Happy New Years From The Greedy Pinstripes

Happy New Years from everybody at The Greedy Pinstripes! We want everyone to be safe and have a great time ringing in 2013! We hope that this year is just as good, if not better, then 2012 was for everybody. Have a safe and happy holiday!

Are The 2013 Yankees Doomed?

So what's been going on lately in Yankee news? Nothing? Really? Well, I suppose it's time to be creative and pull a subject out of thin air.

A lot of fans such as myself have been sitting back and waiting for Ninja Cashman to pull off a big trade. Maybe not a "big" trade, but something along the lines of the Nick Swisher deal he pulled off after the 2008 season. After all, I haven't read anybody that's excited about the outfield of Granderson, Gardner, and Suzuki. I should talk about a deal possibly involving an upgrade behind the plate, but I honestly don't think that's a big deal. I agree with the idea of simply having a strong defensive catcher. Heck, our starting catcher last season put up a batting line of .211/.311/.403, so it's not like we need an all-star caliber player back there to be competitive.

But does the team really need a "big" trade, or something close to it, in order to compete in 2013? To start to answer that question I decided to take the proposed 2013 starting position players, along with the proposed starting rotation, and look at their Wins Above Replacement from Baseball Reference (bWAR) in 2012.

SP1: Sabathia - 3.3
SP2: Kuroda - 5.2
SP3: Pettitte - 2.4 this is his bWAR in 2010, since he only threw 75.1 innings in 2012 due to injury, and didn't pitch at all in 2011
SP4: Hughes - 1.5
SP5: Phelps - 2.0

PITCHING TOTAL: 14.4

C: Stewart - 2.9 Stewart only had 157 PA, therefore his bWAR was extrapolated to 500 PA. And I'm using Stewart as he had the highest bWAR among the 3 catching candidates for 2013.
1B: Teixeira - 3.6
2B: Cano - 8.2
3B: Rodriguez/Youkilis - 1.55 I took 1/2 of each player's bWAR in 2012, and adding them up, since ARod may be out half the year and Youkilis would be playing 3B for that half.
SS: Jeter - 2.1
LF: Gardner - 3.7 I'm using his 2011 bWAR, since he missed too much of 2012.
CF: Granderson - 2.7
RF: Suzuki - 1.6
DH: ???/Youkilis - .55 Only uses 1/2 of Youk's 2012 bWAR, as he'll be the primary 3B in the first half of this season. The other half of the DH equation is unknown, so I'm leaving it at "???".

BATTING TOTAL: 26.9

GRAND TOTAL: 41.3

"Yeah, I'm going to need some context here."

The 2012 Yankees weren't as good as I'd hope they'd be, but you can't tell me they were terrible. After all, they did make it to the American League Championship Series. So how did that team do as far as bWAR, looking at their starting position players and starting rotation?

SP1: Sabathia - 3.3
SP2: Kuroda - 5.2
SP3: Hughes - 1.5
SP4: Nova - 0.4
SP5: Garcia - 0.0

TOTAL: 10.4

C: Martin - 1.5
1B: Teixeira - 3.6
2B: Cano - 8.2
3B: Rodriguez - 2.0
SS: Jeter - 2.1
LF: Ibanez - 0.3
CF: Granderson - 2.7
RF: Swisher - 3.5
DH: Chavez - 1.5

TOTAL: 25.4

GRAND TOTAL: 35.8

I get this sarcastic look from my girlfriend quite a bit.

So the 2013 Yankees, assuming the players do as well as last season, have a better bWAR. Okay, but how about the 2012 American League Champion Detroit Tigers?

SP1: Verlander - 7.6
SP2: Scherzer - 4.0
SP3: Porcello - 1.4
SP4: Fister - 3.2
SP5: Sanchez - 2.6

TOTAL: 18.8

C: Avila - 2.2
1B: Fielder - 4.4
2B: Infante - 0.7
3B: Cabrera - 6.9
SS: Peralta - 0.8
LF: Dirks - 2.0
CF: Jackson - 5.2
RF: Boesch - -1.4
DH: Young - -1.2

TOTAL: 19.6

GRAND TOTAL: 38.4

I wanted to say that a good bullpen can help or hinder a team, so not including them in the above numbers is not me disregarding them. It was simply too difficult for me to break down the bullpen into it's most important parts, since not all bullpen members are created equal. And by not including each bullpen member, I don't believe I could accurately put a number on them. But I do want to say that the 2013 Yankees bullpen does look to be a good one. I don't mean to say they'll be "lights out" awesome, but they should be good enough that the difference between their bullpen and any other team's bullpen is not enough to skew the numbers much at all.

I don't mean to say that the Yankees are on their way to the 2013 World Series, but looking at these numbers does make me feel a little bit better about the team's chances of having a successful season. Either way, I'd like to see the Ninja work his magic again.

What About Carlos Lee For The Yankees 2013 DH?

It is no secret that the Yankees need a right handed hitter, a designated hitter, and some power to replace the home runs lost by Nick Swisher, Russell Martin, etc etc etc. I wonder if the Yankees have considered Carlos Lee for their opening. Before you start throwing popcorn at the screen hear me out and let's look at this statistically.

