Daily Roundup- Tuesday, March 17th

As long as he’s a Yankee, bullpen Joba/Starter Joba will be topic numero uno amongst Yankee fans. There are pros and cons on both sides, but as Yankee beat writer Mark Feinsand says, the decision is not in the hands of fans, but in the hands of the management team.

Objectively looking at this situation, I understand why people would want him to be the 8th inning bridge to Mariano Rivera and eventually replace Mariano. People will point to his injury last year as evidence that while throwing at such a high velocity he won’t be able to do it over 7 innings every five days for thirty starts a year for the next ten years. Add on to it that he has already proven very effective in that role already whereas as a starter he hasn’t proven he can be as stable.
Unfortunately a guy with as many plus pitches (As the scouts love to tell you) as he has, you can’t leave him in the bullpen. Its almost like letting a stud ace go for just one inning. Why waste that kind of talent? Unless he just injures himself taking the mound like Mark Prior, you have to let the kid prove he can stay in the rotation long enough to pitch himself into the role that they want.
A very underrated part of this offseason was signing A.J. Burnett as he was a young, highly touted prospect with a live arm who couldn’t seem to shake the injury bug until he was teammates with Roy Halladay. Halladay taught Burnett that even a low 90’s fastball can be effective and when you have to dial it up, you can with the arm strength that you have. Taking a few miles per hour off a fast ball gives your arm the chance to stay more loose and gives you the ability to reach down and dig for that mid 90’s fast ball to close the 7th and possibly 8th or 9th if need be. Conserving Joba’s energy and teaching him to not throw 99 and 100 every time he gets up there is going to be the trick. He’s a fiery kid but also one willing to listen to reason and experience and having A.J. a guy who struggled in that department but finally found middle ground last year and put together an injury free year where he also played well, is going to be huge to his maturation.
There is no bad side to this. As I see it, if he fails, you get a dominant set up man and your closer for the next ten years. If he succeeds as a starter, you get at worst, a number three and at best a number one.


Last night I was watching an exciting game between Venezuela and Puerto Rico and I saw multiple Mets on both sides which got me thinking about the number of Mets, 16, that represent a number of countries in the WBC. That got me to worrying about several different things like fatigue, injury and all those concerns that could potentially prove risky for important cogs in a line up. Well, those concerns were telepathically sent off to Bart Hubbuch who shared my concern.

I’ve been looking at the number of players that the Mets sent and I just keep thinking, would they have been smarter leaving some guys off the list? I mean was it pertinent for Jose Reyes AND David Wright to go? How about sending one? I mean I would’ve thrown a fit if they allowed Johan to go, but isn’t K-Rod, Putz, Reyes, Wright, Delgado and Beltran as important to the Mets and their hopes for success this season? Remember, this is the same team that has run out of gas in September the last two years and caused such horrible fall seasons for the Shea faithful.
I don’t blame the Mets for allowing these guys to play for their country because that’s their right and I’m sure the players felt a lot of national pride being there. But the Mets have to be selfish. After two horrible Septembers they shouldn’t take a chance. They have to let the managers know that they don’t want their players being overworked just so a team can win a tournament that does nothing for the MLB season. I understand MLB wants the WBC to succeed but the Mets need their players back healthy and can’t be stretched in March and hope that they will be ok, come September and hopefully October and November.
The major league season is a marathon not a sprint, so the Mets need everyone at full strength and certain decisions by managers who, by the way, may be looking for a job and auditioning, are starting to really piss of the average fan especially fans of teams who sent 16 players to said tournament.


This whole Jay Cutler fiasco has me in a tizzy. Is Cutler’s Denver address 90210? Is there more drama in the Cutler household or in Melrose place? But of course as soon as Cutler demanded a trade, a trade request that was confirmed by Denver, predictably the fans of the have not teams immediately began dreaming and drooling. Include Jet fans in the pseudo puddle, but as Mark Cannizzaro reports, be careful what you whine for.

