Archive for February, 2011
Albert, CC and crazy, crazy ideas
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Don't get your hopes up.
The Yankees have a very expensive first baseman, and they don’t plan on getting rid of him soon. On the 23 of December of 2008, the Yanks gave Mark Teixeira an eight-year, $180-million deal with a full no-trade clause, and since then, Teixeira has helped the Yanks win a World Series while missing just 10 regular season games. He had a down year in 2010, but there’s no reason to think he won’t pick it up this year in his age 31 season.
In St. Louis, meanwhile, the Cardinals’ own 31-year-old first baseman is playing out the final year of his contract. Albert Pujols wants to get paid and had set a deadline of yesterday at noon to sign an extension. The Cardinals may or may not have offered him a rather low-ball eight-year offer, and the two sides are heading into the season without a long-term deal in place. They say they won’t negotiate until after the Cardinals’ 2011 campaign is over. While St. Louis needs Albert Pujols far more than he needs them, things could get ugly indeed.
So as the Pujols drama plays out and with the Yanks being the Yankees, everyone and their mothers wants to know if Pujols could come to the Bronx. Of all the crazy speculation, though, the nuttiest comes from Ken Rosenthal. I once laughed at Rosenthal’s proposal that the Phillies, Blue Jays and Mariners engage in some three-team shenanigans over Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay, but I think it’s safe to say that his latest is well divorced from reality. He wants the Cardinals to trade Pujols for Teixeira.
Warning that his piece is “pure speculation,” he thinks it would help everyone. The Cardinals would get their All Star first baseman, and the Yanks would make a splash to counter the Red Sox’s trading for Adrian Gonzalez. Plus, the Bombers could dole out another ten-year, $300-million deal to someone on the wrong side of 30. Everyone wins! Hooray!
The Internet of course had a field day with it. In a vacuum, swapping out Teixeira for Pujols is a no-brainer (sorry, Mark), but things don’t work in a vacuum. As Fangraphs noted, the trade would be insanely lopsided from a WAR perspective, and Teixeira would have no incentive to waive his no-trade clause. He would be the lesser player tasked with replacing Albert Pujols. If Tino Martinez thought he had it rough in 1996 when he was serving as Don Mattingly’s heir, imagine Teixeira stepping in for one of the — if not the — greatest players of all time. Sounds like a blast.
But rather than indulge in fanciful speculation fit for a fantasy baseball league, turn instead to an excellent piece on the state of baseball free agency by Cardinals fan-extraordinaire Will Leitch. Over at New York Magazine’s The Sports Section, Leitch wrote a piece entitled “Albert Pujols, and Why the Yankees Are the Yankees.” Of the Yanks, he writes:
The Yankees, famously, refuse to negotiate with players who are about to be free agents during the season. They can do this because they are the Yankees. Because they have the most money, they can set the market on any player, and they can wait until all information is available. The Cardinals failed to wrap up Pujols early — the way the Twins did with Joe Mauer, for example — not because they didn’t want to keep him around, but because they couldn’t balance the risk (a $300 million, ten-year contract) with the uncertainty (knowing how many teams would be bidding, knowing how Pujols will play this year, whether he’ll stay healthy, and so on). The Yankees never have to worry about that. At the end of every day, the Yankees can pay more than anybody else can, so they can let the market play out. The Cardinals were trying to avoid that. They failed.
The Yankees refuse to negotiate with their free agents, even the Jeters, even the Posadas, until it’s on their terms. The Cardinals — who have the ninth-highest payroll in baseball — can’t even get their top free agent to talk to them until he has decided he is ready, until it is on his terms. The Cardinals didn’t blow an opportunity today through mismanagement or disrespecting their superstar. They just aren’t the Yankees.
Despite this off-season in which Cliff Lee spurned the Yankees for ever-so-slightly fewer dollars and a unique opportunity to pitch in Philadelphia, the Yankees get their guy because, as Leitch said, they can spend. And that brings us to CC Sabathia. The big lefty will exercise his opt-out to one degree or another this year because it makes financial sense for him to do so. That doesn’t mean he wants to leave the Yankees.
