As I was browsing the internet this morning I came across an interesting post by Peter Abraham. He questions the Yankees and their handling of injuries. He gave a few examples for his questioning, here's an excerpt:

Just wondering, but does anybody else question what is going on with the Yankees and their ability to properly evaluate injuries?

Damaso Marte went seven days without pitching then they decided to put him on the disabled list. Then we found out today that the injury he had in spring training never really cleared up. Meanwhile, he made seven appearances and got knocked around.

Chien-Ming Wang, as it turns out, had weakness in his injured foot and that led to atrophied hip muscles. How did this go unnoticed all spring and lead to his getting crushed for three starts?

A-Rod said his hip injury was an issue last June. Yet he played the rest of the year and it went undiagnosed until March. Then he needed surgery that has so far kept him out a month......

Look at Mark Teixeira, for instance. He has not been the same since he injured his wrist. What would be better for the Yankees, Juan Miranda playing first base or Tex going 2 for 27? Should he be on the DL?

It's worth looking at. The Yankees have so much pressure on themselves to win that they may be throwing injured stars onto the field to justify their big payroll and now, new stadium. By doing so, they are hurting their chances of being a competitive team. If Marte has been hurt since the WBC in March, he should've been placed on the DL. Alex's hip has been bothering since last season so why did it go unnoticed for so long? Maybe the Yankees knew and tried to dance around it and wanted to see if it would clear up during the winter. Who knows, but a healthy player is far better than an injured player.

The Yanks have been hit with the injury bug quick this year but continue to stay strong with an above .500 record. They did shut down Xavier Nady once they saw he injured his elbow so maybe they do know what they're doing after all. Brian Bruney's elbow is acting up again and may miss a good chuck of time, much like last year. Injuries are apart of sports and the best teams overcome them. For all the talk about how great the 2009 Yankees are, this is a time where we get a good indication of just how good they are. 1 MVP, 1 potential Cy Young, 1 All-Star, and 1 would be closer down and they are still above water. Let's see what happens when the Yanks are all fully healthy.


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Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Brian Bruney, Chein-Ming Wang, Damaso Marte, Juan Miranda, Mark Teixeira, Xavier Nady, Yankees

The great Joba debate begins again. With the recent free agent additions of CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett many have thought that Joba Chamberlain should be moved back into the bullpen to set-up Mariano Rivera. I disagree.

As enticing as Joba would be in the 7th and 8th innings I think he is more valuable as a starter, unless proven otherwise. Peter Abraham also is in favor of starting Joba. My fellow blogger Rob Abruzzesse also agrees with me. He points out a slew of opinions on the matter.

I liked Joba as the set-up man for Mo, but the fact is that with Joba he can be a dominant guy. He outdueled Josh Beckett in Fenway back in July 1-0, a sign of promise. Abraham notes that innings 1-6 are more important than the 7th and 8th. I'm with him on this. You need a guy to get you to the 7th in the first place, if he doesn't then the 7th and 8th innings don't mean much. To go with the arguement is that the Yankees have a pretty decent bullpen. They likely will use the combination of Jose Veras and Brian Bruney to set-up and manybe mix in Damaso Marte for lefties. So the need for Joba is in the rotation.

Joba surely won't be pitching 200 innings as the Yankees will limit him to around 150. His potential and talent can attribute to a 15 win win season, if not more. I could be wrong but I believe that's a fair assessment. For right now Joba's in the rotation, where he belongs.

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Tags: AJ Burnett, Baseball, Brian Bruney, CC Sabathia, Damaso Marte, Joba Chamberlain, Jose Veras, Josh Beckett, Mariano Rivera, Yankees

The Yankees are finding new ways to lose. This time, they found a way to blow a four run lead on an afternoon where the offense showed up and scored some runs, not to mention a decent outing by their starting pitcher Darrell Rasner.

The game slipped away from the Yanks in the top of the 7th.With the Yanks up 6-3 and Toronto had a man on first base and no outs. A groundball was hit to Robinson Cano, he fielded it, and flipped it Derek Jeter at second. Problem was, Cano's flip was erratic and got away from Jeter. This puts runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. A walk later loaded the bases, and Joe Inglett singled to center. This shaved the Yankee lead down to 6-5. In the top of the 8th Brian Bruney gave up a single to Vernon Wells, next up Adam Lind facing Damaso Marte. Lind gets a base hit to right. Edwar Ramirez then comes in to try and calm things down. He gives up a hit to Jose Bautista and the game is now tied at 6. Next batter Greg Zaun hits a slow grounder that went all of about 75 feet got the go ahead run in for the Blue Jays. Rasner left with a 6-3 lead, now going into the bottom of the 9th the Yanks were down 7-6.

Jeter leads off with a single and Bobby Abreu walks to start the 9th. Here comes Alex Rodriguez, chance to the hero but he failed in another late inning spot. He grounded into a double play, his 11th this month! Next up Cody Ransom flew out to left leaving Abreu at second and the game was over. Heartbreaking loss to say the least for the Yankees.

The bullpen that had been so good last night, let the Yanks down today. Bruney, Marte, and Ramirez all pitched in Friday's 2-1 win. The difference between last night and today was Mariano Rivera. Girardi could've gone to his closer today but it would've marked the 3rd straight day in which Joe would've called upon Rivera to get more than 3 outs. At some point you got to let the guy rest. Now we see why Rivera is so valuable to this team. Maybe if he comes in in the 8th inning, the Yanks don't give the game away.

Up 6-2 in this game, the Yanks MUST win this game. It's just another bad result in a season full of them. At some point the Yanks will be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs if things keep going this way. Time is running out, 27 games left and 6 out. Time is not on the Yankees side.

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Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Baseball, Bobby Abreu, Brian Bruney, Cody Ransom, Darell Rasner, Demaso Marte, Derek Jeter, Edwar Ramirez, Mariano Rivera, Yankees