The Starting Pitching Problem

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(REUTERS/Alex Gallardo)

The Yankees won the game, but Ivan Nova turned in another poor start last night. It was the fifth time he’s allowed at least five runs in his last seven starts, raising his season rates to a 5.60 ERA and a 5.00 FIP. The homer by Mark Trumbo and the double by Mike Trout were the 39th and 40th extra-base hits he’s allowed, respectively, the most in the game and just 12 fewer than last year even though he’s faced 426 fewer hitters. Between Nova and Phil Hughes — 5.64 ERA and 5.04 FIP — the Yankees have been fighting an uphill battle twice every five day.

Nova’s problem continues to be his command and propensity to miss up and out over the plate, a problem that was evident in Spring Training. We’re ten starts and 62.2 innings into the regular season now, we’re starting to reach the point where something has to be done. Most guys with Nova’s numbers find themselves back in Triple-A and frankly, the Yankees sent him down for less last season. It doesn’t have to happen today, but the time to seriously consider a demotion is fast approaching.

With David Robertson expected to return soon — he’s slated to throw off a mound on Saturday for the first time since suffering his oblique strain — the Yankees will be getting some much quality bullpen depth back. His return will make it easier for them to temporarily slide David Phelps into the rotation since they won’t need him in the higher leveraged role he’s been working the last two or three weeks. Heck, you can make an argument that Ramon Ortiz would be a better stopgap starter. He’s been great in Triple-A lately and they might be able to squeeze a few decent starts out of him against NL clubs during the upcoming interleague schedule before casting him aside.

Anyway, this isn’t about punishing Nova or anything like that. It’s about getting him back on track as soon as possible so he can help the team win for the stretch drive. The longer they wait to take action, the more Bad Ivan starts they’ll get and they can’t really afford that given the ultra-competitive AL East. Hughes obviously deserves the same treatment, but a) I think Nova is far more likely to rebound, and b) I’m not sure they have to rotation depth to send both guys down simultaneously. Nova took his demotion like a champ last season and came back a better pitcher for it, so I’m hopeful the same will happen in this case.

They say the first third of the season if for evaluation, the second third is for making changes, and the final third is for riding those changes out. Well, we’re exactly four team games shy of the one-third point of the campaign, and the time to make changes is fast approaching. The Yankees can give Nova another start or two to show improvement before Robertson returns to shore up the bullpen, but if things don’t start to turn around soon, they’re going to have to do something. Getting Nova back to being the pitcher we know he can be is a top priority. The sooner he gets back on track the better, but at some point the Yankees have to determine if the solution to their rotation woes is in-house before the trade deadline approaches.

Russell Martin tore into umpire Laz Diaz last night

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Via Marc Carig, catch Russell Martin ripped home plate ump Laz Diaz following last night’s game.”He told me I had to earn the privilege (to throw the ball back to the pitcher),” said Martin, a three-time All-Star. “Even at the end of the game after I get hit in the neck. I’m like, can I throw the ball back now? He’s still like no. I’m like you’re such a (expletive). Like for real. Unbelievable. I even told him like when there’s guys on base, I like to keep my arm loose. No. I’m not letting you throw a ball back. That’s pretty strange to me.”

Terrible umpiring is nothing new, but usually it’s limited to calls on the field. I’ve never heard of a catcher being told he has to “earn the privilege” to throw the ball back to his pitcher. That’s just petty. Of course, calling out an umpire publicly wasn’t the smartest move on Martin’s part. I’m thinking he’s going to have to work a little harder to get borderline calls going forward.

Yanks salvage series, win nail-biter over Angels

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Source: FanGraphs

It wasn’t pretty and it certainly wasn’t easy, but the Yankees beat the Angels by the score of 6-5 on Wednesday night to salvage their three-game set in Anaheim. The win gave New York a 4-2 record on the West Coast trip and … that’s pretty good. I would have signed up for that six days ago. Let’s recap…

  • Big Inning: Ervin Santana was wild and asking for trouble, and the Yankees gave it to him in the third inning. Curtis Granderson hit a three-run homer and Robinson Cano followed up with a two-run homer, all before the first out was recorded. Russell Martin (runner) and Derek Jeter (batter) pulled off a perfect hit-and-run to set things up. For the first time in the series, we could all relax and breath a little with a 5-1 lead.
  • One Bad Inning: Ivan Nova managed to escape a bases loaded, no out situation in the first by only allowing one run, but he gave back the four-run lead in the fourth by allowing a two-run homer to Mark Trumbo and a two-run double to Mike Trout. Half of the eight hits Nova allowed came in that inning, but he deserves credit for locking it down after that and taking the ball into the seventh.
  • Take The Lead: Raul Ibanez hit a stand-up triple over Peter Bourjos’ head off a left-handed pitcher with one out in the sixth. Think about that sentence. It’s “you can’t predict baseball” defined. Nick Swisher plated Ibanez with a sacrifice fly, giving his team the 6-5 lead that they held onto for dear life.
  • Relief Ace: The unsung hero of the game was easily Cory Wade. Dude stormed out of the bullpen to strike out Howie Kendrick with men on corners to end the seventh (despite the ump’s best efforts) before chipping in a perfect eighth. Seriously, he was down 3-0 in the count to Kendrick but fought back for the strikeout. That was money right there, just a huge out.
  • Closed Out: Things got a little hairy in the ninth inning, mostly because Rafael Soriano did himself no favors by walking Alberto Callaspo with one out to put the tying run on base for the meat of the order. Albert Pujols reached on an infield single, but Soriano escaped the jam by getting Torii Hunter to ground into a fielder’s choice and Trumbo to fly out routinely to left on a broken bat. It was nerve-wracking, but he took care of business. Nice job.
  • Leftovers: Curtis Granderson doubled to the opposite field in the first inning, already his ninth opposite field hit of the season (he had ten last year) … Grandy and Ibanez were the only Yankees with multiple hits (two each), but everyone in the starting lineup not named Mark Teixeira and Eric Chavez reached base at least once … Boone Logan allowed two dinky little ground ball hits to righties to set up that mess Wade escaped in the seventh … anytime you want to complain about Joe Girardi, remember that Mike Scioscia used Hunter as pinch-runner and Maicer Izturis as a pinch-hitter in this game … the Yankees are done with Anaheim, they don’t come back here this season. Thank goodness.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some more stats, and ESPN the updated standings. The Yankees are off on Thursday and will open a three-game weekend series in Detroit on Friday night. The Tigers are calling up left-hander Casey Crosby to make his big league debut and start that game, but don’t worry, he’s not a soft-tosser. CC Sabathia will be on the bump for the good guys.

