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Tag: Brian Cashman

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.

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Blogs • Yankees

Aug 16, 2013

A Matter of Trust with the Yankees Rotation

It’s been weird a season for the Yankees and it’s been especially weird for the rotation, which has been shuffled when it comes to who you can and can’t trust.

It’s been a weird year. Kevin Youkilis became a Yankee; CC Sabathia got skinny; Francisco Cervelli was relied on at one point and then missed and then suspended; Derek Jeter played in his first game of the season on July 11 and then went on the disabled list twice in three weeks; the Mariners cut Shawn Kelley and he became the Yankees’ third best reliever; the Yankees traded for Vernon Wells; Lyle Overbay went from unwanted to having a starting job; Ichiro was used as the cleanup hitter; A-Rod underwent a second hip surgery in four years, appealed a 211-game suspension and returned to the lineup; Eduardo Nunez learned how to play defense; and Alfonso Soriano returned to the Yankees for the first time in nearly a decade.

But what might be weirder than any of those things is that the Yankees rotation has undergone some changes when it comes to who you can and can’t trust. Every five days when Hiroki Kuroda pitches you know the Yankees have a chance to win, but every five days when Phil Hughes pitches you hope you have plans other than to watch the Yankees.

With the Yankees needing to win just about every game from now until Game 162, the rotation is going to be trusted to give the team a chance to win every single day and not take the team out of the game before YES gives you the lineups and defensive alignments.

So here’s the current pecking order of the rotation based on level of trust and performance.

1. Number 18, Hiroki Kuroda, Number 18
It was a long, long time ago that I gave Kuroda the nickname of “Coin Flip” for never knowing what you would get from him from start to start. But that was back at the beginning of the 2012 season and the name was justified.

After losing to the Royals on May 21, 2012, Kuroda was 3-6 with a 4.56 ERA and 1.481 WHIP in his first nine starts with the Yankees. But since then, Kuroda has made 48 regular season starts and he’s 24-12 and the Yankees are 30-18 in those starts. Here’s his line since losing that game to the Royals: 321 IP, 275 H, 97 R, 94 ER, 60 BB, 243 K, 27 HR, 2.64 ERA 1.044 WHIP.

This season alone, Kuroda is 11-7 with a 2.33 ERA, but has earned a no-decision in three starts where he pitched seven shutout innings along with no-decisions in three starts where he went at least 6 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs or less. (But according to Jim Leyland he’s not an All-Star because of his wins total. Good thinking, Jim!)

Kuroda’s not an “ace” that way Sabathia is. He’s a real ace.

2. Number 47, Ivan Nova, Number 47
Pitcher A: 4 GS, 16.2 IP, 23 H, 12 R, 12 ER, 8 BB, 18 K, 1 HR, 6.61 ERA, 1.898 WHIP

Pitcher B: 8 GS, 59.0 IP, 50 H, 14 R, 14 ER, 15 BB, 57 K, 2 HR, 2.14 ERA, 1.102 WHIP

Pitcher A is Ivan Nova in April. Pitcher B is Ivan Nova in starts since returning from Triple-A on June 23.

I’m not sure what Nova did when he got sent down to Triple-A, but it worked and he’s back to the way he was in 2011 and not the way he was in 2012 or the beginning of 2013.

3. Number 46, Andy Pettitte, Number 46
His name and number still make me think that he’s the guy he was every other year of his career except for 2008, but he isn’t. For the first time, Pettitte has shown his age and is pitching like a guy who should be home with his family rather than the guy who debates whether he should be home with his family every offseason.

It would make a lot of sense if Pettitte is hurt or playing through injury because he’s looking at finishing under .500 for the first time in his career and he currently has the highest ERA (4.62) of any of his 18 seasons. He hasn’t won a game since July 11 and after two strong starts against the Rangers (6 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) and Dodgers (7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K), Pettitte was embarrassed by the White Sox (2.2 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) and needed 101 pitches to get 13 outs against the Tigers (4.1 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K).

If Pettitte were a fifth starter (which he probably should be this juncture of his career) and the Yankees had a strong hold on a playoff spot, it would be one thing, but the Yankees can’t afford to have Pettitte show his age over the last six weeks of the season because of the next guy, who has forgotten how to pitch …

4. Number 52, CC Sabathia, Number 52
Once upon a time CC was a real ace. Now he’s an “ace” the way A-Rod is a “superstar.” Sabathia won against the Angels on Tuesday for his first win since July 3 (despite doing everything he could to try and lose), evened his record up at 10-10 and even lowered his ERA from 4.72 to 4.66! $676,470.59 per start … well worth it!

