Mark Teixeira To Take Batting Practice Today

News from the Yankees minor league complex down in Tampa is that Mark Teixeira is expected to test out his injured wrist today in batting practice. Mark has been hitting off of a tee and taking ground balls and the next step is out door batting practice. let's hope he comes through this okay because if he doesn't his season is probably lost. Prayers going to Mark Teixeira down in Tampa today.

Yankees Acquire Alberto Gonzalez

The Yankees have announced that they have acquired infielder Alberto Gonzalez from the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later or cash, so basically nothing. This is going to be a minor league situation where he will be depth for AAA Scranton Railriders so nothing wrong with that. Gonzalez spent time with the team between 2007-2008 so the comfort level in New York should be okay if he makes it to the major leagues.

Are the Yankees this year's version of the 2012 Orioles?

[caption id="attachment_15666" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Mo's a perfect 13 for 13 in Save Chances this year[/caption]

With the lack of big moves in the off-season and the mountain of injured players the Yankees have endured, not many expected them to get off to a good start.  Well not only has it been a good start, the Yanks are now in 1st Place in the AL East with a 20-13 record, just a half-game behind Texas for best record in the American League.  Every year there is a surprise team that defies the numbers and conventional wisdom by winning games.  Last year it was the Baltimore Orioles who won 93 games and a Wild Card spot in the playoffs despite a bunch of peripheral statistics that said they should have been about a .500 team.  So far in the early going there are a lot of parallels to the 2012 Os and the 2013 Yanks.

Baltimore only had a 712-705 run differential which according to the respected Pythagorean W-L stat developed by Bill James should have equaled a 82-80 record.  But the O's were able to defy the odds thanks to an incredible 29-9 record in 1-run games and an unheard of 16-2 mark in extra inning games.  While there was a tremendous amount of luck involved in the Orioles success last year, they also have to be commended for finding ways to win all of those close games.  Baltimore was middle of the pack in most categories but the one area that excelled for them was their bullpen.  Their pen led the AL with 55 saves and was 3rd with a 3.00 ERA.

This year's Yankees have a 139-128 Run differential which would equal a 18-15 Pythagorean W-L record so their 20-13 record is not such an anomaly.  But, the manner in which they have been winning is what is similar to Buck's 2012 team.  The Yanks are a MLB-best 6-1 in 1-run games and 12-4 in games decided by 2 runs or less.  None of their team stats jump out as a possible reason why they have been able to win so many close games.  Their bullpen ERA is 10th in the AL at 3.82 but the back-end of their pen, namely David Robertson and the great Mariano Rivera have been superb.  Robertson has done his job in 13 of 14 appearances while Mo is a perfect 13 of 13 in Save opportunities and the team is 15-0 when the Sandman makes an appearance.

While Mariano is a huge part of the close wins, it is truly a team effort.  The team offense has been mediocre, averaging just 4.2 runs per game (10th in AL) but they have been scratching out runs when they need them in a variety of ways.  This is a huge difference from previous seasons when the Yanks have perennially been in the top 1 or 2 teams in scoring.  With all of the injuries and the anemic lineup vs LHP (.217/.287/.340/.627), the team has relied on strong pitching (5th in AL 3.68 ERA) and some timely runs.  They haven't exactly come through a lot with runners in scoring position or anything but they have done the little things well to get just what they need to win....moving runners, stealing bases, capitalizing on their opponent's errors, beating out an infield single to score a winning run, etc.

One thing the Yankees have done incredibly well this year is winning games when they have the lead.  Once they get ahead, they stay ahead. They have lost only one game all year that they have led in.  They are 11-0 when leading after the 3rd  inning and 15-0 when leading after the 6th.  That is a testament to their excellent pitching, especially the back-end of the pen.  While the perfect record isn't sustainable, having a strong back-end of the pen is so the Yankees will continue to win when they are ahead as long as DRob and Mo remain healthy.  Joba and Logan and most recently Preston Claiborne have all pitched well out of the pen.

