SB Nation User Blog: Rothstein

Tired of the "Joba Rules"

Rothstein — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:59:56 -0000

Isn't everyone else too? Here are a couple things that don't make sense to me about the Joba rules, other than that they're completely arbitrary numbers.

Joba's a big dude, he can take a lot of innings. I think this may be the most overlooked part of this whole situation. The thin fireballers are typically the ones who wear down due to overuse - Prior and Wood come to mind, and there are others, like Verlander in his second year. Guys like Sabathia and David Wells came up to the bigs and immediately started pitching major innings, and both of them were/are fine now years later. They're bodies are more equipped to handle the stress of pitching, they have bigger legs, I guess.

Also, hasn't he pitched enough to not warrant an innings limit? Most pitchers are kept on limits their first year out of the minors. Yes, I understand he was a bullpen guy, but he's pretty seasoned by now, has had a couple of years under his stretched-out belt.

I say turn him loose, take him out when he's tired, but don't just assume you're going to wear him out when you're doing more harm than good with rules and limits. He said his relaxing time was what has helped him pitch better recently. I can't help but think that all this nonsense about how long he'll pitch this year, or in the playoffs, is just adding to his stress and thus, maybe, affecting his pitching.

Receiver Battle

Rothstein — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:28:43 -0000

So far we've heard a ton about how the quarterbacks are doing, and recently how the D-line is doing. Other than Cotchery and Keller seemingly destroying any DB that comes their way so far (how many long passes have they caught so far?) how are the other guys doing? Have spectators needed to put up "Stop, Forrest, Stop" signs for Clowney yet? Has Stuckey been exposed as a flash-in-the-pan recipient of a few errant Favre throw? Or have the quarterbacks only been throwing to Cotchery and Keller, as a precursor for next year.

Spelling on FanPosts

Rothstein — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:21:48 -0000

As a loyal reader of this site and all the Fanposts, I've got to say it's a little unnerving just how bad the spelling has gotten. I'm not asking people to proofread their posts carefully, but when you read typo after typo, it gets annoying. Maybe it's just me, but if you see yourself type a mistake, just press backspace and try again. It's completely bush league. A little pride in your work, that's all I'm asking.

T-Mac - Why the Hate?

Rothstein — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:59:01 -0000

I mean sure, he's pretty much a proven loser. Or is he? He's never made it out of the first round of the playoffs, but you can tell the guy wanted it pretty badly. I'm not sure on the sabermetric or player-efficiency stats or whatever, but T-Mac always seemed to up his game in those rounds, we just didn't have the other pieces. This team this year was better with T-Mac than last year. True, they were still very good without him, but when we needed one bucket, we couldn't get it. That's what T-Mac provides.

Does anyone else remember the 13 points in 35 seconds against the Spurs? I don't know how healthy he can be, or how his knee or shoulder would hold up in the incredibly physical games the Rockets always seem to be in in the playoffs. But dammit, we need offense. We need it badly. And when he was healthy, there may not have been a better offensive player in the game than T-Mac. It was so much fun watching him toy with his defender for 7-8 seconds on the shot clock, then just shoot a simple mid-range jumper and make it as if he were alone. Don't you guys miss that?

I don't know how much we can get in a trade for him, and if Eddy Curry and the carcass of Cuttino Mobley is the best we can do, I say just pay him this year and see what happens. Worst case scenario, it's last year. Best case, we have T-Mac, who's no Mutumbo, he'll be 30 all year, and is just one year removed from 21, 6, and 5.

Joba or Hughes

Rothstein — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:14:04 -0000

Clearly, both of these guys have the capacity of being absolutely awesome. We've seen flashes of utter dominance, but also utter incompetence. Joba this year has disappointed all of us, and despite being built like a mini-CC, has yet to get into the 8th inning in his CAREER. He was just so thoroughly dominant in the bullpen, and although it's rare that anyone makes solid contact on him, those walks are starting to become a nasty habit.

Meanwhile, Hughes wasn't pretty either in the rotation, and lo and behold, when he moves to the bullpen, he's like Joba 2.0. It's preposterously frustrating. Also, CMW was effective from the bullpen before his return to the rotation. I don't know what it is about the Yankees' bullpen, but it seems that we should just move all of our starters there and watch them have hall-of-fame careers.

