AL Rookie Of The Year Candidates 2011

We are closing in on the end of the season and it’s about time to start discussing some possible Rookie of The Year Candidates, especially since we will see a handful of them during this next week. This past week the Yankees played the Angels before the Rays come to the Bronx, and then the Yankees go to Kansas City.  Each of these teams has a rookie of the year candidate, so let’s take a look.

ANGELS

Mark Trumbo has been a big addition to this Angels team this season at first base.  Not only does Trumbo make a solid defensive first baseman, he hits for power.  Trumbo was called up from the minors to replace Kendrys Morales, who still has never recovered from falling on his bat after celebrating a walk off home run last year… one of the more bizarre injuries I have ever seen.  Those were big shoes for Trumbo to fill as Morales hit .306 with 34 homeruns and 108 RBI’s back in 2009 (his last full season).  Trumbo has done a great job filling in and is hitting .261 with a .302 on base % and .493 slugging %.  He leads all rookies with a .796 OPS, 22 home runs, 63 RBI’s and 21 doubles. 

The scouting report on Trumbo is that he swings at too many pitches – especially outside the strike zone.  It’s a common rookie issue, but the Yankees exploited this against him during the past three games keeping him 2-11 during the series.

Although Trumbo doesn’t hit for average, the power numbers are ‘glamour stats’ which could be a big factor for him to win the Rookie of the Year.  He reminds me of Mark Texeira and his numbers are somewhat similar to Tex’s .247/.341/.512 line with 17 doubles, 32 homeruns and 86 RBI’s.  He’s Tex-Light

Jordan Walden pitched against the Yankees on Tuesday night and got the save when Mo blew the game.  I didn’t think Walden had a great outing, but he did get out of trouble thanks to Granderson getting caught stealing to end the game.  I doubt that Walden could actually win the rookie of the year award, but he’s worth a mention as he is a rookie closer which is somewhat unique.  His ERA is 2.74 with a 1.19 WHIP and he does have 26 saves but unfortunately he has 7 blown saves as well which I would think eliminates his name from contention.  He also gets wild and this causes his walk rate to balloon up to 3.3BB/9IP which is not what you want in a closer.  His control issues stem from the fact that he almost exclusively uses a fastball which hits 97 mph (about 80% of pitches) but if he can’t locate the fastball, then he has nothing else.

RAYS

Jeremy Hellickson will pitch Saturday against the Yankees for the second time this season following a great game against the Royals this past week where he allowed only 1 run over 7 1/3 innings.  In his first game against the Yankees he held them to a .192 batting average and struck out 7.  Hellickson has had a great season and since the All Star Break has been somewhat dominating.  In his past 4 starts since the All Star Break, Hellickson is 2-0 with a 2.39 ERA.  Overall, he has a 3.05 ERA with a 1.13 WHIP and holds opposing batters to a .208 batting average (5^th best in the AL).  Hellickson only throws in the low 90’s with his fastball, but his changeup which he throws 30% of the time, is his ‘out’ pitch .

Hellickson is not a bad pick for the AL rookie of the year, but the Rays are keeping an eye on his innings limit and there is a chance he may be shut down early this season, especially with the Rays out of contention for the postseason.  If he gets shut down early, I think he could be eliminated from contention.

ROYALS

Eric Hosmer was the 3^rd overall pick in the 2008 draft by the Royals and has been considered a highly touted prospect since the draft which prompted the Royals to call up the 21 year old so early.  Since getting called up he is hitting .276 with a .332 on base % and a .764 OPS.  Hosmer has 10 home runs, 19 doubles and 48 RBI’s which pale in comparison to Trumbo’s numbers, but Hosmer is still a good young player with lots of potential.  His 10 home runs are 3^rd among AL rookies (Trumbo is #1, Arencibia is #2).  Hosmer seems to be having some difficulty with lefty pitchers as his line against lefties is .220/.271/.256 compared to strong numbers against righties at .300/.356/.508.  Sounds like he could use the Curtis Granderson treatment from Kevin Long to improve his numbers against lefties!

So far this season, Hosmer is 4 for 12 against the Yankees with 2 home runs and 4 RBI’s.  I don’t think he has the numbers for rookie of the year especially as he is competing with Trumbo who’s numbers are better but he is definitely a young prospect to keep an eye on over the next few seasons.

YANKEES

Ivan Nova is having a great season for the Yankees and he only seems to be getting better as the season progresses.  Although his ERA and WHIP are a bit inflated at 3.85 and 1.38 respectively, his numbers during the second half show improvement.  His second half ERA is 2.61 with a 1.01 WHIP compared to 4.12 and 1.47 in the first half.  In the month of July his ERA dropped to a 2.25 and in August so far is 2.63… the Yankees better not send him back to Triple-A after this 6 man rotation fails!  Even his strikeout ratio improved from 5K/9IP in the first half to 7K/9IP in the second half and that includes this past start against the Angels when he had 0 strikeouts! Nova’s clearly pitching much better now than he did at any point last season or the beginning of this year.  He seems to have gotten used to his surroundings and has not had a bad outing since May. 

