Where Have You Gone, Joe Dimaggio

Spring Training Musings

At long last, baseball is back!  In no particular order, here are some of the things I’ll be watching for as Spring Training progresses……

No doubt the biggest change from last year’s team is the outfield.  Clearly Curtis Granderson (3.4 WAR) is a significant improvement over Melky Cabrera (1.7 WAR) — but that said, I always liked watching the Melkman with all his enthusiasm for the game.  However, Granderson seems like a real class act, and someone who will make a good Yankee both on and off the field.

Over in left field, we have Brett Gardner (2.0 WAR) replacing Johnny Damon (3.1 WAR).  Damon is another player that I always enjoyed watching — heck, I even liked him when he was with the hated Red Sox!  But Gardner has the potential to also be an exciting, fun player to watch.  Emphasis on “potential” there, as last year he seemed to disappoint rather often — sometimes not being as aggressive with his speed as you would like, and other times being too aggressive.  But that could be just a case of inexperience — this year I think will be critical for Gardner.

Then there’s the DH position — gone is Hideki Matsui (2.7 WAR) and in his place will be Nick Johnson (1.3 WAR) starting his second tour of duty with the Yankees.  Matsui was another one of my favorites, as I always liked the way he played the game.  Johnson probably has the hitting power to fill his shoes — his OPS last year was .890 compared to Matsui’s .876.  But the big question for Johnson is whether he can stay healthy.  It seems like you were always reading about various physical issues with Godzilla, but the reality is that he played in 142 games last year and it’s been four years since Johnson was that healthy.

So bottom line is that as far as the every day players go, the Yankees have “downgraded” some, at least if you believe in WAR stats (total WAR for the three positions in question has gone from 7.5 to 6.7).  But Gardner has a lot of room for improvement, and if Nick Johnson stays healthy, offensively the Yankees could be just as good as last year.  And that’s saying a lot, given that they led the AL in pretty much every offensive category last year!

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, Nick Johnson, Offense

So Long Johnny D

At long last Johnny Damon has landed a contract for the upcoming season, and is thus the last of the 2009 World Champs to sign with another team. And it’s a shame, too, because as it turns out he probably could have re-signed with the Yankees for what he ended up getting from Detroit. Who’s fault it is that he couldn’t come to terms with the Yankees is anybody’s guess. I’m always highly suspicious of anything you read in the mainstream press about who said what and did what when it comes to contract negotiations like this. Everyone involved is playing the media and the fans and what really happens behind close doors I suspect we never really hear about. Bottom line, though, is Damon is going to be in a Tigers uniform next year, and I’ll be pulling for him. Defensively he was certainly an accident waiting to happen out in left field, but offensively he still seemed to have plenty of pop left — his SLG was .489 last year, his highest since 2000, and his OBP was .365, ten points higher than his career average. And he seemed to be the perfect fit in the batting order at the second position between Jeter and Teixeira. Plus, he always seemed to come through in clutch situations — it doesn’t get much better than what Damon did in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the World Series last year, with a 2-out single to keep the inning alive and bring Teixeira to the plate, and then his stealing second and third on the same play and ultimately scoring the winning run.

Like Hideki Matsui, I’m betting that there are going to be a lot of times in the coming season when we miss Johnny Damon.

Photo: CBCSports.ca

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Johnny Damon

Farewell To The Wanger

At long last Chien-Ming Wang is now officially no longer a Yankee, having signed a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals. Interestingly, there seems to be nary a mention of this on any of the more popular NYY blogs. I guess this is just a case of “what have you done for me lately”, which in Wang’s case is certainly not very much. Since injuring his foot running the bases in 2008, he was plagued with injuries. And his attempt to come back last year was a total disaster, going 1-6 in 9 starts with a 9.64 ERA. How much of that was due to him still not being 100% is impossible to say. And given the injuries, it’s hard to blame Brian Cashman for not bringing him back.

