Breaking down the losing streak
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Apr 27, 2007 
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It’s really not all that complicated. Over the last six games, the starting pitchers are 0-4 with an ERA of 9.36.
Last six starts: 25 IP 45 H 26 ER 10 BB 15 K
When the starters put 55 runners on base in 25 innings, it’s hard to win games. Despite all that, the Yankees actually had leads in five of those games.
A few other factors:
Johnny B Bad: Damon is 2 of his last 21 and has gone more than a week without an extra-base hit. He was a dynamic player last season and he looks like an old man so far this season. You have to expect he will return to his standard level of play at some point.
Benched by the bench: The plan was for Melky Cabrera to be their spark off the bench. He instead became an unproductive regular. The rest of the bench is pretty useless and that has become a problem. Miguel Cairo and Wil Nieves are 0 for 24 and Torre doesn’t seem to have any time for Josh Phelps. I’d say call up somebody from the minors who can give them some life but I can’t identify such a player.
Stumbling Joe: Nothing is working out well for Torre. Whenever he pinch runs for Jason Giambi late in the game with a lead, his spot comes up again. He tries to show faith in Doug Mientkiewicz and it goes unrewarded. He plays the bullpen by the numbers and it blows up. If Mariano Rivera gets it done in Oakland and Boston and Mike Myers doesn’t leave a pitch over the plate to Carl Crawford (who he has owned ), the Yankees are 11-9 and nobody is in a panic.
Cash Money a few dollars short: I have written here many times and still believe that Brian Cashman knows what he is doing and is the best man to run the team. But what led him to believe that Carl Pavano could be one of his five starters? That mistake will get covered up well if Phil Franchise gives them innings. But what if he doesn’t? And why did Kyle Farnsworth get so much money is conditions have to be perfect for him to pitch?
A lot can get right in a hurry if they play well this weekend. As our friend Mr. Springsteen tells us, they just need to find somebody itching for something to start. Because those dogs on Main Street, man, they’re howling.
Miguel Cairo needs to be released. The only thing he is good for is a bunt. His defense at short is terrible. Also, Minky needs to be gone bc his defense is not so much better than andy philips that it makes up for his hitting. We need some spark off the bench badly right now and there is no need to carry 3 first basemen.
That’s an outstanding breakdown of the issues plaguing the team.
Just goes to show you a few “little things” (an unproductive bench, a misguided faith in Carl Pavano, substitution mistakes, for example) can have a big impact. More than the injuries, IMO, since it seems every team has injuries this year.
I agree with you, Pete. Wins cure a lot of ills.
Great point about Damon. It looks to me like he hurt his back making that diving catch on that cold night against Cleveland and hasn’t played well since.
Is he hurt or just slumping?
SJ44, I think Damon is still hurt. I have a lot of respect for him for continuing to play, unlike Pavano. They can’t find anything wrong with Pavano’s elbow; the MRI showed nothing. Yet, he can’t pitch!
I just cannot understand how the mightly Yankees can be 0-6 when they have the greatest player in the game playing 3rd base for them, and the best pitchers money can buy. What went wrong?
I do know that yesterday afternoon when Mike Francesa asked Joe about Bernie, Joe asked Mike to please call him.
Murphy, Vin, and Doreen..great posts. It’s nice to know that all Yankee fans aren’t ready to jump overboard “20″ games into the season.
Here are my contributions:
1. Cano at 2? Why move the guy up in the lineup for 2 or 3 games? Besides, the 2 guy should be someone who can take a lot of pitches and sacrifice to move guys over. Cano is certainly aggressive, and I don’t want him sacrificing.
2. Can we wait until we know what our pitchers are before we call them done? The Yanks have started 5 rooks. Keep some perspective.
3. Trust in the plan. The same talking heads who are complaining that the Yanks didn’t go out and buy pitching were the ones who were complaining when they Yanks did go out and spend money on players. Build the farm. Find young talent, the staff was crazy old the last two years before bringing in Wang.
“I just cannot understand how the mightly Yankees can be 0-6 when they have the greatest player in the game playing 3rd base for them, and the best pitchers money can buy. What went wrong?”
Amazing how you continually manage to take digs at A-Rod when he’s the only one pulling his weight. Oh wait a minute, you think his home runs are “meaningless.” And we’re supposed to take your commments seriously why?
