Archive for September, 2009
Yanks flirted with Mike Cameron, Brad Penny
Posted by: | CommentsAccording to Ken Rosenthal, the Yankees again looked into acquiring Mike Cameron before the August 31 waiver trade deadline. Over the winter it seemed like the Yankees were close to a deal for Cameron, but Brian Cashman put on the brakes. A few weeks later, they landed Mark Teixeira. After getting Andy Pettitte to sign on the dotted line, it appeared as if the Yankees were done spending for the winter, and the Cameron talks evaporated.
As the season progressed, it became clear that taking on Cameron and his $10 million salary might not have been the most prudent move. Melky Cabrera had a hot April, and Brett Gardner picked it up when Melky fell off a bit. They made a serviceable tandem through July, for a fifth the price of Cameron. There were some murmurs of a deadline deal possibility after Brett Gardner broke his thumb in late July, but that looked like more speculation than substance.
Come the end of August, things looked a bit different. Melky, playing every day with Gardner still on the shelf, fell into a major slump. He hit .223/.264/.350 on the month, and that gets even worse if you look at his numbers after hitting for the cycle: .202/.248/.277 in 102 PA. Why Jerry Hairston didn’t take more reps in center I do not know (and I doubt it has anything to do with his Type B free agent status, which will be compromised if he plays much more in the outfield). In any case, by the end of August a platoon partner for Melky seemed like an attractive option.
The Yankees, according to Rosenthal, didn’t want to add the remainder of Cameron’s salary, roughly $1.5 million, to their ledger. Again, some might wonder what a mere $1.5 million means to the Yankees. As I mentioned yesterday, there was a similar story regarding Brian Bannister, where the Yankees were interested but didn’t want to pick up the tab. These cases are similar, but it’s not a pure money issue.
In both cases it seems that the Yankees didn’t want to take on the salary because they believed the player in question wasn’t worth the upgrade. They didn’t want to pay the remainder of Banny’s salary because they believed that their in-house options could provide similar production at no increase to the payroll. With Cameron, they thought it wouldn’t be worth the money and the roster spot to add Cameron, especially when Brett Gardner should be making his return soon.
Adding a veteran like Mike Cameron is nice, but when you have an in-house tandem that has worked, taking on him and his salary, in addition to the roster spot he’d cost, doesn’t seem all that worth it. Perhaps when he hits free agency the Yankees can entice him. He could platoon with Gardner or Melky next season, freeing the Yanks up to trade whoever brings the bigger return for another part. I do find it doubtful, though, that Cameron would come into such an obvious platoon situation which also involves a soon-to-be-promoted top prospect.
On the Brad Penny front, it appears the Yankees were deadly serious about adding him. Rosenthal says that they “recruited him with calls from manager Joe Girardi, outfielder Johnny Damon and Penny’s former teammate in Florida, right-hander A.J. Burnett.” From the Yankees standpoint it made sense. Despite Penny’s failings in Boston, he’s still probably a better option than Chad Gaudin. But unlike some other upgrade options which would have costed prospects and/or money, Penny was essentially free — he’ll cost the Giants just around $100K.
Penny was smart to go to the NL. After pitching poorly for the Red Sox he had a chance for a fresh start. Why press your luck in the AL East when there are two NL teams looking to employ your services? Both the Giants and the Rockies were better options, and Penny made the right move by going to the better pitcher’s park. The guy wants to get paid this off-season and he wants to pitch in the postseason. San Fran presents the best of both worlds.
The Yankees were — well, not necessarily smart, but certainly shrewd to decline a trade for Cameron. He’s an offensive and defensive upgrade over Melky, but the question is of how much. Probably not $1.5 million worth. Plus, with Gardner on the mend, that would make three center fielders on the roster. Sure, they can carry 40 men on the bench now, but come playoff time would the Yankees carry all three? Doubtful.