At first we were made to believe that Sabathia’s diminished velocity was the reason for his struggles, but then he started throwing hard. Then we were told that his diminished weight was to blame, but that only contradicted the theories that his weight would prevent him from staying strong and pitching for a long time. Now we’re told that all of the mileage on his arm over the years, especially in recent years, is to blame for the worst season of his 13-year career. But I’m not sure any combination of velocity, weight loss and mileage is a reason for him walking six Angels from their JV team in six innings in his last start.

Sabathia is a 45-14 with a 3.31 ERA in 71 career starts in August and 31-17 with a 2.86 ERA in 64 career starts September. If he’s anything short of the guy he has been in those months for the rest of this August and this September, it won’t matter what anyone else does because the Yankees won’t make the playoffs.

5. Number 65, Phil Hughes, Number 65
Hughes has done nothing and I mean nothing to continue to deserve a rotation spot with the Yankees except have excellent luck on his side. With Michael Pineda, David Phelps and Vidal Nuno all injured, Hughes “has” to start. (I gave “has” quotations because he doesn’t “have” to start, but that’s the way Brian Ashcan and Joe Girardi rationalize things. Adam Warren could easily start in place of him.) So every five days the Yankees start Hughes no matter how awful he is or how many games he loses and he has already lost 12 games this year on an over-.500 team.

Hughes has been very bad for a very long time at this point. After Hughes’ start against the Royals on July 8, I wrote “What Is Phil Hughes? Part II” thinking that it might be one of the last starts Hughes would ever make as a Yankee with the trade deadline looming. Hughes lasted four innings against the Royals thanks to the rain as good luck and good fortune once again let Hughes stay in the rotation for another turn. But since that rain-shortened start, Hughes has started five games with this glorious line: 24 IP, 31 H, 21 R, 18 ER, 9 BB, 22 K, 7 HR, 6.75 ERA, 1.667 WHIP, including his loss on a getaway day to the Angels, a team that just wishes the season would end, on Thursday.

I’m not sure why any team would have wanted Hughes at the trade deadline like it was reported and speculated and I’m not sure why the Yankees wouldn’t have gladly given him up for anything. I mean anything. I’m talking a booklet of Frosty coupons to Wendy’s or a MetroCard with a balance of $1.80 or a scratched copy of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist or even a promise that Travis Ishikawa would have to start every game at first base for the Yankees for the rest of the season. Any other team in the league could give the Yankees who they believe to be their worst starting pitcher and I would gladly give them Hughes’ starts for the rest of the year. Just get Phil Hughes out of the rotation.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jul 9, 2013

What Is Phil Hughes? Part II

Phil Hughes pitched for his job on Monday night against the Royals and it’s all documented in a Retro Recap.

Phil Hughes is in trouble. A lot of trouble. But Phil Hughes has been in this kind of trouble before and has escaped it every time. This kind of trouble is the kind where you are pitching for your spot in the rotation.

The 27-year-old former No. 1 pick has backed himself into a corner. His win on July 2 in Minnesota was his first since June 6 and his second since May 10 and aside from beating the Twins, his other three wins have come against the A’s, Royals and Mariners. Only eight of his 17 starts have been quality starts, two starts have been disasters (4/13 vs. BAL and 6/1 vs. BOS) and one has been an atrocity (5/15 vs. SEA: 0.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 0 K). Normally this kind of mediocrity would be accepted and Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman would just continue to run him out there every fifth day and hope for the best (but usually receive the worst), but this time they can’t.

With CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte not going anywhere, three spots are guaranteed in the rotation. That leaves two spots for the recently disabled-listed David Phelps, the resurgent Ivan Nova, the nearly-done-rehabbing Michael Pineda and Hughes. But with Hughes, it’s even deeper than that.

Hughes is a free agent after this season and a strong trade deadline candidate especially with the Yankees’ abundance of pitching. It’s no secret that Hughes would be more successful in the National League or in a different home stadium since once again he’s struggled in the Bronx, going 1-6 with a 5.74 ERA at home and 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA on the road. If Hughes is to survive the July 31 deadline then only a very strong second half or some magical postseason performance would be enough for him to come back in 2014. It looks like time is running out on “The Phranchise” in pinstripes and Cashman might finally be ready to give up on his once-proud draft pick that he labeled as a future staff ace.

