Somehow Stephen Drew is still a Yankee. To recognize his improbable roster spot, here’s a conversation on Facebook.
Today is August 18 and Stephen Drew is still a Yankee. I’m not sure why and I’m not sure how, but he is.
I decided to make a fake Facebook conversation with Drew announcing to his teammates that he could be designated for assignment any day now in hopes that he actually will be. (I have been waiting for him to be DFA’d since the day Brian Cashman inexplicably signed him to a one-year, $5 million deal.) Here it is.
CC Sabathia isn’t returning to the dominant starter he was and it’s hard to see him becoming an average starter at this point.
When the Yankees don’t win the World Series, which is something they have only done once since 2001, Hal Steinbrener, like his father, issues an apology to Yankees fans. Last season, following a second straight postseason-less year for the Yankees, Steinbrenner offered this apology to fans:
“I apologize. We did not do the job this year. We know what you expect of us, and we expect the same thing of ourselves.”
As the Yankees are currently constructed and as the way this season has gone, much like the last two, the goal for the Yankees each season has shifted from winning the World Series to just making the playoffs. And if the Yankees keep going the way they have with their unpredictable swings and lengthy winning and losing streaks, Steinbrenner will be apologizing for the sixth straight season for not bringing a championship to New York and for the third straight season for not even giving Yankees fans a single playoff game.
If Steinbrenner does hand out his now annual apology in the first week of October after Game 162, it will be as much of a joke as CC Sabathia has become. No one wants to hear that ownership and the front office “expect the same things” as the fans while they continue to send Sabathia to the mound every fifth (or now every sixth!) day as the league leader in earned runs and home runs allowed because of his salary, which is exactly why Sabathia pitched on Tuesday night against the Phillies and why he will pitch again next week against the Angels.
Joe Girardi admitted as much after Sabathia’s latest disaster (4.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HR) that the former ace will remain in the rotation because of money.
“He is a starter for us. That’s what he is and that’s what we are paying him to do and that is what he is going to do.”
Sabathia is making $23 millon this season. If he makes 34 starts, that’s $676,470.59 per start. If he makes 33 starts, that’s $696,969.68 per start. If he makes 32 starts, that’s $718,750 per start. So let’s call it $700,000 per start. That means on Tuesday night, Sabathia did the equivalent of showing up to work at noon, immediately going to lunch, returning to his desk to send one email followed by taking a one hour power nap, waking up and watching the first episode of Ballers on HBO GO at his desk, calling his boss fat and then leaving at 4:00. And he made $700,000 to do that.
It only get worse when it comes to the 34-year-old lefty, who will turn 35 in July. Next season, Sabathia’s salary increase to $25 million for the season, and when you consider his 2011 ERA (33 starts) was 3.00, his 2012 ERA (28 starts) was 3.38, his 2013 ERA (32 starts) was 4.78, his 2014 ERA (eight starts) was 5.28 and his 2015 ERA (15 starts) is 5.65, well, where is this going to go? It could go through the 2017 season, as Sabathia has a $25 million vesting option, which will vest if he doesn’t finish the 2016 season on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury or if he doesn’t spend more than 45 days in 2016 on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury or if he doesn’t make more than six relief appearances in 2016 because of a left shoulder injury. (There is a $5 million buyout if any of these things happen, so the Yankees will have to pay him $5 million to not pitch, which is better than $25 million to pitch and not be good). So the only way the Yankees are getting out of paying Sabathia $50 million in 2016 and 2017 is if he injures his left shoulder, and when he’s not even going five innings in starts, that’s not going to happen. The only way to not throw away $25 million in 2017 is for Girardi to start leaving Sabathia on the mound to throw 150-pitch complete games, or hope that he retires and walks away from the money, and that’s not happening. So if you think this season has been bad or 2014 and 2013 were bad, it’s not going to get better.
I have written several times that Sabathia needs to find a way to get outs without overpowering hitters the way his former teammate Andy Pettitte and supposed best friend Cliff Lee were able to do. With the Yankees in Houston, it was made known that Pettitte and Sabathia have talked frequently as Sabathia’s velocity and repertoire has changed, and if this is true, when are the changes going to take place, or are they ever? And do we know Sabathia and Pettitte are even talking about pitching when they talk? They could be talking about anything.
