Larry Mahnken (Born Donald Lawrence Mahnken on April 13, 1977) is the publisher of the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog and a staff writer for The Hardball Times.

Mahnken started publishing the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog (RLYW) in May, 2003 as an outlet for his opinions on the New York Yankees and Baseball in general. The title of the blog is a self-deprecating joke, "replacement level" indicating a level of quality that can be obtained at minimal cost. The New York Yankees are a Major League baseball team based in The Bronx, New York City. ...

During the summer of 2003, the RLYW grew in popularity thanks to exposure through the popular website Baseball Think Factory and article mentions by Providence Journal sports editor Art Martone. Mahnken became known for his quirky sense of humor, wild mood swings that corresponded with the fortunes of the team, vocal criticism of "sacred cows" Joe Torre and Derek Jeter, as well as his insightful analysis and conversational writing style. His generally objective analysis of the Yankees has made him popular amongst fans of the arch-rival Boston Red Sox Joseph Paul Torre (born July 18, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York) is the manager of the New York Yankees and a former Major League Baseball player in the National League for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, St. ... Derek Sanderson Jeter (June 26, 1974 - ) is an American baseball player and the current starting shortstop for the New York Yankees and a six-time All-Star. ... The Boston Red Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Boston, Massachusetts. ...

Despite his criticism, Mahnken has asserted repeatedly that he is a fan of Jeter, but feels he has been overrated by the mainstream. He has, however, been outspoken in his distate for other Yankees players, including Juan Acevedo, Aaron Boone, Enrique Wilson and Tony Womack.

In the summer of 2003, Mahnken jokingly blamed the Yankees' failure to win a World Series in two seasons on former reliever Jeff Nelson, who had departed the team after their last World Championship in 2000, and he jokingly dubbed that failure "The Curse Of Jeff Nelson," a reference to the Curse of the Bambino myth. When the Yankees reaccquired Nelson just over a week after Mahnken's comments, Mahnken revised the curse, renaming it, "The Curse Of... Oh, Let's Say, Clay Bellinger," Bellinger being a former utility player on the Yankees' last Championship team. Babe with the Red Sox (Rookie portrait, 1915) Copyright Baseball Antiquities http://www. ...

In the fall of 2003, the RLYW was named the 5th best Sports Blog by Forbes.com, ranking tops among all Baseball blogs, though Mahnken himself concedes that this honor was likely due in large part to the reviewer's lack of exposure to other baseball blogs. Nonetheless, the baseball blogging community considers this honor to be not undeserved.

In March, 2004, Mahnken joined several prominent baseball bloggers, led by ultra-popular Twins blogger Aaron Gleeman to launch the webmagazine The Hardball Times. In November, 2004, the site published it's first book of the same name, with Mahnken contributing several articles.

On the morning of January 24th, 2005, Mahnken's apartment was destroyed by a fire. In the aftermath of the tragedy the online community came together to help Mahnken rebuild his life. After an extended hiatus, Mahnken returned to regular writing in the late spring of 2005.