Yankees – Page 212 – Keefe To The City

Dec 7, 2013

I’m Going to Miss Robinson Cano

The Yankees mistreated their homegrown second baseman in free agency and now Robinson Cano is a Mariner.

Three years ago, Cliff Lee ruined Christmas. On Dec. 13, 2010, Lee chose the “mystery” Phillies over the Yankees and left me only to envision what a rotation led by CC Sabathia and Lee could look like. I stayed up until 6 a.m. that night writing this eventual column, which was a borderline emotional and physical breakdown after losing out on Lee twice in four-plus months despite deals being on the 1-yard line.

This year, Robinson Cano has ruined Christmas. Or Brian Cashman and the Yankees have ruined Christmas. Or the combination of Jay-Z, Roc Nation and CAA have ruined Christmas. It depends on how you look at it. I blame Brian Cashman and the Yankees.

I opened that Cliff Lee column by saying:

I was thinking of sending in the lyrics to Pearl Jam’s “Black” instead of writing this since I am holding back tears and shaking, but I wasn’t sure if turning in Eddie Vedder’s work as my own counts as plagiarism since it’s a song.

But I’m not joking anymore. With Cano headed for the Pacifc Northwest and grunge and rain and Starbucks, I’m turning to Eddie’s magical voice to help me get through this one.

Hey… oooh…

Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay
Were laid spread out before me as her body once did.
All five horizons revolved around her soul as the earth to the sun
Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn

On Monday morning, while Brian Cashman was rappelling down a building in Stamford, Conn., a seemingly annual tradition for the general manager who broke his leg last offseason jumping out of an airplane with the Golden Knights, his free-agent second baseman (the player who was supposed to be the next face of the franchise and transition the Jeter-Rivera-Pettitte years into the next era of Yankees baseball) was in Seattle meeting with the Mariners.

The first news of the day I found out was that Cano and Jay-Z (or Jay-Z) turned down the Mariners’ offer and the deal was off after Cano’s team’s incredible demands. But then out of nowhere, while I sat back and waited for the Yankees to come in to save the day, a deal between Cano and the Mariners became imminent. There was no report of new talks or progression or anything. Out of nowhere, the Mariners had upped their offer to the Albert Pujols’ level of 10 years and $240 million. With A-Rod on the books until 2017 with his ill-advised 10-year deal, Mark Teixeira breaking down with three years years to go on his eight-year deal and Jacoby Ellsbury yet to start his new seven-year deal (which will mean I will be watching a 37-year-old Ellsbury in the Yankees outfield in 2020), I knew there was no way Cashman and the Yankees would counter the Mariners’ offer at the last minute. Robinson Cano was gone.

Ooh, and all I taught her was everything
Ooh, I know she gave me all that she wore

And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds of what was everything.
Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything…

Some Yankees fans are happy that Cano is gone because they are happy the Yankees aren’t locked into him for seven or more years for a high six-figure salary. They are happy because down the road, in say 2019 or beyond, Cano’s contract might have become a burden on the team and prevented them from making other moves. They think this because they think the Yankees work under some sort of budget.

For two years, maybe more, we have heard about the goal to stay under $189 million (a goal … not a mandate) for the 2014 season and avoid luxury tax penalties. But when the Yankees missed the playoffs for the second time since 1993, the Stadium attendance dropped and the upper deck looked as empty as it did in the ’80s and the team was a month into their offseason as their rival won the World Series for the third time in 10 seasons, the $189 million goal went out the window just like every budget the Yankees have ever suggested. And if something similar happens in four or five or six years or ever, the Yankees will spend that winter doing the same thing they did this winter and the same thing they did after the 2008 season when they gave $423.5 million to Sabathia, Teixeira and A.J. Burnett.

I take a walk outside, I’m surrounded by some kids at play
I can feel their laughter, so why do I sear?
Oh, and twisted thoughts that spin round my head, I’m spinning, oh,
I’m spinning, how quick the sun can drop away

There is a belief that Cano felt mistreated by the Yankees’ offer and he should feel that he was mistreated because he was. But he shouldn’t be surprised by the Yankees’ actions. The Yankees under Brian Cashman have proven they will lowball their own players and nickel and dime them in free agency, but will have no problem throwing money at other team’s players.

After the 1998 season, the Yankees tried to screw over Bernie Williams by offering him $60.5 million and Number 51 was ready to go to Boston for $90 million before the Yankees made literally a last-second call to Williams and offered $87.5 million, which was still a lowball offer from Boston’s, but Williams took it. Five years ago, the Yankees had no problem giving Burnett a fifth year after the 2008 season and $82.5 million, outbidding themselves in a sweepstakes against no one. Two years later, Cashman would publicly call out Derek Jeter, while the Yankees front office counted their pennies for the face of their franchise and the most important Yankee to the team’s finances for nearly two decades.

Yes, it was ridiculous that reports, whether true or not, came out that Cano was looking for $310 million as if he were looking for Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. And it’s ridiculous that the Mariners are willing to pay him $240 million over the next 10 years. But it’s really ridiculous that the Yankees were willing to give $153 million to an inferior player in Jacoby Ellsbury while maintaining their stance on their own Cano at $175 million. The Yankees didn’t and don’t need Ellsbury. They do need Cano. And without signing a luxury, not a necessity, in Ellsbury, they would have been able to up their seven-year, $175 million offer to Cano (even though they’re the Yankees and they could have upped it anyway).

And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass of what was everything
All the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything…

All the love gone bad turned my world to black
Tattooed all I see, all that I am, all I’ll be… yeah…

In the last four seasons, Jacoby Ellsbury has played 384 of a possible 648 games. In 2011, he finished second in the AL MVP voting after hitting .321/.376/.552 with 32 home runs, 105 RBIs, 46 doubles, 119 runs and 39 stolen bases. But that was two years ago and was his only double-digit home run season in his six-plus year career. And those 32 home runs make up 49 percent of his career total (65) since entering the league in 2007.

