We knew there would be times like these. Heck, I wrote a chapter in Bombers Broadside 2007 (and updated it for the 2008 edition) which pretty much said there would be times like these. Three of the Yankees' home-grown cornerstone players--two of whom they just re-signed to huge contracts this off-season--are getting up there in age. They're at the age when players, particularly those who play the more demanding up-the-middle positions, start to break down.
Right now, it looks like like Derek Jeter's might be going on the DL. Alberto Gonzalez (the one whom, to our knowledge, does not condone torture) was in Kansas City (per PeteAbe) in anticipation of getting called up, because of Jeter's high quadriceps strain. The injury's not considered serious, but as Will Carroll points out at BP, the fact that it's near the groin means it might linger like groin injuries tend to do.
The more serious injury could belong to Jorge Posada. Jorge's been laboring with a "stiff" shoulder for about a week; given a start behind the plate in yesterday's loss to the Royals (with Joey Gathright, KC is a bad place to be if you're a catcher who can't throw) Jorge had to exit the game after six. There's something unintentionally scary in the description Posada gave Kat O'Brien of how the shoulder feels "dead, like you've got no strength." On the worst-case scenario, that description sounds a little like the "my shoulder got the wind knocked out of it" feeling Jay Jaffe once described when he tore his labrum. If Posada were to have a SLAP tear, that's surgery and a whole lot of lost time, perhaps even a lost season. So if you're a Yankee fan, this is a good time to keep your fingers crossed, or do whatever else it is you do when you need good luck.
While Gonzalez isn't a good replacement for Jeter, the Yanks have options. Wilson Betemit can stand in at short for the time being, and if the Captain's absence were to be prolonged, Girardi could see if Alex Rodriguez still has what it takes to play short, while having Betemit and Morgan Ensberg share the hot corner. Losing Posada means more Jose Molina, which, looking at the backups over the previous half-dozen years, could definitely be worse. But then Molina's backup is Chad Moeller, who isn't anyone's idea of a good time.
Stay tuned.
Showing posts with label Injuries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Injuries. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Tornado Warning
I don't know if I've mentioned the BP mailing list jinx here--I discussed it in a Game of the Week piece I did last year, when Anibal Sanchez threw a no-hitter. Basically, at any one time that Major League Baseball has games going on, the guys at BP are cumulatively watching about 85-90% of the games on the schedule. It's not by design or anything, it's just what happens when you get a large group of baseball fans all around the country, many of whom are armed with MLB.tv or Extra Innings subscriptions. If something happens in the majors, someone on list is probably watching, and will drop everyone else a line.
The jinx comes in when someone, anywhere in the majors, is throwing a no-hitter. Someone on the BP list will pick up on this sometime after the fifth inning, and alert everyone else--at which point, the no-no is almost always broken up immediately thereafter. It started as a joke, then got creepy with the long drought of no-hitters in the majors. Lately, we've seen folks on-list enlisting the jinx's help to break up a no-hitter against their favorite team, or being thrown by a pitcher or team they don't like.
So around the fourth inning of Tuesday's game, it got into my head that the Rangers weren't going to get a hit off of Phil Hughes. In high contrast to his first start last Thursday, the rookie was dominant against a Texas lineup that admittedly doesn't include any one hitter who's as good as Frank Thomas (or Vernon Wells). They weren't making good contact, they didn't seem to have any idea what was coming, and Hughes kept changing their eye level and mixing up his pitches. The radar gun didn't have Hughes throwing that hard (90-93 MPH, IIRC) but he was throwing the four-seamer past the Rangers hitters. It was beautiful.
Naturally, when I thought there would be a no-hitter, my thoughts turned to the jinx. I thought about sending out a message to the group "Anyone who says anything about this before it's over gets broken kneecaps," but I reconsidered. I joke a lot, so no one would have taken me seriously. It probably would have invited comments like "What the heck is he talking about?" followed by replies of "Oh, Phil Hughes' no-hitter," leading to a long thread discussing this, and me using up all my frequent flier miles to travel around the country to harm people I genuinely like. That, and I was halfway thinking that the threat email, itself, might activate the jinx.
We get through the sixth and I'm abuzz. The biggest obstacle I see is Hughes' pitch count, which is in the 80's. How far is Torre going to allow the organization's crown jewel to go?
By now everyone knows what happened in the seventh. Hughes retired his first batter, got ahead of the next batter, then he over-strode on a pitch, hyperextending the knee on his landing leg. Right away, you could tell something was wrong--Hughes hopped up and grabbed his thigh--and it looked like maybe he'd strained a groin muscle. Then he was limping around the mound, and Ron Guidry came out to talk to him. And that was it for Hughes, not only for the night, but for the immediate future.
What most of you don't know is that right before this happened, an email came through BP's list. The subject line? "Jinx." After calming myself down, I wrote an email to the group, asking that someone take away my access to BP's author address book, because I didn't want to know [BP author who shall remain anonymous]'s home address. Everyone laughed. But I was only half-joking. The other half of me was compiling a list of states between here and the Pacific Northwest which have weak gun control laws.
