Saturday Morning Videos

Here's Gardner striking out to end the game Friday night against the O's..... and he's pissed off!

I don't usually post things that have absolutely nothing to do with baseball, but this video really blew my mind.... it's mind bottling

Looking Back At The Granderson Trade Again

We are about two-thirds of the way through the season at this point and it seems like a good time to look back on that trade which sent Granderson to the Yankees and how it worked out for all teams involved.  Looking back, Great trade by Cashman!

You Can Read My Prior Posts About this Trade by Clicking on The Links Below. 

Part I

Part II

Part III

Yanks Received

Curtis Granderson:  Although Grandersons average has dropped to .266, he is still an offensive powerhouse with a .361 on base percentage and .569 slugging percentage.  He leads the AL with 91 Runs, 8 Triples has the 2^nd most homers in the AL behind Bautista with 28.  The Grandy Man is nearing his 2010 total hits of 115 already as he just hit 100 yesterday.  His only real problem is striking out too much these days as he has 111 strikeouts on the season already.

Detroit Received

Phil Coke:  Coke isn’t having a great season and is having a difficult time getting used to being a starting pitcher.  Over his 14 starts this season, he has a 4.57 ERA with a 1.4 WHIP.  Coke isn’t overwhelming the batters as his K/9IP ratio is a mere 4.5K/9IP, with a 3.5BB/9IP. 

Austin Jackson:  Action Jackson was probably the biggest acquisition that Detroit had in this trade but he looks to be slowly fizzling.  Not only does he have 114 strikeouts on the season already, he is only hitting .247/.317/.363.  On the bright side, Jackson has some real speed & has 16 stolen bases with 7 triples (2^nd in AL)

Max Scherzer:  Not bad numbers for Scherzer, but not great either.  He is 11-6 as a starter with a 4.28 ERA and 1.38 WHIP.  Scherzer is striking out batters at a solid rate of 7.8K/9IP and keeping his walks minimal 2.9BB/9IP.

Daniel Schlereth:  Does Mike & Mike always have to mention this kid is Marc Schlereth’s son everytime they say a word about him?  Schlereth is a mediocre middle reliever who has only pitched 25 innings on the season allowing 22 hits.  Although he has 24 strikeouts in those 25 innings, he also has 19 walks making him a less than desirable reliever.  Forget his ERA as his WHIP is up at 1.6 with a 6.7BB/9IP ratio.  Im guessing that Arizona isn’t missing him.

Diamondbacks Received

Ian Kennedy:  Although Kennedy was never projected to be better than a #3 starter, he is doing a great job down in Arizona. Not only does he best the NL with games started at 22, he is 12-3 on the season with a 3.22 ERA and 1.11 WHIP.  He has pitched one full game shutout this season and ranks 9^th in the NL for strikeouts with 127.   Wouldn’t it be nice to have Kennedy in the Yanks starting rotation … I will still take the Grandy Man though.

Edwin Jackson:  Jackson was traded just yesterday to the Cardinals in another three team trade. He started off rocky this season but seems to be trying to redeem himself over the second half.  He is now 7-7 with a 3.92 ERA and 1.42 WHIP.  His strikeout rate is 7.2K/9IP and walk rate is 2.9 BB/9IP.  I had heard that the Yanks were looking at Jackson prior to the trade deadline but chances are they didn’t like what they saw and realized he’s not worth trading away a prospect.

Figuring Out Phil Hughes

Following yesterday’s game, I went back to dissect what are Hughes’ problems.  Let’s start with the positive.  Hughes pitched better than he did this past Friday against Oakland when he allowed 7 runs over 4 1/3 Innings.  Instead, yesterday he only surrendered two runs over 6 innings.  Hughes looked absolutely awful against the A’s and his velocity was down to 90-91 the entire game.  Yesterday against the Mariners, Hughes’ velocity was back (at least in the beginning) to 93 mph, and his curveball looked better.

That all being said, it was a very poor outing for Phil Hughes yesterday.  His pitching line might not look too bad, but it was an uninspiring performance to say the least.  Ultimately Hughes pitched 6 full innings, allowing only 2 runs but allowed 9 hits to the struggling Mariners offense.  He finished the day with 101 pitches, 65 of which were strikes and struck out 3 batters all swinging.  The numbers don’t look bad at all, but if you watch the game – Hughes got pretty lucky.

The first inning started off strong for Hughes.  He had a 1-2-3 inning and was pitching 92 – 93 mph.  He relied heavily on the fastball in the first inning and it looked like a promising start for Hughes.  That began to change in the second inning though.  Franklin Guitteriez was behind in the count 1-2 in the second inning and eventually worked himself a walk after a ten pitch at bat.  During this at bat, Hughes constantly shook off Russell Martin and was unable to execute a swing & a miss pitch. This was the first sign of trouble.

