Archive for April, 2010
Burnett’s reaction after surrendering a homer
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Photo credit: Elise Amendola/AP
Last night was not one of A.J. Burnett‘s finest starts. He lasted just five innings, throwing 94 pitches along the way. He managed to limit the Red Sox to one walk, but he also allowed four runs, three earned, through those five innings, including a game-tying double just after the Yankees had given him the lead in the fifth. It took some excellent pitching by the Yankees’ bullpen to set up the late-inning win.
One thing did stand out to me about Burnett’s outing. Perhaps it’s a narrative infused by the media, but I was impressed that Burnett came back to get the next two batters after surrendering a two-run homer to Victor Martinez in the third. As the storyline goes, Burnett can’t let go of bad pitches and he lets it affect him going forward. If that is, or was, indeed, the case, then he did a good job of bucking the trend last night, as he followed the home run with an excellent sequence to Kevin Youkilis, freezing him on a two-strike curveball, before getting David Ortiz to ground out for the second time.
Has this really been a problem for Burnett? Or has it been a narrative created because of a few notably frustrating situations in which Burnett fell apart after surrendering a long fly? Since I’m no good at database work, I did what I could, which was go through his 2009 game logs and record what happened after each home run. The results are a mixed bag of sorts.
Part of the problem is Burnett’s performances against the Red Sox. In 2009 he surrendered five home runs against them, which is frustrating enough to begin with. After three of those home runs he allowed more runs to score in the inning. After the two biggest home runs, though, a three-run shot on August 22 and a grand slam on April 25, Burnett retired the very next batter to end the inning. It was of little consolation at that point, though, considering the damage, so perhaps that’s why it gets glossed over.
It looks like Burnett had the most trouble after surrendering a home run with none or one out. He allowed 10 home runs with two outs in the inning and in six of those instances he retired the next batter to end the inning. Again, small consolation, and we tend to forget when he does something like that because of the home run’s effect. He had the most trouble with leadoff home runs. He allowed eight of them, and then allowed 16 runners to reach base later in those innings.
What I’m not sure of is how Burnett compares to his peers in this regard. Surely a home run will frustrate any pitcher. Does it get to Burnett to a greater degree than other pitchers? I’m not sure. He did a good job of recovering from two-out home runs in 2009, and struggled after allowing a leadoff home run. Last night was a nice change of pace, as he recorded two quick outs, one in impressive fashion, after allowing a go-ahead two-run home run with one out. There are plenty of things that Burnett has to improve upon in 2010. His walks and his recovery from home runs rank among them, and he got off to a good start on both fronts.
The 2010 RAB Pledge Drive reminder
Posted by: | CommentsIn case you missed it, we’ve announced our plans for out 2010 Pledge Drive benefiting Curtis Granderson‘s Grand Kids Foundation. Details can be found by clinking on the link. We’ve already raised $12.30 through two games, and are on pace for close to $1,000 this season. It’s never to late to get in on the action, and we can make your pledge retroactive to the start of the season, or effective today. We’re pretty flexible. Thanks in advance.
Yanks walk their way to first win of the season
Posted by: | CommentsWith two days for the Opening Night loss to fester, the Yankees and their fans were champing at the bit for Tuesday’s matchup. The Yanks and Red Sox played one of those good old fashioned back-and-forth affairs, and it was a typical game between the two rivals: drawn out and mentally draining. Both teams had plenty of chances to blow the game open, but it wasn’t until one batter simply refused to make an on out that the decisive run was scored.
Photo Credit: Charles Krupa, AP
Biggest Hit: Nick Johnson‘s bases loaded walk
The biggest hit of the game wasn’t even a hit, it was a wimpy little walk. Nick Johnson – a.k.a. The OBP Jesus – stepped to the plate in the 8th inning with the bases loaded and two outs, sporting a .444 OBP on the young season but zero hits. He drew a pair of walks in five plate appearances on Sunday, then drew another walk and was hit by a pitch in his first four plate appearances on Tuesday. Hideki Okajima was already 27 pitches into his night when Johnson dug in, so fatigue was starting to come into the picture.
