Archive for June, 2009
Game 69: Okay, win this series
Posted by: | CommentsFor the third straight series the Yankees face a rubber match in the final game. They won in emphatic fashion against the Mets, but lost in a shutout to the Nats. Since I always like to talk about taking series, how about the Yanks go out and not only win this three-game series, but win this set of two out of three series. It would be a nice present heading into one of those always-boring off-days.
Once again, the Yankees will face someone they’ve never seen before in 22-year-old Chris Volstad. The 2005 first rounder is in his second year in the majors, and has hit some speed bumps. After pitching to a 2.88 ERA over 84.1 innings last year (14 starts and one relief appearance), that ERA has climbed nearly two full points to 4.75. Despite the rising ERA, Volstad has struck out more, walked fewer, and has a lower WHIP than last season. Unfortunately, he allowed home runs last year at an unsustainable rate (just three in those 84.1 IP), and has allowed 14 in basically the same span this year. That’ll make the difference.
Volstad is a fastball-curveball-changeup guy, and it sounds like his change is his best pitch. He sets it up with a fastball that tops out at 92, so despite his large frame (6’7″) he doesn’t feature overpowering stuff. Much in the same way as teammate Sean West, Volstad is a big dude without a lot of extra mass on his bones — he’s listed as 190 pounds.
The year started out well for Volstad, as he allowed just one run in each of his first two starts, and then, after allowing three runs in his next start, held the Phillies and Cubs to two earned runs each over seven innings in each start. That put his ERA at 2.76 for April. That climbed about a full run in May, as he allowed fewer than three earned runs just once (3 R, 2 ER against Colorado). His ERA jumped more than a run above that in June, as he allowed two runs over six innings to the Giants, and then six runs over 5.2 to the Cardinals and eight runs over 3.2 to the Red Sox.
CC Sabathia toes the rubber for the Yanks this afternoon. He’s been the most solid pitcher in the rotation all season, and especially since the calendar flipped from April to May. He’s run into a bit of trouble in June, as one bad inning in each start allowed the opposing team to either get back into the game or take it. On June 6 against the Rays he had the three-run shot to Willy Aybar. This past Tuesday he had the three-run shot to Anderson Hernandez. And, of course, on June 11 against the Sox he had the eighth inning. So in all three games he was basically one (or in the Sox case two) at bat away from having a truly dominant outing. Putting it together would be a big deal for the Yanks today.
As a quick note, A.J. Burnett‘s suspension has been reduced to five games, and he’ll start serving that today. The off-day will allow the Yanks to juggle the rotation to accommodate the MLB’s asinine suspension policy. Sounds like it will be Wang, Joba, and Pettitte against the Braves, followed by CC, Burnett, and Wang against the Mets.
Also, Johnny Damon is out with a sore calf, which could just as easily be baseball lingo for “could use two straight days off.”
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Nick Swisher, RF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Robinson Cano, 2B
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Melky Cabrera, LF
8. Brett Gardner, CF
9. CC Sabathia, P
A good sign from A.J. Burnett
Posted by: | CommentsLast night’s start by A.J. Burnett was a very positive sign for the Yanks regardless of the fact that the team lost. Simply put, for the first time all season, Burnett pitched well in a loss. In games the Yanks won, Burnett has been lights out. In those eight starts, he has throw 53.1 innings with a 2.70 ERA and a .653 OPS against. Before last night, in the five Yankee losses he had started, he had thrown 27.1 innings with a 7.90 ERA and a .995 OPS against. When he was bad, he was really bad. Against the Marlins, though, Burnett had his best stuff, but he was simply out-pitched. If he can bring that to the table every five days, the Yankees will be a good position to win indeed. Consistency is king.
Can the A-Rod nonsense just end?
Posted by: | CommentsPlayer has invasive hip surgery on March 9th, is supposed to miss six to nine weeks. Player misses Spring Training and the first month of the season — does rehab work to get hip back into shape instead of baseball activities. Player does some baseball activities, but barely gets in a nine-inning practice game before returning 61 days after surgery. Player goes on to start every single game between May 8 and June 18, inclusive.
