January 30, 2025

84 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Sabathia cements legacy as first-ballot Hall of Famer”

  1. I think some voters are persuadable, or change their own minds. I don’t care about Wagner one way or the other, but also maybe some folks who were wavering realized they had one last chance to do this.

  3. Codify Baseball
    ‪@codifybaseball.bsky.social‬
    LOWEST CAREER MLB ERA
    (last 100 years, 500+ innings):

    Mariano Rivera, 2.21
    Billy Wagner, 2.31 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
    Jonathan Papelbon, 2.44
    Clayton Kershaw, 2.50
    Jacob deGrom, 2.52
    Hoyt Wilhelm, 2.52

    1. i prefer a 1000 innings of work:

      1. **Mariano Rivera** – **ERA+ 205** (1,283.2 innings)
      2. **Pedro Martínez** – **ERA+ 154** (2,827 innings)
      3. **Clayton Kershaw** – **ERA+ 155** (As of 2023, over 2,600 innings)
      4. **Greg Maddux** – **ERA+ 132** (5,008 innings)
      5. **Roy Halladay** – **ERA+ 131** (2,749 innings)
      6. **Randy Johnson** – **ERA+ 135** (4,135 innings)
      7. **Juan Marichal** – **ERA+ 122** (3,507 innings)
      8. **Sandy Koufax** – **ERA+ 131** (2,324 innings)
      9. **Mike Mussina** – **ERA+ 123** (3,562 innings)
      10. **Steve Carlton** – **ERA+ 115** (5,224 innings)

      *chatgpt may have forgotten some people

  4. It’s dumb, but it does keep the unanimous selection somehow magical. As soon as it starts being given out more regularly, it won’t mean much of anything.

    (Which is pretty much what’s being argued – it shouldn’t mean much of anything if you follow the “if you’re a HOFer, you’re a HOFer” line of reasoning.)

  7. The HOF is more like the Hall Of Very Good and very capricious
    CC 251-161 3577ip 116 era+ Elected first ballot
    Tim Hudson 222-133 3126ip 120 era+ failed to get 5% in his second year of eligibility.

    Was CC that much more deserving?

    1. Thing is, it’s either intuition or numbers. If numbers are the determining factor, what would be the point of voters? If voters make their decisions, they’re bound to feel they’re called upon to exercise some sense they have that goes beyond the numbers.
      On a point of agreement, though – I don’t see why they couldn’t have a hall within the hall, recognizing both the “small hall” and “large hall” ideas? Beyond the value of that, it would give them more to do.

  8. From Fangraphs:

    The Yankees would be a very good fit for Kim. Right now, our Depth Charts show them with 3.4 projected wins from the second base position, but that’s because we have Jazz Chisholm Jr. slotted in there, with DJ LeMahieu and Oswaldo Cabrera handling third. The two of them are projected to combine for just 1.5 WAR at the position, which simply isn’t good enough for a team that just won the pennant and is looking to do so again this year. Adding Kim would allow Chisholm return to third base, which he played quite well last season despite having zero previous experience at the position, with LeMahieu and Cabrera holding down the fort there until Kim is healthy. The Yankees are also currently about $19 million under their 2024 payroll, so they have enough space to sign Kim without exceeding last year’s spending.

    1. I think Bregman is still the best option. He has a decent OBP, he’s not THAT old, and he is the only guy left to have 4 WAR last season. Also, while Chisholm can obviously play third base, he’s so much more valuable at second. Kim would be fine if they just REFUSE to spend the extra money, but dang, dudes, why refuse the spend the extra money?

      Heck, at this point, Bregman might be willing to sign a pillow contract! Or an opt-out-laden deal where he could try again at free agency next season.

    2. Love Kim, want the Yankees to sign him, but he’s not a difference maker – he’s coming off of shoulder surgery and might be limited to 2B going forward if his arm does not come back.

    1. It’d be by the same people that started the mess, though. The Top 50 would be KILLED by recency bias. It’d be, like, Big Papi and Derek Jeter in the top ten.

    1. Yes, yes we are. DJLM is heading toward a DFA in a rational world and they would sign a current MLB caliber player, but the Steinbrenners need another renovation on their third yacht, so they will do that instead.

  13. In 1995, Cleveland lost to the Braves with this lineup:

    Kenny Lofton CF
    Omar Vizquel SS
    Carlos Baerga 2B
    Albert Belle LF
    Eddie Murray DH
    Jim Thome 3B
    Manny Ramirez RF
    Paul Sorrento 1B
    Sandy Alomar C

    Hilarious.

    It’s also pretty funny that Manny and Thome, two of the best hitters of the 30 years, were batting in the back half of the lineup!

    1. As the cliché goes, good pitching beats good hitting.
      Maybe a bit more so when HOF-caliber hitting is buried at 6-7 while the guy with a sub-100 OPS+ bats second.
      But really the difference is a rotation with 3 HOF starters who each had at least one good outing in the series – and a #4 starter (Avery) whose stuff was comparable before injuries limited him.

      Even so, there were a lot of super close games in that series. Was very exciting.