Once he was in the third inning, Hughes’ velocity began to drop.  He still was throwing some 92 mph fastballs, but the 93 mph balls weren’t there any longer.  He got himself into trouble during the third inning when he allowed Ichiro to reach base on a single.  That is where I first really noticed some issues for Hughes.  He was behind in the count 0-1 to Ichiro and then went with a 2 seamer that was thrown inside to Ichiro, a lefty, but then tailed back over the middle of the plate. Any lefty batter would be happy with that pitch & Ichiro was easily able to get around on the fastball and drive it to left field for a single.  This was commonplace yesterday for Hughes as he constantly relied on a fastball that didn’t have good location after the first inning.  Throughout the entire outing, Hughes’ fastball was over the plate and at times it seemed like he was throwing balls right down the middle of the plate without any movement.  It was like he was throwing batting practice or a bullpen warmup session rather than a game which could determine his future for the rest of the season.

The fourth inning was better for Hughes as he allowed one hit but then worked a double play to end the inning.  There was minimal damage in this inning but Hughes velocity continued to decline down to 91 mph.  The fifth inning is where Hughes really ran into trouble.  The inning began with Cust, Bard & Ichiro all with singles to load the bases.  Hughes continued to rely on his fastball with diminished velocity & kept throwing the fastball over the plate making it easy for the batters to get hits.  He attempted to induce some swings/misses by using his fastball up around the batters chest but he didn’t have the action to induce a swing.  With the bases loaded, Hughes escaped some trouble due to Brett Gardner’s throw from left field to get the third out and only allowed 1 run.  Looking back on that inning, Hughes got lucky and any other offense besides the M’s could have really broken the game open at this point.  Hughes came back out for the 6^th and following a leadoff double, was able to go 1-2-3 with a strikeout to end the day.

Overall it was a lackluster performance by Hughes.  He relied too heavily on a fastball that lacked velocity after the 1^st inning and his curveball was hit or miss.  This was the curveball that we saw him throw against Toronto two weeks ago.  The curve has more velocity than his other curveball and has more of a bite to it for that late breaking action.  Either it was thrown for a strike early in the count or he threw it for a ball while trying to make an ‘out’ pitch with 2 strikes.  His location was iffy the entire day and although he was able to make good pitches early in the count, Hughes was unable to execute later in the count for outs with 2 strikes.  I was left with the impression that if Hughes had not been pitching to the Mariners who are hitting only .218 as a team, that he would be in serious trouble.  Hughes’ last two games were against offenses that are the two worst in the AL, and he gave up 9 hits to each team.  What will happen when he faces a good offense?

Girardi may have given a hint as to what may happen in the future.  Girardi said “there could be a competition for the 5^th spot in the rotation, but I’m not going to say there will be.”  I really don’t know exactly what Girardi meant by this as the entire statement seems to contradict itself, but with Nova likely pitching this Saturday you can bet the Yanks are watching him to determine whether Nova can steal Hughes’ spot back.  Nova may not be an ace but he is certainly more effective this season than Hughes.  I would trust Nova against a good offense over Hughes since Nova had some great starts and although he doesn’t dominate a lineup, he forces ground balls all day.  Hughes on the other hand throws too many pitches with poor location and has a much lower ground ball rate.  This all could be meaningless soon enough as the Yanks seem to be going after Kuroda right now, who would steal the spot from both Nova and Hughes.  With Sunday being the trade deadline, this will be something to keep an eye on.

The Hefty Lefty

It really is a treat to watch CC pitch every 5 days and last night was no different.  CC was on fire until the 1^st rain delay started.  Prior to the rain delay, CC was throwing a perfect game through 6 1/3 innings and looked incredible. He had 7 strikeouts in a row before they delayed the game.  CC was throwing heat with his fastball and his breaking pitches were making batters look silly.  (Ichiro almost fell over when he struck out). He even threw a 1^st pitch strike to 20 of the 25 batters he faced last night. You couldn’t have asked for anything better from your ace.

The game was delayed for about 30 minutes but when CC returned, he just wasn’t the same. He still looked good but he wasn’t as sharp. That’s when he allowed Brendan Ryan’s hit to end the perfect game/no hitter.  Then there was the second delay and CC came back out for the 8^th inning but ran into some troubles that David Robertson took care of in relief.

Overall it was really an impressive performance for CC and I think everyone watching the game was left with the same thought… If this game wasn’t delayed, CC would have thrown a perfect game.  Ultimately CC got his 15th win and had 14 strikeouts on the night.  The Yankees totaled 18 strikeouts for the game which is highest since Ron Guidry threw 18 strikeouts back in 1978.

After last night’s game I am left with a couple thoughts: The Yankees will need to get CC as many starts as possible during the postseason, similar to 2009 & I have no doubt in my mind that CC will opt-out of his contract at the end of the season.  I’m not saying he will leave the Yankees, but he will re-negotiate the terms of his contract for an even bigger long-term deal which will hopefully allow him to end his career with the Yanks.

SIDE NOTE:  Eric Chavez went 1-3 in his return to the Yankees driving in an RBI on a single in the 5^th inning to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead.

Eric Chavez Back In The Lineup Tonight

Eric Chavez is back in the starting lineup tonight for the Yankees for the first time since May 5 when he fractured his foot.  His DL stint has been quite long and problematic as he injured his back and had abdominal problems while healing.  Prior to the DL Chavez was hitting .310 with the Yankees.  Tonight he will return to the stadium playing third base in place of Eduardo Nunez who is getting the night off.

