Just when it looked like the Yankees were starting to come out o
f their funk, the baseball Gods send the boys in pinstripes reeling again. This time, Yankee starter Chien Ming Wang is headed to the disabled list after damaging his tendons a ligaments in his right foot.
Wang will be out for at least six weeks, while some are reporting that Wang could be shelved for the remainder of the 2008 season.
The Yanks are in need of a starter, now more than ever. After losing out on the Santana sweepstakes in the offseason, Cashman will almost certainly exhaust every option he has in a search to replace Wang.
Pickings are slim:
C.C. Sabathia: started off poorly, and will be a free agent at the end of the season. If Cleveland falls any farther out of the playoff race, they might be willing to deal their ace. Its a long shot for the Yankees, especially this early in the season. Cleveland knows that teams will be more desperate around the trading deadline, and would be more likely make to make a bonehead move.
Joe Blanton: A's pitcher is having a statistical nightmare of a season; he's 3-9 with a 4.23 era, but has a relatively low WHIP (1.36). Blanton is a tough cookie, he's thrown over 200 innings twice in the past three seasons (194 in 2006) and has started over 30 games when he's been on the roster for a full season. He might come cheaper than Sabathia, but do the Yanks really need another right hander?
Dan Giese: Yanks could promote from within the organization. Giese has done a pretty good job in long relief as Joba transitions into the starting role. Yanks would hope to catch lighting in a bottle with Giese, like they did with Joba a year ago.
Wang Out; Yanks in Search for 19 Wins
Announcing the New Sports Curse
Well, it was bound to happen some time. Sports Illustrated has it's cover curse, we have our "Can't Miss Fantasy Prospect Advice" curse. We're not saying we're big enough to actually rival SI's cover curse, we're just saying we're not listening to our advice anymore. You probably shouldn't either.
Nick Swisher: Swisher has been the cover boy for this new 108 Red Stitches curse. Drafted in our fantasy league in each of the past four seasons (after Swisher's dominating welcome to the majors), Swisher has either run into a wall, had a tough season, or was traded to a team who mis-used him by making him their lead off hitter. Currently, our favorite hard nosed ball player is batting .213 with 13 RBIs. Hard nosed is no longer considered a stat in most fantasy leagues, which lead us to dropping Swisher in favor of the young Joey Votto. Look for Votto to fail miserably within the next few weeks.
Santiago Casilla: One of our latest "touted prospects" for your fantasy team needing a quick boost, here's the update on Casilla, courtesy of Rotowire;
Ryan Garko: Could we have screamed any louder on draft day when Garko fell quietly into our laps way late in the draft? Yes, we could, and have. Garko has looked more like a gecko at the plate than his previous self. After hitting 21 dingers last year, Garko was given the keys to first base, and has been spinning his wheels in neutral all year. Four home runs (majority coming in the past week or so) and a scorching .235 BA have left Garko owners (cough...us....cough) pounding our heads into our keyboards.
So, does three players actually qualify as a curse? No, probably not. But just to continue to earn curse points, lets just name a few players in this blog, and see what happens in the next few weeks: Santana, Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Delgado, Wagner, Schneider, Church, Pedro, Alou, Perez.
Yes, I'm a Yankee fan currently watching the Subway Series. Hey, they need help.
How Not to Fix the Yankees
As is the norm on our little baseball site, our goal is to shift from the standard deviation of thinking. Every blogger, writer, announcer, fan, guru, and anchorman is voicing their opinion on how to fix the Yankees. Things that need to be changed, people that need to go into the rotation, people that need to be removed from the rotation, etc...
We're working on ways to "Not to Fix the Yankees". Here's what we'd do.
Sign Mike Mussina to a Multi-Year Deal. The Moose has been lights out this season, so it's safe to assume that he'll be dominant for another three to five years. We should ink him now, before there's a fierce bidding war in the offseason. I'd give him 4 years at $11 million per.
Move Giambi Up in the Order. There is no reason that a guy hitting .188 with seven home runs should be wasted in the four hole. Move Giambi into the three, no let him bat leadoff. His low stolen base total (1) is a great way to deceive teams into thinking Giambi isn't the next Rickey Henderson.
Move Joba into Center Field. Why waste all that built up energy for just an inning late in the ball game? You want to spark some life into the lineup? Put Joba in center. Melky could use a day off.
Trade Jeter. This team is going nowhere right now. Now's a good time to start selling the team off for parts. It worked for Billy Beane, right?
Acquire the Best Left Handed Pitcher on the Market. David Wells wants to pitch in pinstripes again? We say "We've got the contract, but we'll only sign you if you put on another 40 pounds". We can't have some skinny guy moping around the dugout.
Designate the Backup Catcher for Assignment. Who needs Moeller when you've got Joe Girardi on the bench? He's the manager, its not like he'd be doing anything different behind the plate!
That's phase one of our twelve part plan. I'll be sitting be the phone, waiting for Hank to call.