But for now, Hughes is still a Yankee and as of Monday he was still part of the rotation. On May 7, 2012 Phil Hughes was also pitching for his job and I followed his start with a Retro Recap, so I figured why not do it again on Monday night against the Royals with his job once again in jeopardy?

First Inning
It’s a Michael Kay and John Flaherty night on YES, so with or without Phil Hughes pitching, it should make for some good comedy despite neither of them trying to be comedic.

The first pitch of the game is a strike to Alex Gordon, which means Hughes will get ahead of at least one hitter tonight.

Hughes gets Gordon to ground out to second on the fifth pitch of the at-bat, which featured no “Phil Hughes” (a two-strike foul).

Alcides Escobar makes things easy by flying out to right on the first pitch.

YES is panning around the Stadium and the upper deck on a night when the place looks like it did in 1984.

Eric Hosmer lines out to short on the second pitch and it’s an eight-pitch, 1-2-3 innings for Phil Hughes. Michael Kay says, “Phil Hughes works a 1-2-3 inning!” with the voice he used to scream “That’s one of the greatest games you will ever see!” following John Flaherty’s 13th-inning walk-off hit against the Red Sox on July 1, 2004. But I’m with you Michael, a 1-2-3 first inning from Hughes should be celebrated.

Second Inning
Here’s Billy Butler, who is a .589 career hitter against the Yankees, to lead off the second. (He’s really a .281 hitter against the Yankees, but it feels like he’s been way better than that.)

And that’s why I thought Butler was a .589 hitter against the Yankees as he hits an 0-1 pitch into the right field seats for a 1-0 lead.

Salvador Perez strikes out swinging for the first out of the inning and Kay mentions how the Royals have two All-Stars (Perez and Gordon) for the first time in 10 years since they had to have one for the last nine years to meet the requirement that every team must be represented. Congratulations to somewhat ending a decade of mediocrity, Kansas City!

Hughes throws an 0-1 changeup to Mike Moustakas for a ball and Flaherty talks about how Hughes has implemented a changeup, which makes me think about when he tried to implement a cutter as a starter and got rocked like Chien-Ming Wang in the 2007 ALDS. Moustakas punishes me for taking a sarcastic shot at Kansas City with a double to left field.

Johnny Giavotella, who sounds and looks like he should be flipping pizzas or making some chicken parm, grounds out on a slider, which has been Hughes’ best pitch.

David Lough apparently took exception to the Kansas City comment too and goes the other way with a double to left field on an 0-2 fastball down the middle. That’s right, an 0-2 fastball down the middle. Never change, Phil Hughes. Never change.

Hughes gets ahead of Jarrod Dyson the same way he got ahead of Lough, but struggles to put him away and Kay mentions that Hughes has had trouble “this year” putting hitters away when he gets two strikes on them. Umm, only “this year,” Michael Kay? Where were you last year? And the year before that?

Hughes needs seven more pitches to retire Dyson on a ground out to second thanks to three “Phil Hughes” (two-strike fouls) in the at-bat.

After the eight-pitch first, Hughes throws 24 pitches and is at 32 after two.

Third Inning
The Yankees failed to score in the bottom of the second and have one run in their last 13 innings. Is that good?

Back to the top of the Royals order with Gordon, who Kay gives a history lesson on, calling him “a bomb” early in his career.  Gordon flies out to right on a changeup.

Random thought: What’s your idea of a Phil Hughes start? My idea is 5.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 105 pitches.

Escobar grounds out to third on a slider and we are one out away from Hughes’ second 1-2-3 in three innings.

Hosmer comes up and YES shows the replay of his first career home run, which came at Yankee Stadium with his parents in attendance against one A.J. Burnett.

Hughes falls behind Hosmer 3-1 and then on the third straight fastball (following a “Phil Hughes”), Hosmer singles to right ending the 1-2-3 inning bid.

Hughes keeps Butler in the park this time with a ground out to short on a slider.

A 20-pitch inning and Hughes is at 52 pitches after three.

Fourth Inning
It’s raining at the Stadium and there is no one left behind home plate, so it looks like every other Yankee home game thanks to Randy Levine and team executives.

