Tick..Tick...Tick...
It's the first Saturday without football since August, which means we are rapidly heading to the dead zone of the sports year. Three more NFL games left and then nothing. Luckily, this year we will have the Olympics, which should help fill the cold days of February.
As for the Yankees, there really isn't much news, but I did pick up a couple of things from the interview Joe Girardi did on YES the other day.
1- Five guys (Joba, Hughes, Aceves, Mitre and Gaudin) will have a shot at the fifth spot in the rotation.
2- However, Girardi specifically said that Hughes and Aceves would have innings limits in the rotation.
This further solidifies my desire for Joba to go into the rotation. The Yankees spent a lot of effort getting him in under his innings limit in 2009 and they throw that all away by putting him in the pen at the start of 2010. Put him in the rotation and see what happens when he doesn't have to worry about innings limits, etc.. I also don't want another year of the Yankees monkeying around with a pitcher over innings limits which eliminates Hughes and Aceves and I definitely don't want to see Mitre in the rotation. Gaudin intrigues me, but I still don't trust his command for work every fifth day.
But, there is a longer term issue here and that is Hughes. If his future is ultimately in the rotation, you want him to throw 140 innings or so this year. That's not going to happen with him coming out of the pen. I don't know what the answer is there, but the Yankees should spend a few minutes of spring and think about a way they can maximize Hughes' 2010 innings.
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You keep hearing the Johnny Damon drumbeat and I imagine you will until he signs somewhere, but my question at this point is why would the Yankees want him back? I know his bat and speed are a wonderful mix, but his defense is atrocious. If you sign him, you have to play him in left because Nick Johnson has to DH. Putting Gardner in left, drastically upgrades the defense. And, while Damon would clearly out-hit Gardner, the difference may not be as much as you think. Bill James projects Damon to have a .785 OPS and Gardner to have a .743 OPS in 2010. Throw in the defensive difference and I wonder exactly how much of an upgrade bringing Damon back would be?
Comments
I'm a big Gardner fan, but James can take his stats and stuff it. Damon has the ability to have a quality at bat and to get clutch hits against the best pitchers in baseball in high pressure situations.
Let me put it this way: who do you want up to lead off the ninth inning of a World Series game: Damon or Cano? The James gang would consider this a laugher and say that the obvious answer is Cano. You and I both know that is bull.
That being said, I think Nady is the answer in left given his right handed bat, power, good defense, and age.
Posted by: Corey | January 24, 2010 09:24 AM |
Hi Corey, I'm a big Gardner fan too. And the "other" scenario that I play in my head is: there's a deep line drive hit into the OF and it's going to take either a great set of legs to track it down and catch it or a great arm to have a chance to make a play either at 3B or at home - do you want Damon or Gardner out there wearing a glove?
My point is that Damon has a noodle arm that's not getting any better with age, he takes awful routes to routine fly balls and is, really, a DH type now - it's time for him to take a DH's money. He and Blushing Boras blew it, so far at least. Johnson's already on the books as our DH ... so Yep, Nady would be great answer, assuming he can stay healthy, which may be an issue.
Carl Crwaford will be out in LF next year- but this year is still a challenge.
Posted by: Mitchell![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 25, 2010 12:28 AM
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