Today in The Journal News
-
- May
- 1
Phil Hughes is out the rotation – just not the way it was expected. Meanwhile the Yankees lost again to the Tigers. Mike Dougherty has the story.
Alex Rodriguez got a scare from an MRI tech who said he would be out for the rest of the season. This notebook also has word on Brian Bruney opting against surgery and the return of Chad Moeller.
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The Yankees face the Tigers tonight trying to avoid being swept. It’ll be Ian Kennedy against Nate Robertson. Kennedy better pitch well or he could come down with that strained oblique that’s going around.
A few stats: The Yankees have lost 5 of 7 and have scored three or less runs in 13 of their 29 games. … Bobby Abreu is 3 for 21 with no RBI in the last six games. … Robinson Cano is 2 for his last 27. … Jose Molina is 0 for 19 in his last six games.
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on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 2:37 am by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Ouch, all around. Thank goodness the sun will come out tomorrow and there’s always (almost) a silver lining.
Look for the good things in life. Like aren’t you lucky you’re not Roger Clemens or Karl Malone?
yeah being Karl Malone must suck….can you imagine trying to find shirts to properly fit his little head and big elbows?
Corey,
What are you talking about? You have heard that the Malone story right?
Okay what happens if Kennedy pitches poorly, I mean gets that strained oblique Pete’s talking about. Who do they bring up?
I was following 4/28 game at work and the Tigers’ radio broadcasters stated that the Yankees are leaning on Hughes and Kennedy to pitch well.
They need a strong starting rotation. I doubt Kennedy will get a strained oblique unless we see it during the game. At least Hughes didn’t get demoted yet, hopefully with his “injury” and the time off, they work on his pitching. He was so good last year. Kennedy as well. (but I have a feeling they may be going down to Scranton.)
Bringing Rasner up is great. 4-0 for Scranton is awesome. Yankees can’t just rely on Wang and Pettitte to pitch well. (with exception from last night’s game).
I really think this is the point in time whether they are going to decide where Joba’s place is, starting rotation, or reliever. Aside from Rasner, they really don’t have anyone else. They could always start Olendorf, but his performances are shaky.
I am sure its not going to be the whole season but it might not be a cut and dry case that ARod is going to be back in the team in 15 days.
Remember that Hughes had a similar grade 2 strain (hamstring though) last year and was out for the better part of 2.5 months. Its a different athlete and different problem, but 15 days might end up being too early to come back
Hughes has had injury problems every year he has been a professional player…He’s brittle and injury prone.
The only reason I said “injury” was because of Girardi’s comments, that yesterday morning he was healthy and then in the afternoon Girardi said Hughes had shoulder problems that started the night before. And Hughes commented that it started during that day.
I think it’s great they are putting him on the DL. So they don’t demote him right away, and it’s showing they want to work with him. Hughes has great potential, but just has to find it.
Whoa! I can just see the color draining from ARod’s face!
Why, oh why, do managers, trainers, gms, etc., trust a player’s judgment so much on these things. My feeling is, when the player says he’s good to go, that means he needs an additional 2 days to make sure. In the long run, you get more playing time, not less, because the risk of re-injury should be lessened. Perhaps, just perhaps, with this rash of injuries and aggravations of injuries, the Yankees will not be rushing players back. And even with Hughes’ oblique (if it’s legit – I’m trying to balance being skeptical with being my usual trusting self
), no need to rush. Also, shame on Hughes for (again, if it’s legit) not mentioning any discomfort when he first felt it.
The Yankees offense has been putrid. I dont’ know what the answer is. Even when they hit the ball hard, it’s right to someone in the field. So, there’s some lousy hitting, and there’s some unlucky hitting. The only thing I keep telling myself is that things usually have a way of balancing out and it would stand to reason that at some point, the Yankees are going to play as if they are unbeatable. I also realize that that might not happen.
I think what bothers me most is they are playing like they’re already tired. Like it’s the dog days of summer. Uninspired. When is their next off day? Even though Girardi is trying to rotate days off for his players (much to the chagrin of many here), the ENTIRE team hasn’t had a day off in a really long time. I’d like to think that such a thing – a break in play of even one day for the entire team – could serve the purpose of establishing a re-start point. I can’t believe they’re going to play like this for an entire season. It’s just no fun.
Just knew something like this was coming from Sherman the Worm today…
He should have Girardi power wash the bus while he’s under there…
From Sherman’s column:
“For now, however, his most obvious trait is an absurdly secretive nature that would make Dick Cheney jealous. He is a hoodie away from being Bill Belichick, well, minus any success as a leader.”
Between averaging three innings a start and now missing half of May, I guess we won’t have to worry about Phil’s innings limit this year. Funny how things work out.
“For now, however, his most obvious trait is an absurdly secretive nature that would make Dick Cheney jealous. He is a hoodie away from being Bill Belichick, well, minus any success as a leader.â€
Ouch! So much for the honeymoon period in the Girardi era.
Seriously, how is an opinion like that helpful?
So what? Girardi will read or hear about that piece and say, “Oh I’m sorry Mr.Madden for not sharing information that would give other teams an advantage with you,I’ll try to be more open in the future.”
Columns like that aren’t even worthy for use at the bottom of a birdcage.
this whole Hughes thing is just weak. Just admit the kid needs to go down to Scranton to work out some issues, and you fully expect him to be back with the big league club as soon as he gets himself straightened out. is that so hard?
Sherman not Madden, sorry.
Turn Two -
Just thinking this through: Maybe they want him in Tampa? And don’t want to say they’re sending him down to “A” ball? Or there are things they can do with a roster if it involves the DL rather than a reassignment, as far as who they can bring up, when, how often, that kind of thing?
i like the call on phil hughes, gives him some time to rest and get his head straight and he’ll be back in the rotation in 2 weeks. i hope they send him to tampa, im thinking it might help kennedy to separate the 2 of them for a little while.
The Hughes stuff is simple. They want him to work with Eiland and the DL is one way to accomplish it.
Is he hurt? I don’t know a pitcher who pitches that doesn’t have something hurt when they go out there. I’m sure he probably “tweaked” something.
This break is as much a mental health break as anything else.
For folks who now want to label him “injury prone” and decide he will never be able to stay healthy, Josh Beckett has been on the DL 9 times in his career. Florida and Boston didn’t give up on the “injury prone” pitcher.
Eric Bedard has already been on the DL 5 times in his career. Seattle gave up a bounty to get him and his hip condition may be so chronic it shortens his career.
When you have the upside Hughes has, you stick with him for the long term. April is not a give up month.
Yanksrule57:
” “For now, however, his most obvious trait is an absurdly secretive nature that would make Dick Cheney jealous. He is a hoodie away from being Bill Belichick, well, minus any success as a leader.â€
Ouch! So much for the honeymoon period in the Girardi era.
Seriously, how is an opinion like that helpful?”
It helps Sherman justify his paycheck and reasserts his card carrying status as a good democrat. It was a lazy writer’s gratuitous “Cheney as all-purpose, evil image” reference, a shout out to the unwashed rabble in the peanut gallery. I bet Lupica is mad that Sherman beat him to it.
Seriously, it helps sell newspapers when, during a losing streak, you crap on the new Yankee manager. Yet there is a kernel of truth in what Sherman writes.
I wonder how many rehab starts Phil will be making in the minors, once he is healthy?
Vader:
I’d guess he’s back in a month. Think this is a lot more about hurt feelings than it a hurt oblique. They have to get his head right above all.
Until this team starts run producing, any shuttle of pitching from Scranton will suffer. It’s as plain as day what ills these Yankees. Even sterling performances by pitchers have left them wondering where the run support is.
“The only thing I keep telling myself is that things usually have a way of balancing out”
If that is true, we should expect 20 runs per game, 10 games in a row.
Putting him on the DL is a way to send him to Tampa and maybe work with Nardi. Rather then just sending him to AAA to work with a pitching coach he hasn’t worked with before.
Maybe the Yankees are finally on to Eiland.
by saddling him with some mysterious injury, it just makes the pressure worse, and makes Hughes and the organization look more ridiculous.
now, instead of the press simply asking questions about his demotion, and being done with it, now he’ll have to take questions about some “pulled muscle” and why it wasnt made public sooner, and if the pulled muscle had any effect on his performance, etc, so the original lie will turn into multiple ones, which is then turned into poor excuses for lack of performance…
and this is all besides the ridiculous “night vision problems” they also alluded to before yesterday’s game.
i understand they are trying to protect him, but i just think lying about some fake injury comes across as a lame and transparent excuse to get him some side work and clear his head.
they want him to clear his head? fine, then just say “he’s had a tough time early on; we’re going to give him some time to get himself straight, and he’ll be back.”
thats all it would take… then he and the team arent going to have to deal with the f/u questions, and maybe he will be left alone.
but if you are a NY reporter, i would imagine with the team’s early performance, and the already botched injuries, and the lack of results by the young kids, you HAVE to be smelling blood in the water…
cheney has become a euphemism for a secretive man, that reference was spot-on for what he wanted to say. its not gratuitous, its descriptive and the fact that you (and everybody else) recognized chaney as an all-purpose evil image points to its effectiveness
i hate sherman but your criticism there is ridiculous.
crapping on the manager during a losing streak, dont hear you jumping on pete for doing the same thing.
Russell NY -
From your keyboard to the baseball gods’ ears!
Seriously, I’d settle for just enough runs per game to win! And I’d also settle for a steady 2 of 3 over a long winning streak (although ONE long winning streak (7 games?) would go a looooong way toward raising the collective spirits in Yankeefandom (and I suspect on the actual team, as well!).
I wonder if there’s something else going on with regards to Girardi and his handling of information to the media.
Pete, is it possible that the Yankee brass has put a clamp down on Girardi with regards to information on players’ injuries and so forth? Could it be that Tampa made it clear that they wanted that to change from the Torre era, along with other things?
I ask because it seems that even when he was interviewing and just after he was interviewed, Girardi seemed to have adopted an attitude of being careful with his words as if he knew the Yankee Brass was watching him closely. I don’t think it’s a secret that they wanted to exert more control on information than there was under Torre.
Just a theory.
All that being “secretive” does is create more curiosity. There are better ways to answer without giving out information that you’re not ready to divulge than what Joe Girardi has been doing. But Joe Girardi and the Yankees have the right to withhold information. It’s not the withholding – it’s the manner in which it is being done.
Those stats just go to prove that everyone is trying to divert attention away from the real problem with this team. Everyone wants to blame Hughes, or Kennedy, the rest of the pitching. But you know what… You can have your pitcher throw a no-hitter, and still lose if the offense has been worse than pathetic lately.
Pete: If it’s possible, can you get stats on the offense? I’m particularly looking for an average of runners left on base and runners left in scoring position. I feel like every game I watch, it’s always between 10-15 and 4-6, respectively. It also seems so far that their team average w/ RISP is sub-.200.
Pete, what’s the status on Johnny’s wrapped groin?
I’m heading to the game tonight, feeling more anxious than usual with the way the team’s been playing, the injuries and Ian on the mound. It’s supposed to start raining right around 6. If it does I’d rather they cancel the game, I’m too nervous about more injuries. It’s chilly in NY today.
For those looking for runs, look at the lineup:
The first and second basemen are hitting .150.
The SS and LF are both playing on injured legs.
You are missing the best player in the game (Arod) and best hitting C in the game (Posada).
Reserves are called reserves for a reason. The more you play them, the less effective they become. In other words, the replacements for ARod and Posada are automatic outs the more they play.
Melky, Matsui and Abreu are having good years. That’s it.
When half your lineup is either injured or ineffective, its pretty easy for opposing pitchers to pitch around the other half of the lineup.
In addition, the guys who are hitting begin to press because they know the situation and they want to help.
Its just a time to redefine your short term goals.
They have to pitch even better now. You can’t lose 2 runs leads 2 straight starts like Andy has done. With the offense dormant, somehow, you have to win those type of games. They also have to do a better job at the fundamentals (moving runners over, getting runners in from third with less than two outs, etc) and hope to stay close for a month.
By June 1, if they are healthy and are within 4-5 games of the Red Sox, that’s what I would call “mission accomplished”.