It looks as though the Yankees were active in exploring deadline deals in both July and August, but each time found little to their liking. It seems to be Brian Cashman’s M.O. He doesn’t make moves for the sake of making moves, though he’s more than apt to make small moves, and those have worked out well this year. But when a deal doesn’t represent a clear and significant upgrade, it seems like he’s more than willing to hold. Sometimes that’s the right move.
Trenton picks up big win in Wildcard chase
Posted by: | CommentsJohn Sickels reviewed his preseason list of the top 20 Yankees prospects. A lot of the guys who’ve broken out this year – Manny Banuelos, Ivan Nova, etc – weren’t on his original list, so lots of negativity in there.
Make sure you scroll down for tonight’s game thread.
Triple-A Scranton (4-3 loss to Buffalo in 10 innings, walk-off style)
Brett Gardner: 0 for 2, 1 BB, 1 SB – played 5 innings in the outfield
Cody Ransom & Colin Curtis: both 0 for 1 – Ransom pinch hit for Gardner, Curtis took over for him in the outfield
Freddy Guzman: 1 for 3, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 K 1 SB – he’s reached base 9 times in his three games with SWB
Austin Jackson: 1 for 5, 1 RBI
Shelley Duncan & Doug Bernier: both 2 for 5, 1 RBI, 1 K
Juan Miranda, Reegie Corona & Chris Stewart: all 1 for 4 – Miranda doubled, drew a walk, scored a run & K’ed twice … Corona walked … Stewart allowed a passed ball & was hit by a pitch
Kevin Russo: 0 for 5, 1 K, 1 E (fielding)
Josh Towers: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HB, 0-6 GB/FB – 15 of 25 pitches were strikes … not sure why he was taken out, but Chad Jennings says it wasn’t injury
Luke Prihoda: 2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 3-2 GB/FB – 21 of 30 pitches were strikes (70%) … just promoted all the way from Charleston to replace Jon Albaladejo, who’s with the big boys
Zach Kroenke: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 6-2 GB/FB – 23 of 33 pitches were strikes (69.7%)
Amaury Sanit: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 4-2 GB/FB – 23 of 35 pitches were strikes (65.7%)
Kevin Whelan: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 0-1 GB/FB - just 2 of 7 pitches were strikes
Game 134: At least he’ll get run support
Posted by: | CommentsInstead of Sergio Mitre, who took a grounder off the forearm in his start last week, Chad Gaudin will take the hill for the Yanks tonight as they open a four-game set in Toronto. He’s been up and down in his stint with the Yanks to this point, alternating scoreless appearances with multi-run ones. The bad news: he allowed no runs in relief of Mitre last time out. The good news: he also allowed no runs in his only start for the Yanks this season.
The further good news is that the Yanks will trot out their A lineup in back of Gaudin. So even if Gaudin gives up four or five runs, the Yanks will still have a fighting chance. With that lineup, they’re never really out of a game. Obviously, the hope is that Gaudin can go five or six solid against a Blue Jays team that has been all downhill since May.
The Jays will send out Ricky Romero, who is having himself a fine rookie campaign, though he’s slowed a bit since the All-Star Break. In that span he’s thrown 49.2 innings, averaging about five and a half innings per start (though what the hell is a half inning?). His 5.62 ERA doesn’t look pretty, and a lot of it has to do with the Red Sox. He’s faced them three times in the past month and a half, and hasn’t fared particularly well in any of them. His best effort was a 5.1-inning, three-run affair. Romero threw 116 pitches that game.
This will be Romero’s third appearance against the Yankees. He’s allowed three runs in each prior start, going 6.1 and 6 innings. The Yanks will look for a little more than that tonight with Gaudin on the mound.
The Yanks recalled Jon Alabaladejo today, further lengthening the bullpen. Apparently he looks pretty banged up after missing a throw from Edwar Ramirez, taking it right off the noggin.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Nick Swisher, RF
9. Melky Cabrera, CF
And on the mound, number forty-one, Chad Gaudin.
