Today in The Journal News
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Jun 15, 2009 
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The Yankees pounded the Mets in an unconventional Subway Series.
The Brian Bruney/Francisco Rodriguez feud escalated before the game yesterday. Josh Thomson has the story.
Brian Cashman thinks the team’s problem can be fixed internally. This notebook also has notes on Jerry Manuel, Joe Girardi’s tangle with Brad Penny and other tidbits from the series.
Johan Santana struggled like he has never struggled before, giving up nine runs. Jake Thomases has the story.
K-Rod is a baby. At first, Bruney was in the wrong for criticizing K-Rod. But K-Rod picking a fight during batting practice when Bruney wanted to apologize.
Now Bruney is right. K-Rod’s acting is getting old.
Here’s hoping that the Mets end their season for a third time in a row in the last weekend of the season. What a low class franchise!
I am very disturbed that the yankees dont have a player with an 400 plus OBP. Teixeira and Swisher need to step it up.
However very nice job by Brett Gardner is OBP is higher than Matsui, Cano and Melky. Gardner OBP is only 4 points lower than Johnny Damon. Who would of thought that?
And if Burnett would break out his changeup more often then my pants will be wet with excitment. The change up might be the greatest thing about baseball!!!!
Great articles, Pete. Thanks.
Just watched the highlights of the Pena-casual-flip-to-a-barehanded-Cano double play. Definitely web-gem worthy.
And lol @ Shef. Trying his darnedest to take out Jeter. But Jeter just leaves him in the dust with a smile. I haven’t seen Jeter smile like that in years.
“I am very disturbed that the yankees dont have a player with an 400 plus OBP. Teixeira and Swisher need to step it up.”
Wow, talk about someone trying to find something to whine about.
You’re not kidding, V. My thoughts exactly when I read that nonsense.
I know Pete and others have mentioned Marte visiting James Andrews today and describing it as “never a good sign” – but we’ve now seen three Yankees visit Andrews in the past 9 months or so (Joba, Bruney, and Nady) and all of them have come back from his office without being forced to walk the plank.
So there is indeed some hope that Marte’s season is not over. Going to see Andrews is not always a death sentence.
BTW, George King and all his wisdom believes that David Robertson is most likely to be the guy who gets sent down to Scranton when Bruney is activated.
I can’t see that happening even though he has options while guys like Tomko and Veras do not.
Robertson has performed very well when given the opportunity. I might have to send Cashman and Girardi some very nasty letters if they keep someone as useless as Veras or even Berroa right now and send the one guy down who has actually done a good job in that pen.
*Field General or Backstop?*
*Evaluating the catcher’s influence on pitcher performance*
http://www.baseballprospectus......icleid=432
*Catching Up With The General: A Postscript*
*A second look at catcher defense*
http://www.baseballprospectus......icleid=436
*Aim For The Head*
*Simulating Catcher’s ERA*
http://www.baseballprospectus......cleid=1489
Cashman is NUTS if he thinks he can solve this from within. I hope this is just a ploy !
He needs to get either . Huston Street . Heath Bell , Kerry Wood ,
Someone !
Yeah, that Teixiera better step it up. Not having a .400 OBP from him has really hurt his contributions to the team.
And you wonder why I have such little patience with some of the moronic comments on here.
What do you want Cashman to say publicly? If he says he needs help from the outside for the bullpen, the prices go up.
You never tip your hand publicly. Rule #1 for GM’s when it comes to improving the team.
Cashman never divulges his plans for possible trades. He will always say that the fix could be internal. It doesn’t serve any good purpose to give away what they may be thinking regarding the particulars of how they want to address a weakness. For one thing, it would drive up the price, don’t you think?
I am glad to hear the Bruney’s intention was to apologize to KRod. Whether you agree or disagree with his opinion of KRod’s post-save antics (and most people do, I’d guess), it was out of line to voice them. You’re better off keeping those kinds of opinions to yourself, or at least within the confines of the clubhouse. And I’m unclear as to the exact circumstances: was he asked for his reaction to the pop-up game, or specifically about KRod? Because if he was asked for his reaction to the game, then Pete’s original statement that Bruney’s statement was unsolicited is actually correct. He could have given his reaction to the game without the incendiary remarks about KRod.
