The LoHud Yankees Blog

The Yankees pinch hit 97 times last season, and our own pinch hitter Jesse made a good call in naming Jorge Posada his pinch hitter of choice. Posada had 14 of those pinch hit appearances and went 4-for-11 with two walks, two home runs and a sac fly. He had a .909 slugging percentage in those situations.

A lot of that success is because Posada’s a good, veteran hitter, but I think there’s something to be said for the fact Posada came off the bench early in his career. As a catcher, he gets more days off than most lineup regulars, and he played behind Joe Girardi when he was young. Posada’s been thrown into pinch hit situations much more often than the other Yankees (including long-time National Leaguer Nick Johnson).

By the way, the Yankees pinch hitters as a whole last season: 18-for-76 (.237) with three home runs, 16 walks and 23 strikeouts. Hideki Matsui had eight of the hits, including a home. Brett Gardner was 2-for-6, the only other Yankee with more than one pinch hit last season. The only other Yankees with at least one base hit as a pinch hitter were Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, Eric Hinske and Juan Miranda.  

Career major league pinch hit numbers
Jorge Posada: 27-for-114 (.237) with four HR, 20 BB and 40 Ks
Robinson Cano: 6-for-14 (.500) with two HR, 0 BB and 2 Ks
Curtis Granderson: 5-for-18 (.278) with 0 HR, 1 BB, 5 Ks
Nick Johnson: 5-for-23 (.217) with 0 HR, 5 BB, 3 Ks
Nick Swisher: 2-for-15 (.133) with 0 HR, 2 BB, 4 Ks
Brett Gardner: 2-for-7 (.286) with 0 HR, 0 BB, 1 K
Jamie Hoffmann: 1-for-9 (.111) with 0 HR, 0 BB, 0 Ks
Juan Miranda: 1-for-1 (1.000) with 0 HR, 0 BB, 0 Ks
Francisco Cervelli: 0-for-1
Ramiro Pena: 0-for-3
Derek Jeter: 0-for-4
Mark Teixeira: 0-for-4
Alex Rodriguez: 0-for-9

Leading off the Pinch Hitters series is Jesse Rosenthal, writing about — what else? — pinch hitters.

Jesse lives in Hong Kong, but he was born in Massachusetts to two Bronx natives. “At age 5 I was given the option of either being a Yankees fan or finding somewhere else to live,” Jesse wrote. “I took a fair bit of heat growing up a Yankees fan in MA, but since I was a teenager in the late 90′s, I usually got the last laugh.”

Living in Hong Kong means waking up at 7 in the morning (7 PM in the Bronx) to catch a bit of that night’s — that morning’s? — Yankees game before heading to work. “I took my dad to the last game at the old Yankee Stadium for his 60th birthday,” Jesse wrote. “And we’ll always remember that day.”

———

The idea of “pinch hitting” by writing a guest post got me thinking: Why not write a guest post about pinch hitting?

I recently watched Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Aside from being an all-around classic game, there is no better example of the importance of pinch-hitting than Kirk Gibson’s walk-off home run. The Dodgers were on the verge of losing the first game of the series, but went on to beat the A’s in five games, thanks in large part to Gibson’s pinch-hit home run.

Pinch hitting is a topic we don’t hear much about — especially in the AL where it is less common — but it’s worthy of our attention. The Yankees seem to have a few games each year in which a pinch hitter plays a significant role, sometimes even changing the outcome of the game. What makes a good pinch hitter? Is it the ability to block out the added pressure of the situation? Why are there some HOFers whose pinch-hitting stats are laughable? Mantle had over 100 pinch hit AB’s and hit a combined .235. A guy named Ruth hit below the Mendoza line as a pinch hitter. Sure, it’s likely these AB’s came toward the end of their careers, but the stats are still worse than I would have expected.

Turning our attention to the current Yankees roster, if you could choose any player to pinch hit, who would it be?

I know that Jeter has been clutch throughout most of his career (but he’s 0-for-4 as a pinch hitter). A-Rod and Tex are superstars, but I’m not taking them either (combined 0-for-13 as pinch hitters).

I like Posada (he has 27 hits in including four home runs as a pinch hitter).

In interleague games, the AL team generally calls on the DH as the first pinch hitter in the game — Nick Johnson would be that guy — but what about a tie game in the ninth inning against the Red Sox, when Okajima is brought in to face Granderson. Do you pinch hit for him? If so, who comes in? As the Yankees continue their search for a right-handed utility man, they shouldn’t overlook the value of pinch-hitting.