Stadium quick hits: destruct-o-porn, politics and football
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Tom Kaminski is starting to pull out our heartstrings. The man behind the camera in WCBS’ Chopper 880 has been making the rounds over old Yankee Stadium as crews work to tear down the park, and the pictures are heartbreaking. As the shot above shows, the stadium will soon be without its frieze. A full photogallery of these shots is available here.
Meanwhile, over the last week, Kaminski has spotted some interesting goings-on inside the House that Ruth Built. The stadium is being reclaimed by nature. Weeds and wispy plants are sprouting out of the former infield and outfield areas while the stands are covered in moss. The foul poles have been removed as well.
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While the old stadium will soon be but a memory in the minds of Yankee fans, the new stadium has become a campaign issue in the Bronx. Helen Foster, City Council representative from the 16th district, is facing Carlos Sierra in the primaries in two weeks, and both politicians are unhappy with the stadium. Gotham Gazette’s David King had more:
For both candidates, the stadium symbolizes how projects the rest of the city might want are not necessarily best for their low-income district. During her time on the council Foster has been outspoken in her criticism of the stadium. “I was the lone voice on the council against Yankee Stadium,” she said, “and now we are seeing a lot of what we were afraid of come to fruition. Local vendors have been left out. There was a recent article about a fruit stand there that is bringing fruit from out of state, from Washington and New Mexico.”
Sierra has been active at protests at the stadium and says he intends to keep pressuring the team to build parks to replace the ones that existed where the stadium now stands.
While stadium supporters pushed the local angle turning construction, most urban policy experts are not surprised the stadium has not been a boon for near-by neighborhoods. This is a nation-wide trend, and sports stadiums continue to exist uneasily with the surrounding areas. That’s why sports economists generally do not support public investments in private sports stadiums.
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Finally, the Chicago Tribune reports that the Yankees are courting a Big Ten team for a football game at the stadium. Northwestern has been in talks with team officials about playing a game in the new park, and the Big Ten and Big East may turn to the Bronx for a bowl game.
A health-ful perspective
Posted by: | CommentsBy the time the 2008 season ended for the Yankees, the team could have been considered among baseball’s walking wounded. According to Baseball Prospectus’ Will Carroll, last year’s Yankee team lost 1460 player days to injuries, and many of the old Yankee corps were trending into the red for 2009. Yet, the Yankees have stayed remarkably healthy, and because of that, they are in a prime position for a run deep into October.
Last year started out on a bad note for the Yankees’ overall health. On the first day of the season, Jorge Posada hurt his shoulder throwing down to second. He would go onto play just 51 games all season, and the Yankees’ catcher spot would never recover. Jose Molina, Chad Moeller and Ivan Rodriguez were inadequate replacements to say the least.
Posada, though, wasn’t the only Yankee to miss time last year. Hideki Matsui made it through just 93 games before his knees gave out. A-Rod hit the DL with a quad strain in late April. Chien-Ming Wang went down with his career-derailing foot injury.
Outside of the time lost to the disabled list, the 2008 Yankees featured its fair share of banged-and-bruised players. As Tyler Kepner details in this excellent profile of Derek Jeter, the Yankee captain battled a lingering quad injury and a hand injury for much of the season. Joba Chamberlain had a shoulder issue, and Andy Pettitte‘s arm didn’t last the year. While the 2009 Mets take the injury cake, the 2008 Yankees were no slouches.
This year, though, the story has been entirely different. Alex Rodriguez missed the first six weeks with injury; Jorge Posada missed a few weeks with a hamstring strain; Chien-Ming Wang has been a non-factor all season; Xavier Nady, we hardly knew ye. Outside of those injuries — and just two of them had a long-term impact on this season — Mariano’s sore groin is the most significant pain to hurt the Yankees in recent months.
