery, so it’s safe to assume they felt medically confident.  They certainly wouldn’t rush a prospect’s return simply so they could contribute towards the quest for the Governor’s Cup.

So, that raises the question – are they confident enough to let him come all the way back?  You may have noticed amidst all the euphoria that Sergio Mitre isn’t exactly holding down the fort at the back end of the rotation, one excellent start excluded.  The Major League team is a few poor Joba starts or one Pettitte elbow tweak away from looking for a playoff starter of their own.

The Yankees obviously like Kennedy.  He reached the big club in his first full Minor League season back in 2007, and he impressed even then, posting a 1.89 ERA in 3 starts, with 15 Ks in 19 IP.  Then in 2008, he was handed a rotation spot out of Spring Training.  So just last April, Kennedy was being viewed as a potential building block for an organization that was, at the time, starved for pitching.

Then Kennedy bombed in the bigs in 2008, posting an 8.17 ERA over 9 starts and 39.2 IP.  But upon his return to the minors, he continued posting his usual excellent numbers – a 2.35 ERA and more than a K per inning back at AAA.  He also was off to a hot start in 2009 before being diagnosed with the aneurysm.

And after this latest performance for Scranton, he seems to be all the way back, even if he’s somewhat lacking stamina at this point.  Why not bring him to the majors and let him caddy for Joba or Mitre for a start or two?  If he impresses, perhaps he leapfrogs Mitre on the depth chart and gives the Yankees some unexpected options.

As the Yankees head out to the west coast to begin the final leg of the regular season, the Chicken Littles of the press are using this slow news day to extol the worst case scenarios ahead.

Don’t listen to them.  While there is a remote, remote possibility that the Yankees could somehow collapse and lose the AL East to the Red Sox, it is pretty far from likely.

Consider the Yankees possible outcomes:

Now the Red Sox possible outcomes:

Eight of the Red Sox seventeen total possible outcomes are already eliminated because the Yankees have 94 wins already, leaving nine possible outcomes.

That leaves us with this scenario:

Six of the Yankees fifteen scenarios (although unlikely) would eliminate the Red Sox regardless of what Boston does.

Similarly, Boston would need to go on a 14-3 type tear while the Yankees simultaneously went 6-9.

Looking at the schedule, it’s not completely inconceivable that the Red Sox could go on a run.  In their final few weeks of the season, the Sox face Baltimore, Kansas City, the Yankees, Toronto, and Cleveland.  Remove the Yankees from that equation and those teams have a .421 winning percentage.  Boston has gone a combined 39-15 against those teams (including the Yankees) for a .722 winning percentage.  That’s a pretty high percentage, even against those teams.  Apply a .722 winning percentage to their last 17 games and you get a record of 12 – 5.

Looking at the Yankees schedule, they face Seattle, the Angels, Boston, Kansas City, and Tampa Bay.  Remove the Red Sox from that list and the teams have a .505 winning percentage.  The Yankees have gone a combined 26 – 21 against those teams (including the Red Sox) for a .553 winning percentage.  Apply that percentage to the Yankees last 15 games and you get a record of 8-7.

If the Yankees go 8-7, the Red Sox will need to go 16-1 just to tie the division.  If the Red Sox go 12-5, the Yankees would have to go 4-11 for the Red Sox to tie.

Of course, past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.  The Yankees themselves went 0-8 against the Red Sox before winning six of the last seven.

Looking at all the possible outcomes, though, it would take some extraordinary play from the Red Sox and some extraordinarily bad play from the Yankees to give Boston the AL East.

Scott Ham blogs about the Yankees here and at TheBronxView.com. He also hosts The Bronx View Yankee Podcast.  He can be reached at feedback@thebronxview.com.

You can probably trace it back to the winter before the 1920 season.  You know, when Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees?  That’s probably where it started.

That was the beginning of a long and nasty rivalry, even if the participants didn’t know it at the time.  The Yankees bought Ruth for a song, a purchase of Louisianic proportions, and the fates of two franchises changed forever.

Since the advent of free agency, the Red Sox have tried to exact their revenge, but no no avail.  The Yankees and their deep pockets continued to pilfer players from their New England rivals.  Sparky Lyle. Luis Tiant.  Wade Boggs.  Roger Clemens.  Johnny Damon.

The Red Sox have never gotten a player of much consequence away from the pinstripes.  Jim Leyritz?  David Cone?  Ramiro Mendoza?  David Wells?

This one, though.  This one hurts.  Boston has finally gotten it’s revenge.

Peter Abraham, Yankee beat reporter for The Journal News and godfather to the modern sports beat blog, is leaving his New York post and sailing for dirtier waters at The Boston Globe to cover the Red Sox.  For Pete, it’s the career move of all career moves, a shift that a reporter has to make to further himself.

For the rest of us, there will be a huge hole left where Pete’s coverage once resided.

It’s hard to believe now, but back in 2006 when Pete first started his Yankee blog, no other reporter had fully established themselves in that realm.  Pete changed all that, using his blog to spur conversation, share anecdotes from the locker room that had no place in articles, and openly conversing with a rabid Yankee fan base that spent more time reading and arguing than they probably should.

His blog did the rarest of things: it created a community, a neighborhood connected by a sports team that would influence many more around the web.  He occasionally would bring that community to the forefront by inviting independent bloggers not affiliated with the media to write for a day in the off-season, giving them exposure they would be hard pressed to receive anywhere else.

