NY Yankees News, Information & Community

Game 72: The Start of Something

June 20, 2013 by Mike 381 Comments

The Yankees have lost 14 of their last 23 games, and while that isn’t the end of the world in mid-June, they do need to start stringing some runs together before the All-Star break. Win seven of ten, ten of 14, something like that. They’re in third place in the AL East and this weekend the Rays will look to make up some ground in the division. The fewer teams New York will have to jump in the second half to get into the postseason, the better. Here’s the lineup that will face left-hander Matt Moore:

CF Brett Gardner
3B Jayson Nix
2B Robinson Cano
DH Travis Hafner
LF Vernon Wells
RF Ichiro Suzuki
1B Lyle Overbay
C Chris Stewart
SS Reid Brignac

And on the mound is the 2003 Warren Spahn Award winner, left-hander Andy Pettitte. The award is given annually to the pitcher deemed the best southpaw in baseball.

Beautiful weather in New York today and that is expected to be true for the rest of the weekend as well. Tonight’s first pitch is scheduled for a little after 7pm ET and can be seen on YES. Enjoy.

Injury Updates: Both Kevin Youkilis (back) and Curtis Granderson (hand) had surgery today as expected. Youkilis had a herniated disc repaired and Granderson had a pin removed from his hand. I guess that’s not really a surgery. Sorry for the scare.

2013 Draft: Yankees sign ninth rounder Conner Kendrick

June 20, 2013 by Mike 7 Comments

Via K. Levine-Flandrup: The Yankees have signed ninth round pick Conner Kendrick to a $115k signing bonus. Slot money for the 284th overall pick is just over $140k, so the team saved a little bit of draft pool money. He is a left-handed pitcher who signed as a junior out of Auburn.

Kendrick, 20, pitched to a 2.13 ERA with 75 strikeouts and 29 walks in 80.1 innings across nine starts and ten relief appearances this spring. “His fastball is solid-average at 90-91 mph, and he has a short, late breaking ball that he throws for strikes. His funky delivery gives him deception, but he is prone to leaving balls up,” wrote Baseball America before the draft (subs. req’d). Kendrick seems likely to move to the bullpen as a pro.

Keep tabs on the team’s draft pool with our 2013 Draft Pool page.

6/20-6/23 Series Preview: Tampa Bay Rays

June 20, 2013 by Mike 38 Comments

After two series in Tampa earlier this year, it’s time for the Rays to come to New York. They’re in town for four pretty important games this weekend, at least important by mid-June standards. The Rays have a chance to climb back into the AL East race and the Yankees have a chance to push their division rivals even further out of the picture.

What Have They Done Lately?
Although they beat the Red Sox last night, Tampa Bay has lost six of their last eight and eight of their last eleven games. Every time it looks like they’re ready to go off a little run, they run into a wall and slump for two weeks. At 37-35 with a +13 run differential, the Rays sit in fourth place in the AL East, three back of the Yankees in the loss column. So yeah, kind of an important series this weekend.

Offense
Joe Maddon’s club averages 4.7 runs per game with a team 110 wRC+, both of which are a top-six mark in baseball. When was the last time Yankees fans were jealous of the Tampa offense? Never, right? Anyway, Maddon’s lineup is perfectly healthy. They don’t have any position players on the DL.

As always, the Rays’ attack starts with 3B Evan Longoria (150 wRC+). He’s the centerpiece. OF Matt Joyce (141 wRC+) and 2B/OF Ben Zobrist (116 wRC+) have been a nice supporting cast, ditto 1B James Loney (132 wRC+) and 2B/OF Kelly Johnson (117 wRC+). Loney has cooled down following the ridiculously hot start, thankfully. That’s five well-above-average hitters in the everyday lineup.

Tampa just called up top prospect OF Wil Myers (9 wRC+ in very limited time), which theoretically gives them another above-average bat. Of course, he’s a rookie and we need to see him actually do it first. DH Luke Scott (103 wRC+) and CF Desmond Jennings (108 wRC+) have picked it up of late, and IF Sean Rodriguez (111 wRC+) has done well in a platoon role. C Jose Lobaton (119 wRC+) and C Jose Molina (80 wRC+) split time behind the plate, SS Yunel Escobar (84 wRC+) stays in the lineup because of his glove, and OF Sam Fuld (44 wRC+) is the grittiest little fifth outfielder in all the land. The Rays can score runs, this is a very good and very deep lineup.

