Fan Confidence Poll: September 2nd, 2013

September 2, 2013 by Mike Axisa 21 Comments

Record Last Week: 3-3 (24 RS, 25 RA)
Season Record: 72-64 (542 RS, 547 RA, 67-69 pythag. record), 9.0 GB ALE/3.5 GB WC
Opponents This Week: vs. White Sox (three games, Mon. to Weds.), vs. Red Sox (four games, Thurs. to Sun.)

Top stories from last week:

The week opened with three games in Toronto, and the Blue Jays took the series opener after pounding Phil Hughes. Alfonso Soriano‘s two-homer game gave the Yankees a win the next day, but Hiroki Kuroda got knocked around in Wednesday’s loss.
The Orioles came to town for a three-game weekend set following Thursday’s off-day. The offense picked up CC Sabathia in the opening win before Ivan Nova threw his first career shutout on Sunday. The bullpen blew up and the Yankees were unable to complete the sweep yesterday.
Injury News: Derek Jeter (calf) was activated off the DL at the beginning of the week. Robinson Cano (hand) and Eduardo Nunez (knee) were day-to-day with minor injuries and have since returned to the lineup. David Phelps (forearm) has yet to pick up a ball while Michael Pineda (shoulder) is throwing but not close to returning. Both Travis Hafner (shoulder) and Zoilo Almonte (ankle) have started hitting off a tee.
The first wave of September call-ups included David Adams, Dellin Betances, Cesar Cabral, Brett Marshall, and J.R. Murphy. Preston Claiborne was sent down for Jeter and will rejoin the team today. Jayson Nix was transferred to the 60-day DL and Melky Mesa, who has a significant hamstring injury, was released to clear 40-man roster spots. Dan Johnson was granted his release from Triple-A Scranton.
Mason Williams, Tyler Austin, and Peter O’Brien will heading the Yankees crop of prospects in the Arizona Fall League.
It is a “foregone conclusion” the Joe Girardi will sign a new contract with the team after the season.
The preliminary stages of Alex Rodriguez‘s appeal will begin this week.

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 interactive Fan Confidence Graph anytime via the nav bar above, or by clicking here. Thanks in advance for voting.

Robinson Tilapia

7. SSDD. Happy Labor Day. Don’t forget the “labor” part of it.
Eddard

I’m dropping again from a 9.65 to a 9.35 because I don’t think they have a good bridge to Drob and Mo. Kelley has not looked good lately, we know Logan is shaky and Joba is a joke. But Girardi will keep going to these guys because they’re the 6th and 7th inning guys.

I know people will say, well they’re still only 4 back and they can just sweep the Rays in NY. They couldn’t even sweep a Baltimore team with mediocre pitching, how are they going to sweep a Rays team with elite pitching? And NYY only have 2 pitchers pitching well for them now. After Phil Hughes loses today it might be all she wrote on the 2013 Yankees.
- ropeadope
  
  Just to clarify, on the poll you complete and submit, do you actually see those fractional numbers between the whole numbers?
  - Robinson Tilapia
    
    I believe it’s just LOlKittens, big numbers, and circus music.
    - jjyank
      
      Hah. Nice.
      
      And probably true.
CS Yankee

These polls seem to have a real low average after a tough loss like yesterday.

i still don’t get all the 1-4 scores, the question has to do with overall health and ability. The farm is still above average, the MLB is overaged but quite talented.

I scored a 6, still believe they can pull a WC but the division is out-of-reach realistically. The biggest bummer is that they are sub-500 against each East team within the playoff picture. The bats are much better than the horrid July roster and that is what might make the difference, along with four SP. Nova and Andy are there, CC ( to me at least) isn’t missing by much, and hopefully Kuroda regains his form. I would go Huff/Mitchell/Warren/whatever every fifth day and put Hughes and Joba in the back peeling potatoes for the garlic fries ( everyone needs to add value).

