Archives for 2011

2011 Draft: Damaged Goods

April 20, 2011 by Mike 47 Comments

CHAMBERLAIN — Injury concerns in 2006 are the only reason Joba's a Yankee. (AP Photo/Jerry Laizure)

With the amateur draft becoming more and more competitive each year, teams are continually looking for advantages and inefficiencies. For a while it was just money, pay the players more money and you’ll get better talent. While that still holds true, basically every team goes over slot now, so it’s not as easy as it once was to build a strong draft haul that way.

One thing we’ve seen the Yankees try is drafting players with injury concerns, or players who are healthy at the time but had down years due to an earlier injury. Think Andrew Brackman (elbow) or Caleb Cotham (knee) or Mark Melancon (elbow) or Joba Chamberlain (triceps), all those guys had some kind of medical question heading into the draft, and the Yankees took advantage by selecting each at a spot lower than their talent dictated. It’s a risky approach but the draft itself is inherently risky, a few extra rolls of the dice won’t aren’t the end of the world. Here’s three players dealing with injuries and/or ineffectiveness this spring that could prove to a coup at various points of the draft…

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Jays rally back for walk-off win over Yankees

April 20, 2011 by Mike 105 Comments

It’s never any fun when it happens to your team. The Yankees had pretty firm control of this game for the first eight-and-a-half innings, using a combination of the long ball and bent but don’t break pitching to hand Mariano Rivera a two-run lead in the ninth. That’s a situation we’d all take every day of the week, but it was just not meant to be on Tuesday.

Yankees Blue Jays Baseball — (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

Blown Opportunities

As with any loss of this nature, we have to take a look back at the checks the Yankees didn’t cash. The first came in the fifth inning, when Russell Martin muscled a ball to the opposite field for a leadoff double. Brett Gardner, mired in a 1-for-23, tried to bunt him over to third, but the ball went right back to the pitcher who cut Martin down between second and third. A couple of pitches later, Gardner was thrown out trying to steal, the third time that’s happened in six tries this year.

One inning later, the Yankees had men at first and second with one out, but they moved over on a Jorge Posada Baltimore chop to essentially take the bat out of Martin’s hands. He was unintentionally intentionally walked to get to Gardner, who managed to work the count full before popping out to end the threat and the inning. Two men were also left on base in the tenth inning with Eric Chavez flied out to right.

Overall, the Yankees stranded seven runners and went 1-for-7 with men in scoring position. Three other potential rallies were killed with a double plays. It’s easy to pile on Gardner, and his -.181 WPA was far an away the worst but any New York hitter in the game. If it wasn’t for his defense in left, he’d be completely and utterly useless to this team. Why he wasn’t pinch-hit for in the sixth, I’ll never quite understand.

The Rare Meltdown

It happens a few times a season, but you never expect it. Rivera had his first bad outing of the year in this game, blowing a two-run lead in the ninth inning on four hits and a walk. The tying run scored on a perfect squeeze play by John MacDonald, which is pretty much what it takes to beat Mo. He was pitching for the fifth time in eight days and clearly wasn’t sharp, which isn’t a total surprise for the 41-year-old. Every so often Rivera will remind us that he’s human, which is what happened here. I have a hard time getting worked up over it, just sucks is all.

Ugly A.J.

After three encouraging starts, A.J. Burnett reverted back to his old ways on Tuesday, and he has his bullpen to thank for the fact that his ERA actually went down. Burnett allowed a first inning homer to Jose Bautista, another run on a sacrifice fly in the third inning after he botched a rundown, and then another run on a double down the line in the sixth. He walked five guys, and four of those free passes went to players hitting in the bottom third of the lineup. You just can’t walk Jose Molina, Corey Patterson, and Jayson Nix (twice) and live to tell about it.

After walking the bases loaded in the sixth, Burnett gave way to David Robertson who was easily the star of the game for New York. With zero margin for error and a one-run lead, Robertson struck out Yunel Escobar and Travis Snider to strand the bases loaded and preserve the lead. If it wasn’t for that masterful work, Burnett would have allowed a lot more than three runs in 5.1 innings. I suppose the silver lining is that A.J. struck out six batters and got 17 swings-and-misses out of 105 pitches (which is a freaking ton), but he did not pitch well tonight at all. Leaving the game with the lead had far more to do with Robertson and his offense than anything else. Hopefully this is just a hiccup, but who knows with Burnett.

