Archive for May, 2009
Game 30: Yanks look to Hughes for continuation of last night
Posted by: | CommentsPhil Hughes has yet another chance to make a big impression with Yankees fans. He already ingratiated himself with the fanbase on April 28, shutting out the Tigers and breaking a four-game losing streak. Staff ace CC Sabathia snapped a five-game skid last night, and tonight Hughes could continue the turnaround. If successful he’d hand the ball to Joba Chamberlain in hopes to start a winning streak. Nothing could remove the sting of the current losing streak quite like a triplet of wins from the $161 million man, followed by the two home grown phenoms.
Last time out Hughes wasn’t that great, as he allowed seven hits, four walks, and four runs, three earned, through just four innings. That it came against the Red Sox made matters worse. The start was marked by some command issues, but that can be expected from a young starter. He still flashed his stuff, though, maintaining the fastball velocity and curveball break we saw in Detroit.
Tonight marks Hughes’s fourth start against the Orioles since his debut in April 2007. He hasn’t fared particularly well, allowing 10 runs, nine earned, over 16 innings. He’s also walked six in that span while allowing 21 hits. That he has struck out only eight, just 4.50 per nine. Thankfully, Hughes looks like a different pitcher than he was at this point last year, so the results could be markedly different than they were last time, when he allowed five runs in 5.1 innings, striking out just one.
Adam Eaton has had limited exposure to the AL during his career, having pitched for Texas one year between stints with San Diego and Philadelphia. He’s made two starts against the Yankees, allowing five runs over 10.2 innings, walking seven to eight strikeouts. His last appearance against them came in 2006 with Texas, when he lasted just 3.2 innings. The Yanks would love that to happen again. Not only would it be good for morale, but it would take some pressure off Hughes. Not that Hughes can’t pitch under pressure, but it’s always nice to stake your young starters to leads.
While it’s understandable that the Yankees swapped David Robertson for Brett Tomko (and DFA’d Eric Hacker), the roster still isn’t optimal. The bench right now consists of Kevin Cash, Angel Berroa, Ramiro Pena, and Brett Gardner. In other words, there’s not a significant advantage to pinch hitting for Francisco Cervelli. This kind of bench is serviceable (but by no means good) when Melky is the worst hitter in the order. The Yanks could still use a decent bat to pinch hit, which makes me wonder why they don’t swap out Ramiro Pena for Juan Miranda if they’re not going to DFA Berroa. Pena can always be recalled if there’s an injury to A-Rod, which I suppose is the rationale for keeping Berroa around at this point. Also, there’s still no word on the 40-man move to accompany Tomko’s addition. I’m not sure if they can put Kennedy on the 60-day, since he wasn’t on the active roster. If that does in fact disqualify him, look for Nady to slide to the 60-day. Otherwise, count on Kennedy.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B — felt good to type that for the first time this season
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Nick Swisher, RF
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Melky Cabrera, CF
9. Francisco Cervelli, C
And on the mound, number sixty-five, Phil Hughes.
What made CC so effective last night?
Posted by: | CommentsLast night, CC Sabathia showed the Yankees and their fans exactly what he was capable of. After a month of starts that were nothing more than adequete, Sabathia shutout the Orioles in impressive fashion, retiring twenty-three of twenty-four at one point. He recorded the final three outs in the ninth on strikeouts, then followed it up with a roar that announced to everyone that the real CC Sabathia had finally arrived.
But what made Sabathia so much more effective last night than his Opening Day assignment? Since both starts were in Baltimore, we can take a look at Sabathia’s stuff through Pitch f/x without having to worry about slight differences in the PFX cameras. Let’s start off with Sabathia’s pitch selection (remember to click on any graph in this post for a larger view):
The two outings are similar, except that Sabathia broke out the changeup more often last night. Back in April he was basically a two pitch pitcher, throwing either his fastball or slider 87% of the time. That dropped to 80.3% last night. Half of Sabathia’s eight strikesouts came on changeups, evidence that the pitch was keeping O’s hitters off balance.
After the jump, we’ll take a quick look at Sabathia’s individual pitches.
Tomko up; Robertson down
Posted by: | CommentsAccording to PeteAbe, the Yanks have made another roster move today. The purchased the contract of Brett Tomko from AAA and optioned down David Robertson. Because Tomko isn’t on the 40-man roster, the team will have to make another move today. It hasn’t been announced yet, and I’ll update this post when it is.
I guess the team made this move for depth, but I don’t see why. Tomko had been pitching well at AAA, but he’s 36 with a career ERA+ of 92 and a WHIP of 1.374. The Yanks could use him as a long man, but Al Aceves did an admirable job earlier this week. Robertson had made five appearances for the Yanks. In 4.2 innings, he had allowed two earned runs on four hits and four walks while striking out seven.
Update 6:35 p.m.: Eric Hacker has been DFA’d. Ian Kennedy can’t be put on the 60-day DL because he was not on the Major League roster when he was disabled.