Now, I don’t mean to downplay Nady’s or Wang’s absence. The Yankees, though, have managed to overcome those problems. Nick Swisher has been one of the team’s most productive hitters this year. In fact, it’s hard to imagine Nady topping Swisher’s numbers. That leaves Wang as the most significant missing piece this year. So instead of missing their starting catcher, number one starter and DH for much of the season, they’ve been short a mid-rotation starter, and that’s it.
Meanwhile, the banged up Yankees haven’t been feeling it this year. While, for example, Paul O’Neill limped to the end of his 2001 season, Jeter, Damon and Pettitte, the guys who always play hurt, have been feeling great. I don’t need to analyze the numbers for us to know that their contributions have all been much greater this year than last. We see it everyday.
In the end, the Yankees’ 2009 success so far has rested primarily on the fact that Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson were replaced by CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. The defense, with Mark Teixeira at first and Nick Swisher in right, is far superior too than last year’s. But the Yankees’ medical staff deserves some credit too. It isn’t easy to keep a team of position players mostly all on the wrong side of 30 healthy, and so far this year, Gene Monahan and crew have.
The fifth starters that weren’t
Posted by: | CommentsThink back to July oh, say, 28th. The Yankees were streaking after the break, but still had a few holes to fill. Namely, adding another starter. With their preseason sixth starter, Phil Hughes, holding down the back end of the bullpen and with Chien-Ming Wang done for the season following shoulder surgery, the Yanks had but one in-house option for the fifth starter role: Sergio Mitre. Many fans weren’t happy with that, and clamored for Cashman to reel in another arm.
Leading into the trade deadline, there were a few names bandied about, but most were tossed out. By the time July 28th rolled around there were basically two options left: Jarrod Washburn and Brian Bannister. Neither was a perfect option, but both had been pitching better than what many expected from Mitre. So why not trade for one and see if he could fill the fifth starter role?
After a horrible 2008, Bannister had rebounded in the first half of 2009. After his start against the Orioles on July 28, Bannister held a 3.80 ERA and a .684 OPS against. As usual he hadn’t struck out many, just 72 in 116 innings, but he had allowed less than a hit an inning and had kept his walks in check. There were certainly concerns about his ability to sustain this success, but there were some indicators that he was worth the gamble.
At a $1.7 million salary for 2009, the remainder of Bannister’s contract was eminently affordable. In addition, he had just 2.158 years of service time heading into the season, and won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2012 season. Despite these factors, the Yankees turned away from a deal when Kansas City refused to eat the remainder of Banny’s 2009 salary. That might seem crazy for the Yankees, the richest franchise in baseball, but it’s what happened.
Washburn was a bit more interesting from a 2009 standpoint. He also pitched on July 28, spinning a seven-inning, one-run gem against the Blue Jays. That lowered his ERA to 2.64. For a guy who had been around a 4.50 ERA over the last three years, this was incredible. Some opined that the Mariners stellar defense was a big reason for Washburn’s rejuvenation, but there was an issue of a new pitch that was devastating opposing hitters. At the very worst, he’d probably be an upgrade over Mitre.
The issue of Washburn’s salary was a bit weightier than Bannister’s. Washburn is making $10.35 million this year, so even a third of that is a sizable sum on top of a payroll already over $200 million. On top of that, there was an issue of Seattle’s return on the deal. Reportedly they wanted Austin Jackson, which just wasn’t going to fly (though I suspect if Jackson’s name came up it involved Seattle picking up a good portion of Washburn’s salary).
In the end, the Yankees acquired neither. Instead they decided to go with Mitre in the fifth spot and see what came up in August. That yielded Chad Gaudin. While he didn’t come with the track record of Washburn or the success of Bannister, he represented a solid addition to the staff. That was all the Yanks did, and as it turns out it might have been the best possible tactic.
