Anaheim Travel & Information Gateway

If Sabathia and Burnett say yes, what do the Yankees do next?

RSS Feed — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:51:32 +0000

The joke, for years its seems, has been when the Yankees are about to open their new Yankee Stadium, they will sign every free agent.
It’s started. At least, among the starters.
The Yankees are expected to follow up Friday’s record six-year, 0 million offer to CC Sabathia with a five-year, million tender to A.J. Burnett (pictured).
What does Brian Cashman do if both pitchers accept? Offer big deals to Derek Lowe and Ben Sheets too? And what if Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte want to pitch in pinstripes one more season? Chien-Mien Wang (foot) is expected to be ready to go in spring training. Joba Chamberlain suddenly looks the part of a dynamic setup reliever again.
Guess the Sidney Ponson era is over in the Bronx before it really got started. And suddenly there’s development time aplenty for Orange Countians Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes.
The Yankees’ offers to Burnett and eventually Lowe would also tweak the beaks of the Red Sox, who covet both pitchers.
No wonder New York could afford to sell the contract of Darrell Rasner to a Japanese team. The locker space was clearly needed.
All of this should send a signal to the Angels: Quick, sign some hitters while the Yankees are blowing everyone’s minds by assembling this new rotation.

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Tags: Angels Baseball, Sports

Washington Capitals (10-4-3) at Anaheim Ducks (10-7-2), 10 p.m. (Miami Herald)

RSS Feed — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:50:50 +0000

The Washington Capitals will try to get back in the win column tonight when they continue their five-game road trip with a stop at the Honda Center to face the Anaheim Ducks.

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Tags: Anaheim Ducks, Sports

Sorry voters, Youkilis was Boston’s MVP in one (5-9) man’s opinion

RSS Feed — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:45:17 +0000

Congratulations, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, on being voted the 2008 American League Most Valuable Player.
Now take that trophy, jog toward your position in Fenway Park and hand it to your teammate on the right side of the Boston infield, first baseman Kevin Youkilis (pictured). Unless of course Youkilis is playing third base in place of an injured Mike Lowell, as he did in 36 regular-season games and much of the playoffs, or maybe filling in as the right fielder in J.D. Drew’s place (Youk has played left field, too, in the past but not in 2008).
And if he took the field and squatted behind the plate in catcher’s gear, I would not be shocked; somebody has to help Kevin Cash replace Jason Veritek.
Yes, Youk is that versatile; should the Red Sox sign Angels first baseman Mark Teixeira, Youkilis will switch to one of the other corners — you pick — and still produce like a champ.
It’s that multipositional effort that gives Youkilis the edge in this discussion. He even hit better at third base (.328) than he did at first (.310).
Pedroia led the AL in hits, runs and doubles in helping the Red Sox win the wild-card berth. He batted .326 with 17 home runs and 83 RBIs and also stole 20 bases in 21 attempts. He also won a Gold Glove at his position.
He drew 16 of the 28 first-place votes cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and finished with 317 points, with the Twins’ Justin Morneau second.
Youkilis (.312, 29 HRs, 115 RBIs) was third in the voting with 201 points, including two first-place votes.
But take the numbers a little farther. Youkilis had a .390 on-base percentage, slugged .569 (3rd in the AL) and had a .958 OPS (4th).
Pedroia’s numbers in those categories: .376, .493 and .869, all three inferior to those of his teammate.
Want more numbers? Youkalis batted .267 with the bases empty but .358 with runners on. With RISP, Youkalis hit .374; with RISP and two outs, he hit .328.
Pedroia’s numbers in those categories: .338 with bases empty, .310 with runners on, .307 with RISP, .231 with RISP and two outs.
Advantage: Youkilis, in three of four.
He didn’t win the MVP award, but Youkilis won the Hank Aaron Award as the most outstanding offensive performer in the American League.
And, Napoleons of the 21st Century, there is no bias here against small players. Pedroia is a heck of a player no matter what size he is, and this writer’s favorite Angel in the 60s was Albie Pearson slightly (no pun intended) over Jose Cardenal and Jim Fregosi.
For the record, growing up watching Pete Rose play second, third, right, left and first is what led me to respect the multipositional performer.
Youkilis didn’t feel slighted by the actual MVP result, instead expressing happiness for Pedroia in an interview with the Boston Herald.
Ever since the Boston media began touting Pedroia as a strong MVP candidate in mid-summer, I always thought it was the bald guy with beard instead. And please, number crunchers, don’t start talking about Value Over Replacement Player.
Replacement player is a dirty word in baseball, and there’s no reason to bring labor strife into this discussion.

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Tags: Angels Baseball, Sports

Pregame Comments vs. Washington

RSS Feed — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:00:48 +0000

Pregame comments from Ducks and Capitals players

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Tags: Anaheim Ducks, Sports

The Hugo Boss Ducks Report

RSS Feed — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:00:47 +0000

A report on the latest developments with the Ducks

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Tags: Anaheim Ducks, Sports

Duck Cast with Brian Sutherby

RSS Feed — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:00:46 +0000

Anaheim forward Brian Sutherby speaks with Steve Carroll about the Ducks’ recent play and facing his former team on the latest edition of Duck Cast.

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Tags: Anaheim Ducks, Sports

McNab Named Senior VP of Hockey Ops

RSS Feed — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:00:46 +0000

The Ducks announced on Tuesday that they have named David McNab Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations. In addition, McNab will also serve as General Manager of the Iowa Chops.

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Tags: Anaheim Ducks, Sports

McNab Named Senior VP of Hockey Ops

RSS Feed — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:00:41 +0000

The Anaheim Ducks announced on Tuesday that they have named David McNab Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations. In addition, McNab will also serve as General Manager of the Iowa Chops, Anaheim’s primary development affiliate in the Am…

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Tags: Anaheim Ducks, Sports

Ducks-Capitals: How they match up

RSS Feed — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:12:54 +0000

DUCKS (10-7-2) vs. WASHINGTON (10-4-3)

7 p.m. Wednesday

Site: Honda Center

TV-radio: Prime Ticket; KLAA/830

How they match up

Ducks	How they match up	Capitals
2.95	Goals per game	3.24
2.96	Goals against avg.	2.71
20%	Power play	17.4%
80.4%	Penalty killing	80.7%

Outlook

Washington and star LW Alex Ovechkin come to Honda Center for the first time since Jan.13, 2006, and the teams meet for the first time since Dec.8, 2006 … Ovechkin has goals in four straight games after a slow start … LW Alexander Semin, second in the NHL in scoring, is day-to-day with an upper body injury … Former Ducks C Sergei Fedorov (ankle) is also day-to-day … The Capitals won five in a row before a shootout loss to New Jersey last Saturday … They are fifth in the NHL in goals per game.

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Tags: Anaheim Ducks, Sports

Division rivals hire new manager

RSS Feed — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:44:02 +0000

What do we know about Don Wakamatsu, tapped by the Mariners to be manager?

Er, actually, almost nothing. But give the Mariners credit for not signing some retread. Anytime your team has a managing vacancy, the Buddy Bell threat level is at least orange.

Wakamatsu was a bench coach for the A’s last year, which is an interesting line on a resume. It could mean he’s a stathead who was in charge of whispering Billy Beane-approved sweet nothings to A’s manager Bob Geren. (”The run expectancy charts advise against bunting in this situation.”) Or it could mean absolutely nothing.

While nearly every team has analytic guys somewhere in the front office these days, you rarely hear managers admit to being fellow travelers.

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Tags: Angels Baseball, Sports

Anaheim Travel & Information Gateway

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