Zito... what to say?

Well... Merry (belated) Christ-mas, Happy New Year, etc etc... you get the point, I'm finished with finals and I'm on break until mid-January, so maybe I can actually update this blog on a regular basis...

Anyway, there has been a lot of things going on lately... for starters, in a recent chat (linked to me by NoMaas.org), Baseball America's Jim Callis ranks the Yankees' farm system as #6 in the majors... can I get a BOO-YAH? :-)

For more celebrations, this goes out to the Met-haters and for the Yankee fans who enjoy and relish in the inter-league rivalry... Barry Zito, who people have inaccurately linked to the Yankees (especially with the trade talks of the Big Unit), doesn't sign with the Mets... but instead...

From ESPN:

Barry Zito is staying in the Bay Area with the San Francisco Giants.

Sources told ESPN's Peter Gammons that the former Oakland A's pitcher has agreed to a seven-year, $126 million contract with the Giants.

The deal includes an $18 million option for 2014 and a complete no-trade clause, a source told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick.

If Zito pitches 600 innings over the last three years of the agreement, 400 innings over the last two or 200 in the final year of the deal, he can either exercise a player option or opt out of the contract.

Zito is scheduled to have a physical Friday, and the Giants planned to announce their agreement with the three-time All-Star later in the day.

Zito's deal ties for the sixth largest overall, matching the $126 million, seven-year extension agreed to this month by Toronto and center fielder Vernon Wells. Previously, the largest contract for a pitcher was Mike Hampton's $121 million, eight-year deal with the Colorado Rockies before the 2001 season.

Texas, Seattle and the New York Mets also pursued Zito, the top available pitcher on the free-agent market. The 28-year-old left-hander spent the last seven seasons across San Francisco Bay pitching with the Oakland Athletics, and staying in the area appeared to be a factor in his decision.

What is there to say about this?

1. The Mets don't get him, leaving them without a dominant pitcher and hurting them greatly...

2. It gets him out of the AL... though he never bothered the Yankees much (last 3 years: 1-5 with a 7.01 ERA)...

3. Zito receives the biggest deal for a pitcher ever... not Webb, not Wang, not Halliday, not even Santana... but Barry Zito receives the biggest deal for a pitcher...

I know the deals that other pitchers got (including Meche to the Royals), but this is rather ridiculous... 18 million a year for seven years...

Steve (from WasWatching) thought an accurate and fair offer from the Yankees for Zito would be: 3 yr/$48 mil with a club-option for a 4th year...

Personally, I would have given (the most from any team) 17 million per year for 5 years, giving him 85 million for 5 years... but Barry Zito (and Boras, mostly) cashed in on a shallow free agent market and cashed in big...

If Barry Zito got this much, imagine what Carlos Zambrano will get next year in the free agent market... the money will only go up and it will continue going up for years to come... will we see another 250 million deal (ala Alex Rodriguez) in the next few years?

With the way things are going now, there is no doubt in my mind that we will... I just hope the Yankees won't offer the 250 million dollars... unless Philip Hughes is the second coming of Jesus Christ... I mean, Roger Clemens...

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As a small New Years' resolution, I'm trying for shorter and more frequent posts in this blog... we'll see what happens...

Happy reading! And happy ending to your 2006! :-)

B(rent)

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P.S.: EJ (formerly from the Fire Joe Torre blog) has a new fantastic blog up called Pinstripe Potentials... some of my analysis and looks at potential prospects come from the comprehensive scouting profiles from EJ, and what he provides is a priceless resource for almost less than nothing... :-P, check it out when you get a chance!

As finals finish up, I will be back...

In a few days, but until then, Yankees 2000 has an excellent interview with Alex Belth, writer of Bronx Banter... I'll just copy and paste some of my favorite segments for views... (thanks to Steve... again...):

Y2K: Mets fans are convinced that a sizeable majority of Yankee fans are fake somehow, that they don’t really care, that they’re fans for social reasons. Do you find this criticism is justified?

Belth: Well, definitely on some level, but look, New York is a front-running town by nature. Yeah, we have great, loyal fans too. But let’s not kid ourselves, there’s lots of bandwagon cats here. In the 80s all those people were out at Shea because the Mets were winning. Now they’re Yankee fans.

The fact is that one of the things that a true, rational, decent-minded Yankee fan has to deal with is a segment of people who are totally spoiled by success. The owner [George Steinbrenner] has always tried to preach this entitled to win attitude, and because they’ve won so much, the fans have picked that up.

Y2K: What do you think the Yankee teams of the past 6 years have been missing that those late '90s teams had?

Belth: Luck. Some of that is luck that they created. They had a collective personality in the late '90s that was extremely driven; there were a lot of red asses on that team – competitive, self-motivated guys, guys who were opportunistic grinders.

When I come back, I will probably adapt a new blogging style... in order to make the blog more about the reader, I will write about comments I get and throw them up (with my answers) in the next blog post...

With that said, the comment I got from the Pettitte post will come along with my thoughts about the Igawa deal and the (hopefully dead) talks about the Melky/Gonzalez trade...

Thank you for the patience, and I will be back... heck, what else am I gonna do the next 4 weeks of break? Sleep?

Happy reading!

B(rent)

Andy Pettitte's back... :-)

From ESPN:

Many thought Andy Pettitte should have never left New York. It looks like that issue has been rectified.

Pettitte

The left-hander and the Yankees have reached an agreement on a one-year deal that will pay him $16 million in 2007 with a player option for 2008, sources close to the negotiations told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney on Friday.