Carlos Lee is a contact hitter who rarely strikes out, something that is overlooked in the day of the long ball in my opinion, with a strike out rate of only 8.0%. To go with this strike out rate is a pretty nice 89.5% contact rate from the right side. Carlos Lee, in a pinch of course, can also play first base and a little bit of left field which makes him much more versatile then say Raul Ibanez was last season, not that I would want Carlos in the field any more then we would have to. Entering his age 36 season (turning 37 in late June) I would also think that he would be willing to accept the one year deal that the Yankees seem to be only throwing out this off season, which makes him make even more sense for the Yankees. Now while I admit that his 2012 season was a horrible season where he only hit 9 home runs between two teams he did play in 147 games, get on base a respectable 60 points higher then his batting average (.264/.332/.365), managed 77 RBIs for two terrible teams the Marlins and the Astros, 145 hits, 27 doubles, and even managed enough outfielders to fall down in one play for him to get a triple. While he will not be a stolen base threat, 3 stolen bases and wasn't caught stealing in 2012, he could really fill out and balance the lineup in the Yankees 6th or 7th slot in the lineup.

Carlos Lee is durable, more flexible then any of the DH options we had last year or could have this year barring a trade, is right handed, can still hit for power regardless of his 2012 numbers, would probably take a one year deal, and would make us one step closer to being competitive in my opinion. This makes too much sense to me at this point in the game. I will note that I am not a fan of having Carlos Lee on the team but he is the best of what is left and would help the team the most in my opinion so I think Cashman should get it done now.

Most Memorable Moment From 2012

With the new year almost upon us I wanted to take the time to, like most people are doing at this time of the year, look back at the most memorable moment from the 2012 season. 

Most people while writing a piece like this would go back to the Raul Ibanez home runs against the Red Sox to basically clinch the AL East or the Mariano Rivera injury or even the Derek Jeter injury as the obvious answers but I wanted to go another route. See the one moment that really sticks out in my mind is Game 5 of the ALDS against the Baltimore Orioles.

This game was the perfect example of New York Yankees baseball and made me proud to be a fan. The Yankees got behind their ace CC Sabathia and rode him all the way to the promised land just like the script was written way back in Spring Training. The Yankees rode CC for a complete game 3-1 Yankees victory in front of 47,000 and change fans at Yankees Stadium. Along the way CC allowed the one run on four hits with two walks and nine strike outs in a total domination of the Baltimore Orioles. It was a complete team win with clutch hitting, timely hitting, great defense, and stellar pitching. A classic Yankees win and a classic Yankees moment, my most memorable, from 2012.

Whats yours?

Former Yankees Update : Andruw Jones

Apparently Andruw Jones could not hit a baseball in 2012 but he proved that he could hit his wife as he did just that recently. Andruw Jones, in a drunken fit, beat his wife Christmas day while dragging her down stairs and putting his hand to her throat telling her that he wanted to kill her. He was obviously arrested for this incident but still is expected to play in Japan this season. Here is his mugshot for those weirdos that are into those sorts of things.

Yankees Hire Don Wakamatsui

You may have heard that the Yankees added Don Wakamatsu to their pro scouting staff.

Wakamatsu has coached and managed at pretty much every level of the minor leagues, and has some experience in the majors as well... his latest stint as a bench coach in Toronto. I was looking for something in particular to stand out in his bio, and I came across this bit from Fred Claire, former baseball executive and writer for MLB.com...

It is the relationships that Wakamatsu has built during his time in baseball that defines him best. He was somewhat of an unknown to the public when he was hired as the Mariners' manager last November, but he is well-known and highly respected within the game.

Not sure how much this will translate into his job in the scouting department, but it's nice to know that the team has hired somebody that is well thought of in baseball circles.

2013 Yankees Spring Training Uniforms & Hats

The Yankees have redesigned their Spring Training and batting practice hats and jerseys for the 2013 season and I have to say... boy are they ugly. I have to say I was a big fan of the ones that we have used in recent years and I am not the biggest fan of the two tone design. 

Former Yankees Update : Hideki Matsui

Former Yankee Hideki Matsui has announced his retirement from baseball today after 10 years of playing in the major leagues. After spending his first 10 seasons in the Japanese League he came over to the New York Yankees in December of 2002 and adopted the name of Godzilla as he took over New York. I am not sure if he will be remembered more for his hand drawn sketch of his wife or his 2009 World Series heroics (please sense the sarcasm here) but he will always be remembered, especially in the Yankees family community. He also spent time with the Angels, A's, and Rays but will always be remembered as a Yankee. Congratulations to him on a stellar career which included two All Star teams and that 2009 World Series ring.

Top 50 Baseball Related Twitter Accounts

BaseballAmerica.com has compiled a list of the top 50 baseball related twitter accounts on twitter seen here. While I cannot fathom how they over looked our twitter page, @GreedyStripes (follow us people), I guess this list will just make us work harder for next years list. Here is the list so check it out and give some of these people a follow. For the lazy I will include the top 15 accounts for you to see here! Enjoy!!

1. Sandy Alderson (@MetsGM)
2. Brett Anderson (@BrettAnderson49)
3. Collin Balester (@ballystar40)
4. Baseball Factory (@BaseballFactory)
5. Baseball Hall of Fame (@BaseballHall)
6. Brandon Beachy (@Brandon_Beachy)
7. Dan Brooks (@brooksbaseball)
8. Maury Brown (@BizballMaury)
9. Dave Cameron (@DCameronFG)
10. Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco)
11. College Splits (@collegesplits)
12. Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick)
13. Eric Cressey (@EricCressey)
14. Cody Decker (@Decker6)
15. John Dewan (@FieldingBible)
51. The Greedy Pinstripes (@GreedyStripes)

Yankees Still Looking For RH Bat

Matt Diaz may bat from the right side, but his signing is not keeping the Yankees from searching for another option. According to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post, the Yankees are still interested in Scott Hairston.

Although I'm interested in seeing what Diaz can do after having thumb surgery in August, the thumb which has been ailing Matt the past three seasons (he hit .313/.390/.488 in 2009), I like to hear that the team isn't done looking for better alternatives. Honestly, though, I doubt we'd hear the 100% truth anyway.