But can the Yankees remain in 1st Place without starting to score more runs? It's doubtful.  While Baltimore showed a team can win 93 games and make the playoffs without scoring much more than your opponent, it certainly isn't likely to repeat itself.  The Yankees need to find ways to score more to continue winning.  Some help is on the way with the soon return of Eduardo Nunez and Curtis Granderson but  the rest of the injured starters are a long ways off.  The Yanks will need to try to improve their offense against LHP either through minor-lg callups (David Adams, Ronnier Mustelier) or via trades.  I don't think any trades are likely at this point unless they get some bad news on the injury rehab front.  Youkilis, Teixeira, Jeter, ARod and even Cervelli are all strong RH bats who have clobbered LHP in recent yrs so getting any or all of those players back from injury will be better than any trade they can make.

The starting pitching has been good and right now all of the starters are pitching well with the exception of Andy Pettitte who has had back to back poor starts.  I expect Andy to get it together and the rotation to continue to give this team opportunities to win. While the offense is clearly not as good as in past years, there is a certain level of satisfaction to see the team winning these types of games.  They just took 2 of 3 in Colorado despite scoring just 6 runs in the entire series and their last 7 games have all been decided by 2  runs or less.  Getting Grandy and Nunez back and calling up one or both of Adams & Musty would infuse some much-needed offense into the team. Getting Hafner's bat back into the lineup with the DH is also a big plus. I see no reason to believe the Yankees can't remain in  striking distance of 1st place until the All-Star Break when they should begin to get most of their bats back.

Can the Yanks keep winning all of these 1 and 2-run games or is it a fluke? Do they need to make a trade to improve the offense or can they hold out until injuries heal? Give your opinion in the comments.

This Day In Yankees History 5/10

On this day in 1934 Yankees slugger Lou Gehrig sets a major league mark with four extra base hits and 12 total bases in a single game. Gehrig had two doubles and two home runs in five innings before taking himself out of the game due to a severe cold. The Yankees would win the game against the Chicago White Sox 11-3 behind Gehrig's seven RBI's.

Baseball America Mock Draft & The Yankees

Jim Callis from Baseball America has put up his 2013 mock draft v1 for this June's 2013 MLB First Year Players draft and you do not need a subscription to read it. Callis has Mark Appel once again going number one overall to the Houston Astros and has former Yankees draft pick Jonathan Gray going second to the Cubs.

The Yankees have three first round picks this year after losing Rafael Soriano and Nick Swisher via free agency and Callis has the Yankees using those picks on Eric Jagielo, Rob Kaminsky, and Jon Denney with the 26th, 32nd, and 33rd picks respectively. Eric Jagielo is a 3B that plays for the University of Notre Dame, Rob Kaminsky is a left handed high school power pitcher from New Jersey High School, and Denney is an offensive minded catcher from Oklahoma High School.

Click here for the complete mock draft from Jim Callis.

New York Yankees @ Colorado Rockies 5/9

The Yankees and the Rockies will play the rubber match of their three game series at Coors Field this afternoon in Colorado. The Yankees will undoubtedly be happy to get out of a National League park and get their DH back tomorrow. The Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound to face off with Jeff Francis in the rubber match. The game will be televised at 3:40 pm ET on YES and MLB TV.

State Of The Yankees

Let's imagine that it's January 1st, and you and I are having a chat about the Yankees. We eventually start talking about the 2012 postseason, and you say that you knew the Yankees were going to get swept by the Tigers in the ALCS. I agree, saying that I didn't feel good about the ALCS either, seeing how much the offense struggled against the Orioles after Game 1 of the ALDS.

"No... no... no", you say. You repeat yourself, saying you knew the Yankees were going to get swept. I get really confused, and seeing the confusion on my face you take me over to your house. And in the backyard you reveal this...

"Nice car, but the view from your backyard is amazing!"

We hop in, you say "where we're going we don't need roads", the car starts flying....yada, yada, yada. You know the story (if you don't then stop reading and go watch the Back To The Future trilogy. NOW!).

What I'm trying to say is that if you'd told me right before the Yankees first Spring Training game that, on May 8th, the Yankees starting lineup would look like this...

Brett Gardner CF

Robinson Cano 2B

Vernon Wells LF

Lyle Overbay 1B

Ichiro Suzuki RF

Jayson Nix SS

Chris Nelson 3B

David Phelps P

Austin Romine C 

... I would have wanted to cry.

