An Early Review of the Yankees 2010 Transactions

Yankees fans may have been spoiled by the 2009 season. After missing the 2008 playoffs, Yankees' General Manager Brian Cashman went to work on building the 2009 team and added many important pieces including Sergio Mitre, Damaso Marte (a resigning), Andy Pettitte (ditto) Nick Swisher (for basically nothing), A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira. The mid-season trades worked out as well as they acquired Romulo Sanchez (a possible 2010 September call-up if healthy) for a spare part, Eric Hinske for more spare parts, Jerry Hairston, Jr. for yet more spare parts, and then picked up Chad Gaudin and Freddy Guzman during the waiver wire period. Every one of those players contributed in one way or another (except for Sanchez) to the 2009 World Series winning team and Brian Cashman came away looking like a genius who turned everything he touched into gold.

Thames has been Cashman's best off-season move to date (NYDN)

The Midas Touch didn't translate as well to 2010. The Yankees traded Brian Bruney for a Rule 5 draft pick (Jamie Hoffmann). They traded Phil Coke, Austin Jackson and Ian Kennedy for Curtis Granderson. They signed Nick Johnson, traded and signed a ton of spare outfielders (Reid Gorecki, Greg Golson, Jason Pridie, Chad Huffman, etc.), traded for Javier Vazquez (and Boone Logan), signed Randy Winn, Royce Ring, Dustin Moseley, Marcus Thames, Chad Moeller, and Chan Ho Park. Since the season started they resigned Chad Gaudin, signed Eric Bruntlett and Chad Tracy (the latter which has been released), and traded for Austin Kearns, Lance Berkman and Kerry Wood.

While the 2010 mid-season moves have worked out to date, the off-season moves have not. Hoffmann lasted until March and then they returned him to the Dodgers (despite rumors he would be traded back, he's still with Los Angeles). Phil Coke, Ian Kennedy and Austin Jackson have all excelled for their new teams, and Granderson has been a huge disappointment for the Yankees*. Nick Johnson (injuries) and Javier Vazquez (ineffectiveness) both have been huge disasters in their return to the Yankees, and although Michael Dunn for Boone Logan is a wash and I don't think Melky Cabrera truly had a place on this team, Arodys Vizcaino (the prospect traded in the deal), dominated the Sally League going 9-3 with a 2.34 ERA, a WHIP under 1, and a SO/BB ratio of 7.33 before being promoted (and remains one of Atlanta's best prospects).

Read more>>

The Yankee Clipper: Relief Pitching

I feel like "relief" should be in quotes to emphasize the fact that the Yankees bullpen crew hasn't exactly been "lights out". So maybe the Yankees outfield, infield and catcher/DH posts seemed easy in comparison to the starters, but the relievers--oh boy. It's praying for 6-7 innings from the starters, hold your breath for an inning or two and then TGFMR (which of course stands for Thank God For Mariano Rivera). The trade deadline is fast approaching but the the relievers available look ugly at best. Let's take a look at the guys the Yankees currently have:

1. Mariano Rivera. Where would the Yankees be without The Great Mariano? Worse, where will they be eventually without Rivera? Since Mo became the Yankees full-time closer in 1997, the Yankees have had 30 different relievers save games--Mo has 541 and there are only three guys who have more than 7 (Ramiro Mendoza at 16, Mike Stanton at 15, and Steve Karsay at 12). But while he's still here, let's appreciate the man. So far into 2010, Rivera is 3-1 with a 1.01 ERA, and 20 saves (in 22 chances). Since May 24th when Rivera gave up a run against the Mets, Mo has pitched in 21 games, gone 3-0 with 12 saves, has an ERA of 0.40 and the line against him is .122/.167/.135. Oh, and he's supposedly doing this all with multiple injuries and at age 40. His WHIP is 0.645, his H/9 is 4.3 and his ERA + is 405 which are all career bests. Alas, some correction is probably in order. He's held opposing batters to a .194 BABIP which is pretty hard to keep up even for Mariano (his career mark is .274). He's allowed 3.1% of his flyballs to leave the park which is well-below his mark of 6.4% since 2002 or his 15.2% of 2009. And so while his ERA is sitting at 1.01 , his FIP is 2.25 and his xFIP is 3.11. The correction may  not be that large, however; Rivera has outperformed his FIP every season since he's been closer except 2001 and 2007. Rivera's strikeouts are a tick down (first time he hasn't struck out a batter per inning since 2006), but everything else is right on par. One interesting development for Rivera: while everyone thinks that sending a righty up is better than a lefty, lefties are actually hitting Rivera slightly better in 2010 (it's all relative) with a .471 OPS compared to a .336 OPS vs righties. And get this: Rivera's SO:BB ratio vs. righties is 23 to 1 and he's allowed zero runs vs. righties in 2010. Let's hope Rivera--the 1999 World Series MVP and 2003 ALCS MVP--continues to play at this level for a very long time. Best Month: June 2-0, 7 saves, zero runs allowed in 11 games, 4 hits, 11.1 K/9, 0.462 WHIP, 8.00 SO/BB.
2. Joba Chamberlain. My "Joba Rules" t-shirt is slowly becoming obsolete. ESPN's Rob Neyer wrote today about Chamberlain's luck and you hope that those numbers turn around. I agree with Neyer that we won't ever see the Joba we saw in 2007. But I'll take (and most Yankees fans would agree) the Joba who pitched in 2008. The Yankees jerked around Joba for so long and wonder now why he's struggling--is it really any surprise to anyone. Some have suggested trading him (horrible idea considering his low trade value), moving him to the rotation (fine idea but he's not stretched out right now), or sending him down to the minors (a kick in the ass, sure, but what else would this accomplish except put another hole the Yankees bullpen?). This bit from Bloomberg Sports is why Yankees fans are frustrated with Joba: " The big right-hander's ERA stands at 5.77, his WHIP's at 1.51, with opponents now hitting a robust .290 against him. He has not had more than three consecutive scoreless appearances since the middle of May. Of the 11 appearances in which he has allowed a run this year, he has allowed either 3 or 4 runs in five of them, a trend that makes it all but impossible for him to consistently lower his ERA." Despite all that the article (and Neyer's as well) suggests what I suggest with the Yankees and Yankee fans when it comes to Joba: patience. He's struck out almost 10 batters per 9 and walked less than the previous two years. He's not been victim to the longball, but he's just gotten hit all around the park. Eventually, some of those balls are going to get caught. And when it does, I really think that Joba's numbers will fit perfectly in line with 2008 where all his peripherals looked exactly the same but instead of a 5.77 ERA, he had a 2.60 ERA. The road right now has been quite bumpy, but hopefully the Yankees don't panic and acquire an 8th inning guy (or trade Joba), when he may possess exactly what they need to bridge to Mo. The big thing for Joba (in my opinion): stop making the first pitch so hittable. It's important to get first pitch strikes (and hitters hit only .170 against Joba when he gets ahead of them) but batters are hitting .611 against Joba on the first pitch, a sure sign that they're just waiting on fastballs to drive. It's tough right now (as as the New York Daily News wrote, Girardi has put Joba on notice) but I have some faith Joba (2nd in the league in holds) will yet turn it around. Best Month: April 3.48 ERA in 11 games, 1.258 WHIP, 8.7 K/9, 3.33 SO/BB.

Read more>>

The Yankee Clipper: Yankees Take Series #1

It's early, but a series win is always sweet--especially against the Red Sox. Let's take a look at how we got there:

1. The Grandy Man Can. What a shot! That was the first extra-inning homer Jonathan Papelbon had ever allowed and the second extra-inning homer Curtis Granderson ever hit according to Baseball-Reference. Also from B-R, Granderson has 104 career home runs and 54 of those have come with no one on base and no one out. This one he'll remember for a while. After making the last out against Papelbum in Game 1 of the series, he put the dagger in him in Game 3. Sweet revenge for the Grandy Man (who got sung to by John Sterling). Let's see him do in in October now. 2 HR down, how many to go? Curtis!
2. This one comes from ESPN on a very odd record set: "The Yankees set a record for the modern era with their 17th straight win in regular-season games that were tied after seven innings. They equaled the 1906 New York Giants at 16 on Tuesday night." So if you're tied after 7 innings, they have won 17 straight and if you're losing after 7 innings they have Joba and Mo. You probably need the lead.
3. Well they would have had the lead had Daniel Bard not blown it in the 7th. Daniel Bard continues to struggle against the Yankees. They seem to have his number. In 2009, Bard gave up 5 home runs total--but 4 of those were served up to the Yankees. Last night, on an 0-2 count to Nick Swisher, Bard left one over the plate and Swischalicous smacked it into rightfield which scored...
4. ...Jorge Posada, who may be one of the worst baserunners I've ever seen. I know that he's slow, but jeez. The throw actually beat him there and his belly flop of a slide left him scrambling to get back home to touch up. Jorge does a lot of things well, but running the bases is certainly not one of them.
5. Chan Ho Park's redemption. It was a series of ups and downs. Granderson made the final out of one game and got the game-winning hit of another. Papelbon was lights-out in game 1 and got hit hard last night. Joba wasn't good in game 1 and was fist pumping in Game 2. It was "Chan Ho, and away we go" (H/T Calter) in Game 1 and last night it was 3 innings of redemption for someone who could be a very important piece in the Yankees bullpen.

