Friday, March 15, 2013

Tyler Austin & Mark Montgomery Win Awards


The New York Yankees announced today that outfielder Tyler Austin and closer Mark Montgomery were awarded with the 2012 Kevin Lawn Awards. The Yankees awarded Tyler Austin with the Player of the Year Award and Mark Montgomery with the Pitcher of the Year Award. The award is in memory of Kevin O'Brien Lawn, the son of Yankees Vice President and Chief of Operations, who passed away in 1999.


Tyler finished the 2012 season with a .322 average with 35 doubles, 17 home runs, and 80 RBI's in 110 games splitting time between the Gulf Coast Yankees, Low A Charleston, High A Tampa, and AA Trenton. Mark finished his 2012 campaign with a 7-2 record with 15 saves with a 1.54 ERA in 46 appearances splitting time in High A Tampa and AA Trenton.

New York Yankees Spring Training Notes 3/15


CC Sabathia made his Spring Training debut today in a Grapefruit League game against the Miami Marlins. CC's final pitching line was 5 IP 2 ER 8 H 1 BB and 2 K's. This is the first real action he has seen since his elbow surgery so this is definitely a good sign. The season starts in 16 days so you have to figure he has two more Spring Training starts and then he mows down Boston at home on April Fool's day.


Michael Pineda and Cesar Cabral continued with their similar rehab assignments by throwing 35 pitch bullpen sessions each today including sliders and change ups just like last time. Boone Logan is expected to throw a bullpen session tomorrow against Rob Segedin and Ramon Flores in his quest back to the mound after elbow stiffness.


The Yankees scouted former player Bobby Abreu while he was in the Venezuelan Baseball League this season but apparently were not impressed enough to offer a contract. You will remember him coming over in a salary dump with Cory Lidle and almost being re-acquired last off season when we were shopping AJ Burnett. With Abreu entering his age 39 season I am happy that the Yankees decided to pass on Bobby Abreu this time.


Injury Updates On Slade Heathcott & Ronnier Mustelier


Ronnier Mustelier had to leave today's 7-3 win over the Miami Marlins today after crashing into the rail of a camera well while trying to catch a foul ball. Mustelier has bruises on both of his legs but has no X rays scheduled and will ice them down to try and cut down on the inflammation. Ronnier feels like he is healthy enough to play again tomorrow but Joe Girardi thinks he will not play again until Tuesday at the earliest.


Slade Heathcott has patellar tendinitis and does not know when he will be back on the field for the Yankees. Apparently that is some kind of knee injury that I am unfamiliar with but when a guy with his injury history has anything wrong with him you tend to worry.

Yankees Sign Brennan Boesch


The Yankees have signed Brennan Boesch to a major league deal, worth $1.5 million with $600,000 worth of incentives based on plate appearances.

Being a Major League contract means the team will have to make a 40-man roster move, but that isn't a problem. Michael Pineda and Cesar Cabral are currently on the 40-man, and either player can be moved to the 60-day DL to free up a spot. Boesch also has at least one option remaining, meaning he can be sent to AAA without having to clear waivers first.

If this were a minor league deal I wouldn't think anything of it. Just another case of "throwing it at the wall to see what sticks." Being a ML deal tells me that he'll start the season with the Yankees, either taking over for Granderson full-time (albeit it in LF or RF, as Boesch has never played center field in MLB), or platooning with another outfielder. But once Granderson returns, then the team could demote Brennan to AAA.

Whether it was in right field or left field, Brennan is not a good defender. His career UZR/150 in the OF is -10.7. His arm isn't very good either, so Gardner and Suzuki will have their work cut out for them to make up for his fielding issues.

It would be great if Boesch could replicate his 2011 season, in which he hit.283/.341/.458 with 16 home runs, but I can't help but look at his 2012 (.240/.286/.372 with 12 HR) and be pessimistic. After all, Boesch is a hacker.

In all I'm not worked up about this signing either way. It would be different if the team had somebody I really wanted to play everyday in Granderson's absence, but that's not the case. So I'm willing to sit back and see what develops.



