Archive for June, 2009
Fences, not wind, create Stadium homer haven
Posted by: | CommentsOn the eve of Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, I wrote a piece about the shape of the field at the new park. While team officials had long claimed the new field would have the same dimensions of the old, an overlay of the two fields proved otherwise. With flat fences dominating the left- and right-field power alleys in the stadium, I predicted a hitters’ park. Little did I realize what George had wrought.
The story of the offense is well worn by now. Home runs at the new park are on pace to challenge home run records. Fly balls into right field are sailing over the wall. It’s the wind currents. Yadda yadda yadda.
While we can’t really dispute the home run explosion anymore, the meteorologist at AccuWeather.com are sticking up for the wind. The weather is not to blame, says Tim Buckley. Rather, the fences are.
Buckley’s piece leads with the graphic below, and it’s hard to dispute his findings. In fact, I had been researching a similar piece to find out if the fences were impacting the game, and Buckley and his researchers basically did it for me. They examined “detailed schematics” of the two stadiums and concluded that the new park’s differences have “significant implications.” He writes:
In right field, the newfound homer haven, the wall structure is slightly different than the old park. The main difference involves curvature. The gentle curve from right field to center field seen in the original Yankee Stadium has largely been eliminated at the new stadium. This is due in large part to the presence of a manual scoreboard embedded within the wall. Losing this curvature has resulted in a right field that is shorter by 4 to 5 feet on average, but up to 9 feet in spots.
Not only is the famed short porch even shorter in the new stadium, but the walls themselves are not as tall. In the old ballpark, the walls in right field stood at a height of approximately 10 feet. At this height, it was difficult for outfielders to scale the wall and attempt to rob a home run over the fence. Fast forward to 2009, and the outfielders have been scaling the wall without any trouble. The result? The new outfield fences only rise to a height of 8 feet, adding to the ease hitting a home run to right.
Taking into account the dimensions of the field and wall height, AccuWeather.com has calculated that 19 percent (20 out of 105) home runs would not have flown out of the old stadium. If the first 29 games are any indication, 293 home runs will be hit by the end of the year at the new Yankee Stadium, just short of the record of 303 home runs hit at Denver’s Coors Field in 1999. If this is the case, as many as 56 home runs could be attributed to the size of the new playing field
As to the weather, Buckley sums it up: “There has been no consistent pattern observed in the wind speed and direction that would lead to an increase in home runs so far this year.”
Over the next few days, we’ll have more on the design choices that went into the new stadium and Major League Baseball’s reaction to it. For now, we seem to know the culprit, and it is as we predicted it would be in April. The fences carry some of the blame.
In the end, though, the question remains: Does it matter? Both the Yankees and their opponents are hitting in the same park, and if the Yanks’ pitchers are better, the Yanks’ bats stand to benefit. The fans love the homer barrage, and it makes the games never out of reach. I think we’ll all have to learn to live with a homer-happy stadium, and we’ll have to like it. After all, chicks and Mark Teixeira dig the long ball.
Montero returns to lineup in loss
Posted by: | CommentsDotF will be a bullet pointer during the draft the next few days, but here’s the box scores for AAA, AA, A+, and A-. Here’s the notables:
- Austin Jackson picked up two hits and Sergio Mitre had a strong rehab outing for Scranton. Mark Melancon gave up two runs in three innings of relief.
- Jesus Montero return to Trenton’s lineup as a DH, reaching base twice. Wilkins DeLaRosa gave up four runs in six innings; it wasn’t his best night.
- Austin Romine took an 0-fer, but Austin Krum & Mitch Hilligoss each doubled & tripled. Ryan Zink threw seven strong.
- Low-A Charleston got shut down offensively, and Hector Noesi took a tough luck loss.
2009 Draft: Yankees First Round Pick
Posted by: | Comments
With their first pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, the Yankees selected CF Slade Heathcott out of Texas HS in Texarkana.
Scouting Report: Heathcott is an exceptional athlete and a physical specimen, which gives him a chance to develop five above-average or better tools. He has good bat speed and pop from the left side but needs to fix some mechanical issues in his swing to square up balls more consistently. Despite having ACL reconstruction surgery last November, Heathcott has very good speed which allows him steal bases and run down balls in the outfield. He has a strong arm, but needs to tighten up his routes to reach his full defensive potential. Heathcott can play all three outfield spots and is a legitimate center fielder. Committed to Louisiana State, Heathcott is considered signable. You can read more about him at MLB.com and ESPN (subsciption req’d).
