Solid work by Gaudin.
Game 147: Don’t get swept
It’s another short series, as the Yankees and Blue Jays wrap up tonight. With the Jays taking the first game, the Yanks surely don’t want to get swept by their lowly division foes. Unfortunately, they won’t employ the services of their A lineup. Or one of their top four pitchers.
To avoid the sweep they’ll have to get past Brian Tallet, something they did handily last timeout. After three decent to good starts against the Yanks, they got to him last time out, putting up a five spot in five innings. Unfortunately, the defense and Sergio Mitre imploded that game and the Yanks got beat. They got the Mitre thing over with last night, so maybe they’ll be able to put together a win this time.
Chad Gaudin comes off his best start of the season, a six-inning effort against the Rays last Tuesday. He’ll try to build on that tonight. It was the first time Gaudin reached the six-inning mark as a Yankees starter, but don’t let that fool you. He’s been quite good in his three starts: 14 IP, 4 ER, 13 K.
With Jorge Posada serving the first of a three-game suspension, the Yanks were already down from their A lineup. Damon also gets a rest.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Jerry Hairston, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Nick Swisher, RF
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Melky Cabrera, CF
9. Jose Molina, C
And on the mound, number forty-one, Chad Gaudin.
Jorge faces three game suspension
As expected, MLB has levied a suspension on Jorge Posada. The brawling catcher will sit for four three games and pay a $3,000 fine. There’s no word, at this moment, if Jorge plans to appeal. Jesse Carlson received an identical penalty, although the $3K will hurt him more than it will Posada. It would make sense for Jorge to start serving his suspension immediately. He’s already sitting out tonight with a sore neck, and the next three games are in Seattle. Jorge would then be back for the series in Anaheim.
Update: Jorge’s suspension has been reduced to three games, and he’ll start serving tonight. Smart man.
Update by Ben: Apparently, Shelley Duncan is getting a three-game suspension too. Rod Barajas, Kevin Long and Edwar Ramirez were all fined but were not suspended. Jorge won’t play until Sunday and can use the time off to rest his aching finger. The Yankees will miss Shelley only if the Blue Jays start something tonight.
The desire, but not the flexibility, to demote Joba
As the Yankees head into the playoffs, the team’s pitching will move to the forefront of the discussion. The Yanks’ offense is far and away the best in the game, but how the pitching holds up will determine how deep they go into October. We know about Andy Pettitte’s shoulder and A.J. Burnett’s inconsistency, but Joba Chamberlain lurks as well.
To that end, the last two days have given us two discussion-worthy items about Joba Chamberlain. We start with Joel Sherman’s 3 Up post. In it, Sherman notes that the Yankees, had they other options, would have considered sending Joba to the minors when he struggled in August and early September. With Chien-Ming Wang, Ian Kennedy, Al Aceves and Phil Hughes in other roles, though, the team had no choice. Writes Sherman:
Yankee officials tell me there was really no option but to have Joba continue to do his work in the majors because the club already was dealing with a fifth starter spot combo of Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin.
But it is worthwhile to remember heading into next year that Chamberlain does not have the divine right to a major league job. The Marlins sent down Ricky Nolasco this year and the Brewers sent down Manny Parra. Chamberlain still has options, which means he is going to get the first opportunity to start and some rope to keep a job. And it is important to remember that the Yanks believe Chamberlain is on the way to the top of a rotation. However, he will not have endless rope in 2010 when theoretically both Hughes and Kennedy will both be rotation options again.
Sherman’s take today juxtaposes nicely with his musings on the Joba Rules The Post published yesterday. Sherman talks about how Joba is young, still learning and facing an innings limit. While many fans and commentators refuse to recognize this reality, Sherman ends with a zinger: “This” — meaning the Spring Training-like build-up in September — “is all part of the continuing education of a young starter. But education, like facts, get in the way of you yelling about Chamberlain not throwing 120 pitches last night.
