Via Bryan Hoch, Xavier Nady took batting practice yesterday for the first time since going down with an elbow injury last month. “It felt good,” said Nady. “I was more hesitant the first couple of swings, but I was swinging the bat good. I’ll do this for a couple days, and hopefully by Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be letting it loose out there.” Nady expects to continue his rehab next week down in Tampa. His bat will be a welcome return to a club currently sporting a bench of Angel Berroa, Ramiro Pena, Brett Gardner and Kevin Cash.
Jennings: Wang’s locker is empty
Man on the scene Chad Jennings notes that Chien-Ming Wang’s locker in the Triple-A Scranton clubhouse is empty, and he is no longer listed on the team’s upcoming pitching rotation. This could mean one of two things: a) he’s on his way back to New York (he won’t necessarily be activated right away), or b) he’s heading to High-A Tampa because the team doesn’t want him starting on the road when he makes his next scheduled start on Friday (both AAA & AA are on the road that day, so a start would have to come with High-A Tampa). My money’s on the former.
If they feel he is indeed ready to return to the rotation, the best course of action appears to be letting Wang start Friday against the Phillies on regular rest, pushing AJ Burnett and Andy Pettitte back a day. Phil Hughes would start tomorrow then be pulled from the rotation, while CC Sabathia and Joba Chamberlain remain on a five-day schedule. They could also opt to skip Joba and give Hughes another start. The possibilities are endless. The important thing is that it appears the Yanks’ incumbent ace is ready to rejoin the team.
Cashman: ‘Assume’ another AAA start for Wang
While the Yankees were busy walking off with a win against the Twins in the Bronx yesterday, their number two starter was two hours west in Scranton throwing a seven-inning complete game shutout. But as great as Wang looked, GM Brian Cashman said “everyone should assume” he’ll make another start in Triple-A.
However, the Yanks’ GM noted that Wang is not far off from returning to the big league club. The same holds true for Brian Bruney who could return this week against the Orioles. While it would be nice to have a healthy CMW in the rotation performing up to his capabilities, the most important thing is making sure he’s completely right and stretched out. Cash did mention that Wang’s velocity was down a touch, and you’d like to see him consistently in that 92-94 range before throwing him back to the AL East wolves.
Cash also provided updates on Bruney, Ian Kennedy and others, courtesy of Chad Jennings.
Ben’s Take: With Wang still working to build up arm strength at AAA, Phil Hughes will get to make his fifth start of the season for the Yanks on Wednesday against the Orioles. I know that many fans would rather see Al Aceves throw a start than sit through another Hughes outing, but I firmly believe Hughes needs this work.
Right now, he’s 22 and pitching serviceably in the Major Leagues. He’s still among the youngest starters in the game and has already shown that he can dominate AAA competition. At this point, he needs to work through his struggles and gain confidence to throw strikes at the big league level. The Yanks, competing in a four-way AL East race, can’t always afford to break in their youngsters via the trial by fire route. Not everyone, however, will be as dominant as early as Joba has been, and Phil needs the work. It’s for the good of the team’s future.
Coke ready for action tonight
Apparently, Phil Coke’s balky back had been worse than we realized. While Coke first said he was unavailable to prior to this week’s series against the Blue Jays, not until today has the Yanks’ lone remaining lefty reliever felt well enough to pitch. Coke told Marc Carig of The Star Ledger that he expects to be available out of the pen tonight. Coke says he back was so tight on Tuesday that he couldn’t stand up straight. He had a catcher yesterday though and should be ready to go if he’s called upon to face Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in a tight spot this weekend.
Yanks still facing heat over DL use
Oh, to be Jayson Stark. To have unfettered discretion to reprint anonymous quotes from league officials without any repercussions. To use those anonymous quotes as a smoke screen for personal opinions about other teams.
Today’s Jayson Stark/anonymous column concerns questionable uses of the DL by certain teams throughout the Majors. It features “disgruntled American League execs” slamming the Yankees and Red Sox for their liberal uses of the DL.
“The day before he” — meaning Chien-Ming Wang — “went on the DL,” the said disgruntled American League exec told Stark, “he said, ‘I’m healthy. I want to start tomorrow.’ And the next day, he was placed on the disabled list. It’s a little strange, don’t you think?”
In response, Stark gets Brian Cashman on the record to explain the Yanks’ thoughts on Wang. The Yanks had A-Rod’s hip doctor look at Wang, and that hip doctor determined that Wang’s hip was not up to snuff. “I don’t really care what anybody on the outside thinks,” Cashman said. “If I have a doctor who tells me a player has to do physical therapy and it could take him up to six weeks to do it, that’s not ‘convenient.’ The fact is, we need our No. 2 starter, but we need to get him right.”
Stark questions the Mets’ placing Oliver Perez on the DL with a knee issue and the Tigers’ decision to put Dontrelle Willis on the DL with psychological problems. In each case, the critique is the same: What exactly is wrong with these players that warrants a trip to the DL?
Stark ends his piece by asking some other anonymous officials if this is actually cheating. The answer appears to be a resounding not. “What the hell are the Yankees supposed to with a guy like Wang?” a GM said to Stark. “He’s 0-3 and giving up 15 [runs] a game. What are the Tigers supposed to do with Dontrelle? They know he can’t make the team, so what are you gonna do? They’ve got millions of dollars invested in the guy. So you put him on the DL, and if the commissioner’s office doesn’t like it, they can call you a no-good liar.”
