Happy Thanksgiving!

I actually don't understand the difference between Christmas and Thanksgiving. If someone can help me out for that, I will be very appreciated at that.

Christmas and Thanksgiving for me are like my Chinese New Year. I actually feel Christmas is much closer to equal to Chinese New Year than Thanksgiving. Chinese New Year is a big holiday for Taiwanese. Family members get together, clean the whole house, play cards and eat tons of food. It sounds like Christmas or Thanksgiving to me. Taiwanese use Chinese New Year to reflect what happen to the whole year and look forward to the new Year.

My wish about Yankees? The same I had last year. I hope Yankees have an injury-free 2009 season. It seems to me this is a pipe dream for Yankees for a long long time.

Don't disappoint me, Andy

I will be extremely disappointed if Andy go to Dodgers. Actually, I will be more disappointed at seeing Andy to leave than losing CC to one of teams in California. I hope what I heard so far regard of Andy with Dodgers is just the game Andy and his agent play as a leverage for free agent. Just like Posada and Mo did a year ago at the same time. I know loyalty is two way street, but Andy need to put Yankees fans in this equation if what I heard and what I saw from Andy Pettitte is really what he meant.

I don't believe Yankees haven't made an offer to Andy. If Yankees don't think they can get him back, they would just offer arbitration to him like Abreu. I understand loyalty is two way street and players need to get most out of their short career. That's why I don't mind players go to somewhere are willing to pay them much more. However, Andy always keeps saying how much he loves our Yankees fans and playing for Yankees, especially for the opportunity of playing in New Yankees stadium. He also does not care money. That's why how much more loves he gets from Yankees fans. If Andy means what he says, I will be extremely disappointed if Andy goes to Dodgers.

Of course, the offer Yankees made certainly is less than 16 million Pettitte made. Again, Pettitte don't care about money, right? A lot of players say they love to stay at their own teams, but they don't say they don't care about money. Some of them are willing to take less money to stay that certainly shows what they mean, such as Lowell, Peavy, etc.

I understand money for players sometimes show how much teams want to keep them or respect. However, it sometimes just reflects performance. The same thing happen to our regular people. When we get more experience and perform better or make less mistakes on our jobs, we get paid more. I don't get the notion about Pettitte doesn't want to get a pay cut. Pettitte has leverage two years in a row to get his 16 million salary or a multi-year contract. It's his choice not to get a multi-year contract. I am pretty sure if he wants to he can get one from Yankees two years in a row. So, he can't blame Yankees to use that leverage now and want him to take a pay cut.

Not a big free agent sign with teams yet. A lot of free agents even haven't get an offer from teams, so Pettitte can't blame Yankees don't show enough love or respect to him. Not to mention how much support he get from Yankees and Yankees fans during his HGH events.

I love Andy and want him back. I also believe he will have a bound back year in 2009. Hopefully, he won't disappoint me.

Is another trade coming before winter meeting?

There are so few news happening recently. I am wondering is it possible there is another trade coming for Yankees before winter meeting? If CC doesn't sign before Thanksgiving or winter meeting, I don't see other major free agents to be signed ahead of CC. It may be much better or smarter for Yankees to get some of their needs by trade first, such as center fielder which is a weak link in free agents market this off-season.

I always the one make decisions quickly after considering all information on hand. I sometimes don't understand the reasons to drag out the process for long period of time. I am from Taiwan where people like to stay in their hometowns. That's why I can understand why CC wants to stay in California. However, when you look at 3 teams in California, there is only one team which is LA Dodgers has interests to put on comparable offer because they obviously need starting pitchers when Giants and Angels need offense, not pitching. On top of that, Dodgers need Manny to draw more people to ballpark when they don't like to give out big contract at the same time.

I am not going to go through all reasons why three teams in California are not likely bidding for CC. I just want to mention one thing. I believe most of you guys have experience of looking for schools or jobs. We all have our dream jobs or schools in our mind to begin the process and may be willing to take less salary or sacrifice somethings to get that dream jobs or schools. There are two other big factors we won't ignore as well. Firstly, of course, higher salary offers you and your family better security, especially for someone has family. Secondly, knowing companies really want to have you also play a big role on decisions. When CC really wants to play at home, why he insists on playing for teams in California haven't showed that they want him so far?

Moose..............

Mike Mussina officially decided to retire. I am not going to talk about Moose's numbers. I am not going to talk about his chance for HOF. I am not going to talk about his playoff performance. I am not going to talk about his "almost" which includes an almost perfect game and an almost world series ring with no no-hitter and no CY Young Award in his resume.

As a fan, I like to talk about memory. No matter they are good memory or bad memory. I only care about those memory that players bring to me. Those memory play a big role in my life because of how many time we spend on watching them playing. It seems players become part of our life and go through good things or bad things with us.

I become a Yankees fan when I went to America to study film school in 2005, so I don't have that much memory about Mussina to talk about when comparing with you guys.

2006, May

I always remember the game Moose pitched against Tiger. Moose pitched a complete game. When Torre was going to come out to take the ball from Moose in the 9th inning with 2 outs, Moose yelled and pointed to Torre,"No, you stay there".