Leftovers

Mark Texeira; Curtis Granderson — I have no idea what the hell is going on in this picture. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

The game was predictably lost when Ivan Nova marched out of the bullpen in the tenth inning for reasons unknown. Why keep guys like Hector Noesi and Lance Pendleton around as long men if they’re not going to be used in long man spots? Nova gave up a leadoff single to Edwin Encarnacion, then retired Nix and Escobar on a pair of fly balls to the warning track before Snider ended things with a double into the gap. The Toronto left fielder was the worst player on the field (0-for-5, three strikeouts) before Nova left a 1-0 fastball out over the plate. In his last 6.1 innings, the Yankees’ supposed number four starter has allowed nine runs on ten hits, six walks, and a hit batter. The blush is well off the rose by now.

I’m not sure what the point of having Boone Logan warm up in the tenth was if he wasn’t going to be used to face Snider. Robertson and Joba Chamberlain threw a combined 22 pitches, but hey, at least they know what inning they’re going to work when they’re both available for tomorrow. This is part of what I was talking about yesterday; why couldn’t Robertson stay in for the seventh after throwing 11 pitches in the sixth? Bullpen specialization really jumped the shark when Girardi married a reliever to seventh (!!!) inning.

Every batter not named Brett Gardner reached base at least once in this game, including multiple times for Curtis Granderson (two-run homer and a single), Mark Teixeira (two-run homer and a walk), Nick Swisher (single and three walks), Chavez (two walks), and Martin (double and a walk). The Yankees drew seven walks as a team and struck out just three times, and over their last four games they’ve struck out fewer times (12) than they walked (16). That’s a span of 145 batters, which is phenomenal.

Oh, and man, Martin was in Beast Mode behind the plate. Dude was blocking all those 55-foot breaking balls like nobody’s business. It’s already been established that he’s far exceeded expectations in the first few weeks, but his athleticism and defensive prowess was on full display in this one. It won’t show up in the box score, but he really did a masterful job behind the dish.

Obvious statement is obvious: The Yankees have to start getting some more length out of their starting pitchers to take some heat off the bullpen. We knew the starting rotation was going to be a problem coming into the season, and that has proven to be very true over the last three weeks.

Very nice having the old David Cone-Ken Singleton announcer duo back, ain’t it? They’re the best combo YES can put together, in my opinion.

WPA Graph & Box Score

That sucks. MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs the other stuff.

Up Next

Alright, enough complaining for one game. It’s baseball, and every team is going to have nights like this one. Time to just suck it up and move on. These same two teams will wrap up this short little two game series tomorrow night when Bartolo Colon makes his first start of the season. Brett Cecil goes for Toronto.

A fine night of pitching on the farm

April 19, 2011 by Mike 15 Comments

In case you missed it earlier, the Yankees announced that Kevin Millwood’s next start will be in Triple-A, plus Cito Culver also sat down for an interview with Jonathan Mayo. Old pal Eric Duncan has caught on with the Double-A affiliate of the Cardinals after being released by the Rockies in Spring Training, so good for him. Kei Igawa moved up to Triple-A Scranton and will start for them later in the week. They’re still short some arms with Lance Pendleton and Hector Noesi in the big leagues.

Triple-A Scranton (5-2 win over Lehigh Valley)
Greg Golson, CF: 1 for 5, 2 K, 1 SB
Kevin Russo, 2B: 1 for 4, 1 BB, 3 K – four for his last 11 (.364) after that horrible start
Jesus Montero, C: 0 for 5, 1 K – just his second hitless game of the year … still hitting .404 though
Jorge Vazquez, 1B: 0 for 4, 1 R, 1 K
Chris Dickerson, RF: 3 for 4, 2 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K – six for his last 11 (.545)
Justin Maxwell, LF: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K – eight for his last 18 (.444) with two doubles and three homers
Brandon Laird, 3B: 1 for 4, 1 2B, 1 K
Dan Brewer, DH: 2 for 3, 1 R, 2 SB – six for 13 (.462) with three steals in limited playing time
Ramiro Pena, SS: 1 for 4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
David Phelps, RHP: 6.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HB, 7-2 GB/FB – 61 of 95 pitches were strikes (64.2%) … best start by a SWB pitcher this year? probably
Andy Sisco, LHP: 0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K – all three pitches were strikes
Buddy Carlyle, RHP: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1-1 GB/FB – 18 of 25 pitches were strikes (72%)
Kevin Whelan, RHP: 1 IP, zeroes, 1 K, 1-0 GB/FB – eight of 13 pitches were strikes (61.5%)

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Game 15: Coney’s Back

April 19, 2011 by Mike 973 Comments

6a00d83451b84f69e2011570936101970b-550wi — Look alive, fellas.