Joe G is totally the opposite of Joe T in this respect. The Yankees were very upset when Joe T announced to the world the Joba rules. Why give anyone a competive advantage. Same with injuries. Why tell a team that so and so has left knee problems, that is only going to make them pitch low and inside, (they’ll know that is a weakness).
Joe said the same thing Cash said, it tells me this is the company line now. If the media doesn’t like it tough!
“What I said in the beginning of the year still stands. If they (Hughes and Kennedy) put together 10 bad starts in a row, I’m not going to panic”.
That’s from Hank Steinbrenner. The quote is for the folks who have determined he will panic.
According to Hank, he won’t.
Unless we see otherwise, I believe him.
Yanks are 10th in the league in runs scored and 11th in ERA. It’s not like good pitching performances are being wasted. To wit:
* Yanks have allowed 3 or fewer in 10 games. They’re 10-0 in those games.
* Yanks have allowed 6 or more runs 12 times. They’re 2-10 in those games.
* We have an argument with the offense here. In games where the Yanks allowed either 4 or 5 runs, they are 2-5. That’s not good enough for a team with this kind of talent.
Bottom line is they aren’t getting it done from the mound of the batter’s box. Pitching staff’s should not expect to give up 6+ and win, but at the same time this team is going to have to put up 5+ runs more often than not if they expect to win.
JMO,
The point is not that the team is withholding information or even be secretive. My main beef was with the gratuitous insult about being like Belichick without the championships.
Uh, Girardi is in his first month of his first year with the team. HTF is he supposed to have won anything yet?
It’s horsecrap sportswriting bottom line.
JMO:
Glad to see you’re still with us.
I recognize that some people choose for their own purposes to see Cheney as an all-purpose evil image. I don’t. But nice try.
For your edification:
Gratuitous: being without apparent reason, cause, or justification: a gratuitous insult. Synonyms 2. unnecessary, superfluous, redundant; causeless, unreasonable, groundless, unprovoked, unjustified.
OK, so you apparently do not see any flaw in attempting to analogize the Vice President’s desire for secrecy in a time of war with a baseball manager’s inept handling of the press during the baseball season. Somehow I’m not surprised. Analogizing the Vice President to a baseball manager is gratuitous. It’s a matter of scale of responsibility. But you are entitled to your opinion.
As for Pete, he hasn’t resorted to purple prose of the type favored by Sherman-ites as they pander to the lowest common denominator. That was my point, remember? I called Sherman gratuitous. Pete’s not being gratuitous. Try to keep up.
Jennifer,
Its two different issues. The media is not asking for every single detail about the Yankees. They just don’t want to lied to. That’s not an insane reguest.
There is a difference between not telling the entire truth and lying.
Like it or not, Girardi lied to them re: Bruney and Hughes.
I don’t want to hear the spin they he “didn’t know”. That’s BS and the media knows it because they know how the Yankees chain of command works. In other words, its impossible Girardi didn’t know.
The Yankees baseball people had a 2 hour meeting prior to the media coming into the locker room yesterday. Do you not think Hughes was discussed?
Honestly, connect the dots.
All Girardi had to say was the following when asked if Hughes was healthy, “He’s being examined now and I will have a report to you when I know the results”. That’s it and he is off the hook.
Instead, he said, “Yes, yes”, and he was lying.
Its a game between the media and the manager. Think of it as a mating dance. You have no idea how many things happened during Joe Torre’s reign as Yankee manager that were kept off the record.
Stuff that if it hit the papers, would be sensational type of headlines. Yet, it stayed out of the papers.
You know why? Because the beat guys had so much respect for Torre because of his honesty with them, they didn’t look to bury him.
If you lie to these guys on the small stuff, they will BURY you on the big stuff.
Make no mistake, EVERY team in baseball has stuff happen on the road during the course of the season they want kept out of the newspapers.
Girardi has just got to be better in picking choosing his battles. If not, he is dead man walking in this job.
“By June 1, if they are healthy and are within 4-5 games of the Red Sox, that’s what I would call “mission accomplishedâ€.”
SJ44– as always, the voice of reason on this blog that sometimes resembles a sequel to the Chicken Little movie, with all the knee jerk fans posting on here on May 1st with a white flag in hand and ready to concede the division.
It pains me to bring this up, but…
In 2004, the Sox played .500 ball until July. They played through injuries, one of the worst defenses in the league, and with the starting rotation in shambles behind newcomer Curtis Montague Schilling, my arch nemesis and a half-healthy Pedro Martinez.
They made some key moves at the end of July and took off in August and September. We all know how that season ended and it pains me to bring it up, obviously, but its a good road map, or example, that shows proof that a team that stays in relative contention through the halfway point of the regular season can make the playoffs.
The Yankees have started poorly EVERY year since 2004, the year they had to go to Japan to open the season.
In 2005, they were 11-19 at one point in April. Won the division.
In 2006, similar occurences were at work and they came back from an injury riddled first half of the season and won the division. Last year, they made the playoffs as a wild card, after coming back from a horendous start in what I think was one of Joe Torre’s best managed seasons, dealing with what he did and taking them where he did.
Given, they have been KO’d in the first round of the post season since 2005 as well.
But I think its way too early to fly the white flag on May 1st.
If they are .500 on June 1st and as SJ44 said, 4-5 games out of first, that should be an accomplishment. Once they get healthy and the offense clicks, they should be fine.
And if they are 10 – 15 games out of playoff contention at the July trade deadline, then sell some of the pieces that will be gone at years end….
-See if you can move Mussina and get him to waive his NTC to go to a contender for the last two months of the year. Heck if the NYY are out of it, why would he want to stick around. IMO.
-See if someone needs Giambi’s bat, (if it does wak up this season) some surprise AL contender that feels its a LH DH away from securing post season glory. Same with Dmaon, heck, if they are out of it, send him packing and call Gardner up. Snag a prospect or call it a salary dump. Whatever…. IMO.
-See if someone needs Farnsworth… Hee hee hee…
If it all crumbs crumbling apart in July, and the playoff run is over, they might as well move old pieces and get some of the young kids they envision as regular full time at the MLB level.
OR, all the injuries will heal, the pitching will pitch, the hitting will finally hit, and Joe G wins his first WS, number 27 for the NYY, in October.
Then he can buy a hoody sweatshirt, and tell Joel Sherman to “______ off!”
SJ44 -
And even if he didn’t want to admit entirely that they were concerned about an injury to Hughes, specifically, he could have said “It’s one of the things we’re looking into right now.” It’s not that difficult to do, really. I want to give Joe G the benefit of the doubt, but he should have learned that it doesn’t always have to be a “yes” or “no” answer — there are all sorts of shades of gray that would eliminate any discord with the writers.
SJ Than wouldn’t Cashman have a talk with Joe about not being so secretive with the media, that it will only hurt him in the long run?
Ahhh finally a new month.
Not for anything, but the lies Girardi is telling the media about the injuries doesn’t change the Yankees struggles. Or do you think that the other teams are stupid and just think that the reason the player can’t run is because he is doing an imitation of Miguel Cabrera?
Lies about injuries doesn’t give the Yankees any kind of “edge”. If the player is out its not like the opposition is sitting in fear of them suddenly appearing.
Cashman and Girardi are both under the impression that you can lie and not be caught. Both of them have been caught in lies now. That doesn’t endear them to the media or to the fans.
I don’t mind the optomistic projections of how soon a player might be back. That is just going with the best possible news for the fans. I do have a problem with a Manager who seems to think we are so stupid that we can remember from one minute to another.
I think Torre was let go and Girardi brought in as much because of Torre’s willingness to give more of the truth about things and Girardi’s willingness to lie at the drop of a hat, as anything else.
I can now picture Girardi telling Hughes that he is getting time off. How we are going to do this is you are going to be injured now. What I think is the Yankees put out that Hughes was hurt to give a slight excuse for his poor performance, and to garner sympathy.
Trouble is Girardi, for as smart as he is supposed to be, is a terrible liar. He can’t remember his last lie, so he changes every story he tells.
Doreen:
Girardi is really making this needlessly hard on himself. Unless there is some secret edict directing him to clam up, this is just a case of not “getting it.” He can’t hold back a tsunami. Smacks of control freak, unfortunately.
Jennifer,
One would think.
There aren’t just two extremes to the discussion: “Don’t tell them anything” or “Tell them everything”.
There is a WHOLE gray area in between.
For whatever reason, the Yankees aren’t choosing the gray area on some of these matters.
With all the stuff going on right now, I can’t fathom why they want to get into a #$#%-ing contest with the media.
It not only accomplishes nothing, but it serves as a huge distraction for the new manager.
I don’t see the point of it. There are enough guys on the beat, plus the columnists, that will just go and get the information from their own sources.
Take Darrell Rasner for instance. I don’t know because I haven’t yet read all the papers this morning but, have the Yankees made a formal annoucement that he will be the starting pitcher on Sunday?
He IS going to start on Sunday. Why keep that from the media, especially after you have had a contentious day with them?
I’ve said it over and over, I’m a big believer in Cashman and how he is trying to remake the team, and also a big believer in Girardi.
But, these guys have to use their heads here. They are both too smart to be this dumb on something like this.
Roger Clemens should be the poster child for not lying to the media. The Daily News now has FOUR fulltime staffers, plus a couple of stringers, working the Clemens story.
They are going to bury him because he lied to them. Is it really worth lying to these guys?
Now, Clemens has lied over much more serious stuff than injury reports. But, if you keep lying to the media, sooner or later its going to come back to bite you.
Its May 1, a new month, and you hope the Yankee braintrust makes some adjustments in this area. It will make it much easier for them to get through the season.
With the way that Girardi is playing around every day with the lineup, I would say that already is showing him as a control freak, which would be fine it were actually accomplishing something.
Girardi might also be behind some of the lackluster look of this team. He took away the snacks from the clubhouse and doesn’t allow it in the visiting clubhouses.
How long till Little Joe ends up growing a funny little mustache?
Cashman said that Rasner is being called up to take Phil’s space, so I would assume that he is taking Phil’s spot.
The lackluster play is more a byproduct of the schedule and the injuries more than removing the junk food out of the locker room.
The lineups? I would think injuries have a lot to do with the different lineups. Between the guys out of the lineup and the guys playing hurt, its just a tough time right now.
Its hard to get into a groove with so many guys hurt.
One thing we have seen from this team is its pretty resillient. If they weren’t, their record would be much worse than it is right now.
The baseball season is a long grind. I sometimes forget how long it is myself.
They just have to find a way to stay close for a month. We will probably see some very ugly baseball in the next month. You can’t let it get in the way of the goal. Which is, stay close until reinforcements arrive.
Cashman said Rasner would start on Sunday last night…
Joe Girardi is fully aware that NYC is the media capital of the world from past experience. He also knows which of the media is prone to taking things out of context for the sake of staying on the good side of their editors.
It’s a fine balancing act to deal with the hunger of the media. Girardi is doing his level best to separate delusional from factual media. Few teams have to deal with the contingent of print and electronic media like NYC has.
Many times a visiting manager is interviewed more in New York than his own city.
Many times the sports pages in the tabloids have as much gossip as Cindy Adams and Liz Smith have.
It looks to me that both Cashman and Girardi are guilty of stretching the truth with the media. If that is the case, why are we only on Girardi’s case??? I don’t see Pete making any sly remarks about Cashman. And it does seem that there is a hush hush order that has been sent throughout the organization.
SJ44, I respectfully disagree about the lineup changes that happen everyday being the result of injuries. While there needs to be shuffling when an injury occurs, Girardi changes it every day. If the Yankees are suffering from an additional injured player every day, then they would have the Scranton team on the field by now.
The comment about the lackluster look was in jest, but the point about the snacks being taken away from adults were really to point toward his control freak issues.
One thing I have seen time and again is when you deny kids candy, they go nuts when they get some and over do it. While these are adults, even though Girardi doesn’t seem to think so, there is going to be a tendancy for them to junk binge when they get days off and out from under Girardi’s thumb.
I think his over-controlling nature is also some of the cause for lack luster play.
Ball players like consistency. They get used to their spot in the line up. When they get moved all the time, or have the person in front of them moved, it can affect their own approach at the plate.
While the injuries haven’t helped, nor the long stretch of games with no days off, when you work for someone who seems to believe he can control every aspect of your life, it wears you down.
