Blogs – Page 206 – Keefe To The City

Apr 7, 2014

Brian Roberts No Longer in Third-Base Dugout With Baltimore in the Bronx

The Yankees open the Stadium against the Orioles and that calls for an email exchange with Mark Brown of Camden Chat.

After back-to-back losses to open the season in Houston, which made me question if I even like baseball, the Yankees have won three of their last four games to get to .500. It took the 2014 Yankees 48 1/3 innings to hit their first home run of the season, but Brett Gardner ended the drought and I no longer have to worry that this season is just a continuation of last season with the Stadium opener against the Orioles on Monday.

With the Yankees and Orioles playing the first baseball in the Bronx of the year, I did an email exchange with Mark Brown of Camden Chat to talk about how Buck Showalter has changed the culture and the direction of the Orioles, what it will be like to watch Brian Roberts play against the Orioles and how Yankees fans will miss Jim Johnson as an Oriole with Tommy Hunter now their closer.

Keefe: I said during the 2012 ALDS that Buck Showalter wanted to win that series more than anyone wanted anything in their life. After he was fired by the Yankees following the 1995 season before they went on their dynastic run and then fired by the Diamondbacks following the 2000 season before they won the World Series, Showalter has had a couple devastating breaks in his career.

When Major League Baseball decided that in 2012 (and only for 2012) there would be a 2-3 format for the division series, I thought Showalter and the Orioles had a real chance at beating the Yankees in the ALDS. And when they won Game 4 at Yankee Stadium, I was petrified going into Game 5, knowing that the Yankees could lose the ALDS in Game 5 at the Stadium for the second year in a row.   The Yankees won the series, but after not having won more than 79 games since 1997, the Orioles had gone 93-69, won a one-game playoff in Texas against the Rangers, who were coming off back-to-back AL championships and had change the perception of the franchise for outsiders.

Last year, the Orioles weren’t as good (85-77) as they had been in 2012, but they still proved they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon and are going to be in the mix for playoff contention for the foreseeable future.   It seems like the culture chance with the Orioles started when Showalter took over the Orioles during the 2010 season, as they went 34-23 under him and then 69-93 in 2011 before reversing their record in 2012.

How has Showalter changed the Orioles and how do Orioles fans feel about him?

Brown: I’m not sure we’ll ever know just how much Showalter was really a factor in the Orioles turnaround, but as far as O’s fans are concerned, things got better when he got here. It was almost an immediate change in that 2010 season, going from lackluster play under two other managers to a great finish with basically the same roster. The players talk about the advantage of having someone who’s going to hold them accountable. Guys like Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, who’ve been around a while, would know better than me.

Even with 2011 representing an interruption of progress, a not-great full season under Showalter, there was still that wonderful final series against the Red Sox, where the O’s, with nothing to play for, sent them packing from the playoffs. I believe that it was Showalter who had them believing in that happening. In retrospect, that Game 162 magic feels like it was the prologue for the great 2012 season that was to come.

When Showalter was hired, there were all these stories about how he wore out his welcome everywhere else he’d been. That was concerning at the time. Now that he’s been here for some winning, I’m not too worried about that either. Showalter likes to say that he’s tired of watching someone else walk his daughter down the aisle. Maybe that means he learned something about what didn’t work out in his other stints as a manager.

He’s signed through 2018, and while he has occasional moments where his tactical decisions frustrate fans – as any manager will – I don’t have any reason to dread him being around that long. The franchise seems to have finally found some stability in the dugout and the front office and it’s meant good things so far.

Keefe: For years, Brian Roberts killed the Yankees. He played just about a full season against them during his time with the Orioles and hit .288/.344/.429 14 home runs and 66 RBIs in 152 games. I have always been a fan of Roberts since he played the game the right way, even if he was a pesky switch hitter, who always seemed to be involved in every Orioles rally against the Yankees.   Now Roberts is a Yankee, and I’m happy about it and believe he is a perfect fit at second base for this team for at least this year, and possibly more if he can stay healthy for the first time since 2009.

How frustrating was it with Roberts suffering so many injuries over the last four years and what’s it like to see him as a Yankee now?

Brown: You mentioned feeling bad for Markakis that he didn’t get to participate in the playoff push, but for me, it’s Roberts who makes me sad that he missed out on all of that. Here was a guy who’d literally given his physical health for some awful Orioles teams of the 2000s. He was probably the best player on a number of those teams. That was his era of the Orioles. It was a losing era, but it wasn’t his fault. He came and he played except for when he suffered significant injuries. He never got to be a good player on a good Orioles team. At least Markakis contributed, even if he didn’t play in the postseason.

It was frustrating to watch him battle so many nagging injuries as he got older, particularly his concussion problems, because he was making $10 million a year. Turns out it’s not a great idea to have an aging second baseman signed for four years at that price. I don’t blame Roberts for that. You knew he wanted to be playing.

What will be really frustrating is if he finds the fountain of youth while playing second base for the Yankees this season as the Orioles continue to have poor performance at the position. It’ll be strange watching him in pinstripes, but I don’t hold it against him for going there. It was clear that the O’s weren’t very interested in bringing him back, for better or worse. The Yankees had a need in the infield and a chance for him to keep playing. I wish him well, except for when he’s playing the Orioles.

Keefe: I felt bad for Nick Markakis when he missed out on the end of the 2012 season and the postseason after being hit by CC Sabathia and breaking his hand. Markakis had played through miserable years with the Orioles starting in 2006 and then went on the disabled list for the first and second times in his career the one year they win 93 games and reach the playoffs.

After his .300/.362/.485 season with 23 home runs and 112 RBIs in 2007 at the age of 23, I thought Markakis would continue to progress into a star in the league. While he has been a very good all-around player in the league for his entire career, he never turned into the top-tier player I thought he would.   How do you view Markakis and what has held him back from taking the next step?

Brown: I don’t understand Markakis. As you mentioned, he had that great season at a young age and instead of building on that, he’s only declined as he’s gone through what are the typical prime years – this as his salary escalated thanks to the extension he signed on the strength of his early seasons. At one time he looked like the next good career-long Oriole. Now it’s not even a certainty he’ll be with them beyond this season, as there’s very little chance the Orioles will be picking up a $17.5 million option for 2015.