It’s hard to say whether Nova will be a leading candidate for AL rookie of the year as I tend to be very biased when it comes to the Yankees, but I have watched him pitch all season and develop into a great starting pitcher which is reflected in his 11-4 record.  He has developed secondary pitches like his slider and curve ball to use in conjunction with his sinker and proven himself to be a worthwhile starter in the Yankees organization.

Eduardo Nunez is likely not going to even be considered for the rookie of the year, probably due to his fielding errors alone.  He doesn’t have enough playing time either as he is a utility infielder, but he deserves some credit as he has been doing a great job filling in throughout the infield when needed.  Nunez puts up decent offensive numbers and seems to come up big in clutch situations.  If he can get his fielding straightened out, he will get some more playing time at shortstop and third base as Jeter and Arod will need more rest over the next few season with Father time breathing down their necks.

RED SOX

Josh Reddick had the winning hit this past Sunday in Fenway to take the rubber game from the Yankees.  Reddick is the backup outfielder for the Red Sox and since he is backup, he doesn’t have enough playing time to compete for AL Rookie of the Year, but he is worth a honorable mention as he is hitting .322 with a .368 on base % and .895 OPS.

This is just a list of names that we have either seen over the past week or will see in the next week.  It is NOT an exhaustive list of candidates.  There are numerous guys on the candidate list who I didn’t mention, and in fact I think Michael Pineda will win the AL Rookie of the Year for Seattle, but since the Yanks aren’t playing the Mariner’s soon he was temporarily ignored.  I will come back to this post at some point later this season and update it all with all the leading candidates, but this should give you a good preview of the next week or two and who to keep an eye on.

Yankees vs White Sox Preview

The Yankees are off to Chicago today for the start of a 4 game set against the White Sox.  This begins the start of a 7 game road trip for the Yankees who will actually play 21 of 30 games on the road during the month of August.  This season the Yankees are only 27-20 on the road compared to 37-22 at home.  The Yankees just took 3 of 4 games from the Orioles this past weekend in the Bronx, and are looking to try and gain some momentum before they travel to Boston for this weekend’s series in Fenway. 

Although it looks like the White Sox have given up for the post-season as they recently traded starter Edwin Jackson, they are not an easy opponent and at the very least will give the Yankees a challenge.  They are only 4 games behind Detroit for the AL Central but they are 2 games under .500 although they have won 4 of the last 6 series they have played.  This past weekend Boston took 2 of 3 from Chicago in Fenway as the White Sox offense came up short in Sunday’s matchup ultimately leaving 12 men on base for the loss. 

The White Sox are 4-10 against the Yankees in their last 14 games but the last time these two teams met was back in late April when they split a 4 game series in the Bronx.  The Yankees came into that series as an explosive offense but their offense was shut down for the first three games.  The Yanks lost the first two games to the Sox then came back to win the next two.  Phil Humber pitched game two for the Sox in this series and nearly no-hit the Yankees.You Can Read All About Philip Humber HERE for a scouting report.  Although the White Sox were outscored in that series 17 to 9, they out-hit the Yanks 31 to 26.

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Monday:  CC Sabathia (15-5, 2.56 ERA) vs Jake Peavy (4-4, 5.27 ERA)

-CC is coming off a really impressive start that I still believe would have been a no-hitter or even possibly a perfect game had there not been two rain delays.  He allowed 3 unearned runs over 7 innings and finished the game with a season high 14 strikeouts for his 15th win.  In general, CC has been amazing this season and defines what makes a true ace.  You can read more about CC’s success lately RIGHT HERE

-Sabathia is 2-1 with a 1.57 ERA and 30 strikeouts in his last three starts

-CC is 17-4 with a 3.68 ERA against the White Sox in his career over 30 starts

-Sabathia has only allowed 5 earned runs over his last 58 2/3 innings he’s pitched

-Over his last 7 games, CC is 6-1 with a .82 ERA

-Alexei Ramirez is batting .400 against CC in his career

-Peavy had a tough month of July going 0-3 with a 6.67 ERA over his last five starts. 

-In Peavy’s last start he took a no decision against Detroit after allowing 4 runs on 10 hits over 6 innings.

-Peavy is 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA against the Yankees in his career

-Scouting Report on Peavy is that he uses a mix of 6 pitches.  His 2 and 4 seamers are used in tandem very effectively while he also uses his cutter & slider fairly often as his secondary pitches.  He also uses a curve and changeup to keep the batters guessing.

