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The RAB Radio Show: August 31st, 2012
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Last week on the podcast Mike and I hoped the Yankees could take five of six from Cleveland and Toronto. They fell two short of that, all the more frustrating because all six were within reach. Now they gear up for the most important 10-game stretch of the season. We’re talking about last week, the September call-ups and healing players, plus really talking about the importance of this weekend’s series.
Podcast run time 38:12
Here’s how you can listen to podcast:
- Download the RAB Radio Show by right clicking on that link and choosing Save As.
- Listen in your browser by left clicking the above link or using the embedded player below.
- Subscribe in iTunes. If you want to rate us that would be great. If you leave a nice review I’ll buy you a beer at a meet-up.
- Subscribe to the RAB Radio Show RSS feed
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Intro music: “Die Hard” courtesy of reader Alex Kresovich. Thanks to Tyler Wilkinson for the graphic.
The RAB Radio Show: August 24th, 2012
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The Yanks hit a rough patch in Chicago this week. Not good for the standings, but good for podcast fodder.
- Mike and I review the frustrations of the Chicago series, with a bit on Phil Hughes‘s good start and changes he’s made.
- Then we move onto the Nova injury. Of course it’s bad when pitchers get injured, but for the Yanks it brings some extra complications. We run down the scenarios and mention a few possible, but long shot, solutions.
- And we’re looking forward to the next week, when the Yankees play two bottom-feeding teams at a time when they could use a few wins.
Podcast run time 45:00
Here’s how you can listen to podcast:
- Download the RAB Radio Show by right clicking on that link and choosing Save As.
- Listen in your browser by left clicking the above link or using the embedded player below.
- Subscribe in iTunes. If you want to rate us that would be great. If you leave a nice review I’ll buy you a beer at a meet-up.
- Subscribe to the RAB Radio Show RSS feed
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Intro music: “Die Hard” courtesy of reader Alex Kresovich. Thanks to Tyler Wilkinson for the graphic.
Jeter, Chavez, Swisher leading offensive surge
Posted by: | CommentsWhen Derek Jeter took Fransisco Liriano’s first pitch over the wall in left field, it was not only his fourth leadoff homer of the year, but also his fourth home run since the All-Star break. That’s no small accomplishment, considering the 162 PA sample. In fact, Jeter’s second half as a whole had led the way for the Yankees offense.
Even though they’ve slowed the pace a bit since coming back from the break, going 20-18 against a 52-33 first-half record, little blame lies with the offense. They’ve improved a bit in terms of sheer numbers, a 120 sOPS+ vs. a 118 sOPS+ in the first half, and they’ve scored a few more runs, too: 5.16 vs. 4.85 per game. Much of that production comes from Jeter.
His .366 batting average leads the team by almost 50 points; the next closest is Alex Rodriguez, who got just 50 PA before Felix Hernandez hit him in the hand. He’s five OBP points behind Nick Swisher and 54 SLG points behind Eric Chavez, both of whom lead the team in those categories. But at 162 PA he has nearly double the number of Chavez, and has 33 more than Swisher (while having better numbers overall).
That isn’t to knock on either Chavez or Swisher. They’ve worked alongside Jeter to create a significant portion of the second half offense. Swisher in particular has been an enormous help. He got off to an awfully slow start, hitting .262/.336/.477 in the first half. Since the four-day vacation he’s hit .294/.403/.495, good for the third-highest OPS on the team. That turn around, and his placement behind Jeter in the order, has given the middle of the order plenty of opportunities to score runs.
Chavez has done his part to drive in those runners, producing a .949 second-half OPS, including six homers, after producing a totally respectable .839 OPS in the first half. The wrinkle is that he’s started only 21 games, so his impact has been limited. Despite those six homers and generally torrid production, along with his ascension in the batting order, he has driven in just 13 runs in the second half. For comparison, that’s as many runs as Ichiro has driven in for the Yankees during that very same span.
(While it’s not remarkable compared to expectations, Mark Teixeira has hit .282/.348/.530 in the second half. He’s not back to where the Yankees need him to be, but it does seem that he’s been rounding into form even with the wrist issue. Since his breather weekend against the Reds he’s hitting .277/.366/.546.)
