NY Yankees News, Information & Community

Ivan Nova and Monday’s doubleheader

May 8, 2013 by Mike 8 Comments

Via George King & Chad Jennings: Joe Girardi confirmed Ivan Nova is a candidate to start one game of Monday’s doubleheader against the Indians if he comes through today’s Extended Spring Training game well. “As long as he feels good and throws the ball well (it’s possible),” said the skipper. “We are allowed to add that 26th man [for doubleheaders].”

Nova, 26, is on the DL with a triceps issue and is eligible to be activated on Sunday. I’m probably reading too much into this, but I thought it was interesting Girardi mentioned the 26th man. The rules say the 26th player has to go back to the minors immediately following the doubleheader, so either they’ll have to rearrange the bullpen — technically send down Vidal Nuno or Preston Claiborne, called them back up as the 26th man — or Nova’s going to minors to work on things following that game. My money’s on the former.

Wells’ slump comes at worst possible time

May 8, 2013 by Mike 61 Comments

Like many of you, I was extremely skeptical when the Yankees acquired Vernon Wells for two non-prospects at the very end of Spring Training. The move stunk of desperation, but frankly the team was desperate at that time. They lost a lot of offense to injury in the prior weeks and something had to be done. The Angels had a player they wanted the dump and the Yankees had a need. The puzzle pieces fit.

Wells, 34, made the Yankees look very smart for the first few weeks of the season. He had three hits, including a homer, against the Red Sox during the second game of the season. Two days later he went deep again, and the homers kept coming — five in his first 15 games of the year. Wells finished April with a .300/.366/.544 (145 wRC+) batting line that exceeded every reasonable expectation. It was just what the Yankees needed.

Things haven’t been going so well for Vernon since then, however. Last night’s 0-for-4 dropped him to 3-for-21 (.143) on the month and 10-for-48 (.208) in his last 13 games. That dates back to the series in Toronto, when he bludgeoned his former team for three days. Wells is still hitting a respectable .270/.328/.468 (114 wRC+) on the season, but he has clearly been trending downward of late. Anecdotally, it seems like he’s been getting beat on a lot of outside pitches lately. Both fastballs and breaking balls. The strike zone plots do not show that he’s been getting more outside pitches of late, however (via Texas Leaguers):

Who knows why the slump is happening, but it’s happening. Maybe he’s just fatigued from playing everyday for the first time in two years. The slump shouldn’t be unexpected either, Wells was hitting far better than he did even during his prime last month. At some point he was going to cool off.

The unfortunate thing is that the Yankees need Wells to hit right now, very much so. With Kevin Youkilis injured and, for at least three games, Travis Hafner limited to pinch-hitting duties in the NL park, there needs to be someone in the lineup to complement Robinson Cano. As good as he is, Robbie can’t do it all by himself. Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki have been doing a fine job of getting on-base of late, but someone other than Cano needs to drive them in. Wells has to be that guy and right now he isn’t.

At some point Vernon will heat back up and go on a nice tear. At least I think he will. It is fair to be skeptical of him going forward given how dreadful he’s been the last two years, but I don’t think he’s suddenly regressed to sub-replacement level. The question is when will that rebound happen? Outside of Curtis Granderson and maybe Youkilis, the Yankees are unlikely to get any of their injured bats back this month. Their offense simply isn’t good enough to get by with a slumping Wells. He gave them more than they could have asked for in April, but now they need him to do more in May.

Rockies shutout punchless Yanks in series opener

May 7, 2013 by Mike 55 Comments

Left-hander on the mound, NL lineup with no Travis Hafner … the Yankees didn’t have a prayer. The offense put up nothing in support of the pitching staff on a rainy Monday night, and the Rockies waltzed to a stress-free 2-0 win in the series opener. The Yankees have now lost three of their last four games.

Kuroda’s One Mistake
As the game progressed, I got the sense the only way the Yankees would win was if Hiroki Kuroda pulled a Clayton Kershaw by throwing a complete-game shutout and hitting a homer. Unfortunately, he did neither. The veteran right-hander had a splendid outing spoiled by one mistake, a middle-middle fastball to Carlos Gonzalez with a full count and two outs in the sixth. CarGo put the ball over the fence and into the bullpen for a two-run homer. Those were the only runs of the game and all Colorado would need.

Outside of that two-run homer, Kuroda was outstanding. He allowed six hits — four in the fifth inning — and one walk in seven innings of work, striking out three and getting 14 of his 21 outs on the infield. This was reminiscent of last year, when Kuroda would consistently pitch well but get little run support. Given the lineup around him, the lack of offense is a little more understandable this time around. Hiroki deserves better.

Punchless
Now that Vernon Wells has crashed back to Earth, the lineup is basically Robinson Cano and a bunch of guys who might start for Triple-A Scranton. I guess we should cut Brett Gardner and Travis Hafner some slack, but neither started this game because matchups!!! and rules say the Yankees can’t use a DH against the Rockies, respectively. The offense put up very little fight on Monday.

The Bombers had four hits total — bloop singles by Jayson Nix, Ichiro Suzuki, and Chris Stewart plus an infield single from Nix — and their best chance to score came in the third, when Ichiro stole second and third bases with two outs. Nix struck out looking to end the inning and the threat. That was that. Just two of the final 14 hitters they sent to the plate reached base safely, and that was a walk and the infield single. Weak.

Leftovers
About the only thing the Yankees did well on offense was steal. They ran wild on Jorge De La Rosa, stealing four bases in his six innings of work. Ichiro stole two in that one inning while Nix and Stewart stole one apiece. Of course, Gardner was anchored to first in the seventh, which led to a Chris Nelson inning-ending double play. So it goes.