I’ve decided to add my 2 cents to the Posada/Cervelli/AJ mess. It seems that Jorge and Cisco have different styles of game calling. It seems that AJ might not prefer Jorges’s particular style. That’s fine. However, it seems to me that if at all possible, a pitcher needs to work it out so that he can pitch effectively to either catcher. Are we to assume that if Cervelli is for some reason not available to catch AJ that we should expect a poor game from AJ? That’s ridiculous when you give it any thought. And that’s all I’ll say on the matter.
SJ44 -
Some of us have been paying attention.
Does anybody have the video when bruney and SH!TRod got into the fued?
Doreen,
There is no question some guys just don’t hit it off when working together.
My issue is when folks make a team wide statement. As in, “Posada is the reason the pitching has been so bad”.
That’s simply not true.
Jorge Posada isn’t the reason the pitching has been so uneven for the Yankees so far this year.
Catchers don’t lose the ability to call games. If one bothers to look at the entirety of Posada’s career, its pretty tough to say he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
For example, when I see Joba shaking off Posada constantly, that’s not on Posada. That’s on Joba.
He did it to Molina last year in a relief appearance against the Indians, gave up a 3 run bomb to Sizemore, and blew that game.
Afterward, Girardi went postal on him and told him to cut it out. I’m sure Girardi did the same thing the other night when he met with Posada and Joba.
Joba is a talented kid. However, he hasn’t done enough in the game to be doing what he tends to do on the mound. Which is shake off everything any catcher throws down and call his own game.
That’s the kind of stuff that creates problems. Especially when your way is not the right way, given the game results.
If Joba wants to find consistency in his game, he should let the catcher call the game and he should just execute the pitch.
He will find his job a lot easier if he takes that advice.
You gotta feel at least a little bad for the Nationals, who are already 20 games out, and now have to face the Yankees at the Stadium. They’ll probably get swept, but at least their offensive stats are bound to improve!!
Doreen you are a voice of reason this morning. Enjoyable.
SJ44, you cannot get too frustrated and leave this place — I claim everything you say as my own and people think I’m quite smart in the office. So thanks.
While I do think the matchup against the Nats are favorable, I’m not going to say anything considering the Yankees’ difficulties against pitchers they’ve never seen before. Is there some sort of stat on that? How Yankees fare against rookies and pitchers not seen before? I’d be interested to see how the Yankees do.
Agreed re Joba. Usually the pitcher has to make the final call, but in Joba’s case the kid’s gotta defer to the veteran.
In any event, one would think that this is something mature adults would be able to work out among themselves. I guess proffesional athletes aren’t always mature adults (but either are we necessarily, so that’s ok).
I’ve been out for the past few days so I don’t know if anyone has asked this already so I’ll ask again since SJ44 seems to be lurking about
RE:Cuban defectors Noel Arguellez and Jose Iglesias
from MLBTR “Arguellez is a 19-yr old lefthanded pitcher that Manuel says has drawn Francisco Liriano comparisons. Iglesias, also 19, is said to be a shortstop in the Orlando Cabrera mold.”
Are these players worth pursuing? Is Iglesias (age 19) a better talent than Miguel Angel Sano (age 16)? Should the Yanks sign either? Both?
Doreen and SJ44 two voices of reason in what is increasingly becoming a chorus of whiners. There are other that seem to have a clue as well. I’m mean the Yankees are 2 games out of first place with roughly 100 games left. There are improvements to be made and they will be made on the road to the championship. Let these guys(Yankees management) do their jobs.
RAB wrote a post last night about Wang and how the Yanks need to do whatever it takes to get him right even if he doesn’t pitch very well on Wednesday against Washington.
It’s like they were reading my mind.
This team NEEDS Wang back. He makes this team that much more formidable when he’s pitching like vintage Wang because he kills two birds with one stone.
His track record doesn’t lie. When he’s on his game, you can count on him giving this team at least 6-7 IP every time he takes the ball, which obviously makes the rotation better but the bullpen better as well because they aren’t forced to pitch as many innings.