Most people do not work well for micro managers. They lose drive. Girardi is a micro manager. Does it seem therefore likely that he could be some of the fault for decline?
And seriously, we are beating a dead horse here. At the pace this is going, Pete is going to turn the whole Yankee community against Girardi. And i think Girardi is just following orders from the front office. It’s a shame that someone with so much influence (pete) is using it to sway the public opinion about Girardi in a time where the yankees are really struggling.
I’m really surprised that everyone here really thinks this is fake.
It sounds like this is a legit injury. The article on yankees.com says that Phil will be getting an MRI today. Now from a medical standpoint, you don’t need a test to diagnose a strain. If the MRI (which is very sensitive in diagnosing muscle strains) shows up negative, the team doctors are gonna have a hard time making their assessment legit. This can also be used as evidence for fraud.
To me, it’s just easier to say (if they are indeed faking it) Phil has a very mild strain and will need a couple of days rest. They could have said, it is too mild that an MRI isn’t really warranted (just like what they initially did when A-rod had his quad strain).
So I guess time will tell. If this really is a legit oblique strain, it’ll take ATLEAST a month of healing and rehab before we ever get to see Phil back in the Bronx.
JT, the reason why Cashman isn’t being beat up as much on this is because Cashman has always been secretive about what he wants to do, Torre used to tick him off by being more open.
Now with Girardi here, we have both the manager (who has as a large part of the job description, dealing with the media) and the GM on the same secret decoder ring page.
“By June 1, if they are healthy and are within 4-5 games of the Red Sox, that’s what I would call “mission accomplishedâ€.
i don’t disagree with your assessment, but you do realize the red sox lead is already three games. for them to only gain 1-2 games in a month is highly unlikely with posada out the whole time and arod at least half the time.
i think it will be a minor miracle if the red sox don’t gain 4-5 games this month alone which would make the lead more like 7-8 games back as a more reasonable goal.
the red sox rotation is in sync, with everyone including bucchholz and lester in good shape. if it weren’t for a team wide flu that helped create a 5 game losing streak the red sox would have likely already opened up more of a lead.
the flu doesn’t last like a grade two quad injury. the red sox look ready to roll and the yankees look more likely to roll over.
this is not good. it’s no fun to watch, and it could snowball if the team doesn’t really dig down and fight for every win it can steal during this month.
the fact is that the best case scenario plan that cashman and most of this blog endorsed( you know who you are) has gone up in flames and yankees fans are sitting here looking at a big pile of crap.
that’s why i agree totally with you when you say the yankees must redefine their short term goals. independent of what the red sox do,if they play .500 ball ,they’ll do well with what they have.to do this, they’ll have to fight and scrap for each game.
as far as hughes goes, you are doing, in a somewhat humorous way considering your past endorsement of hughes, what any smart leader does, and that is running around in front of the crowd when it changes it’s mind and then continues to lead the crowd. crowds need leaders so that’s not a bad thing, but the problem is that the yankee plan was based hughes doing well.
i think this month is going to be a real test for cashman and his youth based master plan because it clearly isn’t working. lots of young players, lots of minor league coaches, lot’s of minor league thinking isn’t translating well in the major leagues.
but this is the yankees, not the royals, so i expect a reaction to this mess that will get things back on course. i don’t see hank going too long with cashman’s plan if things get worse than .500.
. 500 and above cashman and his plan lives. below .500 for the month and cashman and his plan get revisited.
my hope for this month is that i am wrong about the yankee state of affairs like i was wrong about mussina when i thought he was finished a few games ago.
Jane, Read all the things said BEFORE that article – fluff piece was written, and put it together with everything in that piece.
That article on the MLB website was the Yankee PR machine getting into gear because they saw that Girardi and Cashman were being caught in lies. A means to defuse that is to have Hughes get an MRI. They own the people they have doing them, so it doesn’t mean much of anything.
The snippets from Girardi in the MLB piece don’t jive with what he said on the air in the post game interview. It was also done a while after the game.
Remember, Cashman does check in and read this blog from time to time. What if he read that people weren’t buying the lies? Do you think he wouldn’t look to help whitewash things?
Jane just because he’s supposedly is having an MRI doesn’t mean he’s really hurt. Do you really know for sure he’s having an MRI? Will you be there?
The Yankees are just saying that to continue to make it look like he’s really hurt.
If you’re going to lie about a players injury you got to go all out and leave no stone unturned.
“That article on the MLB website was the Yankee PR machine getting into gear because they saw that Girardi and Cashman were being caught in lies. A means to defuse that is to have Hughes get an MRI. They own the people they have doing them, so it doesn’t mean much of anything.”
Bryan Hoch is a beat writer for MLB.com. It has no affiliation with The Yankees.
Also, the Yankees don’t own an MRI machine. These tests get done either at Columbia Pres or Beth Israel. And they have to be read by radiologists of the hospital, not employed by the club.
Well, all I’m saying is that a smart doctor would just had a diagnosis of “mild oblique strain” and be done with it. Why bother getting an MRI when you know you won’t see anything AND also risk getting caught for fraud.
Did anyone see Tim Kurkjian on Mike and Mike this morning? Tim was on this morning and said that he is taking back his prediction that the Yanks will make the playoffs this year. He said they are in big trouble.
It will be nice when the Yanks prove all of “the experts” wrong at the end of the year like last season when everyone buried the Yanks in June.
I have to believe that the Yanks will start hitting with RISP and that they will get quality starts from pitchers other that Wang. Just hope it starts to happen soon.
SJ44
In last night’s postgame Cashman did say they were giving the start to Rasner; or at least he said they were calling up Rasner to replace Hughes. (One could equivocate that he may not have actually committed to the start
).
Ive seen this team have too many bad Aprils and finish on top to count them out after yet another one….but this year is different, there is alot more parity in the league and especially in the division. The Yankees need to start winning games right now or they’ll be a 200 million dollar 4th place team.
Jane, are you purposely obtuse? When you buy things, you own them. The Yankee dollars will make sure that the results they desire are there.
Bryan Hoch is a writer for MLB. So? With the lies that Girardi and Co are spewing, why would they be giving him any different treatment?
The article by Hoch and the interviews on TV don’t mesh.
Who was Hoch’s sources for the story? Girardi. Cashman. Hughes.
The article is spin.
Maybe if the Yankees miss the playoffs and win 80 games this year they can finally have getaway games in the afternoon next year.
Where are those losers who predicted the Yankees will sweep the Tigers? Can you comprehend reality now? Come out, come out, wherever you are.
I don’t get upset by playoff predictions made pre-season, and especially not those that are constantly readjusted during the season. We all can do that! We all DO do that! It’s a fun thing to do, but it’s not like any predictions are written in stone.
Randy,
Hank has already been quoted as saying that he doesn’t care if the kids have 10 bad starts in a row apiece, he’s going to be patient with them.
The fans are more impatient with young players than the Steinbrenner Brothers.
They spent the early part of their careers with the Yankeees imploring their father to develop the farm system and to bring in younger players.
When he wouldn’t listen to them, they left and got involved in other aspects of the family businesses.
They are committed to doing it and a bad month isn’t going to alter the long term plan.
Doesn’t mean they won’t make trades or sign free agents. It just means you won’t see them signing over 30 guys to monster contracts.
what happens if he felt something in his shoulder, and with all the injuries we’ve seen, they’re getting more cautious about injuries. so they send him to get an mri. if it comes back negative, why does that mean they’re lying? couldn’t they possibly be looking at arod and posada and bruney and saying to themselves, why not just make sure with this one.
If people only went for MRI’s when they knew what was wrong, what would be the point? it’s a diagonistic tool.
“even dr. andrews is only guessing what’s wrong. if he doesn’t go in with an operation he’s going on limited knowledge himself. surgeons often get inside and see more damage than they thought.†randy l.
“You have no idea what your talking about. Please stop.”-jane
i can’t resist.
jane, please stop.
all kidding aside, with the examples of bruney, hughes, arod, and posada, a medical expert often has to a make a guess based on probability.
there are different interpretations from different experts based on seeing the same tests.
jane, on a serious note, if you have some medical expertise and credentials, share it. you sound like you know more than you’re letting on. my hunch is you’re strong on the medical but weak on knowing how it translates to the baseball field to players .
Who needs reality TV when you have the Yankees.
Let’s see, we have the episodes of the Midges, Torre and insulting offer, Scott Boras, WS opt out, Goldman Sachs and Warren Buffet, Pettitte and Clemens, Santana, imploding kids, injuries, fake injuries, lies…if you try to jam all that into one TV season even JJ Abrams would call you crazy.
We always have this conversation when it comes to injuries.
Fans kill guys like Carl Pavano who don’t seem to want to fight through the pain and play.
Now, we second guess guys like Arod and Posada who do.
Which is it because you can’t have it both ways.
Guys feel a responsibility to play. That’s a good thing. You should applaud guys like Arod and Posada for wanting to be in the lineup.
Most guys would just take the DL trip because their checks come regardless if they are on the DL or not.
It didn’t work this time. But, that’s how you gain the respect from your teammates. By trying to gut it out in tough times.
Its just the nature of professional sports.
Second guessing every single thing that happens in a season is pointless.
Some stuff deserves to be second guessed. When it comes to guys gutting it out, I don’t second guess them, I applaud them.
It tells me they care about the team.
wsr, if before the game you are asked is Hughes healthy and you say “yes, yes”, and then during the game Hughes is announced as being put on the DL, do you call that mis-remembering? Sorry, but when you say one thing then say the complete opposite after an hour or so, then do a spin piece after the things you said on TV didn’t go over well, then I would call it a lie.
Call it whatever you want, but if you say two opposite things about the same issue, then at one time you had to lie.
sj,
i know hank says that about the kids and being patient. i just don’t believe it. i do hope the yankees keep being patient, just not quite so patient.
Not everything in life needs a conspiracy theory.
The media had always said that Cash doesn’t lie. In his years as the NY GM, think of all the landmines he has navigated through without lying. Why pick something as minor as a rookie pitcher struggling to start. He may not comment on things or be cliche in the answers he gives using the word “process” quite a bit but he hasn’t had a history of lying.
It seems likely that Hughes is really injured. Otherwise, he could just be sent down to the minors. All this cloak and dagger nonsense is just a bunch of empty conspiracy theorizing. Strained oblique muscles do happen, and they can be a rotten injury. Baltimore had Bedard shut down for the season with the strained oblique last year, and lost Jeremy Guthrie with a strained oblique for months. I have a feeling we won’t be seeing Hughes pitching on any level for a while.
Im just waiting for Kennedy to be diagnosed with sickle cell and put on the dl if he bombs tonight.
Frankly, I think everything is getting blown up way out of proportion. Girardi needs to do better – take a class in media relations 101 – that’s for sure. But it seems like we are getting carried away with conspiracy theories and building an “injury-gate” scenario. Cashman has never given a straight answer until he’s ready to do so.
The bottom line is, if the Yankees were winning, most of this would be a blip on the screen. Right now, the story is the Yankees are playing poorly, they are rife with injuries, and their two young pitchers are struggling. I don’t know why, if Hughes is not legitimately injured, the Yankees feel a need to disguise his problems in a cloak of injury. I would think the PR fall-out from such a blatant lie would be huge. Could they be exaggerating an injury to take advantage of the situation, to “kill two birds with one stone,” so to speak? Probably. And it probably happens all the time on every team.
A-Point,
what it looks like to me is JoeG is one of those guys who’s a big believer in gutting it out. one of those guys who would tell you to walk it off if you came to him with a broken arm. He’s constantly underestimated injuries. This is a weak point of his. Cash may have finally gotten to the point, maybe between Joe saying Hughes was fine and saying Hughes was hurt, of taking over injury treatment. I could see Cash saying “if someone feels something pinch or pop, send them for an MRI.” after all these re-aggrivated injuries, i think that would be a smart approach.
If the MRI comes back negative, how is that fraud? can’t it just be them being over cautious?
could phils oblique be the reason his velocity has been down?
Hey.
I have 4 tickets to the Braves/Reds tomorrow eve. (May-2nd)
They are 7 rows behind the visitors on deck circle. They also come with a parking pass. I am just looking to give these away as a buddy who was going just canceled his trip fron Savannah to Atlanta. If anyone has a need or friend that would like these then drop me a note. I will UPS them today for a prior to 1030AM delivery tomorrow. I hate to eat tix so I am posting this in a few spots. I would need whoever takes the seats to be responsible folks as the seats are in my name.
