Bronx Baseball Daily » Bronx Baseball Daily, a New York Yankees blog

It’s Not Fair to Blame Joe Girardi for “the Slump”

2012-05-26T08:49:32-07:00

In a bold if belated move Joe Girardi demoted Mark Teixeira to seventh in the line-up. This was back on May 21^st, after the Yankees had gotten pounded by (gulp) the Royals 6-0, going 0-13 with runners in scoring position, their worst hitless streak in that situation since 1990. That, combined with the “inspirational words” of noted motivational speakers Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi, seemed to right the ship. The talk seemed to have the effect of a “Jedi mind-trick” on Alex Rodriguez who stated robotically afterwards that “Joe gave us a great talk … we have a lot of faith in him.” He proceeded to hit two homeruns in the next game.

The online commentariat have been buzzing with criticisms of Joe Girardi. He doesn’t play small-ball, he doesn’t bunt or steal, and this year anyway, he seems to have made an unfortunate series of dumb moves regarding his pitchers (opening day, intentional walk, Carlos Pena, grand slam). All of the above is, of course, true – but are his actions either causing the slump or lengthening its duration? The Yankees rank 22nd in the league in stolen bases with 23 and 9^th in stolen base percentage (79%). This suggests that Girardi, in perfect keeping with sabermetric research, values the potential out more than advancing a runner into scoring position – the Yankees have only been caught stealing six times, confirming their conservatism in this regard.

On defense, the Rays, Orioles, and Indians rank first, second, and third respectively in calling “the shift” , as of May 12^th more than any other teams in MLB. Again, respectively, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and Cleveland have called the shift 171, 95 and 81 times so far this season, when compared to years past, represents doubling, even tripling, of this defense from the previous years. Consider that Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and Cleveland are on track to call the shift 695, 386 and 342 times for this season. The Yankees, meanwhile, have called the shift only 54 times this year, and are on pace to reach perhaps 282 times for the year. By cause or coincidence, the Orioles and Rays sit atop the AL East with the two best records in the American League, while the Indians are in first place in the Central Division.

In their last ten games, the Yankees are 4-6. They have a -10 run differential, producing only 34 runs while giving up 44. Even if you factor out their loss to the Blue Jays by a touchdown and the extra point, they still have a -2 run differential. Their bats have been as useless wRISP and with the exception of Derek Jeter, their bats have been inconsistent. If the long ball ain’t happening, wouldn’t it be wise to make something happen on offense, say, by ordering up a steal or two? Calling for a bunt? A squeeze-play perhaps? Maybe Teixeira should have been demoted, like a month ago, and A-Rod along with him?

Well, perhaps these might be reasonable requests, if Joe Girardi were someone else, and if he were managing another team. Why not ask the Yankees to twirl basketballs on their fingertips ala the second most famous team to come out of New York City – the Harlem Globetrotters? The simple fact is, the Yankees are injured, their pitching sucks, we’re stuck with a series of bad contracts, and to paraphrase Kevin Costner’s Jim Garrison, “we seem to be through the looking glass here, people.” Consider:

If the post-season began tomorrow, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Texas would be divisional winners with Tampa Bay and Chicago the wildcards. In the National League, Washington, Cincinnati, and Los Angeles win their respective divisions, while Atlanta and St Louis play for a wildcard spot. That’s right – Baltimore, Cleveland, and Washington would all be divisional winners! Baltimore has the best record in the American League and Los Angeles the best in baseball. Meanwhile, the three most expensive payrolls, the Yankees, Phillies, and Red Sox, occupy second-to-last, last, and last respectively. White is black and black is white this year. That’s not Girardi’s doing.
Brett Gardner, the team’s best bunter, and steals leader, is injured.
Closers have cost the Yankees two games this year. Both Mariano Rivera and David Roberts blew a save a piece, both against the Rays. Rivera’s blown save came on opening day and Roberts’ came after he inherited the closing role following Rivera’s season-ending ACL tear. Say the Yankees had won those games, we’d be sitting at 25 wins and 19 losses, in third place, and only 3.5 games out of first place.
Aside from the opening day loss to Tampa Bay, Girardi hasn’t cost the Yankees any quality start-wins by waiting too long to pull a pitcher. In other words, the Yankees haven’t lost yet this year because Girardi failed to pull a starting pitcher in the 6^th inning before he throws that fateful pitch. To be sure, this has a lot to do with Hiroki Kuroda, Phil Hughes, and Freddie Garcia getting knocked out of 7 games this year prior to the fourth inning, producing no-brainers for Girardi. On the other hand, when you view Girardi’s managerial performance in light of the calamity that has become the Yankee starting rotation; he’s actually done an amazing job!

