Yankees – Page 191 – Keefe To The City

Aug 26, 2014

A Similar Situation for Yankees-Tigers Series

The Yankees’ three-game series in Detroit will likely serve as the turning point of their season one way or another after they spent the last week climbing out of their hole.

A five-game winning streak has the Yankees miraculously alive in the AL East and on the doorstep for the second wild card. This week’s three-game series in Detroit could put the Yankees in prime position to clinch a playoff berth over the the final 30 games of the year or it could put the Yankees back in the same hole they just spent the past week climbing out of.

With the Yankees and Tigers meeting for the first time in Detroit and the final time this season, I did an email exchange with Rob Rogacki of Bless You Boys to talk about what has happened to the Tigers since the trade deadline, the breakout season from Rick Porcello and the futures of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.

Keefe: I saw on Sunday that you tweeted, “Tomorrow, we are all Yankees fans,” with the Yankees playing a makeup game in Kansas City. The Yankees got the job done in Kansas City with an 8-1 win on Monday night and with a Mariners’ loss in Texas, the Yankees now trail the second wild-card spot by just 2.5 games. I know I shouldn’t be excited about the Yankees being in play for the second wild card, but that’s where injuries and an underachieving offense have left me. But your jump on the Yankees bandwagon only lasted a few hours as they now head to Detroit for a three-game series with your Tigers in a series that both teams desperately need to win.

On the day of the trade deadline, everyone sort of penciled in the Tigers and A’s for the ALCS because of their moves to strengthen the already strongest rotations in the league. But over the last four weeks, the Tigers and A’s have played themselves out of running away with their respective divisions and the Tigers aren’t even holding on to a playoff spot right now.

When the Yankees played the Tigers at the beginning of August, they looked like a different offensively and it was almost as if Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez didn’t beat you then no one would. Did the Tigers make one too many moves that actually made them worse since July 31?

Rogacki: I think that the pair of moves the Tigers made at the deadline definitely improved the team, especially given how well David Price has pitched so far. Price has a 2.35 ERA and 2.90 FIP in four starts in a Tigers uniform, but is just 1-1 thanks to a lack of run support. Price tossed a one-hitter against his former club in his last start, but lost 1-0 on an unearned run.

Losing Austin Jackson at the deadline definitely hurt the offense — especially given how he had been hitting in the second half — but the team’s struggles largely fall on the big bats in the lineup. Ian Kinsler had a .515 OPS in the second half prior to the team’s last road trip and scored just eight runs in a month-long span. Miguel Cabrera’s .820 OPS is excellent for most mortals, but far below what the Tigers expect of their $292 million man. Victor Martinez took a little while to recover from an oblique strain that hobbled him in July, but has turned things around with a .992 OPS in August.

The hitters aren’t the only problem, though. Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez have both missed starts this month, leading the Tigers to use guys like Robbie Ray and Buck Farmer in the rotation, with left-hander Kyle Lobstein tentatively scheduled to start on Thursday. The team’s lack of starting pitching depth is finally starting to be exposed, but with Verlander already back and Sanchez not far behind, the team looks poised to climb back into the playoff picture.

Keefe: I never understood the hype and attention paid to Rick Porcello as he grew up in the majors over the last five years, but now everyone is seeing why the Tigers have always been so high on him with 14 wins, a 3.10 ERA and a league-leading three shutouts. Porcello has become the front-end starter the Tigers hoped he would when they picked him in the first round in 2007.

What has been the biggest difference in the back-end starter Porcello was in his first five seasons and what he has become in 2014?

Rogacki: Porcello’s big leap actually came in 2013, but largely went unnoticed thanks to an unimpressive 13 wins and a 4.32 ERA. He posted the highest strikeout rate and strikeout-to-walk ratio of his career, resulting in a career-best 3.53 fielding independent pitching (FIP) measure. If that isn’t enough, look at what he did in the second half. From July 1st onward, Porcello was 9-2 with a 3.57 ERA in 14 starts. He held opponents to two runs or fewer in seven of those starts and logged his first complete game in a victory over the White Sox.