-Peavy has not faced the Yankees since coming to the White Sox and the last time he faced the Yankees was while he was with the Padres in 2008 allowing 4 runs over 4 innings.

Tuesday: Phil Hughes (1-3, 8.24 ERA) vs. John Danks (4-8, 3.79 ERA)

-Hughes is coming off a no decision against the Mariners last week but it was a less than stellar performance which seemed to indicate that his arm is still not back to 100% as his velocity dies down after the 1^st/2^nd innings and he has trouble putting batters away after getting ahead in the count.  You can read all about Phil Hughes’ last start HERE in greater depth.  Although the Yankees have been tight lipped about Hughes, this could be very well be his last start this season as Nova has proven himself more worthy.

-Hughes is 1-1 with a 6.06 ERA over his last 3 starts with 11 strikeouts

-Danks is 4-0 with a .98 ERA since June 1st

-Danks is going to come into this game throwing lots of changeups to righties as he typically does. 

-Danks has not allowed more than 2 runs in his past 5 starts

-The last time that Danks started against the Yanikees was August 28 of last season when he allowed 8 runs over 4 innings.

-Cano is batting .500 against Danks and Swisher is hitting .400 against him.

Wednesday: AJ Burnett (8-9, 4.23 ERA ) vs. Gavin Floyd (9-9, 3.96 ERA)

-AJ is coming off one of the more unusual games I have seen him pitch this past Friday night.  He struck out 10 batters over 8 innings but gave up 4 runs on 4 hits to take the loss.  Overall he pitched great and I think that he improved as the game continued but just made a few mistakes which he paid for.

-AJ has pitched at least 5 innings in all his starts this season and has only allowed more than 4 runs twice.

-Floyd is coming off his 3^rd straight win against the Red Sox this past Friday night allowing only 1 run on 3 hits over 7 innings. In his last 3 starts he is 3-0 with a .81 ERA and 16 strikeouts.

-Although he has been getting more strikeouts lately, Floyd's strikeout rate is fairly low at 6.4/9IP which is down nearly 1 strikeout per nine than last year.

-The last time Floyd pitched against the Yankees was in April when he took the win after throwing 8 innings of 2 run ball.  He used his cutter fairly often that day to shut down the Yanks.

Thursday:  Ivan Nova (9-4, 4.01 ERA ) vs. Philip Humber (8-7, 3.44 ERA)

-As of today the Yankees are still listing Bartolo Colon as Thursday’s starter but from what I have seen during the postgame and interviews in the last two days, it seems like the yanks will be using a 6 man rotation over the next week in order to allow Colon to pitch against the Red Sox this weekend.  I think it’s the smart move at this point since Colon is likely shaping up to be a #2 starter in the postseason if he continues his dominance and a start against Boston will really put him to the test.  In turn, Nova will pitch Thursday as it is his regularly scheduled start and Colon will get bumped and work around CC’s 5 day schedule

-Nova had a strong start on Saturday night against the O’s pitching 7 full innings and allowing only 2 runs on 6 hits and striking out 6.

-Nova pitched against the White Sox in late April taking the loss to Gavin Floyd after pitching 6.1 innings and only allowing 1 run.

-Humber had a tough time against Boston this past weekend and was unable to make it out of the 5^th inning after allowing 4 runs.

-Over his past 3 starts, Humber is 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA

-Humber nearly pitched a no hitter against the Yankees in April allowing no runs on 1 hit over 7 innings.

-Humber has the best ERA on the White Sox this season.

-Humber’s strikeout ratio is very low at 5.9/9IP.  Looks like he is having trouble putting batters away.

-Read a full breakdown on Philip Humber HERE

YANKEES NOTES

-Derek Jeter is Day to Day due to a bruised middle finger.  The X Rays were negative but Jeter is having problems holding the bat tight so its likely the Yanks could give him a few days off.  There has also been some rumblings that Jesus Montero may join the Yankees very soon and with Jeter out of the lineup, this could be a big opportunity for Montero even if he just DH’s.

-Texeira is on a hot streak lately and went 13-39 with 4 homeruns during this past homestand in the Bronx.

-Swisher is still hot as well going 15-36 in the homestand with 3 homeruns.

-Gardner had some trouble during the past homestand going a mere 7-28, but I think it’s fair to give him a pass as he delivered the decisive bases clearing triple on Sunday against the Orioles.

WHITE SOX NOTES

-Paul Konerko is day to day after getting hit with a pitch Sunday by the Red Sox.  Konerko pulled himself out of the game after being hit in the calf.  If Konerko does not play during this series it would be a big loss for the White Sox as he leads the team with a .305 average, 25 home runs and 76 RBI’s.  Konerko has some big numbers against the Yankees as well so his injury couldn’t have come at a better time for the Yanks. (.315, 20 HR’s in his career vs Yankees)

-Juan Pierre is on a heater over the last month hitting .345 in his last 28 games

-Brent Morel has gotten hot lately with 5 hits in his last 10 at bats

-Alex Rios hit a little slump recently and has only 3 hits in his last 23 at bats

-Carlos Quentin is only 4 for his last 22 at bats.