After a year-long hiatus from the YES Network, David Cone returns to the booth to call tonight’s game in Toronto. I don’t know about you, but Cone was easily my favorite YES announcer during his time here, and I welcome him back with open arms. I look forward to many FanGraphs references, occasional inappropriate language, and better insight than any of the other color guys. No offense to those guys, but today is a great day for Yankees’ fan. Welcome back, Coney.

Here’s the lineup, which is still lacking a certain third baseman…

Derek Jeter, SS
Curtis Granderson, CF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nick Swisher, RF
Eric Chavez, 3B
Jorge Posada, DH
Russell Martin, C
Brett Gardner, CF

A.J. Burnett, SP

Ready for the curveball? Tonight’s game is not on YES, it’s on My9 instead. First pitch is scheduled for a little after 7pm ET. Enjoy, I know I will.

Injury Updates: Although he’s not in the lineup, Alex Rodriguez did take batting practice before the game, which is obviously a good sign. If his oblique issue was that bad, he wouldn’t be swinging a bat … Frankie Cervelli has been playing in Extended Spring Training and could begin an official minor league rehab assignment by the weekend … Colin Curtis is expected to miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair his injured shoulder. That sucks. He hurt it diving for a ball in Spring Training.

Shameless Plug: Make sure you check out Russ Salzberg’s call-in show that airs live on the web every Wednesday from 11am-2pm. Click the link to find the phone number and the rest of the info.

The plan for Kevin Millwood

April 19, 2011 by Mike 12 Comments

Via Brian Costello, Brian Cashman confirmed that Kevin Millwood will make his next start for Triple-A Scranton sometime this week. He just threw seven one-hit innings for Double-A Trenton on Sunday, so sometime this weekend is a safe bet. The Yankees have 11 days left to evaluate Millwood before the opt-out clause in his contract kicks in, so it looks like they’ll get to see him make two starts for Scranton before the decision needs to be made.

Carlos Silva, on the other hand, is not scheduled to pitch anytime soon. He’s in Extended Spring Training right now and is undergoing a conditioning program.

Jonathan Mayo interviews Cito Culver

April 19, 2011 by Mike 21 Comments

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo ran around to each camp in Spring Training to speak to all of last year’s first round picks, and today he published his interview with the Yankees’ Cito Culver. The video is a touch over six minutes long but it’s certainly worth watching; the two talk about some changes the Yankees have made to Culver’s stance, his typical day, how he worked out during the bitter Rochester winter, the expectations of being a first rounder, all sorts of stuff. There’s a lot of yes sir’s involved, Cito’s certainly a polite kid. The video is on YouTube but it won’t let you embed it, so you’ll have to click through the link to watch.

Series Preview: Toronto Blue Jays

April 19, 2011 by Joe Pawlikowski 18 Comments

Away from home for only their second series this season, the Yankees will play a pair of games in Toronto this week. It’s kind of an oddly timed series, just two games sandwiched between two off-days. But it’s Yankee baseball, so who are we to complain?

Last year the Yanks had trouble with the Jays, and actually finished 8-10 against them. Thankfully for the Yanks, these aren’t the 2010 Blue Jays. They lost a few key players during the winter, and while they’re stronger in the long run, they’re definitely weaker for the 2011 season. The Yanks definitely have an opportunity to jump out ahead here and steal a pair of games before heading down to Baltimore.

What Have They Done Lately?

After looking like the Blue Jays of 2010 during the first week of play, the Jays have slipped considerably in the last week and a half. That includes three straight losses to the Red Sox, in which they managed just one run per game. Before that they managed to let Seattle put up an eight spot on them. Things just aren’t looking that bright for the Jays currently.