His power has vanished. Even if you consider 2013 an aberration, when he says he was battling nagging injuries and having to make adjustments he never had to make before, he’d still had declining power in 2010 and 2011. It’s a mystery. What happened? I have no idea.

There was a whole spring full of stories about how this is going to be a new-look Markakis. In photographs, he looked to be more muscular than he’s seemed in several seasons. There’s still some hope about him rebounding for this season, although it hasn’t been a great start for that cause over the first couple of series of the season.

Keefe: No Yankees fans were upset that Phil Hughes wasn’t part of the future plans of the Yankees after last season, however I’m sure Chris Davis was saddened to know that Hughes was moving to the AL Central. It hasn’t been fun watching Davis finally put it together in the majors with 86 home runs over the last two years. Last year, when he hit 53 home runs with 138 RBIs, it reminded me of A-Rod’s 2007 season with the Yankees when he hit 54 home runs with 156 home runs. I remember how fun it was watching every A-Rod at-bat thinking that he would hit a home run every time at the plate or at least once a game.   What was it like watching Davis’ incredible 2013 season and how has it been watching him figure it out and develop into a true, consistent power hitter in the majors?

Brown: You are exactly right about how fun it was to watch Davis. The best part is when he hits a home run and you can’t even believe it went out. He’s so strong, he can just flick his wrists and sometimes it goes out even if he doesn’t get great contact. He had a broken bat home run. He goes opposite field. He pulls the ball over the right field scoreboard. He crushes them to deep center. He was homering anywhere and everywhere.

No one in Orioles history had ever had a season like that, so it was cool to know we were seeing something that no Orioles fan had ever seen before. Not bad for a guy who came over in a late July trade for a closer.

Keefe: When I think of Tommy Hunter, I think of Game 4 of the 2010 ALCS when he went 3 1/3 innings against the Yankees, allowing three runs on five hits, while striking out five and walking none as the Rangers went on to win that game 10-3 and take a 3-1 series lead. I remember that game because A.J. Burnett started it for the Yankees and it was basically the end for the 2010 Yankees.   Hunter never really put it together as a starter with the Rangers or the Orioles, but then the Orioles put him in the bullpen and he has been a completely different pitcher and probably belonged there all along. He has gone from a back-end-of-the-rotation guy barely hanging on to a spot in the majors to the closer for the Orioles.   What do you think of Hunter as the closer following the Jim Johnson era? I’m going to miss Jim Johnson. I’m going to miss him a lot.

Brown: When the Orioles were running Hunter out there as a starter, my nickname for him was “Five Runs, All Earned”, because that was in his box score seemingly every time. He couldn’t get lefties out. Transforming into a bullpen arm was the best thing for his career. He pumped up his velocity since he only has to air it out for one inning.

That’s helped him, but he still struggles against lefties – he gave up 11 home runs last season and all of them were hit by lefties. That makes me nervous about him as the closer, especially if it’s a one-run game. But, he doesn’t really walk batters either. At least that should be enough to avoid some patented Johnson disaster innings.

The traumatic moment of my childhood was the Jeffrey Maier play. The traumatic moment of my adulthood is Johnson against Raul Ibanez. You might miss him, but I won’t!

Keefe: I love the nickname for Tommy Hunter. I used to call Hiroki Kuroda “Coin Flip” when he first arrived with the Yankees in 2012 and have had many other nicknames for pitchers like Phil Hughes and Boone Logan, but I will refrain from writing those here since I’m hoping to keep it at least PG-13.

Joe Girardi’s decision to pinch hit Raul Ibanez for Alex Rodriguez was the most important decision of Girardi’s tenure as Yankees manager. If Ibanez does anything there other than hit a home run, Girardi is second-guessed about pinch hitting for his $29 million player. It took a lot of balls for Girardi to make that decision, but I’m glad he did. It was a memorable night at the Stadium.

The American League East is as good as it’s ever been. The Yankees revamped their roster by handing out eight- and nine-figure contracts left and right after their down year, the Red Sox are coming off their third World Series in 10 seasons, the Rays are coming off their third postseason appearance in five years, the Blue Jays have built a strong offense and lineup and the Orioles are coming off back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1996-97. With the division so competitive and tight this year, there’s a chance the East could send three teams to the playoffs.   What are your expectations for the Orioles this year and how do you think they will finish?

Brown: Before the season started, I predicted that the Orioles would win 86 games. I felt like the offense would be good and the rotation would be OK and that’s about where a team like that would end up. Not great, but good. A whole lot like last year, in fact, just with a slightly different cast of characters.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Apr 4, 2014

The Derek Jeter-Jose Reyes Debate Is Over

The Yankees head to Toronto to face the Blue Jays after a disastrous opening series and that calls for an email exchange with Tom Dakers of Bluebird Banter.

When I saw that the the Yankees were going to open the 2014 season in Houston, I penciled them in for a 3-0 start to the season. At worst they would open the year 2-1. After back-to-back disastrous games to open the season, the Yankees head to Toronto at 1-2 and with an offense that has looked like a continuation of last season despite the addition of Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran.

With the Yankees and Blue Jays meeting this weekend, I did an email exchange with Tom Dakers of Bluebird Banter to talk about Jose Reyes and the Blue Jays since their November 2012 trade with the Marlins, the decision to trade prospects for R.A. Dickey and what it will be like for Blue Jays fans to no longer see Derek Jeter in the Yankees lineup.

Keefe: For nine years years in New York, I was forced to be involved in Derek Jeter-Jose Reyes debates, the same way I was forced into Derek Jeter-Nomar Garciaparra. Mets fans would cite Reyes’ abilities and excitement against Jeter’s accomplishments and championships. I would have to defend Jeter against fans who believed that the Yankees would have achieved the same success with Jose Reyes in the lineup over the years. But over time, the potential for Reyes was overshadowed by him becoming the face of everything that started to go wrong with the Mets after their 2006 NLCS Game 7 loss and has continued to go wrong since their September 2007 collapse. Like the Jeter-Garciaparra debate, it seems like the Jeter-Reyes debate has headed the same way.