Washburn has been spectacularly bad in his six starts with the Tigers. He had one gem, an eight inning shutout against the Royals (the Royals) and a six-inning, three run performance against the Angels, but other than that has allowed five or more runs in his other four starts. His total line since joining Detroit’s playoff push:
37 IP, 41 H, 28 R & ER, 11 BB, 18 K, .924 OPS against, 6.81 ERA
Bannister has experienced a market correction since the calendar flipped to August. He started the month strong with seven innings of shutout ball against the Rays, which included seven strikeouts. After that he’s been downright atrocious. In five of those six starts he allowed four or more runs — including a stretch of three games in which he allowed seven runs. The only start in which he allowed fewer than four he allowed three in just 1.1 innings of work. His line since the Tampa Bay start:
31 IP, 42 H, 34 R, 32 ER, 11 BB, 19 K, .861 OPS against, 9.29 ERA
Just for comparison, Sergio Mitre’s line in seven starts this season (so not counting his relief appearance against Boston):
34.2 IP, 46 H, 23 R, 19 ER, 9 BB, 20 K, .801 OPS against, 4.93 ERA
So, just to be clear, Sergio Mitre, to this point, has pitched better as the Yankees fifth starter than both Jarrod Washburn and Brian Bannister have since the trade deadline. (Oh, and Banny’s hurt.) Brian Cashman caught his share of crap over the non-deals, and while it was tough to forecast exactly how bad Washburn and Bannister would be, it turns out, in hindsight, that no move was the best move.
The unreliable Brian Bruney
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Small sample sizes can be cruel. Just four, four-and-a-half months ago there was a big chunk of Yankee Universe that thought, that knew Brian Bruney was the answer to the Yanks’ perpetual 8th inning question. After all, the guy had just rattled off an unreal April: 8 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 12 K. In the middle of the month, he had a stretch where he struck out 12 in just 6.2 IP over seven appearances without allowing a baserunner.
But then Bruney got hurt, as a balky throwing elbow landed him on disabled list. He came back about four weeks later, presumably healthy, and fired a perfect inning against the Orioles in what appeared to be the first attempt at easing him back into that 8th inning role. Next thing you know, Bruney’s back on the DL with the same elbow problem because he wasn’t truthful with the organization, telling them he felt good when he really didn’t. Classic meathead syndrome, the guy thought he could pitch through it and still be a positive contributor to the club.
Four weeks after the setback, Bruney returned, this time for good. Except now the Yankees weren’t looking for an 8th inning guy – Phil Hughes took that and ran with it. They didn’t even need a 6th or 7th inning guy really, because Al Aceves had been masterful in the middle innings. Bruney was just another guy in the pen, but if he performed like he had earlier in the season, those high leverage late inning opportunities would eventually fall into his lap.
Except Bruney never returned to his April highs, not even close. Since returning from the DL on June 16th, Bruney’s allowed 41 baserunners in 20.2 IP, giving up five homers in the process. Opponents are hitting .310-.416-.548 off him in that time, so he’s turning everyone into Chase Utley. After a particularly dreadful stretch in July, Bruney didn’t allow a run in 8.2 IP from August 7th to the 31st. The problem is that he handed five inherited runners over to whoever relieved him in that time (three of those five were left in scoring position), and somehow none came around to score. Bruney gets no credit for those scoreless frames, he left a mess that someone else had to cleanup.
Bruney hasn’t struck out at batter since August 11th, seven appearances and six innings ago. His walks were always offset by his high strikeout rate, which coming into this year sat at exactly 9.0 K/9. The velocity is still there, but he’s just not making his pitches these days. He’s a liability whenever he enters a game, but the Yankees have such a large lead in the division (99.96542% chance of making the playoffs) late in the season that they can afford to keep running Bruney out there in an effort to get him back on track.
As it stands now, Bruney is no better than on the playoff roster bubble. There’s no fewer than three righthanders ahead of him on the relief pitcher depth chart, and there’s a distinct possibility he could be left home in October if favor of a long man or an extra lefty reliever. There’s really no need for the team to carry seven relievers in October just to stroke Bruney’s ego, the Rays left Edwin Jackson home in the ALDS and ALCS last year, and he was far more important to Tampa’s team last year than Bruney is to this year’s Yankee club.