A broken-up no-hitter I can take. Crippling the Phranchise I take personally.
Hughes' injury turned out to be a type II hamstring strain, a level of seriousness beyond the strains that kept Chien Ming Wang out a month and have kept Mike Mussina out for three weeks. He goes to the DL, and the conservative estimate is that he's out 4-6 weeks. It's only May, and that's the kind of season it has been.
Yesterday I was inundated with work, and Arlington was inundated with rain and high-speed winds. There was a tornado warning, which could just be a manifestation of Yankee fans' moods right now. The head that rolled--so far--isn't Torre's or Cashman's, it belongs to the Yanks' Director of Performance Enhancement, Marty Miller. I've already talked about Miller, and his mouthful of a title, to which we can now add "/Scapegoat."
More after today's doubleheader.
The jinx comes in when someone, anywhere in the majors, is throwing a no-hitter. Someone on the BP list will pick up on this sometime after the fifth inning, and alert everyone else--at which point, the no-no is almost always broken up immediately thereafter. It started as a joke, then got creepy with the long drought of no-hitters in the majors. Lately, we've seen folks on-list enlisting the jinx's help to break up a no-hitter against their favorite team, or being thrown by a pitcher or team they don't like.
So around the fourth inning of Tuesday's game, it got into my head that the Rangers weren't going to get a hit off of Phil Hughes. In high contrast to his first start last Thursday, the rookie was dominant against a Texas lineup that admittedly doesn't include any one hitter who's as good as Frank Thomas (or Vernon Wells). They weren't making good contact, they didn't seem to have any idea what was coming, and Hughes kept changing their eye level and mixing up his pitches. The radar gun didn't have Hughes throwing that hard (90-93 MPH, IIRC) but he was throwing the four-seamer past the Rangers hitters. It was beautiful.
Naturally, when I thought there would be a no-hitter, my thoughts turned to the jinx. I thought about sending out a message to the group "Anyone who says anything about this before it's over gets broken kneecaps," but I reconsidered. I joke a lot, so no one would have taken me seriously. It probably would have invited comments like "What the heck is he talking about?" followed by replies of "Oh, Phil Hughes' no-hitter," leading to a long thread discussing this, and me using up all my frequent flier miles to travel around the country to harm people I genuinely like. That, and I was halfway thinking that the threat email, itself, might activate the jinx.
We get through the sixth and I'm abuzz. The biggest obstacle I see is Hughes' pitch count, which is in the 80's. How far is Torre going to allow the organization's crown jewel to go?
By now everyone knows what happened in the seventh. Hughes retired his first batter, got ahead of the next batter, then he over-strode on a pitch, hyperextending the knee on his landing leg. Right away, you could tell something was wrong--Hughes hopped up and grabbed his thigh--and it looked like maybe he'd strained a groin muscle. Then he was limping around the mound, and Ron Guidry came out to talk to him. And that was it for Hughes, not only for the night, but for the immediate future.
What most of you don't know is that right before this happened, an email came through BP's list. The subject line? "Jinx." After calming myself down, I wrote an email to the group, asking that someone take away my access to BP's author address book, because I didn't want to know [BP author who shall remain anonymous]'s home address. Everyone laughed. But I was only half-joking. The other half of me was compiling a list of states between here and the Pacific Northwest which have weak gun control laws.
A broken-up no-hitter I can take. Crippling the Phranchise I take personally.
Hughes' injury turned out to be a type II hamstring strain, a level of seriousness beyond the strains that kept Chien Ming Wang out a month and have kept Mike Mussina out for three weeks. He goes to the DL, and the conservative estimate is that he's out 4-6 weeks. It's only May, and that's the kind of season it has been.
Yesterday I was inundated with work, and Arlington was inundated with rain and high-speed winds. There was a tornado warning, which could just be a manifestation of Yankee fans' moods right now. The head that rolled--so far--isn't Torre's or Cashman's, it belongs to the Yanks' Director of Performance Enhancement, Marty Miller. I've already talked about Miller, and his mouthful of a title, to which we can now add "/Scapegoat."
More after today's doubleheader.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Seeeing the Hughes Half-Full
All the plans were to be protective of Philip Hughes. The number two prospect in the minors last year--pretty close to a consensus, although Delmon Young and Homer Bailey may still want to be heard on that issue--Hughes is a guy that a lot of teams would have had up in the Show last year, when he was beating the everlovin' crap out of the Florida State and Eastern Leagues. But the Yankees had different plans, particularly after the wunderkind's control abandoned him during Spring Training. Hughes would get the Yankees' full course of patience--spending most, if not all the season in lovely Scranton, PA. It was possible he'd get a September call-up, but the Yanks figured they'd picked up so much pitching depth that if he was called up, it wouldn't be out of necessity.