During the same period of time, I was busy at my pitch for my film project. I was so happy I am able to put everything together and get ready for graduation. Only thing I regret is my family was not able to attend my graduation when my other classmates' family all attended.

2006, October

When Moose struggled with Tiger in ALDS playoffs, I also struggled to convince my family to let me stay in America. I was struggling with getting a company was willling to help out my visa issue and start questioning myself.

2008, September

I always remember the look Moose had when he sat in the dugout and looked at Mo pitching in the 9th inning of his 20th win game in Fenway Park. I can't forget the big smile Moose had after getting his 20th win.

For me, I finally get better results during the time in Sydney and start feeling better to myself.

I don't know how many Yankees players will miss Mussina, but I am sure Wang will be one of them. Wang always says Moose help him a lot. Wang told to Taiwanese media at the end of season. He asked Mussina to come back for two more years during the course of season, but Moose always smiled and said, "No". During the first press conference one week ago when Wang just arrived Taiwan, he still said he hopes Moose and Pettitte will come back.

I remember Moose help to fix Wang's delivery many times. In 2006, After Wang lost to National for that heart-broken loss, Moose told to Wang his story the next day. I am sure Wang will miss him a lot. When Taiwanese reporters asked Moose, Why you don't let people know you help Wang so much? Moose said, "I do this for Wang. The purpose is to help Wang, not to let people know".

I know we are going to miss you, Moose. However, we have those memory with us. As a child from single family without a good father with me, I am glad for Moose's family. They have their father with them to go through every good or bad time.

I was planning to post something regard of Manny and Teixeira originally. However, Today belongs to Moose. I decide to leave everything else to tomorrow. I will come back more after Moose's conference call.

Updated: I was listening to the interview Moose on WFAN. Moose said the decision of signing with Yankees is the best decision he ever made. i am glad to have you on my Yankees team as well.

I just told about the memory I have about Moose. How about yours?

Updated: Wang just attended the ceremony for the award he got earlier. Wang said it's so sad to see Moose go. He said he loses another good friend and good teacher on the team. Moose and he always look after each other when Moose teach him a lot. In his opinion, the difference between 2007 season and 2008 season for Moose is Moose doesn't care about the velocity of his fastball any more with more control and command in the strike zone. I think knowing 2008 season is his last season seems to help Moose a lot for his great 2008 season. By the way, Wang knows Yankees try to get front-end starters. He restates he doesn't care about who is No.1 on the team. He knows all those pitchers have different stuffs. He definitely can learn a lot from them. Everyone just goes out every 5 days to do their parts to get a championship.

Swisher will be a good fit to Yankees

Go check out the interview Swisher did on WFAN. The more I listen to him, the more I like him. I think he will do well and bring a lot to us, especially his personality. He laughs and jokes a lot during interview. Yankees certainly need someone like him to loose up and play 150% every time out.

We need more baseball players, not superstars.

For example, Swisher said his father is a Cubs' fan and goes on to say he quickly changes to a Yankees fan few days ago. HA! Not to mention there are more Yankees fans in his hometown now. He also mentions New Yankees stadium. The most important is he likes to eat. Me too. Welcome to Yankees' family.

P.S I just heard the interviews Michael Kay did on ESPN 1050. If CC doesn't like to play for us, like Peavy. I don't want someone to play for us if he doesn't want to no matter how good he is. However, there are tons of people claiming they are friends of CC now. I will reserve my comments before hearing from CC or his agents.

Congrats Dustin Pedroia for his MVP award

I hope this gives Cano extra or enough motivations for next season. I think this should and will let Cano want to prove himself. This is a valuable lesson for Cano. You need to work hard to realize your talent. Cano probably has much more talent than Pedroia. However, right now, it seems Pedroia work harder than Cano.

I know I should not feel happy for Pedroia, but I did. Congrats to him. He deserved it. Everyone don't think he can do it based on his talent and his size. Girardi told Posada: "Don't lose your job because someone work harder than you."

The reason I feel happy for Pedroia is I also believe there is nothing someone else can do I can't do. I am not smart with every bad memory. I also need to study or work harder than a lot of people in order to get a above average mark. Pedroia win a MVP is really a nice story.

Red Sox talk about Manny again

Just in case you miss it, ESPN has another new story regard of Red Sox and Manny. Everyone knows the relationship between Red Sox and ESPN, so it's safe to say Red Sox leak out those information to ESPN. I don't understand what Red Sox is doing. What is the point of talking about this now? Sometimes, I don't understand why Red Sox destroy any relationship with almost every former employees.

If Red Sox felt they need to let people understand what Manny did that lead to that trade, I can understand. However, this is not the first time Manny has this problem. They kept putting up with what Manny did again and again. That's why Manny kept doing this to them. In anther words, Red Sox can only blame themselves for this. Asian people always say there must be something wrong with parents when their children make the same mistake again.

Let us just assume everything they say about Manny is correct which I doubt. I have so many true stories happened to me with other persons. I was in Manny-like position before. The other party keep spreading around the wrong information and everyone say I am wrong. I am the one doesn't like to explain myself, especially when I was misunderstood by family, friends or people I don't know. The people know the truth are Manny, Red Sox players and front office.

Why Red Sox keep leaking out so many Manny stories now? Are they afraid of Yankees signing Manny? Otherwise, What is the point of doing this now?