Rather, he wants to use his leverage to get more security on the back end. If the Yankees were willing to go all in for Cliff Lee, they’ll certainly do that for the younger and seemingly more durable Sabathia. The Yankees, with their dollars, will keep their man.
In another world, perhaps, Pujols would be a free agent, and the Yanks would have a spot for him. But that other world exists only in the pages of The Onion. Albert isn’t coming here, Mark Teixeira isn’t going anywhere and neither, ultimately, will CC.
Gary Sanchez underwent heart tests
Posted by: | CommentsVia George King & Marc Carig, 18-year-old prospect Gary Sanchez recently missed a week of minor league workouts to undergo medical tests on his heart. Nothing serious was discovered, though Brian Cashman wouldn’t say anything beyond acknowledging that Sanchez is fine now. I’m glad he’s okay, but anytime you need to get some test performed on the ol’ ticker, it’s scary. No idea if he’s back in camp yet or if he will be at some point.
(Is it insensitive to plug the Top 30 here? Sanchez did come in at number three after all.)
Open Thread: February 16th Camp Notes
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(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Here’s today’s news…
- Phil Hughes, Manny Banuelos, and Ivan Nova got some early morning bullpen sessions in under the watchful eye of Larry Rothschild. Hughes threw 20 pitches, rested, then threw another 20, mixing in fastballs, cutters, curveballs, and changeups. He’s been working out at the minor league complex for a while and is ahead of the other starters. (Erik Boland & Chad Jennings)
- Russell Martin went through Tony Pena’s catching boot camp with no restrictions. Last week we heard that Martin still wasn’t 100% after offseason knee surgery, but he seems healthy enough now. (Boland)
- Andruw Jones is now in camp, but Joe Girardi sees him playing the corners and not centerfield. They shouldn’t need him to in anything other than emergency with Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner on the roster. (Marc Carig)
- Mariano Rivera and Hector Noesi still aren’t in camp. The former has a sick kid, the latter a visa issue. Brian Cashman said Mo will be there soon, “maybe tomorrow.” (Mark Feinsand & Carig)
Here’s the open thread for the evening. The Devils, Knicks, and Nets are all in action, but you guys know what to do here. Have at it.
Gardner’s wrist ready for the season
Posted by: | CommentsThere was a bit of concern about Brett Gardner this winter after he underwent wrist surgery. It wasn’t anything major, but rather a procedure to clean out tendon sheaths that had hampered him in the second half of 2010. As ESPN New York’s Wallace Matthews reports, everything is fine and good on Gardner’s end. He’s completely on schedule, and actually held back a little so that he could avoid any setbacks. Says Gardner: “I’ll be ready for Opening Day. No doubt about it.”
Neal’s been Cott
Posted by: | CommentsVia Marc Carig, the Yankees have cut lefty reliever Neal Cotts. He just wasn’t healthy enough after having Tommy John and hip surgeries in the last two years. The Yanks signed him to a minor league deal back in November, before they inked Andy Sisco and Pedro Feliciano and selected Robert Fish in the Rule 5 Draft. No big loss, obviously.
(Am I on a roll with the cheesy headlines or what?)
Yankees land F. Hernandez
Posted by: | CommentsOh, did you think I meant Felix? Nah, it’s just some guy named Fernando Hernandez. The Yankees inked him to a minor league contract according to Matt Eddy, and I assume he’ll report for duty at either the Double or Triple-A level when the season begins.
Hernandez is not much of a prospect, last appearing in Baseball America’s annual handbook back before the 2008 season. Oakland grabbed him from the White Sox in the Rule 5 Draft that year (ranked 29th in their system), and he made three whole appearances in the show before banished to the minors, from which he’s never returned. Hernandez pitched to a 4.11 FIP (7.56 K/9, 2.91 uIBB/9) in 77.1 IP with the Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate last summer, though in 2009 he was quite good: 2.81 FIP with 9.05 K/9, 3.23 uIBB/9, and 0.26 HR/9 in 69.2 IP. Baseball America compared him to Matt Guerrier back in 2008 because he’s a command and control reliever rather than a huge stuff guy.