Fast forward to mid-April (trust me, it doesn't take long) and the depth is toast. I've already talked about 60% of the rotation going down to injury--if there's one thing that Hughes's call-up tells us, is that the Yanks maybe aren't too optimistic that Carl Pavano will return quickly from his latest owie. Then there's been the none-too-inspiring early returns on Kei Igawa. There's the injury to Karstens and the general ineffectiveness of Karstens and his baseball twin Darrell Rasner. There was the rushing of Chase Wright to the majors after two career starts above A ball.
Down on the farm, bad things have been happening. Last Wednesday Humberto Sanchez, the top pitcher (and boogie-down Bronx native) the Yanks picked up for Gary Sheffield, had ligament replacement surgery for his pitching elbow. He joins Christian Garcia and Mark Melancon among the top Yankees prospects to have "Tommy John" surgery in the last few months, and J.B. Cox makes for an even four Yanks prospects to have elbow surgery.
Of the remaining healthy advanced pitching prospects in the Yanks system, the early returns haven't been awe-inspiring. Tyler Clippard has a 5.12 ERA at AAA, and Ross Ohlendorf has walked more guys (14 in 20 IP) than he's struck out (12). Steven Jackson couldn't get out of the fourth inning of his last start. Other than Hughes, Matt DeSalvo is the only starter pitching well at Scranton--but giving how low he is on the prospect totem pole, DeS is going to have to
show his stuff for a while longer before the Yanks believe he's major league ready.
So the Phil Hughes era starts on Thursday.
In addition to forcing the Yanks' hand into bringing up Hughes now, Sanchez and the others' elbow injuries reinforce an idea--that pitchers are largely on borrowed time, and sometimes the best you can do is get major league innings out of them while they're still effective. That's a rather dark take on carpe diem, I know, but the point is, if Phil Hughes could be getting major league hitters out now--and there's plenty to indicate that he's ready to do so--then what's he doing in the International League, other than running up the odometer?
****
It's rainy and cool today in New York, and I'm hoping they can get the game in. After the Yanks' disastrous two-game set in Tampa Bay, Andy Pettitte could do Hughes a real favor by winning tonight. It's enough pressure to be the Golden Child, the savior of baseball's most storied franchise. It's quite another to make your first major league start with the pressure of having to end a five- or six-game losing streak on your shoulders.
Fast forward to mid-April (trust me, it doesn't take long) and the depth is toast. I've already talked about 60% of the rotation going down to injury--if there's one thing that Hughes's call-up tells us, is that the Yanks maybe aren't too optimistic that Carl Pavano will return quickly from his latest owie. Then there's been the none-too-inspiring early returns on Kei Igawa. There's the injury to Karstens and the general ineffectiveness of Karstens and his baseball twin Darrell Rasner. There was the rushing of Chase Wright to the majors after two career starts above A ball.
Down on the farm, bad things have been happening. Last Wednesday Humberto Sanchez, the top pitcher (and boogie-down Bronx native) the Yanks picked up for Gary Sheffield, had ligament replacement surgery for his pitching elbow. He joins Christian Garcia and Mark Melancon among the top Yankees prospects to have "Tommy John" surgery in the last few months, and J.B. Cox makes for an even four Yanks prospects to have elbow surgery.
Of the remaining healthy advanced pitching prospects in the Yanks system, the early returns haven't been awe-inspiring. Tyler Clippard has a 5.12 ERA at AAA, and Ross Ohlendorf has walked more guys (14 in 20 IP) than he's struck out (12). Steven Jackson couldn't get out of the fourth inning of his last start. Other than Hughes, Matt DeSalvo is the only starter pitching well at Scranton--but giving how low he is on the prospect totem pole, DeS is going to have to
show his stuff for a while longer before the Yanks believe he's major league ready.
So the Phil Hughes era starts on Thursday.
In addition to forcing the Yanks' hand into bringing up Hughes now, Sanchez and the others' elbow injuries reinforce an idea--that pitchers are largely on borrowed time, and sometimes the best you can do is get major league innings out of them while they're still effective. That's a rather dark take on carpe diem, I know, but the point is, if Phil Hughes could be getting major league hitters out now--and there's plenty to indicate that he's ready to do so--then what's he doing in the International League, other than running up the odometer?
****
It's rainy and cool today in New York, and I'm hoping they can get the game in. After the Yanks' disastrous two-game set in Tampa Bay, Andy Pettitte could do Hughes a real favor by winning tonight. It's enough pressure to be the Golden Child, the savior of baseball's most storied franchise. It's quite another to make your first major league start with the pressure of having to end a five- or six-game losing streak on your shoulders.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Week In Review: April 9-15, 2007
Record for the Week: 3-3, 31 runs scored, 21 runs allowed
Overall: 5-6, 4th Place AL East, 2 games behind the Red Sox
The Breakdown:
4/9 Yankees 8, Twins 2
Carl Pavano controlled the Twinkies' attack, while Bobby Abreu led the offense, with two singles, a homer, and 3 RBI.