When you think about it, the manager position is actually quite reactive. They don’t determine the architecture of the team, nor do they have anything to do with player development, scouting, or farm teams. They control the batting order, when to pull a starting pitcher, and which reliever to substitute. The inverse proportions between Alex Rodriguez increasing paycheck and annual decline in performance is not Girardi’s doing. But, when the going gets tough, it’s a lot easier for the Steinbrenners bros and henchman Brian Cashman to rid themselves of Girardi’s remaining six million dollar contract than A-Rod’s $25 million.

Then again, Joe Girardi put together a masterful performance last year, stitching together a “Franken-pitching-staff” and making the playoffs for the third consecutive time in his career. It’s not his fault if Teixeira and A-Rod didn’t show up last year for the playoffs. Likewise this year, Nick Swisher, Brett Gardner, and Mariano Rivera’s injuries can’t be chalked up to bad management. Quite the contrary – the Yankees are sitting above .500, and in any other American League conference, they’d be in second place.

BBDP May 25th: Murphy’s law: expect JR Murphy to go 5/5

2012-05-25T19:56:57-07:00

BBDP MVP: JR Murphy – 5/5, 2B, 2 SB

For fun, I just looked up Jose Quintana, former Yankees farmhand who is now with the White Sox. In a crazy coincidence, it turns out he was set to make his first start against Cleveland tonight. He went six innings and let up 2 ER, with four strikeouts. He threw 5.2 innings of shutout ball in relief against them on May 7th. Looks like the White Sox are getting good use out of him. He’s a lefty too.

Triple-A Empire State: W 8-7 vs Buffalo. W: Whelan (2-0)

Kevin Russo: 1/4, R, RBI, 2 K (.296)
Jack Cust: 3/5, R, HR (5), 3 RBI, K (.271) Game winning homerun in the bottom of the 10th.
Ronnier Mustelier: 1/4, R, HR (4), 2 RBI, K (.293) Game tying homerun in the 7th.
Brandon Laird: 0/4 (.241)
Dellin Betances: 2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K (5.59 ERA) He has never in his career been this bad. This is the highest BB/9 of his career.
Chase Whitley: 2.1 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 2 K , HR (3.24 ERA)
Kevin Whelan: 0.1 IP, 0 ER, BB, K (1.64 ERA) Got the win.

Double-A Trenton: L 1-4 vs Richmond. L: Hall (4-5)

Abraham Almonte: 1/4, 2B, RBI (.275)
Corban Joseph: 1/4 (.338)
Zoilo Almonte: 1/4, K (.241) First hit since returning.
Cody Johnson: 0/3, BB, 2 K (.290)
Luke Murton: 0/3, BB, K (.248)
Kevin Mahoney: 0/3, K (.274)
Shaeffer Hall: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, BB, 2 K (3.61 ERA)
Preston Claiborne: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, K (3.68 ERA)

High-A Tampa: W 7-1 vs Lakeland. W: Black (1-2)

Ramon Flores: 1/5, R, 2 K, SB (6) (.270)
JR “Murph” Murphy: 5/5, 4 R, 2B, 2 SB (3) (.241) Couldn’t think of a guy in the system who needed a game like this more. 9 for his last 18 (.500)
Rob Segedin: 1/5, R, K (.292)
Neil Medchill: 1/5, R, HR (5), 3 K (.270)
Kyle Roller: 3/5, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 K (.228)
Sean Black: 5 IP, 6 H, R, 0 ER, BB, K, E (1). The unearned run was his own fault so I don’t feel bad. That’s two strong outings in a row though. First time in a long time we’ve seen that from him.
Manuel Barreda: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 K (3.38 ERA) 11 K in his last nine innings, looks like he’s finally tapping into that talent.
Rigoberto Arrebato: 2 IP, H, 0 ER, K (3.8 ERA)

Low-A Charleston: L 12-6 vs Greenville. L: Rutckyj (1-1)