In light of Hughes' success and Joba's continued control issues, should we do a switcheroo? Give Hughes a try in the rotation? Right before Wang came back he was pitching well. And his stuff translates a little better to the rotation, with more pitches, while Joba's seems to be made for an end-of-the-night role. I know the question of where to put Joba is nothing new, but we've seen what he does in the rotation now. Was it the right move?

Poll

Who should be in the bullpen?

Hughes

20 votes

Joba

39 votes

Wang

9 votes

Let Rivera pitch every inning of every game until he dies

26 votes

94 votes | Poll has closed

Who are the new all-time great Jets?

Rothstein — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:26:43 -0000

When someone thinks about all-time Jets greats, Joe Namath comes to mind. That's pretty much it. Die-hards will think of the New York Sack exchange with the likes of Joe Klecko and Dave Herman, and think fondly of guys like Freeman McNeil, Al Toon, and Ken O'Brien. But none of them are really all-time greats. More all-time goods, or so/so's. But recent years have brought about stalwarts of Jet teams, and although no one's correctly predicted the greatest upset of 20th century pro football since Joe Willie, can we call them legends?

The candidates are a short list of one first-ballot hall of famer and a bunch of other guys that no one else will remember, but we all will.

Curtis Martin - 4th all-time leading rusher. Before his knees gave out, he could shake the cleats off of pretty much anyone, and always got that extra yard. Come From Behind Curtis, as his teammates called him for his propensity to be brought down from behind on big runs, is in my opinion, not a legend. He was freakin' awesome and is second only to the incomprable Barry Sanders in consecutive 1,100 yard seasons to begin a career, but he was a Patriot to start his career, and never really took over a game the way a legend must be able to.

Vinny Testaverde - Now here's a guy who took over games for Gang Green. Engineered the Monday Night Miracle, had his best season during the magical 1998 AFC Championship run, is a local product, and had easily the best name pretty much any 3rd grader, like myself at heart, could make fun of. Yes, Vinny Testicles had his moments, but over the course of his career, played too much elsewhere to be a Jet legend, and other than 2 or 3 great years, was still pretty mediocre for us. Sorry Vince, enjoy your Heisman anyway.

Wayne Chrebet - To me, this is the stuff legends are made of. A career Jet, and arguably one of the all-time fan favorites for any team. No one screamed New York Jets like Chrebet, a small guy out of a small Long Island school who just busted his ass day in and day out, and got every little drop out of his ability. Although concussions derailed his career, he proved himself as a legend by doing everything the Jets asked him to do without question, most notably being just damn good at getting a first down on third and long. He may not be a traditional legend, but when people look back on these Jets, the division-winning, champion-contending Jets of the late 90s, I think I'm not the only one who thinks that Chrebet's legacy will stand out as our guy.

Honorable fond memories mentions include - Mo Lewis, Marvin Jones, Jerald Sowell, Aaron Glenn, and, though he probably set a record for worst time-on-the-field-to-pass-interference-calls, I still love him, Ray Mickens.

Do you think we (will) have any legends other than Namath and, clearly, Mark Sanchez?

Latest from Daryl Morey's Twitter

Rothstein — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:56:05 -0000

"Meeting in a few w/ Gortat.Send a note to him NOW at rocketsfanslovegortat@gmail.com .He will receive.Show him how much we want him in Red!"

So I guess this means Yao's out for a while, officially? I'd guess he'll be the big get of the offseason if we get him, adding frontcourt depth. I wish he'd played more over the regular season before giving him a boatload of money, but we'd be paying him for what he did in the playoffs, which was keep the Magic playing championship-worthy basketball.

Clemens should start. No, seriously

Rothstein — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:11:47 -0000

I know everyone, including me, is clamoring for a chance to see Mark Sanchez in action. And we do only have him for 5 years, although if he pans out I can't imagine we don't give him a Brady/Manning-esque extension. I also know that recent history might suggest that starting a rookie QB can work out, especially with a Rex Ryan defense. I will not be furious or up in arms if Sanchez does get the nod, but I think we should hold off, and here's why:

From all accounts I've heard, Clemens has been killing it in minicamps and drills, and Sanchez, although he's maintained a great attitude and seeing everything but the kitchen sink from Ryan, hasn't blown anyone away yet. Clemens knows this offense after playing under Shotty for a couple of years now, and he has had plenty of game experience, which is the main knock on Sanchez.

When Clemens played a couple of years ago after Chad went down, he looked overmatched. But in reality, the Jets had no running game to speak of because of a horrendous offensive line that didn't excel in pass protection either. He was getting pressured on 3-step drops immediately, and no one can survive under those conditions. Now, we have one of the better lines in the league, a running game to boot, so things should be a little easier for any quarterback.