Sure, when Reyes is healthy and playing, he is a dynamic and rare talent, especially for a shortstop. But “when he is healthy” isn’t something that happens that often. Since 2008, Reyes has played at least 133 games just once and after one inning this year, he’s back on the disabled list with a hamstring injury.

What are your thoughts on Reyes and since I’m asking, what are/were your thoughts on that entire deal with the Marlins?

Dakers: I liked the trade, at the time, but then I figured Emilio Bonifacio would be able to play second base (boy was I wrong) and that Josh Johnson would become our ace (0-for-2). My least favorite excuse for a bad move by a general manager is “anyone would have done the same thing.” I want the GM that does moves that turn out better than anyone would have expected. For a team that prides itself on due diligence and scouting, I don’t know why they didn’t notice that Bonifacio wasn’t good with the glove or that Johnson’s arm was hanging by a thread. But then, we all make mistakes.

A season later and all we have to show for the trade is a mid-rotation innings eater (definitely not a bad thing to have, but not something that will put you in the playoffs) and an often injured shortstop who is entering his 30s who is owed a ton of money over the next four years. I think it is safe to say the trade didn’t work out.

Reyes, when healthy, has been a lot of fun to watch. Unfortunately, he broke his ankle, two weeks into last season and when he came back he wasn’t 100 percent. Favoring the ankle slowed him, and it was very noticeable on defense. For a good part of the season he had the one step and a dive range, only he rarely dove.

This year it is a hamstring problem. I’m hoping it doesn’t keep him out long but I don’t think we are ever going to get a full season out of him.

Keefe: R.A. Dickey became one of my favorite non-Yankees (and there aren’t many of those) during the 2010 season when he put together an 11-9, 2.84 season for the Mets. And his season should have been even better considering he had seven starts where he pitched at least six innings and gave up two earned runs or less and lost or received a no-decision.

I was nervous about Dickey joining the AL East last season following his 2013 Cy Young campaign in 2012 because he had given the Yankees some trouble in the Subway Series in the past and you never want to add front-end starters to other teams in your division. Dickey wasn’t the same pitcher with the Blue Jays (14-13, 4.21) that he had been in the NL, though given the team’s performance and the stat conversions from the NL to AL, it’s not like he had an awful year. But to me at least, I wasn’t as scared of the knuckleball specialist I had been in the past and I think that has carried over into this year. Though I’m sure I will regret saying that when the Yankees face him on Saturday in Toronto.

What are your thoughts on Dickey as a Blue Jay? Were you for the team adding him to the rotation and do you trust him as a front-end starter?

Dakers: No, I wasn’t thrilled with the trade. Trading two of your very top prospects for a 38-year-old pitcher, even if he throws a knuckleball, just seemed wrong to me. The idea was to put the Jays over the top, and if it worked it would have been worth giving up Travis d’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard, but it didn’t.

Dickey is 39 now and he isn’t the normal knuckleball pitcher. He throws a harder version of the pitch than most, so I’m not sure that he will age as well as most did. Last year the drop in velocity was blamed on a sore neck, sore back. This spring he says he’s 100 percent healthy, but he had a rough spring and his first start of the season didn’t exactly make Blue Jays fans think that he’s going to get his second Cy Young Award. Pitchers, even knuckleball pitchers, do lose something as they age, and maybe R.A. has lost a little bit too.

He did finish strong last year, he had a 3.57 ERA in the second half of the season, so I’m not without hope that he’ll be, maybe not the pitcher he was in 2012, but a good member of the rotation.

Keefe: After watching Vernon Wells for nearly a decade as a Blue Jay against the Yankees and then for another two years as an Angel, he became a Yankee in 2013 thanks to a ridiculous amount of injuries. I was actually optimistic about Wells joining the Yankees near the end of spring training last year and I fell into the same trap that the Angels must have when they traded for the backloaded $126 million man.

The Yankees needed Wells. They needed an experienced major leaguer who could provide power, even if his lowest batting average and on-base percentage went against everything the Yankees had been built upon since the mid-90s. But with Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson injured to start the year, the Yankees had to find depth somewhere. And at the time, paying $13.9 million of his remaining $42 million seemed like a bargain. I mean the Yankees have spent much more money on worse players.

On May 15, Wells hit his 10th home run and had 23 RBIs in just 38 games and 143 at-bats, and was boasting a .301/.357/.538 and the Yankees were rolling. I thought Wells had revived his career at the age of 34 by putting on the pinstripes and it seemed like the Yankees’ latest reclamation project was working. The problem was the Yankees’ entire 2013 team became a reclamation project, eventually failing, and this included Wells as he would hit just one more home run with 27 RBIs over the rest of the year in 281 at-bats, hitting .199/.243/.253.

Wells didn’t work out with the Yankees the same way he didn’t work out with the Angels after not working out with the Blue Jays following his big contract. What happened to Vernon Wells after signing the $126 million in his prime? For Blue Jays fans, what was it like to watch his career fall apart after his success from 2002-2006?

Dakers: What was it like? Sad. Just sad.

Vernon was a favorite of mine. It really isn’t his fault that the team offered him way too much money. He really was the sort of player every fan says he wants on their team. Runs out every grounder hard, always hustles, good teammate, and all around good guy. Unfortunately, he also tended to pick of little nagging injuries, hamstring problems and wrist problems. He also tried to play through these too often. We do like guys to be tough, but sometimes it’s best to take some time off to heal.

The nice part was that Alex Anthopoulos was able to trade him before his salary went up through the roof. His last season with us he was paid just over $15.5 million, and he had a pretty good season, the next season he was paid just over $26 million. It was the prefect moment to trade him, especially since the Angels took almost all of his contract.

Keefe: On Opening Day 2003 in Toronto, Derek Jeter went down with a shoulder injury when he collided with catcher Ken Huckaby at third base. That was on March 31 and he didn’t return to the Yankees until May 13.

Before breaking his ankle in Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS and missing the rest of that series and nearly all of the 2014 season, that shoulder injury in Toronto was the closest I had ever come to not having Jeter in my baseball life. He has been the Yankees shortstop since I was in fourth grade and I have grown up with him as a staple in the Yankees lineup and my life every spring, summer and fall.

