River Avenue Blues

Austin injured in High-A debut

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In case you missed it late last night, there were a series of promotions involving some of the Yankees’ very best prospects. Meanwhile, here are today’s notes…

  • Apparently the Yankees were planning to call up LHP Justin Thomas from Triple-A to replace RHP Cory Wade before trading for RHP Chad Qualls. Three lefty specialist would have been slight overkill, if you ask me.
  • C Jose Gil (clavicular contusion) has been placed on the DL and RHP Sean Black has been sent back to High-A after one day with Double-A Trenton.
  • C Jackson Valera has been placed on the DL retroactive to Sunday, though it’s unclear what’s wrong with Short Season Staten Island’s backup catcher.
  • LHP Jeremy Bleich (shoulder) and RHP Corey Black have been added to the Staten Island roster. Both were in the Rookie Level Gulf Coast League. Black was this year’s fourth rounder.
  • Just in case you’re wondering, George King (subs. req’d) reports that Ronnie Mustelier signed for $50k last summer. I have lots more bonus info at our Amateur Signing Bonuses page.

Triple-A Scranton (6-5 loss to Lehigh Valley)
CF Chris Dickerson: 2-5, 1 R, 2 K
2B Corban Joseph: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K
C Frankie Cervelli: 2-4, 1 R, 2 RBI — had been in a 4-for-29 slump (.138)
DH Jack Cust & 3B Brandon Laird: both 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR — Cust drove in two runs … Laird hit a solo shot and struck out
1B Russell Branyan: 1-4, 1 K
LF Colin Curtis & RF Cole Garner: both 0-4 — Garner struck out
SS Ramiro Pena: 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
RHP John Maine: 7 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 10/5 GB/FB — 60 of 87 pitches were strikes (69%) … he was actually 91-94 with sink earlier before dropping down to 89-91
RHP Manny Delcarmen: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 2/1 GB/FB — eight of 13 pitches were strikes (61.5%)

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Game 80: Stop the Streak

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(J. Meric/Getty Images)

Last night’s loss to the Rays was a bitter pill to swallow, mostly because the Yankees managed to escape a truncated Freddy Garcia with a lead before the bullpen — and a rare Mark Teixeira error — turned it into a deficit. As you know, New York is in the middle of an eight-game losing streak at Tropicana Field, their longest such streak at a road stadium since dropping 15 in a row at The Ballpark in Arlington way back in the late-80s/early-90s. Here’s the starting nine…

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

RHP Ivan Nova

Tonight’s game starts a little after 7pm ET and can be seen on YES locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy.

Yankees made offer to Ben Sheets

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Via Joel Sherman, the Yankees offered right-hander Ben Sheets a minor league contract after watching him throw at his Louisiana home a few weeks ago. Sheets ended up taking a minor league deal from the Braves because they play in a bigger park in the easier league, plus they’re closer to his home.

I can’t imagine Sheets has much to offer a big league team — he hasn’t been an impact pitcher since 2008 due to injury and ineffectiveness — but there’s certainly nothing wrong with a minor league pact. No risk, moderately high reward. They can give those out all day for all I care Maybe the Yankees would have made a harder push for the 33-year-old former had the CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte injuries happened sooner, but what can you do.

Getting used to Alex Rodriguez, non-superstar

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(Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Off the bat it looked like he’d tied it. On the first pitch in the bottom of the eighth, just after the Yankees had relinquished the lead, A-Rod nearly brought them back. Joel Perlta delivered a curveball that fell into the lower half of the strike zone, middle-away. That’s a pitch that Rodriguez has handled well in the past. Using his superhuman opposite field power, Rodriguez put a good swing on it and seemingly caught it on the at part of the bat. It was high, it was far…

But it was not gone. Instead it fell into Ben Zobrist’s glove just before it hit the top of the wall. You weren’t alone if your first thought was, “two years ago that would have been gone.” Despite the clarity of that thought, the reality took some time to sink in. The time of Alex Rodriguez as a premier hitter in the majors has seemingly passed. This is a particularly harrowing idea considering the future commitment the Yankees have made to him.