Mason Williams: 1/4, RBI, BB, 3 K (.287) Salvaged the day with a late hit and RBI.
Cito Culver: 1/4, R, BB, 2 K, SB (12), 2 E (11) (.213)
Dante “Bichette Happens” Bichette Jr: 2/5, K, E (9) (.250) Good to see that average creeping up. 12 for his last 39 (.307)
Tyler Austin: 0/3, R, 2 BB, 2 K (.294)
Ben Gamel: 2/5, R, 2B, RBI, K (.277) When you’re hot, you’re hot. 16 for his last 40 (.400)
Angelo “Bubba” Gumbs: 2/5, R, 2B, RBI, 2 K (.266)
Evan Rutckyj: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K (7.11 ERA) Doing his best Dellin Betances impression. Seriously though could he have made me look any worse after that glowing article I posted about him earlier today?
Daniel Mahoney: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, K, HR (4.56 ERA)
Joel De La Cruz: 3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, BB, 4 K, HR (3.46 ERA) Seems like no one could hold them down today.
Fred Lewis: 1 IP, Zeros (2.49 ERA) No one, that is, except for Fred Lewis.
Casey Stevenson: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, ER, HR (9.00) Don’t quit your day job as a third baseman Casey.

Ranting about the struggling Russell Martin

2012-05-25T10:13:23-07:00

Is it just me, or is anyone else getting really sick of Russell Martin? I don’t know about you, but I’m extremely tired of his steady diet of strikeouts and feeble at-bats in which he looks completely clueless, as well as his inability to hit with runners in scoring position. He looks like me circa 4^th grade when I basically refused to swing the bat, instead just looking for a walk to get on base. But at least I looked like Juan Pierre on the base paths and improved at the plate each year. Aside from his ridiculous months of April and August last season in which he hit .289, clubbed 13 home runs, and drove in 38 runs combined, Martin has been nothing short of woeful with the lumber in his tenure in pinstripes. I am not known to turn on players quickly, in fact I’m often the last one holding out hope for a player’s success (see: Chamberlain, Joba) but Russell The Muscle is about to go the way of Eduardo Nunez in my mind. It’s getting to the point where I would like to see Chris Stewart’s name on the lineup card much more often.

Before I go into Martin’s pitiful offensive numbers, I will concede that he is an above average defensive backstop with a wonderful grip on how to work with a pitching staff. He really comes off as a guy almost every hurler would love to see crouching 60 feet, six inches away. That is something that, while unquantifiable in a stat sheet, is incredibly valuable to a team and shouldn’t be overlooked. Neither should the ability to throw out potential base stealers as well as block balls in the dirt, two things Martin is quite successful at. His caught stealing percentage is consistently a few points above league average, and in (an albeit, shortened) 2010, he threw out 39 percent of potential base stealers, well above the league average mark of 29 percent. All of these aspects of his game are fine and dandy, but this is New York. We’ve been spoiled by the offensive prowess of Jorge Posada for the last fifteen years and teased by the potential of former catching prodigy turned Mariner Opening Day clean-up hitter Jesus Montero. We would like our catchers to be able to hit a little bit, something Martin clearly hasn’t been able to do.

Russell Martin, on Wednesday night, shocked us with another 0-fer, and what would and 0-4 night be without striking out and grounding into a double play? After that joke of a performance, Martin is currently the owner of a beautiful .173/.321/.318 slash line (I hope you caught the sarcasm there). In addition, he has had seven multi-strikeout games this season. His 27 strikeouts in just 110 at bats this year means he has fanned an incredible 25 percent of the time, up from 18 percent at this point last year. In April, Martin’s low batting average was tolerated because of his over .400 on base percentage, due to his seemingly nightly two walks per game. But even his walk totals, the one thing that keeps him from becoming officially terrible at the plate; have decreased since the start of the month. He has worked just one walk in his last 17 at bats, a mere six walks since May 2, and only seven free passes dating back to April 25. That alone is enough to make you question Martin’s offensive abilities, but it goes from bad to worse with men on base.

I hate to get on Martin for something the entire team has made a habit of doing lately, but Montreal’s native son left seven men on base on Wednesday night. Seven. In my column last week, I posed the question “which Yankee has the highest average with runners in scoring position” with the answer being Chris Stewart. Well this week, I’ll ask you for the Yankee starter with the lowest average with runners in scoring position. If you’re good with the literary element of foreshadowing, you will probably figure out the answer without referring to Baseball-Reference.com. The answer is Russell Martin, who has just three hits in 22 at-bats in such situations, good for a heinous .136 average and over 100 points lower than his .248 mark in 2011. Those numbers are purely not acceptable from anyone donning a major league baseball uniform, not even a Pirates or a Padres one. Martin has to be embarrassed by his ineffectiveness at the dish this year. It must be terrible knowing that you are getting paid $7.5 million to be an automatic out.