Blue Jays On Offense

AP110413059210 — Yep. Bautista can still pop one. (Elaine Thompson/AP)

Last year the home run was the Jays’ calling card, as they led the league by a decent margin. This year they’ve hit only 13, which ranks them 19th among the 30 teams. In fact, hitting for power has been a general problem for the team this year. They’ve hit just 24 doubles, which ranks 24th in the league, after finishing second last year. That’s an enormous problem for a team built like the Jays. They’re not an on-base type of squad — last year they ranked 26th with a .312 OBP — so when they’re not hitting for power they struggle to bring around runs.

Three players, really, have carried the Jays on offense to this point. Jose Bautista has kept up his power hitting ways, smacking three homers so far. While he likely won’t hit 54 again, he remains a legitimate power threat. He’s backed up by J.P. Arencibia, who has two doubles, two triples, and two homers already. Yunel Escobar has taken to his new home north of the border, hitting .333/.414/.563 with a double, two triples, and two homers this season. Jayson Nix, too, has stepped up, hitting .256/.356/.462 through 45 PA.

The biggest disappointments this season have been Adam Lind and Aaron Hill. They were in the same position last year, meaning their performances in 2011 became all the more important. Hill is just 14 for 60 (.233) so far, with three doubles and three walks. That production, a .262 wOBA, isn’t worst among his peers, but it’s not far from it. Lind, whom the Jays are trying at first base this season, has a nearly identical wOBA, .268, and also ranks near the worst of his peers. Travis Snider, a full-time player for the first time in his career, has also disappointed, hitting .151/.250/.245 in his first 60 PA.

At some point, at least one of Lind, Hill, and Snider will turn it around. There’s just too much talent there for all three of them to tank. Yet that’s not guaranteed to happen in this series. The Jays have really struggled at the plate lately. We know that momentum can shift in any given moment, but it’s tough to count on these struggling players at the moment.

Blue Jays On The Mound

Game One: Kyle Drabek. Tonight marks Drabke’s seventh major league start, though his first against a team he has previously faced. Last year he ended his season against the Yankees, tossing six innings and allowing three runs in a losing effort. This year the 23-year-old made the team out of spring training and put on a show in his first start, striking out seven Twins in seven innings on his way to a Blue Jays victory. But things haven’t been so easy for him since then.

The Twins, remember, currently sport the league’s worst offense, which could have played into Drabek’s success. In his next start he pitched only six innings, while facing two more batters and throwing two more pitches than his previous start. He also allowed a ton more balls in the air, walked more batters, and struck out fewer. And then in his last start, against the hapless Mariners, he recorded one fewer out while throwing 11 more pitches than his previous start. He all the sudden didn’t look as dominant.

This year his weakness has been the free pass. He has issued 11 to the 77 batters he has faced. This plays into the Yankees hands, as they are one of the more patient teams in the league. They’ve already seen him, so that stigma of getting beat by guys they see for the first time is erased.

Game Two: Brett Cecil. Just hearing the name Brett Cecil makes many Yankees fans cringe. He faced the Yankees five times, and generally gave them fits. What sticks in our heads are the two eight-inning performances in which the Yankees seemingly hit everything on the ground. What gets lost is that his final two outings weren’t all that great.

On September fifth he lasted 6.1 innings, but allowed three runs in the process. He walked four and struck out only three in that time, so things could have gone far worse. The Blue Jays did win the game, though, which makes the positive aspects of the game more forgettable. Then, in his final start of the season, he gave up three runs in just 5.1 innings. This time the Yanks hit plenty in the air. Again, Cecil won. He won’t get that lucky all the time.

As with Phil Hughes, Cecil threw far more innings last year than he had in the past. Also as with Hughes, he experienced reduced velocity in spring training and into the year. He hasn’t been quite the ground balling machine he was last year, and even allowed 10 fly balls in his previous start against the Red Sox. Overall he has been generally unimpressive this season, which is good news for Yankees fans. Maybe we’ll finally see them beat Cecil this year.

Bullpen: The Jays underwent a bullpen overhaul this winter, as they lost both Kevin Gregg and Scott Downs to free agency. But they did make a few pick-ups, including Frank Francisco, who returns to action this evening. Shawn Camp, Jason Frasor, and Carlos Villanueva have performed well so far. That is, their late-inning force appears to be in full effect. The Yankees can weaken that strength, though, by forcing Drabek and Cecil from the games early.

Blue Jays Featured Blog: Drunk Jays Fans.