Starting Pitching Matchups

Thursday: LHP Andy Pettitte vs. LHP Matt Moore
Remember when Moore was in the middle of breaking out as one of the best pitchers in baseball a few weeks back? The 24-year-old has allowed 20 runs in his last three starts (12.1 innings) to raise his season ERA to 4.12 (4.32 FIP). His strikeout rate (8.23 K/9 and 20.8 K%) is very good and his homer rate (0.97 HR/9 and 8.7% HR/FB) is fine, but he walks too many batters (4.72 BB/9 and 11.9 BB%) and doesn’t get many ground balls (36.3%). Moore sits in the low-to-mid-90s with his two- and four-seam fastballs, backing them up with mid-80s changeups and low-80s sliders. Unlike last season, he doesn’t have a platoon split in 2013. The Yankees have seen more twice this year and scored one run each time, first in eight innings and then in six innings.

Friday: RHP David Phelps vs. RHP Robert Hernandez
Hernandez, 32, is the pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona. He owns a a 5.02 ERA (4.48 FIP) in 13 starts this year, though he is very homer prone (1.43 HR/9 and 20.0% HR/FB) despite a very good 50.0% ground ball rate. The strikeout (7.77 K/9 and 19.6 K%) and walk (2.39 BB/9 and 6.0 BB%) rates are better than average. Hernandez lives and dies with his low-90s sinker, though the Rays have him throwing his mid-80s changeup more than ever before. A low-80s slider is his third pitch. The Yankees saw Fauxto a few weeks ago and hung five runs on him in four innings.

Saturday: LHP CC Sabathia vs. TBA
This rotation spot belongs to right-hander Alex Cobb, but he was placed on the DL a few days ago after taking a line drive to the head. It was a scary scene. The Rays are expected to called up 24-year-old right-hander Alex Colome to make this start, which would be his second as a big leaguer. He struck out seven Marlins in 5.2 innings of one-run ball at the end of last month. Colome is a three-pitch pitcher, sitting in the mid-90s with his fastball and the upper-80s with his slider. He did throw a curveball once upon a time, but the slider is his go-to breaking ball now. A mid-80s changeup rounds out his power repertoire. Colome has never faced the Yankees, obviously.

Sunday: TBA vs. RHP Chris Archer
Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner David Price has been on the DL for more than a month now, and the 24-year-old Archer has laid claim to his rotation spot. He was acquired from the Cubs in the Matt Garza trade a few years back, and this year he has pitched to a 5.03 ERA (5.50 FIP) in four starts. Archer has piled up some strikeouts (8.24 K/9 and 19.8 K%) and gotten some ground balls (44.8%), but he’s walked way too many batters (6.41 BB/9 and 15.4 BB%) and given up a bunch of homers (1.37 HR/9 and 17.6% HR/FB). His four-pitch mix includes two mid-90s fastballs (two- and four-seamer), a mid-80s slider, and a low-80s changeup. Having seen his recent starts, I can tell you Archer is a very emotional guy on the mound with body language that will let you know how he feels after every pitch. It’s tiresome. He’s never faced the Yankees before.

As for New York, they will need to dig up a starter for this game thanks to Tuesday’s rainout. They could start Hiroki Kuroda or Phil Hughes on the three days’ rest, but that seems unnecessary in the middle of June. Maybe in September when the games mean a little more. Brett Marshall is scheduled to start Sunday for Triple-A Scranton, but he’s been a disaster this season. Ivan Nova is scheduled to start Friday, so I’m guessing they’ll just push him back two days and call him up for the spot start.

