Archive for June, 2009
Game 59 Spillover Thread II
Posted by: | CommentsThe Yankees will bring the winning run to the plate in this game.
Game 59 Spillover Thread
Posted by: | CommentsThere aren’t many instances when you should swing at the first pitch from Wakefield…
Game 59: She’s having a baby!
Posted by: | CommentsAccording to Carig, Chien-Ming Wang‘s wife is due to give birth any time now, and that might mean the erstwhile ace* could bolt from Fenway prematurely. That could be good or bad news, of course. Wang doesn’t have the greatest track record against the Red Sox, and considering his 2009 woes he might might leave the game early anyway.
* We’ve used the term “erstwhile ace” a few times. I quite like it. Do you?
Tim Wakefield has pitched basically a season’s worth of innings against the Yankees in his career. In those 223.2 frames he has a 5.03 ERA. As we saw with Josh Beckett last night, though, that means very little. He can give the Sox a scoreless outing, as he did on September 28 last year. He can pitch a quality start, as he did on July 6 (6.1 IP, 3 ER). Or he can get totally freaking tagged, as he did on June 1, 2007 (I quite enjoyed being in the bleachers for that one). You never know what you’re going to get from Wakefield until the game starts.
In his career Chien-Ming Wang has tossed 84 innings against the Sox to a 4.82 ERA. Last year was a Jekyll and Hyde one for Wang against the Sox. On April 11 he tossed a complete game two-hitter, allowing just one run (the homer by J.D. Drew that Bobby Abreu might have been able to catch if the feared wall hadn’t impeded his leap). Then, five days later, the Sox tattooed him for eight runs in four innings. It was a mixed bag in 2007, too. Wang gave up four runs in six innings, three runs in 5.2 innings, zero runs in seven innings, and five runs in 5.2 innings. Given this and his performance this season, it’s understandable if Yankees fans are apprehensive about his appearance tonight.
Still, the Yanks had to get Chien-Ming Wang back into the rotation. It’s unfortunate that his second start back comes against the Red Sox. That’s baseball, though. You want your five best pitchers tossing the most innings, and when he’s right Wang is one of the Yanks’ best five. Ben and I have been vocal in our displeasure with how the Yanks handled his situation, but what’s done is done. They had/have to figure out of Wang is one of their five best, so getting him into the rotation was the only thing they could do. The good news: he’ll get a good test tonight. The bad news: failure means the Yanks could be out of first place and yet another game in the hole to the Sox.
Some pre-game note:
- From PeteAbe: Bruney will throw a simulated game tomorrow. The Yanks will then determine the next step, which could mean a rehab assignment starting Saturday. The sooner he gets back, the better — but obviously not at the cost of losing him again.
- Xavier Nady is headed to New York on Friday to workout. Sounds like he’ll also get into rehab games. Having him as a DH alternative to Matsui will be good. That would make for an inflexible bench, but said bench currently features Angel Berroa, so on the whole it’s a big, big net gain.
- Melky Cabrera, Opening Day 2008 through May 5th: .291/.359/.505. Melky Cabrera, Opening Day 2009 through May 5th: .344/.408/.563. Melky Cabrera, May 6th, 2008, through June 9th: .250/.286/.277. Melky Cabrera, May 6th, 2009, through June 9th: .258/.298/.371. We can speculate forever on why this happens, but it’s not at all encouraging.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Robinson Cano, 2B
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Hideki Matsui, DH
8. Nick Swisher, RF
9. Melky Cabrera, CF
And on the mound, number forty, Chien-Ming Wang.
Curry: What if Teixeira had landed in Boston?
Posted by: | CommentsIn a couple of hours, the Red Sox and Yankees will again square off in Fenway Park. While the Yanks are 0-6 against Boston this season, the two teams are tied for first atop the AL East, and the pennant race promises to be a good one this summer.
Despite the Red Sox’s on-field triumphs over the Yanks this season, New York walked away from the off-season the big winner when they seemingly stole Mark Teixeira out from under Boston’s Christmas tree. Six months later, Teixeira is one of the main reasons why the Yanks are fighting for first place. He’s hitting .284/.391/.615 with 18 HR and 51 RBI. “We definitely wouldn’t be where we are right now without him,” Johnny Damon said to The Times’ Jack Curry today.