Food For Thought: Cervelli & Posada
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There’s no better PitchFX analyst than Mike Fast, and today he used to the data to look not at pitchers, but catchers. The graph above shows Javy Vazquez‘s called balls and strikes from last season when Frankie Cervelli was catching. It’s not terribly exciting by itself, but it is when you compare it to this graph that shows the same thing with Jorge Posada behind the plate (here’s a gif for easy comparison). Yeah, big difference. Jorge’s pitch-framing abilities have long been in question, but now we’ve got some hard evidence showing just how questionable they were.
Of course, we are looking at a small sample size of data, let’s keep that in mind. Cervelli caught 110.2 of Javy’s innings last year, Posada just 44.2. And we also have to remember that umpires tend to make mistakes, especially when they’re looking over the catcher’s shoulder and the ball is on the corner of the other side of the plate. I’m not making excuses for Jorge, because he’s bad at pretty much everything behind the plate these days, just making sure you’re aware of what’s going on. Anyway, Posada’s not going to do much catching this season, so it’s no longer a concern.
My favorite graph from the post was this one, showing pitch location (horizontally) by age. The older the pitcher, the further away from the middle of the plate they pitch (denoted as 0). If only they knew then what they knew now, eh?
The article does not appear to require a Baseball Prospectus subscription, so now you really have no reason to check it out. Great stuff from Mike.
Joba’s fat: does it matter?
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People are paying just a little attention to Joba
Even after the Yankees put an end to the starter/reliever debate, Joba Chamerlain remains the most talked about player on the team. After the team signed Rafael Soriano the discussion centered not on what Soriano brings to the pen — we all knew that — but on what the signing meant for Joba. But that paled in comparison to the attention he has received since reporting to spring training.
It started last week, when Brian Costello of the New York Post, standing at a distance, observed that Chamberlain put on weight. An up-close look confirmed it, but there was an admission that it might not all have been lard. Chamberlain explained that he added a gym to his home that he used to work out all winter. That sounds good, and it speaks to a certain level of commitment to fitness. But the gut we can see, and therefore it is on the gut we will judge.
In his blog this morning, Joel Sherman discusses the loss of faith in Chamberlain, even as his results improved markedly in the second half of 2010. Of course, he opens with an observation about Joba’s weight. He’s above the level where the Yankees would like him, and apparently they don’t buy the added muscle bit. They apparently see a “wider girth.” Brian Cashman added fuel to the fire by repeating the term, “he’s heavier” this morning, without mentioning anything about how it affects the organization’s view of their once top prospect.
Yet I wonder how much Joba’s weight actually matters. Every year we hear about this player or that showing up to camp in the best shape of his life. Does it really mean anything? Last month at FanGraphs Dave Cameron examined the “good shapers,” i.e., players who showed up to camp last year professing their fitness. A few of them did beat expectations, but many others fell right in line or below. As Cameron concludes, “there doesn’t appear to be strong evidence that it is a significant predictor of a strong season on the way.” Why, then, is anyone worrying about Joba?
If Chamberlain is throwing well, how concerned can the Yankees be about his weight? Sherman addressed this point in his blog post this morning: “the early word out of camp is that Chamberlain is throwing the heck out of the ball…word is that the ball is coming out of his hand easy and hard, and if he can do that consistently than [sic] he could probably waddle around for all the Yankees care.” Chamberlain himself addressed the issue, saying he feels “awesome,” and that he’s in better shape than he was last year.
In the early days of spring, we’re all looking for something we can cling to.* With the Yankees, it seems to rotate by the day. On Monday it was CC’s out clause. Yesterday it was A.J. Burnett and his importance to the team. Today it is apparently Joba and his weight. They’re baseball related, and therefore we pay attention. But I’m not sure that this story in particular means much in terms of the 2011 season. All that matters is how Joba performs. One hundred percent of Yankees fans would prefer a fat Chamberlain throwing gas than a svelte Chamberlain serving up gopher balls. The temptation might be to focus on his weight right now, but in a little more than a month it won’t matter one bit.
