The story of the week in most part was the piling up injury concerns. Wang was sent to Tampa for assessment and a simulated game and was promptly put on the DL with a soreness in the hip - which is a euphemism for a pain in the ass, I'm sure.
Brian Bruney has also been placed on the DL along with the non-achieving Cody Ransom. Filling 3B with Ransom in the absence of A-Rod was probably a tall order given that the Yankees already have a weak CF and injury concerns in the other corners thus far. Unfortunately this has meant that the third string 3B is Angel Berroa who has played one inning at 3B in his pro career.All of this goes to that it's hard to have depth at 3B when your starting 3B is A-Rod under contract for another 9 years. It also highlights why some of us hold out hope that Eric Duncan amounts to something along the way. If he could play league average 3B about now, he'd be the right tonic. If, that is.
Bruney going on the DL actuall impacts my last remaining fantasy league as well as the thus-far-cruddily-performing bullpen. Hopefully he won't be out for too long. All the injuries and callups have resulted in the Yankees releasing Humberto Sanchez outright. I guess the Yankees got nothing for trading away Sheff.
In relatively good news, Nady won't be going under the knife; he's going to rehab his elbow tendon.
Why Can't They Beat These Guys?
2 games in Boston thus far have yielded 2 slugfests. Neither of which the Yankees won. It's enough to make you hate the game. This capped off a week where the Yankees took 2 from the A's and split the series with the Indians.
Still, the 5-4 and 16-11 losses to the Red Sox just drives me around the bend.
Robinson Cano's Hot Bat
In amongst the crappy week, there was this line of .354/.403/.538 through yesterday.
He has 3Hrs, but also 6 walks to go with 6 strike outs in 16 games so far. He's doing very well indeed. I like this 2009 version of Robbie. Much better than 2008.
BABIP? Did I Hear You Quote BABIP?
During the week, Brian Cashman mentioned that one of the reasons they picked up Nick Swisher was because of his BABIP last year.
Cashman, in his two-hour program, talked of the collecting and meshing of information in making decisions. He still employs scouts extensively to speak to a player's intangible qualities, but the use of underlying stats to evaluate players is a growing part of running the franchise.
For instance, in the decision to acquire Nick Swisher despite a .219 average for the White Sox last year, stats like line-drive percentage and pitches taken were used. "The only stat that was different was batting average when he put the ball in play," Cashman said, "so we concluded it must have been an unlucky year."
Swisher has been an early-season success for the Yankees.
If there were any doubts about the sabermetric-savvy of the Yankees GM, I think it should be banished. He at least understands BABIP which means he is abreast of DIPS theory. What a GM! This is why Yankee fans like Cashman.
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