Sports

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

WHY NYY MUST BE PATIENT WITH MONTERO


Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported earlier today that the Yankees top prospect, catcher Jesus Montero, will be called up to the Majors tomorrow. Montero, who is known as a big offensive threat, has struggled defensively over the course of his Minor League career. Though his catching career shouldn’t be discarded just yet.

Jesus Montero may take a little longer to develop. This was the case with Jorge Posada, Ivan Rodriguez, and Mike Piazza.

Rodriguez averaged 12.5 errors through his first two seasons, but since then, he has never made more then 11 in a season. Over the last five seasons he has not made more then seven. For Posada, it took him until his fifth season to become the All Star catcher he is known for being. It also took Piazza six years to cut down on his errors. In 1997, Piazza made 16 errors, the next year, he only made 11.

I’m not saying that Montero will be a Gold Glover, but I am saying the Yankees should give him a long look behind the plate before closing the door on his catching career.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

AUTOGRAPHS MAKE A DIFFERENCE


My three favorite baseball players are Robinson Cano, Mariano Rivera and Mike Cameron. Cano and Rivera are my favorites because they are players I have grown up watching and are two of the best Yankees of my generation. Cameron is another one of my favorites for a more personal reason that goes beyond being a great player.

In 2005, when I was becoming a serious baseball fan at age ten, I went to my first Subway Series game. I went early to the game because I wanted to try getting a few autographs from the players. I was there about an hour and a half before first pitch and no players signed autographs.

About a half hour before fist pitch I accidentally dropped my mitt onto the field. I asked a number of players, coaches and even security guards, yet nobody was willing to pick up my glove. All of a sudden, a Mets player I had never heard of before named Mike Cameron says to me, “Hey kid, you dropped your glove.” He then picked it up, and signed it. He proceeded to sign about a dozen autographs. I have been a huge Mike Cameron fan ever since.

For a player to go out of their way to greet fans and sign autographs is rare, now that players are making boatloads of money, but when a player does something nice for young fans, it is memorable for the rest of the fan’s life.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

AJ TERRIBLE AGAIN, BUT DON'T BURY HIM YET

AJ Burnett may never again be anything but occasionally strong again as a starter, but maybe he needs a change of role. The bullpen may be a way for the Yankees to not completely pull the plug on operation Burnett while helping the team at least a little bit.

Through the first three innings, his ERA is respectable at 4.07 and his strikeout total is 75, a little more then half of his season total. In innings 4-6 his ERA is 6.46. My point being, that if AJ pitches 1-2 innings every few days out of the bullpen, he would show a better side of himself then if he starts and is expected to go 5-6 innings.

Another positive, is that when AJ comes into the game out of the bullpen as a long reliever, the starter will either have already given up a ton of runs or the Yankees will have a big lead, so if he falters, the loss won’t be blamed on him, or if he gives up a few runs, he won’t have blown the game. This would help make Burnett more confident about the outcome of his appearances.

Being in the bullpen will work in AJ Burnett’s favor, both physically and mentally. 

Thursday, August 18, 2011

MO STILL CLUTCH - JUST WATCH THE RADAR GUN

When Mariano Rivera is called on to close a game, he almost always does so successfully. The only difference between Rivera five years ago and Rivera today is his velocity. A few years ago, Mo was consistently hitting 94-95 MPH, but today it's more like 89-92 MPH, but he can still throw hard. Take Old Timer's Day for example.  After seeing all of the Yankees legends, he showed why he is the greatest closer of all time. At age 41 Rivera struck out the side in order in the ninth inning, while consistently hitting 94 MPH. Rivera's velocity also increased on the day Derek Jeter got his 3000th hit. Finally, in the first game of the most recent series at Fenway, he struck out the final two batters, hitting 93 MPH with his usual pinpoint control.

Though he has struggled of late, these spikes in velocity show that Rivera still rises to the occasion.