New York Yankees slugger Robinson Cano was out of the starting lineup Wednesday for the first time this season, but is hopeful that the one game will be all he misses, reports Mark Polishuk of the New York Post.
Cano, who was hit in the left hand by a fastball from J.A. Happ in the first inning Tuesday, is optimistic that Thursday's day off will be all the extra healing time he needs and, if all goes well, he should be back in the lineup by Friday:
"The swelling has decreased, now we have to wait until Friday. It’s good we’re off...
"I’ll swing in the cage and see how it feels, try to get ready for batting practice. I would say during batting practice, I would know."
Cano spent most of Wednesday receiving treatment on his bruised hand after initial X-rays came back negative. With the small mountain of injuries that have piled up for the Yankees this season, a long-term injury to their all-star second baseman may have been the one to send the team spiraling.
Given Cano's positive response to Wednesday's treatment, however, even manager Joe Girardi believes "in [his] heart" that Cano will be ready to go by Friday.
New York sits 8½ games back of the Red Sox in the AL East and 5½ games behind the Athletics for the second wild card.
New York Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda is back to taking small step towards his Bronx debut after being shut down for several weeks, reports Mark Polishuk of the New York Post.
Pineda has been throwing side sessions with the Yankees' High-A affiliate, and could step things up in the near future if his shoulder doesn't start acting up again.
The 24-year-old right-hander was actually active and pitching for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for nearly a month, but was shut down on Aug. 4 when he felt stiffness in his shoulder during an outing. In his brief time with the RailRiders -- his first time on an active roster of any sort in the organization in well over a year -- Pineda posted a pretty decent 3.80 earned run average in 23⅔ innings, racking up 26 strikeouts to just six walks.
The right-hander's journey to pitch for the Yankees has been a long and arduous one. Acquired in January 2012 for Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi, Pineda injured his shoulder during spring training and has been trying to work his way back ever since.
The Yankees originally planned to ease Pineda into the big-league pitching staff with some time in the bullpen at some point during the second half, but now there is no real timetable for his Yankees debut. The club has three starting pitchers -- Phil Hughes, Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda -- headed for either free agency or retirement in the fall, so if Pineda wants to make an impact in the organization, next spring is probably his best window to do so.
While making the trip from our small hometown of West Grove, Pennsylvania to New York City in November of 2009 to attend the YankeesWorld Series championship parade, my friends and I decided to make a bet. The bet centered around which member of the team's Core Four--composed of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada--would be the last to retire. As we all know, the "Core Four" nickname derived from the fact that these were the only four players to be members of each of the Yankees' five championship teams in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009.
On the road to that 2009 title, all four of the seemingly ageless stars made valuable contributions: Jeter was busy being Jeter and batting .344 in the postseason, Posada came up with several key hits in the World Series, Pettitte had series-clinching wins in each of the three series, and Rivera had playoff statistics consisting of five saves and a mere 0.54 ERA.
Back to the bet.
I went the safe route and said that Jeter would last the longest. He was the youngest and was coming off a year in which he hit .334, the fourth best single-season mark of his career. My one friend said Rivera, which also made sense to me. After all, the guy only has one pitch and throws less than 70 innings per season, so playing for even another five or six years didn't seem all that unlikely. The second and final friend, possibly just wanting to play the role of contrarian, went out on a limb and said Andy Pettitte. Andy Pettitte? You mean the Brett Favre of baseball? The guy was always mulling retirement. In my mind, I had already won the meaningless bet, at least over friend number two. Flash forward about a year and a half from that point, and it was indeed Pettitte becoming the first member of the Core Four to call it quits. It was upsetting to see my favorite player of all time announce his retirement, but hey, at least I was right!
Well, at least I thought I was right. On March 16, 2012, Pettitte decided to come out of retirement and inked a one-year deal with the Yankees. He was back and, to be quite honest, he was better than ever. Pettitte started 12 games in the majors during the 2012 season, and finished with an earned run average of 2.87. It was vintage Andy Pettitte.
It's now 2013, and in his eighteenth season, Pettitte has, for the most part, looked like the same old Pettitte. His statistics aren't exactly eye-popping, but he constantly keeps the Yankees in the games that he starts and has again compiled a double-digit win total. While Pettitte was in the midst of throwing seven shutout innings in a 7-1 Yankees win over the Blue Jays on Tuesday night, something hit me: friend number two is going to end up being right in all of this, meaning Andy Pettitte is probably going to be the final man standing from the Core Four.
Rivera has constantly and adamantly stated that this will be his final season, Jeter just seems broken down and is currently making what feels like his eighth comeback attempt, and Posada has been long-retired. But Pettitte? He has quietly hit his stride in August, putting together his best stretch of starts since the beginning of the season, allowing a combined total of just two runs in his last four outings. He suddenly looks 31 and not 41, and could very well last longer in this league than Jeter does.
It's something that might have come as a surprise to the eighth grade me in 2009, but should it have? No, not really, at least not when considering that Pettitte has always been a pitcher that can be counted upon to come through when it matters the most. With just three All-Star appearances and having never been the true ace of a staff, the flashy component certainly isn't there with Pettitte, and it often gets him overlooked – so overlooked to the point that many experts don't think he deserves a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The truth is that few pitchers in the history of the game have ever been able to reach the level of consistency and reliability that Pettitte has sustained during his career. He's a fighter, he's a winner, and, eventually, he should be a Hall of Famer. To me, it's his postseason track record that should pave his path to Cooperstown, but for now, we'll just focus on his regular season accomplishments. According to an article on ESPN.com by Jason Stark, Pettitte is the ONLY starting pitcher to ever have at least 15 winning seasons without having a losing season.
Read that statistic. Read it again. Now go check for yourself, because it's true.
Pettitte has compiled win-loss records of above .500 in 16 of 17 completed seasons, with the one exception coming in 2008, when he went 14-14 for New York. He won over 20 games in two different seasons, won 19 in another, had five other seasons of at least 15 wins, and he has recorded a total of 15 double-digit win seasons. How's that for consistency? If nothing else, he's a consummate winner. In fact, Pettitte has over 100 more wins (256) during his career than he has losses (151), something only 25 other pitchers have been able to do. Of 25 pitchers,18 are already in the Hall, while five others are still waiting for the day that they become eligible. Translation: based on his pure ability to win games, it should be nearly impossible to keep Pettitte out of Cooperstown. Best of all, none of that is even close to the best case that can be made for voting him into the Hall of Fame.
As I touched on previously, it is everything that Andy Pettitte has done during October and even November that truly makes him worthy. Try to think of every great pitcher in baseball history, because whether it's John Smoltz, or Bob Gibson, or Roger Clemens, or whomever – none have as many playoff wins (19) as Pettitte.
On an even more impressive note, he has always seemed to have the knack to save his best outings for the biggest playoff games, something that became a trend way back in 1996. After earning the series-clinching win for New York in the '96 ALCS, it was Pettitte who pitched eight shutout innings to earn the win in the decisive Game 5 of a World Series that had previously been tied at two games apiece. Since then, he has four more World Series wins (including two that clinched championships in 1998 and 2009) and six wins (two that were series-clinching) in different American League Championship series.
Just to be 100 percent clear, it's not as if he has won these games as a result of run support. In addition to that start in Game 5 of the '96 World Series, other Pettitte gems have come in Game 4 of the '98 World Series, Game 4 of the '99 ALCS, Game 3 of the 2000 ALCS, Game 5 of the '01 ALCS, Game 2 of the '03 ALCS, and Game 6 of the '09 ALCS, with each one being just that – a pitching gem.
Try if you want to, but you would be extremely hard-pressed to find a starting pitcher with a playoff resume that matches up to that of Andy Pettitte. The guy is just that good. I don't know if the Yankees will make the playoffs in 2013, and with the rate they're going at right now, it doesn't seem likely. But, with that being said, if they are able to sneak in as the second Wild Card and get a spot in that one game playoff, I know exactly whom I would want on the mound if the Yankees for some reason couldn't use Hiroki Kuroda.
You guessed it: Andy Pettitte. I would surely take my chances with him over the strugglingCC Sabathia, and I'll go with Pettitte's experience before I want to see the talented-but-still-young Ivan Nova on the mound in a do or die situation. He might not be the most glamorous and he'll never finish with the statistics of a Cy Young candidate, but Andy Pettitte knows how to get it done. Even when he doesn't have his best stuff, he figures out ways on the fly to put the Yankees in position to win. Remember Game 3 of the 2009 World Series? It was on Halloween night, the first of three straight contests to be held at Citizens Bank Park, and the start time was delayed over an hour because of rain. Pettitte, who would say afterwards that the rain delay had a poor effect on his mental preparation, had a nightmarish start to his outing, allowing three runs in the first two innings. After that, he settled down and surrendered just one run in his final four innings of work. During that time, his Yankee teammates chipped and chipped away at the Philadelphia lead, and New York was eventually ahead 7-4 when Pettitte left the game.
