Bleeding Yankee Blue is driven by the social networks. THAT'S where the conversation is. Facebook, Twitter, Sulia... it's LIVE and immediate.
BYB moves pretty fast. Sometimes I need to stop and look around. I usually find a ton of different conversations about different topics. It's truly amazing what the readers have done. You guys inspire us here all the time. We're proud.
That being said, I wanted to share with you a terrific dialog that was posted after Steve Skinner wrote THE "TOLD YOU SOs" WERE WRONG. Why am I reprinting it in a post for you all to read? Because it's not hateful, it's a legit dialog and respectful...the way we like it. Anyone who can comment that someone "Sucks" is on their couch eating Cheetos with no drive and no ambition. I feel bad for you dude, but I can't carry ya pal. Momus however, was a smart commenter and reader. Momus gets it.
Anyway, check this out:
Momus wrote:
"Maybe you and I have read different opinions about the Yankees, but
most of what I've heard people saying is that the team is filled with
older guys who have a very high chance of injuries, the infield is not
likely to be good on defense or offense and the pitching is very thin.
So far in the first 13 games
1) Several of the players have gotten injured
2) The infield has been pretty bad on defense - although some of them have actually been decent at the plate so far
3) The pitching has been about league average overall with Pineda looking very good, Tanaka and Kuroda looking solid and Nova and Sabathia looking terrible. The bullpen is the same mixed bag of good and bad.
So... the team basically looks exactly like most of us thought it would (although Solarte has been a pleasant surprise).
The only reason the Yankees being 1 game over .500 with a -5 run differential doesn't look bad is because the rest of the AL East isn't doing any better."
"1. Yes, several have gotten injured, that's not the point of this article.
2. The Yankees rank 9th in baseball in fielding pct.
3. Nova just shut down the Red Sux, hardly terrible. CC has been mediocre.
You fail to mention the bullpen which has performed WAY above expectations - ranking sixth in all of baseball as of today.
My point is that before crying that the "Sky is falling, the sky is falling!" because we had a few players go down during one game, step back and take a look at what is happening: we were WINNING THE GAME.
Also, we DO HAVE TALENT at the minor league level to cover this, we need to trust our own judgement on the players we have and use them, rather than start proclaiming that Kendrys Morales or Stephen Drew are the answers to all of our problems. Both those players are mediocre at best, so why bother? Why not see what our younger talent can do? There just might be another one or two Solartes in our system that just haven't been given the proper opportunity.
As always, I truly appreciate your comments, and welcome them. While we might disagree, I love the banter and the fact that there are people out there like yourself that follow the game and are knowledgeable about it.
Thank you!"
"Well I definitely agree that basically no team should bother with Drew or Morales given their age, contract demands, injury histories and the draft pick compensation attached to them.
1) What was the point of the article then?
2) Fielding percentage is made up of a bunch of totally arbitrary judgments and has basically nothing to do with how well a team fields. It is particularly worthless when applied to players with limited range because they almost never get charged with errors since they're nowhere near the ball. This is true of the slow-footed Yankees infield.
3) Fair enough about Nova. I don't remember if he had pitched that game when I wrote the original comment, but he looked terrible in that outing against the Orioles.
In terms of ERA the Yankees bullpen is currently ranked 14th. That's quite a bit better than the starters who rank 22nd right now, but it's a long way from sixth. The bullpen has allowed the 5th fewest runs, but it has also pitched the 4th fewest innings. When you look at the runs versus the innings the Yankees bullpen is about equal to Baltimore's, a little below Toronto's and well back of Tampa and Boston.
As for talent at the minor league level. Maybe? I don't really know, but I will say this: Solarte has been a pleasant surprise, but it's also only been 12 games and he's currently hitting about 40 points higher than he was in AAA. His OBP has also jumped about 70 points and his Slg% about 100. That doesn't seem likely to be sustainable."
" The point of the article was this: EVERY MLB team deals with injuries...they play 162 games, it's gonna happen. Yet, the minute we had injuries, people poured out of the woodwork saying "I told you so"...this team is too old, or he is too brittle or my favorite "this is why guys slide into first base"... I actually laugh at that one.
Anyway, getting back to my point, there were all sorts of "Doom and gloom" statements flying around and WE WERE WINNING THE GAME. My point is: stay positive and TRUST the players on the roster to pick up for each other when teammates fall. I've been to a couple of minor league games and assure you, WE HAVE TALENT TO HELP within our organization.
Scott Sizemore proved my point last night. We need to give our baby bombers a chance and not run out and get Stephen Drew or Kendrys Morales at the drop of a hat - which is what some people were calling for.
2. You are absolutely correct about fielding percentage, and yes, our older guys are definitely slower - but, my point there is that while our range might not be among the best, we are currently playing solid in the field.
- as for the bullpen, remove David Phelps first two appearances (3.1 innings, 4 ER, 6 BB+H) and our bullpen sports a 2.36 ERA and 1.10 WHIP for the season. That ERA would rank our bullpen 4th in MLB.