After three straight balls, NJ took a called strike before Okajima missed inside with a pitch, putting Johnson on base for the fifth time of the season and simultaneously walking in the go ahead run. It was the biggest WPA swing of the game, and he didn’t even bother to take the bat off of his shoulders. Nick’s cool like that.
Biggest Out: Marco Scutaro’s double play
In terms of WPA, the four biggest outs record by Yankee pitchers were all three outs in the 8th inning and the first out in the 9th inning. I’m going to go back a little bit earlier for what I think was the biggest out of the game, Marco Scutaro’s inning ending double play in the 4th. The Yankees trailed 3-1 at the time, and the Red Sox were poised to tack on some more runs after Adrian Beltre singled (again) and Mike Cameron took a breaking ball to the ribs.
A.J. Burnett had been in battle mode all night, pitching out of the stretch for what seemed like the entire game. He painted the outside black for strike one to the former A’s utility man, then overthrew a fastball that was too high for a ball. His third pitch, a 95 mph two seamer down and in, tied Scutaro up, resulting in a harmless groundball to short that turned into an inning ending 6-4-3 double play. If Scutaro reaches base and turns the lineup over with less than two outs, things could have gotten out of hand quickly.
Photo Credit: Elise Amendola, AP
Pulling the starter an inning early
Second guessing calls to the bullpen comes with the territory of baseball blogging, and we saw a prime example of this Sunday night when CC Sabathia was left in even after he was visibly fatigued. Joe Girardi didn’t make the same mistake tonight, lifting Burnett after five innings and 94 pitches, but more importantly, before he had a chance to work himself into trouble in the 6th.
Burnett’s performance was okay – 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – servicable, but nothing to write home about. He didn’t have a 1-2-3 inning all night, and he let the leadoff hitter reach base in the first four frames. Just two of those leadoff hitters came around to score, but starting 80% of your innings off with a baserunner isn’t exactly a recipe for success. Burnett finished strong by striking out both Kevin Youkilis and The Corpse of David Ortiz swinging, but given his generally shakiness, it was time to get him out of there.
The old saying is that it’s better to get rid of a player a year early than a year late, and that same concept applies to this game. Bravo to Girardi for getting Burnett out of there before he made another mess, one he may not have been able to wiggle out of.
Bullpen shenanigans
Once Burnett was out of the game, Girardi turned to old reliable, Al Aceves. The Mexican Gangster tossed up two perfect innings on just 23 pitches, but once the almighty 8th inning came around, Girardi went back into micromanaging mode. The same cast of characters that let the game get away on Sunday night were right back in there on Tuesday, though they escaped the inning unscathed after Joba Chamberlain struck out a pair and pumped his fists like drunken pledges on initiation night. It worked for this game, but the constant mixing and matching is painful to watch. The more relievers you use, the more likely it is that you’ll find someone having a bad night.
Things That Made Me Smile
Photo Credit: Charles Krupa, AP
Nick Johnson gets all the attention for his plate discipline skills, but the other Nick put on an absolute clinic tonight. Swisher’s first at-bat came with runners at first and second and one out, and he served a 94 mph fastball on the outer half into the rightfield corner for a game tying double. His plate appearance in the 4th lasted five pitches and ended when he took a curveball off his back foot. Leading off the 6th against Manny Delcarmen, Swisher took the first three pitches for a 2-1 count, then fouled a pitch off and took another off the plate to work it full. Two more foul balls later, he roped a double off the wall. In his final turn at the plate. Swish fouled off four 0-2 pitches and seven total (seven!) in an 11 pitch at-bat. The Yankees’ 7th place hitter saw 30 pitches by himself on Tuesday, seven more than anyone else on the field.
Considering how much attention his defense received after Sunday’s game, I suspect we won’t hear a damn thing about Jorge Posada‘s fine work behind the plate tonight. He blocked several curveballs in the dirt with guys on base, and even called for a 3-2 curve with a runner on third, knowing if it got away from him it would cost the team a run. Yeah, he threw the ball into center on Jacoby Ellsbury first inning stolen base, but he shouldn’t have been on base in the first place. He was though, and that’s because…
The Marcus Thames Experiment got off to an inauspicious start when he misread a fly ball that led to a run in the first, and then he later compounded the damage by striking out looking to end the fourth. Needless to say, I was glad to see Girardi give him the quick hook and pinch hit Brett Gardner in the 6th inning. Although they didn’t score in the inning, it was the right move. Thames has a very limited skill set, so getting a more useful player into the game once Jon Lester was out of there increased the team’s chances of winning.
