Keep throwing, Moose
-
- June
- 20
Might the Yankees have a bit of a bullpen dilemma this evening?
Kyle Farnsworth has thrown two days in a row (32 pitches). Mariano Rivera has thrown three days in a row (42 pitches). Jose Veras went 1.1 innings yesterday (27 pitches).
Who’s coming in if the game is close in the late innings? Mike Mussina has pitched six innings or less in 12 of his 15 starts this season. The Yankees may need to get nine outs out of bullpen without three of their relievers.
Hope Ross Ohlendorf ate his Wheaties.
————
We’ve made fun of Curt Schilling plenty of times on his blog. The self-aggrandizing loudmouth usually had it coming. But nobody should welcome the news that he needs shoulder surgery that could end his career.
Love him or hate him (and, yes, you hate him), he’s never been afraid to say what he thinks and that’s a rare quality in baseball. Plus he really is a charitable guy who has done a lot for people.
If this is it, good luck to Schilling. Now admit it. It was ketchup, right?
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Peter Abraham
Screw Schilling, obnoxious big mouth !!!
Pete,
There’s no way in hell Yankee fans will have any sympathy for Curt.
And the fact that he always speaks his mind is why most people hate him. Because he usually says things that make him sound like a d***.
If he stops speaking against the Yankees I’ll wish him well. If this is the end of his career who’ll be the new loudmouth on the Red Sox? Good Luck to Moose tonight I hope he gets the win.
I saw the bloody sock in Cooperstown…it really wasn’t all that bloody.
That said, Schilling’s had a great career, and was able to do things most people can only dream of doing.
****
I guess tonight we have Edwar and Hawkins available (and Ohlendorf) but why do I feel like I’m forgetting someone?
Honestly, all joking aside…I am sad to see his career come to end.
and by sad I mean I never got the chance to see him take a line drive off his fat mouth
The situation the team is in tonight with their bullpen is one of the reason why carrying a lefty specialist in the pen can be a real problem.
Traber is really not a guy you can count on to throw an entire inning without blowing up if there are right handed hitters coming up. He’s had enough trouble getting left handed hitters out.
It’s nice to have a lefty specialist. But if your starting staff doesn’t go deep into games then it may be a luxury you can’t afford.
Hawkins is also just burning a hole in the roster. He’s been demoted to long man which is a good thing, but he really hasn’t shown he can get outs consistently this year.
With him and traber in the pen its really shortens what they have available in terms of flexibility.
It’s going to be a tough game tonight – Volquez and a very short pen.
Girardi will hopefully not try to pitch Mo for a fouth day in a row like he did a week or two ago. He’s going to have to work around the short pen.
I’d guess Ramirez will be available to throw an inning in addition to Ohlendorf. Ohlendorf hasn’t really thrown much at all recently so he might not be very sharp.
I’ve lost track of who else is in the pen these days. I think the candidates left would be Ohlendorf, Ramirez, Hawkins and Traber.
Ohlendorf for 2 and Ramirez for 1?
Is Hawkins still on the team? He pitches less than Britton.
Traber
Good Luck to Moose tonight I hope he gets the win and the Yankees get to be 8 for the last 8. What do you think will be with Giese if he pitches well and so does Kennedy in Rehab? Do the Yankees go with Kennedy because he’s probably the better one in the long run?
You know, even if we had a full ‘pen tonight, winning against Volquez would be an accomplishment.
However, I’d say that if it gets to the point where it’s the ninth inning and we’ve got a one run lead, I’d welcome it.
think about the class of 2013, i think itd be… you could have the possibility of Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, and Schilling all potentials on the first ballot… maybe include Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey, should each of them retire after this year.
wow.
edwar edwar will pitch one inning and ohlendorf another and latroy is also available. i don’t know why peter is so worried because we don’t have farnsworth available. edwar and ohlendorf have pitched well all year long. why doesn’t peter have any faith in edwar ramirez?? it seems he’s always looking for something bad to say about him in the blog.
Hawkins will eventually be DFA’d if the Yankees cannot trade him. With Bruney coming back in late July (maybe) or Melancon getting called up around then as well, Hawkins would hopefully be the odd man out.
We’ll win tonight, the Yankees always win, at least this week. Trust me, as good as Volquez has been, he cannot be looking forward to pitching against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. He may not be the reason, but Cincy will lose tonight.
“Screw Schilling, obnoxious big mouth !!!”
He is truly fond of the sound of his own voice, but you know what? I want him on the mound in a tough postseason spot. Yanks had him instead of Vazquez, we’re probably looking for title #29 this year.
