Whereas the Yankees actually have to come back to this hideous monstrosity of a stadium next year, Derek Jeter will never have to see this place again. Good for him. Now just finish the game quickly and get out.
Comment of the Game
No one person earned the COTG award yesterday. No no, it was a combined effort from Tanya, Jason, Shaun, and myself. Waffles thinks we're awful, awful people. She's probably right.
Best GIF of the Recap
Our BGOTR award goes to NoMahbles. Really, just look at it. Nothing more needs to be said about why it won.
Honorable Mod Mention
Michael Brown gets the HMM award. While the other mods spent their time in the gutter during the Game Thread, he honorably showcased an accurate visual of the Stephen Drew experience. Sigh. Just a couple more weeks left.
Best Comments of the Day
After the news of Martin Prado's injury, the PSA community came together once again. Blanky wins one COTD award for showcasing our latest "flesh wound" to the team.
LTL then followed up with his own witty repartee.
Finally, ebeneezersplooge wins the last COTD award with some math humor. We are big math fans on PSA.
Fun Questions
What would you have done differently with this Yankees team this year?
Last game in Tropicana Field for the remainder of the year. This is always a good thing. Derek Jeter must be thrilled that he never has to play there again. I know I would be. Brandon McCarthy takes the mound tonight, if you care.
We need a shot of something injected into this team.
Every year the same question arises: will this team give the youngsters a chance to help it? This season, we have seen Shane Greene give the team some quality innings, so much so that he may be in the running for a spot in the rotation next year. We have also seen the emergence of Dellin Betances, who has cemented himself as the team's fireman, while also giving the front office something to think about when considering whether to give David Robertson an extension or not (of course they should).
Other young players like Chase Whitley, John "don't call me JR" Ryan Murphy, and even Adam Warren (well, earlier in the year) have helped this team in one or another way in different parts of the season. The question is, will this team allow the youngsters to be even a bigger part of the 2015 team? The logical answer will be no since we are used to seeing the front office giving aging players, who were once big time players, contracts clogging up positions and roster spots that could be used for up and coming players. Which is why we saw Brian Roberts play more games than expected over the fan favorite Rob Refsnyder who didn't even sniff a Major League field this season.
Will Refsnyder be penciled in for second base next year? Or will the Yankees stick Martin Prado there and hit the free agency market to look for Derek Jeter's heir? If anything, the bullpen is where we might see younger guys play a big part next year. You can almost count on lefty Jacob Lindgren being there, as I am sure the Yankees envision a nasty left-right combo of Lindgren and Betances. Mark Montgomery may also make an appearance in the bullpen next year, even though his stock has fallen a tad, as well as Tyler Webb.
The 2015 rotation will be a very interesting one to keep an eye on throughout the offseason. Will Greene be a part of it? Will Manny Banuelos get a shot? Does Luis Severino make an appearance at all? With the uncertainty of Masahiro Tanaka, there might be a few open spots to fill. We also, at some point, can expect Ivan Nova to fully recover from Tommy John surgery, and you know for a fact that CC Sabathia will have a spot. A lot, of course, is depending on what the Yankees do in free agency, but you have to imagine they will be looking to upgrade offensively.
And then there are the prospects that might be a ways off from contributing on a major league level. A guy like Aaron Judge, or Giancarlo Stanton "lite" as Yankee fans hope he is, might not step on a MLB field until 2016. Eric Jagielo isn't exactly ready to take over at third base, either, at least not until the saga of Alex Rodriguez finally ends.
Which youngsters do you want to see on the 2015 team? Which players do you think actually have a chance to make the team?
Off season free agent signings Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann both had disappointing seasons in 2014. Will they bounce back in 2015?
The Yankees offense has been among the worst in baseball in 2014. Among American League teams, they're dead last in runs scored, and have managed to score fewer runs than 11 National League teams as well. It wasn't supposed to be this way, though, as the team's run-scoring potential actually looked pretty promising heading into the year. Holdovers Brett Gardner and Alfonso Soriano were coming off of very good seasons, while Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter both looked like strong rebound candidates. Throw in newcomers Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, and Brian McCann, and it was easy to envision the Yankees running out a lineup with seven or eight above-average hitters. That never came to be, of course. Soriano fell flat on his face, Jeter and Teixeira were nowhere close to their 2012 selves, and most disappointing of all, Beltran and McCann both took giant steps backwards at the plate. With wRC+'s of 96 and 93 respectively, that duo will likely undershoot last year's marks by some 20 or 30 points.
When a team signs a veteran to a multi-year contract, the expectation is that he'll be very good early on in the deal, but something close to useless by the time the final year rolls around. The Yankees have a few living, breathing examples of this phenomenon in Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and CC Sabathia. But McCann and Beltran seemingly missed the memo about providing value up front. Despite their long track records of excellent hitting, they've combined for just 1.7 fWAR this year. With a combined salary of $32M, that works out to about $16M per WAR. Yuck.
Injuries were at least part of the problem. Beltran's been playing with a bone spur in his elbow for the majority of the season, McCann dealt with foot soreness over the summer, and both players missed time with concussions. These maladies almost certainly played a role in their underwhelming performances, but as we've seen with Jeter and Teixeira, a return to form is far from guaranteed when you're a thirty-something player coming off of injury.
So just how likely is it that a player turns things around after such a dismal season? To get some sense, I looked at all instances since 1990 where a player's wRC+ dropped by 30-40 points from one year to the next (minimum 400 PA's in both seasons), and looked at how they performed the following season. Among the 206 such players, there were obviously a wide range of outcomes. Some, like Beltran after his first year with the Mets, returned to be better than ever, while others continued trending in the wrong direction -- like Chase Headley has since his monster 2012 campaign. Overall, this group's performance improved, albeit only slightly: They improved by an average of seven and a median of ten points of wRC+.
Taking age into account, we see a much more dismal picture for Beltran, who turns 38 next April. Players McCann's age (30) and younger generally bounce back from unexpectedly poor seasons, but the odds aren't as good for older hitters. Beltran and McCann are represented by the vertical green lines below, while the blue line represents a player's expected improvement in wRC+.
Based on the above regression line, McCann should be expected to recover about nine points from his wRC+, while Beltran would lose another two. This isn't to say that a huge rebound for either (or both!) isn't possible -- its certainly happened before -- but for players like this, a return to form is the exception rather than the expectation. For what its worth, the projection systems are still somewhat optimistic about these guys. The rest-of-season Steamer and ZiPS projections foresee something like a 110 wRC+ for McCann and a 116 mark for Beltran -- 14 and ten points higher than their current marks. Keep in mind, though, that these projections don't know that Beltran will be coming off elbow surgery next year.
Odds are, neither Beltran nor McCann will ever match their 2013 performances again. But the success of future Yankee teams hinges on them having some sort of rebound. Excluding this season, they have some $98M tied up in those two players and neither is going away anytime soon. McCann's still young enough that a much-better 2015 campaign seems likely, if not probable; but the outlook isn't quite as rosy for Beltran. A return to productivity is certainly possible for the soon-to-be 38-year-old, but his age and lack of defensive ability mean the odds are stacked against him.
The Yankees actually rewarded a lovely pitching performance with a some runs and a victory while Dellin Betances delivered a strikeout for the record books.