Pete’s alluding to “The Promised Land.” One of my favorite Springsteen verses is appropriate as we head into this weekend:
There’s a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and I’m heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain’t got the faith to stand its ground
–
Bravo! I still believe in the promised land.
The best pitchers money can buy are not on the yankees staff. Sorry. They have good, overpaid veterans who, when healthy, should be a solid rotation. But you can’t count on veteran’s to stay healthy and that’s what the Yankees are learning. With the exception of Wang, the Yankees staff is either unexperienced or just old.
You can’t expect the yankees to hit pitchers like Burnett every time out. Sometimes the pitchers are just nasty but we can expect them to put a good starter on the mound (not a rookie) with the type of payroll that they have.
That said, Pettite has been the only bright spot in the rotation this year and hopefully he can keep it going tonight. This is a big game. Losing this first one won’t bode well for morale in the next two.
what about chris basak as our utlility guy, he did very well in spring training.
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.....pid=431150
Alberto Gonzalez is probably a better option than Cairo and if you want ot stretch for something maybe santos over Nieves but would replacing a utility guy or a back up catcher make that big a difference
Bravo, Pete,for quoting my favorite poet.
I envision Torre, in a closed door meeting with the team, throwing the buffet table and screaming/singing:
Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but LOST and broken-hearted!!!
Otherwise, we might need to adopt Mr. Petty’s prose and enlist “Even the Losers” as our anthem this year.
Give Karstens a few starts and I bet he gets in a groove. To be honest, Hughes should still be in the minors b/c he’s going to be tapped at 90 pitches and that is going to put more stress on the bullpen. Does Clippard or Ohlendorf have a pitch limit right now? Maybe those are better options. DFA Pavano b/c he’s a sissy and allow the Yankees to play the remaining 90% of the season before you panic.
BERNIE?!!!! who can honestly say they preferred having kevin thompson up against papelbon instead of bernie?
give him a week in the minors and he’ll be ready
And why isn’t Joe playing Josh Phelps? He can actually run into a pitch or two and get a hit (what a novelty). If you aren’t going to use him why is he here taking up a roster spot? And Miggy, he has a noddle for an arm, the play at first wouldn’t have even been in doubt if Jeter had been there.
It is all about starting pitching. Yes cairo and nieves productivity is non existent but really if the starters go 6 innings of 4 or less runs the Yanks win a ton of games..
not that complicated… I am not ready to give up on Minky(he can hit 270) with limited power but him or Phelps at 1st not an issue if the pitching is decent not great just decent……….
Here’s the problem with the, “its just pitching” argument.
You have to find other ways to win games while you are getting your pitching up to snuff.
Its not enough to say, “its just pitching”.
Even with the pitching as deplorable as its been, the Yankees had leads in 5 of their 6 straight losses.
You mean to tell me, they can’t make enough good moves to win at least two of those games?
That’s the problem. Its not “just pitching”. Its a combination of everything Pete has outlined in this topic.
If you don’t address all of it, its a problem, even when the pitching returns.
Pete,
Your breakdown is 100% correct, especially the point about Rivera and Myers. Baseball Prospectus has the Yanks at .517 third-order winning percentage and the Sox at .556. In other words, based on how they’ve played, they should be a game out. Obviously, making up 5.5 games on a team that’s playing a bit better than you is not nothing, but things are not as dark as they seem.
I think I get it now. All the posts about cash has made me see the light. Cash is a god and shouldnt be blamed for:
1. Failing to build even a decent bench: we needed to cut payroll (for no reason whatsoever) and who needs a quality bench when you have an all star lineup? You never rely on your bench players anyways throughout a season especially with the average age of the team over 30.
2. relying on carl pavano to be our fourth starter: who could have seen pavano going on the disabled list for a third straight yr in a row? It would take some sort of rocket scientist to think pavano would be injured by mid april.
3. Signing Kei Igawa for 40 million dollars: Only more than half the scouts out there agreed that Igawa would be nothing more than a end of the rotation starter at best (some even said in the NL.) Who would have thought he would struggle so mightily against AL east lineups?