In a good “What If?” piece, Curry explores what Teixeira means to the Yanks and would could have been had the Red Sox signed their top target. He writes:
The Red Sox positioned their off-season around signing Teixeira, a player who would have fit snugly into their desire for shrewd, patient hitters who play stellar defense. If the Red Sox were assigned the task of building the perfect player, they would have constructed someone who hit, fielded, walked and talked like Teixeira.
The Red Sox were the favorites to sign Teixeira, but they bolted from a meeting with him and Scott Boras, his agent, in December because Boras said their offer was not competitive enough. Johnny Damon of the Yankees never spoke to Teixeira during the negotiations because he assumed it “was a done deal” with Boston. But it was not. The Red Sox soon learned Boras was not bluffing.
Eleven days after the aborted meeting, the Yankees, who had focused on signing pitchers C. C. Sabathia and A. J. Burnett, swooped in and signed Teixeira to an eight-year, $180 million deal. The Red Sox lost a superb first baseman over a gap of about $10 million. Even worse, they lost him to the hated Yankees.
A-Rod, in talking to Curry summed it up. “Wow is as much as I can say,” the Yanks’ third baseman said. “I was thinking about that this week. He’s a switch-hitter, he’s young and he’s got world-class makeup. You can write a whole chapter on the difference.”
While neither Red Sox GM Theo Epstein nor Boston owner John Henry would comment for the story, the AL East would look a lot different had the Red Sox landed their prey. It’s a good thing for us they did not.
RAB on Speaking of Sports
Posted by: | CommentsJust a quick note: I’ll be doing a spot on Speaking of Sports, AM 1300, at around 5:30. You can check it out there if you’re within range (seriously, we’re still using AM technology?), or you can listen live at SpeakingOfSports.org.
Players who make accusations should not hide
Posted by: | CommentsNote: I stand by the premise of the post, but I’ve chosen a poor example to illustrate it.
When baseball players talk, journalists listen. This is especially true when a ballplayer accuses another of an impropriety. Unfortunately, because of baseball’s walled-garden nature, most of those anecdotes reach the public anonymously. It’s the only condition under which journalists can print the accusations. Ballplayers simply do not want their names attached to criticism of fellow players, especially teammates.
Mark Feinsand relates an example involving ESPN broadcaster Rick Sutcliffe:
Sutcliffe said on the air that A-Rod had been feeding Teixeira verbal signs from the on-deck circle, giving his teammate a heads-up on the catcher’s location before the pitch was delivered.
While Feinsand didn’t reveal how Sutcliffe became privy to this controversy, it really comes down to one of two ways. He either made the observation himself, or he heard it from a player. Since he’s a broadcaster for a national network and hasn’t covered more than a handful of Yanks games this year, the former is unlikely. It’s fairly safe to say — though I’ll avoid making the concrete connection — that he got the information from a player.
Which player? We’ll never know. It’s the same as the pitch-tipping accusation in Selena Roberts’s book. An anonymous player made an accusation, and the journalist ran with it. This, I think, is a mistake. Journalists shouldn’t feed the public accusations from anonymous sources.
A glance through the comments section of RAB reveals the problems with anonymity. When people don’t attach their own names, and thereby their own reputations, to a comment, they’ll say things they would never, ever say if their integrity was on the line. But, because in many instances there is no way to connect the commenter and his real-life personage, the commenter is free to say whatever he or she likes, without any repercussions.
This can be applied to baseball players. Since their names will never be attached to the comment, they can say what they like. They could have a personal vendetta against the player and say something in a moment of frustration. They might relay a suspicion, grounded in nothing but a single observation. It could be any number of things, but since the player doesn’t have his name attached to the comment, it won’t harm his reputation. He’s free to say whatever he wants, really.
Please be clear: this is not to say that A-Rod didn’t tip pitches, nor is it to say that A-Rod doesn’t give Teixeira a verbal sign from the on-deck circle. The point is that if players are going to levy these accusations, they should either attach their name, and thereby reputation, to the comment, or not say it at all. How can the public determine the validity of the accusation if we don’t even know the source?
