River Avenue Blues

Jeter wants to stay at short, but should he?

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As the years have worn on, Derek Jeter’s defense has been the topic of many an argument among Yankee fans. Some see his strong throws from the outfield grass and willingness to sacrifice his body on foul balls as a sign that he knows how to field his position. Others die a little on the inside every time Michael Kay says that the ball goes “past a diving Jeter.” He is not, critics contend, a very good defender.

For the most part, those critics are right. Jeter has never been a particularly stand-out fielder. His range has generally been below-average, and he has been able to compensate for his weak fielding by flashing above-average arm strength and a top-notch offensive prowess. The Yanks are OK with putting him at short because he has a career offensive line of .316/.387/.458 and over 2600 hits.

As Derek crept past his 35th birthday 11 days ago, the debate over his place on the field continues. At some point, he’ll have to move off short to a less important defensive spot on the diamond. With third and first base held down for the better part of the next decade, what that spot will be is anyone’s guess.

Jeter, though, will have none of it. In the Sunday conversation with Post writer Steve Serby, Jeter unequivocally objected to switching positions:

Q: Can you envision yourself playing another position for the Yankees than shortstop?

A: Can I envision? No.

Q: What if they asked you?

A: You’re speaking in all hypotheticals.

Q: I know.

A: I can’t answer that question.

Q: Anyway, I was listening to radio, and they were talking about maybe . . .

A: I don’t listen to the radio, so . . . wherever you’re going with that question, I don’t even want to hear it.

Q: But your last day as a Yankee, whenever that will be, you want to be at shortstop.

A: You asked me, “Can I envision myself playing another position?’ My answer to that question is no, I can’t envision it,” so . . .

I could almost read Jeter’s patience evaporating before my eyes. For now, though, Jeter can stay at short. Per Fangraphs, Jeter is having a decent-for-him defensive season. He has a positive UZR, and while his range factor is still at the bottom of the bunch, he defensive metrics are far better than they were a few years ago. (For more on these advanced defensive stats, review the Fangraphs Glossary.)

There is, however, one question to ponder: Should Yankee fans expect to win with a 35-year-old short stop? A few months ago, David Pinto tackled just that question and produced the following graph. It shows the total percentage of all plate appearances by age and position. Click it to enlarge.

As Pinto pointed out in April, it’s been a while since a team won the World Series with a 35-year-old short stop. Larry Bowa was 34 in 1980 when the Phillies captured their title, and he’s the oldest short stop on a World Series winner in the last 54 years. You have to go all the way back to the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers and 36-year-old Pee Wee Reese to find a short stop older than Jeter who captured a ring.

That isn’t to say the Yankees can’t do it. As long Jeter hits as he’s been doing and plays at least close-to-average defense, the Yanks have as good a short as ever. After all, their title hopes rest more with their pitchers than with the short stop. As Jeter protests moving positions, though, history is not on his side.

Halladay leaving Toronto would be good news for Yanks

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The Blue Jays started the 2009 season as hot as can be. On May 12 they were 23-12, a game up on the Red Sox in the AL East and 6.5 ahead of the Yankees. While some thought they were for real, it looked more to me like a 2005 Orioles job. Lo and behold, almost two months later they’re 43-41, seven back of the Red Sox and six back of the Yanks. They’re not out of it, but it would take an incredible run to charge back in this powerhouse AL East.

What does this mean for the Jays? Ken Rosenthal thinks it means they’re ready to take offers for ace Roy Halladay. It’s not the first time we’ve heard Halladay speculation, but with a year and a half left on his deal the Jays will never find a bigger haul for him than they will this month. General Manager J.P. Ricciardi has said that the team’s best chance to win next year is with Halladay in the rotation, and that’s true. But is it their best long-term option?

What further complicates the situation is that the Jays owe gobs of money to Vernon Wells and Alex Rios, who are both underperforming, through 2014. The Jays just have to hope they produce, because there is little or no chance of trading either without eating a significant portion of the contract. Moving Halladay, who rightly would be the highest-paid Jay next year, could improve the team not only with prospects, but with a bit of financial flexibility that they could use to make another deal in the off-season.

