Aug
09
Fan Confidence Poll: August 9th, 2010
ByRecord Last Week: 3-3 (28 RS, 27 RA)
Season Record: 69-41 (591 RS, 452 RA, 69-41 Pythag. record), 2.5 games up
Schedule This Week: vs. Red Sox (one game, Mon.), @ Rangers (two games, Tues. and Weds.), @ Royals (four games, Thurs. to Sun.)
Top stories from last week:
- Following their downer of a series in Tampa, the Yankees came home to face the homer happy Blue Jays in a three game set. A.J. Burnett melted down in Monday’s loss, then Ricky Romero completely dominated the Yanks in another loss the next day, dropping them into second place in the AL East. Alex Rodriguez hit his 600th career homerun en route to salvaging the series on Wednesday.
- Despite not playing on Thursday, the Yanks climbed back on top of the division by half-a-game when the Twins beat the Rays. The wrap-around weekend set with Boston started with a communication breakdown and an error that led to a loss, though CC Sabathia stepped up and did what aces do the next day: he gave his team a win when they needed it the most. Injury fill-in Dustin Moseley was outstanding yesterday to give the Yanks another much-needed win.
- Injury Zone: Al Aceves is getting close to a rehab appearance while Andy Pettitte will throw one early next week. A-Rod was hit in the shin by a line drive in batting practice on Saturday and had to miss that one game. Javy Vazquez is in the middle of a dead arm period. Burnett came up with back spasms yesterday and had his start pushed back to Tuesday.
- In the wake of the trade deadline, we learned the Yanks had a deal in place for Mike Lowell and had interest in Willie Harris. For whatever reason, the Yanks intend to keep an eye on Jose Guillen. The Pirates claimed Chan Ho Park – and the remainder of his contract – off waivers.
- The Yanks have a difficult road ahead when you look at the remainder of their schedule.
- WCBS 880 tops MLB’s cumulative radio ratings.
Please take a second to answer the poll below and give us an idea of how confident you are in the team. You can view the Fan Confidence Graph anytime via the nav bar above, or by clicking here. Thanks in advance for voting.
Given the team's current roster construction, farm system, management, etc., how confident are you in the Yankees' overall future?
88 Comments»
RAB Info
The Founders
Mike Axisa, Ben Kabak, Joe Pawlikowski
Editor-In-Chief
Mike Axisa Archives | Email
Managing Editors
Ben Kabak Archives | E-mail
Joe Pawlikowski Archives | E-mail
Contributing Editors
Larry Koestler (Archives)
Moshe Mandel (Archives)
Eric Schultz (Archives)
Weekend Writers
Hannah Ehrlich (Archives)
Matthew Warden (Archives)
Special Contributor
J.R. O'Grady (Archives)
Technical Consultant
Jay Gordon
Subscribe to RAB by RSS
Follow @RiverAveBlues
Search RAB
Loading
Yankees News from YESNetwork.com
- New York Yankees fall to Baltimore Orioles on Nate McLouth's homer in the 10th
- YES to televise Yankees/MLS Press Conference on Wednesday morning
- Ex-New York Yankees pitcher Scott Proctor retires
- Ex-Yankees farmhands Gil Velazquez and Cody Johnson find new homes
- New York Yankees top Baltimore Orioles in dramatic fashion at Camden Yards
- Rehabbing Alex Rodriguez partakes in defensive drills, hits in batting cage
- Robinson Cano surprises a young fan at the MLB Fan Cave
- Texas Rangers designate RHP Derek Lowe for assignment
- New York Mets sign RHP David Aardsma to a Minor League deal
- Mark Teixeira makes first appearance in Extended Spring Training game
Banner Design By
The Tyler Austin Watch
What are everyones thoughts on how the pitching staff will look when Ace and Andy return?
Obviously we shouldn’t be counting on too much from Ace, but having him back will certainly be nice.
With Moseley pitching the way he has been, it would be a tough call to DFA him. So with Ace and Andy coming back who do gets the axe? Gaudin has got to be one of them, but who gets the other?
Simultaneously, with Logan pitching the way he has been, what do we do with him when Marte is back in action?
wow, gaudin is still on the team? wow.
Fun Facts: Chad Gaudin has been a member of the Yankees for 75 days this year. He’s pitched in 15 games, total.
In those 15 games he’s faced 115 batters and given up a .265/.354/.480 (.280 BABIP) vital line, which is fairly equivalent to turning all opposing batters into Justin Upton.
