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Hughes And Cano Give Yanks Bright Present

Even all these years after the start of the free agency era, it’s still fashionable to bash the Yankees for a the team’s high priced, aging, imported talent.

But right now, the two best Yankees on the 40-man roster are sub-30 homegrown players. Phil Hughes continued his remarkable season last night–pitching 7 innings last night, allowing 6 hits, one run, striking out 7, and walking one. He’s 7-1 with a 2.54 and a 1.04 WHIP and continues to be one of the best pitcher in the league: fourth in ERA, second in wins, third in WHIP.

The Yanks are about to put Hughes on an long rest schedule in an attempt to limit his innings but still have him available for the playoffs. I know there’s been a lot of criticism of the Joba rules and now the Hughes rules, but in truth, the case that increasing innings totals year over year by too much leads to injury in young pitchers is a strong one so I’m all for limits on Hughes’ innings now in the hopes that this 23 year old 4-pitch pitcher can be a dominant Yankee starter for another dozen years.

As good as Hughes has been Robinson Cano has been better. I must say I didn’t think Cano had it in him. I knew he was a good hitter with great natural talent. But he always seemed to think far too little at the plate. A free swinger he never worked a count to get a better pitch, and his at bats with runners in scoring position–when pitchers are really bearing down–always seemed lazy and unfocused. Not any more. Apparently after an off season talking to from Alex Rodriguez, Cano has taken his game to another level.

And what a level. Cano leads the league in hitting at  a whopping .373. He’s third in RBI, tied for 4th in homers, and, perhaps most shockingly for Cano, he’s fourth in OBP at .412!  Hell, Cano already has 13 walks–during his first couple of seasons that would have been in the ballpark of a season total!  Cano has also become a great second baseman–not only making the double play better anyone else in the league, but ranging widely, using his powerful arm to get outs on balls hit up the middle, and no longer making sloppy errors on easy grounders. At 27 Cano is peaking and it’s amazing to watch.

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By Jason Chervokas
June 3, 2010

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Bottoming Out

Well on Saturday I made my first trip to the Stadium since November 4 when I was there for the World Series clincher, and what did I witness: the worst loss of the season, and a team with a bullpen in total dissary, one that has become so unreliable that unless it gets fixed the Yankees won’t get any farther than the Division Series at best this year.

The brutal 7th inning, when the Yankee bullpen allowed 7 Cleveland runs and threw the game away was excruciating to watch. David Robertson was his usual awful self, leaving with minor back stiffness. He was 0-2 on Crowe then hit him with a pitch that wasn’t close, before giving up a hit and a run and leaving for an early shower, hopefully not to be seen for a long while. Robertson was a surprise find last season but clearly he’s not surprising anyone anymore.

Mitre pitched to only one batter and pitched badly, completing the walk on 3 pitches that Robertson had begun before his early exit.  And when the Indians sent up pinch hitter Russell Branyan, Mitre was gone in favor of Damasco Marte. I can’t blame Girardi for that one. Branyan can still kill a righty with the long ball (as he proved an inning later against Chad Gaudin), and Marte was the only pitcher who got the job done in the inning, retiring Branyan.

Enter Joba–you never know if you’re going to get good Joba or bad Joba and yesterday was the worst of Joba.  Although he managed to get some swings and missed on breaking pitches, any fastball he threw anywhere in the vicinity of the plate was hit hard. He entered the game with 2-on, 2-out and a four run lead, but exited with a 2-run deficit.  In may his ERA is 7.94, his WHIP is 1.56, and batters are hitting .277 against Joba. Yes, he had some fine outings in the month–against the Mets, the Twins, the O’s (subbing for Rivera). But far more bad ones.  As of right now I think it’s fair to say the Yankees don’t have an 8th inning set up man because Joba is too unreliable.

Bullpens are difference makers. You need a good one to win a championship, and a bad one will sink a team that is otherwise stellar. Unless they make some changes, the 2010 Yankees are going to fall into the latter category.