There are almost no bad scenarios for the Yankees here. Rosenthal’s list contains only three American League teams: the Yanks themselves, the Red Sox, and the White Sox. Obviously, the Yanks don’t want to see Halladay starting at Fenway any time soon, but almost any other scenario, including acquiring him themselves, looks just fine.

What about acquiring him? Rosenthal notes that Ricciardi would deal within the division, though we all know there’s a premium there. Any package would probably have to start with Phil Hughes, and then include one of the Yanks’ precious few bats, likely one of the catchers. Would Hughes, Romine, and a third prospect, probably of the top-10 variety, be enough to land Halladay? Would the Yankees be wise to make such a move?

There’s no doubt that acquiring Halladay would leave the Yankees with the best rotation in baseball. In the short term, they’d be as well off as any other team, probably better off. In the long term they’d be giving up prospects, sure, but prospects can bust. It looks like Phil Hughes is finding his way, and it would probably suck to face him four or five times a year. But it wouldn’t be nearly as bad as facing Halladay that many times.

Chances are, Halladay stays put. Teams are more reluctant to part with prospects than ever, especially because of their economic value. The Blue Jays will request a ransom for Halladay, and rightly so, but other teams might not be so keen to part with young, cheap, controllable players to acquire an expensive one whose contract runs only through 2010. If there’s a deal to be made, though, I expect the Yanks will at least kick the tires.

What the umpire saw

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“Yer blind, ump. Yer blind, ump. You must be out of your mind, ump,” goes part of the refrain from the opening number to the Broadway musical Damn Yankees. Don’t we know it.

On Monday afternoon, in the first inning of the final game of the Yanks-Blue Jays set, Derek Jeter tried to steal third with no outs in the bottom of the first. While we can argue — and have —  the baseball smarts behind the decision to steal, Jeter was seemingly safe at third. The throw from Toronto catcher Rod Barajas arrived at the base before Derek did, but the Yanks’ short stop snuck his hand around the incoming tag from Scott Rolen. Replays clearly showed he was safe.

Marty Foster did not agree. He called Jeter out, and the normally placid captain erupted at the explanation. As Jeter said after the game, “I was told I was out because the ball beat me, and he didn’t have to tag me. I was unaware they had changed the rules.”

According to Jeter, Foster, the third base umpire, actually said to him, “He didn’t have to [tag you]. The ball beat you.” Joe Girardi got himself ejected arguing the call and tempered his critique. “I didn’t care for the explanation,” Girardi said. “Just leave it at that. There has to be more to it.”

Of course there has to be more to it than that. It’s the rulebook. A player not forced out has to be tagged out. He isn’t out if the ball gets there first; he’s out if he’s tagged with the glove holding the ball or just the ball before safely reaching the base. That is not what happened today.

After the game, the press wanted to speak with Mr. Foster, but he pulled a cowardly move and didn’t show up. Instead, he asked John Hirschbeck, the crew chief and representative umpire to the press, to talk to the reporters. Hirschbeck was lukewarm in his support of Foster. He called Jeter “the classiest person I’ve been around” and noted that Derek doesn’t argue unless he feels wronged. “It would make his actions seem appropriate if that’s what he was told,” Hirschbeck said of Jeter’s reaction to Foster.

In the end, Hirschbeck said he’d chat with Foster about the call later and weakly called the whole thing a learning experience. “Marty asked me to handle things today,” he said. “We hopefully learn from our experiences. It’s the only way we get better at what we do.”

Hirschbeck and Foster will have their talk, and then Major League Baseball will probably discipline Foster behind closed doors. We’ll never know what happens, and the Yanks won’t get a chance to play out a game they could have won had the right call been made. In an age of instant replay, in an age of DVR, that’s just not an acceptable solution.