    1. Can you even IMAGINE how shitty his market was for him to take that fucking deal?!

      It really makes me sort of wish the Yankees had just signed him, as the deal is cheap enough that they could probably have traded him.

  17. The fucking Cubs are bailing out the Astros and trading for fucking washed up Ryan Pressley. Annoying.

    So the Astros will probably bizarrely bring Bregman back, and now probably look like a better team than the Yankees.

    Well, THAT sucks.

  18. I may head to Cooperstown for this class. I say that, but usually don’t go. But its only a 2 hour drive for me.

    This will apparently be a “see who sticks” infield this year.

    2. I live far away but Mariano would have been my biggest draw, Sabathia’s an excellent choice though. One feels he’ll give a great speech.

  21. This is weird. “The NFL told the New England Patriots to shut down the team’s Bluesky account. Patriots VP of content Fred Kirsch said the team was told that Bluesky is “not an approved social media platform for the NFL yet.”

  22. While I obviously want Cashman to make a big move, I’ll concede that I’m totally down with the idea of picking up random dudes with live arms to see what Blake can do with them. It’s really such an obvious move, right? See what Blake can do with them, then cut them loose if he can’t unlock anything.

    1. That’s ok but he needs a couple of bats. Third base is obvious but a RH hitting outfielder would be useful also.

  23. Yankees with one prospect in MLB top 100, Martian at 21. townies two in the top 10 and 3 in the top 12. including the #2.

    Volpe needs to make the next step and Wells needs to hit like he did over the summer.

  24. slangsonsports.bsky.social
    ‪@slangsonsports.bsky.social‬
    With Sasaki, Snell and Glasnow, the Dodgers have 3 pitchers projected for a 30% strikeout rate or higher, per FG Depth Charts

    No team in MLB history has had 3 pitchers with at least a 30% K% and 75 IP each in a season

    1. I definitely think Sasaki is going to be very good, but projecting a 30% K rate is something.

    2. Sarah Langs is the best, but this stat seems a bit arbitrary. Nolan Ryan at age 42 threw 239.1 innings with a 30.5% K rate. So the 1989 Rangers could have split him into 3 guys and it would have met those criteria.

      Likewise, the 1965 Dodgers had Sandy Koufax, who singlehandedly threw 335.2 IP with a 29.5% K rate. So you could have split him into 4 guys with 83 IP each, three of them with a 31% K rate and one with a mere 29% K rate.

    3. Sorry, I did the math wrong on Koufax. Splitting his 1965 season (335.2IP, 29.5% K rate) into four guys with 83IP each, three could have a 30% K rate and the fourth would have a mere 28%.

      Of course Koufax did it off a higher mound.
      How the heck did Ryan do it at his age?

    1. It makes sense if you are a billionaire, but a relatively poor, single-digit billionaire and want to ascend to the next level of billionairedom.

    2. I think it’s less a salary dump and more trying to fill multiple holes with a single guy, like how Soto filled two rotation spots, catcher, and was a big piece of filling a third rotation spot.

      So if they can get a left fielder and a second baseman for King, it makes some sense.

  31. Now I feel much more upbeat about the Yankees future. MLBTR “Owner Hal Steinbrenner tells Meredith Marakovitz of the YES Network that they plan to open extension talks with their manager in the near future. “We will be talking with him in the days and weeks to come. … There’ll be conversations had with him about potentially staying longer,” Steinbrenner told Marakovitz.”

  32. Poor wittle Hal

    Kirschner: “It’s difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kinds of things they’re doing. We’ll see if it pays off. They still have to have a season relatively injury free for it to work out for them.”

    1. I mean, whatever, I don’t know what else he’s expected to say. He’s never going to tell the truth. “I don’t want to spend enough to make us a really good team.” So it’s always going to just be some nonsense out of his mouth.

  35. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/01/yankees-planning-to-play-jasson-dominguez-in-left-field.html

    Boone indicated that his starting outfield was likely to comprise Jasson Domínguez in left field, Cody Bellinger in center, and Aaron Judge in right. Trent Grisham is ticketed for a fourth outfield role. The eighth-year skipper suggested he hoped to keep Domínguez mostly in left field while using Bellinger a bit more flexibly. He noted that there’ll be days when Judge serves as a designated hitter while Giancarlo Stanton gets a day off. In those instances, Grisham would likely draw into center field with Bellinger kicking over to right.

    Boone added that with the current roster makeup, he views Jazz Chisholm Jr. as the starter at second base. He named DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza as players who could battle for playing time at third base. New York has been linked to free agents Jorge Polanco and Brendan Rodgers, so there’s still a chance for an acquisition to push Chisholm back to the hot corner.

    I hope this is a negotiating tactic to get a real 2b/3b.

    2. They don’t want him sitting next to a Zimmer. Every decision needs to be made based on input from the crack analytics team. Just look at the numbers for Shohei against Nestor. That’s a move you can make without thinking. They don’t want some old-school baseball guy talking about a recent arm injury, being rusty, or some other nebulous ideas that aren’t backed up by statistically significant data.

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