The Yankee Clipper: The Disappointing Five

On Monday we looked a five April surprises. Today, we'll look at five early-season disappointments. Now for a team that's off to as hot a start as the Yankees, there are few of them. And coming off of another series win, complaining may look petty. But there are some not-so-bright spots and it's worth our while to point them out. First, let's talk about another big series win with the big 3 of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte picking up big wins (and then Andy's injury), Joba getting two saves, and everyone chipping in for big hits. This was a team that was without Jorge Posada, without Mariano Rivera, without Curtis Granderson, and didn't have Joba at their disposal on Wednesday afternoon--and they still were able to sweep an Orioles team that had just swept the Red Sox, themselves. So impressive wins all around and hopefully some momentum coming into Boston this weekend. Without further ado, let's get to the 5 disappointments so far this season:

1. Nick Johnson - The #2 hitter hasn't exactly been "Nick the Stick" so far this season. His .171 average and .314 slugging are pretty putrid. But his OBP is amazingly .396 thanks to 24 walks (2nd in the AL) and leaves his wOBA at a manageable .339. So instead of "Nick the Stick" he's been more like Johnny Walker's motto of "Keep on Walking". Nick is also 3rd in the AL with 4.40 pitches per plate appearance. The problem for Johnson is that while his walks are really high--and he's walking exactly 25% of the time so far this season--his strikeout percentage is the highest of his career at 31.4%. Chris at TYU writes that Johnson may be facing a bit of bad luck and his current BAbip of .217 (his career mark is .309) seems to suggest that's the case. Since he's started growing his mustache, Johnson has hit a bit better. But the struggles don't stop at the Yankees' #2 hitter.
2. Mark Teixeira - Maybe we should get used to slow starts from Tex, but it still doesn't make it any less disappointing. He's hitting a cold .178/.325/.297 with a .295 wOBA, 2 HR (and only 8 XBH total for the guy who tied for the AL home run title last year). His one saving grace is his good defense, which, according to FanGraphs, helps to even out his WAR at ZERO. Yes, zero. His one saving grace on offense has been his 20 walks and his 4.32 pitches per plate appearance (which is a career-high pace and good for 8th in the AL). But if he doesn't start hitting soon, I doubt many will be offering him free passes in front of A-Rod. Speaking of the #4 hitter...
3. Alex Rodriguez - It's amazing that this team could be playing so well with the heart of their lineup at 2, 3 and 4 doing so poorly. Last year, with Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira and A-Rod having huge second halves, that part of the lineup carried the team. A-Rod didn't come back until about this time last year, so in some ways, it's just like 2009. A-Rod's done very little so far. He's actually played good defense according to UZR (1.1 but small sample size, of course) and his .253/.345/.414 line is not horrific...but he's not doing much of anything else. He has 2 HR, his ISO is at a career-low .162 and he has 1 stolen base to his name (he's averaged 20 SB a year with the Yankees). A-Rod has actually struck out at a lower rate than any other time in his career (15.2%) and part of his problems may be bad luck as well (.274 BAbip compared to a career mark of .321). But even with those facts, it's hard to ignore that the hardest hits that A-Rod has had have come from Dallas Braden. 
4. David Robertson - Yuck. I did not see this coming. Coming off an AL-high 13 K/9 and an impressive postseason, I thought Robertson was going to be a big part of their bullpen. But in 6.1 innings so far, Robertson has been a big part of helping the other team score runs. He has a 14.91 ERA, a WHIP of 2.363, H/9 of 18.5 and HR/9 of 4.3. The amazing part is that Robertson's biggest problem coming into this season seemed to be his walk rate (4.7 BB/9 last season) and he cut that down in almost half (2.8 BB/9 in 2010). But I guess those pitches that were formerly balls are now balls leaving the ballpark. Even his outs on Wednesday were screaming line drives. Robertson is a guy who looks like he could use a minor-league stint to get his issues worked out because right now, you can't even pitch this guy in garbage time. One sign that things may get better, while Robertson's ERA and FIP (8.13) are way, way too high, his 3.92 xFIP makes me believe that he may be able to come back down to earth if some of his fly balls stop leaving the park. Matt at Fack Youk thinks a lot of it has to do with bad luck.
5. Javy Vazquez - Just bad. Nothing else to say. Fack Youk's post said it best: "Entering play yesterday, the Yankees pitching was second in the AL at 3.56 R/G and third in ERA at 3.45. All that despite the well-documented problems with Javy Vazquez as well as some spotty relief work, particularly from David Robertson. In fact, as my friend and frequent commenter Gripp pointed out to me, Vazquez and DRob have combined to allow 38.9% of the Yankees earned runs while pitching just 12.5% of the innings." Ouch. Let's hope a start off helps Vazquez get back on track. WFAN's Sweeny Murti says "Jav a Little Patience"

There's one more for consideration here: Curtis Granderson. Although he's currently injured, Granderson wasn't doing much for the Yankees before he got hurt. At .211/.311/.375, Granderson wasn't turning into that iconic CF that Yankees fans were hoping for when he was acquired in the off-season. Worse, as ESPN's Rob Neyer points out, early returns on that deal are not good for the Yankees with Austin Jackson getting off to a monster (although unsustainable) start. So throw him up on the list. In fact, go to the right and vote on the list of the most disappointing Yankees so far.

But the Yankees head into Fenway Park tonight riding high. They have a 4-game winning streak and their 19-8 record and +55 run differential are both second to only the Rays. The quest for 28 continues this weekend against the hated Red Sox. Hughes vs. Beckett. Let's get ready to rummmmmblllleeee...and watch really, really long games.

Picture from USA Today