Pregame notes: Preparing for the weekend
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Notes on Jul 29, 2010 
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Jorge Posada said he could have played today, even Joe Girardi said “there’s no doubt” he could have started Posada. Thing is, Posada showed up today with some lingering stiffness in his left knee and Girardi decided to sit him and start Francisco Cervelli back behind the plate.
“Just give me an extra day with the big series coming up,” Posada said.
The big series, of course, is against second-place Tampa this weekend. Posada said he hopes to catch two out of three.
“I was hoping that with a DH day yesterday it would be gone or feel a lot better and it didn’t,” Girardi said. “We’ll give him a whole day and get a lot of treatment and see where we’re at… You’re still using your legs when you hit. You’re still running and you’re still going to irritate the back of your leg when you hit. We’re just trying to get it to calm down. Hopefully we don’t need him tonight.”
• Last I heard, Girardi said Alfredo Aceves was going to throw a bullpen Friday. Instead, he threw a bullpen this afternoon. It was going on while we talked to Girardi pregame. “I’ll talk to Dave to see what he saw, and I’ll talk to Geno to discuss it,” Girardi said. “Maybe he’ll be pitching in a game soon, a rehab. I would hope if they say he’s ready to go that it would be within a week (that he’d start a rehab assignment).”
• Nick Swisher at DH has nothing to do with last week’s Achilles issue. “He hasn’t said anything to me,” Girardi said. “I just thought I’d give him a day.”
• Curtis Granderson has been much better lately, but Girardi said his decision to bat Granderson left is primarily so that he can use Swisher to break up the lefties at the bottom of the lineup.
• Dustin Moseley is pretty stretched out. He’s cleared for 90 to 100 pitches. “If I can get six innings out of him, that would be great,” Girardi said.
• Phil Hughes starts again tomorrow. Girardi said he doesn’t have a plan for if/when the Yankees might skip Hughes again to limit his innings. “I don’t have anything completely mapped out because there are a lot of things that could change between there,” he said.
• An entire pregame session with no questions about Joba Chamberlain in the eighth inning or Alex Rodriguez hitting No. 600. It was remarkable.
• In non-milestone Rodriguez news, according to the AP, A-Rod has filed “an objection to aspects of next week’s auction of the Texas Rangers, saying he and other former players may not get the millions owed them.”
UPDATE, 6:15 p.m.: Just in case you missed them, two trades from the past two hours or so: Jorge Cantu to Texas and Miguel Tejada to San Diego. Here’s the Indians lineup:
Trevor Crowe CF
Asdrubal Cabrera SS
Shin-Soo Choo RF
Carlos Santana C
Austin Kearns LF
Matt LaPorta 1B
Jayson Nix 3B
Shelley Duncan DH
Luis Valbuena 2B
Associated Press photos of Cervelli with Gardner, and Rodriguez
Love the picture of Cisco and Gardner.
Me too.
May be after lohud drawing for the autographed baseballs, I’ll hold an auction and/or quiz from my personal collection of autographs.
Follow me on Twitter and sometime this week I will announce whatever I come up with.
# mick July 29th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Worst case scenario:
Jorge out for the playoffs.
We now have no offense at 2 positions, catcher and DH.
Unless Thames/Miranda is the answer or the return of NJ, the question is why not pick up a bat?
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs.....ssive-era/
Fanghraphs says stop worrying about Joba, and be happy if he doesn’t get traded away.
Lost-
If you are going to have a baseball quiz you might as well just declare GB the winner right now.
He is a walking baseball archive.
He won’t go within 1000 ft of twitter though.
How stupid are the Padres?
They just got worse by trading for Tejada. He sucks and although they need offense, he is not an upgrade offensively. Moreover, their MO is defense and guess what- he sucks with the glove as well.
Headley is one of their better players and now he is on the bench at 3b.
LOL, SD fail.
Headley is one of their better players and now he is on the bench at 3b.
–
Headley to the OF. Tejada fits right in on that offense, 81 OPS+
Fangraphs can spin anything.
Joba has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball this year and a shell of what he was in 2007.
There is a lot to be worried about because he has been trending downward for a long time.
Hopefully, he can get it going in the right direction again.
Whether that’s in NY or another destination.
# Lost July 29th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
May be after lohud drawing for the autographed baseballs, I’ll hold an auction and/or quiz from my personal collection of autographs.