* The Justin Upton
Doesn’t have nearly enough strikeouts though.
Well played.
Fun Fact #2: Chad Gaudin has played for two different teams in each of the past three seasons (the A’s and Cubs in 2008, the Padres and Yankees in 2009, the A’s and Yankees in 2010).
He’s given up at least 5 homers for both of the teams he pitched for in all three years.
My guess is they rest Marte until the rosters expand, but Logan also still has an option remaining. Either way he’s not going back to Scranton, Marte’s arm hopefully will enjoy its vacation and be ready to get into postseason shape in September.
I guess Mitre goes with Gaudin when/if Pettitte and Ace come back? Unless they decide that Aceves can’t pitch multiple innings due to his back.
Now, I KNOW this is NOT going to happen but I am losing patience with Joba. I would love to see him being sent down for maybe just a couple of weeks to get his *explicit* together. I love the kid but CMONNNNN already.
The deadline to send Joba down without exposing him to waivers came and went two days ago. Joba Chamberlain is now stuck on the big league club until he gets fixed (or gets traded).
Before last night, he had 2 base runners in his last 5 appearances (5.1 IP).
Granted, the walk was extremely frustrating, but the “hit” was another JC patented infield single.
With Moseley pitching the way he has been, it would be a tough call to DFA him. So with Ace and Andy coming back who do gets the axe? Gaudin has got to be one of them, but who gets the other?
Next in line to get DFAd after Gaudin would have to be Mitre, but the team likes his depth.
I wonder if we’d be best served just axing Gaudin when Andy returns and delaying Aceves and Marte’s returns until September 1st when rosters expand. If we bring one of them back before then, we either have to cut Mitre or demote one of Logan or Robertson, and they’ve been our two best non-Mo relievers down the stretch.
i agree with this. just postpone. delay delay delay
just postpone. delay delay delay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_DeLay
Robertson isn’t going anywhere (no matter who comes off the DL). And Logan probably isn’t either. Marte is still too far away from being back with the club. He hasn’t even thrown off a half mound yet. The Yanks won’t go without a lefty in the pen.
Agreed, which is why I said it’d either be Mitre as the second cut (or we’d kick the can down the road until September 1st).
Sorry about that. I think I had a reading comprehension fail there.
No problemo.
From all I’ve heard about Marte (not throwing off a mound yet, just playing catch) he might not be ready until Sept. 1st at the earliest anyway.
But I agree, axe Gaudin & Mitre in that order. Logan and Moseley have earned their roster spots.
Yeah I would have to agree with you on this one too.
The only downside to waiting is that we may not give Ace and Marte enough time to fully evaluate that they are good to go for the playoffs. I would have no issue DFA’ing Gaudin for one spot if it meant giving those guys an extra week or 2 to get in the zone.
The other spot is definitely more sensitive.
What are everyones thoughts on how the pitching staff will look when Ace and Andy return?
Awesome. My thoughts are, “This pitching staff will look awesome when Ace and Andy return.”
Of course, things look awesome when Andy is back. >:D
(hands Bexy some Dove for Men bodywash)
why are the Yankees playing at 2:00 today? They never play at 2. anybody know?
Here’s my guess: They have to play an afternoon game since it’s a getaway day, but they wanted it later than 1pm since it’s a Monday game and the earlier it is, the less chance that people at work can sneak out to watch it.
So they pushed it back an hour to get more fat YankeeBucks™. I’ll bet there’s also a CBA provision that allows them to do that (and restricts them from moving it to 3 or 4pm, for that matter).
I think the announcers last night said that the union/CBA stipulates that if a team plays a night game at 8 one night, they can’t play before 2 PM the next day. The moral of the story is, ESPN sucks.
There, that works. They’re not allowed to have the game at 1pm (too early after last night’s late affair) or at 7pm (too late with both teams traveling to Tuesday dates).
thank you tommie and andrew
Mike, there’s a top story you left out from last week:
• The Red Sox had a successful trip to the Bronx, since they managed to not get swept by winning at least one of the four games on the calendar.
/Morgan’d
Also:
• The 2010 Yankees are on pace to win only 94 games, due to their drastically inferior pitching staff.
LoL what? where was that?
An ESPN gem, of course. I think Miller said it. But he’s so much better than Morgan zomg!!!
I think Orel Hershiser was actually the one that dropped that “94 win pace” nugget, although Miller and Morgan sycophantically agreed with him.