Chavez only played 7 games while rehabbing but by all accounts, hadn't lost his swing and is ready to go.  He went 7 for 21 down in Class-A Tampa while rehabbing with a home run and a pair of doubles.

Since Chavez is being called up, the Yankees will need to send down Brandon Laird.  There is no sense in having both Laird and Nunez on the team when they both are utility infielders.  Laird wasn't with the team terribly long but did manage to get in a few games over the weekend and even had his first Major League RBI during this span.  You can read more about Brandon Laird HERE

And here is tonight's starting lineup

Gardner LF
Jeter SS
Granderson CF
Texeira 1B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Posada DH
Chavez 3B
Cervelli C

Mariners vs Yankees Preview

The Yankees returned to Yankee stadium for a 10 game homestand this past weekend and took 2 out of 3 from the Oakland A’s.  Friday’s game was the biggest offensive blowout we have seen from the Yankees since coming to the new stadium.  The next two games were a bit tougher but the Yanks managed to grab another win on Sunday, following Saturday’s loss.  Since the All-Star break the Yankees are 6-5 and looking to grab some more wins during this homestand against the Mariners and Baltimore this weekend.

The struggling Mariners come to the stadium looking to snap a 15 game losing streak, following a sweep up in Fenway park this past weekend.  The last time these teams met was in May out in Seattle when the Mariners took 2 of 3 from the Yanks.  Although the Mariners started Hernandez and Pineda in that series, the Yankees were able to take the lead against both these pitchers early but ultimately blew both games because of the Yankee bullpen and AJ Burnett.  The Yankees are now looking to pay the Mariners back for those two very frustrating losses.

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Monday:  Jason Vargas (6-8, 3.94 ERA) vs Freddy Garcia (8-7, 3.21 ERA)

-Garcia is coming off a good start against the Rays last week pitching nearly 7 innings of shutout ball.  He seemed to get himself into trouble a few times during the game but managed to pitch his way out of trouble every time.  Garcia had 7 strikeouts and no walks in his 8^th win of the season.  This win against the Rays was of a different fashion than usual for Garcia as he typically allows balls to be put in play by the batter, ultimately allowing the defense to take care of business.  This game was different as Garcia was more dominant with 66 of 92 pitches thrown for strikes, 7 strikeouts, and 13 swings and misses which typically isn’t Freddy’s style.  I would expect another strong performance against the Mariners by Garcia as their offense is the worst in the AL.

-Garcia is 1-1 over his last 3 starts with a 2.89 ERA and 13 strikeouts.

-Garcia has allowed 2 runs or less in four of his last 5 starts

-Since June 12, Garcia is 4-2, with a 2.38 ERA over 7 starts

-Vargas is coming off a poor start against the Jays and was pulled after only 3 innings.  In those 3 innings, he allowed 5 runs, 6 hits and 5 walks.  It was his shortest outing since May.

-Vargas has lost his last two starts against the Yanks, allowing 13 runs over 9 innings

-Vargas is 0-3 with a 6.35 ERA over his last three starts with 9 strikeouts, and has allowed 10 runs over his last two starts.

-Cano is hitting .700 against Vargas

-Swisher is hitting .375 against Vargas

Tuesday:  Doug Fister (3-11, 3.30 ERA) vs CC Sabathia (14-5, 2.62 ERA)

-Sabathia is coming off a tough loss against Tampa last week which snapped his 7 game winning streak.  Even though CC took the loss, he still had a commanding performance allowing only 2 runs over 8 innings.

-Sabathia is 11-2 since May 19 with a 2.12 ERA & over his last three starts he is 2-1 with 1.08 ERA and 25 strikeouts.

-Fister has not gotten a win since May despite some quality starts & took the loss in his last start facing the Blue Jays, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits. He had a smooth start to the game, retiring his first 10 batters but couldn’t hold the lead.

-Fister is 0-2 over his last 3 starts with a 5.03 ERA and 7 strikeouts.

Wednesday: Felix Hernandez (8-9, 3.47 ERA) vs Phil Hughes (1-2, 9.47 ERA)

-Hughes had a poor start this past Friday who couldn’t help maintain the lead the Yankees had given him in the 3^rd.  Hughes didn’t make it out again for the 4^th inning and had to be replaced by Noesi who had a strong performance in long relief.  Hughes’ velocity was down again (91mph) compared to his previous start (93 mph –ish) and didn’t have control over his fastball.  He wasn’t throwing his new curveball with the command that he had in his previous start and overall looked bad.  In all fairness, it was 103 degrees at game time and just unbearable inside that stadium but Hector Noesi had no problems throwing 4 solid innings!

-Hernandez was owned this past Friday up in Fenway allowing 6 runs on 11 hits with 4 walks over 6 2/3 innings.  He was constantly in trouble with men on bases and relied upon double plays to get himself out of it, but overall was just beat up by the Red Sox offense.

-King Felix has given up at least four runs in 3 of his last 5 starts.

-Hernandez is 0-2 with a 5.14 ERA and 14 strikeouts over his last three starts

Trapping Lightning In a Bottle

Sometimes a manager needs to try and catch lightning in a bottle to drive their team to the postseason, but he must balance the need for consistency that the players require.  The lighting in a bottle that I am talking about with the Yankees is Brett Gardner’s offensive production over the last few months, and more attractively since the All-Star Break.  