However, with that all said…I’m hoping Hughes brings me a gem of a game for my birthday. Wife asked what I wanted, and a win today is about all I could ask for.
- Robinson Tilapia
  
  I think different people go about this differently. There’s a ton of volatility with some. I’ve basically kept to the same range, for practically the same reasons, all season long.
- Now Batting
  
  It all depends on how me weight you put in the near term (rest of season, this offseason) and the long term (2-3 years down the line). For me my vote is 90% based on the near term.
- Hardy
  
  Well, I don’t get the higher votes.
  
  – The Yankees currently have a chance of 3.2% to reach the ALDS.
  – The Yankees have four players on huge contracts for the next year(s) – Jeter, A-Rod, Teixeira and Sabathia. All have been hurt or bad this season.
  – The Yankees have three good players under team control – D-Rob, Gardner and Nova. But they are neither great nor really cheap.
  – The Yankees do not have any top 20 prospects.
  – The Yankees do not have a lot of prospects close to the majors.
  
  To me, the Yankees look poised for a run of .500 years.
  - Cool Lester Smooth
    
    Look at Jeter’s contract again.
    
    D-Rob is great.
    
    Sanchez should be top 50.
    
    JR Murphy and Betances just got called up, and Slade should start next season in AAA.
    - Hardy
      
      D-Rob is a great reliever, ok. But he is still just a 2 WAR player.
      
      Jeter’s contract for 2014 has a 15.5m luxury tax hit. That’s a lot for a player who has hit for a 38 wRC+ in 51 PA in 2013.
      - Cool Lester Smooth
        
        You are incorrect.
        
        Jeter’s luxury tax hit will be $9.5 million next year unless he wins the LCS or WS MVP.
        
        Hardy
        
        I’m correct, see Article XXIII, E, (5), (ii) of the current CBA:
        
        “A “Player Option Year” shall mean a championship season covered by a Uniform Player’s Contract: (A) in which the amount payable pursuant to paragraph 2 of the Contract becomes due or guaranteed at the election of the Player; or (B) that can be nullified by a Player for a reason other than those set forth in paragraph 7 of the Contract. A Player Option Year shall be considered a “Guaranteed Year” if, pursuant to the Player’s right to elect or subject to his right to nullify, the terms of that year are guaran-
        teed within the definition in Section A(8); provided, however, that a Player Option Year shall not be considered a Guaranteed Year if the payment the Player is to receive if he declines to exercise his option or nullifies the championship season is more than 50% of the Base Salary payable for that championship season.”
        
        Base salary for 2014 is 8m, buyout 3m.
Robert

A 6 any team that gives up on a young player Mesa while keeping Youkalis and Hafner on there roster well I am at a loss for words.
- trr
  
  +1
- Robinson Tilapia
  
  Can’t wait to see you complain in the off-season when the team signs a Mesa/Neal type for AAA depth.
- jjyank
  
  Mesa leaves you at a loss for words? Dude is getting too old to be a prospect, isn’t all that good, is injured, and going to be a minor league FA after the season.
  
  Hell, the Yankees could even re-sign him. Remember when the Yankees DFA’d David Adams? Yeah. Chill out dude.
JGYank

We should have a bullpen confidence poll after last night’s game specifically about Joba and Kelley. I think that would be more interesting.
JohnnyC

What’s really disturbing is not just letting Joba pitch in such a high leverage situation, it’s the fact that Rothschild/Girardi have no control over Joba’s pitch selection in a critical AB. He threw 3 straight hanging sliders to Jones. Stewart did say he called for a FB on the 3rd and fatal pitch but Joba shook him off. But where is your pitching coach in all of this? Was he o.k. with throwing 3 straight sliders to a hitter with a slider speed bat? That was the game right there and neither the PC or the manager had any idea what their pitcher was throwing to one of the best hitters on the opposing team.
Get Phelps Up

I wonder what the results of this poll would be if a) the Yanks won yesterday or b) it was posted yesterday morning.
- Cool Lester Smooth
  
  Or if it was posted tomorrow morning.
  
  (knock on wood)