Aren’t we ahead of last year’s pace? I don’t think 94 wins even gets the wild card this year.
We’re even with last year’s pace. Yes, the entire conversation last night made no sense. Miller, Morgan, and Hershiser were in rare stupid form.
I didn’t hear that conversation but is it possible they said that if the NYY went .500 the rest of the year that they would win 94 games?
No, they were talking about us being on a pace to win 94 games. There were no qualifiers or “If this happens” scenarios outlined. It was stated matter of factly that our pitching is not as good as last year’s team and we’re only on pace for 94 wins.
Yeah, you’re right. They also said the pitching was worse, when we have a lower ERA than we did at this point last year (I’m sure you could compare FIP but ummmmm, I’m also sure they didn’t look at FIP. Or know what it is. At all.).
My favorite pearl of wisdom from last night was Joe Morgan during the Logan-Ortiz faceoff saying that Boone Logan “is a lefty, but he doesn’t have a good curveball, so he’s basically a like a righty”.
No, really. Apparently, all lefthanded pitchers who don’t throw curveballs are identical to righthanded pitchers.
Now that you remind me of that, I remember it. I also remember being like “buh???” when they said that, but then I got distracted and annoyed by Miller attempting to will Ortiz to homer against Logan, so.
Good news: AJ was scratched last night, Bad news: He faces Texas and their powerful lineup on Tuesday. YIKES!! With Vazquez going against Lee on Wednesday, chances of a Texas sweep look pretty good. That makes today’s game all the more important.
With Vazquez going against Lee on Wednesday, chances of a Texas sweep look pretty good.
Seeing as how we have the best team in baseball, the chances of a sweep never look good.
Seeing as Josh Beckett is facing off against Dustin Moseley on Sunday night, the Yanks are going to need to win Monday to salvage a split against the Sox.
wait…what??
I actually like the AJ and Javy matchups vs. Texas. They’re not a patient lineup, and will chase off the plate. AJ’s naturally wild, and that plays right into Javy’s game. Of course they might not win the second game anyway because of Lee.
I’m less concerned about matchups with AJ. It seems like when bad AJ shows up, it could be the Richmond Flying Squirrels out there and he would still get lit up. When good AJ shows up it could be anyone and he is able to hold is own.
It seems to me that AJ just needs to win the battle with himself to be effective.
Don’t disrespect the Flying Squirrels as they feast on nuts.
/typicalmsmbashingofaj’d
You know what’d be cool? If ESPN had a “Beckett struggling against the Yankees” montage all queued up like they had that bullshit “AJ struggling against the Red Sox” montage. But I’m not holding my breath, somehow.
All current members of the Rangers lineup have, for their careers, amassed a .197/.276/.339 slash line against AJ (albeit in a combined 203 plate appearances). Why so pessimistic?
Cliff Lee has a National league comfort zone. I worry about his transition to the AL
/WhattheMSMsaidaboutCC’d
i could see joe morgan saying this even tho lee has pitched in the al his entire career except for the few months last year.
I explicitly remember him saying it about CC.
DOOOOOOOMED!!!!!!
It’d be interesting to see the graph annotated, like the FanGraphs game probability, showing what happened that week to cause the dips in fan confidence.
I’m working on that. I’d guess that 95% of the dips come after particularly ugly losses. The big jumps = big wins.
No one is grading today?
Although 3-3 isn’t prime as the Jays & Sox aren’t elite teams this year, I’ll stick with a 9 due to the following;
1) In first place again
2) Teix, Jete, & Arod seem to be having some QAB’s
3) The farm is talent heavy with solid backups & development (except maybe OF)
4) The Great Gazoo play might lead to a call-up for the Jesus prior to 9-1 (postseason eligible)
5) The return of Pettitte.
6) The 2nd best team in baseball is having a rough patch and several pitcher’s in question.
7) Fat Elvis might turn out to be PHAT Elvis…another Cashman heist.
8) It’s a good thing when you don’t really need to rush a pitcher like Ace back.
9) Even the farm clubs are sticking it to the Sox.
10) We are the reining Champions of the world.
note: Not rushing the Jesus thing and would be fine with him in AAA for another year but damn has he corrected his average and power numbers.
4) The Great Gazoo play might lead to a call-up for the Jesus prior to 9-1 (postseason eligible)
The lack of a 40-man opening still makes that unlikely, especially since there are other guys in front of Montero developmentally who need to be added to the 40-man this winter for R5 protection (like Laird, McAllister, etc.)