This season, Porcello’s strikeout rate has returned to earth, but his walk rate has also dropped. He is holding left-handed hitters to a .673 OPS, by far the best mark of his career. Opponents also have a .215 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) on ground balls against Porcello, well below the league average of .250. Part of this may be to weaker contact induced by Porcello locating his pitches, and part of this may be due to the Tigers’ improved infield defense. Third baseman Nick Castellanos and shortstop Eugenio Suarez have not been very impressive, but Ian Kinsler and Miguel Cabrera have statistically been two of the best defenders in baseball at their respective positions.

Keefe: In 2012, Justin Verlander was virtually as good as he was in his Cy Young an MVP season in 2011. In 2013, his ERA jumped to the mid-3s and his WHIP climbed and while he still had a good year, it wasn’t what we had become used to after his previous two seasons. Now in 2014, at age 31, in the second year of a seven-year, $180 million deal, Verlander has had a lot season.

Verlander has only had one full sub-.500 season in his career (when he led the league in losses with 17 on a bad 2008 Tigers team) and that same year was the only year his ERA was above 3.66 (it was 4.84), but this year he’s on his way to having his second-worst season of his career and his worst in six years.

What has happened to Justin Verlander? Do you just chalk this up as a lost season for him or are you worried about his future and his contract?

Rogacki: There’s always some level of worry when a pitcher gets a contract as long and expensive as the one that the Tigers gave Verlander prior to the 2013 season, but I’m not very concerned about his results in 2014. Verlander had core muscle repair surgery in early January — similar to the surgery Miguel Cabrera had last October — which seems to have sapped his stamina. He has a 3.67 ERA in innings 1-3 this season, but that figure jumps to 5.33 in innings 4-6 and 8.04 in the seventh inning or later.

Verlander hinted earlier this year that he still doesn’t feel 100 percent after the surgery, something that Cabrera reiterated around the All-Star break. It will be interesting to see how both stars come back in 2015, provided neither runs into any more setbacks along the way.

Keefe: Max Scherzer turned down a reported six-year, $144 million from the Tigers after his Cy Young-winning season, putting his right arm and future financial status on the line every time he throws a baseball. But this season, at 29, Scherzer has followed up his 2013 21-win season with another impressive year and with starting pitching as coveted as it’s ever been, he is likely to blow away the $144 million the Tigers offered him.

If I were Scherzer, I would have taken the guaranteed $144 million knowing that on any pitch at any time, you might never get a chance to make that kind of money again. But as long as he is able to stay healthy for another month (and possibly October if the Tigers get there), his gamble will have paid off.

Is there any chance Scherzer is a Tiger in 2015 and what do you think he will end up getting?

Rogacki: I don’t ever want to doubt what Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski is capable of, but the trade for David Price seems to have all but sealed Scherzer’s fate. The Tigers seem reluctant to offer him a contract longer than six years, while Scherzer appears to be after the biggest payday possible (a safe assumption when you’re talking about a Scott Boras client). If he hits the free agent market, I would not be surprised to see Scherzer become baseball’s second $200 million pitcher, especially considering that he has pitched at an ace level since mid-May of 2012. I would love to see him back with the Tigers next season — he’s as outgoing and goofy as baseball players get — but not at the kind of money he appears to be looking for.

Keefe: As this series starts, the Yankees are 6 games back of the Orioles and 2.5 games back of the second wild card. The Tigers are 1 ½ games back of the Royals and ½ game back of the second wild card. I think I’m safe in assuming that you didn’t expect the Tigers to be going down to the wire for a playoff spot when the season started or after they landed David Price and I know that on July 31 you didn’t think they might be looking at a scenario where they have to play a one-game playoff or one in which they don’t reach the postseason at all.

What are your feelings on the state of the Tigers on Aug. 26 and after their final 33 games, where will they be?

Rogacki: The Tigers definitely aren’t where any of us expected them to be at this point in the season, especially given how good they have looked at stretches this year. That said, I think that the Royals’ recent hot streak will end in the next week or two, and the Tigers will win their fourth consecutive AL Central crown. With 27 of their final 33 games against AL Central opponents — and the other six games at Comerica Park — they have plenty of time to jump ahead of the Royals and get back into the postseason.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the help. Nicely done last night, Yanks.

Podcasts • Yankees

Aug 19, 2014

Podcast: Ben Kabak

Ben Kabak of River Ave. Blues joins me to talk about the Yankees’ chances of making the postseason and the bullpen decisions Joe Girardi has made while fighting for a playoff spot.

