Scott Proctor's back

I never thought I'd be writing that Scott Proctor was back in pinstripes after the Yankees traded him to the Dodgers at the 2007 deadline. But life is unpredictable, and here we are.

Obviously the biggest news here is that Jesus Montero will finally be joining the big club, but Proctor's return is more poignant for me. This blog served as an outlet for me to get my long-form baseball and Yankees opinions out there, to hone my writing skills, and to pretend to be a baseball reporter.

The jokes about his arm falling off are as tired as me complaining about Jorge Posada, but for a time way back in 2007, those jokes inspired me to name this blog. Thank you, Joe Torre, for riding Proctor's arm for a ridiculous 102.1 innings way back in 2006. Wow, 2006. The year I graduated high school; the year I began college. I can't believe that was five years ago.

Proctor has always seemed like a good dude and hopefully he can take advantage of the opportunities he gets to finish out this season. It'd be foolish to expect him to get high-leverage innings out of the bullpen in a race to win the division, but the fact he's back here at all is rather astonishing. Stranger things have happened, I suppose.

My interests and goals have changed, but I'll always look back fondly on the time I had keeping up this blog and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Maybe Scott Proctor will get a ring after all.

Torre speaks out about Proctor’s injury

Via Jim Baumbach on The Final Score blog comes this article from the South Florida Sun-Sentinal in which Joe Torre blames Scott Proctor for his elbow injury.

"He wasn't afraid of anything," Torre said. "Very aggressive. Ability aside, the fact he was a good teammate was very important."

However, Torre said Proctor did himself no favors with his willingness to pitch when less than 100 percent.

"There's playing hurt, and then there's playing stupid," Torre said. "It doesn't have anything to do with someone's intelligence. If you can endure pain and still are able to do what you do, that's one thing."
...

"He doesn't know what hurt is," Torre said. "The dumbest question I could ask him was: 'Are you OK?' Because I knew what the answer was going to be."

Well then.

It’s still Torre’s decision to bring in and eventually take out the reliever.  If you think the pitcher has had enough, you take him out.

Scott Proctor to see Dr. Andrews

Uh oh.  Joe Torre put that final pin in the Scott Proctor voodoo doll.  The namesake is traveling to Birmingham, Ala., next week to see the infamous Dr. James Andrews.

"It's worse than before," Proctor said Wednesday. "It just gets more and more frustrating. The most frustrating thing is the rest of my body feels great. I feel like a car with three tires."

Poor Scott.  Hope all ends up well.

Thanks to those who brought this to my attention.

Michael Kay answered my question on Twitter!

A few days ago, @YesNetwork on Twitter asked us to pose questions for Michael Kay.  Being the opportunist that I am, I decided to ask one…and he answered!  He poked fun at my username, @ProctorsArm and Joe Torre (without mentioning his name).

From: ProctorsArm (Twitter)
Do you think the Yankees should move Robinson Cano up higher in the lineup?
MK: Eventually I see him as a No. 3 hitter, but on this team I recognize that lower in the lineup is better. I see your name is Proctorsarm. You must be exhausted from overuse. But I'm not blaming any specific person for that.

Hilarious!

Thanks to @EddieBaseball for pointing this out to me!

Kei Igawa named captain, Opening Day starter

Apparently, the Yankees have named Kei Igawa associate team captain. He will also start on Opening Day.

Please explain to me what the Yankees are doing here.

Really, Igawa? Igawa of the 6.66 ERA. Igawa of the 2-4 record.

I am stunned here. I really am at a loss for words. With guys like CC Sabathia and Chien-Ming Wang on the team, this really makes no sense to me.

Leave it to the Yankees to do something stupid here.

Frankly, Joe Girardi should be fired. This seals the deal.

Only he could make such a terrible decision. Where is Joe Torre when we need him?

Obviously he's still in Los Angeles, but the Yankees really miss him!

Look - the Yankees have spent a lot of money on Igawa and I can see why they want to get a return on their investment. But let's be real here. The guy is terrible and should never be near a major league mound again.

Seriously, just get him out of my face.













Yeah, yeah. April Fools! The first letter of each paragraph spells out "April Fool's." I probably could've thought of something better to do eventually, but I figured I'd stay with the Kei Igawa April Fools precedent I set last year. He's just that much of a joke.

'Yankee Years' quotes of the night

I've only gotten through the first 10 pages of "The Yankee Years" (long day), so I'm still on the chapter entitled, "Underdogs." It deals with the 1996 team.

If I come across anything that stands out to me, I will post it here.

Page 6 mentions the David Cone negotiations during the 1995 offseason. Cone was ready to bolt to Baltimore, but those talks died over complications regarding deferred money and interest rates. George Steinbrenner, who was visiting a sick friend in the hospital, called Cone from the hospital's pay phone.

"We want you not just for this deal," Steinbrenner told Cone, "but for the rest of your career. Before your career is over with the Yankees, you will be pitching in a new ballpark on the West Side of Manhattan and I hope we're drawing three million people a year."