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By Jason Chervokas
May 30, 2010

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Like Sterling Says, You Just Can’t Explain Baseball

The Mets are a weird team. How else can you explain a team that twice goes from teetering on the brink of a season washout only to bounce back with mini miracles like three consecutive shut outs against a powerhouse Phillies team?

I can’t explain it. Just like I can’t explain the Yankee’s in ability to get a big hit. Look at A-Rod last night. With runners one out in the first inning, runners on first and third, he grounded into a double play. With a runner on second base in the sixth inning, no one out, Yanks trailing by two, he popped up to second base.  In the aggregate on the season the Yankee clean up hitter is batting .385 with runners on, .450 with runners in scoring position. But A-Rod’s production in these spots–like the team’s as a whole–is patchy. He’s O-5 with runners on second and third, and 2-12 with runners on second.

If any one hitter’s ability to drive in a run is going to be patchy–and that’s inevitable with humans–his teammates are going to have to fill in the patches. That’s not happening either. Teixeira is having a horrible year. His .245 batting average with runners on, as poor as it is especially for a #3 hitter, is at least better than his .216 batting average over all.

Cano remains the surprising lone bright spot among Yankee run producers, batting .301 with runners on, and .320 with runners in scoring position. After a slump he seems back on track batting .375 over his last 7 days, but with only 2 rbis–the two lone Yankees runs batted in last night.

Why do teams go into funks like this, when they never seem to get a big hit with runners on? Who knows. But it sure is frustrating to watch.

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By Jason Chervokas
May 28, 2010

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Citi Griti Dirt Band

Darryl Strawberry (left) and Jeff Francoeur
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In words of Sean “P Diddy Puffy Le Grand Orange” Combs, I am one “Queens Crypt keeper, Mets hat rocker.” So I’m guaranteed to come back to Metsland. I’m the guy who thought the double-play combo of Brian Giles and Ronny Gardenhire might be one for the ages. The Queens Crypt is my baseball home, Shea or the putridly-named Citi. And things is getting ugly in the big brick facility across the street from the Iron Triangle.

Oh, not as bad on the field. The Metties took two of three from the scuffling Yankees over the weekend and the place was packed for the Subway Series – some estimates of 40-percent of attendees wearing Bronx garb may be right. And the team showed signs of life, undoubtedly.

No, I’m referring to a growing storm cloud among the personnel. Consider:

Jeff Francoeur and Jason Bay – to paraphrase Bill Martin, one’s a born streaky hitter, the other’s convicted-  took issue with Darryl Strawberry’s pep talk recently in Washington and actually asked PR dude Jay Horwitz to keep the Straw from them in the clubhouse.

Bullpen coach Randy Nieman got into a heated argument with closer Francisco Rodriguez underneath the Shea Bridge, apparently over the team’s use of the pitcher’s services. All that warming up, etc.

John Maine and Jerry Manuel came close to Billy-Reggie physicality in the Mets dugout after the starter was pulled after five pitches the other night. Luckily, pitching coach Dan Warthen calmed the situation by calling Maine “a habitual liar.”

As David Waldstein said in the Times, it’s like Citi Field is turning into a version of the late 70s Bronx Zoo. And keep in mind, this is all after Jeff Wilpon went to Atlanta to right the ship.

But you you know what? Most of it doesn’t matter. The Mets are playing better ball. Bay is finally hitting, and Reyes shows signs of life. Even with all the strikeouts, Wright is productive. And Ike David and Angel Pagan are producing.

The Mets remain at least two starting pitchers short of contention, however. That’s what really matters. Yeah, they probably won’t get Roy “Lee Harvey” Oswalt from the Astros, but they do have to make a move or two. Ollie Perez is not coming back. John Maine does indeed have weakness in that arm. For all the gutsy performances from R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi, they’re not realistic long-term (read: rest of the season) solutions.

And finally, the team needs new management, starting with the bench. I just don’t think Manuel is the guy for this team. And his pitching moves – bringing in Ryota Igarashi to start his injury-delayed season on Sunday night vs. the Yankees and his insane reliance on Fernando Nieve leap to mind – defy explanation. You know my feelings on the Bob Melvin ascendancy, but the team does need a change.