I bet Jesus stays in Scranton through the AAA playoffs and then comes up and sits on the big league bench at the end of September as a non-40-man ineligible observer.
Also, Jesus could be added to the 40-man roster on the last day of the season and still be elegible for the playoffs.
Assuming that Nick Johnson doesn’t return from injury, yes. But if he’s healthy by the last day of the season, I bet we activate him and use either Johnson or Thames for the playoff bench/DH/PH spot instead of jumpstarting Montero’s career.
The fact that McAllister, Laird, Betances, Suttle, Snyder, and Pope (as well as Pendleton, Kontos, Krum, etc.) all need to be on the 40-man by November 20th and Montero doesn’t is the biggest thing keeping him from joining this club this year. Every DFA and new addition to the 40-man we make going forward has to also consider the moves we plan on making this winter.
Krum? I wouldn’t worry about him.
My point was that if a player is with the organization before September 1st, whether they are on the 40 man roster at the time or not, are eligible for the playoffs. It’s the “K-Rod” Rule.
My reply was that the K-Rod rule only applies if the player on the 60-day DL who is injured is actually still injured and still on the 60-day DL when the playoffs start.
Right now, we have two 60-day-DL exceptions in Aceves and Johnson, but one of them will disappear the moment Aceves rejoins the active roster. The other one, the Johnson one, that’s a murky situation. There’s a good chance he doesn’t make it back and we get to use his slot as an injury exception, but he’s already started his rehab–there’s a chance he makes it back and plays in a few tuneups in late September.
If he’s not on the 60-day DL anymore, we don’t get the injury exception.
OK, gotcha.
(hands Andy a refreshing Pinstripe Tampa Lite Lime™)
In having so many contracts expire, doesn’t that take care of the winter 40-man issue?
…thinking that Pettitte, Javy, Mo & Jete (for starters) come off the 40-man at season end; until they resign or sign (elsewhere).
It might not be a bad move in having a third catcher option, if Jorge gets injured the thought of only Gazoo is way too scary. BTW, thought they had another catcher on the 40-man…they don’t.
Fun Fact #58: The Red Sox have 6 catchers on the 40-man roster.
and they all suck.
note: i’m not including v-mart in the analysis because to be considered a catcher, you must actually be able to catch.
/redsoxbashing’d
The intellectual dishonesty on this site when it comes to the Red Sox is sad but expected.
/that guy’d
Sure, we’ll let some players walk (Nick, Thames, Mitre, etc.) and cut some (WLDR, Huffman, etc.) but we’ll also sign new replacements (Lee, probably a reliever like maybe J.J. Putz, possibly a better backup SS/3B or a new 4th OF).
We’re not going to have oodles and oodles open 40-man spots for adding young prospects from our system, more like 3-5. And we’ll have 3-5 guys we want to add outside of Jesus Montero.
Those 40-man slots always get filled up quick, so you shouldn’t add your young guys from the system until absolutely necessary. As good as Montero is, there are other guys more necessary than him at the moment.
A catcher might be the exception to that rule.
Wasn’t Jorge on the 40-man during the 1996 run purely as a backup plan?
Although the core-four has five rings, ‘Sada didn’t have an AB in the ’96 PS (i believe), and was on the 40-man as insurance.
Jorge was a backup on the 1996 Yankees behind Girardi, yes, but Jorge was also:
1.) 24 years old
2.) A veteran of 6 full years in the minors, the past three seasons all at AAA
3.) Already a honed and trained MLB-capable backstop
And I’m sure Jorge had been added to the 40-man back in 1994. They didn’t add him in 1996 just to be the third emergency backup catcher.
Also, for the record, Jorge was not on the 1996 postseason roster.
He was on the 1995 postseason roster, though.
As a pinch-runner.
Disagree, Leyritz was the backup to Girardi in 1996.
I recall (hopefully non-Clemens like) he was touted as the next starting catcher and was on the 40-man…was not chosen in the postseason roster (but was in ’95) and thus was the emergency backup catcher.
My point is, that you should have a third catcher on the 40-man…and for this year, why not Jesus?
And I’ve answered that question for you, several times.
1.) We don’t need a third catcher on the 40 man. It would be nice, but it’s a luxury, not a necessity. Plenty of Yankee teams have gone a full season with only 2 catchers on the 40-man.
2.) The reason not to add Montero is because he doesn’t need a 40-man spot yet, but several other prospects do. You don’t add youngsters to the 40-man who don’t need to be on there, that’s just blocking yourself from being able to retain a different talented prospect.