Great strategy

I know Yankees already made an initial offer to CC which will break Santana's offer immediately. Basically, Yankees try to tell everyone they are serious about going after CC.

And then they tell everyone they are going to make an offer to AJ Burnett and Lowe the next few days. The few days separated between CC and AJ or Lowe show CC that he is our priority. However, they also show CC we are not going to sit around and wait for your answers forever. We are going to get more than one pitcher on free agent market.

I believe some of you have experience of trying to rent an apartment. Landlords keep getting phone calls from many people. They always tell us some people already came before you and they show interests in renting this apartment as well. If we want, we need to make a decision quickly. When landlords get a response from a group of people they like, they would lease the apartment immediately. So if you think and consider for too many days, you often end up with nothing left.

If everyone knows Yankees make offer to a lot of people they like, those players and agents will be afraid of losing Yankees' big offer once other players accept offer first because there are only few spots left for rotation and so much money to spend within the budget. This probably shortenes the period of time those players and agents sit on Yankees' offer and shop them around for a long time. Not to mention Economy is not in very good shape.

Welcome to Yankees family, Swisher

Sorry about being late. I am sure you guys already read a lot of analysis from different blogs and media outlets regard of this issue.

The reason I like this trade for three reasons.

First of all, This shows us Brian Cashman and Yankees front office really have a plan on hands. They know what they are going to do. No matter you agree with their plan or not, it seems things always come out with better results when you know what you are doing. Cashman is not going away from his plan because of 2008 season which is get younger. I like this direction which focuses on pitching and defense.

I remember I read a quote from Ichiro regard of the difference between American baseball and Asian baseball. Ichiro says American baseball plays to score more runs than the other team when Asian baseball plays to prevent the other team from scoring. In Asian countries, we are used to play low scoring game all the time. For example, we have a Asian championship series joined by the championship teams of Japanese, Korean, China and Taiwanese pro league to fight for the alternative championship. We play from November 13th to 16th. Scores of first day of tournament is like 2-1 and 4-3.

Secondly, I like the way Swisher play baseball. I got this impression when I watch him playing in A's. He is type of player Yankees need. Yankees don't need 25 superstars on the field. It has been proved that we can't win a championship that way. He is grind and gutty type of player. He not only has a great personality to loose up teammates but also play all out with 110% efforts all the time.

Finally, This puts everyone a doubt whether Yankees will go after Tiexeria or not. I believe most people's reaction to this trade is Yankess are not going to go after Tiexeria. Of course, I don't know what Yankees will do. It is always not a good thing to go into negotiation with Boras without any leverage.

On top of that, it definitely increases the chances we get CC. Think about it. When Dodgers are busy at chasing Manny and Angels probably feel more confidents on getting Tiexeria now, who is that California team that will bid for CC? Giants? I don't think so, they already signed Barry Zito with a huge contract with enough young pitching on hands. They need bats, not pitchers.

How can I miss this?

I have a busy day and I didn't go on the Internet yesterday. Talking about how little I know regard of Yankees. I know today is the first day every teams can talk numbers to every free agents. I don't think there will be any major news coming out. So, I miss it.

Yankees traded for Swisher yesterday. Let me tell you this first. I like this trade. I will come back more for details. It's pretty early in Sydney now.

Yankees sign Marte for 3 years with one year club option

See, I told you guys to relax and not to jump on Cashman right away. One good thing for Cashman is he is very honest. 3 years for 12 million is a good deal which is below market. Not to mention Marte is more than a lefty specialist and Yankees don't have a good lefty in the bullpen for long long time. 4 years is a little bit longer than I thought, but it doesn't matter because 4th year is a club option. Yankees can turn that down easily.

Good start for Yankees this important off-season.

Holliday heads to A's?

I actually don't understand why A's want to trade for Holliday for this one-year rental, but there is a good news and a bad news for Yankees fans. Why? Let me tell you.

I know Yankees are not really into the idea about trading prospects for Holliday. It's good to know he is going to head to someplace. He is one year away to become free agent. Why not wait for one more year? By that time, Mastui and Damon's contracts will be expired if Yankees are really interested in Holliday. It makes perfect sense to wait another year. It doesn't make sense to sacrifice prospect for him now.

On top of that, Yankees are able to know how Holliday will perform in A's pitcher's park instead of his old home. Not to mention about switching league. If he still can perform very well under those conditions, it won't be a bad idea to get him after 2009 season. Of course, it must be on reasonable price.

That' s why I don't understand why Billy Beane want to trade assets for a guy may not able to perform well in A's park. Does he know something we don't know? If he only trade away guys like Carlos Gonzalez, Greg Smith and Huston Street, it makes much more sense because Beane is very good at selling high and buying low. Maybe it's time to cash in for those players.

However, according to a lot of news sites, there are 2 top prospects in the packing. If Beane trade his top prospects for one-year Holliday that doesn't make sense. Because it's not worthy even though he can trade him to another team during trading deadline or cash in for another top draft picks after 2009 season. Not to mention there is a chance Holliday doesn't perform well in A's that lower the price for trading him and cashing him for draft pick. He also doesn't know who Holliday will sign with after 2009 season. If Holliday sign with big market teams which is highly likely, the draft pick Beane get won't be very high either.