Forty games to go. The Yankees begin their homestand on Tuesday night 7 1/2 games back in the division and 3 games back for the second wild card. It’s likely going to take somewhere between 25 and 27 wins for the Yankees to make the playoffs (or playoff in the case) and that would mean a 25-15 (.625), 26-14 (.650) or 27-13 (.675) finish. There hasn’t been anything to make anyone believe the Yankees at 63-59 (.516) are capable of going on a miracle run over the next six weeks, but if they are going to, it starts with a five- or six-win homestand.

Ben Kabak of River Ave. Blues joined me to talk about the Yankees’ chances of making the postseason, the bullpen decisions Joe Girardi has made while fighting for a playoff spot and what the Yankees are looking at when it comes to free agents for 2015, including their general manager.

Podcasts • Yankees

Aug 15, 2014

Podcast: John Jastremski

John Jastremski of WFAN joins me to talk about Joe Girardi’s recent bullpen management and what will happen to Brian Cashman if the Yankees miss the playoffs again.

The Yankees’ trip to Baltimore didn’t exactly go as I had hoped or planned. After the rainout gave the Yankees a needed off day to regroup after three straight losses, I thought the postponement of Tuesday’s game would only help the team for Wednesday. When the Yankees jumped out to a 2-0 lead and with Michael Pineda dealing in his return from the disabled list, I thought I would be right. But then in the eighth inning, the game unraveled and here we are one week removed from the Yankees’ last win.

WFAN host John Jastremski joined me to talk about Joe Girardi’s recent bullpen management, the emotions starting to build as we near the end of Derek Jeter’s career and what will happen to Brian Cashman if the Yankees miss the playoffs again.

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 14, 2014

The Joe Girardi Show: Season 5, Episode 4

David Roberston went unused once again as Joe Girardi called upon Shawn Kelley to hand the Yankees’ their fourth straight loss in the middle of a playoff race.

Each off day for the Yankees feels like an eternity, but after the rain created an off day on Tuesday, I thought it would work in the team’s favor after a two-run lead became a blowout loss. Here we are again with another off day for the Yankees and the lingering feeling from Wednesday night isn’t going away and I’m not sure it’s going to.

Last Friday, I said:

I haven’t been this excited about the Yankees since the moment right before Nick Swisher misplayed a ball that became a Delmon Young doubled, which led to Derek Jeter breaking his ankle on the next play, just five pitches later.

As of now, I haven’t been this down on the Yankees since, well, what I said next last Friday:

But Swisher misplayed that ball, Jeter broke his ankle, I nearly broke down in tears in Section 230 at the Stadium and aimlessly wandered home.

After winning three of four against the Tigers, and playing well enough to have swept the series if Joe Girardi only knew Matt Daley wasn’t going to be a good idea, and then beating up on the Indians last Friday night, in my delusional Yankees mind, I thought that I prematurely wrote the column “Sign Me Up for the Second Wild Card” and thought they could make a real run at the Orioles and their then-five-game lead. But here I am, six days after beating the Indians and the Yankees haven’t won a game since. Back-to-back losses to the Indians at home followed by back-to-back blown-lead losses to the Orioles on the road and the Yankees have played themselves out of contention for the division and each night their chances at winning the second wild card fade a little more.

So yes, the last time I felt this bad about the Yankees was when Jeter got carried off the field and now the realization that Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS might have been the last time Jeter ever plays in the postseason and that the last Sunday in September in Boston might be the last time he ever plays baseball is a real possibility. The only way that Game 162 isn’t Jeter’s last game if the Yankees win at least 25 of their remaining 43 games, and even then that might not be enough.

On Wednesday night, Hal Steinbrenner tried to be his dad by saying his team “has to step it up and they know it,” in what was the emptiest of all empty gestures since everyone will be back and paid next season and everyone will keep their job even if the Yankees miss out on the postseason for the second consecutive year in a world where 33 percent of the league gets into the postseason. While Hal was busy meeting about who the next commissioner of baseball should be (and it should be anyone other than Tom Werner), his team was busy giving away another game to the first-place Orioles thanks to some more questionable decision making from Joe Girardi.