Like some sickly dog limping down a lonely highway the Yankees marched on toward their eventual demise. Oh, and Brandon McCarthy faced off against Alex Cobb and the Rays at lovely and inviting Tropicana Field. But on this day they came through with just enough offense to escape St. Petersburg with a victory.
Things were moving along like most Yankees games in that there was no scoring up until the bottom of the fourth. Noted "Yankee Murderer" Evan Longoria crushed a ball over the centerfield fence to make it 1-0 Rays. You knew the dynamic Yankees offense would counter and they did just that in the next frame. Chris Young got plunked on his derriere and scored on a Chase Headley double. Headley came around on a double from the other Yankees shortstop and non-power source, Brendan Ryan. The Yankees leapfrogged the Rays and had a 2-1 advantage.
More Yankees offense came about in the sixth when Cobb lost control of the plate. Derek Jeter opened up the inning by singling and ending the second longest hitless streak in his career. Brian McCann and Mark Teixeira both worked walks. Young was unable to get revenge for his plunking as he popped out to catcher. Brett Gardner almost turned the inning into one of the Yankees biggest in recent memory, but Wil Myers make a leaping grab at the wall to reduce it into only a sacrifice fly. Ichiro Suzuki next grounded out to Cobb to make sure the loaded bases situation only netted the Yankees a 3-1 lead. The Rays cut the lead right back to one on the strength of a David DeJesus triple in the sixth.
It was just another excellent showing for McCarthy, who even capped off his night with an "Immaculate Inning". He set down the Rays on nine pitches and three strikeouts in the seventh. Can't do any better than that. He was relieved in the eighth by Dellin Betances, who achieved an even more amazing accomplishment by breaking Mariano Rivera's Yankees record for reliever strikeouts in a season with his whiff of Kevin Kiermaier. He actually got two that inning for good measure. That's numbers 131 and 132 on the year for the big Yankees phenom. David Robertson came in next in the ninth to wrap things up with a nice and tidy save.
Recapping the 2014 season of the Yankees' High-A affiliate, the Tampa Yankees.
The Yankees' High-A affiliate in Tampa was home to some of the most exciting prospects in the system at various points throughout the 2014 season. Their first round pick in the 2013 draft, Eric Jagielo, spent his entire season at Tampa while he was joined by fellow first round pick Aaron Judge, 2014 draft pick standouts Jacob Lindgren and Mark Payton, and top pitching prospect Luis Severino.
Jagielo's season was abbreviated a bit by an injury that shortened his season to 85 games. The Yankees were aggressive in starting Jagielo out in High-A for his first full season, and the third baseman had pretty good results there with a .259/.354/.460 batting line to go along with 16 home runs. Hopefully the numbers look a little better this time next year, but it was still far from a bad season for Jagielo. Fellow third base prospect Dante Bichette Jr. found himself in the middle of a resurgent season after being promoted to High-A Tampa to begin the year. Bichette's prospect start had fallen after stalling out over the past few seasons in Charleston, but some work with his former big league player father seemed to pay off as DBJ hit .271/.352/.410 with nine home runs before being promoted to Double-A Trenton toward the end of the season.
Although Greg Bird only hit seven home runs in his time with the Tampa Yankees this season, the first base prospect who had a breakout year in 2013 put up another good run with a .277/.375/.442 batting line. A back injury caused Bird to miss time at the beginning of the season, so his statistics weren't as dazzling as they were a year ago. Still, he found his power stroke in a big way after his promotion to Double-A Trenton following the trade of another big power bat, Peter O'Brien. Outfielder Jake Cave turned in a really great season for Tampa, batting .304/.354/.395 in 90 games. His impressive numbers with Tampa earned him a promotion to Trenton at the end of the season as well. Fellow outfielder Mark Payton was only drafted in June before he immediately made his presence known by earning a promotion from Charleston to Tampa in his first season as a professional. The move up in the system didn't slow Payton down any, as the former Longhorn hit .286/.396/.495 in 26 games with Tampa.
On the pitching side, Luis Severino threw 20.2 innings for the Tampa Yankees on his way to blowing through nearly as many levels as Jacob Lindgren did this season. Severino pitched to a 1.31 ERA and has certainly put himself in the conversation as the Yankees' best overall prospect. Miguel Sulbaran, who the Yankees received in the Eduardo Nunez trade with Minnesota, tossed the most innings for the Tampa Yankees with a 3.52 ERA in 115 innings. There were basically zero expectations for the left-hander, seeing as he was traded for Nunez, so his success at the High-A level is really heartening.
Daniel Camarena put up a 2.35 ERA in 88 innings for the T-Yanks after spending all of last year with Charleston. Jaron Long, also putting his name on the map with such an impressive year, briefly spent time in Tampa before traversing three levels on the season. Long had a 2.77 ERA in 26 innings for Tampa, and was certainly one of the best stories from the farm in 2014. Nick Goody and Nick Rumbelow, two of the better relief prospects in the system (non-Lindgren division), each spent a bit of time with the Tampa Yankees this season with a 2.35 and 2.39 ERA, respectively. It's quite possible that at least one of them will find their way into the big league bullpen as early as next season.
The best part of the Tampa Yankees having so many good performances in 2014 is that it means those guys are one step closer to hopefully being able to make an impact at the big league level. It is, of course, not all good news. Cito Culver turned in yet another lackluster year for the Tampa Yankees, further proving that anointing him as Derek Jeter's heir was insanely off base. Second base prospect Angelo Gumbs also failed to impress at the High-A level this year. Despite that, it's hard to deny that the season was overwhelmingly positive at the High-A level, which is a very welcome sign after struggling to find many positives from the farm at all after 2013.
Breaking ranks once again. This time Matt F gets the COTG award, since I'm pretty sure this is how the majority of us feel right now.
Best GIF of the Recap
Yesterday's BGOTR award goes to MinigunMadness. This GIF of sawing and mathematical precision is very impressive.
Honorable Mod Mention
Our HMM award goes out to Harlan. He accurately and factual points out that the Yankees have indeed played small ball all year long, and it has failed.
Best Comments of the Day
Nothing really exceptional in the comments section yesterday. Today is a new day though. Or is it?
Fun Questions
Who would you get to play Derek Jeter in a movie about Derek Jeter?
The Yankees begin a four game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Tonight, Shane Greene will get the start. Greene has easily been one of the best stories of this year. Hopefully, he continues to show us why tonight.
Huzzah for the Yankees being underwhelming. Fortunately, we found things to talk about!
[0:31] Wooooooo season's over [1:12] Rare bright spots: Dellin Betances and Brandon McCarthy (who has to be signed) [3:44] Would you rather the Yankees sign someone like Max Scherzer or J.J. Hardy who will cost the rare mid-first round pick, or would you prefer they be willing to lose it to make a more legitimate playoff run in 2015? [11:51] Chris Young? What? How? [13:07] It's difficult to gauge how much a hitting coach impacts an offense, but can the Yankees justify keeping Kevin Long after another year of garbage production? [22:57] Tweetbag: Superman or Batman saving this team, alcohol of choice for the 2014 Yankees, best Yankees commercial pitchman, finding optimism for 2015, and bench-clearing brawls [34:41] Matt F. B-Ref segment: Real/fake September call-ups (feat. creepy Nate Teut) [43:41] Our take on the Cespedes Family Barbecast B-Ref Battle featuring six outstanding names [53:04] Yankee/Mitre of the Week
The Yankees' last two first baseman have cost them $300 million and have ultimately fallen short of sky-high expectations.
