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Tag: CC Sabathia

Blogs • Yankees

Feb 20, 2014

Brian Cashman Crushed My Confidence

Brian Cashman gave his Spring Training State of the Yankees to Mike Francesa and it wasn’t as optimistic as I had planned for.

The last time I listened to what Brian Cashman had to say was almost five months ago. It was Oct. 2 when I analyzed Cashman’s end-of-the-year press conference and it had been three days since the end of the season. There was still 180 days until Opening Day and the 2014 season and a chance for the Yankees to make right on everything that went wrong in 2013. Now there are just 40 days until Yankees-Astros on April 1 in Houston and once again it means something when Brian Cashman talks.

On Wednesday, Cashman talked with Mike Francesa on WFAN about spring training and the outlook for the season. After personally spending the last four-plus months talking myself into a turnaround year for the Yankees, thanks to free agency and hopefully avoiding the injury bug, Cashman did his best to destroy my dreams with his answers.

On Derek Jeter’s announcement.

“Besides catching us all off guard, it wasn’t something any of us expected.”

Join the club, Cashman. I’m the founder, CEO and president of it.

On if it bothered him he didn’t know in advance.

“My first reaction was I didn’t think it was accurate. I thought it was maybe somebody hacked his Facebook account because it’s just not something you ever expect Derek in advance to announce going forward that this is it.”

I first learned of Jeter’s retirement on Twitter and I also thought it was a joke and couldn’t believe it was real, mainly because it isn’t. Derek Jeter isn’t retiring. He isn’t! (I’m sure you can guess which of the five Stages of Grief I’m currently in.)

On the unknowns in the infield.

“I think third base and second base and our infield overall is just going to be a developing story.”

I wouldn’t have thought so much about Cashman’s answer here if he didn’t use “developing story” again later on to describe another aspect of the team. And I fully understand Cashman is going to want to downplay expectations in spring training for a team coming off just it’s second postseasonless season since 1993. But like I have said, I compare the 2014 Yankees to the 2013 Red Sox. I’m not guaranteeing a World Series win, but the 2013 Red Sox were coming off arguably the worst season in the history of their franchise, needed their entire rotation to bounce back and pitch to their career averages (you’re welcome for me not saying “pitch to the back of their baseball cards” there like Michael Kay would have) and have their free agents all produce. The Red Sox ended up hitting a 12-team parlay to have the … no wait a minute … The Red Sox ended up basically filling out a perfect NCAA Tournament bracket to have everything fall in place for them last year to win the World Series a year after they lost 93 games.

In the five-team playoff format, it’s hard to not be in the mix for the postseason unless you have a miserable season. The 2013 Yankees had to use Ichiro in the middle of their lineup and when he wasn’t there, Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells were and that team wasn’t eliminated until the fourth-to-last game of the season. This Yankees roster will certainly contend for a playoff spot if last years’ team was able to. Now that I have instilled that confidence in you for 2014, let’s move along as Cashman does his best to erase that confidence with his answers.

On how the infield is going to work out.

“The infield is going to be a little bit more like the 2013 situation where we’re going to be continuing to monitor the scenario all year long and if there’s better players outside the organization, waiver claims or guys get released or can cheaply be acquired then we’ll look at that situation too if it’s better than what we got.”

No one wants to hear anything is going to be like 2013 with the exception of Alfonso Soriano’s production. Think about it: What good came out of the 2013 season?

Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira were hurt for the entire season. A-Rod created his biggest circus yet. Robinson Cano was streakier than ever and faded when the Yankees needed him most. CC Sabathia had the worst season of his career. Ivan Nova was an atrocity until he was sent down and then recalled in June. Hiroki Kuroda was amazing, but ran out of gas, pitched to a 6.56 ERA over his last eight starts and didn’t win a game after Aug. 12. Number 42 was better than any 43-year-old closer should be, but he even blew seven saves. For as good as he was after coming to the Yankees in 2012, Ichiro was that bad in 2013. Brett Gardner posted career highs in home runs and RBIs, but got hurt and missed the final weeks of the season. Phil Hughes pitched himself out of the organization. The catching situation was an actual nightmare. And Andy Pettitte was so inconsistent he decided he would retire again. If the Yankees hadn’t traded for Soriano, not only would they have been eliminated well before Game 158, but they wouldn’t have had a single positive storyline from an entire season unless you were that much of a fan of Number 42’s farewell tour.

So please, Cashman, don’t advertise anything about the 2014 season as being similar to the 2013 season.

On where a backup first baseman will come from.

