Wednesday notes: Pettitte returns to the mound
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Notes on Apr 04, 2012 
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Andy Pettitte’s name hadn’t been announced. He hadn’t set foot on the mound, hadn’t picked up the baseball, hadn’t thrown a single warmup pitch. All it took was the sight of the Texas lefty jogging out of the dugout to generate a standing ovation. Pettitte threw a scoreless sixth inning in his first game action since the 2010 postseason.
“Definitely it felt a little weird, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “But once I got out there it was just like I never left. On the day you pitch, you know something is different about your body. That’s how I felt today. It was kind of that normal feeling that I’d normally feel.”
Pettitte allowed a leadoff single — a chopper that got through the right side of the infield — but Russell Martin threw out the base runner trying to steal second. The next two batters didn’t get the ball out of the infield.
“He looked great,” Martin said. “He was executing his pitches well. It was a short sample, but his cutter was good, he was locating his fastball well and he threw a couple of curveballs for strikes. Everything looked good today. … You can’t tell at all (that he’s been away). It’s just going to be about building his stamina up. That’s the only thing.”
Pettitte said he expects to stay in Tampa, pitching either in extended spring training or with the Yankees High-A team. He’s still focused on May 1 as a possible return date. Sometime around then, anyway. In a normal spring training, Pettitte would build on this one-inning outing by adding another inning start by start.
“I would hope it’s that simple,” Pettitte said. “I would plan on it being that simple.”
Pettitte said he hadn’t talked to the Yankees about a definitive plan going forward, but he’d like to face Double-A or Triple-A hitters at least once before getting back on a big league mound. So far, the Yankees seem impressed by his ability to locate and throw his secondary pitches.
“There’s nothing I really feel like I need to work on,” Pettitte said. “I didn’t even throw a changeup today. It was a quick inning, so I didn’t get a chance to throw any changeups. That’s been feeling good. All that stuff is the stuff I’m looking forward to working on as I get ready to do this: Working out of the stretch, working with runners on base and just getting used to doing all that again. Everything is proceeding very smoothly right now.”
• In his final spring start, Freddy Garcia delivered more of the same. He made a mistake on a three-run home run by Ike Davis, but otherwise, Garcia was sharp. He pitched 4.2 innings, allowing four hits and two walks. He struck out four. The home run accounted for the only runs he allowed. Garcia ended spring training with a 3.71 ERA and will be the No. 5 starter. “Couple innings I was up a little bit, but I feel fine,” Garcia said. “I’m ready to go next week.”
• Boone Logan said he can’t explain why his back got tight last night. He went through a “very easy” off day, but when he came home from dinner, he took a couple of steps into his apartment and felt his lower back “grab.” He thought it would go away in the middle of the night, but it didn’t. “I wish I had a story,” he said.
• Girardi on whether he’ll have Logan on Opening Day: “I don’t know. I think that’s questionable. I’m not saying he would be a DL piece, but I don’t know if he’ll be able to pitch by Friday.”
• Logan went for an MRI that showed no problems. He expects to be ready to go by Friday’s opener. “I know my body and I think in a day or two it’ll be fine,” Logan said.
• Pettitte was sitting around 86 mph with his fastball today. He said he never looked at a gun or checked on his velocity. “I don’t need to look at it,” he said. “Everything was good. They fouled off some pitches when I threw my four-seams away. They beat it into the ground to the right side. They weren’t pulling it. As long as you’re throwing your offspeed stuff they’ve got to respect that. It doesn’t matter how hard you’re throwing as long as it’s in a decent spot.”
• Obviously today’s move for additional catching depth — after the Yankees had already acquired Craig Tatum — led to questions about whether Austin Romine suffered another setback. Cashman said there was no additional setback and no additional tests. Romine’s had an epidural, that’s all. Otherwise there’s no new news about his back.
• In what could be a move to fill David Phelps’ spot in the Triple-A rotation, the Yankees have signed Ramon Ortiz to a minor league deal.
