Yankees won again today. they continue to rake as Cano geos 2 for 4 with a with HR and more amazingly a walk , giving him 3 HR in 4 game (last 2 year he had 19 HR combined in the last 2 month, so he averages close to 10 HR . if he does that again he has a shot at reaching 20 HR this year) Melky Cabrera went 3 for 5 with 2 double (though one was a very strange ground rule double, a hotshot back up the middle that the pitcher kicked into the stands. ) and Shelley Duncan continue to make every out look very scary. oh and that A-rod guy didn't HR again, but had a double and a walk.

Another story of note is that Chien Ming Wang got his 40th MLB win on his 70th start, which is a pretty darn fast pace, and he had a vintige Wang start going 7 + inning on 98 pitches with 7 hits allowed, a walk and 3 K and tons of ground balls.

Looks like the Sawx picked up the wrong guy at the deadline.

Another bullpen arm looks superfluous at this point, but they could definitely use a hot bat, what w/ Nancy, Whiffy-mo, Hoppalong Papi et al.

Nah they made the right move, the Yankees' chances of catching them is slim to none, and even if they do pull of a miracle and catch them, it still probaby mean they make the wild card. meanwhile, a extra good bullpen arm can mean a lot in the playoffs.

And they didn't give up anything they're going to miss anyway, Beltre is still at least 5+ years away even if he pans out. Gabbard is most likely a backend guy at best , and Murphy is a 4th OF that might be able to be a passable CF in a super hitters park like Arlingon. it's 2 fringe guys that a truely good team don't need and a very raw and very far prospect that doesn't guarentee anything .

We shall see RW, but I find it interesting that the Sawx have had 3 lefty prospects in the last year -- Gabbard, Lester, and Dinardo. They released one, traded another, and kept Lester. The Dinardo release looks like a big mistake, and Gabbard looked decent this year in his few starts. Lester meanwhile leaked baserunners last season, and did the same tonight. Seems to me they picked the least talented of the three.

Will the Canadien pay off in the playoffs? Who knows? His last appearances in Texas weren't exactly dominating.

Also, if the Sawx allow the Yankees to catch them -- which is a real possibility, esp w/ 6 games left between them -- chances are one of the Indians/Tigers/Mariners will have caught them as well, and they'll be hitting the links come October 3.

The Sawx collapsed last season, and they could this season as well. The advantage on the plus side for them is the 2 Japanese pitchers they've added, but on the negative side Papi, Schilling are a year older and showing some wear and tear.

Funny how a post about Jermaine Dye is hijacked for more Yankees-Red Sox discussion. Yes, I know that the Red Sox were pursuing Dye, but it still makes me laugh to see David's orignial post and this as the follow-up.

I'll stay out of the Yankees-Red Sox war (I'm an A's fan), but I will say that I'm pleased to see Jermaine pick up his game. He was injured for much of his stay here in Oakland, of course, but he was always a true professional. (Not to mention a ton of fun to watch when he was actually healthy.) I still get goosebumps thinking about how the team came together after Billy acquired Jermaine at the 2001 deadline.

Stay well, Jermaine!

I'm a big Yankee fan too, but i just can't completely agree with ur assesment.

Lenny Dinardo this year have been intersting, he's sporting a Chien Ming wang like results , aka groundballing guy that's not striking people out. it is sustainable to a point, but he's also walkin more than Wang and striking out even less, and last time i checked he wasn't throwing 95+ mph like Wang. that make his current result feel more like former A's Aaron Small . who's also a soft tossing groundballer that couldn't K people he needs to keep going for a full season and more to convince me that his current ability is for real.

Gabbard is much the same, at least Dinardo's BABIP havn't been incrediablly flukey (it's low at .270 , but Gabbard blows him away with a .240 mark) his K/BB is at least slightly more convincing than Dinardo though, I think he'll be able to sustain a decent back end job for at least a few yaer, but such type of pitcher don't tend to last too long either.

And more importantly, Jon Lester is only 23, and that's after losing almost a full season worth of time to cancer , meanwhile Gabbard is 25 and Dinardo is 28, both are probably at their max ability right now while Lester is still a couple of years away. there is a chane that he doesn't pan out as well as the Red Sox thought both due to cancer's lingering effect and the fact that he does have control issues. maybe he was a big nimlber in the minors too that simply got more people to chase, i'm not a scout though so i can't comment, but even if he is, thats basically exactly what Gabbard / Dinardo brings to the table anyway and Lester's minor league number suggset he knows how to pull it off better.

But there's clearly a chance that he's the Mark Buerhle too, and writing guys off at age 23 without even a full season worth of start under his belt AND battling back from cancer just isn't objective talent evalutation. MANY good pitchers sucked the first few times up. Curt Schilling is a good example of that

RW, look, of course I'm tweaking Sawx "Nation," but really, I just don't see the upside to Lester. Just about the only difference between he and the others, is his age, as you point out.

Go to Baseball Cube and check the minor league stats. H/p, bb/9, hr/9, etc, they're all very similar.

The other difference is the others are more successful at the major league level, though is may indeed well be luck.

As for the Buehrle comp: Buehrle's minorlg whip was 1.07, based mostly on the fact that his control was impeccable. 1.37 bb/9.

Lester even in the minors couldn't throw the ball over the plate: 3.75 bb/9. Sorry, but I don't see how the type of control necessary to make him a Buehrle-type success is just going to magically appear, when he's never had it.

The other important thing to note is that Dinardo and even Gabbard are ground ball pitchers, each in the 50-60% range in the majors at least.

Lester's clearly a fly-ball pitcher. Which again, isn't exactly a predictor of success.