Yankee Pitching and Outfield

Two Yankee points while some press conference goes on...

 

1) Rob Neyer correctly points out the Yankees have sucked trying to find pitching this decade and hope this season will be better. Some of those guys were just not given the chance. Vazquez was driven out of town after a year. Loaiza was there for a couple of months. Contreras they probably gave up on too early (and in contrast, they may have held on to Kei Igawa WAY too long). Weaver seemed like the wrong personality for New York (and probably ditto with Vazquez and Contreras).

The Yankees also overcompensated a lot. They lost Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte and traded for Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez. They were upset they didn't get Curt Schilling and that his ketchup-stained sock got past them in 2004 so they went out and got Randy Johnson. Loaiza was acquiring more to dump Contreras than anything else. They could have picked up Jon Lieber's option but someone in the front office didn't want him and they signed Jaret Wright. They could have signed Ted Lilly but someone in the front office didn't want him so they went with Kei Igawa. They had a dearth of starting pitching prospects so they went and only drafter pitchers for a few years (and are now pretty barren on the even-close-to-major-league-ready position players).

The hope is that this season's acquisitions wasn't an overcompensation for missing out on Johan Santana last season and for having to start the likes of Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner for so many games last year (mostly because Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes were not quite ready for primetime). I don't think they are. The Yankees seemed to have a strategy and go about it. Their pitching lineup should be pretty dynamic and balanced. I can see a Sabathia, Wang, Burnett, Pettitte, Chamberlain rotation which would give you: power lefty, groundball righty, power righty, finesse lefty, and power righty. On paper, at least, that's a huge upgrade.

And the big thing is Cashman is admitting to know his team has a bad defense. That's why pitchers who rack up strikeouts are huge for the Yankees. I've been wrong before, but I think Cashman knows what he's doing...as long as AJ Burnett stays healthy.

 

2) Baseball Prospectus published their early line on spring training positional battles. This one involves the Yankees:

New York Yankees: Center Field, Right Field As they attempt to rebound from their first non-playoff season since 1993, the Yankees' biggest question mark looms in center field. After solid performances in '06 and '07, Melky Cabrera's horrid 2008 (.249/.301/.341) threw the job up for grabs, and while Triple-A farmhand Brett Gardner didn't clinch it, his .294/.333/.412 showing in 73 plate appearances after a mid-August recall may have given him a leg up. PECOTA doesn't see either as a slam dunk, but favors Gardner's blend of speed and OBP, forecasting a .253/.339/.351 showing with 32 steals (2.4 WARP), compared to Cabrera's forecast of .267/.326/.376/ and 10 steals (1.8 WARP). Meanwhile, in right field, the system is more sanguine about offseason acquisition Nick Swisher's ability to shake off a down year than it is about Xavier Nady living up to the career bests he set in all three triple-slash categories. It forecasts a .244/.353/.460 performance for Swisher, compared to .270/.323/.444 for Nady. A platoon arrangement limiting the latter to lefty-mashing would maximize the duo's production.

Before we get to my feelings, let's see what Jerry Crasnick wrote on ESPN.com about the Yankees' battles:

Johnny Damon, whose 118 OPS+ a year ago tied the best single-season mark of his career, will get the bulk of the left field at-bats, which leaves Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher in the mix in right and Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner competing for time in center. With the arrival of Mark Teixeira and expectations for a stronger season from Robinson Cano, the Yankees should have enough offense that they can emphasize defense and speed in center field. GM Brian Cashman explored the trade market for Swisher and Nady with no success, so manager Joe Girardi will have to find a way to keep them both sharp and productive. Hideki Matsui is in line for most of the DH at-bats, but Nady will see some time there against tough left-handers. And Teixeira will get periodic breaks at DH while Swisher fills in at first base.

I've debated the CF situation before on this blog and concluded that Melky has been really bad and seems to be going in the opposite direction. But because he's young and versatile (he could play all OF positions), we can't count him out. Damon started his career in much of the same way and has turned out to be quite good. My thought on right field (and the rest of the OF and DH position) is that the Yankees should keep the depth they have their and rotate guys in and out. Against a tough righty, maybe you take Nady out of there and put in Swisher. Against a tough lefty, you do the opposite and put Swisher in for Damon or Matusi. Swisher can probably get 400 ABs by getting some time in left, right, first (to spell Teixeira every once in a while) and DH. Let's be honest, with a few old guys on the Yanks, it's not like everyone will be healthy. We have no clue what to expect out of Matsui. So if you limit his ABs throughout the year, it'll keep him fresher late into the season. It'll also allow the Yankees a big bat off the bench late in games if someone like Molina, Melky, or Gardner comes up. And that is certainly something they've missed in recent years.