WBC: Team USA vs. Team Puerto Rico


Both the Team USA team and the Team Puerto Rico team are 1-1 in their pool in a double elimination pool. The winner goes on to the championship round in San Francisco and the loser goes home so a lot is on the line in this game. The game will be televised at 7:00 pm ET on MLB Network.

Opening Day is coming, so how's the team shaping up?

[caption id="attachment_15190" align="aligncenter" width="461"]Brett Gardner could be a valuable player in the Yankees lineup... Brett Gardner could be a valuable player in the Yankees lineup...[/caption]

In a little less than three weeks, the Yankees will begin their home-opener against the Boston Red Sox with CC Sabathia on the mound. However, this year's Opening Day lineup might be a little different than what we're used to due to all of the injuries the Yankees were plagued with during the 2013 season. The Yankees are missing Curtis Granderson (broken forearm), Mark Teixeira (strained forearm) and Alex Rodriguez (hip surgery) in their offense which is sure to look like the 'Robinson Cano Show' for the first month and a half. But with still some time to go, just how are the Yankees shaping up as they prepare for the season?


Lineup:


The Yankees lineup has many question marks after losing so many players to free agency and injuries. The bats of Nick Swisher, Russell Martin, Raul Ibanez and Eric Chavez will be with different ball clubs, while we will most likely have to wait for Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson to return to their post in early to mid-May. However, the lineup hasn't looked as puzzling as it did when Spring Training started. The Yankees proved that they can manufacture runs by using a key element that they possess: speed. Players like Brett Gardner, Ichiro Suzuki and Eduardo Nunez are capable of getting on base, going station to station on their own before a key teammate has to drive them in with an RBI. Speed will play an important part this season since the Yankees have lost over 100 home runs than in season's past. But just because the Yankees are relying on speed, it doesn't mean we should start calling them the 'Bronx Bunters'. They will still find a way to hit home runs with Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira making their way back into the starting lineup.


Starting Pitching:


Throughout the course of Spring Training, the starting pitching has been one early glimpse of how our starters will perform during the 2013 season. It looks as if they left off from last season. Hiroki Kuroda looks to be in mid-season form, David Phelps has a 0.63 ERA 14 Spring appearances  Ivan Nova has an ERA of 1. Andy Pettitte has still proven that his pitches are effective although he's the oldest starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. And as expected, there is no concern over CC Sabathia, whatsoever. The starting pitching looks to be one of the Yankees strong points like it was in season's past. Let's hope that the pitching can carry the Yanks this season.


Bullpen:




[caption id="attachment_15191" align="alignright" width="205"]...while Mariano Rivera could be a dynamic piece to the Yankees bullpen ...while Mariano Rivera could be a dynamic piece to the Yankees bullpen[/caption]

The Yankees bullpen was another one of their key pieces that helped define the Yankees last season. With pitchers such as David Robertson, Boone Logan, Clay Rapada and Joba Chamberlain, it seemed like an easy task to get the ball to the 9th inning before handing it off to the greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera. Last season's bullpen dynamic was different since there was no Mariano in the bullpen due to an ACL injury, giving the Yankees a glimpse of what it would look like if Mariano Rivera wasn't there. With Rafael Soriano, the Yankees were able to still close games with a dominant force but this year there is no Rafael Soriano. Mariano Rivera plans to retire after the 2013 season, which gives Yankees fans one last look of the greatest closer before he hangs up his cleats and says goodbye to the game. The bullpen is expected to be a strong part of the Yankees once again, and from Spring observations, I wouldn't be surprised if Shawn Kelley and David Phelps get spots in the bullpen. With both of their arms this spring, the Yankees bullpen could become an iron gate to prevent runs from scoring.


There's only 17 days until Opening Day so from now until Spring Training is over, it would be a good time to start watching the games to see who has a legitimate shot of making the team. And from what I've seen all Spring so far, there are quite a few who have a chance to go north.

