Sunday, May 31, 2015

Sunday Night Open Thread


The New York Yankees are fresh off a four game series with the Oakland Athletics and are preparing, if they aren’t already, for their flight to Seattle to take on the Seattle Mariners. This should be an interesting series as well with the Yankees facing off against notorious Yankees killer Felix Hernandez in Game One, the return of Masahiro Tanaka and all the catching up the team can do with former Yankee Robinson Cano. It ought to be a fun series but it will only be fun if the Yankees can win unlike this series against the Athletics where the team struggled.


But anyway this is an open thread so it doesn’t just have to be baseball we talk about, go crazy. NBA Finals, music, movies, video games, whatever. Have at it. I leave you with this music recommendation like I do in many of these open threads, "Balance" from Smile Empty Soul. My favorite song from my favorite band. Enjoy! 

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Oakland Athletics 5/31


Hey a west coast game that I can actually stay up and watch, imagine that. I need one of those jobs where I can work from home and get paid to do it while watching games and hanging out my kids. Anyway, I digress. The Yankees travel out to Oakland for one last time this road trip as they face off with the Athletics at 4:05 pm ET. In the matchup that will be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV and will showcase Adam Warren facing off against Jesse Chavez for the Athletics.

The Yankees are coming home and it will be here before you know it so waste away your New York Rangers blues inside the greatest stadium in the world, Yankee Stadium. Click the Yankees Tickets link above this post to get your set today without any fees or shipping costs associated with the deal. You can always jump on Twitter and follow @GreedyStripes and/or jump on our comments section of the site to chat during each and every game that isn’t played in the middle of the damn night.

With that said I’ll stop rambling here and let Mr. Warren do my talking for me. Go Yankees!


Will The Real Carlos Beltran Please Stand Up?

During Carlos Beltran's big game last night, in which he gave the Yankees the lead with a two-run home run in the 6th inning, and then extended that lead with an RBI single in the 8th, there was some talk about his big May. While Carlos had a poor .162 batting average in April, he raised that number way up to .308 in May. Not only has his batting average gone way up, but after going homerless last month, Beltran has hit four bombs in May.

I couldn't stop myself from replying to a couple of people on Twitter, pointing out that while Beltran has a nice batting average this month, his on-base percentage of .319 isn't. And after reading more on his possible resurgence today, I decided to look deeper into the numbers. As somebody that wouldn't mind seeing the Yankees DFA Carlos and eat the remaining money on his contract, which includes $15 million for next season, I was looking for proof that he does indeed stink. What I found was surprising.

"I suppose I could just turn up the screen resolution, but this magnifying glass works too."

The first thing I found was that while Carlos ran into some bad luck when it came to his batting average on balls in play (BABIP) in April, things in that department have normalized in May. Last month his BABIP was a very low .229, but so far in May that stat is right around a players normal mark at .312.

Second, I found that his line drive percentage has jumped quite a bit as well. While is career line drive percentage sits at 21%, that number was down all the way to 14.6% in April. Well, his LD% has also normalized and sits at 25.9% in May. Mind you, that's a little higher than his career number, but it's closer now than it was in April.

The third positive I found while looking at Carlos' stats is that he's not striking out nearly as often. In April he struck out in 28.4% of his at bats, but has cut that down to just 11.7% in May. Again, that strikeout rate is lower than he's seen throughout his career (16.1%), but it's actually much closer than what we saw in his sad month of April.

Finally, and what could be the root of his issue in April, and the reason for his rebound in May, is that he's swinging at fewer pitches outside the strike zone, and swinging at more pitches in the strike zone. It doesn't take a baseball genius to know that if you swing at more good pitches (aka "strikes") than bad pitches (aka "balls"), there's a better chance for success.

In fact, the only negative I found while digging around Beltran's Fangraphs and Baseball Reference pages is that he's not walking much. However, I'm not overly concerned about that, as he wasn't brought to New York because of his ability to draw walks. Nor do the Yankees really need that out of him. No, they need him to drive in runs, and over the past 30 days he's done just that.

I tell you, that is not the result I expected when I started this article. Like I said in the beginning, I would have liked to see the Yankees cut Beltran, but after seeing the numbers I'm looking forward to what happens in June.

"Relax, I got this."

Twitter Poll: Can You Support Two Teams?

While reading and catching up on my news I ran across some Yankees related news that left me with more questions than I had before I had when I started the article. Apparently a man, WIlbor Doss Jr., was caught and charged recently with stealing a baseball hat and a MLB team shirt earlier this week but that’s not the interesting part. The hat was a $10 replica New York Yankees hate while the team shirt was a $12 replica Philadelphia Phillies shirt. Either he was stealing for a friend, a family member etc. or he likes two MLB teams at the same time. Is that even possible?










To be involved in our next Twitter poll head over to Twitter and follow @GreedyStripes and be on the lookout for out next Twitter poll. We will not use your responses without telling you first. Thank you. 