For a very long time, first baseman for the New York Yankees has been one of the most prestigious and productive positions in all of baseball. Outside of a few short blips and blurs, it has seen only four regular starters over a period spanning 32 seasons. In that stretch, Don Mattingly, Tino Martinez, Jason Giambi - who at 43 is still technically a Major League Baseball player - and Mark Teixeira - who is plodding closer to that technically distinction every day - have combined to slug 765 home runs, win 12 Gold Gloves and earn 11 All-Star berths. It hasn't always been a bed of roses, though, for the latter two members of the group. Together, Giambi and Teixeira cost the Yankees $300 million to sign and neither truly reached the gargantuan expectations heralded by their hefty contacts.
The parallels between Giambi's and Teixeira's Yankee careers aren't limited to their struggles to meet the high hopes that greeted them in New York. Both kicked off their pinstriped tenures with world class seasons. Giambi hit .314/.435/.598 in 2002. He finished fifth in the AL MVP race, and highlighted the campaign with his Yankees Classic-worthy walk-off grand slam in the rain on May 17th. Teixeira had a prolific year of his own in 2009. He batted .292/.383/.565, placed second for MVP and helped the team win its 27th World Series crown with an ALDS extra-inning walk-off homer against Minnesota.
But for both players, things began to slide after year one. Giambi's OPS dipped by nearly .100 in 2003 and his strikeout rate shot up to 20.3 percent, then a career worst by far. Teixeira saw a similarly drastic tail-off in 2010, putting up the lowest marks since his rookie year in wRC+, wOBA and ISO. Giambi and Teixeira each struggled to stay healthy throughout their time in the Bronx. Giambi lost half of 2004 to a non-cancerous tumor and half of 2007 to a plantar fascia tear and Teixeira has battled an unceasing array of nagging issues since 2010 (though they did not force him to miss significant time until 2012) culminating in 2013's torn ECU sheath in his wrist from which he still hasn't fully recovered. Giambi and Teixeira have both been knocked repeatedly for falling in love with Yankee Stadium's short right field porch and becoming too pull-happy, and for refusing to adjust their swings to hit away from the extreme defensive over-shifts that opposing infields have routinely harassed them with.
The numbers remind us that things haven't been all bad for Giambi or for Teixeira in New York. Here's a look at what they each did to earn their massive commitments from the Yankees compared with what they produced after signing those deals:
G
PA
wRC+
wOBA
ISO
BB%
fWAR
Giambi (Pre-NYY)
953
4,083
147
.409
.236
14.4
28.4
Giambi (As NYY)
897
3,693
145
.398
.261
16.8
20.9
Teixeira (Pre-NYY)
904
3,931
134
.389
.251
11.2
26.0
Teixeira (As NYY)
723
3,168
123
.362
.233
11.6
15.4
Giambi's offensive output pretty much dwarfs Teixeira's. He was a better hitter before joining the Yankees, despite playing in a much less favorable park for hitters and he managed to maintain a level much closer to his prior standard even as he aged. After looking dead in the water in '04 and '07, Giambi rose from the ashes each time, slugging his way to a 156 wRC+ and .414 wOBA in 2005-2006 and a 131 wRC+ and .378 wOBA in 2008 at age 37. Teixeira has suffered through a much steadier decline. His OBP, wOBA and wRC+ have dipped each year between 2008 and the present to form the maddeningly pedestrian numbers we see before us today. Teixeira did start off decently this year, posting a .241/.341/.464 triple-slash in the first half, but he's crumbled since then, crawling to a hideous .581 OPS after the All-Star break. He still has two years left on his contract to turn things around, as much as the Yankees probably wish he didn't. The first half numbers do suggest there's something left in the chamber and a fully functional off-season could yield a return to health, as Teixeira himself has publicly wished, but it's getting harder to believe that a late-career resurgence is actually in the cards.
On the defensive side, the pendulum swings in Teixeira's favor. The should've-been-a-DH Giambi owned a UZR/150 of -7.7 in 3,958 1/3 defensive innings as a Yankee first baseman, whereas Teixeira's in 5,979 innings is 5.2. That difference isn't quite as stark as one might expect, but UZR doesn't tell the full story here. UZR judges range on balls hit but not on balls thrown, and corralling errant passes from fellow infielders has always been one of Teixeira's strengths. Derek Jeter, for example, has committed 25 throwing errors in the five seasons where Teixeira has manned first regularly compared with 38 in the five years when Giambi made 68 or more starts there. Giambi's complete inability to throw the ball - anywhere - allowed runs to score from third on poorly-hit grounders and it made pick-offs and 3-6-3 double plays incredibly daunting tasks. The fact that Giambi's career wRC+ was 115 as a DH, compared with 150 as a first baseman, coupled with the Yankees' inability to find a suitable backup from the likes of Nick Johnson, Travis Lee and Doug Mientkiewicz, forced his glove into action far too often. Giambi played first - or attempted to - in roughly 56 percent of his Yankee games.
From a financial standpoint, Giambi's seven-year $120 million contract seems somewhat puny next to Teixeira's eight years and $180 million, but when adjusted to reflect the team's overall spending, the two deals actually cost the Yankees close to the same. Giambi's salary accounted for just over nine percent of the $1.26 billion that the team spent on its Opening Day payrolls between 2002 and 2008, while the $133.9 million that they've paid Teixeira so far has been worth around 10.6 percent of the $1.24 billion they've tossed around since 2009. For all that money, Teixeira's done a better job of serving as a model representative of the brand, outside of his sometimes bizarrely-worded statements regarding the health of his wrist and his preference to not switch his approach to fight the shift. Before the eternal melodrama of Alex Rodriguez took the stage, Giambi was a major culprit when it came to embarrassing Yankees brass, particularly during the BALCO PED scandal that broke in 2003. Though he's now one of the most respected older players in the game and seen by many as a future manager, Giambi will always be known, fairly or not, as one of the early faces of steroids in baseball. Then there's the Foul Territory web series, possibly Teixeira's greatest contribution to the Yankees so far, which totally trumps this atrocity of a deodorant commercial.
Which first baseman was a better investment for the Yankees? It really depends on your perspective of team-building. Do you take the great bat and the defensive flaws that come with it, or do you accept the offensive cliff dive in exchange for the better all-around skill set? In either case, what the Yankees might learn from this exercise is that seven and eight year deals for first baseman nearing or past thirty in the post-PED era are maybe not such a great idea.
The Rockies, Angels and Rangers might agree with that sentiment given their respective experiences with Todd Helton, Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, and for the Reds, the nine years left on Joey Votto's deal are suddenly looking a bit sketchy. MLB first basemen tend to be big, tightly muscled hard swingers--they're prone to strains, pulls and tears that can limit their effectiveness and bring a deadly loss of bat speed. Early dividends can make up for bad seasons toward the tail ends of contracts, but neither Giambi nor Teixeira stayed at the top of their game long enough to fully justify the Yankees' huge commitment.