This leads me to my bad news one. Beane may simply want to upgrade his team to complete in his weak AL West division. Why not? If A's get enough offense this off-season to go with their good enough pitching which they seems have all the time, they certainly can complete for AL West. Not to mention if he sign Giambi as well. Why this is a bad news for Yankees? If Angels sense A's want to complete with them becuase of this trade, they may go into bidding war with Yankees regard of CC and Teixeira. Hopefully, I just think too much.

Welcome Back, Wanger

Wang arrived Taiwan earlier. This is the photo in airport station. Wang just had a press conference 2 hours ago. However, there is huge political news in Taiwan today( I don't want to talk about that. If you guys are interested, go check out news).

I don't think there will be a huge coverage of Wang today. In fact, Taiwan media just like New York media. This is so rare someone like Wang to have any coverage at all. This tells you something. The way he speak(so few words) is really not a news material(boring).

I got few quotes from some news .


*Yankees ask Wang to ride bike, not to run.

*Wang knows there are a lot of great pitchers on the free agent market this off-season. How he feel? He said let go to get champion together. No matter who Yankees get, they are the best ones. He will just do his job which try his best to win every game. However, Wang said Moose and Pettitte really help him a lot. I think we can't underestimate the impact those veterans pitchers will bring to the team, especially for young pitchers.

*Wang really want to play WBC for Taiwan, but he knows he need to rehab first. Wang actually asked Cashman before coming back to Taiwan. Cashman already told him to prepare spring training.

*He said he felt so sad and miserable for not able to help Yankees, especially he sat there and looked at what happened to the team the end of season. When he knew Yankees' chance for playoffs become lower and lower, he wanted to play so badly and apologized to team.

Come back later for more if I have more.

Updated: I am finally able to watch Wang's press conference. Sorry about being late. I was so tired because I haven't slept much for few days.

*Wang said Bowa kept sending him text messages to encourage him and want to know how he feel after he get hurt. I think Yankees really miss Larry Bowa. If they actually have a chance to sign him after 2007 season, they definitely should not miss.

*Remember the difference between Joe Torre and Joe Girardi? Wang said Torre joking around with him a lot. However, Kuo(another Taiwanese pitcher) is the relief pitcher on LA Dodgers said Torre is quiet. He doesn't say much. As for Joe Girardi, Wang said he is more serious than Torre. During practices, Girardi actually run with them. Wang said he runs harder and tried not to lose to him.

I think Torre is really a good players manager based on what I heard from Wang and Kuo. Based on players' different personality, Torre uses different ways to communicate with them. Wang is quiet guy and is very hard on himself. Joking around with him and making him loose is a good way to get most out of him. On the other hand, Kuo is a voluble guy with good sense of humor. Torre use more serious way to deal with him.

*Wang doesn't regret for running hard on bases and getting hurt. He said injury is part of athlete's life. He always does his best no matter what he is doing. However, he thinks he needs to focus more to train his legs because he has a lot of injuries related to legs recent years.

*Wang said doctors told him he is 100% healthy right. This foot injury won't have any impact on his pitching. However, there are always few cracks over there. I am kind of understanding this. Just like our normal persons. Every time we hurt ourselves, there are always some concerns over the places we get hurt and there are always chances to hurt the same place again.

*There is one period of time in 2008 season he didn't pitch well. Wang said he think too much. He wants to get every batter and want to pitch better. I think Wang actually really wants to prove himself after what happened in 2007 playoffs.

*It will be a huge honor for Wang to be able to pitch in opening day in New Yankees stadium, but he doesn't think he will get it.

That's all I get. This week we can't do anything until we get past November 14 which all players become free agents. This is good. I actually can focus more on the stuffs I need to get it done in my real life.

Bring Pettitte back

What are Yankees waiting for? I posted another post regard of owners vs players vs fans earlier. I can't quite used to see my favorite players on my team coming and going as you guys may be able to used to. When coming down to make those decisions on favorite players on my team, I admit I can't make rational decision.

On top of that, When I talk about shopping experience earlier, I am the one make decision very quickly. Thinking about Angels the way they sign free agent.

If these Pettitte and Marte's situation tell us something, that's Yankees really have a plan on hand. Good to hear if you are a Yankees fan. Another thing to think about is Yankees probably wait Pettitte and Marte's price to come down when it approaches to November 14. From Yankees' standpoint, if you can save some money, why not? Don't forget one thing. Pettitte let Yankees keep waiting and giving him 16 million the past two seasons when he had leverage.

I still think Yankees should bring back Pettitte as a back of rotation guy no matter what Moose's decision is. I know Yankees want to get younger, but you never have enough pitching. Of course, I have some concerns regard of Pettitte. First of all, it's his healthy status. Secondly, it seems Pettitte lose his stuff. For example, he seems to lose his cutter. Evidence shows on his stats against righty which is very high. However, I have no problem with a pitcher with middle 4 ERA and over 200 innings as a back of rotation guy. Not to mention he is a lefty which is rare commodity in baseball.

In fact, I will bring back both Pettitte and Moose back on one-year deal to goes with CC, Wang and Joba as my 2009 rotation when tons of other options wait on the minor. I rather have them instead of Lowe, Sheets, Burnett, etc.