The Prospect Hype Machine

Often times when it comes to prospects there lies the real possibility that eventually the chatter surrounding them will exceed their talent, at least for the time being. For those of us who follow the up and coming players closely and reserve our excitement with guarded optimism avoiding the hyper machine is second nature. We are however, outnumbered. Over the years the hype machine has steamrolled its way through the organization leaving fans sour when the prospects fail to fill the bill. Some of the more recent players to fall victim to this were those that were regrettably tagged as the "killer B's"; a monicker that invited ridicule from the get go and had miscarriage written all over it. Looking back at the trio of Brackman, Betances and Banuelos, they all enjoyed some steps forward and successes during that summer of 2010 when they burst on to the radar, but was any of that reason to completely ignore what the evaluators had been saying all along? Let's revisit those reports and see how close they came to fruition... Brackman sported a decent fastball and a very good breaking pitch, both with plus potential. The rub with Brackman was no doubt, his size. The kid was nearly 7 foot tall and all arms and legs. While his potential was amazing, the chances that he could get al his parts in order and consistent was merely a dream. The thought of him ending up as an upper tier starter was far outweighed by his chances of becoming an insurance salesman. Brackman was jettisoned from NY and has yet to break in to the big leagues. Betances is quite similar to the former, in that he also sports a big fastball that has plus potential and an excellent breaking ball to complement it. Dellin also sports a fairly enormous frame, standing 6'8" and in excess of 250 lbs., which is also a concern when it comes to harnessing and repeating mechanics. With such a large frame and some incredible stuff Dellin's ceiling is immense, but with an injury history and the struggles that pitchers his size go through, that ceiling was going to be quite difficult to realize. While a top of the rotation spot was considered possible, a middle to late inning relief role was a likelier landing point. Right now Betances is trying to prove he can stick in a rotation, but a bullpen spot may very well be his landing point. He did have a slight adjustment to his delivery that showed up in ST, but it remains to be seen if it will contribute to his consistency issues from inning to inning. Banuleos is basically the antithesis of the former, as a slight framed lefty with a good mix of pitches that relies more on command and poise than raw power. Manny possesses one of the systems best changeups, and his fastball rode up a couple of ticks to reach 96. Before adding a fourth pitch, Banuelos was seen as a guy with the potential of a #2 or 3 starter, although his modest size was under scrutiny for being suspect to injury. Late in 2012 it was determined that rehab from an early season trip to the DL was to result in Tommy John surgery. There's still a lot of hope for Manny, who was the youngest player in AAA, and has a free and easy delivery that doesn't look to put too much stress on his frame. Tommy John isn't uncommon nor the end of the world these days, so the concern is there but on a minor level. In the end, none of the three thus far are very far off the initial reports; one off the team, one looking more suited to a BP role and the other still in play to be a quality starting pitcher. Where it gets convoluted is when people read about a players potential and run with just that as it's the most likely scenario. It's not. As much as we would love for all our players to reach their utmost, that stuff just doesn't happen but in a blue moon. Expecting it is going to leave you disappointed, and quite often at that.

Enter Jose Ramirez. The shiny new toy. The next in line to be devoured by the hype machine. Someone shoot me. Ramirez caught my interest last season when he finally harnessed a breaking pitch that felt comfortable to him and after a rough start pitched very well to finish the season. He rocks a fastball/changeup combo that has plus-plus potential. His velocity climbs as he goes along, climbing into the high 90's and his change features good depth and fade to it. He does have a bit of an injury history, and has had some issues commanding the zone on a consistent basis, but his stuff is big league. Adding a third pitch that flashes above average to plus potential and you have a big league starter in the making. Key word ladies and gentlemen....potential. I wrote Jose up last year with a mind on keeping a close eye on him in 2013, and boy did he make me look smart. He started off spring training with three appearances, pitching 9 innings striking out 5 and walking none. He showed tremendous command, excellent arm side run on his fastball, a swing and miss changeup and his slider that had finally come to him last season. He was outstanding, and for those of which had yet to see him pitch or knew little about him, he was the next big thing. Before you knew it, fans had a guy who has yet to pitch above A+ ball and exceed 115 innings as making a play for the Bronx in 2013. Fire up the hype machine. Someone shoot me. Somewhat luckily enough, the wheels came off the machine yesterday as Ramirez couldn't find the zone to save his life and he recorded just one out before getting yanked. In his previous outing he was looked at for a blister that was forming on his pitching hand, so it looks to be something minor, but it did help quench some of the rattling among the fanbase. Whew. I like Ramirez as much as the next guy, but let's pump the breaks a little here people. I get it, the announcers like him, the coaches and managers like him and of course the fans are along for the ride, but let's all take a deep breath and relax. I'd like to see him for one stay on the field this year, and for two stay consistent like he did in 2012 after his shaky start. We'll see him soon enough if he's for real, in the meantime temper the expectations and relax a little.