But still, let’s not forget that he was essentially the staff ace in 2006 and 2007, winning 19 games in both of those years and putting up excellent ERA’s of 3.63 and 3.70. Plus, he was extremely reliable — in 2007 he averaged 6.6 innings per start and went 6+ innings in 27 of his 30 starts. Only C.C. Sabathia put up better numbers than that last year for the Yankees.

So here’s wishing The Wanger the best. And the good news is that being with the Nationals means that the Yankees will never have to face him if he does return to his old form!

Photo: Daily News

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Chien-Ming Wang

Closing The Book On The Steroids Era

So Mark McGwire has finally come clean about his use of steroids.  Whoop-dee-do.  The media is making a big deal of this, but certainly every baseball fan from that era knew damn well he was juiced up.  In fact, even back then when he and Sammy Sosa were chasing the records of Ruth and Maris, I think it was pretty damned obvious what was going on.  I certainly knew they were using some kind of PEDs.  But there wasn’t much talk about it, and when there was it was very low-level and quickly hushed up — or so it seems looking back.  In fact, it was odd watching the home run chase on the nightly news shows.  The fans were certainly excited, the sportscasters certainly were in to it, and overall baseball’s popularity was clearly surging.  But I can remember watching it all, thinking what a sham it was — and wondering how many others were thinking the same thing.  It’s almost like everyone got caught up in it, and no one was willing to speak up.

Now it’s easy to come down hard on people like McGwire, and certainly he’s taking a real bashing right now.  But every time the issue of steroids comes up, I think of some of Buck O’Neil’s comments in Joe Posnanski’s The Soul Of Baseball:

People were always surprised that Buck did not have strong feelings about how bad steroids were for baseball.  He did worry about the kids ruining their bodies, but the cheating part did not move him much.  In the Negro Leagues, he had known players to bend the rules to win — they corked bats, spit on the ball, popped amphetamines, stole signals, and even loaded up on coffee for the caffeine.  They wanted to win.  “The only reason players in my time didn’t use steroids,” he would say sometimes, “is because we didn’t have them.”

That from Buck O’Neil, one of the most admired and respected players in the game.  If someone of his stature can’t get all that upset about the issue, then I sure have a hard time with lesser folks getting so bent out of shape.  Yes, McGwire and Sosa and Bonds and Clemens and all the rest of them cheated.  But as O’Neil points out, it’s the nature of an athlete to push the envelope and do whatever he can to be the best he can be.  All the outrage over McGwire smacks of a “holier than thou” attitude.

The real question at this point is what should be done about these past steroid users.  Most of the discussion in recent days has been about Hall Of Fame elgibility, and I suspect that issue will take care of itself over time.  But the issue that doesn’t get as much discussion is what to do about the records these guys broke.  Given that there’s almost univeral agreement that these guys “cheated”, why are their stats still in the record books?  They don’t even deserve an asterick as far as I’m concerned.  They should be dropped all together.  Put Hank Aaron back at the top of the career home runs record, and put The Babe and Roger Maris back where they belong.  And any other record that any of these guys might now hold should be removed.  Seems not only fair, but the right thing to do.

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Steroids

Adios, Melkman

And so yet another key part of the 2007 World Champion New York Yankees has been traded away. Of course Melky Cabrera was always expendable, being not all that much better a center fielder than “league average”. But dammit, he was extremely fun to watch and cheer for, and that means a lot to me. And yes, I know I’m in a small minority here, where most Yankee fans aren’t truly happy with any player who isn’t All-Star and future HOF material. But I would have been completely content to have Cabrera play center field well in to the future, and let the guys like Derek and A-Rod and Tex do all the heavy-lifting. But alas, that wasn’t to be.

So here’s to you Melkman. Thanks for lots of great Yankee moments — the three walk off hits in the historic 2009 season, becoming the first Yankee to hit for the cycle in 14 years in a critical win against the White Sox in August, and of course one of the greatest plays in the outfield I’ve ever seen in June of 2006 when he robbed Manny Ramiriz of a home run. You will be missed.

