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Mailbag: Cashman, Outfield, Catchers, Overbay

April 12, 2013 by Mike 43 Comments

Six questions this week, but some of them have short answers. Use the Submit A Tip box in the sidebar to send us any questions or links or anything else during the week.

(Gregory Shamus/Getty)
(Gregory Shamus/Getty)

Shai asks: If the Yankees do poorly this season, I can see the media/fans calling for Brian Cashman’s head. Do you think that Hal Steinbrenner would fire him if under intense public pressure?

Cashman and Hal reportedly have a great working relationship, but who really knows how things are behind the scenes. I would be surprised if Cashman — or Joe Girardi, for that matter — was essentially made the scapegoat and fired at some point this year. I don’t think Hal really cares about the public pressure and frankly no owner should when it comes to on-field matters. How many times have we wanted people fired over the years? If the owner acknowledged public pressure there would be a new manager every other week. Cashman could be fired if the team plays poorly, it could definitely happen, but it would surprise me.

Brad asks: Will Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells platoon upon Curtis Granderson’s return?

My standard answer to the “what happens to everyone when so and so gets healthy” question is let’s wait to see everyone involved actually be healthy at the same time before we worry about it. I think that is especially true with the Derek Jeter/Eduardo Nunez and Kevin Youkilis/Alex Rodriguez situations. Worry about who plays when and where when the time comes.

Now, for the sake of argument, let’s assume Granderson returns as expected in early-May and everyone else in the outfield picture is healthy as well. The obvious move to free up a roster spot would be optioning Brennan Boesch down to Triple-A, replacing one lefty bat with another. That’s the easy part. After that, I think it depends entirely on who is playing well at the time.

Obviously Granderson will step right back into the lineup, but if Ichiro continues to not hit while Wells continues to produce, I do think Ichiro will wind up on the bench more often than not. If the roles are reverse when Grandy is ready, then I think Wells would sit. I don’t really see Brett Gardner being in danger of losing playing time. I think Girardi is just going to ride the hot hand, which is fine by me.

Mike asks: What is going to happen with the impending minor league catcher backlog? Eventually Gary Sanchez will be promoted to AA but that will take away time from J.R. Murphy who can’t move to AAA due to Austin Romine needing to play everyday. Who is most likely to be trade bait?

(Star-Ledger)
(Star-Ledger)

I don’t think there is much of a backlog, really. I think both Murphy and Sanchez will get promoted at midseason, and then Romine and Murphy will simply share catcher/DH duties for the second half in Triple-A. The Yankees have done that plenty of times before with their catchers, specifically Romine and Jesus Montero. I think Murphy and Sanchez even did it at one point as well.

I wouldn’t worry too much about playing time, all of these guys are high priority players in that sense. They’ll figure out a way to make sure they all get regular at-bats and enough time behind the plate. I suppose it’s not out of the question that Romine replaces Chris Stewart as the backup catcher later in the season (as part of the chain of promotions), but that would surprise me. The Yankees are enamored with Stewart for whatever reason. Anyway, as these things tend to do, it’ll work itself out. Don’t worry. Too many catchers is a good thing.

Mikey asks: Even though it’s early in the season, do you think the Yankees would be hesitant to make an upgrade over Lyle Overbay?

No, I don’t. I also don’t think it’s a huge priority right now. Mark Teixeira could be cleared to swing a bat today and begin playing Extended Spring Training games within two weeks. Overbay has been pretty awful with the bat but he has played well on defense. So yeah, I do think the Yankees would be willing to acquire a temporary first base upgrade, but I also don’t think they’re actively shopping for help at the position. If someone hits waivers or something, then they might pounce.

Anonymous asks: Not that the Yankees would trade him, but does Andy Pettitte have ten-and-five rights? Did his year off in 2011 reset the five-year clock?

The rulebook says ten-and-five no-trade provisions kick in “provided the player has spent the last five years with his current team,” so I guess that means the year off does reset the five-year portion of the criteria. It doesn’t say anything about the five years being continuous though, so I guess it’s open to interpretation. Pettitte and his agents would argue he has ten-and-five rights while the team would argue against them. Like you said though, the Yankees aren’t trading Pettitte. If they suck this year, he’ll go down with the ship.

Jacob asks: Given the Robinson Cano situation, when was the last time the Yankees traded away a homegrown star that was clearly their best player because they were out of the playoff race?

Forget homegrown and out of the playoff race, when was the last time the Yankees traded away their best player period? The only example I can come up with is Rickey Henderson in 1989. He piled up 3.5 bWAR in 65 games before being traded that June while the team leader ended up being Steve Sax with 4.4 bWAR (in 158 games). There was some animosity between Rickey and George Steinbrenner at the time, which led to the trade.