Not everyone appreciated Sherman’s musings. Mike Silva at NYBD voiced his belief that “Joba’s development should not take precedence over the Yankees season.” Silva understands the need for an innings limit but feels the execution is wrong. He wants Joba on the mound throwing full games to gear up for the post-season and would have limited Joba’s innings by keeping him off the mound earlier in the year. As a comparable pitcher, he cites the Braves’ Tommy Hanson.
Hanson, though, isn’t a valid comp. He’s thrown 167 innings this year so far after tossing back-to-back seasons of 133 innings. The Braves, meanwhile, are preparing to shut him down once they are out of the playoffs. They also avoided summoning Hanson to the Majors until June because they didn’t want his arbitration clock to tick. For Atlanta, it is about the money.
For the Yankees, this has been a year of Joba, and it isn’t over yet. The youngster showed signs of emerging from his funk on Monday, and he’ll look to build on that over the weekend in Seattle. The Yanks may need Joba to start in the ALDS, and they will definitely hand him the ball in the ALCS. This ride is far from over, and Joba will throw more innings with or without the rules.
Assessing Brackman’s Season, Part III
Two years ago, the Yankees selected righthander Andrew Brackman with their first round pick, knowing full well that he might need elbow surgery at some point, perhaps as soon as that summer. Brackman showed tremendous raw stuff and considerable potential as an amateur, the reasons why he was ranked so high in pre-draft rankings (Keith Law had him as the third best prospect in the draft class). The Yankees were willing to gamble and wait on his talent, especially with a pick so late in first round.
As expected, Brackman underwent Tommy John surgery soon after signing a Major League deal worth $3.35 million guaranteed with incentives that could push the total value of the contract to $13 million. At the time, it was potentially the richest contract in draft history. Brackman spent all of 2008 rehabbing but returned to action in the now defunct Hawaii Winter Baseball League last fall where he was ranked the number two prospect by Baseball America (subs. req’d).
Brackman’s long awaited full season debut didn’t go as smoothly as planned this year. It featured a few ups but considerably more downs. His overall season line — 106.2 IP, 106 H, 79 R, 76 BB, 103 K — isn’t pretty, and his 26 wild pitches were second most in all of minor league baseball. The way I see it Brackman’s season can be broken down into three distinct periods, which I’ll arbitrarily call Good Brackman, Bad Brackman, and Reliever Brackman.
Over the past two days we’ve looked at Good Brackman and Bad Brackman, so now it’s time to wrap this all up with Reliever Brackman.
* * *
After things took a turn for the worst, Brackman was moved to the bullpen in late July. As scouting director Damon Oppenheimer said in his interview with Mike Ashmore, “sometimes you have to deviate from the plan a little bit and take a step backwards to go forwards.” The move was also made in part to control his innings, but more importantly something had to be done to at least limit the damage.
Surprisingly, Brackman was actually pretty decent out of the bullpen, putting up a 2.57 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. His peripherals were encouraging as well:
10.29 K/9
5.14 BB/9
2.00 K/BB
7.29 H/9
0.00 HR/9
.304 BABIP
2.63 FIP
He did allow at least one run in five of his first six relief appearances, but his final four outings were nothing short of stellar. In ten innings Brackman allowed just six hits and struck out nine, but more importantly he didn’t walk anyone, didn’t hit anyone, and didn’t chuck any wild pitches. Oh sure, it definitely might just be a small sample size fluke thing, but if nothing else it at least gives him a reason to keep his chin up after such a trying year, and the Yankees a reason to be cautiously optimistic.
I don’t have any information on how Brackman’s stuff looked as a reliever, and I’m very curious to see if anything played up. If you stumble across any info, please, send it my way. Baseball America’s year-end Prospect Hot Sheet just notes that he showed “an average fastball that often dipped into the 80s, a diminished curveball and well below-average control” throughout the year, which echoes what we’ve heard the last two days.