-I’m not sure what happened to Adam Dunn since coming to the White Sox but he is only hitting .195 this season.

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.

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

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.

Super Nova

Ivan Nova pitched last night for the Scranton Yankees and had an incredible performance, striking out 10 batters.  He only pitched 7 innings and they only reason he was pulled from the game was due to being hit by a line drive in the leg.  He limped off the field, but there is no serious injury to worry about.  10 strikeouts is Nova’s best so far and by all accounts, Nova was on fire yesterday.

Not only did he strike out 10, but Nova didn’t allow any walks.  He allowed 6 hits on the night, but only 3 of those hits were actually hit hard and the other three squeaked through the infield.  At one point during the game Nova had retired 13 batters in a row!  He was ahead in the count on just about all batters and threw a total of 98 pitches – 72 of which were strikes.  He didn’t play around too much with his secondary pitches (slider, changeup) but mainly used fastballs (92-94 mph) and curveballs all night.

By far and away this was the best performance of any Triple-A Yankee so far, and among the best starts for Ivan Nova.  I guess all that time in the big leagues helped him out quite a bit.  Hopefully he can continue pitching well and will be called back up by the Yankees soon. 

It wouldn’t be fair to start comparing Nova’s start in Triple-A to Hughes’ start for the Yankees, but there are roster decisions to be made following the All-Star break and Nova is making it difficult to argue with his success.  All I can say is that It would be a shame to waste Nova’s talents in Triple-A & a 6 man rotation may be necessary.

Read More About Nova & Hughes RIGHT HERE

Read About Hughes’ Last Start RIGHT HERE

UPDATE JULY 19:  Nova will likely pitch again tonight for the Scranton Yankees.  This will be his third appearance in Triple-A since being sent down.  Although his second appearance was not as dominant as his first (above), he still pitched 7 innings of 3 run ball.  Nova allowed 1 walk but did strike out 5 batters before taking the loss. 

Only In New York

Can you name any other team that would send a pitcher down to the minors who has 8 wins on the season already?  Only the Yankees can get away with doing something like this, as they have sent down Ivan Nova to Triple-A to make room for Phil Hughes.  Hughes will pitch this Wednesday in Cleveland in Nova's regularly scheduled start.  In turn, Nova will pitch for the Scranton Yankees in order to stay in his regular routine.

Nova is 8-4 on the season, which ties him for the 2nd most wins behind CC.  His ERA is 4.12 and his WHIP is 1.4, but over the last two months, Nova has made some big improvements.  For starters, he no longer has any issues pitching further into games.  If you remember last season, he had problems from the 4th inning on, as batters were getting more hits the 2nd and 3rd time through the order.  This year Nova changed all that and over the last month he got stronger as the game went on.  In fact, when Nova pitched against the Reds two weeks ago he got better as the game went on and retired 24 of the last 26 batters he saw.  He also pitched 8 solid innings that night and easily could have completed that game had Girardi not pulled him.  Nova also has been consistent with his control over his sinker/fastball.  As long as that pitch stays down, Nova cruises through a lineup and doesn't need to throw many pitches.  He also has been incorporating more pitches into his repoirtoire during games and isn't afraid to use his secondary pitches as his 'out' pitch.  In the game against the Reds, Nova was using his changeup and slider to keep Cincinatti guessing.  Ultimately that was his best outing of the season, against an offensive powerhouse!

Hughes will make the start in Cleveland against the Indians.  This will be Hughes' first start since the Dead Arm issue.  His last start was on April 14, and his numbers for the season are ugly: 0-3, 13.93 ERA.  Fortunately, it seems like Hughes was able to work through his problems with the Yanks by rehabbing and getting the inflamation down in his shoulder.  Over his past few starts in the minors, Hughes' velocity is back up averaging around 93 mph and has gotten as high as 95 mph.  His last start was very impressive, pitching 6 strong innings and striking out 8 in the process.  The Yankees liked what they saw and decided to pull the trigger by giving the former 18 game winner a chance to pitch this week.  I can only wonder whether Hughes' mechanics changed at all.  When he is pitching, it seems like he generates more power strictly from his arm rather than his lower half.  I believe this puts much added pressure on his throwing arm which could have added to his dead arm issue.