Heading into the season I retained guarded optimism for Rodriguez’s turnaround. His underperformance in 2011 was largely due to injuries. First the torn meniscus in his knee played a part in his waning power, and then it caused him to miss more than a month. September injuries further sapped his performance and his on-field time. After a winter spent getting platelet-rich plasma injections and working with Mike Clark to restore his bodily balance, there certainly remained the chance that he’d return to at least his 2010 form, if not his 2008-2009 form.

While Rodriguez has been healthy this year, playing in 76 of the Yankees 79 games, his production has shown no signs of improving. In fact, his power numbers are lower than they were last year, while his other numbers are seemingly in line. He has hit just nine doubles this year in his 76 games, down from 21 doubles in 99 games last year. Even at 150 games, A-Rod is on pace for only 17 or 18 doubles this year.

In the last two seasons combined, in which Rodriguez has played 175 games and has amassed 753 plate appearances, he’s hitting just .272/.360/.450. An .810 OPS isn’t all that bad; it ranks fourth among qualified third basemen in the last two seasons. But it’s a far cry from the .888 OPS he produced from 2009 through 2010. That mark ranked second in the majors among full-time third basemen, behind only Ryan Zimmerman. The most striking change from the 2009-2010 to the 2011-2012 period is Rodriguez’s power numbers. He went from a .241 ISO during those seasons to a .178 ISO in the last two.

The good news is that Rodriguez is still relatively productive among his peers. He ranks seventh in the majors in OPS among third basemen, and fourth in the AL. We can take solace in that when Rodriguez hits another single. Yet at his salary, and at his expectation level, the commendation falls a bit flat. The Yankees expected superstardom for a longer span than they realized. Those days, it appears, are in the past.

We’ve seen veteran players turn things around after slow first halves before. Jason Giambi got off to a slow start in 2005 before battering the competition in the second half. Just last year Derek Jeter exploded in the second half after hitting just .270/.330/.353 in the first half. There is hope, then, that Rodriguez can turn things around. But at this point it’s difficult to maintain even guarded optimism. The evidence of the last few years just doesn’t seem to point in that direction.

Scouting The Trade Market: Kole Calhoun

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The trade deadline is now officially less than a month away, and the Yankees figure to spend most of their energy upgrading this year’s pitching staff and bench. The 2014 payroll plan looms however, and the impending free agencies of Nick Swisher (after this year) and Curtis Granderson (after next year once his 2013 option is exercised) mean the team is likely to be looking for a young, affordable outfielder in the next 18 months. Domonic Brown of the Phillies has been a popular name as a potential target, mostly due to his status as a former elite prospect, but he’s not the only guy out there.

The Angels are flush with young outfielders, obviously highlighted by the ultra-dynamic Mike Trout. They also have the powerful Mark Trumbo and speedy Peter Bourjos, giving them a very nice core of homegrown outfielders. Those three draw all of the attention and rightfully so, but down in Triple-A they also have the 24-year-old Kole Calhoun, who Baseball America ranked as the team’s 20th best prospect in their Prospect Handbook before the season. John Sickels ranked him as the team’s 11th best prospect this spring.

Calhoun’s minor league numbers are pretty dynamite, a .404 wOBA in 274 Triple-A plate appearances this season. That works out to a 140 wRC+, which is adjusted for ballpark and league. His Rookie League (141 wRC+) and High-A (142 wRC+) numbers are right there as well even though the Halos completely skipped him over Low-A and Double-A. We’re talking about 1,100+ minor league plate appearances that have consistently been ~40% better than league average after the necessary adjustments. That said, stats do not tell the entire story. Let’s look at the ins and outs of the former Arizona State Sun Devil…