Follow me on Twitter and sometime this week I will announce whatever I come up with.
***************************
OMG, I want that autographed picture of Cano!!!!!
“If facts matter more than sentiment, Gardner should leadoff every day.”
Wanted to respond to this.
What you meant to say is if the most recent “stats” matter more…
There is more to managing a 25 man roster than making up the line-up with a stat sheet.
Jeter is a very above average hitter and was the lead-off man for last year’s world series champion. That is not a sentimental statement in the least.
Players respond to respect and consistency. They want to know their roles are not subject to the whims of in-season slumps.
It was the same reason Teixeira was not moved outta the 3rd hole, because smart managers (like Girardi and unlike some fans) manage the roster as much as they manage the day-to-day line-up.
Yankees are winning consistently and the players know Jeter has been atop or near the top the Yankees order for 14 years, and Jeter, Girardi and the other 24 guys on the roster know Jeter can start hitting to his career numbers beginning any given night.
“Just give me an extra day with the big series coming up,” Posada said.
Big series??? Stuckey, go get ‘em!
stuckey99 July 29th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
?They weathered the Posada stuff in large part because Francisco Cervelli played out of his mind. He has regressed big time lately.?
Chip, I don?t know why people make such assertions when they are SOO easily checked.
Cervelli hasn?t hit since May.
May 23rd to be exact.
He OPS?ed .521 in June and .562 so far in July.
He hasn?t hit in well over 2 months? and the Yankees have been fine.
You?re suggesting he?s just now come to earth and/or his lack of offense will catch up with the Yanks, which is completely ignoring the last 2+ months.
——————————————-
As I said, I have no doubt that a Yankee lineup without Jorge is strong enough to beat the Indians, Royals, and National League dregs – You look at the rest of the Yankees’ schedule? Series against Tampa, Boston, Texas, the White Sox, Tigers, more Tampa, more Boston, more Texas and Toronto too who, if nothing else, have proven they can hit this season and will be primed to play the role of spoiler…
The Yankees need Jorge’s bat in the lineup for those series – Girardi won’t have “extra days before big series” to give him in August and September
If the most recent stats mattered, this “should” be the Yankees line-up.
Gardner
Granderson
Texeira
Cano
Swisher
Rodriquez
Posada
Jeter
Cervelli/DH’s
Sherman reporting that Tampa is now the most likely team to get Adam Dunn…as I said a few days ago, that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen but the possibility is not one I’m thrilled about.
“Big series??? Stuckey, go get ‘em!”
Yeah, that’s hyperbole to be sure.
The Yankees will survive – can’t worry about what other teams are doing. If Tampa wants to give up one of their many great young arms, let them.
Tampa adds Dunn.
We add Wes Helms.
No problemo.
I’m just going to throw this out there:
The Yankees have two options (in my opinion)
1. If they plan to continue running Jorge out there at C for the majority of the season they need to either bring in an Adam Dunn (or Lance Berkman) to serve as DH so that they can still boast a deep lineup on the days when Posada can’t play because of a nagging injury
2. If they do not want to bring in a primary DH then they should bring in a catcher, Miguel Olivo, John Buck, Chris Snyder are viable options, give Jorge 1 or 2 starts a week behind the dish to keep his ego in check and give Alex or others a half day off.
The Nationals really want Jackson from the D’backs..for some odd reason. Heyman said they are trying to work out a 3 way where they get Jackson and the W.Sox get Dunn. I really doubt the Nats will trade with Tampa or Yanks until they check out all options with that deal and it falls apart. No one has mentioned what the Nats want from the Yanks for Dunn so I doubt they have seriously talked yet.
I guess it’s my own fault, choosing to spend time in a forum in which the majority of it’s members completely overlook what has happened during the course of the season in favor or fearing what will happen for its remainder, apparently convinced the two things bear no relation to one another.
Z-Mac for Edwin
Edwin+Nova+Adams for Dunn
Boosh.
Lets do it!
(it will never happen and is likely not enough)
I really don’t get the infatuation with Edwin Jackson.
He has had one good half season in his MLB career.
“1. If they plan to continue running Jorge out there at C for the majority of the season they need to either bring in an Adam Dunn (or Lance Berkman) to serve as DH so that they can still boast a deep lineup on the days when Posada can’t play because of a nagging injury.”