Probably one of the 3-4 best postseason pitchers ever.
jose veras can also throw one inning. he will be available also.
Oh and Mo threw very few pitches yesterday, if it’s a save situation, he’s pitching.
“why doesn’t peter have any faith in edwar ramirez??”
Probably because when he’s been put in high leverage situations, he’s been lousy.
This is tryout week for Traber. They have to find out if he can get lefties out or he is wasting a spot on the ML roster, as well as the 40 man roster.
With Bruce, Votto, Griffey and Dunn, we probably will know about Traber by the end of the weekend.
I wouldn’t worry about the bullpen tonight. If they can’t get it done and lose, I’d rather it be in a Volquez start than the Saturday and Sunday games.
You aren’t always lined up the way you want when your starters have had back to back short inning efforts.
If Moose can go 6 innings tonight, they have Traber, Ohlendorf and Hawkins to finish. If it doesn’t work out? Well, somebody (Hawkins) needs to take one for the team and eat some innings.
Re: Schilling. I never wish for any player to have injuries, much less suffer career ending injuries. Its a shame it happened to Schilling.
That said, he is one of the biggest jerks in the game. I’m not so sure he “says what’s on his mind” as much as he says what’s on his mind to draw the most attention to himself.
An important distinction when discussing Schilling.
He has done an awful lot for ALS research with his charitable work over the years. On that point, he should be commended.
That doesn’t offset some of the dumbest stuff he has said over the years. Particularly about the Yankees and some of their players. Some of it was completely out of line.
The guy is a great pitcher who is also a blowhard. I don’t think anybody should shed any tears for him. He will be fine.
Edwar could go 2 innings and Ohlendorf too. Moose should go at least 6.
The problem with Edwar is that he’s either very very good, or very very, uh, not good, and you never really know which one you’re going to get.
Isn’t cincinnati a hitter’s park? Because if Volquez is putting up those numbers in a hitter’s park…*shudder*
Surprisingly, I dont welcome Schillings retirement. At least when he was pitching he would have to work out and do team stuff now when he retires there will be MORE BLOGGGING NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Did anybody actually expect Schilling back this season?
I’m sure that he’ll work his way into the announcer’s booth, and won’t that be fun? I wonder if he’ll be doing live reads for Heintz commercials?
Back to Alan Horne for a moment. Chad at SWB blog has a post up about last night. He explains and also quotes Alan that in his one bad inning (where almost all of his hits and walks, and all of the runs came) Alan lost his mechanics a bit on his fastball. He was out of whack a bit, starting in the wrong place on the rubber, and striding to the wrong place. Alan straightened things out and got through the next inning.
A couple of things – Horne has not pitched many games this year. If he can get his mechanics honed he will be a good pitcher. Also it seems to me the make or break for kids is what they do in a tight spot. Joba was the perfect example – bases loaded no out – Then NO RUNS. Kennedy seemed to do his best Mussina after an error impersonation when he got into a jam. Hughes was in between.
Every team needs a number 3, 4 and 5 starter. If Horne and/or Kennedy and/or some of the other prospects can fill these roles that saves the Yankees tons of money over time.
The front line starting pitching prospects for the Yankees in the next couple of years: Wang, Joba, Hughes, Brackman, Garcia, Betances, Macallister, Cole (when signed and in system), Inoa (keep fingers crossed).
with apologies to the bard . . .
I come to bury Schilling, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones;
When Schilling was sitting in front of Congress with an open forum to tell the world about steroid use in MLB, he took a pass – he backpeddled and waffled.
The big spotlight Schilling loves so much was on him and he wussed out. I think he’s a hypocritical jerk. (IMHO, of course)
“Oh and Mo threw very few pitches yesterday, if it’s a save situation, he’s pitching.”
When Girardi used Mo 4 days in a row I believe that was the first or second time he’s ever been used that many times in a row in his career.
It’s not just the number of pitches he throws in the appearance. It’s also warming up.
Girardi elected to use Mo in that blow out game to give him some work.
That decision is now coming back to hurt him as he’s needed Mo in very close situations for real saves since then.
Mo’s having a great season. They should preserve it. They shouldn’t push him in ways he hasn’t been used very often before at his age in June.
Rebecca:
Cincy’s is a bandbox. Very homerun friendly.
time after time your true boston colors are coming out!
he is a big mouth and thats it! so when something happens to him its normal that people jump on it!
I hope Ohlendorf is given an opportunity to have a bigger role on this team. He has shown flashes of brilliance, if he were given consistent outings in the later innings I think he would excel.