Cone, as you know, left the Yankees after 2000 and signed with the Red Sox. The Yankees, meanwhile, drew at least 4 million fans in each of the final four years of the old Yankee Stadium.

And here's another one I enjoyed. Page 8 talks about Joe Torre's meeting with the team during the first day of spring training in 1996.

"All of my coaches have been to the World Series," Torre told the team. "That's what I want. But I don't want to win just one. I want to win three of them in a row. I want to establish something here that's special. I don't want to sacrifice principles and players to do it one time. I want to establish a foundation to be the kind of ballclub that is going to be able to repeat."

Little did we know that Torre would actually fulfill that promise.

Just bought Joe's book

I decided to be generous and donate money to Joe Torre's personal bank account. I picked up "The Yankee Years" at the North Haven, Conn., Barnes & Noble today (their last copy!).

I am not much of a reader, but now I have two books to read (thanks, Jane!).

Did anyone else go out and buy it today?

Saturday evening reading: Larry King transcript

Joe Torre appeared on "Larry King Live" last night. The Post has a transcript of the interview, that can be found here.

More on Torre's book

Joshua Robinson has a good summary of other topics in Joe Torre's new book, "The Yankee Years."

Covered here: Carl Pavano, George Steinbrenner's health, how the Yankees do business and steroids.

Meanwhile, this Times article by Michael S. Schmidt mainly focuses on Alex Rodriguez.

Torre rips Yankees in new book

Joe Torre is releasing a tell-all book on Feb. 3 called "The Yankee Years." In it, he apparently pulls no punches, ripping the organization and some players.

From Bill Madden:

According to a new book by Sports Illustrated baseball writer Tom Verducci, Torre was a bitter man by the time he left the Yankees in October of 2007, and he takes a few rips at the team that he led for 12 seasons.

In "The Yankee Years," due to be released on Feb. 3, Torre describes general manager Brian Cashman as a less than supportive ally who betrayed him on several fronts, and says that his star player, Alex Rodriguez, was often referred to by his teammates as "A-Fraud" and was obsessed with his perceived rival, shortstop Derek Jeter.
...

According to a source familiar with the book, Torre does not step out of character. He simply recites the facts as he saw them and does not unfairly disparage the Yankees. As has been reported, he reiterates the claim that Cashman did not stand up for him at the crucial meeting with the Steinbrenners in Tampa as the 2007 season wound down and the Yankee brass discussed whether to bring him back or not, even though publicly Cashman had let it be known that he wanted Torre back as manager.

According to the source familiar with the book, Torre confronted Cashman about his role in the meeting and the Yankee GM confirmed to him that he had offered no opinions to the Steinbrenners on whether they should upgrade their offer from the one-year deal to the two-year deal Torre wanted.

That all said, there has to be some positive parts in the book. The media will only focus on alleged rifts between the organization and manager, but there were also four championships in five years during this time.

But from this report, it appears as if Torre is bitter at the team that essentially resurrected his career.

I don't read many books (Jane's book is in the mail), but I may have to read this one. If anything, Torre and his publisher are doing a great job of promoting it.

Torre will appear on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and sign books at the Yogi Berra Museum on Feb. 3.

Phillies advance to World Series

The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Joe Torre-led Dodgers to win the National League pennant tonight. Needless to say, my Mets fan roommate is unhappy.

He's probably feeling how I felt in 2004 when the Red Sox made the World Series and eventually won the whole thing. While the Phillies didn't advance to the World Series at the expense of the Mets, there are parallels to this situation.

Hopefully the Rays will only need one game to close out the Red Sox and will beat the Phillies in the World Series so everyone is happy.

Proctor to have elbow surgery

I totally didn't see this coming.

Scott Proctor will have elbow surgery to repair a partially-torn flexor tendon and will have a bone spur in the back of his elbow shaved down, according to MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. Sounds fun, doesn't it?

Joe Torre gets the last laugh, I guess.

H/T to iYankees

Yankees fan's playoff envy

Jane Heller, author, blogger and commenter on this blog(!), wrote a piece for todays's New York Times about how Yankees fans have a serious case of playoff envy. Truer words have never been spoken. I implore you to check it out.

Basically, she adopted the Dodgers as her October '08 team. As much as Joe Torre's Yankees meant to my adolescence, I can't bring myself to rooting for the Dodgers this year (unless they play the Red Sox in the World Series). When it became clear that the Yankees wouldn't make the playoffs, I decided that I'd make the Tampa Bay Rays my team for this October.

Her Dodgers are down 0-2 to the Phillies while my Rays had a very nice win earlier this morning in extra innings.

H/T to Dave and Aziz from Pride of the Yankees

Torre advances to NLCS

A few minutes ago, Jonathan Broxton struck out Alfonso Soriano on a ball in the dirt (I miss Soriano flailing at balls off the plate for the Yankees, I really do) to finish off the Cubs in three games.

As a result, Joe Torre advances to an LCS for the first time since 2004 while the Yankees sit at home this October. There is no cause and effect, really, but it is an interesting situation to ponder.