Other than that, I can’t think of an instance where the Yankees traded their best player. Gary Sheffield and Roberto Kelly weren’t the team’s best player at the time of their trades, and neither was Bobby Murcer back in 1974. Maybe I’m forgetting someone obvious, but I think the point stands: the Yankees aren’t in the business of trading their best players. They’re in the business of acquiring other teams’ best players. I fully expect them to work out some kind of monster extension with Cano this summer and make the whole thing moot.

Filed Under: Mailbag

DePaula wild in second start with River Dogs

April 11, 2013 by Mike 67 Comments

This is a few weeks old, but I’ve had it open in a tab and didn’t get around to reading it until today. Josh Norris spoke to SS Cito Culver, who confirmed he stopped switch-hitting in favor of batting right-handed exclusively right after being cut from big league camp in March. It was his idea and he took it to the brass. So there, confirmation.

Also, apparently LHP Matt Tracy is working on a cutter according to Mike Ashmore. He’s primarily a fastball/changeup guy with some curveballs mixed in.

Triple-A Scranton was rained out for the second day in a row. No word when they’ll make this one up.

Double-A Trenton (6-5 win over Richmond in 11 innings, walk-off style)

  • CF Slade Heathcott: 3-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB — tripled with one out in the 11th to setup the winning run
  • LF Ramon Flores: 2-6, 1 RBI, 1 K — walk-off sac fly
  • RF Tyler Austin: 0-5, 1 K — stuck in an 0-for-14 slump
  • C J.R. Murphy: 1-5, 1 K, 1 E (catcher interference)
  • DH Neil Medchill: 2-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 K
  • RHP Zach Nuding: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 6/2 GB/FB — 56 of 90 pitches were strikes (62%)
  • RHP Branden Pinder: 2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 2/1 GB/FB — 26 of 35 pitches were strikes (74%) … eight runs allowed in his last 2.1 innings

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Down on the Farm

Back-to-back rainouts change pitching picture, create scheduling headaches

April 11, 2013 by Mike 26 Comments

Remember when the Yankees played baseball? (Getty)
Remember when the Yankees played baseball? (Getty)

Despite back-to-back rain outs in Cleveland these last two days, the Yankees will not alter their rotation heading into this weekend’s series against the Orioles. CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, and Andy Pettitte will start the next three games in that order, meaning Phil Hughes is having his start skipped just like Ivan Nova. Hughes told Meredith Marakovits he’ll be available out of the bullpen this weekend, which is pretty awesome actually. He’s always been very effective in relief. Monday’s off-day affords the team some extra pitching flexibility as well. Hughes is currently scheduled to start Tuesday against the Diamondbacks pending his usage this weekend.

Meanwhile, the Yankees will have to trek back to Ohio to make up not one, but two games at some point this summer. They share only four common off-days with the Indians, not counting the Thursday following the All-Star Game and the day between the end of the regular season and the start of the postseason…

  • Monday, April 15th
  • Thursday, May 2nd
  • Monday, May 13th
  • Monday, September 23rd

April 15th is this coming Monday, right smack in the middle of a six-game homestand. May 2nd and September 23rd are also right in the middle of homestands while the Yankees will be traveling from Kansas City back to New York on May 13th. I think there’s a pretty good chance they’ll schedule a doubleheader for one of those dates and bang out both games at once. September 23rd is probably the most preferably makeup date in terms of reducing the number of consecutive days with a game (from the Yankees’ perspective) since they have both the prior and following Monday off.

Now here’s where things get really messy: it’s supposed to rain all day in New York tomorrow. The heaviest stuff is expected in the morning, but the forecast right now says the showers will continue through the night. Three consecutive rain outs (in two different cities) would be pretty crummy. Not only would the bombers have three postponed games to make up just two weeks into the new season, but you also have to worry about the hitters losing their rhythm and what not. The Yankees’ bats did some major damage on Monday and Tuesday and I really would like that to continue. Nothing they can do though, the weather is the weather. Unfortunate timing.

Filed Under: Game Stories

Game Nine: More Rain

April 11, 2013 by Mike 182 Comments

(AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
(AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

The Yankees and Indians were rained out last night, and unfortunately tonight’s forecast isn’t looking any better. If anything, it actually looks worse. Timing is everything though, so maybe the rain will hold off long enough for them to squeeze the game in before returning back to New York.

