NY Yankees News, Information & Community

Game 89: Start A New Streak

July 8, 2013 by Mike 300 Comments

So this is where the Yankees are at right now, in case you were unsure. (Presswire) — So this is where the Yankees are at right now, in case you were wondering. (Presswire)

The six-game winning streak is over and that’s fine, it was bound to happen eventually. I guess it’s comforting to know they were only a rare Mariano Rivera blown save away from making it seven straight. I dunno, not really.

Anyway, there are seven games left before the All-Star break, and the Yankees will play all seven of them at home against teams with losing records. It’s like the baseball gods gifted them a chance to go into the break on a high note after such a turbulent first half. The Yankees have to take advantage of that opportunity now though, nothing else will be handed to them. Here’s the lineup Joe Girardi is sending out there against noted Yankees-hunter* Jeremy Guthrie:

CF Brett Gardner
LF Zoilo Almonte
2B Robinson Cano
DH Travis Hafner
RF Vernon Wells
1B Travis Ishikawa
3B Luis Cruz
SS Alberto Gonzalez
C Austin Romine

And on the mound with an extra day of rest is right-hander Phil Hughes. Like most pitchers, he’s allowed fewer runs with an extra day (4.03 ERA and 4.43 FIP) than on a normal schedule (4.92 ERA and 4.20 FIP) throughout his career.

It has cooled off just a tiny bit in New York, but it’s still pretty damn hot and humid. There’s actually some rain in the forecast a little later tonight, nothing really substantial but maybe enough to bring the tarp out at some point. I hope not. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm ET and can be seen on YES. Enjoy.

Roster Move: As expected, David Adams have been optioned down to Triple-A Scranton to clear a 25-man roster spot for Ishikawa. He was claimed off waivers yesterday and will be the 25th different position player to play for the Yankees this year. That’s the most in the big leagues. /sobs

* A whopping 16.1% of Guthrie’s career hit batsmen have come against the Yankees in 7.2% of his total innings pitched. He always seems to hit one or two of ’em a start.

Update: Yankees have interest in Justin Ruggiano

July 8, 2013 by Mike 40 Comments

Monday: The Yankees do indeed have interest in acquiring Ruggiano, reports Ken Rosenthal. It would be quite redundant to carry both Ruggiano and Vernon Wells on the roster, however.

Saturday: Via Jon Heyman: The Yankees were one of several teams with scouts in attendance for Ricky Nolasco’s start earlier this week, but they were there to see the Marlins’ hitters and not the trade bait right-hander. Josh Norris points out New York had some interest in outfielder Justin Ruggiano during the spring, probably before the Vernon Wells trade.

Miami insists Giancarlo Stanton isn’t on the market, which means the team’s best realistically available hitter is Logan Morrison (174 wRC+ in limited time following knee surgery). He could step right in and replace Lyle Overbay at first base, then stick around as a part-time first baseman, part-time outfielder, part-time DH in the future. Ruggiano (115 wRC+ vs. LHP) is a nice platoon outfielder and I suppose Placido Polanco (63 wRC+) would be an upgrade over David Adams, but that’s pretty much it. The Marlins don’t have any worthwhile catchers or middle infielders.

Cotillo: Cubs looking to move Dioner Navarro

July 8, 2013 by Mike 88 Comments

Via Chris Cotillo: The Cubs are looking to trade backup catcher and former Yankees farmhand Dioner Navarro. Chicago traded Scott Feldman last week and Scott Hairston last night, so they have definitely started their selling off period in advance of the deadline. The Cubbies currently have the seventh worst record in baseball at 38-48.

Navarro, 29, had a breakout year with the Rays back in 2008 (105 wRC+), but he followed that up with a 56 wRC+ from 2009-2011. He resurfaced with the Reds last season and has hit .291/.338/.503 (124 wRC+) in 196 plate appearances since, including a .291/.358/.536 (141 wRC+) line in 123 plate appearances with the Cubs this year. Navarro is a switch-hitter who has historically fared much better against left-handed pitchers, something that fits perfectly with the Yankees’ needs. He is a below-average defender though.

The Yankees have passed on backup catcher upgrades all season, but perhaps Frankie Cervelli’s recent setback changes things. Navarro’s poor defense and lack of familiarity with the pitching staff are knocks against him, but his bat would be a huge upgrade over Austin Romine even if he reverts back to last year’s 96 wRC+ form. He’s owed less than $1M the rest of the way and will be a free agent after the season, so the risk is small. If the trade cost is reasonable, they should pounce. I suspect the Yankees will pass, however.