As a whole, this was unquestionably a disappointing year for the big guy. Instead of progress there was regress, and the only signs of encouragement came from four meaningless relief appearances at the end of the year when Charleston was already out of the playoff race. However, despite all that, it would be incorrect to call it a lost year of development. Adversity isn’t the worst thing in the world for young players, as people learn more from the bad times than they do the good. Whether or not Brackman can put whatever lessons he’s learned into practice remains to be seen.
If there’s one thing to accept as a no strings attached positive, it’s that he stayed healthy all year and made every appearance asked of him without incident, crossing the 100 IP mark for the first time in his life. Brackman can head home for the winter knowing the elbow held up all season and that he at last finished with on a little bit of a high note. Durability is one less question he’ll have to answer in 2010.
As easy as it would be to write Brackman off after the brutal year he just went through, it’s definitely too early to call it quits on the kid. Depending on how his Spring Training goes, he could be assigned to High-A Tampa to start 2010, although heading back to Charleston is a distinct possibility. I assume the team will have Brackman give it another go as a starter, as they should because they don’t have anything to lose by letting him pitch out of the rotation in the lower levels next year or even the year after.
Of course, if his stuff and control doesn’t come back soon, it’s not going to matter where he’s pitching.
Yankees unveil 2010 season ticket pricing
The Yankees announced their pricing schedule for 2010 season tickets last night. Only one section — Main Level, Rows 1-22: 216-217, 223-224 — increased in price, from $100 to $125. Every other section is either the same or decreased. The decreases were pretty significant, too: 38 percent in Field Level Rows 12-30: 115, 125, and 30 percent in Rows 12-30: 116-124. There is also a decrease in Legends Suites pricing. Everything else in the park remains the same, including the bleachers.
Here’s the full chart:
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2010 Yankees Full-Season Ticket Prices
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Location
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2009 Full-Season Licensee Price per Game
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2010 Full-Season Licensee Price per Game
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Change
|
| Field Level (Rows 12-30: 116-124) | $325 | $250 | Decrease |
| Field Level (Rows 12-30: 115, 125) | $325 | $235 | Decrease |
| Field Level (Rows 12-14: 114a-114b, 126-127a) | $225 | $225 | None |
| Field Level (Rows 15-30: 114a-114b, 126-127a) | $175 | $175 | None |
| Field Level (Rows 12-14: 112-113, 127b-128) | $150 | $150 | None |
| Field Level (Rows 15-30: 112-113, 127b-128) | $100 | $100 | None |
| Field Level (Rows 1-14: 103-111, 129-136) | $100 | $100 | None |
| Field Level (Row 27: 114a, 127a)* | $100 | $100 | None |
| Field Level (Rows 15-30: 103-111, 129-136) | $75 | $75 | None |
| Main Level (Rows 1-22: 216-217, 223-224) | $100 | $125 | Increase |
| Main Level (Rows 1-22: 215, 225) | $100 | $100 | None |
| Main Level (Rows 1-22: 213-214b, 226-227b) | $75 | $75 | None |
| Main Level (Rows 1-22: 210-212, 228-230) | $60 | $60 | None |
| Main Level (Rows 1-22: 205-209, 231-234) | $45 | $45 | None |
| Terrace Level (Rows 1-10: 315-316, 324-325) | $65 | $65 | None |
| Terrace Level (Rows 1-8: 313-314, 326-327) | $55 | $55 | None |
| Terrace Level (Rows 1-10: 305-312, 328-334) | $40 | $40 | None |
| Terrace Level (Row 8: 315, 325)* | $25 | $25 | None |
| Terrace Level (Row 8: 305-314, 326-334)* | $20 | $20 | None |
| Grandstand Level (Rows 1-14: 415-425) | $25 | $25 | None |
| Grandstand Level (Rows 1-14: 405-414, 426-434b) | $20 | $20 | None |
| Bleachers (Rows 1-24: 201-204, 235-239) | $12 | $12 | None |
| Bleachers (Rows 1-24: 201/239 Obstructed View) | $5 | $5 | None |
| *Wheelchair-accessible only as applicable | |||
Doesn’t seem like there will be many complaints. Except for the people in Main Levels 216 to 217 and 223 to 224.