“Well, Kelly Johnson is a possibility. We’ve got some other things that we had some meetings about today in camp that we’re discussing, but we need to talk to players first that we might play around with there too. So that is also something that’s an emerging situation.”

The one thing I like about Brian Cashman is that he tells it like it is. He doesn’t sugarcoat things or fabricate things for the fans. He isn’t always right (far from it), but he sticks with his judgment and opinion on players and decisions and admits when he is or was wrong. But for as honest as Cashman is, he really had no answer for this question. He tried to BS his way through it like a high school freshman trying to meet a word or page requirement on a paper. Not only did he try to downplay the fact that if Mark Teixeira gets hurt the Yankees are screwed at first base, but he sounded unsure of himself and uncomfortable answering the question.

On if Ichiro could be an option at first base.

“His name was not someone that we discussed.”

Ah, a question like this makes me nostalgic for the 2006 season when the Yankees had too many star players and not enough positions. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui, Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada, Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu all needed to play, so the Yankees had to let someone who wasn’t really a first baseman play first base. That someone became Gary Sheffield, who played first base as well as Eduardo Nunez played the outfield.

I actually like Francesa’s idea of giving Ichiro a chance to play first base even if he has only ever played the outfield. He did win 10 consecutive Gold Gloves and has an extraordinary baseball IQ and would be someone you could trust at the position. I would certainly be willing to find a way to get Ichiro into the lineup if Teixeira were to go down, but it doesn’t seem like Cashman and the Yankees are ready to think that outside of the box yet.

On how they handled having a backup first baseman in the past.

“When we had Swisher here it was great because if Tex needed a blow or had an injury, you had Swisher who you could move right in there. We’re not in that scenario right now. Not even close.”

When Nick Swisher was here it was great! Everything was better when Nick Swisher was a Yankee! Except for his own decisions to bunt or bunt with one out and a runner on second, or his shaky defense and lollipop throws, or his postseason failures or when he turned on the fans because he didn’t like that they were upset that he couldn’t get a hit in the ALCS. I miss Nick Swisher.

On if Jeter’s decision takes the pressure off him to deal with his status in the future.

“I don’t think that where we are today that would have been an issue. Obviously if it was a contract negotiation in the winter time, that might have presented itself if that occurred, but we weren’t in that scenario.”

Come on, Cashman. You know you are relieved that Jeter is going out on his own terms in the last year of a contract. If 2014 Jeter performed like 2012 Jeter or if he struggled to stay on the field like 2013 Jeter and wanted to return for 2015 it would have created a bad situation for Jeter, Cashman, the front office and the fans and it would have played out publicly just like it did after the 2010 season.

On how Michael Pineda has looked in spring training.

“You want everyone to be free and easy right now. That’s all you can ask for and he’s free and easy, but I don’t think anybody here can predict yet.”

Of all the question marks and unknowns about the 2014 Yankees, Michael Pineda has to be the most underrated of them all. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since Sept. 21, 2011, but was traded to the Yankees and viewed as a front-of-the-rotation guy for the foreseeable future at just 23 years of age. Now he is two years removed from pitching in a game after having shoulder surgery, but he is still just 25.

It’s easy to say if Sabathia returns to his old self and Kuroda doesn’t burn out and Nova is consistent and Tanaka is the real deal then everything will be fine. But I feel like a lot of people are forgetting just how good Pineda was in 2011 and if (and I know coming back from shoulder surgery is a big if) he can be that guy again, then the Yankees will have a No. 1 or No. 2 guy pitching in their No. 5 spot.

On expectations for CC Sabathia.

“I don’t see the velocity jumping back … If he can limit the home run damage that occurred last year because his strikeouts-per-nine and walks-per-nine were right in line with all his previous years, even his Cy Young Award contending years, that will be awesome.”

If CC Sabathia doesn’t allow 28 home runs in 32 starts this year, that will be awesome. CC looks weird as Skinny CC, but if his new look means he won’t pitch to a 4.78 ERA and lead the league in earned runs then I’m all for it. Sabathia has $23 million coming to him this year, or roughly $700,000 per start if you remember from last year, so if his velocity isn’t going to return then he better have Cliff Lee-esque location. I can’t take watching another season of late-game blown leads from Sabathia because of the long ball and because Joe Girardi still treats him like it’s 2011 and like an actual ace.

On how he would classify the bullpen situation.

“It’s also like our infield. Those are two areas that we all need to call an emerging story, a developing story.”

