Yesterday, Joe Girardi discussed a few things with Mike Francesa (H/T to Steve for this). I’ll briefly run through the points General Joe made and my reactions to them:
1. Nick Johnson will bat second.
This is something with which I whole-heartedly agree (and Moshe does, too). Johnson at the top of the order will give Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez yet another man to drive in. While Johnson may not be the fleetest of foot out there, the important thing is being on base. In fact, in 2009, Johnson scored 11 times from second base when a single was hit. In the same situation, Curtis Granderson scored five times. I wouldn’t worry too much about Johnson “clogging the bases”.
2. Curtis Granderson is going to play center field.
Though I ran the numbers, way back on my second day at TYU, and they came out saying Granderson in left and Gardner in center would be better numerically, I don’t have a problem with this. If Granderson really has issues defensively, he can be moved. No matter what position he’s at, Granderson’s bat will play, and he’s still likely to be a good defender in center. Regardless, Gardner-Granderson-Swisher will be fine offensively and will be one of the best defensively.
3. Cano will hit fifth to avoid “stacking lefties” (5-9: Cano, Posada, Granderson, Swisher, Gardner).
I’m rather surprised by this, actually. I thought for sure Jorge would’ve been the five place hitter. Frankly, though, it doesn’t matter. The reality is that the 5-8 guys listed above could all bat at any of those spots (and some of them could bat higher) and this “problem” just speaks to how strong and “circular” the Yankee lineup is. Cano’s power should play well in the five spot and having a lot of guys on in front of him–from Jeter through A-Rod–should help correct his problems with runners on.
4. Girardi believes Cano’s struggles w/RISP are sample size issues.
I agree. Cano’s eventually going to hit like he normally does when there are runners in scoring position. Perhaps “forcing” the issue by putting him higher in the order will correct this issue. As long as Robbie puts up numbers like he did in ‘05-’07 and ‘09, I’ll be happy.
5. Posada will catch 100-120 games.
He caught 111 games last season, and that was with a hamstring issue, so he could do that again this year. At his age, though, catching that many games may be wishful thinking. If it happens, though, the Yankees are in great, great shape. An additional note, Girardi added that Johnson will primarily DH (see below) and on days that Posada sits, Johnson will still DH. This is clearly aimed at keeping Jorge healthy.
6. Nick Johnson will play 1B 2-3 times a month, spelling Tex, who will DH on those days.
This, too, surprises me. While it’s nice to give Tex a little break, I’m not sure if it’s necessary. Johnson’s generally been a strong fielder, though, so it can’t hurt–unless, of course, Nick gets hurt.
7. Granderson plays every day.
Yes. 100% yes. The only way Curtis can work through his problems against left handers is to face them as much as possible and get as many reps as he can. Obviously, if there isn’t progress by May or June, it’s time to scrap that plan. I have faith, though, in Granderson and Kevin Long to fix the problem and make Curtis even better than he is.
Joe Posnanski did an interesting post on the types of pitches thrown to particular hitters, and Mark Teixeria’s name showed up on one of the lists:
Most change-ups
1. Ben Zobrist, 17.6%
2. Mark Teixeira, 16.3%
3. Melky Cabrera, 15.6%
4. Shane Victorino, 15.4%
5. Cristian Guzman, 15.3%
(tie) Nick Swisher, 15.3%
(tie) Victor Martinez, 15.3%
Nick Swisher and Melky Cabrera made this list as well, but I would like to focus upon Teixeira. Any Yankees fan who watched the Yankees regularly in 2009 probably could have noted that pitchers tend to throw Teixeira plenty of changeups. When he was struggling early in the season, it seemed like most of his strikeouts came on that pitch, as he would be sitting fastball and would swing over the slower change. Let’s take a look at the pitch type values from Fangraphs to see if the numbers support this strategy by pitchers. A “w” before a pitch type denotes that the number measures how many runs above average the player was on that particular pitch. A suffix of /C means that the number has been converted to a rate statistic, in this case runs above average per 100 pitches of that type.
I am going to focus on fastballs, changeups, curveballs, and sliders, because those are the pitches thrown to Teixeira most frequently. As you can see, Tex is above average against most pitches, a product of his being an excellent all around hitter. In regard to changeups, his wCH/C displays that he has not been below average on changeups since his rookie season. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that for his career, he hits the changeup better than he does sliders or curveballs, with only fastballs being a greater source of offense for Teixeira.