-dennis
dennis.p.farrell@conocophillips.com
The Yankees a .500 team, Yeah if our firstbase man hits .150 all year our secondbase man hits .150 our 3rd baseman drives on 66 runs for the season our catchers are Molina and Moeller, and we never get a win out of the 4th and 5th spot in the rotation. yes we will finish around .500 . If you think that will happen i have a bridge to sell you. N ow get off the ledge and support your team
They don’t want Hughes to go to Tampa now. They want him to work with Dave Eiland. He may end up there for a rehab start or two. But, I would be surprised if he didn’t stay in NY during his DL stint.
He can’t work with Eiland to fix his problems AND pitch 3 inning starts.
So, he gets “hurt”.
Is he hurt? I am sure he has something bothering him. Then again, every player has some ache and pain.
I don’t believe he is mortally wounded. Nor do I believe he is going to be out for months.
I believe they wanted him to stay in NY and work with the pitching coach he is most comfortable with. I also believe they wanted to get him out of the rotation because right now, he is hurting himself and the team.
So, the DL seems to make it work out conveinently for all parties doesn’t it?
Columbia Presbyterian picked a good year to become the official hospital of the NY Yankees.
randy l – Yes I have medical credentials. And yes, my specialty deals with less muscle and bones and more internal organs. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know anything about MRIs and muscle strains.
I understand there can be different interpretations or opinions for the same diagnosis. But a negative MRI is a negative MRI. There’s nothing to interpret if it’s a normal MRI. My point is why even bother when oblique strains can be diagnosed clinically.
Is it really too hard to believe that a struggling 21-year old really did injure himself before the game and kept it from the club because he doesn’t want it an excuse for his poor performance?
Ok I’ll stop now because I have to work. I hope Phil comes back quickly and effectively just shut everyone up.
It’s obvious the Hughes injury is not worthy of DL time; it’s just an excuse to give him time to work on his game. I’m sure there is a grain of truth in the “injury”, Hughes most likely has a sore oblique but nothing that would require DL time. Obviously we will never know for sure but this seems the most likely scenario. Hughes will have 2 weeks to work on his mechanics then he can throw as many rehab starts as he wants. This allows him to get his confidence back, fix his mechanics and limit his innings for the season.
The only problem is the gap when Girardi said Hughes has no injury and then said he’s going on the DL. It’s pretty obvious that this is a non-injury and that Cashman and Girardi decided what to do after his initial discussion with the media so he had to change his story. Puts Girardi in a tough spot but I don’t know if he was necessarily “lying” about the injury in his first conversation with the media.
SJ44 -
Just a question: I don’t want to sound incredibly dumb here, but how can Eiland dedicate himself to straightening out Hughes AND continuing to do his regular duties getting everyone else ready? Or am I overestimating the actual work that a ML pitching coach does? Or are many of the pitchers on “autopilot” and a pitching coach doesn’t have all that much to do anyway? (Make that a question or three or four.
) I’m not being sarcastic. I want to understand what the actual duties of the pitching coach are at the major league level, and how they would allow enough time to be a private tutor.
Pat, is that true? Is this the first year for Col-Pres and Yankee affiliation? If so, I would agree — very good timing!
“I would need whoever takes the seats to be responsible folks as the seats are in my name.”
if nypd113th or anti-mussina emails you, don’t do it.
nice gesture by the way- especially for a red sox fan. just kidding.
SJ – I agree with what you said about Hughes “injury” since I know you called it lst night before it was announced.
Now what happens if Kennedy is horrible tonight. They can’t have another “injury”, can they? Or do they just send him down and bring up another starter. Or give him one more chance?
Other than Wang, Godzeera, Melky, Mariano and Joba, the entire team has been downright awful. And whats up with Derek Jeter? Guy has become strictly a singles hitter when he isnt hitting into dp’s or striking out.
Some thoughts –
1. The player has to be honest with telling staff about injuries. No one can magically decipher how much someone else hurts. If ARod wants to be in denial about his quad, and only comes out when he’s visibly limping, that’s on him.
2. We always talk about players having guts and playing through pain, and even glorify it. Yet when they try to, and the injury only allows them to play at less than expected levels, we criticize them and the team.
3. Maybe Carl Pavano stands out to these guys as an example of what NOT to be like, and it pushes them to try to play through things a bit more, more than they should.
4. Yeah, Jeter and whomever else is playing through “minor injuries”, but the whole MLB has guys playing hurt. I saw where Troy Tulowitzki was taken out with a leg injury, for example. Chalk it up to the schedule, weather, no days off, or evil spirits, but EVERY team has to deal with it through the season. It’s how you deal with it, your options available, that determines how well you do.
5. It is a long season, and a .500 record in April, a couple of games behind, does not determine anything.
Yeah, you can paint a worse case scenario, where Robbie doesn’t hit at all, Giambi stays our everyday 1B, and doesn’t hit either, ARod and Posada are out for half the season, and Phil, IPK don’t get it together. Throw in a career-ending injury to Joba while you’re at it.
But who says the Red Sox won’t hit any bumps? What is Beckett’s bad back suddenly slips a disk? Or Papelbon’s shoulder falls off? Or Dice-K’s for that matter? Or Papi’s sore knee is really a torn meniscus that the Sox’s MD’s missed? Not that I’m wishing injury on anyone, because I’m not, but stuff happens to EVERYBODY during 162 games in 6 months, and much of it is unpredictable.
OK, I’m done with my rant.
Let’s try rooting for IPK tonight and the rest of the 130- or so games.
So Francis the Praying Mantis = Hugh = J Train?
Oh, and one more thing – Can anyone tell me why Chris Britton isn’t used more? Did he shoot someone’s dog? What? Not that I expect him to be a savior, but if they keep going to Edwar the one-pitch wonder, why not Britton?
Doreen,
Some guys like Pettitte and Mussina for example, really don’t need a pitching coach. They will do their side work, have a bullpen (often supervised by the bullpen coach) and they will be fine.
Wang? It wouldn’t surprise me that at this stage of his career, he is more Pettitte/Mussina-like in his ability to get his work in on his own.
Eiland is obviously still around. He just doesn’t need to micro-manage these guys.
The young guys, Hughes and Kennedy, need the most help.
I suspect the Yankees will do the following with Hughes:
1. Not have him throw at all for the next 4-6 days. If he is sore, that gives him time to rest. It also gives him a mental health break. Something I think he needs.
2. During his down time, he will watch a lot of video with Eiland to see where his breakdowns lie.
3. After 4-6 days, they put him back on a throwing program. My guess (and its only a guess) that will be in NY under the supervision of Eiland, Girardi, etc.
4. If that goes well, he makes rehab start somewhere.
5. If that goes well, they make a decision as to whether or not to activate him from the DL and where he will pitch (AAA or the majors).
Morning.
Feisty this morning, aren’t we? I just wish they could discover the germ that causes the injury bug. I mean, last year we thought it was martycus millerus, but apparently it’s something else this year…
SJ44, Your proposed scenario sounds good to me. Theres a possibility Hughes really does have an oblique injury but hopefully it turns out like you said. Also here is step 6:
6. They decide he will pitch in the majors, he comes back and throws 7 IP, 1 run, 4 hits, 9 K, 0 BB in his first start.
Doreen
It is true. I remember reading a press release on yankees.com a few weeks ago talking about a new multi year sponsorship being agreed to by Columbia and the Yankees that made them the Official Hospital of the NY Yankees.
The next logical step is for Suzyn Waldman to give the Daily MRI Report on the radio sponsored by Col. Presbyterian. Columbia Presbyterian , the Offical Hospital of the NY Yankees- Let’s Rehab Something Together.
So a tech told Alex he would be out a year or Alex jumped to that conclusion? I read the article, but I’m unsure.
Either way, it really explains the complexity that is Alex Rodriguez and how naive he can be at times. And it goes to show you how badly he wants to play. I just hope all these injuries and ailments are gone by the end of this month and that by early summer this will just be a distant memory.
Hey Pete,
Why don’t you rip Belihoodie for being a complete jack@$$ to everyone in the media and making a mockery of the NFL injury report
Maybe Girardi should setup a camera in center field to steal pitching signs from the catcher a la Belicheat and then maybe you will start liking him
18-1
Legit question that does not imply jumping off the nearest bridge or tall building:
How long is the in-season evaluation period. Meaning, if by the end of May, mid-June etc things are not looking up for the team with they way they are playing or in the standings – does the front office move forward with a more radical rebuilding. Do we try to get something in return for Damon, Abreu, Matsui, Mussina, Giambi, Farnsworth? It might not be much, but it could add some organizational depth. Would it also apply to the minor league 40 man roster and rule 5 guys? Do they try to package a Steven White, and some lower ceiling guys to clear up the roster for the youngr higher cieling guys that will inevitably be moving up in the coming year or two and to perhaps shop for a big upside lower minor leaguer. It will also allow some of the kids to get a half season or so in the bigs.
Does anyone doubt that techinician was either a Mets or a Sux fan?
Christine, MRI techs are not supposed to say anything about the test. They are not trained to diagnose the problems, but frequently, they try to show off their knowledge.
I’ve worked around MRI’s for a decent period of time. The Techs love to talk about what they see. Most times they are wrong.
With A-Rod in there, I would bet that the Tech either didn’t like him or was looking to show off. If you have someone in a white jacket telling you it looks like a season ending injury, you would probably have some belief in it.
Long time reader, first time responder.
I can agree with you more, Longtime.
Columbia Presbyterian , the Offical Hospital of the NY Yankees- Let’s Rehab Something Together.
LOL!
Does anyone else find it amusing that “oblique” can also mean “not straightforward”? Just me. OK.
I highly, highly, highly doubt A-Rod’s injury is season ending.
For one thing, I’m not sure how A-Rod would have been able to keep an injury that severe hidden.
Jason,
If you go by other years, Mid-May is the time the Yankees give to make their first in season evaluations.
At that time they determine their next course of action.
That’s when they decided to bring up Cano and Wang in 2005.
Wasn’t it around that time last year (maybe it was a little later….can’t remember for sure) when they decided Melky was going to be the fulltime CF?
That’s a reasonable timeframe for gauging your team at this juncture.
The problem this year is, the injuries have an effect on what they can do.
Also, more teams than ever are going to be in the race. That makes trade possibilities few and far between.
JMO but, they are going to have to solve their problems from within. At least until the trade deadline in July.
Which means, guys like Brett Gardner, Shelley Duncan, Jose Veras, Darrell Rasner, Dan McCutcheon, and maybe some others, are the guys you need to look to as possible contributors this year. Not players from other teams.
Motown:
No, I’m with you. Next they’ll be saying that A-Rod strained an “obscure” muscle.
Columbia Presbyterian – now featuring the Marty Miller Memorial Hamstring Ambulatory Manor. AKA the MMM, HAM.
SJ44 -
Thanks for the answer. I appreciate your thoughts mucho, and it sounds like a reasonable scenario of events.
Pat -
OYMYGOSH! That’s toooooo funny!
(That line was worth at least 3
’s!)
Motown –
Oh, the irony!
SJ – I agree with your points about mid-May, but I am thinking more from a sellers perspective. If they are still completely lackluster and out of it, I am arguing for going with the kids and trading some of the veteran pieces to any of the multitude of contenders for youth.
It may be similar to the Randy Johnson and Sheffield deals. Clear some salary, clear some space on the roster and big club for the youngsters, clear some redundancy, clear some age and get some prospects and/or pieces.
“The next logical step is for Suzyn Waldman to give the Daily MRI Report on the radio sponsored by Col. Presbyterian. Columbia Presbyterian , the Offical Hospital of the NY Yankees- Let’s Rehab Something Together.
”
LOL
Pat you made me laugh.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but as yankee fans, we’ve been down this same road the last two seasons.
I do think some changes are coming, but from within. Between call ups and people coming back from injury, this team will play better.
Remember, these are the “boys of summer.” It’s May F ing 1st!! I love reading and hearing the baseball media say they are DOA in May. Boston had a 14 game lead last year in May and we almost caught them. We had about the same in 03 and they almost caught us.