At this point, I treat every Sabathia start like a trip to the casino. If you plan on spending $500 at the casino then you’re going into it assuming you’re going to lose that $500 and anything you don’t lose or if you happen to end up winning, it’s an unexpected bonus. When Sabathia takes the mound, I assume the Yankees are going to lose, and if they aren’t blown out, he will certainly blow a lead they have given him at some point in the game. If he comes out in a tie game, with the Yankees winning, it’s the unexpected bonus. That’s not how it should work for starting pitcher making $23 million this season, $25 million next season and possibly another $25 million in 2017.
During the 2011 season, I said “Jorge Posada is like the aging family dog that just wanders around aimlessly and goes to the bathroom all over the place and just lies around and sleeps all day. You try to pretend like the end isn’t near and you try to remember the good times to get through the bad times, and once in a while the dog will do something to remind you of what it used to be, but it’s just momentary tease.” Well, that aging family dog has become Sabathia.
The next time Sabathia puts the Yankees in a hole before they even come up to bat for the first time, I will try to remember his first four seasons with the Yankees when he went 74-29 with a 3.22 ERA. The next time, he lets the 7-8-9 hitters get on base to start a rally, I will try to remember his win in Game 1 of the 2009 ALDS, his dominance over the Angels and winning the ALCS MVP in 2009 and his role in beating the Phillies in the 2009 World Series. The next time he can’t get through five innings, forcing the bullpen to be overused, I will try to remember his Game 5 win in the 2010 ALCS against the Rangers to save the season. And the next time he blows a three-run lead the inning following the Yankees taking that lead, I will try to remember his wins in Games 1 and 5 against the Orioles in the 2012 ALDS to get the Yankees out of the first round.
I will try to remember the good times CC Sabathia once gave us nearly every time he took the ball because they hardly happen anymore and they are only to going to become more rare. I wish there were more good times to come, but there aren’t.
The Yankees chose not to sign Yoan Moncada in what is the latest of a trend that should have people questioning what their plan for the future is.
This is not good. This. Is. Not. Good.
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.
Just over four years and two months ago, I started a column that same way. That column came after Cliff Lee chose the Phillies over the Yankees. Five months after Lee didn’t end up on the Yankees and cost them a trip to the 2010 World Series, the Yankees couldn’t get him again. For weeks, Yankees fans were told Lee would be a Yankee. The Yankees would offer the most money, the Yankees gave him the best chance at winning and his supposed best friend was CC Sabathia, who was a Yankee. But somehow Lee ended up in Philadelphia.
Last week I wrote, “Get Me Yoan Moncada on the Yankees“, which now is nothing more than a waste of 1,490 words explaining why the Yankees desperately need to sign the 19-year-old Cuban. This morning, I received a text from my girlfriend that said,”Moncada to the Red Sox” and my heart sank. It was the same feeling I had in December 2010 when Jon Heyman started reporting about a “mystery team” entering the Cliff Lee sweepstakes before it was leaked to be the Phillies.
Yoan Moncada on the Red Sox? I’m sure Eddie wouldn’t have minded if I just posted his lyrics to “Black” instead of taking the time to write this depressing column.
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
We, we, we, we, we belong together! Together!
It’s time to look back at how I felt that day when Lee chose the Phillies and compare it today with the Yankees choosing not to sign Moncada. And like that day, quotes from Michael Scott of The Office will take us through the decision because right now that is the person who most resembles our trusty GM and ownership.
Here we go. (Now playing: “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M.)
“But I always thought that the day that Steve Martin died would be the worst day of my life. I was wrong. It’s this.”
I didn’t think I would feel the same way I did on the day that Lee chose the Phillies over the Yankees, but I do. Actually, I feel worse. Moncada didn’t choose the Red Sox over the Yankees, the Yankees just didn’t choose him and that’s what hurts more. If the Yankees upped their offer, he would be a Yankee. He was going to go to the highest bidder and they were outbid. They didn’t have to do anything other than give him more money. But nowadays, the Yankees apparently don’t have money. It’s time to change the team’s marketing campaign from “Our history. Your tradition.” to “Our history. Your tradition. We’re poor.” (Now playing: “All Out Of Love” by Air Supply.)