So, while it did seem like Teixeira struggled against changeups last season, the numbers do not support this assertion. Instead, they suggest that he has had a bit of trouble in his career with sliders, and that pitchers who have a split fingered pitch or a knuckler should likely throw them to keep Tex off balance. One caveat is that these numbers do not account for the way in which pitches help set hitters up. The changeup may have some value in terms of decreasing Teixeira’s effectiveness against other pitches that does not appear in these numbers. Still, it seems that the changeup in of itself is not actually hurting Mark Teixeira.
I had a number of stories open on my browser that I felt deserved some attention, but could not work into larger posts. Here they are:
Yankees Universe Begins 2010 Campaign
As most of you are aware, this blog was formerly known as The Yankee Universe, until we received a cease and desist from the Yankees requiring us to stop using the name. The Yankees Universe fan club will launch its 2010 program today. While it may seem strange that I am linking to the program that caused us plenty of angst, the fact of the matter is that the proceeds go to a good cause, benefiting pediatric cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Give it a look.
Fack Youk on Rob Neyer’s Yankee Concerns
Rob Neyer wrote a post this morning suggesting that Mark Teixeira is likely to be the Yankees best player in 2010, and that this is a bad development for a club that has typically been about strength up the middle. While I agree with Rob that having talent up the middle is the easiest way to build, Jay at Fack Youk stated succinctly why Yankees fans should not be particularly concerned:
Having a solid core of talent up the middle is a surefire way to build a winning team over the long term, but there are other ways to do it. Having above average talent at basically every position, a solid defense and a top notch pitching staff can certainly work in combination as well.
I just wanted to add that the Yankees, of all clubs, have the resources to build in the way that Jay suggests. Unlike clubs that might need to rely on a handful of great players and therefore need great talent up the middle, the Yankees can afford to spend on having above average players all around the diamond and on the pitching staff.
Is Brett Gardner The Next Nyjer Morgan?
I’m not convinced, but the numbers seem to support the comparison to Morgan (who was worth almost 5 wins in 120 games last season), as this article at Fangraphs suggests:
Assuming average offense from Gardner, over ~150 games, he looks like a 2.5-3.0 WAR player in 2009. You can see why the Yanks felt comfortable not going nuts for Johnny Damon, who probably isn’t any better than that.
But Morgan (whom, incidentally, I also see as about 2.5-3 WAR in 2010) is still the more interesting comparison. I wouldn’t have had him as even a 2.5 WAR player before last season, and I doubt many would have. Yet he put up a 4.9 WAR once he got to show what he could do in the field. Should we expect ~5 WAR from Brett Gardner in 2010? No — that would be insane. But if Nyjer Morgan could do it in 2009, Gardner can in 2010. I suppose the Yankees would even settle for Michael Bourn’s “mere” four win 2009.
As some of you may have noticed, I am not a huge believer in Gardner. I see him as a very useful bench piece, as well as someone who could hold his own if an outfielder got injured. However, I am fully aware that the numbers do not support my assertion, and I hope that my opinion on Gardner turns out to be dead wrong. If Gardner comes close to Nyjer Morgan’s 2009, he should be in the Yankees outfield for the foreseeable future.
From Mark Feinsand:
Vazquez threw his first bullpen session of the spring today, and when he glared in from the mound and saw Posada’s familiar face behind the plate, he felt a sense of comfort.
“I asked him, ‘Do you remember the way I pitch?’” said a smiling Vazquez. “I’ve known Jorge for a while now. It’s good to have him back there.”
Posada was equally pleased to see his former teammate back in pinstripes.
“It’s good to have him back,” Posada said. “He really cares and he really understands how we do things here.”
Why, that’s unpossible!!! I thought everybody hates Jorge!
Seriously, it is good to see that Vazquez and Posada have a good rapport. Hopefully we can avoid some overblown storylines about pitcher-catcher discord the first time Vazquez shakes Jorge off more than once in a game.
We authors here at TYU all seem to bring something different to the proverbial table. Moshe grinds out meaningful posts that are well developed and thought provoking. E.J. does the prospect thing. Steve likes to touch on the “hot button” issues of Yankee-land. Chris and I delve into a more analytical realm. Of course, we all reach across “genres” and touch on all of these things. Like we who write about them, each of the Yankee hitters brings his own special skills to the plate and the field.