Unforutnatey for Nova he was the odd man out.  I don't think the decision comes down to anything other than seniority and Nova got sent to Scranton.  Originally the move bothered me, but the other options weren't better.  Pendleton was called up for Nova, so the Yanks have an extra long man in their bullpen should Hughes or any of the starters run into problems.  The Yankees could have possibly used a 6 man rotation which they considered, but ultimately decided that it was a bit 'outside the box' and sent Nova down.  I really think the 6 man rotation was their best option but the logistics of keeping everyone in their groove may be too difficult to play with while all the starters are hot.  I wouldn't be surprised to see the yanks use a 6 man rotation later this season though.  The Yankees had another option to send Nova to the bullpen, but I don't think that would have been a good idea.  No reason to ruin the development of Nova as a starting pitcher by sending him to the pen while he is pitching well.

I'm sure Nova will be called up at some point again this season, but I'm not sure when at this point.  The Yankees will need to give Garcia and Colon some extra days rest come August/September, but I have a funny feeling we may see Nova before that.  Nova may not be the 'SuperNova' just yet, but he has been doing a great job and the results are obvious.  Who would have though the Yankees would have such a strong rotation at the All-Star break that they would have to send an 8 game winner down to Triple-A?  All we can ask for at this point is for Nova to handle this like a professional and be ready when the Yankees need him again.  But I will say this:  If I were another team contending for the postseason, I would be making a call to Cashman to find out what the Yankees would need to deal Nova.  Nova's got the stuff, he's young and not getting paid big money - thats a Trifecta!

You Can Read More About Nova's Improvement RIGHT HERE

You Can Read More About Phil Hughes' Rehabbing RIGHT HERE

Yankees & Rockies Series Preview

THE STATE OF THE YANKEES

The Yankees just finished their Midwest road trip going 4-2 in Interleague play.  They took 2 out of 3 from both the Cubs and the Reds, and are now coming home for their final stretch of interleague play against the Rockies and Brewers before they head cross town for the final three games of the Subway Series.  Overall the Yankees are on a roll since being swept by the Red Sox in the first week of June.  Since that series the Yankees are 10-3 and have won every series since, including a sweep over the Rangers.  Things should only be getting better for the Yankees beginning this week as their injured players will be coming back to the team slowly. 

Jeter is due back this coming Wednesday and Phil Hughes isn’t terribly far behind.  Hughes could be back with the team by early July if his progress continues – He hit 95mph on the radar gun last weekend and was averaging 93mph in that game.  Eric Chavez is slowly recovering as well and we could likely see him back with the team in Mid July, which can help bolster the bench.  Even Bartolo Colon shouldn’t be out terribly long and could rejoin the team in Mid July as well.  Colon was put on the 15 day DL, but it seems he may need a bit longer.  Let Colon take his rest now rather than pushing him back into the rotation which could cause an injury to worsen for an older player, plus Colon was going to need rest throughout the season for stamina purposes since he hasn’t pitched much since 2005.  Even just getting back these four players (forget about Marte, Feliciano & Soriano) will take the pressure of the rest of the team.

Even the guys who had previously started the season poorly have been heating up.  Jorge Posada, who was previously hitting only .183, has brought his average up to .225 and had a game winning home run against the Reds on Wednesday.  Although .225 isn’t a great average, his numbers for June are impressive : .391/.431/.543 with one home run.  I’m not sure what he is doing different, but it could be just as simple as getting acquainted to the DH role.

Brett Gardner had a terrible month of April, but has become the player he was in 2010 again.  In the month of April he hit a mere .188 and didn’t look sharp.  In fact, Girardi started platooning him due to his poor performance.  Gardner then worked with Kevin Long on his swing and received immediate results.  In the month of May his average climbed to .301 with a .379 on base percentage, and so far in June his average is up to .377 on the month with a .441 on base percentage and an extremely impressive .999 OPS.

Nick Swisher has been gaining some momentum as well but it took a little longer for him.  Swish had two bad months in April and May batting .226 and .200 respectively.  June has treated Swisher better and his average is up to .292 on the month with a .435 on base percentage.  His OPS is even higher than Gardner’s for the month of June with a 1.035!  In the last two weeks alone his average is .310 and between Gardner and Swish sharing the leadoff spot, they share a combined .316 average.  Although both Swisher and Gardner are thriving as the #1 batter, once Jeter gets healthy again he will continue to bat leadoff.

Nova had become a pitcher that only a few weeks ago that many critics were claiming he was fighting for a job to stay in the starting rotation, but since his start in Seattle he has been impressive.  He pitched on Monday against the Reds and had a dominant outing, proving to everyone that he needs to stay in the rotation.  Nova also picked up his seventh win on the season which is the second most only to CC with 9.  You can read all about Nova’s performance RIGHT HERE. 

