Crunching a few numbers
-
- May
- 2
Hideki Matsui has an 11-game hitting streak going and his batting average has gone down. Matsui is 12 of 39, dropping his average from .321 to .316.
Meanwhile, Ian Kennedy has needed 502 pitches to record 71 outs this season. That’s an average of 7.07 pitches per out. That is very inefficient. Whether it’s in the majors or down in Scranton, he needs to become more willing to challenge hitters.
It’s so weird. Kennedy recorded 57 outs in his three starts last season and needed only 275 pitches - an average of 4.82 per out. He walked nine in 19 innings last season. He has 20 walks in 23.2 innnings this season.
Chad Moeller has hit safely in five of the seven games he has played in.
A little good news: Bobby Murcer was at the park tonight and will be on television tomorrow.
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on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 12:50 am by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Sometimes I kinda feel like there’s Drive 4-5 and Me and there’s everyone else on the board.
Except everyone else knows the truth, but they are dancing around admitting it with the “it’s early”, “you don’t know anything about baseball”, “bad weather”, etc.
The fact of the matter is this team was poorly conceived and terribly designed this season by Cashman.
Just admit it. You’ll feel better.
I could care less if he stays or goes.
In the span of a few months, every trading chip he had outside of Joba has devalued greatly.
He the opportunity to get premiere type players this off season and instead hoarded prospects and he blew it.
He came into this season with no 1b, 3 huge question marks in the rotation and about 7 DH’s
We all praised him for cutting free of Randy Jonhson and Sheff. So how come wonderboy couldn’t get rid of one of Damon or Giambi and find suitable replacements before the season started?
Why couldn’t he have actually located a 1b who can play the field and hit?
And why did he think 2 rookie pitchers with little to no track records and innings caps placed on them were the way to go into a season?
This is his worst season as GM. Maybe it’s because the old man doesn’t have all his marbles and his kids are still figuring this out.
But Cashman spent the off season putzing around with his buddy Theo talking about how he had it all figured out and he invited this.
All he had to do during the off season is find one reliable veteran starter and a 1b. Then he would have been able to work the kids into the rotation slowly but surely and kept their innings in check.
He hurt the development of the kid pitchers by putting so much pressure on them. The pressure of starting for a 200 million team. The pressure of starting in the final season at Yankee Stadium.
Bad job, Cash.
He better fix this and fix it soon or he won’t have to worry about a contract extension.
Damon and Giambi have to go and be replaced by a real 1b and a high energy OF with some speed. Matsui should DH.
He has to find something whether within or outside the organization to fix this rotation.
If he can do those things, this team has a shot when Arod returns.
But I can’t watch Damon laughing at home plate with the ump and the catcher down 4 runs in the eighth inning anymore. How about some focus there Johnny?
Oh wait, you don’t want be here. You just want the checks.
Pay his bloated salary and trade him to anyone in the league. Stat.
Pinstripe Plus just reported Dave Robertson is going to Scranton, expect Melancon to AA Trenton sometime this week or next week.
Well…. at least Bobby’s doing well
I was looking at some of the minor league numbers during the game and Robertson’s definitely stuck out - has anyone seen him pitch?? Can he help us in the pen this year/next?
I was at the game tonight.
Rough, rough time to watch. Crowed wanted so badly to cheer for something but we never really got it.
But I am glad to know Bobby Murcer was there, se how it makes me feel better.
As a huge advocate of wanting to see these young guys develops here rather then on other teams I have to say the performances haven’t made me change my mind, but they do make me cherish what winning feels like.
Count me in with you. Cashman brought this on himself. The unfortunate thing is I don’t see anyway he can fix it this time. He had his opportunity this offseason just as you said.
Poor caddying Cashman, poor caddying.
G Love:
What “premiere type players” other than Santana did Cashman pass on?
Meanwhile, Damon and Giambi have no-trade clauses in their contracts. Beyond that, what could you get for either of them?