4/10 Yankees 10, Twins 1
Johnny Damon with 3 RBI, A-Rod with his 6th homer in 7 games, and Andy Pettitte pitched 6 clean innings.
4/11 Yankees 1, Twins 5
It looked so promising--Moose on the mound, Ramon Ortiz on the other side--so promising until Mussina motioned to the dugout in the third inning, and took himself out of the game. Kyle Farnsworth spit the bit after some good relief work by Sean Henn, Scott Proctor, and Luis Vizcaino.
4/13 Yankees 4, A's 5
After more Kyle Farnsworth silliness (homer to Nick Swisher in the 7th) this one went 11 innings before the Yanks took the loss.
4/14 Yankees 4, A's 3
Like the previous game in reverse, the Yanks coming back from early deficits, before breaking out behind Jason Giambi's homer in the 13th.
4/15 Yankees 4, A's 5
It's strange when Mariano--the only guy who normally wears #42, anymore--blows one. I was actually on the phone when Marco Scutaro took the Sandman deep for a three-run shot, and I just trailed off in mid-sentence...of a business call. A fitting end to a lousy week for the team.
Player of the Week: Another three homers, another seven RBI, .364/.448/.864 line. Alex Rodriguez is having a monster April, and leading the league in homers through Sunday. Nice. Jorge Posada put in a good supporting performance, .348/.423/.478 and three doubles. Derek Jeter would make this list with his .360/.467/.360 week, but his defensive troubles continued--he now has six errors in eleven games. Suddenly, people we've never heard criticize Jeter's "d" are saying things like "It's a well-known fact that he's an overrated defender." Yeah, it was a well-known fact back in 2000. Where were these guys then?
As noted above, the starters corrected course after earning joint Dregs honors (dishonors?) last week. Andy Pettitte came back with two quality starts--he gets co-Player of the Week honors with A-Rod--Pavano pitched in one of his own, Kei Igawa and Darrell Rasner managed tolerable starts, going five innings.
Dregs of the Week: Kyle Farnsworth's 13.50 ERA for the week is a great hint. In a bullpen that has a couple of established righthanded setup guys in Proctor and Vizcaino, plus the surprisingly good Brian Bruney, Kyle the blockhead could be losing his his place in the feeding line. His effort was more than matched by Doug Mientkiewicz's .050/.136/.050 week. That's bad enough to make you forget Melky Cabrera's ultrabad .240/.231/.240 week, as well as the bomb Mariano gave up to Scutaro. Lucky them.
Story of the Week: ...and then there were two. At this point, the entire righthanded compliment of the Yankees starting rotation is down with injuries, which we're told are of the nagging type--so far. But hamstring pulls can be a nasty kind of nagging injury, and the fact that be if the injured fellows is Carl Pavano is just plain bad news. Last time he was going to "just miss the minimum" with a not-so-serious problem, we didn't see him in uniform again for more than two years.
The horrible thing is I saw this happening. I watched Pavano's start and thought, "Hey, that isn't bad at all. Guy knows how to pitch." I that point I should have known something bad was going to happen. Maybe I could have called in a warning to the Metrodome switchboard. Too late now.
Chase Wright, who looked good in Spring Training and dominant in his first two AA starts (five baserunners and 19 Ks in 14 innings) comes up to pick up the slack. Wright's a curveballer who tore up the Florida State League last year, albeit at the age of 23. He's not a horrible pick for the start since he's not considered a top prospect--still, it's surprising that with all the depth the Yanks picked up at starting pitcher, the guy who they're calling on is someone who has all of 2 games of experience at AA. It'll be an interesting game.
In the meanwhile, if you see Andy Pettitte or Kei Igawa, please treat them gently.
Overall: 5-6, 4th Place AL East, 2 games behind the Red Sox
The Breakdown:
4/9 Yankees 8, Twins 2
Carl Pavano controlled the Twinkies' attack, while Bobby Abreu led the offense, with two singles, a homer, and 3 RBI.
4/10 Yankees 10, Twins 1
Johnny Damon with 3 RBI, A-Rod with his 6th homer in 7 games, and Andy Pettitte pitched 6 clean innings.
4/11 Yankees 1, Twins 5
It looked so promising--Moose on the mound, Ramon Ortiz on the other side--so promising until Mussina motioned to the dugout in the third inning, and took himself out of the game. Kyle Farnsworth spit the bit after some good relief work by Sean Henn, Scott Proctor, and Luis Vizcaino.
4/13 Yankees 4, A's 5
After more Kyle Farnsworth silliness (homer to Nick Swisher in the 7th) this one went 11 innings before the Yanks took the loss.
4/14 Yankees 4, A's 3
Like the previous game in reverse, the Yanks coming back from early deficits, before breaking out behind Jason Giambi's homer in the 13th.
4/15 Yankees 4, A's 5
It's strange when Mariano--the only guy who normally wears #42, anymore--blows one. I was actually on the phone when Marco Scutaro took the Sandman deep for a three-run shot, and I just trailed off in mid-sentence...of a business call. A fitting end to a lousy week for the team.