“How do I feel about losing the sale? It’s like if Michael Phelps, came out of retirement, jumped in the pool, belly-flopped and drowned.”
In the movie Heavy Weights, at the demolished go-kart track at Camp Hope, Gerry has this exchange with Pat.
Gerry: “Did this place always stink this much?”
Pat: “No, Gerry. This place used to stink very little. In fact … it didn’t stink at all.”
Gerry: “Well, it does now.”
There was a time when a player of Moncada’s potential meant that reports that other teams like the Dodgers, Red Sox, Padres and Brewers being involved in talks for him were just noise. No one would have believed that any team other than the Yankees would land a player like Moncada. That’s no longer the case. The Yankees have become Camp Hope under Tony Perkis.
(Now playing: “Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness” by The Smashing Pumpkins.)
“My whole life, I believed that America was No. 1. That was the saying. Not, ‘America is No. 2.’ England is No. 2, and China should be like 8.”
The Red Sox have never signed a free agent the Yankees truly wanted until now. Yes, the Yankees wanted Curt Schilling back in the winter of 2003, but they didn’t really pursue him. They just figured they would get him and Schilling figured he would be a Yankee until the Red Sox front office flew to Schilling’s for Thanksgiving and changed his mind. This is the first time the Red Sox have gotten a free agent the Yankees wanted and it could have been avoided for a few million more dollars. The same kind of millions they wasted on Kei Igawa or Jaret Wright or A.J. Burnett or A.J. Burnett to pitch for the Pirates or any one of a number of bust free agents past their prime.
The Red Sox greatly (and thankfully) overpaid for Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was supposed to come to the majors with an unhittable “gyroball” that was going to mimick Roy Halladay’s “palmball” in EA Sports’ MVP Baseball 2005. J.D. Drew? The Yankees didn’t want him or have a need for him. Carl Crawford? Aside from a dinner with Brian Cashman, the Yankees were never really interested. Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval? The Yankees were never in on them. Whenever the Yankees have gone head-to-head in free agency with the Red Sox, they have won. Until now. (Now playing: “Every Breath You Take” by The Police.)
“Here’s the sitch. Two weeks ago, I was in the worst relationship of my life. She treated me poorly, we didn’t connect, I was miserable. Now, I am in the best relationship of my life, with the same woman. Love is a mystery.”
When spring training starts, I start to worry about the Yankees. But near the end of spring training and as Opening Day gets closer, I start to feel overconfident about the Yankees. I think it will be a great year, even if it won’t be, and I talk myself into believing they will win the World Series.
Over the last couple of weeks as I started to think about this season and how it hinges on the health of Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda and how at any moment I can look at Twitter and read that one of them is hurt and POOF! the season is gone, and I’m left sitting on my thumb trying to find something else to do this summer. But then with the signing of Moncada appearing imminent and with the Yankees holding private workouts twice in the last few days, I started to gain hope that the Yankees would have the Next Big Thing in baseball and a potential superstar. Now I’m sitting here again waiting to hear that Tanaka has elbow discomfort or that Pineda has one of any of a long list of injuries he has had or could endure and the summer will be ruined. (Now playing: “With Or Without You” by U2.)
“You know what? I had fun at prom. [pause] And no one said yes to that either.”
George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in 1973. In the 37 ½ years of his life that he ran the team (I know that number depends on when he technically stopped being in charge and you also have take away the years he was banned), no one except Greg Maddux turned down the Yankees, until Cliff Lee. Again, Yoan Moncada didn’t turn down the Yankees, the Yankees turned him down, but this is another example of life during the Hal (and maybe Hank?) Steinbrenner era.
The Yankees let the Mariners outbid them for homegrown start Robinson Cano. They didn’t care to pay to bring back their homegrown closer in his prime in David Robertson and he went to the White Sox. They let the Dodgers sign Brandon McCarthy and didn’t want to spend to enhance their rotation. They never even tried to get Jon Lester, Max Scherzer and James Shields. That’s right, the Yankees never tried to get any of the three best starting pitchers in a give free-agency year.