Jorge Posada
Let’s kick it off with the man behind the plate: Jorge Posada. It’s my contention that Jorge is one of the most underrated players of the last twenty years. His offense out of the catcher’s spot has been both consistent and at a high level for 15 years and aside from Mike Piazza, he has been the finest offensive catcher in the game (Joe Mauer will take this title shortly, but Posada’s done it for a long time). Anyway, that’s enough gushing. Jorge’s value, like many Yankees, comes from patience and power. His .277 average is quite average, but his .379 OBP is more than solid and his .480 SLG is good for anyone, let a lone a catcher.
Mark Teixeira
It’s hard to think of something Mark doesn’t do well. He plays solid defense. He’s a good contact hitter (.290 career batting average). He’s patient at the plate (.373 career OBP, 80 walks per 162 games). He’s got great power (.545 SLG, .255 IsoP, 80 XBH per 162). Basically, Tex is arguably the most well-rounded player on the Yankees. Teixeira brings value to the team in a big variety of ways and I speak for all Yankee fans when I say I’m incredibly happy he is on the team.
Robinson Cano
Robbie Cano is a player with incredible talent, and is probably the third best second baseman in baseball–I give Pedroia the edge over Cano because Rogaine’s defense is better–but there are hols in his game. His defense is flashy at times, but awful at others. His lack of on base skills is also a bit frustrating (.033 IsoD, 4.2% BB%, average is around 9%). Cano, however, does two things very well: he hits for average (.306 career BA, 11.7 career K%, league average is about 20%) and hit for power (.480 career SLG, .173 IsoP, league average is about .155). If you’re looking for a patient hitter to work walks, Cano isn’t your guy. However, if you’re looking for a guy who’s gonna make a lot of contact and hit the ball real hard when he does make contact, look no further than Robbie.
Alex Rodriguez
A-Rod is like Tex. He does everything well. He may strike out a bit, 130 per 162, but he still hits for a high average at .302, gets on base at a .390 clip (.401 since joining the Yankees). Alex mashes the ball, with a career .576 SLG and .204 IsoP, with a 162 game average of 79 XBH, and 583 home runs in his career. Alex’s defense has taken a down turn in the last few years, but his offense cannot be overlooked. He’s one of the top hitters in the game and it’s quite clear from where his value comes.
Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter is the more patient, but slightly less powerful, version of Robinson Cano. His defense is so-so (though it was sparkling in ‘09), but his offense, especially relative to his position, is dreamy. A career .317/.388/.459 hitter, the Captain is good for around 200 hits and 70 walks per season. Like Teixeira and Rodriguez–but with lesser power and more contact–Jeter does everything well.
Brett Gardner
In a word: speed. Gardner’s speed is what will give him value to the team in 2010 and beyond. His on-base skills were very good in the minors, but they haven’t been great at the major league level. If he can keep his OBP where he kept it last year–between .340 and .350–then his speed will be incredibly valuable because he’ll be on base enough for his steals to matter. His lack of power, though, makes it seem possible that pitchers will simply challenge Brett and not allow him to reach via the walk.
Curtis Granderson
Curtis’s best feature is his power. His career slugging percentage is .484 and his IsoP is .212. Curtis does have a bit of a hole in his swing–149 strikeouts per 162–but he walks at a decent clip: .344 OBP, 67 BBs/162, 9.5% career BB%. If Curtis’s BABIP can rebound (.321 career, .275 in ‘09), and he continues to hit for power and walk at an average rate, Curtis’s offense will be quite valuable in 2010.
Nick Swisher
Disclaimer: I love Nick Swisher. Anyway, whenever discussing Nick Swisher–or players like him–with casual fans, I lead off with this: if you like players that hit for high batting averages, Nick Swisher is not gonna be a guy you like. Nick is never going to hit .300. What Nick is going to do, however, is still valuable: he walks a lot and he hits for a lot of power. Swisher’s career BA is a lowly .245 but his career on base percentage is .357 and his career slugging percentage is .460. That means an IsoD of .112 and an IsoP of .216; those are excellent marks. Swisher’s value comes from his patience and his power.
