Just a quick heads up, I was on this week’s Eye on Baseball podcast at CBS. We talked about Derek Jeter’s setback and CC Sabathia’s lost velocity among a number of other topics, both Yankees and non-Yankees. Give it a listen.
RAB Live Chat
2013 Draft: Yankees offered Jonathan Gray roughly $500k in 2011
Via Jon Heyman: The Yankees offered RHP Jonathan Gray approximately $500k as their tenth round pick in 2011, which is far above slot. He did not sign and is now expected to be a top five pick in this summer’s draft. Both Baseball America (subs. req’d) and Keith Law (subs. req’d) ranked him as the second best prospect in the draft class behind Stanford RHP Mark Appel in their latest rankings.
The Yankees drafted the 21-year-old Gray out of Eastern Oklahoma State but he has since transferred to Oklahoma. He was a pure arm strength guy back in 2011, sitting around 94 mph with his fastball and backing it up with a hard slider. He’s since added velocity and consistently flirts with triple-digits, plus his secondary stuff and overall command has greatly improved. Going from a tenth rounder out of a junior college to a potential first overall pick out of a major program is quite a jump for the kid. Good for him.
Mailbag: Wang, Outfield, Pastornicky, Pitching
Got five questions for you this week. Please use the Submit A Tip box in the sidebar to send us anything throughout the week.
Nathan asks: Do you think Chien-Ming Wang can be more effective than either Ivan Nova or Phil Hughes (especially Nova)?
No, I don’t. Not at all. Wang, who turned 33 in March, hasn’t been an effective pitcher since hurting his foot in Houston in 2008. He’s managed a 6.39 ERA (5.12 FIP) with a 53.2% ground ball rate in 136.2 innings since then, and most of that came in the NL East with the Nationals. Wang looked great in the World Baseball Classic, almost like his old self, but he faced two teams (Australia and Japan) with a combined zero big leaguers on the roster. It doesn’t mean much.
The guy the Yankees had from 2005-2008 is long gone by now. Wang has had some very serious injuries since then, most notably the dreaded torn shoulder capsule. Guys who have had that surgery never come back the same. I’m talking Rich Harden, Johan Santana, Mark Prior, Chris Young, John Maine, and others. They never come back the same. Wang will join the Triple-A rotation today and if things go his way, maybe we’ll see him in the big leagues at some point. I don’t see any way he is better than Nova or Hughes right now. No chance at all.
Mark asks: Care to take a crack at predicting the 2014 outfield?
Unless Ichiro Suzuki manages to play his way off the roster this year — I don’t think it will happen, but it’s possible — I’m pretty sure it will be the same outfield they have now. Vernon Wells in left, Brett Gardner in center, and Ichiro in right. I think they’ll let Curtis Granderson walk as a free agent and find a better right-handed hitting platoon guy than Ben Francisco. Brennan Boesch could also be in the mix if he impresses this year.
In a perfect world, some of the kids in the minors will start to push those guys for spots next year. Zoilo Almonte has had an insane start to his Triple-A career these last few weeks, but let’s see how things play out this summer before ticketing him for the Hall of Fame. Tyler Austin, Slade Heathcott, and Ramon Flores could all wind up outfield options at some point in 2014, just probably not on Opening Day. I do think they’ll start the year with the veterans though, they always do.
Taylor asks: With Jeter’s injury and eventual retirement looming, would the Braves Tyler Pastornicky be a reasonable target to take over shortstop in the next few seasons? Blocked in Atlanta by Andrelton Simmons.
Pastornicky, 23, was originally drafted by the Blue Jays before going to the Braves in the Yunel Escobar trade. He opened last year as Atlanta’s everyday shortstop before playing his way back to the minors (65 wRC+) and opening the door for Simmons. It’s early, but he’s raked in Triple-A so far this year (160 wRC+).
Baseball America ranked Pastornicky as the seventh best prospect in the Braves system prior to last year (he wasn’t eligible for this year’s list). Here’s a snippet of the subscriber-only scouting report…
He has a good feel for hitting and makes consistent line-drive contact, though he could stand to draw a few more walks. He doesn’t have a lot of strength, but he has a quick bat and could develop some gap power. Pastornicky has plus speed and the aptitude to steal bases. He has above-average range at shortstop, and he could get more out of his average arm with a more consistent arm slot.
