The Sommer Frieze

A New York Yankees Blog by Mike Sommer

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Splitting hairs. Who will have the health?

March 18th, 2010 at 11:55 am · 1 Comment

Excellent article in comparing the Yanks and Red Sox for 2010. Who will be healthier, especially in the rotation? S.I.’s Tom Verducci says it’ll all come down to that.

As Verducci states,

Look at Boston’s rotation. After Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, who are reliable, the Red Sox have John Lackey, who has missed 15 starts the past two years, Daisuke Matsuzaka, whose innings have decreased two straight years and already came up with a stiff neck in spring training, and Clay Buchholz, who has yet to throw 100 innings in a big league season.

New York’s rotation is far more reliable. It features three of the nine most durable starters in baseball over the past five years as measured by innings: CC Sabathia (first), Javier Vazquez (eighth) and Andy Pettitte (ninth). A.J. Burnett ranks 24th after back-to-back 200-inning seasons. The fifth spot remains an open competition among Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves.

The Vazquez signing (sorry, those who miss the Melk-man) could turn out huge for the Yanks. Division-deciding huge. Vazquez has pitched 200 or more innings in nine of the last ten years, only missing in his Yankee year of 2004 when he still went 198 innings.

 

The Letter, The Box Tops
Alex Chilton of the Box Tops has passed on at age 59. 

A sad day for those of us who love 1960’s rock and roll. Alex Chilton, lead singer of the Box Tops, died yesterday at the age of 59. He had a #1 in the fall of 1967 with “The Letter,” later re-done by Joe Cocker. He was just 16 when that song hit #1 for four weeks in Sept./Oct. 1967. He later hit #2 for two weeks in the spring of 1968 with “Cry Like a Baby” (I believe that one was kept out of #1 by Otis Redding’s posthumous #1, “Dock of the Bay”). Other hits you may remember include “Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward March” and “Soul Deep.” A great soul voice, and especially for someone in his late teens at the time that those songs became hits.

I don’t have much comment on Ron Washington. The Ranger’s manager admitted to one-time cocaine usage last year. You would want your manager to be a leader of men. Other managers however, had their faults. Be it booze (Billy, Bob Lemon) or other vices (Maury Wills). The Babe loved a beer, and the argument against him becoming a manager was “if he can’t handle himself, how can he handle others?” Funny, of course, how this argument was used against the Bambino but not against Battlin’ Billy. It just goes to reinforce to us that this isn’t a perfect world.

Tags: Managers and Coaches · Media · Mike's Musings · Scandal · Spring Training

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 poloni // Mar 18, 2010 at 12:21 pm

    Sorry to hear about the passing of Alex Chilton from the Boxtops. I grew up in the 1960’s and love the music of that era. Even though I never saw the Boxtops in person, I always think of a minor league baseball game I saw during a vacation in Glens Falls, NY in 1988. The Tigers had a Double A club there at that time (the team moved to London, Ontario the next year) and they played the Reading Phillies on July 4th. After the game, there was a fireworks display featuring the music of the Boxtops.

    Joe P.

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