Field trip!
Surprise! The Yankees are on a field trip.
Instead of having his team work out at George M. Steinbrenner Field, Yankees manager Joe Girardi decided to take the players to a local billiard hall for a team tournament on Monday as part of a group bonding exercise.
Girardi sprung the news on his roster after players had completed their work in the batting cages and bullpens, telling them to change back into their street clothes and board the buses waiting beyond the left-field bullpen.
“We’ve added some pretty big pieces here and you want to bring them together as quickly as possible,” Girardi said. “Every year you’re here as manager, you want to have more knowledge about the players. It’s important that a group is united when you leave Spring Training.”
One by one, the 64 players in camp walked through the concrete corridors, many of them grinning at the change in plans. CC Sabathia chuckled, while Mark Teixeira waved goodbye to reporters. Bobby McFerrin’s ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ blared from the loudspeakers.
Jorge Posada – one of the players who Girardi had given a heads-up about the idea – said that the idea of a billiards tournament could only help the Yankees, who have dealt with a tumultuous spring so far that included Alex Rodriguez’s admission of steroid use.
“It’s a day to forget about baseball a little bit and think about our family here,” Posada said. “It’s a little rest and I think it’s good for everyone.”
The Yankees will have a full workout Tuesday and begin exhibition games on Wednesday against the Blue Jays at Dunedin.
Bryan Hoch
Last year I made some bold predictions:
I said Moose would have 16 wins
I said Kennadia was not ready
I said Shelley Trashcan was not a major league player
I will make some more this year:
Pettitte will log 200 innings
Mo will have 30 saves
Kennadia will say something stupid to the media
Moose will contemplate playing again
Shelley Trashcan will play in atleast 1 game in the majors.
Catchers
Gary Bennett (37)
Johnny Estrada (33)
Toby Hall (33)
Paul Lo Duca (37) – Type B, not offered arb
Ivan Rodriguez (37) – Type B, not offered arb. Watch this one.
First basemen
Nomar Garciaparra (35) Watch this one.
Doug Mientkiewicz (35)
Richie Sexson (34)
Mark Sweeney (39)
Second basemen
Ray Durham (37)
Damion Easley (39)
Mark Grudzielanek (39) – Type B, offered arb Watch this one
Shortstops
Orlando Cabrera (34) – Type A, offered arb
Nomar Garciaparra (35) See above
Third basemen
Nomar Garciaparra (35) See Above
Left fielders
Moises Alou (42) – Type B, not offered arb
Luis Gonzalez (41) – Type B, not offered arb
Jay Payton (36)
Manny Ramirez (37) – Type A, offered arb Will get signed
Center fielders
Jim Edmonds (39) Curious.
Right fielders
None
DHs
Frank Thomas (41) – Type B, not offered arb Oakland?
Jose Vidro (34)
Starting pitchers
Paul Byrd (38) – Type B, offered arb
Orlando Hernandez (43) Apparently not interested in retiring a Yankee.
Chuck James (27)
Jon Lieber (39)
Rodrigo Lopez (33)
Pedro Martinez (37) Will pitch for free
Mark Mulder (31)
Sidney Ponson (32)
Kenny Rogers (44)
Curt Schilling (42) If LA signs him, Manny will be unemployed
Ben Sheets (30) – Type A, offered arb
Kip Wells (32)
Relievers
Joe Beimel (32) – Type B, not offered arb
Joe Borowski (38)
Shawn Chacon (31)
Chad Cordero (27)
Juan Cruz (30) – Type A, offered arb
Scott Elarton (33)
Keith Foulke (35)
Jon Lieber (39)
Aquilino Lopez (34)
Will Ohman (31)
Al Reyes (38)
Dennys Reyes (32) – Type B, offered arb
Ricardo Rincon (39)
Rudy Seanez (40) – Type B, not offered arb
Julian Tavarez (36)
Mike Timlin (43) Really? He isn’t with Boston?
Ron Villone (39)
Kip Wells (32)
Matt Wise (33)
Coke to be a reliever from Girardi via Peter Abraham, I guess that leaves one less open slot for Melancon to fight for.
My bold prediction: Melancon will be pitching the 8th inning by the end of the year!
Coke’s split salary = AAA
bpark, do you see Kennedy as trade bait at some point along the way? He doesn’t really have a place in the plans does he?
He was included in the list Pittsburgh received but they chose Ohlendorf and Karstens instead. So, if anyone wants him.
Has Posada been made co-captain?
Coke being lefthanded would give him the upper hand in my opinion, plus Coke is already in the 40-man. 2 lefties out of the pen would greatly help the Yankees with situational matchups, we wouldn’t have to waste Marte too early. But like I said in my prediction, Melancon will be in the eighth inning by the end of the season. No point to rush him right now since he is not on the 40 man.
Coke’s very limited ML experience doesn’t mean a whole lot. He’s not guaranteed of anything.
By matthew_saiki@gmail.com on February 23, 2009 2:31 PM
To me his split salary means more time in the minors = saving money.
Fuentes is still a candidate to replace Rivera, we couldn’t come to terms with him now but his deal with Angels expires when Rivera’s deal does also.
Mo and Coke win one pool tournament, Mo and Pettitte the other.
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090223&content_id=3869746&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy
I can attest to this. Molina will be back to 1-2 games a week.
Actually Kennedy was never part of that Pittsburgh trade.
Here’s the original thread:
How the deal progressed-Bryan Hoch
http://bombersbeat.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/07/how_the_deal_progressed.html
Robert, Kennedy was a name given to Pittsburgh on a list to choose from, they chose others.
Matt, Fuentes agent at Fuentes request proposed to the Yankees that he setup for 2 years and then succeed Rivera. The Yankees were interested but didn’t want to pay closer money for the next 2 years. Fuentes agent then sort a 2 year deal, so his client could be re-evaluated after the 2010 season.
BP,
The way I read it, the list for Pittsburgh was either Coke and Kontos or Karstens and McCutcheon.
All reports I saw said Kennadia was offered on the original list. It is possible Bryan report the initial trade then the revised trade, not including everyone listed.
Matt, we’ll see in 2 years, Fuentes may get hit hard in AL.