- Alex Rodriguez. We'll work our way around the diamond but start first with A-Rod. In what's been his least controversial year (so far), A-Rod's bat hasn't been producing either. His .269/.345/.481 line would all be his worst mark since 1995 and his 27 home run pace would his worst since 1997 (and his first time not hitting 30 since then). The one thing that A-Rod is still doing offensively is driving in runs and his 70 RBI are 3rd in the American League--and puts him on pace for 133 which would be the 4th highest mark of his career. He's also hitting doubles and triples at a high pace and his projected total of 42 non-HR XBH would be his highest since 1997. Now that could mean that he's just had bad luck and some of his flyballs haven't left the park this year--and the numbers support that. Only 11.2% of A-Rod's flyballs have left the park which would be his lowest mark since 1995 and way under his 18.5% career mark and his BABIP of .281 is way under his career mark of .320. So what does this mean for the man who is about to hit 600 home runs? There's probably some sort of correction coming (especially since he's also been battling a bad hip). I would assume he ends the season with higher slash lines and his regular 30+ HR and 100+ RBI power numbers (though his steals have gone down from 24 in 2007 to 18 in 2008 to 14 in 2009 to only 2 so far in 2010). The weirdest part of A-Rod's stats: he hits righties at a much better clip (175 points higher in OPS) than he hits lefties. This mostly seems to be because his inability to hit lefties cutters and it is a small sample size--but it is strange (as was his All-Star Game exclusion). His UZR number is actually his best since 2005 so despite his bad hip, he's still about average defensively. The key for A-Rod is finding a good backup so the Yankees feel comfortable sitting or DH'ing him once every week to 10 days. Right now, I don't think they have confidence in any one of the backups (and we'll get to that later) and need to hope for more A-Bombs from A-Rod. Best Month: May .330/.408/.534 with 5 HR and 27 RBI.
- Derek Jeter. "El Capitan" had one of the best years of his career last season. This year has been a little rougher on the aging shortstop. A free agent in the off-season, he's at least made the Yankees think twice about giving him too many years. .274/.340/.392 would amazing all be the lowest marks of his entire career. He's on pace for 112 runs, 32 2B, 15 HR, 80 RBI and 17 SB so the production is still there, but he's certainly fallen off of his 2009 mark (and this is all with his HR/FB % the highest of his career). There is still hope for Jeter, though. He's typically a better second half player with his three best months of July, August and September (in ascending order). In many ways this season looks a lot like 2008 when Jeter had a horrible first half but raised his OPS 75 points in the second half. The Yankees need to keep their fingers crossed that Jeter can do the same in 2010 (or they need to move Brett Gardner to the leadoff spot to get a high OBP player in front of Jetes. You also hope that maybe playing for the memory of George Steinbrenner will propel Jeter to greatness in the second half of the season. Here's one big issue: Jeter can't hit righties. He's hitting .323/.372/.504 vs. lefties and an atrocious .248/.323/.332 vs. righties. If Jeter can turn that around, it will go a long way in helping his overall numbers. If not (and RotoGraphs thinks his days of being a .300 hitter may be behind him), the Yankees need to think long and hard about how many years to give an aging shortstop this off-season. Best Month: April .330/.354/.521 with 4 HR, 18 RBI and 3 SB.
- Robinson Cano. The one place that Joe Girardi hasn't had to worry about his infield is at second base where Cano has been having an MVP-type season. Well, until the last month where he's struggled mightily (.222/.304/.358 with just 2 HR). Overall, though, he ranks 5th in the American League in average (.336), 8th in slugging (.556), 7th in OPS (.944), 5th in runs (61), and 10th in RBI (58) and is on pace for 213 hits, 43 2B, 30 HR and 107 RBI. His .401 wOBA is 6th in the American League and highest on the Yankees and his 4.4 WAR is tied with Josh Hamilton for third in the AL (behind Carl Crawford and Justin Morneau). His defense has also been the excellent with his UZR 4th best at 2nd in Major League Baseball behind Chase Utley, Dustin Pedroia, and Orlando Hudson. The hope for Yankees fans is that whatever slump he's been in recently (and a bad back may be the culprit) is cured by the All-Star break and Cano goes back to mashing in the 2nd half. Cano is a streaky player, though, and cold streaks are bound to happen. You hope that when they come, though, Cano is able to fix them quickly. The coolest stat of his: only Albert Pujols (11 HR) has more homers vs. lefties than Cano. Pretty amazing for a guy who back in 2006 didn't hit a single home run against a lefty. Robinson Cano, don't ya know! Best Month: April .400/.436/.765 with 8 HR and 18 RBI.