Faced the challenge of hitting in the fifth spot on the lineup, Robbie Cano continues to smoke the ball. He singled in the 2nd, walked to lead off the 4th, drove in a run with a sac fly in the 5th, and pushed a big insurance run across the plate with a solo jack in the 9th. Cano’s hitting a cool .500 on the young season.
Photo Credit: Elise Amendola, AP
Joba Chamberlain’s fist pump. I still think he should be a starter, but man, those are always fun. Two batters faced, two swinging strikeouts. It was good to see someone slam the door in a sticky situation after Sunday’s debacle.
Annoying Moments
Even though they won, the Yankees squandered more than their fair share of opportunities. They leadoff man reached base in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th innings, yet they only scored runs in two of those innings. As a team, they went just 3-for-14 with men in scoring position, though that doesn’t include NJ’s bases loaded free pass. Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, and Curtis Granderson went a combined 0-for-8 in those spots. That’s three guys in the span of four lineup spots leaving ducks on the pond.
It’s probably just a small sample size thing, but damn, Jeter’s hitting a ton of grounders to short so far. He had three of them in the first game (one got through for a hit), and then three more this game. The Captain’s calling card is serving the ball into right, but he has yet to put a ball in play to that field in this young season, instead hitting everything back up the middle, shaded towards the shortstop.
Damaso Marte throwing over to with Kevin Youkilis on first. The guy has 19 career steals in close to 700 games. How necessary was that? If that wasn’t bad enough, he threw a sinker and Tex couldn’t handle it, putting the tying run on second with no outs late in the game.
Next Up
These two teams are back at it tomorrow night for the final game of the series, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10pm ET. That one will be on YES and ESPN2.
WPA Graph
Who doesn’t love these things? You can check out the individual player breakdowns at FanGraphs’ box score.
Game 2 Spillover Thread 2
Posted by: | CommentsNick Johnson will walk his way into our hearts. Who needs hits anyway?
Game Two Spillover Thread
Posted by: | CommentsCano still can’t get a hit with RISP.
/sarcasm
Game 2: Burnett seeks redemption at Fenway
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Photo credit: Ben Margot/AP
When the Yankees signed A.J. Burnett in December, 2008, they knew what they were getting into. They had seen him pitch 71.2 innings against them as a member of the Blue Jays from 2006 through 2008, striking out 72 along the way. His ERA, 2.39, dazzled, and it looked somewhat in line with his FIP, 3.03. It’s no wonder that the Yankees players lobbied Brian Cashman to pursue him that off-season.
Not only did Burnett dominate the Yankees as a Blue Jay, but he also had a fine time with the Red Sox. He threw only 56.1 innings against them, but produced excellent results, a 2.56 ERA. His FIP was a bit higher, mostly due to the 13 walks the Red Sox drew in 27.2 innings during the 2008 season. Burnett managed to avoid trouble with those, though.
Last year, however, Burnett fared worst against the Sox than any other team*, allowing 22 runs, 20 earned, over 20.1 innings. The six homers he allowed matched his total from the past three years against the Sox. He also struck out 16 to 16 walks, the dreaded 1:1 ratio. It certainly left a sour taste in Yanks fans’ mouths. Wasn’t this guy supposed to kill the Sox?
*Excluding the other Sox, against whom he pitched just 4.2 innings.
Burnett gets his chance at redemption tonight. There’s plenty of perceived pressure on him in this one. Not only does he have the weight of his poor performances against the Sox last season, but he’s also coming off something of a rough spring, in which he tried out a changeup, and then couldn’t find his curveball. Chances of him throwing a single change tonight? I’d say pretty close to zero. Also, he’ll be working with Jorge Posada, his apparent nemesis last season.
Opposite Burnett is Jon Lester. The 2008 breakout lefty struggled to open the 2009 season, but recovered to post another excellent season. He faced the Yankees four times, and save for the final outing he pitched pretty well, allowing just six runs over 20 innings before giving up five in 2.1 on September 25. He also pitched very well against the Yankees in 2008, something I’m sure endears him to Red Sox fans. Well, that and his really awesome pitching against other teams.