In the last seven seasons, Robinson Cano has missed 14 games … total. He has never played fewer than 122 games in his nine-year career, is a career .309 hitter with four consecutive Silver Sluggers, two Gold Gloves and has finished in the Top 6 in MVP voting in the last four years. He has hit 25-plus home runs the last five years, has three seasons with 107-plus RBIs and seven seasons with 41-plus doubles. He is considered a Top 5 hitter in the game, the best all-around second baseman in baseball and a Hall of Fame candidate.

If the 30-year-old Ellsbury is worth $153 million on the open market then how are you going to tell your home-grown, soon-to-be 31-year-old second baseman and the best player on your team that he’s only worth $22 million more? I’m asking because I don’t know the answer.

Uh huh… uh huh… ooh…

I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life,
I know you’ll be a star in somebody else’s sky,
But why, why, why can’t it be, can’t it be mine?

The justification of losing Cano has turned into fans being happy that the Yankees didn’t end up getting him for a costly amount as if they were footing the bill. But for those who didn’t care about the money, they cite his lack of hustle as a reason to be fine with him no longer being a Yankee.

Cano’s seemingly care-free attitude was frustrating at times. In October 2012, with the trip to the World Series on the line, he watched the ALCS like he was on vacation at a resort in Aruba. How’s he going to watch a mathematically-eliminated Mariners team play out the string in August and September? Maybe flood the dugout and lay on a raft?

I have never been one to think Robinson Cano is lazy. Yes, he tries to be smooth and make plays look so smooth and easy, and he almost always successful in doing so, but there’s a reason Joe Girardi had to bench him in September 2008 for a lack of hustle on a fielding play. And there’s a reason why Larry Bowa was on his ass when Joe Torre was the manager. There were times when he could done a little more to make an important play like this non-diving attempt, which would have prevented a run against the Orioles in the 2012 ALDS.

And there were times when he just needed to get the ball out of the outfield or take a pitch and he wouldn’t or when he would swing at the first pitch in the late innings of a game in which the Yankees were trailing, which was a popular Cano move on getaway day. It’s not like these things happened all the time. The problem is they happened in New York, so it seems like they happened all the time.

But for all the negative remarks that will be made about Cano as fans try to justify to themselves that it’s not a big deal that he’s gone, they should remember him for being a part of the 2009 championship team, the way he tried to carry the offense in the 2005 ALDS and 2007 ALDS, his four home runs against the Rangers in the 2010 ALCS and his grand slam off Al Alburquerque in the 2011 ALDS. They shouldn’t remember the way he ended his Yankees’ postseason career, going 2-for-22 (.091) against the Orioles in the 2012 ALDS and 1-for-18 (.056) against the Tigers in the 2012 ALCS.

Aah… uuh..

Too doo doo too, too doo doo

No one thought Cano, a Dominican-born player, would leave the Yankees. No one thought he would give up an annual chance at a championship for the lowly Mariners, who have finished over .500 once in the last six years and have four postseason appearances to the Yankees’ 17 since 1995. No one thought Jay-Z, a Yankees fan himself who rode in the 2009 World Series parade with the team, would let his client leave the Bronx. Then again, no one thought Cano would get nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in state-tax free Washington.

If the Mariners were willing to give a 10-year, $240 million offer (which they obviously were) then the Yankees never had a chance. The New York City life, the big-market attention, the idea of being a lifetime Yankee, having Number 24 end up in Monument Park and a potential Cooperstown plaque with a Yankees hat meant more to those who analyze Cano than it ever meant to Cano.

Cano got his $240 million. I got Ellsbury, McCann and Carlos Beltran and the 2014 Yankees are already better than the 2013 Yankees were. But that doesn’t mean I won’t miss the swing, the smooth poses, the throws from the shortstop side of second and the over-the-shoulder-catches of Robinson Cano.

Blogs • Yankees

Oct 15, 2013

Goodbye, Andy Pettitte

I knew I would eventually have to write about Andy Pettitte’s retirement and say goodbye, so here is my farewell to “Number 46 … Andy Pettitte … Number 46.”

“I will not pitch this season. I can assure you of that. And I do not plan on pitching again.”

That’s what Andy Pettitte said on Feb. 4, 2011. And here’s what I said on Feb. 4, 2011:

When Andy Pettitte left his May 5, 2010 start against the Orioles in the sixth inning after throwing just 77 pitches and allowing one earned run on six hits, I knew something was wrong, I just didn’t know how wrong.

I was sitting in Section 203 in the right-field bleachers checking my phone for updates on Pettitte, but no one had any. When the game ended, it sounded like I might have watched Pettitte walk off a major league mound for the last time. But those reports were premature and 10 days later he shut out the Twins at Yankee Stadium over 6 1/3 innings to improve to 5-0.

Now Andy Pettitte is really done. All offseason there was certainly a chance that he would retire after a year in which he was an All-Star and pitched to a 3.28 ERA in 21 regular season starts and a 2.57 ERA in two postseason starts, but I didn’t think he would really walk away. At least I didn’t want to believe he would really walk away.

OK, so now Pettitte is really, really done (we think), but this isn’t as sad and heartbreaking and devastating as the goodbye for Number 42 is or the someday goodbye for Number 2 that I hope never happens. I got used to life without Andy Pettitte after the 2010 season when he left me wondering whether the 2011 season would even be one worth watching.

The last time Pettitte left the Yankees, which was the second time, I was devastated. The Yankees had lost out on Cliff Lee in December and would have to turn to either an unproven Ivan Nova, AAAA starter Sergio Mitre, Freddy Garcia 2.0 or the ultimate unknown in Bartolo Colon. I had gone into that offseason thinking the Yankees rotation could be CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes, but instead it ended up being CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Phil Hughes, Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon at the start of the year. It worked out as the Yankees won 97 games, but the loss of Pettitte became even more devastating in October when the Yankees let Freddy Garcia start and lose Game 2 of the ALDS. The Game 2 Andy Pettitte always started.