Billy Beane alway said, you take a season in thirds. The first to see what you have, the second to get what you need, the third to make your push. Based on his moves and how the A’s typically play in the 2nd half, his assessment is spot on.
William Buckner – hasn’t it been the past three seasons, at least? I think Ozzie Guillen said something about it last year, in May or June. Something like: “They are the Yankees. They always come back.”
I don’t understand the panic this year. How many years has it been now that the Yanks have been off to a slow start? It just feels like the norm at this point. Heck, they are playing better than they did last season at this time. The hitting has been pretty bad but remember last year the only two guys hitting were Posada and A-rod; everyone else was ice cold.
Last year we had insane pitching injuries, we’ve had a few this year but not that bad. It sucks A-rod and Posada are gone but they will be back on or before June 1. The bullpen is incredibly deep this season, we have guys in AAA that should be in the majors but theres just not enough room. I really think the bullpen will become a strength. There is incredible starting pitching depth as well. Remember last year our fifth starter was Matt Desalvo until Clemens was signed and our 8th inning reliever was Vizcaino until Joba was called up? Even the position player depth is greater this year. Molina, Gonzalez, Ensberg, Duncan, Gardner, to a degree Betemit are all capable major league players. Who was on our bench last year at this time? Nieves, Mienkiewicz, Phillips? Geez..
There are problems with this year’s team but I think they are very fixable. Everyone just has to put things in perspective, the situation was a lot worse last year and we ended up in the playoffs.
Its WAY too early to talk about being sellers. That’s not even on the radar screen right now.
William Buckner is correct.
Haven’t we been down this road a time or two before in recent years?
Right now, the team just has to grind it out.
Its kind of pointless to be angry with the team now because they are completely beat up.
Even more pointless is listening to ESPN talking heads predicting the pennant races on May 1. I’d rather watch paint dry.
If this was a fully healthy team, I could understand folks being upset.
But, c’mon yesterday, between discussing whether or not Phil Hughes should be sent to the minors and whether Joe Girardi lied to the media, we CELEBRATED the return of Chad Moeller!!!
Think about that for a minute. Nothing against Chad Moeller but, we CELEBRATED his return!! lol
That’s how beat up this team is right now.
Guys are trying. You can see the effort. Its just tough sledding right now.
Don’t mistake poor performance with poor effort. The effort is there. The results aren’t as of yet.
I don’t think we thought the starting lineup in May would consist of guys like Moeller, Molina, Ensberg, and Gonzalez.
You just gotta suck it up and go with the flow.
This season is turning into a Bush/Cheney cluster-f&*#@k.
Exactly Motown,
And IMO, the young pitchers will figure it out, cano isnt hitting 160 all year, and posado and Arod will be back.
Boston, and others should pull away now, when we get back together, we’ll make a push.
The bats need to come alive starting tonight!!!!
The fact that they are where they are as far as the standings go is amazing. Think is the sux lost Manny, and Papi and their young pitchers were floundering. I bet they would be worse off than us by a mile. Like SJ said, we celebrated the arrival of Moeller. LOL. Everything is going to be ok.
GO YANKEES!!!
The Yankees just need to survive through the Sunday night subway series game on May 18th. Hopefully by that time A Rod will be back, Hughes will be a start or two away from contributing and Posada will be mid way to getting back.
After that the schedule gets much much easier and the Yankees could get on a good run. 17 games between now and May 18th, if the Yankees win 9 they will be 23-23. Last year they were 21-25 after 46 on route to 21-29.
I am not advocating selling, not even close.
I am just asking when would be a reasonable time to truly evaluate this team, truly evaluate the individual players, and truly evaluate the potential of up and coming players.
If this means selling prudently there is a proper timeframe, around the all star break, the trade deadline etc.
I actually have a lot of faith in this team. It is hard to imagine anyone other than Wang and maybe Mo being any worse than they have played so far. Hard to imagine there will be injuries more signficant than Arod and Posada. Hard to imagine that Kennedy and Phil or replacements will not win a game the rest of the season. Hard to imagine that Arod will have another baby. Hard to imagine Cano will hit .150. Etc. Etc. Etc.
We will survive!
I’d also say this to this blogs nay sayers…
If you didnt really believe yanks would get it together, why haven’t you packed it up and turned your attention elsewhere. I’m sure the pirates blogs dont get this many posters.
As far as sellers, good luck at finding a taker for high priced older vets that are underperforming. You tell me the team thats giving ny anything for damon, giambi and farnsworth. Its the prom, we got to dance with the girl we brought.
Randy Johnson, Gary Sheffield and Jared Wright – enough said.
I do not think we will get Albert Pujols back. The right deal, eating enough salary, can probably bring some prospects i.e Attorney General, Steven Jackson, Ohlendorf, Humberto Sanchez, Chris Britton (man is he the reverse Isiah Thomas – one can’t get himself fired, the other can’t get himself onto the field).
Max Scherzer as good as Joba
I bet he doesn’t stay in the bullpen either
Wow. I’m really surprised at the Girardi hate here. Yes, his handling of the situation is not optimal, but Jesus-freakin-Christ give the guy a break. Admit it, if the Yankees were winning, the creative moves wouldn’t bother you so much.
Also, these, uh, strange personnel moves? They’re not unilaterally decided on by Girardi. There’s an invisible front office hand at work.
May 1st 2007 Yankees record 10 – 14
May 1st 2008 Yankees record 14 – 15
I agree with SJ44 on Hughes, I doubt he’s hurt and the move to the DL is just to give him a break while being able to work with Eiland.
Now, I’m not sure if that’s the right move. Personally, I think Hughes has a lot more growth and a little stint on the DL is not gonna fix much of anything. I think he should be demoted, he has a lot of work to do to even become a 4 or 5 starter. Even Igawa had some good games last year in April beating Boston and Cleveland, Hughes has had none (I’m not counting two innings before the rain delay). Right now Hughes and the Yanks need to figure out what’s wrong (and something is wrong, he’s not the same pitcher as he was earlier last year). To do that, he needs an extended stay at the Triple A level.
Brandon,
What was bostons a year ago?
They were down this road in 2005 and 2007. Think this might be a little different insomuch as malaise/bad roster planning rather than significant injury was behind the slow start.
The ‘05 team was getting old w/ Bernie, Tino, Johnson, Brown, etc. The did start slow, but really benefitted from the emergence of Cano and Wang and the lightning in a bottle efforts of Chacon and Small.
The ‘07 team had early problems stemming in some part from Cahsman’s decision to send a starting rotation up north that included Pavano and Igawa. That compelled them to use some guys who weren’t ready, but in the end it was the offense, which slumbered through April and May but were relentless thereafter, that brought them home to the playoffs.
The ‘06 team did actually suffer significant injury, with Sheffield and Matsui missing significant time, but responded quite well to it, with Cabrera coming up and having a solid year and then the Abreu trade. Sox never really got away from that year though as the Yanks were pretty much 2-3 games behind them from Day 1 til the weekend they went to Boston and swept 5.
I’m not sure this edition of the Yankees has what it needs to respond to this year’s early adversity. Those teams were trying to rebuild and win. They were just trying to win. This season has a rebuild compnent to it whether they want to admit it or not. They are older, more fragile physically (older guys) and mentally (younger guys) and unlike ‘05 don’t have a Cano/Cabrera type position player waiting in the wings to pick up for two very significant injuries in the offense.
How was Hughes in his first game of this season? Wasn’t that a good game?
“Brandon,
What was bostons a year ago?”
May 08′ 17 – 12
May 07′ 16 – 9
“I highly, highly, highly doubt A-Rod’s injury is season ending.”
ten to one that mri technician was a met’s fan. pretty funny if you think about it. arod got punked.
Jason,
Those deals you cited were off-season deals. In season deals are different animals.
Max Scherzer will start on Monday for the Diamondbacks.
Brandon was he starting in the minors?
he’s that good YankeesTech, people think Joba is a rare species, nope the DBacks have one too, but he won’t stay in the BP all year.
“Wang? It wouldn’t surprise me that at this stage of his career, he is more Pettitte/Mussina-like in his ability to get his work in on his own.”
he calls out if he needs help. but eiland seems to know what makes him tick.
“out” equals outside the organization.
What exactly do the Yanks have to sell???? Aside from Abreu (last year of his contract), Matsui (one year left and he’s actually worth what he’s being paid) and Pettitte (last year of contract), who on this team is A) tradeable and B) someone the Yanks might want to trade???????
Jax, 23.0 IP, 12 H, SO/BB 38 – 3
crazy stat i just heard.
boston has 17 wins.
8 of those 17 wins were won on the final at-bat.
sickening.
That is a crazy stat. A stat that makes me kinda sad.
Sick numbers! I guess all those years of picking early in the draft are now paying off for the D’backs.
“unlike ‘05 don’t have a Cano/Cabrera type position player waiting in the wings”
They werent exactly waiting in the wings. They werent highly regarded propects. Diamondbacks refused a cano, wang for johnson the season before.
Never know what a mcclutchen or gardner could do if given the chance.
The big projects going in to this year were turning over the rotation (initially 2 of 5, but eventually 3 of 5) to young pitchers and developing talent “in-season” under the hot lights.
For people who expect to be in the World Series every year this is going to be a pretty difficult transition and I can sympathize with Johnny Damon, Mo, Moose or other vets who don’t want to spend the rest of their yankee careers watching kids figure it out on the fly.
Imagine if we turned two-thirds of our line-up over in a year?
With all the money coming off at the end of the year and with Damon and Matsui entering the last years of their deals at 13 million a piece we are going to see a similar turnover in the lineup.
It should be interesting to watch but on some nights I am going to switch off the game and just focus on the box score the next morning so I don’t have to hear Sterling and Suz whine for 4 hours.
it is a crazy stat and there is no reason to think it won’t hold up. This is why when Joba converts ,Hughes has to find himself. Those 2 are going to be counted on to limit 3 out of 4 ABs from players like the ones Boston and Tampa and Toronto’s have
“mel
May 1st, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Wow. I’m really surprised at the Girardi hate here. Yes, his handling of the situation is not optimal, but Jesus-freakin-Christ give the guy a break. Admit it, if the Yankees were winning, the creative moves wouldn’t bother you so much.”
I NEVER wanted Girardi to manage the Yankees. The Yankees were courted by him, and they fell for it.
You can never trust a liar. Girardi has shown over and over and over that he is more than willing to lie rather than even give a non-answer answer. I hate liars.
He has shown that he hasn’t brought any difference to bullpen management. No difference to playing any small ball. No stolen bases to speak of. No bunting over runners. Tons of runner left on base with their fingers up their butts while they lose yet another game.
Why all the Girardi hate? Its been there from a number of us who never wanted him as Manager to begin with, and that opinion has only grown.
There was a reason he was fired from Florida. Yet the Yankees always seem to think they can fix promising problem children. That is Girardi and Farnsworth.
Even if the Yankees were winning more now I wouldn’t be loving on Girardi. He was and is the wrong man for the job.
“My main beef was with the gratuitous insult about being like Belichick without the championships.
Uh, Girardi is in his first month of his first year with the team. HTF is he supposed to have won anything yet?
It’s horsecrap sportswriting bottom line.”
Might be, but it’s horsebleep that Girardi is pulling too. Parcells didn’t get to be Parcells until he won something. Parcells would have been the better comparison. Belichik gets away with his stuff (though the writers routinely bash him in Boston, the talk radio guys happily eat his excrement) because he’s won, but he was doing it before he won simply because he’s a rat fink. Parcells didn’t become an ass until he began winning.
Girardi does not have cache to get away with this crap…yet. Worse yet is that it’s small potatoes stuff. There’s no benefit to not being truthful about these things.
WB, it’s a running joke now w/ McCutchen he has proven to be dominant in his role in AA he belongs in AAA and it makes no sense why he or Chase Wright are still in AA. Who’s holding thier spots Rasner ? Igawa ? please
Toronto seems like it is having just the opposite of Boston. Pitch great games and lose by 1. They have little offense, even worse than the Yankees right now.
Girardi on DL,
I see and respect your position.
I may be the polar opposite of you, so we’ll just leave it at that.
I’ll support the manager until he does something egregiuos, is burned at the stake (in which case he’d be a martyr), or the Daily News breaks a story that he had a long-term affair with a minor.
