NY Yankees News, Information & Community

Yankees activate Joba Chamberlain; designate David Huff for assignment

May 28, 2013 by Mike 8 Comments

The Yankees have activated Joba Chamberlain off the DL, Joe Girardi announced. David Huff has been designated for assignment to clear a 25-man roster spot, and as an added bonus the Yankees now have two open 40-man spots.

Joba, 27, has been sidelined for one month and one day with an oblique strain. He made a handful of Extended Spring Training relief appearances and is apparently good to go. Huff, 28, appeared in one game for the Yankees after being claimed off waivers from the Indians over the weekend. There’s a decent change he’ll clear waivers and remain in the organization as a non-40-man roster player.

Yankees outright Francisco Rondon to Triple-A

May 28, 2013 by Mike 2 Comments

Left-hander Francisco Rondon has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A. The Yankees designated him for assignment over the weekend to create room on the 40-man roster for the recently claimed David Huff. I thought there was a chance someone would grab him off waivers given his handedness and three minor league options, but no one bit.

Rondon, 25, pitched to a 7.46 ERA (5.83 FIP) in 35 innings spread across six starts and six relief appearances for Double-A Trenton before getting the roster axe. I assume he’ll wind up back with the Thunder even though the outright sends him to Triple-A Scranton. Rondon will become a minor league free agent after the season, and while this isn’t really a career crossroads, it would serve him well to get back to his 2012 form (3.96 ERA and 4.06 FIP) the rest of the summer.

2013 Draft: Jonathon Crawford

May 28, 2013 by Mike 6 Comments

The 2013 amateur draft will be held from June 6-8 this year, and between now and then I’m going to highlight some prospects individually rather than lump them together into larger posts.

Jonathon Crawford | RHP

Background
Heavily recruited as an outfielder out of Okeechobee High School in Florida, Crawford wound up on the mound at Florida after declining to sign with the Marlins as a 42nd round pick in 2010. He’s pitched to a 4.03 ERA with 64 strikeouts and 33 walks in 80.1 innings spread across 14 starts this year. In his first two years with the Gators, he managed a 3.18 ERA with 77 strikeouts and 25 walks in 82 innings.

Scouting Report
Crawford, who is listed at 6-foot-2 and 205 lbs., came into the spring as a potential top ten pick thanks to his power arsenal. His fastball has sat anywhere from 89-95 mph this year, though mostly at the higher end of that range in recent weeks. He was 93-96 and touching 99 regularly as a sophomore. A low-to-mid-80s slider with sharp bite is his top secondary offering, but he doesn’t locate the pitch well enough consistently. His changeup remains a distant third offering. Crawford’s delivery is a little rough thanks to an Aaron Crow-esque wrist wrap, a short stride, and a stiff landing. It hinders his command and leads to some projecting him as a reliever. There’s isn’t much video out there, but you catch a quick glance at him at 0:22 mark of this clip.

Miscellany
Baseball America and Keith Law (subs. req’d) ranked Crawford as the 24th and 46th best prospect in this year’s draft in their latest rankings, respectively. Crawford has been trending upward in recent weeks and in a draft short on potential impact college pitching, his high-end arsenal and upside could land him in the first round despite the statistically meh year. The Yankees have three first round picks (26th, 32nd, 33rd) and are in a position to gamble on a huge yet risky arm like Crawford this spring.

Gary Sanchez ranks 16th on Keith Law’s updated top 25 prospect list

May 28, 2013 by Mike 28 Comments

Keith Law posted an updated ranking of the top 25 prospects in the minor leagues today (subs. req’d), with the top spot belonging to Cardinals OF Oscar Taveras. Rangers SS Jurickson Profar was baseball’s top consensus prospect coming into the season, but he is ineligible the updated list because he’s currently in the big leagues. Twins OF Byron Buxton and Red Sox SS Xander Boegarts round out the top three.

C Gary Sanchez, who ranked 18th on Law’s preseason list, climbed two spots to 16th. “Although there’s still some question of whether he will remain a catcher long term, I think he’s going to stay there, as he’s enough of an athlete to become an adequate backstop in time — and his bat will be MVP-caliber for that position,” wrote Law. Sanchez is hitting .271/.345/.475 (131 wRC+) with eight homers in 199 plate appearances for High-A Tampa this year, and he’s in line for a midseason promotion to Double-A Trenton. That is probably a few weeks away. No other Yankee farmhands made the updated top 25.

The CC Sabathia Problem

May 28, 2013 by Mike 59 Comments

For the first time since signing with the Yankees, CC Sabathia is truly a concern. His last three starts have gotten progressively worse, culminating with Sunday’s seven-run, seven-inning disaster against the Rays. It was the fourth time he allowed four or more runs in his last seven starts, raising his season ERA to 3.96 (4.09 FIP). The eleven homers he’s surrendered are half last season’s total in a little more than one-third of the innings, and the weather hasn’t warmed up much yet. He’s a concern, there’s no sugarcoating it.