Two weeks ago, Sam and I asked for volunteers for a series of Pinch Hit guest posts, a familiar series here at the LoHud Yankees Blog. The response was overwhelming.

We’ve chosen 27 pinch hitters – seemed like a good number – and the series will carry us into the weekend before spring training. The pinch hit posts will run every morning*, beginning tomorrow. The afternoon will remain open for the standard breaking news (or lack thereof) and regular blog commentary.

We recieved twice as many proposals as we have room to run, and most that weren’t chosen were left out because someone had already suggested a similar idea. As it stands, we’ve contacted the first half of the pinch hitters. I’ll be contacting the rest in the next day or two. I love getting different points of view on the blog, and the ideas submitted really were terrific. Thank you to everyone who emailed.

* Of course, if news breaks in the morning, plans can change on a day-to-day basis. This is just the plan for now.

Alex Rodriguez is one of several athletes, musicians and celebrities endorsing an effort called Save Haiti Saturday. The site includes an easy way to donate to the relief effort.

From the site, here’s Rodriguez’s statement of support.

“The massive devastation I have seen in Haiti is overwhelming. It’s time for the World to join forces to help those in need. Join me this Saturday, January 16, for Save Haiti Saturday, and make this a national day of giving. I encourage all citizens of the World to help our fellow human beings. They truly need our support. Log on to SaveHaitiSaturday.com and help Project Medishares’ doctors in Haiti save lives.”

Several people have asked what baseball players are doing this time of the year. Since I just talked to Brett Gardner this week, I’ll let him answer that question. He won the World Series on November 4, and then…

“Pretty much take off about five weeks,” Gardner said. “So I started back in the middle of December. Been doing a lot more running and a lot more core stuff.”

During his early winter workouts, Gardner mapped out his offseason. He thought about the things that went right and the things that went wrong last season, “That way I’d have some things to work on when I picked up a bat again,” he said.

It was right after Christmas that Gardner started hitting. He went to the cage a few times around the holidays, took his family on a vacation just after the new year, and went back to work when he got back to South Carolina. Right now he’s hitting three or four times a week, including some bunting drills. Gardner said he’ll be hitting every day by January 20 or 25. He plans to leave for spring training in the first week of February.

“I’m anxious to get back after it,” he said. “But it’ll be here before we know it.”

As for his expectations for spring training, I’ve already written that Gardner expects a fight for the starting left field job.

“I definitely feel more a part of the team (this year),” Gardner said. “Let’s face it, a year ago this time, I was coming off a pretty tough year. I’d been up there the last couple of months and it just didn’t work out the way we wanted it to. This year was just great. The best eight months in my life as far as my baseball career has gone. We’ve got a great group of guys coming back, just as good of a team, if not better.”

There is a Facebook page attributed to Rocco Baldelli that says the outfielder, “just came to a mutual agreement with the New York Yankees.”

“That would be false,” Brian Cashman said.

Such is the world of the Internet.

Cashman acknowledged that the Yankees are talking to several players – ”We’re trying to assess our legitimate choices in the sandbox we’re playing in,” he said — but the team has reached an agreement with none of them.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled Brett Gardner discussion.

By the way, great job by the guys at River Ave. Blues to spot the Facebook page. You never know with this sort of thing. It was certainly worth a quick phone call to the GM.

At this moment, left field at Yankee Stadium belongs to Brett Gardner. The only other options on the Yankees roster are a Rule 5 pick and a few minor leaguers with spring training invitations, but as I wrote in today’s Journal News, Gardner knows the position won’t be handed to him quite so easily.

“I just want to be in there and play and contribute,” he said from his home in South Carolina. “Hopefully I’ll be playing every day. I’m sure they’re going to look at a couple of different options, and hopefully I fit in there somewhere.”

The Yankees remain in the market for an outfielder, and Brian Cashman has expressed an interest in a right-handed hitter to complement switch-hitting Nick Swisher and lefties Gardner and Curtis Granderson. Most of the names being suggested — including the ever-present possibility of Johnny Damon — could be more than role players, they could win the left-field job outright.

And so, Gardner is at home, getting himself ready to fight for an everyday job. He said he plans to arrive in spring training more than two weeks before position players are scheduled to report, and until then, he’ll be working on his own to address the shortcomings of a largely successful rookie season.