Adding Jesus Montero now to be a backup-backup catcher (before we have an injury need for him, mind you) would likely cost us something valuable this winter like a Damon Sublett or a Ryan Pope. You don’t give away a Sublett or a Pope just so you can have the piece of mind of knowing that you have a backup to your backup for a few months down the stretch.
Relax dude.
Different things mean different things to different people.
My views, are that having another bat into the lineup in the two-hole can only be achieved if a) there is a worthy bat and b) that he must be on the 40-man prior to 9-1.
Now, with the “K-rod” rule it is possible to get him there anyways if needed. #28 is the focus (actually, the only focus for the next few months).
Peace out.
I am relaxed. I’ve never not been relaxed throughout this entire conversation.
On the 40 man roster note… I’m not sure, but I believe that Romine needs to be added to the 40 man after this season, but I don’t think Montero needs to be added yet. That might actually give Romine a leg up over Montero on a call up in an emergency situation.
On that thought, if Posada couldn’t catch the rest of the way, who do you add to the roster? Moeller, Romine, or Montero? And who starts – one of those three, or Cervelli?
No, it’s highschoolers from the ’06 draft and collegians from the ’07 draft. Romine was a HS pick from ’07, so he has one more year before his R5 clock runs out.
Ah ok. I had it in my head that Romine was picked out of college. Nevermind the rest of what I said then, as it was all based on that assumption.
No worries, Ed. You’re usually all over this, you’ve earned the right to have a mistake or two.
I think the acquisition of Berkman eliminated the .1% chance Jesus had of making it to the Bronx this season (injuries excluded).
Girardi and Cash have to feel comfortable with a Berkman/Thames/Posada DH. And there’s no way they would let a guy like Montero catch in the playoffs.
If Posada goes down with injury then do you want cervelli as your postseason catcher?…I do not!
Even if you do want Cervelli, who is the backup? Why not have that someone bring their bat with them?
Hasn’t Jesus has thrown out more in AAA than Cervelli this year?
Hasn’t the recipe for the Yankees over last 4 rings is to have the bat over the glove in the two-position? Moeller & Romine (although closer) won’t likely do that.
If Posada goes down with injury then do you want cervelli as your postseason catcher?…I do not!
If Posada goes down with injury, the idea of promoting Jesus Montero and tying up a 40-man spot with him becomes more desirable.
Until Jorge actually does get injured, though, it’s moot.
There must be an exception for catcher’s though, what if your two catcher’s go down in late September…MLB doesn’t want Swisher behind the plate catching.
Again, until we actually have an injury, all this is academic.
You don’t add Montero to the 40-man IN CASE you have an injury to Posada or Cervelli, you add Montero to the 40-man AFTER you have an injury to Posada or Cervelli.
(And to be frank, you probably add Chad Moeller to the 40-man if you have an injury, so you can DFA him later with no consequences. But I digress.)
If ‘Sado goes down with a nasty injury on September 2nd, we’d just DL him and move him to the 60-day, thus allowing us to add Montero and get him playoff eligible anyway.
Don’t put the cart before the horse.
You should be frank more often. Your reason of Moeller in DFA’ing him after the season is just and sound.
I would rather have a solid bat in reserve in that position and worry about the 40 man after the 28 objective is complete. Cashman will likely have 3 or 4 trades done in that time anyways.
Whatevs
I would rather have a solid bat in reserve in that position and worry about the 40 man after the 28 objective is complete.
Montero’s still available in reserve right now, while not on the 40-man, because we can add him if we need him. And if disaster strikes and we need Montero, we’ll add Montero.
But only after disaster strikes. Not before. Before disaster strikes, you retain the roster flexibility provided to you by not needing to commit a 40-man spot to Montero until necessary.
…a few MLB innings to see if he is lost couldn’t hurt either. If he is, then moeller is the choice.
Still in first place. Still rolling. Still loving what I read every night on DOTF. Still a 9.
I’m sure somoene could provide more solid evidence as to why it’d be so on here, but I am a bit surprised by how little confidence there’s been in Dustin Moseley. Yes, the guy is a journeyman-type, but I do remember him looking like a respectable major league pitcher when with the Angels. This guy shouldn’t be receiving Aaron Small comparisons (as I’ve seen more than once here), and there’s a whole lot of guys the Yankees have put out there to start these past few years who gave me a much queasier feeling than Moseley does.