“It’s everything,” said Sabathia to Mark Feinsand following Sunday’s game when asked what was wrong. “Not being able to make pitches with two strikes, fastball command. It’s just not being good … I’ve been through bad stretches in my career, but it’s tough. It’s just one of those things where you’ve got to keep working, keep going and believe that you’re going to get better. I’ve just got to make better pitches, do a better job of getting outs pitching to contact and not getting behind in hitter’s counts.”

That’s some fine generic pitcher speak right there, which unfortunately isn’t very helpful. We shouldn’t be surprised by a player declining to explicitly discuss his struggles, however. It’s typical. Sabathia is clearly frustrated though, it’s evident in his body language. Here, just look at his reaction to the Sean Rodriguez homer from Sunday:

When was the last time you saw Sabathia show outward frustration like that? I can’t remember it ever happening, certainly not before this season at least. He’s pitching poorly and it’s starting to wear on him. It’s perfectly normal. We’re talking about one of baseball’s best pitchers over the last half-decade suddenly struggling as much as he has at any time in his career. It’s a shock to the system.

Anecdotally, it seems like hitters are squaring up Sabathia much more often this year, at least compared to his other four years in New York. That isn’t showing up in his line drive rate — 21.8%, which is only a touch higher than last year (21.1%) and his career average (20.3%) — but batted ball data is fickle since it’s subject to score bias. More balls squared up could mean deeper fly balls that are still caught for outs, harder hit ground balls that still go for singles. That’s what it seems like to me, anyway.

Is that problem related to his velocity drop? It very well could be. Fastballs are not independent events — they setup everything else, and for Sabathia that’s his slider and changeup. It’s an awful lot easier to sit back on mid-80s sliders and changeups when the fastball is humming in at 89-91 instead of 93-95. Sabathia hasn’t altered his pitch selection a ton, at least in the sense that he threw 53.9% fastballs last year and 52.0% this year. That’s a small difference. He has thrown more changeups and fewer sliders than last year, but at this point of the season it could just be a sample size thing. Overall, he isn’t throwing more non-fastballs in 2013.

“The only way the velocity (is a problem) is if it’s changing his arm angle because he’s trying to muster or anything else,” said pitching coach Larry Rothschild to Feinsand on Sunday. “I don’t really see that. I think he’s trying to make pitches with what he’s got on a given day and staying within deliveries and trying to execute pitches. Early in the season he had the same velocity and pitched really well. I think it’s just executing pitches a little bit better.”

Command has appeared to be an issue for Sabathia at times this year, but there really isn’t a way to show that statistically. Walk rates and zone rates speak more to control and throwing strikes in general than command, which is throwing quality strikes. Dotting the edges, staying at the knees, pitching to the hole in the hitter’s swing, hitting the mitt, stuff like that. You can always tell when CC is off because his fastball sails up and away to righties, which I suppose could stem from overthrowing and trying to force velocity rather than just letting the ball come out naturally. I haven’t noticed if that is happening more frequently this year, however.

I have no idea what’s wrong with Sabathia. I don’t think it’s as simple is “he lost some velocity and therefore took a big step back in effectiveness,” though. His days of doing anything more than touching 94+ are probably long gone, which is perfectly normal for a 32-year-old pitcher with over 2,700 big league innings on his arm. Adjustments have to be made and that could take time — it took Mike Mussina all of 2007 to reinvent himself, for example — but it’s becoming more and more clear with each start that the Sabathia of old isn’t coming back. Given the offense and the team’s desperate need for strong pitching, the Yankees need those adjustments to come sooner rather than later. Until they come, CC’s performance is a problem.

No-show offense sinks Yankees in Subway Series opener

May 27, 2013 by Mike 49 Comments

Don’t look now, but the Yankees have suddenly lost four of their last six games. One of the wins took a miracle ninth inning comeback as well. Monday’s 2-1 loss to the Mets was just par for the course, meaning fine pitching but an invisible offense.

No Reward
It sure looks like that seven-run, two-out disaster two weeks ago was just a bump in the road for Phil Hughes. He rebounded to hold the Orioles to two runs in six innings last time out, and on Monday he held an admittedly feeble Mets lineup to one run on four hits in seven innings. Two of those hits were singles by opposing pitcher Jon Niese (!), the other two a David Wright triple to right-center and a David Wright solo homer to left. Phil struck out six and walked zero, throwing first pitch strikes to 17 of 24 batters (71%) and strikes with 68 of 101 pitches (67%).

Unfortunately, the Yankees do not leave their pitchers much margin for error these days, and seven innings of one-run ball is just good enough for a no decision. Hughes has allowed two or fewer runs six times in his last eight starts, yet the Bombers have only won three of those six games. Two runs in almost any number of innings from the starter used to be an auto-win, as recently as last year, but nowadays is just good enough to avoid a loss. Phil did his part, but no one else did.