They also note he’s exceeded expectations during his march to the big leagues and is a big-time competitor with good baseball instincts.
I’m not sure if Pastornicky will ever hit enough to be a big league regular, even at shortstop, but I do think he has a better chance of playing the position everyday than Eduardo Nunez just because of his defense. Nunez’s throws have been greatly improved in the early going, but he’s still a below-average defender overall. They’re very similar offensively players — contact guys with speed — but the defense separates them. I like both guys as stopgaps more than long-term shortstop solutions.
Justin asks: I know this question may lend itself to a long post, but can you address possible options for the Yankees to build/maintain a strong pitching staff for 2014-2016? Given the impending retirements of Andy Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda and the lack of impact free agents, they’ve got a lot of eggs in the Michael Pineda/Manny Banuelos basket.
Oh don’t worry, the Yankees will just sign some veteran pitchers to one-year deals and get crazy unexpected production. I’m thinking one-year deals worth $10M for Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum this offseason, putting them in line for about 6 WAR in 2014. It is the Yankees way and it is their destiny.
In all seriousness, I do think veterans on one-year deals will be the crutch they lean on to fill out the roster while waiting (hoping) for some young players emerge from the farm system. The Yankees do the one-year veteran thing better than anyone, and as long as they use it as a way to supplement the roster rather than employ it as a core-building strategy, it works for me. It’s tough to see them finding veteran pitchers as productive as Kuroda and Pettitte on a one-year deals, but who knows? Maybe Halladay or Lincecum will be that guy.
Mark asks: Single biggest reason attendance appears to be lagging over the last two years?
Probably ticket prices. It costs a family of four about $100 just to sit in the grandstand, and that doesn’t include food and parking and all that. Suddenly a family outing to the ballpark on a weekend is a $200 event. There are countless other ways to spend that $200 and get more entertainment bang of the buck. So yeah, I do think they priced out a portion of the fan base and that’s a big reason why attendance is lagging. Obviously there is more going on here than just that. Eventually the Yankees will come up with a solution (dynamic pricing? hello???) that doesn’t involve blaming StubHub.
Yankees waste ninth inning comeback, fall to D’Backs in extra innings
For a while there, it looked like the Yankees were in for their third straight come-from-behind win over the Diamondbacks. Instead, they only delayed the inevitable. New York dropped its first extra-innings game of the year 6-2 in 12 innings on Thursday.
Philthy Phil Philanthropist
After two straight dud starts to open the season, Phil Hughes held Arizona to two runs in seven innings in the series finale. Both runs came on solo homers of course, it wouldn’t be a Hughes start without some dingers, but that was it. He allowed six hits but he didn’t walk anyone, and he struck out six. A whopping 75 of 109 pitches were strikes (69%), and outside of the homers, he only allowed one runner to make it as far as second base.
Two runs in seven innings is plenty good enough to win, but instead Phil exited the game in line for the loss. That part really isn’t his fault though. I’ll take this kind of outing another 28 times or so between now and October, it was pretty much the Hughes we saw after April last year. The homers are maddening as hell — both leadoff an inning — but they’re just part of who he is at this point. As long as he continues to limit base-runners in front of the dingers, he’ll be just fine. Good job in this one.
Can’t Touch The Lefty
Left-hander Patrick Corbin looked like he was trying to finish what Wade Miley could not on Wednesday. The New York native wears #46 because he grew up idolizing Andy Pettitte, and he held Pettitte’s team to two measly hits in seven innings of one-run ball. His seven strikeouts were one short of a career-high.
Outside of a sixth inning solo homer by Robinson Cano, the Yankees had no answer for the D’Backs left-hander. That has become a theme on the young season, getting shutdown by southpaws, but it’s not terribly surprising when guys like Ben Francisco and Frankie Cervelli are hitting fifth and sixth. They just aren’t middle of the order hitters at the big league level, yet there they were in prime spots for the New York freaking Yankees. To call the team’s lineup against lefties feeble is an insult to feeble lineups everywhere. They’re borderline non-competitive against southpaws until some of the injured guys, specifically Mark Teixeira, return.
Cervelli Ties It
Can’t say I was expecting Cervelli to hit a solo homer off J.J. Putz to tie the game with two strikes and one out in the ninth, but that’s exactly what happened. The Arizona closer hung a cement-mix splitter and Frankie hit it right into the first row of the left field stands. If there is such a thing as a Yankee Stadium cheapie to left field, that was it. I’m not going to go as far as saying it was reminiscent of the 2001 World Series, but we’ve certainly seen the Yankees stage late-inning comebacks against the D’Backs before.