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By Tom Watson
May 26, 2010

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Around the Horn with the Yankees

Randy Winn is dead weight. Once a serviceable major league he can now neither hit nor field. The ball he failed to catch last night, how overmatched he’s looked at the plate against all sorts of pitchers, and the ability of a kid like Kevin Russo to play outfield and infield suggest to me that Winn could be–and frankly should be–released once Granderson is back. Winn seems like a good guy, but he’s just clogging up a roster spot at this point.

I know Derek Jeter is hitting something like .360 with RISP this year, but why does it seem like he hasn’t had a big hit in six weeks?

15 hits in 10 innings, 5 of them homers, 7.20 ERA–do I have to see Chan Ho Park again in anything but a mop up role ever again?

Pelfry looked great last night–with command to both side of the plate to match his good stuff. Hughes looked so-so. Control was ok but not great. Fastballs were decent, but he seemed to be spotty with his curveball and his changeup was useless. Still he managed to keep the Yanks in the game. Unfortunate the offense, which left 13 men on base, didn’t give the kid much of a chance.

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By Jason Chervokas
May 23, 2010

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Yankee Season Turning Sour

It’s amazing how fast milk spoils.

Yeah, the Rays are good–young, talented, athletic, deep rostered, on pace to win 118 ball games. But the Yanks, who just two or three weeks ago looked like a super efficient winning machine, are also, at the moment bad–old, lineup padded with mediocrity (Randy Winn, Juan Miranda, Marcus Thames,etc), stone-handed, and thin-rostered (calling Chad Moeller and Kevin Russo). The Yanks have lost 6 of their last 10 and three in a row.  And the injuries have turned the bottom of the Yankee lineup from a deep and dangerous one to a walk down Easy Street for opposing pitchers. The Yankees season is fizzling like the 2009-2010 stock market rally.

In truth, however, it’s not the lineup but the pitching and defense that have hurt the Yanks most of all during this stretch when they’ll have to play short. Over the past 7 games the team has hit at a .316 clip and scored 47 runs–an average of  6.7 runs per game. That’s plenty of offense.

But over that same stretch the team ERA is 5.71. Yankee pitchers have coughed up 17  homers and batters are hitting .307 against Yankee pitching. The bullpen has been bad of course–Joba has been old Joba, Rivera has been human, and bringing in Chan Ho Park has been like pouring water on a drowning man. But the starting pitching has been bad as well. Yankee hopes for surviving the second quarter of the season which they will play without their catcher, DH, and center fielder must rest on the pitching, where, to date the roster is injury-free. Starters and relievers both have to be able to stifle opponents and lock down games because this Yankee roster doesn’t have the thunder in the lineup that an AL team need to mount late comebacks from big deficits.

Right now the Yankees are a game out of third place and headed in the wrong direction. Let’s hope the can make hay during a weekend series against perhaps the one team in baseball going worse at the moment.

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By Jason Chervokas
May 21, 2010

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Bob $%&#@$ Melvin??!!

PHOENIX - APRIL 06: Manager Bob Melvin #3 of ...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Bob Melvin? You’re kidding me, right? Robert Paul Freaking Melvin? The team is in free fall and franchise value is plummeting like Madoff-backed securities, and you Fred Wilpon are poised to give the fans of the New York Mets one Bob Melvin?!

Bob Melvin? Really. Bob Freaking Melvin. You mean 493-508 lifetime Bob Melvin. Oh, that Bob Melvin.

The Bob Melvin with no ties to franchise history, no karmic capital with the shrinking fan base, the man who finished second to Wally Backman in the D’backs managerial sweepstakes before self-destructing. That Bob Melvin.

Seriously, Bob Melvin? Say it out loud….Bob Melvin. There’s hope for you! May as well hope for David Wright to strike out less than 200 times or Jose Reyes to crack the mighty .230 barrier.