Would the Yankees have reached the playoffs this season with Torre at the helm? I'm not too sure. It was clear that this team was flawed, what with the pitching question marks and too much money tied into aging players. It was only a matter of time before they would miss the playoffs. The fact that there was a managerial change is just a coincidence in my book.

Scott Proctor resurfaces

Scott Proctor was activated from the 60-day disabled list and was called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

His last appearance was on June 21 and he has been recovering from an injured elbow since.

In three innings for Triple-A Las Vegas, Proctor struck out five and walked none. He is now back with Joe Torre once and for all.

Scott Proctor's arm headed to the DL

It's finally happened: Scott Proctor was placed on the 15-day disabled list tonight.

Apparently Proctor was hiding an injury from Joe Torre and Co. and was going to be optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas before he confessed.

"Having a little history with Scott Proctor, knowing that the guy I was watching was not really what you've seen before and knowing that he would never acknowledge that anything was wrong, you can't just all of a sudden say there's something wrong. So we were going to option him," Torre said. "I just basically told him that he needs to work out what he needs to work out and get himself straightened out."

After some more prodding, Proctor came clean with Torre. An injured player cannot be optioned to the minors.

"You love him for his heart. He has a belly full of guts and all that stuff, but he doesn't always make the right choices," Torre said. "I know the timing sounds to some people like he's just doing that to keep from going to the minor leagues. But I know him better than that. He was even willing to go down to Vegas and pitch with the injury, which made no sense to me. It's all a Band-Aid."

In 33 games for the Dodgers this year, Proctor is 1-0 with a 6.82 ERA. He has struck out 36 batters while walking 22 in 31 2/3 innings. He recorded his first win on June 10 against the Padres. In his last 4 1/3 innings, he has given up 12 hits and 11 runs (eight earned) while walking seven and striking out five.

Crasnick not worried about Cano's slow start

ESPN's Jerry Crasnick mentioned Robinson Cano in his "Starting 9" column centered around the season's slow starters.

Here's what he had to say about the Yankees' second baseman:

When Joe Torre compared Cano to Rod Carew in 2005, he wasn't necessarily predicting multiple batting titles. But Cano's fluid stroke, quick hands and mature approach have made a lot of baseball people believe there'll be at least one or two in his long-term future.

In the meantime, he's not immune to the occasional slump. Cano starts with his weight on his front foot, then gradually rocks back and loads as the pitcher begins his delivery. If the process is slightly off kilter, the consequences can be profound.

"He's such a rhythm and timing hitter, and his timing is a little bit off right now," said an American League scout. "I think it's just a case of, 'Wait until April is over.'"

Cano is hitting .139 with runners on base, and manager Joe Girardi recently gave him a day off against Tampa Bay. After Cano produced a game-winning pinch-hit homer, hitting coach Kevin Long observed that it might be just the thing to get him jump-started. Not yet.

Concern level: 2. Hey, he's still a decent bet to be hitting .300 by the All-Star break.

Going into tonight's game, Cano is batting .172 with one home run and five RBI. His OBP sits at an unhealthy .212 and he is slugging a dismal .247.

Cano is very frustrating to many Yankee fans. He has all the talent in the world, but he is prone to lapses both at the plate and in the field (especially when he isn't hitting). Larry Bowa, the Yankees' former third base coach, seemed to have Cano's ear, but he fled to Los Angeles with Joe Torre.

He will turn things around, but this negative pattern has developed over the last two seasons.

Proctor's awful night

Last night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Scott Proctor imploded.

He gave up two home runs in one inning, totaling four earned runs. He also gave up four hits and walked one batter.

These were the first runs and hits he's given up this season.

Through 3 2-3 innings, Proctor is 0-0 with a 9.82 ERA. He has three walks and one strikeout.

I wonder if Proctor is just trying to sabotage Joe Torre's stay in Los Angeles. Time will tell.

(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Proctor in the game

With runners on first and second and two out, Scott Proctor induced a fly ball to get out of the inning to preserve the Dodgers' 5-0 lead in the seventh inning.

Much has been made about Proctor's reunion with Joe Torre, so he's getting an early start this season.

The start of a new era

Today is the day we've all (figuratively) circled on our calendars: Opening Day.

Hearing those two words conjures up thoughts of summer, past successes and new beginnings. Today marks a new beginning.

Joe Torre, the man who managed the last 12 Opening Days is 3,000 miles west. While I'm happy he is where he is, something just doesn't seem right about that. For the first few games, it will be strange seeing Joe Girardi in his place.

The lineup has the same players, but the starting rotation has gotten much younger. This is what many Yankee fans are most excited about. Sure, they will have their struggles this year. But knowing that the future is promising puts a smile on everyone's faces.

Hopefully the rain will hold off and hopefully Chien-Ming Wang has forgotten about what happened last October.

I'll have the game preview up soon and a liveblog will follow that, so stay tuned.

Let's go Yankees!