Anonymous sources are important for journalists. Through anonymous sources journalists can find out information that they otherwise would not have. However, there’s a point of abuse. If a player isn’t willing to attach his reputation to a comment, why should a journalist deign it worthy to print? The short answer, in my opinion, is that he or she shouldn’t. Leave the grenade-lobbing gossip in the clubhouse. If a player feels strongly enough about the accusation — both its accuracy and its gravity — he will put his name on the accusation. Otherwise, it should be left in the clubhouse, like just about everything else in baseball.
A Hughes bullpen debate, once more with gusto
Posted by: | CommentsGive a bunch of baseball writers an inning, and they’ll make a career out of it.
On Monday night, with the Yanks holding on to a one-run lead in the 7th inning, Joe Girardi summoned Phil Hughes from the bullpen. The Yanks had hoped to throw Phil in a low-pressure situation, but the circumstances of the game and the Yanks’ shaky pen dictated a trial-by-fire appearance for Phil.
The young right-hander did not disappoint. He threw 11 pitches — 7 for strikes — and averaged 94 with his fastball while peaking above 95. He dominated the top of the Rays’ lineup and had everyone raving after the game. Tyler Kepner called him “a revelation in relief,” and Joel Sherman is “intrigued to see more” from Hughes the reliever.
Others were less guarded with their praise and expectations. Steve Lombardi wondered if Hughes’ future rests in the bullpen, and NJ.com’s Colin Stephenson asks if Phil could be the next Joba Chamberlain. I don’t even want to know what Mike Francesca thinks. Is Phil Hughes a STARTING PITCHAAAAAAAAAH?
The Yankees are keeping their short-term plans for Hughes close to the vest. While acknowledging a dearth of AAA starters, Girardi knows that Hughes can be an impact player now. “The important thing is he’s here to pitch important innings for us, and we believe he’s valuable to us,” Girardi said. “I mean, if he’s lights-out in the bullpen, do you make a change? I don’t know. That’s something we’re going to have to continue to evaluate. But we do like having him down there right now.”
Of course, the Yanks like having him down there. Who wouldn’t like having a potential top-of-the-rotation starter throwing in the bullpen? Imagine the damage CC Sabathia or Johan Santana would do out of the pen. (This argument sure sounds familiar, no?)
Meanwhile, we can read between the lines of Girardi’s statements. Chien-Ming Wang carries an ERA of 14.46 into his start against the Red Sox tonight, and if Wang does not pitch well and show improvement over his last outing, the Yankees may have to face the uncomfortable reality that their better option in the rotation is Hughes.
Long-term, the Yankees’ decision to move Hughes into the bullpen has to be a fairly temporary one. Hughes could be starting for the Yankees this year. The reason he isn’t is because the team opted to bring back Andy Pettitte. Next year, though, Hughes should move into the rotation full time, and the Yankees cannot afford to stunt his growth. He might get outs as a reliever, but as we know from the long drawn-out Joba Chamberlain discussion, Hughes’ real value lies in his potential to excel as a starter.
Joe Girardi, of course, has the ultimate word on the subject. “I had said all along that I wasn’t afraid to use him at any time, because of the stuff that he’s got,” Girardi said. “He was really good [Monday]You don’t want to make too much out of one outing, whether it goes one way or the other, but we did like the way he was throwing the baseball.”
You definitely don’t want to make too much out of one outing. For now, Hughes is contributing at the Big League level because he has the talent and ability to do so. He also has the talent and ability to be a successful Major League starter. The Yankees know this, and the team’s fans shouldn’t get seduced, yet again, by a starter throwing a few innings of relief. It didn’t make sense to keep Joba in the pen, and it doesn’t with Hughes either.
2009 Draft LiveBlog: Day Two
Posted by: | CommentsUse this as your open thread to talk about all things draft. We’ll have regular Yankees-related content sprinkled throughout the day for you. Please follow our ground rules and keep your conversations in the appropriate places. Thanks in advance.
Here’s the link to Draft Tracker.