It wasn't pretty and it wasn't a masterpiece, but he was able to do enough things right to earn the win. Those types of performances negatively skew his statistics, but they are also the ones that have really defined Andy Pettitte as a winner. I'll go as far as to say that the Find A Way To Get It Done games are what should cement his spot in Cooperstown, even more so than those gems that I mentioned earlier. Any pitcher can win when he is feeling great, but only the best can consistently come out victorious without their best stuff.
However, my gut feeling on this one says that he won't end up making the Hall of Fame. There just aren't enough voters that seem to share my opinion on the topic, and it really is a shame. It's especially a shame because, as a Yankee fan, it's fair to say that his roles in each of the five championships were just as vital as the roles played by Jeter and Rivera. Does anyone even question the notion that those two legends will make it into the Hall? Of course not, nor should they. Jeter and Rivera will make it on the first-ballot, and they might even be the first two unanimous selections.
For Pettitte, on the other hand, it isn't even close to a sure thing. Hopefully he won't even be eligible for at least another seven or eight years, because I would love to see him continue his career with the Yankees into 2014 and beyond, but he will retire at some point, and he will eventually learn his Cooperstown fate. But just know this, Andy: regardless of the outcome, you're a Hall of Famer in my book.
Two weeks ago I wrote this article that detailed the declining rate of errors being given by official scorers over time. One of the logical issues that follow is the degree to which it affects pitchers' ERA line. Obviously if there are fewer errors being issued, then it likely means there are more runs being credited to pitchers as earned. So exactly how many more runs have been getting charged to pitchers than in the past?
It was in 1969 that MLB lowered the pitcher's mound to the current specifications, and it clearly did have a material impact. For simplicity's sake I'm going to start in 1970 with this investigation and again go in five-year increments plus the last year we have full data for in 2012.
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2012
ERA
3.89
3.71
3.84
3.89
3.86
4.45
4.77
4.29
4.08
4.01
League wide ERA was pretty static for about 20 years right around the mid-high 3.80's except for that dip in 1975. The 1995-2005 bump up in ERA is likely what people will refer to as the steroid era. Since then the figure has come back down some, but it is still above that 3.80 area it stayed in for so long after the mound change. That difference is really nothing more than the official scorer's impact on the pitcher's line. To best exemplify this I took all of the runs scored league wide, and then divided the total innings pitched by nine. So the metric I'm going to show I'll call Runs per Nine Innings: R/9. This avoids any peculiarities in a given season from excessive extra inning affairs. What becomes apparent is that there really isn't any difference anymore in the amount of runs being scored now versus 40 years ago. This is after all what really matters anyway. No one asks what the earned run score of the game was last night.
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2012
R/9
4.36
4.22
4.29
4.35
4.29
4.88
5.20
4.65
4.43
4.36
Honestly I'm totally sick and tired of the whole PED thing and that started before the recent brew-ha. However, this very simple data concerning R/9 might be the best argument I've seen about the impact on baseball. That completely ignores pitchers using these substances, and I honestly don't care enough anymore to try and figure out using numbers. However, if you believe that PED's inflated offense then you should take some heart that it looks like the impact is now almost completely out of the game.
There is another interesting correlation with the 1995-2005 period that probably also explains the increased offense. It turns out that during that period the average age of MLB pitchers also increased. Considering that pitcher velocity declines at about 29 years of age and then again at about 32-33 years old, I don't find it at all surprising to see runs increase around the league when the average age also increased above that 29 figure. It's now dipped back down to where it was in the 1980's. The fact that it doesn't go back towards 27 years of age is likely due to the effect that long term contracts for elite talent is having on the aggregate.
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2012
PitchAge
27.1
27.6
28.0
28.3
28.4
28.3
28.8
29.2
28.4
28.4
R/9
4.36
4.22
4.29
4.35
4.29
4.88
5.20
4.65
4.43
4.36
There also may be another reason for the higher average age of pitchers now versus the 1970's, and I admit that it was the primary reason I started to look at this data to begin with. Will Carroll wrote an interesting article earlier in the year about how 1/3rd of all current MLB pitchers have had Tommy John surgery. The recent bad news concerning Matt Harvey turned my thoughts back to that fact. Considering that procedure was first performed in 1974, and now 33% of all pitchers at the MLB level have had the surgery, one has to wonder if this might not be the reason why the average age of pitchers has moved up so much.
To conclude, official scorers have been altering their definition of an error continually over time issuing fewer per play. Total runs per nine innings is now back to where it was about 30-40 years ago, but the combined MLB pitchers' ERA is still higher. How much? The difference is about 10-15 basis points. Doesn't sound like much, but it looks worse on the chart. Most people also think a 4.00 ERA sounds pretty average, but I'm guessing a 3.85 line might be viewed a bit more favorably.
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2012
R/9
4.36
4.22
4.29
4.35
4.29
4.88
5.20
4.65
4.43
4.36
ERA
3.89
3.71
3.84
3.89
3.86
4.45
4.77
4.29
4.08
4.01
R/9 - ERA
0.47
0.51
0.45
0.46
0.43
0.43
0.43
0.36
0.35
0.35
The advent of advanced statistics in baseball has become considerably more main-stream over the last decade. Despite the debate last year over MVP titles and WAR, the fact that stats like OBP have now become common place is testament to the change in acceptance. Most of the debate has centered not on whether statistics represent value or not, but on how much value certain statistics should be weighted. Proponents of the new label the old as ineffective. I think we can add another stat to that reject pile. You want to dump the Win category? How about we dump the ERA too? The more we move the subjective influence of the official scorer out of the equation the better. Let's give R/9 a shot. It's simple, and it gets right to the heart of the matter. With that in mind, here are the AL starting pitcher leader-board in R/9 entering play into Wednesday, and note that they do not match with ERA. In fact, the starting pitcher leading the league in ERA is fourth in R/9.
Although Hall of Fame spitballer and 1904 41-game winner "Happy Jack" Chesbro was easily the Yankees' most famous Deadball Era pitcher, they employed numerous fine arms that helped keep the period's offense down. One of these such pitchers was submariner Jack Warhop, who played for the Yankees at the exact same time as the previous player on this list, Birdie Cree.
Minor league phenom
Not much is known about Warhop's younger days other than the fact that he grew up in West Virginia only 21 years after the state seceded from Virginia. He was born as John Milton Wauhop Warhop to a French-Irish family, and his last name did not change to "Warhop" until his playing career began. (The reason might have been that it was easier to pronounce, "War-hoop.") He did not achieve notoriety until he was a 21-year-old in 1906. Prior to that, he pitched for a local C & O railroad sponsored team in his hometown of Hinton. A traveling Cherokee Indian baseball team visited and played against them, though they needed to borrow a pitcher. Warhop pitched for them, won three games in a row, and left Hinton with the Indians, not to return for 20 years.
Two years later, another similar story of discovery emerged regarding Warhop. There was a minor league team in the Wisconsin-Illinois State League named the Freeport Pretzels, and they were managed by Bill Moriarty, the older brother of New York Highlanders third baseman George Moriarty. Freeport played an exhibition game early that summer against that same semi-pro Nebraska Indians team, who pitched Warhop against the Pretzels. Warhop pitched all 12 innings of a 2-2 tie, and Moriarty was so inspired by Warhop that he signed him on the spot for $80 per month.
For the rest of that season, Warhop justified Moriarty's decision by pitching to a 23-7 record with a 2.58 RA (earned runs were not tracked) and a minuscule 0.812 WHIP in 293 innings. Those were remarkable numbers, but he somehow got even better at age 22. He went 30-6 with a superb 1.44 RA and 0.772 WHIP in 325 innings. He was the best pitcher in the league, and he attracted the attention of major league clubs. The Detroit Tigers decided to sign Warhop and assign him to Pennsylvania's Williamsport Millionaires of the Tri-State League.