Although there are no concerns about his intensity on the field, some teams have been scared off by character issues. Heathcott’s father is in prison on drug charges and his mother is out of his life for similar reasons, which is an obvious red flag. He was also ruled academically ineligible for the playoffs last month.
Here is Heathcott’s MLB Scouting Bureau video.
My Take: I like the pick. You can’t complain about taking a high ceiling up-the-middle athlete in the first round, and Heathcott certainly has that kind of ability. The off-the-field issues are a concern, because with that kind of upbringing you do have to worry about the kid’s ability to discern right from wrong, but I’m confident that the Yanks will do everything possible to help him transition to life in professional baseball.
Photo Credit: AutographsForSale.com
Game 59: Big game in June
Posted by: | CommentsLast night, YES’s Kim Jones asked both Johnny Damon and Joe Girardi if they felt this was a different team than the one which lost two games to the Sox (and then again to the Rays) back in early May. This was a pretty silly question. Of course they’re a different team. That’s part of baseball’s beauty: the team you see in April is not the same team you see in June, which is not the same team you see in the dog days. The Yanks pitching staff has turned a corner since then, and they’ve been one of the hottest teams in baseball over the past month.
When the Yanks dropped the second of two games to the Sox on May 5, they were 13-13. They are now 34-23, which means they’ve been 21-10 since then, and that includes the two losses to Tampa, after which the team really began its sprint to the top of the division. What better way to solidify their superiority than by exacting some revenge for the five games the Sox have taken from the Yanks? Hey, if the Yanks really are the best in the East, they’re going to have to even out that record vs. the Sox eventually.
Josh Beckett will take the mound with hopes of bringing the Sox back into a tie for first. He’s faced the Yanks twice this year, not pitching particularly well either time. The first time was the 16-11 marathon game, wherein both Beckett and A.J. Burnett let the game get out of hand early. Beckett lasted just five innings and surrendered eight earned runs, allowing 10 hits and walking four in the process. He was a bit better last time, for that May 5 game, tossing six innings of three-run ball. He did allow 10 hits, but the Yanks went 1 for 5 with RISP and couldn’t capitalize. That was also the game, I’m sure you remember, where Joba Chamberlain allowed four runs in the first and then came back to strike out 12 Sox.
Despite the playoff success against the Yankees in 2003, Beckett has fared rather poorly in general when facing them in the regular season. In 85.1 career innings he’s allowed 57 runs, 55 earned, for a 5.80 ERA. The only teams to fare better against Beckett have lesser samples. The Jays have hit him for a 5.95 ERA in 59 innings, but the two others — Cincinnati and Milwaukee — have seen him for under 20 innings.
A.J. Burnett’s turn didn’t come up for the two-game series, and we already discussed his pitiful outing back on April 25. He’s had his ups and downs this season, but he handled the heavy-hitting Texas Rangers very well in his last two starts. Burnett can be infuriating at times. For instance, he had a 1-2 count on Michael Young in his last appearance against Texas, but went onto walk him. That’s what led to the three-run homer, which was the only damage he allowed that game.
Pitching coach Dave Eiland talked about this issue after Burnett’s outing against Philadelphia. “But he can’t get lazy with that front side. He cannot take one pitch off. He’s got to be locked in every pitch.” The Red Sox lineup is filled with guys who will destroy mistakes. Burnett has to be spot-on tonight. He’s definitely got it in him.
Programming Note: As you know, the MLB draft is going on right now. Make sure to scroll down for Mike’s liveblog. He’ll also be posting information on the Yanks’ picks as they make them. Also, we’ve shut off the new comment indicators for the evening. It might not be necessary, but we’re not going to risk sever issues tonight.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, DH
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Robinson Cano, 2B
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Nick Swisher, LF
8. Melky Cabrera, RF
9. Brett Gardner, CF
And on the mound, number thirty-four, A.J. Burnett.
