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Kerry On

Posted by Rebecca Glass at 6:03 pm 2 Responses »
Aug 262010

The following was originally posted at http://www.puristbleedspinstripes.com

It’s been a long time since Kerry Wood struck out twenty as a Chicago Cub.

A long time, filled with injuries and disappointments and ultimately relegation to bullpen duty. Many point to Wood’s struggles, and that of another one-time Chicago Cub, Mark Prior, in being the impetus towards today’s obsession with young pitchers and doing everything possible shy of actual bubble wrap to protect them (see “Strasburg, Stephen” and “Joba Rules” (the latter under 2007/2008 entries) ).

It’s been a long time and I’m not sure how many ever thought he’d find himself playing for the Yankees–certainly not as a late inning reliever, and one fourth on the pecking order, after Mariano, Robertson and Joba–and yet, here his is, quickly becoming Cashman’s best mid-season acquisition of the year.

Just think about where the Yankees’ bullpen was before the deadline: outside of Mariano, and possibly Robertson, there was perhaps no one in whom Yankee fans had much faith. Joba may not have been blowing leads left and right, but it felt like it, and Logan pitched so poorly he was optioned to the minors.

Enter Wood, who as a Yankee has an ERA under one and thirteen strikeouts in 10.2 innings pitched (before Tuesday’s game). In fact, the only run Wood has allowed as a Yankee, inherited or otherwise, came on a solo home run–that on August 3rd, Wood’s second ever game in pinstripes.

He’s not allowed a run since.

In fact, if one looks at Wood’s gamelogs, one will see that 1/3rd of all runs Wood has given up this year came in one third of one inning against Kansas City on May 19th*

That’s not to say he hasn’t allowed baserunners–seven walks and nine hits as a Yankee (as of Tuesday afternoon) say otherwise–but no runs is still no runs.

When Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin seem to be battling to find out who wants to get DFA’d first and the starting rotation is such that only 2/5ths of it are healthy and pitching as they’re supposed to be pitching, Wood’s performance is a breath of fresh air.

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Why Joe Girardi Is Not Going Anywhere

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 3:00 pm No Responses »
Aug 262010

In anticipation of the Yankees upcoming trip to Chicago and in conjunction with the recent retirement of Cubs skipper Lou Pinella, the media has been playing up the idea that Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi might bolt for Chicago after the season is over. While I cannot dismiss the idea as an impossibility, I do think that it is extremely unlikely that Joe leaves New York.

When a player or manager leaves one city for another, it is usually for one of four reasons. Let’s run through them and look at where New York and Chicago place in each category:

1) Money: The most frequent reason for employee movement tends to be that the new city is offering more cash than the old. While the Cubs certainly have the money to offer Joe a competitive contract, I have a hard time believing they can outbid the Yankees for his services. If the Yankees want Joe back, and barring an epic collapse I would assume that they will, their offer is likely to be the largest he receives.

2) Winning: Occasionally, a player or manager will make a move that is not the best financial decision, sacrificing some money for the sake of winning. Once again, the Yankees outrank the Cubs, as the Cubs have shown an inability to translate high payrolls into consistent results. Meanwhile, the Yankees have been contenders for the last 15 seasons, and do not figure to fall back to the pack any time soon.

3) Glory/Legacy: This factor is typically overplayed by fans and the media, with a fine example coming this summer in the Knicks pursuit of LeBron James. One factor Knick fans tried to push was that winning one title in New York would cement LeBron as a New York legend forever. While that may have been true, it did not trump other factors in the eyes of the player. I have heard similar arguments regarding Joe and the Cubs: “If he wins one with the Cubs, he is set for life.” While that may be true, it presupposes that his legacy is important to him. Additionally, winning one in Chicago would be great and would make him a local deity. Winning 4 or 5 in New York would likely get him into the Hall of Fame and give him a larger national profile. If Girardi wants glory, New York is just as likely to provide it as Chicago.

4) Family/Local/Organizational Ties: While Girardi does have strong ties to the Yankee organization, he is an Illinois native who went to school at Northwestern, was drafted by the Cubs, and played in Chicago for 7 seasons in two separate stints. This is the one category where the Cubs beat the Yankees, but I am not certain that it will be enough to trump what the Yankees can offer Joe. Similar concerns were raised about CC Sabathia and the West Coast as well as Mark Teixeira and the Baltimore area, and in both cases the money and winning in New York was the deciding factor. I see no reason for this situation to be any different.

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Javy the Reliever

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 1:00 pm 4 Responses »
Aug 262010

Javier Vazquez took over for Phil Hughes last night, pitching the last 4.1 innings, giving up just one run (on a homer, of course) on two hits and one walk with two strikeouts. With Ivan Nova’s successful first Major League start the other night, it appears that we’re going to see Vazquez in the bullpen for the foreseeable future. Javy is talented enough to succeed in the bullpen. After all, he’s been one of the most durable and consistent starters of the last decade or so.

Of course, Javy isn’t the typical reliever. It’s been well documented that he’s lost zip on his fastball, which is something undesirable for a pitcher going out of the bullpen. This is something that we could see hurt Javy the reliever. After all, we always want a reliever to come out Kerry Wood style and just blow it by guys. With Javy’s decreased velocity, hitters could attack his fastball in high leverage situations and make a situation worse but…

…Javy’s starter’s pedigree gives him one thing that most relievers don’t have: a full arsenal. With more than just the two pitch offerings of most relievers (think D-Rob’s FB/CB combo), Vazquez will be more well equipped to keep his opponents off balance than his colleagues will. That gives me a good amount of confidence in Javy as a reliever.

I also doubt that, given his tendency towards the home run, Joe Girardi will use him in very high leverage situations. My guess is that he will be used like he was last night: in long relief situations when the starter has flamed out early or the bullpen has been spent in the last few days.

Regardless of his eventual usage, I have faith in Vazquez, his pitch selection, and his talent and I think he can succeed in the bullpen.

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Frustrated with Phil

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 11:00 am 1 Response »
Aug 262010

Hughes got to two strikes on 18 Jays. Twelve of those eventually reached base.

Hughes had two strikes on the first 10 Blue Jays that reached base…

Those two Tweets from Jack Curry and Ben Shpigel are just maddening. Phil Hughes’ troubles with finishing off hitters this season have been one of the (only) two frustrating things we’ve seen out of him in 2010. The other is his lack of mixing pitches, but after the frustrating first inning, he didn’t have much trouble in that department (25 curves out of 102 pitches per Brooks, but under 50% strikes). However, the lack of finishing hitters is beyond frustrating.

I kept a tally of foul balls of of Phil with two strikes (insert get a life comment here). There were six off of him in the first, five in the second, zero in the third, and two in the fourth before he exited. The number of foul balls did trend downward as the game went on and Phil did end up with 16 swings and misses, so there are encouraging signs.

It’s also worth noting that the defensive brain fart from the Yankee middle infielders allowed the Blue Jays to score their fifth run off of Hughes. While recording that out wouldn’t have made his outing look much better, four runs seems better than five runs (even if it is just 3 2/3 IP).

Getting back to the point at hand, Hughes has to work on finishing hitters. Whether that’s locating his fastball better with two strikes or using his curveball more effectively is up to him and Dave Eiland. Call it a hunch or faith in Hughes, but something tells me we won’t see this sort of thing in 2011. What I’m not sure we’ll see–and I hope we do–is more of the changeup from Phil.

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