Back in February 2011, I didn’t know why Pettitte waited so long to make his decision to retire and if he was willing to leave the game with so much in the tank, why was he leaving then? Why didn’t he leave after the 2009 season (aside from money, which shouldn’t have been an issue) when he pitched the clinching game for the AL East, the clinching game of the ALDS, the clinching game of the ALCS and the clinching game of the World Series? It didn’t make sense that Pettitte would retire since he could still pitch and the timing couldn’t have been worse after Lee had left the Yankees at the altar. I was upset at Pettitte for selfish reasons for leaving, the way I had been after the 2003 season when he went to Houston with Roger Clemens and left the Yankees with Mike Mussina, Jon Lieber, an even older El Duque, Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez to try to beat the Red Sox. I mean hypothetically speaking when it comes to the 2004 season since there wasn’t a season in 2004 because of the strike, which means there wasn’t a postseason either. What, you don’t remember the strike of 2004? Yes, Pettitte had his reasons to retire after the 2010 season the way he had his reasons to leave the Yankees for the Astros after the 2003 season, but that didn’t mean I had to accept them and I didn’t.

Sure, I was immature about his “retirement” almost three years ago and sure I said the following:

I never wrote a Goodbye piece for Andy Pettitte when he “retired” after the 2010 season, and thankfully I didn’t (mainly because it would have been a waste of time and words given his comeback) since I’m not good at saying goodbye, especially to members of the Core Four. Now I’m just happy Pettitte isn’t good at saying goodbye either.

I’m not any better at goodbyes now than I was when I said it to Jorge Posada or when Pettitte first retired two years, eight months and 11 days ago. But it’s been 16 days since Pettitte last pitched for the last time and I’m ready to say goodbye now.

I was eight years old when Andy Pettitte made his first appearance as a Yankee, 19 Aprils ago. I will be 27 for the start of the 2014 season, the fifth season without Andy Pettitte on the roster since I was in fourth grade and the first season without him leaving a chance to return.

“I feel like he was the greatest left-handed pitcher I ever saw pitch at Yankee Stadium. I never had the chance to see Whitey (Ford) pitch, so the first person I think of is Andy.” – Ron Guidry

Imagine Ron Guidry thinking you’re a better left-hander than Ron Guidry?!?! I’m pretty sure that’s the best compliment any left-hander could ever receive, no? I mean it’s coming from the guy who had the 25-3, 1.74 season in 1978. The guy who had a 1.69 ERA in four World Series starts. The guy who won the one-game playoff in Boston on three days rest in 1978. It’s Ron Guidry! The Effing Gator! Louisiana Effing Lightning!

Pettitte went 95-42 with a 3.70 ERA at on the original side of River Ave. and 21-13 with a 3.98 ERA on this side of River Ave, so Guidry does have a case.

“I think the impact he had on the teams we had in the mid-to-late 1990′s was enormous even though he was never the guy in the spotlight. He liked the fact that he wasn’t the No. 1 guy even though I trusted him like a No. 1 guy. – Joe Torre

Pettitte became known as the No. 2 starter in the postseason and became a staple of Game 2 of the ALDS (the same Game 2 that Freddy Garcia started that Ivan Nova was originally going to start in 2011). Pettitte pitched for the Yankees for 15 seasons. Out of those 15 seasons, the Yankees went to the postseason 13 times. Out of those 13 postseasons, Pettitte started Game 2 of the ALDS 12 times. (The only time he didn’t was in 2009 when he started, and won, Game 3 of the ALDS in the sweep of the Twins.) The Yankees won nine of the 12 ALDS.

There was a point in my life where I just figured Andy Pettitte would start Game 2 of the ALDS forever and Jorge Posada would catch him and Derek Jeter would be at shortstop and Mariano Rivera would come in to close the game as if they would were ageless and their lives were timeless. Eventually I realized this wasn’t possible and by eventually I mean in 2012 when Jorge Posada said goodbye before the 2012 season.

“A person and player the caliber of Andy Pettitte does not come around often.” – Hal Steinbrenner

After the hype and the near no-hitter in 2007 and the setup season in 2009 and the 18 wins in 2010, we thought Phil Hughes would be the most recent starter the Yankees drafted and developed and kept around like Pettitte, but that didn’t work out. Before Hughes there were pitchers like Tyler Clippard and Brad Halsey and Ted Lilly and Brandon Claussen as Yankees fans waited for one non-Andy Pettitte home-grown talent to either stay with the organization or pan out and neither has happened. Pettitte became the example of what Brian Cashman and his team look to draft every year and they have yet to even come close to doing so.

“Since I’ve been retired, I’m always asked, ‘Who would you have pitch a World Series Game 7?’ And I always say, ‘Andy Pettitte.’” – Tino Martinez

Pettitte didn’t have the left-handed arsenal of CC Sabathia or the combination of velocity, a devastating slider and intimidation of Randy Johnson. He wasn’t going to go out there and pitch a perfect game or always have clean innings. But he was going to battle and grind through a start even without his best stuff. Andy Pettitte knew how to “pitch,” he knew how to win and he knew how to win when it was for everything.

“He was a fighter and all about winning, and he was respected by every person in the clubhouse.” – Mariano Rivera

The last Sunday at the Stadium in 2013 was supposed to be all about Number 42, but of course he wanted to share it with Pettitte the way they shared 72 games that Pettitte started and Rivera saved.

“Andy has been a wonderful pitcher, one of the tops the Yankees ever had. He’s always a guy you always depend on and we’re gonna miss him.” – Yogi Berra

When the guy with one World Series ring for each finger calls you “tops” and says he’ll miss you, there’s not much else to add.

“I wanted to play for the New York Yankees. That was the bottom line.” – Andy Pettitte

I will remember Andy Pettitte for shutting out the Braves for 8 1/3 innings in Game 5 of the 1996 World Series (8.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K).

I will remember Andy Pettitte for leaving Grady Sizemore at third following a leadoff triple with the heart of the Indians’ order coming up and the and the Yankees holding a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth in Game 2 of the 2007 ALDS.

I will remember Andy Pettitte for winning Games 1 and 5 in the 2001 ALCS (14.1 IP, 11 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) and winning the 2001 ALCS MVP.

I will remember Andy Pettitte for the 447 games, the 438 starts, the two 21-win seasons, the 219 wins and 2,020 strikeouts.

