New York Yankees' Notes

The Yankees find a soft spot in the schedule as the Washington Nationals drag their .262 win percentage into the Stadium. CC takes the mound in game one, let the stat. padding commence.

Notes:

Reunion time: "Nick Johnson always gets broken...It's appropriate that Johnson came up as a Yankee--he's the Ron Bloomberg of goyim."--(Baseball Prospectus 2009 Guide)

Remember him? Will Nieves is a National. "Spotted against lefties he has a semi-credible bat, albeit one driven entirely by an empty batting average."--(BP 2009 Guide.)

Shrewd Investment? Yankees' ownership invested a cool quarter of a billion in the free-agent frenzy trying to plug holes in the porous pitching staff. Let's hear from pitching coach Dave Eiland, 63 games into the wild '09 campaign: " When you're on the mound and every time the ball goes up in the air you hold your breath, you try to make the perfect pitch, instead of just trusting your stuff and not worrying about what's going to happen if you don't...You have to be mentally stronger than that, that's all it is."--(Josh Thomson, Gannett.) Perhaps, someone can develop a stat. that measures mental strength. The scale could start at zero--call it the Pavano line--and work its way up.

The next big thing? Baseball's amateur draft is done. The Yanks first pick was Slade Heathcott, was taken at #29. A selection the Yankees earned by not signing last year's first round pick. Baseball America's preview issue rated Heathcott the 72ND best position player : "Poor makeup obscures plus tools both as a hitter and as a pitcher; only takes one team though." Could he be the next Tabata?

Bye, Bye Betemit: It seems like only yesterday that the Yanks acquired Wilson Betemit: "Cashman and his number crunchers zeroed in on trading for Wilson Betemit, a switch-hitting infielder with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The word excitedly circulating around the hallways of Yankee Stadium was that the Yankees had found the next David Ortiz--not that Betemit fit Ortiz's profile as a slugger, but that his numbers suggested he was an undervalued gem who was on the cusp of a huge breakout...The Yankees were dead wrong. Betemit, plagued by extremely poor plate discipline and conditioning issues was dreadful."--(The Yankee Years, Verducci, Torre.) That was then, this is now: "Talk about addition by subtraction: The White Sox released ex-Yankee Wilson Betemit--one scout said he "might be the worst player in baseball."--(NY Daily News) "And so it goes."--(Vonnegut)

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