Sure, last year they went out and spent when they said they wouldn’t. But they got Masahiro Tanaka, who was Cy Young-worthy, but also whose right elbow is a ticking time bomb, overpaid for Jacoby Ellsbury, signed Carlons Beltran 10 years later than they should originally have and gave Brian McCann a five-year deal just in time to endure the catcher’s worst season of his career. (Now playing: “How’s It Going To Be” by Third Eye Blind.)
“You know what Toby, when the son of the deposed king of Nigeria e-mails you directly, asking for help, you help! His father ran the freaking country! OK?”
The only way I won’t feel like my dog got run over every time Moncada steps to the plate against the Yankees is if he becomes the Cuban position player version of Jose Contreras or if he is somehow lying about his age and is actually in his mid-20s right now. It was Theo Epstein in December 2002 who was trashing his hotel room after finding out Contreras had signed with the Yankees for four years, $32 million, so maybe this one will go the Yankees’ way? Or maybe Yoan Moncada is actually 29 years old?
1. Everyone who has ever seen a baseball seems to agree that Moncada is the real deal and could potentially be the best Cuban player to reach the majors yet.
2. The Yankees’ overspending in the international market means that they will not be allowed to offer an international free agent more than $300,000 for the next two years.
When you know about these two things, how do you NOT sign Moncada? If his agent tells you, the Red Sox offered $31 million, you answer back that you’re going to $35 million just to be safe. And if he tells you another team went to $35 million. You go to $40 million. That is, unless you have another potential future face of the franchise/middle-of-the-order hitter in the system, who would easily be the No. 1 pick if he were eligible for the draft. There’s a better chance A-Rod gets a standing ovation on Opening Day than there is that a player of that caliber is currently in the organization. And even if the Yankees believe they have a player like that, they also believed Eduardo Nunez would be the heir to Derek Jeter’s shortstop and were never willing to trade him in a deal for Cliff Lee or others. He ended up getting traded for a minor-leaguer because career minor-leaguer Yangerivs Solarte took his spot. (Now playing: “The Heart Of The Matter” by Don Henley.)
“There are ten rules of business that you need to learn. Number one: You need to play to win. But, you also have to … win, to play.”
I have no idea what the Yankees’ strategy is the for the future. Wait until A-Rod, Teixeira and Sabathia come off the books and then spend wildly again? In a few years when that happens, Moncada will be in the majors and hitting third for the Red Sox, and the Yankees will be trying to find a player like Moncada. If your strategy is to spend and spend and spend then you can’t take years off from spending. Especially when you’re the Yankees. Especially when you sold part of YES to FOX for an amount that could put every senior in high school in New York City through college. Especially when you’re charging $12 for watered-down Coors Lights in plastic cup. Especially when ticket prices keep going up and it costs roughly $19,000 to sit between the bases for a regular-season game on a Thursday night against the Astros.
The Yankees are like the guy at the blackjack table that stays with a 16 with the dealer showing a 7, but only sometimes. If you’re going to do something like that, then do it consistently. Don’t sign Kei Igawa because of Daisuke Matsuzaka and then not be in on Yu Darvish because Matsuzaka and Igawa sucked. Don’t say you’re not going to spend money because of the $189 million luxury tax threshold and then spend nearly $500 million on four free agents (Tanaka, Ellsbury, McCann, Beltran) because you missed the playoffs and the Red Sox won the World Series. Don’t not go out and try to get the best free agents (Lester, Scherzer, Shields, Moncada) at areas of need (starting pitching, good young talent) because the free agents you signed the year before had bad years.
That’s how small-market teams operate. They can’t afford to throw money around and have it not work out because then they don’t have any more money to throw. The Yankees aren’t a small-market team with financial restraints. They are the effing New York Yankees. It’s time they started to act like it again. (Now playing: “Un-break My Heart” by Toni Braxton.)
“I miss the feeling of knowing you did a good job because someone gives you proof of it. ‘Sir, you’re awesome, let me give you a plaque! What? A whole year has gone by? You need more proof? Here is a certificate.’ They stopped making plaques that year.”
The five-year grace period for the Yankees is over. The five years following a championship is over. If you believe in the grace period, then this year you are free to act accordingly if the Yankees don’t win the World Series.