*Fat joke resisted.
2011 Draft: Opening Thoughts
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Gerrit Cole ain't falling to the Yankees this year. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Now that Spring Training is underway, we can shift our attention from Prospect Profiles to the draft. Instead of jumping right into players and stuff like that, I first want to muse a bit about the draft in general because (I think) this stuff is important.
The Value of Picks
Marc Carig recently spoke to an AL exec who dubbed draft picks “a different currency,” referring to the way they turn into prospects which can help level clubs above and beyond the financial playing field. “Those (big market) teams are smarting up and they’re out-muscling teams in the draft, and internationally,” said the exec. “And it’s those drafted players that they haven’t spent much money on that they’re now turning into Adrian Gonzalez, or turned into Victor Martinez.”
That’s obviously true for the Yankees, who boast a top shelf farm system and will undoubtedly use a few of their prospects to trade for a pitcher at some point. If you don’t have those players to give up, you’re not getting anyone in a trade. Not anyone good, anyway. I didn’t like the Rafael Soriano because of the contract, though surrendering that first round pick (to a division rival!) in a loaded draft is another mark in the cons column. Something that could impact the team long after the right-hander’s tenure in pinstripes is over.
Draft picks are an asset just like money and prospects, they’re expendable at the right price, but their value should not be underestimated.
The Rays
Fourth round pick + above slot bonus ($500,000) = number one starter. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Tampa Bay holds a dozen of the first 100 picks this summer (really a dozen of the first 89), which is the most in draft history. GM Andrew Friedman recently called this year’s draft “among the most important days in the history of this franchise [because] we have a chance in this year’s draft to impact our future in a way that’s unprecedented,” so you know they’re looking forward to it. The Rays are the gold standard when it comes to scouting and player development, so the combination of a high quality draft class and the sheer number of picks can legitimately make this a historic haul for the team.
And don’t fool yourself into thinking the Rays will cheap out. They’ve spent over $21M on the last three drafts, the seventh most in the game, and the only reason it’s not more is because they didn’t sign their first or second round picks in 2009, a rare mishap for them. I’m sure they’ll squeeze in a few college seniors to save some cash, but they’re going to be quality players with the potential to help the team.
Exceeding Slot
Going over MLB’s slot recommendation to sign players isn’t something only the cool kids do anymore. Only three teams still strictly adhere to slot, and two of them (Astros and White Sox) were said to have two of the fourth weakest farm systems in baseball by Baseball America. The third team, the Mets, is under a new regime that has indicated a willingness to pay for premium talent. Whether or not that happens because of the Madoff stuff remains to be seen, but that’s not our concern.
The point is that it’s not just the Yankees and Red Sox going over slot now. Small market teams now recognize that it’s far better to spend $6M on like, six or eight draft picks that one year of 37-year-old Jeromy Burnitz (coughPiratescough). The idea of landing a top ten or a top 15 talent later in the draft because of signability is still valid, just not as much as it was two or three or four years ago.
The New CBA
Everyone’s going to focus on the NFL’s labor talks now, but baseball’s Collective Bargaining Agreement expires this December. There has already been a ton of talk about changes to the draft, including everything from trading picks to hard slotting to a worldwide draft to overhauling/eliminating the free agent compensation system and everything in between. Therein lies the problem: the uncertainty.
We have no idea what changes are in store for the draft, if any, which is why I suspect that teams will go bonkers to sign as many players as possible. It might be the last time they can spend as they please on amateurs. There’s also added incentive for the players as well, since this might be their last chance to negotiate with a club rather than get stuck adhering to a set number.
A lot can and will change between now and the draft, which will take place from June 6-8th this summer. If it starts to become clear that the draft will be changed drastically in the next CBA, I expect it to turn into a feeding frenzy for top talent. The Yankees really aren’t in a position to take advantage of that though, their division rivals will pick a total of 14 times before their first selection (51st overall) rolls around.