4. Signing Kyle Fransworth to a bigger contract than some closers: I thought two yrs of success in the National league guaranteed that a pitcher would succeed on the yanks. Their really is no evidence to the contrary. Oh wait, I forgot about that pavano guy, oh yea and every other marlin to come to the AL. DAMN
5. Trading sheff for sanchez: Wow I cant believe sanchez is out for almost two yrs. With eight injuries before the age of 22, who could have predicted major surgery? All eight injuries were fluike injuries after all.
6. Signing Jeff weaver, kevin brown, sterling hitchcock and the rest of the 40 plus pitchers that we have lived with in the last five yrs: That was ALL the tampa factions responsibility of course and has absolutely nothing to do with cash even tho he was the GM at the time
7 signing Mienky: We can of course sacrifice one bat in the lineup for quality defense. But then when two others go down and without a quality bench we begin to sacrifice a bit too much.
8. Trading away 200 innings of pitching for one reliever and a bunch of guys that arent ready for the majors: Im not saying it was the worst idea in the world to trade Johnson but we are soo desparate for innings. Remember all that talk about how difficult it is to replace 200 innings pitched? This situation right now is what people meant. Without at least two starters going into the seventh every five days, your bullpen gets ravaged.
I can think of soo much more but this post is ridiculously long. The question remains where is the accountability. And can cash even be fired at this point? It almost seems like he owns the team.
If you listed 10 problems the team could have at the beginning of the season and ARod wasn’t on the list we would have been shocked. Now he is basically the only non-problem on the team whether it be hitting or fielding. Thank God for ARod.
This has to be the biggest April series in a long time. The Yanks take 2 all is right. The Yanks lose 2 or 3 and everyone from George Steinbrenner to Pete to the guy at the pizza stand are going to be calling for changes. 3 games in April haven’t meant this much in a long long time that I can remember. Ecspecially since we have are supposed 1 and 2 guys pitching this weekend.
kidjock, the #2 hitter should not be someone who sacrifices and moves guys over. Those guys are at the bottom of the lineup because they usually can’t do much else offensively. The reason Derek Jeter is such a great #2 hitter is because he is not someone who wastes his at-bats sacrificing and moving runners over. He gets on base 40% of the time. That is so valuable because it makes it much more likely that Abreu and ARod will be batting with runners on base.
Doug Mientkiewicz has a .250 OBP. That is beyond awful. In other words, he gets out 75% of the time. You don’t want that guy hitting in front of Abreu and ARod. Cano would have been a better option. His OBP is over .350, which is world’s better than Doug. Matsui also would have been a better option than Doug. Even suggesting that Doug should bat in the #2 spot is preposterous. That guy is really hurting the offense, dude.
One thing that can’t be disputed is that the #2 hitter gets more plate appearances than every hitter except for the #1 hitter. So why would you want to give Doug more plate appearances than Cano? It doesn’t make sense.
Its hard to call everything that’s happened. Most people agreed with Cashman’s pitching moves, getting rid of surly old Johnson, and 6 inning Wright, resigning Mike Mussina (who had a great year last year) and bringing back Andy Pettitte. People generally agreed that he should stay away from Ted Lilly (let’s be honest, he sucked before this year), Meche, and Zito. All these things seemed like great moves at the time. Unfortunately, our pitching staff has not been healthy all at once, and guys like Meche and Lilly are pitching like the spirit of Cy Young entered their bodies. I’m not gonna panic yet. If we can get Mussina, Pettitte and Wang healthy and pitching all at once, this team is going to do well, it doesn’t matter whose pitching 4 and 5.
Pete — I was just going to post something about Damon being in some sort of slump. He’s the leadoff guy; it’s a big deal that he’s been cold; and Abreu, too, the last 3 or so games, has seemed to loose his great batter’s eye (although, some of those calls have been close).
Interesting observation that everything Joe Torre does turns out wrong. Even if he does what on paper seems to be the right call, it’s like the opposite of the Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to dust right now. Kind of a manager’s slump, if you will.