Yankees legend Derek Jeter has had a rough final season, but on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium he harkened back to his glory days. Jeter hit a line drive home run to left field against R.A. Dickey of the Blue Jays in the sixth inning, his first home run hit at home in 2014.
Jeter entered Thursday hitting just .230/.271/.257 in 66 games at home, and .249/.298/.297 with three home runs overall on the season. It was his first long ball at Yankee Stadium since July 28, 2013, with a span of 75 games and 327 plate appearances in between dingers at home.
The home run for Jeter was his fourth on the season, and 260th of his Hall of Fame career. He's now tied with Tim Wallach, Javy Lopez and former teammate Eric Chavez for 188th-most in major league history.
Improbable things that happened in this game: Derek Jeter home run, Stephen Drew RBI, Chase Headley walk-off
The Yankees started their final series of the season against the Blue Jays with yet another great outing by Shane Greene. After a mistake by Shawn Kelley, it looked like the game might be headed for extra innings, but Chase Headley was able to knock the ball through Adam Lind's legs for the walk-off victory.
Neither team was able to get anything going until the 5th inning. In the Yankees case, this was somewhat due to Kevin Pillar making some nice diving plays, which robbed both Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter of a base hit. Finally, Headley was able to work a walk, and Stephen Drew (!) doubled on a line drive to right field. The Blue Jays ended up throwing the relay away which allowed Headley to score. In the following inning, just when Yankee fans started to wonder if we might have seen Jeter's last home run, R.A. Dickey decided to gift him with a fastball down the middle. That was the first home run that Jeter has hit in Yankee Stadium this year, and only his fourth of the season.
Shane Greene had an excellent outing and continued to build on the case that he should be in the rotation next season. He notched six strikeouts through 6.2 innings, while only allowing three hits and two walks. After allowing a walk and a single in the seventh, Joe Girardi opted to have Dellin Betances get the final out of the inning. It wasn't until Shawn Kelley came in in the eighth that the Blue Jays were able to get their only runs of the game. With two outs and Jose Reyes on base, Francisco Cervelli called for the pitch to Jose Bautista to be up high. Unfortunately, Kelley left it hanging and Bautista tied the game with a home run to left.
The game seemed all but destined to go to extra innings after David Robertson pitched a clean ninth inning. The Blue Jays sent Aaron Sanchez to the mound, and Chris Young led off with a line drive to center. With Brett Gardner at the plate, speedy Antoan Richardson came in to pinch run for Young. For some reason Gardner was bunting and bunting and bunting. Finally, Richardson stole second, and Gardner laid down a sac bunt to get Richardson over to third. Next up was Headley, who hit the ball between Adam Lind's legs, giving the Yankees the win on an unearned run.
The Yankees will try for three wins in a row tomorrow, as Hiroki Kuroda and Mark Buehrle are set to face off at 7:05 pm EST.
Jose Bautista ties up the game in the 8th with a 2-run homer.
And then, in the bottom of the 9th, the Yankees walk off on a Adam Lind error. Chris Young started the inning with a single. Pinch runner Antoan Ricardson stole second and was bunted to third. Then Chase Headley grounds one right at Adam Lind at first base and Adam, lets it go right through his legs. Fielders are told to stay down on balls....it is easier to come up with the bounce than it is to go down. Well, Lind didn't stay down. It was very important that he at least keep the ball in front of him, but he missed it totally for a walk off error.
Our Jays are finding new and inventive ways to lose. My dad would say "they can't win for losing".
R.A. Dickey pitched a pretty good game, minus throwing a gopher ball to Derek Jeter (of all people). It was bad enough listening to Buck and Pat telling us that Jeter was the Second Coming all game long, Dickey has to throw one of his batting practice fastballs to the game. Actually he threw 3 of the "fastballs" to Jeter that at bat. We allowed a couple of minutes of swearing after that moment.
Dickey went 6 innings, allowed 5 hits and a walk with 3 strikeouts. Other than the Jeter homer and a run scoring double to Stephen Drew he was very good. He pitched well enough to get a win, if he was pitching for a team that could score.
Brett Cecil and Brandon Morrow pitched a scoreless inning each. Aaron Sanchez was the lucky one who was out there for Lind's error, getting his first MLB loss.
Our offense did nothing until the Bautista home run. We had 5 hits and 2 walks in all. Jose Reyes had 2 of the hits. Munenori Kawasaki and Josh Thole were the other Jays to single.
Kevin Pillar made a couple of the nicest catches you will ever see in left. I have traded them for a couple of runs.
Jays of the Day are Jose Bautista (.288 WPA) and Morrow (.105).
Suckage. Sanchez had the number at -.366 but Lind has to have the lion's share of that. Not counting the error, Lind already had the suckage number at -.147. Pillar had the number too, -.110, but that doesn't take into account his two amazing catches, so I'm not giving him the award.
We had 585 comments in the GameThread. Bluejays13 led the way, a gritty performance in a losing cause.
It's About the Money | William Tasker: Fair or not, there is a case for the Yankees to blame Kevin Long for their horrendous offense and fire him after the season.
ESPN New York | Andrew Marchand: Kevin Long discusses the frustrations of the season and whether or not he's concerned about his job security.
Baseball America | J.J. Cooper: As teams continue to develop higher-velocity pitching prospects, the Yankees currently only have one.
The Record | Bob Klapisch: While it makes sense for Derek Jeter to end his career in the Bronx, he's still going to play through the season to Fenway Park.
Girardi can say he wasn't hired to put on a farewell tour all he wants. He was, and he betrayed both himself and the fans by doing so.
From the start of the season through the end of July, Derek Jeter hit .277/.331/.326. It was far from classic Jeter, but given that major league shortstops are hitting .255/.311/.368 this year and number-two hitters are averaging .261/.322/.394, well, Jeter still wasn't helping, but he wasn't necessarily killing the Yankees. If keeping him in the lineup was a crime, it was a misdemeanor, not a felony.
Since then, as you've no doubt heard, despite the ongoing farewell appearances and esoteric gifts from former opponents and the protestations of manager Joe Girardi, it has been a different story. Barring an unlikely hot finish -- and with Jeter's flair for the dramatic, it shouldn't surprise anyone if he homers in his final at-bat, Teddy Ballgame-style -- he's going to go out being every inch the 40-year-old shortstop he is, having slumped to .181/.218/225 in his last 40 games (his home run on Thursday evening changes these numbers but little, but certainly underscores the "flair for the dramatic" part of the above).
That's a quarter of the season. That is, in the words of the Crazy Horse song, a gone-dead train. As Jeter slowed, the noise about whether the Yankees were sacrificing the season to Jeter's farewell tour by keeping him high up in the batting order or even playing him regularly grew louder. The answer is both yes and no-yes, another player would have been dropped in the order or benched, and no, there was no saving the Yankees' season regardless. The Yankees went 20-20 in those 40 games, and it's not hard to imagine that with a different shortstop they wouldn't have been able win a few more games and have a .550 winning percentage, which is about what the AL wild-card leaders are floating right now. The problem is, the Yankees were only 55-52 (.514) at that time and the Royals, Mariners, and Indians have all played better than .500 since then. To go from 55-52 to one game better than the Royals' current 83-68, the Yankees would have had to go 29-15.