Even Boone Logan had a good outing in Cincinatti.  Logan can’t get a lefty out if they were swinging with one hand, but he was called in against the Reds on Wednesday night following Gordon’s mediocre performance and struck out NL MVP Joey Votto and cleanup hitter Jay Bruce.  It doesn’t’ change the fact that lefties are still hitting .286 against the left handed specialist, but it could be a step in the right direction for Logan.  Last year he had a tough May and June, but came back an ended the season strong.  In July and August he pitched a total of 13 innings and only allowed 1 run, 8 hits and struck out 13. 

The Yankees will welcome Jason Giambi back to the stadium this weekend as the Rockies come to town.  (I still will never forget his Grand Slam against the Twins in extra innings)  The yanks will luck out and not face the Rockies ace this season, Chacin who is 8-4 on the year.  In his last three games alone, he has pitched 22 innings allowing only 10 hits and 2 runs.  The Rockies will have Ubaldo Jimenez pitching the first game which doesn’t fair well for the Yankees, but Jimenez has not been the pitcher he was in the first part of 2010 when his ERA was a miniscule .88 on June 1 with a .95 WHIP.

The Rockies had a great start to the season going 11-3 to kick off April, but have since dropped into third place in the NL West with a .500 record.  May was not a good month for the Rockies as they lost 20 of the 28 games they played.  They have been doing better in June going 12-8 so far and interleague play has worked out well for them lately as they took 2 out of 3 from both the Tigers and the Indians.  The Rockies aren’t a great team but they do boast some big bats in their lineup like their #3 ,4 & 5 hitters, Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton.  Their team ranks in the top 6 in average, on base percentage and slugging percentage for all teams in the NL but are in the bottom 6 for ERA and WHIP.  As long as the Yankee pitchers can keep their bats in check, they should be able to score some runs and win the series.

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Ubaldo Jimenez (2-7, 4.68 ERA) vs. AJ Burnett (7-5, 4.05 ERA)

-Jimenez is coming off a win against the Tigers last week, but was pulled freom the game in the 6^th inning due to a calf injury he suffered while running the bases.  He is certainly not the same pitcher he was in early 2010.  He is 1-2 over his last three starts with a 3.63 ERA, so he has been improving this season, but who knows whether he has gotten through his control issue yet.

-For more information on Ubaldo, read about him RIGHT HERE

-In 25 at bats against Jimenez, Russell Martin is hitting .320

-AJ is having a much better June than he did last season when he went 0-5 with a 11.35 ERA.  This June he is 2-2 with a 4.21 ERA.  He got the win last weekend against the Cubs but only pitched 5 1/3 innings and used 104 pitches before getting pulled.  He hasn’t been the model of consistency, but seems to be persevering through tough outings with the help of Russell Martin.  In his last three starts he has 19 strikeouts.

Aaron Cook (0-2, 4.67 ERA) vs. CC Sabathia (9-4, 3.39 ERA)

-Cook only recently came off the 60 day DL on June 8, and has not done much.  He has lost both his starts since coming back.  In his last start against the Tigers he pitched 6 innings and gave up four runs to take the loss.

-CC is going for his 10^th win of the season, and attempting to be the first pitcher to get 10 wins this season.  He didn’t have a great start last weekend against the Cubs as he ran into some control issues, but was able to get the win, as the Yankees gave him some run support.  This season he has averaged 8.68 runs per game to support his winning record.

Juan Nicasio (2-1, 4.71 ERA) vs Ivan Nova (7-4, 4.13 ERA)

-Nicasio is a rookie right hander for the Rockies this season. He is coming off a tough no decision to the Indians this week when he gave up 6 runs.  He is 1-0 with a 6.89 ERA over his past three starts, but has struck out 19 in the process.

-Nova is coming off his best start of the season where he pitched 8 strong innings against the Reds.  You can read all about Nova’s improved season right HERE.

Who Says Interleague Play Isn’t Exciting?

Ivan Nova had his best appearance of the season Monday night against the Cincinatti Reds and showed significant signs of progress.  It’s almost funny how just a few weeks ago, the media was declaring that following Nova’s poor start in Seattle his next start was a test as to whether he can stay in the rotation. Although he had his share of growing pains, Nova has consistently improved throughout the season.  Once known for his problems facing a lineup the second and third time through – last night he was stronger each time through the lineup.  He became so dominant throughout the game that he retired 24 of the final 26 batters he faced.  What really impresses me is the Reds are an offensive powerhouse (most runs in NL), and Nova shut them down in the Great American Ballpark, which is known as a hitters park.

Nova pitched 8 solid innings against the Reds for a total of 105 pitches.  I don’t think anybody would dispute that he could have pitched the 9^th inning, but not for Girardi over managing the game.  Through 8 innings, Nova only allowed 4 hits and issued no walks.  Even more impressive was his 7 strikeouts, which was his season high.  Although the numbers are impressive, what I found to be more important was his actual performance.