So once again, it was necessary to fill in for Michael Kay on my version of The Joe Girardi Show.

Why the sudden urgency to use Dellin Betances?
Someone must have told Girardi that last night was Game 119 of the season and there are now only 43 games left because I can’t think of another reason to explain his sudden urgency. The urgency that I have begged for and waited for all season came in the sixth inning when Girardi turned to Dellin Betances to get nine outs, something that he hasn’t done as a reliever and something that I’m happy he asked him to do. But why all of a sudden, Joe? Where was this urgency when you didn’t care about giving away games or playing with the mindset of losing battles to win the war even if you might not end up winning the war anyway? I’m ecstatic to know that you know not only what “urgency” means, but that you are now also aware of the date and how many games remain on the schedule.

Betances got the first seven of nine outs before giving up a solo home run to Jonathan Schoop. Schoop is hitting .217/.255/.349 with 11 home runs and 32 RBIs this season in 97 games. But against the Yankees, Schoop is hitting .379/.400/.862 with four home runs and 11 RBIs in just 29 at-bats. So of course the newest Yankee killer, and Orioles’ No. 8 hitter, was the one who blew Betances’ impressive outing to that point with a game-tying home run.

Maybe Girardi didn’t expect Betances to get all nine outs, but I have a hard time believing that he was going to ask Betances to get eight outs and then with Betances cruising with two outs and no one on in the eighth, that he would then call on David Robertson. So if Betances retires Schoop, he faces Nick Hundley. But Betances gives up the home run and Joe Girardi calls on Shawn Kelley to get the final two outs of the eighth inning instead of Robertson. So it’s Kelley in a now tied game, a game the Yankees had to win to have any hope of fighting for the division and to keep them from losing further ground in the second wild-card race.

Why did Shawn Kelley relieve Dellin Betances?
Before Joe Girardi calls on Shawn Kelley to relieve Dellin Betances, here is what we know about the situation: Shawn Kelley isn’t good at pitching. And really that’s all you need to know about the reliever you’re bringing in instead of the best reliever in your bullpen.

Kelley got Hundley to ground out before giving up a single to Markakis and walking Chris Davis. (Now would be a good time to bring in your best reliever, right? Wrong.) First-pitch slider to Adam Jones … ballgame over.

Kelley followed his horrendous outing by talking to the media and saying, “I think we’re looking more at the second wild-card spot. That’s a little bit better number, it’s a little more achievable at this point.”

There’s nothing quite like single-handedly destroying a game and then saying that the team is no longer playing for the division after losing to the team in the division you’re trying to catch because of your own performance.

Is David Robertson ever going to pitch again?
Today is Aug. 14. David Robertson last threw a pitch on Aug. 7 against the Tigers. He has pitched in four games in August and has thrown 57 pitches in 14 days, or 4.07 pitches per day for August. The Yankees have pitched 109 innings in August and Robertson has pitched four of those, or 3.7 percent of the Yankees’ pitched innings. Adam Warren, Chase Whitley, Shawn Kelley, David Huff and Esmil Rogers have all thrown as many or more innings than Robertson in August. But why would you want to use your best reliever more than once a week while fighting for your playoff life?

I guess Joe Girardi’s plan is to save Robertson’s arm for 2015 when he could be on a different team since he is a free agent at the end of the year, the way he saved Mariano Rivera’s arm so he could play catch with his kids for the rest of his life, or the way he is saving Derek Jeter, so he has enough energy to play on the beach and make love to Hannah Davis for the rest of his life. So while Shawn Kelley was busy destroying the Yankees’ chances at splitting two games in Baltimore, David Robertson was sitting in the bullpen, unused for the fifth game in a row.

This shouldn’t really be a surprise though when you look at the history of Girardi and the rest he has given Robertson. In 2011, David Robertson pitched 13 1/3 innings in September, appearing in only 13 of the Yankees’ 28 games. He threw 11 pitches in Game 161 on Sept. 27 to get some work and also be completely rested for the playoffs. But once the playoffs started, he continued to go unused, pitching just two innings in the five-game series loss to the Tigers. His first appearance in the series didn’t come until Game 3 on Oct. 3 (so he had five full days off). But guess who pitched in Games 1 and 2? Luis Ayala! And even Cory Wade got to pitch in Game 2 before Robertson. So Joe Girardi used Luis Ayala and Cory Wade before his rested, dominant, All-Star setup man in the playoffs. Why? Because playoff innings don’t matter the same way games in August apparently don’t matter. And with this bullpen management, games in September won’t matter either.