Bob Melvin – the Bobby who is not named Valentine, the guy who is not our Leo Durocher, our Billy Martin, our Earl Weaver. That Bob Melvin. The Bob Melvin who will only encourage the mass exodus in June from the precincts of the Promenade and the over-priced and stupidly-named sections below.

Bob Melvin. That’s what Fred Wilpon thinks of you, Mr. Met Fan.

Bob Freaking Melvin.

Bob Melvin.

Bob Melvin.

Yes, Bob Melvin.

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By Tom Watson
May 20, 2010

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Fretting and Sweating

I’m trying to resist the temptation of reading too much into a sloppy loss on a cold rainy night.  But there was so much wrong with the Yankee loss last night, and generally the Yankee play over the last two weeks, that Ican’t help but give in to worry: Is this the end of the modern Yankee dynasty?

What am I worried about?

Injuries, obviously, and the lack of quality bench depth. Yanks need to go get themselves an actual DH hitter–when the bottom of the order is Cervelli, Thames, Miranda, and Winn, and the only available pinch hitter is the good-field, no-hit Ramiro Pena something is wrong with the roster. Last night the team had a chance again against Papelbon in the 9th but had to count on Juan Miranda and Randy Winn for big hits they couldn’t deliver.

Defense. Yankee defense was atrocious last night. Yeah it was lousy weather–wet and cold–and maybe  weather played a role in A-rod’s error, but it doesn’t explain Randy Winn playing silly shallow in left, or Marcus Thames dropping a pop up. God, Thames is an awful outfielder. He makes Nick Swisher look like Paul Blair.

The bullpen. What a disaster–Robertson can’t get anyone out. Chamberlain is wildly inconsistent:  Does anyone have confidence seeing him coming in late to a tight game sweating out whether or not we’re going to get good Joba, with a 97 mph fastball and the ability to throw strikes,  or bad Joba with no command, no control, and little velocity? And now, after some time off because of a rib cage strain, Rivera looks like Superman under the light of a red sun–no superpowers at all. Possibly the rib injury still nags, or maybe the ageless Rivera is reaching his final curtain. If he’s injured the team should just put him on the DL. If he’s done, well, I salute him and say so long to 2010.

Jeter.  I’ve never seen Jeter look so bad at the plate. In the last week he has more strikeouts than hit. He’s 7 for 35 with one RBI, 5 runs scored, and 9 Ks. That’s good for a .200 average and .282 on-base percentage.  Maybe Nate Silver was right after all about Jeter.

I know it’s true that teams never are as bad as the look at their worst or as good as they look at their best, and if the Yanks play through injuries around .500 but get back to a more or less full compliment in a month, things could turn around (though I’m not counting on seeing Nick Johnson again). But Yanks are pretty painful to watch right now and I wouldn’t be surprised to find them 5 games out going into the weekend.

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By Jason Chervokas
May 19, 2010

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Pie for Thames!

These Yankees-Red Sox games are going to be the death of me: the length–last night’s was 3 hrs and 47 minutes; the lead changes–last night only two but throughout the game a perpetual, tension-filled lead narrowing; the ineffective pitching–last night 9 pitchers combined to allow 26 hits, 7 of them homers, just flat out wipe me out.

But a loss last night would have been particularly debilitating after the Yanks jumped out to a big lead, with Phil the Thrill on the Hill. Hughes finally met his match for the first time this year–the Red Sox worked the kid with long at-bats getting him to the 100 pitch mark by the 5th inning and particularly, with JD Drew’s game-narrowing 5th inning homer, it appeared as if the Red Sox were looking for the pitch that has been Hughes’ surprise pitch to lefties–a cutter on the hands. If Hughes is going to continue to use that pitch to lefties he’s going to have to make sure to get it all the way in, and maybe to dust a lefty early in a game a la Pedro to keep them worried about it. But it’s a game of adjustments.

Yes, a loss would have been particularly hard, especially after Rivera’s stunning implosion on Sunday, and with Chan Ho Park returning to an injury-depleted bullpen offering the hope of alive arm but delivering the a performances as bad as his opening performance in Fenway, with other injuries mounting–Nick Johnson facing surgery (toldja so), Swisher out, Posada out again.

