Friday, April 12, 2013
Orioles (5-4) @ Yankees (4-4),Friday, April 12, 2013, 7:05pm
BAL: Miguel Gonzalez (29, RHP, 1-0, 2.84) vs. NYY: CC Sabathia (32, LHP, 1-1, 3.00)
Lineups
Baltimore
Nick Markakis RF
Manny Machado 3B
Adam Jones CF
Matt Wieters C
Chris Davis 1B
J.J. Hardy SS
Nolan Reimold LF
Steve Pearce DH
Alexi Casilla 2B
The Championship Caliber New York Yankees
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Travis Hafner DH
Vernon Wells LF
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Francisco Cervelli C
You know what’d be great? If it STOPPED RAINING.
Miguel Gonzalez came out of nowhere last year to put up a 3.25 ERA for the Orioles last season. Well, it was actually not nowhere. It was actually Boston’s farm system in 2011 where he put up a 5.40 ERA between A+, AA and AAA. He threw 44.2 splendid innings for Baltimore’s AAA team in 2012 (1.61 ERA) before getting called up. He has been even more dominant this year with a 2.84 ERA and now has a 3.22 MLB ERA in his career. If that sounds impressive, it should, because it’s 0.38 runs better than CC Sabathia’s, who’s 4 years older and was the most expensive free agent pitcher ever signed.
There are some who may point to things like Gonzalez’s career FIP of 4.29 and career xFIP of 4.59 as indicators that he’s not really all that good and is likely to regress. We have a word for those people. Haters. Haters gonna hate.
Let’s go back to ERA since we are not haters here. Gonzalez is four years younger and according to ERA he is better than the most expensive free agent pitcher in MLB history. Pretty impressive, and it does not bode well for tonight’s game for the Yankees who in a bizarre coincidence will actually be short-sightedly starting the older and worse Sabathia against him.
You can generally expect the younger and better player/team/etc., to win a game, so set your expectations for tonight accordingly. I’m not saying upsets can’t happen. It’s just not that likely.
NY Times: Suzuki Facing Less Playing Time
CLEVELAND — Since becoming a regular with the Orix Blue Wave in 1994, Ichiro Suzuki has never worried about playing time. If he was healthy, he was in the starting lineup — whether the game was being played in Japan or the United States.
Last season, however, Suzuki was traded to the Yankees, and he occasionally had to sit against left-handed pitchers.
But on Wednesday night, Suzuki was left out of the lineup against a right-handed pitcher, Corey Kluber, an occurrence as unusual as his .185 batting average.
“Obviously, I don’t feel good about it,” Suzuki said through his interpreter. “If it felt good, then you don’t deserve to be here. Everyone wants to play, and that is what makes players into major leaguers.”
Suzuki hit a home run in Tuesday’s game, his first of the season. But he had only four other hits on the young season, and Manager Joe Girardi wanted to give him a rest. At the time, Girardi also stated his interest in getting at-bats for Brennan Boesch, suggesting Boesch might also play Thursday.
He’s looked very good so far, but I’m not sold on the resurgence of Vernon Wells just yet. Similarly I’m not ready to write off Ichiro after 30 PA. When Curtis Granderson comes back, there’s a pretty good chance that Ichiro will be the fourth best outfielder on the roster. That being said, the Yankees can probably sit one of Suzuki/Granderson or Brett Gardner every time the team faces a lefty to get Wells in the lineup, which will be roughly 35% of the time. Here are the projected wOBA platoon splits for the five outfielders that are on the roster now plus Granderson in CAIRO.
| Player | vsL | vsR |
| Ichiro Suzuki | .315 | .320 |
| Vernon Wells | .313 | .290 |
| Brett Gardner | .297 | .323 |
| Curtis Granderson | .289 | .344 |
| Brennan Boesch | .288 | .300 |
Despite being a lefty, Ichiro actually projects to hit the best against left-handed pitching of any of them. But Wells projects as the second best and should probably start in some capacity in just about every game against a lefty. Boesch is probably the odd man out since he has an option year remaining and he may be better served getting regular playing time anyway.
Obviously defense changes the calculations here, although you can sub in Gardner for defense late in games when he doesn’t start.
I was ok with bringing Ichiro back for one year. I really don’t understand why the “top of the Yankee hierarchy” was so insistent on signing him for two years but then again I think the top of the Yankee hierarchy are a bunch of buffoons so I shouldn’t bother trying to understand what they do.