The obvious conclusion in this case is that Player needs a breather. In fact, Player probably could have used a breather before that. May 8 through June 18 is 42 days, a long time for a player who didn’t get a proper Spring Training and who basically went from the operating table to the infield with little transition time. During those 42 days, Player only got four full days off and two half days at DH. That’s probably not enough, given the circumstances.
The situation is pretty clear. Player should have gotten more rest, but did not. Player is going to take two days off, followed by an on-day, which is then followed by a team off-day. Sounds fine, right? It did to me, but apparently this was a big story in the newspapers and on TV. Player’s manager put him in the lineup against orders. Player’s manager wasn’t part of the decision to rest him. Player and manager had words. And that’s not to mention the questioning of Player himself.
Again, the situation is pretty cut and dry. A lot of noise permeated the sports pages, but in the end it all means little. Player was obviously fatigued, and for good reason. There was a bit of miscommunication, it appeared, on how to handle said fatigue. That happens. The situation was resolved. In fact, Player’s manager put the final stamp on it: “I’m hoping he’ll tell us which day he needs when he needs it. If not, I’ll just have to make him take a day.”
Should things have been handled differently? Probably. Player’s manager probably should have rested Player a bit more during the first month and a half of his recovery. Problem was, Player’s tiring came during a losing streak. Player’s manager wanted to field the best possible team to snap out of the streak. Player wanted to be in the lineup. It’s not an excuse; it’s just an explanation for what happened.
The whole situation, really, is easily explained. There should be no outrage, no questioning of motives. The team should have done something. They didn’t. They got to a point where they had to do something, so they took the proper measures. Now, if there’s a problem going forward maybe we can start to feel some outrage. For now, we can file this one under “mishandled” and hope the team learns from its mistake.
Scott Proctor: Recovering Alcoholic
Posted by: | CommentsT-Kep writes about reliever Scott Proctor, who has admitted to alcohol abuse while with the Yankees and said it affected his performance at times. Mariano Rivera urged the righty to straighten his life out, but it wasn’t until recently that Proctor actually did. Although the team hasn’t admitted as much, it sounds like his off-the-field activities factored in to the decision to trade him back in 2007. The most important thing is that Proctor, married with three young children, has finally gotten his life back together. Currently out with Tommy John surgery, Proctor said he’d love to rejoin the Yanks when he’s heathy. (h/t Pinto)
Revving the mill: Xavier Nady, Nick Swisher
Posted by: | CommentsAs July approaches, the pace of rumors about potential trades will increase. A lot of what we hear and read is simply noise, and as we have in the past, we’re not going to reproduce every single rumor involving the Yanks. What we will do is highlight the ones from reliable sources that carry some newsworthiness. Sometimes, we’ll highlight rumors of what the Yanks don’t plan to do as well.
Today, we have one of the latter stories, this one from Buster Olney. In his Saturday blog post, Olney dropped in a “heard this” note about the Yanks’ July plans:
The Yankees are unlikely to trade Nick Swisher or Xavier Nady after Nady returns — probably in the first week of July — because of the other needs of their club, and because it’s unlikely they would get anything close to full value for Nady if they put him on the market, in light of his elbow injury. The Yankees had discussions with other teams about Nady during the offseason, after signing Mark Teixeira.
This is an interesting item because, honestly, it doesn’t make too much sense. Getting Xavier Nady will do wonders for the Yanks’ depth, but is he really that integral a piece that they need to hold onto him? I don’t think so.
When Nady returns in a week or two, the Yankees will have a very deep team. They can jettison Angel Berroa or option Ramiro Peña back to the minors. Either way, depending upon the lineup, they’ll have a decent backup catcher, Brett Gardner or Melky Cabrera, Berroa or Peña or Cody Ransom and Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher. Most teams would kill for that depth.
One of the benefits though of depth is recognizing when to use it to fill in parts. The Yankees may not, as Olney reports, be able to get “full value” for Nady, but that’s a rather amorphous concept right now. Nady is set to be a free agent at the end of the season, and if the Yankees don’t trade him now, they won’t get anything from him. They aren’t likely to offer him arbitration. In a weak economy, corner outfielders tend to suffer, and Nady would likely accept arbitration. Meanwhile, the Yankees aren’t keen on signing 31-year-old outfielders to multi-year contracts right now.