I think Cashman had no real choice as far as the Pavano matter. He wouldn’t be able to get value for him unless he was healthy. And before the season, there seemed to be agreement that if Pavano could stay healthy, he was actually a bargain for the Yankees. His rehab went fine, he had a good spring. You can say all you want that it should be no surprise that he’s hurt again, but Pavano did all the right things in the off-season to report to camp in shape and ready to go. It definitely stinks that he got hurt, yet again, but I don’t think this is on Cashman. Seriously, what move does he make that benefits the Yankees at least a little? Do you think anyone would have taken Pavano without the Yankees paying the major portion of his salary? If you’re going to pay someone, you might as well see if they can help you first.
Ted Lilly actually never sucked like Pavano sucks or Igawa is sucking. Lilly has a career 4.5 era and 1.35 whip playing in the AL pretty much his entire career. Granted, he is slightly injury prone and probably incapable of throwing 200 innings in a season. But the fact remains he is still a quality number four starter in either league and has proven it on the jays. Lilly will be for the cubs exactly what we wanted Igawa to be for us: a reliable number three or four starter. Igawa on the other hand was unproven and only 15 mil or so cheaper. I would spend the extra 15 mil any day to get a known commodity over risking the entire forty million in hopes of being right. Especially giving cash’s horrible history with signing FA pitchers. Again, how many horrible pitching signings must cash make before we start question either him or the scouts? It is kind of getting ridiculous. And that list grows every yr.
“I just cannot understand how the mightly Yankees can be 0-6 when they have the greatest player in the game playing 3rd base for them, and the best pitchers money can buy. What went wrong?�
Mary: the part of that statement that made no sense was when he alluded to the idea that we have the best pitchers money can buy. HA!
Is it just me or is becoming exhausting being a Yankee fan? I think one of the big problems is Giambi not trusted in the field. If they would just start him in the field and keep Minky for a late defense substitution and move Phelps to the backup catcher job there is one extra spot of roster flexibility. Giambi can’t throw and has very little range but at least he can scoop it. Nieves has shown nothing, literally no hits. I like both those suggesions of Basak or Gonzalez as backup infielder instead of Cairo. Of course nothing I said above means anything if we can’t get much better starting pitching.
murphydog –
Mientkiewicz Marinara is also a big-seller today. But it’s nice to know that we seem to be out of Shisk-A-Rod.
Damon: Yeah, I’d like to know if he’s hurt too. He seems to wince an awful lot after getting to first base after a hit. Sure, you appreciate guys who take the anti-Pavano route and play through injuries, but at what point does it begin to hurt the team (well, considering the AAA outfielders we’ve got in Scranton, a hurt Damon is still probably better than one of the Kevins)
Bench: We all knew Cairo couldn’t hit, but I’m just amazed at how bad he looks at shortstop. What’s the purpose of a utility infielder that can’t play SS? And, we shouldn’t be surprised at Josh Phelps being buried. I’m not as harsh on Torre as others in these parts, but the consistent playing of Mientkiwicz over Phelps is classic Torre (the valuing of past performance and intangibleness over actual performance).
if its not cash’s fault for not only retaining Pavano but slotting him as our number four starter, than who should be blamed? Thats exactly what i meant by accountability.
It is irrelevant whether or not pavano did everything right this off season. Everyone knew he wouldnt be healthy for a good portion of the season. Maybe everyon that is but our general manager.
But the key here for cash was not to rely on pavano but merely to conbsider him an added bonus if he was healthy this yr. Its one thing not trading him and seeing what hes got. Its quite another to be totally relying on a guy that has been injured for the majority of his career at this point. We should have kept six starters excluding minor leaguers. If cash wants to trade RJ thats fine but we needed someone to take his place. Similar to how the redsox dealt with clement this off season – they signed five starters as if the guy didnt even exist. At least Theo sometimes shows he can learn from his horrible and tragic mistakes. Cash has shown zero ability to adapt or correct his past errors in judgement.
Signing Igawa is looking like a mistake, but that doesn’t mean passing on Lilly was one too. As for Pavano, they couldn’t trade him and it would achieve nothing to cut him. So they threw him in the rotation and kept their fingers crossed. Not sure you can blame Cashman for that. Signing Pavano in the first place, on the other hand, you can blame him for.
If they signed Lilly who is 4 years older it would have cost them $22 mill. more not $15… They pay 50 cents on the dollar in luxury tax.
Anyway it is water under the bridge..
The Phelps backup catcher is a minimal move but not a terrible idea!!!!!
What is the status on the game tonight?