Since this is Jeter’s last season, what has been like for Blue Jays fans watching him against your team all of these years? I always get the Yankees fan perspective on experiencing Jeter for all of these years, but you never hear about what it’s like watching him from the outside. The ovations and ceremonies on the road during the Derek Jeter Farewell Tour are one thing, but will it be weird for Blue Jays fans to not see him in the Yankees lineup when they play starting next year?

Dakers: Well, playing against the Yankees has changed so much, over the last few years. Jorge Posada is gone, Mariano Rivera is gone and Alex Rodriguez has been mostly gone. With Jeter missing last year and not really being the same player he was in the past. And now Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson gone it doesn’t seem like the same Yankees as in the past.

An infield made up of an old Mark Teixeira, Brian Roberts, Brendan Ryan and Yangervis Solarte (who?) doesn’t really exactly strike fear in our hearts.

Yeah it will be weird not seeing Jeter out there. He’s been around for so long. He’s the last link to the great Yankees teams of the 90s. Last year, without him, they just weren’t the same team (though we still couldn’t win against them). It will be interesting to see if the Yankees can come up with a new “face of the franchise.”

Keefe: Entering the season, I was confident about the 2014 Yankees because of their free-agent signings and because of their revamped rotation and because I knew there couldn’t be the same series of devastating injuries of last year. I expected them to take care of business in Houston to open the season and I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The Yankees scored just seven runs in three games and without the Yangervis Solarte you asked about and Ichiro, who has become the Yankees’ fifth outfielder, they might have left Houston 0-3. But even 1-2 is pretty disheartening considering the Astros lost 111 games last year.

As for the Blue Jays, after their franchise-changing trade with the Marlins, they became the team to pick to win the division and contend for the playoffs. But like the Yankees, injuries and underachievers ruined last year for them and now they seem to be forgotten in the AL East.

What are your expectations for the Blue Jays this year?

Dakers: Honestly? This has been the most frustrating offseason of my life as a Blue Jays fan. Last year the team was ‘all in’, making huge trades, signing free agents, building a buzz about the team. This year, nothing.

Last season everything that could go wrong did. Injuries? Damn near everyone on the team dealt with some sort of injury. Three members of the season opening starting rotation went down with major injuries. On offense Jose Reyes, Brett Lawrie, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Melky Cabrera and Colby Rasmus all spent time on the disabled list. Most of them for long stretches of time. Other players had their baseball skills seemingly removed. It was just an awful season.

Going into this offseason, the team had three vital needs: improving the starting rotation, finding a major league second baseman and getting a catcher that could get on base more than once a week. Of the three, the only move the team made was to let J.P. Arencibia leave and sign free agent Dioner Navarro. Oh, and they let Josh Johnson go, in a addition by subtraction move.

So we end up with a rotation made of up R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle and three guys who had a collective 10 major league starts last year: Brandon Morrow (who missed most of last year with a nerve problem in his pitching arm), Drew Hutchison (missed all of last year coming off Tommy John surgery) and Dustin McGowan (who has made a total of four starts over the last five years, because of various arm problems). It isn’t a rotation that should fill one with confidence, but odds are they have to be better than last year.

Personally, I see a .500 team. The Injury Gods almost have to be nicer to the Jays. There is a ton of talent there. A great offense (when healthy), a great bullpen and a starting rotation that has a little more depth than last year, even if we didn’t make a big free agent signing. If the team finishes more than five games above or below .500 I’ll be surprised.

Blogs • Yankees

Apr 2, 2014

Opening Day Disaster

CC Sabathia let me down on Opening Day once again, but really I let myself down for thinking this Opening Day would be any different from the other Opening Days he has started for the Yankees.

The wait for Opening Day is forever. This year the wait was 183 days.

Given how depressing the 2013 season was and how the entire baseball season ended with the Red Sox winning their third championship in 10 seasons and that the 2014 Yankees would have so many new players to watch and that this will be Derek Jeter’s final season (and let’s not forget how miserable the weather in New York City has been), the hype and anticipation this offseason for Tuesday night in Houston was like to the months leading up to Y2K. But like New Year’s Day 14 years ago, when the day finally came, nothing happened and nothing changed. Opening Day 2014 might as well have been Game 163 of 2013.

The first 30 minutes of Yankee baseball in 2014 couldn’t have gone worse. Between Dexter Fowler’s leadoff double and CC Sabathia giving up four first-inning runs and another two in the second and Joe Girardi pulling the infield in in the first inning of an American League game on Opening Day with Scott Feldman as the opposing pitcher and Brian McCann’s errant throw and Mark Teixeira’s awful throw, you couldn’t have imagined a more confidence-crushing start to the season. The only comparison for the drop in my confidence level and feelings about the 2014 Yankees from 7:10 p.m. to about 7:40 p.m. is Mike McDermott’s blank stare and shock as his three stacks of high society are lost to Teddy KGB in the opening scene of Rounders.

In 2009, we had the letdown in Baltimore. In 2010, we had the blown lead in Boston. In 2012, we had the grand slam at the Trop. Last year, we had the Opening Day Debacle. This year, we have the Opening Day Disaster. The one constant between them all? CC Sabathia. After 16 consecutive scoreless innings to finish spring training, Sabathia put together his usual Opening Day performance to remind everyone once again not to put any stock into spring training. Sabathia threw 99 pitches and generated just nine swings-and-misses from a lineup that looked like it came out of Ken Griffey, Jr. Presents Major League Baseball for Super Nintendo. Here is the Houston Astros lineup from the 1994 video game:

W. Eisner
S. Ditko
J. Kirby
M. Caniff
W. Gaines
H. Kurtzman
J. Davis
D. Martin

And here is the Astros lineup from Opening Day 2014:

D. Fowler
R. Grossman
J. Altuve
J. Castro
J. Guzman
C. Carter
M. Dominguez
L.J. Hoes
J. Villar

That lineup scored six runs, hit two home runs and had four extra-base hits against an Opening Day starter, who made around $700,000 for his six innings of work. Here’s what that starter has now done in six Opening Day starts with the Yankees.