The Yankees have won one World Series in the last 14 seasons. That one World Series is because of A-Rod. The same person that some Yankees fans seemingly hate and want to boo and the same person the Yankees are so upset with for taking performance-enhancing drugs. They are mad that he put illegal substances and likely some with unknown short-term and long-term side effects to try to stay healthy and play baseball better. Without A-Rod, the Yankees lose Game 2 of the 2009 ALDS and maybe Game 3 too. They lose Game 2 of the 2009 ALCS and maybe don’t come back in Game 3 of the 2009 World Series and trail that series 2-1.
Luckily for the Yankees, A-Rod is still a Yankee. Because this week when he is at spring training, all of the lazy media members can give their attention to him and ask questions to the Yankees about A-Rod rather than ask why they are suddenly poor and operating the way that they are. (Now playing: “The Flame” by Cheap Trick.)
“Andy Bernard. Pros: he’s classy. He gets me. He went to Cornell. I trust him. Cons: I don’t really trust him.”
I’m supposed to like Brian Cashman, but I don’t. It’s not because of this or that he told No. 2 to test the market if he didn’t like the Yankees’ offer, but they are just the icing on the cake of a mountain of problems in the last decade. I have no idea what Brian Cashman is going to do now. No one does. I don’t even know if Brian Cashman knows what he’s going to do.
I wrote that in the Cliff Lee column. Maybe this decision is on Cashman or on ownership or a combination of both, but it now applies to the entire untrustworthy front office.
There are Yankees fans that like to use the “If George were still alive …” rhetoric when things don’t go way they might have in different time, and those who don’t use that rhetoric make fun of those who do. But today, there’s nothing to make fun of. When George Steinbrenner was alive, the Yankees got the players they wanted. They didn’t always work out, but he was willing to pay to find out if they would. He was willing to make exuberant and at times reckless financial decisions to get the possible players for his team to give the Yankees the best possible chance to win. If a player or pitcher didn’t perform or live up to expectations, it didn’t deter him from investing in future players. He made sure the Yankees were the Yankees and every free agent and every team knew it. Now under his son (or sons), the Yankees are just another team.
If Moncada had signed with the Dodgers, it would have sucked, but at least he would be out of the league, out of the division, out of the rivalry and out of my life. But no, he signed in Boston. He signed with the one team he couldn’t sign and now if he is the player every scout and team seems to think he will be, I will be reminded of this day every time the Yankees play the Red Sox.
You know what happened the last time A-Rod used PEDs, lied about using them and then apologized? The Yankees won the World Series.
We have been here before with Alex Rodriguez. Six years ago, A-Rod apologized at spring training after telling Peter Gammons on ESPN that he used PEDs in 2001, 2002 and 2003 with Texas, but only after Selena Roberts of Sports Illustrated told everyone that the man who could pass PED-user Barry Bonds’ home-run record was in fact a PED user himself.
I never believed that A-Rod stopped using PEDs before he got to the Yankees. If he had used them for three seasons in Texas, in which he hit 156 home runs with 395 RBIs, why would he stop taking anything that he took in Texas (and possibly Seattle) now that he was headed for a big market? If A-Rod truly wanted to play in Boston or New York after having watched his best friend Derek Jeter win four World Series in his first eight years in the league and after having watched all the attention placed on the 2003 ALCS as he was sitting home as AL MVP of a last-place 71-91 team, he certainly wasn’t going to risk a drop in production as he headed for either of baseball’s hottest markets as the focal point of the rivalry. Jesse Spano wasn’t about to stop using caffeine pills as she made a run at Stanford while also being part of Hot Sundae as they tried to become the girl version of New Kids on the Block and A-Rod wasn’t about to stop using whatever made him the best hitter in the league as he made a run at becoming the best player ever.
I didn’t care that A-Rod used PEDs in Texas, and since I never believed he stopped using them when he became a Yankee, I didn’t care about that either. And I certainly don’t care that he used them again, lied, got caught lying and is now admitting to his lies. I don’t care that he tried to sue the Yankees and withdrew his lawsuits or that the Yankees might have to pay him $6 million when he hits his sixth home run of the season.