Because the Yankees do not make another trip to Cleveland this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if they waited as long as possible to get this game in. Remember two or three years ago when that game against the Orioles started at like, 11:45pm ET? Something like that. Then again, it is only April, maybe they won’t wait around as long and instead worry about the scheduling later. I just don’t want an older roster to lose too many precious off-days during the summer. On the other hand, every game postponed this month is one fewer game the Yankees will have to play without Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira et al. Here’s the starting lineup…

  1. CF Brett Gardner
  2. 2B Robinson Cano
  3. 3B Kevin Youkilis
  4. DH Travis Hafner
  5. LF Vernon Wells
  6. RF Ichiro Suzuki
  7. SS Eduardo Nunez
  8. 1B Lyle Overbay
  9. C Frankie Cervelli

And on the mound is the one-time All-Star, Phil Hughes.

Tonight’s game is scheduled to start a little after 7pm ET but the rain, blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda. You can watch this one on YES locally and MLB Network nationally whenever it does begin. Enjoy.

Rotation Update: The Yankees have already sent CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, and Andy Pettitte back to New York so they wouldn’t have to wait around for the rain with the rest of the team in Cleveland. The trio is scheduled to start against the Orioles this weekend.

Mark Teixeira Update: Teixeira and his injured wrist will be re-evaluated tomorrow and he hopes to be cleared to swing a bat. If he is, he’ll start with a fungo bat and gradually work his way up. He’s optimistic he’ll be able to take full batting practice next week and play in Extended Spring training soon thereafter.

Update (6:39pm): The game will not start on time, it was just announced. It hasn’t started raining yet in Cleveland, but it will soon. No word on a tentative start time. This … might be a while.

Update (8:07pm): They’re saying the game will start at 8:30pm ET.

Update (8:34pm): Apparently the ceremonial first pitch has been thrown and the lineups have been announced, but the tarp is still on the field. Okay then.

Update (8:55pm): Indians closer Chris Perez said the game has been postponed on Twitter. No official word yet.

Update (9:02pm): Yep, the game has officially been postponed. Same deal as yesterday’s game, meaning no word on a makeup date.

Filed Under: Game Threads

Curtis Granderson started throwing today

April 11, 2013 by Mike 11 Comments

According to the man himself, Curtis Granderson threw for the first time today since having his right forearm fractured by a pitch in early Spring Training. He said everything went “really well,” so hooray for that.

Granderson, 32, is expected to return to the team in early-May, which isn’t all that far away really. The Yankees insist he will remain in center field when he returns for whatever reason. One thing we have to remember is that Granderson missed all of camp, so his minor league rehab stint will have to be longer than usual. It won’t be two quick games with Double-A Trenton or anything like that, he’ll need a good week or two of at-bats before being ready for the big leagues.

Filed Under: Asides, Injuries Tagged With: Curtis Granderson

Yankees will skip Ivan Nova following rain out

April 11, 2013 by Mike 33 Comments

The Yankees will skip Ivan Nova’s turn through the rotation following last night’s rain out, Joe Girardi confirmed. Phil Hughes will start tonight as scheduled — stomach bug and weather permitting — and Nova will instead get the ball in five days.

I hope the Yankees will take this opportunity to split up Hughes and Nova in the rotation, just for the sake of easing the load on the bullpen down the road. Those two back-to-back could create some headaches. Even if they don’t do that, skipping Nova completely sure seems to indicate the team doesn’t have much faith in him in the moment. Perhaps he and pitching coach Larry Rothschild are working on something on the side, but this doesn’t look like vote of confidence in the young right-hander. Hard to say it’s undeserved.

Filed Under: Asides, Pitching Tagged With: Ivan Nova, Phil Hughes

Update: Yanks will have $1.18M-$1.88M to spend internationally in 2013

April 11, 2013 by Mike 51 Comments

Thursday: Badler says all 30 teams were also assigned international “slot” values, indicating a worldwide draft may be forthcoming. There are 120 slots (four rounds) and the Yankees are allotted $1,177,900 total, including $487,200 for their first pick (28th overall).

Tuesday: Via Ben Badler: The Yankees have a $1,877,900 international spending pool this summer, the third lowest in baseball by virtue of having the third best record in the league last year. The Astros, meanwhile, will have just under $5M at their disposal. The international signing period officially begins on July 2nd.

Every team was allocated $2.9M for international players last summer, which the Yankees spent on the first day of the signing period on three players: C Luis Torrens, OF Alex Palma, and IF Yancarlos Baez. The spending pools are scaled based on the previous year’s record now, though there has been plenty of talk about a worldwide draft lately. Either way, the Yankees used the international market to build their farm system for decades because of the ability to spend freely, but that ability has now been taken away. That isn’t good for anyone, especially the players.

Filed Under: Asides, International Free Agents

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