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 12, 2014

The Everybody Gets To Be A Yankee Once Team

Everybody gets to be a Yankee once. It’s true. Just ask current Yankees Stephen Drew and Rich Hill, who will one day get to be a part of this version of the Yankees.

On Monday night, the Yankees lost to the Orioles 11-3 in a game they once led 3-1. Two of the Yankees’ three runs scored on a play that will likely be shown between innings on stadium big screens as part of a blooper reel for the rest of time thanks to a couple of errors from the Orioles. Without those two runs, the Yankees have scored two runs in the last 29 innings. And even with those two runs, they still have only four.

If the Yankees are going to make the playoffs, they are going to need a lot of their low-risk, high-reward and rental players to step up and play above their heads, and on this Yankees team, there are a lot of those players. If Brian Cashman puts someone on the roster, Joe Girardi is going to use them, whether or not they deserve to be in the majors, let alone playing in the middle of a playoff race.

Since Cashman’s tenure as general manager of the Yankees started in 1998, he has traded for and signed a lot of former All-Stars and even Hall of Famers well past their prime looking to either hang on to their baseball careers are hoping to cash in one more time. Sometimes Cashman’s plans to squeeze one more season or half of a season or a couple of weeks out of these players worked out, but more times than not, it didn’t.

After talking with JJ of Barstool Sports New York about this concept and the idea of an Everybody Gets To Be A Yankee Once Team on a podcast, I decided to write mine out. It was a grueling process that left many worthy names off the roster. But like Herb Brooks said, “I don’t want the best players … I want the right players.” And while these weren’t the best players to have a cup of coffee with the Yankees, they were the right ones to show some of the decisions Cashman has made over the years.

The rules were that the player couldn’t have been drafted or debuted with the Yankees, they couldn’t have played in more than three seasons with the Yankees and they couldn’t be a current player (sorry Stephen Drew). So let’s take a trip down memory lane and remember 25 Yankees (13 positions players, 12 pitches), who can say they put on the pinstripes.

C – Ivan Rodriguez (2008)
The arrival of Pudge in the Bronx came with the departure of Kyle Farnsworth and tears were flowing down Farnsy’s face, devastated he wouldn’t be able to blow more games for the Yankees.

A future Hall of Fame catcher and former MVP, Rodriguez was a disaster in 33 games for the Yankees. He came over to try and solidify catcher for a team that lost Jorge Posada to a labrum injury and was shuffling a variety of names in and out of Posada’s spot, but Pudge might have been the worst of all the catchers the Yankees used in 2008, which included Jose Molina, Chad Moeller, Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart. Pudge hit .219/.257/.323 with two home runs and three RBIs in 101 plate appearances for the Yankees.

1B – Doug Mientkiewicz (2007)
Michael Kay would tell us every chance he got that Mientkiewicz played wide receiver on the same high school football team quarterbacked by Alex Rodriguez in Florida because Michael Kay doesn’t like to give any Yankees fans credit for watching multiple games in the same season.

Mientkiewicz was a 2004 World Series champion with the Red Sox, caught the last out in Game 7 of the ALCS and Game 4 of the World Series. He was supposed to bring the type of defense at first base the Yankees hadn’t had in the Jason Giambi era, but with his defense came a weak bat for a corner infield spot and a concussion and broken wrist suffered in a collision with Mike Lowell kept him out of the lineup from June 2 until Sept. 4.

2B – Tony Womack (2005)
He was the Opening Day second baseman for the Yankees, but starting on May 3 he would no longer play second base after a 22-year-old kid named Robinson Cano was called up. Womack signed a two-year, $4 million deal with the Yankees, but only lasted one season and was traded to the Reds along with cash in December. In 108 games and 351 plate appearances, he hit zero home runs as a Yankee.

3B – Kevin Youkilis (2013)
I wasn’t sure how I would feel about Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk being a Yankee, but anything that would put another dent in the Red Sox’ championships and take away from the culture that was built there in the 2000s worked for me.