If Robinson Cano weren’t mired in such a slump perhaps the Yankees would have scored even more runs in the past few weeks. He’s at just .285/.355/.438 since the break — not bad, but his recent 5 for 32 stretch, with no extra base hits, has hurt a bit. (Or has it? The Yankees are 6-4 in that span.) With Jeter and Swisher getting on base frequently, a streaking Cano can make a huge difference. With those top four hitting, and with Chavez often hitting fifth, that’s a pretty potent top of the order.
As it did at points in the first half, it seems the Yankees are playing well but having trouble firing on all cylinders. Once they get that going, the offense should continue rolling along. Now, if they can only find some consistence in the pitching.
The RAB Radio Show: August 17th, 2012
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There’s always less to talk about when the Yankees are winning. They took five of seven games last week, and seven of their last 10, so they’re running strong. Here the lowdown:
- A quick review of the last week’s games.
- Pitching, pitching, pitching: Sabathia’s injury, Lowe signing, Phelps rising, Hughes and Nova concerning.
- The week ahead: Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, and the off-day.
Podcast run time 31:32
Here’s how you can listen to podcast:
- Download the RAB Radio Show by right clicking on that link and choosing Save As.
- Listen in your browser by left clicking the above link or using the embedded player below.
- Subscribe in iTunes. If you want to rate us that would be great. If you leave a nice review I’ll buy you a beer at a meet-up.
- Subscribe to the RAB Radio Show RSS feed
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Intro music: “Die Hard” courtesy of reader Alex Kresovich. Thanks to Tyler Wilkinson for the graphic.
The RAB Radio Show: August 10th, 2012
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Sorry for missing last week. Sometimes you just forget to hit the record button. But we’re back in full force this week.
- As always we start with the weekly review. Considering the one-run losses, plus losing games to Verlander and Felix, it’s not nearly as bad as it looks.
- Eric Chavez has been a monster in the past two or so weeks. Not only that, but the right-handed side of the platoon has held up its end of the bargain. Alex who?
- Mike and I have a lengthy discussion about the differences between the Mariners and the Yankees training programs for young players, as inspired by Josh Norris’s Trentonian article.
- The new playoff system gets dissected.
- Pedro Felciano pitched in a game this morning. Could he play a role down the stretch?
Podcast run time 54:44
Here’s how you can listen to podcast:
- Download the RAB Radio Show by right clicking on that link and choosing Save As.
- Listen in your browser by left clicking the above link or using the embedded player below.
- Subscribe in iTunes. If you want to rate us that would be great. If you leave a nice review I’ll buy you a beer at a meet-up.
- Subscribe to the RAB Radio Show RSS feed
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Intro music: “Die Hard” courtesy of reader Alex Kresovich. Thanks to Tyler Wilkinson for the graphic.
Perhaps the greatest John Sterling call in history
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re wondering why I frequently complain about John Sterling’s game calling, this is perhaps the most illustrative example I’ve ever encountered. Please excuse the presence of Craig Carton.
Carton ends by saying that the Yankees should employ Sterling and Waldman for life, because they bring something to the game that other broadcast teams cannot. Call me a stick in the mud if you will, but when I’m stuck with a radio broadcast I’d appreciate an accurate description of the game.
By the way, this is a shot of McGehee’s hit. Just for reference.
MLB releases 2012 playoff schedule
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We already knew that the 2012 playoff schedule wasn’t going to be pretty. MLB took its sweet time to decide on a new playoff format, and then decided to institute it this year instead of next. Worse, they made the decision after the TV networks had set their schedules, so they had to work around those limitations. The most significant consequence: the lower-seeded team gets to start at home in a 2-3 style LDS. It’s hard to call it home field advantage if you’re going home down 0-2.
Given the pre-existing TV schedule, and given the need to account for possible tiebreaker games, we’re left with an odd setup for the first round. Here’s a quick rundown of how it will unfold.
October 3: Last games of regular season.
October 4: Potential tie breaking games. (More on tie breakers later.)
October 5: Wild Card Games.
October 6: LDS begin. This will be the No. 2 seed vs. the No. 3 seed in both leagues.
October 7: LDS Game 1 for the No. 1 seed and the Wild Card Game Winner.
October 11: Potential Game 5 for No. 2 vs. No. 3 series.