Here’s CNBC’s Darren Rovell on Legends:
The much publicized $2,500 per game suite tickets, which were not part of the seats whose price was cut in half in April, will cost $1,500 in 2010. That’s despite the fact that many people who bought the suites before the stadium opened this year agreed to pay between 3 and 6 percent more for their seats each year, depending on how long of a commitment they made to the team.
That means a person or company who agreed to buy the most expensive seats in the stadium on a 10-year contract was on the hook to pay $834,300 ($2,575 per game per seat for 81 games) for four suite tickets in 2010, but will now pay $486,000.
Good to see the Yanks coming down from these prices. Perhaps now we’ll see the best seats in the house filled on a nightly basis.
The Mitre/Tomko debate
In discussing baseball games, we often talk about the fallacy of the predetermined outcome. In a nutshell, the logic is as follows: If something bad happens — a caught stealing — followed by something good — say, a home run — then the Yankees are out a run because, had the caught stealing not happened, the home run would have been a two-run shot. Life and baseball simply do not work that way, and the outcome — the home run — probably doesn’t happen under differing circumstances.
Right now, the Yankees, in their search for a fifth ninth starter, are suffering through a debate over the predetermined outcome. Exhibit A is Brett Tomko in Oakland. On July 22, in order to make room for Sergio Mitre, the Yankees designated Tomko for assignment. He cleared waivers and was released on July 29.
At the time, Tomko had been awful for the Yanks. Pitching in long relief, he threw 15 games for 20.2 innings. He sported a 5.23 ERA and had allowed 26 base runners and 5 home run while striking out just 11. No one — not the Yankees, not their fans — was sad to see him go.
Since joining the A’s in mid-August and pitching as a starter, Tomko has been revelation. He topped off a stellar month on Monday night by tossing a complete game shut out against the Wild Card pretender Texas Rangers. In six starts, he is 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA. He has allowed 31 hits in 36.2 innings and has walked just six. He’s struck out 22 with his K/9 IP at 5.4, up a tick from the 4.8 mark he sported in the Bronx. Why, asked Peter Abraham, can’t the Yankees get players like that?
On the other hand, the Yankees are currently supporting the decline and fall of Sergio Mitre. After last night’s outing, Sergio Mitre’s numbers are horrendous. He is 3-3 with a 7.63 ERA and a 1.761 WHIP. He has thrown 46 innings and has allowed 81 base runners. This isn’t just bad; it’s Kei Igawa bad.
There is the possibility that Mitre hasn’t been as bad as those numbers indicate. As Jamal argued last night, Mitre has a 4.63 ERA in the five starts he has made against non-Toronto teams and a 10.59 mark against the Blue Jays. His FIP against non-Toronto teams stands at 3.55. Overall — and this is a key number — his FIP stands at 5.83.
With these numbers before us, it would seem that the Yanks jettisoned someone who is better than Sergio Mitre in favor of Sergio Mitre. They made a mistake. That’s only half the story because Tomko’s numbers are masking some trends. Brett Tomko’s BABIP while in Oakland is .226; Sergio Mitre’s in New York is .347. Tomko’s Oakland FIP is 5.05. He is currently enjoying an ERA two runs lower than how he is pitching.
The Yankees discarded Tomko because he is a 36-year-old journeyman with a below-average record and a 92 ERA+. That he is having a string of decent starts in Oakland shouldn’t convince us that the Yanks made a mistake. Sure, Oakland is catching lightning in a bottle. Sure, Sergio Mitre has been really bad. But it’s illogical to assume that Tomko would have pitched this far above his career norm in New York.
In a few days, the Yankees will clinch a playoff spot. A few days after that, the team will wrap up the division. Neither Sergio Mitre nor Brett Tomko will come close to the playoffs, and that is that.