Following the All-Star Break, Gardner has played in all 8 games and is hitting .517 with a .576 on base percentage.  Unfortunately for Gardner, he hasn’t been used often this season as the leadoff batter, until last night.  Some may say that Gardner is streaky but if you break down his numbers by the month, they have gotten better as the season goes on.  Streaky or not, the numbers don’t lie and Gardner should be used more often as the leadoff batter, especially against righties.

Gardner is your classic leadoff man.  He’s fast and he makes contact with the ball.  When Gardner gets on base he becomes a distraction to the pitcher, position players, and the catcher.  In turn, this distraction helps Gardner manufacture runs.  He is the type of player that can beat out infield grounders, then steal second within a blink of an eye to put himself in scoring position for the hard hitters in the middle of the lineup to drive him home from second base.  As much as I love Jeter and think he can still run the bases as smart as any player, he doesn’t manufacture runs the same way Gardner does which is a critical component of the leadoff batter’s responsibility.  Look at Ichiro as the perfect example of how leadoff batters create opportunities which manufactures runs.

Gardner’s speed has become such an asset than he now has stolen 16 bases in a row.  It’s been over a month since he was caught stealing a base, and over the last six nights Gardner has stolen 7 bases!  Since the beginning of last season, Gardner has a 78% success rate! Not only does he pose a threat to opposing teams, there seems to be very little risk involved as Gardner isn’t getting thrown out.  In fact, since May 20 he is 24 for 28 in stolen base attempts!  As long as he can get on base, he’s a valuable weapon.

Fortunately for the Yankees, Gardner isn’t having trouble reaching base.  Right now he is batting .290 with a .370 on base percentage.  His average would be even higher had he not started the season with a terrible April as he hit a mere .188 with .273 on base percentage.  It took some time for Gardner to get going but as each month of the season passes, his averages increase.

                Batting Avg         OBP

April:     .188                        .273

May:      .301                        .379

June:     .317                        .404

July:       .356                        .424

As you can see from above, Gardners numbers are just getting better and better as the summer heats up.  Gardner was named the full time left fielder starting last season, and since that time he’s hit .280 with a .376 on base percentage.  His numbers don’t show any sign of dying down anytime soon, so it’s time to trap that lightning in the bottle and make him the leadoff batter at least against right handed pitchers.  If he is able to manufacture runs, the Yankees need him to try it every day and by allowing him to bat leadoff, the Yankees have the best odds to win the game which is what this all comes down to.

Although I wouldn’t be opposed to having Gardner as the leadoff man for both lefties and righties, Jeter’s numbers against lefties are solid.  Jeter is hitting .325 against lefties with a .419 on base percentage.  Although Jeter is getting older and a bit slower, he’s still a solid baserunner if only for being a heady player.  Unfortunately for Jeter he isn’t making the decision any more difficult for Girardi as his production since the ‘DJ3K day’ (July 9) is weak – Jeter’s only hitting .200 over the last 7 games, compared to Gardners .517 average.  Jeter’s production against righties isn’t terribly better as he is only hitting .244 against them with a .290 on base percentage on the season – both these numbers are unacceptable for a leadoff batter.  In all fairness to Jeter he does have one stat that is hard to ignore – When leading off a game Jeter hits .379 with a .446 on base percentage!

That all being said, it’s not such an easy thing to bump a guy like Derek Jeter out of the #1 spot.  There needs to be some overall consistency within the lineup which players require.  That’s why managers don’t just constantly change the lineup from day to day.  If you move Jeter from the #1 hole, then where do you put him?  If you plug him in as the second batter then Granderson has to move.  I believe that when a player like Granderson is doing well – you leave him alone.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!  Granderson is having a career year this season, so the last thing I want to do is move him from his regular lineup slot. 

So if Gardner is #1 and Granderson is #2 then where do you put Jeter?  He’s clearly not a #3, #4 or #5 hitter as he only has 17 extra base hits on the season.  Do you bump him to #6?  If you bump him to the 6^th spot, will he protect Cano or will opposing teams pitch around Cano?  If I were an opposing pitcher, I would definitely pitch around Cano to get to Jeter.  So by placing Jeter to the #6 spot, you essentially lose Cano’s production since you take away the majority of good pitches thrown to him.

So then we are left with three spots for Jeter - #7, #8 & #9. I doubt you can you plug the captain of the New York Yankees into one of these spots everyday without causing turmoil.  My solution would be a compromise - Use Jeter as the leadoff solely against lefties. His numbers are strong enough against lefties that he shouldn’t cause too many issues as the leadoff batter.  When facing righties though, bat Jeter lower in the order.  I doubt you could get away with batting him 9^th, but I have always loved the idea of having back to back leadoff batters in the #9 & #1 spots in a lineup.  It adds speed on the bases and with Nunez batting before Jeter and Gardner and Granderson following Jeter it adds a whole new dimension of baserunning to the Yankees offense to help manufacture runs.

Girardi has been making some comments to the media lately about playing with the batting order, so it’s something to keep an eye on over the next few weeks, especially with Arod out of the lineup for another 4 weeks.

