Scott Proctor
Age: 30 Years Old (Turns 31 in January).

Three-Year History, three-year splits and last year's splits.

SEASON	Team	W	L	ERA	G	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
2004	Yankees	2	1	5.40	26	0	0	25.0	29	18	15	5	14	21
2005	Yankees	1	0	6.04	29	0	0	44.2	46	32	30	10	17	36
2006	Yankees	6	4	3.52	83	1	7	102.1	89	41	40	12	33	89
2007	Bill James	5	5	4.64	80	0		95.0	96			13	43	80
2007	CHONE			3.96				91.0	86	44	40	14	30	77
2007	Marcel	4	3	4.33		0		81.0	80	42	39	11	29	65
2007	ZiPS	5	4	4.60	73			90.0	90	50	46	13	33	76

SEASON	Team	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	HR/9	AVG	WHIP	BABIP	LOB%	FIP
2004	Yankees	7.56	5.04	1.50	1.80	.291	1.72	.327	69.4 %	5.80
2005	Yankees	7.25	3.43	2.12	2.01	.268	1.41	.286	64.7 %	5.77
2006	Yankees	7.83	2.90	2.70	1.06	.236	1.19	.278	77.4 %	4.01
2007	Bill James	7.58	4.07	1.86	1.23	.264	1.46	.306		4.78
2007	CHONE	7.62	2.97	2.57	1.38	.251	1.27	.286	75.5 %	4.60
2007	Marcel	7.22	3.22	2.24	1.22	.259	1.35	.297	72.2 %	4.51
2007	ZiPS	7.60	3.30	2.30	1.30	.262	1.37	.302	69.7 %	4.49

Outlook: Anyone who expected Scott Proctor to be as good as he was last year, please step forward. Okay, now that I've smacked those folks for being liars, we can all appreciate the job Scott did for the Yankees last year. Though there was much speculation that his first month of effectiveness was a fluke, he surprised a lot of people (myself included) by remaining good for the whole year. A lot of that success can be attributed to Proctor's addition and subsequent use of the sinker in his arsenal. He learned to use it quite well and as a result, his GB ratio went up while his FB ratio, and more importantly his HR per FB ratio, went down. Also, while Proctor was originally regarded as death on righties and mediocre against lefties, he changed that up last year, shutting down lefties to the tune of .204/.269/.354/.622. While this may be due to a small sample size, that's still one heck of a turnaround from 2005.

In any case, once Torre realized how effective Proctor was, he used him. A lot. Close game? Warm up Proctor. Blow-out win? Warm up Proctor. Off day? WARM UP PROCTOR! Yes, I do understand that Torre didn't have that many options at that point as Farnsworth was a little up and down but he could very well have used Villone (who at that time was wasting away) to spell Proctor even a little bit. Unfortunately, because of that, you now are putting a lot of weight on a guy who so far has had one good year and is coming off 102.3 innings (by far the most in the AL amongst relievers). Also, while we have only seen Proctor for the past few years, it's not like he's a spring chicken by any means. Still, a good amount of weight from the Yankees pen will fall on Proctor's right arm so let's just hope that Joe doesn't add Proctor to the scrap heap with the arms of Villone, Karsay and Quantrill.

Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:

G	Innings	W	L	BB	K	SV	BlSv	ERA

This is unsubstantiated by major sports outlets (but Mike A. has confirmed it and I trust him so that's good enough for me) as of yet but it's making its way through the Yankees circles that J. B. Cox has undergone Tommy John Surgery and will miss the 2007 season. My first reaction: this sucks. I honestly expected Cox to see some MLB time this year but now it looks like it will be a good long wait. First for Cox will have to recover from the surgery and then, he'll have to work his way back to pitching at the level that he was at before. What was that saying about pitching depth? Oh yeah...it doesn't exist.

Both EJ at Pending Pinstripes and Mike A. at River Ave. Blues mention the news.

Update: Pete A. over at LoHud has the update and it looks like it's not Tommy John:


Thanks for the tip Andrew.

Mike Myers
Age: 37 Years Old (Turns 38 in June).

Three-Year History, three-year splits and last year's splits.

SEASON	Team	W	L	ERA	G	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
2004	Seattle-Boston	5	1	4.64	75	42.2	45	22	22	5	23	32
2005	Red Sox	3	1	3.13	65	37.1	30	14	13	3	13	21
2006	Yankees	1	2	3.23	62	30.2	29	14	11	3	10	22
2007	Bill James	2	2	3.97	65	34.0	32			3	15	25
2007	CHONE			4.11		35.0	36	18	16	4	13	22
2007	Marcel	3	2	4.50		44.0	45	23	22	5	17	30
2007	ZiPS	2	2	4.25	67	36.0	36	18	17	4	15	23