The only thing I care about is that A-Rod’s off-the-field actions have once again caused all Yankees-related discussion to not be about actual baseball, and that discussion isn’t ending any time soon. We still have nine days until pitchers and catchers report and 14 days until the full team reports to Tampa and once the team reports, A-Rod will have to give another apology directed to his teammates and fans, identical to the one he gave six spring trainings ago. In a city where the basketball teams suck and the mainstream media pretends hockey doesn’t exist until the playoffs, the timing of A-Rod meeting with the Yankees couldn’t be better. When it comes to winter and A-Rod, Opening Day can’t come soon enough.
I won’t boo A-Rod on Opening Day because of what he did and I won’t boo him if he hits his 660th home run at the Stadium to tie Willie Mays or if he hits his 661st there to pass him the same way I didn’t boo him when he hit 600th there in 2010. (I would say I didn’t boo him when he hit his 500th either, but back then his quest for the record wasn’t tainted.) I won’t boo A-Rod for using PEDs or chasing an already-tainted record. I care about the Yankees winning and a healthy and good A-Rod helps the Yankees win. (But I would boo him if he went 0-for-32 or consistently came up short in a late-and-close situation.)
In the movie Celtic Pride, after Daniel Stern’s character Mike O’Hara splits up with his wife again, he has this exchange with Dan Akroyd’s character Jimmy Flaherty.
Mike: Carol and I split up again.
Jimmy: Really?
Mike: Yes, what are you smiling about?
Jimmy: Last time you broke up, the Celtics won the championship.
Mike: That thought crossed my mind.
So what am I smiling about? Well, the last time A-Rod got caught using PEDs, lied about it and then had to apologize, the Yankees went 103-59 in the regular season and won the World Series and A-Rod went 19-for-52 (.365) and hit six home runs with 18 RBIs in the postseason.
That thought crossed my mind.
David Roberston went unused once again as Joe Girardi called upon Shawn Kelley to hand the Yankees’ their fourth straight loss in the middle of a playoff race.
Each off day for the Yankees feels like an eternity, but after the rain created an off day on Tuesday, I thought it would work in the team’s favor after a two-run lead became a blowout loss. Here we are again with another off day for the Yankees and the lingering feeling from Wednesday night isn’t going away and I’m not sure it’s going to.
Last Friday, I said:
I haven’t been this excited about the Yankees since the moment right before Nick Swisher misplayed a ball that became a Delmon Young doubled, which led to Derek Jeter breaking his ankle on the next play, just five pitches later.
As of now, I haven’t been this down on the Yankees since, well, what I said next last Friday:
But Swisher misplayed that ball, Jeter broke his ankle, I nearly broke down in tears in Section 230 at the Stadium and aimlessly wandered home.
After winning three of four against the Tigers, and playing well enough to have swept the series if Joe Girardi only knew Matt Daley wasn’t going to be a good idea, and then beating up on the Indians last Friday night, in my delusional Yankees mind, I thought that I prematurely wrote the column “Sign Me Up for the Second Wild Card” and thought they could make a real run at the Orioles and their then-five-game lead. But here I am, six days after beating the Indians and the Yankees haven’t won a game since. Back-to-back losses to the Indians at home followed by back-to-back blown-lead losses to the Orioles on the road and the Yankees have played themselves out of contention for the division and each night their chances at winning the second wild card fade a little more.
So yes, the last time I felt this bad about the Yankees was when Jeter got carried off the field and now the realization that Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS might have been the last time Jeter ever plays in the postseason and that the last Sunday in September in Boston might be the last time he ever plays baseball is a real possibility. The only way that Game 162 isn’t Jeter’s last game if the Yankees win at least 25 of their remaining 43 games, and even then that might not be enough.
On Wednesday night, Hal Steinbrenner tried to be his dad by saying his team “has to step it up and they know it,” in what was the emptiest of all empty gestures since everyone will be back and paid next season and everyone will keep their job even if the Yankees miss out on the postseason for the second consecutive year in a world where 33 percent of the league gets into the postseason. While Hal was busy meeting about who the next commissioner of baseball should be (and it should be anyone other than Tom Werner), his team was busy giving away another game to the first-place Orioles thanks to some more questionable decision making from Joe Girardi.
So once again, it was necessary to fill in for Michael Kay on my version of The Joe Girardi Show.
Why the sudden urgency to use Dellin Betances?
