Yankees Update 06/06/09

Still No. 1

After losing the series to the Phillies, the Yankees won 2 series against the Indians and Rangers. The Indians have been scuffling so that was not particularly surprising, and the league leading Rangers were possibly not for real. The opening game with Tampa was washed out, and they lost the first game. Over all, the Yankees went 4-4 this week. They really could do with a win against Tampa tomorrow.

In amongst all that, the Yankees went into this weekend tied with the Red Sox for the division lead. Boston might look like they're scuffling with injuries but they're still pretty competitive.

Wang Returns To Rotation

Chien-Ming Wang and Phil Hughes swapped places as Hughes went to the bullpen and Wang pitched the last game against the Rangers. He only lasted 4.2 innings, 2 of which were good and 2 of which were shaky.

The indication is that his sinker has got its sink back. He's steadily been reducing his ERA from the enormous 34.50 it blew out to, so if nothing else, he's probably pitching closer to league average. Because the front end of the rotation is stacking up to be Sabathia, Burnett, Chamberlain and Pettitte in order of effectiveness, the Hughes/Wang spot is now the fifth starter role. Wang just need to be able to go 6-7 innings with an ERA of 4.5 to be useful.

The Hitting Is Much Better


As of this writing, the Yankee team offense line is .281/.358/.483 for the season. A team hitting .841 collectively is a pretty solid. Teixeira is hitting .284, with an OPS of .993. A-Rod is only at .250, but his OPS is .916. Swisher's OPS is .906, Posada is hitting 1.030, and Jeter, Cano, Melky, Damon and Matsui are hitting over .800 in their OPS. That's a pretty solid team. Certainly, it's not surprising for Cano to be there and they're career norms for Jeter, Damon, and Matsui.

At this point, it's pretty close to the way the team was drawn up as an offense. Maybe A-Rod's average could be higher, Maybe Melky is over-achieving, Xavier Nady is not quite in the picture due to injury, but the rest of it is as projected.

The Starting Pitching is Mostly Sound

As mentioned before, the Starters have been doing much better in the last 5 weeks. Still, looking at the pitchers, it's not as impressive as what the batters are doing, apart from Sabathia and Chamberlain.

Pettitte's ERA is at 4.50 which is league average-ish. Burnett has had a couple of rough starts where his ERA has blown out to 4.69. Phil Hughes was sitting at 5.40.  Wang of course has pared back his ERA down to 14.46 in his brief relief outings.

Pettitte had an ugly patch in late April through to early May where he gave up 13 runs in 17.2 innings. Since then he's given up 14 in 29.2 IP.

In the case of Burnett, he's ben steadily paring back his ERA since that game where he gave up 8 runs, but he had a couple of hiccups with games against the Blue Jays and the Phillies where he gave up 5. He's been good in the other 7 or so starts.

Yankees Update 31/05/09

Leaping To The Top

The 2 week drive that saw the Yankees go 8-2 placed them to be back in the race last weekend. This week the Yankees lost the third game to the World Champion Phillies, but won a series in Texas and the first game in Cleveland, going 3-2. It was enough to place the Yankees at the top of the AL East by half a game.

Jorge Posada has come back, and while Melky Cabrera fell and hurt his shoulder, Brett Gardner has been there to hit really well. The Yankees have finally got most of the lineup they thought they would have with the exception of Xavier Nady. That being said, the big turnaround was probably chracterised more by better pitching than hitting.

With a third of the season gone, we're starting to see what this team is capable of doing. If they ca build on the lead and go to Boston with a few games in the standings, it would be a good thing, Winning there might just determine the season.

Joba To The Pen?

For some reason, this crowd just won't shut up. It's insane, but this week saw the Bleacher Report take the line that Joba was better as the intimidator in the 8th inning. As Joe Girardi noted, the good thing about Presidential debates is that they end. This one just keeps going.

Chien-Ming Wang In The Bullpen

With Phil Hughes pitching well as a starter in the last 2 outings, Wang is still consigned to the bullpen. It really comes down to the fact that between 6 pitchers going in to 5 spots. With three taken by Sabathia Pettitte & Burnett, it's Joba, Hughes and Wang trying to fit into 2 spots.

After 2 relief outing, Wang looks like he has some of his sink back. It maybe the case that Wang pitches 'Teh Eighth' until such time that a starter is needed. I's not a bad thing having pitching depth. This year, the Yankees have not had to dig deep down to option no. 7, 8 and 9, unlike 2005-2008. Ian Kennedy and Kei Igawa are not within shouting distance of the Bronx this year, while Alfredo Aceves is yet to make a start.

I know it's early days but signing AJ Burnett in the off-season was a good deal.

Swisher's Blues

After hitting like Ruth in April, Swisher has been struggling at the plate in May. He took a HBP to the elbow in early May and has been hititng like crud since. It's reminiscent of Jeter last year when he got hit in the hand by Daniel Cabrera in May and he didn't really hit the way he can until September.