Nick Johnson
Last but not least is new-old- friend Nick Johnson. Johnson is like the “lite” version” of Swisher: he hits for more contact, .273 as opposed to Swish’s .245, but he also hits for less power: .447 and an IsoP of .174. However, Johnson’s on base skills are supreme: .402 career OBP, 15.6% walk rate, 0.93 BB/K. Out of the two hole, Johnson’s skill set will be invaluable in 2010. Not only will his hits move Derek Jeter around, but his walks will set up more RBI opportunities for the big boppers behind him.
Thus far, I’ve taken multiple looks at offensive projections and what they could signal for the Yankees in 2010. In some of those posts, I’ve briefly gone over the defensive projections for some players. I’d like to go more deeply into that today. To do so, I’ll be looking at these age adjusted UZR projections.
Leading off, I’ll start with the leadoff hitter: Derek Jeter. Last season was a defensive renaissance for the Captain. The process started in 2008 when Jeter saw his UZR/150 jump from -16.7 in 2007 to -0.7, so he was essentially average. In 2009, Jeter’s defense sky rocketed to an 8.4 UZR/150 mark, the first time Jeter was in the black in terms of UZR. My eyes, for one, seemed to back this up as Jeter’s range to his left seemed much, much better (though it looked like he still had trouble going to hsi right). No matter how we slice it, Jeter had a damn good fielding season in ‘09. For 2010, this system projects Jeter to be at -2.0/150. That’d be a big hit from last season–a 10.4 run drop–but considering where Jeter’s been according to UZR, that’s not all that bad. I suspect Jeter’s defensive projection, despite the great fielding season in 2009, is lower because of two things. The first is Jeter’s age; he’s not getting younger and most shortstops don’t get better in the field with age. The second is the fact that it looks like Jeter’s 2009 season was the outlier in terms of defense. Hopefully, Jeter can repeat last year’s performance on the left side of the infield, but I won’t be shocked if he doesn’t.
Let’s stay on the left side of the infield and look at Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod’s fielding was up and down last year, but it was mostly down. His arm looked as strong as ever, but his range was severely decreased. Now that Rodriguez is farther removed from his hip surgery, I expect his range to get a bit better. I don’t think he’ll be in the black, but he won’t be as far in the red as he was last year (-11.7/150) and the projection agrees with me and sees Rodriguez posting a -5 UZR/150. With his offense, as long as he’s not Adam Dunn in the field, he’s a positive. A six run improvement, even if it is still on the wrong side of the number line, would be welcomed warmly.
In my humble opinion, there is no more puzzling player on defense than Robinson Cano. There are weeks when Cano looks like he’s the greatest second basemen to ever play the position. Then, the very next week, he’ll look completely lost at second. Robbie ended last year with a -5.2 UZR/150, his second straight year with a big negative number (-7.0 in ‘08). He’s projected for -2.0/150 and that makes sense. The only consistent thing about Cano’s defense is inconsistency. Regardless, he has the offense to way out-hit a -2 UZR projection and I will not be surprised at all if Cano posts another 4.0-5.0 WAR season.
No one sparked a bigger debate about the merits/demerits of UZR in 2009 than first baseman Mark Teixeira. Despite showing what looked like great defense at first, Tex posted a UZR/150 of -4.1. It’s worth noting that UZR has its holes for every position, but it’s least effective and accurate when dealing with first basemen, so take that number with a grain of salt. The projection sees Mark improving to a 0 UZR/150. In the last four seasons, Tex’s UZR/150 numbers have been -1.8, -5.2, +9.3, and -4.1. Those numbers are all over the place, so I’d expect that 0 UZR/150 to come to pass as it’s right in the middle.
2010 should give the Yankees their strongest defensive outfield in a long, long time. Brett Gardner seemingly gets to everything, Curtis Granderson covers a lot of ground, and though he doesn’t make it look pretty, Nick Swisher’s got good range in right. Starting with Swisher, we see he’s projected for a +1 UZR/150, which is just around where he was last year (-1.2).
Either position, LF or CF, is projected to be a positive for Gardner. Interestingly enough, Gardner’s CF projection, +8, is higher than his LF projection of +2. Regardless, it looks like we’re heading into 2010 with Gardner as the starting left fielder. That projection, though, is way too bearish. It’s that way probably because of a small sample (17 games) and I expect Gardner to field much better than that in 2010.