Playing alongside future teammates Cree, Harry Wolverton, and Eddie Foster, Warhop again excelled. It was a Level B league, a little bit better than Freeport, and it gave him a bit more of a challenge. Nonetheless, Warhop still pitched to a 29-7 record with a 2.95 RA and a 1.066 WHIP in 305 innings. He even chipped in at the plate a little with a .274 average and a .342 slugging percentage. A dozen teams had allegedly bid for Warhop's services as the season came to a close, but the Highlanders came out on top. Impressed by his efforts, owners Bill Devery and Frank Farrell signed Warhop before the end of the 1908 season, and he made his MLB debut on September 19th.
A career with minimal run support
Unfortunately for Warhop, he played out his eight-year career at a low time in Yankees history. The Yankees had just one winning season during his tenure, and he could only manage a 14-14 record that year, which was sadly the only time he reached .500. His underwhelming size and velocity did not intimidate hitters, but he still had a fine reputation throughout the league:
"(Jack) Warhop has not the size or strength to strike a ball down the groove with (Walter) Johnsonian speed. His fast ball and curve, though fair, are not extraordinary, but the way he mixes them with his slow ball - combined with his extraordinary control - would make him a valuable asset to any club." - Baseball Magazine (Ray Istorico, McFarland Publishing, 02/28/2008, Greatness in Waiting: An Illustrated History of the Early New York Yankees, 1903-1919, 'The Unluckiest Pitcher in the League, Page 148)
"Chief" Warhop had a strong debut in 1909 for the team, now managed by George Stallings. The club went 74-77, a large jump from the 103-loss dud of '08, and Warhop was a big reason for the improvement. Although his easy motion often allowed him to pitch in relief, he was a starter the majority of the time. He pitched to a 92 ERA- and opponents hit just .223 against him. His submarine motion occasionally led to some wildness as indicated by his league-high 26 hit by pitches (and league-high 18 hit by pitches in 1910). He threw three shutouts and pitched to a fine 1.142 WHIP. Overall, his 4.6 rWAR was ninth in the league, a strong showing for a rookie.
via Flickr, in the Library of Congress and public domain
The righty took a step back in 1910-11 with ERAs below league average despite a 3.00 mark in 1910. By the time he rebounded for his career year though, the now-Yankees were awful again. The 1912 group lost 102 games, even though Warhop pitched a career-high 258 innings to an 82 ERA-, 89 FIP-, and 6.5 rWAR, the fifth-best mark in the AL. Many times when he pitched, the Yankees were shut out, a recurring theme for his career; his career win/loss record of 23 games under .500 could largely be explained by the fact that the Yankees were shut out 21 times when Warhop was on the mound. If Warhop didn't have any run support at all, he simply couldn't win, regardless of how nice his peripheral numbers looked.
1913 was an injury-shortened campaign for Warhop, but he rebounded at age 29 in 1914 with his last great season, though yet again for a poor ballclub. The Yankees went 70-84 in 1914 under Frank Chance and record-low 23-year-old rookie manager Roger Peckinpaugh, and Warhop went 8-15. He had a fantastic ERA- of 86 and a career-low WHIP of 1.043, but it did not help. In 1915, Warhop struggled to a career-worst 133 ERA- (3.96 ERA), and given his $4,500 contract, the Yankees decided to part ways with Warhop at the end of the season. Before the end though, Warhop did achieve one slight bit of immortality on May 6th of that year:
In the third inning at the Polo Grounds, 20-year-old pitcher Babe Ruth slammed the first pitch off Yankee right-hander Jack Warhop into the second tier of the right field grandstand for a home run. It was the first home run for the youngster in his 18th time at bat in the major leagues.
[Sportswriter Damon] Runyan wrote in his account of the game: "Fanning this Ruth is not as easy as the name and the occupation might indicate. In the third inning, Ruth knocked the slant out of one of Jack Warhop's underhanded subterfuges, and put the baseball in the right field stands for a home run. Ruth was discovered by Jack Dunn in a Baltimore school a year ago where he had not attained his left-handed majority, and was adopted and adapted by Jack for use of the Orioles. He is now quite a demon pitcher and demon hitter when he connects."
"Mr. Warhop of the Yankees," wrote Wilmot Giffin in the New York Evening Journal, "looked reproachfully at the opposing pitcher who was so unclubby as to do a thing like that to one of his own trade. But Ruthless Ruth seemed to think that all was fair in the matter of fattening a batting average."- BaseballGuru.com
Yes, it was Warhop who surrendered the first of Babe Ruth's 714 career home runs. He also gave up Ruth's second home run on June 2nd. Back then, Ruth was just a kid pitcher, but he would go on to become someone far more important. (Here's a neat picture of the two men united 20 years later in 1935, around the time of Ruth's final homers with the Boston Braves.) Warhop did achieve a couple other obscure marks, like becoming one of four pitchers to steal home twice in his career. Warhop only stole eight bases, but apparently, he made them count.
Thirteen years after his last pitch in the majors, Warhop was actually still pitching, too. He bounced around minor league clubs in Salt Lake City, Toronto, Norfolk, Columbia, Bridgeport, Spartanburg, and New Haven. With Bridgeport in 1927, he defied his age by throwing a 17-inning complete game, and he also threw the full slate during a doubleheader later that season. Warhop was the oldest pitcher to accomplish this feat. He threw his last professional pitch at age 43 with the Pacific Coast League's Portland Beavers in 1928 and moved back to Illinois. Warhop returned to where he began in Freeport all those years ago. He died a day before the first game of the memorable 1960 World Series at age 76 after an extended illness.
Had Warhop been on a higher quality team at the time like the three-time World Series champion Philadelphia Athletics, he might have had a far better record and reputation. Alas, he was stucky on a crappy team and is mostly forgotten by history.
Baseball America | Ben Badler: With Jose Abreu on the verge of becoming a free agent, it's ridiculous to think that any organization hasn't had the chance to thoroughly scout him out already.
LoHud | Chad Jennings: A look at who the Yankees have left to face in the last month of the season and how good of a chance they have to make the playoffs.
Quick Hits
Eduardo Nunez had tests done on his knee and is now listed as day-to-day.
Caleb Smith, the Yankees 14th round draft pick, has been called up to Double-A Trenton.
Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders:W 9-2 vs. Lehigh Valley IronPigs
2B David Adams 0-4, RBI, BB, K DH JR Murphy 1-3, HR, RBI, BB, HBP - sixth homer with SWB LF Ronnier Mustelier 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, BB, K - sixth homer of the season 3B Brent Lillibridge 1-4, BB, K, 2 SB CF Adonis Garcia 0-4, K RF Neil Medchill 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB, K - first homer with SWB 1B Jose Gil 1-3, RBI, BB C Bobby Wilson 1-4, RBI, K SS Alberto Gonzalez 0-1, 2 BB, HBP - hit in the head by a pitch
Chris Bootcheck 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K - seven groundouts, five flyouts Sam Demel 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K Jim Miller 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
The RailRiders used a four-run first inning and a five-run eighth inning to propel themselves past the IronPigs for their 67th win of the season with the help of Murphy and Mustelier homers.
Double-A Trenton Thunder: L 1-4 (13 innings) vs. New Britain Rock Cats
CF Ben Gamel 2-6, 2 K, OF assist LF Ramon Flores 2-6, BB, K 2B Jose Pirela 2-7, 2B, RBI, K - batting .273 this season DH Gary Sanchez 2-5, BB, HBP 1B Kyle Roller 1-3, BB, 2 K, HBP 3B Casey Stevenson 0-5, K, HBP RF Yeral Sanchez 0-4, BB, 2 K, HBP SS Reegie Corona 2-6 C Francisco Arcia 1-5, BB, 2 K
Bryan Mitchell 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, 2 WP - seven groundouts, five flyouts Francisco Rondon 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K Manny Barreda 3 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
The Thunder managed to pick up 12 hits in the game, but turned those hits into only one run. The Rock Cats scored three runs in the top of the 13th inning to prevail.
SS Cito Culver 1-4, RBI CF Taylor Dugas 2-4, HR, RBI, K - first HR with Tampa this season 2B Rob Refsnyder 0-3, K DH Peter O'Brien 1-4, 2B, K - 13th double since his promotion 1B Dan Fiorito 0-4 C Tyson Blaser 1-4, RBI, K, CS, put out RF Cody Grice 1-3, SB, E9 - fielding error, third of the season 3B Ali Castillo 0-3, E5 - throwing error, eighth of the season LF Mikeson Oliberto 0-3
Rafael De Paula 5 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, BB, 4 K, WP - one groundout, six flyouts Zachary Varce 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K Zach Woods 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, K
Lakeland scored in each of the first four innings, which would prove to be all they needed to win the game after the Yankees never mustered more than one run in three separate innings for their 75th loss of the season.