That's a .659 winning percentage, a 107-win pace over a full season. The Angels and Orioles have done even better than that in that time (both 32-14, or a 113-win pace) so it's certainly possible, but even if the Yankees had somehow been able to swap in Robin Yount '82 or Cal Ripken '91 or even (and somewhat more realistically) Derek Jeter '99 for Jeter '14 but all else remained equal, well, this team of injured oldsters still wasn't going to crazy like that.
So long, Frank Lloyd Wright -- and yes, the Orioles did give Jeter more than $10. That's just the crop. (Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports).
Still, in a season in which baseball's most brick-like manager, Ned Yost, said moving the depleted-uranium weight of Omar Infante's .256/.294/.342 out of the No. 2 spot in the batting order -- the total does not do justice to Infante's post-break .227/.262/.273 -- would be "kind of dumb," and then went ahead and actually did it, Joe Girardi's refusal to take action regarding Jeter as the season slipped away bears further inspection.
Girardi has repeatedly said in one way or another that if you drop Jeter you have to elevate someone else, and since his overall offense is pathetic, what's the point? "It's not like we have a bunch of guys hitting .300. So that's why we've kept it."
"PhD" Yost suggests the point: Nori Aoki was hitting .265/.333/.334 when Yost dropped him from leadoff to No. 2 five games ago. Since then he's gone 13-for-21, or .619. Small sample? Damn straight. Will he do that for a day longer? Probably not, but this is one time that small sample sizes are complete irrelevant. When the manager shuffles the batting order, small-sample hot streaks are what he's making an effort to capture. Yost happened to do that. Girardi might have done that, he might not have. We'll never know.
When I last visited this topic at the end of August, I said Girardi "knows that messing with Jeter in his farewell season is just not worth it." By this I meant that it would be more aggravation than it's worth given the huge media distraction it would have created, plus the perception of insult to the Great Man. I still largely feel that way (at my weight "largely" figures in most things that I do), but having read Jon Heyman's Wednesday column, "Joe Girardi put Derek Jeter's farewell tour ahead of the team," I wonder if maybe the 2014 season should turn out to be Girardi's farewell tour as well.
It's not that Heyman had any great insight, exactly -- he remains a better rumor-monger than analyst -- but the starkness of this statement is still striking even if it's not new:
In the end, Girardi batted Jeter second throughout the year despite plummeting results. Jeter, 40, stands second on the Yankees in at-bats despite ranking near the bottom of the league in offensive categories and last in baseball among 150 qualifying hitters in slugging percentage.
Jeter even DH'ed several games in Girardi's lineup despite spending his final season as a non-threat. There is only one explanation for his continuing lineup placements. Jeter wasn't treated like a ballplayer but a god by his manager, and that's after he promised the opposite.
Knowing the way the Yankees work, it's entirely possible that Girardi was told, nay, ordered to spot Jeter high up all year long. The Yankees don't sell a lot of those Legends seats, damn it. It's understandable to me, it's understandable to you, and it worked as judged by the Yankees being up roughly 1,800 fans a game over last year. The one person it should not, never-ever be understandable to is a manager with the slightest self-respect.
Jeter and Girardi (Jim Rogash).
Yes, the team is there to make money, nothing else. Yes, Jeter was Girardi's teammate and, one assumes, friend, and loyalty and winning (as Joe Torre often demonstrated) are sometimes in conflict. Yes, Girardi isn't just a manager but a middle-manager, and middle-managers take orders. Yes, there are thousands of fans who care more about Jeter leaving than the Yankees winning, even if catering them does a disservice to those fans who have the reverse set of priorities. Yes, New York managers deal with a horde of media that yips like overexcited cocker spaniels every time anything happens. All you have to do to understand how stupid it can be around the New York ballparks is listen to Commissioner Selig's press conference at Citi Field the other day. "ARE THE METS GOING TO HAVE A LOGO CHANGE? IF THEY DO HAVE A LOGO CHANGE, WILL THEY HAVE TO ASK YOU ABOUT IT? WHAT DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THE METS LOGO CHANGE AND WHEN DID YOU KNOW IT?"
Selig's response was essentially, "The Mets have a logo?" which left aside the proper response, which was, "WHO THE #$#$!!$#$# CARES ABOUT THE METS #$!!#$#$# LOGO? WHY ARE YOU WASTING MY %^%#$$## TIME THIS WAY? THIS IS MY LAST PRESS CONFERENCE IN NEW YORK AS A COMMISSIONER AND ALL YOU CAN THINK OF TO ASK ME ABOUT IS THIS PICAYUNE $#$#%^$!!$ BULL$#$#$!?"
"You know -- like that drawing on the wall behind you." (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports).
Woodward and Bernstein were really ON that Mets logo story.
Nevertheless, as annoying as the New York press can be, if a manager's motivation for any decision is avoiding answering to them, not only is the tail wagging the dog, the dog isn't even a dog anymore but some more craven creature that has rightfully earned its inevitable extinction.
John McGraw once said, "In playing or managing, the game of ball is only fun for me when I'm out in front and winning. I don't give a hill of beans for the rest of the game." That meant that McGraw was miserable and/or pissed off about 98 percent of the time and died young, but he was right in that a manager has no other functional purpose than to be about the business of his team winning. So let's ask Joe Girardi these questions:
Even if moving Jeter down in the order was unlikely to produce any real results, what excuse do you have for giving up without even trying?
If you were ordered to bat a dead player at the top of the order and DH him when he couldn't play the field, why didn't you quit?
Even though you have said, "I wasn't hired to put on a farewell tour," why have your actions been consistent with a manager putting on a farewell tour?
Given their weird admixture of the injured, the superannuated, and the injured-superannuated, chances are that the Yankees would not have won anything this year whether Girardi played to win or not. That is far from the point. The point is that playing to win was his only job and he clearly, demonstrably has not done that. Whatever his past accomplishments, whatever his intelligence, that's not a man(ager) you can respect.
It would be odd to advocate for Girardi's firing at this juncture, because he was clearly doing precisely what the Yankees wanted him to do, but it's not too late for him to rediscover his self-respect and quit.
Recapping the 2014 season of the Yankees' Double-A affiliate, the Trenton Thunder.
Over the past couple years, Double-A Trenton has served as the Yankees farm system's biggest test in terms of evaluating the numerous players who did quite well at A-ball. With the step up to Double-A, prospects witness pitching far more closer to major league caliber than anything previously seen. Whether or not they can meet this challenge, particularly in pitcher-friendly Arm & Hammer Park, is up to the talent of the prospect.
This season felt like a transition year of sorts for the Thunder, as the previous A-ball phenoms faded to the background somewhat while a new group began to move up from High-A Tampa. Righty starter Luis Severino was promoted after only four starts in Tampa, and he justified the hype by pitching to a stellar 2.52 ERA and 2.27 FIP in six starts with Trenton, striking out 10.4 batters per nine with good control at 2.2 BB/9. Severino's been in each of the past three write-ups, so it's only fair to give his overall numbers on the 2014 campaign: a 2.46 ERA, a 1.059 WHIP, 10.1 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, and just three homers allowed all year in 113 1/3 innings (0.2 HR/9). The Yankees love his repertoire, and that only adds to his talent. He was ranked the team's top midseason prospect by MLB.com, and it's awfully hard to dispute that claim.
