What Would You Ask For If You Caught An Important Home Run Ball?

On Wednesday, Colin Curtis hit a memorable home run into the rightfield stands. It was memorable because he came on with an 0-2 count in a big spot, battled back to make the count 3-2 and then hit the home run. It was also memorable because it was his first Major League home run. It was "must see TV", as Curtis, a baby-faced cancer survivor hit it out of the park and rounded the bases with a huge, thrill-of-a-lifetime smile on his face. It is hard not to root for Curtis--who never was a great hitter even in the minors--and his dad was doing so back home. Curtis got a curtain call form the Yankees crowd and amazingly got the ball back from the fan who caught it.

There was a condition to getting it back, though. The fan who caught it exchanged the ball for a signed Derek Jeter and a signed A-Rod ball. So that brings me to my question: what would you ask for in exchange for a ball like this? Would you ask for anything different? Try to sell it? Just give it to the kid?

Personally, I would ask for a baseball signed by each of the "Core Four". I think that would be a reasonable trade for the first home run ball. But if whoever is in charge of making these trades (I'm guessing a Yankee representative) said that it was too much, I'd settle for a signed ball from Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. I already have a signed ball from Mark Teixeira and I'm not sure there's another player I would want as badly as those two. A-Rod is not a bad choice, however.

But there's another important ball that's about to head into the seats and it will probably land there this weekend: and that's A-Rod's 600th home run ball. The people at SeatGeek have done an awesome job at tracking where that ball will land and the expected profit from sitting in that seat from catching the ball. The best place to sit seems to be Section 136 so I'm sure there will be quite a few people heading there this weekend against the Royals (my vote is for tomorrow against Kyle Davies who A-Rod also hit #500). So let's say that the ball doesn't land in the bullpen or hit something (like the foul pole) and head back into play and you're the one who catches it--what do you do?

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News flash: the NHL has balls but no legs to stand on

The NHL announced last night that it rejected the Ilya Kovalchuk's agreed-upon 17-year, $102 million contract with the New Jersey Devils.  Its reason?  The record-setting deal "circumvented the Collective Bargaining Agreement."

Deadspin wrote a tongue-in-cheek blog post congratulating the NHL for "growing a pair" by putting the kabosh on the deal.  And truth be told, as Barry Petchesky wrote, the league's effort is admirable.  Clearly, the Devils purposely structured the contract to circumvent the CBA and minimize its annual salary cap hit.  Clever.  Let's take a look at what the Devils did, courtesy of Petchesky's handy math:

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It's official (sort of) -- cheerleading is NOT a sport

BRING IT ON, said Quinnipiac University and its proposed cheerleading squad, without a hint of irony.  Well, it has been brought, and it's now official: cheerleading is not a sport.  Not for Title IX purposes, anyway, said U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill in a 95-page opinion (!) released today in Bridgeport, Conn.

This development has generated a lot of news coverage, including local pubs such as the Hartford Courant and the Connecticut Post, as well as national outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, The Big Lead, and Jezebel.  And rightfully so.  The case deals with an important junction of law, sports, and women's rights.  (For those who don't know, Title IX is part of a 1973 federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in public educational programs.  Sports-wise, it is most often used to balance school spending on men's and women's sports.)

Here's the gist of the case.  In March 2009, Quinnipiac University decided to cut three sports teams: men's golf, men's outdoor track, and women's volleyball.  To remain in compliance with Title IX, Quinnipiac tried to replace women's volleyball with competitive cheerleading.  The ACLU (you were expecting someone else?) sued the school on behalf of 5 female volleyball players, arguing that Quinnipiac failed to provide equal opportunities for male and female athletes.  Judge Underhill determined that competitive cheerleading is not a collegiate sport for Title IX purposes.  Quinnipiac, therefore, is in violation of Title IX and now has 60 days to announce how it will comply with that law.  This amounts to a victory for the volleyball-playing plaintiffs (Underhill ordered the reinstatement of the women's volleyball team for the 2010-11 season) but a tears-inducing loss for cheerleaders.  As you can see, Kirsten Dunst is pissed.

Check out the two money quotes from Judge Underhill after the jump.

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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.

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Summer TV Review: Entourage Lacking Its Ammo

When Ari Gold's son showed up at breakfast with a water pistol, Ari said to his son, "Jews don't carry guns buddy, you know that." That was the closest that Entourage has come to show any bullets this season. I wanted to go through and do reviews for my summer shows (Entourage, Dexter, Mad Men, Weeds, Californication, Eastbound and Down, etc.), but Entourage is slowly inching towards moving off my summer watching list all together. The show has gone from being a fun (and funny) look at a boy's club in Los Angeles to being unimportant. Like an upper-middle class teenage girl moaning about her life problems because boys don't like her and her mom grounded her for her C- on her report card, the problems of the entourage are not as bad as they seem and they are the same issues that they dealt with a week ago--and it all comes off as whiny and,  mostly, unfunny. That's the worst part about the show right now: in an effort to "mature" as a show and as characters, the show has lost it's sprinkling of humor to the point where watching the show has become more of a routine than an enjoyable Sunday experience.