Photo: Bleacher Report

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Hot Stove League, Melky

Sayanora, Godzilla

After the incredible season the Yankees had this year, my (admittedly naive) hope was that Cashman and Company would  keep the 2009 Yankees intact as much as possible for next year.  The idea being that for the first time since 2000, the strategy is no longer getting to the top but rather staying on top.  It seems to me that when you aren’t winning the division or even making the playoffs you are in a position of needing to make fairly significant changes.  However, as World Champions, the strategy becomes one of tweaking the team in order to just repeat what you did the previous year.  Yeah, I suspect that’s pretty much nuance as the pols would say — but still, it seems to me that there’s a distinct difference in how you go about making trades, re-signing players, etc.  I’m a big believer in “team chemistry”, and I also believe that was a very big part of this year’s success.  And so, once you start making trades and changing the roster, you run the risk of changing that chemistry for the worse.  But that’s just baseball these days, I guess.

Regardless, the Yankees made their first significant roster change yesterday with the trade of Hideki Matsui to the LA Angels.  Given his physical limitation of not being able to play the field and thus a one-dimensional role as DH, the writing was on the wall once the season ended.  And of course when the Yankees landed Curtis Granderson that pretty much sealed Matsui’s fate in pinstripes.  But dare I say that Hideki is going to be sorely missed on many an occasion, and now that he’s in an Angel uniform he will come back to haunt us at some point in the future.  Overall it’s probably the right move to make, but I can easily foresee a Matsui blast costing us a game or two against the Angels in 2010.  Let’s just hope it’s not in a critical playoff game, hey?

So here’s to you Hideki — thanks for seven great years as a Yankee and above all for the incredible 2009 World Series performance that brought the championship back to New York!

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Hideki Matsui, Hot Stove League

Just Say No To Instant Replay

Looks like the GMs aren’t going to expand the use of instant replay in baseball, in spite of all the questionable calls that happened in the playoffs. And I agree with them, although I suspect I’m in a minority here. As I’ve said before, I’ve never liked instant replay in the NFL — and now that baseball season is over, and I’m watching more football, it seems to me that instant replay in football has just gotten worse and worse. If it were being used to simply overturn the very obviously wrong calls, then it makes some sense. But that’s not the way it’s been implemented — calls that are clearly close and could have gone either way are being reviewed, and that’s nonsense. If you know anything about basic photography you know how distorted and misleading a video replay can be. First off you have the affects of the zoom lens, which in turn are compounded by the angle that the camera is at. And there’s also the problem that the video only shows two dimensions, whereas the official making the call sees things in real life three dimensions. All things considered, the official is typically in a lot better position to make a call than the camera is in, he’s a lot closer, and he has the advantage of depth perception. How many times do you see an instant replay in a football game where all the announcers in the booth disagree over what the replay is showing? Isn’t that evidence enough of how flawed the procedure is? So unless a call on the field is absolutely without a doubt wrong, it should never be overturned. And how many times do you see calls that are that bad? And of those bad calls, how many actually have an impact on the final outcome of the game? It’s just not worth it to disrupt the ebb and flow of the game time and time again, in order to “fix” a problem that happens maybe once or twice a season.

This whole area is one big slippery slope that’s just not worth going down. Close calls and “bad” calls by an umpire are just a part of the game — no different than a pitcher hanging a curve ball or a fielder dropping a routine fly ball. Umpire errors are as much a part of the game as player errors are. Leave it alone.

Posted in Commentary | Tags: Instant Replay

2009 World Champions!!!

NYY 7, Philadelphia 3. What a perfect way to clinch No. 27. With all due respect to the “new guys” like Sabathia, Teixeira, and Burnett — it was the “old” Yankees who came together to clinch this World Series. Andy Pettitte pitched yet another gem, giving him a perfect 4-0 record for the postseason. And Mariano Rivera, what is left to say about him? He picked up the save, his fifth of the postseason to go along with an unbelievable 0.52 ERA over 16 innings. And of course it was The Captain, Derek Jeter, going 3-for-5 and scoring two runs to cap a postseason where he got at least one hit in 14 of 15 games and had two+ hits in 6 of those. And the MVP of the series was yet another long-time Yankee, Hideki Matsui, who pretty much single-handedly won this one with six RBIs. Godzilla ended up with a gaudy .615 BA for the World Series, and was .349 for the entire postseason.