Player of the Week: Another three homers, another seven RBI, .364/.448/.864 line. Alex Rodriguez is having a monster April, and leading the league in homers through Sunday. Nice. Jorge Posada put in a good supporting performance, .348/.423/.478 and three doubles. Derek Jeter would make this list with his .360/.467/.360 week, but his defensive troubles continued--he now has six errors in eleven games. Suddenly, people we've never heard criticize Jeter's "d" are saying things like "It's a well-known fact that he's an overrated defender." Yeah, it was a well-known fact back in 2000. Where were these guys then?
As noted above, the starters corrected course after earning joint Dregs honors (dishonors?) last week. Andy Pettitte came back with two quality starts--he gets co-Player of the Week honors with A-Rod--Pavano pitched in one of his own, Kei Igawa and Darrell Rasner managed tolerable starts, going five innings.
Dregs of the Week: Kyle Farnsworth's 13.50 ERA for the week is a great hint. In a bullpen that has a couple of established righthanded setup guys in Proctor and Vizcaino, plus the surprisingly good Brian Bruney, Kyle the blockhead could be losing his his place in the feeding line. His effort was more than matched by Doug Mientkiewicz's .050/.136/.050 week. That's bad enough to make you forget Melky Cabrera's ultrabad .240/.231/.240 week, as well as the bomb Mariano gave up to Scutaro. Lucky them.
Story of the Week: ...and then there were two. At this point, the entire righthanded compliment of the Yankees starting rotation is down with injuries, which we're told are of the nagging type--so far. But hamstring pulls can be a nasty kind of nagging injury, and the fact that be if the injured fellows is Carl Pavano is just plain bad news. Last time he was going to "just miss the minimum" with a not-so-serious problem, we didn't see him in uniform again for more than two years.
The horrible thing is I saw this happening. I watched Pavano's start and thought, "Hey, that isn't bad at all. Guy knows how to pitch." I that point I should have known something bad was going to happen. Maybe I could have called in a warning to the Metrodome switchboard. Too late now.
Chase Wright, who looked good in Spring Training and dominant in his first two AA starts (five baserunners and 19 Ks in 14 innings) comes up to pick up the slack. Wright's a curveballer who tore up the Florida State League last year, albeit at the age of 23. He's not a horrible pick for the start since he's not considered a top prospect--still, it's surprising that with all the depth the Yanks picked up at starting pitcher, the guy who they're calling on is someone who has all of 2 games of experience at AA. It'll be an interesting game.
In the meanwhile, if you see Andy Pettitte or Kei Igawa, please treat them gently.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Performance Enhancement=Hamstring Pulls?
On Opening Day, my brother and I were just getting to our seats as the Devil Rays' roster announcements ended, and the Yankees' roster began being called out. As usual, they started with the non-high profile coaches--it's always a lot of fun when trainer Gene Monahan gets to take his bow, since it's the only time all season he'll run onto the field without it being bad news.
One announcement that caused us a shrug and a chuckle was the announcement of the "Director, Performance Enhancement" Marty Miller. The shrug was because it sounded new; the chuckle was because the title sounded a lot like the title that the Yanks gave Chad Bohling a couple of years back--Director of Optimal Performance--which was ironic since the start of the 2005 season was pretty sub-optimal.
Anyway, Miller's fancy new title just means that he took over the Yanks' strength and conditioning program this year. Which is a shame, since so far the main evidence of "performance enhancement" on the 2007 Yankees seems to be a series of hamstring pulls which have taken down four Yankees players so far. Mike Mussina joined Chien Ming Wang, Johnny Damon, and Hideki Matsui in feeling something "pull" in his leg during last night's start. Like Damon (but unlike Matsui and Wang) Moose hopes to avoid the DL, but we'll have to see what happens, since hamstring problems tend to linger.
The lesson here, of course, is don't go for a fancy title when a simple one will do.
The Yanks lost their series finale in the Metrodome, 5-1, after dominating the Twinkies 18-3 in the first two games. Seeing that yesterday's starter for the Twins was retread's retread Ramon Ortiz, there was good reason to anticipate a sweep at the start of the game. Alex Rodriguez continued his hot start, batting in the Yankees' only run.
One announcement that caused us a shrug and a chuckle was the announcement of the "Director, Performance Enhancement" Marty Miller. The shrug was because it sounded new; the chuckle was because the title sounded a lot like the title that the Yanks gave Chad Bohling a couple of years back--Director of Optimal Performance--which was ironic since the start of the 2005 season was pretty sub-optimal.
Anyway, Miller's fancy new title just means that he took over the Yanks' strength and conditioning program this year. Which is a shame, since so far the main evidence of "performance enhancement" on the 2007 Yankees seems to be a series of hamstring pulls which have taken down four Yankees players so far. Mike Mussina joined Chien Ming Wang, Johnny Damon, and Hideki Matsui in feeling something "pull" in his leg during last night's start. Like Damon (but unlike Matsui and Wang) Moose hopes to avoid the DL, but we'll have to see what happens, since hamstring problems tend to linger.
