More surgery for Nick Johnson
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Aug 25, 2010 
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In the visiting dugout of the Rogers Centre this afternoon, Joe Girardi had already talked about Phil Hughes and Alfredo Aceves and Nick Swisher when he suddenly had an oh-by-the-way moment.
He stopped the conversation to make this announcement: Nick Johnson is having wrist surgery again.
Girardi didn’t know any of the details, and frankly the details could not have mattered less. Johnson is a heckuva nice guy and he’s been a good hitter in his career, but a second surgery was hardly stop-the-presses news. I don’t think anyone was expecting him back at this point, anyway.
Pretty stunning when the Yankees Opening Day designated hitter has a second surgery, and no one is caught off guard.
So Johnson’s brief presence inspired Garnder’s extreme patience, and the adversity his easy struggles and then exit provided the team an early lesson in overcoming adversity and other players stepping up to pick up the slack.
Yes… one can spin anything is one tries hard enough.
Not loving Jack Curry’s tweet that only if everything goes perfectly will Andy be back by mid-September; what are the odds on everything going perfectly?
It doesn’t sound good for Marte either……….boy, when it rains it pours
You know you never seen me to complain about the moves the Yanks make, once they’ve made them. I might have a question ahead of time but once it happens, I go with it. I was concerned about Javy but I still think that might end up being okay. But though I never said anything, even I can’t figure out quite what was going through Cashman’s mind when he got NJ. Maybe it was purely DH knowing he had Tex at first. I don’t know. But boy the script to this one could have been etchec in stone.
If there’s something I haven’t though of that gives credit to the signing, I certainly will take that into consideration.
I just don’t get it.
Nick Who??????
Sarcasm off/
Seriously, the front office had a bad offseason. The acquisition of Nick Johnson, Randy Winn, Javy Vazquez and Curtis Granderson have not worked out too well. Granderson may yet become a vital cog in the Yankees lineup, but the rest of the guys have been huge disappointments.
If there is one acquisition that has worked out well it was signing Marcus Thames. Thames isn’t an everyday player but he was signed, cheaply, to a minor league deal and has been the best contributor of the newcomers. As long as they let him DH against RH pitchers then he is OK.
Just a lost season for Johnson. For himself and for the team. At least the Yankees have the talent and resources to more than make do.
As for Girardi’s plan to answer questions in Chicago on Friday, what on earth can he say? Unless he says “I’m not interested in going to Chicago,” or “I’m flattered that people of Chicago are so interested, but I’m not planning on going anywhere,” or “I sure hope the Cubbies want me, it’s my dream job,” it’s pointless. He should just make a statement that the subject is not open for discussion and he won’t answer any questions.
The news isn’t any different for Pettitte than it was a week ago.
Once they shut him down for the week, Mid-September was the plan for his return.
Marte? He needs less than 10 innings between now and the end of the season to be ready for the post-season.
Sounds like he is on the same schedule he was on last year.
“I’m more upset that the Rays are having the year they’re having (though “upset” is not the word – a little irked, maybe).”
Are we really at the point where we hope the rest of the league lays down for the Yankees and the regular season is a 162 game, 6 month coronation?
In retrospect, the Yanks should have traded a Casey Kotchman equivalent for Bill Hall before the Sox did.
What a joke.
The yankees scored the most runs per game while NJ was in the lineup, clearly it was a good move but unfortunately he got injured. And its not like you could have guessed he’d be injured for 140 games. He has played 100+ games in a season quite a bit.
SJ, ok – I took the media bait again,lol
Lester vs Rays Friday.
Wakefield pitching for the Sox tonight. Lester moved to Friday because Dice K has lower back soreness.
Nick Johnson, he was on our team?
stuckey99 -
Come on. Don’t misconstrue what I say. It’s not like a make a post every now and again, you have a season’s worth of posts to know my feelings. I take every game as it comes, I don’t make predictions, I don’t wring my hands. I don’t want a 162-0 season, nor have I ever implied as much. I like a good old-fashioned pennant race. Of course it is irksome when your team wins, and the other team wins; the other team loses, and your team loses. You want your team to pull away at some point. It is both exciting AND irksome.
Sheesh.
“Seriously, the front office had a bad offseason.”
