I have been a lifelong Yankee fan, attending my first games at the original Yankee Stadium in the late 1950s.Those were precious times for me, a nine- or 10-year-old kid, accompanied by my dad, to the stadium. My father seemed to be working all the time, so to have a day off just with him was a very special occasion. And the experience of the stadium itself was overwhelming to me: I had never encountered such huge crowds, loud noise or excitement.Seeing the stadium for that ...
With two weeks left until the playoffs begin, the Yankees are sitting atop the American League East with a nice four game lead over the Boston Red Sox.Barring any major collapses, the Yankees look like they should win the A.L. East division title and get home field advantage with the best record in the American League.Last year, the Yankees came into the playoffs as the defending World Series Champions and swept the Minnesota Twins, but they were upended in the ALCS by the Texas Rangers.The reason why the Rangers were ...
Mickey Mantle has had the finest back-to-back seasons in the modern era, which started in 1947. In 1956, Mantle won the Major League’s Triple Crown when he batted .353, hit 52 home runs and batted in 130 runs. In 1957, he batted .365 with 34 home runs and 94 RBIs. Wins Above Replacement is a powerful statistic that takes into account everything that a player accomplishes. WAR asks the question, “If this player were injured and his team had to replace him with a minor leaguer or someone from the ...
A big four-game series starts Thursday night, and the Yankees will only be spectators.Yes, I'm talking about the Red Sox-Rays series at Fenway.
Just before the season began, the Boston Red Sox were proclaimed AL East champions by just about every MLB "expert" from every media outlet in the country. The Red Sox were going to run away with the division, they all said, and we were probably looking at a Red Sox-Phillies World Series.
Well, not so fast, guys. There appears to be a fly in the ointment, so to speak.The ...
Mariano Rivera has appeared in 1,027 games in relief for the New York Yankees. He has pitched 1,207 innings, including about 50 innings as a starter in 1995. Rivera has entered a game in a save situation 702 times. He has earned the save 600 times, blown the save 72 times and received a “hold”—which is not an accepted statistic—28 times. 26 of the holds were in 1996, when Rivera was John Wettland’s setup man. Rivera has had 672 save opportunities and has blown 72 of them, which is an ...
When you spend $200 million dollars on your payroll every year, you're guaranteed to have a few guys who fail to earn what they make. That's the story of the New York Yankees. Every year they dive into the free agent market or make trades. A.J. Burnett is the most recent overpaid pitching bust for the Yankees, but he is certainly not the first. Here are 10 former Yankees pitchers who were overpaid busts, in no specific order.Begin Slideshow
When push comes to shove in MLB's free agent market, the New York Yankees usually do both, jostling their way to the top of every player watch list in their never ending pursuit to assemble the best possible team. This coming winter will be no different. And with very good talent to be had, it may be even more important to land the big name before another competitor does.Earlier in the summer, I wrote an article naming 10 players the Yankees should seek to better their squad. This, however, is ...
While nearly 1,600 players have suited up for the New York Yankees during the regular season, only a fraction have played for the team when it counts the most—in the playoffs. Players like Bucky Dent, Aaron Boone and the recently retired Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez all cemented their place in Yankees history with huge playoff performances.From now until the end of the regular season, Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi and the rest of the Yankees brain trust will try to figure out which players should comprise the team's roster for the playoffs.Will they make ...
With all the money the Yankees spend, there will be some contracts that are considered busts, most notably Carl Pavano.The Yankees signed Pavano after a great season with the Marlins, going a career high 18-8 with an ERA of 3.00. The deal was a 4-year deal worth $39.95 Million. Pavano had a terrible stint in the Bronx, with just 28 starts in four years, and an abysmal ERA of 5.00. Pavano was even called out on his "injuries" by former teammate and Yankee great Mike Mussina. Over the course of his ...
Mariano Rivera is closing in on the all-time saves record held by Trevor Hoffman. Rivera has 600 saves and needs two more to set a new record. Rivera has made 1,027 relief appearances. He has never blown more than nine saves in any season. There is no question that Mariano Rivera is the greatest relief pitcher of all time, but Dave Smith of Retrosheet, one of the most respected baseball sites, has revealed a disturbing fact. Smith researched seasons from 1930–2003 to discover the success rates of teams that led ...