The lesson here, of course, is don't go for a fancy title when a simple one will do.
The Yanks lost their series finale in the Metrodome, 5-1, after dominating the Twinkies 18-3 in the first two games. Seeing that yesterday's starter for the Twins was retread's retread Ramon Ortiz, there was good reason to anticipate a sweep at the start of the game. Alex Rodriguez continued his hot start, batting in the Yankees' only run.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Razzies for Rasner, Part II
...so Paul Bako--who had 14 homers in 589 games coming into this year, and 46 homers in a pro career dating back to 1993--smashed a homer off Darrell Rasner to give the O's a 5-3 lead, a lead that would hold up for the rest of the afternoon. I'm getting ahead of my week in review here, but it's no secret that the Yankees starting pitching has been a huge disappointment this first week. The Yanks have yet to lead a game through five innings. Darrell Rasner, who I've touted here before, had nothing on Easter Sunday. His fastball was between 86-88 MPH on the Stadium scoreboard, touching 89 on a couple of occasions. And he was trying to bring that stuff up in the zone, which was a recipe for disaster.
More on this tomorrow.
Two other notable features of today's game. The reaction to A-Rod's homer in the first inning was the warmest response I can recall ever hearing for Rodriguez at the Stadium. It's been a long while since I've been to the Stadium without hearing anyone grouse about Alex's salary or nonclutchness...it was nice that that talk was shelved, at least in my section, for a day.
The other thing was the further adventures of Miguel Cairo, major league leftfielder. Cairo was pressed into service--Hideki Matsui's hamstring pull is bad enough he's hitting the DL--and he didn't cost the Yanks much in the outfield; but whenever Cairo appears in the outfield, it's an indication that something has gone very, very wrong with your roster construction. Lineup-wise, having Cairo and Nieves in the lineup at the same time was like putting a speedbump in the Yankees' offense. Erik Bedard's too good of a pitcher to be given that kind of advantage.
More on this when we review the week tomorrow.
More on this tomorrow.
Two other notable features of today's game. The reaction to A-Rod's homer in the first inning was the warmest response I can recall ever hearing for Rodriguez at the Stadium. It's been a long while since I've been to the Stadium without hearing anyone grouse about Alex's salary or nonclutchness...it was nice that that talk was shelved, at least in my section, for a day.
The other thing was the further adventures of Miguel Cairo, major league leftfielder. Cairo was pressed into service--Hideki Matsui's hamstring pull is bad enough he's hitting the DL--and he didn't cost the Yanks much in the outfield; but whenever Cairo appears in the outfield, it's an indication that something has gone very, very wrong with your roster construction. Lineup-wise, having Cairo and Nieves in the lineup at the same time was like putting a speedbump in the Yankees' offense. Erik Bedard's too good of a pitcher to be given that kind of advantage.
More on this when we review the week tomorrow.
Monday, March 26, 2007
This is Why You Stockpile Pitchers
Remember Jeff Karsten's big shot at the Opening Day roster, his chance to get a start or two in during Wang's absence, and maybe be this year's surprising success story? Uh, not so fast. Karstens had to leave his start early on Sunday, suffering from a "stiff elbow." Reader Matty Matty got this one on to the blog before I did--although, in my defense, I did say that Sunday's start was huge for Karstens. It's a shame.
In Karsten's absence, Darrell Rasner--who, might as well be Karsten's professional twin with the Yanks--could pick up that slot. Unless something else goes wrong, that is. That's why the somewhat absurd level of righthanded depth the Yankees acquired this winter makes sense. Mike Mussina's old, and likely to need a breather this season; Andy Pettitte's no spring chicken, and he, too, has been known to break down; Kei Igawa is an unknown quantity, but he throws a ton of pitches, which suggests he might not give the team a titanic number of innings; Can't Play Carl Pavano...well, the name says it all. In the bullpen, Mariano Rivera's up there in years, and coming off an injury that kept him out the last month or so of the regular season; Kyle Farnsworth's a hothouse flower, the days he's not in the trainers room are more remarkable than those when he is dealing with a nagging something-or-other; Scott Proctor pitched a ton of innings last season--his entrance music should be a ticking-clock sound, maybe the effect used in 24. Wang was really the rock of this pitching staff, and he's the guy who got injured first. So while it may be disappointing for a Chris Britton (who had a good season for Baltimore last year) or a Phil Hughes (who many feel has nothing left to prove in the minors) not to break camp with the big club, the advice is "Patience. Your time will come, likely sooner than you think."
****
Other members of the AL East have rosters in flux, too. The Red Sox have reversed their decision to put Jonathan ("Don't Call Me Jon") Papelbon in the starting rotation. The story wasn't that unpredictable, given that the Red Sox closer candidates were Mike Timlin and Joel Piniero. The excuse for keeping Papelbon out of the rotation was that he was "medically not cleared" to close. Suddenly, when no new reliever stepped up to the role, Papelbon apparently got cured. Miraculous!