- Mark Teixeira. No one was more upset about the All-Star break than Teixeira who had finally gotten hot for the first time all year. His last month he's hit .345/.408/.678 with 7 HR and 22 RBI after a dismal start. He's struggled a lot against righties with an OPS 188 points lower than against righties and that has certainly contributed to his issues. But he may also be suffering from some bad luck as his .262 BABIP (career low and well below his .305 career mark) and 14.3% HR/FB% (also career low and well below his 18.5% career mark) suggests. But Tex's recent hot streak has put him on a pace for 116 runs, 92 BB, 39 2B, 31 HR, and 110 RBI which would be a pretty solid season considering where he was a few weeks ago. Currently he's 9th in the AL in RBI (60), 6th in BB (50), and 4th in runs (63). Throughout Tex's slump, he gave the Yankees solid defense (even though UZR doesn't think so) and got on base. Now the Yankees need some more Tex Messages in the 2nd half of the season. You're on the Mark, Teixeira! Best Month: July .419/.480/.837 with 4 HR, 12 RBI so far.
- Juan Miranda / Ramiro Pena / Kevin Russo. These have been the Yankees infield backups so far in 2010. You wonder if they'll try to call up Eduardo Nunez at some point if the infield backups continue to struggle as they've been moving him around to different positions in the minors (like they did for Pena last season). We covered Russo yesterday and although the Yankees expected more from his bat, he hasn't produced there, but his ability to play LF, RF, 3B and 2B (and at least be average defensively at each) has made him a valuable bench player. Pena's bat has been horrible so far with a .195/.239/.207 line (though 10 RBI) in 90 PAs. He's a slick fielder with a good arm and can play almost any position on the diamond, but he needs to hit quite a bit better. Miranda has been the best hitter of the crew hitting .217/.294/.435 with 2 HR and 7 RBI in his 51 PAs so far for the big league club. Miranda provides the Yankees an alternative DH option to Marcus Thames on the left side, but his lack of versatility (can only really play 1B) means that he's probably not much more than a bench bat or a September call-up. Nick Johnson, Chad Huffman, Jorge Posada and Francisco Cervelli have all seen action in the Yankees infield this season as well.
Who would you like the Yankees to acquire to boost their infield? Is their any player that wasn't mentioned that would look good in Pinstripes? Are you worried about Jeter and A-Rod? Let us know in the comments below.
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Makes sense that Arod would have problems with left-handed pitchers, especially if they pitch him inside, which is his weak spot. But I do have to agree that he has made his share of nice plays this year. Not phenomenal plays, but he's certainly not fielding the position like someone with two bad hips. Like you said, I think the Yanks would love someone like Ty Wigginton to play third on the days where A Rod DHs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, like you said, his overall numbers are down but he's still driving in runs and doing it big situations. Whereas in years' past he would flounder during a spot to drive in the tying or go ahead run, he seems to have made a habit of always driving in that run and no longer adding onto big leads. No longer do we scrutinize the legitimacy of every single one of his hits/rbis. He's driven in 20 runs this year with runners in scoring position and two outs and only five of his home runs are solo shots.
As for Jeter, I visually see decreased bat speed and quickness at the plate. Also, if you notice, there's a lot movement when he stands at the plate. Kevin Long would be wise to go back and look at some video and try to suggest some suggestions. Also, I don't think we've seen him play nearly as well in the field as he did last year. Perhaps his body is just slowing down?
Despite Tex's slump for most of the first-half, I was never really that concerned, as much as I was frustrated at his lack of production. For whatever reason I don't think he was seeing the ball well and that led to mechanical flaws in his swing. He naturally has a big upper-cut in his swing so pitchers would just pound breaking balls and off speed pitches down and out of the zone, where he would swing and miss. He's back to taking those pitches and forcing the pitcher to bring the ball back up in the zone, where he has somehow reduced the upper-cut somewhat and is now driving the ball again. He's hot right now but I see a really hot September in store for Tex.
No doubt the bench could use some help. Toronto is beginning to unload players and deals to be made, regardless of their status as a division rival. I wouldn't be surprised to see Jose Molina back on the Yankees by September 1, although John Buck might be a better option. Not a huge fan of Jose Bautista and John McDonald is basically an older version of Ramiro Pena.
If the Yanks want another lefty power bat, which I doubt, both Lyle Overbay and Casey Kotchman could be options.
Jose Bautista is a good name to bring up. I mentioned him on the outfield side but forgot to do so again here. His right-handed bat and ability to play third and the corners of the outfield make him valuable to the 2010 Yankees. But my fear is that the Blue Jays will value him too high for the Yankees taste (especially since he's cheap). Because of that, Wiggy may be a better option
ReplyDeleteJay Jaffe brings up another good name in this article (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=11479): Alberto Callaspo may make sense if the Royals make him available.
ReplyDeleteAnd add Jhonny Peralta to the list of players the Yankees are looking at. I'm not a Peralta fan at all and hopefully this is just a false rumor: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/07/yankees-considering-jhonny-peralta.html
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