Perez apparently likes the rain as much as my girlfriend’s dog and swings at a first-pitch fastball and lines out to center for the first out of the inning.

Moustakas gets in one “Phil Hughes” with a 2-2 count before flying out to center.

Giavotella strikes out on three pitches, making my case for him flipping pizzas and making chicken parm looks stronger.

Wait a second, that’s three up and three down for Phil Hughes. We have a second 1-2-3 inning!

A 10-pitch inning and Hughes is at 62 after four.

Following Zoilo Almonte’s at-bat in the bottom of the fourth, the tarp is called for.

Rain delay…

The rain delay is coming to a close and we get our second look at Dave Eiland of the night on YES, who I miss about as much as I miss Nick Swisher. (Speaking of YES appearances, how come we haven’t seen much of Kevin Long this season?)

Kay talks about how when Eiland was with the Yankees and watched Guthrie pitch with the Orioles that he made a mental note about wanting to work with him since he could fix his delivery. I’m glad Eiland was more worried about helping other team’s pitchers rather than helping the Yankees pitchers when he was the team’s pitching coach.

Fifth Inning
The night is over for Phil Hughes. Jeremy Guthrie was able to come back out for the fifth inning after throwing, but apparently the 59-minute rain delay was too much for Joe Girardi to let Hughes (62 pitches) go on.

Hughes’ final line: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.

Phil Hughes has gotten so many chances to succeed with the Yankees since 2007 that it’s unfathomable he could still be part of the rotation. After going 18-8 with a 4.19 ERA in 2010, he’s 25-26 with a 4.64 ERA in 66 games and 63 starts since the start of the 2011 season. 25-26?!?! I destroyed A.J. Burnett every waking moment for two years for pitching to very similar numbers (21-16, 5.20 ERA in 2011 and 2012 combined) though Burnett was making $16.5 million per season and Hughes is making $7.15 million this season.

Over the last two-plus seasons when Hughes has been juuuuuust about to be removed from the rotation, he finds a way to buy more time and get another chance and now apparently Mother Nature is rooting for him to stay in the rotation as well with a rain delay cutting his start short and letting him keep his job for at least five more days.

So I guess Part II of “What Is Phil Hughes?” isn’t the last part of this saga that’s now in its seventh year. Let’s just hope the long overdue series finale comes in the seventh season.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jul 1, 2013

The Final 14 Games

Six years ago, the Daily News claimed that a 12-game stretch would determine the Yankees season. In 2013, a 14-game stretch in July will determine the Yankees season.

Once upon a time last season I compared the 2012 Yankees to the 2008 Yankees. That comparison came on May 4.

The 2012 season is slowly becoming the 2008 season for the Yankees. In 2008, the rotation featured Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson for the majority of the season with injuries to Chien-Ming Wang, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy. Andy Pettitte pitched poorly through injuries and several starting position players ended up on the disabled list. Pudge Rodriguez and Richie Sexson became Yankees and Jose Molina, Chad Moeller did most of the team’s catching. I hated the summer of 2008, but it’s hard to say we aren’t headed into a Hot Tub Time Machine back to it.

I’m embarrassed now to look back at that paragraph and think that a team, which turned into a 95-game division winner, could at one time have been compared to the only Yankees team to not make the postseason since 1993 (even if the 2008 Yankees did win 89 games). But really, the 2008 Yankees had it easy when it comes to the 2013 Yankees. Having Rasner and Ponson filling out 40 percent of your rotation for half the season? I would sign up for that right now for the rest of the way rather than having Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells, David Adams and Chris Stewart fill out four of the nine spots in the order for the next three months.

After 81 games, the Yankees are 42-39 and the lineup has become the disabled list, the bench has become the lineup and the waiver wire and minor leagues have become the bench (and at some positions the lineup). If you’re in the Yankees minor league system right now having an above average offensive season and you haven’t been called up yet, in the words of Fortune in Rudy: “It ain’t never gonna happen.”

On Sunday night in the eighth with the Yankees trailing the Orioles 4-2 and left-handed Troy Patton on the mound, Vernon Wells hit for Travis Hafner (he struck out swinging of course). So when Overbay led off the ninth inning with a double off Jim Johnson and Nix, Stewart and Adams were due up, Girardi had two options left on the bench: Austin Romine and Alberto Gonzalez. And I’m pretty sure Girardi would have rather inserted 2012 Postseason Cano or 2012 Postseason A-Rod or 2012 Postseason Granderson or 2012 Postseason Swisher or 2012 Postseason Teixeira into the game before using his backup catcher or the .239/.276/.315 career hitting Gonzalez.

