Actual press photo from Sunday.

So, so many things…

Source

Yankees bullpen: 2.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 K, 1 BB

*Props to Marshall Seymour and Louis Winthorpe III for also contributing to this post

You ready for another beating? You shoulda never came back!
- Clubber Lang

(Speakers up)

In our final NY v. BOS v. TAM segment, we look at the fielding prowess of each team, position-by-position.

Career & 2009 UZR/150 are given for each position player except for Catcher, as UZR is not yet calculated for backstops. In lieu of UZR, career & 2009 Range Factor per 9 innings and Caught Stealing % is given.

C:
Navarro/Shoppach
RF/9 Career: 9.28/6.66
RF/9 2009: 7.61/6.79
CS% Career: 30/27
CS% 2009: 27/23

Posada
RF/9 Career: 7.47
RF/9 2009: 7.98
CS% Career: 29
CS% 2009: 28

Navarro is the best fielding catcher here. He’s in the Rays lineup despite his bat, whereas the others are relied upon to produce offensively. While Shoppach is certainly worse than average behind the plate, the fact that he will most likely split time or even play less than Navarro gives the Rays the nod here.

Martinez has always had the reputation for being a really good hitter that happens to catch and for good reason. His lack of ability as a catcher has caused teams to try and hide him at first base, but with Youkilis as the Sox full-time first baseman, there’s nowhere else to put him.

We always wonder when age will catch up to Posada. He’s been an adequate fielding catcher for a long time, but when will he starting paying his AARP membership costs?

Advantage: Rays

1B:
Pena – Career: -2.7, 2009: -6.2
Youkilis – Career: 6.5, 2009: 15.2
Teixeira – Career: 1.7, 2009: -4.1

As a slugger who’s paid to hit HRs, Pena does just that and not a whole lot else. UZR seems to be undecided about him as his yearly ratings have fluctuated quite a bit. He’s probably an average to below average fielder and nothing about his play at first jumps out at you.

Converting from third to first has been nice to this colossal a-hole. He was already a solid fielder at the hot corner and that has translated to first base with terrific range and a sound glove. His chin bush also makes Josh Beckett jealous.

The Texy Boy has a reputation for being one of the finest fielding first basemen in the league. While the metrics say he’s been above-average for his career, they don’t confirm what the beatwriters say when they wet their pants over him. Doesn’t it seem like he has to dive for an awful lot of ground balls that are hit right near him? His range definitely leaves something to be desired (I’m sure I’ll get death threats for saying this).

Advantage: Red Sox

2B:
Rodriguez – Career: -0.9 in only 56 career games
Pedroia – Career: 7.4, 2009: 10.6
Cano – Career: -5.4, 2009: -5.2

With Rodriguez, we have our first appearance of the small sample size police. Angels fans will tell you that S-Rod was quite the slick fielder when he filled in for Howie Kendrick in 2008. For now, let’s say he’s better than Cano but not as good as Pedroia. Ben Zobrist will also fill in at 2nd where he’s played well in 99 career games.

The king of Napoleon Syndrome has led the league in getting pissed off at people sliding too hard into second every year since 2007. But that’s just part of what makes Brett’s brother an elite fielder at second base. Ask any Red Sox fan and they’ll tell you that he works harder than anybody else, has tons of guts, a pair of brass balls, ice water in his veins, he eats lightning and craps thunder, and has miles and miles and miles of heart.

Some Yankee fans thought Robinson Cano should have won a gold glove last year. We say, “you so crazy.” Robbie may not kill the Yanks with his glove but he certainly doesn’t help them at all. He’s got a general stiffness about him in the field that appears to hurt his range and sometimes he plays second like he’s on the And-1 Tour. The metrics back that up, as according to UZR, he has cost the Yankees more than 16 runs due to poor range over the course of his career. If he was as good in the field as he is in postgame interviews, it would put a whole new paint job on things.

Advantage: Red Sox

SS:
Bartlett – Career: 8.4, 2009: -6.8
Scutaro – Career: -2.9, 2009: 1.0
Jeter – Career: -4.6, 2009: 8.4

Bartlett’s UZR has decreased every year since his rookie season, but last year he was especially hurt by a flukish -4.0 in Double Play Runs. At 30 years old, he’s not nearly as old as his counterparts, so improved fielding is not beyond the realm of possibilities for him this year.