Other top prospects to make the jump from Tampa to Trenton in 2014 were Greg Bird, Jake Cave, Jacob Lindgren and the since-departed Peter O'Brien. As much fun as the #DidPeterOBrienDinger hashtag was on Twitter this year for us while O'Brien led the system with 33 homers (a team-high 23 in Trenton), he just didn't do much else, with his one skill unlikely to survive against big league pitching. O'Brien barely walked (.296 OBP), he was eventually restricted to first base because he couldn't handle anywhere else on defense, and he was ultimately too one-dimensional a prospect to feel emotional about losing in the Martin Prado trade with the Diamondbacks at the Trade Deadline. With first base open, the more patient Bird was promoted from Tampa, and he made an immediate impact, hitting .253/.379/.558 with seven homers and a 158 wRC+ in 27 games, prolonging hope that he could be a more legitimate first base prospect than O'Brien.
The outfielder Cave was a nice underrated prospect find in 2014. After his midseason promotion, he hit .273/.344/.455 with 19 extra-base hits and a 121 wRC+ in 42 games, all while earning some intriguing comparisons to Brett Gardner from his manager Franklin (who also managed Gardner years ago). Lindgren's "Strikeout Factory" show continued in Trenton, where he struck out 13.9 batters per nine in 11 2/3 innings. However, he also faced his first adversity in the pros, as a couple of wild outings gave him an unsightly 6.9 BB/9, three wild pitches, and a 1.286 WHIP. It could have just been fatigue from pitching about 80 innings this year between college and the minors, but it will still be something to track going forward. The warning sign was right in front of him at the end of the season in Mark Montgomery, who was demoted from Triple-A Scranton due to control problems, though Montie seemed to do better back in Trenton with a 0.83 ERA and 0.969 WHIP in 21 2/3 innings, albeit with a shaky 5.4 BB/9.
Catcher Gary Sanchez is highly-touted enough to serve as bridge of sorts between the two prospect groups. The Yankees' consensus top prospect for the past two years was steady at a .270/.338/.406 triple slash with 13 homers and a 108 wRC+ in 110 games. However, Sanchez also faced questions about his maturity, as he was suspended for five games due to an undisclosed matter in June by manager Tony Franklin. As I noted back in June, the offense had to be pretty bad for Sanchez to be benched for that long since in 2008 under Franklin, Jose Tabata was suspended three games for leaving the ballpark in the middle of a game. (This suspension wasn't the first time the Yankees system disciplined him, either.) Although Sanchez is only turning 22 in December, giving him plenty of time to improve, he still needs to make great strides on defense as well if he wants to figure in the Yankees' future plans.
Of course Sanchez still had a much better season than his former fellow teammates in A-ball, Slade Heathcott and Mason Williams. Heathcott yet again suffered a debilitating injury-filled year with only seven games played, as he has yet to play a full season of minor league ball without getting hurt. The talent might still be there though hard to reach due to injury; maybe that's a better fate than Williams. Once regarded as a Top 100 Prospect, Williams was absolutely dominated by Double-A pitching, as he was held to a ghastly .223/.290/.304 triple slash in 128 games, a 66 wRC+. Oof. He's good on defense, but that might be the only nice thing to say about him anymore.
A few more prospect bites from Trenton in 2014:
Jaron Long continued his surprising 2014 ascent with 11 games (10 starts) in Trenton, during which time he posted a 2.35 ERA and 2.80 FIP. Severino will probably be the Yankees' Minor League Pitcher of the Year, but in any other season, Long's terrific campaign would certainly get more consideration. Who knows if he'll be anywhere near this good next year, but obviously so far so good for the undrafted free agent.
Tyler Austin was the fourth in that aforementioned old A-ball core with Sanchez and he actually did well to reclaim some of his prospect status after a disappointing 2013. The outfielder hit .275/.336/.419 with 34 extra-base hits and a 110 wRC+, highlighted by an impressive .336/.397/.557 showing after the All-Star Break.
Former top pitching prospect Manny Banuelos made 16 starts in Trenton in his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery, and the results weren't exactly amazing: a 4.59 ERA and 5.03 FIP, though the Yankees did bump him up to Scranton in August.
Bravo to some of the players who performed so well that they were promoted to Scranton: outfielder Taylor Dugas (.294/.403/.424, 136 wRC+ in 54 games), first baseman Kyle Roller (.385/.456/.808 and nine homers in 21 games), and of course second baseman Rob Refsnyder (.342/.385/.548 and a 159 wRC+ in 60 games). There's sure to be more on Refsnyder once we reach the Scranton season recap.
The Thunder will continue to be an exciting team to watch in 2015 as 2013 first round picks Aaron Judge and Eric Jagielo seem likely to move up next spring. Catch them in Trenton if you get a chance--the ballpark's nice, the talent is good, and you won't regret it.
Since being traded in July, Brandon McCarthy and Jake Peavy have altered their approach on the mound, leading to different pitch selection and better results.
Trades lead to change; that much is obvious. Players swap out old uniforms for new ones and call a different city home. And although the person sporting that new ball cap isn’t any different from the one before, sometimes these players also make on-field alterations after joining up with a new club.
Brandon McCarthy and Jake Peavy both landed with new teams prior to this season’s trade deadline, and both have modified their approach on the mound since being dealt. Neither is different per se, but they sure pitch differently.
McCarthy was an obvious buy-low candidate when the Yankees traded for him in early July. His ERA sat at 5.06, but just a glance at his FIP (3.81) and xFIP (2.88), along with his prior track record, could tell you McCarthy was a good bet to see improved results over the next couple months. Since donning pinstripes, the 31-year-old has proven to be a coup for the Yankees, improving his strikeout rate, lowering his walk rate, and posting an ERA of 2.54 in 85 innings pitched.
But McCarthy’s improvement in New York is a little more complicated than simple regression to the mean. The right-hander has altered his pitch mix, which has helped lead to sterling results:
Brandon McCarthy
Four-seam FB
Sinker
Curveball
Cutter
Arizona
6.7%
54.5%
26.1%
10.3%
New York
23.5%
36.7%
20.6%
19.2%
With the Yankees, McCarthy has thrown nearly three times as many four-seamers (in 25 less innings) as he did with the Diamondbacks. He has also used his cutter 10% more and depends far less on his sinker, which wasn’t yielding good results anyhow in Arizona (.331 BA/.479 SLG allowed). These changes have seen McCarthy generate fewer ground balls and more fly balls in New York, which might feel like a risky proposition in the confines of Yankee Stadium.
On the contrary, however, McCarthy has induced weaker contact, with his BABIP dropping over 50 percentage points and his HR/FB rate shrinking in half. According to FanGraphs plate discipline data, McCarthy has seen opposing batters swing at pitches outside the zone (and overall) nearly five percent more of the time in New York, while his contact rate has decreased.
A look at his zone charts before and after the trade shows just why this might be.
Arizona:
New York:
f
McCarthy’s overall command within the strike zone has improved, with his pitches catching far less of the plate and more of the outer edges of the zone. This helps explain how he has generated weaker contact and achieved better results despite seeing an increase in the amount of fly balls he allows.
Jake Peavy’s changes in approach since arriving in San Francisco are remarkably similar. He too looks like a different pitcher.