How much longer will he have to flounder before the Yankees decide to do something about his anemic bat? His struggles are rarely talked about on the YES broadcasts as well as the beat writing and blogging circuits, but I feel like it’s something that simply must be addressed soon. By no means am I calling for Martin’s head, as I don’t want to see him traded or sent down to join his former backup Francisco Cervelli on the constantly travelling circus known as the Empire State Yankees. But if Joe Girardi wants to switch things up a little to maybe inject some life into the lineup, he’ll give Martin a few days off to clear his head and Stewart a chance to prove his worth. (I can’t believe I just used “inject life” and Chris Stewart’s name in the same sentence, shows you how bad our offense has been) After all, Stewart’s bat has shown a little bit of life in his short time in pinstripes and he has one of the most ridiculously fast releases on throws to second base I’ve ever seen. I don’t see the harm in this strategy at all. Martin’s confidence at the plate is clearly low, so a change of pace may help. With the way the Yankees offense has been performing lately, it definitely can’t hurt.

And to think, Russell Martin was the starting catcher and hit between Prince Fielder and Chase Utley in the 2007 All Star Game. Incroyable!

Yankees to sign John Main

2012-05-25T09:25:23-07:00

The Yankees will sign former Met and right handed pitcher John Maine to a minor league deal, according to Evan Drellich of MLB.com.

Not a lot to get excited about here as shoulder injuries have decimated Maine’s career. He is now 31 and hasn’t even come close to pitching a full season in the majors since 2008 and has never managed 200 innings even once in his career. Since leaving the Mets after the 2010 season, he has bounced around from the Rockies organization to the Red Sox, who released him two weeks ago after they signed him in January.

Last season he managed to pitch 46 innings in Triple-A for the Rockies. He had a 7.43 ERA, a 6.8 K/9, and a 7.2 BB/9. People like low-risk/high-reward types, but it doesn’t seem like there is any possibility for reward here at all. Instead, at best they’ll have somebody to pitch some innings down in the minors.

Scouting Profile: Evan Rutckyj

2012-05-25T08:23:44-07:00

BBDP Nickname: “Rutzkrieg”

Evan Rutckyj (pronounced ROOT-ski) recently made his debut for the Charleston River Dogs, his first start in full season ball. Most people have never heard of this tall, Canadian born left handed pitcher. If Extended Spring Training was any indication, however, people will know who he is by the end of this season. A hockey player in his youth, the Yankees are hoping that toughness will translate to the mound.

Rutckyj is a 6-foot-5, 213-pound left handed pitcher out of Ontario, Canada. He was born on January 31, 1992, making him 20 years old, and was drafted in the 16th round of the 2010 MLB Amateur Draft. At the time of the draft Rutckyj was a major project. He hadn’t switched to pitching full time until the age of 17, and had only had about 80 innings in a year and a half before being drafted. Given his size and projectability, the Yankees took a chance on him.

Last year Rutckyj lived up to his billing as a project. At times he looked quite dominant, but inconsistency plagued his season. His stat line to finish the year wasn’t pretty, with a 4.76 ERA and 24 walks in just 45.1 IP. He did manage to strike out 37 and finished the season 5-3.

The coaches saw the potential though, and they sent him to Extended Spring Training this year to see how far he had come along in the off-season. Sure enough, Rutckyj was seen as the best pitcher at Extended Spring Training, and the coaches felt confident enough in his abilities to allow him to skip Staten Island and go straight to Charleston when a spot opened up.

His first start at Charleston was pure domination. He avoided the walks that he struggled with last season, and allowed just two hits in five innings en route to his first full season victory. Even more impressive, he struck out eight in that appearance. Keeping it in perspective, this is just one start. On the other hand, it’s probably his best start as a professional so far, and this can only bode well for his future.

As of now he has three pitches; the fastball, curve ball, and changeup. The fastball sits low 90′s and can get as high as 95 mph. If he continues to fill out, it is possible he could add even more velocity. As is the case with many lefties, the fastball has excellent tailing action.

