I was doing some research for a post that is coming this weekend (teaser!) and I stumbled upon this quote from Johnny Damon in the May 3, 2005 New York Times:
"There's no way I can go play for the Yankees, but I know they are going to come after me hard. It's definitely not the most important thing to go out there for the top dollar, which the Yankees are going to offer me. It's not what I need."
Scranton started play at 11am today and Chad Moeller was catching with Jesus Montero DH'ing. That tells me the Yankees are not overly concerned about Jorge's leg because they wouldn't use both of their AAA catchers in today's game if they felt one of them might need to get to Baltimore in time for tonight's game.
I wouldn't expect to see Jorge catch tonight, but it seems like he doesn't have a significant injury.
Sooner or later it was going to happen. The Yankees were going to go through a stretch where they didn't play very well and that time has arrived. Losers of 3-of-4, New York is floundering a bit right now and it might be time for Brian Cashman to make a tweak to the roster.
I think we can all agree that the bullpen stands out as the biggest culprit of these loses. Joba gave up the big homer Friday. The intentional walk reversal on Sunday led to a home run off of Marte and Logan and Robertson combined to lose last night's game.
Now Joba and Marte aren't going anywhere. Joba has pitched pretty well and Marte is making $4 million this year. Aceves has pitched decently and Marte is the best of the bunch right now so that leaves Robertson and Logan.
I wouldn't give up on Robertson yet, because the evidence points to him being incredibly unlucky more than anything. He is still striking out a ton of guys and his walks are actually down compared to last year. His fastball is averaging 91.7 mph, the exact number it was last season. He is getting more ground balls than he ever has and he is allowing fewer line drives. So why is he getting killed? Because hitters are hitting .600 against him when they put a ball in play.
That's a function mostly of luck and the Yankees would be wise to let Robertson keep pitching in the bigs for now. With Logan it comes down to what do you think is going to help this team more- a lefty specialist or another arm in the pen? I made the case against Logan and for Melancon in this post and I think it still applies. If Melancon isn't to the Yankees liking, how about another shot for Albie (0.77 ERA in AAA right now) Either way, the Yankees should take advantage of their relievers with options and make an adjustment to the pen.
If I were going to make a list of things I don't know about, we would be here a long time, but I never thought that something about the Yankees would make that list. While I cannot recite the starting lineups since 1950, I do consider myself to be a pretty knowledgeable fan when it comes to baseball and the Bombers.
So, I was somewhat taken aback when I learned that there were lyrics to the Yankees' theme song. From watching plenty of Yankees' games on Channel 11, I can hum that song in my sleep, but I never knew it had words! And apparently the writer wrote a number of other songs as well.
So Yankees' fans, did you know about the words or did you assume like I did that there weren't any words attached to the tune?
Watching yesterday's game was like watching Game 3 of the ALCS Joe Girardi went to "the book" and it cost the Yankees. Yes, Kendry Morales is a better hitter against RHP than LHP, but all Girardi needed to do was look at what his LHP was doing. He walked Abreu, he hit Hunter, he got a lucky out against Matsui, it certainly seemed like it wasn't going to be Marte's day. That's why it made a lot of sense to intentionally walk Morales. For whatever reason, Morales kills the Yankees and putting him on was a safe move. Having Marte be the one to put him on made even more sense because then Robertson could come in and try and throw strikes to Rivera. But for some unknown reason, Girardi changed his mind after ball 1 and the rest as they say is history.
Now, it's important to note the Yankees were losing the game at the time so who knows if they would have mounted a comeback. You can't say that Girardi's call lost them the game, but you have to hope he learns something from this.
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As Yogi said, "it's getting late early" with Javy Vazquez. What you had to hope for as a Yankees' fan was that Vazquez would go out to Oakland and Anaheim and pitch well. Instead he was mediocre against the A's and terrible against the Angels. Yes, Marcus Thames should have caught that ball, but a good pitcher picks up his fielders and Vazquez is not a good pitcher right now.
The bigger problem is this has a good chance of turning into an Ed Whitson situation. For those of you who don't remember Whitson, he was a Yankee pitcher in the mid 80's who was so viciously booed at home that the Yankees started using him only on the road. Vazquez isn't there yet, but if he gets bombed on Saturday things are going to get ugly. Fans are not going to care that Melky has a .440 OPS (yup .440) or that Vizcaino has a plus-4 ERA right now, they are going to want blood. Saturday's game is going to be a big one.
Brett Gardner is probably not going to his .333 and reach base at a .440 clip this season. He is also most likely going to end up with a slugging percentage below .400. While that won't profile as your typical leftfielder, for this team, Gardner holds tremendous value if he can get on base around .360 and keep up his current level of patience.
What this Yankees' team is all about is wearing down pitchers and Gardner has done an excellent job of doing that, seeing 4.3 pitches per plate appearance. That's good for 10th in the AL and part of an offense that has 5 hitters in the top 18 of the league. (Does it shock anyone that Nick Johnson leads the team at 4.58 with Swisher second at 4.36?) When your number 9 hitter can be that patient, it puts tremendous strain on the pitcher, as he doesn't have the traditional "quick" outs to get at the bottom of the order.