You can’t just wave a magic wand and change the team.
Meanwhile, Damon is playing with a groin pull. Cut him some slack. So if he walks around grumpy, that will make the team better?
Jeez, it’s May 1. Step off the ledge.
Courtesy of Chad Jennings blog, the Yankees signed catcher J.D.Closser, late of Cubs AAA Iowa. The Yankees have 5 catchers on their 40-man roster. If they decide to pass Chris Stewart thru waivers to get him off the 40-man and he gets claimed, they will still have Closser at AAA Scranton with ML experience. Here’s the link:
http://emedia.thetimes-tribune.com/Blogs/SWBYankeesBlog/tabid/552/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3438/Pregame-notes-Closser-signed.aspx
SoCalYankeeFan
hey Pete…. what’s your average with RISP?? I’d be happy do move Brunney to the 60 day-DL for you…. I remember that onion article about the homerun you hit off of the moose - grab a bat!! lol
looks like to me it’s offical TURN AROUND time- right now. in the meantime, we will support them no matter what.
Glad to hear the news about Murcer and Robertson. Meanwhile at the Syracuse AAA game tonight, I got a foul ball
That a girl Rebecca! I hope it was top play worthy
This is going to be the true rebuilding year that people have been expecting. Old, high-priced contracts are finally proving to be too much to overtake.
Is a dream winter of Sabathia/Sheets and Teixiera too much to ask for?
Pete,
I think if Cashman actually considered trading Hughes or Kennedy he could have been in on Haren, Bedard and Miguel Cabrera.
There were players out there that we didn’t even get cracks at because Cashman refused to deal the kids.
Both Hughes and Kennedy were so highly rated in the off season he had a chance to do something big for this team, but he instead decided to focus on resigning high salaried vets who are in the win now mode and then make his pitching staff outside of Wang and Pettitte, a questionable mess.
I don’t want to even go into last season when the great Cashman chose Igawa over Ted Lilly who wanted to be a Yankee and could actually (gasp) pitch in the majors.
He’s had the reins now for a few seasons and he’s fair game for criticism.
As for Giambi and Damon, I know those guys have no trades, but wasn’t Damon asking for a trade last season? Wasn’t he telling people he made a mistake coming here and was considering quitting baseball?
And as for Giambi, I don’t care if he’s on the team Pete. But where was the evidence that was ready to resume being an everyday major league 1b?
I’m not on the ledge. I think this team can win, but he needs to make moves. The time is now.
Other teams like the Angels have tons of key injuries and they are winning.
You’re watching the same team we are, Pete. They are lifeless and uninspired. There’s not a lot of fight in them.
What do you think is wrong? Why do other teams sustain key injuries and still find it within them to win and come back in games?
waaaaaaaay too much, be happy w/ /1 out of those 3preferably the pitcher
Ryan: Sheets is Pavano lite.
Joe T: The foul ball wasn’t–somehow my friend and I were walking towards the seats behind the bullpen and the ball hit me in the back of my leg. I don’t know if someone hit it or threw it, but it’s got a nice scuff on it.
However you should have seen the look on of Syracuse’s relief pitchers gave my friend when he was holding beer in one hand, my girlie umbrella in the other, and then started dancing…
” to win and come back in games?”
That’s what gets me… it seems like anytime you score against the red sox they get mad and score twice what you put up.. we put up one, they put up 2… we put up 3 or 4 they put up a 5 spot… I love that fight they have in them and would love to see it with the Yankees…. and I KNOW that we will very very soon
Girardi needs to stop Larry Browning it with his lineups and stubbornness.
R - maybe not a top play, but it sounds youtube worthy
G Love , you make a whole lot of sense- i share your frustration.
Joe: It sooo was! I wish I could capture the look on http://syracuse.chiefs.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Tracy%20Thorpe&pos=P&sid=t552&t=p_pbp&pid=452971 this guy’s face.