Associated Press photo
Cannot deal in absolutes – cannot say these types of players are not going to become available – or even young 23 year old hitters are the only way to go – teams are formed based on an organic development – midseason trades develop that you cannot predict – a player becomes more valuable than you originally thought – a CF works with a Kevin Long and gets his groove against lefties – a fastball returns to a Phil Hughes type pitcher – and maybe – just maybe – a Michael Pineda gets his mechanic ironed out that perhaps were messed up when he tried to emphasize and work on his changeup mentally and then physically too much. . . . Let the team naturally develop – see what the market brings – maybe a deal struck today for a Votto opens the door to a Bruce becoming available – or Drayton Moore being fired after another losing season and Boras saying no early contract talks with Hosmer as we are going to Teixeira the process and bring him to FA when his 6 years of service time are reached. . . . .
Its not a solution to say: Maybe the Yankees can pay Hosmer 200 million in free agency 2 years after Tex’s contract expires.
“John Lannan has formally requested a trade.”
If the Yankees hadn’t already signed Andy, I would advocate they’re going after Lannan. He’s a solid major league pitcher, and he’s left handed.
• Pettitte was sitting around 86 mph with his fastball today. He said he never looked at a gun or checked on his velocity. “I don’t need to look at it,” he said. “Everything was good. They fouled off some pitches when I threw my four-seams away. They beat it into the ground to the right side. They weren’t pulling it. As long as you’re throwing your offspeed stuff they’ve got to respect that. It doesn’t matter how hard you’re throwing as long as it’s in a decent spot.”
I don’t like Lannan. Walks too many, doesn’t throw hard, doesn’t get a lot of K’s. GBs are nice though.
I mentioned this last night … I think by year’s end Kuroda could turn out to be the 5th best pitcher on the team. Someone mentioned that if that turned out to be true, the Yanks would be nearly unbeatable.
If Kuroda has a typical year for himself, he’ll have about a .500 W/L record with an ERA in the mid 3′s. Given the division he plays in now (which is unlike the NL West) I’d say his ERA could be caround to 4. This is not bad. He’s not expected to be an ace. Some consider him to be the ‘No 2′ starter. If he goes 12-10 or 13-11 with an ERA around the low-mid 4′s (assuming he goes the 190-200 innings we expect) he’ll have to consider it a decent year for him. And so should we.
Barring injury CC will be good for twice as many wins as losses. He should be around 20 wins or close.
If Hughes is more like the 2010 version of himself, he will be too.
If Pettitte has at least an average year for himself he’ll be (pro-rated) around 14-9 with an ERA in the high 3′s. And I have a hunch he might do better, given the year’s physical & mental rest he’s had.
That set of results would already make Kuroda the 4th best pitcher on the team barring a surprising year from Kuroda of course.
What are the odds that all 3 of Pineda, Nova AND Garcia will be no better than one or two games over .500, with ERAs above the low-mid 4′s?
I’m pretty sure at least one of them will go 12-10 or better. Most likely that would make Kuroda-san the 5th best pitcher on the team or about equal to the 4th best. And that’s not a knock on Kuroda at all. The team will have well over 100 wins with him posting the 5th best pitching stats on the team after a normal season for himself.
Garcia should do better. Pineda should do better. Nova should do better. Not all of them will, but if they all have decet years for themselves, that could make Kuroda the 7th best pitcher on the team. In a not-too-fantasty world where Kuroda has an average year, that could actually happen. And if it did, the Yanks would be REALLY good. We should all hope for such good fortune. I realize it’s not realistic, but at the same time it’s not fantasy to think Kuroda could potentially post the 5th best starting pitchers stats on the team.
I’m thinking Lannan more for a team like the Red Sox.
Throw Lannan in the rotation, and even if they’re committed to giving Bard a chance, they can put Doubront as the long man, and see how it goes.
Then when Bard inevitably fails
they’ll have Daisuke coming back in June/July (?) to pick up walking guys where Bard left off.
Why would Hughes, who had a worse ERA and worse peripheral stats than Kuroda ever had, be good for nearly 20 wins, while Kuroda is only going to be a .500 pitcher?