It also opens the door for Hughes to help the team in the pen and settle into a defined role. Now I’ll be the first to say I’m completely against leaving Hughes down there the rest of the season because he needs to throw 150 IP this season in order to be a full time starter in 2010 with an innings cap of 180+ IP.
But if they are going to use him in this role for awhile, he’s much better suited for it than Wang because he has two nasty plus pitches (fastball and curve) that misses bats and he’s much more talented than anyone else out there for the exception of Mo.
So it is in the Yanks best interest to get Wang right even if they lose a couple more games in the process. The reward is huge and that domino effect could result in several more wins over the next three months.
A bullpen consisting of a healthy Bruney (which is obviously no guarantee) along with Hughes, Melancon (sooner or later), Robertson, Coke, Aceves, and perhaps a deadline deal for another arm (Huston Street?) would make this pen a whole lot stronger in the second half.
In my opinion, getting Wang back to vintage Wang could very well be the key that puts them over the top in this division. The Yanks would be utterly insane to cast him aside in the pen given his enormous value to this team.
SJ44 -
You’re preaching to the choir. I agree 100%. But it seemingly does no good to point out the obvious. I like Cervelli a lot, but he’s become the favorite du jour. And I never understand why for some people it’s one or the other. One can still appreciate the talents of Cervelli without it being at the expense of Posada. Or whichever player it is.
As for Joba – again, I agree. He’s really not earned the right to call his own games, especially in light of the fact that when he has thrown what he wants over what the catcher wants, often it’s not pretty. Just throw the pitch. Have faith in all his pitches whatever the situation. That would go a long way, I think.
And with that, I’m really, really done with the great catcher debate.
I completely agree about Wang. In a lot of ways, he is the key to the season.
Let’s look at the starters with a realistic eye:
CC is a horse.
Andy has not pitched well for over a year. He struggled the entire second half of last year and hasn’t pitched well this year. Too many walks, too many baserunners (#8 and #9 hitters are hitting over .400 against him) and its pretty clear the end is near for him.
AJ? Two kinds of AJ, as its been his entire career. Good AJ is one of the best pitchers in the AL. Bad AJ is unwatchable.
Too often, both appear in the same game. Certainly not a “sure thing” when he starts.
Joba is a kid who is still learning. FAR from a finished product.
That leaves Wang. You can’t have a starting rotation of one horse and 4 question marks.
If Wang gets back to being Wang again, you have two horses at the front of the rotation. That makes it easier for EVERYBODY.
Its really important they get Wang straightened out. If not, its going to be an uphill battle the rest of the way.
The obvious is this:
4 Starts with Posada 7+ ERA
8 Starts with Molina, Cash or Cervelli 3+ ERA
When the manager would rather put out an inferior line-up so that his pitcher can feel more comfortable it says more anything anyone on this forum can say. Posada will not be favored just cause he has superior bat. See Mussina & Molina for reference.
It’s tiring to read how any opposing opinion is deemed idiotic, moronic or insufficient because it goes against the “reasonable minds”. I guess that makes Girardi an idiotic moronic fool. But why would the Yankees manager be smarter than Doreen right? Funny stuff.
Sunny,
At this point, it would be an upset if the Pirates don’t sign Sano. He’s training at their complex in the DR and is very, very close to their Director of Latin American scouting.
The money is going to be there from the Pirates to sign him. With a lot of the LA free agents, the relationships they have with team members overrides the money.
The Cuban defectors? Don’t know much about him. I saw Iglesias play in a Jr. Tournament a few years ago and he was impressive. They wouldn’t let several pitchers travel to the tournament because they were fearful they would defect. I think Arguellez may have been one of those guys.
“Its really important they get Wang straightened out. If not, its going to be an uphill battle the rest of the way.”
How uphill a battle is getting Wang straightened out? My concern is that one doesn’t really get the sense that Eiland and Wang are on the same page.
No, it isn’t as simple as quoting ERA stats.
Who are the teams he is facing? Calibur of hitters? Ballpark conditions? All of that goes into it. Its not just quoting ERA stats and saying, “its that simple” because, it isn’t.