April 6, 2009 @ BAL: 4.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 0 K

April 4, 2010 @ BOS: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

March 31, 2011 vs. DET: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K

April 6, 2012 @ TB: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 7 K

April 1, 2013 vs. BOS: 5 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 R, 4 BB, 5 K

April 1, 2014 @ HOU: 6 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

Sabathia has pitched well in one of the six starts (2011) and has been awful in the other five. But Tuesday should have come as no surprise as he has just one win and a 6.12 ERA in 11 Opening Day starts (five with Cleveland). So I shouldn’t be mad at Sabathia for his Game 1 egg, but rather at myself for believing that this Opening Day would be different from the other five he has started for the Yankees, especially now that he’s no longer a power pitcher.

But for as bad as Tuesday night was and it was really bad, there was some positive news from Opening Day. No, I’m not talking about Derek Jeter’s Jeterian single off Chad Qualls or Mark Teixeira showing signs of life at the plate or the work of Dellin Betances and Vidal Nuno. I’m talking about Eduardo Nunez being designated for assignment.

Nunez will always hold a special place in my baseball life (and it’s not a good kind of special place) because he (along with Brian Cashman) cost me Cliff Lee. Yes, the trade that never happened is more on Cashman for believing that Nunez projected as an everyday major league player, but I still blame Nunez for being the player he was, even if it wasn’t his fault the Yankees kept trying to make him work out and trying to make him work out around the infield and even the outfield. But if Cashman hadn’t been so high on Nunez and had been willing to let him go four years ago this June, the Yankees would have had Cliff Lee in 2010 and would have gone to the 2010 World Series. That’s a fact. The series was tied 1-1 before his Game 3 dominance, which led to A.J. Burnett’s Game 4 disaster before Sabathia won Game 5. If Lee wins Game 3 for the Yankees, the series is 2-1 in their favor and they need to win just two of the next four to advance to the World Series with Lee, Sabathia and Pettitte available to start three of those four games. The Yankees win the ALCS and go back to the World Series for the second straight year if Cashman gives up Nunez to the Mariners.

Nunez is no longer a member of the Yankees, but Sabathia is and will be through at least 2016 (and possibly 2017 depending on his vesting option). He needs to figure out how to pitch like his so-called best friend in Cliff Lee and his former teammate Andy Pettitte, like I said when I ranked him No. 1 on The 2014 Yankees’ Order of Importance. Maybe the Yankees’ rotation will end up being as deep and as reliable as I think and hope it can be and Sabathia won’t have to be the most important Yankee and then it won’t matter that there’s a chance the Yankees’ rotation was set backwards. The Yankees might not need CC Sabathia to be pre-2013 CC Sabathia if the other four starters can carry the load (that’s not a fat joke since Sabathia is now skinny), but they can’t afford to have him pitch like he did on Tuesday in Houston and become a Phil Hughes-like automatic loss every five days with average stuff and location.

It’s hard not to get upset about an Opening Day loss after waiting so long for baseball to return. It’s even harder to not get upset when your $23 million starting pitcher takes you out of the game in the first inning against a team that finished 51-111 last season. Thankfully, there are 161 more of these. None of them can be this bad.

Blogs • Yankees

Mar 28, 2014

The 2014 Yankees’ Order of Importance

The one time I don’t write an Order of Importance for the Yankees before the season and they don’t make the playoffs. It’s time to change that.

In 2011, I wrote my first Order of Importance for the Yankees. In 2012, I wrote an updated version of the Order of Importance. In 2013, I didn’t write an Order of Importance. What’s wrong with this picture? The Yankees won the AL East both times I wrote an Order of Importance and didn’t make the playoffs the other time. That’s right, I’m the reason for the Yankees missing out on the playoffs and not the devastating injuries to Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, Alex Rodriguez, Kevin Youkilis, Travis Hafner, Francisco Cervelli, or the incompetence of CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes. I take full responsibility for the Yankees’ 85-77 finish and missing out on the playoffs for the second time since 1993. But don’t worry, the Order of Importance is back for 2014, so there’s no need for you to worry this year, the Yankees are going to win the division and go back to the playoffs. You’re welcome.

In 2012, I ranked the 15 most important Yankees. CC Sabathia was No. 1 and Freddy Garcia was No. 14. Yes, Garcia was important once upon a time and more important than 11 other Yankees. Back in 2011, I ranked the 14 most important Yankees. That year, I also had CC Sabathia at No. 1, but guess who was No. 2? Phil Hughes. (To my credit, Hughes was coming off an 18-win season in his first full season as a starter.) Things change as does the Order of Importance for the Yankees and it’s never changed as much as it has from 2013 to 2014 with so much turnover on the roster.

This time I have ranked the 14 most important Yankees once again from least important to most important based on the criteria of what it would mean to the team if they missed significant time or performed so badly in 2014 that it was like they were missing time.

Number 35, Michael Pineda, Number 35
After two years of an injured Pineda (thanks to all the beat writers who felt the necessity to document the velocity of every Michael Pineda fastball during 2012 spring training, which forced the then-23-year-old newcomer to try to prove his worth by overextending himself after getting a late start to his offseason regimen because of the trade), I thought Pineda might never pitch for the Yankees. But after two years of dreaming what a rotation with Pineda at the front of it would look like, my dream has nearly been realized with Pineda in the rotation, just at the back of the rotation. Signing McCann, Ellsbury and Beltran was nice and giving $155 million to an unproven pitcher was needed, but the most significant move of the Yankees’ offseason might end up being Pineda getting healthy. Because if 2014 Michael Pineda is anything like 2011 Michael Pineda, the Yankees have a No. 1-2-type starter pitching in their No. 5 spot.

Number 11, Brett Gardner, Number 11
Back in the 2012 Order, I wrote this about Gardner:

A lot of people thought Brett Gardner could be the Yankees’ Jacoby Ellsbury or better. And if I remember correctly, two years ago Peter Gammons admitted that Gardner had passed Ellsbury. Well I think that race is over now.

And I also wrote this about him in that same Order:

Gardner doesn’t need to be Ellsbury for the Yankees with this lineup. He doesn’t even need to a spark plug for the offense or play a significant role. He just needs to play great defense and find ways to get on base and use his speed to change the game. If he can develop to be an even base stealer, that will be enough of an offensive contribution.