Yet here I sit on May 9th, and that is the exact lineup Joe Girardi put out there for last night's game against the Rockies. Allow me to repeat that starting lineup, along with what I would have thought about it prior to that first game of Spring Training...

Brett Gardner CF - okay, fine start.

Robinson Cano 2B - good, but strange that he's batting 2nd.

Vernon Wells LF - huh? Where's Granderson? And 3rd!?!?

Lyle Overbay 1B - This is the clean-up hitter!?!? What happened to Tex?

Ichiro Suzuki RF - okay, but 5th in the lineup? That can't be right.

Jayson Nix SS - The guy that hit .243/.306/.384 last year. WHY!?!?

Chris Nelson 3B - What!? What!? What!?

David Phelps P - Two things... 1. Starting pitcher? 2. Batting 8th?

Austin Romine C - Knowing Cervelli and Stewart, this is not surprising.

Two guys that were expected regulars in the lineup (Gardner and Cano), one guy that is not surprising to see but doesn't excite me (Ichiro), a catcher that I didn't expect to see in MLB for a while longer (Romine), a pitcher not only batting 8th but who was pegged as a reliever (Phelps), three players that should not be starting (Wells, Overbay, and Nix), and finally a guy that should not only be on the bench but wasn't even in the American League before the season (Nelson). 

My surprise would not be limited to last night's game, either. Take a look at the players who have played the most games at each position so far in 2013...

C - Francisco Cervelli

1B - Lyle Overbay 

2B - Robinson Cano

3B - Jayson Nix

SS - Eduardo Nunez

LF - Vernon Wells

CF - Brett Gardner

RF - Ichiro Suzuki

DH - Travis Hafner

You can't seriously tell me that you would expect that team to be 19-13, only 1 game out of first place. Of course, few people would have thought the Blue Jays would be at the bottom of the division, either... but that's the way it is. 

Making flashy trades may get you a lot of attention, but that doesn't translate to more wins.

I can't honestly say that it's the offense who has carried the team to that record. They've only produced 136 runs, 8th in the American League. On top of that, the offense has only accumulated a fWAR of 3.5, which is 9th in the AL. They are 9th in team batting average, 8th in team on-base percentage, and 5th in team slugging percentage. For comparison, the Yankees were 5th, 1st, and 1st in triple-slash categories at the end of last season, and were 2nd in runs scored. 

So it's the run prevention side of things that's really getting things done for New York. To be more specific, it's the team's pitching. The Yankees have a team ERA of 3.76, good for 5th in the AL and 1st in the AL East. The team's fWAR is 4.3, which is 5th in the AL, and 2nd in the AL East behind the division co-leading Red Sox. Take fielding out of the equation by looking at the team's FIP, and you'll see it's at 3.70, 5th in the AL and 2nd in the AL East (I'm not going to mention the team ahead of them, as one mention of that team is enough). 

Here's what excited me... The hitting is bound to get better. By the end of the month the team should get back Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, and Kevin Youkilis. Which means less at bats for guys like Ben Francisco (currently hitting .125/.263/.219), Brennan Boesch (.211/.250/.447), Lyle Overbay (.238/.280/.455), Jayson Nix (.232/.281/.280), and Chris Nelson (.077/.077/.077). 

"But can our pitching keep this up?"

Well, CC Sabathia's ERA of 3.31 is actually a tick worse than what he's done so far with the Yankees (3.23), and he's striking out one less batter per nine innings than he has since the end of the 2010 season.

Hiroki Kuroda's ERA of 2.30 is more than a run lower than his MLB career mark of 3.37, but looking at his FIP of 3.33 compared to his career number of 3.61, and I'm not really worried about Hiro giving up a few more runs.

The only thing that concerns me about Andy Pettitte is his health, because he was able to put up a sub-3.00 ERA in 12 starts last season, and so far this year that number is a tick above 4.00. Andy's WHIP of 1.354 is also well above the 1.142 he put up last season.

Is Phil Hughes going to keep up that 3.60 ERA? Probably not. But after seeing his last four starts, a 1.93 ERA in 28 innings, along with his velocity being almost exactly what he's done so far in MLB (his average fastball sits at 92.1 this year, and is 92.2 for his career), I feel optimistic that he'll finish 2013 strong.