———

Approach at the plate
“I just need to be more aggressive and put some balls in play.”

In the minor leagues, Gardner established himself as a dangerous hitter at the top of the order. Pitchers wouldn’t work around him, but they pitched carefully against him. Opening with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2008, Gardner walked just 12 times in April, but he also hit .299 and slugged .494 that month. Triple-A pitchers then walked him 25 times in May and 24 times in June. Gardner is not going to get the same respect in the big leagues, and he’s going to have to adjust.

“Hitting ninth, the very last thing they’re going to do is walk me,” Gardner said. “So they’re going to throw me a lot of fastballs, which I saw a lot last year… It’s one of those things that I’ve got to get over the hump. I’ve got to get more aggressive. I can’t fall behind.”

Bunting
“There are days when I bunt more than 100 balls.”

Gardner has been an effective bunter in the past. He played just 55 Double-A games in 2006 and had 18 bunt hits. As he got higher in the minor league system, though, Gardner stopped bunting nearly as much so that he could use those at-bats to hone his swing. His extra-base hits went up in 2007 and again in 2008, but he lost his feel and confidence for bunting.

“It’s something I got away from that I shouldn’t have ever gotten away from,” he said. “The idea was, instead of wasting forty or fifty at-bats a year, swing the bat.”

This offseason: “I (bunt) every day,” Gardner said. “And obviously as spring training gets closer, I’ll be doing it more and more. And when we get to spring training, I’ll be doing it more and more.”

Postseason baserunning
“Physically I was ready, I just don’t think I was ready mentally.”

It’s hard to complain about Gardner’s regular-season baserunning. He was 26-for-31 on steal attempts, with three of the five caught-stealings coming during an 0-for-3 stretch in July. In the playoffs, though, Gardner was 1-for-3 stealing bases. With ALCS Game 2 tied in the seventh inning, he pinch ran for Nick Swisher but never attempted to take second. Robinson Cano grounded into a double play on the fourth pitch of the at-bat.

“I wasn’t aggressive enough,” Gardner said.

———

“Everything is a learning experience, especially at this point for me. There are always things you wish you could go back and do differently, but let’s face it, we won a World Series and that’s something we’re all very fortunate to be a part of.”

One thing I’ve always respected about Gardner’s career is his steady improvement. I watched him leave Triple-A in 2008, strikeout 17 times in 17 big league games, come back to the minors and immediately make strikeout adjustments. He had five Ks, nine walks and 20 hits in his last 13 Triple-A games that year. 

I can’t tell you whether Gardner be better in 2010 than he was in 2009, but I know he was better when he went back to New York at the end of 2008, and I know he was better still in 2009. I thought Gardner was pretty good last year, and his previous numbers tell me to believe him when he says he’s working on being better this season.

Double-A in 2006: .272/.352/.318
Double-A in 2007: .300/.392/.419

Triple-A in 2007: .260/.343/.331
Triple-A in 2008: .296/.414/.422

New York in 2008: .228/.283/.299
New York in 2009: .270/.345/.379
New York in 2010:  — / — / —

It doesn’t mean much, but Chad Gaudin and Boone Logan have filed for salary arbitration.

The Yankees can still negotiate a contract with one or both before actually arbitration hearings take place in February. The players and Yankees will submit salary figures on Tuesday, and if the cases make it all the way to a hearing, an arbitrator will choose one number or the other. But contracts are quite often negotiated before an actual arbitration hearing.

The Yankees had four other arbitration-eligible players: Brian Bruney and Melky Cabrera were traded, Chien-Ming Wang was non-tendered and Sergio Mitre has already agreed to a one-year deal.

This afternoon, I checked with former scout and current AOL Fanhouse writer Frankie Piliere to ask if he’s seen any of the recent Yankees minor league signings. He’s seen most of them only here and there — “never been priority guys,” he said — but outfielder David Winfree seemed to stand out.

“Scouted Winfree in (spring training) actually,” Piliere wrote in an email. “There’s a lot to like there. I’m surprised he was out there, didn’t realize he was. I think he needs to be viewed as a prospect. Above average arm and I think the power plays at the next level. He’s still mainly dead red on the fastball. I’d like to see if he can make enough consistent contact at AAA. If he can he has the power to be a big league contributor. At least a guy worth watching, but obviously as a free agent there are warts. You gotta like getting a guy that’s still pretty young with very good game usable power though. I think it’s a nice pickup.”