Not saying I don’t like the Wheel-of-Lineup or certain decisions. But I understand that managing’s not easy and believe that any new manager deserves the benefit of the doubt. Of course, it would help if the players would execute once in a while.
Let’s make a deal. I won’t try to convince you to change your mind and you’ll do the same?
If anyone’s in panic mode with Hughes & Kennedy, and thinking to trade them would be a good idea, I don’t think that’s going to happen. At least I hope not.
If they go down to AAA for some ’seasoning’ or ‘get hurt’ and go on the DL vacation for a while … they can & would COME BACK TO THE YANKS WHEN THEY’RE READY. Their up sides really sound like it’d be better to have them face opposing batters rather than NYs batters in the coming years.
Just clarifying since it sometimes seems like some people sound like they’re giving up on them for good. Not the ‘front office’ people most of us don’t communicate with … the ‘procrastinating on the blog while at the office’ people here.
Just saw their AA stats. Both have been really good. McClutchen, from past things i’ve read has tough attitude to boot.
Really no reason not to start moving those two up. Unless they really like steven white and dan griese (j/k).
Cox shouldnt be far behind.
Dont want to come off preachy, as a fan, i just feel strongly that you cant count this team out on may 1st.
no one would do that if they were three games out on july 1st, august 1st or sept 1st
I don’t get the Girardi hate either, though I guess I understand why the media is ticked off.
If you understand that when Girardi says “he’s not hurt” to mean “he’s going on the DL”, then you’re fine.
I know it’s cliche, but it could be worse. It could be a lot worse.
I mean, if Posada got hurt last year, with Wil Nieves as our back up…
Or if Alex Rodriguez got hurt with just Miguel Cairo (and not AG or Morgan Ensberg) as the back up…
And G-d knows what our pitching staff was like for the first month…
We’re a game below .500 and we’ve lost our best offensive players from last year, aren’t hitting with RISP at all, and seem to be going down at a rate of an injury a day.
It could be a lot worse.
‘It should be interesting to watch but on some nights I am going to switch off the game and just focus on the box score the next morning”
i’ll admit that’s what i did last night( also affected by an early am flight). i think the yankees are going to have to decide who among the young players down on the farm that they can afford to trade for some veteran help.
i would trade kennedy in a package if it meant getting a decent proven third starter. when either wang or pettitte have a bad night, this team looks really bad. i don’t think it means anyone is jumping off buildings or screaming the sky is falling to say that.
i’ve watched the yankees for a long time, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is a crisis . the yankees were really all in on the switch to hughes, kennedy, and joba . almost everything had to turn out right.
the injuries that plagued april and now may have undermined that plan. it’s going to be tough to keep the original plan when so many variables are in play now.
Do I dare listen to crazy and crazier today on WFAN?
HHmm I might get a few giggles out of it but will that outweigh the aggravation they will bring me?
It might be time I get Sirius Satellite radio(they are merging with XM right?)
Ansky:
Agree as it relates to Hughes. Less so on Kennedy who I don’t view as anything special. Far to soon to panic. Far too soon to abandon a philosophy. Far to soon to give up on Hughes and Kennedy.
“I’ll support the manager until he does something egregiuos, is burned at the stake (in which case he’d be a martyr), or the Daily News breaks a story that he had a long-term affair with a minor.”
Wow – Joe G. is going to want to have you cloned about a million times.
I tend to agree that Joe is in the first month of the season and the press and he are getting used to each other. IMO he is going to have to straighten out his approach to communicating honestly with the media. No one likes to be f’d around with.
The FAN website has postgame Girardi and Phil audio if anyone wants to check it out. If Phil is making up the injury he is doing a decent job of fibbing.
just watched Eric Duncan’s HR from the other day, the kid looks like he’s getting it now. The HR was on a 3-2 pitch off of Matt Ginter. I’m going to be paying attention to his boxscore tonight.
That should by *Not saying that I like*.
Melky, Jeter, Abreu, & Matsui need to be a constant in the lineup. Cano stays in because he’s great defensively and he needs to play to get going at the plate. The rest you can plug & play as far as I’m concerned. Everyone just needs to realize there’s no white knight coming in and they need to step up.
BTW, the bullpen’s been great so far. Solid as a rock and giving the team a chance to stay in games.
Brandon he better hurry up and get if he is going to get it, before the Yankees decide to go with Texeira….
mel: The bullpen has been a rock, but having to use it so much will not bode well come August and September.
Hopefully we can figure out a rotation that can give us at least six innings in a game…here’s hoping for a good start from Ian!
Do the Yankees have any say over whether a game like today’s starts at 1PM as opposed to 7??? Is it being nationally televised??? If not, it would seem today is the perfect day for a day game.
Jax he has 3 HR in his last 30 ABs batting .367 too, the wierd thing is he doesn’t have enough extra base hits, he has 11 hits 7 are singles, 1 double, 3 round trippers.
Today should have been played at 1 considering there will be rain tonight.
blah…
I disagree about the bullpen Rebecca re using it early hurts it’s chances of being effective late in the year. The team has done a nice job of loading up on good arms who have options to go to the minors. I think the Scranton Shuttle will be filled with pitchers coming up and back all year long.
Can someone explain how minor league options work? CB said last night that Rasner is out of options once he gets called up. How many options do players get?
Jax, you dont even need to watch a weather report. last game of a series. isnt rain a must?
With the Yanks payroll we need to be better. Rasner is not the answer, if he was he would have been with the big team already. The Hughes thing is two fold I think. The Yankee brass wont admit the mistake of counting on him and Kennedy so heavily. Hughes will be good, eventually, but lets understand, he is a “blue chip” ?? alot of teams have pitchers like him. many teams have young quality pitchers, Boston has two of them. So to thing Hughes was an exclusive level of a pitcher, and the top prospect and therefore untradable was the mistake
Jax,
I think Texeira is a foregone conclusion right now. Next year Jeter, Abreu, A-Rod and Posada will all be a year older. They’ll need another youngerish type bat to augment the lineup. Texeira should be a good fit to bat behind A-Rod.
Yankees only play 1 o’clock games if it is their get away day. Since they don’t hit the road tomorrow, it’s a night game.
May I interject a little idea here? It may sound off the wall, but with some of our better hitters down/out why not try something new?
Call up Brett Gardner or Justin Christian.
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Cabrera RF
Matsui/Abreu DH
Giambi/Shelly 1B
Cano 2B
Molina C
Brett/Justin CF/LF
Alberto 3B
This line-up gives one some very fast guys at 8 thru 3 in the batting order. If we can’t hit them out, let’s run them out! Damon, Alberto, Brett, Justin could turn singles/walks into doubles…to some extent Jeter and melky could also. Let’s be realist here! With the people out of the line-up we have…we will not be able to go base to base (as with A-Rod/Jorge) and win many games.
Rather than call me a nut case…I may be…give us a better idea. Rather than nit picking the team/manager or GM, let’s get some optimism (I like that word) going here. After all, these are OUR Yanks. Lighten up guys/gals. Boy oh boy, am I going to get slammed. 27/08.
is it raining in the city now? weather i’m looking at shows showers both day and night.
no need for a day game if they aren’t traveling. i like watching on tv @ home. not on gameday @ work
They tend to play day games on Sundays.
I was just outside in midtown and it is sunny but a little chilly.
I’m fighting a cold right now
I don’t agree that it’s Girardi hate. For all the touting of what a smart, great tactician he’ll be, we’re just not seeing it. It’s legitimate observation.
Right now, he’s not owning up to his side of the bargain. He has made some very questionable moves and he should be held accountable.
Perhaps a Torre-lite (Mattingly) would have been the better transition.
Brandon,
Who’s winning?
BTW. What’s your personal list of coaches to get the job @ MSG?
And here’s something fun for you. You can do the split image thing you see on tv:
http://www.nba.com/therecanbeonlyone/
Weekend game times are somewhat controlled by mlb because of national TV contracts. Can’t play Saturday at 4 because of FOX and can’t play Sunday night because of ESPN unless they are choosen to play on the network that week.
I also get a kick out of how everyone assumes guys like Teixeira and C.C. are just going to automatically want to be Yankees.
I’ll make a bet with some of you that Teixeira ends up somewhere else next year.
Torre was better at working with the press than Girardi appears to be starting off as. I think the relationship with the press is something that could go still evolve in any shape.
Still, I would rather Girardi’s primary focus be on managing the team successfully more than the managing the press successfully.
Not that I wish Pete and his colleagues any ill will in getting their jobs done. As fans we all love the connection to what’s going on, and the press is our access to that info. Pete happens to be good at it (as opposed to, for example, Mike Lupica) so we’re all pretty fortunate.
It would be nice if Girardi could help facilitate this connection to a reasonable degree, but his first priority is to win. It could be worse, Pete … at least the success we hope for the team doesn’t have to come at the cost of dealing with someone like Bobby Knight on a daily basis. Hopefully Girardi can continue to scale that element way way back (I doubt anyone can ever compare to Knight) the writers can figure out a way to work with him & get at least most of the info they’re looking for, and a fair understanding of each other can be reached.
What exactly has he done wrong? The team had no off days, many players are hurt. He is trying to get guys rest. Does he tell them not to get hits when runners are on base? Or to wait till there are two outs? It is very easy to lay the blame on the pitching, but all and all they have kept us in games. The hitting on the other hand. Well they bailed the pitching out in one game this year. The hiters have to step it up.
“I’m fighting a cold right now”
Can you type thru it or do we need to place you on the Blog 15 day DL?
REmember Damon said in his book he didn’t want to be a Yankee back in ‘05.But Hey a fouth year and some extra money and he’s a Yankee now.
I’m a bit confused as to why Britton keeps getting called up in favor of Veras. By most accounts on this blog, it seems like Veras is the favorable pitcher, not to mention he appears to be doing very well at AAA.
Yankee Lover – I think Rasner isn’t being looked at as ‘the answer’ at least in the long run. The thinking might be that Rasner would step into a role for a while, then maybe fill another role when Hughes & Kennedy can come back and better pitch to true their abilities.
ANSKY,
I don’t see a peaceful resolution anytime soon. Or at all. Once the NY media has pegged you as Hoodie Jr. It’s ovah!
They’ve got their knives sharpened and Girardi could be perfect and a saint, but the few bleeps who’ve already turned on him aren’t going to change their minds.
“I think Texeira is a foregone conclusion right now. Next year Jeter, Abreu, A-Rod and Posada will all be a year older. They’ll need another youngerish type bat to augment the lineup. Texeira should be a good fit to bat behind A-Rod.”
I think that getting Tex depends a lot on whether the Yanks decide to go after a free agent ace (a hefty lefty for example). We should have a good sense of where the rotation is and if Andy P. is coming back for the House the A-Rod will build.
If Girardi’s first priority is to win, he’s not doing a very good job at it.
Hey, let’s put a hurt Damon in center and a new guy behind the plate…that should get us on the winning track.
Pat: LMAO!
He had to get Melky a day off.
I agree it was the wrong decision to put stweart behind the plate. But Pete also said that Jose was hurting.
“Brandon,
Who’s winning?”
which series ?
as for the Knicks coaches it’s tough right now, the whole team needs a face lift first, and really who knows about the coach right now.
“Jax he has 3 HR in his last 30 ABs batting .367 too, the wierd thing is he doesn’t have enough extra base hits, he has 11 hits 7 are singles, 1 double, 3 round trippers.”
Sounds like the Austin Jackson story. Not a lot of pop in AA. 0 homers and 3 rbi in 110+ AB’s. Nice command of the strike zone though. 16 walks against only 20 K’s.
He played Jose the very next day. He could have given Jose the night off the next night. Hughes needed a veteran behind the plate to help him. Andy could have guided Stewart.
Also, as Kay said…and he was right. Melky is 24 and doing well right now, he didn’t need a day off.
Brandon,
You or the cold?
You’re not tantalized at the thought of Avery Johnson or Mike D’antoni (I’d stay away from that one-he’s all offense)?
What’s Starbury’s contract status?
Fredo – I tend to favor Hughes a little more than Kennedy too, but yes they both are worth having some more patience with. I’m not thinking in terms of weeks either… more like a season or two, or even three.
Still, after three years, they’d probably still not have have reached their zeniths but things should be going well enough to see reliable results before then.
