Monday, September 2, 2013
Yankees blow out White Sox 9-1 behind strong pitching
Thunder Regular-Season Finale at Portland Rained Out
What the Yankees need now, is pitching!
The Yankees pitching has struggled all season long so far. Pettitte (10-9) and Sabathia (12-11) have been far from their best (as shown by their records). Hiroki Kuroda (11-10) started the season well and was rightly hailed as Hiroki the Hero, but even he has started to slip now (3 losses on the trot and 1-4 in August). Ivan Nova (8-4) has had a decent season and highlighted this on Saturday with a complete game shutout of the Orioles but he cannot carry the pitching staff.
Game Thread: White Sox @ Yankees 9/2
The New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox will be the showcase game on this labor day holiday at Yankees Stadium. The pitching match up will be Phil Hughes for the Yankees and Jose Quintana for the White Sox and the game will be televised at 1:05 pm ET on MLB Network, the YES Network, and MLB TV. Phil Hughes has been pushed back to skip the Orioles midst his struggles this season after sporting a 6.46 ERA in August. Jose Quintana is 2-0 in his career against his former employer including one of those victories already at Yankees Stadium.
Here is the Yankees lineup:
Follow us on twitter by following @GreedyStripes. Get your Yankees tickets for this game and every game on this 10 game home stand right HERE on The Greedy Pinstripes. Go Yankees!!
Minor League Deal Options For 2014: Nelson Cruz
Nelson Cruz coming to the New York Yankees as a designated hitter and rotational outfielder is probably pretty unrealistic but hear me out here. Melky Cabrera was having an MVP type season in 2012 before his season ended due to a steroid suspension and still got a two year deal from the Toronto Blue Jays. Granted he has an AAV of $8,000,000 but it's the Blue Jays and they were handing out big contracts to anyone and everyone so I think that contract may be a little bloated, which could unfortunately work against us. Nelson Cruz is now a free agent after missing the final 50 games in 2013 due to his suspension with Biogenesis and is likely to sign a short term deal to try and rebuild his value and prove he can be effective while clean.
Do you think Cruz would sign a minor league deal to try and rebuild value knowing that the Yankees team is aging and he may get plenty of at bats in the outfield and at DH? Probably not but I can dream, right? I know that there is some team out there that is willing to give him a one year deal with a guaranteed contract but will that team be in the position to go to the World Series? Only time will tell but if I am the Yankees General Manager I call up Cruz on day one of free agency and offer him a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. See you at George Steinbrenner Field Nelson!
Chicago White Sox @ New York Yankees 9/2
The New York Yankees host the Chicago White Sox for the first of a three game set this afternoon in the fourth game of the Yankees 10 game home stand at Yankees Stadium. The Yankees need to keep the momentum going in the right direction as they continue their climb to the top of the wild card standings. The Yankees will send Phil Hughes to the mound on an extra day of rest to face off with former Yankees farm hand Jose Quintana for the White Sox. The game will be televised at 1:05 pm ET on the YES Network, MLB Network, and MLB TV.
We Can't Lean On CC Anymore
Sabathia's 4.91 ERA is higher than it's ever been in his 12+ seasons in Major League Baseball. Hell, it hasn't been at or above 4.00 since his 2005 season with the Cleveland Indians. His WHIP of 1.353 is higher than it's been since 2002, he's given up more hits per nine innings than he ever has, and his home run rate is also at a career-high. In fact, in terms of WAR, CC is the Yankees fourth-best pitcher following Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, and Ivan Nova.
All season I've said that Sabathia would figure it out, as he's been too good of a pitcher for too long. But it may be time to accept that he won't ever be the same pitcher again, and the Yankees are going to have to work hard to find a strong top of the rotation starter for next season.
I'm still not ready to call Nova a top-of-the-rotation starter, despite the fact he's failed to throw a quality start in only one of his last 11 starts (not counting the June 29th game against the Orioles, in which he came into the game in the 3rd inning and threw 5.2 innings of two-run ball). Maybe I'm just being stubborn because I talked trash about the guy earlier this year, and I'm not ready to say I was wrong. Maybe it's because I, and others, thought we had a solid starter coming into this season, only for him to have a 6.48 ERA in April, before being sent to the minors less than a month later. Either way, I think it would be dumb to pencil him into the top of the rotation for 2014. At least if it's done without having an eraser handy in case another starter was found.
I've already talked about how the team should try really hard to bring back Kuroda. Although his last three starters have been bad, awful, and slightly less awful, there's no denying that he's been the best pitcher on the team this season. He leads the all starters in WAR, ERA+, WHIP, and K/BB (he's .01 points behind Nova in ERA). I actually said the Yankees should offer him another $2 million raise like they did between 2012 and 2013, while another blogger mentioned that they should give him as much as $20 million.
Whether it's $17 million or $20 million, the Yankees shouldn't stop there, due to the fact that CC Sabathia has gone from exclamation point to question mark. So what free agents, besides Kuroda, are available?
We've all heard the name "Matt Garza" quite a bit over the past two years, due to him being linked in trade talks with the Yankees. He was finally dealt away from Chicago in mid-July, and went to the Texas Rangers. Although the Bombers could have used a solid starter, going to Texas is a really good thing, as the team can see what the guy can do in the American League, and for a contender. So far he's doing pretty well, having a 4.04 ERA after eight starts. I'm not saying he's a legit #2 starter or higher, at least not yet, but you have to give a guy some time to adjust to a new league. I'll be watching him the rest of the season.