The Pros

  • Calhoun, listed at 5-foot-10 and 190 lbs., offers some power and lots of patience. His 39 career minor league homers are inflated by hitter friendly home parks, though he’s also hit for plenty of doubles and has strong road numbers as well. An 11.9% walk rate backs up the patience part, and his strikeout rate isn’t outrageous either (17.2%). “He sees his share of pitches and knows what he can handle, seldom missing a pitch he can drive,” wrote Baseball America in the 2012 Prospect Handbook.
  • A left-handed batter, Calhoun has held his own against southpaws over the last two seasons: .300/.367/.500 with nine homers in 230 plate appearances. Obviously that’s not a huge sample, but it is encouraging. “He’s confident and doesn’t dwell on bad at-bats,” added Baseball America.
  • Defensively, Calhoun has experience in all three outfield spots as well as first base. Baseball America said he offers “at least average range on the outfield corners and at first base, and his plus arm strength is a good match for right field.”
  • Calhoun got a taste of the big leagues earlier this season — eight games and 14 plate appearances — but still offers all six years of team control, the first three as a pre-arbitration-eligible player. “He wins admirers not for his raw tools but for his blue-collar approach, plate discipline and professionalism,” wrote Baseball America.

The Cons

  • Calhoun’s walk (7.8%) and strikeout (19.0%) rates in Triple-A this year have taken a big step back compared to the first two years of his minor league career — 13.3% walks and 16.8% strikeouts. Big league pitchers struck him out four times in those 14 plate appearances (28.6%).
  • Baseball America says he has “fringy bat speed,” which limits his long-term power potential. Yankee Stadium could help to a certain extent since he is a lefty, but anytime you’re talking about a long-term corner outfielder with questionable power you have a potential ‘tweener.
  • Although Calhoun can steal the occasional base, he isn’t terribly efficient — 33-for-47 (70.2%) in his minor league career — and Baseball America says he “he grades out as a below-average runner.”

The Yankees do not have anyone in the upper levels of their farm system who projects as an everyday big leaguer, which is why they’re likely to be stuck scrounging the trade market for a Swisher/Granderson replacement. The Angels have enviable young outfield depth and seem like a logical trade partner*, though they’re reported looking for a rotation upgrade and a left-handed reliever better than Hisanori Takahashi. The Yankees don’t have that to offer, not unless they’re willing to dangle Boone Logan. Can’t say I would recommend that when we’re talking about a kid with zero big league success to his credit. The goal is still to win this year.

Prospect-for-prospect trades are very rare because every team loves their kids more than everyone else’s. Maybe GM Jerry Dipoto likes Adam Warren or D.J. Mitchell enough to do a one-for-one swap, which would be a cool little “you need a pitcher, I need a hitter, let’s trade” kinda deal. Think Jesus Montero-for-Michael Pineda on a smaller, Triple-A scale. That would be neat. Either way, I do like Calhoun quite a bit because he’s well-rounded and has shown signs of being able to hold his own against same-side pitchers, plus he offers the Yankees trademarks of left-handed pop (assuming Yankee Stadium shows him some love) and patience. He’s not a sexy name, but he’s a definite fit.

* Just to be clear: There are no reports or evidence that the Yankees are trying to acquire Calhoun or that he’s even available. This is me just throwing a name out there.

Freddy steps in, doesn’t miss a beat

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(AP Photo/Brian Blanco)

Lost in the frustration of last night’s loss was Freddy Garcia’s strong performance in his return to the rotation. The injuries to CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte forced the Yankees to remove Freddy from the long man role and essentially make him the fourth starter, and he responded by allowing just two runs in 5.1 innings while being held to a 75-pitch limit. His last pitch was a game-tying solo homer by Carlos Pena, so his night ended on a sour note, but otherwise he did exactly what the team needed him to do.

“I need to step up,” said Garcia after last night’s game. “We’ve got a couple of guys hurt. I want to do good. That’s all, man. I want to pitch good. I’ve got the chance again, and I want to take my opportunity to prove I can be in the starting rotation.”