Low-A Charleston RiverDogs: Off
Short Season-A Staten Island Yankees: L 1-2 vs. Brooklyn Cyclones
CF Brandon Thomas 0-4, 2 K LF Michael O'Neill 0-2, BB, OF assist, HBP 3B Eric Jagielo 0-3, BB, 3 K - batting .262 this season 1B Mike Ford 0-3, BB, K RF Yeicok Calderon 0-4, K DH Kale Sumner 1-4, K C Trent Garrison 1-4, E2 - throwing error, second of the season SS Tyler Wade 0-3, BB 2B John Murphy 1-3, 2 K
Giovanny Gallegos 3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, K, HB - four groundouts, two flyouts Cale Coshow 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K Stefan Lopez 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, WP
Staten Island was doubled up in the hit column and only managed to push their lone run of the game across in the eight inning against the Cyclones.
Gulf Coast League Yankees 1 Highlights:
CF Jordan Barnes 1-3, BB, K, 2 SB 2B Gosuke Katoh 0-3, BB, 3 K 3B Renzo Martini 0-4 DH Dustin Fowler 0-3, 2 K, SB, HBP 1B Jimmy Falla 2-4, K RF Austin Aune 1-4, 2B, RBI, K LF Eladio Moronta 1-3, RBI, K
Ian Clarkin 2.2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, WP - two groundouts, three flyouts Tim Flight 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K Jose Diaz 1.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, K Francis Joseph 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Gulf Coast League Yankees 2 Highlights:
SS Abiatal Avelino 2-4, RBI, BB, K, 3 SB 1B Brady Steiger 1-5, 2B, RBI, CS RF Tyler Austin 2-3, BB 3B Miguel Andujar 2-4, RBI DH Luis Torrens 0-3, K 2B Thairo Estrada 0-3, BB
Joaquin Acuna 5 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, HB - six groundouts, four flyouts Yoely Bello 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, K, WP Tim Giel 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
When Ivan Nova first came up, he was anything but a strikeout pitcher. In 2010 and 2011, he punched out just 14% of the batters he faced, ranking 113th out of the 139 pitchers who threw at least 200 innings during that time. He had gotten by without striking too many guys out in the minors as well, averaging a 16.8% K%. Over the last couple of years though, Ivan Nova's strikeout numbers have steadily increased. His strikeout rates over the last three seasons have been 14%, 21%, and 22% respectively. (League average for AL starting pitchers is 18.6%.)
This trend is a bit unusual considering pitchers tend to post their highest strikeout rates at a very young age. Of course there are exceptions, but generally speaking, the average pitcher's strikeout rate is already on the downswing by the time he enters his sophomore season. This is largely due to drops in velocity, a skill that peaks extremely early.
So what has enabled Nova to buck this trend? For one thing, his velocity hasn't wavered a bit. Most pitchers have to deal with declining velocity from the get go, but Nova is still throwing just as hard as he did when he broke in back in 2010. More substantially though, Nova has altered his two strike approach. In his early days, he often turned to his fastball with two strikes, but has progressively relied more and more on his curveball to punch out hitters. Nova does throw other pitches with two strikes, but these pitches have always accounted for the majority of his two strike offerings.
It's not overly surprising that this shift has parlayed into more strikeouts -- Nova's curve has historically induced swings and misses overthree times as often as his fastball (4% vs 13% overall; 7% vs 22% with 2 strikes).
Although it has generally worked out well for Nova, feeding hitters a steady diet of curves with two strikes is not an automatic ticket for success. In his last start on Sunday against the Rays, he turned to his curveball in 11 out of 19 two strike counts. This is a teeny-tiny sample-size, but the Rays' hitters did not seem to be overly fooled. His two-strike curveballs got him three strikeouts, but also resulted in a couple of walks and a couple of hits, including a homer by Evan Longoria.
By making adjustments his approach, Ivan Nova has turned himself into a modest strikeout pitcher. At a certain point though, relying too much on the curveball could lead to trouble, as hitters could sit on it with two strikes. But for the time being, his curve seems to have emerged as a solid out pitch and has been a big part of his success this year.
Last week's GIF of the Week was A-Rod's revenge in Boston, which beat out David Huff's awesome catch. People enjoy their vengeance, what can you say? With a tip of the hat to GIF whiz loadtimes/Matthew Floratos, here are this week's brilliant GIF of the Week candidates:
8/28: Framing!
There were many terrific GIFs of Chris Stewart's strikeout-turned-passed-ball-turned-two-run-error masterpiece of fail on Wednesday, but I decided to go with my favorite of the group. In slow motion, we can see exactly where Stew realizes "Shit shit shit MY FRAMEZ IS TILTED." And then... doink.
8/24: Mo is bored by failure
Mariano Rivers was often bored during the Rays series. Reminder: Mo is on the record for saying that he would not miss the Trop. Do you really blame him?
???: Hell
WELCOME TO THE BINDER LAIR OF HELL AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Last week, Hal Steinbrenner, managing general partner of the New York Yankees, summoned his "baseball people" to Tampa to discuss why the team's farm system has been so damned dry that Brian Cashman has had to staff out his billion-dollar franchise with items from the remainder bin such as Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells, Alfonso Soriano, and a copy of Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" on cassette that was bought from a now-defunct "Nobody Beats the Wiz" store back in 1989. Some of these players have done very well, all things considered -- Overbay has slugged roughly .450 against right-handers and Soriano has 11 home runs in 31 games -- and the Yankees remain on the fringes of the wild-card hunt in spite of all their age and frangibility, but this ad hoc approach to contention is far from ideal.
Referring to the Yankees' front office as "his baseball people," as was done in the linked article and echoed here, is an archaic holdover to the days of George Steinbrenner, who continually referred to "my baseball people" as a way of deflecting questions about his hands-on (in the proctological sense) ownership of the team. Rumors of the pitching coach being fired, almost always true? "That's up to my baseball people." Billy Martin coming back for a sequel? "My baseball people will decide." These "people" were rarely named -- if Steinbrenner had meant general manager he would have said general manager -- though cats like Clyde King, Billy Connors, and Dick Williams recur frequently throughout the People saga. "Baseball People" made it sound like a large deliberative body. You could imagine a cushy boardroom with a big mahogany table and high-backed leather chairs, Steinbrenner convening the Yankees duma, then shuffling them out of the room after a brisk and businesslike meeting so he could gather his shipbuilding people, his kneecap Dave Winfield people, and so on.
It wasn't like that. I was in George Steinbrenner's office in the old Yankee Stadium once. It was a tawdry dump with a threadbare carpet and tired furniture that hadn't been updated since 1975. But forget aesthetics. The problem with pawning off vague responsibilities on a cadre of ministers without portfolio is that if no one is actually responsible for anything then it's hard to hold them accountable when things go wrong. Steinbrenner would fire the People anyway, not that that changed anything because he remained the person pulling the levers. If Steinbrenner's heirs still think of the Yankees front office in terms of amorphous dehumanized shadowy baseball dwarves working a dark mineshaft somewhere far away and deep within the earth -- whatever the titles on their business cards say -- it would explain a lot about why the organization behaves like a rudderless dreadnaught -- no one is steering. Tel père, tel fils.
That Hal Steinbrenner is just now getting around to holding his drafting and player-development operation accountable for its performance makes one suspicious that he only just now noticed that it was there. Wandering Yankee Stadium late one night, Hal Steinbrenner noticed a door he had never seen before. "Gee, I wonder where this leads?" he thought. Pushing it open, he entered a wondrous world of elves and Jeters. "Curiouser and curiouser!" he exclaimed.
(Arthur Rackham, Wikimedia Commons)
George Steinbrenner never had any use for young players -- except to trade them for elder statesmen -- until Gene Michael got ahold of him in the early 1990s and convinced him to retain the occasional Bernie Williams and Andy Pettitte for his private use. Players of less than potential Hall of Fame quality still had a difficult time getting even a cursory look -- quick, name all the relievers after Mariano Rivera established in the major leagues during the Joe Torre years -- we'll wait. Hal Steinbrenner may not be controlled by the same paranoias and prejudices, but it seems fair to say that like his father he has expected nothing of his farm system and so he has received nothing. That was fine so long as he didn't need it, but now that he does, well, time to turn the key on this player-development thing and see what we can do to be better and cheaper faster!
