So the rosters expand in 13 minutes and the Yankees plan on adding a total of two players. Not only that, but the two guys they are adding (Coke and Moeller) are not currently on the 40-man roster.
Melky Cabrera is remaining in AAA. That is not a vote of confidence and tells you that the Yankees have basically moved on from the idea of Melky as a regular. The interesting thing to watch from here on out is if they let Gardner play. 7 back, 26 to play, why wouldn't they?
The loss was bad enough today, but this story really bugs me. Cano has been terrible this year and that was another half-assed play in a season with too many of those from him. But, to not stick around and face reporters makes it even worse.
Girardi needs to put an end to this and get in this kids' face. I would bench him tomorrow and make sure everyone knows why you are benching him. It's pathetic to say, but Cano obviously needs a babysitter like Larry Bowa harping at him, the Yankees need to find someone for that role next season.
Joba is coming back to the Yankees this week and the big question is how many innings can he throw between now and the end of the season? The Yankees are going to bring him back as a reliever and build him back up the same way they did back in May/June. The problem is, they have less than a month to do it.
Joba has thrown 89 innings so far and the Yankees need to get him as many innings as they can over the remaining weeks of the season. Realistically, I think it is going to be hard to get him more than 25 innings and that is being very aggressive. That would leave him at right around 115 for the season and probably mean that Joba is going to have an innings cap of 145 next season.
Add in the fact that Phil Hughes has thrown a total of 51 innings this season and Ian Kennedy 109 and you basically start 2009 in the same place you did 2008- three young pitchers with innings limits. The Yankees could send one or all of them to the Arizona League, but would they risk that with these arms? I'm not sure what the right answer is here, but it is something to keep a close eye on over the last few weeks of the year.
You have probably read the quote ("they sucked") but Newsday has a video of Hank giving his evaluation of the Yankees last night. You can't say he is wrong, this train is going off the rails fast and while there is still hope mathematically, that's about all there is.
Consider that with last night's loss the Yankees fell seven games behind Boston in the wild card with 30 to play (they are also 4-1/2 behind the Twins). If Boston plays .500 ball the rest of the way, the Yankees need to go 22-8 to tie them. That's possible, just highly unlikely. So, the Yankees need to think about 2009 and there are a lot of big, big questions that need to be answered.
First and foremost is who will be part of the rotation in '09? I will assume Joba and Wang are back and healthy, but Pettitte and Mussina are free agents. It's time to bring Kennedy and Hughes back to the majors and let them have some on the job training. The games are essentially meaningless and the Yankees need to know if they can count on either of these guys for next year.
Next on the list is who will play center in 09? It's time for a daily dose of Gardener, he should play every game the rest of the way and we should see if he can handle the position.
How about the bullpen? Let's take the kids and put them in tight situations and see what happens. Maybe they will blow up like last night, but we need to maximize their opportunities.
Biggest on the to do list has to be waivers. Some of the Yankees' big contract players might have value for a team still in the pennant race. Passing a guy like Giambi through waivers and seeing if you can trade him for something of value makes sense at this point. If you can't hold onto him and take the draft picks, but at least find out.
This will be a weird September for some, anyone who was born after 1988 or so probably never remembers an October without the Yankees. Those of us a little longer in the tooth remember plenty. Speaking from experience, it isn't fun. The teams of the 1980's prolonged their postseason drought by never planning for the future, this team can avoid that mistake.
I am not one of the many who believed the Yankees had to sweep Boston this series to stay in the playoff hunt. But, losing the series would eliminate them in my mind. So, I definitely count the next two games as "must wins" Yes, even if they do that, four games back with less than 30 to play is a lot to overcome, but it is possible.
One interesting thing to keep an eye on is Sunday. The 31st is the last day teams can trade players and put them on postseason rosters. I found this little nugget burried in the bottom of this article, the Yankees have not put any of their "significant" players through waivers yet. If they lose another game to Boston I would expect that to change. I will leave it at that for now until we see what happens on the field.