Youkilis hit.219/.305/.343 in 28 games for the Yankees before being sidelined with the same back problems that caused his career to come crashing down and crated red flags for anyone looking to sign him after 2012. He got $12 million ($428,571.43 per game) to play for the Yankees and never actually played in a game on the same team as Derek Jeter.

SS – Angel Berroa (2009)
The 2003 AL Rookie of the Year, who stole the award from Hideki Matsui because some writers felt he wasn’t really a rookie just two years after thinking Ichiro was enough of a rookie to win the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year. Berroa hit .136/.174/.182 in 21 games with the Yankees and was released on July 7, 2009. Four days later he signed with the Mets, played 14 games with them and then was released after just 27 days a Met. He signed with the Dodgers for 2010, was released in spring training and signed with Giants and was released by them. Then he signed with the Diamondbacks in 2011 and was released by them.

LF – Rondell White (2002)
Rondell White could be the captain of my dad’s most hated Yankee team, if he could beat out Nick Johnson, Raul Mondesi and Nick Swisher for the title.

White played in 126 games for the ’02 Yankees and hit .240/.288/.378, numbers he could never get away with in that many games in 2014 with only 14 home runs 62 RBIs. He did homer for his only hit in three postseason at-bats in the ALDS loss to the Angels, so at least he had that. And like the right fielder on this team I have created, White resurrected his career the following year in San Diego when he was an All-Star for the only time in his 15-year career.

CF- Kenny Lofton (2004)
Ten years ago, the sports radio baseball offseason in New York was centered around who should play center field for the Yankees: Bernie Williams or Kenny Lofton? For me to even type “Bernie Williams or Kenny Lofton?” was hard enough. Imagine having to actually argue and debate that concept.

I was at Fenway Park on Friday, April 16, 2004 for the first Yankees-Red Sox game of the season. Javier Vazquez against Tim Wakefield in the first of an unusual four-game wraparound series from Friday to Monday. Vazquez gave up four first-inning runs and the Yankees lost 6-2, but what I really remember from the game was standing near the Yankees dugout during batting practice when Kenny Lofton came out of the dugout on to the field and some fans were asking him for his autograph and he pretended like he didn’t hear anyone because he’s Kenny Lofton, and Kenny Lofton is too good for that. One fan yelled, “You should sign now Kenny while people still want your autograph.” Lofton should have listened.

Lofton ended up becoming a bench player with the Yankees (83 games) and aside from his Opening Day leadoff triple in Japan, his only other highlight moment was hitting back-to-back home runs with Hideki Matsui in the bottom of the ninth inning in this game (a game in which I had to give up my tickets too LINK because I had to get stitches in my knee from playing Wiffle ball).

RF – Lance Berkman (2010)
Ah, Lance “The Dance” Berkman. I wrote a lot of words about Berkman in 2010. A lot. When the Yankees traded for him on July 31, I told my friend of the deal and he responded by asking, “We got Lance effing Berkman?!?!” I had to remind him that it was no longer 2003 and Berkman had aged seemingly overnight, hitting just .245 with 13 home runs for the Astros in 85 games. He was even worse the Pudge Rodriguez was as a Yankee, hitting just one home run in 37 games and 123 plate appearances for the 2010 Yankees.

Berkman looked like the Berkman of old against the Twins in the ALDS, but showed his age against the Rangers in the ALCS when he was asked to take over for Mark Teixeira’ torn hamstring. Of course, Berkman went on to be an All-Star in 2011, hitting .301 with 31 home runs for the Cardinals, saving their season in Game 6 of the World Series and becoming a champion for the first time, beating the same Rangers he played poorly against as a Yankee the year before.

DH – Jose Canseco (2000)
Canseco called his 37-game Yankee tenure “the worst time of his life” in the Orange County Register on March 26, 2001 and didn’t think he would even receive a ring for the World Series win over the Mets because he was barely even part of the team. The Yankees didn’t want Canseco and placed a waiver claim only to block him from going to Toronto, but Tampa Bay let him go when the Yankees placed the claim, so while he was a Yankee, he was never really wanted.