However, do we want to throw our prized rookie into the fire with this group of receivers? We know that if the Jets do pick up Bulletproof Burress, our receiving corps will look infinitely better. But as it stands, I don't want Sanchez's first NFL experience to be throwing to these guys. Sanchez also doesn't have the cannon that Clemens does, and if there's anything that can help these receivers out, it's a guy who can stretch the field and hit Clowney for 40 yards down the sideline.

I'm just not sure that Sanchez is there yet. When he is ready, I feel like he'll be Pennington 2.0, a great leader, smart, accurate, who can throw farther than Pennington but won't be able to rear back and fire like a McNabb or Manning. For the present and future, I think start Clemens now, and let Sanchez clipboard-up for a while.

Retiring #51

Rothstein — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:59:26 -0000

Okay, as the world's biggest Bernie Williams fan, I can admit I've waited as long as I can to post this - but if the Yankees aren't planning on re-signing Bernie, and his repeated claims that he doesn't want to play anywhere else, at what point should we stop delaying the inevitable and just retire the number 51 that graced the real Yankee Stadium with...grace.

After the Jump, the facts...

Bernie was the centerfielder and cleanup hitter for 4 World Series champion teams. As far as I know, that's only Mantle-Dimaggio territory.

Won a batting title, 4 Gold Gloves, made 5 All-Star teams, yadda yadda, all the numbers that everyone knows already, and was the AL's 2nd best centerfielder of the 90's.

Something that everyone forgets, injuries didn't just derail his career toward the end, the guy got injured every freaking summer. I distinctly remember putting up with Chad Curtis numerous times because he kept getting hurt, yet kept coming back and hitting .300 with 20-30 homers and over 100 RBI, every season. If it weren't for those injuries in his prime, guy would have been guaranteed 3,000 hits, and who knows what other statistically mindblowing figures.

Like Jeter and Mo, Bernie exemplified what it meant to be "a Yankee." No one gave him credit for being the heart and soul of the team, but you can ask any Red Sox fan, they'll talk trash about Jeter, but no one messed with Bernie. He was too cool, too awesome, and literally everyone quietly loved him, and I hope his number gets retired quickly so the young kids going to the new park can ask their dads who's number 51, and he'll tell the story of the 1996 ALCS when he carried us to our first Series since the 70s.

Am I right here? Is it time? Lemme hear it.

Jets, trust me, are in Dire Straits at WR

Rothstein — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:50:27 -0000

I have a question for the editors of this blog. Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid reader and first-time poster (I just figured out that I could post. Stop mocking me!), and I love your work. But what's with this relaxed and accepting attitude towards the Jets situation at wideout? Is it just me, or do we appear to be nailed to the wall?

We have Jerricho Cotchery, yes, who is like a running back in open space (have you ever seen a WR break tackles like him at his size?), but he had trouble getting open last year with Coles across from him drawing the other teams #1 corner. Although I love him, and may have been one of our best picks of the past 15 years in the 4th round, I don't have faith he'll hold up as well without Coles getting his back.

And it only goes downhill from there. Stuckey, Wright, and Clowney are all athletic and seem like they might have a shred of talent between them, but if they haven't even gotten on the field with consistency on these Jets teams, with the exception of the injured Clowney, what does that say about what our own coaches actually think of them?

Furthermore, Dustin Keller is being billed as the savior of our tight end position, and the best Jet TE since...have we ever had a great tight end? Is Anthony Becht (or Kyle Brady's short stint) the benchmark, or am I just too young? This opinion has been voiced because "no linebacker can cover him," but if we only have one viable wideout, doesn't that mean that a linebacker doesn't have to guard him? They can put a safety on him and neutralize him, right? Am I crazy? And did he really open up the field that much last year, again, with Coles?

Of course, all of these questions go out the window if, and I stress that I'm literally begging the football gods right here, we get Anquan Boldin or Braylon Edwards. Then we're talking 2nd round of the playoffs minimum (think Joe Flacco...but with Anquan Boldin and three actually good running backs).

But seriously, am I the only one legitimately panicked about this?

Poll

Who will emerge as the Jets #2?

Wallace Wright

15 votes

Chansi Stuckey

86 votes

David Clowney

54 votes

Brad Smith

21 votes

Jerricho Cotchery (in the event of a trade)

24 votes

200 votes | Poll has closed