I live in California, I heard it will rain all day, is that correct?
If it is rained out Pettite on Saturday and Wang on Sunday is my call..
I dunno – I was not nearly as opposed to passing on lilly as others were. I liked the idea that he had already proved he could pitch in the AL. What is 22 million more if the difference between the pitchers is night and day. If Igawa is going down to AAA to work on his stuff, one begins to think that 22 million more for an actualy major league starter isnt so bad.
At no point in my rambling did I ever say the yanks should have traded Pavano- I agree that they definitely should not have and would have gotten nothing in return without paying his entire contract. But they should not have went into this season relying on Pavano – that is a huge difference.
I like the idea of removing Nieves from the lineup and having phelps as our backup catcher. It brings more flexibility to a team that desparately needs arms. Cairo can go as well. Another useless signing by the god of general menagement.
Looks like showers from 3 PM to midnight altho chancve of precipitate is only 40 to 50 percent throughout the night so i wouldnt say the game is definitely cancelled.
Jake –
Right on…
And if you want to kill Cashman for the Pavano signing, you can also kill several top GMs, including Dombrowski (Detroit) and Theo the Boy Wonder (Boston) who wanted to sign Pavano for more money
There’s only one way to see the pitching moves this offseason – the Long Term Plan is to build a crop of great young arms. The 2007 plan was designed to create a temporary bridge to 2008 and beyond.
Cashman did NOT sign a mediocre pitcher (Lilly, Meche, Schmidt) to a long-term deal that would bite the team in the butt later on
To me, if you have to sacrifice 2007 to build a cost-contained pitching staff for 2008 and beyond, so be it.
And if you look at the offseason deals:
Britton will contribute to the pen eventually (Wright deal)
Whelan is lights out at Trenton, and Claggett is solid at Tampa (Sheffield)
Ohlendorf and Jackson are solid prospects (to me anyways), and Vizcaino will be solid by the end of 2007 (Randy Johnson deal)
You can’t judge Karstens off his first start after being on the DL.
Looking at Scranton – Ohlendorf or DeSalvo *might* end up in the rotation
Hughes overthrew in the first inning – got much better results when he calmed down and threw more two-seamers. Look for him to improve
And what exactly do you want from a utility infielder? Cairo is fine, folks – he is what he is…
“Everyone knew he wouldnt be healthy for a good portion of the season. Maybe everyon that is but our general manager. ”
Exactly how did everyone “know” this? Personally, I figured, he’d gone through it all, it had to be done, finally. Naive? Maybe. But, it still goes to the point that if “everyone” knew Pavano would not be healthy, just how would Cashman have gotten rid of him exactly?
To the point that they should have 6 starters, well, they did. You can argue that 3-6 weren’t very good (Pavano, Igawa, Karstens), but it did seem that someone was thinking that Karstens would be the long-man/fill-in starter.
And Epstein was getting lambasted last year, just as it seems Cashman is getting this year. They said he’d lost his magic touch. But Cashman was a genius for unloading 4 “nothing” minor leaguers for Abreu and Lidle. Now all of a sudden he’s an idiot. Pul-leeze.
I would entertain offers for Arod now, yeah you heard me right, deal Arod. His value will never get higher, they need pitching, he probably still is Mr. April and he just may pull a fast one on us and walk after this season. Will it happen? …. no but should it? ……. yes.
Oh dear, are you going to start pulling out song quotes like Peter Gammons did during a period in which I honestly thought he was losing his mind?
I loved reading Gammons’s articles every day and did so for a solid 6 straight years. But then he seemed to start writing in completely off-the-subject song quotes and, among other reasons, lost my attention completely.
This team needs to find itself and a good start would be seeing Torre with fire in his eyes. It’s one thing to be a calming influence but he looks lost and it transfers right to the players. The team is getting healthy and a show of determination will help. Winning breeds confidence.
Great observations.
I can’t imagine why the Yankees signed Pavano in the first place. But in the offseason, when the team looked stacked with pitching, it wasn’t too crazy to think that if/when Pavano went down, there would be a decent replacement for him – in other words, Rasner, Karstens, or Sanchez would take up Pavano’s vacated spot at the back end of the rotation. In fact I remember posts where people wondered if Pavano would even crack the rotation at all, or if we would have a rotation of Wang-Mussina-Pettitte-Igawa-Karstens/Rasner/Sanchez.