Constructing a roster the Yankee way
Posted by: | CommentsOver at The Times Bats blog, Tyler Kepner is doing some truly excellent work. With the Rays in town earlier this week, Kepner used it as an opportunity to explore how the Yankees value their players. His conclusion is one with which I agree: They don’t do a very good job of it.
Kepner’s piece focuses around the discrepancies between what Evan Longoria will be making over the next ten years and what A-Rod has heading his way. Now, there is an obvious comparison problem here; Longoria is a very young star with little service time and less leverage. A-Rod is a bona fide superstar and a player widely regarded at points in his career as among the best all time. But Kepner’s point stands:
Now, the Yankees were never in position to draft Longoria, who went third over all in 2006, a year the Yankees picked 21st. But they’re likely to be tormented by Longoria again and again over the next nine years, while he improves and Rodriguez inevitably declines.
So for one extra year and $260 million more — repeat: two hundred sixty million — the Yankees have an older player who just had serious hip surgery. And there’s nowhere on the field to move him as he ages, because Mark Teixeira is locked in at first base through 2016.
It’s really incredible to think about the makeup of the Yankees’ roster right now. Over and over, the Yankees meet the salary demands of older players, tossing extra years and dollars on the pile. It hamstrings them constantly.
Was anyone else going to sign Rodriguez through 2017? Or Jorge Posada through 2011? Maybe the Mets would have done that for Posada. But considering his age — he turns 38 in August — maybe the Yankees should have let them. And what do they do when Derek Jeter needs a new deal after 2010, when he’ll be 36?
One of the problems with Kepner’s argument is the lack of alternatives. Who would the Yankees have catching if not for Posada? Who would the Yanks have put at third base who could even approximate A-Rod’s level of production? Ken Davidoff recently suggested the older and less healthy Scott Rolen, but most numbers don’t bear that one out.
Overall, though, Kepner has a point. The Yankees continue to tie up players on the wrong side of their careers to overpriced long-term deals. They have A-Rod for eight more full seasons after this one and Teixeira for seven. If CC Sabathia sticks around, he’ll be through 2015. Meanwhile, the Posada and the Mariano Rivera deals are sure signs of paying for the past. I don’t even want to touch the Derek Jeter issue right now.
After this week’s sweeps at the hands of the Red Sox and Rays, Yankee fans seemed to believe that the Yanks are indeed the third-best team in the AL East even in the standings don’t show it yet. That feeling starts and ends with the way this team is constructed. Whether Brian Cashman should be blamed or the Steinbrenner sons as they try to find their ways atop a baseball organization, that could very well be the reality in this league for the foreseeable future.
I did not watch last night’s game, and I don’t mind
Posted by: | CommentsFive straight losses is tough to handle, especially when you run a Yankees site and have to do a recap afterward. I took to all sorts of activities — MLB 09 The Show, sports trivia — to get over the emotional torment of the losses before writing them up. After yet another heartbreaking loss on Thursday night, I knew I needed a night off. Thankfully, I had dinner plans with a few friends (mussels, beer, pom fritte). We set out to the restaurant right before the first pitch, and didn’t return until the bottom of the ninth.
Some friends felt sympathy for me not having seen the game. “Oh, man, you had to deal with those losses and didn’t even get to see the redemption?” No, I didn’t. But I didn’t mind. After five straight losses, all in particularly gruesome fashion, missing an excellent win didn’t bother me one little bit. I didn’t sit around for the highs and lows, didn’t see any poor at bats, any failings to score with RISP…anything negative at all. It was mostly a baseball-free night (well, except when I started checking my BlackBerry in the 7th inning).
So I missed CC’s big game. Big whoop. I still have MLB.tv and can relive the glory this afternoon while waiting for the night game. While A-Rod‘s homer was probably tantalizing to see live, I saw it enough on replay, and understand the implications well enough, that I’m only marginally worse off as a baseball fan for not having seen it. While missing the good parts I also missed the bad parts, and that’s a good thing.
It’s almost like when you have a week where you sleep three or four hours a night. Friday you’re in this zombie-like state, wanting nothing other than the end of the work day to come. Go to bed early, sleep until noon, and it feels like the batteries are recharged. By going out during the game and sharing good times with friends (and also incredibly good food and beer), I was able to forget about the lows of the past week. That we got home for the bottom of the ninth was even sweeter. This was a group of six Yankees fans, two of whom had been to all four Rays/Sox losses (and with whom I saw Saturday’s loss). We all could have used the break.
Last night’s victory was sweet — so sweet that I’m going to watch it on replay. Many Yanks fans watched the game with joy, but I’m fine having missed it. There are plenty more to see, all hopefully less painful than those we saw over the past week.
The Red Sox never forget
Posted by: | CommentsI know this one went around a few days ago, but with my finals schedule, I’ve had this tab open and no time to post it. Since we’re whiling away the hours until a 7 p.m. start time tonight, let’s get to some good ol’ fashioned mocking of the Boston Red Sox.