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Oakland Athletics 5/31


For the fourth and final time this week the New York Yankees will travel to Oakland County Coliseum to take on Billy Beane’s Oakland Athletics. The Yankees lack of situational hitting, pitching and defense have been exposed this week after sweeping the Kansas City Royals as New York looks to salvage the rubber game of the series. On the mound for New York is Adam Warren who is looking to pitch his way into staying with the rotation this afternoon as he faces off with Jesse Chavez for the Athletics. The game will be played at 4:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV.

  • Warren is coming into the contest fresh off another strong start against the Kansas City Royals where he allowed just one run on 6.1 IP. Warren received praise from manager Joe Girardi after the start, a start he left after just 88 pitches, as the Yankees manager stated Warren was pitching as well as anyone in the rotation at this point in the season.


  • Chavez comes into the contest still looking for some run support from his club as the RHP is fresh off another tough 1-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers in his last start. Chavez went eight innings allowing just the unearned run in the loss pushing his record to 1-5 and his ERA down to 2.44 on the season.



The Yankees head north to Seattle tomorrow to face off with Felix Hernandez, Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano and the rest of the Seattle Mariners for another west coast road trip. Hopefully New York will use the energy pulled from facing off against their former second baseman and translate it into a big victory for the Yankees today and going forward. Go Yankees!

Stop Making Excuses for David Carpenter


David Carpenter was brought in along with Chasen Shreve to give the Yankees a right handed 7th inning bullpen arm to replace Adam Warren in the pen while he filled in for Chris Capuano in the starting rotation. The trade cost the Yankees LHP prospect Manny Banuelos and while Shreve has been okay and Banuelos has been great, albeit in Triple-A, Carpenter has simply been horrible for the Yankees this season. At one point Carpenter was not being used nearly enough and had obvious signs of rust when he entered into ball games but has been used more frequently and regularly over the past few weeks with similar results. When is the Yankees organization, manager and GM going to stop making excuses for Carpenter and simply admit that he may not be the best option in late and meaningful games anymore?

While Carpenter’s stat line won’t reflect it much that loss in the first game of the series with the Athletics is on him and Joe Girardi’s binder. CC Sabathia left two runners on with nobody out when he was lifted late in that game but it was Carpenter who gave up the inherited runs for the club and essentially lost the game. Sabathia got the loss, the binder lost some more respect among the fans but the real loser here has been Carpenter. This is not the only instance I could bring up but if you’re reading this and you’re watching the games then you already know what’s going on. The Yankees have the best and some of the most knowledgeable, and emotional, fans in all of Major League Baseball in my humble opinion thus making me harping on and beating a dead horse even more not really that necessary.


So how do you fix it? Honestly Carpenter is not a terrible relief pitcher, and adventure yes but not terrible, so I’m not advocating getting him off the team entirely. I am advocating for him to be used in non-leverage situations. You have Jacob Lindgren in the bullpen, although he simply just didn’t have it in his last outing but you can chalk that up to growing pains for a rookie, and you have Shreve, Miller and Betances who can take a lot of the innings. With Masahiro Tanaka coming back you may see the return of Warren to the bullpen who can also bridge the gap to the twin towers the Yankees have in their bullpen or you can simply wait on a Chris Martin return off the disabled list but one thing is for sure you absolutely cannot keep throwing Carpenter out there late in games anymore. He’s not tired, he’s not overworked, he’s far from underworked and he’s not rusty. He’s ineffective, he’s lost his confidence, he’s lost his command and control and he’s out of excuses so stop making them. 

TGP Daily Poll: King Felix Owns Yankees


King Felix Hernandez has absolutely destroyed the New York Yankees in his career with the Seattle Mariners and may be pitching some of his best baseball of his career in 2015. This is not a great recipe for the Yankees and will lead to another loss.

Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com.


Yes I’m looking ahead a bit with one more game against Oakland but what can you do?

Weekly Check In: Luis Severino


Luis Severino is fresh off the disabled list after battling a blister problem on his throwing hand and is also fresh off a promotion to Triple-A. Does this promotion to the Scranton Wilkes Barre RailRiders mean he is on the fast track to the major leagues? That much remains to be seen but his stats in the minor leagues, these stats I will show you today, are obviously being seen by the Yankees brass.


YearLevWLERAGIPHRERHRBBSOWHIPH9HR9BB9SO9
2015AA223.32838.0321714210481.1057.60.52.411.4
4 Seasons16112.3956259.120886698642731.0497.20.32.29.5

This Day in New York Yankees History 5/31: The Curse of the Drilled Bambino


On this day in 2001 the Boston Red Sox finally beat the New York Yankees for the first time since Pedro Martinez laughed off the Curse of the Bambino. On this day yesterday in 2000 Martinez, who was 7-1 with a 1.44 ERA, said that someone should "Wake up the Bambino and let me face him, I'll drill him in the $@#." After the comment the Red Sox lost seven consecutive games against the Yankees.


Also on this day in 1938 Yankees first basemen Lou Gehrig played in his 2000th consecutive game and collected an RBI single. The Yankees would beat the Red Sox 12-5 on this day.