Here's another video of Zuleta. 2005 Playoffs Softbank hawks versus Bobby Valentine Chiba Lotte marines.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J...h?
v=Jf59ScwgFyg
I'll read on Zuleta after this weekend. Power in Japan though tends to be hard to transfer to the majors (see Matsui, who saw his power cut in half or worse)
I think Zuleta's much better patient hitter than Hillenbrand. He won't chased pitches out of strikezone.
http://japanesebaseball.com/play...p?
PlayerID=1642
Here's Zuleta stats in Japan. The Homeruns numbers in japan doesn't translate here in the Us. So, I think his homeruns will be cut in half and He will hits between 10-15 homerun.
Zuleta's a unrestricted free agent and has good numbers against Matsuzaka. He will be cheap and cost less than Signing Hillenbrand. The Yankees would not forfeit and lose any draft picks by signing him. I'm hoping the Yankees would sign him to minor league deal and give it try.
Andy's Phillips proves last year He's not everday player but bench guy. I agree with you, Phillips is much better fielder but He's can't hit for average and strikeouts a ton.
Speculative, But, Could It Be True?, ...we'll see
http://www.nj.com/weblogs/yankees/
Thursday, November 30, 2006
The Matsu-saga continues
Very interesting e-mail from a rather informed and reasonable source came in:
Okay guys, here's what I've heard through the grapevine on this...The Red Sox will hold out trying to lowball Dice-K [Matsuzaka]. And when I say hold out, I mean to the point where it becomes it was obvious just a blocking manuever to keep him from the Yankees. He wants $15Mx3Y, sox are offering 8Mperx4Y, "oceans apart". I've been told that if the Sox knew the Mets had the second highest bid ($38M), higher than the Yankees ($32M), they never would have bid $51.11 to win him. That comes from a very good source. Moreover, what I heard from the same source who is close to negotiations that what will happen is that Selig, Boras, and Seibu have a deal in place, where Boras pays Seibu $25 mil (1/2 the Red Sox bid) and he owns the rights to Matsuzaka, and puts him on the market BY X-MAS for the highest bidder, and Selig has signed off on it...
So, take that for what it's worth. Probably some truth to it, and probably some game-of-telephone style exaggerations. If Matsuzaka goes on the market, though, expect the Yanks to be huge players. But man, what an intriguing, juicy story. MLB.com's Fred Claire says the competition for the far east market is just adding a new element to the Yankee-Sox rivalry.
I'll keep this simple and to the point. Your URL, "Fire Torre" is appropriately named for the article pertaining too Joe Torre not having a clue or "faith" in his bullpen. I cannot say that Joe is at fault for any back or resent arm issues that Mariano the most valuable player in the Major Leagues even Yankee the past 10 years. But I do agree, that he has thrown his share of relief pitchers under the bus, in to the dog house and probably frightened off a few from considering on pitching for us.
For the past eight years I have been saying that Joe Torre, was overrated and consistently over worked his pen. Nelson, Staton, Weathers etc...By Torres own good fortune, if its wasn't for Bob Watson, who architect and built the Yankee pen and starters of the mid to late 90's, then carried over by Cash, he would have never had received the success and accolades he deserves...
What surprises me is that he used too be a former successful big league catcher. So why cannot he not see what we see at the ballpark, on TV and hear from sports analysts on the radio? They say that Torre understands his players. So why cannot he understand his relief pitchers and have faith in a Karstens or Rasner?
I can go on and on about his miss handling of relief pitchers, the little faith he has in his rookie pitcher's starting a playoff game, bating A-Rod 6 and then 8th in the order. Or even his miss use of Melky in the playoffs. Torre went away what got them there June -to- September. Instead of keeping with what got you there offensively, defensively and through the two Boston's series, he went away from that and should had been fired...
Jeter (the only manager he has ever know) saved him from being fired.
If Hughes is suppose to be pretty good why not start him up with the big club in the bullpen to begin the season and slowly work him in to the starting rotation.
I have probably said this about a thousand times, but there is no one on this board that can claim to know that Hughes is not ready. Below is from a Jim Callis (official writer for Baseball America) chat the other day.
Chris ( S.I. N.Y.): Jim do you see Humberto Sanchez in the NYY 2007 Rotation at any point during the year?
Jim Callis: (2:02 PM ET ) I don't, at least not for very young. He's close to ready, but the plan seems to be go with Wang, Mussina, Johnson, Igawa and then Pavano/Karstens until Hughes is ready (I think he's ready now). I don't see much of an opportunity for Sanchez this year, at least not as a starter.
Now, someone will say all Jim Callis is just a writer. However, this guy has plenty of experience following and analyzing prospects. I take his opinion over anyone that writes on this board.
Now I am not saying, let's throw him in there right away, but I am certainly not against giving him a shot to win a spot out of spring training. The guy dominated AA, was essentially unhittable from July on. Plenty of prospects are skipping AAA and jumping right into the majors with success.
You can all stop with he doesn't have enough innings, there is no research that can associate minor league innings with success or avoiding injury. Not too mention they can monitor his innings in the major leagues as much or better than they could in the minors.