7/8-7/11 Series Preview: Kansas City Royals

July 8, 2013 by Mike 30 Comments

Gordon, Yost, and Perez. (Jamie Squire/Getty)

The schedule could not be any more favorable leading up to the All-Star break. The ten-game homestand continues this week with four against the Royals, who are improved but continue to spin their wheels in the middle of the AL Central. The Yankees swept a three-game series in Kansas City back in May, as you surely remember.

What Have They Done Lately?
The Royals lost yesterday and lost two of three to the Athletics at home over the weekend. They’ve dropped ten of their last 17 games overall. At 41-44 with a +4 run differential, Kansas City is mediocrity defined in the middle of the division, not good enough to contend and not bad enough to sell.

Offense
Believe it or not, manager Ned Yost’s team has scored fewer runs (345) than the Yankees (348) this year. Of course, they’ve also played three fewer games, so don’t get too excited. Kansas City averages 3.92 runs per game with a team 88 wRC+, so they’re comfortably below average. They don’t have any position players on the DL but OF Alex Gordon (118 wRC+) is dealing with a substantial butt bruise (not joking) and might need a day or two to heal up.

The top four … well, three of the top four spots of Yost’s regular lineup are really good. Gordon typically leads off and DH Billy Butler (111 wRC+) cleans up, and these days 1B Eric Hosmer (107 wRC+) bats third. He’s got a 156 wRC+ with eight homers over the last 30 days, so it looks like he’s starting to live up to all that promise. SS Alcides Escobar (63 wRC+) bats second and is Yost’s way of sabotaging things. C Salvador Perez (104 wRC+) and OF David Lough (100 wRC+) have had nice years. Lough essentially led to Jeff Francoeur being released.

3B Mike Moustakas (65 wRC+) has been awful, as has IF Chris Getz (49 wRC+). 2B Johnny Giavotella (41 wRC+ in limited time) was just called up and plays everyday. OF Lorenzo Cain (91 wRC+) and OF Jarrod Dyson (118 wRC+ in limited) work the revolving outfield door with Lough. IF Elliot Johnson (42 wRC+) kinda stinks, but otherwise the Royals have a solid bench with IF Miguel Tejada (94 wRC+) and backup C George Kottaras (121 wRC+ in limited time). Kansas City has hit the fewest homers (55) in the league by a lot — the Twins have hit the second fewest at 78 — and have compensated by stealing the fourth most bases in the game (66).

Starting Pitching Matchups

Monday: RHP Phil Hughes vs. RHP Jeremy Guthrie
The Royals have loaded up on former AL East pitchers over the last 12 months or so, and that crop of pitchers includes the 34-year-old Guthrie. He’s posted a 4.29 ERA (5.76 FIP) in 17 starts with very bad peripherals: 4.37 K/9 (11.3 K%), 3.28 BB/9 (8.5 BB%), 1.68 HR/9 (14.7% HR/FB), and 42.6% grounders. He was always a guy who outperformed his peripherals, but not to this extent. Guthrie still runs his four-seamer and sinker in the 92-94 mph range, and he backs them up mid-80s changeups, low-80s sliders, and mid-70s curves. Despite that deep repertoire, lefties have tattooed him this year (.380 wOBA) and he’s got a huge platoon split (.309 wOBA vs. RHB). Although the Yankees saw Guthrie plenty during his time with the Orioles, they haven’t faced him since July 2011. Been a while.

Tuesday: LHP CC Sabathia vs. RHP Jamie Shields
Shields, 31, is in the middle of yet another marvelous season (3.23 ERA and 3.55 FIP) but is somehow getting even less recognition after moving from Tampa to Kansas City. His strikeout (7.85 K/9 and 21.3 K%) and walk (2.57 BB/9 and 7.0 BB%) numbers are both pretty damn good and his worst rates in several years. The same goes for his ground ball rate (43.0%), though he is giving up fewer homers (0.88 HR/9 and 10.1% HR/FB) than he has in recent years. Shields remains a master at pitching backwards, especially with his world-class mid-80s changeup. His two- and four-seamer sit in the low-90s while his cutter is a touch below that in the upper-80s. An upper-70s curveball and an infrequently used upper-80s slider round out his repertoire. Shields held to the Yankees to three runs in eight innings earlier this year, and of course they saw him plenty during his time with the Rays.