I also smell a rat in Bill Madden's Daily News column today. As most of you must have heard, Tony LaRussa was busted on a DUI, found unconscious in a car where the engine was running and the car was in gear. Of this incident, Madden says:
In Karsten's absence, Darrell Rasner--who, might as well be Karsten's professional twin with the Yanks--could pick up that slot. Unless something else goes wrong, that is. That's why the somewhat absurd level of righthanded depth the Yankees acquired this winter makes sense. Mike Mussina's old, and likely to need a breather this season; Andy Pettitte's no spring chicken, and he, too, has been known to break down; Kei Igawa is an unknown quantity, but he throws a ton of pitches, which suggests he might not give the team a titanic number of innings; Can't Play Carl Pavano...well, the name says it all. In the bullpen, Mariano Rivera's up there in years, and coming off an injury that kept him out the last month or so of the regular season; Kyle Farnsworth's a hothouse flower, the days he's not in the trainers room are more remarkable than those when he is dealing with a nagging something-or-other; Scott Proctor pitched a ton of innings last season--his entrance music should be a ticking-clock sound, maybe the effect used in 24. Wang was really the rock of this pitching staff, and he's the guy who got injured first. So while it may be disappointing for a Chris Britton (who had a good season for Baltimore last year) or a Phil Hughes (who many feel has nothing left to prove in the minors) not to break camp with the big club, the advice is "Patience. Your time will come, likely sooner than you think."
****
Other members of the AL East have rosters in flux, too. The Red Sox have reversed their decision to put Jonathan ("Don't Call Me Jon") Papelbon in the starting rotation. The story wasn't that unpredictable, given that the Red Sox closer candidates were Mike Timlin and Joel Piniero. The excuse for keeping Papelbon out of the rotation was that he was "medically not cleared" to close. Suddenly, when no new reliever stepped up to the role, Papelbon apparently got cured. Miraculous!
I also smell a rat in Bill Madden's Daily News column today. As most of you must have heard, Tony LaRussa was busted on a DUI, found unconscious in a car where the engine was running and the car was in gear. Of this incident, Madden says:
As for La Russa, his arrest after being discovered asleep at the wheel of his car while stopped at an intersection around midnight on Thursday was not only unfortunate but totally out of character. Anyone who knows the Cardinals' manager knows he's anything but a big drinker - more like a two-glasses-of-wine-a-night guy, if that. Nor is he one to be out and about in the late night. According to sources close to La Russa, the world championship has resulted in his having to spend a lot more time at dinners and functions this spring and he's tried to accommodate everyone. While it was fortunate he had his foot on the brake pedal and not the gas pedal when he conked out, the fact that his .093 blood alcohol was only a shade above the legal .08 limit suggests he was more exhausted than intoxicated.What Madden fails to mention is that LaRussa's .093 blood alcohol level was measured about two hours after his arrest, so that was likely not his alcohol level at the time he passed out behind the wheel of his car, endangering himself and the public at large. Madden, who's a hardass about players behaving badly--regardless of whether anyone but the player himself was endangered--is now an apologist for a guy who could have injured a number of people if his foot had slipped off the brake pedal. Nice. I'm not the type to demonize LaRussa for his behavior, but I certainly don't think it's right to bend over backwards to excuse what he did, either, particularly when I've never heard a member of the press concoct a "shades over the legal limit" excuse or a "he must be exhausted from all the dinners and functions he's attended" excuse for any player accused of this crime. At best, LaRussa was irresponsible in getting behind the wheel when he was in no condition to drive; at worst, the police gave LaRussa a break by giving him two hours to sober up before breathalyzing him. But if you're going to simply absolve LaRussa for this, I don't ever want to hear you talk about personal responsibility, ever again.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Whirlwind Tours and Actual News
Just got back from Baseball Prospectus's second annual appearance at the Yogi Berra Museum, on the campus of Montclair State University. The Yogi as we call it, is a great place with a great staff--we're really lucky to have these folks open up their museum to us and let us basically have run of the grounds for a whole day. This time, I was on the panel with twelve other BP authors--Will Carroll, Jay Jaffe, Christina Kahrl, Steve Goldman, Jim Baker, Kevin Goldstein, Clay Davenport, Will Weiss, Neil deMause, Marc Normandin, Ben Murphy, and John Erhardt, who decided to watch the proceedings from the crowd, as did BP.com editor Alex Carnevale and Salon.com's Allen Barra, who was on the panel last year. We did about two and a half hours' worth of talking to (and with) the substantial crowd that made it out Upper Montclair, and afterward we had a rare get-together of a quorum of Prospectus's active workforce at a great restaurant called Gaucho's in Montclair. I hadn't met a number of the guys before, most notably Baker (who has a wonderful, self-deprecating sense of humor), Davenport (who looks quiet, but when he answers a question speaks with that special self-confidence that only scientists display), and Goldstein (who's the very spirit of understatement--it was like being on stage with Dean Martin). Normandin and Murphy look so young, that when I first saw them on the stage I thought they might just be fans who mistakenly followed us to our seats (I hadn't yet been introduced to them).