I don’t have any confidence in Traber or Hawkins. They should be DFA’d sooner rather than later. I’d like to have a lefty reliever but I want a guy that can get both lefties and righties out. There is no point to having a lefty just for the sake of having one.
“When Schilling was sitting in front of Congress with an open forum to tell the world about steroid use in MLB, he took a pass – he backpeddled and waffled.”
I agree. I know the Union got to him, but he really wussified that day.
Of course, all MLB players had an open forum to discuss it and chose not to, as well.
I hate Schilling so good riddens.
am i allowed to say that i still hate curt schilling
Yanks had him instead of Vazquez, we’re probably looking for title #29 this year.
If the Yankees would have started Vasquez we win that game.
YELLO
KYLE FARNESWORTH DONT DO BAAAD
They aren’t using Mo tonight. If they do, its a mistake.
Mo is 38. Four days in a row is too much.
Just means somebody has to step up if the need arises.
I don’t really understand all the Edwar dislike. He’s pitched very well this year.
For folks that say he hasn’t done it in high leverage situations, that isn’t true. He’s pitched well in all situations. Like any relief pitcher, he has had his clunkers. However, his good outings far outweigh his bad so far this year.
I think a problem some folks have when assessing relief pitchers they suffer from “Rivera Disease”.
Rivera Disease is believing every relief pitcher has to be perfect like Mariano Rivera. Sorry but, that doesn’t happen. When you watch Rivera, you are watching Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. Those guys come along once a generation.
Edwar did his job the other night. He had a big lead and had to throw strikes, which he did. Yes, he gave up 2 solo HR’s. You know what? Its better than walks in those situations. You don’t get beat by solo HR’s with big leads. You get beat with walks, which then lead to HR’s with guys on base. They could have easily been pop outs as much as HR’s, since he got beat with his fastball on both pitches.
That was about location and not about overusing his changeup. You can live with those results.
If Edwar just keeps doing what he is doing, he’s going to help the Yankees win a lot of games this year. Just as he has done so far.
He’s not an 8th inning shutdown guy. However, he is one of the few arms in the ‘pen that has swing and miss stuff. That has value as the season wears on.
yeah you dont know what i got. i gotaaaa mannnggginaaaa.
When will his site be renamed to zeropitches.com
I used to think that Schilling took so much grief in the media because of his (supposedly) conservative views. But after reading some of his writing and listening to his comments, Nah, it’s just because he’s a jerk.
He’s “that guy”. You know, the one who no matter what you say, he’s done it more times, or better, because he’s just so much smarter than you. I’m sorry that he’s hurt, but good riddance.
Edwar had… 3 or 4 bad outings compared to about 10+ great ones. Still no faith in the guy, huh?
CB,
If the game is 2-1 Yanks in the bottom of the 9th would you still want Mo to stay out of the game? I don’t want to burn him out but in that situation it’d be awfully hard to keep him in the pen.
MadDog is working Solo today after a great Joba performance and a continuing winning streak.
I smell Doggie on the griddle for a long afternoon.
“If the Yankees would have started Vasquez we win that game.”
Which game???? Game 6?? Lieber started and he pitched pretty well.
Or Game 7 instead of Brown??? Either way, both ended up sucking in that one anyway.
From Schilling’s blog:
“If this was my last shot, and it is over, I wouldn’t change a thing (ok well that’s not totally true because I WOULD push rewind, go back to a few instances and shut my mouth, but hey we can’t all be perfect) that happened to me, with me or on any teams I played on.”
“Isn’t cincinnati a hitter’s park? Because if Volquez is putting up those numbers in a hitter’s park…*shudder*â€
Yes. It’s very much a hitter’s ball park. Real short down both lines. It’s not quite Philadelphia but its a park designed to promote home runs and offense.
Volquez has a 1.83 ERA at home and 1.44 on the road.
Overall what’s truly amazing about his year so far isn’t just the ERA of 1.64 – and that’s partly because of the small ball park he plays in.
The really amazing stat on Volquez is his ERA+. ERA+ compares a pitcher to the league average ERA and also adjusts for ball park factors. An ERA+ of 100 is league average. Volquez’s ERA+ right now is 272.
That basically says that Volquez’s rate of giving up earned runs is 2.7 times better than a league average NL pitcher.
Volquez cannot continue this run. The last pitcher to pitch this well compared to other pitcher in his league was pedro in his prime. Even Santana at his best never had an ERA+ over 200 for a season.