Any way, the Yankees will hopefully end up playing the best players most frequently by the end of the year. Time will tell who they will be.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Yankees (4-4) @ Indians (3-5), Thursday, April 11, 2013, 7:05pm
NYY:Phil Hughes (27, RHP, 0-1, 6.75) vs. CLE:Zach McAllister (25, RHP, 0-1, 3.00)
Lineups
The Championship Caliber New York Yankees
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Travis Hafner DH
Vernon Wells LF
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Francisco Cervelli C
Cleveland
Michael Bourn CF
Asdrubal Cabrera SS
Jason Kipnis 2B
Nick Swisher 1B
Michael Brantley LF
Mark Reynolds DH
Lonnie Chisenhall 3B
Yan Gomes C
Drew Stubbs RF
I am not sure why we don’t just have the same lineups from yesterday’s rain out, but Boesch and Stewart are back on the bench. I don’t think this one’s getting played either, so I’m not going to expend any effort on a snarky intro. I guess I’ll make one snide remark about how Zach McAllister looks to follow in Ian Kennedy’s footsteps as another Yankee pitching prospect who ends up better than the guys they kept.
WaPo: Yankees closer Rivera meets with Indians drummer, employees to say thanks on final visit
CLEVELAND — Before Mariano Rivera answered questions from Indians employees he wanted to personally thank on his last visit to Progressive Field, the greatest closer in history had a request of his own.
“Where’s the drummer?” Rivera asked.
He wanted to finally meet the man who has kept a steady sports beat in Cleveland for 40 years, the guy sitting at the top of the bleachers year after year pounding away to spark a rally.
“Right here,” John Adams said, raising one of his drum sticks so the New York legend could see him in the back of the room.
“Hey, you the man,” Rivera said. “Being loyal, being there day in and day out. I really respect that.”
“Thank you,” Rivera said.
During his final trip around the majors, Rivera, who is retiring at the end of this, his 19th season with the Yankees, is taking time to visit with team employees who work behind the scenes. On Wednesday, Rivera met with 25 Indians employees — ushers, ticket salespersons, custodians and others — for 30 minutes before the Yankees played the Indians.
They came to say goodbye to Rivera, who answered questions, posed for pictures and handed out autographed baseballs to Clevelanders who seemed in awe of the classy gesture.
I think this is a really cool thing that Mo is doing.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Yankees (4-4) @ Indians (4-4), Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 7:05pm
NYY:Ivan Nova (26, RHP, 0-1, 7.71) vs. CLE: Corey Kluber (27, RHP, 0-0, undef)
Lineups
The Championship Caliber New York Yankees
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Travis Hafner DH
Vernon Wells LF
Brennan Boesch RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Chris Stewart C
Cleveland
Michael Bourn CF
Asdrubal Cabrera SS
Jason Kipnis 2B
Nick Swisher 1B
Michael Brantley LF
Mark Reynolds DH
Lonnie Chisenhall 3B
Yan Gomes C
Drew Stubbs RF
After pulling shocking upsets against Ubaldo Jimenez and Carlos Carrasco, the Yankees draw Corey Kluber. You may be thinking, who? Yeah, that was my first thought too. So I did some research on Mr. Kluber. He attended Stetson University, where as a member of the Hatters(really) he went 12-2 with a 2.05 ERA in his junior season before going pro. He’s dominated the minors with an ERA well under 5 and he’s averaged 92.5 mph with his fastball in his brief major league career.
Although he has a career MLB ERA of 5.35 in 67.1 innings, his xFIP is 4.08, which means he may be better than he’s appeared to be so far. Will that be enough to shut down the Yankees? It probably doesn’t have to be since his opponent is Ivan Nova, who gives up extra-base hits like they are candy on Halloween. Kluber may give up a few runs, but I can guarantee you that Nova will give up at least twice as many.
But there is good news. There’s a very high probability that this game will be rained out.
NJ.com: Yankees re-sign lefty reliever Clay Rapada to minor-league deal
The Yankees re-signed lefty specialist Clay Rapada to a minor-league deal, a little more than a week after removing him from their 40-man roster. He’s headed to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre.
According to MLB rules, Rapada can’t be brought to the majors until May 3. Assuming he’s healthy by then you have to figure the obvious 40 man roster move is to replace Cody Eppley with him. Rapada is a much better option when you need to get one lefty hitter out than Boone Logan.
Career vs. LHB:
Rapada: .168/.257/.236
Logan: .250/.319/.385
In fact, among pitchers who have faced at least 100 lefty hitters since 2000, Rapada’s OBP against ranks 19th. In fact, his .257 OBP against lefties is only .001 behind some dude name Mariano Rivera.