Curtis Granderson is projected positively in center field as well, with a +1 UZR/150 prediction. That seems about right, considering that’s where he was last year (1.6) and where he was in ‘08 (-9.3). It’s likely, though, that Granderson will outplay that projection because he won’t be relied upon to cover much ground, since he won’t have Magglio Ordonez (-5.8 UZR/150) or Carlos Guillen (-12.7 UZR/150) flanking him.
Bench outfielder Randy Winn should get his fair amount of time in the field as well; in right and left (+11 and +7 respectively), he projects positively.
The Yankees should have a solid defense in 2010 and paired with a strong pitching staff, the Yankees should do pretty well in the run prevention category.
Just a few days ago, January 29th, our own Moshe Mandel pulled a Fire Joe Morgan on Mike Lupica due to Lupica’s hypocrisy regarding the Yankees and their spending. Well, Lupica threw out another silly piece on Sunday the 31st. The title? “New York Yankees and…Johnny Damon still have time to make a deal.” Before I get into the actual piece, I have some advice for Mr. Lupica: let it go. Seriously, man. Let. It. Go. We get it. You’re not going to be happy with the Yankees no matter what they do. Your act is, frankly, getting tired. When I was younger, I used to look up to your writing as something to behold. Something’s definitely changed. The question is: did I change or did you change, Mike? It’s probably both; but if it’s more of the former than the latter, that’s a good thing. So, let’s start the insanity.
There is still time for the Yankees to make a deal with Johnny Damon and for Damon to make a deal with them, just because there is no ticking clock here the way there is no real “budget” for the Yankees.
Okay, sure, the season hasn’t started and Johnny Damon hasn’t been signed so there is technically time to get a deal done. But, in reality, Damon isn’t coming back. He’s constantly said no and the Yankees are sticking to a budget, even if it is high.
Damon? He should make a deal for the best possible reason, because this is the best possible place for him to continue playing baseball. The Yankees make the deal for the only reason that is supposed to matter:
They are a better team with him than they are without him and they don’t have to lay off members of the grounds crew to get him.
I agree with Lupica: Damon’s best option is the Yankees and the Yankees’ best LF option is Damon. The fact of the matter is that they could not come to any sort of agreement. Johnny Damon may be a good player in many ways–he can hit, he can at least stand out in the field, and by all accounts, he’s a good clubhouse guy. Despite all that, Johnny Damon at this stage in his career, is not a guy you rip open the checkbook for, especially if there’s no one else willing to do the same.
It’s painfully obvious here, and later on, but I want to mention it here, that Lupica has no grasp of “context.” In the last two offseasons, we’ve seen the market for most older corner outfielders, even good ones like Damon and Bobby Abreu, completely bottom out. Why should the Yankees pay more for Damon just because Lupica thinks/acts like/wants to believe that they can, especially when no other team has made an offer for Damon? That’s just awful business and the Yankees would be bidding against themselves, like they (the Steinbrenners, not CashMoney) did with A-Rod in late 2007 and the Cardinals and Mets did with Matt Holliday and Jason Bay in this off-season. If the Yankees did that, I guarantee Lupica would be writing an angry article about the Yankees being too free-wheeling with their money in tough economic times and about the bad business practice about the team bidding against itself.
–snip–
They’re not being asked to break the bank here. It’s not like the gap between the two sides is as wide as CC Sabathia. But are we really supposed to believe that Hal Steinbrenner found $180 million under the bed for Mark Teixeira last winter and now can’t find whatever it will take to bring back a popular, winning ballplayer and stick him back in the No. 2 slot behind Jeter?
1. 2010 =/= 2009. The Yankees are clearly operating differently this off-season than they did in last year’s off-season. Isn’t this painfully obvious? How does Lupica not see this? He can’t be this thickheaded, can he? Is it possible he’s playing a Kaufman-like joke on us?
2. In just about every single way possible, Mark Teixeira is a better player than Johnny Damon. He was younger, entering his prime. He can field his position much better than Damon can feel his. He is a switch hitter. He is a better hitter than Johnny Damon…by a lot. Mark Teixeira is a perennial MVP candidate. Mark Teixeira is a team-changing player. Johnny Damon, at this point in his career, is not.