“Perhaps a Torre-lite (Mattingly) would have been the better transition.”
I respectfully disagree. If Mattingly took over or Torre was still here, then they would just be somebody else to pin the blame on for the team’s woes.
It seems that the majority of haters (that’s not the best word, sorry) wants to blame SOMEBODY when it should be the entire Yankees organization that should be held accountable.
M&MD are saying the Yanks don’t have to pay luxury tax next year b/c of the stadium. This isn’t right is it? I thought that they were given a pass on revenue sharing to MLB but not luxury tax.
If anyone knows this I’d be interested.
Avery Johnson would kill the morale of everyone on the Knicks, think about how Devin Harris had a smile being traded to NJ, oh and I meant me, I’m fighting a bit of a cold, sore throat, runny nose , it begins
“What’s Starbury’s contract status?”
sucking up
If Rasner does well he has several possible roles: rotation for either Mussina/Kennedy/Hughes, Long relief allowing Ohlendorf to go back to being a one inning guy, facilitator for Joba to the pen (perhaps they tag team back starts for a couple of weeks).
I also think reasonable reliability will be there in the 2nd half of this year …. I’m just not expecting either to be a top pitcher like Wang (just for example) in only 1 or 2 years. Even Clemens took a couple years to dominate after his debut.
“Even Clemens took a couple years to dominate after his debut.”
Roids.
TK,
Luxury tax & revenue sharing are two different things. I think they got it wrong. You mean MMD aren’t perfect?
“I think Texeira is a foregone conclusion right now. Next year Jeter, Abreu, A-Rod and Posada will all be a year older. They’ll need another youngerish type bat to augment the lineup. Texeira should be a good fit to bat behind A-Rod.”
Tend to agree but believe it will require a significant overpay. Mets will be in it and the O’s will too (he’s a Maryland kid). It will take a Giambi-esque deal to get it done.
Fredo you can’t compare Austin Jackson to Eric Duncan. Duncan’s been in the minors for 4,5 years and has done nothing.
In my opinion they should put Phil into the pen as the long man the way he was used in the play-offs last season. Get him out of the rotation, take the pressure from the press and the media off of him and let him regain his confidence gradually.
Clemens was a monster for a few years before that time in his career. He faded from there to the point where the Sox were giving up on him, then he came to life again just before going to Toronto. I think that’s the time you’re talking about, Russell. I was talking about his rise from ‘84-’86.
“jennifer
May 1st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
He had to get Melky a day off.”
Why? He was hitting well, running well, fielding well and not showing signs of being tired. If you are that concerned with resting Melky, then why not do it before a kid who is having some trouble is on the mound?
Also, despite Molina being hurting a bit, wouldn’t it make just common sense to put him behind the plate for Hughes rather than someone they just called up to plug a hole?
When you look at the way Girardi configured the defense for Hughes’ game, you could almost come to the conclusion that he was doing every move possible to make it tough for the kid. Does that seem like anything near solid management skills?
Girardi is the new man. As such he doesn’t get a free pass. He needs to do as Torre did, EARN the respect and EARN the right to be forgiven for making an error in judgement.
The only plus with him so far is that they came into spring training in good shape. We see how well that has paid off. It didn’t do any bad, but it didn’t get the Yankees off to a decent start either. That and he doesn’t fall asleep during the games.
Creative lineups are fine if they work for a game, putting a different one out there all the time shows he is over working things and that almost never works out.
Exactly G on the DL.
A distinct case of over managing.
“I was talking about his rise from ‘84-’86.”
Probably dominated then because the earth’s gravitational pull strengthened when I was born
I see what you’re saying now.
“Sounds like the Austin Jackson story. Not a lot of pop in AA. 0 homers and 3 rbi in 110+ AB’s. Nice command of the strike zone though. 16 walks against only 20 K’s.”
execept Austin is 21 and started making baseball a priority last season for the first time in his career so this is his sophmore minor league season. I understand what you mean, but both cases aren’t the same.
Guys not on roids that took time to dominate:
Smoltz, Maddox, Carmona, Santana.
Also, if you guys want to hate on someone, hate on the schedule makers that thought it’d be fun to send the Yankees to Kansas City, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago and Baltimore all in April.
It’s one thing to play a sh–ton of road games in April.
It’s quite another to play nearly all of them in cold cities without domed or retractable roofed stadiums.
Hold up …I need to put on my pinstriped glasses and pick up my Yankee Pom Poms….Ok…ALL SET…
.
Rickum Rackum Ree, Kick ‘em in the Knee,,,
Rickum Rackum Rass, Kick ‘em in the other knee !
.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Yankees !!!
“Guys not on roids that took time to dominate:
Smoltz, Maddox, Carmona, Santana.”
unfortunately , maddox is really the only one we know for sure. and he’s so smart if he ever did anything no one would ever know. if he’s still pitching well at 60, then we’d better take a look at him too.
the problem with young pitching is that it usually takes time. look at bonderman. and when it doesn’t, there are sometimes problems with that- gooden, wood, prior,etc.
No one is hating, just making some observations. Girardi has not been impressive thus far. Sorry he had a rough schedule, at least he didn’t have to go to Japan.
I’m actually tired of all the excuses. Every year it’s something new. If you’re a good team and managed well, you can win.
“Guys not on roids that took time to dominate:
Smoltz, Maddox, Carmona, Santana.”
What did Garry Maddox dominate?
“Fredo you can’t compare Austin Jackson to Eric Duncan. Duncan’s been in the minors for 4,5 years and has done nothing.”
Understood. Just used your post as a way to bring up Jackson. Power numbers are very disappointing, but his plate discipline appears to be excellent. I find that very encouraging as the power will likely come as he gets bigger and stronger. Having the plate discipline already bodes well.
“No one is hating, just making some observations. Girardi has not been impressive thus far. Sorry he had a rough schedule, at least he didn’t have to go to Japan.”
we had the worst schedule made to any MLB team, 20 days of baseball, no rest, the road trip was freaking ridiculous
Vito,
We have had our differences but I will give you at least one thing…you have a good sense of humor.
I agree Fredo
“What did Garry Maddox dominate?”
Better question, who is Garry Maddox?
ray,
What’s with your boys? They look like a bunch of thugs. Especially Ainge. haha.
Brandon, thanks for the sanity!
“unfortunately , maddox is really the only one we know for sure.”
Wait what? So now Santana, Carmona and Smoltz are roiders and for some inexplicable reason Maddux isn’t?
“gooden, wood, prior”
Well luckily we don’t have dusty baker as a manager.
Seriously, you are ripping on young pitching? Young starting pitchers are the most valuable commodity in the game. You realize that Oswault, Santana, Halladay, Sabathia, Peavy, Beckett, etc were all young pitchers at one time right? Would you rather the yankees keep overpaying for aging vets? I bet you were one of the fans hoping Zito would sign with the Yanks.
“look at bonderman”
Bonderman never panned out, he isn’t “taking time” he’s a career mediocre pitcher.
Honestly randy half of your posts make no sense.
“What did Garry Maddox dominate?”
The internet.
If you are against developing homegrown pitching – check out the list of FA pitchers this coming off season:
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2002/02/2008-09-free-agents.html
Any news on whether the Yankees are looking to add someone who can hit or drive in runs. At almost 50% of their games scoring 3 runs or less is not good.
I love how you all think Texeira will automatically want to come here.
Boston, Atlanta, Mets and Orioles just for starters will be throwing bags of money at the guy.
He’s already said he liked the idea of Baltimore and don’t give me the he won’t go to a non-contender BS. If Baltimore opens the vault, he could land there just as easy as he could here.
And Boston definitely knows they need to put in place their next middle of the order slugger in case Ortiz declines.
And if you don’t think the Mets will go dollar for dollar for Texiera with the Yankees, then you’re dumb. They have a need at 1b, a new stadium and they are going to want to get rid of the stench of Delgado with a fan approved replacement.
As for CC, he will re-sign in Cleveland just like Zambrano did with the Cubs.
Once Cleveland sees him pitching consistently well like he has the past 2 starts, they are going to open the vault and he’ll take a hometown discount to stay since he doesn’t want to leave.
If you haven’t noticed, Ace type #1 pitchers don’t hit the free agent market anymore.
As for our Yankees, the GM needs to fix this team. I think he’s done the poorest job of his tenure this year. His off season, in my opinion, was not a good one.
In years past, he had legitimate options for the rotation and this year we’re looking at plugging in Rasner and Igawa.
I also think he erred significantly by giving Cano the fat contract. If there ever was a player that needed to remain hungry and motivated by money, it’s Cano.
I’m sick of his act. Yeah, I know he’s going to hit .400 from July on, but this garbage with him forgetting how to hit year after year is tedious.
We want players we can rely on and Cano is not one of them. The fact that it’s May 1 and he’s hitting .150 is so infuriating. It should be any day now that the stories of him spending late nights before day games hitting the Dominican night clubs start popping up.
Not to mention when the manager bats Cano anywhere but in the bottom 3rd of the lineup, he can’t hit. Great. He can’t deal with the pressure of batting 1-6. What a wonderful player.
Cashman can fix this team on the fly. The time for Damon and Giambi is over. I don’t know who might trade for Damon, but he needs to go somewhere else.
It seems like it’s Damon’s ritual that when the big dogs hit the DL, Damon starts telling the media how banged up he is and how he can’t go on the DL because everyone else is on the DL.
You know what Johnny? Go on the DL.
Let Gardner come up for 2 weeks and let’s see if he out performs you as leadoff hitter and LF.
With what Damon is giving us currently, we can more than handle his trip to the DL.
This team is lifeless. It has little spark outside of Melky.
They have options within the organization to fix things.
If Damon is wrapping his leg up, put him on the DL. Give him a couple of weeks to go get a tan.
And make Shelley a full time player. The ball jumps off the kid’s bat. Let’s see if he can develop into something other than a RH platoon player.
And if I’m Girardi, I bench Cano for a few games and let AG play 2b. Although somewhere I think Cano would enjoy the days off and vacation.
I think you have your Maddox’s wrong Garry Maddux was a GREAT centerfielder for the Philies. Known as the secretary of Defense he played in 80s and late 70s was the CF for their world series team. There was nothing better when he made a great catch and Harry Kalas went crazy. Also a great community guy I believe he still iesd in the Philly area and very involved wih community organizations.
Sorry for the long list but here is the upcoming crop of FA pitchers: (it isn’t pretty)
Kris Bensen BAL
A.J. Burnett TOR (may opt out)
Paul Byrd CLE
Jon Garland LAA
Tom Glavine ATL
Mike Hampton * ATL
Rich Harden * OAK
Orlando Hernandez NYM
Jason Jennings TEX
Randy Johnson ARZ
John Lackey * LAA
Esteban Loaiza OAK
Braden Looper STL
Derek Lowe LAD
Pedro Martinez NYM
Matt Morris * PIT
Mike Mussina NYY
Jamie Moyer PHI
Mark Mulder * STL
Carl Pavano NYY
Brad Penny * LAD
Odalis Perez WAS
Oliver Perez NYM
Andy Pettitte NYY
Mark Prior SD
Horatio Ramirez SEA
C.C. Sabathia CLE
Ben Sheets MIL
John Smoltz * ATL
Julian Tavarez BOS
Steve Trachsel BAL
Brett Tomko KC
Claudio Vargas MIL
Randy Wolf SD
Some of you guys are acting like it’s the middle of August and we’re still a game under .500. If that did happen, I’d probably have to stay clear away from here because I’d be too scared of some of you… o-o
ray (sox fan) …. I’ll agree to disagree with you on many things…except THAT ! Have a great day, ray. Without the rivalry between Yankees’ and Sox fans, we would all ( well at least I would
)….have less fun in this crazy life. Have an awesome day, ray ! Take care….
Pepper Brooks, it is what it is, this is the team right now, the problem is they are in October tank mode, this is what happens in the playoffs to them, they have the always me look, the what do we do now, the dammit we can’t get that run in, Girardi is seeing it upclose, and it’s better they go through it now than later. Girardi will seperate the weak from the strong. So far we’ll see…
The only FA pitcher I’m interested in on that list is Rich Harden and Marte if the Pirates don’t pick up his option.