Maybe the issue is that I'm expecting too much from Entourage. As Steven Kurutz from the Wall Street Journal wrote yesterday after the episode named "Dramedy":

We’ve been forced to confront something unpleasant since we began recapping “Entourage:” it’s not a very smart show. Perhaps on some level we always knew this but were sufficiently distracted by the male fantasy aspects: the beautiful, willing women; the free-wheeling lifestyle celebrated by Vince and his buddies; the fact that male friends can hang out together without requiring three weeks of advance scheduling.

Kurutz points out quite correctly that by making the characters grow apart and mature, "we’re left with slight plots that illuminate shallow lives." Not only do the characters seem bored by this (Vince doesn't seem all that excited to be having an awesome party at his place and Johnny finally seems to be getting his career off the ground but seems ambivalent towards it), but the writers and casting seem bored as well.

The celebrity cameos which were fun and cool in the first few seasons are now ingrained into the plot and too self-referential at times to be enjoyable. The celebrities they get dryly recite lines that are sometimes not even comprehensible (sorry A.P., you're a great running back, but that was you this past week). The only person who ever seems to make it work is Bob Saget*--but even his "dirty old man" bit has been overplayed (and I can watch him do his The Aristocrats bit multiple times so that says a lot). Entourage must have ran out of celebrities for walk on rolls so now their auctioning them off for us regular folk. They bring on new talent who can't act (Dania Ramirez as Turtle's former employee Alex is an awful actress). The stars on the show even seem so bored that they're investing in Albany restaurants to keep their lives occupied. 

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The Yankee Clipper: Starting Pitching

I was all ready to write today's Yankee Clipper on the Yankees starting rotation but then this weekend happened. A.J. Burnett punched something and had to leave the game with cuts on his hand Saturday and then Sunday and Andy Pettitte left early yesterday with a groin strain that will keep him out at least the rest of the month. So maybe the Yankees outfield, infield and catcher/DH posts seemed easy in comparison to the status update I'll now do for their starters. But here we go into the starting rotation:

1. Andy Pettitte. Yesterday's game marked the first time that Pettitte didn't go 5 innings in a start this season and in those 18 starts, he's only given up more than 4 earned runs once (6 against the Rays in May). Pettitte came into yesterday 11-2 (league-leading .846 winning percentage) with a 2.70 ERA and I don't think it is much of a stretch to say that he's been the Yankees' most consistent starter so far this season. So then the starter that the Yankees have counted on so much this season (the team is 15-3 in games he starts) left early with a groin injury. Yankees' General Manager Brian Cashman estimates that Pettitte will be out 4-5 weeks, but the injury expert, Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus, thinks that may be overly cautious and thinks that Pettitte will be back the second of August. Before the injury, Pettitte was on pace for 20 wins and had his lowest American League ERA since 1997--but he was also on pace to throw 205 innings for the first time since 2007. Yankees fans remember that in 2008 Pettitte had arm troubles so if there is one silver lining for the Yankees, it is that Pettitte will be well-rested down the stretch. But that is of little consolation to the Yankees who are without the AL All-Star Pettitte for a while now. Pettitte has been exceptionally good in 2010 at limiting the amount of hits against him and decreasing the amount of walks he issues, though the former may be somewhat due to luck--Pettitte's .274 BABIP is well-below his career .314 and his 3.97 FIP and 4.06 xFIP reflects that fact. But Pettitte has produced results so far for the Yankees. According to FanGraphs, some of it is due to his cut fastball and curveball being more effective than they've been in years and ditching the slider (which was a bad pitch for him in 2009). The Yankees must be pretty upset right now they didn't get Cliff Lee and they hope that Andy is Dandy for them again soon. If the Yankees can get Pettitte back by the second week in August and have him for the stretch drive, I think they'd take that. Pettitte is usually his best in the second half and the Yankees need the 2001 ALCS MVP to defend their World Series title. Best Month: April 3-0, 2.12 ERA, 25 K, .602 OPS against.
2. A.J. Burnett. If the Yankees hadn't been winning the past two years, you have to imagine that people would be getting a bit more upset with Burnett's performance in Pinstripes. Last year he had an up-and-down season where he dominated at times but led the league in walks and wild pitches showing that other times he was all over the place. The only thing that Burnett is consistent in is his inconsistency. 2010 started out well for Burnett but has seen him dip to a losing record, an ERA pushing 5, and a Major League worst 12 hit batters. He's allowed no earned runs in 5 starts but he's also allowed 6 or more earned runs 6 times. Through the end of May, Burnett was 6-2 with a 3.28 ERA. Since, the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act has gone to the dark side as he's 1-6 with a 8.15 ERA and .965 OPS against in his past 8 starts. His last start ended early after his punching incident which he blamed on "falling" originally before being caught. I love the pies he brings and his swagger at times on the mound, but Burnett's lack of maturity at times is disheartening and his inability to compose himself is frustrating. Carroll writes about Burnett: "Burnett is certainly not the first pitcher to do something stupid. The meme of a pitcher hitting something with his pitching hand is so strong that it's a full scene in Bull Durham. Burnett cut his hands on a plexiglass lineup holder. Burnett is expected to be back for his next start, though there are some whispers that there could be a push-back if he doesn't make his throw day and show that the cuts won't be an issue." Not exactly what the Yankees were looking for from their #2 starter coming into the season. Burnett's problem is that when he's bad, he's really bad. In his wins, Burnett holds opposing hitters to a .191/.251/.231 line and in his losses it jumps to .363/.453/.701--meaning that in his losses, Burnett isn't even giving his team a good chance to win. Most disturbing for me about Burnett though is about in his results on the field where we've seen his K/9 drop from 9.56 in 2007 to 9.39 in 2006 to 8.48 in 2009 to only 6.71 this season. That's a big concern for the Yankees as Burnett's true value comes from his ability to finish guys off after he gets himself into jams. There is still some debate about whether this inability to gets misses with the bats are due to lost velocity or just not being able to locate the curveball as R.J. Anderson of FanGraphs suggested a month ago. But whatever is the culprit, this is not good news for the Yankees who are still on the hook for 3 more expensive years of Burnett after 2010. Best Month: April 3-0, 2.43 ERA, 20 K, 1.200 WHIP, .660 OPS against.