Looking at A.J. Burnett’s whiff rates by pitch
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(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
During yesterday’s podcast, Joe and I talked very briefly about A.J. Burnett and the swing-at and swing-and-miss rates of his various pitches over the last few years, but I think it’s something worth looking at a little more. After all, his ability to rebound from a subpar 2010 campaign is unquestionably one of the biggest stories of the upcoming season.
Burnett is primarily a two-pitch pitcher, throwing mostly fastballs and curveballs, though he’ll occasionally break out a change from time to time. You’ve got to have pretty good stuff to survive ten-plus seasons in the big leagues with two pitches, which A.J. certainly does. Whether or not that stuff is declining due to age or his Low Pitching IQ™ is another matter all together. I looked at the last three years worth of data, so it’s his last season in Toronto and first two seasons in New York. Let’s start with the ol’ number one…
Fastball
Burnett actually throws kinds of fastballs, but the PitchFX system has trouble distinguishing between his two- and four-seamers. I’ve lumped them all together in one uber-fastball category, which isn’t completely accurate but works well enough for our purposes. He’s consistently thrown the heat two out of every three pitches over the last three years, though he was a bit over that last year, seven out of every ten pitches.
Hitters have swung at Burnett’s fastball(s) about 45% of the team over the last three seasons, pretty consistently as well. A percentage point one way or the other is nothing. His whiff rates have varied wildly though, falling close to three-and-a-half percentage points from 2008 to 2009 before climbed back up a percent-and-a-half last year. It’s worth noting that A.J.’s velocity is gradually declining, which isn’t terribly surprising as he enters his mid-30′s. Still though, he averaged 93.1 mph with the heat last year (down from 94.2 in 2009 and 94.4 in 2008), plenty enough to survive in the big leagues.
Curveball
The hook has been Burnett’s bread-and-butter over the last few years, a pitch that has checked in at 38.9 runs above average since 2007. Only three pitchers own a better yakker during that time: Adam Wainwright, Wandy Rodriguez, and Roy Halladay. Hitters still swung and missed at the pitch with great frequency in 2010, though the whiff rate was down almost three percent from the year before. Overall, Burnett threw the pitch less often, but hitters swung at it more often and made more contact.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that A.J. uses the pitch primarily when ahead in the count, especially with two strikes. If a batter was down 0-2 or 1-2, there was a ~60% chance that they were getting the hook. The lack of whiffs (relatively speaking, of course) helps explain why Burnett had trouble putting batters away at times in 2010, something that really shouldn’t happen with stuff that good.
Changeup
It’s not often that Burnett breaks out his changeup, but we’ve definitely seem him do it on occasional. He’s thrown basically two or three or four changeups per start over the last three years, so the whiff data isn’t terribly reliable. It’s just a really small sample size. If he throws three per start, gets the batters to swing at it about 39% of the time, and the batters miss about 7% of the time, that means he’s getting one swing-and-miss on a changeup for every like, ten starts. The pitch just isn’t a core piece of his repertoire, and he’s tried to incorporate it more over the last few years, but at this point it’s safe to say it’ll never be a go-to pitch for A.J.
* * *
So What Does It Mean?
Damned if I know. I just thought it was interesting that Burnett’s whiff rates for the fastball have fluctuated so much in the last three years, and it’s also noteworthy that his curveball induced about three percent fewer swings-and-misses last year. Really, I surprise the surprising thing is that his whiff rates didn’t completely tank. I was expecting them to be cut in half or something on the heater and curve, but nope.
Obviously Burnett’s strikeout rate fell off a cliff last year, and at least we know the curveball was a prime suspect. A.J. still gets a healthy does of swings-and-misses, though I suppose his location could have been so bad that when hitters did make contact, they were simply crushing the ball. I’m going to go out on a limb and say … that’s something he and Larry Rothschild should work on.
Just 23 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.