But it wasn’t just the old Yankees contributing — this team won the same way they got to the Series, with contributions from everyone up and down the lineup and throughout the pitching rotation and bullpen. Alex Rodriguez had a monster postseason, hitting .365 with an OPS of 1.308. And clutch? How about a .429 BA/RISP. Yes, Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano both had a rough time at the plate throughout the postseason, but time and again their defense was solid. And then there was Johnny Damon, who’s base running pretty much won game four and tilted the series to the Yankees.

And how about all the starting pitching? All the critics were saying that you couldn’t go the entire postseason with a 3-man rotation, but never did that phase CC, A.J. or Andy. Sabathia ended up being everything the Yankees had counted on him being, getting 3 wins against only one loss and ending up with a 1.98 ERA. And in spite of his dual pitching personality, A.J. came through with 3 good outings, including the critical second game of the Phillies series — which all things considered was probably the biggest game of the postseason.

Even the bullpen, which showed signs of cracking up at several points, ended up carrying more than their share of the load. Although Phil Hughes and Phil Coke got roughed up several times, in stepped Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson to do the job. And of course, the real hero of the bullpen was Damaso Marte, of all people. Who could have seen this coming? Marte brought a beyond ugly ERA of 9.45 in to the postseason — but didn’t give up a single run in eight — count ‘em, eight — games in the postseason.

And finally, let’s not forget Joe Girardi.  His use of Marte is just one example of some great managing.  After several WTF-were-you-thinking games in the ALCS, Girardi clearly learned from his mistakes and managed to near-perfection in the World Series.  Time and again, he made all the right moves not only with the pitching but also with the lineups.  Dare I say it, but probably the biggest difference between this team winning it all for the first time since 2000 and all the past postseason failures was none other than Joe Girardi’s managing.

Bottom line, though, was that this was as much a total team effort as I’ve seen in many, many years.  From one game to the next, you never knew who was going to step up and get the job done.  But you just knew it would be someone.  And so here you are ladies and gentlemen, your 2009 World Champion New York Yankees!  What a season!

Photo: Yahoo! Sports

Posted in Game Review | Tags: A-Rod, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, CC, Dámaso Marte, Hideki Matsui, Jete, Joe Girardi, Johnny Damon, Sandman

Back To NYS Where It Was Meant To Happen

Philadelphia 8, NYY 6. With A.J. Burnett you have to take the bad with the good, a reality we’ve witnessed all season. And when “Bad” A.J. shows up, you can pretty much put the game in the loss column. Particularly if you are up against a good team with one of their better pitchers. Last night it took all of three at-bats by Philadelphia to see that sure enough it was “Bad” A.J. on the mound. And the game was pretty much over before A.J. could even record a single out in the third inning. Of 15 batters he faced, nine reached base and six scored. A 5-run lead is just too much to overcome when you are playing postseason caliber teams.

And let’s not have any of this nonsense about Burnett’s problems being due to short rest. That’s crap — historically he’s pitched well on three days rest. This was about one and only one thing — Burnett is totally inconsistent. You never know when he’s going to pitch lights out, and when he’s going to stink it up. Every time he goes to the mound it’s a crap shoot. And last night was no different. “Good” A.J. was just as likely to show up as “Bad” A.J. Amount of rest had nothing to do with this.

Actually this loss wouldn’t have been all that troublesome if Cliff Lee had pitched like he did in Game One. But he didn’t have near the command and control he did in that first game, and he was very hittable last night. But the Yankee offense sputtered until the seventh inning, and by the time they finally did get to Lee, it was too little too late. To their credit, they did make one of their patented late inning runs — but when Derek Jeter hit in to a rally-killing double play in the ninth, it was all but over. Even then, though, Johnny Damon still kept their chances alive, and gave Mark Teixeira one more opportunity to redeem his so far miserable series. But it just wasn’t to be this time, as Tex struck out.