Lester actually improved last year despite a slight uptick in his ERA. Most notable was his strikeout rate, which went from 6.50 per nine in 2008 to 9.96 per nine in 2009. In better analytical terms, Lester struck out 17.4 percent of batters faced in 2008 and 26.7 percent in 2009. That’s an astronomical jump, and perhaps Lester can’t sustain it. But from what I’ve seen, he’s just that good. He also has decent ground ball rates, which bode well for a lefty at Fenway Park. In an early season prediction regarding Lester, I bet he finishes top five in the Cy voting.
We get our first taste of a platoon tonight, as Marcus Thames gets the start in left over Brett Gardner. It’s too early to determine how Girardi will handle this going forward. Lester is, after all, one of the premier lefties in the AL, so this arrangement might just be for the tougher lefties. Also, having the small left field at Fenway might have influenced his decision. Granderson moves all the way down to last in the lineup as Swisher moves up a peg.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Nick Johnson, DH
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Robinson Cano, 2B
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Nick Swisher, RF
8. Marcus Thames, LF
9. Curtis Granderson, CF
And on the mound, number thirty-four, A.J. Burnett.
Levine, Attanasio spar over baseball economics
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Randy Levine, with t-shirt and World Series trophy in tow. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
When USA Today released their annual salary survey yesterday, Brewers’ owner Mark Attanasio had some choice words for the Yankees. The Brewers, what one might consider to be a mid- or small-market team, make do with what they have, but what they have pales in comparison with the Yanks’ coffers, and Attanasio, a Yankee fan by birth, knows this.
?We?re struggling to sign [first baseman Prince Fielder], and the Yankees infield is making more than our team,? he said to Bob Nightengale and Scott Boeck yesterday.
Today, Randy Levine, the Yanks’ team president, fired back. While speaking with Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York, Levine had this to say:
“I’m sorry that my friend Mark continues to whine about his running the Brewers. We play by all the rules and there doesn’t seem to be any complaints when teams such as the Brewers receive hundreds of millions of dollars that they get from us in revenue sharing the last few years. Take some of that money that you get from us and use that to sign your players.
“The question that should be asked is: Where has the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue sharing gone?”
In one sense, Levine has missed the boat here. Since purchasing the team for $223 million in 2005, Attanasio has increased Milwaukee’s payroll from the meager $27 million the Seligs spent annually to $80 million. The team draws approximately 3 million fans a year, and in a weak NL Central, the Brewers can, more or less, contend deep into the season every year. Attanasio has put his money and the revenue sharing dollars to good work, and in that sense, Levine’s charge rings false.
But in another, the Yanks’ president is right on the money. The Yankees have access to a media market far bigger than that of Milwaukee’s, and the team virtually sells out its entire 81-game home stand. They have paid, according to Maury Brown’s Biz of Baseball, $175 million in revenue sharing and are playing by the rules, as Levine says. Until Major League Baseball changes the rules, the Yankees should continue to play by those rules. Spend if you can. Spend if you have the money.
This isn’t the first time Attanasio has targeted the Yankees. He was not a happy camper when CC Sabathia turned down the Brewers’ $100 million offer to sign an even richer deal with the Yanks, and he knows that teams in Milwaukee’s position can’t compete, on a dollar for dollar basis, with the teams in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Philadelphia. This clash might just be a media-driven war of words, but the big-market and small-market teams are gearing up to face off. I don’t know how they’ll fix what many perceive to be a competitive balance problem, but you can be this won’t be the last we hear from the Brewers or Yankees.
CC’s spotty history on Opening Day
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Photo credit: Elise Amendola/AP
On March 31, 2003, a 22-year-old CC Sabathia got the ball on Opening Day for the Cleveland Indians. He fared very well in his first opener, lasting seven innings and only allowing two runs. He did surrender eight hits and walk one, but he worked out of jams in a few innings. Heading into the bottom of the eighth Sabathia was the pitcher of record, having left with a 4-2 lead. David Riske ended that, though, allowing a game-tying home run to Marty Cordova.