After a disastrous 2012 season, in which he posted career highs in ERA, WHIP, HRs, and Walks, Tim Lincecum has improved. He's not the same pitcher he was from 2008 to 2011, but he's shown signs of once again being a top-of-the-rotation starter. His August 3rd start against the Rays stands out, as he went 7 innings, while giving up just one run on 6 hits. But what he does from here on out could mean the difference between Yankee fans clamoring for him, or Yankee fans wanting to stay away from him like he has the plague itself.
Ignoring the fact he's always been a National League guy, Ricky Nolasco is having a pretty darn-good season. Before being traded to the Dodgers, Ricky had an ERA of 3.85 in Miami. But since going from a dud of a team to a contender, he's thrown very well. The Dodgers as a whole have to be really pleased with his 6-1 record in his 10 starts, along with a career low mark in hits and homers per nine innings, while maintaining solid strikeout and walk rates. Like Garza, it's great to see him pitching for a contender like the Dodgers, as Yankee fans can see what he can do in a pressure situation. Which he certainly did not have before the trade.
Other than those three names, there are some fairly interesting ones. Ubaldo Jiminez can void the last year on his deal and become a free agent, Scott Kazmir will be available, and Ervin Santana has come back strong after a poor 2012 season. Mind you, those last three probably don't make your mouths water, but they may work in the middle of the rotation.
The bottom line is this... the Yankees should not lean on CC Sabathia to carry the starting rotation any more. Can he be a solid starter? Absolutely. But if the starters look like Sabathia, Kuroda, Nova, Pineda, and ???, I won't feel really good about it. I may not even feel just "good". In order to acquire a top starter to add into that rotation, the team may have to rely on the trade market, which is always an uncertainty, but the fact is more than one move has to be made there.
Game 137 Lineup: White Sox vs. Yankees (And Another Sept. Call-Up!)
Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Alfonso Soriano LF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Vernon Wells DH
Curtis Granderson RF
Mark Reynolds 1B
Austin Romine C
Phil Hughes RHP
September Call-Up
-- The Yankees have called up Preston Claiborne from High A Tampa. Joe Girardi said there shouldn't be anymore call-ups September. Aside from Preston Claiborne, don't expect the other call ups to be used. Girardi says they are more here for the experience.
Alex Rodriguez Appeal Starts This Week
Alex Rodriguez and his 211 game suspension and the subsequent appeal starts this week, at least in the preliminary stages. Officials from Major League Baseball and Alex Rodriguez's camp will meet with the arbitrator, Frederic Horowitz, on Wednesday to discuss evidence and possibly set a date for the hearing. The hearing is more than likely going to make or break the Yankees off season depending on when it is held. We are hearing anywhere from November to December for the date when the meeting will be held so it will either be before or after the winter meetings. The sooner the better obviously for the Yankees because the sooner we know how much we have to spend the better.
Charleston's Ninth Inning Rally Comes Up Just Short
Happy Labor Day From The Greedy Pinstripes
Labor Day is to give all you hard working people out there a day off to rest and spend some much needed time with the family and I expect to do all that and more today. I did want to take a minute though to wish all of our readers and our fans a Happy Labor Day and I hope everyone has a safe and fruitful day. Go Yankees and paid vacation days!
Wild Card Watch: September 2, 2013
Last night on Twitter I asked my followers if they would prefer that I placed the Wild Card standings on my Twitter account and I got a huge response. All of the answers were yes. So I decided why not do a Wild Card Watch on Yankees Fans Unite as well? That way we can keep tabs on where the Yankees are for the rest of the month, dissecting what the Yankees have to do in order to get the second Wild Card spot. Here was the Wild Card standings from last night, since all the teams that are in the Wild Card race played afternoon games.
The good news is, the Yankees didn't lose any ground for the second Wild Card spot. The Tampa Bay Rays lost so the Yankees are still 3.5 in the race. The bad news (for now) is that Baltimore and Cleveland leapfrogged over the Yankees for the other two spots. Now, the reason I say it was bad news for now is because a brand new series means brand new teams play against one another. Yankees will host the Chicago White Sox for three games and the Cleveland Indians will host--the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees have a chance to once again leapfrog over Baltimore and Cleveland since one of those teams in the Wild Card race would have to lose the games and the series. Now, the White Sox are no pushovers for the Yankees since they have Jose Quintana, Chris Sale and Hector Santiago going in that series, but the Yankees have a slightly different team and the offense clicked as of late. What will happen on Labor Day? Hopefully the Yankees labor their way to a victory, then hold their breath to hope either Baltimore or Cleveland lose the game, then hold their breath and hope the Rays lose their game. Yankees can't fall backwards. It's only going forwards from here. Come back to the blog tomorrow for another Wild Card Watch.
Yankees give up 7 in seventh, fall to Orioles 7-3
This Day In New York Yankees History 9/2
On this day in 1996 David Cone comes back from a major aneurysm surgery in his throwing arm to throw seven no hit innings. The Yankees would beat Oakland 5-0 in this game with Yankees closer Mariano Rivera giving up a hit in the 8th inning.
On this day in 2001 for the first time in major league history four teams beat opponents 1-0 on the same day when the Yankees beat the Red Sox, The Padres beat the Diamondbacks, the Astros beat the Brewers, and the Blue Jays beat the Tigers all by the same score.
On that same day in 2001 was when Carl Everett singled to left with two outs against Mike Mussina in Fenway Park ruining his perfect game bid in the 9th inning. Moose was one strike away from perfection before the lazy single.