If the bullpen is “also like our infield” that means the 2014 bullpen is going to be like the 2013 bullpen since you said the 2014 infield situation is going to be like the 2013 infield situation. I’m not exactly sure you want to transition from the Mariano Rivera Yankees Bullpen to the Non-Mariano Rivera Yankees Bullpen by classifying the new-look bullpen as an emerging or developing story as if it’s the opening segment on the 11:00 news, but hey, who needs a reliable bullpen?

On if he feels old having watched Derek Jeter’s entire career.

“Unfortunately, like when I was going to the press conference today, I said to myself, ‘I’ve been here before,’ which was just last year with Mo. We’re so fortunate to have these guys for as long as we have had them and they’ve made all of our carers and made Yankee baseball so special to watch for such a long time. But yeah, you do some reflection as you’re walking into that. Time moves fast. It really moves fast. There’s a lot of things that have happened, and mostly positive, since Derek Jeter got drafted back in ’92. Again, I was caught off guard when he announced this and it just makes this season that much more important and interesting to follow because he’s one of the rare special ones you’ll ever see.”

Let’s end this before I cry.

40 days to go.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jan 23, 2014

The Mystery of Masahiro Tanaka

I got my wish: Masahiro Tanaka is a Yankee.

The last time the Yankees missed the playoffs they signed CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett, spent $423.5 million, won 103 regular-season games and won the 2009 World Series.

So when the Yankees missed the playoffs for the second time since 2008 in 2013, watched Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells fill out the heart of their order for the majority of the season and then watched the Red Sox win the World Series, I didn’t think the goal of staying under a $189 million payroll would be met. Instead of worrying about the $189 million goal, the Yankees signed Brian McCann ($85 million) and Jacoby Ellsbury ($153 million) and after losing Robinson Cano to the Mariners, they signed Carlos Beltran ($45 million).

On Christmas Eve, I wrote My Christmas Wish List. In it, I asked for four things: Something That Resembles A Starting Rotation That Can Compete In the AL East, Masahiro Tanaka, 2013-14 Henrik Lundqvist To Be 2011-12 Henrik Lundqvist and A New Rangers Defense.

Since Christmas Eve, Henrik Lundqvist is 7-2-1 with a 1.97 goals against average and .937 save percentage. In 2011-12, Lundqvist finished the year with a 1.97 goals against average and .929 save percentage. 2013-14 Henrik Lundqvist To Be 2011-12 Henrik Lundqvist? Check.

On Wednesday, the Rangers traded Michael Del Zotto to the Predators for defensive defenseman Kevin Klein. And there are still reports and rumors that Dan Girardi could be traded by the deadline. A New Rangers Defense? Check.

The only things missing from My Christmas Wish List were Something That Resembles A Starting Rotation That Can Compete In the AL East and Masahiro Tanaka and those things would go hand in hand. On Wednesday, prior to the Rangers trading Del Zotto, my list was completed.

The last time the Yankees signed a free-agent Japanese pitcher it was in response to the Red Sox signing Daisuke Matsuzaka, whose gyroball was going to be more effective in the majors than Roy Halladay’s palmball was in MVP Baseball. The decision cost the Yankees $26,000,194 (good thing they threw that extra $194 in there) just for the right to negotiate with Kei Igawa. It then cost them $20 million to sign the left-hander to a five-year deal. And for five years, we got to see Igawa appear in 16 games, make 13 starts and pitch to this magnificent line: 2-4, 71.2 IP, 89 H, 54 R, 53 ER, 15 HR, 37 BB, 53 K, 6.66 ERA, 1.758 WHIP. That’s $213,954.39 per out that Igawa made for the Yankees. But the pitcher my friend Scanlon would refer to as “The Key Master” did pitch 533 innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, so at least the Yankees were giving the employees at Dunder Mifflin a marquee name to call their own.

After the Igawa debacle and the fall of Matsuzaka, the Yankees stayed away from Yu Darvish. Sure, they were in on the bidding, but they only offered a reported posting bid of $15 million ($11,000,194 less than they bid for Igawa) and the Rangers went on to win the rights to Darvish with a bid of $51,703,411. The Yankees’ bid showed that they were doing their work, so they could cite that they made an effort once they inevitably lost out. It was a bid made with no intention of ever wanting to sign Darvish, but a security blanket to pretend like they were involved with Darvish to avoid being second-guessed if Darvish were to work out. He did.