I wish I could justify writing columns hammering Nix and Stewart, who were going to be bench players. I wish I could find it in me to pick apart Overbay and Wells, who weren’t even going to be on the Yankees in the final days before Opening Day. I wish I could say it’s all Adams’ fault, especially since he ruined the 2010 Cliff Lee trade, but he’s shown over his 102 at-bats that he isn’t ready for the majors (and really he’s supposed to be in the Mariners organization anyway). But I can’t do any of these things because the 2013 Yankees weren’t supposed to be a collection of guys that couldn’t hit their weight and players you wouldn’t recognize if they sat next to you in a bar or took a piss next to you at a urinal in that same bar. The 2013 Yankees were supposed to be the players whose pictures line the outside of the Stadium on River Ave. leading up to the bleachers entrance where I recently told my girlfriend, “The entire street is on the disabled list.”

But I can justify calling out the two most important Yankees before the season started, who have thankfully not joined the over-capacity party on the disabled list.

Number 52, CC Sabathia, Number 52
In four previous seasons with the Yankees, CC Sabathia has lost eight games twice (2009 and 2011). It’s July 1, Sabathia has made 17 starts and he has six losses.

Sabathia has made nine starts against AL East teams this season. Here’s his line for those starts: 4-4, 62.2 IP, 68 H, 36 R, 34 ER, 9 BB, 51 K, ERA, 4.88 ERA, 1.229 WHIP. That would be somewhat OK for the 41-year-old Andy Pettitte and welcomed for Phil Hughes or Ivan Nova. But for the “ace” of the staff, it’s unacceptable. (I will continue to put “ace” in quotations when talking about Sabathia until he starts to pitch like one again.)

Sabathia will make $23 million this season. If he makes 34 starts this season (see where I’m going with this?), he will make $676,470.59 per start. He doesn’t need to be better for the Yankees to survive the summer, he has to be better for the Yankees to survive the summer.

Sabathia’s start on Friday night in Baltimore was so awful on so many levels that is was the most tilted I have been during a Yankees regular-season game since the team was losing games to the last-place Red Sox down the stretch last September. Sabathia blew a 3-0 lead and a game against a division rival to kickoff the weekend sweep at the hands of the Orioles and continue what has now become a five-game losing streak for the Yankees that has their season at a crossroads. Should a $23 million “ace” be blowing a three-run lead in a game the Yankees desperately need against a team they are fighting the division for? There’s only one answer and it’s no. Citing John and Suzyn’s “Well, that’s baseball” doesn’t work for someone making over $676K per start.

Since we used one Rudy line already, we might as well use a second to talk about Sabathia and this one comes from Coach DeVine when Roland Steele tells him he wants Rudy to dress in his place before putting his jersey down on the desk: “You’re an All-American and our captain. Act like it.”

Well, CC … You’re owed $122 million over five years following your 2012 extension, you’re a Cy Young winner, world champion and the “ace” of our staff. Act like it.

Number 24, Robinson Cano, Number 24
It’s been a while since we have heard that Robinson Cano is one of the Top 5 players in baseball. That’s probably because it’s hard to justify being in that category when you’re hitting .287 with 17 home runs and 48 RBIs halfway through the season. (On Sunday night, Cano hit a solo home run, which was his first home run in 17 days and his first extra-base hit in 14 days.) But for as tired as I grew hearing about Cano being in the same sentence as actual MVP winners, I’m growing equally as tired hearing about how Cano won’t get any pitches to hit in the current Yankees lineup and how he will be pitched around because of the lack of protection. That didn’t stop the Sunday Night Baseball crew from bringing it up in support of Cano against Baltimore, but then again they did compare Chris Davis to Ken Griffey Jr. so you might want to take anything the trio says with a grain of salt, or an entire bottle of it the way my friend Scanlon dumps it on anything he eats.

