Via Bryan Hoch, the Yankees have traded right-handed reliever, Edwar Ramirez, to the Texas Rangers for “cash considerations.” Edwar was recently designated for assignment in order to make room on the roster for Chan Ho Park. The slender 28-year old ends his disappointing New York tenure with a 5.22 ERA (ERA+ of 85) and 1.955 WHIP over 98 1/3 innings pitched (his K/9 of 10.6 was a bright spot).
Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record caught up with Brett Gardner after yesterday’s game against the Twins at Hammond Field – a game in which Gardner bunted for a single and subsequently outran a pickle between first and second (he got back to first safely) – and, naturally, the conversation the turned to Gardner’s productive base running.
“I don’t like getting out when I’m hitting, but… stealing bases, I take a lot of pride in,” said Gardner. “You don’t want to just go out there and run. You’ve got to know who’s on the mound, know who’s at the plate and try to pick your spots.” While Gardner was referring solely to his love of the stolen base in that comment to Caldera, in general, he was just an effective base runner while on base last year, advancing when he had to on balls on the ground, in the air, past the catcher, etc. Though I have discussed his stellar speed score in the past, another number, Gardner’s EqBRR – a value that measures a player’s base running contributions in runs – is certainly worth noting. Gardner’s EqBRR in 2009 was 4.9, the eleventh best mark in all of baseball. That’s basically half a win (10 runs equal a win). Mind you, Gardner accomplished this feat with very limited playing time, therefore, I expect him to better his EqBRR this season.
Photo by Getty Images
Here’s an interesting item on Kei Igawa from the NY Times‘ Joe LaPointe:
Despite having two seasons left on a five-year, $20 million contract and despite retiring all five hitters in his spring debut Friday, Igawa is mostly out of sight and pretty much out of mind. He is rarely mentioned in conversations about the fifth slot in the starting rotation, a competition that involves as many as five candidates.
“That’s as it should be,” General Manager Brian Cashman said of Igawa’s diminished status. “He’s got to try to reinvent himself. He hasn’t lived up to what our scouting assessments were. Maybe that’s not his fault.”
While Igawa deserves some blame for his current situation, perhaps for not adapting to American baseball in a way that would increase his likelihood of success here, I think it’s somewhat cowardly for Brian Cashman to essentially fault Igawa for his ineffectual state. His statement, that Igawa “hasn’t lived up to what our scouting assessments were,” sounds like unfair criticism. There seems to be a large gap between what Igawa actually is, and what Cashman’s glowing scouting reports pegged him to be. While I do think Cashman has been a strong GM for the Yankees, the Igawa signing was clearly a mistake on his part – probably the biggest of his career – and he should acknowledge that (an ambiguous remark like, “Maybe that’s not his fault,” is not an admission). Under Cashman’s watch, the scouting profiles the team had on Igawa were either riddled with inaccuracies or just ignorant of his Major League potential.
To be fair to Kei Igawa, that’s not his fault. He is what he is. Instead, that’s on Brian Cashman.
Photo by the Boston Globe
Via the Associated Press (props to Ben over at RAB):
Boxing is making its long-awaited return to Yankee Stadium, where icons like Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis once plied their trade. WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman will defend his title against former welterweight champion Miguel Cotto on June 5 at the year-old ballpark in the Bronx, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told The Associated Press late Thursday night.
Arum promoted the final bout at the old Yankee Stadium across 161st Street when Muhammad Ali fought Ken Norton on Sept. 28, 1976. Arum had approached the club several times over the past three decades about staging another event, but George Steinbrenner and club brass had always been tepid about erecting a ring and seating on the immaculate infield grass.
“We have a preliminary agreement with them. Nothing has been signed or finalized,” Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost told AP, calling the deal subject to approval from team higher-ups. “We do plan, if things go well, to have it on June 5.”
These non-baseball events, while very cool, have to be logistical nightmares for the Yankees.
Photo by Reuters
Via John Harper of the Daily News:
Somewhere, Brian Cashman must have cringed when he heard the news. Not that Nick Johnson getting scratched from a spring training game is some catastrophe, but for the Yankee GM there is no escaping the tie-in between Johnson and Johnny Damon…
As you all know by now, Johnson missed yesterday’s game with a stiff lower back, and he was also held out of today’s game, as well, against Tampa Bay. However, his back is reportedly feeling better after having performed a series of exercises earlier in the day, though no set return date has been ironed out for the oft-injured Johnson.
Turning to Harper’s NJ piece, he’s overreacting, right? I know that Johnson’s injury history is enough to make even the slightest bruise newsworthy, but, even so, the response seems frenzied. I mean, bringing up Damon? Really?
What do you think? Are such reactions warranted?
Photo by Getty Images
Baseball Prospectus’ Kevin Goldstein released his top 101 prospects list today (these lists never seem to end), and the Yankees’ young marvel, Jesus Montero, ranked fourth on Goldstein’s list. The top 10 is as follows:
1. Stephen Strasburg, RHP, Nationals
2. Jason Heyward, OF, Braves
3. Neftali Feliz, RHP, Rangers
4. Jesus Montero, C, Yankees
5. Mike Stanton, OF, Marlins
6. Pedro Alvarez, 3B, Pirates
7. Desmond Jennings, OF, Rays
8. Carlos Santana, C, Indians
9. Buster Posey, C, Giants
10. Aroldis Chapman, LHP, Reds
If you are defined by the company you keep, then things are looking awfully good for the Yankees’ best prospect. Former farmhands, Arodys Vizcaino (45), now on the Braves, Austin Jackson (49), now on the Tigers, and Jose Tabata (90), now on the Pirates, were also featured. Outside of Montero, unfortunately, no other Yankees made the list.