Drafting and development doesn't work like that. It takes time and intelligent scouts and operators to build a farm system. Now, some will tell you that the Yankees have operated under a disadvantage because they've always posted winning records and therefore are punished with low draft positions. This is true, but only to a point. Consider their performance in the draft in comparison with that of the rival Red Sox in this century. On average, the Sox have had higher draft positions, but not dramatically higher, and they have actually gone without a first-round pick (for the purposes of this discussion, a pick in the top 30) more often than the Yankees. Both teams have used the compensation system to trade up in the draft, losing a pick for signing a free agent but also gaining one for failing to retain a free agent of their own. Nevertheless, the Yankees have been shut out of the first round three times (2002, 2009, 2011), the Red Sox four times (2001, 2002, 2004, 2007). Not only have the Red Sox been more successful with the first-round picks they did have, calling the name of one star player, Jacoby Ellsbury, to the Yankees' none, but they have done a far better job at mining the later rounds for talent.
Parenthetically, Ellsbury was drafted at number 23, six picks after the Yankees selected infielder C.J. Henry.
Jacoby Ellsbury (Thearon W. Henderson)
In the first round, a place in the draft where competent scouting should net a team at least a decent player, the Yankees have repeatedly gone out on limbs for the likes of catcher Dave Parrish (2000), infielders Henry and Cito Culver (2005 and 2010, respectively), and basketball player/ostensible pitcher Andrew Brackman (2007). Their most successful first-round picks of the period to actually sign have been Phil Hughes in 2004 and Ian Kennedy in 2006. Gerrit Cole, their 2008 first-rounder and possibly their best choice this century, failed to come to terms.
So, it's not just initial draft position, it's not only first-round picks. There's gold outside of the first round if you have scouts good enough to identify it and a scouting director canny enough to call the right names. While both teams have found good players later in the draft, the Red Sox have managed to unearth star-level players. The Yankees largely have not. It doesn't help that the Yankees drag their players through the minors at a glacial pace, then sour on them if they don't hit .450 or post a 2.00 ERA in their first month in the big leagues.
It seems redundant to say that as a result of all of this weakness in June the Yankees haven't developed many position players in recent years, but the fact of it needs to be stated because if Hal Steinbrenner is just noticing this now it represents a lack of observational power akin to Douglas MacArthur receiving intelligence reports of Chinese soldiers crossing the Yalu River into North Korea and concluding they must be tourists -- heavily armed tourists to be sure, but still tourists. The list of homegrown Yankees developed after the 1990s to play even 100 games for the team is limited to Cano (1346 games), Gardner (606), Melky Cabrera (569), Eduardo Nunez (249) Francisco Cervelli (201), Ramiro Pena (180), and Eduardo Nunez. That's the lot for a period of 14 years and he's just getting around to asking now?
The pitching list is similarly limited: Homegrown pitchers to throw as many as 100 innings with the team from 2000 on include Hughes (770 innings), Nova (478), Chamberlain (439), Robertson (318), David Phelps (182), Jose Contreras (166 and more of a veteran free agent, but let's be generous) and Aceves (126). Where the hell has Hal Steinbrenner been?
That last is a serious question. Yankees ownership criticizing its own draft ‘n' development crew at this late date is akin to a self-indictment. If Hal Steinbrenner did know that his prospects crew was out to lunch and didn't do anything about it then he's incompetent. If he truly didn't know then he's ignorant. Take your pick.
Was Hal Steinbrenner imprisoned on Elba? (Wikimedia Commons )
The Yankees had what looks like a promising draft in 2013, but it will be years before any of the players taken will have an impact in the minors. In the meantime, it hasn't helped that many of the team's top prospects have had disappointing years, catcher Gary Sanchez and outfielders Slade Heathcott, Tyler Austin, and Mason Williams among them, or were sidelined by injuries. While some new prospects have emerged this year, it will be some time before they make their presence felt in the majors.
As for pitchers, even talent evaluators within the Yankees organization concede that pitching prospects move too slowly -- witness the team preferring to torpedo its own dim playoff hopes by sticking with lame duck Phil Hughes, the human launching pad, than gambling that even a Double-A pitcher might do better than a 5.00 ERA and two home runs allowed per nine innings.
Is it impatience or just oedipal? You be the judge!
Other teams' pitchers reach the majors without making extended stops at every level of the minors. The Yankees' get their passports stamped at every port of entry or they don't get the call -- if it ever comes. That's the one element of the Yankees' approach to player development that having greater expectations of the scouting director won't fix: The front office has to be willing to gamble on the upside of the unknown rather than embrace mediocre certainties. Nothing ventured nothing gained, except perhaps salary obligations.
The recent focus on that last element by the Steinbrenners suggests the answer to question asked above: Ownership simply hasn't been paying attention. If you insist on a payroll reduction that leads to the departure of several free agents and the lack of offers to others but also have no ready prospects and only a cadre of expensive, Biogenesis-booted vets to offer in trade, you have foreclosed all possibility of improvement.
The pieced-together Yankees that resulted from a decision apparently conceived in ignorance of the team's depth has put together a surprisingly good, if lackluster, run. Still, this is no way to run one of baseball's marquee franchises. In the years before senescence and death took him away from the Yankees, George Steinbrenner modulated his posture on young players. Perhaps the Tampa meeting is the beginning of a similar awakening on the part of his son. Until then, we're left asking what did the managing general partner know and when did he know it? The answers appear to be (c) none of the above.
It's been some time since Gonzalez last started, as he's been working out of the pen lately. He'll jump back in the rotation tonight against the Yankees, a team he's had some success facing. He's kept the OPS down below .600, which is fantastic. Former Yankee lineups get on base at just a .275 clip. His numbers tick up slightly at Yankee Stadium, but not by much (.618 OPS). Small sample size and all, but his numbers against current Yankee players are exceptional. Robinson Cano has 18 PA and just a .284 OPS.
CC Sabathia has pitched a ton against the O's in his career, to varying degrees of success. He feasted on the O's weak lineups earlier in his career, but hasn't achieved the same success against the tougher lineups the O's have thrown against him more recently. Overall, he still has solid splits. He's also very good at Yankee Stadium. Nick Markakis leads the O's with 70 PAs, yet he's got a sub-.700 OPS. Oddly enough, Alexi Casilla has a 1.167 OPS in 30 PAs.
Opposite of Gonzalez when facing the Yankees is Scott Feldman. He's got 32 innings, although not all have come as a starter. In any case, he's been knocked around pretty well by Yankee lineups. None of his current numbers inspire any confidence for this game. He has pitched three times at Yankee Stadium and allows an OPS greater than .800. He's managed to contain Ichiro Suzuki pretty well, but has struggled with guys such as Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Curtis Granderson (although the PAs for these three combined make up fewer than Suzuki's).
Likewise, Ivan Nova does not have the best career numbers against the O's. He pitched against just one team (Tampa Bay Rays) more than he has the O's, yet he's allowing an OPS greater than .800. Additionally, his numbers at home are nothing to scream about. Nova might be the one guy that Nick Markakis has determined he knows how to hit well. In 33 PA, Nick has amassed a 1.041 OPS with 11 hits (just 1 homer, naturally). Matt Wieters has 4 homers in 27 PA. This game should truly be a matchup of two guys who struggle against their opposing lineups.
If you went solely by ERA and OPS, you'd think Chen has had some struggles against the Yankees in his career. He's actually managed to keep the lineup somewhat in check, however (at least for the first 6 innings). He's got even better numbers at Yankee Stadium (.608 OPS). His numbers against the current lineup get a little scary, especially that .500 SLG number. Both Jeter and Cano have OPS numbers greater than .800.
Phil Hughes has pitched 86.2 innings against the O's and has gotten rocked on a regular basis. His 15 homers allowed to Oriole hitters mark the most he's allowed to any team, including the Blue Jays, whom he pitched an additional 30 innings against. His numbers against the current lineup are a bit disconcerting, though. Nick Markakis has an .876 OPS in 46 PA, but none of the remaining major players in the O's lineup have good numbers. Nate McLouth owns a 2.00+ OPS, but through 16 PA.
It's been a while since the Orioles have played the Yankees and it has been a disappointing couple of months for both teams. They entered the last series with it being a battle for second place in the American League East. It's now a battle for third place, with both teams on the outside looking in by a margin of several games in the wild card race. Both the O's and the Yankees have played exactly .500 baseball since the beginning of the last series where they faced each other.