“CB,
If the game is 2-1 Yanks in the bottom of the 9th would you still want Mo to stay out of the game? I don’t want to burn him out but in that situation it’d be awfully hard to keep him in the pen.”
Would you want him to come in, potentially tired, and suck?
How about two months down the line, when the wear and tear of being overused has caused his mechanics to f up, and he needs season ending shoulder surgery?
Just saying….
It’s too bad that Schilling didn’t sign with the Rays last year. That might have cooled them a little.
I have a good feeling about tonights game. I see Moose going 8 innings.
Oh boy, looks like the winning streak will end tonight
If its 2-1 in the bottom of the 9th, I don’t use him.
If they took Joba out yesterday, one out away from getting a shot at a win (as if 105 pitches would make his arm fall off) for safety reasons, they won’t take a chance with Mo.
Better to think long term rather than one night.
“Edwar had… 3 or 4 bad outings compared to about 10+ great ones. Still no faith in the guy, huh?”
He’s been terrific in mop up roles. Put him in key spots and he’s 50/50 at best. Walks too many to give him a key bullpen role.
“Volquez cannot continue this run.”
I agree. He misses the strike zone -a lot-, and major league hitters eventually learn how to lay off the ‘close, but not quite’ changeups and fastballs.
However, one thing I REALLY REALLY like about him?
He misses his spots, like ANY pitcher. But when he misses, it’s almost always below the knees.
That’s not a mistake that hitters can capitalize on. It’s not a belt-high 85 mph change with no movement.
I should say, top of the 9th. With a Yankee lead, of course.
Or Game 7 instead of Brown??? Either way, both ended up sucking in that one anyway.
Game 7 ofcourse. Kevin Brown was done in that game shouldn’t have even been on the field.
Hey guys, where can I find video of ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte pitching yesterday? I want to show my friend what happened when he faced a switch hitter!
“Oh boy, looks like the winning streak will end tonight”
Man, you’d think 7 in a row would make you disappear.
Cincy may be a pitchers park, but unless the schedule is wrong tonight’s game is at the Stadium.
“Hey guys, where can I find video of ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte pitching yesterday? I want to show my friend what happened when he faced a switch hitter!”
here:
http://www.redlasso.com/ClipPlayer.aspx?id=b348a107-8fcc-4de3-bf83-30d6d2bb0586
V,
He’s a Red Sox fan. He’s not going anywhere. He is one of the more persistent stalker/trolls on the blog.
He gets an “A” for persistence and an “F” for content.
Hey guys, where can I find video of ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte pitching yesterday? I want to show my friend what happened when he faced a switch hitter!
Pat Venditte
“If the game is 2-1 Yanks in the bottom of the 9th would you still want Mo to stay out of the game? I don’t want to burn him out but in that situation it’d be awfully hard to keep him in the pen.”
No I would not. Girardi made his decision on using Mo three days ago.
Girardi decided to use Mo in a blow out game against a weak hitting team because Mo hadn’t pitched in a few days.
That’s fine – but every decision has its risks and rewards. And the risk Girardi elected to take was that he’d need Mo the next two nights to save games which would force him to rest mo in the game the yankees were facing Volquez with Mussina going.
I’d be very dissappointed if Girardi elects to use Mo tonight in a save situation. It was his decision to use mo for an inning in a non-high leverage situation.
Girardi should have enough discipline to live with the impliations of that decision.
He can’t have it both ways.
V,
If tonight the game is 2-1 Yanks leading in the bottom of the ninth, I would bring Rivera in. I’m not going to give a game away unless Mo speaks up and says he can’t pitch.
Be happy because he said that we’ll win number 8.
BTW Jeremy Bleich pitches at 2 PM people.
“Who’s coming in if the game is close in the late innings? Mike Mussina has pitched six innings or less in 12 of his 15 starts this season. The Yankees may need to get nine outs out of bullpen without three of their relievers.”
serious question to raymagnetic,cb, whozat, patrick, v.,nick in sf, etc who are sabermetrically fluent.
because of pitchers not going deep into their starts the last few start, the yankees are in this dilemma. my question is how does the short starts raise the teams era even though joba and rassner had good era’s for their games themselves giving up 1 and 2 runs respectively?
the problem is that a burden is now put on the bullpen. chances are that someone will either be pitching tired or someone will be pitching that is not very good.
either way the era of someone for the innings that have to covered may be in the 6.00 range and above for those innings. so the pitcher that doesn’t complete at least 6 innings is creating a situation where the pitcher replacing his innings will likely have a high era for those innings. it may seem like just one inning short , but over the course of a season this has to add to the team era. the question is how much?