For example, yesterday will show AJ pitching a shutout. Wouldn’t you say its a whole lot easier to pitch with a 13 run lead in the 4th than say, second inning of a 0-0 game in Fenway.
The game is more than just quoting stats mindlessly.
Sure, there are some guys that just don’t click as catcher and pitcher. To say, ALL of them don’t click with Posada, or to quote ERA stats as if they are the entire debate, simply isn’t accurate.
Thanks SJ. So In your opinion – the Yanks should pursue Arguellez??
Steve,
In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter if Eiland and Wang like each other or see eye to eye.
Wang is a smart kid who knows how to pitch. He has to pound the zone with strikes, preferably at the knees.
He knows what to do. He just has to do it.
There are a lot of guys who don’t like their pitching coaches, or their managers, yet still go out and do their job.
At this point, if he is healthy (everybody says he is), he just has to go out there and pitch his game. If he does, he will be ok.
Doreen, I find it pathetic – not that AJ or other pitchers may prefer pitching to someone else, but that they simply can not adjust to Jorge. This is not a personal thing because I detest the idea of personal catchers and I have little respect for any pitcher who supposedly just can’t pitch to certain catchers. Jorge is the primary catcher for this team. If the Yankees make the playoffs, Jorge will be catchg. AJ’s problems are AJ’s alone (same with Joba) and not Jorge’s. AJ has to adjust, period. If he can’t, then he’s just not a professional pitcher. I thought he went overboard with his Cervelli comments yesterday, but then he’s been putting his foot in his mouth for several weeks now.
Sunny,
That’s a kid I’m sure they are going to check out. Although, when you don’t see them for a few years, its tough to know how they are doing.
By and large, Cuban baseball players fall into two catagories. Guys who are really, really good and guys you HOPE become good because they are Cuban baseball players.
Often, its hard to get a feel for some of these guys, especially after they defect, because their lives change so dramatically in such a short period of time. That often impacts their playing abilities. With some, its impacted their desire to even continue playing baseball. Freedom will do that to you.
That’s why its so tough for teams to get a firm read on many of these kids.
GGGB. Continuing to type the same thing doesn’t make it more right each time. It just makes you redundantly misguided. And a tad bit annoying, but that’s subjective. As you like to say, funny stuff.
“In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter if Eiland and Wang like each other or see eye to eye.”
I understand that and don’t believe that’s the issue.
Guess my point is that to some degree some mechanical issues continue to exist. I’m still reading his arm slot is all over the place. I assume that is much more on Wang than it is Eiland, but are they making any progress in that regard?
Thanks again SJ. With that – i’m out. Back to work!
A year ago today against Houston. Oh Wang
GGGB -
I have never called anyone here a moron or any other name. I just don’t do that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. And if Girardi chooses to go with Cervelli and AJ, I have no problem with that (and I also realize that Girardi and the Yankees don’t really care whether I have a problem with that or not). I never said I did. What I did say is that pitchers need to learn to work with all the catchers, because you don’t always know what circumstances may present themselves.
I don’t appreciate being denigrated when I’ve always been considerate of other people here. The farthest I will go is to say I don’t understand the extreme positions people take. I tend to see the gray area. That is me.
Burnett especially shouldn’t be having issues with Posada behind the plate.
He only throws two freaking pitches for the most part (fastball and curveball) and rarely throws the change.
So what the hell is the holdup?
If Burnett doesn’t want to throw a fastball when Posada puts that sign down – then shake him off and throw the curve. And vise versa.
How hard could that be?
Also, and this is important to emphasize, no matter what pitch Posada is calling for it’s up to the pitcher to pound the zone and throw strikes. Posada isn’t telling his pitchers to throw meatballs down the middle of the plate and accumulate 100+ pitches by the 5th inning.
Yankee pitchers are allowing far too many free passes and that’s not good when you combine that with allowing a lot of dingers.
All of those walks and long dingers are on the pitcher – not on Posada.
“K-Rod is a baby. At first, Bruney was in the wrong for criticizing K-Rod. But K-Rod picking a fight during batting practice when Bruney wanted to apologize.”
If K-rod had any “cool” about him, he would have let things be after indicating he had no idea who Bruney was. That was a great response to Bruney’s remarks.