Normally Nova relies upon two pitches – his fastball and his curveball.  In fact, this is what gets him into trouble on many nights.  When his curve isn’t working or his fastball isn’t sinking, he continues to use those two pitches almost exclusively and ends up with too many walks for the game or elevates his fastball causing monster hits.  Last night was different though.  Nova did throw his fastball and his curve, but he also used his changeup and his slider. The changeup which definitely lacked his fastball velocity was his “out” pitch last night (along with the sharp slider) but this wasn’t your typical changeup.  Something was a little funny about this changeup that during the post game show, many reporters were asking Russell Martin whether the pitch was actually a changeup or a variation on a breaking ball. 

The changeup had some movement to it which caused batters to get on top of it and forced ground outs to the infield.  During last night’s game, Nova forced 16 in-play ground balls. In the first inning when reigning NL MVP, Joey Votto was at bat with runners on the corners, Nova threw him a changeup.  Votto did get the run in, but grounded into a double play in the process.  Following Votto’s at bat, Nova retired 22 of the next 24 batters.  Nova forced so many ground balls and had great command over his slider that 22 of the 24 outs during his 8 innings were either ground outs or strikeouts.  At the end of the night, both Votto and Jay Bruce (#3 & #4) didn’t record any of those 4 hits.  Nova discussed this after the game and said he wouldn’t throw either of those guys a fastball because of their power.  Instead he used the changeup and the slider. 

Besides the great changeup, Nova threw a dynamic slider.  The slider had some serious movement on it and Nova was able to locate the pitch extremely well.  By throwing the curve, changeup and the slider batters were always caught on their heels.  This caused the hitters problems with the fastball, especially since the fastball had velocity and was thrown in the bottom half of the strike zone.  No batter could get the barrel of their bat on the ball in time, because they had seen too many breaking pitches.  All in all, it was a terrific performance from a young pitcher.  Hopefully this start, puts all the negative press to an end as Nova proved he can dominate any team…. And hopefully Girardi will let him finish the game next time rather than calling in the relief… if you can even call it relief!

Yankees & Reds Preview

Following a weekend spent in Chicago, the Yankees are on their way to Cincinnati for a three game series against the 2010 NL Central champs.  The Yankees are only 1.5 game out of first place in the AL East behind Boston and looking to continue their strong performances after getting swept by the Red Sox in Yankee stadium.  Since the Boston series, the Yankees are 8-2 and have looked much better than they played against he Red Sox.  They even managed to sweep the Rangers last week and took 3 of 4 from the 1^st place Indians.  The Yanks are looking for a strong series against the Reds to finish off the road trip on a high note before coming home to take on the Rockies this weekend.

The last time the Reds hosted the Yankees it was 2003 and Clemens was on his quest for 300 wins.  The Reds took 2 of 3 from the Reds during that series.  This year the Reds are in third place in the NL Central, but only 2 games behind the Brewers & Cardinals.  They are playing about .500 ball, 21-17 at home and are 6-4 over the last ten games.

Monday:  Ivan Nova (6-4, 4,46 ERA) vs.  Johnny Cueto (4-2, 1.68 ERA)

-Nova got his second straight win last week against the Rangers giving up four runs over his 5 2/3 innings.  He’s never faced the Reds before.  Over his last three starts he is 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA and 10 strikeouts.

-Wood is coming off a strong start against the Dodgers last week, after giving up only 1 run over 6 innings, allowing only five hits in the process.  This past start was a “redemption” start against the Dodgers as he had previously gotten destroyed by them two starts prior.  Wood is 1-1 with a 5.30 ERA over his past three starts.

Tuesday:  Brian Gordon (0-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. Johnny Cueto (4-2, 1.68 ERA)

 

-Gordon was picked up by the Yankees when Colon went on the DL, and had his first MLB start last week allowing only 2 runs over 5 1/3 innings.  He wasn’t dominant by any means, but did a good job in his first start.  You can read more about Gordon HERE.

Wednesday: Freddy Garcia (5-6, 3.63 ERA) vs. Mike Leake (6-3, 4.04 ERA)

-Garcia’s last start was wasted by the Yankees this past Friday in Chicago. The Yanks offense gave him no run support against young lefty Doug Davis and Garcia allowed only 3 runs over 7 innings, ultimately taking the loss.  Prior to Friday’s start, Garcia had pitched 7 strong innings allowing only 1 run and walked off the mound to a standing ovation at Yankee stadium against Cleveland.  Before that start against the Indians, Garcia had a terrible start against the Red Sox and was pulled during the 2^nd  He seems like he bouncing back from a horrible start, which is about all you can ask from your #4/#5 starter.