BENCH – Brian Roberts (2014)
I was all for the Brian Roberts signing thinking that now healthy he could return to at least his 2009 self and possibly overachieve in an attempt to get a chance to play somewhere else next season and continue to play baseball. Unfortunately, Roberts was every bit as bad as a 36-year-old player who hasn’t played a full season in five years should be. And on a day when he was designated for assignment, the Yankees traded Kelly Johnson for Stephen Drew and signed Martin Prado, all of which could appear on this team.

BENCH – Vernon Wells (2013)
The Yankees are paying Wells $2.4 million this season to not play for them. The Angels are paying him $18.6 million to not play for them. So $21 million this year for Vernon Wells to not play baseball? What a life. I’m not playing baseball this year either. Where’s my $21 million?

Once upon a time Wells was one a three-time Gold Glove center fielder with a power bat and a good sport about the heckling from Section 39 and the Bleacher Creatures at the Stadium. I understand why the Yankees took a chance on him last season because they needed to take a chance on a lot of players due to injuries and after hitting .301/.357/.538 with 10 home runs and 23 RBIs in 38 games through May 15, Wells hit .199/.243/.253 with one home run and 27 RBIs in 92 games through the end of the season.

When the Yankees traded for Alfonso Soriano, Wells switched from number 12 to 22. When the Yankees signed Jacoby Ellsbury, he tweeted that he would be switching his number again, except everyone but him knew he wouldn’t be wearing a number or the Yankees anymore.

BENCH – Richie Sexson (2008)
I remember Richie Sexson doing one good thing in his 22 games and 35 plate appearances with the Yankees and that is hit a grand slam off C.J. Wilson on Aug. 8 in Texas. He was released on Aug. 15.

BENCH – Kelly Stinnett (2006)
Not only did Kelly Stinnett get to be a Yankee, he got to be Randy Johnson’s personal catcher. I have always loved the idea of personal catchers the way John Flaherty also was for Johnson or Jose Molina was for A.J. Burnett. It’s one of the most ridiculous precedents to be set on a team in a given season and the Yankees set it a lot and let it carry over into the postseason a few times.

SP – Kevin Brown (2004-05)
Kevin “Game Seven” Brown. The man responsible for ruining my freshman year of college, sending me into a downward spiral and causing me to not eat for nearly a year. If I ever had a chance to talk to him in real life, I don’t even know what I would say.

I remember being in Florida with my family in 2005 and watching his May 3 start against Tampa Bay on TV. Here’s how his first inning went: single, wild pitch, single, double, out, single, double, single, single, single, out, out. Brown lost that game to fall to 0-4 with an 8.25 ERA.

In two years with the Yankees he went 14-13 with a 4.95 ERA in 35 starts. He made $31.4 million as a Yankee.

SP – Jaret Wright (2005-06)
After collapsing against the Red Sox, the Yankees decided, “We are going to sign EVERYONE!” If you had a slightly above average 2004, you were going to be a Yankee in 2005. Prior to 2004, Jaret Wright was 37-37 with a 5.68 ERA in the majors and hadn’t pitched a full season since 1999. But in 2004, Wright went 15-8 with a 3.28 ERA for the Braves in 32 starts. That classified as slightly above average, so that made Wright a Yankee for three years and $21 million.

Wright didn’t pitch from April 23, 2005 to August 15, 2005 because of injury and made just 13 starts that season going 5-5 with a 6.08 ERA. In 2006, he went 11-7 with a 4.49 ERA and never pitched more than 6 1/3 innings in 27 starts. He started Game 4 of the 2006 ALDS against the Tigers, pitching 2 2/3 innings, allowing four runs, three earned on five hits, one walk and two home runs. The Yankees lost 8-3 and were eliminated.

SP – Denny Neagle (2000)
Denny Neagle was traded from the Reds to the Yankees on July 12, 2000 in a deal headlined by Drew Henson going the other way. Neagle went 7-7 in 15 starts and 16 games for the Yankees with a 5.81 ERA. The Yankees won the 2000 ALCS in six games over Seattle and the two losses were both Neagle’s. He appeared in one game in the World Series and pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs, but he became a champion and has a ring.

Despite his time with the Yankees, the Rockies still gave him a five-year, $51 million deal after the season.