3. Stop placing all the blame on the Yankees, Mike. Damon rejected some offers, as I pointed out above via Moshe’s other article, and Scott Boras likely didn’t help things. It’s not as if Damon came to the hypothetical door with a smile and an “Anything goes, Bri-man!” attitude and Cashman kicked him to the hypothetical curb.
Come on. You know how many home runs Nick Johnson, Randy Winn and Brett Gardner hit among them last season? Thirteen.
Nick Johnson had a freakishly low HR/FB rate that is likely going to go up for multiple reasons. Brett Gardner and Randy Winn are not power hitters and bring other skills to the plate–they both are pretty good at getting on base and have good speed–and they’re also good fielders. It’s also worth noting that Johnson’s top-notch on base skills will play very nicely in the two hole. Another important thing that Lupica skips over is that Damon’s real offensive replacement–Curtis Granderson–hit 30 home runs in what was more or less a “down” year for him. That number should also go up, playing in a park that’s friendly to lefty power hitters. This brings to a point that a lot of people have glossed over: Randy Winn is not replacing Johnny Damon. Nick Johnson is replacing Hideki Matsui, but Randy Winn, who will be a bench player, is replacing Melky Cabrera.
–snip–
It’s in his best interests to get his client the best situation as well as the most money. And Damon’s best situation is left field, Yankee Stadium, batting second.
The Yankees found $300 million when they wanted Alex Rodriguez back. They found the money for Teixeira. They can still find the money for Johnny Damon. Can they win without him? Of course they can.
Alex Rodriguez, at the time, was the 2nd best player in baseball and the best player in his league. I’ve already been over the Teixeira thing, so I won’t bore you with a repeat. Those two guys–along with the coupling of Sabathia and Burnett last off-season–are team changing players. A mid-30’s Johnny Damon, playing a non-premium position, coming off a year he probably won’t be able to repeat, is not a team changing player.
Does it suck that the Yankees had to let two fan favorites walk this off-season? Yeah, it does. However, they had good baseball and business reasons, and I can’t fault them too much for it. I’ll miss Johnny and Hideki, but their production is likely to be replaced by Nick Johnson and Curtis Granderson. Despite what Mike Lupica would have you believe, Johnny Damon needs the Yankees more than the Yankees need Johnny Damon.
I had an entirely random thought about the Yankees this morning, brought on by looking at the early season splits for Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia, and AJ Burnett. Looking at the numbers for all three, there were points during the 2009 season when Yankees fans could look at the stats on any of these three new additions and question the huge contracts given to the player. Teixeira was awful in April, OPS’ing .738 with just 6 extra base hits. Sabathia had a similar April, and exited his first start in May with an ERA of 4.85. He vacillated around the mid-3’s for much of the year, and had an ERA of 3.95 as late as August 2nd. Regarding Burnett, he started the season with a few good outings, but had an ERA above 5 for most of May and did not get below 4 until the very last start in June. In the past, Yankee signings who had struggled in the way these three did would have been booed mercilessly. These three saw, at most, a brief smattering of boos and some complaints on internet message boards and blogs. What was different?
I would suggest that the focus upon A-Rod by both media and fans has become so intense that the success and failings of other players tend to be obscured. In most cities, a player like Teixeira or Sabathia struggling would be the most important and most publicized story about the club in that day’s paper. In New York, even when injured, more stories were written about A-Rod than any other player on the club. Quite simply, there was such a frenzy surrounding Alex for much of the first three months of the season, whether it was about steroids, his injury, his lack of rest, or his personal life, that the media was not pointing out and exacerbating the struggles of the new players. And so my question for you, the reader, is this. Has A-Rod taken some of the pressure of playing in New York off his teammates? Does the focus on A-Rod allow new players enough time to adjust and get acclimated to the city and the media? I believe that it does. Do you?
About 45 minutes ago, it was announced that Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira have both won the American League’s 2009 Silver Slugger Award at their respective positions (read about all the winners here). The pinstriped duo also took home Gold Glove Awards earlier in the week. That World Series title is probably a pretty big deal, too.