Don’t forget, by the way, that Pavano has given one of what, four quality starts this season?
The Rivera blown leads definitely loom large in our current record. But they are offset by two surprising, walkoff comebacks, including the miraculous return from down 6-2 with two outs.
ARod trade offers? Too funny.
ARod has a no trade clause. Aside from the fact they aren’t trading him, he won’t veto his no trade clause.
Come up with something better.
I know he sucks right now but it isnt really looking like a contract extension for Zambrano mid season. If the yanks acquire Zambrano in the off season (He has already claimed he would rather not be on the yanks but im sure he would for a price,) they will have three top of the line starters all capable of winning the cy young and all under the age of 30 (Wang, Hughes and Zambrano.) When was the last time you could say that?
Having a lead in 5 of 6 games makes me cringe. But thats a good sign
Some stronger SP and less reliance on middle relievers would be welcome here.
Shelly Duncan is mashing it at Scranton…
Crawford vs. Mike Myers 17AB 5H, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 1 BB, 5 K
.294/.333/.647/.980
Owned indeed.
Take out the HR and it’s 16 AB, 4 H, still a .250/.294/.438/.732 slash line, and that comes from a *career .763 OPS guy* So basically he has held Crawford to his career averages before the other night.
It was still a fine move, I’m just saying that your definition of owned is a little suspect.
After ONE Major League start, Hughes is a CY Young candidate for next year?
I guess anything is possible.
Cash should have signed Lilly instead of Igawi. Same amount of $$$ for a much better SP.
Dorreen – i didnt say cash became an idiot. He always has been and no one ever seems to notice. It wasnt a brilliant move getting abreu and lidle last yr. It was a small market team dumping a large amount of payroll to a team that needed the bat and the arm – far from a brilliant move. Cash has made so many awful signings in his reign that it is becoming more and more difficult to think that they were all a fluke or just blame it on the tampa faction. I cant even count the bad signings the yanks have made on my fingers and toes there are soo many in the last six yrs.
Bill- Hughes is the top ranked pitcher in all of the minor leagues. I dont think it is so far fetched to say he is a possible future cy young award winner.
hughes is not going to be a help to us as long as his pitch count is in the 80s
I know everyone says the Yankees have money and they really shouldn’t be concerned about the luxury tax and revenue sharing, etc. But, it seems to me that many other teams have been benefitting from the Yankees’ spending above the limits. And it hurts the Yankees, because other teams can now afford to keep their own players, players who used to end up as free agents and available to the Yankees (of course, not all signed by the Yankees). (and I know not all the money has come from the Yankees, but they do add to it). In addition, there is now a whole lot more parity among the divisions and within the divisions. If other teams can afford to spend money on free agents, competing with the Yankees, then players are not necessarily so inclined to jump into the NY fire. Not everyone likes the bright hot spotlight. And as shown over the last 6 years, NY does not have a lock on the WS. (I still think they are the team to go to if you want to have a real shot at the playoffs every year, however.)
This is a convoluted way of saying, of course the Yankees need to be concerned with the luxury tax. The Yankees will benefit if they spend whatever money they want to spend wisely, not only going after key free agents, but upgrading their entire system so that in the future THEY will be the ones holding on to their top prospects and getting, basically, more value for the their money.
In that respect, Igawa was cheaper than Lilly because only half of what they spent of Igawa counted toward the luxury tax, versus all of what they would have spent on Lilly.
As soon as Pavano is declared healthy, Cashman should deal him to the 1st suitor that will pay even a small portion of the remainder of his salary and future considerations from that team. All he is doing is clogging up a roster spot and frustrating his teammates and Yankee fans. It will feel like a huge burden has been lifted. He is what he is – no heart.
Could be worse:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....index.html
Regarding Cairo: I’m sorry but you all gotta learn some baseball before you shoot your mouths off again.
It’s a different thing to play off the bench. It’s not the same as playing every day. It’s a lot harder. Some guys have the head for it and some don’t. Cairo is a known quantity to the Yankees and is trusted to stay game ready even if he doesn’t play shortstop for a month. He did it the other night in Tamps Bay. Jeter got hurt and he came in and handled three straight put outs.