Theo Epstein’s latest attempt at SS has played all over the field in his career, but he will man the position he played with the Blue Jays in 2009. Unfortunately for him and the Red Sox, his weakest infield position is shortstop. The 34-year old has had below average range at the position his entire career and age will not help that at all. Adrian Beltre may hide his range problems by intercepting balls in front of his backhand-side this year.

Did you watch Sesame Street when you were a kid? Which of these things is not like the others? -0.3, -3.8, -0.4, -12.6, -7.2, -16.7, -0.7, 8.4. Those are The Captain’s UZR/150 ratings in consecutive years since 2002. If math isn’t your thing that last one (2009) is positive while the others are negative. Jeter shut everybody up last year with stellar play in the field. Some in the Yankee organization say it was because of improved positioning and increased lateral quickness training. Whatever it was, we hope he can keep it up. Key word, hope.

Advantage: Rays

3B:
Longoria – Career: 19.6, 2009: 19.2
Beltre – Career: 13.6, 2009: 21.0
A-Rod – Career: -2.2, 2009: -11.7

Longoria is hands-down the best young star in the game and his glove work has a lot to do with that. His play at the hot corner over the last two seasons has been nothing less than brilliant and he will be an elite third baseman for many years to come.

Yo Adrian Beltre has been the gold standard at third for about 10 years now. At the age of 31, his ridiculous range shows no signs of slowing down. No third baseman in the league right now has been as consistently good as Beltre in the field.

Once one of the top shortstops in MLB, a switch to third, bulking up, age, and a bum hip have caused A-Rod’s play in the field to deteriorate significantly. The good news is that with a clean bill of health now, his range should improve and save the Yanks a few more runs. The bad news is that Kate Hudson is gone, Madonna may be lurking in the shadows of Yankee Stadium, and the gap between A-Rod and his counterparts here is larger than the gap for any one player at any other position.

Advantage: Red Sox

LF:
Crawford – Career: 14.4, 2009: 17.5
Ellsbury – Career: 21.8 in only 80 career games in LF
Gardner – Career: 36.8 in only 17 career games in LF

Hot Carl has the reputation of being the best left fielders in the league. While DeJesus may give him a run for his money, it’s hard to argue with that reputation. With tons of speed he can cover ground that most other outfielders can’t.

The Boy Wonder is wisely moving Ellsbury to left from center this season. He’s played well there in limited action, and with Cameron in center that trend should continue as he will have even less ground to cover.

The sad news broke this week that Gardner will be in left field and Granderson in center. However, what this gives the Yankees is a proven top notch center fielder playing left field where he should outplay the competition. Ellsbury has been below average in center for his career, and Crawford has never really been given a chance there — an indication that maybe the Rays wouldn’t trust him there on an everyday basis. So what are we saying? Gardner is the best outfielder of these three and will play the best left field.

Advantage: Yankees

CF:
Upton – Career: 9.7, 2009: 11.8
Cameron – Career: 5.7, 2009: 10.3
Granderson – Career: 4.9, 2009: 1.6

Bossman Jr. entered the league as a hitter with power and a huge upside that happened to play the infield. After making Chuck Knoblauch look good, he took his superb athleticism and turned himself into one of the best center fielders in the league. He’ll turn just 26 during this season and should hang on to that description for a while.

Over the last 2 years, the 37-year old Cameron continues to flex in center. Fenway Park does has an awkward CF and you have to wonder if Father Time will come calling at some point.

C-Grand’s defensive metrics over the last two years have been well-below what he put up in his first two full seasons in the bigs (in which he was a top 4 center fielder). You can blame injuries in 2008, but the bottom line is that his play in center has not been trending in the right direction — making a switch to LF that much more logical. But que sera, sera. At least he will have the range of Gardner helping him to his right and he’ll be moving from the spacious Comerica Park to the slightly less spacious Yankee Stadium. Regardless, he’s the weakest centerfielder of this bunch.

Advantage: Rays

RF:
Zobrist – Career: 40.2 in only 61 career games in RF
Drew – Career: 7.4, 2009: 15.7
Swisher – Career: 6.0, 2009: -1.2

As a super-utility guy, Zobrist has played all over the diamond and shown flashes of brilliance with the leather at certain spots. Right field is one of those, but we have to ring the small sample size bell. While he may have a good glove out there, it’s too soon to gauge just how good it is.