The Yankees are going to face a roster crunch all year, and it’ll be interesting to see what they do with it. They do have some flexibility on the pitching staff with several pitchers having options remaining. If David Phelps has been demoted to long reliever they can probably send Adam Warren or Shawn Kelley down for Rapada without hurting themselves too much.
Anyway, I am glad to see Rapada back in the organization and think he can be an important tactical option.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Yankees.com: Led by Cano, Yanks blast Tribe with five homers
CLEVELAND—Robinson Cano headlined a five-homer barrage by the Yankees’ lineup, driving in five runs to support another strong Andy Pettitte effort as New York trounced the Indians, 14-1, on Tuesday at Progressive Field.
New York posted its third straight victory, battering Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco for seven runs before the right-hander was ejected in the fourth inning for hitting Kevin Youkilis in the back following Cano’s two-run homer.
Powered by the long-ball display from Cano, Ichiro Suzuki, Youkilis, Lyle Overbay and Brennan Boesch, Pettitte had more than enough support to log his second victory of the young season.
Pettitte held the Tribe to just Asdrubal Cabrera’s sixth-inning homer over seven innings of effective work, scattering five hits while walking three and striking out four in a 97-pitch outing.
Well, that was fun. More games like that plz.
Yankees (3-4) @ Indians (3-4), Tuesday, April 9, 2013, 7:05pm
NYY: Andy Pettitte (41, LHP, 1-0, 1.13) vs. CLE: Carlos Carrasco (26, RHP, 0-0, undef)
Lineups
The Championship Caliber New York Yankees
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Travis Hafner DH
Vernon Wells LF
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Francisco Cervelli C
Cleveland
Drew Stubbs CF
Jason Kipnis 2B
Asdrubal Cabrera SS
Nick Swisher 1B
Mark Reynolds DH
Michael Brantley LF
Ryan Raburn RF
Mike Aviles 3B
Yan Gomes C
I was going to make a sarcastic remark about how the Yankees are running with the B lineup today then I realized that it’s actually the A lineup.
Carlos Carrasco is working on one of the most impressive streaks in baseball history, but it’s flown completely under the radar for some reason. Carrasco has not allowed a run in an MLB game since August 3, 2011.
Needless to say that when you’re facing a pitcher who hasn’t given up a run in over 18 months, you can generally assume runs won’t come easy. In fact, it’s probably better to assume you won’t be scoring at all.
The good news is Carrasco is probably limited to 15 innings or so so if the Yankees can wait him out and take their shots at the Indians bullpen they may have a chance to steal this one.
Baseball News Source: Yankees Castoffs Off to a Solid Start, Will Determine Season
This year’s version of the Yankees may be one of the most complicated rosters of all time for a supposed playoff contender. It’s so confusing, critics have chosen the defending AL East champs to finish anywhere from first to last place.
Think about that for a second. The division and the team is so up in the air, they can literally finish anywhere. Predictions have ranged from below .500 to 90-plus wins, a swing of at least 10 games.
And with reason.
The team we saw in early March looked nothing like how it does today. The team we saw club the Indians, 11-6 on Monday, to improve to 3-4 is unlikely to be particularly similar to the one we see by mid-May.
Depending on how this summer goes, the team we see in August may look very different from the one in July and the ball club to start 2014 may almost assuredly look foreign to the one we see in September.
That’s life for a team exceeding 230 million dollars and needing to trim it to under 190 million dollars with about 90 million dollars off the books in the process.
And beneath all this turnover are players acquired from other teams over the past few months who need to step up now and may have to continue to step up through the season. Castoffs. Misfits.
In an ideal world, Kevin Youkilis would play the role that Eric Chavez played in 2012, Travis Hafner would play the role that Raul Ibanez played in 2012 and Vernon Wells would play the role that Andruw Jones played in 2012. It’s not hard to see each of the current castoffs outperforming the players in similar roles last year. This team is still going to do what it does based primarily on how Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez do when they return.
But so far Wells is blowing away any reasonable expectations. He had three opposite field hits yesterday, which matches the total he had last year. He also drew his fifth walk in 26 plate appearances in 2013. Last year it took him 132 plate appearances to get his fifth walk. I don’t expect him to hit .381/.500/.762 this year, but I’m hoping he can do something like .270/.330/.450.
Youkilis and Hafner have been great, although that’s a bit less surprising. I’m more concerned about how often they can play than their performance. Hopefully they can remain mostly injury-free for the next two months at which point they can move into more complementary roles which could help them remain healthy.