“Game 7 ofcourse. Kevin Brown was done in that game shouldn’t have even been on the field.”
Well, everyone was cooked by that point. I’m sure Boston was similarly thrilled with having to pitch Derek Lowe, the AL leader in hits and runs allowed that year. MLB’s insistence on catering to television (and some rain) really hurt. 5 games in 5 nights is no way to be in a postseason series.
Speaking of swing and miss stuff, are the Padres just that awful at making contact? 40 K’s in 3 games. I can understand the Joba game having lots of K’s with Joba/Farnsworth/Mo. But even Pettitte struck out 9 of them the other day.
I don’t really have a problem with Girardi bringing in Mo during that blow out game. Its a gamble, but you don’t want Mo to sit too many games in a row either.
I think it would be best to sit him tonight, runs will be at a premium from the looks of things, but if it ends being a loss, then it does.
Edwar needs to be a little more limited in his appearances. Pitching him for 2 innings seems to be when trouble happens.
Maybe Moose can pitch late in the game to help out the pen. Of course, that is assuming that Moose doesn’t have a poor game. He hasn’t had a lot of games where his pitch count is overly high. If he can step it up tonight it would be nice.
That is the funniest thing I have ever seen in baseball – a switch pitcher vs a switch hitter hahaha
Kate agreed, tonight would be really nice if Moose can step it up a little bit and give his pen a rest.
I don’t have a problem with Joe using Mo in a blowout it was 4 days prior that he last pitched. It is a fine line, you can’t let him sit too many games, than you run into this situation where it might be a save situation and Mo might not be available.
I think some of the posters here are overestimating this Volquez guy. I’m sure he’s a highly regarded kid, and his stats look good the first half of this year. He’s also the type of highly regarded kid a bunch of veteran hitters should have for lunch or, in tonight’s case, dinner.
Let’s feast on him tonight.
I’m sure that, if Moose can give us 6 or 7 tonight, that Edwar, Ohlie, and *gulp* can get the job done.
“because of pitchers not going deep into their starts the last few start, the yankees are in this dilemma. my question is how does the short starts raise the teams era even though joba and rassner had good era’s for their games themselves giving up 1 and 2 runs respectively?”
This would actually be something neat to study. I’ve got a pretty extensive database at home (though it’s not updated for 2008 yet).
One thing I could look at without spending too much time is look at bullpen ERAs vs. innings pitched – granted, we’re not satisfying a ceteris paribus assumption, and there’s potential bias (better bullpens might get more innings because they’re better), but it’d be something to look into.
OTOH, a 6.00 ERA is horrid, and any reliever that maintains a 6.00 ERA with no hope of improvement should be jettisoned immediately.
“I think some of the posters here are overestimating this Volquez guy. I’m sure he’s a highly regarded kid, and his stats look good the first half of this year. He’s also the type of highly regarded kid a bunch of veteran hitters should have for lunch or, in tonight’s case, dinner.”
Um, the Red Sox got 2 ER out of him in 7 innings.
The guy’s the real deal – I’ve watched a few of his outings.
I think Cueto’s going to develop into the real deal also.
As a player, it’s not possible for anyone to hate Red Light Curt more then me…
That said he and his wife have done so much for ALS charities (which has cost me a family member). Their son’s bares Gehrig’s name…
I for one wish him good health and won’t miss him on the mound one bit.
Rewind:
Schilling covers his face with a towel every time Mitch Williams pitches for the Phillies. Great teammate right? With support like that, it’s no wonder Williams served up that meatball to Joe Carter. They still don’t talk to each other.
Schilling engineers a trade away from the Phillies, where he’s played for so long and where he’s beloved, because he’s given up on the team. Some leadership.
Schilling mocks the mystique and aura of Yankee Stadium, and the people who believe in it. Yeah, the same 20 Million tri-staters reeling from 9/11 and looking for something to believe in. Sounds silly now but you all lived through it and know what I mean.
Following game 7 of 2001, he has the balls to tell the world the Yankees dynasty is over and the D-Backs dynasty has started. Yes, the Yankees dynasty was over following a loss in the bottom of the 9th of game 7 of their fifth world series in six years. What happened to the D-Backs after that? We remained one of the dominant teams in baseball for years afterward, and even now haven’t missed the playoffs since 93.
pre-2004: Schilling gives up on his team again (the dynasty didn’t work out) and engineers a trade. If you recall, he preferred us and we didn’t want him. Then, the same guy that has a son name Gehrig starts ranting about how much he hates the Yankees.