Umpires have long been under attack from technology. While traditionalists like to promote the “human error” aspect of a baseball game, the truth is that we root for our team to win fair and square. We don’t want to see the histrionics of the umpires, and we don’t want their perception of a play — the nostalgic idea that the ball arrived first so the player is out — to cloud what really happens when we know that what really happened isn’t what the umpire called.

Baseball has options. They could institute a form of limited replay review. Contrary to what the naysayers naysay, review doesn’t slow down the game any longer than Joe Girardi’s on-field protestations do, and reviews of plays such as the one at third today don’t impact the sacred integrity of the game — which, by the way, is sacred only because the technology didn’t exist when the first ump took the field.

While I see the merits in Beyond the Boxscore’s call to use pitch f/x to call the games, I don’t want to see the human element completely removed from the field of play. There is something to be said for having people and not computerized cameras call the game. Still, what happened on Monday and the subsequent explanations are not acceptable. Foster should have to face the press, and no team should have to put up with the explanation he gave Derek Jeter at third base today.

Brackman struggles yet again

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One year ago today on DotF, Alberto Gonzalez hit a walk-off jack in the 12th inning against Toledo.

Inexplicably, Jesus Montero was not named Eastern League Player of the Week. I guess hitting .391 with a double and four homers doesn’t compare to .379 with four doubles, one triple and one homer anymore.

Garrett Patterson was placed back on the DL. It was fun while it lasted, even if it was just one appearance.

Triple-A Scranton
Game 1 (3-2 win Pawtucket in 11 innings, walk-off style) makeup of one of the games they couldn’t play this weekend because the field was a mess
Kevin Russo, Colin Curtis & Eric Duncan: all 1 for 5 – Russo drew a walk & scored twice … Curtis K’ed twice
Ramiro Pena & Chris Stewart: both 1 for 4, 1 BB – Pena doubled … Stewart K’ed
Austin Jackson: 0 for 2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 3 BB
Shelley Duncan: 0 for 3, 1 BB
Juan Miranda: 3 for 5, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Yurendell DeCaster: 2 for 5, 2 K, 1 SB
Ivan Nova: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 7-7 GB/FB – 62 of 90 pitches were strikes (68.9%)
Edwar Ramirez: 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 2-2 GB/FB – 32 of 47 pitches were strikes (68.1%)
Mark Melancon: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 6-3 GB/FB, 1 E (missed catch) – 27 of 42 pitches were strikes (64.3%)

[Read more…]

Open Thread: Brett Tomko, artist

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Brett Tomko paintingYankee fans aren’t too fond of Brett Tomko – the 12th pitcher on the staff – these days. After all, he allowed those two homers in the middle innings that one time. Well, believe it or not Brett’s earned a pretty decent living for himself throwing a baseball (B-Ref says he’s raked in over $20M in his career), and it looks like he’s got a nice career lined up for when his playing days are over.

Tomko, you see, is a rather talented artist. He started copying the comics section of the newspaper when he was five, then stuck with it all through high school and majored in art at Florida Southern. Once he was drafted in the second round by the Reds, everything kind of got put on hold until he got together with Opie Otterstad, a prominent sports artist.

Since then, Tomko’s painted everyone from Nomar Garciaparra to Trevor Hoffman to Joakim Soria, and his current project is for fellow reliever Phil Hughes. “You could just see these perfect creases in the jersey,” Hughes said. “It’s insane. He’s really, really good. Some people think he paints, so what? But if you actually see him, it’s like, ‘Wow, he could do this for a living.'”

Marc Carig of The Star-Ledger wrote all about Tomko and his art today, so make sure you check it. There’s even a short video clip showing Tomko working on the painting for Hughes and explaining what goes in to it. Cool stuff, give it a read.

* * *

Feel free to use this as your open thread for the evening. The Braves and Cubs are on ESPN, but the Mets are off. Anything goes, just be nice.