I’m a little scared about how things will be tonight with Ian pitching.
New Lost tonight. WooHoo
“Thanks for your sanity!” Interesting take Rebecca.
I can assure you that my opinions are firmly based in sanity. I’m attempting a pleasant discourse in an effort to further conversation. I’ve watched the Yankees since the 70’s, been through the ups and downs, seen a lot of managers. Girardi is getting off on the wrong foot, it’s as simple as that.
I will not accept the schedule as an excuse. Later in the year another team will have a rough stretch schedule-wise, I guess we’ll have to see how they do in comparison.
Right now Joe G. has not impressed. Whether it be with his handling of the media or his roster management. I’m fully willing to let him figure it out…but he does need to figure it out.
Harden is Pavano lite. A lot like Sheets.
I’d bite on Brad Penny.
The lineup does need to become consistent so that every player knows their role.
I personally like:
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Matsui DH
Cabrera CF
Giambi/Duncan 1B
Molina C
Cano 2B
Gonzalez 3B
That puts everyone in the game that deserves to be there. I hate to say it, though, but Betemit could actually improve the 1B or 3B positions right now. He may strike out but he can hit a bomb and seems to do better out of a utility/PH role than starting.
Cabrera has power at the moment and putting him between Cano and Giambi/Duncan stops the basepaths from being so clogged up, provides the switch hitter between 2 lefties, and leaves the only real logjam for the 7 and 8 hitters.
I think Melky has shown he’s a #6 or #7 hitter in this lineup now. He’s hot and he needs to be put in position to make things happen. Damon’s even hotter and Melky is not a leadoff hitter. He just isn’t.
believe it or not I like Looper he’s cheap and gets alot more done. 50-30 GO/AO and the ability to K you ..I wouldn’t mind him.
Was looking back at some of the games that Hughes and Kennedy pitched. Seriously, it is not necessarily all on them. There are at least 7 games that could have been won in games they pitched if there was any offense.
I bring this up because it is still a good thing to have these young guys pitching versus the washed up pitchers we have had over the past two years.
I think the current play is NOT the weather, the injuries, or the number of road games but bad offense and bad managerial decisions. More on the offense.
Just can’t let this go.
MBF: i agree with that particular lineup.
Kennedy is going to have a respectable start tongiht
mel,
Ainge was just disappointed that he couldn’t be out there to bite someone’s ear! That dates me.
Is it me? isn’t anyone else concerned the A-Jack only has 3 RBI in over 110 abs. That’s AA, he’s looking like 2010 product
Looper’s just below average (89 era+ last year) to average (105 era+ this season) (…albeit, better than I expected after his tenure as Mets closer)
“Is it me? isn’t anyone else concerned the A-Jack only has 3 RBI in over 110 abs. That’s AA, he’s looking like 2010 product”
It’s just you, he’s 21 years old and only fully committed to focus on baseball since last season. So this is his sophmore year, the weather has been horrible even in Trenton, that’s a big reason why JB Cox was kept in Tampa… if Jackson goes through the same thing in July it’s still no biggy he’s one of the youngest players in AA Tabata is the youngest in AA. So no don’t worry about them right now, if anything his strike zone discipline has impressed and he’s had a clutch hit in month # 1
Hey, I got two tickets to tonights game that I can’t go to. Seats are tier mvp 13, row J. Face value is $27 + ticketmaster fees. Asking $20 each, $40 total. Anyone interested in going?
“Looper’s just below average (89 era+ last year) to average (105 era+ this season)”
for a stop gap # 5 SP he’s good enough.
Oh, for that purpose, then yea, fair enough
My point being on AJACK is people have him penciled in for 2009, and that’s just not the case.We will probably have Damon, Melky, and Abreu for 2009
The only problem I have with some of you who post that the lineup needs to be consistent is that Cano and Giambi, statistically 2 of the worst hitters in the game right now, get consistent starts and at bats.
They’re not being jerked around, yet they are awful.
Meanwhile, our rotating catchers are hitting decently, Matsui who is shifted around is hitting decently as well.
It’s the regulars who play every day (with the exception of Melky and Abreu) who are hurting this lineup.
There’s a serious lack of clutch right now.
I am getting sick and tired of people moaning about a lack of quality starting pitching. There are tons of great pitchers out there for the taking. The league is overflowing with top-flight starting pitching.
In an unrelated story, Sidney Ponson was today’s starter for the Texas Rangers.
longtime trust me he’s not gonna have 3 RBIs and no HR for long
There is no telling either unless you watch or listen to all the Trenton games how many times he has come up with RISP.
He got off to a good start but he’s in a little bit of a slump. Not a big deal. Problem is when a prospect is in a slump thoughts start to creep in some minds “he’s probably a bust.”
Here’s the series results so far:
Toronto-win
Tampa-split
KC-lose
Boston-lose
Tampa-win (2 game sweep!)
Boston-split (2 games)
Baltimore-lose
White Sox-win
Cleveland-split
Detroit-lose
We’re not totally unhinged, guys. Two days ago we were 1 GB of Boston. Frankly, you might have to worry more about Tampa Bay. haha. j/k. I think.
Some one on the radio (with credentials) said TB actually has a chance to win the division. I knew better than to poopoo on them in the spring. Teams have a funny way of turning around.
Hey Guys no knock on his ability, he will be a big star in the Bronx. Just not next year…..
“My point being on AJACK is people have him penciled in for 2009, and that’s just not the case.We will probably have Damon, Melky, and Abreu for 2009″
I’d guess ‘09 for Jackson is something of a stretch. ‘10 for sure, but next year?? Don’t see it.
Anyone know what’s going on with Tababta? He’s appears to be out of his league in AA. Hasn’t played since his temper tantrum and haven’t heard whether he’s going back to Hi-A. Anyone???
Jackson has only had 45 ABs w/ runners on base, now he is 1 for 23 w/ RISP which means he’s pressing but then you see 7 BB out of the 22 misses, makes it really 1 for 15, still a whole lot of baseball to play.
“Now, Clemens has lied over much more serious stuff than injury reports. But, if you keep lying to the media, sooner or later its going to come back to bite you.”
Please tell this to The Bush Administration.
Blatant lies won him another 4 years…
might as well include his first term for that matter.
“Jackson has only had 45 ABs w/ runners on base, now he is 1 for 23 w/ RISP which means he’s pressing…”
Or that means he would fit in really well with the Yanks right now!
“Anyone know what’s going on with Tababta? He’s appears to be out of his league in AA. Hasn’t played since his temper tantrum and haven’t heard whether he’s going back to Hi-A. Anyone???”
he’s going through struggles in AA, he’s 19 so they had to expect it, but he misplayed a ball in RF and was pulled by Torre Tyson, then he went in the lockerroom I think he smashed his bat ala O’neill and left the park. Trenton suspended him so he can cool down restart himself, because he was pressing.
that’s right Nick
You know, it’s really frustrating when I wait all day to have a package delivered (Baseball America prospect handbook, whee), and then the doorbell doesn’t work so I miss it entirely.
Grawr.
Fredo I’m not a Keith Law fan but he has not said positive things about Tabata. He said he saw him recently and said like everyone else seems to be saying, he’s out of shape and his swing is out of whack.
He will start hitting once he’s figured out the league and once his swing gets back. He does need to have a better work ethic though. Doesn’t sound like he has one.
anyway the yankees can trade for kotchman this season?
Even Chris Russo who loves to bash the Yanks was saying it is way too early to panic. We are one month in and close to the top. And the Yankees have not begun to play anywhere near their best baseball. They will start to hit and pitch. And if not, they have the resources (players and money) to go out and fill in the missing pieces.
“anyway the yankees can trade for kotchman this season?”
No. The Angels wouldn’t do that
“He will start hitting once he’s figured out the league and once his swing gets back. He does need to have a better work ethic though. Doesn’t sound like he has one.”
it’s not a bad work ethic, he’s just pressing, and himm giving a temper tantrum means he cares how he’s playing, the latino player does this alot. Frankly it’s a great sign for him at 19 to give that much of a damn and not just comfort himself.
“the latino player” you make it sound like a sub-species.
I know Tabata’s young. Didn’t like the move ot AA for him. He held his own in Tampa last year, which was impressive for his age, but he was nowhere near dominant. Probably could have used at least another half season in Tampa.
Fran,
Almost everything that can possibly go wrong has gone wrong (knock on wood). Plenty of time.
I think most people are disappointed in the young pitching, frustrated with the injuries and lack of offense, as well as puzzled, or plain ol’ hating on Girardi. But the mood is just so palpable. Hopefully, a nice win streak would clear the fog.
I still like our guys. Hopefully they’ll come around, but we can’t depend on a miraculous turnaround like last season.
If the Yanks decide the DL’ed players need rehab starts, there’s a chance A-Rod, Hughes and possibly Posada could end up in Trenton playing a rehab game instead of Scranton if the 15 day time frame holds.
Scranton is on the road right before they would be eligible to come off the DL and the Yankees aren’t likely to give away the gate by letting these guys, especilly A-Rod and Posada, rehab on the road when they can draw crowds because of them being there.
Tabata’s work ethic isn’t good. Its part of his problem.
Conversely, he’s only 19 years old. You never give up on 19 year olds with his talent.
Just means it will take time.
Its the thing about prospects. You must have patience. If not, you end up making judgments too soon about them and that’s when you make mistakes.
Jackson is more mature than Tabata. He’s also not going to be ready until 2010.
Folks who think he will be ready next year are being way too optimistic about him.
“the latino player†you make it sound like a sub-species.
LOL I’m latino, I know how we take baseball struggles, Melky Cabrera was the same way, Manny was the same too, Jose Guillen was a nut, Ronny Belliard use to throw the biggest bronx tantrums in his young days. The latin athlete when he has a temper about his struggles it means he gives a damn.
Only thing I don’t like about Tabata is this is the second straight year I’m hearing about him being out of shape. He’s only 5′10,5′11 so he puts a lot of weight on he appears to be chunky. He looked a good size in the Futures Game couple of years ago though.
Mel,
I agree. It has got to get better. The law of averages has to catch up!
Manny Ramirez was never in shape in the minors. Neither were a lot of guys because they eat like crap in mostly fast food joints because they aren’t making a lot of money.
That’s why it takes more of a work ethic to guard against being out of shape.
He’s a kid. Not all kids have the maturity Jeter had at 19 or Montero has today at 18.
Tabata? He’s a lot like Manny in a lot of ways. Being kind of “out there” is one trait they share.
The Yankees have the good fortune to be patient with him.
He has to grow up though. Can’t keep having temper tantrums and getting suspended.
I’d rather Jose deal poorly with failure now and figure out how to do it at age 19 than at age 22 when he is on the 25 man roster.
Is there any evidence that players hit worse because of frequent lineup changes? I doubt it.
That’s not to say the lineup is irrelevant. Obviously, Girardi should try to use the lineup as a tool to maximize offense. But I would be surprised if any particular player hit worse because he didn’t have a particular lineup spot.
SJ44 I read a interview where Tabata said his favorite player growing up was Manny. So it’s kind of fitting that he’s similar to him that way.
In 2009 Mussina and Farnsworth will be gone among others. Look for Daniel McCutchen and David Robertson to be viable candidates as replacements.
Also look for Mark Melancon and J.B.Cox to be strongly in the mix.
Expect Damon to go in a winter deal with the Yankees picking up a portion of his #13M contract. Brett Gardner is the leadoff hitter.
pat -
I will be watching for those rehab games in Trenton – I live about 35-ish minutes from there. Still waiting to go to my first game there this season, though, mainly because of the cold, but also because when I have had a free weekend, they’ve been on the road.
Lol…all these obliques are going to give us a rotation of Rasner and Igawa
While many rely on the kids to pitch well…,
the offense has to get something going here too especially to take some pressure off kennedy & hughes.
Hopefully IPK can getthem in a position to win.
“If you haven’t noticed, Ace type #1 pitchers don’t hit the free agent market anymore.”
Uhhhh… One did hit the TRADE market last winter, if Im not mistaken. But for Johan, they wanted a king’s ransom.
Kind of redundant now, but if the Yankees could have slipped the Twins Kennedy, Gardner, plus two other prospects, poss Horne, etc. Then I would have been happy.
But Phil, Kennedy and Melkman???!!! Forget it!