CC
Wang
Pettitte
Moose
Joba

However, I do think Yankees will only want to have one of Pettitte and Moose back. It looks like Moose is their first choice. I don't blame them after Moose's 20 win season with low 3 ERA, especially Moose shows the ability to make adjustment when velocity of his fastball slow down few mph. However, keep in mind one thing. Pettitte is going to be 37 while Moose will be 40 in 2009 season. On top of that, it seems to me Moose always put together great season on his "walk" year, doesn't it?

I actually can understand why Yankees only want to bring one of them back. When you look at the rotation I put above. There is a risk. CC come out two seasons with high innings workload. Wang and Joba come out of injury season when Joba has limitation on innings pitched. When you put them to go with two old pitchers(Pettitte and Moose). There is a risk. The ideal is Yankees actually bring 6 starters to camp and see what happen in my opinion.

However, I am not really so high on other free agent options. A.J Burnett? Inconsistent & injury prone. Lowe? Red Sox & age & AL East & another sinkerball pitcher with our defense. Sheet? Injury. Peavy? tons of prospects & switch from NL West to AL East & don't like New York and its spotlight. When you look at his number, Peavy will have a similar ERA as Wang in the AL East. I think his careeer ERA closer to 4 against AL team. Not to mention those not good numbers against AL East teams, especially on their park. Who else?

If Moose retire, we are going to need to have Pettitte back to go with one more free agent after CC. That's why I think Yankees will or should sign Pettitte back before November 14. No matter what, we should be able to know about Moose, Pettitte and Marte's situation with Yankees around November 14. I don't think Yankees will keep waiting Moose's decision and risk to lose Pettitte on free agent market.

Interesting Joe Girardi interview on WFAN

I heard an interesting Joe Girarid interview on WFAN. It's a good one.

*Based on what I heard, I think Joe Girardi learn a lot from this first year. He will improve next year. He already took the first step: more honest.

*Girardi think the most important thing he learn is keep building up the relationship with players in order to get most of them, but it takes time. I agree with him. The thing people don't realize is Joe Torre basically got his new core players when he got to Yankees in 1996 and they go on to win world series at first year. Of course, it makes everything much easier to deal with after championship. It's much harder for Joe Girardi because he needs to work on the core players who had been with Joe Torre for a long time and He took over after Yankees fail to make out of first round for many years.

*Girardi thinks it also takes time to figure out how to work with coach staff well.

*Girardi likes players are able to do many different things. He also would like to have a team with better defense and pitching. I think this is Yankees' offseason focus.

*Girardi thinks it's important to have two lefty in the bullpen. He wants to have Marte back and Yankees are talking deal with him. It seems to me Yankees have a deal with him on hand, otherwise Girardi won't be able to talk things like that.

*As for Mussina. Girardi think there are two factors for Moose's decision: what family members think and do Moose want to keep playing or not. It's not about HOF and 300 wins for him. He expects Mosse to make up his mind two months after season ends which is November. It's now. I think Yankees already know what Moose's decision by now. I think the reason Moose hasn't made in public is help Yankees. They actually can play some game with other free agent signing. It sounds to me Moose will retire.

*Joba is a starter now. It all depends on what offseason goes in order to make final decision. I think Joba will be in the bullpen if Yankees get enough starting pitching. It's not a final decision yet.

*Yankees are not sure or havn't made up their mind what they want to do in 1B.

Interesting, right? I think so. Girardi actually is honest this time and actually say a lot of things regard of team and himself. We actually can tell part of direction Yankees want to approach this offseason.

If you miss this interview on WFAN, go to their website to download the file later on.

Terrible 2008 season

Few days ago, Uni Lions which is one of Taiwanese pro league team win champion of CPBL(Taiwan pro league).

What a terrible 2008 season for me!

First of all, Yankees miss to make playoffs and stop 13 years streak.

Secondly, as a Taiwanese, Wang got hurt and miss at least half of season.

Thirdly, Red Sox and Rays make the playoffs

Fourthly, I have to watch Red Sox almost coming back and going into the world series.

And then the team in the Taiwan pro league I hate the most win champion.

Abreu and Wang are going to meet in Taiwan in December

If you guys can read Mandarin, check out those two links(1,2) regard of Wang's latest news. The rest of you guys, read my blog. Ha!

Wang's fly is tomorrow from New York and arrive Taiwan on 11th at 6am(Taiwanese time). He will have a "huge" press conference at 11am at the same day.

Wang need to rehab 4-5 hours everyday during off-season and then he will go to Arizona Fischer to start his preparation for 2009 season. Because of that, Wang haven't decided he will be able to attend as a special guest "pitchers& catchers training camp" was held by MLB, New York Yankees and Chinese Taipei Baseball Association.

This is first this kind of training camp held in Taiwan. There are 40 pitchers and 10 catchers from many Taiwan high school teams chosen by coach. Yankees are going to send 5 coaches from farm system as lecturers in this training camp, including 3 pitching coaches, 1 catching coach and 1 fitness coach. Right now, Yankees said manager of Staten Island Yankees, Pat McMahon and Mike Wickand who is responsible for fitness program of the whole Yankees minor system will be here.