Another General Manager echoed those sentiments. “I know they’re not all legit,” one GM said. “But I’ll be honest. I don’t find that to be hard-core cheating — because the player’s got to be willing to do it. If the player’s willing to go on there, it means the player knows he’s not right. Whether it’s physical, mental or mechanical, something’s wrong — and there’s no other way around the rules.”
All in all, this has been one long much ado about nothing. Chien-Ming Wang is not right. Oliver Perez is not right. Dontrelle Willis is not right. These players have to go somewhere, and they have been, at various point this season, disabled. When they are right and healthy, they will be activated. That’s the bottom line.
Alan Horne’s latest ailment
When Alan Horne left last night’s start against Portland after just three-plus innings, it looked like he was just suffering from a bout of suckiness. Instead, it turns out that a tight hammy is what delivered the knockout punch. “I threw a couple balls that were up to that last hitter and really tried to get through the next one, and just had kind of a twinge in my hamstring. It’s one that I’ve blown out before, four years ago, and it’s just something you don’t play with.” said Horne. If you read the quotes in the linked article, you’ll see that the injury doesn’t sound too serious, and there’s a decent chance Horne will make his next start. The important thing is to make sure the hammy is healthy enough that Horne doesn’t subconsiously change his mechanics to compensate, putting his surgically repaired shoulder in jeopardy.
Everybody hurts
When the Yankees faced Toronto ace Roy Halladay last night, they did so with a massively depleted lineup. Derek Jeter is battling an oblique pull; Jorge Posada and Jose Molina are both on the DL; Xavier Nady is attempting to rehab a severely strained elbow ligament; and Nick Swisher may or may not be recovering from a bruised elbow.
Halfway through the game, Hideki Matsui found himself out of the game. He had felt a cramp in his right hamstring, and the Yankees made the prudent move of protecting their DH. In came Swisher; out went Matsui. Yankee fans just sat back and shook their heads. While this team is, on average, not that old, their key pieces are mostly on the wrong side of 30, and it’s beginning to show.
Already, this year, in addition to Nady and the two catchers, the Yankees have played for an extended period of time without their All-Star third baseman, their left-handed set-up reliever, their right-handed set-up reliever, and their back-up infielder. Their other left-handed reliever — Phil Coke — is battling a sore back, and their number two starter wasn’t up to strength after suffering a freak accident last June.
For a $200 million team, it’s hard to make excuses. After all, if the Yankees are investing so much into their starters, shouldn’t they have a viable Plan B for when the starters go down? Last night, in the comments to Joe’s game recap, a few of us got into a discussion about the Yankees bench. Some fans claim Brian Cashman didn’t build enough depth into the team. Others — as I do — feel that the Yanks have suffered through more injuries than any GM would expect and that it is impossible to have a Plan B that replaces a third of your team.
This debate hinges on the bench and its proper place on the Yanks. When the season started, the Yankees’ bench was projected to include Melky Cabrera or Brett Gardner, Nick Swisher or Xavier Nady, Jose Molina and Cody Ransom. Swisher or Nady would provide the pinch-hitting pop. Gardner and Melky would be the late-inning defensive specialists or, in Gardner’s case, the speed off the bench. Molina would more than adequately back up Posada with stellar defense, and Ransom would ride the pine while spelling Jeter and A-Rod. The best laid plans, indeed.
Six weeks into the season, the bench now resembles a list of never-will-bes and has-beens. Francisco Cervelli and Kevin Cash are the team’s two catchers. Brett Gardner plays sparingly. Angel Berroa and Ramiro Peña are the go-to infielders of last resort. Injuries will decimate any team, and the Yankees are no exception.
Should Brian Cashman, then, be held responsible? He could have had Mark DeRosa for $5.5 million or Mark Grudzielanek, say the detractors. But the truth is that these players aren’t bench players. DeRosa starts for the Indians, and Grudzielanek wants a starting job. For all of their money, the Yankees can’t shell out $10 million or more for guys who will, in an ideal world, play once or twice a week.
A bench is a bench because these players aren’t starters. If they could play every day, they would be somewhere else, making more money and enjoying more playing time. That’s just a fact of baseball life.
But — and this is a significant but — the Yankees are not a young team, and it’s showing. Matsui, Damon, Jeter, A-Rod, Posada and Molina are all well past 30. So are Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett. While the Yanks have some young players, they are a team relying on age, and age breaks down.
Over the next few years, the Yanks will have some opportunities to shed age. Pettitte, Damon and Matsui are free to go this year, and Jeter faces a controversial free agency the year after. Posada is under contract through 2011, and Mo through next season.
With these potential departures, the Yankees have to find a way to get younger. They have A-Rod until he’s past 40, and Teixeira and Sabathia into their late 30’s. As long as these older players are still here and still getting paid $20 million, the Yankees will face the dangers of age-related injuries. Pulled hamstrings and sore obliques are here to stay, and maybe the Yankees should think about spending more to beef up Plan B and C in the coming seasons. Otherwise, age will make it difficult for the team to win.
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