I will remember Andy Pettitte for the 44 postseason starts, the 19 postseason wins, the six ALDS wins, the seven ALCS wins and the five World Series wins.

I will remember Andy Pettitte for the stare that became an October staple for the last two decades.

I will remember Andy Pettitte for doing everything he could down the stretch in 2013 to try to extend the Yankees’ season past Game 162 by pitching to a 1.94 ERA over his last 10 starts despite being out of gas.

I will remember Andy Pettitte for being part of five championships, for building the team into what it is today and for being a major reason why I enjoy baseball and like the Yankees as much as I do today.

I’m going to miss, “Number 46 … Andy Pettitte … Number 46.”

Blogs • Yankees

Oct 2, 2013

State of the Yankees

Brian Cashman gave the State of the Yankees a month earlier than usual because for the second time since 1993 the Yankees didn’t reach the postseason.

It’s the third day without baseball. Only 180 to go. And the worst part about the 180 days between today and Opening Day 2014 isn’t that there isn’t a real baseball game that counts that I care about, it’s the endless cycle of nonsense that begins because there aren’t any real games to talk about. What nonsense? This type of nonsense:

Will the Yankees go over the $189 million threshold? Do they need to in order to sign Robinson Cano? How much will they sign him for? What if Cano signs elsewhere? Who will become the face of the franchise when Derek Jeter retires? Will Derek Jeter ever be Derek Jeter again? Will he play the full season in 2014? How many more years will he play for? What happens with him after 2014? If Cano is gone, where will they get their power from? Will they re-sign Curtis Granderson? Will they re-sign Mark Reynolds? Is CC Sabathia going to be CC Sabathia in 2014? Who will fill out the rotation after CC and Ivan Nova? Will they re-sign Hiroki Kuroda? Is Phil Hughes really , truly, finally gone? And Joba too? Will Michael Pineda be given a rotation spot or will he have to earn one?

And let’s not forget about the highest-paid player in baseball history, who wakes up each morning to attend an appeal hearing for his 211-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use. But that nonsense will never end because whether A-Rod’s suspension is upheld or vetoed or shortened, there will be a story to follow the story and every day will continue to be a circus led by the New York Daily News until the last game A-Rod ever plays.

Do you know how to avoid having the nonsense start on Oct. 1? Make the playoffs, that’s how. But the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs for the second time since 1993 and so the nonsense schedule got pushed up to the beginning of October instead of the beginning of November as did Brian Cashman’s annual State of the Yankees. Cashman gave his end-of-the-year press conference on Tuesday and addressed just about everything there is to address when the Yankees win just 85 games.

On the season as a whole.

“It was a tough one. We didn’t get to where we wanted to be. Obviously it was a struggle all year; a lot of disappointment whether it’s injuries, reoccurring injuries, underperformance, unexpected poor performance. We didn’t get where we needed to be and there were a lot of reasons for it. We obviously fought to the end. I appreciated the effort that our guys provided on a daily basis. Everybody that was healthy or even the guys that weren’t healthy that tried to get healthy and even those who failed in their efforts to return or their returns were brief. There was always effort. For that, I never saw that being an issue. We weren’t good enough, period. We are where we belong, which is on the outside looking in.”

After saying, “It was a tough one. We didn’t get to where we wanted to be,” I wish Cashman would have just read his part about “injuries, reoccurring injuries, underperformance and unexpected poor performances” in list form like this:

Injuries: Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Travis Hafner, Kevin Youkilis, Francisco Cervelli, Eduardo Nunez, Brett Gardner, Jayson Nix Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Ivan Nova, David Phelps, Vidal Nuno, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain (and also Corban Joseph, Luis Cruz and Zoilo Almonte)

Reoccuring injuries: Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira

Underperformance: Travis Hafner, Kevin Youkilis

Unexpected poor performance: CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Hiroki Kuroda’s last eight starts and everything about the catchers

Why sugarcoat the 2013 season and give a paragraph answer when a simple list of names would do?

On A-Rod and his appeal.

“I operate on the assumption that I have him until they tell me otherwise. I’m not really in a position to talk about the Alex stuff. We’re not a party to it. I know from the media reports it was supposed to start yesterday and for a while there, until I looked on Twitter and saw certain things about people coming and going I wasn’t even sure if it had started or not. Because that’s how out of the loop I am on it. There’s not much to say on it. At this stage I’m not a participant in any way.”

If you don’t think Brian Cashman has been searching the backyard of his Darien home for four-leaf clovers or sleeping with a necklace of rabbit’s feet around his neck and pulling out every possible stop to hope for his wish of A-Rod suspensions coming true, so the team doesn’t have to pay him, then you’re lost.

I like Cashman’s whole “I know from media reports it was supposed to start yesterday” and his “I wasn’t even sure if it had started or not” thing like he hasn’t been following it the way I would follow weather reports hoping for a snow day from elementary school through high school. And even if he was telling the truth here about not knowing the details of the appeal, then he’s saying he doesn’t care to know about the situation of his highest-paid player facing a 211-game suspension. No one’s saying you are participating, Cash, but you might want to be in the loop on it a little bit. It only greatly impacts every decision you make this offseason. No big deal.

On staying under the $189 million threshold.

“It’s certainly a goal. It’s not a mandate. It’s a goal that we have and if it’s possible, there’s a lot of benefits to staying under that, but it’s not a mandate if it’s at the expense of a championship. It just depends on what the opportunities are before us, and the costs associated with it and if the feelings are if we don’t do something it will prevent us from taking a run, then I think his commentary that he’s already made at the owners’ meetings as well as spring training is that it’s a goal, not a mandate, Every option, every opportunity that comes my way whether by trade or free agency, I will always present to my owner and team president for evaluation. We will provide recommendations, they will provide their thoughts on what we should do and the final call on whatever is going to be done. So it’s a goal, not a mandate.”

“It’s certainly a goal. It’s not a mandate,” to me sounds like, “Do you remember what happened the last time we missed the postseason?” And the answer to that is Mark Teixeira got $180 million, CC Sabathia got $161 million and A.J. Burnett got $82.5 million. The only problem with that is that this free-agent class isn’t as good as the one from five years ago. The best free-agent class since the post-2008 class isn’t until next year, but by then it might not be as strong with teams extending players over the next year.