When Cano struggled at the beginning of the season, the Yankees struggled. When Cano got hot, the Yankees got hot. It’s no secret the Yankees’ success is determined by the performance of the team’s best hitter. While this could be a “chicken or the egg” thing in that the rest of the Yankees were also hitting when they were in first place, which could have led to Cano’s surging performance, it can’t be when talking about someone with Cano’s talents and reputation. You can’t talk about how great Cano is and then make excuses for him when he isn’t great and cite the rest of the team’s problems as his problem, the same way there couldn’t be a hooking call and diving call on the same play in the Stanley Cup Final.

This offseason (and possibly before then if Brian Cashman breaks his rule about contract extensions for the second time with Cano) Cano will turn 31 on Oct. 22 (hopefully during the Yankees’ playoff run) and will be looking for the payday that will set him and many generations of Canos up for life. No matter what, Cano is going to get paid and get paid handsomely (most likely by the Yankees), but his performance this season (and going back to the 2012 postseason) isn’t going to get him paid the way Jay-Z will want him to get paid.

In 2007, the Yankees faced a 12-game stretch that the Daily News believed would make or break their season by calling it the “Dirty Dozen.” If the Yankees are supposed to get healthy after the All-Star break then the 14-game stretch in 14 days starting Monday night in Minnesota will make or break their season. Yes, seven games with the Twins, three with the Orioles and four with the Royals at the beginning of July will determine my plans for October.

I said I was embarrassed to look back on that May 4, 2012 column suggesting that the 2012 Yankees were the 2008  Yankees. I want to be embarrassed looking back on this column suggesting that the 2013 Yankees played the 14 most meaningful games of their season in the first two weeks of July.

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Blogs • Yankees

Mar 25, 2013

Welcome Back, Chien-Ming Wang

Once upon a time Chien-Ming Wang saved the Yankees and now he’s back with the organization.

Since I was seven years old, the Yankees have missed the playoffs once: 2008. I refer to that year as the Year Without October the way I refer to the 2004 baseball season as the Season That Never Happened. (There was a strike that season and no games were played. Don’t you remember?)

I remember the 2008 Yankees for being miserable and making my summer miserable. And because I relate specific years to how that Yankees season went, when I hear “2008,” I think, “That’s the year I graduated from college and the year the Yankees ruined my summer” and sometimes I think of those two things in reverse order. (OK, I always think of them in reverse order, but I didn’t think it would be a good look to put the Yankees ahead of college graduation.) The truth is that the 2008 Yankees didn’t suck and weren’t even bad. And given their circumstances they were actually pretty good.

That Yankees team went 89-73, which would have been enough to play in a one-game playoff if they were in the AL Central and would have been enough to win the NL West by five games. Their 89 wins were the fourth most in the AL and more than the 2000 Yankees had (87-75) and that team won the AL East by 2 ½ games and won the World Series. But the 2008 Yankees ended the run of 13 straight playoff appearances and because of that I remember them as a failure even if they really weren’t.

That season the rotation featured Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson for 35 combined starts. Andy Pettitte posted career worsts in losses (14) and ERA (4.54) pitching through injuries the entire year in the only .500 season of his 17-year career. Jorge Posada didn’t play in one game in May and played in his last game of the year on July 19. Jose Molina had 297 plate appearances, Chad Moeller had 103 and Ivan Rodriguez had 101. Pettitte, Posada, Jonathan Albaladejo, Wilson Betemit, Chris Britton, Brian Bruney, Joba Chamberlain, Johnny Damon, Dan Giese, Phil Hughes, Jeff Karstens, Ian Kennedy, Hideki Matsui and Alex Rodriguez all landed on the disabled list at least once. LaTroy Hawkins was in the bullpen and so were Billy Traber, Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez. Richie Sexson got to put on pinstripes. So like I said, “Given their circumstances, they were actually pretty good.”

Even during the Murphy’s Law season with all of those things happening during the same year in which the Yankees cared more about Jobamania and his transformation from the best setup man since 1996 Mariano Rivera to starter (which became a circus), the season really ended on June 15 in the sixth inning at Minute Maid Park.

The season ended when Chien-Ming Wang and his .000 career on-base percentage reached base on a fielder’s choice after a failed sacrifice bunt attempt and suffered a lisfranc injury running home on his way to scoring his first career run. The Yankees won that game 13-0 and Wang earned his second-to-last win as a Yankee to this day (the other coming on June 28, 2009 against the Mets), improving to 8-2 on the year with a 4.07 ERA.