2004: it wasn’t a big injury! He had some discomfort in his heel and used it as an excuse for his terrible performance earlier in the series. Mike Mussina or David Cone would have let the media do the talking for him, but all he could talk about afterward was how great he was and how much of a jerk ARod was. Watching ARod drill his 1-2 pitch 400 feet to dead center the next year during fatso’s pathetic attempt to close was one of my finest memories as a Yankee fan.
post-2004: since we all know baseball pitchers should inform our politics, he goes out campaigning for George Bush. This guy is supposed to represent Boston? The same place where John Kerry lives? That proved forever to me that he’s a fat redneck with no idea when to keep his mouth shut.
steroids: doesn’t say anything to congress, won’t name names outside of the ones that already have been, but practically writes a novel for Bob Costas about it.
Anything else I’m forgetting? He doesn’t speak his mind, he says and does whatever he can to get attention and inflate his own ego. Good pitcher? No doubt, in fact he was a great pitcher. But had he ever gotten his fat ass into a gym he might have been one of the best ever and prolonged his excellence. But he was too busy talking smack about ARod and Bonds on the internet and campaigning for George Bush.
Pat Venditte had some nice movement on that strike out pitch.
“I think Cueto’s going to develop into the real deal also.”
From what I’ve seen of Cueto on bad days, is that he tends to have one ugly inning. I agree, he’s going to be a solid pitcher.
In his last start he faced Boston
7 ip 7H 3Runs 2ER 1BB 9SO 113 Pitches
He has not give up more than 3 er in his starts or pitched fewer than 6 innings, he pitched in relief once.
Tonight will be a tall task for the Yankee hitters. Hopefully our scouting department picked up on something.
Thanks to Saucy and Brandon for the video links!
If Shill was beset with a real tragedy, MAYBE I’d feel sympathy for him. Otherwise, I advise him to make sure the door doesn’t hit him in the ass on the way out. Good-bye and good riddance.
I posted this a on another site, but I like the fact that Schilling screwed over the Sox for $8 million dollars, and that the Sox screwed over S(c)hilling by making him rehab for three months instead of getting surgery.
I hope this is the last news I ever hear of Curt Schilling. I hate his guts to this day.
The Yankees have helped to raise a number of ERA’s of pitchers who have been doing well this year. Maybe they can keep it up tonight.
I am actually sad, how nice was it to see the look on his face when Alex hit a bomb off of him.
“how does the short starts raise the teams era even though joba and rassner had good era’s for their games themselves giving up 1 and 2 runs respectively?”
randy,
this is a really important question – for the yankees right now in particular and for most teams as a whole. Its a really big question for the Sox for instance as their starters when healthy don’t go very deep into the game.
I think there’s two different answers to this question – near term and long term. The near term question is the probably the most relevant one as I’ll assume Joba is going to give them more innings over time and that they’ll find a starter better than giese for the 5th slot.
The yankee team era right now is 4.17 – 7th best in the AL. The starters ERA is 4.62 however. So the yankee team ERA so far is much better than their starters ERA. Why? The bull pen.
The bull pen team ERA is 3.47 – that’s very good. Even if you take out Joba’s 23 relief innings its very good.
So as a whole, when the yankee starters have given them short starts they’ve actually been replaced by the relievers who have better aggregate ERA. So in many ways, the short starts aren’t hurting them.
It’s actually really remarkable for a starting staff to have an ERA of 4.6 and the team to have an ERA of only 4.17 – that’s a huge difference. And the reason why that’s happenned is that the bull pen has thrown 38.5% of all the team’s innings – and those innings have been thrown to the substanstially lower ERA of 3.47.
Now that’s an aggregate look and obviously the staff has undergone a huge turnover.
More specifically, the starters going short really amounts to the starters making a 5-6 inning start instead of a 6-7 inning start (assuming most 4-5 starters don’t throw more than 6 or so innings).
So each turn through the rotation I’d guess the starters going short is going to make the bullpen thrown 3-6 more innings than you’d like.
As long as the bull pen continues to throw to a 3.47 ERA – especially with Veras and Ramirez generally throwing well – those short starts aren’t going to kill them short term.
However, long term its a very different issue – no bull pen can tolerate throwing 39% of its teams innings over a season. Once you get past 35% its very difficult. If the pen keeps getting used at that rate they’ll tire and their ERA will go up – then those replacement innings they throw for the starters could be very bad ones.
To continue this way one of two things have to happen – eithe the starters need to go deeper. Which I think they will – espeically Joba. Also because they’ll replace Giese hopefully with a starter that can go at least 6 inning per.