Sticking with Brett Gardner over the more popular choice of Matt Holliday says hello.
As does the acquisition of Boone Logan, the signing of Dustin Moseley, and trusting a rotation spot to Phil Hughes.
Bill Hall? are you kidding? The Yanks are better off signing Nick Johnson. at least he doesn’t take up any space.
I’m glad he’s getting the 2nd surgery now, just get him back for the playoffs.
Wait a second…
Doreen, it’s August.
Still 36 games to create separation. Standings on really matter in the last few days of the year.
Bill Hall would be better than Ramiro Pena. .240 .309 .471 .781 with 17 HRs and see’s 4.11 P/PA
I think Pettitte just needs to get a couple of starts in the regular season in late september. He should be ready for the postseason hopefully. It might even benefit him because he will fresh.
“Bill Hall? are you kidding? The Yanks are better off signing Nick Johnson. at least he doesn’t take up any space.”
OK, you take Ramiro Pena for your team, I’ll take Bill Hall for mine. Did you fall and bump your head or something?
Hall wouldn’t have gotten as much playing time on this team as Pena….or Marcus Thames.
Suppose Pettitte isn’t ready for the post-season?
Nick Johnson has played 8 season since his initial call up to the bigs.
He’s played more than 100 games only 4 times.
Based on past track record it was pretty much a toss up as to whether he would play in over 100 games
In the winter there was a great deal of discussion over Nick Johnson’t .426 OBP last year. That was always very deceptive because rate statistics are very difficult to interpret in the context of a player who is at such a high probability for missing time.
While you couldn’t have “predicted” Johnson would miss so much time, it’s not surprising that he has – especially with a wrist injury as he’s already had one before.
Signing Johnson was a major risk from the start. Signing Matsui was also a major risk, however.
It just didn’t work out for either player this year. And it’s not that big a surprise in either case.
Jerkface August 25th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Bill Hall would be better than Ramiro Pena. .240 .309 .471 .781 with 17 HRs and see’s 4.11 P/PA
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just about anyone would be better than Ramiro Pena.
speaking of waste of space, GB7 , that would be Pena. Hall represents an upgrade.
Wave Your Hat August 25th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
“Bill Hall? are you kidding? The Yanks are better off signing Nick Johnson. at least he doesn’t take up any space.”
OK, you take Ramiro Pena for your team, I’ll take Bill Hall for mine. Did you fall and bump your head or something?
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Don’t you just the Hall’s magic glove? Exactly where was he going to play?
GreenBeret7 August 25th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Hey, Rodg. How’s thing in Kprnfield Kountu, today? Hope all is well with you and your family.
Love that movie. I think I’ve seen it at least 20 times. Probably the best one liners in any movie ever. lines like that and his before game prayer about the waitress from South Bend. Not to mention the ones that get caught in the LoHud filters.
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Things are good up here. Beautiful day today. Temps in the low 70s, light breeze, sun’s shining. Doesn’t get any better. Had that fall football smell in the air this morning too. Made me flashback to all my good times playing football in high school. Things good down your way?
I’ve probably seen it at least 20 times as well. I have two younger sisters who used to do the ‘Lay off the high ones…I like the high ones…Mule!…Nag!’ line all the time. Hanks was great in it.
“Hall wouldn’t have gotten as much playing time on this team as Pena….or Marcus Thames.”
Hall would have had every at bat Pena has had, because Hall would have been on the team and Pena would have been in AAA.
Then the Yankees have major problems, Wave
GreenBeret7 August 25th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Hall wouldn’t have gotten as much playing time on this team as Pena….or Marcus Thames.
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? and that means, Hall is not greater than Pena?
at least he has $5.5M to help him rest easy.
Wave Your Hat August 25th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Suppose Pettitte isn’t ready for the post-season?
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Suppose the Mayans were wrong and they screwed up their calendar and the world ends on October 1, 2010? You would have wasted your life away with your “supposes”.
“Suppose Pettitte isn’t ready for the post-season?”
I suspect someone else will pitch in his place, were I to guess.
They aren’t going to cancel the playoffs so, the Yankees will have to make due and someone will have to step up.
Although, I believe Andy will be back for the post-season.