To that point in the season, Wang had averaged 6 1/3 innings per start in 15 starts and the Yankees were 12-3 in games he started.  He had won 19 games in both 2006 and 2007 and looked to be a lock for that number again in 2008. With the win over the Astros he improved to 54-20 in five seasons with the Yankees and had become the “ace” of their staff even if Chris Russo strongly believed otherwise.

(To me, Wang was an “ace” during the regular season where his heavy sinker worked the majority of the time over 33 starts. But come postseason time when you didn’t know if Wang’s sinker would sink or not, he was a disaster when it didn’t. He didn’t have strong enough secondary pitches to get outs and would be stubborn on the mound trying to find the sinker because he had to be stubborn about it. He couldn’t really grind his way through starts without his pitch and because of it I consider him a “regular-season ace.” His playoff numbers would consider him that too: 4 GS, 1-3, 7.58 ERA, 19 IP, 28 H, 19 R, 16 ER, 5 HR, 5 BB, 7 K, 1.737 WHIP. The same pitcher who allowed nine home runs in 116 1/3 innings in 2005, 12 home runs in 218 innings in 2006 and nine home runs in 199 1/3 innings in 2007 somehow allowed five in just 19 postseason innings. “Regular-season ace.”)

The Yankees missed the playoffs by six games in 2008 with Rasner and Ponson starting 22 percent of the season and with Dan Giese, Brian Bruney, Carl Pavano and Kei Igawa also getting starts. Six games ended up separating the Yankees from the Red Sox for the wild card (and eight games separated the Yankees from the Rays for the division). You can’t tell me Chien-Ming Wang wouldn’t have made up that difference if he hadn’t been injured. He would have.

Wang saved the 2005 season (along with Robinson Cano’s emergence, Tino Martinez emptying the tank and Jason Giambi turning back the clock or possibly reverting to undetectable performance-enhancing drugs). Wang picked up the only win in the 2006 ALDS against the Tigers (Game 1) and from April 30, 2005 until June 15, 2008 (minus the two months he missed in 2005), he was the closest thing the Yankees had to a guaranteed win every five days before CC Sabathia came to town.

I eventually got used to Wang’s painfully slow windup and let the way he curved his hat go because when you win those things become trademarks and cool and mimicked by others. There isn’t any young baseball player trying to mirror A.J. Burnett’s herky-jerky, inconsistent windup. At least I hope there isn’t. (If A.J. Burnett used Wang’s windup or curved his hat the way Wang did, I would have had enough material for at least three or four more columns from 2009-2011. That’s the difference between winning and losing.)

But if I’m going to mention his 55 wins with the Yankees and his calm and collected demeanor and his victory in Game 1 of the 2006 ALDS then I’m afraid I’m going to have to mention how he single-handedly lost the 2007 ALDS with this majestic pitching line for two games: 5.2 IP, 14 H, 12 R, 12 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 3 HR, 3.174 WHIP. With that WHIP, Wang essentially loaded the bases every inning he was on the mound in Games 1 and 4 on his way to a 19.06 ERA for the series, which I thought would never be touched, but Phil Hughes made a run at those numbers with his 2010 ALCS performance against the Rangers. (I won’t put his numbers here for fear of having a nervous breakdown remembering that series, knowing it could have ended differently if Hughes had just been atrocious and not disastrous.) And also 2009 when Wang was supposed to be the Yankees’ No. 2 start, but instead was the worst statistical pitcher in Yankees history.

During the last half of the aughts, when Brian Cashman was trading for a 41-year-old Randy Johnson, giving $39.95 million contract to Carl Pavano and $21 million to Jaret Wright, begging a 45-year-old Roger Clemens to unretire and make 17 starts for the Yankees for $28 million and paying $26 million for the rights to give $20 million to Kei Igawa, Chien-Ming Wang was busy winning 68 percent of his starts for the Yankees while being grossly underpaid.

Wang is back where it all began on a minor-league deal with the Yankees that will have him start the season in Triple-A, a place that five years ago you never thought he would never have to pitch again unless it was a rehab start. When asked about Wang’s return to the team, Joe Girardi said, “He was a very good pitcher for the New York Yankees.” But he’s wrong. For four seasons, he was the best pitcher for the New York Yankees.

So welcome back, Chien-Ming Wang. You were never thanked for what you did. Here’s to hoping you get the chance to do some more.

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