But the way the Yanks will most likely make up for these short starts is through bull pen depth. 7 guys can’t throw 38% of a teams innings over a season. But the yankees haven’t used a pool of 7 guys for the pen – they’ve used many more arms because they have very good bull pen depth.
Some of the current guys might get tired. But they’re likely to call up Robertson, melancon, etc at some point to replace those tiring arms.
Also – alot of that stress on the pen in terms of workload came early in the year and was absorbed by Ohelndorf as the long man.
I think the fact that they’ve been able to call so many relief pitchers up from the minors, possibly getting back Brueny, etc. will allow them to tolerate short starts without it killing them.
Curt Schilling has done more to raise money and awareness for ALS, a/k/a Lou Gehrig’s Disease, than anyone else. He named his son “Gehrig” in honor of Lou Gehrig and anyone, like me, with a loved one who died from this disease has nothing but great things to say about Schilling, and so what if he plays for Boston. There are much bigger things in life than the team you root for, and Schilling understands that.
Curt Schilling has done more to raise money and awareness for ALS, a/k/a Lou Gehrig’s Disease, than anyone else. He named his son “Gehrig” in honor of Lou Gehrig and anyone, like me, with a loved one who died from this disease has nothing but great things to say about Schilling, and so what if he plays for Boston. There are much bigger things in life than the team you root for, and Schilling understands that.
Goo’bye Gibbons!
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3454016
good riddance. i hated Gibbons…
Heard Schilling this morning on a Boston-area, sports-radio show… he’s all through. Meanwhile… this guy Volquez the Yanks are facing tonite sounds like a real pi$$er. Mussina ain’t gonna’ get many runs to work with.
Please, Schilling deserve all the negative comments he gets. He says what he means, sure, but he proves the sayin: better to be quiet and have people wonder if you are an idiot, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Can’t wait for his post-glory days blues to set in, and realize no one, not even Red Sox fans, care what he says anymore.
When I think about game 6 and Schilling with the bloody sock drama, I keep wondering what would have been had Tony Clark swung at that 2-0 cookie fastball from Foulke in the 9th inning with 2 on and the Yanks down by 2. FOulke was tired from working 3 days in a row and was all over the place. He laid it in there, and my mouth dropped when Clark watched it go by for a strike. Of course, he ended up striking out to end the game. Always wonder if he had swung at that pitch, would we have gone to the WS that year instead of Boston.
I don’t see the problem with the negative way that Yankee fans and bloggers are taking the news of Schilling’s surgery.
How can one say “he’s never been afraid to say what he thinks and that’s a rare quality in baseball.” and make it sound like a good thing, when the stuff on his mind usually consists of sticking his nose into other peoples’ business or being a loudmouth to create flashy headlines? Since when is being a loudmouth not a character flaw? Don’t ask me to be sad for Curt Schilling. It’s not like he was a prized prospect whose career was cut short by injury, or a beloved gamer (e.g. Craig Biggio). He’s been pitching since 1988, and his arm is giving out. He didn’t have to call it quits early because of a bad back (Mattingly), or because of glaucoma-ravaged eyesight (Puckett). He’s just nearing the end of his career. These things happen.
If you look at his stats alone, I can understand where one could bow in appreciation for what he has done. I’ll be the first to say that he is (was?) a tremendous pitcher, and that every time he took the ball, his team had a great chance of winning the game. That being said, why should I think of his ability to “never be afraid to say what’s on his mind” as another reason to look highly upon him? Personality wise, the guy is a joke, and everyone knows it.
I’m sure moose knows the dilemma, he will respond under pressure and go 7.something tonight. But an offensive explosion wouldn’t hurt either.
John C:
I remember that AB. Bad job by Clark. In the end though, he struck out on the same pitch he saw on 2-0. A fatty, down the middle, a little above the belt.
The one truly bad break the Yanks got that series is when Sierra’s liner down the right field lines took that funny bounce to the seats for a ground rule double, keeping the lead run at 3rd base late in Game 5.
I think Tony Clark’s ground rule double in Fenway ‘04 was more of the “what might have been” moment. In any other park, it’s not a ground rule double and the runner scores. That killed us just as much as the strike out. It’s sad because he did his job and would have been a hero if the wall was just a little higher.
G.Love,
YOu’re right about that one. I guess that was just one of many signs in that game that it was just destiny for Boston. Clark’s ground rule double, Matsui’s bullet line drive with the bases loaded that Nixon made a diving catch on that could have broken the game open, Arod striking out with the go ahead run on 3rd and one out in extra innings,and of course Olerud’s injury that really turned that series around in Boston’s favor.