On re-signing Robinson Cano.

“We’d love to have Robbie back. There’s not much more for me to say about that, but our intention is to have him back, if we can. He’ll receive without question, or has received, a significant offer to stay, so he’ll have something legitimately to ponder. We’ll have to again, play that one out as well, see where it takes us. He’s been a great Yankee. I think if he stays he’ll have a legitimate chance to experience what you just saw, for instance, for Mariano. Maybe he has the chance to be the first Dominican-born player in Monument Park. A home-grown Yankee. But at the same time. It’s a business.”

So far Cano has reportedly receivers offers of eight years, $138 million and six years, $144 million, neither of which the Yankees could have possibly thought he would sign. And then a report comes out that Cano is looking for $305 million, which was reported by Buster Olney and not The Onion.

Cano isn’t going to get $305 million, but he’s probably going to get $200 million and even that’s ridiculous when you consider that Dustin Pedroia signed an eight-year, $110 million extension and is 10 months younger than Cano.

I like Cashman using his answer to include a sales pitch to Cano about being the first Dominican-born player in Monument Park and being a home-grown Yankee as if a player reportedly looking for $305 million cares about his Number 24 going beyond the center-field wall. It seems like Cano is going wherever the biggest offer comes from and if it’s not the Yankees, the seats between the bases (the moat seats) are going to look a lot emptier than they have in any of the first five seasons of the new Stadium.

On the lack of home runs and power this season.

“It was definitely significantly affected by injuries. We knew were going to lose Alex, we signed Youkilis to replace Alex to give us coverage while Alex came back, then Youkilis went down, Teixeira unexpectedly went down, Granderson unexpectedly went down twice; that’s a lot of home runs to be losing from your lineup. And no matter how many waiver claims or trades we could come up with, it was all just trying to cushion the blow. It’s not easy to find power out there, especially at that time of year. Then Hafner obviously went down. Injuries took a significant portion of our power out.”

You mean the Makeshift Yankees couldn’t provide the missing power from the New York Yankees? I wonder if all the genius fans from the 2012 season who complained about the Yankees hitting too many home runs and relying too much on home runs rather than stringing together singles and playing small ball enjoy not watching the Yankees play in October?

On if the Yankees will sign power hitters for 2014.

“Players I like to gravitate to, clearly, are on base percentage. I was taught by Gene Michael, as the guys who take – they’re are selective at the plate and can beat you with their bat.The long ball. I love the big long ball. Stick always believed in the old Earl Weaver way. That’s what I was taught and raised in. so the players I typically gravitate to are those type of guys. And it was certainly hard to find those type of guys on the run, as the roster choices, as we went from March on, trying to cushion blows, it’s not easy to find power guys, as much as maybe as in years past, certainly it wasn’t easy for us to plug the holes. I wasn’t able to do that. I failed in my efforts to get that done. Power is a big piece of this franchise, and something I believe in.”

I’m glad Cashman isn’t part of the Too Many Home Runs Club. But it’s telling when he says “It’s not easy to find power guys, as much as maybe in years past,” which clearly shows how the landscape of valuing players has changed and there are less and less potential big-name free agents hitting the market or available late in spring. It’s hard to fault him for Mark Teixeira injuring his wrist during the World Baseball Classic (and generally being Mark Teixeira) or for Curtis Granderson getting hit by two pitches that ruined his season. But was Travis Hafner as a power option really going to be relied on for a full season after only playing more than 94 games once since 2007? And was Kevin Youkilis, who missed 40 games in 2012, 42 games in 2011 and 60 games in 2010 (and missing 134 games this year) suddenly going to stop getting hurt like an aging player as he aged?

On CC Sabathia.

“Based on the year he just had velocity-wise, if that didn’t come back this year, I don’t know why it would start to come back next year. So I’m going to assume he’s going to be pitching at the current velocity that he kind of settled into this year in the second half. Obviously the home run ball was a big problem for him this year; that historically I know can be fluky. That’s something that can be and we certainly hope is an aberration. His strikeouts per 9, his walks per 9 are right where he was in ‘09 and 2010. Despite the lack of velocity, that shows his pitchability whether it’s the high-octane 97 versus what he’s sitting at now, the pitchability is still there. He had the ability to swing and miss and command the strike zone and pound it. So avoiding the home run ball or eliminating that should take care of all his issues.”

Home runs are fluky like batting average is about being lucky, right? Derek Jeter has just been the luckiest guy in the league since 1996 and CC Sabathia was the unluckiest pitcher in the league this year. Or Sabathia was a guy, who to his own admission, said this about his problems: “It’s me being stubborn, too, and not wanting to change and thinking that I’ve got stuff figured out.”

I’m not sure why Sabathia’s velocity is talked about as much as it is. No, he isn’t throwing 96-97 anymore, but he hasn’t thrown that hard consistently in a while, not just in 2013. He was still in the mid-90s with his fastball and with his repertoire of pitches, 14-13 with a 4.78 ERA is unacceptable. There are plenty of lefties around the league who do a lot more (and did a lot more this season) with a lot less than Sabathia and would probably trade a year of their careers to be able to obtain the velocity that Sabathia does still have.

And whether home runs are fluky or not, giving up 28 of them (and leading the league in earned runs) as he did as the supposed “ace” of the staff making $23 million per year isn’t something worthy of excuses.

On whether or not the bench needs to be more experienced for 2014.

“I don’t know if it’s more experienced; I just want quality ones. You would love to have as much young as you could possibly have, if it’s good. If it’s not, that’s what you’ve seen us do in the past, the (Eric) Chavezes and things of that nature. If you have a right-handed hitting power third baseman, you’d love to have an alternative left-handed hitting option so you pick and choose when you want to rest a player like an Alex. You can run the alternative out there more for matchup purposes and stuff like that. Typically the bench is a veteran situation because younger players aren’t used to sitting around and knowing what they need to do to be prepared. That’s always an adjustment and a growth period that takes place over time, with playing. Bottom line is the bench typically is experienced. You’d want to have a good quality strong bench without a doubt. That’s always been an effort.”