Also, a pitcher by the name of Mike Gosling apologized to the four of us sitting out by the bullpen for saying ‘da– it’.
I was so tempted to say “I’m from New Jersey, trust me, that’s nothing”, but I didn’t.
I understand that Sheets has been injury prone, but when he’s healthy, he’s a legit top 5 pitcher in baseball. With Fielder, Braun, Hart all coming into money around the same time, I dont know if Milwaukee can justify a huge contract to a pitcher, especially if Gallardo keeps progressing this year.
Let’s just get a win tomorrow..er..I mean later today.
These past three days have been draining
i wasn’t even aware that was a bad word lol…. such polite players in syracuse
I wouldn’t fit in there…. i use that wonderful F word as a space filler when I have nothing to say lol
Pete
Yanks haven’t won since you’ve been off. Get back to work!!
Sheets is not worth the money he’d command, though.
Joe: It’s scary how polite people in Syracuse can be, especially when the stadium is like a two minute drive from the places you don’t want to be wandering alone after dark.
makes you wonder how people criticized torre and were so happy to see him go, and now we are basically in the same starting position as last year. can’t blame one person for a team that is not producing, and half of it ends up on the DL.
girardi has managed much different with the bullpen. he has juggled the line-up alot, and by this point he should have a more steady line-up but with the injuries it will be hard to establish that at this point.
not very appealing to use gas at $4 a gallon, park for $17 all to see shelley duncan bat cleanup and watch us get slapped around for 3 hours.
im sorry, i meant hasnt managed the bullpen differently.
haha very true… I actually play on the club baseball team at UCF (you’re the one who’s brother goes there right??) and we played a team from Buffalo and they were all real nice kids… I grew up in Staten Island so I have NO idea if Buff is near Syr. but either way they’re nice people
And if your brother plays ball/has friends that play we’re looking for some people lol
You could make the point that no pitcher is worth the money they make.
Bedard was not available. The Orioles completely ignored the Yankees and Red Sox. The Orioles cling to the concept that you do not deal within the division. Besides, he’s already been on the DL once. May have been available for some prospects, but Orioles do not like dealing in division.
Haren, in terms of prospects, cost more because he had a very cheap contract. Oakland got a lot for him, and it would would cost New York more than Hughes and Melky and Kennedy. Besides, his stuff is not that of an ace; he had benefited from a large ballpark and is now in the NL. He is not Johan Santana or Josh Beckett or CC Sabathia. He is good, but not top of the line.
Cabrera was sought as a third baseman, and New York had a third baseman under contract. And if you saw what Detroit had to give up to get him, it was more than most fans were willing to part with.
New York has to get through this year. Everyone harps on the payroll, but we are trying to get the payroll down, hopefully to around the $150 million mark or so. There were no reasonably priced decent free agents available. This offseason, there will be other free agents that fans clamor for, such as Tex and Sabathia. This year going in NY knew what it was getting into, knew there would be bumps and bruises. It’s May 1, and if good trades are available, NY will likely make a move. It’s still early. No cause for concern.
Joe T: Yeah, that’d be my brother.
Buffalo’s about three hours west on 90 from here. I actually went to a Jets-Bills game, sat 2nd row end zone for $38, rooted for my Jets and met lots of REALLY nice people
Must be an upstate NY thing.
I’m glad i’m not the only Yankees/Jets fan lol
Time for bed…. I’ll be on tomorrow i’m sure.. goodnight all
Teixeira wants to play near home with the Orioles and has stated as much. We need to quit talking about him as if he were interested in NY. He’s not.
I dont pretend to know too much about this crazy sport of baseball, but has anyone considered that not having Jorge behind the plate has hurt these young pitchers? Last year these young pitchers were working with one great catcher and obviously built up a lot of confidence with him. Now its Chad Moeller. Obviously they would never admit it but maybe its a bigger issue to them.