October 12: Potential Game 5 for No. 1 vs. No. 4 series.
October 13: ALCS Game 1.
Here’s how it could go for the No. 1 seed. They play a game on October 3, and then get three days off. That’s good, as they can rest and line up their rotations. That’s bad, though, because any player will tell you that they don’t like all that time off. They want to play games.
The 2-3 format is to blame for this. If the idea is to handicap the Wild Card — and that’s pretty clearly the intention with this format — there should be no day off for them between the play-in game and Game 1 of the LDS. The No. 1 seed should get to sit at home and await the winner in a 2-2-1 format. That way the No. 1 seed takes only two days off and gets, ideally, the opponent’s No. 2 or No. 3 pitcher. (Though I suppose the Wild Card winner could throw their No. 1, depending on how the regular season unfolds.)
And then, because of the TV schedule, the No. 1 seed could go directly from a Game 5 of the LDS to Game 1 of the LCS. They’ll stay at home, so that’s something of an advantage. But it’d probably be nice to get a single day off between series. But hey, if they’d rather play every day then maybe it’s not such a big deal.
It might be that the No. 3 seed has the best position here, at least in the early goings. They get to jump into the LDS after just two days off, and they start at home. Win the first two at home and then you need to win just one in a three-game series on the road. And they still have a chance at home field in the LCS, if the Wild Card beats the No. 1 seed.
Tiebreakers. Here’s the deal with tiebreakers. In previous years if two teams tied for the division, but both would make the playoffs given the Wild Card, there would be no tie breaking game. They’d use head-to-head and other tie breaking factors to determine who wins the division and who gets the Wild Card. This year, given the importance of winning the division, there is a tie-breaking game at stake when teams tie for the division lead, even if both teams would be in the postseason otherwise. Head-to-head record will determine who gets home field for this game.
And, of course, there will be tie-breaking games for teams tied for Wild Card spots if more than two teams qualify. That is, there clearly won’t be a tiebreaker if two teams tie for the Wild Card spot. They’ll just use the tie-breaking formula and those two teams will have the normal play-in game. But if two teams are tied for the second Wild Card, they have to duke it out, with the winner going on to play the first Wild Card the next day. Four teams tied for Wild Card spotswill ensure mayhem.
In future years these kinks won’t exist. TV networks will base their coverage around the current playoff format. But this year the No. 1 seed has plenty going against it. Call me old fashioned, but I don’t think that’s any way to reward the team that won the 162-game marathon. But this is the hand MLB forced this year.
This is only one way of interpreting the format. I’m interested to see others add their thoughts as to how MLB laid it out this year.
Imagine: These Yankees at the original Yankee Stadium
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Via Scott Pitoniak
Last weekend I had the privilege of attending the Yanks-Sox game with a couple of first-timers. Not only had they never been to the current Yankee Stadium, but they’d never been to any Yankee Stadium. They were quite curious about the various aspects of the new park, and how it all looked at the old park. It made me nostalgic for the Stadium across the street, of course. That’s the park I grew up with. But it also got me thinking about the old Yankee Stadium.
It’s hard to imagine any park looking quite like the one in which the Yankees played before the 1970s renovations. The dimensions were, by the modern standard, incomprehensible. Imagine you’re Alex Rodriguez and you hit one right on the sweet spot. It soars out to left-center and lands 390 feet from the plate — but is in the field of play.
(Or, better yet, imagine his 500th home run. That also would have been in the field of play, thanks to a 461-foot fence in center.)
True, the Yankees typically pound their homers to right. Back in the day the Stadium still had that short porch — it was actually a little shorter down the line, though it was a bit deeper in right-center — so it would have still played to the Yankees’ primary strength. But it’s hard to imagine the Yankees hitting many of their homers anywhere near right field.
Of course, there were righties who hit for power at Yankee Stadium. Joe DiMaggio led the league in home runs in 1937 while playing more than half of his game at Yankee Stadium. He hit 27 of his 46 homers on the road, sure, but that’s still 19 at home. He also produced a near .300 ISO at home, and an overall 1.061 OPS. Apparently that cavernous right field didn’t hold him back a bit.
(I haven’t seen the stat anywhere, and I’m sure he went opposite field plenty, but I have to wonder how many of DiMaggio’s homers were inside the parkers.)