But A-rod continued his hitting off Papelbon. He’s 4-for-12 with 2 homers and 5 RBIs. Javy Vazquez, in a weird moment of baseball irony got his first win pitching against the Sox in relief with a great performance against a single batter. And Marcus Thames, of all people, finished the job, took the season’s first pie in the face, and I could lay my head down to a restful night’s sleep.

My favorite headline of the night, from the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy: Another Round of Torture.

Warning signs and worries from last night. Well, Hughes, though I didn’t see so much warning signs as growing pains–a good, disciplined lineup which went to school on tape of the youngster worked long counts, looked for predictable pitches, and beat the kid getting pitches to hit out after long at bats. Even with all that Hughes still left the game with a chance to win it. The bullpen was offered the biggest worry. With Aceves out and Mitre performing in spot-starter service, Park’s return was much anticipated and it was a major stinker. Robertson has been atrocious all year. Logan can’t get out lefties. Marte is an enigma–he did yeoman’s work last night while he looked horrible against the Twins. And of course the injuries are mounting. With Granderson, Johnson, and Aceves out, and Swisher and Posada day to day, the Yanks are getting by night after night with half a line up of marginal major leaguers. They’ve been mediocre during this stretch–going 5-5 over their last 10–but maybe tredding water will be enough until Granderson gets back and the Yanks can make a move for a veteran DH. Except during games against the Red Sox where winning is essential.

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By Jason Chervokas
May 18, 2010

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Yankee Roster Blues, or Dreaming of Kevin Cash

Kevin Cash
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The Yankees have a roster problem. Lots of roster problems actually.

With the Yanks’ starting lineup decimated by injury, night after night the bottom of the lineup reads like the bottom of a mediocre NL line up: Thames, Miranda, Cervelli, Winn…ugh. With those kinds of hitters filling out a roster with a slumping Jeter and A-rod, it’s hardly surprising the Yanks were blanked twice in Detroit.

Despite last night’s A-bomb from A-rod, Teixeira’s annual May awakening, and Cano’s slump busting night, the Yankee line up is going to remain thin for a while. Granderson is still a month away, Johnson longer away than that, even Swisher–who was supposed to by Yankee depth last year and has become a crucial starter–is day to day. Posada is creaky and needs lots of time off.

The Yanks need to make some moves to shore up the offense. The could use a veteran corner outfielder with power and/or a veteran DH (er, like, Damon and Matsui), someone like Jermaine Dye–who is still looking for a job. And they desperately need a third catcher on the big league roster so on nights when Cervelli is catching (which should be most nights at this point) Posada can DH.

Once Yankee GMs were sure to have a rehabing veteran OFer and a late-career backup catcher on the 40-man roster and sitting in Triple-A for just such a stretch as the Yanks are going through now. But today the Yankees are painted into a corner by a thin and poorly thought-through roster. Forget Nick Johnson, a signing I hated from the start because a) Nick’s a mediocre hitter to being with and b) he inevitably misses half a season, but the only infield depth the Yanks have is Ramiro Pena–a slick fielding shortstop who hits like one of the extras in Freddie Prinze Jr’s deathless “classic” Summer Catch. All six of the active OFers on the 40-man have already been up, and none of them–including starters Gardner, Swisher and Granderson–is exactly Mickey Mantle. And forget bringing up a third catcher so that Posada can DH more because there are no catchers on the 40-man roster other than Posada and Cervelli. The Yanks have no veteran back up cooling his heels in Scranton. They’re not bringing up Double-A prospect Austin Romine to serve as a back up and Jesus Montero is off to a lousy start in Triple-A and doesn’t project as a catcher anyway.

The Yanks will certainly find a way to muddle through especially if then continue to get good starting pitching and if A-Rod and Jeter get hot. But I sure would feel more comfortable if, say, Jermaine Dye was DHing instead of Marcus Thames, or if Posada could DH because the likes of Kevin Cash was available if Cervelli went down with an injury.

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By Jason Chervokas
May 15, 2010

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