Final thought: It's only three games into the season, but this was a really good start. This was typical Yanks-Sox. Either team could have easily won 1, 2 or 3 games in this series. The bullpens were tested. And the Yankees came out with two wins. On to Tampa Bay.

Update: Didn't see this before I posted. Maybe Joe West wouldn't be so mad if he would of, you know, called strikes. Others agree.

Yankees Over/Under: Bullpen, Bench and Coaching Staff

This week we looked at the New York Yankees Starting 9 and their Starting Rotation but now it's time to do the over/unders for their bullpen, coaches, and bench. I'm going to put out the list but I want you to chime in within the comments about where you would bet these will fall in 2010 (again, with details about those numbers in parentheses):

1. Mariano Rivera - 73 regular season innings pitched (his innings have dropped every year since 2004 but 73 was the average amount over the past 6 years)
2. Phil Hughes relief appearances - Joba Chamberlain relief appearances - 0 (so if you subtract one form the other, what will you get? For their careers, this number would be -6)
3. David Robertson - 10 K/9 (he led the league with 13 K/9 last season and has 12 K/9 over his young career)
4. Alfredo Aceves - 80.2 innings of relief (his relief total from 2009)
5. Chan Ho Park - 4.35 ERA (his career ERA)
6. Mark Melancon - 22 games (he had 13 last season)
7. Damaso Marte PA vs. LHB - Damaso Marte PA vs. RHB - 0 (will he be truly used as a lefty specialist in 2010?)
8. Randy Winn - 10 stolen bases (he's averaged 17 a season over his career)
9. Marcus Thames - 7 HR (his low for a season while in Detroit)
10. Francisco Cervelli - 101 PA (his total from last season)

And now a few non-stat related ones:

11. Nick Swisher - 0.5 appearances on the mound (he had a memorable inning in April last season)
12. Francisco Cervelli - 0.5 concussions (let's hope for under here)
13. Joe Girardi - 50 TV shots of him during 2010 looking into his infamous binder
14. Brian Cashman - 3 trades during the season
15. Rob Thomson - 7 runners thrown out at home

Put your thoughts in the comments below. I'll tally up the results and we'll see how we did in October. Thanks for playing!

Picture from the New York Times

The Good and The Bad of the Chan Ho Park Signing

For those that missed it, The New York Post's Joel Sherman reported this morning that the Yankees have signed Chan Ho Park to a $1.2 million contract with another $300,000 in incentives. I have to say that I'm a bit surprised by this signing considering it looked like the Yankees had enough candidates for their bullpen. But as with every signing, there are good sides and bad sides to it. Let's explore:

The Good:

Chan Ho Park showed last season that he was a much better pitcher as a reliever than a starter (and according to Sherman, Park is not in contention for the Yankees' 5th starter job). Via Baseball-Reference, in Park's 7 starts, he had a 7.29 ERA, 1.740 WHIP, 5.7 SO/9 and 1.24 SO/BB. In his 38 games out of the bullpen, Park had a 2.52 ERA, 1.180 WHIP, 9.4 SO/9 and 3.25 SO/BB. Park was even better in the World Series against the Yankees, pitching 3.1 innings in 4 games, and giving up 2 hits, no runs and striking out 3. The Phillies also acquired Park after seeing him in the playoffs as he had pitched for Joe Torre's Dodgers in the 2008 playoffs against the Phillies.

It seems that performance put Park on the Yankees radar. And when his price continued to fall (Park had rejected a $3.25 million offer to stay with the Phillies), the Yankees pounced. As Sherman points out, the Yankees traded away Brian Bruney because they believed he would make too much money in arbitration. Well Bruney made $1.5 M and all that Park is guaranteed is $1.2 M. And I much rather have Park than Bruney. Especially considering that the Yankees have lost their entire Asian presence this season with Hideki Matsui in Anaheim and Chien-Ming Wang in Washington.

From Sherman: "As a reliever, the Yankees noticed, Park’s stuff played up; his fastball reached 96 mph and his curveball remained crisp. The Yanks also liked that Park had a reputation as a good teammate who works hard to stay in shape." (Whoa, someone pitched better as a reliever than a starter...could this be a pattern?) This could mean the Yankees will feel comfortable sending the loser of the Joba/Hughes 5th starter battle to the minors instead of the bullpen, but Sherman doesn't think so. Although Park's overall ERA last season was 4.43, FanGraphs has his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) at 3.49. Park's FIP as a relief pitcher in 2009 was 2.10 and as FanGraphs' Dave Cameron points out, Park has been remarkably effective. Park's value last year was 1.5 WAR or $7.0 M. It's a pretty low-cost obligation for a Yankees team that is being built for October. 

The Bad:

Read more>>