Wednesday: RHP Ivan Nova vs. RHP Wade Davis
Unsurprisingly, the 27-year-old Davis has reverted back to his 2009-2011 performance after spending 2012 in the bullpen. He was nasty last season, with a 2.43 ERA (2.78 FIP), but this year he’s sitting on a 5.42 ERA (4.20 FIP) with okay peripherals: 8.13 K/9 (19.6 K%), 3.81 BB/9 (9.2 BB%), 1.10 HR/9 (12.4% HR/FB), and 38.8% grounders. As a starter, Davis sits in the upper-80s/low-90s with his three fastballs (two-seamer, four-seamer, cutter) while using a low-80s slider as his primary offspeed pitch. A mid-80s changeup is his fifth offering. The Yankees pummeled Davis for seven runs in five innings back in May and saw him more than a few times during his years with Tampa.

Thursday: LHP Andy Pettitte vs. RHP Ervin Santana
A year ago, the 30-year-old Santana was one of the very worst starters in baseball. This year, he has a 2.90 ERA (3.93 FIP) in 17 starts. His strikeout (7.17 K/9 and 20.0 K%), walk (1.83 BB/9 and 5.1 BB%), homer (1.22 HR/9 and 13.6% HR/FB), and ground ball rate (47.6%) have all improved, substantially in some cases. Santana is basically a two-pitch pitcher, sitting in the low-90s with his four-seam fastball and the low-to-mid-80s with his slider. He throws that slider almost 40% of the time. A mid-80s changeup is his rarely used third offering. The Yankees scored four runs off Santana in 6.1 innings earlier this season, and they have faced him plenty of times over the years, mostly hitting him very hard. No real surprises here.

Bullpen Status
The bullpen is the strongest and deepest part of the Royals roster. Closer RHP Greg Holland (1.47 FIP) is the best reliever no one talks about, and these days he’s being setup by RHP Aaron Crow (3.69 FIP) and RHP Luke Hochevar (3.43 FIP). Hochevar seems to have found a niche in relief. LHP Tim Collins (3.80 FIP) is the matchup guy while LHP Bruce Chen (4.14 FIP) and LHP Will Smith (3.99 FIP in limited time) are multi-inning guys. RHP J.C. Gutierrez (3.66 FIP) rounds out the pen. Chen and Smith each had to throw 3+ innings and 50+ pitches yesterday because Luis Mendoza got clobbered, so their either going to make a roster move today or Yost will be short two arms for at least one day and probably more like two or three days.

The Yankees, meanwhile, have a pretty big bullpen mess on their hands. At least in the late innings. Both David Robertson and Mariano Rivera have pitched in two straight and five of the last seven games, meaning both are likely to be unavailable tonight. I’m guessing Joe Girardi would love to get then both two days off if possible. The various middle relievers are in good shape and long man Adam Warren is probably nice and rusty after throwing a total of five pitches in the last 18 days. Check out our Bullpen Workload page for reliever usage and Royals Review for the latest on this week’s opponent.

Sanchez and DePaula crack Baseball America’s midseason top 50 prospects list

July 8, 2013 by Mike 49 Comments

Baseball America published their midseason list of baseball’s top 50 prospects today (no subs. req’d), a list that is topped by Twins OF Byron Buxton. The second overall pick in last year’s draft has taken over as the game’s consensus top prospect with Jurickson Profar now a big leaguer. Cardinals OF Oscar Taveras and Twins 3B Miguel Sano round out the top three. Yeah, Minnesota has two of the three best prospects in the game.

The Yankees placed two players on the top 50: C Gary Sanchez (#34) and RHP Rafael DePaula (#45). “Reports are more optimistic that he could stay behind the plate long-term.,” they said about Sanchez, who climbed from #57 on the preseason list. It’s not surprising that none of the team’s top three outfield prospects made the list, especially since only one (Mason Williams at #32) was in the top 50 of the preseason list. None of the three has done anything to improve their stock this year. Sanchez and DePaula definitely have though.

Fan Confidence Poll: July 8th, 2013

July 8, 2013 by Mike 109 Comments

Record Last Week: 6-1 (38 RS, 22 RA)
Season Record: 48-40 (348 RS, 348 RA, 44-44 pythag. record), 5.0 GB ALE/0.5 GB WC
Opponents This Week: vs. Royals (four games, Mon. to Thurs.), vs. Twins (three games, Fri. to Sun.)