The next year, CC was even better. Again he lasted seven innings, but this time he allowed no runs, surrendering just two hits, though he did walk four. The biggest difference was in his strikeout numbers. He set down nine of the 25 Twins he faced. Leaving the game with a 4-0 lead, it appeared Sabathia would get his first Opening Day win. Alas, it was not to be. Jose Jimenez, Scott Stewart, and Rafael Betancourt combined to allow four runs in the eighth, placing another ND on Sabathia’s record. The Indians lost again, this time with Chad Durbin surrendering a walk-off home run to Shannon Stewart.
In 2005 Sabathia was in line to make his third Opening Day start, but he opened the season on the DL. In 2006 he again got the nod, but this time suffered an injury during the start, straining his oblique and missing a month. His performance wasn’t very good that game, as he allowed three runs in just 2.1 innings against the White Sox. Still, we can chalk that one up to his oblique acting up. It was his first bad Opening Day start, after all, and at age 25 it appeared he had many, many more of them in his future.
Opening Day 2006 didn’t go too well for Sabathia, though it didn’t go poorly. He didn’t get hurt, which was an upgrade over 2005, but he also allowed three runs over six innings of work, allowing eight hits and walking run while surrendering two home runs. The Indians, for their part, rocked Jose Contreras early on, scoring five in the first, four in the second, and three in the third, staking Sabathia to a 11-2 lead after three. It would be his first Opening Day win, though not close to his best Opening Day performance. From there, though, it has been all downhill.
In his first start following his coronation as AL Cy Young, Sabathia bombed. For the third straight season the Indians opened the season against the White Sox, and for the third straight year it was something of a slugfest. Jim Thome took CC deep in the first inning for a two-run shot, and then did the same in his next at-bat, another two-run shot in the third. By this time the Indians had scored seven runs off Mark Buehrle, though, softening the blow. They maintained that 7-4 lead until the sixth, when Sabathia walked two before allowing an RBI single to A.J. Pierzynski. Jensen Lewis came in to clean up, but he and Rafael Perez combined to blow the lead the next inning. The Indians ended up winning the game, but CC got another no-decision to go along with his poor start.
Yankees fans had high hopes for Sabathia on Opening Day 2009, but again the big man flopped. He worked out of trouble in the first, but an Adam Jones started the scoring in the third. It all came undone in the fifth, when the Orioles went double-single-single-single-groundout/run-walk-walk. That final walk came with the bases loaded and one out. Sabathia then left the game, having surrendered six runs in just 4.1 IP. The damage might have been even worse had Brett Gardner not thrown out Melvin Mora trying to score on a sac fly.
On Sunday we saw yet another poor Opening Day start from Sabathia. He didn’t look great in the early goings, but he managed to limit the Red Sox damage to two runs through five innings. In the sixth, however, he was clearly gassed, and the Sox took advantage. He left the game having recorded one out in the inning and with the tying run on base. David Robertson promptly surrendered it, leaving Sabathia with an assured no-decision.
As he’s shown in years past, Sabathia is able to shake off poor season openers to post excellent seasons. Last year is a prime example. It took him almost all of April to get into his groove, but once he did we all forgot about his April woes. This isn’t to say that CC shouldn’t start Opening Day. I’m sure he’d have similar struggles in his first start no matter what turn in the rotation he took. It’s to say, though, that for the next year or five we shouldn’t have high expectations of Sabathia on Opening Day. We should, however, maintain our expectations for the season. The man is simply a beast.
The 2010 minor league primer
Posted by: | CommentsWith the Major League Baseball season fully under way, that means the minor leaguers can’t be far behind. All four of the Yankees’ full season affiliates begin their 2010 seasons this Thursday, with Short Season Staten Island and the Rookie level Gulf Coast League Yanks following in June. In anticipation of the new season, I took part in a roundtable discussion about the Yanks’ farm system at Pending Pinstripes (parts one, two, and three), touching on topics like overrated players, underrated players, the top affiliate to follow, etc.