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View From the Seats: DMB at Citi Field

Wanted to post a picture from the Dave Matthews Band concert tonight at Citi Field. Dave played an awesome concert and it was really cool to be standing on the actual outfield at Citi. Very nice job turning Citi into a great music venue.

-Andrew

The Yankee Clipper: Catcher and Designated Hitter

So far in our post-All-Star Break Yankee Clipper series we've covered the Yankees' infield and outfield so far in 2010. Now let's take a moment and look at their catchers and DHs. I felt like this went together since Jorge Posada has spent so much time at DH this season. Let's take a look at how these two groups have performed and see if the Yankees may need to make some changes before the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline:

1. Jorge Posada. If you were to give Posada's year an overall grade, what would it be? I think it would have to be someplace in the B- range. Since Posada's 6th place MVP finish in 2007 (and subsequent contract extension), the Yankees backstop has missed quite a lot of time with injuries. He played in only 51 games in 2008, 111 games in 2009, but is on pace to play in 134 this season. Posada's value is almost solely in his bat behind the plate (his catching has regressed with age) so when he has to spend a lot of time at DH, it hurts his value somewhat. So far in 2010, Posada has played 36 games at catcher, 20 at DH and 1 at 1B. Those 20 games at DH blow past his previous high of 15 in 2008. Posada's .265/.373/.464 slash line is down from last year or 2007, but some of that could be attributed to trying to play through injuries. His power numbers have suffered as well as his pace of 27 doubles, 20 HR, and 65 RBI would be one of the poorest outputs of a full season in his entire career. According to FanGraphs, Posada is crushing fastballs and hitting sliders well, but any other pitch has been getting him. Posada's home-road splits have been quite pronounced this year as he's hitting exactly 300 OPS points higher in New Yankee Stadium (which reflects last year's numbers as well when he hit 253 points higher). He's also hitting lefties at a .914 OPS while hitting righties at only .784. Still, there is tremendous value in Posada's bat being in the lineup regardless of who is pitching or the location of the game and the bet here is that the Yankees will try to keep Posada in the lineup but well-rested through DH stints. The biggest problem with this is Posada is not a good career hitter as a DH. As a catcher, he's hit .280/.381/.489 for his career--and as a DH, he's at .220/.341/.352. Some players can't adjust to just playing half the game and a catcher such as Posada who is involved in every pitch thrown would seem to be the most affected by that. And 2010 has been no different as his OPS is 116 points lower when he DHs (which he's done 20 times, the most on the Yankees). If Posada can't find a way to make himself into an effective DH, the Yankees may have some troubles in 2010 and 2011. Best Month: April .310/.394/.638 with 5 HR and 12 RBI.
2. Francisco Cervelli. "The Cisco Kid" had a tremendous start to the season but has since fallen off. He's been pretty good behind the plate and looks like he has a good rapport with the pitchers, but his bat hasn't quite been keeping up. His .266/.338/.333 line and .305 wOBA looks pretty rough after a fast start. His 30 RBIs, however, is quite impressive. His caught stealing rate has also dipped a lot. Last year he threw out an unbelievable 43% of the runners who tried to steal. This year he's at 14%--which is worse than Posada's 19%. I'm not surprised to see Cervelli struggle with the bat, however. He never showed a great bat in the minors (except a brief stint in 2008 at AA) and there was little reason to think that he suddenly would have become a great hitter in the majors. But when Cervelli woke up on May 15th, he had a .415/.483/.528 line and 14 RBI. Since May 15th, he's hit .202/.277/.250 with 16 RBI. And the last month he's been dismal with a .167/.167/.250 line and 1 RBI. The problem really becomes with Cervelli how much Posada can catch. If Jorge can squat more in the second half, then Frankie's issues at catcher don't get shown as much because of the limited amount of PAs. But if Posada were to suffer another injury or will be spending more time at DH, the Yankees may be in trouble having Cervelli playing every day. Though, when you factor in that Jose Molina was a worse hitter, the Yankees are actually improved in 2010 at the backup backstop. Best Month: April .360/.448/.400.