His second pitch is his slider. He throws it at a hard 83 mph. Last year it was an unreliable pitch for him, but he worked hard on it in the offseason and Extended Spring Training, and coaches feel it is a plus pitch for him now. The changeup was a work in progress before this season, and I suspect he will continue to develop that pitch as time goes by. It is one of the hardest pitches to perfect after all.

It is difficult to predict the ceiling of such a raw talent, but he has the stuff and athleticism that could make him a middle to front end starter in the long term. If he has the gain in velocity that many are expecting of him, or he is able to harness the secondary pitches, he could have ace potential. As with many raw prospects in the low minors, the floor is on the opposite side of the spectrum. It’s possible a player like him flames out and never makes the majors. With the progress it appears he has made from last season, that is getting less and less likely.

The estimated time of arrival in the major leagues will be around 2015. Being in Charleston this season is a good sign, and if he continues to improve he should be in High-A next season. From there, he will move as fast or as slow as his performance allows.

Evan Rutckyj is a big guy possessing obvious athleticism. Players his size often have trouble repeating their delivery. This shouldn’t be a problem long term in a guy who has been able to excel in multiple sports and has improved his game in a short period of time. He may well be one of the biggest and best surprises of the 2012 season. Here’s to hoping Rutckyj becomes the next in a growing line of Canadians to make a splash in major league baseball.

He’ll pitch his second game of the season today for those who are interested in following.

BBDP May 24th: Two walk-off wins, Tracy shines again

2012-05-24T20:25:47-07:00

BBDP MVP: Tyler Austin – 4/7, 2B, 2 RBI, walk-off RBI

Triple-A Empire State: L 6-2 vs Buffalo. L: Warren (2-3)

Kevin Russo: 1/4, R (.297)
Ronnier Mustelier: 0/4 (.296)
Brandon Laird: 0/3, BB, K (.247)
Frankie Cervelli: 1/3, K (.234)
Adam Warren: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, BB, 3 K (5.14 ERA) Just can’t put it all together in these starts. I expect him to turn it around, but he is definitely one of those guys whose stuff plays up in the pen.
Manny Delcarmen: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER (1.15 ERA)

Double-A Trenton: W 4-3 vs Akron. W: Flannery (1-1)

Abe Almonte: 0/2, 2 BB, CS (4) (.275)
Corban “CoJo” Joseph: 1/3, 2B, BB, 2 K (.344)
David Adams: 1/4, R (.213)
Cody Johnson: 2/4, R, 2B, HR (12), 2 RBI, 2 K (.296) One homer, two strikeouts. Definitely a microcosm of his season.
Zoilo Almonte: 0/3, BB, K (.241)
Luke Murton: 1/4, RBI (.254)
Kevin Mahoney: 0/3, 2 K (.282)
Kelvin Perez: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (0.64 ERA)
Ryan Flannery: 1.1 IP, H, 0 ER, BB, K (0.81 ERA)

High-A Tampa: W 5-2 vs Palm Beach. W: Dott (1-2) S: Montgomery (8) Won the game with four runs in the top of the 10th

Ramon Flores: 1/5, 2B, RBI, K (.272) Drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th.
JR Murphy: 2/5, 2 R, 2B, RBI (.216) Hopefully he can use this multi-hit game as a springboard for more success.
Rob Segedin: 0/4, R, BB, SB (8) (.294)
Kyle Roller: 1/5, 2 RBI, K (.215)
Tyson Blaser: 0/3, RBI, BB, K (.349)
Matt “M-Trac” Tracy: 6 IP, 3 H, ER, 5 BB, 5 K (1.15 ERA) That’s a lot of walks, but he still “controlled” this game. That’s uncharacteristic of him anyway.
Aaron Dott: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K (2.18 ERA) Having another good season. A lefty who’s throwing multiple innings and striking out a lot of guys in High-A. Maybe more than just a LOOGY?
Branden Pinder: 0.2 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 BB (3.76 ERA) Let the earned run in that allowed Montgomery to come in and pick up his eighth save.
Mark “Monte Python” Montgomery: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, K (1.23 ERA) Has 36 K in 22 IP this season.

Low-A Charleston: W 7-6 vs Greenville Drive. W: Checo (5-0) Yet another walk off win for Charleston. They like going to extra innings… and winning.