Of course, Freddy was banished to the bullpen because he was a disaster in April. He pitched to a 12.51 ERA (5.39 FIP) in his four starts, failing to complete even two full innings twice. Joe Girardi used him very sparingly during May and June — ten appearances (17.1 IP) in the team’s 54 games — and very rarely in a close game. Seven of those ten appearances came with the score separated by three or more runs. Freddy pitched well though (1.57 ERA and 2.94 FIP) and despite all that talk about his fastball velocity coming back, you’ll be hard-pressed to find it in the PitchFX data. I think that might have to do with the system’s issues classifying his repertoire more than anything.

For a while I was on the “just release Garcia” bandwagon, which was really born out of frustration as the team struggled in mid-May. When the Yankees are losing we want to see changes made, it’s human nature, and Freddy was an easy move to make. Obviously the club is smarter than me (and you) and they decided to keep the pitching depth, which is coming in mighty handy right now. The fact that Freddy isn’t some kid they have to baby is a plus as well; the Yankees can be aggressive with him and run him out there for 74 pitches after he hadn’t thrown more than 33 in a month like they did last night.

The Garcia we saw last night was pretty much the guy we saw all of last season, a super-finesse guy who generated some weak contact, some hard-hit outs, and kept the Yankees in the game. With Sabathia and Pettitte out for the time being, that’s what the team is going to need Freddy to do in his spot starts. Given his track record and the general unpredictability of young pitchers like David Phelps and Adam Warren, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the sweaty one assumed Pettitte’s rotation spot in the long-term, or at least until the Yankees go out and make a trade.

Close games and a worn out bullpen

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(Al Bello/Getty Images)

The Yankees went into last night’s game against the Rays with a team 112 wRC+, tied with the Cardinals for the second best in baseball behind the Rangers (113). Their 373 runs scored were only the sixth-most in baseball though, thanks in large part to their struggles with men in scoring position. That has started to correct itself a bit — they hit .304/.370/.609 with RISP during the recent homestand and went 3-for-9 last night — but there’s still quite a bit of work to be done in that department.

As a result, the Yankees have played an awful lot of close games in recent weeks. During their 20-7 rampage through the month of June, they won just eight games by more than three runs and only five by more than four runs. Five of their last seven wins have been decided by two runs or less. The Yankees average 4.76 runs per game and they don’t seem to deviate from that too much, especially of late. Only thrice this season have they scored double-digit runs and only ten times have they scored eight or more. That’s about once every ten days.

All of these close games have forced Joe Girardi to use his bullpen a bit more heavily than I’m sure he would like. Boone Logan has already appeared in 40 games this season and is on pace for 82 appearances, which would easily be the largest workload by a reliever during the Joe Girardi era*. Both Rafael Soriano and Cory Wade (before he was sent down) were on pace for 69 appearances prior to last night, and Clay Rapada is on pace for 76 appearances as well. That last one isn’t a huge concern though, Rapada has thrown more than ten pitches in an outing just 17 (!) times this year. Even the recently acquired Chad Qualls is on pace for about 68 appearances this year thanks to his time with the Phillies.

The Yankees have been playing very well for several weeks now and that’s wonderful, but they’ve also been playing an abnormally high number of close games — I’m talking games decided by two or three runs, stuff like that — as well. The team’s core relievers are starting to see their workloads climb — check out the Bullpen Workload page, it’s not just appearances, it’s also all the times these guys warm up and don’t get into the game — and that can be a problem. Hopefully the offense can start breaking some games open in the middle innings and Girardi’s primary relievers can get some extra rest down the stretch in the second half, because the pace these guys are on right now will put them in the danger zone as far as late-season burnout goes.

* The “record” currently belongs to 2010 Joba Chamberlain, who appeared in 73 games. 2009 Phil Coke (72) and 2011 David Robertson (70) are the only other relievers to appear in at least 70 games during Girardi’s four full seasons at the helm.