Sanchez homers, drives in seven in win

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Based on his Twitter feed, OF Jake Cave broke his knee cap at some point this spring and has been rehabbing. Doesn’t sound like he’ll be 100% ready to go when the short season leagues start in late-June.

Triple-A Empire State (5-2 win over Toledo)
CF Kevin Russo, LF Ronnie Mustelier & SS Ramiro Pena: all 1-4 — Russo walked and got caught stealing … Mustelier drove in a run … Pena doubled, scored a run, and struck out twice
2B Matt Antonelli: 1-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP
1B Steve Pearce: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 1 SB
DH Jack Cust: 0-2, 1 R, 3 BB, 2 K — seven walks in his last four games
RF Colin Curtis: 1-3, 1 BB
3B Brandon Laird: 0-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB — he’s in a 2-for-27 (.074) rut
C Gus Molina: 1-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI — second straight game with a dinger
RHP Dellin Betances: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 1 HB, 9/2 GB/FB — 54 of 100 pitches were strikes … he got roughed up early but really settled down in his final three innings, allowing just two hits and no walks in three scoreless
LHP Juan Cedeno: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 3/0 GB/FB — only six of his 14 pitches were strikes
RHP Ryota Igarashi: — 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1/1 GB/FB — 22 of 31 pitches were strikes (71%), and he was running his fastball up to 95 … organizational debut after being claimed off waivers yesterday

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Game 50: Escape from LAnaheim

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Summing up this series in one picture. (REUTERS/Alex Gallardo)

The first two games of this series have been the typical Angels-Yankees nightmare, with bloop hits, amazing catches, infield singles, and timely hits all going against the Yankees. It’s frustratingly awful and I sorta hate myself for enjoying watching Mike Trout play. Can’t wait to watch him work his magic against another team. Anyway, here’s the lineup…

SS Derek Jeter
CF Curtis Granderson
3B Alex Rodriguez
2B Robinson Cano
1B Mark Teixeira
LF Raul Ibanez
RF Nick Swisher
DH Eric Chavez
C  Russell Martin

RHP Ivan Nova

Tonight’s game starts a little after 10pm ET and can be seen on YES locally and ESPN2 nationally. Enjoy.

David Robertson Update: With all the flat-ground work going well, Robertson will likely get back up on a mound and throw this Saturday. His return is not imminent, but it’s definite progress.

Brett Gardner Update: Gardner hit off a tee and soft toss today and everything went well. He’ll do the same tomorrow before hitting at full speed in a batting cage.

2012 Draft: Erlin Santos

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The 2012 amateur draft is less than one week away, so between now and then I’m going to highlight some prospects individually rather than lump them together into larger posts.

(www.woscbaseball.com)

Erlin Santos | RHP

Background
Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Santos actually signed with the Royals as an international free agent a few years ago but was released after pitching to an 8.10 ERA in 13.1 innings for their Dominican Summer League affiliate in 2010. He enrolled at Western Oklahoma State, which recruits the Caribbean Islands heavily, and is draft-eligible this summer.

Scouting Report
Listed at 6-foot-1 and 190 lbs., Santos is a two-pitch guy with a low-90s fastball and a sharp mid-80s slider. He misses bats but is also prone to missing the strike zone despite a simple and compact delivery. Santos is an ace in Division II but profiles best as a reliever in pro ball because he lacks a third pitch and is unable to consistently throw strikes. He’s made it no secret that he wants to get back into professional baseball and should be an easy sign.

Miscellany
Santos is a late-round guy, currently projected to go somewhere in the 8th-12th round. I like him because his present stuff is pretty good and there’s a chance it’ll jump a notch with a move to the bullpen. His control problems aren’t extreme (4.23 BB/9 this spring), so it’s not like it’ll take a miracle for him to pan out. Santos has pretty good stuff and in the late rounds of the draft, there’s not much more you can do than gamble on stuff.

Wednesday Night Open Thread

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Good to know I'm not the only one who wants to strangle him. (REUTERS/Alex Gallardo)

Just one more night of West Coast baseball, at least until the Yankees come back for seven games in late-July. Don’t worry, they don’t have to play in Anaheim any more after tonight. They can pack up after the game and not worry about this place for a long time.

Here’s your open thread for the night. We’ve got a Lee vs. Gee matchup in Flushing (Cliff vs. Dillon), plus there’s some great NHL and NBA playoff action going on as well. Talk about whatever you like here.