Talking about being smart. I am sure Yankees can use this opportunity to scout some young talent pitchers and catchers. Cashman already sent out invitation to Wang for this training camp. Of course, this depends on Wang's schedule.

Abreu will come to Taiwan with his brother in the beginning of December for scouting his shoe factory. Wang definitely is going to be a host to Abreu.


By the way, Wang hope he is able to go to night market to eat one kind of snack called 台南米糕( see the picture. I don't know how to translate to English. Be honest, a lot of people like it, but I don't) which he hasn't eaten for 5 years. Wang said this through spokesman of his agency because he hope he is able to go to night market and beg fans not to bother him if fans saw him in the night market.

(Dear Wang, forget it, just let someone buy for you and eat at home. PS. Don't ask family and close friends to buy because I believe most Taiwanese know how his family and close friends look like)

I know all of these sound so crazy. This is reality of Wang's life. The whole nation want to know everything about him. That's why I don't think New York's spotlight means much to Wang when coming down to pressure.

Doesn't make sense

Just in case you guys miss those posts regard of Marte and Cameron I posted earlier, go check them out.

Yankees decline Marte's 6 million option officially. If Yankees don't work out a new deal with Marte at near future and let him test free agent market, this doesn't make sense, especially when you consider Cashman and Yankees have been search for lefty relief pitchers for a long time. Once Marte get to free agent market, he almost certainly can get better deal from someone else.

Why trade away young talents in the farm system and let Marte walk away? Of course, we still have Nady. But, don't forget not only Marte is the main guy Cashman target for at the first place and Cashman said he won't do this trade for two month rentals but also Cashman make this trade when our bullpen is in good shape and only concern is the lack of lefty relief pitchers in the bullpen.

I know Phil Coke is impressive, but is it be better off having two lefty relief pitchers in the bullpen and one of them has some experience? If Cashman has so many faith in young pitchers in the farm system, why bother to trade for Marte? If Cashman start believing relief pitchers are crap shots and don't have to spend tons of money on them, why bother to trade young talents for Marte, especially when you consider Joe Girardi show the ability to manage bullpen unlike Joe Torre. Let alone let Marte leave for one-year deal and sign other lefty relief pitchers on free agent market on long term deal. Not to mention Yankees probably don't know them much.

I only can come up with three reasons why Cashman does this.

Firstly, just like Luis Vizcaino. Marte hurt more than Yankees lead us to believe or they don't think Marte can perform well in the AL East, so they rather collect two draft picks and go after other lefty relief pitchers on the free agent market.

Secondly, Yankees don't want to set new bar for relief pitchers by picking up his 6 million option. They prefer to go after other cheaper options in the free agent market or simply work out a multi-year deal with Marte.

Thirdly, they know they are going to lose a lot of draft picks for signing top free agents this off-season. They rather collect draft picks from let Marte going and then pay those for signing other top free agents.

As for Cameron, I don't mind Yankees trade for young center fielder. But, I rather have Melky or Gardner for center fielder than paying Cameron 10 million for that job. Let alone trade some values in our farm system for him. People may say, Cameron is a one-year stop gap for waiting Austin Jackson. You never know what prospects may turn out to be. Austin Jackson may never pay off or he may need more time. You go out to get a young center fielder or give Melky or Gardner a chance to play. If Austin Jackson become what a lot of people expect him to be, don't worry, I am sure Yankees can find a position for him anyway.

Hopefully, we can know what Cashman's plan very soon.

Updated: Check out this latest news regard of Cameron's trade with Brewers on Newsday. I know the stock of Melky and Kennedy had dropped a lot. Are you kidding me? Brewers want us to give them Melky and Kennedy for Cameron and pay him 10 million dollars. Even if Cameron is a free agent now, I still need to think about getting him to play center fielder for us. Let alone trade Melky and Kennedy for him. Ha, No. Are them insane?

Updated: According to NY Daily News, Yankees are on their way to settle a three-year deal with Marte. See. I know a lot of fans jump on Cashman immediately. Good to hear.

finialize coach staff for 2009

The latest news from Peter's blog regard of 2009 coach staff. Tony Pena will be bench coach. Mick Kelleher will be first base coach and Rob Thomson will be third base coach. It sounds a good decision and hopefully they can work with each other very well.

Because my professionalism is Film/TV production, I have been work with all kind of different teams since university. You never know how it turns out to be until you start working with each other. Some people just match up well with some specific partners because of personality and all kind of different factors. Hopefully, this is the case.

Shopping

I believe most of you have experience of shopping. Being a smart shopper, First of all, you need to do a pretty good research before taking next step. You need to know your budget, needs, what you have, gather information of potential targets and get some advices from friends or family.

And then you take the next step. You go out with a plan and targets on hand to make observation in person. You may be able to negotiate with sellers or find out better deal on sale by accident.

What do you do next? Buying? No, you go home and think about all the options you have on hand for few days. You don't buy immediately because you may buy things on an impulse then regret it later on. You don't consider too many days because someone else may take it before you decide to buy.

The same thing goes to signing free agents and making trades as well.