A's And Yankees Preview

The Yankees return home today for a ten game homestand starting with the Oakland A’s.  After the last 8 games on the road playing on astroturf, I’m sure the Yankees are looking forward to a long homestand to get back on track.  The road trip following the All Star Break hasn’t been great for the Yankees as they have split two 4 game series with Toronto & Tampa.  There have been some highlights during these games, but there has also been a number of games where sloppy defense has cost them games. 

Looking ahead, the Yanks play the A’s and the Mariners over the next week which should bring them some wins.  The A’s who are 17-33 on the road, come to the Bronx tonight in hopes of getting a win in Yankee stadium for the first time since July 25, 2009.  They have lost the last 12 of 13 games against the Yankees in Yankee stadium, and the last time these two teams met the Yankees swept three games in Oakland.  Since then, the A's have fired their manager due to poor performance. 

Right now, the Yankees have a 10 game winning streak against Oakland.  The A’s had an off day Thursday following a series against Detroit where they split two games & prior to the Detroit series, the A’s swept the Angels outscoring them 20 to 11 over the 4 game set, showing a little offensive life.

STARTING PITCHERS

Friday: Trevor Cahill (8-8, 3.16 ERA) vs. Phil Hughes (1-2, 8.44 ERA)

-Hughes comes into the game following a big win against the Blue Jays earlier this week.  He pitched 6 innings allowing only 2 runs and striking out 5 for the win, and used a new type of curve ball in the process.  Overall he looked sharp compared to his previous start.  Although his first start back from the DL had similar numbers (5IP, 2 runs), this week’s performance showed more control and consistency along with velocity that is considered ‘healthy’ for Hughes.

-Hughes is 2-0 against the A’s with a 1.62 ERA all-time.

-Trevor Cahill is looking to get his first career win against the Yankees as he is 0-3 against them in 3 starts.  In those three starts he has allowed 18 earned runs over 16 2/3 innings pitched. Last season, Cahill pitched against the Yanks in Yankee stadium in the first game of a 4 game sweep by the Yankees, allowing 8 runs over 4 innings

-Texeira is 4 – 8 against Cahill with 2 Home Runs

-Cano is 4 – 9 against Cahill with 1 Home Run

Saturday: Rich Harden (1-1, 5.00 ERA) vs. AJ Burnett (8-7, 4.19 ERA)

-AJ had a rough start in his last outing allowing 3 runs over the first 2 innings but settled in after that a bit to keep the Yankees in the game.  Burnett allowed a season high 6 walks in the start.

-Burnett is 0-1 over his last 3 starts with a 5.00 ERA and 19 strikeouts

-Harden is coming off his first start for Oakland in three years following his reinstatement from the 60 day DL.  He pitched six strong innings, allowing two runs and four hits while striking out six batters.  Overall it was a good return from Harden who used a strong fastball to retired the first 16 of 18 batters he faced.

-Harden has not pitched a complete season since 2004 due to injuries and has been on the DL 10 times over his career.

Sunday: Gio Gonzalez (9-6, 2.33 ERA) vs. Bartolo Colon (6-6, 3,34 ERA)

-Colon quieted the critics in his last start showing that he is not injured and looking ahead to the second half.  In his start against Tampa he threw 6 shutout innings with a season high 9 Strikeouts.  Read more about that Start HERE

-Colon is 0-3 over his last three starts with a 6.39 ERA, but it looks as though Colon is back on track following the DL stint.

-David Dejesus is batting .545 against Colon with 2 Home Runs.

-Gio Gonzalez is coming off a strong start against the Angels of 7 innings of shutout ball.  Gonzalez allowed only 4 hits and struck out 8.

-Gonzalez is one of the few bright spots for this Oakland team as he boasts the 5^th best ERA in the AL and was named to the All Star Team.  He uses a combination of fastballs, curveballs and changeups relying most heavily on the fastball.

-Gonzalez has lost his last three starts against the Yankees, allowing 14 earned runs with 14 walks over 14 2/3 innings pitched

YANKEES NOTES

-Jeter has been slumping lately and over the last seven games Jeter is hitting .200.  Girardi has considered bumping him from lead off when facing righties as he did last night.  Against lefties though, Jeter is hitting .325 with a .419 on base percentage so I would guess that Jeter would remain as leadoff batter against lefties.

-Soriano pitched against Thursday in a rehab game for Class-A Tampa allowing one run on 2 hits over a single inning.  Soriano had also pitched Wednesday, as the Yankees want him to be durable enough to pitch back to back days.  It’s likely he could be activated by the middle of next week

-Chavez played third-base for the first time in Class-A Tampa Thursday, and went 1-3 on the day with an RBI Double. 

A’S NOTES

-The Yankees welcome back Hideki Matsui tonight into Yankee stadium. Matsui just hit his 500^th career home run!  (including home runs in Japanese league)

Down In the Minors

Soriano pitched for the first time last night since going on the DL and had a decent first outing.  Although it doesn’t mean much as he was only pitching for the Tampa Class-A Yankees, Soriano had a perfect 1^st inning retiring the side 1-2-3.  The second inning is where he ran into some issues though and allowed a home run, a hit and a sac bunt.  Ultimately, he finished the day with 21 pitches over 1.1 innings striking out 1 batter – Not an overwhelming performance from 2010’s save’s leader!