Bullpen Status
Maddon’s bullpen is a little taxed thanks in part to Tuesday’s doubleheader, but nothing crazy. RHP Fernando Rodney (4.23 FIP) has turned it around following a real rough patch a few weeks ago, and setup men RHP Joel Peralta (3.44 FIP) and LHP Jake McGee (3.46 FIP) have been solid of late as well. Former Yankees RHP Kyle Farnsworth (5.34 FIP) joins LHP Cesar Ramos (3.11 FIP) and LHP Alex Torres (1.25 FIP in limited time) in middle relief. Both Ramos and Torres can throw multiple innings, they aren’t just specialists. The perpetually solid and under-rated RHP Jamey Wright (3.41 FIP) rounds out the bullpen. Peralta is the only guy to have pitched in each of the last two days.

The Yankees meanwhile, are in decent shape following yesterday’s doubleheader. Adam Warren probably needs a day or two of rest following his three-inning, 37-pitch relief outing last night, but otherwise everyone is well-rested thanks to Monday’s off-day and Tuesday’s rainout. You can see the recent reliever usage at our Bullpen Workload page. Check out DRays Bay and Process Report for the latest and greatest on the Rays.

Morosi: Manny Ramirez wants to return to MLB

June 20, 2013 by Mike 97 Comments

According to Jon Morosi, Manny Ramirez hopes to return to MLB after recently opting out of his contract with the EDA Rhinos in the Chinese Professional Baseball League. There have been reports of a possible opportunity with the Chiba Lotte Mariners in Japan, but Manny’s agent Barry Praver made it clear their preference is a return to MLB.

“The reason he decided not to return for the second half was to free himself to be available to play in the United States,” said Praver. “This whole thing with Manny in Taiwan was a phenomenon. He invigorated the league. Attendance went through the roof. It was a very positive experience for both sides. Manny was so invigorated by his play there that he wants to return to the Majors … Manny would be interested in returning to the Majors in any role, including that of a pinch-hitter.”

Ramirez, 41, hit .352/.422/.555 with eight homers and more walks (23) than strikeouts (21) in 49 games and 206 plate appearances for the Rhinos. The CPBL is roughly equivalent to Single-A ball. He last played in the big leagues in 2011, when he appeared in five games for the Rays before being suspended for a second failed PED test. The suspension was reduced from 100 games to 50 games, and he served it last season after signing with the Athletics. He asked them for his release before they had a chance to call him up.

I would be, unequivocally, in favor of the Yankees signing Manny. The offense is lifeless and for the most part they’re an uninteresting team and a bore to watch, something Ramirez would correct in a heartbeat. I think the Yankees would sooner bring Don Mattingly out of retirement though; I can’t imagine they (or any other team, for that matter) would go for it because of all the baggage. But man it would be fun. Give him the league minimum and see what happens. What’s the worst that could possibly happen, he hits like Vernon Wells and they cut him? Embrace the sideshow.

RAB Live Chat

June 20, 2013 by Matt Warden 9 Comments

2013 Potential Trade Targets — Part I

June 20, 2013 by Matt Warden 117 Comments

After a fairly dismal road trip, the Yankees now stand in third place with a 39-32 record and a run differential of zero. With just under 60% of the season remaining, there’s a lot of baseball to be played and a lot of time for rosters to change. As to be expected, Brian Cashman has already mentioned the team is “open for business,” so let’s take a look at some possible targets* who have been swirling about here at RAB.

Giancarlo Stanton
The 23 year old outfielder formerly known as Mike hasn’t had the best luck this season. He was sidelined in late April for five weeks with a fairly severe hamstring strain. Since returning Stanton has batted .344/.382/.813 (1.195 OPS) with four home runs. He’s a career .270/.350/.550 (.382 wOBA, 140 wRC+) hitter with three cost controlled years remaining. This is exactly the type of guy the Yankees should pursue. Chances are the Marlins won’t completely screw their fanbase move their disgruntled superstar by the deadline, but they very well may consider moving him come the offseason.

The problem is that Stanton’s a superstar and superstars require major hauls. The Yankees would be required to give up at least four or five of their top prospects (which I would definitely be okay with) – we’re talking Gary Sanchez, Tyler Austin, Mason Williams, and maybe Rafael DePaula for starters – and that very well might not be enough to get it done, nor would a package such as that necessarily compete with other insane prospect packages offered by other organizations. Chances of this trade happening, in my opinion, are gloomy with a chance of “get-the-eff-outa-here,” but it’s fun to dream nevertheless.