Mason Williams: 0/4, 2 K (.288) Was just named to the top 25 prospects by Keith Law.
Casey Stevenson: 0/1, BB, K (.333) Replaced Mason Williams.
Cito Culver: 0/6, R, 2 K (.212) Another rough day.
Dante “Bichette Happens” Bichette Jr.: 3/6, R, 2B, BB, K (.245) 10 for his last 37 (.270), hopefully he’s starting to come around.
Tyler “T-Bomb” Austin: 4/7, R, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K (.299) 13 for his last 40 (.325) also appears to be coming out of his slump, if you want to call it that.
Gary “The Sanchize” Sanchez: 1/6, R, HR (3), 2 RBI, 3 K, E (9) (.303)
Ben Gamel: 2/5, R, 2B, RBI, BB, K (.274)
Kelvin De Leon: 2/4, 2B, BB, K (.280)
William Oliver: 6 IP, 12 H, 4 ER, BB, 4 K (3.94 ERA)
Pedro Guerra: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, BB, 5 K (1.23 ERA) Still relatively young for a reliever, strikes out a lot of batters.
Mariel Checo: 1 IP, H, 0 ER, 3 K (1.71 ERA) This guy just finds wins, that’s number five.

Hal Steinbrenner denies that the Yankees are for sale

2012-05-24T09:42:55-07:00

A story was published this morning by the NY Daily News that doesn’t have any sources from the Yankees, but does have an unidentified source from within the banking industry that could be put up for sale in the wake of the Dodgers $2.175 billion sale.

“There has been chatter all around the banking and financial industries in the city for a couple of weeks now,” one high-level baseball source told Michael O’Keeffe and Bill Madden of The News.

Is it true? Maybe, maybe not, but if the Steinbrenners could land upwards of $3 billion for the Yankees then you would have to imagine that they might want to see what’s possible. However, Hal Steinbrenner is denying it.

“I just learned of the Daily News story. It is pure fiction,” Steinbrenner said in a statement. “The Yankees are not for sale. I expect that the Yankees will be in my family for many years to come.”

Not everyone is buying it though (no pun intended).

“Hal’s a smart businessman,” the source said. “And I’m just not sure that he considers baseball to be a smart business. I think he looks at some of these other owners, throwing $200 million at players and thinks they’re idiots – idiots that unfortunately can affect the way he does business. You have to understand, it was in Hal’s formative years in the ’80s when he saw George at his worst in terms of throwing more and more good money at bad players like Pascual Perez, Dave LaPoint, Steve Kemp, Ed Whitson and Andy Hawkins.”

Funny thing about that last quote though, Hal’s brother Hank Steinbrenner was the one who handed out the ridiculous $275 million deal to A-Rod, of which there are still six years left on it. But I digress.

With the information we have right now, it is impossible to be sure what’s going on. It is a family business on one hand, on the other it’s a ton of money and it wouldn’t hurt to at least look to see what he could get. If he was looking, it would be impossible to keep something like that from leaking out and Hal would of course deny the rumors to avoid pissing off the fan base.

So we’ll just have to wait and see. But while we wait, peruse this list of potential buyers the Daily News published today.

Starting pitching woes: it’s not time to panic

2012-05-24T09:26:11-07:00

Through 26 percent of the season, the Yankees starting pitchers’ earned run average (ERA) sits at a whopping 4.88. That’s good for the 26^th worst earned run average in the league. There are four teams with ERA’s worse than that of the Yankees. The list, accompanied by their records, is: Kansas City (4.92, 17-25), Boston (5.10, 22-22), Colorado (5.54, 15-27), and Minnesota (6.48, 15-27). Forget advanced metrics, this is atrocious. Think about what an ERA of 4.88 means: our starters are allowing three plus runs every six innings pitched. And yes, you guessed it, all of these aforementioned teams, including the Yankees, are in last place or second to last place in their respective divisions. So should we start to panic?

There are two ways that I can go with this. I can either look at the glass half-full or the more reasonable, glass half-empty approach. I am usually pretty positive when it comes to the Yankees, and I’ve tried to write about how excited I am and how there’s a lot of time to turn things around but it’s time to face the music. I love Andy Pettitte, but a 39-year-old is not going to fix all the issues that we have. We can only hope that he’s the best option as a number two starter. At best, Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes can turn the tide, but neither is a bona fide number two starter. We’ve looked at advanced pitching metrics, from PitchF/X, to selection, to command, to everything but the problem is this: our pitching staff isn’t that great.