SEASON	Team	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	HR/9	AVG	WHIP	BABIP	LOB%	FIP
2004	Seattle-Boston	6.75	4.85	1.39	1.05	.272	1.59	.312	76.2 %	4.98
2005	Red Sox	5.06	3.13	1.62	0.72	.222	1.15	.243	76.0 %	4.33
2006	Yankees	6.46	2.93	2.20	0.88	.251	1.27	.287	74.1 %	4.31
2007	Bill James	6.62	3.97	1.67	0.79	.250	1.38	.290		4.46
2007	CHONE	5.66	3.34	1.69	1.03	.267	1.40	.294	72.7 %	4.71
2007	Marcel	6.14	3.48	1.76	1.02	.266	1.41	.298	71.9 %	4.61
2007	ZiPS	5.75	3.75	1.53	1.00	.262	1.42	.290	72.7 %	4.62

Outlook: It was an interesting year for Mike as for the first time in a long time, he put up a reverse split with left-handed and right-handed hitters. In 2005, Myers held lefties to .158/.196/.211, whereas righties hit .385/.510/.641 but in 2006, lefties hit .257/.297/.443 while righties hit .224/.345/.286. Maybe this was a result of the changes he had been making to his delivery in spring training of last year. At that time, he wanted to see if moving from the first base side of the rubber to the third base side when facing righties would make his stride shorter and provide more movement. Whether it was that or simply a matter of small sample size remains to be seen.

Still, Myers was brought on board for one reason; the guy is the one of the most hardcore LOOGYs out there. His sidearm motion is very effective on lefties and for his career, he's held lefties to a .210 AVG over 276 innings (righties have tattooed him to a tune of .307 in 211 innings). Basically, he's very good against lefties, doesn't give up many homeruns and if these adjustments that he's made for righties remain effective, he becomes a much more useful part of the bullpen. However, with the limited use that he gets, it will be a while before we see if he really has improved against righties.

Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:

G	Innings	W	L	BB	K	SV	BlSv	ERA

Kyle Farnsworth
Age: 30 Years Old (Turns 31 in April).

Three-Year History, three-year splits and last year's splits.

SEASON	Team	W	L	ERA	G	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
2004	Cubs	4	5	4.73	72	0	4	66.2	67	39	35	10	33	78
2005	Tigers-Braves	1	1	2.19	72	16	2	70.0	44	18	17	5	27	87
2006	Yankees	3	6	4.36	72	6	4	66.0	62	34	32	8	28	75
2007	Bill James	4	3	3.77	67	2		62.0	55			7	27	67
2007	CHONE			3.49				67.0	58	28	26	8	26	72
2007	Marcel	3	4	4.15		6		65.0	61	32	30	8	26	64
2007	ZiPS	4	2	4.16	72			67.0	60	34	31	9	29	67

SEASON	Team	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	HR/9	AVG	WHIP	BABIP	LOB%	FIP
2004	Cubs	10.53	4.46	2.36	1.35	.263	1.50	.341	71.6 %	4.39
2005	Tigers-Braves	11.19	3.47	3.22	0.64	.182	1.01	.261	83.6 %	2.93
2006	Yankees	10.23	3.82	2.68	1.09	.250	1.36	.327	71.4 %	3.82
2007	Bill James	9.73	3.92	2.48	1.02	.239	1.32	.308		3.91
2007	CHONE	9.67	3.49	2.77	1.07	.235	1.25	.300	77.8 %	3.90
2007	Marcel	8.86	3.60	2.46	1.11	.250	1.34	.308	73.3 %	4.12
2007	ZiPS	9.00	3.90	2.31	1.21	.241	1.33	.295	72.0 %	4.24

Outlook: Well, I mentioned Farnsworth's pattern at the beginning of last year. Odd years - good/great seasons, even years - mediocrity. I also said that while he has been uneven, the general direction of his seasons has been better. Well, he proved me correct on both counts. 2006 was definitely a step down from 2005 but you know what, his peripherals still weren't horrible. He gave up a line of .243/.315/.376/.691, which again, wasn't nearly as bad as his last bad season (2004) when it was .260/.348/.426/.769 which was then a far cry from his previous off seasons (2002: .293/.370/.558/.924 and 2000: .291/.392/.476/.864).

Looking forward to 2007, there's still a lot to like about Farnsworth. I mean, come on; with that arm and his propensity for the strikeout (9.69 K per 9 for his career - always a nice way to get out of a tight spot), he should be perfect for those high-leverage situations. However, back issues, mental toughness questions and the inability to be used consistently on back to back days have taken him out of Torre's circle of trust and as such, we'll have to wait and see about his continued use in those high leverage situations. Finally, it was interesting to hear that Farnsworth was working on a changeup and a sinker. Ron Guidry suggested it at the end of last season as a way to keep hitters from sitting dead red and Kyle's been working on it. If he can pull it off, great - otherwise, I just hope that he doesn't hurt himself because 2007 should be a very good for Kyle Farnsworth.

Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:

G	Innings	W	L	BB	K	SV	BlSv	ERA

From the press release announcing the latest Jeter shoe:


I hope they can add a stripe next year...

Full press release below.

» Read More

Jeff Karstens received some good news:


Peter Abraham mentioned that Bobby Murcer has been approved for a clinical trial and had his first dose of a vaccine today.

Tony Gicas points to Project A13, a website/project dedicated to getting Yankees fans to support A-Rod.

Mariano Rivera
Age: 37 Years Old (Turns 38 in November).

Three-Year History, three-year splits and last year's splits.

SEASON	Team	W	L	ERA	G	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
2004	Yankees	4	2	1.94	74	53	4	78.2	65	17	17	3	20	66
2005	Yankees	7	4	1.38	71	43	4	78.1	50	18	12	2	18	80
2006	Yankees	5	5	1.80	63	34	3	75.0	61	16	15	3	11	55
2007	Bill James	5	2	2.57	60	42		70.0	56			3	15	60
2007	CHONE			3.04				77.0	70	28	26	6	17	58
2007	Marcel	5	4	3.09		28		70.0	63	25	24	5	18	55
2007	ZiPS	8	1	2.01	68			76.0	61	18	17	3	15	66

SEASON	Team	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	HR/9	AVG	WHIP	BABIP	LOB%	FIP
2004	Yankees	7.55	2.29	3.30	0.34	.227	1.08	.285	85.1 %	2.97
2005	Yankees	9.19	2.07	4.44	0.23	.185	0.87	.254	78.0 %	2.33
2006	Yankees	6.60	1.32	5.00	0.36	.224	0.96	.270	83.8 %	2.89
2007	Bill James	7.71	1.93	4.00	0.39	.221	1.01	.278		2.86
2007	CHONE	6.78	1.99	3.41	0.70	.244	1.13	.287	76.3 %	3.52
2007	Marcel	7.07	2.31	3.06	0.64	.242	1.16	.289	76.9 %	3.50
2007	ZiPS	7.82	1.78	4.40	0.36	.222	1.00	.281	80.8 %	2.57

Outlook: I'm blatantly ripping off what I wrote about Mariano last year...if only because Mo keeps raising the bar. I mean, we all know what Rivera has done to this point in his career; 2.29 ERA, 600 GF, 413 SVs. In 881 innings, 691 Hits, 783 Ks, 226 BBs, 45 HRs. 8-1 with 34 SVs and a 0.80 ERA in 113 postseason innings. Simply staggering numbers...and it's not like the man has slowed down. It's actually even more impressive when you remember that the whispers about the end started when Rivera posted ERAs over 2 for all three years between the 2000 and 2002 seasons and lost part of the 2002 season to injury. Since then, the numbers don't lie: 272 G, 303 Innings, 237 Hits, 264 Ks, 59 BBs - 252 GF, 170 SV - 1.69 ERA, 7.9 K and 1.8 BB per 9 and .33 HRs a game. Just...wow.

Last year was much of the same from Mo. As with 2005, Mo started out slow and then was a steamroller for the rest of the year (take out the first six games of the season and his line was a 1.46 ERA, 51 hits, 9 BBs and 48Ks in 67.2 innings). However, there were some issues as Rivera was out with elbow trouble for much of September. Still, 34 saves compared to 3 blown ones is not too shabby, especially if you conisder that Joe didn't take his own "I'm going to lean on Rivera less" advice to heart. Mariano missed just about 3 weeks and yet only pitched in 8 less games and 3 less innings than 2005.

In 2007, I really do believe that Mariano will continue to excel and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he has a better year. Here's my reasoning; a) it's a walk year (if he signs somewhere else...wait, no, not even going to think about it) and b) the addition of Luis Vizcaino solidifies a bullpen that for much of last year didn't have a set third guy after Proctor and Farnsworth. If Vizcaino doesn't work out or Torre doesn't want to give him the opportunity, there will still be a full year of Brian Bruney and if that fails, Chris Britton, et. al. are waiting in the wings. Finally, the talk of adding a change-up to Mariano's arsenal doesn't hurt matters either. It doesn't matter if the pitch never sees the the light of day...the perception is what matters, though it's not like he needs the help.

Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:

G	Innings	W	L	BB	K	SV	BlSv	ERA

And we won't stop:

Lisa Kennelly mentions that Wang threw with Gator yesterday morning and said he felt fine. And afterward:

It is beginning to look like Carl Pavano may go from goat to opening day starter (and quite possibly still a goat) when the Yankees begin their season at home against Tampa Bay next Monday. In other words, Pavano could realistically eclipse his wins total, strikeout total, innings pitched and appearance total from last year in the first game of 2007. No real rhyme or reason behind it other than Monday simply falling on his spot in the rotation.

Works for me. It doesn't really matter to me who starts first. Everybody who is healthy is going to pitch eventually anyway.