Can’t Hold Out Any Longer
The Yankees bullpen had been on a pretty great streak coming into this game, having allowed zero runs in their previous 15 innings. That dates back to the first game of the Indians series. That can’t last forever though, and the scoreless streak came to an end at 19 innings when David Phelps let things get out of hand in the 12th.
Phelps allowed a leadoff double in each of his two innings, but he was unable to escape the second jam like he did the first. Arizona loaded the bases with one out, then took the lead on Cody Ross’ single before former Yankee Eric Chavez broke things open with a bases-clearing double. Phelps seems to have a knack for either pitching very well or very poorly. There’s not much of a middle ground. This was one of the poor outings.
Leftovers
The Yankees had two prime opportunities to put runs on the board but were unable to capitalize both times. Uber-setup man David Hernandez loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but both Cano and Kevin Youkilis struck out to end the jam. Cano actually swung at a pitch that hit him for strike three. Later on, the Yankees put the leadoff man on base against Heath Bell but were unable to score. Bell is awful and failing to score against him (in a small ballpark, no less), makes the loss well-earned in my book.
Cervelli had an interesting night aside from the game-tying homer — he committed not one but two errors on catcher’s interference. He simply jumped the gun with his mitt and put it in the path of the hitter’s swing. Frankie appeared to be in some pain after the first one, which came a half-inning before the homer. I guess his finger didn’t hurt too much.
The 9-1-2 wrap-around portion of the lineup went a combined 1-for-14 with three walks, and nearly all of that came during the bases loaded failed rally in the eighth. Hey, the Yankees had the right guys up at the plate in that situation and just didn’t score. No one to blame but themselves there.
No Yankee had more than one hit, and only Vernon Wells (two walks), Cano (homer and walk), and Francisco (single and walk) reached base twice. At one point Corbin retired 14 of 15 batters faced.
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 are off to Toronto for a three-game set with the new-look Blue Jays starting Friday night. Pettitte is scheduled to start the game after missing some time with back spasms, and he’ll be opposed by Brandon Morrow.
Murphy goes deep three times in Trenton loss
Got a series of infield promotions, courtesy of Josh Norris: IF Francisco Rosario to Low-A Charleston, 2B Rob Refnsyder to High-A Tampa, and IF Ali Castillo to Double-A Trenton. All the second basemen moved up a level, basically. Hopefully that’s not bad news for 2B Angelo Gumbs, who is on the Tampa DL.
Triple-A Scranton (5-4 loss to Rochester)
- 2B Corban Joseph: 2-5, 1 R, 1 2B — seven hits in his last 19 at-bats (.368) with two doubles and a homer
- 3B David Adams: 2-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K —seven hits in his last 13 at-bats (.538)
- LF Zoilo Almonte: 1-5, 1 2B
- CF Melky Mesa: 3-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI — seven hits in his last 13 at-bats (.538) and he hasn’t struck out in three games now … how about that?
- RHP Dellin Betances: 4 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 5/1 GB/FB — 45 of 76 pitches were strikes (59%)
Game 14: For The Sweep
The Yankees pulled off their first improbable win last night, at least in the sense that for most of the game, it didn’t feel like they had much of a chance. Wade Miley was on cruise control, the Diamondbacks scored some runs early … that kind of stuff makes a game feel like a loss in a hurry. Instead, the offense came through late and here we are looking at a potential sweep.
Of course, to get that sweep the Yankees will have to rely on Phil Hughes, who hasn’t pitched well at all this season. If that’s not enough, they’re also going to have to overcome left-hander Patrick Corbin, who will be on the bump for Arizona. The Yankees come into the game with a wimpy little 58 wRC+ as a team against southpaws, so they’re really going to earn this sweep if they manage to pull it off. Here’s the starting lineup…
- CF Brett Gardner
- LF Vernon Wells
- 2B Robinson Cano
- 1B Kevin Youkilis
- DH Ben Francisco
- C Frankie Cervelli
- RF Ichiro Suzuki
- SS Eduardo Nunez
- 3B Jayson Nix
And on the mound is the right-hander Phil Hughes.
Tonight’s game is scheduled to start at 7:05pm ET and can be seen on YES. Enjoy.