So, let me get this straight, a QB who has led his team to a whopping sub .500 record in his tenure is upset because the rookie head coach who came in decided to look at his options and entertain other offers? Get over it Cutler. But on the flip side, and this is the side I am leaning towards still, he’s a guy who was a franchise QB just a year ago who saw his head coach, and his offensive coordinator axed and take another job respectively, and then heard rumors of his own pending plane reservations being handed to him and you don’t expect him to be salty? The sweeping winds of change were too much for the young buck to deal with and frankly, he has a right to be pissed. The kind of turnover you are seeing are levied by teams who have gone 0-16 not a team that came within a game of making it to the playoffs. Logically speaking Cutler is protecting his own interests here and can afford the right to be upset about this and feel as though he is seen as the “old regime guy” at QB.
There were too many rumors of a Josh McDaniels/ Matt Cassell hook up wherever the OC went and yet Cassell ended up with his former GM with the Patriots and McDaniels went to a place already built with a rocket armed QB. Like I said before, it’s a shame that it seems like it wont work out (that is if you believe guys in Denver and Peter King), since it seems like McDaniels and Cutler could do wonders in Denver with Eddie Royal and Brandon Marshall (if he can ever keep his mind straight to not being stupid).
As for the Jets side of this equation, it would be dumb to give up the rest of your future for a guy who can’t take any heat. If he can’t handle the rumors in Denver, imagine what happens when he’s off his high horse in the Rockies and comes down to where the reporters sit on their high horse in New York? That should be a marriage made in, People’s Court. Frankly, I love this Brett Ratliff kid. He showed me a lot in preseason last year that made me believe that he has more promise than Kellen Clemens. He has a certain intuitive quality that if given multiple reps to prove himself could be the guy. I really think that Ratliff is going to be a great NFL Quarterback. You heard it here first. I’m bookmarking this date. I’m going off on a limb and maybe a few on this one, but put it in the books.



A war of words is happening on two coasts that bears keeping a close eye on. It involves L.A. and Boston and while Manny Ramirez’ name is prominent in said discussion, he’s not the guy starting the fireworks. Its LA Times columnist TJ Simers who rode the crazy horse to the insane asylum when he wrote loads of disparaging remarks about crazy people in Boston who continue to talk about Manny but insist that Manny is not on their mind. Boston Globe put up a blog about this by Eric Wilbur that certainly had the populace in outrage and ready to start a brahhhhlll in a baaaahhhh.

I love the war of attrition between L.A. and Boston. The two are worlds apart in outlook on life and outlook on sports. In L.A. sports events are looked at as places for people to go and hang out and twitter each other about: hey I’m at the Dodger game, come through!”. While in Boston, fans keep themselves warm on Winter ball or reading about Pedroia’s workouts and how he has added more muscle mass to his small frame or Youklis: go-tee or no go-tee? Fact is, these are two different planets at war with each other and both are blaming the other for not being more like themselves. Get over it. Boston fans are passionate, and LA fans are calm and reserved. I’m an east coaster so I will always agree with being passionate and over talkative about their sports teams because we don’t have many warm days in February where we can go outside and play sports in our cut off tees and shorts and talk about how nice the weather is. Sorry, just not happening.
Fact is, Boston fans are cuckoo and LA fans really could care less and those are the two polarizing extremes of both fan bases that they both want to say about each other. Manny on the other hand is a work out nut who if from reports are true, works out harder than anyone and yet can laugh it off and appear as though he doesn’t work much at all. Fact is, you don’t just wake up one day and become Manny Ramirez, you do it with hard work and dedication which despite all the things you want to hear to the contrary is true.
I do have a point of contention with Boston fans who stick it to Manny, the guy who brought you 2 world championships. They blindly follow Theo’s step yet never entertain the idea that this guy just wanted a vote of confidence that a new contract would be done yet never got it. Fact is, Boston messed this up just as much as Manny did but they will never admit it. Which is fine and their prerogative. But doesn’t mean its right.


Finally Hoop Do Jour fans, here you are. Mr. Vecsey himself.


HAVE A HAPPY ST PATTY's DAY. MAY YOU ALL BE DRUNK AND MERRY!