“Burnett especially shouldn’t be having issues with Posada behind the plate.”
The numbers are actually sort of striking, but it’s a small sample size with some variables that aren’t considered (for example, Posada caught both of Burnett’s starts in Boston).
I honestly believe Burnett could pitch to the same guy 34 times and his results will still be all over the place. He’s an inconsistent pitcher. Always has been. Always will be.
Betsy June 15th, 2009 at 8:16 am
I thought he went overboard with his Cervelli comments yesterday, but then he’s been putting his foot in his mouth for several weeks now.
————–
Just an observation, but you seem to have a tendency to read way too much into offhanded comments.
I listened to the very same interview you did last night with Burnett and I didn’t get the impression at all that he was taking an underhanded shot at Posada in his postgame comments.
He simply complimented his catcher who had a good game. That’s it.
You did the same thing recently with Teixeira when he was trying to say good things about his time in LA last season. Sometimes a player means exactly what he says and nothing more.
It kind of reminds me of the big non-story during ST when A-Rod was trying to say something nice about Jose Reyes and several factions of the media, Pete included, decided to run with it and assumed that A-Rod was taking a shot at Jeter.
But A-Rod wasn’t taking a shot at Jeter. He was trying to compliment Reyes and the media decided he meant something else.
Like I said, it’s just an observation – not an attack against you.
Christian Garcia is on his way to see Dr Andrews (per Mike Ashmore)
he is offically a non-prospect. At least, IMO
I guess AJ has never had a catcher he liked before being that he’s been largely inconsistent his entire career.
A pitcher blaming his catcher for pitching badly is like a barber blaming his clippers for giving a person a bad hair cut.
I’m positive Posada isn’t telling AJ to throw fastballs straight down the middle of the plate so that guys like Varitek can hit grand slams off of him.
AJ’s statements yesterday make him sound like an imbecile in my opinion.
“Christian Garcia is on his way to see Dr Andrews (per Mike Ashmore)”
That’s unfortunate. I’d see what the good doctor has to say before deeming him a non-prospect. He’s still young enough to get it back post surgery should he have to go that way.
Supposedly, catcher gary Sanchez is the Yanks number 1 target in the IFA market. They are in on Sano, but who knows how high they’ll bid for him. I’ve read conflicitng reports that the Pirates won’t break the bank for him, and a report that said they’d go as high as 4 mill. We’ll see. Still curious why they passed on H.S. SS David Renfroe in the draft to take yet another catcher, JR Murphy. On a side note, is it just me or does it seem that our pitchers pitch much better whne Cervelli catches than Posada? Something to keep an eye on.
Steve B June 15th, 2009 at 8:33 am
“K-Rod is a baby. At first, Bruney was in the wrong for criticizing K-Rod. But K-Rod picking a fight during batting practice when Bruney wanted to apologize.”
If K-rod had any “cool” about him, he would have let things be after indicating he had no idea who Bruney was. That was a great response to Bruney’s remarks.
********
agreed for not knowing who someone is he sure knew a lot about him. Knew he was on the dl, where he was, that he was on the dl last year. It is more of a diss to Brian if he says he didn’t know who he was and he is so unimportant to not even reply.
Pitcher/catcher discussion: It has been said that the pitcher needs to adjust to the catcher. That is a two street. A flexible catcher will do some adjusting also to help the pitcher. I assume before each game the pitcher and catcher go over the game plan. Is the catcher the only one who can change a pitch. Does Girardi call pitches occasionally?
This is a tiresome debate because we have an aging decorated catcher vs. a rookie who is having an exceptional year. But it comes down to wins. Which ever catcher is getting good pitches enough to win is the catcher for me.
Joba and Posada have history. Last year Posada stated that Joba did not have the body of a rotation pitcher. (Tall and slender). Joba had a weight problem as a youngster and I am sure that remark didn’t go over well. Then after working with him this year Posada said he changed his mind. Big whoop.
Also cannot see why people object to personal catchers. If it makes for a better pitcher than the chances that pitcher is confident in his catcher and win more. All the fans want wins, right??