I don’t know what else there is to add, really. Stewart made a nice snap-throw to pick a runner off first base in the second inning and Shawn Kelley allowed a single in an otherwise uneventful and scoreless inning. That’s basically it. I wouldn’t call this the most interesting game in the world.

Weird little fact: the Yankees have scored a total of five runs in their last four games at Coors Field, dating back to the series in 2007. That’s … surprising.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings.

Source: FanGraphs

Up Next
The Yankees and Rockies will play game two of this three-game set on Wednesday night, when David Phelps gets the ball against Juan Nicasio. I’m guessing that one will feature a few more runs than this one.

Heathcott & Ramirez help Thunder to a win

May 7, 2013 by Mike 29 Comments

RHP Mikey O’Brien has been promoted to Double-A Trenton according to Josh Norris. The Thunder have a full rotation, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens there. I suppose this could be the end of the ill-fated LHP Francisco Rondon as a starter experiment, especially since they line up to pitch on the same day.

Late Updates: 3B Rob Segedin has an impingement in his hip, according to Norris. Hence the whole season-ending thing. Also, Norris says RHP Caleb Cotham has indeed been promoted to Triple-A and will start Thursday.

Triple-A Scranton (3-1 win over Indianapolis)

2B Corban Joseph: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B
CF Melky Mesa: 0-4, 4 K — 49 strikeouts and four walks this year
LF Zoilo Almonte: 1-4, 1 K
3B Ronnie Mustelier: 0-4, 1 RBI, 2 K, 1 E (fielding)
RHP Brett Marshall: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, 2/5 GB/FB — 58 of 92 pitches were strikes (63%) … 21 walks in 31.1 innings
RHP Mark Montgomery: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1/2 GB/FB — only ten of 21 pitches were strikes (48%) … seven walks in his last 7.1 innings

[Read more…]

Game 31: Coors Field

May 7, 2013 by Mike 300 Comments

I’m not going to lie: I am not looking forward to these three games in Coors Field. Hiroki Kuroda spoke to Ken Davidoff about the challenges of pitching in the thin mountain air, and it doesn’t sound fun. Considering how much the Yankees rely on their pitching, they have to hope the altitude helps the bats or their pitchers avoid the pitfalls of Coors Field. Here’s the lineup that will face left-hander Jorge De La Rosa…

CF Ichiro Suzuki
SS Jayson Nix
2B Robinson Cano
LF Vernon Wells
RF Ben Francisco
1B Lyle Overbay
3B Chris Nelson
C Chris Stewart
SP Hiroki Kuroda

This is the team’s first non-Eastern Time Zone game of the year, which I’m guessing you realized when the game didn’t start at 7pm ET. First pitch is scheduled for 8:40pm ET and can be seen on YES. Enjoy.

David Robertson Update: Robertson (hamstring) played catch and threw some pitches in the bullpen, and everything went fine. He considers himself available tonight, but it’s unclear if Joe Girardi will give him the proverbial “one extra day.”

Ivan Nova Update: Nova (triceps) is scheduled to pitch in an Extended Spring Training game tomorrow, according to Anthony McCarron. Is it a coincidence he lines up a) with David Phelps’ rotation spot, and b) to pitch Monday (the doubleheader against the Indians)? I’m guessing no. Nova is eligible to come off the DL on Sunday.

Tuesday Night Open Thread

May 7, 2013 by Mike 30 Comments

The Yankees are in Colorado to play the Rockies, which means they’re in the Mountain Time Zone. That means we have to wait longer than usual for baseball. The game doesn’t start until 8:40pm ET, so here’s an open thread to tide you over until the regular game thread goes up. The Mets (and Matt Harvey!) are playing the White Sox, MLB Network is airing a game (teams depend on where you live), plus there’s NBA (Knicks!) and NHL (Isles!) playoff action going on. Plenty of ways to kill the time.

2013 Draft: Ryan Boldt

May 7, 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.

Ryan Boldt | OF

Background
Born and raised about 50 miles outside of Minneapolis, Boldt stars for Red Wing High School and has an impressive track record at showcase events. He suffered a bone bruise in his right knee while running down a fly ball late last month, and although he has yet to get back onto the field, Boldt has resumed working out and an MRI showed no significant damage. He’s committed to Nebraska.

Scouting Report
A physical specimen listed at 6-foot-1 and 190 lbs., Boldt is a top notch athlete who shows potential above-average tools across the board but no elite carrying tool. He makes consistent hard contact from the left side because he waits well on pitches and can keep the barrel of the bat in the hitting zone for a long time. The swing is gearing for slashing line drives to all fields and not so much power, but he is strong enough to hit the ball out of the park. Boldt runs very well and is a true center fielder with a strong throwing arm. His work ethic and makeup draw rave reviews, and it’s evidenced in the work he did to learn to throw right-handed after tests found growth plate damage in his left shoulder during his Little League days. There are a few more videos at YouTube.

Miscellany
Keith Law (subs. req’d) and Baseball America (subs. req’d) ranked Boldt as the 13th and 22nd best prospect in the draft class in their latest rankings, respectively, but that was before the knee injury. His high school season didn’t start until last month either, so scouts have had a very limited look at him this spring. Cold weather guys always get the short-end of the scouting stick, but Boldt has been a regular on the showcase circuit and he won’t really sneak up on anyone. He fits the Yankees’ typical position player profile as a super-toolsy athlete at an up-the-middle position, so he certainly looks like someone the team could target with one of their early picks (26th, 32nd, 33rd) if the knee injury and lack of spring exposure cause him to fall.