A park so oddly shaped could certainly benefit a team. We’ve already seen the Yankees amass players who can park pitches over the right field porch. Imagine a lineup that balances those players with ones that can poke the ball into that enormous right-center field gap. In-his-prime Ichiro, for example, would have been great for that kind of gap hitting.
Modern field technology would make such a park even more attractive. While I wouldn’t want to remove the monuments from center field, there wouldn’t be any career-changing sprinklers in the outfield. Basically we’d have the old-time layout with modern technology. I’d be game for that.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be room in today’s game for a park as oddly shaped as the old Yankee Stadium. Which is a shame. Sure, it might be difficult to lure pull-heavy right handed power hitters, but it’s not as though the Yankees attract, or even seek, many of them anyway. (A-Rod, for example, had superb opposite-field power). I’d love to see modern teams play in a Stadium like that.
The RAB Radio Show: July 27, 2012
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It’s tough to get excited for a podcast after a 2-5 road trip, but it wasn’t all bad for the Yanks. But you know what? They came out with an even run differential, thanks to losing four games by a total of four runs.
Here’s the rundown:
- A quick review of the west coast trip
- That transitions into a Boston preview, which can get pretty in-depth given their injuries and general poor play.
- Trade deadline is upon us, and the Yanks made a move already, acquiring Ichiro.
- They’re not done, though. The Yanks could use a third baseman and a pitcher. Mike and I talk about the possibilities.
- We close with some talk of Phil Hughes, his evolution, and where he stands right now.
Podcast run time 1:05:35
Here’s how you can listen to podcast:
- Download the RAB Radio Show by right clicking on that link and choosing Save As.
- Listen in your browser by left clicking the above link or using the embedded player below.
- Subscribe in iTunes. If you want to rate us that would be great. If you leave a nice review I’ll buy you a beer at a meet-up.
- Subscribe to the RAB Radio Show RSS feed
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Intro music: “Die Hard” courtesy of reader Alex Kresovich. Thanks to Tyler Wilkinson for the graphic.
Scouting the Trade Market: Stephen Drew
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(Ralph Freso/Getty Images)
They’re going with Ramiro Pena for at least today, but given the current situation we can expect the Yankees to explore the market for a third baseman. Even at the near end of the six-to-eight week projected recovery period, Alex Rodriguez would be ready for a minor league rehab assignment on September 5th. If it takes any longer he could miss the chance at a rehab window, making his return even tougher.
The Yankees do have options at third base, as Mike wrote this morning. In the Outside Help section he mentioned a few interesting names. We’ve already covered Marco Scutaro, and he’s easily an option. But another name really stood out to me: Stephen Drew. Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick spoke ill of Drew recently, so perhaps he’ll be on the move before July 31st.
The Pros
- Drew has been an average hitter throughout his major league career, producing a 97 OPS+ through 3,156 PA. That’s the exact sOPS+ of AL third basemen this year.
- He’s a free agent after this year, so there’s no long-term worry of what to do with him once A-Rod returns.
- While the Diamondbacks might not want to concede a playoff spot, they’ve been playing mediocre ball this year and might want to get anything they can for Drew.
- The Yankees could use a left-handed bat, since playing Eric Chavez against every righty is risky.
The Cons
- Drew is coming off a pretty bad ankle injury and has a .556 OPS in 17 games since returning. He didn’t exactly hit well in his rehab assignment, either (power numbers in the PCL don’t really count).
- While a merely average bat can be valuable, it’s tough to justify trading anyone of importance for said average bat. Especially when that average bat will be gone after the season.
- The Diamondbacks could be less willing to deal him now that they have dealt Ryan Roberts, says Jack Magruder of FoxSportsArizona.com.
- Despite Drew’s overall averageness, his poor production this year, and his recent injury, GM Kevin Towers has said that he hasn’t found a deal for Drew “that’s going to make us better.” The Yankees don’t have many, if any, expendable pieces that can help Arizona right now.
- Transitioning from SS to 3B, especially mid-season, can’t be easy.
As it turns out, the name stood out to me more because of the name value than the actual player value. Given the market conditions right now, the Yanks probably don’t have any interest in Drew. Name value just doesn’t translate.