But, for the sake of argument, let’s say that C.C. Sabathia, the yearly Cy Young candidate, pitches as well as he has in pinstripes. What if Hiroki Kuroda pitches a little better and is serviceable as a 3^rd starter? It’s also not farfetched to think that Nova and Hughes will post sub-4.25 ERA’s on the year. And on top of all of that, Andy Pettitte brings experience and a bit of veteran savvy to the rotation. One would be hard pressed to imagine our staff getting any worse. Combine that idea with the knowledge that we are currently 22-21 with a +2 run differential, means we are still going to be competitive moving forward. The Yankees have also hit .223 with runners in scoring position and have been even worse over their last 76 at-bats with RISP yet we are still four games back in the loss column. With all this information that says the Yankees have been struggling there isn’t need to panic because things can get better.

Despite all this negativity, seems to be what I’ve focused on lately, we have a lot to look forward to if the Yankees are playing this “bad”. For instance, we have the 6^th best bullpen ERA in the league. Other teams are due to struggle somewhat while the Yankees will assuredly hit better with RISP. We have integral parts of our team, David Robertson and Brett Gardner, on the disabled list. Now, I know that Robertson and Gardner can’t make up for everything, and it’s understandable to be worried at this point in time…I am. I’m worried we might not improve or get that trade we desperately need. But, we all need to calm down. Maybe this is a rebuilding period for us. Maybe it’s something else. Whatever it is, just don’t panic…yet.

Yankees start winning after Cash & Girardi hold team meeting

2012-05-24T07:00:27-07:00

This got to a low on Monday after the Yankees lost to the weak Royals for their sixth loss in eight games, dropping them to .500 and into last place in the AL East. GM Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi apparently felt it was time to step in and kick their players in the butt a bit as they held a team meeting before Tuesday’s game.

“Joe gave us a great talk,” Alex Rodriguez told Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com after Wednesday’s game. “He’s a great manager and we have a lot of faith in him.”

As bad as things have seemed for the Yankees, they aren’t far behind the point where they were last season when they finished with 97 wins. They also aren’t below .500 or falling into a insurmountable hole in the AL East. The Orioles are actually the ones in first place and while they have seriously improved in relation to the crap they have put out there for more than a decade, they still don’t have a team to win the East with.

Hopefully this is a turning point though because the Yankees have had some serious problems and maybe it can be.

The team hasn’t had huge problems. They have had some injuries, a few serious, but they have lots of depth if certain veterans would step up. What really needs to happen is a few of the older veterans need to wake up and shake off the cobwebs. There are at least five players that are under performing and if even half of them begin hitting or pitching the way their supposed to things will turn around quick.

There is always the concern that the end has come earlier than expected for a few veterans and that maybe the oldest lineup in baseball is getting too old all at once. If that’s the case than it could be a long season in the Bronx because this lineup is fairly static without a lot of room to improvise or shake things up.

If some of these players don’t snap out of it, it’s going to be rough. It’s a good thing to see Cashman and Girardi trying to wake this team up.

Girardi comfortable with Soriano as closer

2012-05-24T06:30:40-07:00

Last season the Yankees overpaid Rafael Soriano more than $30 million to be the team’s setup man and between him and Joba Chamberlain it seemed like the Yankees had the eventual heir to Mariano Rivera. Then David Robertson became one of the best relievers in baseball and a couple of injuries to Joba and Sori and it quickly became Robertson who was the most important non-Mariano reliever and naturally he took over the job as closer when Mo went down.

After his own abdominal injury, the tables may be turned and Soriano is the team’s closer and may be even when Robertson returns.

“Let’s just see where we are when Robbie gets back and how Robbie’s doing and how he feels,” Girardi told Brian Heyman of the Journal News. “I’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. But I’ve been comfortable bringing in Sori where we’re bringing him because of his experience and what he’s done.

“Obviously he’s had a track record as a closer that’s been very successful, and I expect him to do that here, too.”

It probably isn’t a big deal. Soriano has been solid coming out of the pen this season. His BB/9 of 4.7 needs to come down, but his 8.2 K/9 and 2.35 ERA are solid. Besides, one of the things that has made Robertson so effective has been his ability to come into any situation and bail the Yankees out. Having him in more of a fireman role than as a strict 9th inning guy may end up being more beneficial.

No matter who it is, the Yankees will have a good back end of the bullpen.

Bronx Baseball Daily » Bronx Baseball Daily, a New York Yankees blog

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