I still think the offense will struggle at times, and I’m worried about the middle relief, but I feel a lot better about this team than I did three days ago. They still stink, but they stink a bit less than I thought.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Yankees.com: Cano, Pronk help Yanks break out in Cleveland
CLEVELAND—Robinson Cano homered twice and Travis Hafner celebrated his return to Progressive Field by homering and driving in four runs as the Yankees spoiled the Indians’ home opener with an 11-6 victory on Monday.
Cano blasted out of a 3-for-23 slump with his first extra-base hits of the year, doubling and homering off Ubaldo Jimenez and going deep again off Matt Albers in the sixth in his 11th career multihomer game.
The Yankees took a quick lead in the top of the first on Hafner’s welcome-back blast, a three-run homer that cleared the center-field fence and marked the slugger’s 100th career homer at Progressive Field.
Yankees right-hander Hiroki Kuroda overcame a shaky opening inning to complete 5 1/3 frames, holding Cleveland to just the three runs it scored against him in the first, when Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley and Mark Reynolds drove in runs to tie the game.
In walking four, Kuroda never seemed particularly sharp, and he appeared to be affected by the bruised right middle finger that knocked him out of his first start of the season. Still, he held the Tribe to five hits and struck out six in a 111-pitch outing, retiring seven of the last eight batters he faced.
It was ugly, but it’s a win. I do have to say that so far the middle of the bullpen has not distinguished itself and that’s something that will bear watching going forward.
Yankees (2-4) @ Indians (3-3), Monday, April 8, 2013, 4:05pm
NYY:Hiroki Kuroda (38, RHP, 0-1, 13.50) vs. CLE:Ubaldo Jimenez (29, RHP, 0-0, 1.50)
Lineups
The Championship Caliber New York Yankees
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Travis Hafner DH
Vernon Wells LF
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Chris Stewart C
Cleveland
Michael Bourn CF
Asdrubal Cabrera SS
Jason Kipnis 2B
Nick Swisher 1B
Michael Brantley LF
Carlos Santana C
Mark Reynolds DH
Lonnie Chisenhall 3B
Drew Stubbs RF
Yay, Nun-E is back! Aside from that it’s the house money lineup for the Yankees (aka Stewart instead of Cervello).
Apparently every team in baseball has scheduled the Yankees for their home opener. So we get another odd start time on a weekday. Rumor has it Cleveland is planning an elaborate opening day ceremony where they set Lake Erie on fire but I can not divulge my source for that.
Let’s hope Hiroki Kuroda shows no ill effects from his finger contusion because Ubaldo Jimenez rocking the 1.50 ERA is essentially unbeatable. How scary good has Jimenez been this year? If he finishes the year at his current ERA+ of 286, it’d be the second best ERA+ by a pitcher who made at least 20 starts in a season in history.
I’m not saying Jimenez is the second best starter ever, but he is on pace to have the second best season by a starting pitcher in history.
Can this version of the Yankees beat a pitcher who is on pace to have the second best starting pitcher season of all time? I’m guessing no, but why would you ever try to predict baseball Suzyn?
NY Post: Yankees’ Jeter gets a ‘field’ for things
DETROIT — It’s a small step and does not guarantee the rehab process can be accelerated, but Yankees manager Joe Girardi was upbeat about Derek Jeter getting on a baseball field and doing something more than long tossing.
“[Friday] he took ground balls and soft toss in the cage, and I am sure he is doing the same [Saturday],” Girardi said before Saturday’s 8-4 loss to the Tigers. “He is on the field, he took some ground balls at him, so that’s better than it was last week or even Thursday.”
Saturday, Jeter fielded 41 grounders hit directly at him, hit off a tee in a batting cage and played catch, including long toss.
Sounds like Jeter’s range is right where it normally is.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Yankees.com: CC restores order as Yanks blank Tigers
DETROIT—CC Sabathia allowed just four hits over seven scoreless innings in a strong performance, leading the Yankees to a 7-0 victory over the Tigers on Sunday at Comerica Park.
Jayson Nix slugged a two-run homer and Francisco Cervelli drove in two runs to support the ace’s effort as the Yankees salvaged the final game of a three-game series in Detroit with the victory, their second in six contests to open the season.
Sabathia is known for a history of slow starts in April and did not appear dominant on Opening Day, sparking concerns about his velocity. But he rebounded with a good showing to best Justin Verlander in an appealing matchup of former Cy Young Award winners.