There's plenty of complaints about the Yankees and their overhyped prospects, but is it exclusive to just the Yanks, or do prospects all over baseball fall into the hype machine? I hardly think that this is solely a problem in NY; try following some of the other teams and their youngsters and see if all of their top guys pan out to be all that they could be. When you consider that only 30% of the top ten draftees end up as major leaguers, and the fact that NY hasn't seen a top ten pick in a long long time, it's pretty obvious that failure is commonplace, and the hype machine chews then up and spits them out from coast to coast. So who's to blame? I tend to think it's a bit of a snowball effect. It starts with the organization talking up their guys but what else do you expect? They're trying to generate some interest amongst their farm clubs and for good reason...those ballparks need to draw fans too. Then we move on to publications like Baseball America, ESPN, Baseball Prospectus or one of the other numerous publications that talk about prospects. It's not about touting one teams players over another, and the ML clubs certainly have no control over what gets published, but there is certainly a level of excitement generated by the various prospect lists and rankings that abound. Now we move to the fans, who take all of this and run with it, and sometimes too far as in the early case of Ramirez. I'll be the first to admit that it's fun to dream on what some of these guys can become, but in the end we have to realize just how difficult it is to reach that potential and how rarely it happens. The good news is that for every player that breaks your heart, there's a handful more ready to try and take their place.

New York Yankees vs. Miami Marlins 3/15


The New York Yankees will look to bounce back today against the Miami Marlins after an ugly Spring Training loss yesterday at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound to make his Spring Training debut. The game will be televised at 1:05 pm ET on MLB TV and on MLB Network although on a delay.

Spring Training 3/14/13 Lineup

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Ichiro Suzuki LF
Travis Hafner DH
Juan Rivera RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Ronnier Mustelier 3B
Dan Johnson 1B
Corban Joseph 2B

LHP CC Sabathia

Looking Around The AL East - New York Yankees


The New York Yankees once again won another American League East division title and made it all the way to the American League Championship series before their 2012 season ended. After an American League best 95-67 record in 2012 the Yankees began their "austerity program" and it definitely affected their off season and free agency signings. The sky is falling in Yankees land because the lack of a big splash this off season so let's take a closer look at just how much the Yankees lost in 2012.


I have put each players WAR from 2012 in parenthesis next to their name.

Additions:
  • Hiroki Kuroda (5.2)
  • Andy Pettitte (2.2)
  • Mariano Rivera (0.4)
  • Robinson Cano (8.2)
  • Kevin Youkilis (1.1)
  • Ichiro Suzuki (1.6)
  • Travis Hafner (0.7)
  • David Herndon (0.0)
  • Curtis Granderson (2.7)
  • David Aardsma (0.0)

Subtractions:
  • Russell Martin (1.5)
  • Eric Chavez (1.5)
  • Raul Ibanez (0.3)
  • Andruw Jones (0.2)
  • Nick Swisher (3.5)
  • Freddy Garcia (0.0)
  • Rafael Soriano (2.6)
  • Cory Wade (0.0)
  • Pedro Feliciano (0.0)

Notable Trades:
  • Acquired Shawn Kelley
  • Claimed Jim Miller
  • Claimed Josh Spence


This may be the weakest Yankees squad that I think I have ever seen in my 20+ years of watching Yankees baseball and that scares me a little. With this being Mariano Rivera's farewell tour of a season I really would not like to see the Yankees miss the playoffs, even if he does have a fitting 42 career post season saves to his record. The Yankees kept their guys around from last year in the pitching department and let a ton of home runs and wins go while replacing them with guys who have no business being on Major League teams and question marks. I want to be optimistic, and I am optimistic as you can see with my prediction, but I cannot say I feel confident in my optimism. Prove me wrong boys.

2013 Predictions: 93-69 1st Place Finish