Staying on the field has been a problem for Nancy Drew his whole career, but when he’s on it he plays it pretty well. All the time off he’s had has seemed to serve him well as age isn’t hurting him. He’s shown some of the best range of his career over the past two seasons. Assuming he holds up, the Red Sox should expect another fine season in the field from him.

Most people assume Nick Swisher can’t field because he looks rather portly in a baseball uniform. Truth is he’s a pretty decent corner outfielder. He may take odd routes and look goofy out there at times, but he gets solid range out of his stocky body and has even been asked to play center throughout his career. The South Bronx could certainly do worse than Nick Swisher in right field.

Advantage: Red Sox

So there you have it, it’s no surprise that the Yankee’s gloves are no match against a young team built on speed and athleticism and a team that spent a good part of the off-season looking to improve their shoddy fielding from last year. Who’s better between the Rays and Red Sox? Very tough call, but unlike Rocky and Apollo, we’ll go with the beauty before age and take the Rays.

Will Derek impress with the glove again this season?

In the second segment of a 3-part series, we compare the starting rotations of the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays.

Just to avoid being arbitrary, these are the rotation orders listed on MLB.com. Obviously, a rotation is only as good as the sum of its parts.

#1
CC Sabathia 3.31
Josh Beckett 3.42
James Shields 3.88

The averages being used are the projected 2010 FIPs, as per Fangraphs projections.

A true ace with a gangsta lean, Carsten Charles is the definition of a horse (or horse-bear chimera) amassing 724 innings over the past three seasons and never having thrown fewer than 180.1 since his rookie campaign in 2001. The move to New York didn’t have much impact on Sabathia, posting a FIP of 3.39. He’s always been able to keep the ball in the park, and that trend continued in Yankee Stadium.

Playing the Game the Right Way has seen a steady rise in his FIP over the past three seasons (3.08, 3.24, 3.63), due in part to an equally steady increase in HRs and a fairly large spike in walk rate last year (though still very impressive). Nevertheless, Beckett is one of the best starters in the league, even if he did get us kicked off his sponsor page.

Arguably one of the most underrated starters in the game, Shields had somewhat of a down year compared to the two years prior, though it was far from a disappointing campaign. Like Beckett, he saw a jump in his walks moving him from ridiculously good control to just very good. If he remains steady, Shields will continue to anchor his staff.

Advantage: Yankees

#2
AJ Burnett 4.05
Jon Lester 3.20
Matt Garza 3.88

For the first time in his career, AJ threw back to back 200+ inning seasons. Unfortunately, Electric Stuff walked 4.22 hitters per nine innings and had one of the worst K/BB rates of his career (2.01). Incredibly frustrating to watch, he’ll dazzle you one game and you want him to choke on one of his whipped cream things the next. Most of the the projection systems are forecasting improved performance from him in 2010 due to a return to career BB (3.78 BB/9) and K/BB (2.21) rates. Hopefully with a year in NYC under his belt, this will happen.

Despite a jump in ERA from the year prior, Lester had a breakout season posting a career best FIP of 3.15. His K/9 jumped to 9.96 while he maintained a steady walk rate. He might see a dip in the strikeouts, but the improvement was likely more of natural development. If he puts up another season like 2009, he’s the best pitcher on any of the staffs.

The Rays appear to be the clear winners in the deal that sent Free-Swingin’ Delmon Young to the Twins. Garza has turned in two solid seasons and, like Lester, saw a dramatic rise in his strikeout rate last year, but unlike Lester, this was accompanied by a rise in walks. Garza recently turned 26, so it is possible to say he is what he is at this point but, more than likely, there is some room for upside.

Advantage: Red Sox

#3
Andy Pettitte 4.16
John Lackey 3.73
Jeff Niemann 4.15

Pettitte, like the rest of the Five Rings Club, continues to defy Father Time. While he is certainly not what he was in the past, he remains a steady piece of the rotation. Andy is not overpowering anyone, but he has been able to keep the ball in the park. His rise in walk rate could be a sign of aging, but given the improvement in BBs seen in the second half of ’09, we can probably expect something a bit closer to his career norm (2.83 BB/9) for this season.