Orioles steal series finale on Rivera’s blown save

July 7, 2013 by Mike 64 Comments

When the weekend started, I would have been more than happy with the Yankees winning two of three. That’s exactly what they did, but this series ended on a sour note because the third win was ripped away in the final moments. The Orioles stunned New York by the score of 2-1 in the series finale.

Blown
The Nick Markakis just foul homer was ominous. Mariano Rivera picked an unfortunate time to be something less than his historically great self on Sunday afternoon, blowing a one-run lead on a Markakis single and an Adam Jones two-run homer to left-center. The single really stung because it came in a two-strike count. It was Mo’s second blown save in 31 chances this year.

Losing on a Rivera blown save is always a crummy feeling because we tend to take those games for granted. Got a lead with Mo on the mound? The game will be over soon and the win will be in the bank. That’s why it’s so shocking whenever he does blows a game and I can’t get worked up over it. The Orioles beat the best and that’s that. Tip your cap to them and move on to the next game.

Bad Hip? No Problem
After a sore left hip flexor forced the Yankees to essentially delay Hiroki Kuroda’s start by two days, the veteran right-hander came out and tossed and absolute gem on Sunday afternoon. He held the Orioles to two doubles, one single, and one walk in seven scoreless innings, striking out four, and recording 15 of 21 outs on the infield. Fifty-three of his 88 pitches were strikes (60%), and although only 12 of 25 batters saw a first pitch strike, only three of the 25 saw a three-ball count.

Obviously 88 pitches in seven innings is pretty economical, certainly enough to send him back out there for the eighth, but Joe Girardi decided to turn the ball over to the bullpen. It was a crazy hot day and Kuroda is coming off the hip thing, so it could have just been a precautionary move. He did leave a few pitches up and run some deep counts in the seventh inning. It seemed a little weird at the time but is really no big deal considering who is available for the late innings in the bullpen. The most important thing is that Kuroda was outstanding and showed no ill-effects from the hip problem. He was awesome, as he has been pretty much all year.

One Run
If nothing else, this game is a harsh little reminder that the Yankees still have a really crappy offense. They scored just one run in the game even though Jason Hammel was clearly laboring — 102 pitches in five innings, and he faced just seven of 22 batters with no one on-base — and nine runs total in the three-game series. Beating up on the Twins is great, but the offense has to do better than that against a division rival during super-hot weekend in Yankee Stadium.

The run scored in the second inning, when Zoilo Almonte led off with a walk before coming in to score on Eduardo Nunez’s sacrifice fly. A Lyle Overbay single to get Almonte to third was mixed in. Nunez has now driven in three of the team’s last five runs, which is not a good thing. He shouldn’t be the guy they count on in those spots. The Baltimore bullpen retired 12 of 13 batters faced and the last Yankees hit came in the fifth. They had four men in scoring position all afternoon. The Yankees have needed a bat since Curtis Granderson was re-injured, but they’re obviously content with counting on the injured guys to return to spark the lineup. That is very, very risky.

Leftovers
That play by Manny Machado you see above is on my short list of candidates for Defensive Play of the Year. Not only was he like, ten feet in foul territory with his momentum taking him towards the dugout, but he muffed the catch with his glove and had to barehand the ball. Just an outrageously great play. Man can that kid play.

The only Yankee with two hits was Chris Stewart, who went 2-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base. Replays showed he was clearly out on the steal though, hell he even took a step away from the bag so he could start walking to the dugout. The top two hitters in the lineup (Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki) went 0-for-8 while the top five hitters went 2-for-18 with two walks. Ain’t good enough.

David Robertson tossed a perfect eighth inning on nine pitches between Kuroda and Rivera, his fifth appearance in the last seven days. I was totally cool with working him hard this weekend given the importance of the series, but he’s going to need at least one and probably two days off now. Girardi knows he can’t keep running him into the ground like this all year.

This was Kuroda’s eleventh start of at least seven scoreless innings since the start of last season, the most in all of baseball. Clayton Kershaw and Felix Hernandez have done it ten times each. Some company.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. The Yankees moved into a three-way tie in the loss column with the Orioles and Rays for both second place in the AL East and the second wildcard spot.

Source: FanGraphs

Up Next
The Royals are coming to the Bronx for a four-game set. Phil Hughes and former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie will be is the pitching matchup for Monday night’s series opener. RAB Tickets is the place to go if you want to catch the game live.