Like McCarthy, Peavy has depended less on his sinker in favor of more four-seamers and cutters. The 33-year-old has also turned to his breaking balls (he throws both a curveball and slider) with greater frequency in a Giants uniform:
Jake Peavy
Four-seam FB
Sinker
Changeup
Slider
Curveball
Cutter
Boston
33.8%
21.4%
11.6%
6.4%
8.8%
17.6%
San Francisco
41.5%
6.5%
6.8%
11.2%
10.9%
22.7%
In a way, Peavy’s improvements have been even starker than McCarthy’s. The righty’s ERA and FIP, which sat at 4.72 and 4.79 respectively in Boston, have dropped to 2.16 and 2.75 in San Francisco. In terms of fWAR, he has been exactly twice as valuable with the Giants in half as many innings as he was with the Red Sox.
Peavy is surely benefiting from the pitcher-friendly environment of AT&T park—his HR/FB ratio sits at an unsustainable 2.7% since the trade. Even so, with the Giants he has cut his walk rate nearly in half and also increased his swinging-strike rate by nearly two percent. Simply put, Peavy is striking more batters out, walking fewer, and keeping the ball in the park, something that ultimately burned him in Boston.
Again, Peavy’s improvements have come at the expense of his sinker, which was getting crushed in his time with the Red Sox (.339 BA/.591 SLG allowed). His new approach has actually yielded a higher line-drive rate, but has also caused batters to swing at pitches outside the zone nearly eight percent more of the time in San Francisco. In a similar manner to McCarthy, Peavy has produce more swings and less contact since being traded.
Most interesting of all, both Peavy and McCarthy have excelled while using their sinkers less and less in the second half. The pitch is in vogue across Major League Baseballfor its ability to keep the ball on the ground and in the ballpark; yet the sinker can also lead to inconsistent command and far too much hard contact, especially for pitchers who don’t possess dominant sinkers like Dallas Keuchel or Henderson Alvarez. Just last year, our own Neil Weinberg showed how the difficulty in controlling the sinker can come with a hidden cost.
That trades provide an opportunity for changes in scenery and approach is no secret. Sometimes a new environment and on-field modifications don’t lead to any changes in results. As McCarthy and Peavy show, however, even if the person under the new uniform is no different, sometimes the player is.
Editor's Note: SB Nation's partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $18,000 fantasy baseball league for tonight's MLB games. It's $2 to join and first prize is $2,000. Jump in now. Here's the FanDuel link.
Alex Skillin is an editor at Beyond the Box Score. He also writes for SB Nation's MLB hub and The Hardball Times, among other places. You can follow him on Twitter at @AlexSkillin.
Similar to last year, there's another possibility that this might be the trusty right-hander's final season. You'll miss him when he's gone.
Consistency is one of the attributes that a person can possess that makes them both incredibly reliable and unremarkable at the same time. You can garner a lot more attention from the media and fans in baseball by either doing exceedingly well or exceedingly poorly. Players like Dellin Betances and Brian McCann have had their share of coverage for lying on opposite ends of the spectrum, but for Hiroki Kuroda 2014 has been just another season. And not unlike 2013, thanks to injuries and/or general ineffectiveness with the rest of the starting staff, Kuroda has once again been the de facto ace for the Yankees.
It really has been an impressive run for Kuroda. Not "Hiroki Kuroda Day" or "plaque on a wall" worthy or anything, but just of remarkably consistent quality. His three seasons with the team have been worth well above 3 fWAR and his peripherals have been incredibly alike.
Year
K/9
BB/9
HR/9
ERA
FIP
2012
6.84
2.09
1.02
3.32
3.86
2013
6.71
1.92
0.89
3.31
3.56
2014
6.35
1.71
0.83
3.81
3.6
Just at a glance you're seeing a lot of similar numbers across the board. The only slight difference this year is that for the first time since 2010 Kuroda's ERA has actually been higher than his FIP. Perhaps that's a sign of his abilities waning, but such things are hard to determine with certainty in just a single season.
If this is the last go around for Kuroda, he'll end up somewhere around 23 fWAR in seven MLB seasons taking place all after the age of 33. His win-loss record, which currently sits at 78-79, will obviously have some discount how good he's been. But as we've all been witnesses to during his time in New York his luster shouldn't have some of the shine taken off when his offenses have been downright anemic for him while he's been out on the mound.
Even beyond the numbers, chances are Kuroda won't be remembered much by Yankees fans. He's had the misfortune of being on two of the most disappointing teams of the Yankees' last 20 years. He has no major awards or All-Star appearances to his name. Speaking another language doesn't make for many memorable press conferences or postgame interviews and his demeanor on the mound is usually best described as stoic. Kuroda gets by on control and a heavy splitter, not electrifying stuff. It's a profile that doesn't jump off of a baseball card or television screen.
We should appreciate him all the same, though. I think there's a certain admirability to being so reliable while your team completely falls apart around you. Announcers and writers probably make too much of a deal about morale and psyche when it comes to pitchers, but it still can't be easy to just consistently go about your job when you know that your teammates aren't likely to save you from a loss if you give up a run or two. Kuroda's been unflappable through it all.
When it comes to next season I think I have the same opinion as most Yankees fans. The possibilities of getting a guy like Brandon McCarthy back or poaching one of the other premier pitching free agents are more exciting than bringing back 40 year-old Hiroki Kuroda for another go around. Maybe he makes the decision for the team and retires or goes back to the NPB for a swan song in his native land. It would be hard for the Yankees to pass on another year from a pitcher who has been rock-solid if he wants to return, and I wouldn't fault them if this season's bevy of injuries make them run back to a guy who has been as close to an automatic 200 innings as you can get. Whatever he decides, I'm going to remember Kuroda's three years in New York very fondly and miss him if he goes.
Derek Jeter hit what might possibly be his last home run ever against Dickey last night. Kuroda will pitch tonight. He might not have much longer in pinstripes as well.
Comment of the Game
There are two COTG awards to give out today. Both involve the Jeter HR. Blanky wins the first award for being at the game to see Jeter hit what is probably his last HR ever.
LTL wins the second COTG award for finally, and boy do we mean finally, calling a Jeter HR. It only took fifty ABs. Huzzah!
Best GIF of the Recap
There are few things that make me laugh as much as Les Grossman dancing, so the GIF Sgt. wins the BGOTR award.
Honorable Mod Mention
Andrew is the HMM award winner for this great GIF of Tex shaking his head after a fan gets beer spilled on him. That fan didn't even get the ball.
Best Comments of the Day
Our COTD award goes to ebeneezersplooge for giving a very silly answer about who should play Derek Jeter in a movie about Derek Jeter
Fun Questions
Name some other Yankee players that you think won't be on the team next year.
If you won the lotto, what would be the first thing that you do?
Hiroki Kuroda gets the start tonight for game two of this four game series. While all the attention has been on Derek Jeter, for obvious reasons, there are other Yankees who might be playing their final games in pinstripes. Hiroki Kuroda is one of them. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Can the Yankees finally develop a frontline starting pitcher?
Thecalling card for the Yankees minor league system recently has been relievers and back-end starters. Looking to address this, the team hired Gil Patterson to replace Nardi Contreras as pitching coordinator. With the emergence of Shane Greene, combined with the improvement of Bryan Mitchell, it appears to have been worth the investment. For the first time in years, it looks like the team has some solid starting pitchers developing in the system. Here are 10 pitchers to keep your eye on next season.