Fresh off signing a 5-year deal for $82.5M (Boston is such a fiscal conservative!), John Lackey goes from playing in front of peace-loving fans who love stuffed animals to fans who flip over cars. Lackey’s been fairly steady for the past three seasons in terms of rates, but he only made 24 and 27 starts in the past two seasons respectively. Obviously, the injury risk will be lessened by the fact that he is not expected to lead the staff in Boston, but at 31 years old, he’s probably not getting any healthier.

Niemann emerged with an impressive rookie year last season, posting a 3.94 ERA/4.07 FIP combo over 180 innings. Despite all of that, he’s not as young as you’d think and will enter this season at 27. Because of that, there’s probably not a whole lot to hope for in terms of upside, but if he can come close to replicating what he did last year, he will be a useful pitcher.

Advantage: Red Sox

#4
Javy Vazquez 3.53
Daisuke Matsuzaka 4.42
David Price 4.01

Vazquez is probably the second best starter on the Yankees, even if he has been labeled #4. His outlook has been covered in depth by us right here. In summary, he was one of the best pitchers in the NL last year, posting career bests in strikeouts, walks, homeruns allowed, ERA, and FIP. However, he is returning to the AL and will be turning 34 this year, so regression is to be expected. Still, Javy was a strikeout pitcher with good control (if a bit below average in HRs allowed) in his seasons with the White Sox, so he should be a very strong addition to the rotation.

Matsuzaka has struggled to stay healthy the past two seasons, throwing just 167.2 and 59.1 innings respectively. Those two seasons have also seen very high walk rates. Whether this is related to his health or a natural dropoff remains to be seen. Either way, this will be an important year in determining whether or not he can still be an effective starter. If pitching ends up not being his thing, he can always work the guest speaker circuit. Word is that he charges $50 million for each conversation.

The 2007 #1 overall pick, Price emerged to produce a solid rookie season. Between AAA and the majors, he threw over 160 innings last year, so he will likely not be capped in the coming season. Price does not turn 25 until August, so even if he does not break out this year, he still has big upside. As it stands now, he should be a very solid middle to back-end option.

Advantage: Yankees

#5
Phil Hughes 3.63
Clay Buchholz 4.18
Wade Davis 4.17

Hughes had mixed results as a starter last season, while being absolutely dominant in the setup role. We know he can strike guys out and when he’s on, he’s very difficult to hit. However, he is not even 24 yet, so expecting immortality this season is a bit much. He reportedly has an cap of around 170 innings and it shouldn’t be a concern with him pitching out of the 5th spot.

Laptop Thief compares similarly to Hughes in that he has been the untouchable golden child of the organization for the past few years. He had a pretty good season last year through 92 innings, though the Red Sox would surely like to see a rise in his 6.65 K/9. His high HR rate will probably fix itself over a larger sample size given his 15.7% HR/FB. He will be turning 26 this year, so this would be the time for him to put it all together.

With only 36.1 innings to his name, Davis is clearly the least experienced of the bunch, so not too much should be made of his major league numbers last year. The Rays are very high on him and his minor league numbers support that opinion, where he maintained good strikeout numbers (with occasional control issues). This season should tell us a lot about him.

Advantage: Yankees (slight)

In general, the Yankees have an older but generally dependable staff. The Red Sox certainly look the most impressive on paper. And while the Rays might be the least intimidating entering this season, there’s definitely a lot of talent and upside there. Of course, rotations tend to be affected by injuries and ineffectiveness over the course of the season, so there’s a very good chance each one will look different as the year goes on. Given all of that, the Red Sox get the nod here with the assumption that Lackey and Matsuzaka remain somewhat healthy.

What is that?

The three best teams in baseball all play in the same division. The Yankees will face intense competition as they seek to defend their 2009 AL East and World Series crowns. In the first segment of a 3-part series, we match them up position-by-position to see how the Rays, Red Sox, and Yankees compare against each other offensively.

DH:
Burrell .343
Ortiz .371
Johnson .375

Those numbers are each player’s wOBA projection. The number comes from averaging the Bill James, CHONE, ZiPS, Marcel, and Fans projection — courtesy of Fangraphs.

Pat the Bat may well beat his projection if healthy, but the Rays are a clearly a step behind at DH.