The same still holds true for Gardner two years later.

Number 18, Hiroki Kuroda, Number 18
After eight shutout innings against the Angels on Aug. 12 last year, Kuroda was 11-7 with a 2.33 ERA. Kuroda finished the season 11-13 with a 3.31. How did he go winless over the last six-plus weeks of the season and raise his ERA by a full run? Here is the line for his last eight starts of 2013, in which he went 0-6: 46.2 IP, 62 H, 38 R, 34 ER, 14 BB, 40 K, 6.56 ERA, 1.628 WHIP.

Kuroda has come a long way from the “Coin Flip” nickname I gave him at the beginning of the 2012 season when you didn’t know which Kuroda you would get every five days and he looked like another NL pitcher who couldn’t cut it in the AL. His 27-24 record isn’t indicative of how good he has been for the Yankees in two seasons (his 3.31 ERA over two years is) as he was given Matt Harvey-esque run support last year.

Number 12, Alfonso Soriano, Number 12
I was devastated when Soriano was traded to the Rangers back in February 2004 even if the return was Alex Rodriguez, and if we could have seen into the future of the next nine-plus seasons with A-Rod and without Soriano, I’m sure he never would have been traded a decade ago.

Soriano was the MVP of the 2013 Yankees and kept them in the postseason race and kept them from being mathematically eliminated well before Game 158, which is when they finally were. Thanks to outfield depth, he’ll spend most of the season just swinging a bat, which is a good thing, and while it’s Derek Jeter’s Farewell Tour, it’s also likely Soriano’s too (at least as a Yankee). And I’m going to make sure I soak it all in for the man who made the build-up and anticipation for a potential leadoff home run so fun growing up.

Number 33, Kelly Johnson, Number 33
I trust the stability and health of the Yankees’ infield about as much as I trusted Phil Hughes to put away a hitter with two strikes on him. Jeter will be 40 in June and is coming off a season in which he played 17 games after undergoing ankle surgery. Teixeira will be 34 in April and is coming off a season in which he played 15 games and underwent wrist surgery. Roberts is coming off a season in which he played 77 games, after playing 115 games in the three previous seasons (2010-2012) after undergoing various injuries. Johnson is going to be the starting third baseman and is pretty much the only option as a backup first baseman if Teixeira goes down. And if you remember Teixeira’s preseason forwarding about injuries last year, don’t count it out. (Will someone start teaching Ichiro how to play first?) As of now, Johnson just has to play a solid third base and anything offensively will be viewed as a bonus, but there’s a very real chance he could be more important to the Yankees than he ever should be or you would ever want him to be.

Number 36, Carlos Beltran, Number 36
Beltran should have been a Yankee nine years ago when he would have been 27 on Opening Day. This would have been the Yankees lineup on that Opening Day (which was really an Opening Night with Randy Johnson against David Wells and the Red Sox on Sunday Night Baseball):

1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Alex Rodriguez, 3B (I hit A-Rod second in this lineup because Joe Torre had him hit second in the actual lineup in the game.)
3. Carlos Beltran, CF
4. Gary Sheffield, RF
5. Hideki Matsui, LF
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Jason Giambi, 1B (Yes, Giambi hit seventh in the actual lineup, but that’s because he was pretty worthless at this point before he magically had a resurgence in the middle of the season.)
8. Bernie Williams, DH
9. Tony Womack, 2B (Ah, Tony Womack. Thankfully Robinson Cano became a Yankee one month later.)

Can we get a redo and sign Beltran instead of trading for Johnson and signing Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright? And if we can do a redo, can we go back to 2004 first and sign Vladimir Guerrero instead of Gary Sheffield?

Number 47, Ivan Nova, Number 47
I have gone through Ivan Nova’s game logs for each of his seasons more than any person should ever go through anyone’s game logs in search of an answer for why he is either an ace in the making or the next Phil Hughes in the making. I still don’t have an answer why a 27-year-old with 7.8 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 over the last two years can fall into extended funks that have me longing for the Sidney Ponson-Darrell Rasner days. But I will keep searching.

Number 22, Jacoby Ellsbury, Number 22
I wasn’t a fan of the Jacoby Ellsbury signing because I’m not a Jacoby Ellsbury fan. I made that clear when I defended Robinson Cano’s decision to sign with the Mariners after he was mistreated by the Yankees. Ellsbury would be more important than seventh on this list (I actually had him at No. 2 before I really sorted things out), but because of the depth of the outfield and the Yankees’ ability to put Soriano or Ichiro in the field, he isn’t.

Number 2, Derek Jeter, Number 2
I’m still waiting for Derek Jeter’s “Just kidding” press conference. It’s coming. Just wait. We still have six months for him to hold it, so I will hold out hope like Helen Hunt waiting for Tom Hanks’ return in Castaway. But until then, the Yankees need 2012 Derek Jeter and not 2013 Derek Jeter or I’m going to need to find something else to do this spring and summer since Eduardo Nunez and Brendan Ryan aren’t going to cut it in an infield that’s like a ticking timebomb. Let’s make sure this farewell tour goes better than Number 42’s did.

Number 19, Masahiro Tanaka, Number 19
There’s a chance Tanaka could be in the Top 3 of the 2015 Order, but for now, considering no one knows how his stuff will translate to Major League Baseball, he will have to settle for being No. 5, which is still impressive since there’s a chance his signing and contract could be a disaster.

I thought it was strange that the Yankees would slot him in the fourth spot to start the season unless they wanted to alleviate some of the pressure he is going to face every single start this season. But Erik Boland of Newsday told me on the podcast that he thinks it has to do with splitting him up from Kuroda, who has a similar delivery, which could give the Yankees an edge. I’m buying the theory, but Tanaka is going to have to pitch more like a No. 1-2 than a No. 3-4 this year.

Number 30, David Robertson, Number 30
There are some shoes you just don’t want to fill and Mariano Rivera’s are the biggest. I’m not sure how anyone handles stepping in for the best closer in the history of baseball a season after the Yankees missed the playoffs for just the second time in 20 years and watched their rival win the World Series for the third time in 10 years. Robertson is going to blow a save at some point and he’s going to blow more than one. And each time he blows one, the back pages of the Daily News and Post (we are getting closer to when we won’t measure the importance of events on if they appear on the back pages of these two papers) and the WFAN phone lines will be sure to let Robertson know he isn’t Rivera and that there will never be a Rivera. So let’s get that out of the way now.