Before going on the DL Soriano had been inconsistent in the mere 15 innings he pitched.  He had a 5.40 ERA with 15 hits over those 15 innings, but also a problematic 11 walks.  Prior to yesterday’s outing, Girardi had told the press that Soriano was looking at a minimum of 3 rehab appearances before even being considered for a call-up to the Yanks.  There was some discussion as to whether Robertson would be kept in the 8^th inning slot, but Girardi wouldn’t confirm one way or another.  It’s Probably best for Girardi to keep tight-lipped about this as Soriano seems to be a bit sensitive.

Eric Chavez played in last night’s Class-A Game as well in his first rehab appearance.  Chavez, who was the DH, went 0-3 on the night with a walk.  He played again today in the afternoon game (DH again) and did much better.  Chavez went 4-5 this and scored 2 runs.  He is scheduled to play again tomorrow as the third baseman.  It is doubtful that Chavez will return to the Yankees terribly soon as he has been out since May 6, and should need a decent amount of at bats to get back in the groove but today’s game was a good start!

Although Ivan Nova isn’t playing in Class-A ball, he was sent down to Triple-A when Phil Hughes was called up.  He has done pretty well in the first two starts for the Scranton Yankees, but last night he left the game in the second inning with an ankle injury.  There has been a good amount of speculation regarding his injury but most reports indicate that it is not serious and probably only a ‘rolled’ ankle.  Assuming Nova isn’t seriously hurt, there is a good chance that he could make a spot start for the Yankees in one of the doubleheader games on July 30.

You Can Read More About Nova's performances down in Triple-A  HERE

Ready For The Second Half

Although the Yankees lost last night, there was a big bright spot for the Yankees as Bartolo Colon pitched into the 7^th inning and looked like his old self again becoming more dominant as the game progressed.  Coming off two terrible outings where he allowed 13 runs over 6 innings, Colon needed to show the team that he still had his mojo and that is exactly what he did. 

Colon allowed only 5 hits over the 6.1 innings he pitched last night.  More impressive was his season high 9 strikeouts! Colon used more of a mix of pitches than he has in the past.  Last night he relied more on his 4 seam fastball which was topping out at 94 mph.  Colon also mixed more changeups and sliders than we have seen before, but his 2 seamer was again a great weapon against the Tampa lineup as the movement befuddled most hitters limiting them to 5 hits.  He was pulled in the 7^th inning when Boone Logan came into the game.  Although Logan pitched well, the Yankees defense and some bizarre errors caused mainly by a crappy Tropicana Field allowed the Rays to claim the lead in the 7^th for the win.

Even with the loss, the Yankees should be happy as Bartolo Colon showed his worth.  I think we can look back at Colon’s past two starts as unfortunate consequences from an injury rather than a systematic problem with the rotation.  Colon showed absolutely no issues with his hamstring and didn’t require any treatment on his legs following the game.  He seems to have gotten the injury issues out of his head, and is ready for the second half.  The Yankees will still have to monitor his progress in the future as he is pitching more innings than he has in the past 5 years and will have to monitor his defense as he was not tested by Tampa yesterday, but I think it’s fair to say the Yankees can count on Colon.

You can read more about Colon's innings issue from yesterday's blog post  HERE

You can read more about Colon's poor start following his return from the DL HERE

Who Is Steve Garrison ??

It’s been reported that Sergio Mitre has hit the DL.  The injury has yet to be reported by the Yankees, but I think it’s fair to assume that he hurt himself posing as a major league pitcher.  In his place the Yankees have made a very surprising call up of Steve Garrison.  I doubt anybody could have predicted Garrison to get the call but since he is a Jersey native, I’m happy for him.

Garrison is a 24 year old lefty who has been pitching down in Double-A for the Trenton Thunder this season.  The only reason he wasn’t pitching for Triple-A was because they didn’t have room on the roster or spot in the rotation for another starter.  Although he has been starting games in the minors, it’s likely that he will be the second lefty in the bullpen for the Yankees for the immediate future.

This season Garrison’s numbers are pretty ugly.  He is 3-6 with a 6.26 ERA and 1.58 WHIP and has allowed 61 hits over the 46 innings pitched this season.  On the bright side, it looks like things are getting better for Garrison as the season continues.  He is coming off his strongest start of the season this past Friday where he pitched a season high 6 innings allowing only 1 run on 4 hits.  Garrison tied his season high strikeouts with 6 on Friday.  Overall, Garrison has improved by going 3-2 with a 4.94 ERA since coming off the DL earlier in the season.  As I previously mentioned it seems unusual the Yanks called him up, but Garrison comes very highly recommended from Kevin Towers.

Last season the Padres released Garrison in September and based upon Towers recommendation the Yankees claimed him on waivers.  He had a chance to pitch in spring training for the Yankees and actually had a good outing pitching two scoreless innings.  Since the Yankees had Feliciano, Marte,& Logan as their lefties, Garrison was not considered for a major league spot on the roster.  Since all of the lefties are injured or inconsistent –Garrison got the nod.