Make sure follow Piliere on twitter. While you’re at it, follow the LoHud Yankees Blog. I’ve just started paying attention to this whole Twitter thing, but I think I’m beginning to figure out what it’s all about. I’ll get used to it, and the LoHud twitter will pick up as we get closer to spring training.

———

Speaking of players on minor league deals…

• My good friend Donnie Collins takes an early look at the potential Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees roster. I tend to agree with his picks, and I agree that the Yankees could add an infielder just to give the Triple-A infield a veteran presence.

• The World Series trophy was supposed to be coming to PNC Field this weekend, but the event has been delayed because of the earthquake in Haiti. Instead, the World Series trophies from 1999 and 2000, as well as the 2009 American League Championship Trophy, will be in Scranton this weekend. The 2009 World Series trophy appearance will be rescheduled.

• One last minor league link: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre broadcaster Mike Vander Woude and the rest of the Triple-A media relations staff have started their own blog.

I spent the past few hours at Yankee Stadium with most of the other Yankees beat writers. We were meeting with the Yankees media relations department. Nothing big, just an informal meeting to discuss ways to make one another’s lives easier. It’s honestly a great relationship between the beat writers and Jason Zillo’s staff, and we’re all lucky to have them to work with. We discussed things like the media guide and player access in the postseason. Thrilling stuff for outside observers, I’m sure.

A few things that have popped up in the time I’ve been gone…

Spoke too soon on Johnny Damon
Of course, no sooner did I post something about Atlanta and Detroit as possible Johnny Damon destinations, than both locations were basically knocked off the list. I would apparently “take a miracle” for the Braves to sign Damon, and the Tigers have “not expressed interest.”

My guess remains that some unexpected team is going to swoop in and sign him. Could that team be the Yankees? Sure. I stubbornly think it remains unlikely, but his market does seem remarkably fluid.

Eric Byrnes is on the market
Now that Adam LaRoche is playing first base in Arizona and Connor Jackson has moved back to left field, Eric Byrnes has been designated for assignment. My first Yankees-should-sign-Byrnes email seems to have arrived 14 minutes after Nick Piecoro reported the DFA.

Here’s the problem with Byrnes: Injuries have taken their toll and his numbers the past two years are awful. He had 21 homers and 50 steals in 2007, but in the two years since he’s hit .218/.271/.382 with 15 steals. To go with those 15 steals, he was caught stealing seven times, the same number as in his 50-steal season. As far as baseball personalities go, Byrnes is one of my favorites,* but I’m not sure he’s the same player his reputation suggests.

On a minimum deal as competition for a bench job? Absolutely. I just think there has to be some caution with him. There’s a reason the Diamondbacks are willing to eat the $11 million they owe him this season.

* Byrnes is actually one of my earliest baseball interviews that I remember. I was an intern in Memphis, occasionally covering the Triple-A Redbirds. Byrnes was the starting center fielder for Triple-A Sacramento. On one road trip to Memphis, the Sacramento players arrived, but their gear did not. Their shortstop had to borrow cleats from one of the Redbirds infielders. The entire team wore A’s hats from the Autozone Park team store. I interviewed Byrnes in front of a locker that was completely empty except for wire hangers. He was terrific.

Steinbrenner Field to host the Florida Four
Here’s the bulk of a fresh press release from the Yankees:

For the first time in history, four Florida universities will meet at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa to compete in “The Florida Four” on March 2, 2010.

For this inaugural event, the University of South Florida (USF) and University of Miami (UM) will go head-to-head, while the University of Florida (UF) and Florida State University (FSU) will take on each other.

“We’ve been working with the Yankees for a few years now to bring another premier event to our community,” said Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission Rob Higgins. “We hope it serves as launching pad to Omaha for the four programs. This is a story that will start in March and we hope continues on to June. ”

“On behalf of the World Champion New York Yankees, it is with great pleasure and pride that we welcome The Florida Four Baseball Classic to George M. Steinbrenner Field. As a past collegiate coach, it is George Steinbrenner’s dream to create this event for Tampa,” said Felix Lopez, Senior Vice President, New York Yankees. “We welcome the great schools of Florida to our facility and look forward to continuing this event for years to come”