The only reason our number of innings out of the pen is low is because our starters rank 4th in MLB in total innings - which says A LOT about our starters. As a whole, our pitching staff has been tremendous.
Again, thanks for your comments. I really appreciate them.
So far in the first 13 games
1) Several of the players have gotten injured
2) The infield has been pretty bad on defense - although some of them have actually been decent at the plate so far
3) The pitching has been about league average overall with Pineda looking very good, Tanaka and Kuroda looking solid and Nova and Sabathia looking terrible. The bullpen is the same mixed bag of good and bad.
So... the team basically looks exactly like most of us thought it would (although Solarte has been a pleasant surprise).
The only reason the Yankees being 1 game over .500 with a -5 run differential doesn't look bad is because the rest of the AL East isn't doing any better."
Steve Skinner responded:
"1. Yes, several have gotten injured, that's not the point of this article.
2. The Yankees rank 9th in baseball in fielding pct.
3. Nova just shut down the Red Sux, hardly terrible. CC has been mediocre.
You fail to mention the bullpen which has performed WAY above expectations - ranking sixth in all of baseball as of today.
My point is that before crying that the "Sky is falling, the sky is falling!" because we had a few players go down during one game, step back and take a look at what is happening: we were WINNING THE GAME.
Also, we DO HAVE TALENT at the minor league level to cover this, we need to trust our own judgement on the players we have and use them, rather than start proclaiming that Kendrys Morales or Stephen Drew are the answers to all of our problems. Both those players are mediocre at best, so why bother? Why not see what our younger talent can do? There just might be another one or two Solartes in our system that just haven't been given the proper opportunity.
As always, I truly appreciate your comments, and welcome them. While we might disagree, I love the banter and the fact that there are people out there like yourself that follow the game and are knowledgeable about it.
Thank you!"
Momus responded:
"Well I definitely agree that basically no team should bother with Drew or Morales given their age, contract demands, injury histories and the draft pick compensation attached to them.
1) What was the point of the article then?
2) Fielding percentage is made up of a bunch of totally arbitrary judgments and has basically nothing to do with how well a team fields. It is particularly worthless when applied to players with limited range because they almost never get charged with errors since they're nowhere near the ball. This is true of the slow-footed Yankees infield.
3) Fair enough about Nova. I don't remember if he had pitched that game when I wrote the original comment, but he looked terrible in that outing against the Orioles.
In terms of ERA the Yankees bullpen is currently ranked 14th. That's quite a bit better than the starters who rank 22nd right now, but it's a long way from sixth. The bullpen has allowed the 5th fewest runs, but it has also pitched the 4th fewest innings. When you look at the runs versus the innings the Yankees bullpen is about equal to Baltimore's, a little below Toronto's and well back of Tampa and Boston.
As for talent at the minor league level. Maybe? I don't really know, but I will say this: Solarte has been a pleasant surprise, but it's also only been 12 games and he's currently hitting about 40 points higher than he was in AAA. His OBP has also jumped about 70 points and his Slg% about 100. That doesn't seem likely to be sustainable."
Steve Skinner responded:
" The point of the article was this: EVERY MLB team deals with injuries...they play 162 games, it's gonna happen. Yet, the minute we had injuries, people poured out of the woodwork saying "I told you so"...this team is too old, or he is too brittle or my favorite "this is why guys slide into first base"... I actually laugh at that one.
Anyway, getting back to my point, there were all sorts of "Doom and gloom" statements flying around and WE WERE WINNING THE GAME. My point is: stay positive and TRUST the players on the roster to pick up for each other when teammates fall. I've been to a couple of minor league games and assure you, WE HAVE TALENT TO HELP within our organization.
Scott Sizemore proved my point last night. We need to give our baby bombers a chance and not run out and get Stephen Drew or Kendrys Morales at the drop of a hat - which is what some people were calling for.
2. You are absolutely correct about fielding percentage, and yes, our older guys are definitely slower - but, my point there is that while our range might not be among the best, we are currently playing solid in the field.
- as for the bullpen, remove David Phelps first two appearances (3.1 innings, 4 ER, 6 BB+H) and our bullpen sports a 2.36 ERA and 1.10 WHIP for the season. That ERA would rank our bullpen 4th in MLB.
The only reason our number of innings out of the pen is low is because our starters rank 4th in MLB in total innings - which says A LOT about our starters. As a whole, our pitching staff has been tremendous.
Again, thanks for your comments. I really appreciate them.
Momus responded:
"Given how well Nova and Tanaka pitched in their last outings I may have to reconsider my opinion of the Yankee rotation. That was some nice work by Tanaka."
Great fan-to-fan dialog here, and we applaud it here at BYB.
Have a nice day... and you don't suck!
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Hey I enjoy the site and it because of you I learned about solarte and now this kid has made me sound like a genius lol keep up the good work and ill contuine to read and comment.
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