The Tigers only moved one baserunner as far as second base against Sabathia, who threw 114 pitches while walking three and striking out four.
I feel this team will only go as far as CC and Nix take them. CC didn’t look great, but he looked better than he did in the opener and that’s good enough for me. Also of note was Francisco Cervelli getting two more hits, his ninth and tenth of the season. That gives him exactly 10 more hits than Russell Martin.
The Yankees should have gone around 3-3 over their first six games so 2-4 doesn’t put them too far behind where they ought to be at this moment. But it would be cool if they started winning more than 1/3 of their games.
Yankees (1-4) @ Tigers (3-2), Sunday, April 7, 2013, 1:08pm
NYY:CC Sabathia (32, LHP, 0-1, 7.20) vs. DET:Justin Verlander (30, RHP, 1-0, 0.00)
Lineups
The Championship Caliber New York Yankees
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Travis Hafner DH
Vernon Wells LF
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Lyle Overbay 1B
Jayson Nix SS
Detroit
Austin Jackson CF
Torii Hunter RF
Miguel Cabrera 3B
Prince Fielder 1B
Victor Martinez DH
Matt Tuiasosopo LF
Brayan Pena C
Omar Infante 2B
Ramon Santiago SS
The over/under on Yankee hits today is 0.5.
You have to go back all the way to 2012 to find the last time the Yankees scored four or fewer runs in six straight games. If they don’t score at least four today that’ll make six this season. Then they can shoot for seven which hasn’t happened since 2008, and then eight which last happened in 1999. The excitement really starts after that as they can go for nine which hasn’t happened since 1992!
I was going to make a comment about how the weather’s too nice to sit indoors and watch this foolishness, then I realized that going outside in a winter blizzard with sub-zero temperatures would still be better than watching this foolishness. So weather should not matter.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Yankees.com: Yankees can’t rally for Hughes, ineffective ‘pen
NEW YORK—The Tigers batted around in a four-run fifth inning and continued piling on with a 17-hit showing against the Yankees’ troubled pitching staff, sending New York to an 8-4 loss on Saturday at Comerica Park.
The Yanks’ fourth loss in five games to open the season saw Phil Hughes knocked out after four-plus innings, having been activated from the disabled list before the game with hopes of helping out the club’s taxed pitching staff.
Hughes held the Tigers to an unearned run until the fifth, when he allowed hits to the first three batters he faced, including Torii Hunter’s RBI double and Miguel Cabrera’s RBI single. He wrapped up scattering eight hits in his 87-pitch outing.
Boone Logan turned in an ineffective relief appearance, allowing two hits and a sacrifice fly. Jhonny Peralta greeted David Phelps—who had been New York’s scheduled starter for Saturday before Hughes was activated—with a run-scoring single.
I’m just happy I can clear 4 hours off my DVR by not bothering to watch this one.
Yankees (1-3) @ Tigers (2-2), Saturday, April 6, 2013, 4:05pm
NYY:Phil Hughes (27, RHP, 0-0, undef) vs. DET:Max Scherzer (28, RHP, 0-0, undef)
Lineups
Yankees
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
Travis Hafner DH
Vernon Wells LF
Brennan Boesch RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Lyle Overbay 1B
Jayson Nix SS
Tigers
Austin Jackson CF
Torii Hunter RF
Miguel Cabrera 3B
Prince Fielder 1B
Victor Martinez DH
Andy Dirks LF
Jhonny Peralta SS
Alex Avila C
Ramon Santiago 2B
We play today, we lose today. Dassit!
NY Post: Surprise! Hughes activated from disabled list
DETROIT — The Yankees believe Phil Hughes gives them a better chance to tame the Tigers today than David Phelps.
Hughes was scheduled to start tonight for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre but was scratched from that assignment yesterday. Instead, according to general manager Brian Cashman, Hughes will jump off the disabled list and face the Tigers, who ravaged Ivan Nova, Boone Logan and Shawn Kelley in yesterday’s 8-3 loss, at Comerica Park.
There are several ways the Yankees can go in order to get Hughes on the 25-man roster. The most logical is sending Adam Warren to SWB if, as expected, Hiroki Kuroda can start Monday in Cleveland.
Phelps could then be moved to long relief where Warren did very well Wednesday after Kuroda took a liner off the right middle finger and left the game in the second inning.
A bolder move would be sending Nova to Triple-A. Though he pitched poorly yesterday, doing that after one start is unlikely.
Hughes to the rescue! Hope he can get a few hits.