Luis Severino
Severino took the minors by storm in 2014. The Yankees very aggressively pushed him through three levels before ending the season at Double-A Trenton. His arsenal includes a mid-90’s heater, changeup, and slider that he used to dominate opposing batters. If Severino can find consistency with his slider, he could become a top-of-the-rotation starter in the Bronx as soon as 2016.
Ian Clarkin
Drafted in 2013, Clarkin features a plus-fastball, plus-curve, and an average changeup. To reach his potential of a mid-rotation starter, he’ll need to improve his command. Overall at Charleston, he put up a 3.29 FIP and 9.1 K/9, before making one start at High-A Tampa to end the season. Clarkin will most likely begin 2015 with High-A Tampa; however, if his command progresses he could move quickly.
After missing the majority of two seasons, Banuelos finally returned to the mound in 2014. Unfortunately, he had trouble commanding his pitches and the 2.29 K/BB ratio reflects it. On the positive side, he still possesses a low-90’s fastball, plus-changeup, curveball, and cutter. Next year will be huge for Banuelos’ future. An improvement in command at Triple-A Scranton would put him back in the big league rotation picture next season.
Bryan Mitchell
Up until this season, Mitchell had remained an enigma. His repertoire includes a mid-90’s fastball, plus-curve, and a developing change. The problem is he has had a hard time commanding those pitches. Throughout the years many scouts have compared him to A.J. Burnett due to the knockout stuff not translating into consistent results. It’s clear that he’s a part of the team’s plans, as he was called up in September. Turning 24 next season, time is starting to run out for him to put it all together.
Ty Hensley
After missing all of 2013 following hip surgery, Hensley returned to action this season. In the Gulf Coast League and Staten Island, he put up an 11.7 K/9 to go along with a 2.99 FIP. Hensley is a power pitcher, featuring a mid-90’s fastball, hammer curve, and a developing changeup. The potential is there for him to be a top of the rotation starter in the future if he can learn to harness his stuff.
Austin DeCarr
Drafted in the third round of this year’s draft, DeCarr started his career in the GCL where he showed good command. He has a plus-fastball, plus-curveball, and a below-average changeup, all of which he throws for strikes. If the changeup develops, he has the upside of a number three starter. DeCarr will most likely start the year in Staten Island or Charleston.
Jacob Lindgren
The 2014 second rounder flew through the system, ending the year at Double-A Trenton. Lindgren is armed with a MLB-ready slider and mid-90’s fastball that he used to embarrass minor league hitters, finishing the year with a 17.3 K/9 and a 3.41 FIP. He could very well make the team out of spring training, if not it won’t take him long to get there. Lindgren is a dominant late-game reliever in the making.
Nick Rumbelow
Climbing four levels, Rumbelow finished the year at Triple-A Scranton. He is the prototypical Yankees power reliever. Using his mid-90’s fastball and a plus-hard curve, he put up a 12.5 K/9 this season and a paltry 1.74 FIP. Jacob Lindgren may gather the headlines, but Rumbelow is on the cusp of joining the Bronx bullpen.
Jaron Long
Long was the feel good story this minor league season. Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2013, he was named Trenton Thunder "Pitcher of the Year" this year. Long relies on groundballs and pinpoint control to get batters out. His repertoire includes an average fastball, plus-changeup, sinker, and cutter. Long will always have to hit his spots to be successful. It will be interesting to see what he does this upcoming season.
Tyler Webb
Tyler Webb is a big 6’6" lefty featuring a low-90’s fastball and a quality curveball. Across three levels, he pitched to a 2.35 FIP and 12.3 K/9 in 2014. Matt Thornton was let go by Brian Cashman in part to Webb being ready to contribute in the majors. I would be surprised if Webb didn’t make the team out of spring training in 2015.
This season could be a turning point for the Yankees farm system. The continued development of pitchers, such as Luis Severino and Jacob Lindgren, should be exciting in 2015. The talent is there and there’s reason for optimism that impact talent will begin to arrive in the Bronx over the next couple of seasons.
A back and forth contest in the Bronx ended with the a Yankees victory as the Blue Jays were unable to recover from a rough first few innings. Mark Buehrle didn't pitch like his usual self, although he battled for six innings keeping Toronto in the game as long as he could. The team has now lost six games in a row sinking their record to an all-too-familiar mediocre mark of 77-76.
The Blue Jays struck in the first inning, which is becoming a trend recently even though they eventually wind up losing the game anyway. Edwin Encarnacion smashed a two-run homer to left field on the ugliest slider Hiroki Kuroda has ever thrown to make it 2-0 for the good guys:
As is the case anytime Toronto scores in the first inning they are obligated to give runs back in the bottom half so the other team doesn't feel too bad about themselves. A Jacoby Ellsbury double followed by a single by the G.O.A.T. followed by a Brian McCann single cut the Blue Jays lead in half before Buehrle was able to get a double play and a strikeout against Carlos Beltran to end the inning.
The bottom of the third inning saw the Yankees take the lead when Ellsbury hit a two-run home run deep into the New York night off one of Mark Buehrle's pitches that comes in around the mid-80's which cuts the choices to about four different possibilities. The next inning saw the Yankees score two more when Ellsbury (again!) hit into a fielder's choice with the bases loaded, which was compounded by a Jose Reyes throwing error that advanced the runners even further. It should be noted that Adam Lind did Reyes no favours by reacting to the throw about as well as the NFL reacts to anything.
Toronto got one back in the fifth to make it 5-3 when Jose Reyes stole second and advanced to third on a horrible throw by Yankees catcher Brian McCann, which was followed by Jose Bautista driving him home on a groundout.
The seventh inning was the big opportunity for the Blue Jays to retake the lead after the Blue Jays knocked Kuroda out of the game and loaded the bases with a Bautista walk against old friend Esmil Rogers. Edwin Encarnacion had a couple of healthy hacks at Rogers' slider but was unable to do any damage and grounded into a fielder's choice to end the rally. It should be noted that Jose Reyes hit a ground rule double earlier in the inning with Anthony Gose on first base that would have easily scored the Jays centre fielder if the ball hadn't gone over the wall/a Yankee fan hadn't reached out and grabbed the ball.
After the seventh the Blue Jays went down pretty quietly and look destined to lose another series as the season winds down. The final line for Buehrle was 6.0 innings with five runs allowed on eight hits. Todd Redmond and Aaron Loup pitched well enough in relief....but it didn't matter.
On the positive side, Dalton Pompey got his first hit in the majors in his first start. Buck and Pat were enamoured with the fact that Derek Jeter congratulated the young Pompey after the inning as well as touching the ball before it was thrown back to the dugout, which likely made a fair number of Blue Jays fans physically ill. Watch this video on mute:
Jose Reyes (.126 WPA) had the Jay of the Day number, while Buehrle (-.289) and Danny Valencia (-.133) share the Suckage Jays honour.
The game tomorrow is at 4:05 so the league office has a little bit more time to deal with the Marcus Stroman appeal for throwing at Caleb Joseph, but in all likelihood the Duke product will start the game opposing Chris Capuano.