Last year Mussina won 20 NOT pitching to Posada
The scapegoats this year seem to be the same as in previous years: Cano, Melky and Joba. As have said in other posts, If I had a dollar for every anti comment about any of the three I listed – - – - I could buy a Porsche.
right now is wang thinking about having his first child any day now.
this is the game to give him an ultimatum ?
this is just further mismanagement by cashman with wang since he told him to take the winter off and do nothing to rehab his foot and lower half, failed to measure wang’s foot strength and lower half strength when spring training started, and rushed him back from scranton too soon before wang was ready when joba was hit by a batted ball.
cashman should be fired simply because of the way he’s taken a 19 game winner and reduced him to one start when he still isn’t ready where he has to perform or else.
on top of everything else, what is cashman’s exit strategy if wang does badly?
i’d like to hear it.
if cashman wanted to destroy wang, can anyone think of a better way to do it than how cashman has handled wang?
if his goal was ruining wang, he should have just hired tonya harding’s ex husband and taken the direct route.
“If we fix ourselves, there may not be anything we do,” Cashman said.”
who’s going to fix the GM?
i would like to try electroshock therapy on cashman to see if it helps his delusions.
raymagnetic,
What did A.J. say that made him sound so stupid? I completely missed his comments.
The question I have is, what will be considered a good outing? Obviously better than the last one, but how much better than the outing before that, which was encouraging? Will 5 quality innings be enough, or does it have to be a quality start (6 innings)? Are they looking for improvement or perfection? Will it be enough if he keeps them in the game? Doesn’t get “rattled?” Shows “mental toughness” (however that manifests itself)? Have they been clear with Wang about the specific expectations?
Because it doesn’t matter what they say to us. It may not be quite the ultimatum we think it is. Obviously if he does the same this time as last time, they need to take him out of the rotation, I think. And I believe the reason for that is because the rest of the staff hasn’t been consistent enough to allow for Wang to work it out “on the job.”
I doubt they want to ruin Wang. Not on purpose, anyway.
However, the entire situation, once Joba got hit on the knee, hasn’t been ideal, to say the least – and the Yankees definitely messed up in calling Wang back too soon.
Quoting Doreen:
. . . .As for Joba – again, I agree. He’s really not earned the right to call his own games, especially in light of the fact that when he has thrown what he wants over what the catcher wants, often it’s not pretty. Just throw the pitch.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Unless you score Joba’s games or just “eyeball” the game, can you factually state that Joba will throw a bad pitch when he calls it? He worked w/Molina last year when Jorge was on DL. And was even seen talking with Molina between innings while Jorge was at the far end of the bench. Joba is an excellent fielder in his own right.
If you have noticed Joba’s games – - He is usally not hit hard. Most of his outs whether GO’s or pop ups are usually easily fielded or caught. I hadn’t noticed that before until another poster brought it up. He hasn’t given up many HR’s.
Joba’s problem isn’t hrs, it is more pitch count. He seems to fixed on striking out hitters than being effecent.
He was in love with his slider last game even though hitters were leaving it alone because they knew he wasn’t throwing it for strikes.
He hasn’t even pitched a complete season in the ML yet he shakes off a veteran catcher.
Some of Joba’s problem is a lack of maturity. Anyone that has had teens can see that in him. I know I’ve been through it with mine.
Sarah -
No, I can’t state that as fact.
But I do believe that he needs to have more confidence (for lack of a better term) no matter who is calling the pitches. He’s had some great outings and some where he looks like he’s a little lost. i understand he’s young and still learning. I thought that it was very good on Friday night, and showed great strides, that he was able to limit the damage against him in spite of throwing too many pitches.
Agreeing with Doreen and Randy: Wang’s physical health has been mismanaged from day one. During ST the tv announcers watched as Wang slowly jogged on another field. His feet were barely moving. The more they watched, the more hysterical they became. Made me angry. Little did I know he was instructed to do so.
It is unbelievable that Wang was allowed to pitch three games at the start of the season. Because of that bad call, fans blamed Wang for wearing out the bullpen. Wang’s fellow country men hit the Yankee home site on MLB.com and just demonized the Yankees for not showing respect to Wang.