So just so I understand you correctly, you’re arguing that unless they bring in a DH from outside the organization, the Yankees can in no way, shape or form continue on the 103-104 pace they’ve been in since early May of LAST year..?
Is this your position?
BloggingBombers A guy was holding up a sign down the 3B line that read “SHELLEY DUNCAN POWER” – Shelley walked down the line, shook his hand and signed it.
CaptainClutch – I agree, I’m not sure what the fascination is with Edwin Jackson, either. However, as to the second part of your post – just because we don’t have publicity of what Cash is doing, doesn’t mean he’s doing nothing. He does his business quietly, and quickly. Let’s see what transpires.
stuckey99 July 29th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
I guess it?s my own fault, choosing to spend time in a forum in which the majority of it?s members completely overlook what has happened during the course of the season in favor or fearing what will happen for its remainder, apparently convinced the two things bear no relation to one another.
———————–
Well actually it’s your fault for disregarding four facts when posing your argument:
1. The schedule is not balanced. Teams do not necessarily face the same quality of opponent in the future as they have in the past. Nor do teams necessarily have as much off-time in the second half of the season as they did in the first.
2. As the season progresses players (especially older ones, tend to wear down…moreso now that amphetamins are being tested for.
3. July and August are hotter months than May and June. The heat tends to increase the wear factor on players, especially those players who play demanding positions like catcher.
4. Teams do not have as much flexibility in the second half of the season as they do in the first. A team can fudge games in May or June a lot easier than they can when there are more games behind them then there are ahead. If the Yankees have to give Jorge days off against Tampa in August because of nagging injuries then that is a bigger hit to the club then giving him games off against the Royals in June.
@stuckey99
While that’s a fair point about Jeter being a veteran, he’s been a veteran #2 hitter. Gardener is built to be a lead off hitter, he has the speed, he puts up long at bats, he has a decent batting average and on base percentage. If both players play to their fullest potential, Gardner is the lead off hitter and Jeter is the #2 hitter.
That’s got nothing to do with being a veteran or not, players should be placed where they have the best chance to succeed and help the team win.
How about taking it one game at a time like the players do?
Berkman would be interesting, if the Astros will take only a decent prospect back. He still has $5.4M left on his contract for this season. If both teams split the remaining money and the Yanks give up one of the 1 million pitchers they have. Like McCallister, no one great but decent. I would do that….
Since posada has returned from injury the yankees are 5-5 in games in which he does not play.
And when Posada was injured the yankees were 7-7 in the 14 games he did not play.
Seems like they are a .500 team without Posada.
You’ve got Swisher, Gardner, and Jeter who can all bat at or near the top of the order. What’s your best 1-2 and where does the odd man out bat?
“…the majority of it’s members…”
stuckey99 July 29th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
?1. If they plan to continue running Jorge out there at C for the majority of the season they need to either bring in an Adam Dunn (or Lance Berkman) to serve as DH so that they can still boast a deep lineup on the days when Posada can’t play because of a nagging injury.?
So just so I understand you correctly, you?re arguing that unless they bring in a DH from outside the organization, the Yankees can in no way, shape or form continue on the 103-104 pace they?ve been in since early May of LAST year..?
Is this your position?
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No – my position is that the Yankees are best served by ensuring that Jorge’s bat is in the lineup on a regular basis; but barring that they need to bring in another bat to make up for that loss.
And by the way, your smug condescention will be a lot less tolerable when/if the Yankees do not make the playoffs because Jorge’s nagging injuries keep him out of critical games down the stretch.
It’s all well and good to say that the Yankees are on pace to win this number of games or that number of games – Tampa’s not going anywhere and the Red Sox are getting a lot of players back this month. The goal is to beat them.
Enjoy the game folks.
Best of luck Dustin.
Game Post up
stuckey99 July 29th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
I guess it?s my own fault, choosing to spend time in a forum in which the majority of it?s members
———————-
Oh, and if you want to be a smug moron you might want to learn the difference between it’s and its….
I’m just sayin’
Chip,
#2 through 4 equally apply to all teams. The Yanks are no more or less subject to the concerns as any other team.
As to #1, the only real battle the Yankees are in is with Tampa for the division lead and to a lesser degree, Texas for the best record.
Have you checked their remaining schedules?