Chase Headley
Headley has had a disappointing start to the 2013 season, at least by his standards. He’s batting .221/.328/.350 (.304 wOBA, 99 wRC+); hence the “Quick! It’s time to buy…” chants. The problem here is threefold. First, the Padres, despite sitting right at .500 are only three games out of first place, so they probably aren’t going to be sellers, at least as it stands now.

Second, San Diego GM Josh Byrnes isn’t a fool. He’s not going to just hand over a young, talented third baseman just because he’s struggled early on this season – it just doesn’t behoove the team to act in such reactionary fashion. In fact, the organization actively tried to discuss a long-term extension with Headley already. Third, and along the same lines as Stanton, if Byrnes were to trade Headley, it wouldn’t be cheap nor would NY necessarily have enough MLB-ready, elite prospects to get a deal done. If this was doable, I’d be all for it even if it meant gutting the farm. I just don’t see it happening though. Bummer.

Alfonso Soriano
This one’s kind of interesting because it’s much more plausible. The former Yankee second baseman has a full no-trade clause, though that really isn’t a big deal as he can still approve a move to NY (and all indications suggest he would be willing to consider them). Contractually, Soriano is still owed about $30.5M total for the remainder of this season and next. Presumably, if the Cubs were to make a move, the expectation would probably be for them to eat a significant chunk of the contract if they’re expecting any sort of return. If the Cubs just wanted to unload the remaining salary on to another team (which is also possible), they probably wouldn’t get anything back — kind of like how the Yankees handled A.J. Burnett.

Maybe the Cubs are willing to eat $15-20M, in which case I could see a C-level prospect getting thrown into the deal. In terms of upgrading the Yankee lineup, Soriano has hit .249/.280/393 (.290 wOBA, 79 wRC+) this season but is one year removed from posting a 116 wRC+, 3.6 fWAR season last year. He also has a very discernible splits against right-handers and he’s never shown a whole lot of patience at the plate (career 5.9 BB%). Would he be an improvement over what the Yankees are currently trotting out into left field? Probably. Do we really want another him though? I’d say no unless the Cubs eat almost all the remaining dollars, in which case, my official stance becomes “meh.” Eventually Curtis Granderson will return anyway.

Andre Ethier
Now here’s another guy who’s name gets mentioned frequently around here. Ethier has batted .251/.333/.377 (.308 wOBA, 98 wRC+) this season, which is about on par with what ZiPS projected. On the plus side he’s consistently been a 100-plus wRC+ hitter who has hit for some power over the years. On the downside, he has very obvious splits – lefties haven’t been particularly kind to him which inevitably translates into another platoon bat. He’s also shown increasing strikeout trends over the past few seasons. Moreover, his defensive value in right field has been judged as anywhere from slightly below-average to outright lousy.

The real elephant in the room though is the contract. The Dodgers saw fit to give Ethier a five year, $85M deal which carries him through 2017 (plus a 2018 club option). That translates out to about $8M owed this year, $15M in 2014, $18M in 2015 and 2016, then $17.5M in 2017. Yikes. Then there’s the age. He’s already 31 years old. I don’t want to see the Yankees on the hook for a ton of cash during his decline years, and I don’t want to see anyone noteworthy get shipped out to LA in return for him. Fortunately, should the Yankees elect to send prospects to LA, I imagine it would be nothing beyond a B-level prospect. Granted, I have never been a big Ethier supporter, but I really have no interest in seeing another corpse stumbling along the bases over the next several years.

*For the record, I have been saying from day one that there aren’t going to be any big names heading to NY by the trade deadline. Until I see otherwise, I’m sticking by this prediction. Also, if you have any trade targets you’d like me to consider, please submit them using the “Submit a Tip” feature, and I’ll try to incorporate it into my follow up piece which will hopefully be written in the next week or so.