The player option for 2008 is also at $16 million. Pettitte must pass a physical for the agreement to be finalized.

Let me be somewhat realistic for a second: Pettitte's a tough dude who can pitch pretty good even with elbow pain... but he's getting old, and 16 million is quite a bit, overpassing the Astro's rumored 10 million a year deal...

But enough about that: A couple of million is a price to pay to rectify a terrible mistake and to bring back a fan favorite, enough said...

I'm very excited for this, but what bout Clemens? Will he join his best friend on the Yankees? Does Clemens still wanna win a World Series? Will he make the commitment?

Time will tell, and of course, it will be reported...

Yankee fans everywhere, drink and be merry, for tomorrow... we'll... uh... still be happy?!?!? :-D!

Happy reading... and rejoicing!

B(rent)

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P.S.: Join my campaign to elect Craig Wilson as our right-handed 1st baseman! :-P



















^ Thank you Nomaas for the inspiration from a year ago with their Kevin Thompson for 4th Outfielder campaign... :-)

Wilson > Hillenbrand > Phillips Part 2...

Ok, guys, I posted about why we should go with Craig Wilson a few posts ago, but due to comments left on the big (and my opinion, more moronic) Yankee group on MySpace, I decided to revisit why I want Craig Wilson for the 1st base job...

In the Craig Wilson post of the past, I showed the hitting splits... but let's talk about two more things: worries and defense...

Worries? I'll address it from this link (almost a direct copy and paste):

Some random guy posted a reply to my major Wilson points like this:

George "the man" Corsi wrote:

we need a everyday firstbaseman, we dont need sum1 who can play everything, bc thats wat a backup infielder is for, to play when problems arise. Wilson bats the complete opposite of the Yankee idea, look for ur pitch, or take a walk. And he's too old to change that now, u either hav or dont hav an eye for the ball, which wilson doesn't

Aside from the silly grammar and spelling mistakes, he seriously made ridiculous points, so I responded as such with this:

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A few things...

1. Are you serious? Wilson is "too old" to change his approach of hitting?

Ok, let me give you examples of players who have tried to change their approach in their playing... and are older than 30 years old?

Remember Randy Johnson? Yea, when he was slumping last year, what did he do? He asked Guidry for help, he put his pride down, he let himself be taught and be given advice, and he changed his release point in order to garner better results...

Let's use another example: Mr. A-Rod himself... he was slumping and striking out (more than Wilson, actually), and guess what he does? He asks Mattingly for help! He put his pride down and he asked for help... he asked for help and he did his best to put his pride down and to change his approach...

To say that people are "too old" to change something that's not working is ridiculous... players are constantly trying to get better... to say that he's "too old" to change and take advice is not only ridiculous, it's inaccurate...

2. Do you really think that Wilson, after playing on a shit-hole of a team for a couple of years, wouldn't change things so he can play better for the Yankees? Think about what you're saying before you say it...

If you can show me that Craig Wilson is a stubborn ass who wouldn't take advice from Kevin Long or any of the other coaches next year, then I'd agree with you, but until then, source your words...

and 3. For all the Phillips lovers in here, can anyone in here prove to me that Phillips is a better defender than Wilson even though Wilson has had more experience at 1b? And even with that said...

Wilson played 588 innings at 1B last year with the Pirates and Yankees... he allowed 3 errors...

Phillips played 533 innings at 1B last year with the Yankees... he allowed 7 errors...

So more innings and less errors... if you wanna use basics, that's pretty basic for you on who's the better defender...

Shea: 597 innings, 3 errors as well... so if you wanna use those, Shea's as good of a defender as Wilson, and yet, Wilson kills lefties better than Shea, which is why the Yankees are pursuing a RH 1st baseman, right? To do what Giambi can't do: hit lefties and actually play 1B well...

Now, if you want me to get into Zone ratings, and show why (career-wise) Wilson has been a much better defender at 1st base than Shea, then, ask me and I will...

But seriously, if you wanna come with what you said, but give me some sources to show me that Wilson's a stubborn ass who won't take direction... because, apparently, all the Yankees aren't that stubborn... :-)

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You know what's worse than an "angry blogger", as Jay Marriotti once called us on an "Around the Horn" episode? Idiots on MySpace who don't use the education they supposedly get at school, and apply it in their writings...

*sighs* Thank God I never thought about being an English teacher...

Speaking of defense, I want to address the Zone Rating of both Shea and Wilson...

What is Zone Rating? Though a more detailed description is linked in here, a Zone Rating is the percentage rate of balls fielded by a player in his typical defensive "zone"... though it has been viewed as a "flawed" defensive statistic, it tracks a player's defensive value better than fielding percentage and errors can...

With that said, let's compare career Zone Ratings for Shea and Wilson, provided by ESPN.com...

Shea Hillenbrand: 2971.2 innings for a rating of .829 (27 errors)
Craig Wilson: 1823.2 innings for a rating of .842 (14 errors)

Due to Craig Wilson's flexibility of being able to play left field, right field and catcher, he hasn't played as many innings as Shea has... but the numbers show that Wilson has a better ability to catch more balls in his "zone" than Shea can...

Defensively, offensively, and logically, Craig Wilson is a better overall option to play 1st base than Shea Hillenbrand and Andy Phillips, no doubt about it...

Will the Yankees follow this philosophy?

We'll soon find out...

Happy reading!

B(rent)