Then Joba was hit in the knee and someone panicked by calling Wang back knowing he had no more options. So he did not get enough time to re-hab and ending up in the bullpen. Sorry folks being put in the bull pen is not an achievement for a rotation pitcher.
Putting him in to pitch against Boston was another blunder. If I didn’t know better I would think that Wang is being set up to fail.
Enough doom and gloom. The win against Santana was awesome. Now the team has something to build on and start another streak.
Doreen: I read somewhere that Eiland tried to finesse Joba. Whatever that means. Evidently the tall and slender came into play and they worked with him during ST. Whatever they tried didn’t seem to work well.
Being a Joba advocate I watched him in ST and he looked miserable and was not pitching well at all. Neither was Wang. If I, as a non professional could see that why couldn’t the team management?
How could a WoW pitcher like Joba in one short season turn into a so-so, mediocore at best, aw, put him back in the bullpen and arrogant, punk kid, stupid and no velocity or control type of pitcher.
A lot of fans forget the potential Joba has shown. He has never been sent down and never comes up in wishful trades.
Let’s have patience with both Wang and Joba. When they are right they are unbeatable.
Maine: all I said was Joba didn’t have many HR’s in light of the fact that he usually isn’t hit hard. Also, if he is having short innings he usually leaves the game with average 3 runs which is the ideal number for the pen to work with to win,
You Posada defenders are getting testy with Joba outlining his faults and not those of Posada.
Whatever.
Sarah you may have noticed the way the argument goes:
Side 1 – Pitchers don’t seem to do so well with Posada.
Side 2 – They’re stupid.
Side 1 – Some pitchers actually have asked not to have Posada.
Side 2 – They’re stupid.
Side 1 – We’ve tried to look at stats but you reject those. We’ve tried to look at game results but you reject that. We’ve tried to quote pitchers preferences but you reject that. We feel we’re watching the problem with our own eyes, but you reject that too? What do you think the problem is?
Side 2 – You’re stupid.
Side 1 – We see pitchers shaking Posada off and him not handling it well. What do you think of that?
Side 2 – They’re stupid.
Side 1 – So are you saying that there is not any part of this that has to do with Posada’s game calling and it is all on the pitchers who prefer other catchers, the pitchers who shake him off, and the pitchers who don’t have success with him but have obvious success with other catchers?
Side 2 – Everyone’s stupid but Jorge.
Do you people honestly believe you know more about the situation than the managers, coaches, and pitchers? Look, shaking off happens, in the men’s room and on the mound. It is not a big deal. Sometimes pitchers and catchers don’t agree. It happens. But trying to turn this into “All the pitchers hate Jorge” or “Posada has somehow forgotten how to call a game because he’s getting old” is pretty ridiculous.
Also, Cervelli is hitting .298 in 57 at-bats. I’d say he’s been a nice surprise so far, but certainly he hasn’t played enough yet to say he’s “having an exceptional year.”
Come on, people. Enough is enough with this. Honestly. Were you complaining about Posada’s game-calling when we were winning world championships and pennants with him back there? Until you hear a pitcher say, with his own mouth, that he won’t pitch to Posada because Posada calls a bad game, this is all just a bunch of people guessing about stuff they really don’t know anything about. And I include myself. We. Don’t. Know. What we DO know is that Posada is an all-star, borderline Hall of Famer, multiple world-series winning, switch-hitting catcher with power. He has a .319 caught stealing percentage, which, if he had enough games to qualify, would place him 6th in all of baseball amongst catchers, so STOP saying he has a weak arm and people are running crazy on him because it’s flat out wrong. We DO know that the manager is a former catcher, and he’s the one writing Posada’s name in the lineup every day.
We DO know that many Yankee pitchers who have pitched to him (and still are pitching to him) loved and love pitching to him and sing his praises. Do you really think you know more about pitching/catching than Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Roger Clemens, David Wells, etc., etc. etc.?
You may like Cervelli’s eyes, and his energy, and the way he’s played so far. Hey, I like the guy too. He’s been great… in the limited time he’s played. And maybe someday he’ll be a regular catcher and we can evaluate him fairly based on that.
On the catcher debate, did you notice Jorge was injured last year, and what a coink-e-dink, we missed the playoffs! Enough said.