I just wonder when Swisher is going to stop hurting and turn it around.

Derek Jeter Nudges .300

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Jeter's BABIP was way below his career norm. In the last few weeks he has seen it rise to above league average, and with it, he has rasied his Average to close to.300. It doesn't seem like Jeter is actually slowing down at all.

In the field, Jeter's defense has been average for Shortstop, with a UZR/150 of 0.7. Even at 35, reports of his demise were probably premature.The Yankees actually need to figure out a way of not letting him get so banged up.

F*ck You Pavano

Carl Pavano went 5-1 for the Indians this May. It's more wins than he ever got for the Yankees.

Yankees Update 19/04/09

Up And Down Week

This week saw the Yankees squeeze by the Royals in the third game of that series, win 2 of 3 from the Rays and then return to NY to open the new stadium. The troubling thing about the Rays an Indians series has been how the Yankees have lost the opening games of the respective series in blow outs.

The Yankees dropped their first game against the Rays in a horrific pitching meltdown by Wang, then won two pitching duels behind AJ Burnett (who took a no-hitter into the seventh) and Andy Pettitte.

With the Indians, CC Sabathia pitched a forgettable game against his old team for a loss, while Joba pitched an ugly 4.2 innings which eventually led to a Yankee win. Today. Wang has expolded on the mound again. Keeping in mind that teams tend to up their intensity with the Yankees, a pitcher in April can be vulnerable to a lineup trying to drive up the pitch count.

On the other hand, Wang has been pitching like a fireman trying to hose down the Towering Inferno with gasoline. His sinker has had no sink this season so far. This week saw two games where he pitched 1 inning of double digit ERA. Whatever it is that he's doing wrong, he needs to fix it now.

After all that rigamorole, the Yankees still sit at .500.

Who Is That Masked Man?

Nick Swisher has been hitting like Ruth. Well, better than Ruth actually, with a .406/.486/1.000. line, he also managed to pitch a scoreless inning in his lone relief appearance in a blowout. If nothing else, picking up of Nick Swisher for Wilson Betemit has been paying immediate dividends to a club that is actually struggling with injuries.

Robinson Cano has also been hitting like his old self. Well, better than his old self in small sample-size heaven with his .421/.488/.632 line making him a very valuable bat in an otherwise flagging lineup.

Those Injuries

Xavier Nady who won the RF job from Swisher has a tear in his elbow tendon and may be looking at season ending surgery. The poor man is in his contract walk year. It's very unfortunate for him, because the Yankees will have to move on from him and once they do, it's unlikely they'll bring him back after a second Tommy John surgery.

Hideki Matsui is also having trouble with his reconstructed knees. I might have mentiond this before but the years of playing on artificial turf at the Tokyo Dome and going for the consecutive games record may have taken their toll. Maybe it was symbolic that he got past Shigeo Nagashima's Japanese homerun record with his lone homer in his first game.

On top of this, Mark Teixeira has been struggling with a sore wrist, for which he received a cortisone shot. There's apparently no structural damage. Then there is Johnny Damon who has the flu, and then of course A-Rod who is rehabbing his hip. This means the Yankees have been fielding lineups with Cody Ransom, Ramiro Pena and Melky Cabrera. Brett Gardner hasn't exactly been helping just yet.

It's Early Days Yet - Part 1


It really is still too early, which brings about some small sample-size quirks. Derek Jeter is the best fielding shortstop though April 17. In the 10 game stretch, his zone rating is .920, and he's fielding at a 30runs saved per 162 clip. That's 3.4 wins with the glove! It won't last.

It's Early Days Yet - Part 2

A quick look at Scranton Wilkes-Barre had me smiling. Anthony Jackson is killing the ball with a 1.123 OPS. So is Juan Miranda with a q.092 OPS.Miranda of course got called up to replace the injured bats. A-Jax is going to be kept at AAA to get those at-bats, but it may turn out that he'll be up at the big league level a lot sooner.

It's Early Days Yet - Part 3


Hiding a bit further down the list is good frien Eric Duncan with a solid .895 OPS. For the first time in a long while, Duncan has gotten off to a good start.

I know, I know, every year I hope for Duncan to do well. He is the Yankees' 2003 top pick after all. But when you consider that 2004's top pick is also at AAA SWB (Phil Hughes); and 2005's top pick got trade away for Abreu, boomeranged back as a waver pick up and left for basket ball; and 2006's top pick is also at AAA SWB (Ian Kennedy), maybe he's doing just fine. Duncan is still 24 going on 25. This is the year that will tell, so it's good to see him doing well. If I have my maths right, he's a Minor League Free Agent at the end of this year.

If the bats continue to get injured and falter at the big league club whileDuncan keeps hitting well at SWB, he too may make the big club yet this year.