Welcome Yankees fans around the world

Hi everyone,

I just change the format in the comment section a little bit. I decide to let some new friends are able to express what they think in the comment section as Anonymous even though they don't have account. The reason I want to do this is I really hope we are able to exchange what we think on this blog. Since I have been in different countries for those years, I really love to make friends around the world and understand your cultures. Please let me know if you guys have other opinions on this decision . Hopefully, everything will go very well.

By the way, I just check sitemeter and find out I have readers from Taiwan, the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Croatia, Singapore, Lebanon, Germany, China, Mexico and other unidentified countries. WoW! I didn't notice this until I check. Of course, 53% of readers from the United States. Any other countries? let me know.

This shows me there are a lot of Yankees fans around the world. Thanks for reading, especially for my poor English.

Show a lot of love

I just heard the interview with Cashman Peter post on his blog. Cashman said we are going to show a lot of love to everyone and see who love us back. Man, Good to hear this from your team. It's good to be a Yankees fan, isn't it? You always know your team will do everything they can to put best product on the field in order to win a ball game.

That's also my stand. Of course, we love to have more great players to join our team, but they need to show they love us as well. Don't trade away Phil Hughes for someone who doesn't want to be here.

Owners vs Players vs Fans

I don't know you guys. You guys probably are used to have so many players coming and going because you guys watch this kind of game since you are children.

For me, as a Taiwanese, I still can't get used to. In Taiwan, players and owners all have those sentiments with fan bases. Most of players stay with their old teams. In fact, most players only play for one team during entire career. Owners and players always try to work out the new deal. Fans root for the same favorite players on their team. Players improve their games to do everything they can do as a team in order to try to win a ball game.

There is no more evidence than the way Red Sox treat Lowell and Padres treat Jake Peavy. Of course, from owners' point of view, they always want to upgrade their team at price as cheap as possible. Fans always think players are greedy when they want to get money as much as possible. They think why players don't stay with team at cheaper and reasonable price if they really love the team. However, think about this. If you were the player that playing baseball is your job and you only can have around 10-15 years to make the most of it for your whole life, you would like to make as much as you can.

When Lowell and Peavy give their teams discount to stay with them, they turn around and want to trade you badly. They don't care how you feel. Fans even want you to go as soon as possible because it upgrades the chance of their team winning the world series.

One day, I may be able to be used to all of those.

P.S By the way, It seems to me Jake Peavy said No to Red Sox. I heard Peavy rejected an American League team with a small ball park. Orioles? Red Sox? Good to hear

Congrats to the United States of America

I was watching the election with a lot of Australians in a bar at the University of Sydney. It's amazing for me to know how many people around the world pay attention on this election. Before going there, I actually don't completely understand how American election system works. I understand basic principles. Fortunately for me, I sat with a group of Australians know a lot and taught me a lot as well.

I learn two things during the time I was in America that have very big impact on me. First of all, most Americans don't have racial discrimination. After staying different countries for those years, this is very impressive and important. In my mind, people around the world should try to treat everyone around the world the same as the people in your own country. This will bring peace around the world. Of course, we don't always can do it. There are still so many people can't do it. At least, we need to work toward to right direction.

It's great to see a African American can win the election to be the president of the United States of America. Of course, the condition of bad economy and difficulties of wars involved in middle-East Asian countries probably have something to do with. However, this still is quite an accomplishment.

Secondly, Americans teach their children to be confident of themselves which sometimes lack among Asian people because of our culture. Parents always teach us there are always someone else are better than you, you always can learn something from them, you have to respect others' professionalism and you need to make a self-examination when something go wrong. Those result the lack of confident. During accepted speech, I refresh this when Obama put those "Yes, we can" together.

I don't support each party. This is just impression I come away with.

Wang's lastest interview with Taiwanese reporter

I translated this interview with Wang from Chinatimes. If you guys are able to read Mandarin, please feel free to use that link to read the whole original interview. Wang was interviewed by one of Taiwanese reporters in New York before going home soon.

Q: How do you feel in the last bullpen in Tampa?
A: I threw 50 pitches, but I didn't throw in full speed. I still haven't gotten my balance back.

Q: What doctors in New York said after checking out?
A: Yes, I am completely healthy now. The doctor wants to make sure bones in my right foot doesn't separate again which separated ealier after getting hurt. (I think this is the reason Wang spent more time than expected to recover)

Q: What you need to do after going back to Taiwan?
A: Yankees design a rehab schedule for me that tell me what I can do and can't do, especially how to strengthen muscles of my right foot.

Q: What do you learn from this injury?
A: I need to learn how to run bases. Hopefully, Yankees have some training program in spring training for me

Q: So, it means you are going to run hard next time on base?
A: Yes, of course, I still will do my best.

Q: What do you think the reasons you didn't pitch well for a period of time this season?
A: Yes, I think about it. I think I think too much.

Q: What pitch you want to improve on in spring training?
A: slider. I want to have better command.

Q: Yankees are going to get at least one front-line starter this off-season. You may not be the no.1 any more. Is it ok for you? Do you need to make any adjustment mentally?
A: No, I didn't need to make any mental adjustment. It's the same to me because I just do my job and go out to pitch every 5 day.

Q: So, which slot you are in the rotation doesn't matter to you?
A: Yes, pitching well is much more important.