I’m not suggesting that NY get Tex. I’m not suggesting any trades or free agents. I’m just pointing out the payroll issue. Tex is just an example of free agents, and he is one that fans have been especially vocal about.
Brian C is Watching,
Wasn’t directing my comment towards you per se, but Mark T’s name has come up a lot lately because we’re all nauseous watching Giambi pretend to field.
Trade Matsui right Pete?
haha you say fans shouldn’t want to be general managers of teams, even though most of them think they could do the job. Well what gives beat writers the ability to say who to trade and who not to trade?
There is alot of good with these Yankees and alot that is not so good at this point of the season but what is concerning me is that there seems to be no fire in this team. I hate the Red Sox always did and always will but that little second baseman has the fire I would like to see in some of the Yanks. You got Shelly and Melky but that does not seem to carry much during the game. Joba has the pumping of the fist, which I have noticed he stopped lately, and that seems to be it.
Pete, telling people to step off the ledge… lol.
Wasn’t it you last year in May that was demanding on this very blog the team be blown up and trade away guys like Cano, Posada, etc.?
Please…
Patience.
Very glad Murcer’s back.
Can Michael (”If You See”) Kay go back to “Bowling For Dollars” or do something else commensurate with his talents?
Please.
It’s early, it’s the weather, there’s injuries, etc etc etc. ENOUGH. These are all excuses, and excuses are like…well we all know the rest.
Other teams are playing early, in this weather, with injuries AGAINST the Yankees, and they are winning. Those are not excuses. I don’t understand why fans can’t just admit that the team is playing TERRIBLE right now instead of blaming it on everything else. The other teams play in the SAME EXACT conditions as the Yankees, and they’re embarrassing us. If they can do it, we should be able too. There is no excuse anymore.
G. Love,
Damon was a bad signing, and a lot of people thought so at the time, but he’s not the reason the team is doing so poorly. His numbers so far this season are excellent. If the Yankees keep him from breaking down, he can still be useful.
It’s hard to believe that this is Giambi’s seventh season with the Yankees and that he had an OPS+ of 148 or better in four of those seasons. Seasons like this one (terrible defense, stubbornly hitting into the shift) will be his legacy. Cashman tried to find other solutions at first (Wilson, Phillips, Mientkiewicz) and none of them worked out. Giambi himself is completely untradeable. He can still be of some help to us if he starts hitting the ball to left and keeps drawings walks.
We’ll always be left to wonder about Santana. But Hughes might have been pitching injured, and Kennedy has already shown that he can pitch in the majors. It’s far too soon to give up on them. Plus, the Santana rumors generally had Melky, one of the team’s few bright spots, going to the Twins. Who plays center if we trade Melky?
Cashman has repeatedly displayed a knack for acquiring stopgap rotation fillers when starters go down with injuries. I’m confident he can do it again.
JoeT (12:58 a.m.)
I saw David Robertson at Charleston (I think) he has very good stuff. Fastball 90/95 with movement, slider, curve, I don’t remember seeing a change-up. He was very impressive. A few days ago, I mentioned his name on a blog(I think it was this one or RAB). He is good, but it is a little early to be calling him up yet…maybe around July/Aug.
Pete (1:03 a.m.)
Nice shot, some just don’t pay attention to what is going on.
Pete…
Just want to let you know that I love reading your blog. Thanks man. Keep it up.
You guys have no concept whatsoever of small sample size. A few bounces go different ways and we’re tied for the division lead. It’s one month in, and saying “step off the ledge” is entirely appropriate.
Other than Mo, Bruney, and Melky, you have nobody who is playing over their heads. Cano has been among the most unlucky hitters in baseball. Nearly everyone else will improve. And still we are 7 runs away from ranking 7th in MLB in runs. That’s pretty amazing.
So yes, get off the ledge. Hughes and Kennedy have been bad, but Wang, Mussina, Bruney, Rivera, have all been better than expected.
Things even out.