Eighth Inning Guy
David Robertson picked a bad time for his worst game of the month. He was done in by a bloop ground rule double and a fat middle-middle fastball to Daniel Murphy in a hitter-friendly 3-1 count, but in between he walked the hackstastic Jordany Valdespin — career 5.1 BB% and 32.7% swing rate on pitches out of the zone — while Chris Stewart, Miracle Catcher™ committing a back-breaking passed ball.

It looked like the Yankees would escape the inning unscathed for a while thanks to Robinson Cano, who corralled Ruben Tejada’s hard-hit grounder to second and fired home for the plate at the plate and the second out of the inning. The replays I saw made it look like Stewart applied the tag on Mike Baxter in time, but apparently it was up for debate. Either way, the ump ruled him out and that’s all that matters. Robertson had a rough night, throwing only 14 of 27 pitches for strikes. What can you do.

Brett Saves The Day
Hughes has a homer problem, and it’s no secret. He serves up dingers like the best of ’em, and when the season ends in a few months, his homer total will be one shy of what he actually surrendered on the season. Hughes gave up a two-run homer to Murphy in the bottom of the sixth inning of this game, a line drive rocket to left-center that would not have left the old CitiField dimensions. It wasn’t a homer though. It was an inning-ending fly ball according to box score because Brett Gardner did this:

Most homer-robbing catches involve high fly balls and short-ish fences, when it’s more about timing the jump than anything. That wasn’t most homer-robbing catches. Gardner had to showcase his elite range to get to the wall first, then use his hops to actually go up to catch the ball. There was no downtime there, Brett didn’t have time to sit back and size up the fly ball. It had to happen all at once and he nailed it. That’s an upper-echelon homer-robbing catch there. You won’t find many better.

Leftovers
Had the Mets played competent defensive outfielders in the corners on Monday, the Yankees don’t score a run. Gardner blooped a triple to left and Jayson Nix blooped a single to right in the sixth inning for the team’s only run. Nix’s ball might have been a tough play for any outfielder, but Gardner’s was damn close to routine for non-Lucas Duda-level defenders. They’re line drives in a well-earned run in the box score, of course.

I didn’t have a problem with Joe Girardi not pinch-hitting for Hughes with men on first and second and one out in the seventh. He was cruising and his pitch count had yet to crack 80, and it’s not like the bench was full of viable alternatives. If Phil’s pitch count was higher or if it was an inning later, I would have pinch-hit. The Mets have an awful bullpen though, have to figure even this lineup would get to them at some point.

Nice game for the Miracle Catcher™, who also grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the second in addition to that big passed ball. He singled and had the fewest plate appearances among the eight position players starters in this game, yet still had the worst WPA (-.142). That doesn’t even count the passed ball, which doesn’t exist in WPA land.

Ichiro Suzuki drew a walk with one out in the ninth inning and stayed glued to first, never once attempting to steal. Girardi said afterwards it was a “pretty big risk” to try to take second base with Travis Hafner at the plate, which leaves out the entire Lyle Overbay at-bat earlier in the inning. He’s gotta go right after reaching base. Bobby Parnell is too good and they needed to have to shots to drive him in.

Vernon Wells snapped an 0-for-17 skid with a solid sixth inning single, but his descent to mediocrity continues and has his batting line at a robust .264/.315/.462 (106 wRC+). Every starter except for Hughes had a hit tonight, but Nix was the only one with two. Their nine hits were the definition of scattered.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
For the box score and video highlights, check out MLB.com. For some other stats, check out FanGraphs. For the updated standings, check out ESPN. The Red Sox pounded the Phillies, so they are now tied with the Yankees atop the AL East in the loss column. Boston is technically in first by percentage points. The Orioles also won and are three back in the loss column.

Source: FanGraphs

Up Next
Same two teams on Tuesday night for game two of this makeshift four-game series. It’ll be a battle of aces between old Hiroki Kuroda and young Matt Harvey. That figures to be a blast. RAB Tickets is the place to go for last minute ticket deals if you want to head out to Queens to catch the game live.

Austin’s big day carries Thunder to a win

May 27, 2013 by Mike 13 Comments

Triple-A Scranton (8-0 win over Norfolk)

2B Corban Joseph: 0-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 HBP
RF Thomas Neal: 2-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K — hitting .355/.459/.484 with more walks (six) than strikeouts (five), but it’s only 37 plate appearances
LF Zoilo Almonte: 3-4, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS — 19 hits in his last 47 at-bats (.404), so he’s starting to head up
3B Ronnie Mustelier: 3-5, 2 R, 1 RBI — ten hits in his last 28 at-bats (.357), so he’s starting to come around again
CF Melky Mesa: 0-4, 1 K
RHP Chien-Ming Wang: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 10/8 GB/FB — 48 of 83 pitches were strikes (58%) … pretty close to vintage CMW with all the quick outs, just need a few more grounders and a few less fly balls

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