With the number of games remaining shrinking and the stakes ever increasing, I joined with Tanya Bondurant, my friend and counterpart at Pinstriped Bible, to come up with some random questions to predict things in the series. We offered our guesses to each. Feel free to make your own in the comments below.
Last time, Tanya edged me by getting one more question correct. I will try to restore the honor of O's fans this time around.
1. Which will be higher: Chris Stewart passed balls vs. Chris Davis home runs?
Tanya: Take the over on both, whatever the over is. Stewart has been pretty bad defensively, but I have hope that he won't play every game of the series like Davis will. Davis gets to face Hughes, so advantage Davis.
Mark: I have watched a few Yankees games this year, and one of the things that is striking is how bad Stewart looks behind the plate. Eight passed balls in 80 starts is a lot, but not more than Davis hits home runs. I will go for Davis as well.
Mark: It's an awful stretch of baseball for Markakis, so I would bet on just about anything over him getting an extra-base hit. He went over a month without one, got two in the same game on Sunday and has been dry since. I'll take Soriano.
Tanya: It's hard to argue against Soriano, who has been a revelation since returning to New York. He's not a 40 stolen base threat at this stage of his career but Wieters is Wieters and Markakis has the benefit of facing Hughes. I'll say Markakis.
3. Which will be higher combined: Alex Rodriguez hits + Derek Jeter hits vs. Miguel Gonzalez innings pitched?
Tanya: Miguel Gonzalez has the Yankees' number for whatever reason but the lineup as currently constructed is a little deeper than it was the last time he faced them. I expect he'll do well, but not well enough that the two hitters won't accumulate at least one more hit than his innings total in their multiple games.
Mark: In a rare display of honest-to-goodness optimism from me about the Orioles, I'm going to pick Gonzalez. I like him to continue his solid starts against the Yankees with more than six innings and I don't think the Yankees infield tandem will top that.
Mark: I take back the optimism. We're due for a bad Johnson reappearance. On the other hand, we're also due for the Orioles to completely fail to score runs in the late innings of games. Still, I'll go with Johnson.
Tanya: I'd marry Robertson's curveball if I could. Really, that thing is beautiful. I don't believe in Jim Johnson after watching his struggles this season, so I'm taking Robertson.
Mark: Tanya and the curveball sittin' in a tree...
5. Who will have a higher slugging percentage at the end of the series: Robinson Cano or Adam Jones?
Tanya: I'm afraid of the lingering effects that getting hit on the hand earlier this week will have on Cano in the short-term. For that reason, I'll say Jones.
Mark: Out of the two of us, you're the Yankees expert, so if you're down on Cano, I'm not going to be high on Cano. I'll also go with Jones.
6. Which batter will have the most total bases?
Mark: Davis is due to have another streak where he homers in three straight games. Might as well be this series. Right?
Tanya: Chris Davis in Yankee Stadium against a couple pitchers who have struggled this season or struggled very recently. Honorable mention to Soriano, though, who is partying like it's 2002 out there.
7. Which starting pitcher will have the longest outing in innings pitched?
Tanya: CC Sabathia has shown signs of life recently. If he's up to his old tricks again, he can hang around in a game with a long leash from Joe Girardi.
Mark:Ivan Nova pitched a complete game against the Orioles in his last time against them. That was the first of seven straight starts where he went at least seven innings. Like an aging general, I'll fight the last war and say Nova.
8. How many total runs will each team score in the series?
Mark: It would be very 2013 Orioles to win one blowout and lose two close games. 14 runs for the O's to 12 runs for the Yankees.
Tanya: The last really ugly series loss for the Yankees sparked a hot streak and I'm hoping the embarrassment in Toronto does that again. I'll say 15 runs for the Yankees and 13 runs for the Orioles.
With hopes and dreams of staying alive in the race for the playoffs, the Yankees and Orioles face each other for a three-game set beginning tonight at Yankee Stadium. The winner can go forward feeling like they have a chance at one of the coveted wild card spots, while the loser may have to start thinking about 2014. A lot is on the line in just three games.
Like before every series between these respective teams, I collaborated with Camden Chat's new co-manager, Mark Brown, to get both sides' perspectives on the upcoming games. Mark and I tried our hands once more at predicting some outcomes over the course of the weekend. Mark tells me that I narrowly defeated him in our last contest, so I'm going for the streak here.
Feel free to leave your own answers to the questions below in the comments or pose new questions for everyone, including Mark and I, to answer.
1. Which will be higher: Chris Stewart passed balls vs. Chris Davis home runs?
Tanya: Take the over on both, whatever the over is. Stewart has been pretty bad defensively, but I have hope that he won't play every game of the series like Davis will. Davis gets to face Hughes, so advantage Davis.
Mark: I have watched a few Yankees games this year, and one of the things that is striking is how bad Stewart looks behind the plate. Eight passed balls in 80 starts is a lot, but not more than Davis hits home runs. I will go for Davis as well.
Mark: It's an awful stretch of baseball for Markakis, so I would bet on just about anything over him getting an extra-base hit. He went over a month without one, got two in the same game on Sunday and has been dry since. I'll take Soriano.
Tanya: It's hard to argue against Soriano, who has been a revelation since returning to New York. He's not a 40 stolen base threat at this stage of his career but Wieters is Wieters and Markakis has the benefit of facing Hughes. I'll say Markakis.
Tanya: Miguel Gonzalez has the Yankees' number for whatever reason but the lineup as currently constructed is a little deeper than it was the last time he faced them. I expect he'll do well, but not well enough that the two hitters won't accumulate at least one more hit than his innings total in their multiple games.
Mark: In a rare display of honest-to-goodness optimism from me about the Orioles, I'm going to pick Gonzalez. I like him to continue his solid starts against the Yankees with more than six innings and I don't think the Yankees infield tandem will top that.
Mark: I take back the optimism. We're due for a bad Johnson reappearance. On the other hand, we're also due for the Orioles to completely fail to score runs in the late innings of games. Still, I'll go with Johnson.
Tanya: I'd marry Robertson's curveball if I could. Really, that thing is beautiful. I don't believe in Jim Johnson after watching his struggles this season, so I'm taking Robertson.
5. Who will have the highest slugging percentage at the end of the series: Robinson Cano or Adam Jones?
Tanya: I'm afraid of the lingering effects that getting hit on the hand earlier this week will have on Cano in the short-term. For that reason, I'll say Jones.
Mark: Out of the two of us, you're the Yankees expert, so if you're down on Cano, I'm not going to be high on Cano. I'll also go with Jones.
6. Which batter will have the most total bases?
Mark: Davis is due to have another streak where he homers in three straight games. Might as well be this series. Right?
Tanya: Chris Davis in Yankee Stadium against a couple pitchers who have struggled this season or struggled very recently. That is all. Honorable mention to Soriano, though, who is partying like it's 2002 out there.
7. Which starting pitcher will have the longest outing?
Tanya:CC Sabathia has shown signs of life recently. If he's up to his old tricks again, he can hang around in a game with a long leash from Joe Girardi.
Mark:Ivan Nova pitched a complete game against the Orioles in his last time against them. That was the first of seven straight starts where he went at least seven innings. Like an aging general, I'll fight the last war and say Nova.
8. How many total runs will each team score in the series?
Mark: It would be very 2013 Orioles to win one blowout and lose two close games. 14 runs for the O's to 12 runs for the Yankees.
Tanya: The last really ugly series loss for the Yankees sparked a hot streak and I'm hoping the embarrassment in Toronto does that again. I'll say 15 runs for the Yankees and 13 runs for the Orioles.
Thanks, as always, Mark!
What are your predictions for this weekend's series with the Orioles? Do you believe it is truly the last stand for the Yankees?
With rosters expanding to 40 players on September 1, the Yankees will have to decide which players in the minor leagues without a spot on the current 40-man roster are worth a look. According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, one of those players is likely to be catching prospect JR Murphy, who has exceeded all expectations with a strong season between Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Starting his season with the Trenton Thunder, Murphy hit .268/.352/.421 with six home runs and ten doubles in 49 games. Since his promotion to Scranton, Murphy has managed to pick up right where he left off against the next level with a .271/.345/.436 batting line, six home runs, and 19 doubles in 58 games. Over his last ten starts with the RailRiders, Murphy has hit .275/.326/.500 with two homers and three doubles in an audition for a chance at the big leagues in September.
It is unlikely that the Yankees will bring up Murphy on the first day they are allowed, as the RailRiders' season will not yet be complete. However, once the Triple-A season is over it won't be difficult to find a place for him on the 40-man roster. Jayson Nix can easily be moved to the 60-day DL with his season over because of a fractured hand, allowing Murphy a spot on the roster. The Yankees would have needed to add Murphy to the 40-man roster this offseason, regardless of their plans for him next season, to protect him from the Rule V draft next year.