Are there better choices than Cairo to play each infield position on a regular daily basis? Sure. But that’s not the Utility Guy’s job description. Cairo is a good utility guy. That’s not the same as saying he is a better SS than Jeter or 2d base than Cano.
Khoa,
That story scares me.
Maybe Trump should put in an offer….
Pete -
You can take solace in the fact that Yankee fans (at least the majority of those who post on your site)are a microcosm of all Americans in that all they are concerned about is instant gratification. 20 games into the season and it can be proclaimed definitively that the Sheffield trade is a bust because of Sanchez – never mind that many experts believe that Kevin Whalen was the best part of that deal, or that Sheff is batting .167/.333/.250. Or that the Randy trade is a bust. Can you imagine the howling had Cashman kept Randy? He made his first start of the year this week (gee, couldn’t see that coming ,huh? a 44 year old coming off back surgery) and gave up 6 runs on 6 hits (including 2 dingers)in 5 innings with a WHIP of 2.00. Yep, not too soon to label those trades a bust.
It’s a good thing that most of your posters weren’t alive in 1978, when we fell 14 games back of Boston – believe it or not, mostly because of injuries. God forbid that happen in the internet age.
Khoa Le:
I came here as soon as I saw that story. James Dolan is the only sports owner who makes me physically ill. And I’m an Islanders fan–I know from bad owners.
The Dolans owning the Yankees would be worse than the ill-fated CBS tenure. I’d rather have John Spano.
state of the Yanx:
“He is what he is – no heart.” Hey state. If you can figure that out based on the last two years, what makes you think that guys who are an awful lot smarter than you didn’t get there way ahead of you. He’s hurt AGAIN. There are no suitors who would give up future considerations worth squat for Pavs. We’re stuck with him. Waive him if you want to free up a spot.
Dolan? I can honestly say I would cease to become a Yankee fan if the Dolan’s bought the Yankees. I grew up rooting for this team since the early 70′s, heck the theme of my Bar Mitzvah was the Yankees. I have lived and breathed them forever. But I would never root for a Dolan controlled team. Leave it to Heyman to knock us while we’re down with that article.
Dorreen – that is a VERY difficult argument to make if Igawa is sent down to AAA soon. Alot of people said he was a back end of the rotation starter in the national league. Cash ignored them and decided to spend 40 million on Igawa instead of 62 million on Lilly. But would u rather bolster scrantons rotation for 40 million or shell out the extra 22 million to actually help the yankees? Its difficult to argue the yanks shouldnt have spent that extra 22 mil if Igawa isnt even a major league caliber pitcher. And the revenue sharing for the luxury tax on lilly – what is that an extra 500 grand to each team? Not such a big deal – they can pay one more player league minimum.
I know. That would be AWFUL. I remember feeling sick last year during the press conference about Isaiah’s job status. How embarrassing
It’s Cairo’s, Minky’s and Nieves’ fault that were 8-12? Puhleeeeze. We have much bigger problems right now than these guys.
Enoch: LOL
In the Heyman article, he notes that “hughes is no Homer Bailey.” I am pretty sure that nearly every prospect list I looked at had Hughes above Bailey. Hughes also has much better command than Bailey. Jon Heyman is a moron who likes to make judgements about players after 1 game.
Great breakdown pete…..On the contrary, If not for A-rod’s walkoff homeruns the yanks would be 6-14… You win some and you lose some…
Btw, I dont know why players like Tony Graffanino or Loretta are over looked by this organization when it comes to utility roles.. These guys can hit .300 with a few clutch hits… Loretta could have easily been inserted in the lineup as a starter at 1st base instead of phelps.. Players like Cora are contributing so much from the bench in terms of bunts, speed and clutch hits whereas all I see is Cairo regulalry grounding out to SS or 2nd base… Todd Pratt certainly could have provided some pop in the bat more than Nieves…. .. Myers and proctor blow 1 out of 3 games they pitch… The other two games are left to Vizcaino and Mariano.. Torre looks all the more clueless with his panic moves.. He brings in Myers to start a inning against Ortiz with a 4 run lead and never uses his 6 million dollar reliever in a key game.. except for a 2-day 2 inning stretch (11th and 13th) farnsworth has not given up an earned run and he has been used up for 3 innings in the last 2 weeks…. Wang, Pettitte and a healthy moose will make a good front end…. As long as Karstens/igawa/pavano/rasner can turn in quality outings (6 ip, 3 ER ), hopefully yanks will be back to winning ways.. Otherwise it will take a costly phone call to Randy Hendricks to straighten this ship…
There is only one problem on this team
Starting pitching. We need 7 innings from starters. Id take 6 a start right now which translates into 180 innings for 30 starts.