Lets get real on NJ. In his first full season he played in 129 games and lasted long enough to get postseason ABs. He played in 96 games in 03 and got into the postseason mix.
Then he played 73 games in Montreal which sandwiched back issues with taking a bad hop to the face.
Then 131, 147, when he broke his leg and missed all of 07. He hurt his wrist in 08.
So unless you’re banking on him reinjuring the wrist, which is hit or miss on wrist issues, you certainly couldn’t intelligently claim he was a lock to miss a ton of games. His prior injuries which conspired to limit him to under 100 games were fluke. A broken leg on a collision with AUSTIN KEARNS and a bad hop ball to the face?
Swisher is scratched.:sad:
You guys aren’t very good supposers.
The reason I asked the question was that Pettitte was originally supposed to come back mid to late August, then early September, now maybe mid-September.
That’s a worrisome trend IMO, and without Andy the Yanks’ post-season starter group is worse than last year’s, which is saying something.
Its pretty hard to argue he wouldn’t miss a lot of games given his injury history.
I think the Yankees would have been thrilled with 300-400 AB’s.
I don’t think they were expecting him to hold up over an entire season.
Curse of Miley?
(that’s Miley Cyrus, not Dave Miley)
I think CC – Hughes – Nova – Burnett is much deeper than CC – Pettitte – Burnett – Gaudin
(not)
JackCurryYES Nick Swisher has been scratched from lineup with left knee soreness. Watched him in pre-game and he was in pain
Aww, too bad about Swish, but I’m almost glad…..might as well give him 2 full days off.
When is Berkman due to come off the DFL?
Oh crap…………that sounds like Nick could be out for more than just tonights game.
Oops, DL
I think the Yankees would have been thrilled with 300-400 AB?s.
—
Thats what I’m saying, I think you could have expected various ailments to befall NJ and limit him to 100ish games, but wasn’t that fine? Didn’t we only need him to provide 300-400 ABs as long as he was healthy for the playoffs? Everyone wanted to rest posada/a-rod/jeter.
But I don’t think its fair to NJs career to suggest anyone here KNEW he’d be done after 20 games. Or that it was not a surprise. I for one was very surprised.
“In the winter there was a great deal of discussion over Nick Johnson’t .426 OBP last year. That was always very deceptive because rate statistics are very difficult to interpret in the context of a player who is at such a high probability for missing time.”
If Nick played, it wasn’t going out on a limb to predict he’d have a high OBP, because he always has had one, whether he played a full season or not.
And if your medical reports said Nick was healthy, I’m not sure bad karma would justify a team in not signing Nick.
I guess Girardi didn’t do so well in BP today.
“You guys aren’t very good supposers.”
Genuinely, what is your answer to your own question?
“Suppose Pettitte isn’t ready for the post-season?”
Ledger_Yankees Swisher hobbled off field after spending time during stretch trying to get his leg loose. Had a tough time negotiating steps near dugout.
JackCurryYES New Yankee lineup has Granderson hitting 2d and Gardner hitting 8th. Kearns in rf and Gard in lf
Too bad about Swisher, hopefully he’s back soon. There was always the possibility in the back of my mind that Pettitte was a possible no-go. Like Aceves and Damaso, you can’t count on them until they’re back.
Hoping for a win today, Haren loves the Yankees! Didn’t give up 4 early on like the last two did.
Appears the Sox are gunning for the Rays by rearranging their rotation. As they should.
“So unless you’re banking on him reinjuring the wrist, which is hit or miss on wrist issues, you certainly couldn’t intelligently claim he was a lock to miss a ton of games.”
No one said he was a “lock” for anything. That’s not how probability works.
Nick Johnson was at significantly increased risk for missing time this season. There’s no two ways about it. His past record for missing games speaks for itself.
Playing 96 games and 73 games in a full season is not a positive. Even then that means the player has missed huge portions of the season.
Wrist injuries do recur. He hit for no power last season which had to give you pause that there was still something not right with that wrist. On top of that there have been occasions Johnson has taken far longer to heal from injuries than predicted so even after he’s injured those injuries have caused him to miss more time than was anticipated.
To not acknowledge that Johnson was a significant risk is off the mark. He clearly was when they signed him.
It is what it is.
They are playing it safe with Andy.