Someone must have told Girardi that last night was Game 119 of the season and there are now only 43 games left because I can’t think of another reason to explain his sudden urgency. The urgency that I have begged for and waited for all season came in the sixth inning when Girardi turned to Dellin Betances to get nine outs, something that he hasn’t done as a reliever and something that I’m happy he asked him to do. But why all of a sudden, Joe? Where was this urgency when you didn’t care about giving away games or playing with the mindset of losing battles to win the war even if you might not end up winning the war anyway? I’m ecstatic to know that you know not only what “urgency” means, but that you are now also aware of the date and how many games remain on the schedule.
Betances got the first seven of nine outs before giving up a solo home run to Jonathan Schoop. Schoop is hitting .217/.255/.349 with 11 home runs and 32 RBIs this season in 97 games. But against the Yankees, Schoop is hitting .379/.400/.862 with four home runs and 11 RBIs in just 29 at-bats. So of course the newest Yankee killer, and Orioles’ No. 8 hitter, was the one who blew Betances’ impressive outing to that point with a game-tying home run.
Maybe Girardi didn’t expect Betances to get all nine outs, but I have a hard time believing that he was going to ask Betances to get eight outs and then with Betances cruising with two outs and no one on in the eighth, that he would then call on David Robertson. So if Betances retires Schoop, he faces Nick Hundley. But Betances gives up the home run and Joe Girardi calls on Shawn Kelley to get the final two outs of the eighth inning instead of Robertson. So it’s Kelley in a now tied game, a game the Yankees had to win to have any hope of fighting for the division and to keep them from losing further ground in the second wild-card race.
Why did Shawn Kelley relieve Dellin Betances?
Before Joe Girardi calls on Shawn Kelley to relieve Dellin Betances, here is what we know about the situation: Shawn Kelley isn’t good at pitching. And really that’s all you need to know about the reliever you’re bringing in instead of the best reliever in your bullpen.
Kelley got Hundley to ground out before giving up a single to Markakis and walking Chris Davis. (Now would be a good time to bring in your best reliever, right? Wrong.) First-pitch slider to Adam Jones … ballgame over.
Kelley followed his horrendous outing by talking to the media and saying, “I think we’re looking more at the second wild-card spot. That’s a little bit better number, it’s a little more achievable at this point.”
There’s nothing quite like single-handedly destroying a game and then saying that the team is no longer playing for the division after losing to the team in the division you’re trying to catch because of your own performance.
Is David Robertson ever going to pitch again?
Today is Aug. 14. David Robertson last threw a pitch on Aug. 7 against the Tigers. He has pitched in four games in August and has thrown 57 pitches in 14 days, or 4.07 pitches per day for August. The Yankees have pitched 109 innings in August and Robertson has pitched four of those, or 3.7 percent of the Yankees’ pitched innings. Adam Warren, Chase Whitley, Shawn Kelley, David Huff and Esmil Rogers have all thrown as many or more innings than Robertson in August. But why would you want to use your best reliever more than once a week while fighting for your playoff life?
I guess Joe Girardi’s plan is to save Robertson’s arm for 2015 when he could be on a different team since he is a free agent at the end of the year, the way he saved Mariano Rivera’s arm so he could play catch with his kids for the rest of his life, or the way he is saving Derek Jeter, so he has enough energy to play on the beach and make love to Hannah Davis for the rest of his life. So while Shawn Kelley was busy destroying the Yankees’ chances at splitting two games in Baltimore, David Robertson was sitting in the bullpen, unused for the fifth game in a row.
This shouldn’t really be a surprise though when you look at the history of Girardi and the rest he has given Robertson. In 2011, David Robertson pitched 13 1/3 innings in September, appearing in only 13 of the Yankees’ 28 games. He threw 11 pitches in Game 161 on Sept. 27 to get some work and also be completely rested for the playoffs. But once the playoffs started, he continued to go unused, pitching just two innings in the five-game series loss to the Tigers. His first appearance in the series didn’t come until Game 3 on Oct. 3 (so he had five full days off). But guess who pitched in Games 1 and 2? Luis Ayala! And even Cory Wade got to pitch in Game 2 before Robertson. So Joe Girardi used Luis Ayala and Cory Wade before his rested, dominant, All-Star setup man in the playoffs. Why? Because playoff innings don’t matter the same way games in August apparently don’t matter. And with this bullpen management, games in September won’t matter either.