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The Yankee Clipper: The Infield

Yesterday we looked at the Yankees' outfield at the All-Star Break. Today we'll check out the Yankees infield and see how they've been fairing so far in 2010. We'll leave out the catchers for now, but we'll make sure to get back to them later. We'll also examine any places of weaknesses to see where the Yankees could make some strikes before July 31st:

1. 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.
2. 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.

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The Yankee Clipper: The Outfield

As the All-Star break comes to a close, it feels like a good time to review the season so far. We'll try to roll a different one of these out for the next week reviewing the Yankees different positional groups to see how they've performed so far this season. We'll also be reviewing this to see where weaknesses are before the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline. Let's start out with the outfield:

1. Brett Gardner. One of my favorite players coming into this season has rewarded the Yankees' faith in making him an everyday player. He's hitting a robust .309/.396/.415 and at his current pace would finish the season with 10 HR and almost 50 SB. He's 10th in the AL in runs (56), 5th in OBP (.396), and 4th in SB (25). Baseball-Reference has his defense in left rated as tops in the American League. In my opinion, the best thing about his game is the amount of pitches he sees. He averages 4.58 P/PA which would be the highest average since Rickey Henderson had 4.55 in 1997 (and if you want to read up on the correlation of P/PA and production, I found this Hardball Times piece from 2005). Better yet, FanGraphs says that only 5 players in the Majors swing at less balls outside the strike zone than Gardner--then again, he's also swung at the least amount of pitches inside the strike zone in the Majors and overall meaning he only swings 31.3% of the time (but he makes contact at balls inside the strike zone a league-leading 98.1% of the time when he does swing). FanGraphs tracks Gardner's Wins Above Replacement number at 2.3 which already surpasses his 2009 value and puts him in the top 15 among American League outfielders and Baseball-Reference has Gardner's WAR at 3.4 with would be tied for 6th among all AL positional players (with Carl Crawford and Kevin Youkilis). Whether it's "Gardner Planted One" (for his Inside-the-Park home run), "Gardy Goes Yardy" (his regular home run call), or "Brett The Jet" (his stolen base call), Gardner has not only turned into an important Yankee regular, but he may be a reason the Yankees second-guess giving big money to Carl Crawford in the off-season. Best Month: June .383/.472/.533.
2. Nick Swisher. I will repeat: the Yankees acquired Nick Swisher for Wilson Betemit. Wow. Swisher came into camp this year in even better shape than last year and it has showed. The Yankees starting rightfielder is having his best Major League season with career highs at every slash (.298/.377/.524) as well as his Weighted On Base Average (wOBA) of .391 (only Robinson Cano has a better mark. He's projected to have 28 HR, 93 RBI and 72 XBH. And although UZR rates him as a negative defender, he's shown definite improvement in right with both his arm and his glove. His 2.7 WAR in both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference means that he's on pace to greatly surpass last year's output. And as shown by his recent All-Star Final Ballot selection, he's having a lot of fun doing it, bringing a loose atmosphere to the clubhouse that the Yankees needed after guys like Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi left. Swisher has moved around in the lineup a lot, hitting 2nd some games and anywhere from 4th to 8th in others--but wherever he's hit in the lineup, he's produced. Although he hasn't walked as much in 2010 (mostly due to who he's had hitting behind him), Swisher has still taken over 18% of his at bats to a full count and done damage when he's gotten there (.554 OBP). Swish has been extra Swishalicous in 2010 and the Yankees can control him for cheap through 2012 (according to Cot's Contracts, signed for bargains of  $6.75 M this year, $9 M in 2011 and a $10.25 M club option in 2012 with a $1 M buyout). Best Month: May .374/.441/.670 with 7 HR. Picture from the New York Daily News

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