Rosters for Double-A Trenton and Low-A Charleston have been officially released, while Triple-A Scranton’s roster is pretty easy to piece together. High-a Tampa is the big question mark right now, but we still have a pretty good idea of who’s headed there. Let’s break it down…
Triple-A Scranton
Catchers: Robby Hammock, Chad Moeller, Jesus Montero, P.J. Pilittere
Infielders: Reegie Corona, Juan Miranda, Eduardo Nunez, Kevin Russo
Outfielders: Colin Curtis, Greg Golson, Jon Weber, David Winfree
Pitchers: Jon Albaladejo, Jason Hirsh, Kei Igawa, George Kontos, Boone Logan, Zach McAllister, Mark Melancon, Ivan Nova, Royce Ring, Romulo Sanchez, Amaury Sanit, Kevin Whelan
That’s an unofficial roster, so chances are they’ll add another arm, and maybe another position player or two. Kontos, obviously, is starting the season on the disabled list as he rehabs from Tommy John surgery. The earliest he’ll be back is July or so, and even then he’ll start in the low minors and gradually work his way up.
I suspect the five starters will be (in no particular order) Hirsh, McAllister, Nova, Sanchez, and Igawa, and they’ll be backed up by a really stacked bullpen. Lefties, righties, you name it, manager Dave Miley will have plenty of options out there. Montero will lead the way offensively, but we saw what Weber could do in Spring Training, and Miranda’s spent the last two years tormenting the International League. The top of the order will likely go Russo-Nunez-Montero-Miranda-Weber, and that’s as good as it gets in the bush leagues.
Double-A Trenton (courtesy of Mike Ashmore)
Catchers: Jose Gil, Austin Romine
Infielders: David Adams, Neall French, Brandon Laird, Luis Nunez, Kevin Smith, Justin Snyder, Marcos Vechionacci
Outfielders: Dan Brewer, Edwar Gonzalez, Austin Krum, Damon Sublett
Pitchers: Cory Arbiso, Wilkins Arias, Jeremy Bleich, Noel Castillo, Wilkin DeLaRosa, Grant Duff, Chris Garcia, D.J. Mitchell, Lance Pendleton, David Phelps, Ryan Pope, Josh Schmidt, Eric Wordekemper
As Mike mentioned, that’s 26 players for 24 spots, so there’s still some movement to come. Perhaps Schmidt or Wordekemper heads up to Scranton, plus one of the spare infielders (Nunez?). There’s also the possibility of a phantom DL trip.
With Garcia, Pendleton, and Pope, it’s a pretty veteran rotation, guys who’ve been playing pro ball for a few years now. Mitchell and Phelps will get the other spots coming off fantastic years. Romine headlines the position players, but don’t sleep on Brewer or Adams, they can both really hit. The Thunder had trouble pushing runs across at times last year, but that doesn’t seem like it’ll be an issue this year.
High-A Tampa
Catchers:
Infielders: Walt Ibarra, Emerson Landoni
Outfielders: Jack Rye
Pitchers: Manny Banuelos, Andrew Brackman, Jairo Heredia, Craig Heyer, Hector Noesi, Tim Norton, Adam Olbrychowski, Jon Ortiz, Brad Rulon, Pat Venditte, Ryan Zink
Obviously, this one’s incomplete. Don’t blame me, blame milb.com. Guys like Corban Joseph, Melky Mesa, and Jose Pirela would make sense here, considering their performances at Low-A Charleston last season. We’re just going to have to wait and see here.
Low-A Charleston (courtesy of Robert Pimpsner)
Catchers: Jeff Farnham, Kyle Higashioka, J.R Murphy
Infielders: Carmen Angelini, Garrison Lassiter, Rob Lyerly, Luke Murton, Jose Mojica, Jimmy Paredes
Outfielders: Zoilo Almonte, Kelvin DeLeon, Taylor Grote, DeAngelo Mack, Justin Milo
Pitchers: Manny Barreda, Sean Black, Gavin Brooks, Caleb Cotham, Ryan Flannery, Shaeffer Hall, Dickie Marquez, Ronny Marte, Kelvin Perez, Jose Ramirez, Wilton Rodriguez, Francisco Rondon, Graham Stoneburner
We’ve got the same problem as Trenton here, too many players for too few spots. I suspect Murphy will start the year in Extended Spring Training before heading to Staten Island when their season starts. Considering Adam Warren and Neil Medchill aren’t listed here, I suspect they’re headed to Tampa.