Earlier this week, with the Yanks trailing by a run and a runner already on base, Joba Chamberlain hit Jason Bay with an 0-0 fastball. At the time, I thought nothing of it and was more dismayed that the Red Sox had two runners on than anything else. Boston, apparently, thought otherwise.
As Rob Bradford detailed on WEEI’s Full Count blog this week, the Red Sox won’t forget that HBP. Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell had quite the rant too:
“Typically, we let the game play out itself because I think our guys have each others backs and they are certainly going to be supportive if a situation like that were to arise. Speaking specifically about last night, he strikes out 12 guys, doesn’t seem to have too many command issues, and if there was a purpose or intent to throw up and in you can disguise it a little bit more than making it very obvious with the first pitch in the middle of the back to Jason Bay. Those things aren’t forgotten. We know there is a history there between the pitcher in New York and our guys here and not to say that he was specifically out to do that but I think history speaks for itself and we’ve got a number of games left with these guys.”
To which I say: Give me a break. The last thing Joba wanted to do was risk falling further behind. That was probably one of Chamberlain’s least intentional HBPs, and it pales in comparison the Joba-Youkilis drama that gets played out every time the two teams meet. Maybe Josh Beckett will throw up and in to A-Rod or Hideki Matsui when these two teams next month, but that would just be blatant retribution for a meaningless hit batter. Let it go, Boston. Let it go.
Musings on A-Rod’s ‘historic milestones’ contract
Posted by: | CommentsFor one night with A-Rod back in the lineup and CC wheelin’ and dealin’, everything seemed right in the Yankee Universe. Of course, A-Rod was booed by the Orioles, but the Bronx cheers weren’t any louder than usual. He’ll do with that around the leagues, and some places — Boston and Texas — will be less forgiven than others.
Of the field, though, reporters are still trying to stir up something of an Alex Rodriguez story. To wit: A Jayson Stark column on A-Rod’s historic milestones clauses. As Stark reminds us, Hank Steinbrenner, in seemingly his last act of any importance atop the Yankee chain of command, gave Alex Rodriguez a ten-year contract with some heavy marketing bonuses for reaching certain home run totals.
While Nate Silver doesn’t think A-Rod will reach all of those milestones, the Yankees are operating on the belief that they will have paid A-Rod around $300 million over the life of this contract. In light of A-Rod’s PED admissions earlier this year, Stark asks around baseball, and his anonymous sources suggest that the Yanks should try to get out of those clauses of the contract.
Stark writes:
These are not questions the Yankees are asking — yet. But they’re questions we have heard asked around baseball lately, as A-Rod’s reputation, approval rating and marketability have plunged to somewhere south of Rio de Janeiro.
“If I’m the Yankees,” said an official of one team, “I think I’d be doing everything I could not to pay that money, and let him sue me for it.”
“I think the Yankees ought to challenge it and baseball ought to challenge it,” said an executive of another club. “And then it’s up to A-Rod and the union to determine how much they want to fight it. Does this guy really want to continue to go through this stuff? Does he really want to continue to explain himself?”
The rest of the column gets into your typical anonymous-source complaining about the Yanks’ alleged special treatment and how this contract just isn’t allowed within the rules of Major League Baseball. That part is more hot air than excerpted part above.
But anyway, I think Stark is full of it, and I think his unnamed baseball executives are full of it too. Imagine that you are a worker at a company, and your boss calls you into to say that, in fact, you won’t get paid those performance bonuses included in your contract. No one I know would be too thrilled about that, and you can bet that A-Rod and Scott Boras wouldn’t be either.
For better or worse, through sickness and through health, the Yankees and A-Rod are stuck with each other for this season and eight more afterward. The Yankees aren’t going to rock that boat by investigating a way out of these contract clauses, and Stark and his sources should know that just as well as the rest of us do.
WDLR dominates in AA debut
Posted by: | CommentsTriple-A Scranton (11-5 win over Louisville)
Kevin Russo: 1 for 4, 3 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 E (fielding)
Eric Duncan: 0 for 5 – 4 for his last 38 (.405) … I told you April was just a tease
Todd Linden & Chris Stewart: both 1 for 5, 1 R – Linden doubled & K’ed twice
John Rodriguez: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB – picked off first … 10 for his last 28 (.357) with 14 RBI
Juan Miranda: 1 for 3, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Austin Jackson: 1 for 3, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K
Chris Malec: 2 for 5, 1 R, 3 RBI – 12 for his last 29 (.414) with 12 RBI
Doug Bernier: 1 for 4, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Eric Hacker: 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HB, 5-4 GB/FB – 50 of 88 pitches were strikes (56.8%)
Jason Stephens: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 3-2 GB/FB – 24 of 38 pitches were strikes (32.2%)
Zach Kroenke: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 0-2 GB/FB – 8 of 12 pitches were strikes (66.7%)
Eric Wordekemper: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 3-0 GB/FB – 13 of 23 pitches were strikes (56.5%)
Anthony Claggett: 1 IP, zeroes, 2-1 GB/FB – 4 of 7 pitches were strikes
Just 21 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.