SP – Sidney Ponson (2006, 2008)
It was embarrassing enough that Ponson was a Yankee in 2006, but to bring him back in 2008 and have him round out the rotation with Darrell Rasner for the majority of the season was the most demoralizing thing Cashman had done to Yankees fans since starting the 2007 season with Carl Pavano and Kei Igawa making uo 40 pecent of the rotation.

Here is Ponson’s 2006 line with the Yankees: 16.1 IP, 26 H, 20 R, 19 ER, 7 BB, 15 K, 3 HR, 10.47 ERA, 2.020 WHIP.

In 2008, pitched in 16 games (15 starts) for the Yankees. Here was his line: 80 IP, 99 H, 53 R, 52 ER, 32 BB, 33 K, 11 HR, 5.85 ERA, 1.638 WHIP.

I think those two lines sum it up Sidney Ponson the Yankee nicely.

SP – Sergio Mitre (2009-11)
As Bald Vinny would say, “Did somebody order a meat-tray?” Unfortunately, the Yankees ordered one three times.

Mitre was a Yankee in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and the worst part is that the 2010 ALCS went six games and Mitre appeared in three of the games. If you think Joe Girardi’s bullpen management is overrated when he’s resting Dellin Betances and David Roberton in favor of David Huff and Shawn Kelley while fighting for a playoff spot, him pitching Mitre in three ALCS games might be the worst thing he has ever done and he let Luis Ayala pitch in the 2011 ALDS twice before bringing ina well-rested David Robertson.

CL – Armando Benitez (2003)
The Mets’ closer responsible for blowing Game 1 of the World Series with the walk to Paul O’Neill became a Yankee less than three years later. Traded to the Yankees from the Mets on July 16, 2003, the Yankees quickly turned around and sent Benitez to Seattle to bring Jeff Neslon back to the Yankees on Aug. 6.

Benitez only allowed two earned runs in his 9 1/3 innings as a Yankee, but did give up eight hits and six walks in that time. Insanely enough, he led the league in saves the following year in 2004 with 47 for the Marlins as an All-Star closer with a 1.29 ERA and 0.818 WHIP.

RP – Buddy Groom (2005)
One of two lefties out my pen for this team, Buddy Groom became a Yankee in 14th and final season in the league at the age of 39. He appeared in 24 games, pitching 25 2/3 innings. Lefties hit .265 against him and righties hit .339 before he was sent to Arizona at the trade deadline.

RP – Scott Erickson (2006)
In 1991, Scott Erickson was a 20-game winner, All-Star and finished second in AL Cy Young voting. In 2006, he was throwing his last pitches in the majors for the Yankees as a reliever.

Erickson appeared in nine games for the Yankees, pitching 11 1/3 innings to a 7.94 ERA and 1.765 as he walked seven and struck out just two.

RP – LaTroy Hawkins (2008)
Between being the reason for several emotional and nervous breakdowns and wearing number 21 after it hadn’t been worn since Paul O’Neill retired in 2001, LaTroy Hawkins was one of the worst things about the 2008 season. At the time he was 34 and it looked like his career was over, but it’s 2014 and Hawkins is still in the league and pitching well, which only makes me dislike him more.

RP – Chan Ho Park (2010)
Chan Ho Park blamed his 2010 Opening Night meltdown at Fenway Park on diarrhea and that should have been a sign that things weren’t going to work out. Well, actually everyone saying his numbers in Philadelphia were deceiving (and his numbers weren’t even good) should have been a sign that he wasn’t going to work out in New York for the Yankees in the AL East. Park lasted 27 games and 35 1/2 innings, which was enough time for him to give up seven home runs.

RP – Chad Qualls (2012)
A very underrated pick for the worst Yankee ever, Qualls was a bad idea from the moment I heard he had become a Yankee. Qualls somehow found his way into eight games for the 2012 Yankees. Here was his line: 7.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 6.14 ERA, 1.773 WHIP.

RP – Jesse Orosco (2003)
When Jesse Orosco made his Yankees debut on DATE, he was 46 years old. I said “46 years old.” His first pitch in the majors was in 1979 and here he was in 2003, trying to get lefties out for the Yankees. He didn’t do a very good job of it, but who could blame him? He was 46 years old! Here was his line in 15 games for the Yankees: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 6 BB, 4 K, 10.38 ERA, 2.308 WHIP.