2009 Draft: Early Morning Thoughts on Day Two
Posted by: | CommentsObviously, it’s very premature to say anything of substance, but I thought the Yanks did a fine job with their first two picks. They landed two premium up-the-middle athletes that can already hit and defend — always a highly coveted demographic. It’s the first time the Yanks have taken a position player with their first pick since they took CJ Henry in 2005, and the first time they used their first two picks on position players since Eric Duncan and Estee Harris in 2003. That’s also the last time they took high schoolers with their first two selections, the last time they kicked their draft off with three straight position players (Tim Battle was third), and the last time they went with three straight high schoolers at the outset.
The hype machine has managed to grab a hold of Slade Heathcott; I’ve seen people compare him to Josh Hamilton and Grady Sizemore already. Just … stop. He’s not those guys, not even close. If the Yankees are lucky, he’s Nate McLouth or Andre Ethier. If they’re lucky. I understand it’s human nature to get excited about things like this, and I’ve certainly been guilty of it in the past. But there’s no need to throw comps around like that. Especially since you’ll look back in two years and blast people like me for overhyping these guys. [/rant]
Here’s a roundup of this morning’s links:
- Baseball America posted a list of the best players still available going into Day Two. South Carolina prep RHP Madison Younginer would be a tremendous pick for the Yanks at #135; he’s 93-97 with a hammer breaking ball and an uber-projectable 6′-3″, 175 lb frame. I’m also a fan of Nevada HS 1B Jeff Malm, who can flat out rake. He’s stuck at first, but the hit tool is special. I’m sure plenty of teams were calling around last night to work out deals so they could grab some of these guys with their upcoming picks.
- Keith Law posted his best and worst picks from Day One. The Yanks don’t make an appearance in either, but holy schnikees did the Rockies have a tremendous haul. Tyler Matzek plus Rex Brothers plus Tim Wheeler? That’s as good as it gets right there.
- John Manuel at BA has his three winners and losers, and says the Yanks have some explainin’ to do about the JR Murphy pick since they already have a glut of catchers in the system. I don’t understand why everyone is up in arms about this, having a lot of quality catchers is a good thing. It’s not like they’re going to take playing time from each other.
- Lane Meyer ran down the players with questionable signability that are still on the board.
- Anthony DiComo previewed Day Two for the Bombers.
- Best quote from Day One comes courtesy of Carlos Beltran, who’s nephew Reymond Fuentes was selected 28th overall by the Red Sox: “I’m so happy for him. They’re poor people. He’s going to put his family in a better position.” Beltran in the fifth year of a seven year contract that will pay him $119M.
The draft resumes at noon with Round Four today. The Yanks’ next pick is #135, and then every 30 picks thereafter. It’s the 24th pick of each round. There’s no broadcast today, just Draft Tracker. Hopefully last night’s technical issues are a thing of the past. The liveblog will be up shortly.
2009 Draft: Yankees Second Round Pick
Posted by: | Comments
With their second pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, the Yankees selected C J.R. Murphy out of The Pendleton School in Florida.
Scouting Report: A recent convert, Murphy had been an outfielder (and even played some third base in the past) but was able to make the switch because of his athleticism. He has a good, compact swing and covers a huge chunk of the plate. A line drive hitter, Murphy doesn’t project to hit for anything better than average power, but he has tremendous plate discipline and a discernible eye at the plate, so he should be a well-above average on-base guy. Defensively, Murphy is still learning to catch but is a solid receiver presently. He has a strong arm, but still needs to work on his transfer. Committed to Miami but considered signable, you can read more about Murphy at ESPN (subscription req’d).
Here is Murphy’s MLB Scouting Bureau video.
My Take: I like the pick. A lot of people freaked out and were disappointed because they had never heard of him, but Murphy was a legitimate selection at #76 overall. Keith Law rated him as the 88th best draft prospect while Baseball America had him 95th, and there’s really not much of a difference between the 70th best player and the 100th best player. Murphy’s a premium hitter at a premium position, and is athletic enough that it’s easy to envision him improving on defense. There’s a lot to like here.
Photo Credit: IMG Acadamies
Just 21 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.