All things considered, though, you have to still be very optimistic at this point — in fact, if I dare say, it’s all working out quite well. What better way to christen New Yankee Stadium than by winning the World Series at home in the stadium’s first year? And who better to have as the starting pitcher than Andy Pettitte, the Yankee with the most post-season wins in history? And surely you like having Jorge Posada as the starting catcher in the series clincher, no? And of course, Mariano Rivera will be fully rested and will no doubt throw the series ending pitch Wednesday night. So I dare say, a near-perfect script has been written. Time to make it happen.

Posted in Game Review | Tags: A.J. Burnett

Damon + A-Rod = Win!

NYY 7, Philadelphia 4. Alex Rodriguez has seemingly morphed from a batter who never could hit in the clutch to one who now only hits when it’s a clutch situation. When A-Rod came to the plate in the ninth with the score tied, two outs, and the go-ahead run on third he was 0-for-3 for the night and 1-for-13 for the series with 7 Ks. But with game four and a 3-1 series advantage in the balance, Rodriquez of course came through with a double off the left-field wall. Amazing. And not to be overlooked was Johnny Damon’s contribution. First, with two outs he extended the inning with a great at-bat, finally getting a line drive single to left. And then he came through with some brilliant base-running, stealing both second and third on one play because of the moronic shift that the Phillies had on for Mark Teixeira. Being on third took away a lot of Brad Lidge’s pitch options, and made it that much easier for Alex to sit on a fastball. So really we need to credit Damon as much as A-Rod for this W.

With a 3-1 series lead, the Yankees now have two chances to win it all without having to go to a Game Seven. And hopefully they can avoid that, as it’s now becoming pretty obvious that CC Sabathia pitching on three days rest is not nearly as good as CC with full rest. That’s not to say he’s not very good even on just three days rest — but twice now he’s seemed to struggle, becoming something of an Andy Pettitte-style pitcher. In 6+ innings, CC either gave up runs or had runners in scoring position in five of those innings. But bottom line, he held the Phillies to just three runs, and kept them at bay long enough for the Yankees to put some offense together in the ninth. Joba Chamberlain also did a very good job in the eighth, although he did unfortunately give up the tying run with just one bad pitch to Pedro Feliz which left the yard. But still, Joba did end up striking out the side and even had Feliz at two strikes — so all things considered, another good outing for Joba. And once the Yankees took the lead in the top of the ninth, it was take it to the bank time with Mariano Rivera. This time Mo really had to extend himself, throwing all of eight pitches to get the save. Rivera has now gotten two saves with his last 13 pitches. How’s that for being efficient?

So the Yankees can wrap it all up with a win tonight — but ah, the hurdles they will be facing. First off the Phillies have Cliff Lee going on normal rest. If he’s as dominant as he was in the first game, we’ll see you back in New York. And even if not, the Yankees have A.J. Burnett going on just three days rest. How will that effect who shows up, “Good” A.J. or “Bad” A.J.? Plus, we’ll have Jose Molina catching instead of Jorge Posada. And game four was a great example of just what that means. Jorge got a big hit in the ninth, driving in two insurance runs — but at the same time his terrible defense gave the Phillies a run in fourth, and then his base running in the ninth after his hit was yet another example of just how lost he seems to be once he gets on base. All things considered, I still like keeping A.J. happy and having Posada to come off the bench. And finally for this game we have the ongoing mystery of when Mark Teixeira is going to emerge from his 1-for-14 slump with 6 Ks. It’s a good thing that the Yankees are on the verge of winning it all — otherwise, you know there would be a lot of fingers pointing at “clutchless” Mark Teixeira.

Photo: Yahoo! Sports

Posted in Game Review | Tags: A-Rod, A.J. Burnett, Joba, Johnny Damon, Sandman, Tex