The better the SP. The better the bullpen gets.
It’s kind of ironic that Torre batted Arod 8th last year in the playoffs, a slap in the face basically and this year he’s the main reason the yankees are breathing. Ironic that Arod is the one saving Torre’s job for now.
1978, that was the year of the first Boston massacre no?
Yea skisan – Sanchez is the only one ranked in the top fifty prospects but whelan was the key to the deal. How do u figure that? And if radny is struggling wouldnt it mean that that trade wasnt a bust? I dont get that argument.
The truth is most yankee fans in america are in it for the instant gratification. Most people on this blog are die hard yankees fans who care about their status every yr and want to see the yanks win now and build for the future. The people in this blog just have a diverse array of opinions – some ppl think cash is a genius and others think he is a joke whos been with the team far past his prime. I guess there could be arguments either way.
When is clemens deciding whether he will come back or not? He has had from october to almost may at this point. Its now or never buddy.
It’s probably already been mentioned, but haven’t the Twins talks with Santana not been going as well as they had hoped? He had set the openning day as a deadline, and now he wants to wait to see what free agency holds? Wouldn’t that be quite the pickup, and worth us clearing out some of the expensive drift wood that had been cluttering the team.
will – Johan would be the biggest reason to spend a ton of money.
Pavano and Igawa have been the most disappointing this season…
dave- my point exactly. it’ll be a lot easier to spend that without RJ, Wright, Sheff, etc. on the payroll
Not to be overlooked..in the 6 game losing streak Abreu is 2 for 21 with 9 strikeouts.
Who knows, the only thing not dissapointing on the team so far is A Rod, and even he is cooling off. And I should say Pettitte too.
Dave, just for the record, some of us fall in between — Cashman/Torre are NEITHER geniuses nor idiots.
Pete,
I am with you on Cashman. I love his philosophy, but when it comes to pitching his judgment has historically proven questionable.
I agree with Jake. The reason for the losing streak is the starting pitchers’ 9+ ERA over the last 6 games. Everything else combined is at best a minor factor in their recent woes. If/when the starting pitching gets on track, both that and the BP performance will improve. The offense is fine.
The stuff about Damon’s slump, or Melky’s, is just noise. Every team has at least a few slumping players at any given time. You can’t expect everything to be going right with every player at all times.
“If Mariano Rivera gets it done in Oakland and Boston and Mike Myers doesn’t leave a pitch over the plate to Carl Crawford (who he has owned )”
And IF A-Rod didnt carry our team, we would have lost another couple of games.
Last six starts: 25 IP 45 H 26 ER 10 BB 15 K
Wow! And that includes Pettitte’s great start against Boston! UGLY!
- KMT
Dave – I know he’s a top Prospect… I’ve been following him for the past two years. I just don’t think its fair to him or anyone to start that sort of talk when he hasn’t proved anything on the main stage.
Teams like Boston get full of themselves early in the season. Hitters have grapevines and it’s only a matter of time before their pitching gets figured out and the bubble bursts. Every team experiences injuries. Their time will come.
ALBERTO GONZALEZ OR ANGEL CHAVEZ both deserve the Utility role over Miggy Cairo..
Finally Matsuzaka gets to see more culture than a Dunkin’ Donut.
Miguel Cairo is not a good baseball player. He hasn’t posted an OPS+ over 100 since 2004. His defense is not as good as people say it is and he’s getting old. Why pay him around $1M to suck?
Some personnel moves need to be made. (1) release Mientkiewicz. Phelps and Giambi can man 1st base. (2) release Nieves. Call up either Raul Chavez or Omir Santos to back up Jorge. (3) call up Darrell Rasner or Matt DeSalvo from AAA to work long relief to take pressure off the bullpen until the team gets quality starts.