Offense a no-show as Dodgers shut out Yankees

June 19, 2013 by Mike 85 Comments

It’s tough to sweep a doubleheader, but it’s also tough to not get greedy and hope for that sweep after the Yankees took the first game on Wednesday afternoon. The Dodgers earned the doubleheader split on Wednesday night with a 6-0 win, a game that knocked New York’s run differential down to an even zero on the season — 276 runs scored, 276 runs allowed. The surest sign of mediocrity.

Another Dud
For the third time in four June starts, Phil Hughes failed to put up something that even resembled a good start. Your definition of a “good start” may vary, but I think we can all agree on that. The Dodgers had four hits and two runs before Phil recorded his first out, and through five innings of work he allowed five runs on ten hits (two doubles and eight singles) and 80 total pitches. Hughes went to a two-strike count on eleven of 28 hitters faced and five ended up with base hits. Three struck out. That’s bad. His night ended after six innings of five-run ball.

We’re pretty close to the halfway point of the season and it’s clear Hughes is the weak link in the rotation. That’s not exactly breaking news. Vidal Nuno is still on the Triple-A DL and Michael Pineda is a little less than three weeks away from completing his rehab assignment, so the only alternative at the moment is Ivan Nova. I guess they could pull Adam Warren out of the bullpen, but I don’t really like that idea. He’s fine right where he is. I have no faith in Nova — he’s been good in three Triple-A starts so far, to be fair — so Phil has three weeks at the most to show he belongs in the rotation. If he shows no improvement, like real tangible improvement and not just two or three okay starts, the Yankees have to stick him in the bullpen and go with someone else, his impending free agency be damned. Hughes has made his bed and the lineup is too weak to deal with these type of performances every five days.

No Use For An Offense
After scoring six runs in each of their last two games, the Yankees got back to their roots on Wednesday night and were shut out for the sixth time this season. This was their 71st game. They were shut out six times in 162 games last summer, for comparison. That shouldn’t be a surprise though, it’s really hard to take this lineup seriously when it features Jayson Nix batting second, Vernon Wells batting cleanup, and Thomas Neal batting fifth. At some point the front office will show some urgency and get another bat or three. At least I hope.

Cy Capuano. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) — Cy Capuano. (AP/Frank Franklin II)

The Yankees put a total of four men on base in the entire game: a Lyle Overbay (!) infield single, a Nix infield single, and a Robinson Cano legitimate line drive single to the outfield. Robbie was thrown out trying to stretch it into the double though, so it might as well be a fly out in the box score. Nix took a pitch to the ribs with two outs in the ninth and that was it, that’s the offense. Two runners managed to go beyond first base — Nix went first-to-third on Cano’s single, then he took second on a defensive indifference in the ninth — and 17 of the final 18 men they sent to the plate made outs. Believe it or not, the Yankees are now averaging 3.64 runs per game at Yankee Stadium and 4.12 runs per game on the road. Half-a-run per game difference!

Leftovers
Warren was nice enough to pick up Hughes and allow the #obligatoryhomer to the first batter he faced, on the first pitch no less. On the bright side, he was the only Yankees pitcher to retire Hanley Ramirez on Wednesday. Hanley went 4-for-4 during game one and 2-for-4 in game two. Warren picked up the bullpen in the second game of the doubleheader by soaking up the final three innings. He allowed just the one run.

I’m not sure what else to put here. Wells went 0-for-3 and is down to .224/.266/.372 (70 wRC+) for the season. It’s just a slump though, he’ll turn it around any game now. David Adams went 0-for-2 before being lifted for a pinch-hitter and is down to .200/.220/.313 (39 wRC+) on the year. Zoilo Almonte did make his big league debut with a pinch-hitting appearance in the ninth inning, grounding out sharply to third against Brandon League. Welcome to the show, kid.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
Go to MLB.com for the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs for the nerd store, and ESPN the updated standings. The Orioles and Blue Jays won while the Rays beat the Red Sox, so the Yankees are two back of Boston, one back of Baltimore, three up on Tampa, and four up on surging Toronto. They need to start stringing some wins together.

Source: FanGraphs

Up Next
The Rays are coming to town for a four-game weekend series starting Thursday night, when Andy Pettitte matches up against fellow left-hander Matt Moore. Check out RAB Tickets if you want to catch the game. Plenty of seats available.