Friday will be the key day.
If he can throw off the mound pain free, he can pick up the pace and hit his target return date.
Unless the injury worsened, which we have no information it has, its not a season ending injury.
stuckey-
I don’t have an answer to my question – I was “genuinely” interested in what other folks thought the Yanks would do and whether they would have enough pitching to win anyway.
Wave,
Maybe it’s best not to worry about Pettitte until we’re forced to worry about him not being available in Oct?
I will preface this by saying that I am not paranoid AT THIS MOMENT about the Red Sox.
Perhaps at some point I will become beyond paranoid, but not right now.
Now, having said that, I responded the other day why someone would have every reason to fear the Red Sox, to which nobody responded. I’ll put it in bold this time.
The Red Sox – of the past decade or thereabouts – do not conform to the laws of probability and logic
Add on to that exactly what Doreen put in the last thread, about them having half their team injured and still sticking around, it is not impossible for them to make a comeback, whether it be on the Rays or the Yankees.
Erin, that doesn’t sound very good. Thanks for posting. Poor Swish……..
CB-
Isn’t it a medical question? I’m not sure past history is really relevant.
Yes, we have enough pitching to win without Andy.
rodg12 August 25th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
GreenBeret7 August 25th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Hey, Rodg. How’s thing in Kprnfield Kountu, today? Hope all is well with you and your family.
Love that movie. I think I’ve seen it at least 20 times. Probably the best one liners in any movie ever. lines like that and his before game prayer about the waitress from South Bend. Not to mention the ones that get caught in the LoHud filters.
————————————————————–
Things are good up here. Beautiful day today. Temps in the low 70s, light breeze, sun’s shining. Doesn’t get any better. Had that fall football smell in the air this morning too. Made me flashback to all my good times playing football in high school. Things good down your way?
I’ve probably seen it at least 20 times as well. I have two younger sisters who used to do the ‘Lay off the high ones…I like the high ones…Mule!…Nag!’ line all the time. Hanks was great in it.
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That’s great news up there Rodg. You guys have had a pretty decent summer this year. Things have been good for me here, too. It’s great to finally det out and about and be around people. Not sure how happy those people are about it, though. almost a year of not wearing a mask for fear of colds. Get to hold the babies and “Killer”. Was never really a dog person until I got him, but, the babies have him now. He loves them just as much.
Some of the best lines were with Jon Lovitz as Ernie Capadino.. My favorite was the little one minute discussion with Hanks and Strathhairn:
“Ira Lowenstein: Great game, Jimmy. I especially liked that move in the seventh inning when you scratched your balls for an hour.
Jimmy Dugan: Well, anything worth doing is worth doing right.
[spits]
Ira Lowenstein: Until you did that, I couldn’t tell if you were… drunk or dead.
Jimmy Dugan: It was made very clear to me what I’m supposed to do here. I smile, wave my little hat… I did that, so when do I get paid?
Ira Lowenstein: Now, Jimmy, you have some pretty good ballplayers here. You ought to give them a little bit of your…
Jimmy Dugan: [interrupting] Ballplayers. I don’t have ballplayers, I’ve got girls. Girls are what you sleep with after the game, not, not what you coach during the game.
[spits]
Ira Lowenstein: If we paid you a little bit more, Jimmy, do you think you could be just a little more disgusting?
Jimmy Dugan: [brightly] Well, I could certainly use the money
Wave,
Pitch someone else.
Yes.
only issue here is that not the bench is cervelli and pena.
Betsy, I was listening to the Sux game on WEEI and the way they were talking about Andy, it sounded like they thought he wasn’t coming back at all! They were talking about the wavier wire and how the Yankees are going to go after Hiroki Kuroda because “after CC, they have no pitching.” Credit to one of the broadcasters who said that Phil Hughes manages to get wins and it doesn’t matter how he gets them – huge run support, etc., – he gets them. But then they pointed to his limited pitch count, if there is one.
********************
I have to admit this whole waiver wire thing intrigues me. They were saying that waiver wire claims are supposed to be secret and that they figured that Boras leaked the information about Damon. I have huge respect for Damon for turning down beantown’s offer. They played the clip of him being interviewed by Michael Kay where he said NY was the best place he’s ever played, much better than beantown.