David Roberston is not Mariano Rivera. He will never be Mariano Rivera. There will never be another Mariano Rivera.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, the only thing I can ask of Robertson other than to avoid blowing his first save opportunity of the season and to avoid becoming the Yankees’ version of Jose Valverde (in both histrionics and blown saves) is to have a short memory and provide stability to a role that will be scrutinized more than anyone is or can be prepared for.

Number 34, Brian McCann, Number 34
Last year, the Yankees’ Opening Day catcher was Francisco Cervelli. To put it into perspective just how bad it was for the New York Yankees to have Francisco Cervelli as their Opening Day catcher not because of injury or unfortunate circumstances, but because they willingly went into the season with him in this role, here is what I wrote about Cervelli on June 21, 2011:

When I think of Cervelli I think of the scene in The Mighty Ducks where Coach Gordon Bombay finds Fulton Reed in an alleyway ripping slap shots with empty soda cans into a trashcan. The following conversation transpires…

Bombay: Why don’t you play for us?

Reed: I can’t.

Bombay: What do you mean?

Reed: I mean, I can’t.

Bombay: You afraid?

Reed: No, I mean I can’t, you moron. I don’t know how to skate.

Bombay: Whoa! Is that all that’s stoppin’ ya?

So it got me thinking about a possible similar conversation that happened between Brian Cashman and Francisco Cervelli that led to Cervelli being a Yankee…

Cashman: Why don’t you play for us?

Cervelli: I can’t.

Cashman: What do you mean?

Cervelli: I mean I can’t.

Cashman: You afraid?

Cervelli: No, I mean I can’t, you moron. I can’t hit for power. I can’t hit for average. I’m not fast. I can’t field my position. I can’t make throws to second base. I can’t sacrifice bunt.

Cashman: Whoa! Is that all that’s stoppin’ ya?

I might be the biggest Brian McCann fan in the world and he hasn’t played in a single game for the Yankees yet. That’s how excited I am for the Brian McCann era and the state of catching for the Yankees. And McCann’s importance in the middle of the lineup and behind the plate is tied to the fact that the person who would replace him is … Francisco Cervelli.

Number 25, Mark Teixeira, Number 25
I know what you’re thinking: Is this real life? Yes, yes it is.

Teixeira isn’t worth the $22.5 million he is going to make this year and next year and the year after that. He isn’t going to be the .292/.383/.565 hitter he was in 2009 when he finished second in the AL MVP voting. He isn’t going to play in 156 or 158 games the way he did from 2009-2011. The Yankees don’t need Teixeira to be an AL MVP candidate as much as they need their rotation to work out, but they need him to stay healthy, they need him to play and they need him to produce power numbers as his transformation into 2003-2008 Jason Giambi becomes complete. Teixeira is going to have to hit the ball the other way, avoid popping up to short every other at-bat and maybe even lay down a few bunts and do things he hasn’t wanted or liked to do since he saw the “314 FT” writing on the wall down the right-field line five years ago. This isn’t because the Yankees don’t have any other trustworthy offensive options because they have plenty in Beltran, Soriano, Ellsbury and McCann. It’s because they don’t have anyone who can do what Teixeira can do when he’s healthy at first base. They don’t even have a backup first baseman. So yes, Mark Teixeira is way more important to the 2014 Yankees than anyone should want him to be.

Number 52, CC Sabathia, Number 52
He’s still No. 1 on the list and has been since he got here in 2009. The only way it will change is if Sabathia really hasn’t figured out how to pitch with less velocity like his former teammate Andy Pettitte and his so-called best friend Cliff Lee (who he couldn’t convince to come here after the 2010 seas0n). If Sabathia tries to pitch with a power-pitcher mentality and tries to pitch the way he did pre-2013 then he won’t be No. 1 on this list a year from now. If he isn’t No. 1 on this list a year from now then the 2014 season will end the same way the 2013 season did.

Blogs • Rangers

Mar 24, 2014

The Real Stretch Run for the Rangers

There are 10 games left in the Rangers’ season and the next three weeks will be the difference in the Rangers making the playoffs or in me hate-watching the playoffs this spring.

It seems like just yesterday I turned to the start of the Rangers’ season to console me after the Yankees ended the their season without a trip to the postseason and the Giants were off to an 0-4 start. The Rangers didn’t exactly make me forget about an 85-win Yankees team or a winless Giants team as they lost seven of their first 10 games and were shut out four times in those 10 games. But since that 3-6-0 road trip to open the season and the 2-0 loss to the Canadiens in the home opener in Game 10, the Rangers have been a pretty good team (they are 36-22-4 since the 3-7-0 start).

At times they have made me believe they are capable of competing against the Bruins or Penguins in a seven-game series and at other times they have made me think they will miss the playoffs in a Game 82-shootout setting like they did to finish the 2009-10 season. I have learned not to be surprised by the Rangers over the years and even with a team that rosters Henrik Lundqvist, Rick Nash, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards, I’m still not surprised by the inconsistent efforts.

After losing back-to-back road games to Carolina and Minnesota (and scoring only one goal in each game), it seemed Rangers fans would have to endure the usual March charades from the Rangers that would force them to play for their season in the final week of the season. With Columbus continuing to win and Philadelphia laughing at the gauntlet portion of their schedule that was supposed to keep them from making a playoff push, the dreaded “Games in hand” phrase that always seems to work against the Rangers at this time of the year began to make its annual appearance on every TV graphic. But over the last five games, the Rangers have looked more like that team that is capable of competing with the Bruins and Penguins and less like the team that let their season come down to an Olli Jokinen shootout attempt.

Three weeks from today the 2013-14 regular season will be over, and three weeks from today there’s a chance the 2013-14 Rangers’ season will be over too. The Rangers have 10 games to earn their way into the playoffs and to make sure I’m not hate-watching the NHL playoffs during my favorite time of the year. In those 10 games, we will get the answer to a few questions I have about the state of the Rangers down the stretch.