This speaks to not knowing the kind of pitcher Kuroda is. He had a silly low ERA last year (3) and even if you adjust it for the AL he is the kind of guy that goes 6-7 and gives up 3 or less. He is going to get tons of wins for the Yankees barring injury. He doesn’t implode.
Freddy Garcia went 12-8 last year in 160 innings. If Kuroda gets ~190 innings he is going to win 15+ games.
8 of Kuroda’s losses last year he gave up 3 runs or less. Dude is just reliable.
“If Kuroda has a typical year for himself, he’ll have about a .500 W/L record with an ERA in the mid 3?s.”
———-
in this case, I’d prefer to say if Kuroda pitches as he did last season, he’ll give them an ERA+ of 118-120, and maybe most importantly 20+ quality starts.
Quality starts on the Yankees, with that offense and that bullpen, generally = WINS
Given how well the Yankees handle lefties (generally), I’d love to see the sox get Lannan. A lefty without overpowering stuff like Price is a guy they should eat up.
Did Jose Feleciano abuse the National Anthem in Miami?
And will Cashman sign him anyway?
If Kuroda has a typical year for himself, he’ll have about a .500 W/L record with an ERA in the mid 3?s.”
If he has an era anywhere from 3.5-4 he will win 15-18 games with the Yankees….
At one point Kuroda lost 4 games in a row giving up 2 ER, 1 ER, 2 ER, 2 ER. Then lsot 5 in a row giving up 4 ER, 3 ER, 1 ER, 3 ER, 3 ER.
Sabathia had 23 starts where he gave up 3 ER or less and only lost 3 of them.
I am thinking about beefing up my position on KURODA over 12.5 wins. I think it’s going to work out very well.
Kuroda had 25 starts where he gave up 3 ER or less and lost 10 of them. And lost every start in which he gave up 4 or more (except for 1 4 ER game he won).
Amazing.
The dodgers just could not help him out.
Nick in SF,
It’s my largest “position” on player props.
GO! GO! KURODA!
“If Kuroda has a typical year for himself, he’ll have about a .500 W/L record with an ERA in the mid 3?s.”
Why do we allow trolls to come here blatantly insulting the Yank offense?
Nick
What’s the o/u on Hughes wins?
“What’s the o/u on Hughes wins?”
———-
I’m pretty sure I’m using the same site as Nick and they only give wins o/u for CC, Kuroda, and Nova at the moment.
Nick
barring injury I think Kuroda at 12.5 is a pretty easy over…..AJ won 11 last year with an ERA over 5
Anyone watching the Cards-Marlins? Lohse is pitching a gem…..
barring injury I think Kuroda at 12.5 is a pretty easy over…..AJ won 11 last year with an ERA over 5
——-
Interesting, thanks
My bad. That was supposed to be a reply to BD
Bill James projects Hughes at 6-5 with a 3.71 in 17 starts. Dan Szymborkski has him at 9-8 with a 4.84 ERA in 22 starts.
I’d have to guess his o/u would be around 9.5 with the thought that he might not make a full season of starts?
tough call – I assume most of us here are bullish on that #.
If Hughes is healthy all year then he’ll win 15
Josh Beckett’s o/u is 13.
That seemed low to me, then I realized that as good as he was last season he only won 13….
and now their bullpen is (almost certainly) much worse
Odds for which manager will be fired first (how Girardi and Scioscia are on here but not Big Mouth Valentine is beyond me)
Bud Black 3/1
Brad Mills 5/1
Dusty Baker 11/2
Buck Showalter 6/1
Ron Gardenhire 6/1
Jim Tracy 9/1
Bruce Bochy 10/1
Charlie Manuel 10/1
Joe Girardi 10/1
Mike Scioscia 12/1
Can we discuss something important like the new peanut free seating in the Stadium?
Everyone -
last time to get your Sux prediction in will be before the first pitch is thrown in their loss/game tomorrow.
last time to get your Yankee prediction in will be before the first pitch is thrown in their game on Friday.