Garrison throws four pitches:  A fastball (both 2 and 4 seamer), curveball, changeup, and slider.  He is very well known for the control over his fastball which sets the tone for other pitches as his 4 seam fastball only hits 90-91 mph max.  His two seamer has some sink to it, especially with late action, which causes batters to hit more ground balls.  He also throws a curveball, especially to righties.  The curve will come in right outside of the plate for righties before dropping down to hit the corner.  This pitch is not used as often for lefties, as he uses his slider against them instead.  He also uses a changeup which has been a valuable weapon as well.  Since he has so many pitches, he is effective against both righties and lefties.  Garrison is also known for controlling the running game of opposing teams. 

If you look at his scouting report it seems as Garrison has the makings to big a star reliever but he will still have to prove himself in the big leagues.  Back in 2005 he was ranked the 27^th best prospect by Baseball America, but has failed to break into the big leagues yet.  The Yankees obviously see something good about him that he has been on the 40 man roster since the offseason, but it’s still a surprising move especially since JC Romero was signed just last week to a minor league deal in what looked to be the new lefty for the Yankees bullpen.  Romero just pitched last week for 1 1/3 scoreless innings but I suppose that wasn’t enough to sway the Yankees…. yet.

All Eyes On Colon

Tonight’s start for Bartolo Colon should prove very important for not only Colon, but also the state of the Yankees rotation.  His past two starts have been awful as Colon has given up a total of 13 runs and 16 hits over a mere 6 1/3 innings.  More importantly, we are at the point in the season where Colon’s effectiveness can be a serious issue.

Colon has pitched 90.2 innings so far this season.  Although he started in the bullpen for most of April, he was soon promoted as a starter when Phil Hughes hit the DL with his dead arm issue.  Since then, Colon has pitched more innings than he has since 2005.  We could be at a point of the season that the Yankees need to re-assess Colon.  Last year Colon didn’t pitch at all, and in 2009 he only pitched 62 innings.  From 2006 through 2009 Colon pitched a total of 257 innings which breaks down to about 64 innings a year.  This was no surprise to the Yankees as he was a clear risk when they signed him, but he has already surpassed 2009’s innings this season. If the Yankees use him as much as they have the first half, Colon could possibly pitch 200 innings.  Although the Verducci rules of innings limits doesn’t apply to veterans, it is likely this pressure on his arm will cause some problems – or has already caused some problems.

Colon is coming off two bad starts.  The first was before the All-Star Break against the Rays.  He allowed 5 runs on 10 hits, and issued 4 walks.  He didn’t have his two seamer and his location was terrible from the start.  This was only his first start since coming off the DL with a hamstring injury so everyone gave him a pass.  He even made a comment that he was concerned with his hamstring following the short stint on the DL.  You can read more about this start in my blog post HERE

Unfortunately Colon didn’t make any progress in his second start back this past Thursday in Toronto.  He was pulled after 2/3 of an inning.  There was no doubt that in this start the Yankees defense was horrendous but Colon wasn’t able to battle through it.  He allowed 8 runs in the first inning before getting pulled.  (Although 5 of the 8 runs were unearned) Colon just couldn’t push through and get himself out of the jams and even allowed another 2 walks.  More concerning was his two seam fastball which didn’t have his usual velocity.  Since he was pulled so early, nobody really got a chance to see whether his hamstring was causing any nagging issues.

Tonight Colon will face off against the Rays again and hopefully have a better outing that he did on July 7 against them.  I think it’s fair to say that all eyes will be on Colon tonight to determine the future of the rotation.  If Colon can’t pitch the full season, the Yankees may need to make a big trade (I would love to see Jimenez!) but they still have the option of bringing Nova back up and putting Colon back in the pen. 

However, it’s not out of the question to see Colon get back out there tonight and kick some butt.  He has been extremely impressive this season and might be the biggest surprise in MLB this year.  Nobody, including myself, thought that Colon could come back this season and be effective but he has proven everyone wrong and pitched some real gems.

Pena Down & Laird Up

Ramiro Pena had an emergency appendectomy yesterday, following a strong performance in Toronto Sunday.  It looks like Pena will be out at least 6 weeks for his ailment, which would put his return to approximately the same time period when Arod would return to the Yankees.

The Yankees called up Brandon Laird yesterday and although he was activated for last night's game, he did not arrive in Tampa until the middle innings.  Laird has been a minor league prospect for a few years now and was the best option for a utility infielder as he is on the 40 man roster already.  His numbers are not great in Triple-A this season as he is only batting .266, but since his terrible month of April he is hitting .294.  Laird has been improving as the season progresses and in the month of July he already has 4 home runs. (10 on the season)  He plays third base, first base and the corner outfield spots.  He is probably best known as a third baseman though and that is where he will play on the Yankees behind Eduardo Nunez.  

Girardi has said that Nunez will be the everyday third baseman and Laird will be the back-up.  This gives the Yankees the option of resting Jeter at least one day a week and replacing him with Nunez while Laird gets some time at third base.  Nunez has been doing well offensively lately and has 17 RBI's on the season - 9 of which have tied the game for the Yanks or given them the lead!  He may not be the "clutch" batter that Jeter is, but Nunez is a worthwhile replacement.