For me, this was a whirlwind weekend which featured an appearance at the Columbia University bookstore with Goldman, Kahrl, Jaffe, Weiss and deMause on Thursday, and hosting a small party for Alex Belth, Will Carroll, Kahrl, Jaffe and Jay's wife Andra, and his friend Nick Stone and Nick's date. I haven't had this kind of...baseball holiday, for lack of a better word, since I was a teenager playing in the Inwood Table Baseball League, dropping in at Yankee Stadium at gametime and getting good tickets, and going to Strat-o-Matic Tournaments. Definitely good times.
The times are not so good in Tampa, where the big story was Chien Ming Wang's strained hamstring, which will keep the pitcher out for a month. To show you how quickly things move in baseball, Wang came into 2006 hardly assured of a spot in the starting rotation, thirteen months later, he's the Yankees' ace, and news that he's injured is an agita-inducing event. He'll now start the season on the DL, missing at least the first three weeks of the season.
In Wang's absence, it looks like Can't Play Carl Pavano is the Opening Day starter. This is also...unexpected. Not necessarily the optimum circumstances for Can't Play Carl to re-introduce himself to the Yankee Stadium crowd. Apparently, it was judged that given the issues each is dealing with, it wouldn't be a good idea to take Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, or Kei Igawa off their established schedules to pitch the opener against Tampa Bay, a week from Monday.
Of course, the idea of Carl Pavano, Opening Day starter, makes one huge assumption--that Can't Play Carl will somehow survive the last week of Spring Training without turning an ankle, bruising his buttocks, getting knocked unconscious by a line drive, burning the roof of his mouth by eating a microwave pizza too fast, or contracting the deadly Mutaba virus from an illegally-imported capuchin monkey. As always, the attitude with Can't Play Carl should be "I'll believe it when I see it." Heaven willing, I'll be at Yankee Stadium for the opener to make sure that's actually Carl Pavano and not some CGI superimposed by the YES Network.
Wang's (and Pavano's) misfortune is Jeff Karstens' gain, since Karstens looks on track to break camp with the big club. Tomorrow's start against the Tigers could be enough to seal the deal.
In better news, Bobby Murcer is reportedly "clear" of the brain tumor that he was diagnosed with over the holidays. I hope Bobby is well enough to make it out to the Stadium for the opener. If not, he will be in our thoughts, there. It's just good to hear he's feeling better.
For me, this was a whirlwind weekend which featured an appearance at the Columbia University bookstore with Goldman, Kahrl, Jaffe, Weiss and deMause on Thursday, and hosting a small party for Alex Belth, Will Carroll, Kahrl, Jaffe and Jay's wife Andra, and his friend Nick Stone and Nick's date. I haven't had this kind of...baseball holiday, for lack of a better word, since I was a teenager playing in the Inwood Table Baseball League, dropping in at Yankee Stadium at gametime and getting good tickets, and going to Strat-o-Matic Tournaments. Definitely good times.
The times are not so good in Tampa, where the big story was Chien Ming Wang's strained hamstring, which will keep the pitcher out for a month. To show you how quickly things move in baseball, Wang came into 2006 hardly assured of a spot in the starting rotation, thirteen months later, he's the Yankees' ace, and news that he's injured is an agita-inducing event. He'll now start the season on the DL, missing at least the first three weeks of the season.
In Wang's absence, it looks like Can't Play Carl Pavano is the Opening Day starter. This is also...unexpected. Not necessarily the optimum circumstances for Can't Play Carl to re-introduce himself to the Yankee Stadium crowd. Apparently, it was judged that given the issues each is dealing with, it wouldn't be a good idea to take Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, or Kei Igawa off their established schedules to pitch the opener against Tampa Bay, a week from Monday.
Of course, the idea of Carl Pavano, Opening Day starter, makes one huge assumption--that Can't Play Carl will somehow survive the last week of Spring Training without turning an ankle, bruising his buttocks, getting knocked unconscious by a line drive, burning the roof of his mouth by eating a microwave pizza too fast, or contracting the deadly Mutaba virus from an illegally-imported capuchin monkey. As always, the attitude with Can't Play Carl should be "I'll believe it when I see it." Heaven willing, I'll be at Yankee Stadium for the opener to make sure that's actually Carl Pavano and not some CGI superimposed by the YES Network.
Wang's (and Pavano's) misfortune is Jeff Karstens' gain, since Karstens looks on track to break camp with the big club. Tomorrow's start against the Tigers could be enough to seal the deal.
In better news, Bobby Murcer is reportedly "clear" of the brain tumor that he was diagnosed with over the holidays. I hope Bobby is well enough to make it out to the Stadium for the opener. If not, he will be in our thoughts, there. It's just good to hear he's feeling better.
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