Darvish is 29-18 with a 3.34 ERA in two season with the Rangers, was the AL strikeout king in 2013, allowed the fewest hits per nine innings (6.2) in the AL and finished second in the Cy Young voting. He has been everything that Matsuzaka and Igawa weren’t and everything the Yankees need and want and because of that, Masahiro Tanaka is a Yankee. Darvish’s success led to the much anticipated posting of Tanaka and the abundance of teams being interested in bidding on him that followed (even the Astros though they had a chance). If Darvish had failed with the Rangers, it’s more likely that the Yankees would have used the $22 million annual average salary for Tanaka on Ubaldo Jimenez or Matt Garza.

I’m all for the Tanaka signing and haven’t been this excited about a Yankees offseason in four years when they were coming off the 2009 championship and looking to repeat. But with question marks surrounding Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and the bullpen, I’m the most nervous about a Yankees offseason that I have been since 2008. The only question mark that isn’t being mentioned when it comes to analyzing the 2014 Yankees is Tanaka, who has $155 million coming to him despite having never thrown a pitch in the majors.

Everything I know about how Masahiro Tanaka pitches I learned from YouTube. I know as much about his “stuff” and “ability” as I do about The Scarlet Pimpernel (I read the Sparknotes for it freshman year of high school). I have read as much as I can about Tanaka and watched as many highlight videos as I could find of him, including one set to “What I Like About You” by The Romantics, but I have no idea how his 24-0, 1.27 season will translate to the majors. No one does. Everyone who has seen him pitch or has scouted Japanese baseball or has played in Japan or has been to Japan has an opinion on how he will do in the majors, but it doesn’t mean anything. Six years ago someone (someone I want to find and heckle) convinced the Yankees front office that it was a good idea to invest $46,000,194 in the first pitcher I have ever seen wear sunglasses on the mound. Tanaka won’t be Kei Igawa because no one can be that bad for that much money. (Please sit down, Carl Pavano.)

On Wednesday, on Mike Francesa’s show, Brian Cashman said, “Tanaka was arguably the best free agent available pitcher on the marketplace, so securing him creates a great deal of excitement as well as hope to land with Nova and Sabathia.”

Cashman is right. All we have right now is “excitement” and “hope” when it comes to the $155 million man who’s not being asked to slot into the Yankees rotation, but to keep it upright. I’m not ready to give Tanaka the potential “ace” status that so many other people are willing to even without knowing what will happen when he pitches in the majors.

For now, I’ll have to spend the next 10 weeks imagining how Tanaka will pitch for the Yankees because for now, it’s the best anyone can do.

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Blogs

Dec 24, 2013

My Christmas Wish List

I won’t be getting playoff football this year, so that means I will have to ask for some other things this Christmas.

When I put together my Christmas list for this year, I didn’t bother to ask for anything to do with the New York Football Giants. At 6-9, their season has been lost since their Week 12 loss to the Cowboys and this season marks the fourth time in five years the Giants won’t play in the postseason.

After reaching the playoffs in each of the first four years of Eli Manning’s career as the full-time starting quarterback (2005-08), the Giants’ lone playoff trip since their loss in the 2008 divisional round as the No. 1 seed was in 2011 when they won the Super Bowl. I’m very grateful for the two Super Bowls since 2007 and that Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin prevented Tom Brady and Bill Belichick from being 5-0 in the Super Bowl and football immortality as the best quarterback-coach combination in history. But at this time of the year with the Cowboys and Eagles playing for the NFC East title and the Bears, Packers, Panthers, Saints, Seahawks, 49ers, Cardinals, Patriots, Dolphins, Bengals, Ravens, Steelers, Colts, Broncos, Chiefs and Chargers all playing for something this Sunday, it’s not fun being on the outside looking in.

Yes, it’s another Week 17 of wondering what could have been, but I’m not going to let the Giants ruin Christmas since they already ruined October and November (the Yankees ruined September). And if I can’t have playoff football this year, which I can’t, then this is what I want.

Something That Resembles A Starting Rotation That Can Compete In the AL East
If it seems like I have asked for that before, it’s because I have. Back in 2010, I asked for the same exact thing after the Yankees lost out on Cliff Lee and I was staring at a potential rotation of CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett, Ivan Nova and at the time no one else. (That’s right, Phil Hughes, coming off an 18-win season, was going to be the Yankees’ No. 2 starter.) Thankfully Bartolo Colon decided to get some “help” and Freddy Garcia reinvented himself and the Yankees won 97 games and the AL East before the heart of the order went missing in a five-game series loss to the Tigers in the ALDS.

So far this offseason the Yankees have signed Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Brian Roberts and lost Robinson Cano to the Mariners. The November 2013 Yankees are better than the September 2013 Yankees were and are better in theory than the 2013 Yankees were ever going to be at their healthiest point. But the rotation is still a problem just like it was at this time last year and the year before that.