Eric Chavez signed with the Diamondbacks for $3 million.

Raul Ibanez signed with the Mariners for $2.75 million.

Cashman gave $12 million to Youkilis, $2 million to Hafner and $11.5 million this season and $2.4 million next season in the trade for Vernon Wells once Granderson went down. Give me a minute while I collect myself and get some tissues to wipe away these tears.

On Michael Pineda.

“We shut him down as a healthy player in the end. He’ll compete for a job in spring training. He’s got options and I don’t think it’s healthy for anybody to guarantee anything so I’m not going to sit here just because he’s Michael Pineda and we have high hopes to say hey we can pencil him into our rotation. He’s got to obviously show that he can stay healthy and that he’s effective while he’s pitching. We certainly hope that’s going to be the case, but I’m not going to sit here and guarantee anything on that either. But it certainly would go a long way towards solving some problems, if that was the case.”

With Pineda having thrown zero pitches for the Yankees over the last two seasons and with Jesus Montero hitting .252/.293/.327 for the Mariners over the last two seasons and then being suspended 50 games for performance-enhancing drugs, I would say that trade has been a wash so far.

But when I think back to Pineda’s 2011 season and his 8-6, 3.03 first half that got him on the All-Star team as a rookie and his 9.1 K/9 and his 2.9 BB/9, it’s hard to think of him as a front-end starter for the Yankees in 2014.

On the Yankees’ struggles with the farm system and draft.

“In terms of changes, we’re always looking at that kind of stuff, and if there are any changes to be made, well make them. We have struggled out of the draft here the last number of years; some of it signability, whether it was a Gerrit Cole, some of it was injuries, like last year’s No. 1 pick Ty Hensley having double hip surgery. Some of our picks haven’t panned out. I think this last year we did really well, but in fairness, you always feel that when you make the selections, so were evaluating that as well. … We haven’t had as fruitful results from the draft here recently as we had hoped and anticipated.”

Hey, remember the time the Yankees draft Gerrit Cole with the 28th pick in the 2010 draft and then his family told the Yankees they didn’t have a chance? Cole’s dad said he told the Yankees, “We said, ‘We appreciate the opportunity, but if we were to entertain a discussion of finances, it would give you the impression you had a shot.’”And remember when Cole was then drafted by the Pirates with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 draft and made his MLB debut in 2013 going 10-7 with a 3.22 ERA while the Yankees’ highly-touted first-round pick from 2004 named Phil Hughes was losing 13 games for an 85-win team? I’m going to need a minute to collect myself again.

On Derek Jeter.

“I certainly hope to get Derek back to the Derek that we’re all used to. He’s one of those guys that did everything in his power to fight through something that turned out to be pretty significant. And so now he’ll have some time to back off, get some rest, some more flexibility back, and get every aspect of that ankle in line, as far as the kinetic chain. So it’ll put him in position to have the typical training regimen he’s used to, as he prepares for the season. He’ll be able to do that. The expectation is that when that happens, and does occur, he can put significant distance between what we saw and all lived through with him, the last year, where obviously it was something that was really limiting him to being the player he’s capable of being again.”

I’m not going to comment on Derek Jeter or Cashman’s answer because Derek Jeter is going to return to being Derek Jeter again in 2014 and I won’t believe otherwise. Instead I will just refer to Eli from The Girl Next Door and his answer to being a little young to skip film school: “Shut the eff up! Next question.”

On the upcoming offseason.

“We’ve got a lot of problems that we need to attack. Starting rotation is an area that is one we need to look at. There are questions on the left side of the infield; three of the four spots of the infield, actually, because of the free agency of Cano. We’ll see. Those obviously stand out. … There are a lot of areas to focus on this winter more than previous winters.” about 17 hours ago

180 days to go. Let the nonsense begin.

Blogs • KTTC Classics • Yankees

Sep 25, 2013

I Believe CC Sabathia Because I Have To

CC Sabathia’s 13 losses are a big reason the Yankees won’t be playing in October, but he promises to be back in 2014.

The Yankees had to give CC Sabathia an extension. Coming off a 19-8 season with a 3.00 ERA in 2011 and 59-23 record with a 3.18 ERA in his first three seasons with the Yankees, he had been the first free-agent pitcher to truly live up to his hype and billing during the Brian Cashman era (unless you consider Mike Mussina the first to, which I don’t). Even if he was the biggest reason (aside from the runners in scoring position debacle) the Yankees lost to the Tigers in five games in the ALDS, the team had to re-sign him.

If Sabathia had opted out and signed somewhere else, the Yankees rotation entering 2012 would have been A.J. Burnett (thankfully he was eventually traded), Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes and who knows who else since Hiroki Kuroda had yet to sign and Andy Pettitte was still retired. Just a year after we were believed to be looking at a rotation of Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Pettitte, Burnett and Hughes before Lee ruined the Christmas season, if the Yankees didn’t extend Sabathia, they would have most likely had the worst rotation in the American League and I would have had to dust off the Cliff Lee Sad Songs Playlist.

The season after getting that extra year worth $25 million in 2016 and the $25 million vesting option for 2017, Sabathia started 28 games, his lowest total since 2006 (when he also started 28), posted his highest ERA since 2005 with 3.38, won his fewest amount of games since 2006 with 15 and allowed the most home runs in a season in his career despite the missed starts. He bounced back in the postseason by beating the Orioles in Games 1 and 5 of the ALDS (17.2 IP, 12 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 16 K), but then looked 2007 ALDS Chien-Ming Wang against the Tigers in Game 4 of the ALCS (3.2 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR). Still there wasn’t any reason to be worried about the Yankees’ ace since.

And there wasn’t any reason to be worried even when the Red Sox beat him on Opening Day since he had been beaten up by the Orioles on Opening Day in 2009, the Red Sox in 2010 and the Rays in 2012. Three starts later, Sabathia was 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA, the Yankees had a 1.5-game lead in the AL East and everything seemed to be going according to the plan the way it had the previous four seasons with Sabathia at the front of the rotation. Even when he entered his final start of the “first half” with a 9-7 record and 3.99 ERA, Sabathia was going to go on his “second half” run after the break because that’s what he does.