You don’t have to give a Sux prediction and you can still get on the Yankee chart, but if you don’t give a Sux prediction you cannot be eligible for the fabulous prize at the end, should there be a tie and you’re part of that tie.
If you want to give predictions, please put my name in the post so that I don’t miss them.
In case this wasn’t mentioned, Bobby Valentine will be doing an interview with Francesa once a week during the baseball season.
Tell me THAT’S not weird!
No # on Hughes. I posted all the Yankee prop bet #’s here:
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/201.....nt-2202948
Pineda was at 12.5, but it’s a No Action bet since he won’t be on the Opening Day roster.
trisha true pinstriped blue
Yankees – 1st place 96 wins
Red Sox – 3rd place 89 wins
AJ….. pffffffft! He was at 8 wins in June and he couldn’t get over 11.5! OMG!!!!
I’m not going to lie. I don’t miss AJ much at this point.
Worst %@&$@&$%# since 1921!
trisha – true pinstriped blue April 4th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
In case this wasn’t mentioned, Bobby Valentine will be doing an interview with Francesa once a week during the baseball season.
Tell me THAT’S not weird!
===============
I believe you are misinformed. Bobby Valentine will be doing one of his weekly radio programs with Michael Kay on Kay’s ESPN Radio show. Wednesday’s I believe is the day.
Be sure to tune in.
Can we discuss something important like the new peanut free seating in the Stadium?
============
That’s a joke right ?
“I believe you are misinformed. Bobby Valentine will be doing one of his weekly radio programs with Michael Kay on Kay’s ESPN Radio show. Wednesday’s I believe is the day”
Even more weird.
trisha – true pinstriped blue April 4th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
In case this wasn’t mentioned, Bobby Valentine will be doing an interview with Francesa once a week during the baseball season.
Tell me THAT’S not weird!
///
Trisha, I had the misfortune of catching Bobby V this afternoon, on the Michael Kay show. Are NY fans really interested in the minutiae of the Boston Red Sox? They’re not NY’s third baseball team.
Even without Pujols…the Cards offense is going to be better than most NL clubs they face every night…..and if Lohse is gonna pitch like that then they’ll be tough once they get Wainwright and Carp up to speed.
J Al – that’s like Girardi having a show once a week with Don Orsillo. Yankee fans would be out of their minds. It just doesn’t even make any sense.
I took a bullish position on Melky as well.
The Man can’t keep him down any more.
“I believe you are misinformed. Bobby Valentine will be doing one of his weekly radio programs with Michael Kay on Kay’s ESPN Radio show. Wednesday’s I believe is the day”
Even more weird.
=============
Not really, maybe Kay will ball up and ask BV some tough questions and piss him off to no end, such as when they go on a prolonged losing streak which is bound to happen with that junk staff, too bad Bailey got dumped onto the 60 day DL today. After all it is easy to get under his skin and piss BV off.
Yu Darvish over 13 wins?
‘I had the misfortune of catching Bobby V this afternoon, on the Michael Kay show. Are NY fans really interested in the minutiae of the Boston Red Sox? They’re not NY’s third baseball team’.
==============
Since he is bound to wear out his welcome in Beantown sooner than later, earning a few extra bucks is probably a big deal for him.
Here you go………………………..
‘True Pinstriped Blue’
Yankees – 1st place 98 wins
Red Sox – 3rd place 88 wins
Yu Darvish over 13 wins?
–
Over.
In theory, I could bet enough on Kuroda and Darvish to win enough for a plane ticket to Japan.
In practice, I won’t. But they can pay for some nice ramen and sushi dinners.
JF,
Since you’ve gone so far as to say Montero “will mash” and that no good bats will be acquirable via trade, and you seem to think you pretty well have a handle on the options available to the Yankees the next few years, all of which you seemed pretty well convinced about, it’s within the ballpark to ask you to predict how many runs the Yankees will score during the next few seasons.
Let’s say 2012, 2013, 2014?
You seem to be predicting a drop-off. Can you quantify it please?
You can’t quantify what’s in a man’s heart.