Nell Carter is 35, is now three years removed from being an elite hitter, and has a three-year trend of declining walk rate, contact rate, and power. His power in the second-half last year is a sign of hope, but this projection would represent a rebound close to his career average. There’s more downside than upside in it.

The Stick, on the other hand, has quite a bit going for him. His power outage last season looks like a one-year aberration. He’s moving to a park that should do wonders to correct that. This is his first chance to be a regular DH and stem the tide of disease that has left his body withered and weathered. Unlike his designated colleagues, his reverse platoon splits mean that managers will not gain an edge by matching up against him in high-leverage situations.

Advantage: Yankees

C:
Navarro/Shoppach .301/.335
Martinez .365
Posada .356

Baseball Prospectus has the Rays giving Navarro the better part of a timeshare at catcher. Based on the hitting projections and Shoppach’s serious power upside (he flashed some ridiculous pop in Cleveland two years ago), they’d do better to make the starting job KShop’s to lose. Either way, their production behind the plate is not going to be in the same class as the big boys.

Victor Martinez is the best hitting catcher in baseball behind Joe Mauer. He has proven to be very durable, with only an injury-plagued 2008 marring an impeccable record of high-plate appearance years.

Posada has continued to outpace Father Time, and he is still a great hitting catcher. But he will turn 39 this year, and his performance and playing time are going to fall. Hopefully, it will be a slow, graceful decline. Hopefully, he stays healthy all year. And hopefully, AJ can get over his urinephobia so Jorge doesn’t have to sit every day Burnett pitches.

Advantage: Sox

1B:
Pena .378
Youkilis .386
Teixeira: .396

Pena has the most raw power of the group, but he also has the worst strike zone control. Presumably his broken hand is healed, but he’s still a step behind his counterparts.

Youuuuukkkkkkkkkkkkkkk turned in a monster season in ’09 and has established himself as one of the best hitters in the league. His .359 BABIP is going to come down a bit and he’s unlikely to reach those storied heights again.

Tex has had a wOBA over .400 for three years running. He has an elite and stable skill set. At 30, he’s a year younger than the Greek God of Goat-Like Facial Hair. Teixeira is the best and most reliable hitter of the bunch.

Advantage: Yankees

2B:
Rodriguez .332
Pedroia .368
Cano .355

The Rays acquired Sean Rodriguez from the Angels last year in the Scott Kazmir deal. He has put up great minor league numbers and his spring training performance has put him in line for a majority of the PAs at 2B. The Rays also have Willy Aybar and super-sub, Ben Zobrist. When Zobrist plays 2B, he gives the Rays the best offensive production at this position. As it stands, SRod’s presence here mean the Rays will finish 3rd in offensive production at this position too.

Standing just 4-feet tall, Dustin Pedroia and his friend PECOTA proved all the scouts and haters wrong. He’s become one of the best hitting second basemen in the AL. While his skills don’t hint at him reaching another level, he is entering his peak production season at age 27 — so there’s no reason to expect anything less than he’s shown so far.

Every old-fogey, ex-player TV broadcaster feels the need to say that “This Cano kid is gonna win a batting title some day.” Probably because they keep hearing other old-fogies repeating the same trope over and over again. Despite that deep analysis, Robbie Cano still has a career 4.2% walk rate. He’s also year older than Pedroia, so there’s not much hope for more upside.

Advantage: Sox

SS:
Bartlett .340
Scutaro .334
Jeter .362

Bartlett came out of nowhere to post a .389 wOBA last year. He did this in at age 30 and with a .364 BABIP. Translation: It’s not going to happen again. On the bright side, whenever I hear his name I always think of A. Bartlett Giamatti, who wrote the greatest baseball essay of all-time.

Scutaro is a similar story, showing a marked improvement in his age 34 season. However, Scutaro showed actual skill improvement, particularly in his walk rate. That may stick, but he still just had his career year. Shortstop is Theo’s Kryptonite.

Do you know Derek Jeter? Have you accepted him into your heart? Jeter completes the trifecta of shortstops who had an unexpected spike in production at a late age. So, the projection systems call for a large regression. That still leaves Jeter as the class of the field. There’s also the fact that Derek Sanderson Jeter transcends normal physical boundaries, so who knows what the guy is capable of doing at 36 years of age.