Then they talked about getting Bobby Abreu. I am still confused. For anyone who knows, is the theory that anyone put on the waiver wire can be claimed? Does that mean someone could claim CC, even though we know the Yankees would pull him back? How do they know Abreu is available if it’s supposed to be secret, unless the secret part is who has put in claims rather than who is on the wire. I guess that would make more sense. For example, is there somewhere we as fans could go to look to see what players teams put on the waiver wire?
*************** ************
You know how you guys in the NY area all know the characters who call into the FAN? Well a well-known Yankee fan who calls into EEI all the time is someone called Frank from Gloucester. The guy is 81 years old and he definitely has a cult following! I wish you guys could hear this guy. I absolutely love when he calls in because he calls those people on everything. He even his his own Myspace account! http://www.myspace.com/iloveneumy
Today he called in to talk about MVP. The WEEI guys must have made the mistake of talking up Adrien Beltre for MVP (Frank calls him Andre, I think on purpose
) so Frank was comparing Beltre’s numbers to Robby’s. It was pretty funny. He sounds like a goodfella when he talks. When I googled him to see if I could find his picture to link to, I got 21,000+ hits!
stuckey99-
I didn’t think my question was irrelevant. It is certainly more of a worry to me than whether the Sox will catch the Yanks, which seems to occupy most people’s minds today.
However, even if my question was boring, which I dispute, your answers are even more so.
M,
The little lefty from Waipio looked real impressive. He made them boys from Ohio look silly today.
Even in the little leagues they can’t hit junkballers. 
Ledger_Yankees Swisher hobbled off field after spending time during stretch trying to get his leg loose. Had a tough time negotiating steps near dugout.
8 minutes ago via TweetDeck
We can survive with a rotation of
CC-Hughes-Burnett-Nova
What AL team, except Tampa, has a better rotation than that???
New Post w/pregame notes
“Isn’t it a medical question? I’m not sure past history is really relevant.”
I can’t imagine his past medical history being irrelevant. That’s not how actuarial tables work. In fact it’s the exact opposite. Actuarial tables are largely based on your past medical history.
If his past history wasn’t relevant a team on the market would have thrown way more money and years at him. He’s a very good ball player when he plays. He just never plays.
The recent wrist injury alone that he had before had to be a concern and would make him at a higher risk to have another injury.
It wasn’t unreasonable to feel that Johnson would put up a .400 OBP. There was far, far more variance in how many total bases, for example, he would accumulate this season or what kind of WAR he would contribute.
ac1 August 25th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
only issue here is that not the bench is cervelli and pena.
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I’ll get back with you on this after I have it decoded.
The Sux easily handled to Mariners and I was kind of aggravated that they got away without having to face King Felix – until I heard he’s pitching tonight. I can’t wait to watch that game. Hernandez v. Wakefield. I would think their winning streak is going to come to a screeching halt.
“Add on to that exactly what Doreen put in the last thread, about them having half their team injured and still sticking around, it is not impossible for them to make a comeback, whether it be on the Rays or the Yankees.”
The problem with this reasoning is despite having 6 games with each, the Red Sox really don’t hold their own fate in their hands.
This is not a sole head-to-head-match-up the rest of the way.
A Red Sox comeback, unless due to an historical run of September greatness, relies heavily on either or both of the Yankees and Sox do ALSO do what they haven’t done all year (and in the Yankees case since May 2009), a proposition of which the Sox have NO control.
The “standings” are probably the worse thing MLB ever did to fans, because it skews perspective.
The MACRO view of the season is the more accurate way of looking at probability. Figure out using the best available information available how many games the Yankees are likely to win. START from there.
As to the idea of them catching the Rays… who the hell cares? All it means if the Yanks would be a lock for the division crown.
Nick Johnson leads the team in OBP this year…(OBP means On Bench Percentage in this case….)
Nobody would have thought Nick Johnson would be back in September to begin with. In boxing he’s known as a guy with a glass jaw.
Johnny Damon isn’t scheduled for surgery, last time I checked. Should have brought him back for another year. I know, getting younger is good, but Nick was a huge risk.
Fantastic offseason for Cashman. It’s as if he was asleep when he made these awful, awful deals.