Screenshot via Yankees/MLB.com
According to “two executives from competing teams” that spoke to Sports Illustrated‘s Jon Heyman (props to RAB), Derek Jeter could seek a six-year contract from the Yankees once he enters free agency at the end of the year. One executive noted, in reference to Jeter’s agent, Casey Close, and the six-year proposal, “[He] is a good agent. You don’t get it if you don’t ask.” Of course, this is the nature of negotiations. Jeter could seek a six-year deal, however, I think he and his agent, being the smart guy that he is, know the Yankees would likely prefer to do a shorter deal, say, in the four-year range. So, in reality, asking for a six-year deal is a bargaining tactic – aim high first – to receive a five or four-year offer. It’s like when a charitable group calls you and initially asks for $1,000 (assuming you haven’t hung up). As you continue to say no to them, they ultimately end up settling on a much more reasonable figure like $25.
That’s the nature of the game. If Jeter actually wanted a six-year deal, we would probably hear reports about him wanting a seven or eight-year deal instead. Again, it cannot hurt to aim high out the gate, as long as you think realistically in terms of what you expect to actually receive (unlike Johnny Damon over the winter). In the end, I can see Jeter receiving a four or possibly even a five-year offer, but six won’t happen. I think Jeter knows that, too.
Photo by Reuters
Kevin Kernan of the NY Post has an interesting article out in which he notes that Yankees icon, Derek Jeter, has expressed an interest in owning a baseball team one day. Of course, as soon as one hears this information, one wonders if Jeter could become a part-owner of the Yankees after he retires. Interestingly though, Ben Kabak of River Ave Blues ponders whether or not the Yankees could actually include an ownership share in his next contract. To be honest, I think it’s a far-fetched idea, but if Jeter truly intends on expanding his resume beyond the confines of the player title, hey, maybe it could happen. Either way, Ben’s stuff is always worth a read, so check it out.
Photo by Reuters
About a week ago, using Josh Hermsmeyer’s injury database that lists player injuries from 2002 to 2008, Dan Turkenkopf of Beyond the Box Score examined the way in which wrist injuries might impact power (it seems common sensical to assume that they do, but I appreciate having some form of data to support this theory, even if it is limited). Basically, Turkenkopf looked at players with wrist injuries during the aforementioned timeframe and compared their projected ISOs – the projected ISOs were calculated by Turkenkopf using the Marcel projection system – upon returning from their wrist injuries, to their actual ISOs upon returning. In the end, though the analysis was only the “quick and dirty” starting point to what might one day be a larger, more comprehensive study, Turkenkopf concludes that “there may be something to the idea that wrist injuries take away a player’s power during his recovery,” as the “overall mean difference between the projected ISO and the actual was -0.030, which is pretty substantial.”
Nick Johnson, the Yankees designated hitter (and possible number two hitter), is actually one of the 77 players featured in Turkenkopf’s study, for he spent 27 days on the disabled list with a bruised wrist in 2002 – a relatively minor wrist injury – while also spending 137 days on the disabled list in 2008, missing the rest of the regular season after suffering a torn wrist tendon, which, unlike the bruised wrist, was obviously a much more significant injury. In accordance with injury severity, Johnson surpassed his ISO projection upon returning from the disabled list in 2002, however, last season, after returning from his ’08 tendon tear, Johnson saw a rather large divide between his projected ISO of .208 and his actual ISO of .114 (a difference of .094). As Turkenkopf noted, and via common sense logic, the wrist injury did seem to drain Johnson’s raw power in 2009 – explaining his David Wright-like home run total of eight – after he had posted a .190 ISO in 2005, .230 in 2006, and a .211 mark, prior to his injury, in 2008.
I think it is safe to say that, another year removed from his wrist injury – he will have received two years of recovery time, essentially – should allow Johnson to inch closer towards his career ISO of .174. This is another instance where a player did so poorly in one category that he is bound to improve given his overall track record in that area. Marcel, the system Turkenkopf used for his ISO study, forecasts Johnson’s ISO to be .137 in 2010. As a left-handed hitter in Yankee Stadium that hits both lefties and righties well, I think that he could certainly surpass that number, although even such a conservative projection shows a reason for optimism and an increase in power after last season’s outage.
With that said, if Johnson’s OBP is .426, like it was in ’09, I doubt anyone will mind if his ISO is around .115 or so.
Note – Turkenkopf later updated his findings with an added methodological change that alters the difference between projected ISO and actual ISO, but there is still a drop.
Photo by the AP
Over the weekend, George King of the NY Post wrote about the fifth starter competition between Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes, and, included in King’s article was an interesting tidbit regarding Hughes’ changeup, which he has been developing this spring. Apparently, Hughes has altered his grip of the pitch, going from a split-grip change – which, I believe, was somewhat similar to Ian Kennedy’s vulcan changeup – to a circle change. “I tweaked it a little bit,” said Hughes. “I am back to the circle change and getting a feel for it.” Hughes had gone from the circle changeup grip to the split-finger changeup grip last year, during Spring Training, so the “tweak” is not necessarily earth-shattering.
Manager Joe Girardi stated that Hughes’ changeup has looked effective during bullpen sessions, however, according to King, Girardi will wait to “reserve judgment until he sees how hitters react to it when they take their bats off the shoulders.” “You want to see the deception it has when hitters are swinging in a game,” noted Girardi in reference to the pitch. “But, I like the progress he has made and we need to keep on him and tell him to continue to use it.” Hughes hopes to reincorporate the change within his repertoire this season after rarely using it as a reliever a year ago.
From Burnett to Hughes, there’s a big changeup theme to this spring. Everyone wants to be like CC, I guess…
Photo by the AP
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