I am as likely as anyone to criticize Carl Pavano, but that doesn't mean I will root against him tonight. When you really sit down and think about it, Pavano is probably the worst signing in team history and the really sad thing is it should have been a good story. Remember the press conference and Carl and his family, all Yankees' fans smiling for the cameras? Remember that shutout he pitched in Seattle when the 2005 Yankees were getting off the mat and recovering from an 11-19 start with a ten-game winning streak? Carl Pavano had the fans on his side and then he got hurt and it all went downhill from there.
I like Mike Mussina and when he called out Pavano I noticed. I think Pavano decided at some point in his many injury rehabs that he had had enough and he didn't want to play baseball anymore. The honorable thing to do would have been to retire, but you don't earn $10 million a year in retirement. So, Pavano half-assed his rehab, didn't tell the team about his car crash and all the other things we have read about the past three years. Contrast that with the way Hideki Matsui basically willed his knee to get better this season. Mussina wasn't the only one who criticized Pavano for a lack of heart, some players posted insulting stories about him in his locker. So, it is fair to say that some of those players will probably not welcome him back tonight.
Over the last couple of days I have seen some pretty shocking articles about Pavano. Some suggested that the Yankees shouldn't start him out of spite. Some, like this one, suggest that Pavano will kill any momentum the team has by setting foot in the locker room. Both are silly points to try and make.
The Yankees cannot play the spite game with Pavano. When they decline his option at the end of the season both sides will move on from this unhappy marriage, but until then they owe it to everyone to see if they can wring out some value from him. To deliberately keep him out of the majors as some have suggested is silly. If it helps Pavano get a deal from another club next season, so be it. The Yankees can't care about that right now and there fans shouldn't worry about it. If Pavano wins all his starts and is brilliant on the mound that is great for the Yankees. If some club sees that and gives him a big deal as a result, that is there problem And, while there are some Yankees who can't stand Pavano, all of them are professionals and they want to win.
As for the fans, we are free to boo if we want. If Pavano ever takes the mound at the Stadium I would imagine his reception would be very, very cold. He deserves all the boos he gets and while I would never tell someone they can't boo, ask yourself before you do so, does this help my team win? Instead of booing, I would recommend just sitting silent, turn your back even, it would be much more powerful. But hopefully, Pavano gives us something to cheer about because like it or not, we need pitching right now.
If you haven't heard, the Yankees announced that Carl Pavano will start Saturday. If he takes the mound it could mean the world is ending, so take steps to prepare now.
If you are keeping track, the Yankees have gotten 19 starts and 111 innings with an ERA of 4.77 from Pavano in exchange for $40 million. If this were Hollywood, Pavano would now go 7-0 the rest of the way and then lead the team to a World Series title. Since it isn't I am going to head for higher ground.
Just in time for the stretch run, the Yankees get a boost tonight with Matsui back in the lineup. While he won't be able to play the field, his return should be a boost for the offense. Girardi just said on the pregame that the plan is to play Damon in center with Nady in left and Matsui at DH. That also means Giambi is back at first.
This should be interesting to watch. I am somewhat surprised that Christian got sent down because it means Gardner is now on the bench, but I guess he would not have started in AAA with Melky there. I just wonder if Damon will hold up in center every day and Giambi will hold up at first. I imagine Girardi will do a lot of shuffling of the lineup with Abreu sitting against lefties and maybe we will see some Damon at first?
I do wish the Yankees would get back to 11 pitchers, but they seem to feel the need for 12 right now. It was nice seeing Billy Traber pitch 2 innings the other day, but do we really need him?
While the news is that Hideki Matsui is rejoining the team on Tuesday, I am more interested in a potential move for Saturday. The Yankees will need a starter then and heading into tonight there were two probable candidates. The first, Phil Hughes, did not pitch well tonight at Scranton. I think he gets another shot at AAA before the Yankees recall him.
The second guy is...wait for it...Carl Pavano who pitched very well in Trenton tonight. I know, he will probably get a paper cut tomorrow that ends his rehab, but he probably the guy who will get the call for Saturday. Think about that for a minute, how weird a year has this been? It will get stranger on Saturday if I am right.