Furthermore, with a glut of relief options in the majors and minors, Bruney may not have a spot on next year’s team. He’s out of options and entering his second year of arbitration, and the Yanks may not want to keep a rather expensive, ineffective reliever around when they have kids coming up who at the very least can be equally as unreliable at a fraction of the price. A nontender is always a possibility, but with that kind of power arm you’d think they could get at least something for him, even if it’s a Grade-C prospect. His salary could be prohibitive, though.
Of course, Bruney could render those last two paragraphs moot if he turns it around in the next month. We’ve seen him get hot, and when he’s on a roll he can make batters look silly. Right now though, I cringe whenever I see him walk through the bullpen door.
Photo Credit: Keivom, NY Daily News
Two relievers, one inning
Posted by: | CommentsLet me offer you a thinly-veiled comparison between two pitchers.
Pitcher A: 55 G, 55.2 IP, 1.78 ERA, 41 H, 9 BB, 61 K, .199/.233/.316
Pitcher B: 31 G, 39.1 IP, 1.14 ERA, 22 H, 10 BB, 48 K, .162/.218/.204
Bite your tongue if you picked Pitcher B over Pitcher A. Don’t tell Yankee fans that, in this admittedly tiny sample size, Phil Hughes‘ numbers look, if not a little bit better than Mariano Rivera‘s, just as good as Mo’s. Just don’t.
News broke after the game last night that the Sandman is out with a sore left groin. While I’m holding my breath, Rivera isn’t too concerned. “That’s good, because it’s not my pushing leg,” Rivera said of his left leg. “You don’t want to have that kind of injury, especially in your legs, but it’s nothing we’re worried about. We will take care of it and work at it. Everything will be fine.”
The Yankees, enjoying their 7.5-game lead over Boston, plan to take it slow with Mo. We saw a glimpse of that strategy last night. With the Yanks holding to a two-run lead, Joe Girardi altered the pattern. Brian Bruney pitched some of the 8th, and the Phils joined him. Mr. Hughes stayed in for the final three outs of a blow out, and due to the intricacies of baseball’s rule book, he walked away with his second save of the season. It probably won’t be his last.
According to Girardi and Rivera, Mo first felt the pain in his leg while the Yanks were visiting Seattle a few weeks ago, but it had subsided. It came back on Tuesday night after Rivera appeared in his second straight game. It seems as though every year, Rivera goes through a slight malady. This one is a little late in the season for my tastes, but the Yanks are downplaying the injury. “I don’t even know if I would call it a strain,” Girardi said. “So you just kind of give him a few days and see if he can get rid of it. We’ll get it right, get him healthy and make sure it’s 100 percent.”
For the weekend as the Yanks head to Toronto, Rivera won’t pitch. “It’s a concern for you to run him out there,” Girardi said. “We don’t want to hurt him. We’ll probably give him a few days off and see if we can nip it.”
In his stead, then, the Yanks’ closer will be Phil Hughes. And you know what? I have no problem with that. As Hughes’ numbers show, he has been more than up for the task this year out of the pen. He has allowed one double, one triple and one home run while giving up 18 singles in 31 innings. His strike-out numbers are off the charts, and while he can’t quite match Mariano in the control department, that 4.80 K/BB ratio is right in line with Mo’s 2005 season.
So now, the Yankees will use the luxury of the lead to their advantage. The expanded rosters provide them with added bullpen depth, and the emergence of Phil Hughes as a force gives them, in effect, a second closer. He hasn’t wilted under pressure and wants the ball every day. Phil might run into a hiccup at some point this season, but after watching him mow down the Orioles in the 9th last night, I can sleep easy with the game in his hands.
Still, get well really soon, Mo. I want a seven-inning game come October.
Just 21 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.