From MLB.com:
The dive-and-spin, dirty-uniform parade began with Mark Teixeira, who earned his third Gold Glove — but first since 2006 — for an often-overlooked aspect of his game that was every bit as vital to the Yankees’ drive to a World Series title as his 39 home runs and 122 RBIs. Teixeira made only four errors in 1,275 chances, to say nothing of the errors by other infielders he prevented with his wide-ranging scoops of errant throws……
Derek Jeter is back in familiar company. The Yankees’ captain was awarded his fourth Gold Glove and the first since the last of his three consecutive honors, in 2006. This is no small accomplishment for a 35-year-old, but Jeter rededicated himself to defensive improvement after some criticism last year, and the work obviously paid off — and was noticed.
Elvis Andrus probably should have won at SS, but Jeter was not an awful choice, with his UZR/150 of 8.4 third among SS with more than 120 games. Regarding Teixeira, UZR did not love him, but UZR is admittedly flawed regarding first basemen, and does not account for many of the best aspects of Teixeira’s game. Apparently he passed the eyeball test, which is all that is considered for this award. Congratulations to both players.
Thus far, what has been a memorable postseason, to say the least, has not been kind to Yankees slugger, Mark Teixeira. Though he has often dazzled with his golden glove, causing the always insightful Tim McCarver to continuously refer to him as a Hoover—like the vacuum, Teixeira has struggled mightily to produce offensively, as his bat has languished. For whatever reason, whether it be the persistent pressure intrinsically connected to Teixeira’s pinstriped jersey or a simple slump at the worst possible time, the man that had assaulted AL pitching in 2009, hitting 39 home runs and plating 122, appears to be stuck in a seemingly endless state of offensive ineffectiveness.
In the ALDS, against the Twins, a team that Teixeira normally enjoys facing—his career line against Minnesota is .371/.415/.670, he hit a feeble .167/.231/.417, and looked more like Robinson Cano with runners in scoring position than the player that led the league in RBI. He walked once and drove in 1 lone run on a solo home run (it was a big home run, but the lack of general production is obviously evident). It was merely a poor series, we all thought, upon reflection. It was preposterous to assume that such a miserable postseason performance could continue into the ALCS. Thinking that Mark Teixeira, who hit .292/.383/.565 during the regular season, would hit under .200 against the Angels was absurd, it seemed. No way would he fold—not Big Tex. The ALDS was nothing more than a sour fluke.
Of course, those who quietly feared that Teixeira would continue to struggle against his former SoCal brethren had their fears confirmed in each grueling ALCS game, as Teixeira hit a remarkably poor .222/.290/.259 during the series (hey, at least he stayed above .200 this time). He drove in 4 runs and struck out 8 times over 6 games. Though the Yankees managed to escape the ALCS winners, one wonders what would have occurred had the Yankees lost. Would Teixeira have been blamed for the early exit? It was, of course, very likely, as the much maligned Alex Rodriguez did more than his part to pave a path to playoff glory, a path that ended and began with the World Series.
However, hypotheticals aside, the Yankees did not lose, as they are, indeed, in the World Series and continue to battle the Phillies for baseball’s bedazzled crown and impressive throne. Sadly though, for the Bombers, Mark Teixeira’s frustratingly flaccid bat has followed him into the fray. He has been but a shell of his regular season self, hitting a paltry .105 through the first 5 games. He has 2 RBI, a number that is simply unacceptable given his position above A-Rod in the Yankees batting order. Normally a patient hitter, Teixeira has walked only twice during the series while striking out 7 times. One of his more cited strike outs can be found in last night’s ballgame, when Teixeira swung at a pair of Ryan Madson changeups that were well out of the zone, ending the game with Hideki Matsui standing at second base (Teixeira was, himself, the tying run) and Alex Rodriguez stranded in the on-deck circle. If only, if only…
Following his prominent game-ending strike out, Teixeira seemed impervious to his offensive listlessness. “I think I’ve done a lot, this postseason, to help this team win,” he chirped. “That’s what I’m going to try and do [Wednesday].” Please, allow me to stage an intervention—Mark, with your limp Louisville, you have done little to help the team this postseason. Remember, admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. The Yankees have 2 possible games left this season and, in order to defeat a strong Philly lineup, the team needs Mark Teixeira to produce with both his bat and his mitt. As of right now, the mitt is present (UZR be damned), but the bat is nowhere to be found.
Photo by AP