The outfield is really tooled up with DeLeon, Grote, and Mack, and the infield is going to have some thump with Lyerly and Murton. Paredes will provide the speed, Angelini the errors. This is his last chance to revive his career as a prospect. The ’09 draft pick heavy pitching staff will probably feature Cotham, Hall, Rondon, Stoneburner, and Ramirez as the starters, with a ridiculously strong power-armed back of the bullpen with Brooks, Black, and Barreda. Charleston’s always a fun team to follow because you can dream on so many of the players, and this year will be no different.
As I’m sure you already figured out, Down on the Farm will return in full force Thursday evening. Scranton starts the season with four games against Buffalo (Mets), Trenton with four against Erie (Tigers), Tampa with a home-and-home-and-home-and-home against Lakeland (Tigers), and Charleston with four against Lexington (Astros). All four affiliates start the season at home. Should be a fun season, see you for DotF on Thursday.
A year of living dangerously
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Photo credit: Mike Carlson/AP
Brian Cashman has been the Yankees’ GM since February 3, 1998. Since then, the team has reached the playoffs every season but one while taking home four World Series rings and six total AL titles. Still, the Cashman doubters always believe he has something to prove. Anyone could win with the money, they say. It didn’t take a baseball genius to sign CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, they claim.
In one sense, that criticism isn’t far off. The Yankees, with their league-leading $200 million payroll, don’t need a genius in the Front Office. They just need someone who won’t mess things up. That is, in the world of New York baseball, easier said than done.
For a few years in the mid-2000s though with George Steinbrenner‘s baseball people in Tampa fighting it out with Cashman and his braintrust in New York, the team didn’t take advantage of its financial edge. They traded players with impunity, acquiring Javier Vazquez in a good deal one year only to see him depart the next. They dumped heaps of money on the old +- Randy Johnson – and the injured – Jaret Wright. They drafted poorly and seemed destined for high-priced mediocrity.
Then, after 2005, Brian Cashman put his foot down. Give me control of the team or I’ll walk, he threatened, and with George Steinbrenner’s health on the wane, Cashman had his team. Since then, the Yankees have reassembled their organization from top to bottom. They have prospects who aren’t going to flame out; they have put money into key big-name free agents who won’t be (too) overpaid. They have a development plan in place for young kids while maintaining the Steinbrenners’ win-now philosophy. Even with Hank Steinbrenner’s somewhat ill-advised decision to give A-Rod a blank check after 2007, the Yankees are on the right track. As Joe wrote in the preview, they have a plan.
In 2009, the plan paid off. The team won the World Series with contributions from the organization’s long-term projects and the team’s high-priced free agents. After winning, though, Cashman didn’t rest on his laurels. Faced with what passes for a payroll cap in Yankeeland, he retooled the team in his vision. He traded one of the team’s outfielders and a high-ceiling 19-year-old for Javier Vazquez, the piece that got away from 2004. He sent one of the team’s highly-touted position players and another Major League-ready arm to Detroit for Curtis Granderson. He let the World Series MVP walk; he let the All Star left fielder walk after a dysfunctional effort by Johnny Damon‘s camp to land a better deal than the market said he could get.
When the Yankees opened the season in Boston on Sunday, the team looked primed to play. They scored seven runs, and only a bullpen meltdown helped them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Despite the outcome, it was a promising start for an overhauled lineup.
This year, though, is truly Cashman’s year, and while it won’t determine his immediate future with the organization, it will showcase his talents as a GM. Did the Yanks make the right move in moving Robinson Cano to the five hole? Sticking Joba back in the bullpen and entrusting a starting spot to the youngest guy on the team? Letting the chronically injured Matsui walk in favor of the chronically injured but younger Nick Johnson? Bringing back Javier Vazquez for one year?
Building a baseball team is always a gamble, and the Yanks’ moves were relatively conservative. They didn’t dump heaps of money on Ben Sheets. They kept the pieces they thought could contribute most and still have strength and depth in the minors if and when they need to make the trade. They also bear the imprint of Brian Cashman, and this year, we’ll see what full autonomy means. The pieces he assembled from 2006 onward are paying dividends now. This team is his, and his approach is now, for better or worse, under the microscope of New York and its baseball-obsessed fans.
Just 21 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.