Q: Goal for 2009 season? How many wins?
A: Don't get hurt and pitch the whole season. It doesn't matter how many wins because I want to win every game any way.

Q: How do you feel the possibility to pitch opening day in New Yankees stadium?
A: I think it won't be me to pitch in opening day.

Q: How do you feel about going back to Taiwan soon?
A: I am very happy because I can see my parents soon.

Q: Any plan except some public events?
A: No, I can't go anywhere in Taiwan. On top of that, Hopefully, I may have less commercial events this off-season(because of injury).

P.S. By the way, I am going to watch Election with my Australian friends now. Even though I don't understand everything about American election, good to be part of it. Stay tuned for some thought after that.

So far so good other than Pavano's shocking news

From Peter's the LoHud Yankees Blog,

Cashman said that the Yankees are interested in retaining Marte and could sign him to a new deal after they decline the option.

As for Bobby Abreu, I spoke to one of his agents today, Chris Leible. They have had no conversations with the Yankees whatsoever since the season ended. They believe Abreu can get – and should get – a three-year deal. Abreu will be 35 when next season starts and the Yankees are unlikely to bring him back for three years.

See, Cashman is not going to let Marte walk away if he is healthy after trading away young talents for him and Nady.

As for Abreu, his defense is getting a point that hurt us. No to mention he is not getting any younger. I won't bring him back for more than two year deal. The last thing we need is another aging verteran needs DH spot.

Are you kidding, right? Cashman

Dear Cashman,

I am always one of your big supporters. Please, don't disappoint me. I know this must be some kind of strategy, right? I also know you always don't express what you really want to do very clearly.

According to NY Daily News, you are not ruling out to bring back Carl Pavano.

Ha! Please, No. I don't want to see pitching for us no matter what.

Wang new commercial

I don't know how many readers of my blog understand Mandarin, but I think you guys probably can understand most of commercial without understanding Mandarin. Wang shot a commercial for Johnnie Walker in March in Florida.

The content of commercial is based on true story from Wang. How Wang's two best friends since childhood support and help him to overcome adversities, including staying in the minor for a long time(5 years), rehabbing and bad performances in order to keep pursuing his dream.

The majority of Wang's commercials like this which send some positive messages to young people and hold some charity events along the way. It actually encourages and helps a lot of people. Of course, those commercials also bring enormous profits to those brands.

I like those positive messages to young people. However, Wang's not so good acting skill makes me laugh all the time. By the way, I never saw Wang having Joba-like emotion on the mound after striking out someone even when he pitched for our national team long time ago.

(From Johnnie Walker's Taiwan website)


I think our bombers also need our support to overcome adversity and get 27th world series.

Let go Yankees!

Good to hear

Just saw this news from mlb. Brewers pick up Mike Cameron 10 million option. Of course, Yankees still can work out a deal with Brewers. However, I rather put Melky or Gardner in the center field than Cameron. We need to get younger, not older. The last thing we need is another aging outfielder. Not to mention he strike out a lot.

Yankees really need to pay more attention on defense this off-season, especially center fielder is really a position that needs to have good defense. Instead of spending money on aging verterans, I rather give playing time to young players. Of course, I don't mind Yankees to work out a deal to net us a young center fielder, but not Mike Cameron.

Yankees call other teams???

According to a news on Boston Globe, Yankees have been aggressive in calling team to find out who may be available. For example, they said Yankees called Astros to find out the availability of Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman.

Man, I doubt this news is true. Think about it. Brian Cashman is going to have GM Meeting that starts on Monday. He can find out anything he wants to know on GM meeting. Why wast time and energy to call other teams? This doesn't make any sense at all.

Keep Marte

According to NY Post, Yankees are not planing to pick up Marte's 6 million option. Of course, Yankees should know more inside information than we did. This just likes when Yankees decided to trade Proctor to Dodgers for Betemit. When Betemit has not been good for Yankees, Proctor ended up with hurting and on the DL. If Marte was hurting at the end of season more than what Yankees told us, this definitely plays a big role on not picking up his option.

I know Phil Coke was impressive at the end of season and Yankees have a lot of options for bullpen in their farm system. However, I think Yankees should and will keep Marte. Except Closer, middle reliever pitchers seems to perform differently every year. It not only will be good to have two lefty in the bullpen and one of them are an experienced verteran, especially when you consider how many troubles Yankees have to find a good lefty in the bullpen for many years but also have options as many as possible in the bullpen.

If Marte is healthy, I don't think Yankees will let Marte walk away because of money. Think about this. Marte is the main guy in the Nady/Marte trade. Cashman wants Marte and a good lefty badly and Pirates came back for a bigger deal which ended up with Nady in the deal. I don't think Cashman will trade away young talents in the farm system for two month rental.

If Yankees end up with declining Marte's 6 million option and he is healthy, I am pretty sure Yankees have settled a 2-3 year deal at cheaper annual rate with Marte. I don't think they will risk to lose him by letting him test free agency market. If I were Marte, I would be happier to get a 2-3 year deal than getting his option picked up. If I were Yankees front office, it would be better off signing Marte at 2-year deal at cheaper annual rate. Let us wait and see. Don't rush to make a judgment and overreact. It may be just a wrong information from Post and King.