Yankees trade for Pudge Rodriguez

In the department of "Wow, I definitely didn't see that one coming," is today's Yankee trade, dealing setup man Kyle Farnsworth for 14-time All-Star and Tigers catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez. My initial reaction to this deal was, well, shock, since I hadn't heard anything about either of these two players possibly being traded until today. Apparently nobody had, because talks began this morning and progressed quickly. So is this deal a win or a loss for the Yankees? Once again, I have to applaud Brian Cashman for another quality move. Let's examine.

- Rodriguez this year is hitting at a .295/.338/.417 clip. That's good for an OPS of .755, which is pretty much league average (101 OPS+). However, it's MUCH better than the offensive black hole that is Jose Molina (59 OPS+. Fifty-nine!!) and Chad Moeller (75). Molina is a great defensive catcher, and will be used nicely as a backup, as Mussina's personal catcher and to give Pudge a rest. But let's be honest, Pudge is a much better offensive solution than anything else the Yankees could get at this point, with Jorge Posada now officially done for the year. Is he the stellar defensive catcher he used to be? No. But he's still a pretty damn good one and won't hurt the Yankee defense.
- It's ironic that the Yankees finally get rid of Farnsworth in the midst of his best season with the Bombers. But as of recently he'd been struggling a bit, and you always feel like he's one pitch away from imploding. With a 3.65 ERA though he should help the dismal Tigers bullpen. However, with the acquisition of Damaso Marte, the near-return of Brian Bruney, and the continued success of Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, and Dave Robertson, the Yanks can replace Farnsworth in the 8th inning without too much trouble.
- Of note is that both players see their contracts expire after the season. The Yankees likely weren't going to re-sign Farnsworth, anyway. As for Pudge, he's a Type A Free Agent, so the Yanks can get a draft pick when they don't re-sign him.


All in all, a solid move for the Yankees. Funny thing is, after this and the Nady deal, the biggest move we could make may be the Sox trading Manny.
(Not that I expect it to happen)

So about that bullpen...

A couple weeks ago I ranted about the Yankees bullpen sucking and the team needing to do something. They did call up David Robertson, who has been fantastic, but other than that kept the pen intact, and it has shockingly been great. The Yankees are 43-1 or something like that when leading after six innings, Veras-Farnsworth-Rivera has been a stellar 7/8/9 combo, and Robertson and Ramirez are pitching lights out ball. Give credit to the team for some patience there. More good news on the way: Brian Bruney should be back in a few days, which probably spells doom for LaTroy Hawkins, the one weak link in the pen.

Oh yeah and, don't look now but...
Tampa Bay 59-41
Boston 60-43 0.5 GB
NY Yankees 56-45 3.5 GB

Here come the Yanks...how big is this weekend series in Boston gonna be? Not like that's a surprise, but...should be more intense than usual.

Sooo...

I kinda forgot about this thing for a while, my apologies to the 5 people who have ever read this.

I plan on a review of The Dark Knight soon, if I can muster into words my feelings for this movie (hint: amazing amazing amazing).

For now, here's my ranking of the movies I've seen in theaters this year:
1. The Dark Knight
2. WALL-E
3. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
4. Iron Man
5. Cloverfield
6. The Incredible Hulk
7. The Bucket List
8. Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
9. Get Smart
10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull
11. Semi-Pro
12. 21
13. Strange Wilderness

or something like that


Still hope to catch:
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Visitor
In Bruges
Step Brothers
Pineapple Express
TROPIC THUNDER
BURN AFTER READING
Eagle Eye
Body of Lies
The Lonely Maiden
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
QUANTUM OF SOLACE
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

or something like that



Saw Young Frankenstein on Broadway today. Pretty good, most of the leads were impressive except for Dr. Frankenstein who was pretty bland. Movie was still better, not that it's an insult to the play because the movie is hilarious.

Hellboy - Review

Will Smith's new movie "Hancock" sports the tagline "not your average superhero." Well, the marketing people behind that movie can thank the makers of "Hellboy" for not using that tagline, because it's probably the most appropriate way to sum up the title character from director Guillermo Del Toro's comic book adaptation. Hellboy (played by Ron Perlman) is brought into the world as a baby demon in 1944, when the Nazis open a portal to another dimension looking to gain an advantage in World War II. (And you thought the Nazis looking for the Ark of the Covenant was a crazy idea.) He's kept secret by the U.S. government's Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, run by Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (John Hurt). Bruttenholm explains the bureau by saying "There are things that go bump in the night. And we bump back." Somehow involved in all this is Hellboy's pyrokinetic love interest Liz (Selma Blair), a good guy who looks like the Creature From the Black Lagoon (Doug Jones), a masked, knife-wielding assassin, a bunch of evil hound-looking things, and Grigori Rasputin (yes, the guy who was stabbed, poisoned, shot, and drowned in real life before finally dying.) I'll be honest - the plot is very fantastical, and doesn't make too much sense. It's not Del Toro's fault that it doesn't make sense - the comics just involve too many monsters, magic, and nonsensical things to make much of a clear storyline. But the movie succeeds as an entertaining and witty film, mainly due to Perlman as the title character. His Hellboy is a sarcastic, one-liner machine. He constantly spouts off dry humor while battling the bad guys. And despite being, well, a demon, Hellboy's probably the most relatable superhero of any recent movies. He has real-life problems and wants to be accepted. "Hellboy" isn't perfect by any means. You wish there was more than just the same old hound-thing over and over and the nonsensical story gets annoying sometimes. But it works, thanks mainly to the sarcastic Perlman and the visionary Del Toro, as unlikely a team as there is.

The Verdict: Despite the fantastical universe Hellboy lives in, Perlman makes him a witty and enjoyable character and provides for some solid entertainment.
3 / 4 stars