Advantage: Yankees

3B:
Longoria .384
Beltre .334
Rodriguez .406

There is a broad consensus that Longoria is the best value in baseball. He’s young, he’s cheap, he’s a superior defender, and he has one of the top bats at his position.

As an average hitter with an elite glove, Beltre certainly provides the Red Sox with value. And, getting out of Seattle will help his offensive numbers. In fact, the Green Monster can give a huge boost to a righty-pull hitter (cf: Garciaparra, Nomar). Nonetheless, from an offensive perspective, Beltre can’t hold the jockstrap of these other two third basemen.

He’s 35 and ARod is still the best hitter on any of these three teams, regardless of position. Only the hip can slow him down.

Advantage: Yankees

LF:
Crawford .355
Ellsbury .350
Gardner .331

Crawford rebounded from injury to put up a very valuable season last year, which in turn made every MSM writer write the same exact boilerplate about how the Yankees are destined to sign him in 2011. We at NoMaas are already on record disagreeing with this notion. But, we still recognize that Crawford is, at present, an All Star-caliber LF — a tremendous defender with an above average bat and elite speed.

Elssbury profiles surprisingly similarly to Crawford. Neither walk or strikeout much, and both have top tier speed. They project for an almost equivalent wOBA. The defensive metrics say that the biggest difference is in their defense, where Ellsbury is rated well-below average. However, Theo Epstein has explained that these metrics are bunk and that the Red Sox’s own mojo has Ellsbury as a top notch CF. Whatever.

While Brian Cashman is down with the NoMizzle, he didn’t take our counsel and keep Gardner as a CF. That means that this is the only position where the Yankees will finish last among the three teams.

Advantage: Rays

CF:
Upton .350
Cameron .335
Granderson .363

All three of these centerfielders have a decent shot at beating their projection. For Upton, the key is health. If his shoulder is at full strength, he has huge upside.

The projection systems might be at bit bearish on Cameron because of his age (he turned 63 in January and already has the cushion of social security checks to augment his MLB salary). But, Boston’s racial pioneer has showed no signs of slowing over recent seasons. Like Beltre, he may add a handful of doubles with the help of the Green Monster.

The story for Granderson is the stadium switch. Comerica did not seem to agree with Curtis, as hit far better on the road. Now he moves into a home park perfectly suited for his lefty, flyball generating swing.

Advantage: Yankees

RF:
Zobrist .370
Drew .371
Swish .360

Ben “Super U” Zobrist figures to spend the plurality of his time in right field. His breakout campaign last year was well supported by his skills, and his new level appears to be real. He dramatically increased his already above-average walk rate, and the power has now been proven for two seasons.

Drew has always been a great hitter (career wOBA: .386), but his penchant for getting hurt is not just famous, it’s INfamous. Now 35-years old, can he pick up his skirt and make it through a whole season? Drew’s value, as always, will depend on his not straining a muscle with every step.

Swish rebounded from a dreadful (and dreadfully unlucky) 2008 to post a career season. The switch from Big & Rich to Boogie Down Productions should give him another boost as he looks to keeps the good times rolling. South Bronx, the South South Bronx!

This position is really too close to call. Zobrist and Drew project to be the better hitters, but Swish makes up the difference by holding down the fort every day to build up the runs created.

Advantage: Nobody

In sum, the Rays are clearly in a lower tier when it comes to offense. The Red Sox have one of baseball’s premier offenses, which makes them a major threat to win the AL East. But once again, the leader in runs scored figures to be your World Champion New York Yankees.

Who will end up on top?

In only a few days, the World Champion New York Yankees will travel to the hole known as Boston to kick off the 2010 season.

When the first pitch is thrown by Chin Pubes, why not share your excitement with other fans in real-time? Check out the NoMaas Live Game Chat. Here you can meet up with other Yankee fans during games and talk about what you’re seeing live and without delay.

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So check it out and have fun: NoMaas Live Game Chat

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In our Stealth Bomber series, we talk to players in the farm system who aren’t yet on the New York radar, but hope one day to be so.