I'm not going to try and guess who will hold down the last spot in the rotation for the rest of the season, but I believe pretty strongly that whoever it is can at least match the 5.77 ERA the Yankees have gotten out of that spot in the rotation so far this season (Nova's had 4 starts, and Phelps has had 2).

Then there's the bullpen... Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer of all time, David Robertson would be closing for all but maybe 7 or 8 teams in MLB, despite walking way too many batters Joba Chamberlain looks like a good 7th inning guy, Boone Logan does a fine job, and then the team still has guys like Vidal Nuno, Preston Claiborn, Adam Warren, and others to step in when/if needed.

Like so many others, I didn't have a great feeling about the Yankees' chances of doing some real damage this season. But as of today I can't wait to see what the team looks like by the All Star break.

A Crazy Night In Colorado

Nothing much has been normal for the Yankees this year and yesterday in Colorado epitomized their whole season to date. It was so crazy that Joe Girardi batting David Phelps eighth was not the strangest thing that happened. After Chris Nelson got pinched hit for in the top of the ninth, Girardi had nobody else to turn to play third base other than Vernon Wells. It was the first time in his 15 major league seasons that he had played even an inning at third base.

"I got hit in the mouth at second base when I was 12 and immediately moved to the outfield," Wells told Wally Matthews. “So you can imagine how it felt when, in the ninth inning, Wells looked at the Yankees' dugout and saw infield coach Mick Kelleher waving him closer to the hitter. "I was like, 'What? I've got to play in? I'm [playing in] already!"' he said. "It was definitely an eye-opening experience for me, that's for sure."

Wells was a huge part of the reason that the Yankees were even in the game to begin with. He already had three hits, including a two-run home run that had accounted for their only runs through eight innings and an infield single that started the Yankees’ rally in the ninth. However, Wells’ fun had only just started. The Yankees took the lead in the ninth inning with one of the softest rallies you will ever see.

Wells opened the inning with an infield single and stole second in front of Lyle Overbay walking. Ichiro Suzuki bunted the runners over and Jayson Nix was intentionally walked after a 3-0 count to load the bases. This is when things got interesting. With no backup infielders available, Girardi pinch hit Travis Hafner for Chris Nelson because the Yankees needed to take the lead right there. Hafner struck out, but Brennan Boesch got the run home on an infield single to give the Yankees a 3-2 when Nolan Arenado’s throw after a great diving effort was just a little late.

However, the Yankees still had three outs to get, and Wells had to go out to third base to replace Nelson. You knew that the baseball Gods were not going to let Wells off the hook without having to field a ball. Carlos Gonzalez hit a one-hopper that Wells had to take two steps to his left to get to. He fielded it and fired a perfect strike to Overbay at first. Wells looked like a natural on that play and you would have never realized that he had never played an inning of third base in his life.

The trade to acquire Wells was ridiculed and laughed at by just about everybody. However, Wells has been a consummate team player for the Yankees and one of the most productive players in the lineup. Even though Wells has struggled so far in May, (.240/.240/.360/.600) he proved yesterday that he does not plan on returning to playing like he did in Los Angeles any time soon.

That game last night epitomized what the 2013 Yankees have been. You really have no idea how they do it, yet they just keep on winning. With a lineup filled of mostly formerly washed up players and “AAAA” players, the Yankees find themselves at 19-13 and only one game behind the Orioles and Red Sox for first place in the AL East.  It has been done with mostly guts and guile, things you do not normally associate with a team with about a $230 million payroll. With Curtis Granderson and Kevin Youkilis possible coming back next week, things can start to get even more fun soon.

Game 35 Lineup: Yankees @ Rockies

Here we go, it's the series finale and the rubber game! Let's win this...and never come back to Colorado again. Here's the lineup.

Brett Gardner CF
Jayson Nix SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Ben Francisco RF
Chris Nelson 3B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Chris Stewart C
CC Sabathia P

This Day In Yankees History 5/9

On this day in 1999 Yankees reliever starts the game against the Seattle Mariners as the Yankees win the game 6-1. The important piece of information is that Stanton had 552 relief appearances before this first start breaking Gary Lavelle's major league record for the most appearances before starting a game.

On this day in 2002 Mariano Rivera saved his 225th game setting a new franchise record for the Yankees. The previous record was set by Dave Righetti who finished his Yankees career with 224 saves.