“If the game is 2-1 Yanks in the bottom of the 9th would you still want Mo to stay out of the game?
If it’s 2-1 In the Bottom of the 9th, the Yankees have already won the game. Therefore, no. Do not use Mariano Rivera in a game that has already been completed.
I wish we had a starter who could man up like Schilling (or Beckett for that matter)in playoff games. But we don’t. If Wang does manage to make it back this season will he choke again, even if we make the playoffs I mean ?
This has to be some kind of record! Not one single classy fan of the New York Classy Yankees has mentioned the word class in regard to Schilling. I expected at least 90-95 of te 95 posts to be centered around the notion of class, on which, of course, the Yankees and their fans have a monopoly.
Last season I attended Yankee Staidum and sat two rows behind the visitors dug out. The series was The Red Sox vs. The Yankees.
Andy Pettitte vs. Curt Schilling
Schilling got his brains beaten in by the Yankees line up. The greatest joy, however, was that I got to see Schilling for 5 innings walk his way to the dug out. I got to see him face-to-face and every time he was walking into the dug out, I got scream my head off at him.
And it felt good. Schilling is someone whom I respect as a pitcher but DESPISE as a human being. I will not go crying if his career is indeed over. I’m glad it is.
“he’s never been afraid to say what he thinks”
Except for when he is under oath in front of Congress.
Curt is a tough hard working competitor. The Yanees looked into his availability when he was in Philly. I wish him a speedy recovery.
I respect Schilling a pitcher, but he’s a complete jerk. While I recognize we should not talk politics on here, I felt it was disgusting that he utilized his good will after the 2004 World Series towards a phone political campaign for you-know-who. I will never forgive him for that.
Seeing the gospel with which folks are taking half a season of Edinson Volquez with, I can see how the same folks would write off Phil Hughes after such a small sample….
….then again, I have about as much knowledge of the National League than Phil Rizzuto did sometimes. I’d never seen Peavy pitch before we lit him up the other night.
Hey, Jorge. Are you aware of Ol’ Georgie Porgie’s deep GOP ties, and the large sums of money he has contributed to you-know-who’s party? That’s why you should heed your own advice. A vast majority of ball players, regardless of the laundry they wear in a given season, are gun toting, bow and arrow hunting, ATV riding, camoflouge wearing, right wing, Christian good ‘ol boys…
Good luck to him on his hysterectomy.
Bring up the switch pitcher Venditte!!!
Schilling’s mouth has been his own worse enemy. Superb at sticking his foot in his mouth.
A poll was conducted by Sports Illustrated a few years ago and Schilling came in at No. 4 as the least liked teammate in all of professional sports which tells a lot.
He unquestionably lacks the numbers for the Hall and even silly Boston is unlikely to retire his uniform number.
I love how so many Yankees fans complain about Schilling being a conservative. I guess these fans are too young to remember the illegal contributions the owner of the Yankees made to the Nixon campaign. And for those of you morons who aren’t aware, Nixon was a republican president of the United States of America.
Yankees=Republican Conservatism/Jingoism.
Trot Nixon was President of the USA?
“he’s never been afraid to say what he thinks”
The problem is in what he thinks.
“I guess these fans are too young to remember the illegal contributions the owner of the Yankees made to the Nixon campaign.”
You must be talking about Steinbrenner fans – not Yankee fans. The owners politics is his own.
Think of it this way: I always support my country but not this current administration
is this a curt schilling blog or a blog for yankee fans to write about the yankees?? can we please change the subject….. lets talk about the yankee’s game today
It is a Yankee Blog. This particular comment thread, though, is based on a blog post written about CURT SCHILLING. Did you read the post?
My greatest night.
Four or five years ago Friday night in Boston late September Red Sox are ahead by one run in the top of the ninth.Shilling is in the bull pen and comes across the field between innings waveing to all the crowd.Ala Pedro in the Cleavland series a few years before.(They have a tunnel under the stands just so the pitcher does not have to cross the field between innings.)And Arod sends a high fastball into the night instright away center field with Jeater on,over 400 ft.
The yankees won the game when Mo finishes the ninth.
One of the greatest Yankee wins ever.
You know, I can handle the windbags like Schilling. The thing that just cracks me up is when he gets beaten down hard, he sits and cries like a sissy. Always. I’d respect him more if he didn’t act like he can’t believe he’s capable of losing. Give me Jeter and Mo’s class any day over this buffoon.
That’s great!
Now our beloved Mr. Schilling can focus on running for VP.