 

-Leake is coming off his first loss since early May after he allowed three runs against the Blue Jays this past weekend.  Overall he pitched well but had a bad 7^th inning.  In his last three starts he is 2-1, with a 1.96 ERA.  Russell Martin is the only Yankee to have faced Leake and has a .429 average against him.

Yankees & Angels Preview

The 1st place Yankees are rolling now following their 3 game sweep of the Oakland Athletics this past week. This was their first 3 game sweep of the season!  They have now won their last 4 games in a row (season high win streak), against strong starting pitchers including Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez & Brett Anderson.  Prior to their 4 game streak they dropped 2 games to Seattle which were both 1 run losses.  The bright side to the losses was how the Yanks lineup worked Seattle's beasts - Pineda & King Felix. Overall, the Yankees are looking much better than they were two weeks ago during their 6 game losing streak.  Since then, they have won 11 of 15 games and are hoping this momentum carries them through the final stretch of their west coast road trip.



I still want to kill this monkey!

 The Angels are returning from the road to begin a 9 game homestand.  Until yesterday the Angels had not had a day off for 20 days, so they could be a bit ragged.  The Angels are playing .500 ball which keeps them 2.5 games out of first place in the AL West.  During their last ten games, they are 5-5, and went 3-3 on their 6 game road trip.  They just lost 2 of 3 to the Royals and are looking to come back home and continue their domination of the Yankees.  The Angels have won 20 of the past 28 games against the Yankees!

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Friday:  Ivan Nova (4-3, 4.67 ERA) vs. Jered Weaver (6-4, 2.10 ERA)
-Nova had a rough outing last week.  During Saturday's game he had a 3-1 lead facing off against King Felix, but then allowed 4 earned runs on 5 hits in only 3 2/3 innings pitched, for the loss.  Nova had no command of his fastball during this game.
-Nova has never faced the Angels
-Over his last 3 games, Nova is 1-0 with a 4.60 ERA and only 7 K's
-Nova has not gone a full 4 innings in 2 of his last 4 starts
-Nova has a high walk ratio: 4BB/9IP and a low strikeout ratio: 4.5K/9IP
-The silver lining for Nova is the bullpen has a 1.38 ERA in relief of his games

-Weaver is coming off a strong outing against the Twins, holding them scoreless over 9 innings allowing only 2 hits.  The lack of run support led to the Angels loss that day and Weaver took another no-decision.
-Weaver started the season dominant going 6-0, but has not won a start since!  In the month of May he went 0-4!
-The silver lining for Weaver is his June numbers over his career are strong:  15-5 with a 2.84 ERA.

Good Stats For The Yanks Against Weaver
-Cano is hitting .400 against Weaver over 15 at bats
-Granderson is hitting .429 in 14 at bats with 4 home runs
-Martin is hitting .368 in 19 at bats
-Arod is hitting .333 in 15 at bats with 4 home runs

Saturday:  CC Sabathia (6-3, 2.98 ERA) vs. Dan Haren (5-3, 2.29 ERA)
-CC is going for his 4th straight win and has been heating up throughout May.  He has gone at least 8 innings in his last 3 starts with a 1.80 ERA, 17 strikeouts in that period, going 3-0!
-Nobody on the Angels with more than 10 at bats against CC is hitting over .230 against him!

-Haren is questionable to start the game Saturday as he tweaked his back in Kansas City while working on a bullpen session.  This might be a blessing for the Yankees as haren has a 2.29 ERA which is 5th best in the AL, and he has pitched more innings than any pitcher in the AL.
-Haren is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA over his last 3 starts with 13 strikeouts.

Good Stats For The Yanks Against Haren
-Arod is hitting .400 against him in 15 at bats

Sunday:  Bartolo Colon (3-3, 3.26 ERA) vs. Ervin Santana (3-4, 4.34 ERA)
-Colon is coming off his first complete shutout of the season, allowing only 4 hits in the start!  He has been totally dominant lately striking out 21 batters in the last 3 games. 

-Santana gave up 6 runs in his last start, but only in the first two innings.  Following his rough start, he pitched 4 scoreless innings.  He is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in his last 3 starts, with an impressive 18 strikeouts. 

Good Stats For The Yanks Against Santana
-Cano is hitting .333 in 21 at bats
-Jeter is hitting .385 in 26 at bats
-Martin is hitting .357 in 14 at bats
-Arod is hitting .318 in 22 at bats

YANKEES BY THE NUMBERS
The Yankees were 4-4 against the Angels last year, and went 1-2 in Anaheim
The Yankees are 14-3 in day games this season
The Yankees have hit a home run in 42 of 53 games this season (I'm still undecided whether this is a good or bad thing)
The Yankees rank 1st in the American League for

• Home Runs - 83
• RBI's - 275
• Slugging Percentage - .445%

The Yankees team ERA is 3.52, ranking 4th best in the American League
Their batting average needs some work as they have a meager .253!