The Futility Infielder

Having already established that the good folks at Yanksfan Vs. Soxfan have fine taste in interview subjects, today the blog offers a tête- à-tête with Peter Abraham. Abraham covers the Yankees beat for the Westchester Journal News, but it's his accompanying Lohud Yankees Blog which sets him apart from most other beat reporters by providing a more spontaneous and often more candid take on the pinstriped team.

Abraham's long been ahead of the curve when it comes to blogging. Three years ago, he interviewed me among 27 New York-area bloggers for a lengthy feature on the medium's growing influence:

[Alex] Belth and many other bloggers were first inspired by Aaron Gleeman, Jay Jaffe and David Pinto, the Willie, Mickey and the Duke of this fledgling genre. They were among the first and are now three of the best-read bloggers.

Jaffe, 34, started "Futility Infielder" three years ago. Once primarily a Yankees blog, he has branched out to cover all baseball.

"I developed a penchant for lengthy lunchtime e-mails involving stat-based baseball arguments. My friends invited me to leave them alone and start a blog," he said via e-mail. "The rest is history. I don't watch very much TV, besides ballgames, or see many movies since I started doing this. I've always got a couple of ideas I'm working on, even if only in my head, to the point where it's become like the music of my mind."

A question about said feature leads off the YFSF interview, but the meatier stuff comes in further down:

YFSF: What do you see happening with the Yankees post-Steinbrenner, and how close are we to that time (or are we already there)? What are your impressions of Steve Swindal?

PA: I think we are already at the post-Steinbrenner phase. His health is one of the most closely guarded stories in sports and that is obviously because it is fading. I believe that Brian Cashman, Randy Levine and Steve Swindal make 95 percent of the decisions and once George gives up his title or passes away, Swindal will be the man in charge with Cashman at his side. I like Steve a lot, his recent arrest aside. I think he will do what is right. But I don't believe you'll see the Yankees with a payroll $50 million higher than any other team.

YFSF: You've been fairly critical of the Boston moves this off-season. Do you see them falling behind the Jays again?

PA: I think Boston's offense is a house of cards. They're relying far too much on second-tier players in important positions. J.D. "Nancy" Drew will be a terrible fit. That said, they have great starters and it's all about pitching. But how do you go into the season without a closer?

Nancy Drew -- gotta kick myself for not coming up with that one, even though I don't think the Sox's new rightfielder will have much trouble adjusting to Boston. Abraham does have a point in that the Sox probably should have made a few other upgrades, particularly at first base, where Kevin Youkilis is really not much better than a league average.

Anyway, check out the interview, and check out Pete's blog, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.

Update: I knew I forgot something... last summer Pete did a fine "Designated Hitter" piece for the Baseball Analysts website on Joe Torre's facility with the media and his ability to conjure a story for any occasion. Now that's what I'm talking about.

Labels: beat writing, Yankees