I read the argument that he doesn't need the pressure of being relied upon as the #2. Well who said he would be if he was brought up at the beginning of the season. He has Wang, Mussina, Johnson, Igawa ahead of him on the depth chart. That argument doesn't really make sense, the only time a true #1 is identified is at the start of the playoffs & the opening day start. Now some times rotations are shuffled to pitch big games but it doesn't happen all the time. The bottom line is if he comes up and is pitching like our #2 then that is exactly what he is and obviously he is ready to handle it. Wang wasn't our #1 going into the season, and I could have easily made the argument at the beginning of last season that he wasn't ready for that role. But clearly he was and he took control of that spot.
The remainder of the Yankees' free agents -- Bernie Williams, Tanyon Sturtze, Octavio Dotel, Craig Wilson, Miguel Cairo, Nick Green and Sal Fasano -- were not offered arbitration before Friday night's deadline, as none of them would have garnered an extra draft pick for New York.
Under the old Collective Bargaining Agreement, any free agent who was not offered arbitration would have been ineligible to re-sign with his former team until May 1. Under the new CBA, free agents not offered arbitration may still sign with their old club at any time.
'
GoodBye Bernie. We will missed you.
source - yankees.com
Hello, Do you know anything about Kawakami, Kenshin ? Do you think He will be will be posted next year same as Matsuzaka and Igawa?
http://www.baseball-
reference.co...enshin_Kawakami
Kenshin Kawakami
Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 5' 10", Weight 198 lb.
Born June 22, 1975 in Tokushima Japan
Kenshin Kawakami was the first-round draft pick of the Chunichi Dragons in 1998. He immediately proved the choice to be a good one, as he won Rookie of the Year honors that season by going 14-6 with a 2.57 ERA. He was fourth in the Central League in wins and second in ERA, trailing only teammate Shigeki Noguchi.
The next three years proved to be a struggle for Kawakami, who went 16-22 over that span. He bounced back in 2002 with a 12-6, 2.35 season. For the second time in his career he was runner-up for the ERA lead, trailing Masumi Kuwata. He threw a no-hitter that year against the mighty Yomiuri Giants. In '03, Kawakami was limited to 8 games, but he had a strong season in 2004, going 17-7 with a 3.32 ERA. He won a Gold Glove, made the Best Nine team, won the Sawamura Award, was MVP of the Central League, helped Chunichi to the pennant, led the league in wins and his 176 Ks were second to Kei Igawa. The next year he was not as great, going 11-8 with a 3.74 ERA.
In May 2006, Kawakami was named pitcher of the month for the seventh time in his career. That tied Masahiro Yamamoto and Hideki Matsui for the most times being named the top player or pitcher in their league for a month
Here's some Youtube Video I found on KAWAKAMI,Kenshin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z...h?v=Z-
a1lADub4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d...h?
v=dH5ZEgSFE4U
This year stats He went 17-7 and with era of 2.51
http://japanball.com/stats.phtml
http://japanesebaseball.com/play...p?
PlayerID=1026
Interesting information from Japan
The Yankees reportedly have interest in Julio Zuleta, a 31-year free agent first baseman who played in Japan the last three seasons.
His agent, Gene Casaleggio, claims Zuleta has hit .273 with seven home runs against Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Not so, says an e-mail I received today. According to Gary Garland, who runs the Japanese Baseball Daily web site, Zuleta is 16 of 59 (.271) against Matsuzaka but has only two home runs, not seven.
It also seems that Zuleta is seeking a long-term deal in Japan, which U.S. players usually do not get. He could be trying to use the Yankees as leverage.
Garland says to keep an eye on Chunichi superstar right fielder Kosuke Fukudome, who will be a free agent after next season.
Hanshin right-handed reliever Kyuji Fujikawa is hoping to get posted after next season. He has a 96-mph fastball and a heck of as forkball.
Garland also believes that Kei Igawa will not wilt under the pressure of playing in New York. Igawa, he says, is a hardcore video game player and seems somewhat oblivious to what is going on around him. Hanshin, his team in Japan, has perhaps the most boisterous fans in Japan, so playing for the Yankees shouldn't be a big transition.
http://www.lohud.com/blogs/
lohud...hudyankees.html
, Hello, Does any have information on Nobuhiko Matsunaka? What numbers he have against matsuzaka?
I read about Zuleta in japanese papers, too: how can he be a Matsuzaka-killer w/ .260~270 w/a few HRs? The famous Daisuke killer is ChiSox's Iguchi. He owns Matsuzaka: hitting .400~.500, 6, 7HRs.
Kousuke Fukudome is probably the best OF in Japan now: he can hit for average and has got some pop; he also has a very good arm. He also hit that key HR in the semi final and clutch hits in WBC.
Kyuji is a good (not great) releiver: in WBC A-Rod hit a walk-off hit off Kyuji.
Alex,
Hawks' Matsunaka also hits well against Daisuke. Last year he hit 3HRs off Daisuke in one game, and went 4 for 4. He had signed a long-term contract, and has no interest in playing in MLB, though.
I really wouldn't care how good a hitter did against one pitcher in our division. It won't matter in the long run. We don't even know if D-Mat will be on the Red Sox. Even if he is, Zuleta wouldn't give us a huge advantage.
advance cash get loan loan.info payday payday payday sitemap.html advance cash get loan loan.info payday payday payday sitemap.html advance cash get loan loan.info payday payday payday sitemap.html. bank consolidation debt loan bank consolidation debt loan bank consolidation debt loan.
Commenting by HaloScan