Colon's Tough Night & Some Other Stuff Too

Last night the Yankees dropped their opening game to the Rays with Bartolo Colon taking the loss.  Although the Yanks have lost 4 of their last 5, I don’t think it’s time to get in a panic but rather just finish this last series before the All-Star break strong. 

You could tell right from the top of the first inning last night that Colon was missing something and it could be a tough night for the Yankees.  Colon got himself in trouble early because of problems finding the location on his pitches.  The problem with his control was so bad that he actually walked a season high 4 batters.  Even when he wasn’t walking batters, he was having problems with his fastballs which didn’t have any movement.  This in turn, caused Colon to give up 10 hits and 5 runs over 5 2/3 innings.  If you have watched Colon pitched this year, you would have noticed his 2 seamer has been incredible and fooling batters with rapid movement.  Even his 4 seamer had some movement to it in the past.  Last night though, all his pitches were flat and sitting right in the zone ideal for batters to hit.

Hopefully Colon got a bad start out of his system and can get back to pitching as usual.  I doubt the bad start had anything to do with his hamstring injury which sent him to the DL a few weeks back and it didn’t seem like Colon was having stamina issues, so I think we can just chalk it up to a bad day. 

It wasn’t all Colon’s fault either last night as the Yankees offense didn’t produce against Niemann who cruised through 7 1/3 innings.  Although Cano had a home run to continue his hitting streak to 11 games, the power hitters in their lineup had an awful night.  Between Granderson, Texeira and Arod, they went 0-10!

Galea is the weasley looking fellow on the left

Speaking of Arod… the steroids issues never seem to go away.  Yesterday Arods doctor Anthony Galea took a plea deal with the Federal Government for smuggling HGH.  Rumors around MLB are swirling that part of the deal for Galea is to meet with MLB investigators and name names.  It would be similar to what happened with Kirk Radomski a few years back.  Galea was rumored to have worked with Arod, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Tiger Woods just to name a few.  Hopefully any investigation with MLB can take place after the season and Arod can focus on the game.

On the other side of the diamond, it was like the Rays were a totally different team from last season.  Well, that’s exactly what they are.  The Rays have lost considerable talent from last season but have done a pretty good job of staying in the pennant race.  They lost Soriano, Pena, Crawford, Bartlett, Balfour, Garza, Wheeler and Benoit.  Although some of these guys didn’t have great numbers last season, each one of their names are fairly recognizable as they all were contributors to the Rays.  I got to hand it to Joe Maddon as he really knows what he’s doing.  It’s too bad the Rays are in the AL East otherwise I would have to root for them.

A Second Burnett ??

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to any fan that the Yankees are looking for another lefty in the bullpen.  Right now Logan is the lefty “specialist” and aside from giving up a home run to Cleveland on Wednesday, he actually has been doing pretty well against lefties lately going back to the Cincinatti series when he struck out Votto & Bruce. Check out more on Logan HERE

Feliciano, who was signed as the lefty specialist in the offseason has been shut down for the season.  You can read about that HERE.  Andy Sisco was a lefty prospect down in Triple-A but was released about a month ago & Randy Flores has taken his place, but Flores' value remains to be seen at this point.

Even with Logan doing better lately, the Yankees will need a second lefty in their bullpen should they want to compete in the postseason.  Right now, the biggest competition is the Red Sox whose lineup is filled with lefty power hitters.  In order to play in a 7 game series with the Red Sox the Yankees will need a second lefty in their pen for situations where Girardi needs a lefty to lefty matchup.  Since Boston has so many lefties, this very well could happen twice a game.  The first time would most likely be when Girardi feels his starting pitcher is beginning to gas and there is a lefty deck.  He would pull the starter and use lefty matchup for a batter.  This would likely only be a ‘one-out’ situation rather than using a lefty to pitch a full inning with better righties available in the pen.  Since Boston is so lefty heavy, there could be another inning later in the game with a power lefty coming to the plate that Girardi would have the freedom to again use the lefty to lefty matchup, whether it is for the full inning or just one out.  The hypotheticals on this are endless, but a second lefty is vital for postseason success.

Last night it was reported that the Yankees sent a scout to check out Sean Burnett on the Nationals.  Although Burnett didn’t pitch last night it seems as though the Yankees have an interest in pursuing the lefty.  Burnett’s numbers aren’t very flashy, but there aren’t terribly many options out there so he is worth considering.  Right now Burnett has a 5.76 ERA with a 1.44 WHIP.  His ERA on the season is a bit higher than his career average at 4.00 but his WHIP is generally where it has been over the past five years, averaging 1.38.  These numbers definitely don’t sway me, but this season lefties only have a .240 batting average against Burnett with a .316 on base percentage.  His numbers against righties seem to hurt his average as righties bat .308 against him with a .378 on base percentage.

Burnett has a decent selection of pitches to use which could be helpful.  His main pitch is a fastball/sinker which he throws more often than any other pitch.  He also uses a slider fairly often to keep batters guessing and sometimes will throw a changeup with varying success.  Although his numbers seem average at best, he is worth sending a scout to check out & after watching Masterson's sinker this past week - I want one of those!

Right now the Nats haven’t said anything as to whether Burnett is available for a trade, but I’m sure the Yankees have a few players they may be interested in.  It's worth keeping an eye on.