But then the Twins torched him in that final start (4 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR), in the most embarrassing loss of the season, the Red Sox lit him up in his first start after the break (5 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR), the Rays knocked him around five days later (5 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 6 K), and the Padres (the Padres!!!) roughed him up six days after that (5.2 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HR). After losing to the Padres on Aug. 2, Sabathia was 9-10 with a 4.78 ERA and the Yankees were just 12-11 in games started by him. Five days later he later the White Sox creep back from a 4-1 deficit to make it 4-3 in the eventual double blown save game. The day after that I wrote that the Yankees’ season was over.

Sabathia won’t pitch again in 2013 and rightfully so. There’s no point in running $76 million of guaranteed money out there to face the Astros in an exhibition game when it’s likely that he’s only one of two returning current starting pitchers in 2014. And because only Sabathia and Ivan Nova are likely to return to the rotation next season, it’s important, no it’s imperative that CC Sabathia return to the 2009-2012 CC Sabathia or something pretty freaking close to it to avoid a chase for the second wild-card spot a year from now.

Sabathia finished the 2013 season at 14-13 with a 4.78 ERA and somehow won five of his final eight starts despite pitching to a 4.94 ERA over that span. He won’t pitch again in a real, meaningful game until April 2 in Houston on Opening Day 2014, when he will earn the same nearly $700,000 he earned per start in this lost season. But even though a little over six months separate Sabathia and the bottom of the first inning in Houston that doesn’t mean he isn’t already thinking about finding himself on the mound or finding a new way to be successful on the mound and he talked about it on Tuesday. Let’s analyze what Sabathia had to say about his 2013 season and what he expects in 2014.

On it being hard to make adjustments.

“Yeah, it is (difficult). It’s me being stubborn, too, and not wanting to change and thinking that I’ve got stuff figured out. It was a lot of different things. Of course, you want to have more time to work on things, especially when you’re trying to change things in your delivery. I’ll have the whole offseason to work on my throwing and my mechanics and be back right.”

I’m not sure “stubborn” is powerful enough for a starting pitcher who rejects change and midseason adjustments while losing 13 games. Sabathia was asked to carry the team (along with Robinson Cano) through injuries and earn his $23 million, but he failed to do so. At least he has an extra month to work on his mechanics! So I guess it’s a good thing the Yankees won’t be playing in October!

On if he can return to being a dominant pitcher.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to be that same guy again. I’m 33 this year, but pitching against San Francisco the other night, I felt like back to myself more so than any other start. It wasn’t velocity — I was 90 to 93 — but just pitching inside, being aggressive, throwing fastballs in hitters’ counts. Just going out there and being a bully. That’s something I feel like I was before and kind of lost that this year.”

The Giants suck. You know this, right? They haven’t seen .500 since June 24 and are 24th in runs score in MLB, 29th in home runs and 27th in slugging percentage. Being a “bully” against the Giants shouldn’t make you feel like yourself. It’s the Giants! The Giants!

“I feel like at certain times, I kind of fell in the same pattern, pitching the same way. Hitters watch video and they know what to expect out of me, so it’s only right for me to do the same thing. … I’ve always been a guy that never watched video and that’s something that I need to change.

You mean guys like Mike Napoli? Yeah, I would say watching video might be something you want to change if it’s going to result in career .258 hitters like Mike Napoli turning into Manny Ramirez vs. Andy Pettitte (36-for-92, five home runs, 23 RBIs) against you.

On changing the way he prepares for games.

“My preparation for games probably needs to get a little better in that way. That’s something me and Larry talked about, and going forward will be better.”

At what point did you and Larry talk about changing your preparation? Was it before or after (or possibly during) your winless six-game stretch from July 9 to Aug. 9 (36 IP, 49 H, 33 R, 28 ER, 12 BB, 27 K, 7 HR)? I’m going to hope it was sometime after this since losing to the Royals, Twins, Rays and Padres and picking up no-decisions against the Red Sox and White Sox over the course of 31 days isn’t a good look for the “ace” of the staff. Even Phil Hughes can shake his head at that disappointing stretch, which helped ruin the Yankees’ season.

On what went wrong this season.

“I’m just talking about going out and pitching like I did the other day (against the Giants). Grinding games out. That’s something I feel like I didn’t do a good job of this year. Getting runners on base and being able to get a double play. Giving up a run or two, and being able to shut the inning off. I feel like I gave up too many big innings and big situations. We come out and score a couple of runs off a tough pitcher, and I come back and give the lead right back. That’s stuff that I didn’t do, or I don’t do, and it happened this year. I think that’s what I say when I talk about coming back and being right.”

I would have to say I trust Sabathia the least when it comes to pitching a shutdown inning right after the Yankees get on the board. It got so frustrating this season watching him give up leads or increase deficits that actually became funny. It became funny because it got to the point that all you could do was laugh as CC built picket fences on the scoreboard for the opposition, put the Yankees in early holes and blew late leads. I’m just glad he realizes what he was doing and didn’t just go to into A.J. Burnett “Eff It” mode when things unraveled even if it looked like he went into that mode.

On what will change in 2014.

“I think I’ll be back to myself. I know a lot of people have written me off and said I’ve thrown too many innings and whatever, whatever, but I’ll still be here and still be accountable and still be the guy that signed up in 2009.”

That quote made me go back and watch CC Sabathia’s press conference from December 2008 when he was introduced with A.J. Burnett 10-plus months before they would help end the eight-year World Series drought. And in that press conference CC said, “I want the ball every day if they’ll give it to me.” There was a time when I wanted him to have the ball every day. If he holds true to his promise, I will want him to have the ball every day next season.

Blogs • Yankees

Sep 24, 2013

At Least the 2013 Yankees Went the Distance

The Yankees aren’t going to the playoffs, but surprisingly I’m not as devastated about it as everyone thinks I would be.