Photo Credit: John O’Boyle, The Star-Ledger

Yanks end 5-2 homestand with a frustrating loss

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Updated (5:36 p.m. with quotes from the post-game interviews): Derek Jeter really set the tone for this one in the first inning. A walk and a balk landed him on second base with Nick Swisher up, and then Derek got greedy. He took off for third, and while the replays showed he may have gotten his hand in before the tag, the throw beat him. “Out!” said the umpire.

An argument ensued, and as Jeter later explained during the post-game interviews, the ump had some interesting explanations for the call. Jeter alleges that Marty Foster said he made the out call because the throw beat him by so much. “I was told I was out because the ball beat me, and he didn’t have to tag me,” Jeter said to the reporters. “I was unaware they had changed the rules.”

If that’s really how it went down, Foster has some explaining to do. That’s a pretty outrageous statement for an umpire to make. Until instant replay review is instituted in baseball on a wider level, that subjective decision is part of the game, and it killed the Yanks in the first.

On the next pitch, Nick Swisher laced a single into center field. If we discount the fact that nothing in baseball is a predestined event, Jeter could have scored. In addition to the bad call, what also irked me about Jeter’s decision — and I’m pinning this one on Jeter’s choosing to try for third — was how little it could have helped the Yanks had he been safe.

Based on the 2009 Run Expectancy Matrix, teams this year with a runner on second and no one out are expected to score 1.10 runs. Teams with a runner on third and no one out are expected to score 1.32 runs. Meanwhile, a team with one out and no one on is expected to score 0.29 runs. The marginal reward for the steal of third is just 0.22 runs while Jeter’s making the first out at third base cost the Yanks 0.81 runs. Even though he was technically safe, it just doesn’t make sense for Jeter to try that risky move with no one out and the Yanks’ heart of the order due up, and we don’t need the run expectancy spreadsheet to tell us that. In that situation early in the game, it’s just not worth the risk.

The rest of the game was similarly frustrating. Andy Pettitte needed just six pitches — five of them strikes — to get through the first and then used 103 more to get through the next 5+ innings. Of those, 53 were strikes and 50 balls. He just didn’t have his best stuff, and Tony Pena, managing for the ejected Joe Girardi, probably shouldn’t have left him in to start the 7th with his pitch count pushing 100.

But Andy Pettitte is Andy Pettitte. It’s frustrating to watch him alternate good starts and bad starts, but at the same time, he’s the team’s fifth starter. Even without his best stuff, he gave the Yankees a chance to win it. They just couldn’t capitalize. We could blame the umpires for a bad call in the third that eventually led to a two-out, three-run home run off the bat of Alex Rios, but blaming the umps gets us nowhere. That’s just part of the game. Pettitte, and not the umpires, threw an 0-1 fastball into Alex Rios’ wheelhouse.

The loss may belong to Pettitte, but I’d be remiss to leave out a mention of Brian Bruney. The former 8th Inning Guy came in with a runner on first and no outs in the 7th. The Yankees needed Bruney to slam the door, and he threw it wide open. After a strike out, back-to-back doubles brought home an inherited run and one of his own. The Blue Jays had a 7-1 lead, and while Bruney would get another out and issue a free pass before getting the hook, the game was nearly out of reach. Where Bruney fits into the pen right now is anyone’s guess, but it won’t be in high leverage situations until he earns it.

In the end, the Yanks tried to mount a comeback. They plated two in the 7th, one in the 8th and two in the 9th, but it would not be enough. Nick Swisher didn’t come through with two outs and the bases loaded. Eric Hinske struck out swinging on a 3-2 slider from Justin Frasor with the tying run on first. Sometimes, the Comeback Kids can’t comeback.

We can’t complain too much about the homestand. The Yanks have won four straight series, and if they go 3-1 every four games, we’d be happy. But at the same time, you want to see them squash some teams along the way. For the second straight series, they had a sweep within their grasp but could not close the door. Today, they had their chances but went just 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on. From Jeter to the umpires to Pettitte and Bruney to the failed ninth inning comeback, it was one frustrating game.