In our latest conversation, we visit with Adam Warren, the Yankees’ 2009 4th round draft pick out of the University of North Carolina. Adam signed quickly and went on to destroy the NY-Penn League, posting a K/BB of 5.00 and an FIP of 2.19 in 50 plus innings. The former Tar Heel, who many viewed at the time as a pure slot pick, could be a quick mover in the Yankee system if he can recapture the magic from last summer.

Gary Wallace: You made some waves in Staten Island last year with your fastball sitting in the low to mid 90s, up a couple ticks from your college days (excluding second semester your senior year). Is there anything specifically you can point to for your increase in velocity? Ritual sacrifice, perhaps?

Adam Warren: Ha-ha… I did not perform any ritual sacrifices, but I did do a lot of praying. I believe that God has blessed me with a certain amount of potential to play this game and I feel that the jump in velocity last year was a matter of me starting to reach that potential. I became very comfortable with my mechanics and I felt like I was in the best shape of my life. In my opinion, these two factors helped me to become a better pitcher and throw a little harder.

GW: On that note, you complement your fastball with a curve, change and slider (correct me if I’m wrong). What speed do your secondary offerings usually come in at? How do you like to attack hitters?

AW: My changeup usually sits in the low-80s, the curveball is usually mid-70s, and my slider is low to mid-80s. I have always believed in attacking hitters with my fastball and use my secondary pitches to keep them guessing. I like to use my two-seam fastball and changeup to get groundouts early in the count, and my curveball and slider to strike out hitters.

GW: What are your biggest strengths and your biggest weakness as a pitcher?

AW: My biggest strength as a pitcher would have to be the command of my pitches. I feel that I can throw all my pitches for strikes in any count. My biggest weakness is not having a consistent put-away pitch. My curveball and slider can be those types of pitches but they need to become more consistent. That has been one of my main focuses this offseason.

GW: What did you think of your immediate domination of professional ball?

AW: Last summer, I had a lot of confidence which I believed was one of the main keys to my success. It was a fun summer and I felt like I got better every outing. I learned a lot about how to pitch at the professional level.

GW: You guys had quite a squad at Staten Island. Was there anyone who impressed you? Any batter in particular you wouldn’t want to face, or fellow pitchers offering you wish you had?

AW: We had a great group of guys in Staten Island last year. There was a lot of talent, but to name a few that impressed me were Jimmy Paredes and Zoilo Almonte. These guys seemed to get clutch hit after clutch hit. One guy I probably wouldn’t want to face would be Neil Medchill just because how far he can hit the ball and the home run numbers he put up last summer.

GW: Given your performance in ’09, there’s some speculation you might skip Charleston and head straight to Tampa. Have the Yankees informed you where you’ll be pitching this coming season?

AW: The Yankees have not told me anything definitive about where I may end up this year. My goal is to start in Tampa, but I will be ready to go wherever they send me.

GW: Anything that surprised you last season?

AW: The one thing that surprised me was the team unity we had in Staten Island last year. In college, my impression of pro ball was that most guys were only concerned with themselves. I learned last summer that I was wrong and that you become good friends with your teammates and there is strong team unity.

GW: Your former UNC teammates Dustin Ackley and Alex White received a lot of buzz last year and both ended up getting drafted in the top ten. Did the attention paid to them ever bother you? Like, “Hey, I’m pretty damn good too…”?

AW: The attention Dustin and Alex received was well deserved, but it didn’t bother me at all. Instead it motivated me to work hard and perform at a high level. I have always been a big believer in taking care of your own business and the recognition will come eventually.

GW: So according to your UNC athletics profile, you modeled your game after Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett. Please tell us that doesn’t include diet regimen. But seriously, those are two very successful, power righties. What have you taken from them beyond “be really good for a long time”?

AW: I picked those two pitchers because I admire the way they go about pitching. They are bulldogs on the mound and they aren’t afraid to attack hitters.

GW: When you’re not pitching, what do you like to do to kill time?

AW: To kill time I like to hang out with my friends and family, play Playstation, or watch movies.

GW: Did you get yourself anything nice with a piece of your bonus?

AW: I didn’t really get myself anything. I did get engaged this offseason, so I bought a diamond ring. That was my only big purchase.

GW: I imagine it might be. Thanks for talking time to talk with us, Adam.

Great stuff from Adam and we hope he continues to show big things. We won’t hold the Schilling and Beckett admiration against you yet. In time, you will learn.