I have a new nickname for the Yankees' free agent pitchers

A few thoughts while we wait for this afternoon's big press conference (I'm assuming this is a carving board sort of day at the Stadium, with prime rib. Yum!) Alas, I have other plans this afternoon, and will have to record the presser and watch it later. Bummer.

But I do have a suggestion. Nicknames are vitally important in baseball, and I think the Bombers' new Yankee pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett need one. My suggestion? Alphabet Soup for CC and A.J. Hey, it's better than calling them, say, 243 (for the combined millions the Bombers will be paying them) or 570 (their estimated combined weight.)

Readers, if you have a better suggestion for nicknames, please post a comment here, or email us at subwaysquawkers@gmail.com.

* Squawker Jon, I see that your Mets did their own wingding for "Krancisco" Rodriguez, as I like to call him. (He shouldn't be K-Rod if his name begins with an F!) And he will be taking the unusual uniform number of 75. Is that for how many wins the Mets will get next year?

* Derek Jeter was on XM Radio the other day, and he had this to say about Red Sox MVP Dustin Pedroia (oh, how I hate to put those words together!) Peter Abraham's blog has the words from the transcript. Here's a snippet:

“He’s a great player. More importantly, he’s a good person. He was fun to be around (at the All-Star Game). The thing about Dustin that I like is every game he’s playing all out. I mean, he’s a player that you really enjoy to watch play. I mean, I really don’t enjoy it because we see enough of him but you really appreciate the way he goes about playing the game everyday.

While I am positively cringing hearing Jeter say all that praise, I am also jealous that the Yanks really don't have a kid like Pedroia right now. I guess Joba counts as far as pitching excitement (and getting other opposing fans' skin the way Pedroia does), but there is not hot young position player on the Yanks who is an equivalent to Dustin. And I wish they did.

Once upon a time, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera appeared to be up-and-coming stars. But Melky's star faded so much he first was demoted to the minors, and then was supposed to be traded for Mike Cameron. However, it looks like that trade is dead. It would be nice if in 2009, Cano and Cabrera could be the exciting young players they projected to be. Dare to dream!

* One other note - Subway Squawkers is now part of Facebook's blog network. If you belong to Facebook, click here to join the fun with us.

What do you think about the state of the Yankees? Leave us a comment!

Will K-Rod be lightning rod for Mets' rivals?

Congratulations, I guess, are in order on Squawker Jon's beloved Mets getting Francisco Rodriguez to agree to a three-year, $37 million deal. After all, as my blogging partner notes, the Mets got him for a lot less than the 5-year, $75 million deal he was seeking.

K-Rod is known not just for being a great closer, but for his annoying, over-the-top celebrations. He makes Jonathan Papelbon look like a librarian, and Joba Chamberlain seem like a church mouse. And now he joins a team which already has one drama king - Jose Reyes.

So it's going to be interesting to watch how the other teams in the National League, especially the Phillies, react to seeing K-Rod's ridiculous displays of emotion.

As for how this will affect the Yankee-Mets rivalry, I'm guessing we'll be hearing about how the Mets now have the best closer in town. Good grief. And I'm also thinking that K-Rod will be, shall we say, not exactly loved by Yankee fans. I'm sure Squawker reader Uncle Mike (aka Michael in NJ) is firing up a post as we speak about Rodriguez!

I'm also wondering how having K-Rod and Reyes on the same team will affect the Mets. Will Reyes feel compelled to elevate his displays of emotion to an even more histrionic level? If so, heaven help us!

You know what I don't like about K-Rod? His nickname. Not only is it a ripoff of A-Rod, but I keep on thinking that the pitcher's first name should begin with a K instead of an F. Maybe he should just change his name to Krancisco Rodriguez. It would make a lot more sense!

What do you think of K-Rod? Leave us a comment!

Mets' bullpen needs New Deal

An article in Sunday's Times argues that the Mets should not go after Francisco Rodriguez because he only ranked fourth in the AL this year among closers in a new stat, W.P.A. Also, a drop in K-Rod's velocity means increased injury risk, especially considering what happened to Billy Wagner this year.

The article makes some good points, and there are valid reasons for being wary of giving K-Rod a five-year deal. But I am tired of reading arguments that must come up with new stats with names that sound like they'd be more at home in FDR's New Deal while ignoring the basic facts about K-Rod:

• He has saved more than forty games four years in a row.
• He helped pitch the Angels to a World Series title in 2002.
• Even in a year in which, aside from saves, his statistics were supposedly off, K-Rod still had an ERA of 2.24 and a batting average against of .216. Even with his reduced strikeout rate, he still fanned 77 in 68 1/3 innings.
• He is only 26 years old.
• Oh, and by the way, he set the all-time saves record in 2008 with 62.

My favorite passage from the Times article ends up making a more telling point about the Mets' needs:

Even a healthy closer can have only so much impact on a team. If a team's top reliever is hurt, the manager can promote the club's set-up man - also a well-above average pitcher - to closer, ensuring that he will still have a strong hurler working the ninth.

It is clear that this writer did not see any Mets games in 2008. But as far as making a point that a good setup man is just as important as a good closer, he is on to something there.

If the Mets do sign K-Rod and call it a day with the bullpen, you can bet he won't be getting 62 saves again, because the Mets' bridge to a closer is currently more like a bridge to nowhere.

Another bit of "conventional wisdom" I'd like to see retired is the notion that the problem with the Mets' bullpen in '08 was that once Wagner got hurt, the other relievers were all moved into unsuitable roles.

Let's face it - for some of these guys, the unsuitable role was being on a big-league roster. And even when Wagner was healthy, nobody was laying claim to the setup role.

So the Mets need not just a closer, but a good setup man. Ideally, he would be someone with closing experience, but I'll be happy if the Mets get one closer, much less two, especially since they are already paying Wagner's salary next year. So instead of one solid high-priced setup man, how about two lower-priced good possibilities for the role? (Players like, alas, Matt Lindstrom and Heath Bell).

The Mets bullpen needs a new deal, and what better place to go for that new deal than Las Vegas?