Are We in the Middle of One of Rick Nash’s Patented Streaks?
Rick Nash has played 99 regular-season games for the Rangers. He has scored 44 goals in those 99 games. That looks like steady production and without watching him you might think he is a model for consistent goal scoring in the NHL. But while Nash’s final numbers will look the way his final numbers have looked since he entered the league over a decade ago, he is anything but consistent, which makes him the perfect Ranger.

Let’s look at Nash’s 2012-13 regular season:

In seven games from Jan. 19 to Jan. 31, Nash had one goal.

In 12 games from Feb. 2 to March 8, Nash had eight goals.

In eight games from March 10 to March 24, Nash had one goal.

In eight games from March 26 to April 8, Nash had seven goals.

In nine games from April 10 to April 27, Nash had four goals.

And now let’s look at what Nash has done this season:

In 11 games from Nov. 21 to Dec. 10, Nash had six goals.

In 11 games from Dec. 12 Jan. 4, Nash had one goal.

In 11 games from Jan. 6 to Jan. 26, Nash had 11 goals.

In 15 games from Jan. 29 to March 16, Nash had two goals.

In the last three games, Nash has three goals.

Nash has admitted he is a streaky goal scorer and this season, like last, has once again shown that. His 23 goals have come from two 11-game stretches with the rest of them coming in this current three-game streak. Nash scores in spurts and when he does, they aren’t usually in short spurts like three games. They are usually for a couple of weeks. The Rangers need an extended Nash scoring streak that continues through the end of the regular season and into the postseason, which is what didn’t happen last year. (More on that later.)

And how about Nash even deciding to mix it up in his Columbus homecoming? When I told David Singer, founder of HockeyFights.com, on our podcast last week that the Rangers were going to need to get tougher and some Rangers would need to appear on his site in the coming weeks to make the playoffs, I didn’t mean Rick Nash. But Nash has proven to be a leader for this team and it his decision to become one on the ice and the scoresheet couldn’t have come at a better time.

How is Anton Stralman Still in the NHL?
It’s scary to think if John Moore wasn’t currently battling a concussion that Antron Stralman would still be in the lineup. If you’re Raphael Diaz, who is only playing because of Moore’s concussion, you have to be thinking that you’ll never get into a game as long as Moore, Stralman, Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal and Kevin Klein are healthy.

Prior to Moore’s concussion, Stralman was still dressing and still part of the Top 6 defensemen on the team despite doing nothing and I mean actually nothing to earn or deserve to be in the lineup. He has become the new Michael Del Zotto of the Rangers (who is having his own trouble staying in the lineup in Nashville) in that he isn’t an offensive defenseman (or at least he doesn’t produce like one) and he clearly isn’t a defensive defenseman since I would consider him the biggest defensive zone liability in the entire NHL.

Stralman hasn’t looked like an NHL player since the Olympic break and nowhere near the type of player that should be considered for an extension. He hasn’t even been the type of player that should be involved in contract extensions rumors (whether true or false) the way he was a few weeks ago. If Raphael Diaz is back out of the lineup once Moore is back and Stralman doesn’t see the press box for at least one game then there’s a serious problem. And if you see Diaz in line to buy beers between periods at MSG as a healthy scratch, let him know he’s doing the right thing.

Is Martin St. Louis Ever Going to Score?
In 10 games with the Rangers, Martin St. Louis’ production line looks like something Brian Boyle would post: 0-3-3. If you believe in being snake-bitten, then St. Louis is certainly that. And if you believe in being due, then St. Louis is certainly that as well.

During the playoffs last year, the Rangers got past the Capitals in the quarterfinals despite getting just two assists from Rick Nash in seven games. If the Rangers could overcome a 2-0 series deficit and eventually win a Game 7 without their best player scoring a goal, I thought they would be able to make another conference finals appearance and possibly even a Cup appearance once Nash got hot and started scoring, since he would have to get hot and start scoring eventually … right? Wrong. Against the Bruins, Nash had one goal and two assists in the five-game series loss and if it weren’t for Tuukka Rask giving the Rangers the weirdest/craziest goal of all time in Game 4 (and possibly betting against his team in the game), the Rangers would have been swept thanks to a lack of scoring from their pure scorer and too much scoring on his own net from Dan Girardi.

Now even though my theory about Nash eventually getting hot and carrying the Rangers never came to fruition last May, I’m putting it out there again, only this time it’s for St. Louis. At some point, St. Louis is going to get hot and start scoring. His 976 points in 1,051 regular-season games and 68 points in 63 playoff games tell us he’s going to. I just hope his “due” isn’t supposed to come in the playoffs and we never get to experience it because his lack of production over the final 10 games keeps the Rangers out of the playoffs.

Is Henrik Lundqvist Playing for the Rest of the Season?
Before the season, Alain Vigneault said he wanted to keep Henrik Lundqvist to 60 games. Lundqvist has played 55 games so far and that would mean he would only play five of the remaining 10 games, and that’s not going to happen. And I’m fine with it.

Here is how many games Lundqvist has played in each season of his career and how many he didn’t play in:

2012-13: 43/5
2011-12: 62/20
2010-11: 68/14
2009-10: 73/9
2008-09: 70/12
2007-08: 72/10
2006-07: 70/12
2005-06: 53/29

With 10 games left and the Rangers trying to make the playoffs let alone trying to not be a wild-card team, I’m not sure Vigneault can start Cam Talbot until the Rangers have the “x” next to their name in the standings representing a playoff berth has been clinched. And really how can you give Lundqvist a night off when he is 6-2-0 and has allowed just 11 goals in those eight games since March 7?

Maybe when Vigneault said he would try to limit Lundqvist’s starts he thought his Rangers team wouldn’t be fighting for a playoff spot over the final 10 games of the season (if he thought this then he clearly wasn’t in tune with what was going on in New York while he was in Vancouver). But now Vigneault has no choice but to play and ride Lundqvist down the stretch, and in his first season he learned you can’t try to plan ahead for how you will or won’t use Lundqvist over the course of a season.

Once again the Rangers getting to the playoffs will come down to Henrik Lundqvist. I guess I wouldn’t want it any other way since it’s the only way I know.