With Murphy being major league-ready, the Yankees need to do the right thing and play him if he his promoted next month. Chris Stewart has no future on this team and Murphy may well be the starting catcher in 2014. That being the case, there is no reason why Murphy should be tied to the bench while Stewart continues to disappoint at the plate. The career backup is worn down and not very good to begin with. It's time to look toward the future and that can be done with letting Murphy finish out the season as the Yankees catcher. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain at this point.
The Yankees have cooled off since our last recording, and if they want to stay alive in the playoff hunt, they must win this weekend's series against the Orioles. We've brought in Camden Chat manager and Camdencast host Mark Brown to talk about the O's this week.
[0:00] Opening, with Jason in jail for kidnapping JR Murphy. Chris Stewart displeases us. [3:34] The upcoming Yankees/Orioles series and its playoff implications [6:02] Regression is a bitch for Hiroki Kuroda, but good for Andy Pettitte. Phil Hughes does not know this concept. [7:24] If the Yankees feel the upcoming series is important, why are they not utilizing some crucial assets? [13:05] Tanya does not like Joba Chamberlain [17:01] Vernon Wells and Ichiro no longer have much purpose in the starting lineup [18:32] Alfonso Soriano in God mode and Robinson Cano's injury scare [22:37] Special podcast's special guest Mark Brown joins us to discuss the Yankees/Orioles series [24:29] Talkin' O's pitching: Wei-Yin Chen, Kevin Gausman, Scott Feldman, then Corey Patterson somehow gets mentioned before we get back to Miguel Gonzalez [33:14] Which Orioles hitters could cause the most problems for the Yankees aside from the otherworldy Chris Davis? [35:29] Thoughts on Buck Showalter [36:36] The demise of the Orioles' bullpen from last year. Enter K-Rod. [38:58] The Orioles claimed Josh Willingham and Michael Morse. Is this relevant? [41:45] Will there be any September call-ups to worry about on Sunday? [44:09] What will the Orioles need for a playoff push and if that fails, what can they do to prepare for 2014? [47:07] How surprising is Chris Davis's monster 2013? [53:05] Yankee/Mitre of the Week (No Tweetbag this week since it was empty)
Sound off in the comments if you have any questions you'd like us to answer for next time, or if you have any feedback on the podcast! Send your tweets to the Tweetbag by tweeting @pinstripebible.
Things have just not clicked for the New York Yankees this year. Micromanaging office managers sometimes refer to this as "synergy," as does Jem from Jem and the Holograms when she needs to... never mind. For those of you not in the know, synergy and synergism refers to combining efforts in order to achieve greater effect. It's a much better and way cooler sounding term than "building team chemistry" for what teams want to accomplish because chemistry class sucked and so did everyone who did well in it. In baseball, it's a combination of pitching, defense, and offense that helps to win games. I shouldn't have to explain this to you but there are people who believe in a magical fourth element that somehow glues it all together. Some examples are Derek Jeter's leadership skills, veteran presence, the youthful spark from a rookie, and other such intangibles. There actually is a fourth element though, which I'll get to later. It's not magical though. It actually might be depressing.
I probably bring up the 1998 Yankees as an example more than I should, but really they are the absolute best modern day example of flawless synergy that I've ever seen. Everything worked for them. Pitching, offense, defense, everything. This year we've seen the opposite of that in full force. When the pitching was on, the hitting was off. When the hitting was on, the pitching was off. When the pitching and hitting were both on, someone got injured. When someone got injured, someone else got re-injured. When the pitching was on or off, Chris Stewart could not hit nor could he catch a fastball down the middle of the plate. Yeah, still bitter about that.
Pitching is what kept the Yankees afloat after the offensive boat hit the iceberg. Especially the bullpen. It took a while to fix that hole, but with Alfonso Soriano, Curtis Granderson, and Alex Rodriguez replacing the likes of Lyle Overbay batting cleanup and Chris Stewart batting 5th or 6th, which are both things that happened this year that I never want to see again, the Yankees offense could start competing. The buoyancy of the bullpen and starting rotation then began to falter. Hiroki Kuroda and Preston Claiborne started to come down to Earth at inopportune times. Meanwhile Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia have possibly righted the ship. Possibly. Ivan Nova is still an experiment in progress and Phil Hughes needs to be flung into the Gorge of Eternal Peril for not knowing that his name is Chef Boyardee. Joba Chamberlain can be flung for not knowing the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow.
That has been the Yankees season this year thus far. There has been little to no synergy. Injuries and re-injuries are primarily to blame. Even then we don't know what would have happened this year. There's little point in going back and speculating about how this season would have turned out if all our players were healthy because that's just not how baseball works. All the Yankees can do is focus on the now and use the past as example of what to avoid for the future. This is where the real problem is. It delves into that fourth element that I mentioned before, which I'll call dynamics.
Dynamics cannot create synergy but rather help the Yankees avoid the problems of the past to possibly achieve said synergy. I say possibly because it's impossible to predict what can happen. I certainly did not think Soriano would be hitting as well as he currently is. Dynamics show that pitching Phil Hughes in Camden Yards is probably a bad idea, especially when a pitcher like David Huff has shown you he can possibly go the distance. Dynamics show that having Chris Stewart behind the plate is probably a bad idea when more youthful, less worn down backup only type catchers have a better chance of showing you more offensively and defensively. The lack of dynamics is the most frustrating thing this year, even more so than the injuries. Okay, maybe equally frustrating to the injuries. Injuries come and go and are usually uncontrollable, but continuing to play bad options when there are better, or at the very least potentially better, options available is the Yankees' M.O. and has been for years. It also shows little to no sign of stopping either.
Joba Chamberlain is still on this team. Austin Romine is still taking a backseat to Chris Stewart. JR Murphy has still not been called up and probably will take a backseat to Stewart when he is in September. Ichiro Suzuki is still starting when you now have two outfielders in Granderson and Soriano who make up for their "not quite as good as Ichiro" defense with their "better than Ichiro" hitting. The coming 2014 Yankees' season has a lot of unknowns. People are still calling for them to rebuild and I do not understand this at all. With the way the Yankees dynamics of baseball operations currently works, would you seriously trust this team to rebuild properly?
For the Yankees to rebuild, it requires a totally new outlook on how they conduct business and all signs currently show that it's not happening, nor is it really ready to happen yet. Rebuilding requires tools, time and a general plan. The Yankees don't have the tools, are very impatient, and the unknowns of 2014 are really preventing the Yankees from making any sort of rational plan on what to do. If they are to attempt to rebuild for the future it is going to have to wait. In the present, though, there is nothing preventing them from replacing Joba, benching Ichiro, and giving Romine & Murphy more of a chance. It's most likely not going to happen, though.
Until the dynamics of how this team operates changes, rebuilding should be the absolute last option on the table. There's nothing wrong with replacing a tool here and there, though. And in every sense of the word "tool" am I talking about Joba.
The Orioles pushed back Miguel Gonzalez's start (although he did see two innings in relief) just so that he could face the Yankees. You see, Gonzalez is what we like to refer to as a Yankee killer. It's a very noble profession.
In five career regular season starts against the Yankees, Gonzalez has pitched 32 2/3 innings with a 2.48 ERA. He has struck out 8.3 Yankees per nine innings and put up a WHIP of 1.071. Yankee hitters have put up a line of just .202/.275/.311 against Gonzalez. And let's not forget Gonzalez's fantastic start against the Yankees in last year's playoff game in which he shut down the Yankees for 7 innings, giving up just 1 run with no walks and eight strikeouts.
There's one small wrinkle in the narrative, though. Gonzalez has faced the Yankees three times this season, and while he's gone at least six innings without allowing more than two earned runs in each, twice he walked five. FIVE. Here's hoping he doesn't do that again.
CC Sabathia is pitching for the Yankees and while his name still makes me think the Orioles are going to get completely shut down, he just hasn't been the CC of old this season. His ERA is 4.81, the first time it's been over 4 since 2005. He is giving up a lot of home runs this year and not doing a very good job stranding runners.
The Orioles really, really need a series win. They actually need a sweep. Will the Yankees be accommodating? I hope so. Let's go O's!