The best free-agent options for the rotation are Matt Garza, Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez, Bronson Arroyo, Paul Maholm and …. wait for it …. wait for it …. wait for it … A.J. Burnett! The only one of these six options I would be OK with would be Garza, but even then he’s going to command (and receive) a ridiculous contract in this market for someone who has a career .500 record (67-67), a 3.84 ERA and has started only 42 games over the last two years.

Brian Cashman said going into this winter that he was going to have to find 400 innings from somewhere and I don’t think the Yankees are going to sign one of the “top” free agents just because they are the best available right now like they would have in the past with Carl Pavano or Jaret Wright or Burnett. That means that “somewhere” will likely be from within the organization and some combination of the current favorites Michael Pineda, David Phelps and Adam Warren. Unless, the Yankees can give me the next thing on my list …

Cliff Lee
Yes, three years later I’m still asking for Cliff Lee. I don’t need to explain it. Just read this. But since Lee isn’t exactly realistic, I will ask for someone who is …

Masahiro Tanaka
I know nothing about Masahiro Tanaka other than from searching “Masahiro Tanaka” on YouTube and watching a video titled “Best of Mashahiro Tanaka” that is synced to what sounds like nearly four minutes of an instrumental version of a song by The Offspring. But I’m going to guess that the only knowledge most North American “experts” who talk about how good Tanaka is happens to be this same exact video. No one knows for sure how Tanaka’s Japanese success will translate to the majors and given the history of highly coveted Japanese pitchers coming to North America, there’s a better chance that Tanaka will be more like Daisuke Matsuzaka than Yu Darvish. But as long as he’s not Kei Igawa (I haven’t typed that name in so long), I’ll take him.

2013-14 Henrik Lundqvist To Be 2011-12 Henrik Lundqvist
Since signing his seven-year extension, Henrik Lundqvist is 2-4-2. I’m not sure if you want your franchise player, who you recently locked up through 2020-21 to be saying he “kind of expected” that a rookie backup would be starting in place of him for the second consecutive game and night. And after recording two wins and allowing just two goals combined in 48 hours, I’m not sure that Alain Vigneault is necessarily going to go back to Lundqvist over Cam Talbot on Friday night in Washington.

Lundqvist has admitted to over-anticipating plays and being jumpy and it has shown this season. While it’s hard to fault him for a five-goal loss to the Islanders on Friday night when you consider they were getting shorthanded breakaways and odd-man rushes left and right, he isn’t bailing out the team that way he used to. And because Lundqvist isn’t bailing out his team the way he used to, it brings me to the next thing I’m asking for …

A New Rangers Defense
I asked for this last because this is going to be the most unrealistic of them all. It would be like asking for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this year.

Since 2008-09, the Rangers’ problem has been scoring goals, but now with Lundvist struggling and having a down year so far, preventing goals is even more of a problem. And if Lundqvist is going to be more human-like than King-like this season, the Rangers aren’t going anywhere because they don’t have the defense (especially with Marc Staal injured) many thought they did. Through the first 46 percent of the season, Lundqvist hasn’t been bailing out the incompetence of the Rangers defense the way he has through his entire career. But rather than focus on his entire career, let’s focus on since 2011-12 when the current Rangers defensive core started to become the foundation of the defense.

We all know that I don’t think the 2011-12 Rangers were worthy of the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed or as close as “two wins away from the Stanley Cup Final” as they technically were. They earned the top seed and won two series in Game 7 before losing the Devils in six because of Henrik Lundqvist. Not because of their offense and certainly not because of their defense. Lundqvist made everyone believe Dan Girardi was an All-Star and that Michael Del Zotto could be trusted in his own zone the same way Sidney Crosby has made everyone believe Chris Kunitz is some kind of superstar despite his career season-high in goals being 26 and now as a linemate of Number 87, he has 20 goals in just 39 games.

Prior to Lundqvist signing an extension, there was a worrying sense that overpaying Lundqvist would cost the Rangers a chance at re-signing Girardi this offseason. But right now I’m not sure anyone would want to sign Girardi. When he’s not falling down or giving the puck away, he’s busy scoring goals against his team, a stat which he must lead the league in by at least 15.

As for Del Zotto, it’s pretty obvious his time with the Rangers is dwindling. When the Rangers beat the Maple Leafs on Monday night at the Garden, I watched Del Zotto intently as the Rangers saluted from center ice and wondered if Del Zotto was thinking it could be one of the last times he would salute the MSG crowd. If it is, the Rangers will be a better team.

Merry Christmas!

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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.”

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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.

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