Trading Nady this July, if he comes back and proves himself healthy, makes good sense. If they can get a piece they need — a reliever, perhaps, to solidify the bullpen — I wouldn’t be opposed to moving Nady. Right now, in fact, that might very well be where his value lies.
Rain, rain, go away
Posted by: | CommentsBy now you’ve probably heard, but in case you haven’t: the Yanks have agreed to terms with Dominican catcher Gary Sanchez on a $2.5M bonus. The signing can not be made official until July 2nd, when the international signing period starts. I’ll have some more on him later this week.
Colin Curtis has been promoted to Triple-A Scranton. Oh, and has Melvin Croussett met his match?
Triple-A Scranton was rained out yet again. They’ll play two tomorrow, with ex-Yankee farmhand Dan McCutchen scheduled to start the second game for Indianapolis.
Double-A Trenton‘s doubleheader was rained out. They’ll play a doubleheader tomorrow, but the other game was straight up canceled and will not be made up.
High-A Tampa is off until Monday for the All-Star Break. Chris Parmalee of the Twins won the Homerun Derby, not sure how many Romine hit. The North All-Stars beat the South All-Stars 6-1.
Austin Romine: 0 for 1 – took over behind the plate in the bottom of the 5th … grounded out to the first baseman on a 2-0 count to end the 7th in his only at-bat
Low-A Charleston (7-3 win over Savannah)
Jose Pirela: 0 for 5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 CS
Ray Kruml: 3 for 5, 2 R, 1 3B, 2 RBI
David Adams: 2 for 3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB – had been hitless in his last three games
Dan Brewer & Melky Mesa: both 0 for 4 – Brewer drew a walk, stole a base & K’ed twice … Mesa drove in a run & K’ed
Corban Joseph: 2 for 2, 1 R, 2 BB
Taylor Grote: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 K
Mitch Abeita: 3 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 BB – 9 for his last 20 (.450)
Hector Noesi: 7 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 6-8 GB/FB – 77-11 K/BB ratio in 73.2 IP
Casey Erickson: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 6-0 GB/FB
Short Season Staten Island was washed out.
The Rookie GCL Yanks kick off their season on Tuesday. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on July 10th.
Game 68 Spillover Thread II
Posted by: | CommentsI blame A-Rod. Isn’t that what the cool people do?
Game 68: Mentor vs. Protege, kind of
Posted by: | CommentsChances are that by the time you read this you’ll already have learned of the connection between A.J. Burnett and Josh Johnson. Burnett ripped Marlins management on his way out the door in 2005, and the team suspended him. A.J.’s final start of the season went to Josh Johnson, who picked up steam as a big-time pitcher for the Marlins.
Then there’s the Girardi-Johnson connection. Joe Girardi took over as manager of the Marlins in 2006, and Johnson was one of his best pitchers. The then-22-year-old was showing signs of tiring late in the season: he had allowed four runs over six innings on September 2 and five runs over 4.2 innings on September 7. During his September 12 start there was an 82-minute rain delay. He lasted five innings total and pitched well, but left the game with forearm tightness and missed the rest of the season.
Elbow troubles plagued his 2007 season, until he finally had Tommy John surgery that August. He returned in early July of 2008 and pitched 87 innings through the end of the season. It seems he’s regained his form this year, throwing 98 innings with a 2.7 ERA.
Burnett has struggled at times this year, but was great against the Mets last Sunday, striking out eight and allowing no runs over seven innings. He worked in and, more importantly, out of trouble, as will usually happen when you walk four guys. The Marlins don’t appear to have the most patient lineup, so perhaps A.J.’s style will work on them.
Notes: Angel Berroa gets another start in place of Alex Rodriguez today. With Cody Ransom and Xavier Nady ready for return, it would appear this is his parting gift…Speaking of Nady, he played the outfield today, and could start a rehab assignment next week…Question on this article: Why wasn’t Girardi in the meeting? Seems like something he should be privy to.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Jorge Posada, C
5. Robinson Cano, 2B
6. Nick Swisher, RF
7. Melky Cabrera, CF
8. Angel Berroa, 3B
9. A.J. Burnett, P
Just 21 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.