Before Friday, Miguel Gonzalez had a track record at Yankee Stadium where he seemed to kick it into an extra gear for all of the big games. Regular season and playoffs, he had been very good. The Orioles needed another great effort to try to claw their way back into the wild card race. What they got instead was a disastrous fifth inning that saw their hopes sink farther into quicksand as they fell, 8-5, to the Yankees on Friday night.
It's been the sixth inning that has been the disaster inning for the O's pitchers for most of the year. Gonzalez would have liked to make it to the fifth inning. He cruised through four innings and his hitters handed him a slim lead in the top of the fifth on the strength of a two-run home run by Danny Valencia and an RBI single by Manny Machado.
This set the O's up with a 4-2 lead, with the Yankees getting their runs on a blast by Alfonso Soriano, his 12th since being traded to New York. Perhaps that Soriano home run was the precursor to the doom to come for Gonzalez, because it was hanging off-speed pitches that did him in all night.
Gonzalez came out for the fifth inning, faced six batters, and retired none of them. He gave up four extra-base hits in a row, with three runs scoring and the lead vanishing just as fast. Mark Reynolds (yes, him, sigh) doubled home Curtis Granderson. Ichiro Suzuki mashed another hanging off-speed pitch into the right field seats, putting the O's in a 5-4 hole. He then proceeded to load the bases on a double by rookie catcher Austin Romine, a single by Brett Gardner, and a walk to Derek Jeter.
That was the end of the night for Gonzalez, who ended up surrendering seven runs on six hits and three walks in only four innings pitched. He had two runs charged to him that were inherited by T.J. McFarland and scored on a single by Robinson Cano. This gave the Yankees seven runs and it proved to be all that they would need on the night.
On the whole, when you score five runs, you should win. The Orioles scored runs off CC Sabathia, who did not exactly have a good night either, giving up five runs in 5.2 innings. They did damage to him with some timely hitting, including a 4-10 with runners in scoring position. How many games have there been where the O's couldn't buy even one hit with RISP? Tonight they had four and it ultimately did not matter.
The O's did not do any damage at all to a parade of Yankees relievers that included Shawn Kelley, Boone Logan, David Robertson, and Mariano Rivera. The Yankees closer picked up his 39th save of the season.
Gonzalez took the loss to drop to 8-7 on the season. Sabathia was given the win, raising his record to 12-11 in spite of a 4.91 ERA. Run support is ridiculous.
Machado, Nick Markakis, and Valencia all had multi-hit games, with Markakis recording three singles, as he does. Chris Davis picked up his 122nd RBI of the season on a fourth-inning single, giving him a chance of holding the lead in the AL at the end of the season if Miguel Cabrera misses significant time due to the abdominal injury that has knocked him out of games early on back-to-back nights.
As McFarland allowed inherited runners to score and hurt Gonzalez's ERA, Francisco Rodriguez did the same to McFarland, coming in relief in the seventh inning and giving up three hits in 1.1 innings, with the Yankees' eighth run being charged to McFarland.
The Orioles had a chance to win tonight with a good starting pitching performance. Unfortunately for them, they did not get any such thing. If you take out Chris Tillman's gem from Boston, the rotation has had a 9.82 ERA in the other three games of the road trip. Even with Tillman's start, O's starting pitchers have allowed 18 earned runs in 20 innings in the last four games. File that under yikes.
The loss drops the O's to four games back in the wild card chase, pending the result of a west coast game between Tampa Bay and Oakland. The Yankees are only half a game behind the Orioles in the AL East standings, and with another loss tomorrow, the O's would fall into fourth place in the division.
They will be back in action Saturday afternoon with a 1:05 start time. Scott Feldman will try to work his ground ball magic, with Ivan Nova, who has already pitched one complete game against the O's this season, starting for New York.
I know it is sacrilegious as a Yankee fan to question anything about Derek Jeter. He's the Captain, the quiet superstar, the hero who made "The Flip," "The Dive," and more jump throws from that deep hole in short than any of us can count.
But is he doing more harm than good in the Yankee lineup?
We've all heard about Jeter's defensive liabilities, and let's face it, he's not playing for Joe Girardi because the Yankee manager expects him to win another Gold Glove. He's in the lineup to give his team a morale boost. He's in the lineup because these are the New York Yankees and he is Derek Jeter. You can't bench Derek Jeter. Not without potentially turning a team, and almost certainly turning an entire city, against you.
But first and foremost, he's in the lineup for his bat.
Even with the very small sample size that is his 2013 campaign, it has become clear that Jeter is no longer the dangerous hitter he once was. He's batting an ugly .222, and his .294 OBP was the lowest in the Yankee lineup on Wednesday in Toronto. His Ground Ball to Fly Ball ratio is 9.00, much higher than it was even last year, when he hit .316 (his GB/FB last year was just 3.94). Jeter's hitting his highest percentage of ground balls ever this year (he hits a grounder 66.7% of the he puts a ball in play). While he's also hitting a high percentage of line drives (25% of the balls he puts in play) this is offset by the fact that he's hitting fly balls only 7.4% of the time, by far the lowest rate of his career. Simply put, Jeter's not driving the ball to the outfield anymore; he's much more frequently hitting slow rolling grounders that, at his age, he can only dream of beating out.
Still, Jeter did have a somewhat productive series when he returned against the Toronto Blue Jays, as he got on base in every game and picked up two hits during the Yankees' 7-1 win on Tuesday. This may signal that his season is finally turning around, but even if it isn't, the Yankees frankly don't have any better options to take his place at short.
Jayson Nix is done for the season, and he was certainly never known for his hitting. Eduardo Nunez hasn't been awful this season, but he hasn't been too great, either. He's only hit .248 this year, and his OBP is barely better than Jeter's. He doesn't offer any power (a paltry .084 Isolated Power Rating), and his WPA is -0.74, while Jeter's is just -0.02. Though both have played in limited games this season, Nunez certainly doesn't bring anything to the plate that's significantly better than what Jeter can offer. Defensively, where Jeter is certainly lacking, Nunez has been even worse this year, posting a -2.3 dWAR to Jeter's -.3 (WAR stats come from baseball-reference.com).
Even though these are small sample sizes, the fact remains, Derek Jeter has been better this season than Eduardo Nunez, both in the field and at the plate.
While Jeter might seem to be fading into mediocrity, he's better than anything the Yankees currently have. Besides, he's Derek Jeter. Don't count him out. People did after his rough 2010 campaign, when he only hit .270 for the season. He bounced back with a .297 average in 2011 and a .316 average (with a career-high 216 hits) in 2012. So while it may look bleak now for Jeter, he's surprised us before.
And with October at stake, there's no telling what magic Derek Jeter could conjure up to try to push the Yankees back to the playoffs.
Radley Haddad graduated from college undrafted and was about to pursue a career in the Frontier League when the Yankees came calling a few months back. The 23-year-old catcher has played for the GCL Yankees and got a brief call up to Staten Island for five games in July.
Can you explain to us how you were signed by the Yankees? Were you signed un-drafted?
I was signed as an undrafted free agent after graduating from Butler University this spring. My Yankees area scout contacted me a few weeks after the draft & offered a contract.
Were you playing anywhere before you were signed?
I had actually agreed to terms to join the Evansville RiverRats of the Independent Frontier League on June 21. However, I received the call from the Yankees the night before on June 20, already had my bags packed and everything. So instead of driving down to Evansville I took my bags and hopped on the plane to Tampa.
Did you know the Yankees were scouting you? Tell us how the process worked.
I had a few teams interested before and after the draft that, once I went undrafted, told me to continue to workout, stay ready and wait to see if any spots opened up in their organizations, the Yanks being one of those. The area scout called me and offered the spot around 10 pm one night and I was on a plane to Tampa at 8 am the next morning!
What are you looking to prove in your first season of pro ball?
To prove that I can make this organization better and posses the ability to contribute every day in whichever way the Yankees need me
What do you think your strength is as a catcher?
I take great pride in all my defense and have always considered myself a defensive minded catcher, but my main strength I believe is my receiving, i work as hard as possible to get my pitching staff every borderline pitch and not to take any strikes away throughout the game.
Has there been a defining moment for your career on the field?
A defining moment for me was transferring from Western Carolina University to Butler after my sophomore year. I knew in my heart that I had the ability to play professional baseball but wasn't getting the opportunity to show my skills as much as I would have liked, so I transferred to Butler and that's where my career really took off and a huge part of why I am where I am at today.
You can follow Radley throughout his career and on Twitter @bo0rad.
Jacoby Ellsbury (Thearon W. Henderson)
David Robertson (Mike Stobe)