2009 Draft LiveBlog: Day One
Posted by: | CommentsThe draft broadcast starts at 6pm on MLB Network (simulcast on MLB.com), and will run until 8:30 or so. From what I understand, the first round will be televised, then coverage for the remaining rounds will jump over to MLB.com. In all, 111 picks will be made tonight, covering the first through supplemental third round. The Yanks will be making just two selections (#29 & #76) tonight while the Diamondbacks lead the way with eight picks.
Use this as your open thread to talk about all things draft. We’ll have a regular game thread along a little bit later on for you to talk about the Yanks and Sawx. Please follow our ground rules and keep your conversations in the appropriate places. Thanks in advance.
Teixeira takes a slim lead in ASG voting
Posted by: | CommentsWith the All Star Game a little more than a month away, Mark Teixeira has taken a slim lead in the voting over Red Sox’s first baseman Kevin Youkilis. In the latest numbers released today, Teixeira and his hot streak have powered the Yanks’ slugger to a 1209-vote lead over the AL’s leading on-base man. In reality, either would be an acceptable All Star choice, but do we really want to see Youkilis starting with Teixeira on the bench?
In other voting news, Derek Jeter is the clear fan favorite at short, but Evan Longoria has emerged as the Junior Circuit’s leading vote-getter. Joe Mauer has a seemingly insurmountable lead behind the plate, but still 582,715 fans believe Jason Varitek is worthy of an All Star spot. What are they thinking?
2009 Draft: Pirates taking Sanchez
Posted by: | CommentsKeith Law is reporting that the Pirates have reached (an illegal) predraft deal with Boston College catcher Tony Sanchez. The Yanks were connected to Sanchez last month. This is quite a reach with the fourth overall pick, so I’m guessing they’re saving money to land higher profile players that drop later, or will spend the money elsewhere (international market, etc). They did just save a nice chunk of change thanks to the Nate McLouth deal.
KLaw’s also got an update on how the top 15 will likely shake out.
RAB’s Ground Rules for the 2009 Draft
Posted by: | CommentsHard to believe it’s been 12 months already, but here we are at Draft Day again. D-Day has historically been one of the busiest and most trafficked days of the year for us at RAB, so we need to take a moment and lay down some ground rules and explain how this thing is going to go down.
First and foremost, please take a second to review our Commenting Guidelines. Even if you’ve been with us since day one, give them another look because we’ve added some items recently.
Secondly, the draft is three days long this year, and I’ll be liveblogging all three days. The liveblog will be mostly be me relaying news, sharing thoughts, taking questions, etc., but the liveblog posts will also serve as a draft open thread. Please keep your draft related comments there, or in any spillover threads. We’ll obviously have plenty of non-draft content on the site as well, so keeping your discussions in the appropriate threads will make everyone’s life easier.
I will also be posting short capsules on select players after the Yanks pick them. I won’t write up a capsule for every player the Yanks pick, just the notable ones. For example, here’s Gerrit Cole’s capsule from last year. Use these posts to discuss that player and that pick only, any other draft talk should go back in the draft open threads. No one likes to repeat themselves in a bunch of different spots, so this is to everyone’s benefit.
We’ve run into the perfect storm this year, because in addition to the draft we also have the Yankees up in Fenway for a three game set. We’ve experienced technical difficulties on draft day before, and even though we’ve since upgraded to a dedicated server, there’s still a chance the site may crash at some point. I’m hopeful the liveblog will help alleviate the load on the servers, but who knows. The important thing is that if the site does crash, please be patient. Hitting refresh a million times a minute will only make it worse. Wait a minute or two before you try to reload the site. We’re fully aware of it whenever the site goes down, and trust us, we’re doing all we can to get it back up and running.
Finally, the best way to follow along with all of the draft content we’ll have over the next three days is to subscribe to our draft feed. You should also subscribe to our regular RSS feed so you don’t miss anything else. If you’re not familiar with RSS feeds, check this site out. Basically, an RSS reader like Google Reader will bring the information to you, so you won’t have to check your favorite site multiple times per day. Once you start using one, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Other than RSS, you can also follow us on Twitter @RiverAveBlues. We don’t tweet every post, I swears it, but we use it for random thoughts or to engage is conversations with you guys. You can also check out our Facebook page.
Draft day is without a doubt one of the most exciting days of the year, and we ask that you follow along with our ground rules to make it a more enjoyable experience for everyone. Thanks in advance.
Just 21 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.