It’s only fitting that J.R. Murphy struck out to end the season on Sunday. And it’s only fitting that Mark Reynolds provided the Yankees’ only run with a solo home run. And it’s only fitting that it was Zoilo Almonte’s baserunning error that cost the Yankees in the seventh inning. It’s only fitting that a 22-year-old catching prospect, the Cleveland Indians’ Opening Day designated hitter and the Yankees’ replacement outfielder’s replacement helped decide a must-win game for the 2013 Yankees.

I eliminated the Yankees back on Aug. 8 when I wrote “The Yankees’ Nightmare Season Is Over.” I wrote that column out of frustration following the three-game sweep at the hands of the White Sox, but I still believed they would find a way to reach the postseason even if it were as the lousy second wild card. They had Alex Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson back in the lineup, Alfonso Soriano back in the Bronx and Derek Jeter on his way back and 49 games left to make up the ground they lost on the 2-6 road trip to Los Angeles, San Diego and Chicago.

Since blowing leads in the ninth and 12th to the White Sox on Aug. 8, the Yankees have gone 25-18, which is actually quite impressive given their health status, but not enough to play in Bud Selig’s One-Game Playoff. They were forced into a must-win nine-game stretch to finish the season against the Giants, Rays and Astros to have somewhat of a chance at Bud Selig’s One-Game Playoff, but they failed to meet that goal in just Game 3 of 9 on Sunday, scoring one run against the Giants, who last saw .500 on June 24 (three months ago today). And the season was finally lost when last season’s World Series champion closer Sergio Romo got the 22-year-old Murphy to chase the same slider he got the Reds, Cardinals and Tigers to chase last October, but really the season was lost long before Murphy’s 13th career plate appearance.

I still don’t understand the people that refer to early-season baseball as “meaningless April and May games” or say things like, “It isn’t even the All-Star break yet.” These are probably the same people that think Bud Selig’s replay system, which will put more value on innings seven through nine than innings one through six, is a good idea. But it’s these people that are calling for Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman’s jobs on sports radio these days (their jobs aren’t on the line, but if they were, they should be called into question for reasons other than not making the playoffs this season) and flooding Twitter with rage about the Yankees not beating the Giants on Sunday or being swept by the Red Sox last weekend. But because baseball doesn’t “count” until Game 50, or Memorial Day or the All-Star break or any other made-up checkpoint or arbitrary date, I guess neither did any of the Yankees’ losses before then either.

The Yankees lost a lot of winnable games throughout the season and games that their full roster and previous Yankees teams would have won, but two series stick out the most: the four-game sweep by the Mets and the three-game sweep by the White Sox. I don’t think I need to tell you where they would be if they had won just three of those seven games or where they would be if they could have won four of the seven. Or where they would be if they had done just a little better than 1-6 in their last seven games against the Red Sox. Even with their incredible record in one-run games, the Yankees had plenty of chances to play in Bud Selig’s One-Game Playoff (thanks in large part to Toronto) and every other team vying to play in Bud Selig’s One-Game Playoff — Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Texas, Kansas City and Baltimore — all did their part in trying to help the Yankees reach the postseason for the 18th time in the last 19 seasons. The Yankees didn’t meet them half way over the last two months and now they have run out of schedule.

I don’t think the Yankees are looking at an upcoming season or seasons of embarrassment like the Red Sox endured in 2010 and 2012 (and would have continued to endure if the Dodgers didn’t bail them out) or the Mets have been enduring since their September collapses. Bud Selig’s One-Game Playoff has made sure that barely-above-average teams like the 2013 Yankees will be in contention for a postseason berth as long as they can tread water slightly above .500.

The Yankees are four games out of a playoff spot and still alive in Game 157 when they barely had a recognizable roster for the first 113 games and saw every would-be Opening Day position player miss significant time except for Robinson Cano and Ichiro Suzuki. Derek Jeter played 17 games, Mark Teixeira played 15, Alex Rodriguez 42 (so far), Kevin Youkilis 28, Curtis Granderson 55 (so far), Francisco Cervelli 17 and Travis Hafner (81). (Brett Gardner played in 145 games, but injured his oblique and would have been available in a limited role, if at all, in the playoffs.) Here are the Yankees’ current leaders by games played for each position:

C – Chris Stewart
1B – Lyle Overbay
2B – Robinson Cano
3B – Eduardo Nunez
SS – Jayson Nix
LF – Vernon Wells
CF – Brett Gardner
RF – Ichiro Suzuki
DH – Travis Hafner

Aside from the previously mentioned Murphy and Almonte, the Yankees called on David Adams, Luis Cruz, Brennan Boesch, Reid Brignac, Brendan Ryan, Chris Nelson, Brent Lillibridge, Alberto Gonzalez, Melky Mesa, Thomas Neal, Corban Joseph and the legendary Travis Ishikawa to replace first-ballot Hall of Famers, All-Stars and everyday major leaguers.

As for the rotation, CC Sabathia was shut down with a hamstring injury over the weekend, Andy Pettitte was placed on the DL in late May, David Phelps has thrown 23 pitches in September, but before then hadn’t pitched since July 4 and Michael Pineda still hasn’t thrown a pitch for the Yankees since becoming a Yankee. And even worse than any injury or terrible replacement was Phil Hughes, who might as well have been injured, with his 13 losses and 5.07 ERA on the season with still a start to go. I’m sure A.J. Burnett is wondering why I let Hughes off easy and spent hundreds of thousands of words each season on Burnett. But don’t worry, A.J.! The offseason is extra long this year and there are plenty of words to be written.

And because of the extra long offseason with no baseball in October, there will be plenty of time to look back on the 2013 season as a whole and not just how Phil Hughes did his part to ruin it. But with the Yankees four games out with six games to play and Number 42 and Number 46 making their final appearances, I thought it was necessary to look at the 2013 Yankees for taking the possibility of the postseason farther than I thought they would when they opened the season 1-4 and farther than I thought they would with the double blown save against the White Sox on Aug. 8.

Now it’s time to ask my friends who are Red Sox fans and Met fans what I’m supposed to do in October.