Pete got it.  He knew what it meant to be a fan and what he would look for from his local newspaper and he gave it to us.

That’s why it’s a shame we’re losing Pete’s voice on the Yankee landscape.  When a player leaves, you might miss them for a bit but eventually their production is replaced.  As much as we may feel connected to certain players, we don’t know who they are.  We don’t have a personal connection to them.

Pete has been our window into that world, the guy who pulls you aside and whispers a funny story, giving you a little more insight into these silent people we watch play a game on TV everyday.  He was our eyes and ears into a world that most of us will never see and he was damn good at his job.

You’ve done us all a great service, Pete.  You deserve the outpouring of appreciation you’ve received since your announcement yesterday.  I think everyone knows you will have nothing but success in Boston.

Thanks.

Scott Ham blogs about the Yankees here and at TheBronxView.com. He also hosts The Bronx View Yankee Podcast.  He can be reached at feedback@thebronxview.com.

Let’s play Player A and Player B, shall we?

Player A:

And Player B:

A few general observations about these two left-handers and then we’ll get into the specifics:

• Player A has had the better season, despite what appears to be a pretty unlucky Batting Average on Balls in Play (BAbip is typically in the .300 – .320 range).

• Both players have good home run totals, although Player B has been a bit dependent on the new Yankee Stadium for his tally.  Player A’s totals at home are worse than his road numbers, which could be attributed again to his low BAbip.

• In spite of a ridiculously low .242 BAbip, Player A’s numbers against lefties (especially being a lefty himself) are great, while Player B’s are pretty good.

Player A is 35 year old Hideki Matsui.  Player B is 35 year old Johnny Damon.

The general consensus around the Yankees is that this will be Matsui’s last year in pinstripes.  Hideki has been battling bad knees for the last few season that occasionally have to be drained or given cortisone shots just to get him through the week.

You wouldn’t know it looking at his stats, though. Matsui has had a year above and beyond what anyone expected from him and probably will post his third best offensive season out of his seven year tenure as a Yankee.

The problem is, Matsui’s knees keep him from playing the outfield, where he wasn’t particularly effective anyway.  Having little flexibility with Matsui position-wise makes him the prototypical DH of ten years ago, which is a role most teams have shied away from.

On the flip side is Damon, who has put together another very good season for the Yanks.  Damon has remained a strong force at the top of the Yankees lineup and is poised to post a better season than 2008.  Speculation has been that the Yankees would try and bring Damon back next year with possibly a two year contract, assuming he would take it.  Damon has publicly stated that he doesn’t want to play anywhere else, a stance he took in Boston until the Yankees flashed more green his way.

But Damon comes with his own defensive questions.  His defensive numbers place him in a three year decline, the reverse order of his offensive resurgence over that same span.  It is becoming clearer watching him in left field that he won’t be playing there much longer.  If Damon does return to the Yankees, chances are he would be spending a decent amount of time at DH as well while getting some starts in the outfield.

The question is, which of these two players makes more sense for the Yankees over the next two seasons?  Damon is a good piece at the top of the lineup alongside Jeter and still has some speed.  As his defensive numbers go down, it make you wonder if it is an indication his speed is declining as well.  He’s had 27 fewer stolen base attempts this season than last, but he’s also been batting second behind Jeter, who has more attempts, so it could just be factor of the batting order.

It is typically thought that a player with speed and a good on-base percentage like Damon will age better than a slower power hitter like Matsui.  But Hideki’s numbers are hard to argue.

He’s not going to leg out many base hits and as a DH he’ll get pulled late in games for a pinch runner when needed.  Also, his splits against lefties this year are a bit extreme.  He typically has been above average against lefties over his career so this year’s numbers aren’t that far-fetched; you just can’t expect to see them again next year.

Where Matsui shines is his home/road splits.  Matsui has actually hit a bit worse at home this season, which again seems like a bit of bad luck because of a low BAbip.  Over his career, Matsui’s splits are almost dead even between home and road, despite playing in  park that is friendly to lefty power hitters.  Damon has benefited greatly from the new Yankee Stadium. If his home numbers were to even out next year and his overall numbers regress a notch, Damon’s overall performance would drop considerably.

It’s an interesting question the Yankees will face.  Lost in all the on-field analysis is the financial benefits Matsui brings to the team through his marketing to the Japanese population.  That will surely play a factor in the Yankees decision making.

There isn’t room for both players, unless the Yankees are set on leaving Damon in left field for another year and can go year to year with Matsui.  A lot of it will depend on where Damon and Matsui see themselves in their respective careers.  Maybe Matsui will only want another year and then return to Japan for a season or two at home.  Maybe Damon only sees himself playing for two more years and then he’s finished.  Who knows?

The answer for the Yankees may lie in what contracts they would be willing to give each player.  It’s fair to assume that Matsui could be an effective hitter in 2010, assuming that the medical reports on his knees support his ability to play.  It probably wouldn’t be wise to guarantee him any money beyond that.  Damon could probably have two effective years left given that he is the better athlete and in better health, although the Yankees do need to give his balky legs a rest from time to time.

If both players were willing to accept those terms, it probably makes sense for the Yankees to bring them both back.  If they’re forced to choose one, Johnny Damon still has to be your choice.

Scott Ham blogs about the Yankees here and at TheBronxView.com. He also hosts The Bronx View Yankee Podcast.  He can be reached at feedback@thebronxview.com.