Throw in the fact that Gardner plays plus defense and if you put him on first he is probably getting to second and you have a pretty potent weapon. It wouldn't work on every team, but with all the thunder in the Yankees' lineup, they can use some lightning. Gardner can just focus on getting on base and getting into scoring position for the top of the lineup to drive him in.
I think Joe Girardi is realizing this because today's lineup has Gardner making his second-straight start against a LHP. Girardi doesn't have to start him against every lefty, Marcus Thames has shown that he can still mash lefty pitching, but I hope he runs Gardner out there 140+ times this year.
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On a separate note, Joe Girardi gave David Robertson a big vote of confidence in his interview with Mike Francesca today. Girardi said that since Joba and Mo have pitched two days in a row he won't use Joba and probably won't use Mo. Girardi then said Marte would probably be used against lefties in the ninth and Robertson against any righties. It will be interesting to see if Girardi sticks to that in a one-run game, but at 1:40 EDT today those are his thoughts.
Apparently, Joe Girardi has named Joba as the 8th-inning guy this year. In other news, General Franco is still dead.
Once the Yankees moved Joba out of the rotation, the only logical spot for him was the 8th inning. By leaving the rotation, Joba became the heir to Mo. While there is a chance the Yankees could put him back into the rotation in 2011, I find it unlikely they will do so. Unless Joba bombs in the 8th inning this year, the Yankees would have a hard time explaining a decision to reverse course yet again.
What will be much more interesting is what happens if Joba excels in the setup role this season. Let's say he pitches like he did in 2007 and dominates the league. Mariano is a free agent after the season and while the Yankees will certainly attempt and sign him, I don't know how many years they are going to offer. Even if Mo pitches like he always does this year, he is going to be 41. I am sure the Yankees will offer him the biggest contract on a per-year basis, but will they offer him the most years? Would Mariano take a three-year deal from another team? I don't know the answers to those questions, but Joba in the 8th inning could give the Yankees a hedge if they have to take an unpopular stance against a franchise great come November.
The Yankees sent Chan Ho Park to the DL today and recalled Boone Logan from the minors. I don't have anything against Logan and he certainly was pitching well so far this season, but I am curious as to why the Yankees picked him instead of Melancon?
Both of them are pitching very well in the minors, but Logan has pitched 127 innings in the bigs and shown that he should not be trusted with righties. In his career, Logan has allowed righties to hit .337/.408/.528 while "holding" lefties to .266/.333/.398. The righty numbers are atrocious while the lefties aren't superb. While there is always a chance Logan "figures" it out, chances are that he only becomes a lefty specialist and even then a not very good one in his career.
Contrast that with Melancon who scouts have always liked and apart from his brief stint in the bigs has dominated at every level where he has pitched. Throw in the fact that until yesterday David Robertson was struggling and it just makes me wonder why the Yankees chose the guy who can probably only give them a couple of batters over the guy who could give them length like Park has? Perhaps they are just interested in seeing what Logan can do in the relative calm of April. It should be interesting to watch and find out.
Yes, Javier Vazquez has not pitched well this season. But, we are talking about a grand total of two starts. Yet, the Daily News has a story today that is titled, "Vazquez Can't Handle Pinstripes". Other papers have similar stories as well.
The evidence for this conclusion appears to be that Vazquez surrendered a grand slam to Johnny Damon in the 2004 ALCS. It's true that he did do that, but if you want to blame him for losing that series you are crazy. And furthermore, why is anyone worried about 2004 anymore?
It might also be worth remembering that Vazquez pitched well when he first came to New York. He won 10 games and had a 3.56ERA in the first half of '04. A pretty good indication that he could handle the pressure. And don't forget there was a ton of pressure on him in 2004. The Yankees lost the World Series in 2003 and they lost Clemens, Pettitte and Wells in the offseason. They got Vazquez to come in and be an ace and for the first three months he did the job and did it well.
So, let's all back away from the ledge here. The press needs to stop making absurd claims. The fans need to give Vazquez a break and Vazquez needs to tune out the noise. If he is still pitching like this at the end of May then we can worry. But for now, it's probably best if everyone remember that it's only April 15th.
Interesting stories in the papers today about CC Sabathia and his bid for a no-hitter. Joe Girardi said that he would have taken Sabathia out after Kelly Shoppach hit, no matter what had happened. So, if Sabathia had retired Shoppach he still would not have had the chance to finish of his no-no.
When I was watching the game and looking at the pitch counts I will admit that I was hoping someone would get a hit. My thinking was that Girardi would never take Sabathia out if he could finish off a no-hitter and I really didn't want Sabathia throwing 130 pitches on April 10th. I give Girardi a ton of credit for having the guts to admit he would have pulled the big guy. I think it sends the perfect message to the club- the team comes first no matter what.
But, I can also see the other side of the coin. How often does a pitcher get the chance to pitch a no-hitter? Sabathia hasn't done it since high school and I bet he would have been pretty upset if he had retired Shoppach and then been lifted from the game. So, what would you have done if you had been in Girardi's shoes?