Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Was the Mark Teixeira Injury the End of the 2015 Season


The New York Yankees were flying high through the month of July and held a substantial lead in the American League East entering the month of August. The Toronto Blue Jays were fresh off making multiple acquisitions including David Price, LaTroy Hawkins, Mark Lowe and Troy Tulowitzki while New York added Dustin Ackley. The Yankees didn't feel like they needed to add much or had the room to add much, and at the time I agreed with that stance, but we all know how that worked out. The Yankees lost their pitcher with the most wins in Nathan Eovaldi and they also lost their best offensive weapon in Mark Teixeira. Essentially Eovaldi was replaced with Luis Severino after Michael Pineda returned off the disabled list while Greg Bird essentially replaces Teixeira at first base. Was the Teixeira injury the end of the Yankees season or did Greg Bird do enough to essentially replace his production?

I am a firm believer that along with a general eye test that the stats don't lie. When looking at the stats, which I have given to you below, you can see that Bird either met or exceeded Teixeira's average statistics for the remainder of the month of August and the month of September. Bird was great, no doubt about it, but he's no Teixeira.

Teixeira:
SplitGGSPARH2BHRRBISBBBSOBAOBPSLGOPS
April/March2120901316581801314.216.322.608.930
May27261071223461711612.258.383.506.889
June24241011022651901218.259.366.506.872
July23231021729791911321.333.422.7241.146
August1615625100360520.175.242.333.575
Bird:
Year G PA AB R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
2015 46 178 157 26 41 9 11 31 0 19 53 .261 .343 .529 .871 137
The Yankees offense was exposed against left-handed starting pitching at the end of the season, no if's and's or but's about it. Replacing that middle of the order bat that gave Alex Rodriguez plenty of fastballs to hit and Brian McCann enough chances for RBI was damn near impossible for the Yankees. Bird did great hitting clutch home run after clutch home run but he wasn't protecting anyone in the lineup. He didn't make any opposing pitchers fear him and no opposing pitchers feared this Yankees offense for the last month and a half or so of the season. Maybe the stats do lie, but like I said you also have to use the general eye test as well. That's when the stats don't lie and they don't here either for the reasons I have stated above.

Get well soon Mark, the team needs you in 2016, gluten-free or not.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)